Tue Stupy oF Birp LIFE. 147 
a Marsh Tit, and have no need to spend time in waiting to see 
it. And so with other birds. 
When the ornithologist knows something about the more 
ordinary birds, and is at least able to recognise them when he 
sees them, this unlimited time I speak of will only be necessary 
when he is looking for others, such as the Lesser Whitethroat 
in the Solway district, the Green Woodpecker in Cumberland, 
the Dartford Warbler on Ranmore, or the Woodlark on Sutton 
Common, and so on. 
Before going on to the next difficulty, the opinion may be 
hazarded that it will save a vast amount of time if the ornitho- 
logist will make up his mind before he starts as to what bird 
he is going to look for and where, and find out from some good 
source the zatural habitat of the bird, and also its habitat at 
different seasons and at different times of the day, and so save 
himself the trouble of looking for a Nightingale on the seashore 
or an Oystercatcher in a plantation; or a Willow Warbler in 
winter or a Fieldfare in summer; or a Tawny Owl in the middle 
of the day; or a Swallow in the middle of the night ; and having 
done all this if he will adhere to both the bird and place and 
time, not allowing himself to be distracted by this bird or that 
which he fancies he has not seen before, or this spot or that 
which allures him by presenting fewer difficulties in exploring. 
The next difficulty concerns itself with the question as to 
wether he should go alone or not. Of walking tours R. L. 
Stevenson says somewhere, “To be properly enjoyed a walking 
tour should be gone upon alone. If you go in a company, or 
even in pairs, it is no longer a walking tour in anything but name; 
it is something else and more in the nature of a picnic. <A walk- 
ing tour should be gone on alone, because freedom is of the 
essence ; because you should be able to stop and go on, and 
follow this way or that, as the freak takes you; and because you 
must have your own pace, and neither trot alongside a champion 
walker or mince in time with a girl.’’ 
All this, I think, is equally applicable to the ornithologist. 
More than one, I think, is a hindrance. Many people object to 
being alone or going anywhere alone, but in this pursuit a man 
is never really alone and after a little time the most recalcitrant 
will find it so. 
If “a poet could not but be gay in such a jocund company 
