i6 FIELD ORNITHOLOGY fart i 



mountain-top you may lose your breath to climb ; they sprinHe the 

 desert where your parched lips may find no cooling draught ; they 

 fleck the snow-wreath when the nipping blast may make you turn 

 your back; they breathe unharmed the pestilent vapours of the 

 swamp that mean disease, if not death, for you ; they outride the 

 storm at sea that sends strong men to their last account. Where 

 now will you look for birds ? 



And yet, as skilled labour is always most productive, so^expert 

 search yields more than random or blundering pursuit. The more 

 varied the face of a country, the more various its birds. A place 

 all plain, all marsh, all woodland, yields its particular set of birds, 

 perhaps in profusion ; but the kinds will be limited in number. It 

 is of first importance to remember this, when you are so fortunate 

 as to have choice of a collecting-ground ; and it will 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. Well- 

 watered country is more fruitful of bird-life than desert or prairie ; 

 warm regions are more productive than 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 favoured botanically, up to 

 the point where exuberance of plant -growth mechanically opposes 

 your operations. 



Search for particular Birds can only be well directed by a 

 knowledge of their special haunts and habits, and is one of the 

 mysteries of wood-craft to be solved by long experience and close 

 observation. Here is where the true naturalist bears himself with 

 conscious pride and strength, winning laurels that become him, and 

 do honour to his calling. Where to find gmm ("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 sporting-works that it need not be here enlarged upon, especially 

 since, being the best known, game-birds are 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 ornithological 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 : be ready for 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 lucifer match on the sight of the gun, 

 causing a momentary glimmer. Large and small waders are to be 

 found by any water's edge, in open marshes, and often on dry 



