48 
BY THE WAYSIDE 
Suggestions for the Use of the Key 
In previous issues we have published 
an attempt to classify birds on charac¬ 
ters not concerned with minute anat¬ 
omy. This classification presented no 
new arrangements, but rather used a 
different basis than most keys do. Tho 
motive of this attempt was not to ren¬ 
der systematic bird study more rigid, 
for it does not do this, but rather 
to place in the hands of the beginner 
who desires to use field glasses and ref¬ 
erence books a different method of at¬ 
tack. 
It was previously pointed out that a 
bird s habits fit it for a certain habitat 
and that the habitat wherein a given 
bird may be seen may be used as a 
means of identifying the species in 
question. Thus for example, if you see 
a bird swimming on a lake, you may 
guess with fair assurance that it belongs 
under group one cy one of the named 
exceptions- However, you may chance 
to see a marsh wren skulking in the 
rushes and you would try in vain if you 
sought to identify it among the three 
orders grouped as “waders.” Then 
you will object that the key is no good 
for here is a bird which surely dwells 
in a marsh, yet does not come under 
the list of marsh loving birds! Tho 
point is this, in calling the marsh wren 
a marsh loving bird you have done 
Dame Nature violence, for she never in¬ 
tended originally that master marsh 
wren should live amongst the rushes. 
We can see no reason why he could 
not live just as well in any other 
thicket, and as a matter of fact we do- 
find him in wavy hay fields where 
you can walk safely even though the 
ground be moist and springy. But 
there are birds, the bittern for example, 
which would look out of place any 
where except in a marsh. There his 
long legs enable him to wade across the 
pools with ease but they would enable 
him neither to swim nor to slink deftly 
through a bramble thicket. So in using' 
the key, be careful to first see that the 
bird is built as it were to fit into the 
habitat to which you assign him. This 
may seem to be setting you a consider¬ 
able task, but a few trials and a little 
thought ought to clear your under¬ 
standing of the matter. 
Another method that we have used 
in this key may be called the theory oi 
types. That is to say, we have selected 
a given bird and have grouped all sim¬ 
ilar -kinds together. We have mem 
tioned individuals and have let them 
stand for groups. So the student when 
he has become acquainted with a new 
species, should on meeting still a dif¬ 
ferent species resembling the first, as* 
sociate the two as possibly belonging 
to the same group but as being two rep¬ 
resentatives thereof. Thus when a be¬ 
ginner has learned to know the differ¬ 
ence between a hawk and an owl in 
their haunts, should be able to tell by 
comparing mental pictures to which 
group may belong the next bird of prey 
he chances to see. This principle' 
sounds ridiculously simple; it is by no 
means so and is often of the greatest 
aid to the observer afield who does not 
care “to shoot every strange bird on 
sight.” A very good way to acquire 
this sense of the appearances of birds 
as species, families and orders is to 
look at pictures, noting the salient char¬ 
acters of individual or group according 
as one desires to use the information. 
Carry a mental picture, it is often the 
quickest way of identification. 
In conclusion we want to urge that 
this scheme of learning groups and 
habitats is no quick and easy read to a 
knowledge of systematic ornithology. 
It is put forward in the hopes that it 
may direct some beginner’s efforts 
which might otherwise be desultory 
and unavailing. 
