28 



tion. Note down on the spot, size, shape, color, and markings, 

 also shape and appearance of beak and tail (when you can see 

 them), for future reference. This will help you to identify the 

 bird, and to fix its identity in your memory, or, if you carry a 

 handbook with colored illustrations, look up the bird at once, 

 so as to settle the matter by further examination of the bird, if 

 possible. Remember, however, that no handbook gives color 

 plates of all plumages of all the birds. 



The expert can determine many birds at a distance by their 

 characteristic flight. An ornithologist, constantly in the field, 

 can identify many a bird by its flight alone at a distance 

 greater than that at which most people can recognize a friend 

 by some peculiarity of his gait; and the beginner, by making 

 good use of his opportunities, will soon learn to recognize a 

 buzzard hawk such as the red-tail by its wheeling flight, or a 

 flying green heron by the downward bend of its wing tips. All 

 woodpeckers bound forward in flight, as they travel by rising 

 for a few wing beats, and then sliding downward with the wings 

 partly closed. The goldfinch also has an up-and-down flight. 

 The gait of the bird on the ground may determine the species 

 or at least the family. Crows, grackles, blackbirds, ovenbirds, 

 and some others walk, while most birds progress by hopping, 

 although now and then a hopping bird may surprise you by 

 walking a few steps on clear, open ground. The titlark, the 

 yellow palm warbler and the water thrushes all wag the tail up 

 and down while moving about, — something not habitual with 

 most other birds. 



Bird Notes as a Means of Identification. 



The notes of birds serve as an excellent means of identifica- 

 tion, although there are a few birds which can imitate well the 

 notes of others. Among these are the crow, blue jay, catbird, 

 brown thrasher, starling, and the famous mockingbird. The 

 note furnishes a clue to the presence of the bird, and assists 

 the searcher in his quest, but if he relies on the note alone he 

 may be mistaken. No rare bird should ever be identified and 

 recorded by its note alone. I have seen a black-throated green 

 warbler in the act of singing continually the full song of a 



