The Audubon Societies 



123 



think of the advantages of studying birds carefully and in a somewhat scien- 

 tific manner. If a famous traveler or travelers should visit our neighborhood 

 once or twice a year, would it not be worth while to learn the real names by 

 which they are known all over the world, as well as the common names and 

 nicknames by which they might happen to be called in certain localities; 

 and would it not also be of rare interest and advantage to find out all we 

 could about the remarkable journeyings of such strangers? 



Each one of our bird-neighbors represents a family, whose habits at home 

 and wanderings abroad are as full of charm and instruction as those of any 

 human folk, did we but know how to get at the meaning of them. 



Some of our feathered friends spend most of the year with us, and become 

 nearly as familiar to many of us as the trees about our homes or the scenes 

 we know best. 



These "permanent" bird-residents seem much easier to become acquainted 

 with than either the nesting species, which are with us only during the summer, 

 or the winter residents and visitors, and far, far easier than transient species, 

 which pass through our neighborhood once or twice a year, and stop, maybe, 

 only for a day or a night while the leaves are budding or falling. 



It may help us to remember the birds we have seen, if we make a simple 

 outline and write their names in the proper places, something like this: 



Permanent Resident Summer Resident 



Blue Jay 

 Cyanocitta cristata 

 cristata — crested 

 cyano — dark blue 

 citta — a bird that 

 chatters 



Oven-bird 

 Seiurus aurocapillus 

 auro — gold 

 capillus — hair 

 seiurus — to shake 

 the tail 



Winter Resident 



Winter Visitor 



J UNCO 



Junco hyemalis 

 hyemalis 



hyemalis, orhiemalis, 

 — wintry, or be- 

 longing to winter 



junco — the origin of 

 this word is un- 

 known 



Snow Bunting 

 Plectrophenax 

 nivalis nivalis 



nivalis — snowy, or 

 growing in the 

 snow 



plectro — a cock's 

 spur 



phenax — a cheat 



Regular Migrant 



Blackpoll 



Warbler 



Dendroica striata 



striata — striped, or 



streaked 

 dendroica — a house 

 and a tree, or a 

 tree-dweller 



Can you arrange the birds in your vicinity under these headings, learning 

 the common name of each species, and, at least, looking at the scientific 

 name, which is in two and sometimes three parts, describing the genus, species 

 and subspecies to which the bird belongs? 



The scientific names of birds are not half so difficult as they look; besides, 

 most of them, when translated into English, contain interesting bits of de- 

 scription or history, which help one remember the birds. Thus, the Blue Jay, 

 according to its scientific name, is a crested, dark-blue, chattering bird; the 

 Oven-bird is a golden-haired bird that shakes its tail; the Junco is a bird be- 

 longing to winter; the Snow Bunting, on account of its long hind claw and 

 conspicuous changes in plumage, probably, becomes a snowy cheat with a 

 cock's spur; while the Black-poll Warbler is described as a striped or streaked 

 bird whose home is in a tree. 



All of the categories of birds mentioned in the outline attract us, but, at 



