Birds of The Palisades Interstate Parle 10 
silently to listen and look, or move forward with quietness and 
caution, approaching in a way not to disturb the bird into a hasty 
flight from the spot. If the bird moves away deliberately, follow 
carefully for further observation, and with due care the observation 
may be thus prolonged to one’s satisfaction. 
The nesting season, including the period of care of young in the 
nest and on the wing, is pre-eminently the time for satisfactory bird 
study. Frequently I have been asked, “ How do you find the nest 
so quickly?” An instance occurred this spring, when I was visit- 
ing in Syracuse on my way to the Park. I went with Dr. C. C. 
Adams to his garden lot, in the edge of the town, and while he was 
attending to his asparagus bed I located a Song Sparrow’s nest in 
a corner of the lot. He asked me how I found it so quickly; I 
explained that, upon our arrival, I heard the male sparrow singing 
in the scrubby growth at the rear of the lot; I noticed the female 
sparrow carrying food in her mouth, in the vicinity of a brush pile 
in the margin of the shrubbery ; and I knew that this sparrow fre- 
quently chooses a brush pile as the site for its nest. In this case, 
the singing of the male in the vicinity of the nest, the female 
carrying food, and the available site at hand, led me direct to the 
nest. In most instances, when the female is sitting on her nest, 
and hence not active in the locality, the singing range of the male 
may serve as a fair indication of the location of the nest. In my 
mention of the Black-throated Blue Warbler (p. 74), it is stated 
that I found the nest after careful observation of the range of the 
male in his singing movements; after deciding upon the approxi- 
mate center of his range, it then became a matter of close search 
in the low sprouts for the site of the nest. 
The key to all satisfactory bird study is quiet, close observation 
of the bird’s notes, actions and movements, resulting in a knowl- 
edge or acquaintance with the bird’s habits and private life, so to 
speak ; — its haunts, its food preferences, its choice of nesting sites, 
and its favorite habitat in any locality, whether forest, thicket, or 
open land. Hot all of these items can be learned in a single outing, 
nor in one season, though the nesting and later feeding period 
will afford many opportunities for valuable observations of bird 
habits and behavior. Later in the summer, the birds as a rule 
