DIFFICULTIES OF BIRD STUDY. 



No vocation can be pursued without annoyances 

 of some kind. Even our recreations cannot be 

 taken wholly on Howery beds of ease, and I doubt 

 if we should appreciate them if they cost us no 

 effort. I would not paint the study of ornithology 

 all roseate ; for that would not be quite honest ; 

 and perhaps some reader, spurred for the moment 

 to begin a quest for bird-lore, miglit lind himself 

 disheartened on encountering the obstacles, and 

 might declare that bird study is not what it has 

 been represented by enthusiasts. It is true, the 

 barriers that nature has raised about every depart- 

 ment of scientific inquiry are not insuperable, 

 when the student is determined to overcome them ; 

 but they do exist, and must be recognized. 



First, then, the study of birds requires time and 

 effort. A dull, lazy person will not make a good 

 ornithologist. To use a trite comparison, the 

 mountain will not come to Mohammed, but Mo- 

 hammed must go to the mountain. So the student 



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