14 BIRDS 



inclined to seek rather than avoid the domains of man. You 

 may be surprised to learn how many birds visit dooryards 

 and orchards in the rural districts annually. INIany are only 

 migrants on their way to and from a more northerly latitude, 

 but from ten to twenty-five varieties are common about our 

 dwellings, orchards, and pastures. 



Let the bird student who is to acquire a knowledge of 

 bird life by observation avoid the society of other persons 

 when going " birding." It may be interesting to have human 

 companionship and want some one to share with you in the 

 finds you hope to make. Usually the naturalist never lacks 

 companionship simply because he is without the company 

 of other people. To the lover of the prairies, water- 

 courses, and timber lands — for such he must be to success- 

 fully acquaint himself with our feathered creatures — there 

 can be no longing for companionship. The nodding flowers, 

 swaying branches, rippling brooks, and breezy meadows all 

 convey messages of their own. 



Let us take for example a given area not to exceed fifty 

 miles from Lake Michigan, anywhere within an imaginary 

 line drawn from a point in southwestern Michigan through 

 northern Indiana and Illinois, thence northward into south- 

 eastern Wisconsin. During January we have with us such 

 birds as the downy woodpecker, white-breasted nuthatch, and 

 chickadee, which are fond of each other's company, and quite 

 likely to be observed together, moving about the trees in our 

 dooryards, orchards, or woodlands. The noisy blue jays are 

 more or less in evidence, and the ever-cautious crow visits the 

 pastures and cornfields. 



The evening grosbeak, pine grosbeak, Bohemian wax- 



