244 HOW TO STUDY BIRDS 



desirable to secure cooperation from observers over 

 the county as widely as possible. Even if a county 

 list has been published, it can be made an object to 

 increase or revise it. 



No matter who else are working, each person 

 should keep his or her own individual bird-lists. 

 These may be the local list of the birds seen in a 

 defined locality, the " annual list " of the birds ob- 

 served during the year, and the " life list " of birds 

 personally seen and identified by the observer. Com- 

 paring one's own lists with those of others will be 

 found a great source of pleasure. It goes without 

 saying that without a strict sense of honor on the 

 part of each friendly competitor, such work is im- 

 possible. 



A plan which could be carried out by a club or 

 group, and which might well prove stimulating and 

 amusing, is to hold a series of " hunts for points." 

 Those concerned might agree upon a scale of values 

 for each species liable to be found in the region, giv- 

 ing each one a number representing its supposed de- 

 sirability and degree of rarity. One could be the 

 unit of value of the most common birds, such as 

 the robin, chipping sparrow, and others; two for 

 birds moderately common, as the chestnut-sided war- 

 bler, vesper sparrow, etc; three for species less com- 

 mon, such as the scarlet tanager, rose-breasted 

 grosbeak, etc. ; four for irregularly distributed species, 

 or those hard to see, like the grasshopper sparrow, 

 white-eyed vireo, rails, etc. ; five for those rather rare, 



