Douglas Shedden—A New Idea in Bird Boohs



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totally discard the textbook, for it will prove invaluable for verification

and for identifying unknown species.


To fill up this book set out for a suitable wild bird haunt complete

with pencil and pad (your “ book ” having been left at home to be

filled in more carefully from hurried jottings), and where possible a

camera. Having chosen a good position, well hidden, sit and wait.

Patience is the greatest virtue at this point. If you are lucky the

birds will not notice you or will soon become used to your presence,

and will behave in their natural manner. You must surely be delighted

by the ever-interesting incidents of bird life—now you are almost

startled out of your wits by the ringing laugh of the Green Woodpecker ;

now you are amused by the screams of a Jay as it is mobbed by a

flock of smaller birds ; but do not stare wonderstruck all the time,

your pencil must be busy jotting down what you see. This can be

entered into your bird book at home in your leisure, under suitable

headings.


The best way is to take a bird, write down its appearance, as it

strikes you, and the points by which it can most easily be recognized

and distinguished. After this make a list of its habits (as you have

observed them), nesting, eggs, flight, manners, peculiarities, etc. Below

this make a note of any little incidents in which you have seen the

bird in question involved. Leave a blank space for further additions,

for you will certainly have some if not many. The opposite pages

could be filled with appropriate photographs, if you have been fortunate

enough to procure any, or drawings if you have a flair for that sort

of thing.


This book will not be finished in a week, or even a month. It will

take years of careful watching and study, but it will be well worth it.


The completed work will be a dear treasure, for not only will it

be a mine of useful information, but it will have been written by your¬

self, and will contain a complete history of your study of wild birds.



