HOW TO GET ACQUAINTED WITH BIRDS 539 



be familiar to you, it is not possible in making notes 

 from live birds by the aid of your field-glasses to see and 

 put down all these divisions, because the bird does not 

 pose for inspection, but flutters and hops about in a most 

 bewildering manner. Hence I have adopted the plan 

 of making a rough diagram of a bird on each page of 

 my note-book, as may be seen by Figs. 6 and 7. It is not 

 necessary to be an artist to make these diagrams; anyone 

 who can write well can make a rough sketch of a bird 

 which will serve the purpose. 



HOW TO SKETCH A BIRD 



Make a round figure like A, Fig. 2 ; then add a larger 

 oblong body of a rude egg-shape as B, Fig. 2. 

 Now add the tail F, 

 G (Fig. 3), and draw 

 the lines C, D, and J, 

 I, joining the head to f 

 the body; next the 

 lines E, F and H, G 

 for the upper and 

 lower tail-coverts, Fig. 

 3. You may now rub 

 out the lines where 

 they are dotted in 

 Fig. 4, and add a beak 

 and legs, as in the diagram; then draw the wing L, M, 

 N (Fig. 5), and you will have a bird, and a good 

 enough one on which to make your notes. 



Ornithologists have a certain list of colors which they 

 have adopted as a standard, and of which Frank Chap- 



Field Notes of a Bird 



