Z INTRODUCTION. 



nest and attaching it to some neighboring object. I myself, 

 from as near a standpoint as possible, and often aided by an 

 opera-glass, observe, if I can, the female when actually upon 

 her nest, since other birds may be about it, and may even 

 make complaints from sympathy, or because their own nests 

 are near by. 1 Should she fly too soon, I either return after a 

 few moments' absence or concealment (as I often do in prefer- 

 ence to doing mischief by keeping her too long from her nest), 

 or I follow her with my eye, endeavoring not to lose sight of 

 her nor to confuse her with any other species, and note, so far 

 as possible, all her markings, which, until I became an expert, 

 I always noted down on the spot, to compare with full descrip- 

 tions at home. Practice enables one to recognize many birds, 

 particularly the larger ones, at a glance, and to note readily 

 the most characteristic markings ; but there is no objection to 

 shooting hawks, which are less easily identified otherwise than 

 smaller species. There are some persons who are too inaccu- 

 rate to follow this method, and with such, or with those per- 

 sonally unknown to you, it is well never to exchange. Males 

 are generally more easity identified than females, and fre- 

 quently sit upon their nests, though most often appearing 

 when their mates are disturbed. Confusion may easily arise 

 from two varieties of one species, but both forms rarely occur 

 in the same district, and, according to a strict definition of the 

 word " variety," can never normally do so. The only varie- 

 ties (not belonging to original types) which occur in New 

 England among land-birds, are the Gray-cheeked Thrush, the 

 Bronzed Blackbird, 2 and the Red-naped Woodpecker, of which 

 the first-named has been sometimes ranked as a species, and 



* It may be added that Cow-birds never lay their eggs but in the nests of other 

 birds. See 17, III. 

 2 " This bird is thought to build in holes, while the Crow Blackbird does not.'-' 



