10 FIELD OBNITROLOGY. 



how beautiful she is ! I would have you to know and love her ; for fairer mistress never 

 swayed the heart of man. Aim high ! — press on, and leave the half-way house of mere col- 

 lectorship far behind in your pursuit of a delightful study, nor fancy the closet its goal. 



Birds may be sought anywhere, at any time ; they should be sought everyvi'here, at 

 all times. Some come about your doorstep to tell their stories unasked. Others spring up 

 before you as you stroll in the field, like the flowers that enticed the feet of Proserpine. Birds 

 ilit by as you measure the tired roadside, lending a tithe of their life to quicken your dusty 

 steps. They disport overhead at hide-and-seel< with the foliage as you loiter in the shade of 

 the forest, and their music now answers the sigh of the tree-tops, now ripples an echo to the 

 voice of the brook. But you will not always so pluck a thornless rose. Birds hedge them- 

 selves about with a bristling girdle of brier and bramble yi^u cannot break ; they build their 

 tiny castles in the air surrounded by iniiiassable moats, and the drawbridges are never down. 

 They crown the mountain-top you may lose your breath to climb ; they sprinkle the desert 

 where your parched lips may find no cooling draught; they flock the snovi'- wreath when the 

 nipping blast may make you turn your back ; they breathe unharmed the pestileiit vapors of 

 the swamp that mean disease, if not death, for you; they outride the stornr at sea that sends 

 strong men to their last account. AVhere now will you look for birds '? 



And yet, as skilled labor is always most productive, so expert search yields more than 

 random or blundering pursuit. Imxirimis ; Tlie more varied the face of a country, the more 

 varied its birds. A place all plain, all marsh, all woodland, yields its particular set of birds, 

 perhaps in profusion : but the kinds will bo limited in number. It is of first importance to 

 reurember this, when you are so fortunate as to have choice of a collecting-ground ; and it wiU 

 guide your steps aright in a day's walk anywhere, for it will make you leave covert for open, 

 wet for dry, high for low and back again. WeU-watered country is more fruitful of bird-Ufo 

 than desert or even prairie ; warm regions are more productive thon cold ones. As a rule, 

 variety and abundance of birds are in direct ratio to diversity and luxuriance of vegetation. 

 Your most valuable as well as largest bags may be made in the regions most favored botani- 

 caUy, up to the point where exuberance of plant-growth mechanically opposes your operations. 



Search for particular Birds can only be well directed, of course, by a knowledge of 

 their special haunts and liabits, and is one of the mysteries of wood-craft only solved by long 

 experience and close observation. Here is where the true naturalist bears himself with con- 

 scious pride and strength, winning laurels that become him, and do honor to his calling. 

 Where to find game ("game" is anything that vulgar people do not ridicule you for shooting) 

 of all the kinds we have in this country has been so often and so minutely detailed in sportinu-- 

 works that it need not be liere enlarged upon, especially since, being the best kuown, it is the 

 least valuable of ornithological material. Most large or otherwise conspicuous birds have very 

 special haunts that may be soon learned ; and as a rule such rank next after game in ornitho- 

 logical disesteem. Birds of prey are an exception to these statements; they range everywhere 

 and most of them are worth securing. Hawks will unwittingly fly in your way oftener than 

 they will allow you to approach them when perched : bo ready feu- them. Owls will be 

 startled out of their retreats in thick bushes, dense foliage, and hollow trees, in the daytime • 

 if hunting them at night, good aim in the dark may be taken by rubbing a wet Inciter match 

 on the sight of the gun, causing a momentary glinnner. Large and suiall waders are to be 

 found by any water's edge, in open marslies, and often on dry plains ; the herons more particu- 

 larly in heavy bogs and dense swamps. Under cover, waders are oftenest approached by 

 stealth ; in the opeu, by strategy; but most of the smaller kinds require the exercise of no special 

 precautions. Swimming birds, aside from water-fo«-l (as the "game" kinds are called), are gen- 

 erally shot from a bf)at, as they fly past ; but at their breeding places many kinds that conore- 



