50 BIRD FRIENDS 



this point in bird-study. The ability to name the 

 birds from year to year as they return in the spring 

 is one of the chief pleasures in bird-study, and gives 

 a sort of feeling of friendship for the birds. But 

 in the process of learning the names of birds, one 

 of necessity learns many interesting things about 

 them. There is a sort of fascination to see if one can 

 learn to name all the birds of a locality. It serves as an 

 incentive from year to year, as one recognizes the old 

 friends, to try each year to make a few new friends, 

 as well as to get better acquainted with the old. 



Equipment. In order to name the birds, the first 

 essential is a bird book. There is a great variety of 

 books on the market adapted to every requirement. 

 For the purpose of identification the most helpful 

 books are those that contain colored pictures. For 

 a beginner in bird-study, who knows only a few 

 birds, Reed's " Land Birds" is well adapted. This 

 contains a small colored picture of every land bird 

 in the eastern United States, accompanied by a brief 

 description of the bird. This is a small book and 

 can easily be carried in the field. Mr. Reed has a 

 companion volume entitled "Water Birds," on the 

 same general plan. These books cost from seventy- 

 five cents to one dollar and a quarter, according to 

 the binding. 



After one has made a beginning and can name 

 twenty-five or thirty birds, an excellent book for 

 general reference is Chapman's "Handbook of Birds 



