How to Learn a Bird's Name 



To the student who desires to prepare himself for his work afield such 

 a study may well come before he attempts to name the birds. But where the 

 chief end in view is to learn a bird's name, the more technical side of the 

 subject may be deferred. In any event, it should not be neglected. This 

 orderly arrangement of knowledge will not only be practical benefit in one's 

 future labors but it will bring with it that sense of satisfaction which accom- 

 panies the assurance that we know what we know. 



As one learns to recognize bird after bird it is an admirable plan to 

 classify systematically one's list of bird acquaintances under their proper 

 Orders and Families. These may be learned at once from the systematic 

 table at the end of the book, where the numbers which precede each species 

 are arranged serially, and hence systematically. 



In some instances, as an aid to identification in the field, descriptions of 

 birds' notes have been included. It is not supposed that these descriptions 

 will convey an adequate idea of a bird's song to a person who has never 

 heard it, but it is hoped that they may occasionally lead to the recognition of 

 calls or songs when they are heard. 



An adequate method of transcribing bird's notes has as yet to be devised 

 and the author realizes only too well how unsatisfactory the data here 

 presented will appear to the student. It is hoped, however, that they may 

 sometimes prove of assistance in naming birds in life. 



As has been said before, the aim of this volume is to help students to 

 learn the names of our birds in their haunts. But we should be doing scant 

 justice to the possibilities of bird study if, even by silence, we should imply 

 that they ended with the learning to know the bird. This is only the begin- 

 ning of the quest which may bring us into close intimacy with the secrets of 

 nature. The birds' haunts and food, their seasons and times of coming and 

 going; their songs and habits during courtship, their nest-building, egg- 

 laying, incubating and care of their young, these and a hundred other sub- 

 jects connected with their lives may claim our attention and by increasing "our 

 knowledge of bird-life, add to our love of birds. 



