Our Common Birds and How to Know Them 
one’s eyes for the purpose of making memoranda, since, if one loses sight of a bird, 
it is frequently difficult to regain it. Before the next specimen is sought, however, 
the notes descriptive of the one just observed should habitually be made, and that too, 
be it remembered, with the thoroughness which has already been strenuously advised. 
Depend upon it, the time and trouble bestowed upon these notes will be certainly and 
speedily rewarded. 
A third, and for an indolent nature an extremely pleasant, method of studying birds 
is to seek some spot which possesses peculiarly attractive features for them, and whither 
they are accustomed to resort in great numbers, and there, properly sheltered, seat your- 
self and quietly wait for what may come within the range of your vision. | have in 
mind two localities that have always proved wonderfully rich in bird-life. One is a 
bluff, perhaps forty feet in height, rather steep, and with a number of good-sized forest 
trees growing upon its slope. Rolling fields spread backwards from its brow, and at 
its foot runs a line of shrubbery, somewhat thicket-like in character and forming a sort 
of natural hedge, which fittingly bounds a boggy meadow beyond. Several small springs 
issue from the sides of this declivity and trickle down in gentle streams until lost in the 
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