44 



HOW TO STUDY BIRDS 



ings on the under-parts, it is characteristic of young 

 sparrows to have them. Most of them lack the dis- 

 tinctive markings of their parents, and seem to be 

 just a dull, nondescript mixture of varying dull 

 browns, apparently much the same in one as in the 

 other. This is particularly true of them in summer, 

 but the atmosphere of doubt tends to clear as they 

 pass from their u Juvenal " plumage to the next more 

 mature. 



The young of warblers, too, are often puzzling. 

 Fortunately some have the distinctive characters of 

 the species, such as the general yellow hue of the yel- 

 low warbler, or the yellow on the tail of the female 

 redstart. But the young of the common blackpoll 

 and of the rarer bay-breast are so very similar that 

 they can hardly be told apart unless the bird is shot 

 and in the hand, and none too easily even then. In 

 such a case we may simply accept the limitations of 

 bird-study without a gun. It is no great matter if 

 we fail to " round up " every bird that we see. Even 

 the collector cannot get every specimen which he tries 

 to capture. 



The few who make scientific research their life- 

 work can secure collecting permits from the State. 

 As it is, though we might identify more birds by 

 shooting them, most of us would lose more than we 

 should gain by so doing. For myself, to shoot every 

 blackpoll I might meet on a fine September day in 

 the woods to prove that there was a bay-breast among 

 them would not only be valueless, but utterly re- 



