INTRODUCTION. 



In Washington one can surely follow Emerson and 

 name most of the birds without a gun. With the 

 Smithsonian collections of mounted birds and study 

 skins, and the libraries of bird books to refer to, all 

 but the most obscure species can easily be identified 

 from careful notes made with the help of an opera 

 glass in the field. Notes on colors and markings 

 made in the field with the bird in sight, if compared 

 with the books, will give the bird's name, and notes 

 on his habits made at the time will add valuable ma- 

 terial to our meagre knowledge of life histories; but 

 notes made from memory will rarely identify and are 

 wholly untrustworthy. A good observer must be 

 able to take his oath upon the accuracy of all his 

 records. 



Provided with glass and note-book and dressed in 

 inconspicuous colors, proceed to some good birdy 

 place — the bushy banks of a stream or an old juniper 

 pasture — and sit down in the undergrowth or against 

 a concealing tree trunk with your back to the sun, to 

 look and listen in silence. You will be able to trace 

 most songs to their singers by finding which tree 

 the song comes from and then watching for movement, 

 as birds are rarely motionless long at a time when 

 singing. It will be a help if, besides writing down a 

 careful description of both bird and song, you draw a 

 rough diagram of the bird's markings and put down 

 the actual notes of his song as nearly as may be. 



