BIRD STUDY 15 



the arrival of the Robins and Bluebirds from the south and the 

 departure of Nuthatches and Juncos for the north. He has fed 

 birds all winter and knows every one of them by name. In a 

 word, he is alive to the out-of-doors, in sympathy with a great 

 sphere of life of surpassing daily interest. 



One in beginning bird study is apt to become discouraged 

 because there are so many. But this is as foolish as to refuse 

 to make friends because there are so many people. Indeed, one 

 learns birds just as he learns people: he is introduced to Mr. 

 and Mrs. Robin or Bluebird; his acquaintance with these leads 

 to acquaintance with others. One of the delightful things about 

 bird study is that it takes a lifetime and every new acquaintance 

 is a new source of interest. 



And yet bird study does not take much time either from 

 work or other study. It is not a matter of time but of attention. 

 One person walks along the street with his head down and his 

 thoughts far away; another sees the Downy Woodpecker chisel- 

 ing a worm out of a tree beside the walk or the Nuthatch stand- 

 ing head downwards on a tree trunk across the street. One 

 person is wide awake and sees intelligently; the other is half 

 asleep and oblivious to what goes on about him. 



Two boys take a tramp together in the woods. Both en- 

 joy the trainp but one has more than a tramp. He sees the 

 Scarlet Tanager and hears the Wood Thrush sing; he flushes 

 a Whip-poor-will and sees it light lengthwise on a limb ; he 

 hears the Flicker's call and knows why he is on the ground 

 feeding on ants. He sees a bird that he does not know and hears 

 a call that he does not recognize. New interests have thus come 

 into his life. It was a tramp worth while. 



The main thing in bird study is to get started. When we 

 have once begun, it is a continuous delight; it opens the eyes 

 even wider to all nature about us, and in later life it becomes 

 a source of restfulness firom work and worry. It adds to every 

 walk in the fields and to every tramp in the woods; it makes 

 every vacation on lake or in mountain tenfold enjoyable, for the 

 best way to rest and enjoy is not to sit idle but to give our- 

 selves to new interests. 



