CENSUS OF NESTING BIRDS 23 



birds are in full song more or less intermittently during the 

 morning hours, and bird students will all agree that identifi- 

 cation by their songs and call notes, is one of the most certain 

 means of identification of birds in the field. 



The plan followed was to start out early in the morning, 

 usually between four and five o'clock, and walk back and 

 forth across the section, stopping now and then for a few 

 minutes to listen, and to note carefully the bird calls within a 

 certain radius. Then I would travel on till I was beyond this 

 radius and make another pause; in the meantime being on the 

 alert to detect by eye or ear any bird that had not already been 

 listed. 



Several years of practice in the identification of birds by 

 their notes as well as by means of other characters was the 

 necessary preliminary preparation for the census. In those 

 cases wherein the notes of the different species were so nearly 

 alike as to be indistinguishable, then other means of identifi- 

 cation were used. This sometimes necessitated patient chas- 

 ing, watching and waiting, and good use of field glasses. It 

 was a sport far more interesting and exciting than hunting 

 with a gun. The one who has never gotten into the game has 

 no idea of the excitement of the chase, nor of the interest and 

 keen pleasure with which the birds of one region were com- 

 pared with those of another. Absences of looked for species 

 were sometimes the cause of disappointment, and again, new 

 and unlocked for species caused a thrill of pleasure and sur- 

 prise. There were more thrills than disappointments and even 

 the disappointments added zest to the chase. For instance, I 

 was disappointed in not finding the Yellow Warblers, and am 



