i THE ANERICAN MIDLAND NATURALIST 



the species seen, ;uk' by noting casually an approximate number of 

 each species, am observer will soon learn the relative abundance 

 at any season of the year of all the birds that come under his 

 observation. By comparing his records and notes for several 

 seasons, he will have a very adequate idea of the distribution of 

 bird life in his own neighborhood. This totalling up of records for 

 ,i number of years is, however, no light task; and in the writer's 

 own experience, lias proved veritable drudgery. 



While studying the migration and distribution of birds, any 

 observer will incidentally obtain a very fair knowledge of their 

 habits— such as, nesting, bathing, feeding, and the call-notes and 

 songs of birds. Perhaps the most interesting of a bird's habits 

 is its nesting so various are the nests and the ways and means 

 that are taken to feed and protect the young birds. A typical 

 crude nest is that of the Mourning Dove, while the most marvelous 

 of brids' nests is the hang-nest of the Baltimore Oriole. Then there 

 are the eggs, so variously colored that a set of them may be most 

 beautiful. The feeding of the fledglings, their first attempt at flying, 

 the anxiety of the old birds for the safety of their young, and many 

 other interesting features of the nesting season, are inexhaustible 

 subjects for study or pleasurable investigation. 



Next to nesting, I think, the bathing habits of birds are most 

 remarkable. Two general methods of bathing are observable 

 namely, wading into the water and plashing in it, and flying and 

 dipping into the water. Most birds bathe in the first way, which 

 is much the less interesting. To see a bird fly out over the surface 

 of the water, and suddenly plunge into it — is a wholly surprising 

 performance, even to the experienced observer; for there may be 

 some particular cicrumstance of the action that is unusual such as, 

 the number of dips taken — at intervals or successively the 

 height from which the birds descends into the water, or some other 

 curious element. 



One of the most astonishing things that meets the eye of the 

 keen observer is the readiness with which the young birds of a 

 given species adopt the ways of their parents. To us who must be 

 i aught everything with the utmost pains, and who with long 

 and careful training, only succeed in doing things clumsily, the 

 alertness of birds to do as their parents is really a great wonder. 

 When barely fledged, most birds begin to Iced and fly, and bathe 

 the old birds do. The native power of young birds to 



