Beginning the Study 15 



him as a manual. In saying this I do not mean to dis- 

 courage the purchase of the charming popular books 

 written in a literary vein and describing personal observa- 

 tions on bird life, such as the works of John Burroughs, 

 Bradford Torrey, Olive Thorne Miller, and many others. 

 These books, however, are not advertised as handbooks, 

 and thus no one is deceived in buying them. 



Even with the best manual in hand, you must not 

 expect to be able to identify every new bird at the first 

 attempt, for some species are either exceedingly shy or 

 obscurely marked, or probably both, while quite a num- 

 ber are so much alike in markings and habits that it is 

 hard to distinguish them from one another. A few birds 

 remained enigmas to me for a number of years, in spite 

 of the help of the field glass. At intervals for several 

 months you will often catch provoking glimpses of some 

 nymph-like bird before you succeed in determining its 

 true place in the avian system. But patience and per- 

 sistence will some day overcome the most stubborn diffi- 

 culties. 



Since the foregoing references to leading bird manuals 

 were written, a new work, which is unique in plan, has 

 been published. I refer to the book entitled "Color Key 

 to North American Birds"; text by Frank M. Chapman, 

 pictures by Chester A. Reed. The range of the volume 

 is from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean and from the 

 southern boundary of the United States to the far north. 

 It contains a brief description of every species and sub- 

 species within the limits named; a key to all the Orders 



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