HOW TO NAME THE BIRDS. 



IN studying the birds as you see them about you, try to 

 acquire the habit of gauging the size, general colour, and 

 poise at a glance, gaining the details, if possible, afterward. 

 Impress upon yourself the location in which you saw the 

 bird, its occupation, its method of feeding, whether, if upon 

 the ground, it walked or hopped. Was it dashing through 

 the air or skimming low over the meadows, uttering a twit- 

 tering cry and turning and curving sharply as it caught 

 insects in its wide mouth ? If so, you must look for it in 

 the Swallow Family. 



Was it a brown or olive-backed bird somewhat of the 

 build of the Robin but smaller, with a light-coloured breast 

 more or less speckled, scratching among the bushes for the 

 insects upon which it feeds ? You must look for it in the 

 Thrush Family, and if you do not place it there search 

 among the Ground Warblers. Or was it a tiny olive- 

 gray bird that caught your eye as it peeped about the twigs 

 of the orchard trees in the autumn, turning its head and 

 looking at you sidewise, showing every now and then its 

 gold and scarlet crest? Then you must look among the 

 Kinglets. 



If you keep a note-book and pencil in your pocket when 

 you are on the bird-quest, many particulars can be jotted 

 down to refresh your memory when consulting the reference 

 book. In rapidly gauging the size of a particular bird do 

 not think in inches, but compare it mentally with some bird 

 that is familiar to you. Say to yourself, Is it as large as a 

 Robin, a Bluebird, or a Chippy ? 

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