BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. 3 
catchers, thrushes, and vireos may be thought of 
as the dull birds. 
When the crudest part of the work is done, and 
your eye and ear naturally seize differences of size, 
color, and sound, the interesting part begins. You 
soon learn to associate the birds with fixed local- 
ities, and once knowing their favorite haunts, 
quickly find other clues to their ways of life. 
By going among the birds, watching them 
closely, comparing them carefully, and writing 
down, while in the field, all the characteristics of 
every new bird seen, — its locality, size, color, de- 
tails of marking, song, food, flight, eggs, nest, 
and habits, — you will come easily and naturally 
to know the birds that are living about you. The 
first law of field work is exact observation, but 
not only are you more likely to observe accurately 
if what you see is put in black and white, but 
you will find it much easier to identify the birds 
from your notes than from memory. 
With these hints in mind, go to look for your 
friends. Carry a pocket note-book, and above all, 
take an opera or field glass with you. Its rapid 
adjustment may be troublesome at first, but it 
should be the “inseparable article” of a careful 
observer. If you begin work in spring, don’t 
start out before seven o’clock, because the confu- 
sion of the matins is discouraging — there is too 
much to see and hear. But go as soon as possi- 
ble after breakfast, for the birds grow quiet and 
