THE FASCINATION OF BIRD STUDY. 



HEN one knows six birds 

 by sight or sound, it has 

 been said, he is lost. 

 After that he cannot rest 

 until he knows fifty, or a hundred, or 

 two hundred — in his back-door yard, 

 or down in the orchard, or across the 

 farm. It is not easy to explain where- 

 in lies the fascination of *' naming 

 the birds without a gun." The 

 humility of the scoffer, caught un- 

 awares, and taught his first six before 

 he knows it, is something pathetic and 

 instructive. Few mortals are proof 

 against the charm — when once the 

 first half-dozen are conquered. The 

 first three come easy. Most of us 

 know the Crow — and the Robin — and 

 the Bluebird — and — and — the Sparrow 

 — until we discover that there are 

 more than a dozen varieties of Sparrow, 

 and perceive that this common brown 

 bird, hopping so cheerily in and out 

 of the bushes, may be a Song Sparrow 

 or a Chipping Sparrow or a White- 

 Throated or White-Crowned or any 

 one of the dozen — or even the Cocky 

 English Sparrow, despised by ornithol- 

 igist and tyro alike. When to the 

 Crow and Robin and Bluebird one has 

 added the Blackbird — both the Keel- 

 tailed and the Redwing — and the 

 Meadow Lark or the Highhole, the 

 charm begins to work. Armed with 

 opera-glass and bird book, the victim 

 casts convention to the winds. He 

 stands in the full glare of the public 

 highway, his glass focused on an 

 invisible spot, an object of ridicule to 

 men and dogs. He crawls on his 

 hands and knees through underbrush, 

 under barbed fences and over stone 

 walls. He sits by the hour waiting 

 for a Vireo to come down from the 



topmost branch within range of his 

 glass. He forgets luncheon and 

 engagements. And what does he 

 bring home ? Certainly not the river 

 and sky, and seldom even a feather. 



Books on birds, continues the Boston 

 Everting Transcript^ like good wine, 

 need no bush at this season of the 

 year ; the Golden-winged Woodpecker 

 drums announcement on every limb ; 

 the Redwing Blackbird gurgles and 

 chuckles and calls across the swamp ; 

 and the Lesser Sparrows and Bluebirds 

 and Robins wake the morning to the 

 weaving of new song. The hand 

 reaches out for the familiar bird-book ; 

 that last note was a strange one. It is 

 a new bird — or merely one forgotten ? 

 The delight begins all over with the 

 first Bluebird's call, "a mere wander- 

 ing voice in the air." 



"The Department of Agriculture," 

 Miss Merriam tells us, in her new 

 book, " Birds of Village and Field," 

 " realizing the losses that often result 

 from the ignorant sacrifice of useful 

 birds, constituted the Division of 

 Ornithology, now a part of the 

 Biological Survey, a court of appeal 

 where accusations against the birds 

 could be received and investigated. 

 The method used by the division is the 

 final one — the examination of stomach 

 contents to prove the actual food of 

 the birds. After the examination of 

 about eighty birds, the only one 

 actually condemned to death is the 

 English Sparrow. Of all the accused 

 Hawks, only three have been found 

 guilty of the charges made against 

 them — the Goshawk, Cooper's, and the 

 Sharp-Shinned — while the rest are 

 numbered among the best friends of 

 the fruit-grower and farmer. " 



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