AUTUMN HUNTING WITH A FIELD GIASS 



ONE of the most uncertain of months is Octo- 

 ber, and most difficult for the beginner in 

 bird study. If we are just learning to enjoy the 

 life of wood and field, we will find hard tangles 

 to unravel among the birds of this month. Many 

 of the smaller species which passed us on their 

 northward journey last spring are now returning 

 and will, perhaps, tarry a week or more before 

 starting on the next nocturnal stage of their pas- 

 sage tropicward. Many are almost unrecognis- 

 able in their new winter plumage. Male scarlet 

 tanagers are now green tanagers, goldfinches are 

 olive finches, while instead of the beautiful black, 

 white, and cream dress which made so easy the 

 identification of the meadow bobolinks in the 

 spring, search will now be rewarded only by some 

 plump, overgrown sparrows — ^reedbirds — which 

 are really bobolinks in disguise. 



Orchard orioles and rose-breasted grosbeaks 

 come and are welcomed, but the multitude of 

 female birds of these species which appear may 

 astonish one, until he discovers that the young 

 birds, both male and female, are very similar to 

 their mother in colour. We have no difficulty in 

 distinguishing between adult bay-breasted and 

 black poll warblers, but he is indeed a keen ob- 



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