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 of practical benefit in one's future labors but it will bring with 

 it that sense of satisfaction which accompanies 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 pre- 

 cede each species are arranged serially, and hence systematically. 



In some instances, as an aid to identification in the field, descrip- 

 tions 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 do- 

 ing 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 beginning 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 subjects connected with their lives 

 may claim our attention and by increasing our knowledge of bird-life, 

 add to our love of birds. 



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