54 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
The egg is hatched, and the baby 
Cowbird soon shows his rightful charac¬ 
ter by grabbing most of the rood of the 
family, and often by cruelly crowding 
his nest-companions out of their home. 
Not always, however, does this heartless 
method of the Cowbird, of throwing the 
responsibilities of housekeeping on other 
people, succeed. Occasionally the vic¬ 
timized warbler will detect the crime, 
and will promptly build a new nest right 
over the intruding egg. Three of such 
eggs have been found iml)etided in the 
substance of a warbler’s nest. Let us 
hope that the brave mother was allowed 
to rear her brood in the fourth nest un¬ 
disturbed. 
SOME BOOKS ABOUT BIRDS. 
It is not mv intention to talk about 
all the books on birds that I know, nor 
even about all the good books. Space is 
too limited for that. I wish here only 
to point out a few books that will prove 
helpful, especially to the beginner. And 
I certainly do not mean to say that there 
are not others which may be equally 
helpful. Of course one may want bird 
books for quite various purposes. But 
if knowledge of birds is what we want, 
then such a book should have certain 
feat) 1 res in its make-up, to be of value. 
First, it should be clear in style, so that 
one may always understand its meaning. 
Second, it should be accurate, so that one 
may always rely on its statements. And 
third, it should always be careful to 
make it clear as to how much in its con¬ 
tents is favt and how much is theory. 
This we can demand of all books. For 
each special purpose, however, there are 
other things needed. But let us look at 
some of the various types: 
A Beginners’ Bool:. For any person, 
ycung or old, who knows practically 
nothing of birds (and it is* surprising 
how many such there are) it is best to 
start with a few common forms and to 
learn as quickly as possible the main 
facts about them. For this purpose I 
know no better book than Neltje B Ian ch¬ 
an’s Bird Neighbors, published by 
Doubleday Page and Co. This book 
treats* of about fifty very common birds, 
giving the chief facts about each in very 
attractive manner, and illustrating many 
of them on colored plates, very true tc 
life. 11 
A field book. After mastering a book 
like the one just mentioned, the next thing 
to do is to get acquainted with the birds 
of one’s own neighborhood, beyond th< 
fifty or so of Bird Neighbors. For this 
we have had for some years now an al 
most ideal book, Mr. Chester A. Reed’: 
Bird Guide. It appears in two volumes 
one on the smaller land birds, the othei 
on the larger land birds, and the wate: 
birds. Both volumes form a small loac 
for an ordinary coat pocket. But the 1 
great value of these books lies-n the facl 
that they contain exactly colored pic 
tures of all birds occurring in the Unit 
ed States, east of the Rockies. We hav 
used this work extensively in bird classes 
and can recommend it most highly. I 
also is published by Doubleday Pag 
and Co. By the way be sure to get tb 
revised edition. 
A larger field book. Having progress 
ed so far, a student will soon feel th 
need of much technical information. II 
has in fact reached maturity, become ai 
expert to a degree. At this point he wil 
be ready for one of several books’. 0) 
the whole, however, we would recoiri 
mend Chapman s Handbook of Birds o! 
