THE OSPREY. 



amoiig" the clumps of grass, and in the rushes. 

 The ifew that remained in the IJirches and 

 Alders kei)t very low. and fretiuently flew into 

 the snow, and ho|)j)od about amonj;; the weeds 

 and underbrush. 



A bunch of ten or twelve which I separated 

 from the others lij^-hted on the shinj^led roof of 

 a barn on the edg^e of the meadow, and remained 

 for some time until frif^htened by my ap])roach. 



The only note which I heard the birds utter 

 was a clear ichip. I shot six birds, all of them 

 very fat. and with their stoniiich tilled with bay- 

 berries and small round black shiny seeds about 

 the size of dustshot. 



Februarj' 4. Brig'ht and sunny in the morn- 

 ing-. Snow and hard northwest g-ale commenced 

 at 3 p. m. 



February 5. Ther. 20°. Snow ceased early 

 this morning"; but wind strong and cold all day. 



Snow badly drifted, and roads completely 

 blocked. Heard one Warbler this afternoon. 



February (). Ther. Zero. 



February S. Ther. 40°. Warm, bright and 

 sunny. Snow melting". 



February 0. Took a hurried walk before 

 packing- trunk. Saw forty or fifty Warblers in 

 one flock on the marsh near road. Shot one. 



From these notes it is evident that the Myrtle 

 Warbler is a winter resident, in large numbers 

 near the coast during severe weather, and is 

 able to endure extreme cold, and driving" snow 

 storms, and to g-row fat. and apparently enjo^' 

 life on a diet of seeds and hard berries when 

 other species of the family are obliged to make 

 long migrations upon the approach of cold 

 weather. 



NOTES FOR OBSERVATION OF HABITS OF BIRDS. 

 By Ernest Skton Thompson. 



144 Fifth Avenue N. Y.. July 8, 1899. 

 My Dear Dr. Gii.l: 



I am following" with g-reat interest as you 

 know the proposed exhaustive work on American 

 Birds. You probablv never saw an article that 

 I published in Forest and Stream. April 19. 1898. 

 It is so exactly in line with the present proposed 

 investigation that I think it possible you may 

 wish to reprint a part of it. I therefore enclose 

 an edited cop3\ Use as much of it as you think 

 proper. I have marked one or two parag^raphs 

 that seem to me unnecessary. I have also added 

 one or two questions that bear on leading de- 

 partments. Of course the schedule may be used 

 for any species and ma^' be of great use applied 

 to a different bird, as a duck or hawk. 



I have accumulated a great mass of Song 

 Sparrow facts, but have never yet found the 

 time to set them in order. With best wishes. 

 Yours cordially, 



Ernest Seton Thompson. 



[Mr. Thompson has subsequently modified 

 and greatly extended his communication, and it 

 thus appears here as a new contribution, for 

 which we are g-reatlv indebted to him. — 

 Editor.] 



With any one who for the first time sees a new 

 or unknown object, the three questions that 

 naturallv arise are: 



What "is it? 



Where was it got? 



And what is it for? 



That is, we are asked its name, native place 

 and nature; and it is the whole province of each 

 branch of zoological science to answer these 

 questions with regard to its individual subjects. 



Or to illustrate to the point, ornithology treats 

 of birds and is supposed to supply the stu- 

 dent, first, with the name of each bird; second, 

 with information about its country or habitat; 

 third, with information of its nature, which in- 

 cludes two very wide fields, the physical and the 

 metaphysical, or anatomy and life history'. 



The first of these questions, the ivhichf c-&.\\ be 

 answered only by authorities profoundly' versed 

 in the subject, and the Check Eist of the Ameri- 



can Ornithologists' Union contains the united 

 opinions of the competent authorities of 

 America. 



The second question, the ivherc?, comprising 

 the whole subject of geographical distribution 

 and migration, is partly answered already with 

 regard to most of our birds. As it can be pro- 

 perly treated only by persons who have large 

 collections of material at hand, and have given 

 a great deal of time and study to the subject, 

 here also it is better for the lay bird-man to re- 

 frain from "rushing in." 



But the last question, the ivhatK is the great- 

 est of all. It naturall3' divides itself into two 

 branches, anatomy and life history. With re- 

 gard to the first, much the same remarks applj^ 

 as in the preceding paragraph, but the second, 

 the life history, is the most important, and 

 affords the proper field for those who simply 

 love rural nature in the popular sense, and de- 

 sire only to know the wild birds in their wild- 

 ness. 



"The real history of a bird is its life history. 

 The deepest interest attaches to everything that 

 reveals the little mind, however feebly it may be 

 developed, which lies behind the feathers." So 

 says the celebrated English ornithologist See- 

 bohm, in his History of British Birds, and I am 

 very sure that there is no lack of bird-lovers to 

 re-echo the sentiment. The first two questions 

 are of very great importance, and of such a 

 nature that they insist on first notice, but hav- 

 ing settled them as we now have, sufficiently for 

 the purposes of the ordinary observer in Eastern 

 America, we are brought face to face with what 

 is, after all, of chief interest, the great question 

 of the "little mind". 



The ig'-norance that exists with regard to the 

 life history of our birds is only beginning to be 

 appreciated. We have, in fact, as a result of 

 great labors during the last few years, only just 

 succeeded in obtaining enough light to make the 

 darkness visible. To show how little we know 

 about the best known species, I would take for 

 example the bird of all others that we are sup- 

 posed to be perfectly familiar with, the common 



