HOW TO NAME THE BIRDS 



HIS Httle work is a new departure in bird- 

 classification, to aid the field-ornithologist 

 in determining an unknown species. It 

 is in no sense a rival of the excellent 

 manuals on the subject now extant, but is rather an in- 

 troduction to their more general use. 



One of the great obstacles to a wider study of orni- 

 thology is the helplessness of the beginner, especially 

 when studying by himself, to identify his specimens. If 

 he takes up one of the standard authorities, he is con- 

 fronted by a ponderous volume of four hundred to eight 

 hundred pages, describing some hundreds of species of 

 all sorts, sizes, and colors, most confusedly mingled. 

 Moreover, many of the details of bird-anatomy, always 

 given in ornithological manuals, are utterly invisible at 

 field-range, and such multiplicity of data, unsystemat- 

 ically arranged as they commonly are, hinders a quick 

 and clear idea of the species that is being described ; 

 on the other hand, those aspects that constantly appeal 

 to the observer — color, size, and periods of appearance — 

 have no place in the current scheme of classification. 

 As a result, species only to be seen months apart, and 



