VII 



Some species frequent the still ponds and shady creeks ; others 

 pass their time at sea ; while many crowd our bays and harbors, con- 

 tributing to our support. Some feed on shelly molusca ; others subsist 

 chiefly on vegetables; and many regale themselves on finned prey. 



The great changes which birds undergo until they arrive at full 

 and mature plumage, as well as the various changes the adults are 

 subjected to from Spring to Autumn, teaches us that plumage is 

 not at all times the best criterion for specific characters. Therefore 

 the writer would urge the importance of paying attention to the bills, 

 tarsi and feet, which, with the habits and notes, are certain characters. 



The plumage first engages the attention of the student. This 

 should be examined during Spring, when most of our birds appear 

 in full and decided dress, and the notes of all our Song Birds are 

 frequent and clearly expressed. The next is their habits, which, 

 in some cases the peculiarities are so difficult to describe, that in a 

 written description of closely-allied species, there may appear but a 

 trifling difference ; yet to a close observer, the manners and cus- 

 toms peculiar to certain species, the mode of building their nests, 

 their eggs, &c, are sufficient of themselves to form distinctive 

 characters. In Autumn, when those which have passed on to other 

 districts to breed, return with their young, in whatever liverv they 

 may then appear, the species may be determined to a certainty by 

 recognizing its peculiar note ; which, in but very few instances, 

 can be intelligibly communicated by syllables. In other words, 

 the place to study Ornithology is in the open air, while rambling 

 through the woods and fields, following the water-courses ; and by 

 frequenting the sea-shore and interior lakes — thus studying from 

 Nature, the best of all preceptors. With those species which are 

 of exceedingly rare occurrence, and the habits of which you have 

 had no opportunity of observing, or tracing the plumage in its dif- 

 ferent stages, the formation of the bills, tarsi, feet, and toes, will 

 assist in defining closely-allied species. 



