vi BIRDS OF AMERICA 



The expert can determine many birds at a distance by their characteristic flight; and 

 the beginner, by making good use of his opportunities, will soon learn to recognize a Buzzard 

 by its wheeling flight, or a flying Green Heron by the downward bend of its wing-tips. All 

 Woodpeckers have a bounding flight, as they travel by rising for a few wing beats and then 

 sliding downward with the wings partly closed. The Goldfinch also has an up-and-down 

 flight. The Pipit, the Yellow Palm Warbler and the Water-Thrushes all wag the tail up 

 and down while moving about — something not habitual with most other birds. The gait 

 of the bird on the ground may determine the species or at least the family. Crows, Grackles, 

 Blackbirds, Oven-birds, and some others walk, while most birds progress by hopping, although 

 now and then a hopping bird may surprise you by walking a few steps on clear, open ground. 



The notes of birds serve as an excellent means of identification, although there are 

 a few that imitate well the notes of others. Among these are the Crow, Blue Jay, Catbird, 

 Brown Thrasher, and the famous Mockingbird. 



As the novice will see colors in the wrong places or fail to see colors in the right places, 

 so he will hear birds wrongly or fail to hear them at all. An ornithologist, if stricken blind, 

 might still get an approximate idea of the number of birds of most species resident in a 

 locality for most birds are vociferous. 



Many people, however, have great difficulty in recognizing or remembering bird notes. 

 Others are unable to dififerentiate between tones and calls of an entirely different quality. 

 In studying bird songs, the notebook is indispensable. Write down in syllables what the 

 bird seems to say as you hear it at the time. Accent it as the bird accents it, and if you 

 are musical you may even get it by note. These notes may refresh your memory, and help 

 fix the call or song in mind. 



Birds do not really articulate, or, if they do, the sounds are mostly vowels ; yet we imagine 

 that they enunciate words. In learning the songs of birds you may take the notes of some 

 common loud singer, like the Robin, as a standard, and by comparison determine how those 

 of other species differ from it. This is good training for the ear. Some people cannot see 

 any difference at first between the songs of the Robin and the Wood Thrush, but to the 

 initiated they have nothing in common. In quality of tone, beginners usually see little 

 difference between the songs of the Baltimore Oriole, the Robin, the Scarlet Tanager, and 

 the Rose-breasted Grosbeak; nevertheless, the Oriole's lay is almost a pure whistle, the 

 tune varying much with different individuals; the Robin's song is a bold warble, a little 

 strident in places; the Tanager sings a weaker, finer note, like an undeveloped, hoarse Robin; 

 and the Grosbeak has a beautiful warble, rather loud at times, but perfectly pure and mellow. 

 ■ Unfortunately for the novice, a bird may have two or more distinct songs. Some 

 commonly have many, while no two individual birds of certain species ever sing precisely 

 the same tune ; but this disparity only makes the study of their vocal powers more interesting. 

 Occasionally a very gifted individual will eclipse the performance of all rivals. The caw 

 of the common Crow is well known, but its love notes and its conversational abilities when 

 ministering to its young are seldom recognized. 



As one advances in the study, the manner in which birds feed, the character of the 

 locality in which they are found, the location and construction of the nests, the size and color 

 of eggs, all will tend toward fixing the identity of birds. In time, one learns to know many 

 birds at a glance, until, almost unconsciously, he comes to the day when most of the birds 

 he sees or hears are old friends. 



Birds require food, shelter, nesting places, and protection from their enemies. In 

 localities furnishing all these essentials birds always may be found in their seasons. Abroad 

 river valley, with fresh-water meadows, containing small, marshy ponds, if dotted with trees 

 and bordered by farming lands, orchards, and wooded hills, should be an ideal place for birds. 



When migrating, they appear to stop by preference only where there is an abundance 

 of suitable food with which they may replenish the waste of tissues worn by long flights. 



