Our Common Birds and How to Know Them 



one's eyes for the purpose of making memoranda, since, if one loses sight of a bird, 

 it is frequently difficult to regain it. Before the next specimen is sought, however, 

 the notes descriptive of the one just observed should habitually be made, and that too, 

 be it remembered, with the thoroughness which has already been strenuously advised. 

 Depend upon it, the time and trouble bestowed upon these notes will be certainly and 

 speedily rewarded. 



A third, and for an indolent nature an extremely pleasant, method of studying birds 

 is to seek some spot which possesses peculiarly attractive features for them, and whither 

 they are accustomed to resort in great numbers, and there, properly sheltered, seat your- 

 self and quietly wait for what may come within the range of your vision. I have in 

 mind two localities that have always proved wonderfully rich in bird-life. One is a 

 bluff, perhaps forty feet in height, rather steep, and with a number of good-sized forest 

 trees growing upon its slope. Rolling fields spread backwards from its brow, and at 

 its foot runs a line of shrubbery, somewhat thicket-like in character and forming a sort 

 of natural hedge, which fittingly bounds a boggy meadow beyond. Several small springs 

 issue from the sides of this declivity and trickle down in gentle streams until lost in the 



