INTRODUCTION. 5 
oftener than the male, flies too soon, retire and return in a few 
minutes. Adopt the same plan for a bird, whom you have 
flushed from the ground, and do not at once recognize. If you 
fail to find the nest (granted that there be one there, and that 
the bird was not merely feeding), on returning, note the exact 
spot from which she rises. If you think to recognize her, 
make yourself positive of facts. If not, note with the utmost 
accuracy her size, markings, and the shape of the bill, and 
identify her as soon as possible.6 To determine her size, re- 
member that the Humming bird is about 3} inches long, the 
Song Sparrow or Snow-bird 6 or more, the Robin about 93, and 
the Crow nearly 20. Also observe the comparative length of 
her tail. 
§E. If you have an opportunity, study the works of Wilson 
and Audubon. The former’s figures are very life-like, and 
their coloring generally true, though often too high-toned or 
otherwise incorrect. It is still more worth your while to 
examine the collection of the Boston Society of Natural His- 
tory.7 If this is inaccessible to you, another is probably more 
worthy of your attention than descriptions, or even accurate 
paintings. 
§F. A nest containing sound eggs, but without the parent- 
birds, generally indicates that all the eggs have not been laid, 
or that the parents are temporarily absent. Should you find 
5 Many birds, when frightened from their nests on the ground, feign lameness or 
the like. 
_ §&Shooting the parents when collecting for yourself is optional. See quoted 
remarks in § A. 
7The building of this Society is on Berkeley street (near Boylston) in Boston. 
It is at present open to the public on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 10 A. M, to 
5p.M. The birds of New England are not separated from those belonging to other 
parts of the world. 
