HOW BIRDS ARE NAMED 
5 
nize it at sight. After learning the names of its parts, its identity is 
simply a question of keys and descriptions. 
If you would “name the birds without a gun,” by all means first 
visit a museum, and, with text-book in hand, study those species 
which you have previously found are to be looked for near your home. 
This preliminary introduction will serve to ripen your acquaintance in 
the field. A good field- or opera-glass is absolutely indispensable. (See 
beyond, under Equipment.) Study your bird as closely as circumstances 
will permit, and write, on the spot, a comparative description of its size, 
the shape of its bill, tail, etc., and a detailed description of its colors. 
In describing form, take a Robin, Chipping Sparrow, or any bird you 
know, which best serves the purpose, as a basis for comparison. A 
bird’s bill is generally its most diagnostic external character. A sketch 
of it in your note-book will frequently give you a good clue to its owner’s 
family. It is of the utmost importance that descriptions and sketches 
should be made in the field. Not only do our memories sometimes 
deceive us, but we really see nothing with exactness until we attempt 
to describe it. Haunts, actions, and notes should also be carefully 
recorded. 
Even better than a description is a figure colored with crayons or 
water-colors. It may be the crudest outline and in ridiculous pose, but at 
least it is definite. There is no possibility of error through the wrong 
use of terms; the observer draws or charts what he sees. Neither art 
nor skill is required. Anyone can learn to make the outline of the 
normal bird figure as readily as he can learn to make the letters of the 
alphabet, and a little practice ( will enable one to give the shape of bill, 
wings and tail, and even a hint of characteristic form and position. 
Typical, passerine outline figures may be made in advance in one’s 
field note-book, and the shape of the bill and color may be added while 
the bird is under observation. A collection of diagrams or sketches of 
this kind will be found to possess far greater individuality and value 
than mere written descriptions. If the sketch cannot be completed, if 
essential details are lacking, it is obvious that the subject has not been 
seen with that definiteness upon which satisfactory field identification 
should rest. With this description or sketch you may now proceed to 
use the ‘Keys’ as explained on an earlier page. 
How Birds Are Named . — Nine years have passed since an actually 
new species of bird was discovered in North America, while no new 
eastern North American bird has been found for twenty-five years. It 
is extremely doubtful, therefore, if from our Mexican boundary to the 
Arctic Ocean there remains a single unknown species of bird. Of geo- 
graphical races, or climatic varieties or subspecies, a gradually decreas- 
ing number will be described from at least western North America 
for years to come, but in eastern North America we have practically 
reached, if indeed we have not passed, the point where such forms may 
be profitably named. 
The bird student in this area may be reasonably certain, therefore, 
