A LESSON IN BIRD STUDY. 27 



complicated that it will not be readily understood 

 by young persons. 



For the encouragement of the beginner I will 

 describe my first attempt to use a manual out of 

 doors. I had gone to a pleasant grove that skirted 

 a broad, rippling river in the northern part of one 

 of our Middle States. My experience donbtless 

 tallies with that of every novice. It was a bright 

 day in spring, and there were perhaps a dozen 

 species of birds which I did not know, flitting 

 about me and making the grove vocal with song. 

 You will not wonder that I was almost thrown into 

 despair when I confess frankly that I could not at 

 that time have told the song-sparrow and the grass- 

 finch apart, although they are among our most 

 familiar birds. Opening my hand-book at the 

 proper place, I tried to identify a small bird, which 

 I thought must be a sparrow, hopping about on the 

 grass before me ; but what was my surprise to find 

 descriptions of over a dozen species of the sparrow 

 family, while I scarcely knew one of them ! I read 

 one description after another, but most of them 

 seemed so much alike and there were so many con- 

 fusing details, that for the life of me I could not 

 identify a single specimen before me. I need not 

 say that I went home very blue and disheartened. 



