2 HOW TO NAME THE BIRDS 



Utterly unlike in size and color, are described almost side 

 by side on the same page ; diminutive kinglets, smaller 

 than the chipping sparrow, and seen only in winter, are 

 brought strangely close to summer robins and thrushes, 

 and the microscopic humming-bird has to fraternize with 

 the nighthawk and the woodpecker. This is not said 

 in disparagement of scientific classification, but to call 

 attention to its inadequacy for the needs of one who 

 prosecutes the study from an entirely different stand- 

 point, as is the case with the great majority of field-ob- 

 servers. It is to be remembered that one will be led up 

 to a systematic and exhaustive study of this subject only 

 through the more attractive discoveries in out-door explo- 

 ration. Having determined his species from this 

 ** guide," he will naturally refer to some standard man- 

 ual for its interesting details of life-history, of which 

 only an outline is here given. 



As regards the times when the various birds can be 

 found in a given locality, they naturally fall into four 

 quite distinct groups. The first group comprises those 

 species that arrive from the south in spring, and remain 

 till they return south in fall ; the second, those that 

 come down from the north in fall, and return north in 

 spring ; the third, those that winter in the south, and 

 summer far north, and can therefore be seen only a few 

 days or weeks, twice a year, in their passage to and 

 fro ; and, in the fourth group, are such as can be seen 

 throughout the year. This fourfold division into sum- 

 mer, winter, migrant, and permanent groups is at thv. 



