Birds of Allegany Park 253 



a few dead, hollow trees or stumps, or the erecting of artificial 

 substitutes for nesting sites would be likely to attract the beautiful 

 Wood Ducks. 



In considering this matter it might be advisable to locate the wild 

 life and game preserves in places where lakes can be created, and 

 plan for the construction of such lakes. This will protect not only 

 ducks and water birds that may breed, but also give the migratory 

 species a place to tarn- unmolested, increase the numbers that will 

 habitually stop in the region, and make good hunting each fall on 

 lakes where shooting: is allowed. 



WHEN AND WHERE TO STUDY BIRDS IN THE PARK 



One who visits the Allegany Park with a study of its birds as 

 one of his objects will do well to go early in the summer. Most 

 birds are nesting and singing in June and early July, and are easily 

 observed then. By the middle of July several species have ceased to 

 sing. Fewer and fewer songs are heard as the summer advances, 

 until by mid-August nearly all birds are silent. The number of 

 bird species seen is likely to be much greater in June and July 

 than later in the summer. 



In late summer many birds moult, acquiring the plumage of fall 

 and winter, which is often dull and not so distinctive as the breed- 

 ing plumage. Large numbers of young birds in plain but puzzling 

 plumages are to be found then. These facts make identification of 

 birds at that season a matter of considerable difficulty, until one 

 becomes skilled through long practice. The chapters on Identifying 

 Birds in the Field and the Field Key (pages 334-345) give ample 

 guidance for the amateur and should enable anyone to distinguish 

 and become well acquainted with most of the Park birds in a reason- 

 able time. However, identification is only one of several aspects 

 of this pastime ; the interesting habits of birds and their ever attrac- 

 tive manners make them extremely fascinating at all seasons. 



The best time of day to look for birds is in the morning, the earlier 

 the better. Birds begin their day with the first faint light of dawn, 

 and are most active in the early hours following. Near noon they 

 are inactive and silent, as a rule. The expedition that waits till nine 

 or ten o'clock to go out into the field will find comparatively few 

 birds. There is another period of bird activity toward evening. 

 One may often be quite successful in finding birds in the last hours 

 of daylight ; and as twilight deepens such night-calling species as 

 the Whip-poor-will and owls become vocal. 



Trips into the field to look for birds are best made on foot and 

 in small parties of two or three persons. The automobile may be 

 useful in getting from one locality to another, but one will see few 

 birds that can easily be identified from a movinp- car. Walking is 

 greatly to be preferred ; not the rapid hike that covers as much 

 ground as possible in a given time, but slow sauntering, stopping 

 wherever the beauties of nature invite one to tarry. Often one who 

 saunters over a small ?rea finds as many birds as one who covers 



