64 
BY TEE WAYSIDE 
What field glass you will want, de¬ 
pends largely on the condition of your 
bank account. They can be had of 
useful character, at from four dollars 
to a hundred. We have a glass in use 
with our classes that can be bought for 
four dollars and a half beside ship¬ 
ping charges, and that is fully as good, 
for bird work, as one costing three 
times, as much. It magnifies about 
three times, and has a large field. The 
new binoculars, magnifying as high as 
twelve times are magnificent—and 
costly. 
There are certain birds so charactr- 
istic, and so unlike all others, that to 
see them is to know them forever af¬ 
ter : such are the Blue Jay, the Robin, 
the Humming bird. But often we find 
three, or four, or a dozen species so 
nearly alike that it calls for some 
study of detail to distinguish them. 
Here we must resort, when studying 
the living birds, to “field marks.” We 
can usually find in each of several very 
similar species some mark, or charac¬ 
teristic action, which is easily seen and 
distinguishes it from the rest. Per¬ 
haps the most difficult group we have 
to contend with in our region are the 
sparrows, and certain birds that re¬ 
semble them, and so we may use them 
as examples. The following are the 
<mes we have to consider, omitting 
those which are rare; for each is given 
a field mark, or several field marks 
where more than one is necessary: 
English Sparrow: Male has a black 
chin and throat ; a white wing bar 
ashy-gray in female. 
Vesper Sparrow: shoulder (bend of 
wing) chestnut; two outer tail fea¬ 
thers white and very conspicuous in 
flight. 
Savanna Sparrow: a yellow line 
above the eye; yellow at bend of wing; 
breast streaked. 
Grasshopper Sparrow: Similar to 
Savanna Sparrow, but breast not 
streaked. 
Lark Sparrow: Small black spot in 
center of plain breast; head striped 
with chestnut, white, and black. Tail 
white-tipped. 
White crowned Sparrow: Broad, 
white crown, bordered by black; no 
yellow. 
White-throated Sparrow: see Bird 
of the Month; yellow. 
Tree Sparrow: Black spot on center 
of plain breast; crown reddish-brown; 
no black on head; tivo white wing bars. 
Chipping Sparrow: Somewhat like 
Tree-Sparrow, but smaller and no 
black spot on breast; black line through 
eye. 
Field Sparrow: bill reddish yellow, 
much lighter than in other sparrows. 
Somewhat resembles Tree-Sparrow, 
but no spot. 
Song Sparrow: Streaked everywhere 
with brownish-black; a large spot on 
middle of breast. 
Lincoln Sparrow: Like Song Spar¬ 
row, but less reddish; no spot on 
breast; streaks finer. 
Swamp Sparrow: Forehead black; 
crown chestnut with gray middle 
stripe; no streaks. 
Fox Sparrow: much larger than any 
other sparrow; general color reddish 
breast and sides heavily spotted. 
Oven Bird: This is a warbler, but is 
sometimes confused with the sparrows; 
the fact that it ordinarily walks in¬ 
stead of hopping will always distin¬ 
guish it. 
Of course you will not be able to 
learn all these in one field trip, but 
they will help. There is one other im¬ 
portant field mark, and that is the 
song. I have said nothing about it, 
because it is practically impossible to 
convey any idea of it in print. It is 
one of the things you must learn for 
yourself in the field, and this learning 
will prove one of the pleasantest 
things in the work. 
Next month I shall take up the field 
marks of some other group of birds. 
