THE OOLOGIST 



Tfie ©bto^ist 



FIFTH PUBLICATION YEAR. 



JULY, 1879. 



Persons to whom this number of The 

 OoLOGiST has been sent for examination or 

 as a specimen are invited to send for the in- 

 dex to Volume IV., which will better an- 

 swer the inquiry of the collector as to the 

 character of this journal than a single num- 

 ber can. 



In order to make our proposed series of 

 illustrations of the nests and eggs of North 

 American birds a success, and also that we 

 may be enabled to spare no pains in making 

 them accurate and excellent, it is necessary 

 to have an increase in our subscription list 

 to sustain the expense. If each one of our 

 readers would obtain one new subscriber, 

 we should be warranted in making this se- 

 ries of illustrations the most excellent of the 

 kind ever published. 



HINTS ON STUDYING BIRDS. 



npHERE are many methods of studying 

 ornithology to advantage — many, be- 

 cause some uudertake one particular, some 

 another, as their specialty. For many or- 

 nithologists the science of birds has no 

 charm, while each little habit is noted with 

 an eagerness by which a science can only be 

 furthered, and by means of which those who 

 are unable to ramble in the woods and fields 

 are taught much more than they could learn 



by reading a purely scientific treatise on 

 birds — scientific in the sense of being op- 

 posed to a treatise upon their habits. Some 

 enjoy studying the anatomy and osteology of 

 birds, others only their eggs and nests, while 

 there are not a few who shoot and preserve 

 specimens without even taking their meas- 

 urements, not to mention the utter neglect 

 of even a passing notice in regard to their 

 habits and formation. 



An interesting portion of the study of 

 birds is the examination and comparison of 

 their structure according to the various ma- 

 jor and minor divisions, or of one species 

 with another very much like it. A disin- 

 terested person might not see any differeuce 

 in the physical peculiarities of two very sim- 

 ilar species, but sometimes they are exceed- 

 ingly prominent, and instead of being of no 

 consequence, as might be supposed, most 

 of these peculiarities, which the collector 

 no doubt has often been unable to account 

 for, subserve some good purpose. A com- 

 bination, therefore, of field and "closet" 

 work is very profitable, for one is a help to 

 the other. A book partly full of notes writ- 

 ten in the woods and meadows is admirably 

 set off and made more complete, as it were, 

 by notes upon the physical characteristics 

 of the various species whose structure had 

 suggested an examination. Take for exam- 

 ple a Black-billed Cuckoo : — there are many 

 points of interest about its person which are 

 not only singular, but seem to be in perfect 

 keeping with its strange habits, inasmuch 

 as oddity is a noticeable feature. Look at 

 the feet — they will reveal one peculiarity ; 

 examine the bill and uostuils, and more of 

 information will be obtained ; the wings 

 and tail are much dissimilar, but see if they 

 do not have something in common, — then, 

 dropping the former, notice howTrogon-like 

 the tail ; then the bare, red eyelids and 

 feathered or pantaletted legs are singular. 

 Again, there is something about the plumage 

 which makes close examination profitable 

 indeed. Compare the metallic plumage of 

 a Humming Bird with the soft, fluffy cov- 

 ering of an Owl through a magnifier or mi- 

 ci'oscope ; see how strong the quills of one 



