72 HOW TO IDENTIFY BIRDS, 
on its wings. Probably it exists only through your hasty 
ovservation. 
Arm yourself with a field- or opera-glass, therefore, 
without which you will be badly handicapped, and look 
your bird over with enough care to get a general idea of 
its size, form—particularly the form of the bill—color, 
and markings. Then—and I can not emphasize this too 
strongly—put what you have seen into your note-book 
at once. For, as I have elsewhere said, “not only do 
our memories sometimes deceive us, but we really 
see nothing with exactness until we attempt to de- 
scribe it.” 
It-is true that all the birds will not pose before your 
glasses long enough for you to examine them at your 
leisure, but many of them will, and in following the - 
others you will have all the excitement of the chase. 
Who knows what rare species the stranger may prove 
to be! 
From your description, and what added notes on voice 
and actions you may obtain, the field key and illustra- 
tions on the succeeding pages should make identification 
a simple matter.* You should also take into considera- 
tion the season of the year when a bird is present, and 
not call a summer bird by a winter bird’s name. The 
dates of migration given in the following pages will be of 
assistance here. They refer to the vicinity of New York 
city, where, in the spring, birds arrive about a week later 
* The publishers’ liberality has resulted in securing bird portraits 
of unusnal excellence. Mr. Seton Thompson is an ornithologist as 
well as an artist; his subjects are personal friends. He has spared no 
effort to make these pictures characteristic life sketches, and I ven- 
ture to claim that, as a whole, they excel in truth and beauty any 
bird-drawings ever published in this country. 
