APPENDIX II 



Methods for Students awd Teachers 



Suggestions for Bird Study 



The general awakening to an interest in the subject of ornithology has 

 called for the means of gaining a more precise knowledge of the names 

 and habits of our common birds. Many persons are deeply interested in 

 observing the forms and movements of the wild birds, and yet are con- 

 scious that their efforts are on the whole not well directed. 



Much information concerning the activities of birds can be acquired 

 by observation without the assistance of text-book or teacher ; but to become 

 absolutely accurate the need of one or both is indispensable. Those to 

 whom the assistance of a teacher is not possible can at least equip them- 

 selves with one of the several excellent text-books which are now on the 

 market. Some of the best of these are: 



Handbook of Birds of Eastern North America, by Frank M. Chapman. 



(D. Appleton & Co., publishers. Price, $3.00.) 

 Birds of Village and Field, by Florence Merriam. 



(Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Price, $2.00.) 

 Manual of North American Birds, by Robert L. Ridgway. 



(J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia. Price, $7.50.) 



Equipped with one cff these books the most inexperienced observer is 

 ready for work, though the aid of an ^pera or field glass will greatly 

 assist one's efforts. 



Let us imagine that the first bird observed is a red one. The color is 

 probably the first thing that arrests the attention. You quickly note 

 whether it is red all over, its size and its movements. You discover that 

 it appears to be a little smaller than a robin; that it has no crest on its 

 head; and that it is not hopping upon the ground or soaring in the sky, 



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