40 
HISTORY AND WORK OF THE 
but it is usually more profitable to give attention to a few 
birds, not more than a dozen species, during the first season, 
for the reason that if you know your dozen thoroughly, you 
are not likely to confuse them with others. If you do not 
know the most familiar species, you will borrow trouble. 
A correspondent wrote to inquire if the birds he saw in 
the meadow near his house, being about the size of a robin, 
were towhees. The writer replied that he would not expect 
towhees to remain long in meadows, unless they wxre well 
supplied with trees or tall shrubs ; that the birds he 
saw were probably meadow larks, or bob-o-links. He 
finally learned that they were meadow larks. One should 
not expect to find towhees in open meadows or meadow larks 
in deep woods. Alany start out by merely endeavoring to 
identify a large number of birds, and really never learn to 
know their birds. These are the persons who are most 
likely to become weary or discouraged. 
One of the most important things is to learn the habitat 
of each bird, and second, to know why they are attracted to 
those places. One who observes with an eye for informa- 
tion would never think of looking in the woods for red- 
winged blackbirds, and yet the writer knew of a person who 
did this very thing. At the same time it is infinitely better 
to display ignorance and be righted than to remain ignorant. 
Michigan has sufficient range north and south to make ^ 
considerable difiference in bird life. One would not expect 
to see a cardinal north of Saginaw, and it may be they do not 
go that far north. On the other hand, the purple finch and 
evening groesbeck, at times common in northern ^Michigan 
during the winter, are rarely seen in the southern portion of 
the state, except during the severest weather and after such 
weather has been continued for some time. 
To begin with, note the characteristics of the English 
s])arrow, so that you can readily distinguish it from the native 
species. Do not attempt to identify the whole tribe of spar- 
rows that may visit your neighborhood in the course of the 
year, for they are as difficult to learn as the warblers. It is 
taken for granted that everyone knows the robin and the 
crow. Beginners usually do not care to give time for study 
of either one. Yet scarcely a publication in ornithology in 
