66 HOW TO STUDY BIRDS 



afternoon the chorus starts off again. As soon as 

 possible get familiar with the songs of the more com- 

 mon birds, the " stand-bys." This will eliminate a 

 considerable part of the later chorus from the ranks 

 of the unknown and enable one to devote the time to 

 getting hold of really new things, without wasting it 

 in following up robins and the like. 



I think that there is no better and more valuable 

 advice that I could give at the outset than to impress 

 upon the student who really wants to know the birds 

 and to become expert the necessity of making free 

 use of the note-book in writing down brief descrip- 

 tions and impressions of bird's notes and songs. We 

 find some bird of especial interest, and have a chance 

 to hear it sing over and over again. " Surely," one 

 thinks, " I shall always remember it." But memory 

 is fleeting, and notably regarding so intangible a thing 

 as bird-music. It is apt to be not long until the 

 thing has utterly escaped us. 



I remember, when visiting the Magdalen Islands, 

 how much delighted the members of our party were 

 in listening to the clear, beautiful, elaborate song of 

 the fox sparrow. It became very familiar to us, so 

 much so that I failed to write down any description 

 of it, and now I cannot recall it with any clearness, 

 when I attempt a mental or verbal rehearsing. I can 

 make the same confession about the songs of certain 

 migrant warblers, especially some that are scarce and 

 do not sing a great deal with us. We hear them 

 some day, and then may not happen to again for 



