HOW TO NAME THE BIRDS.
IN studying the birds as you see them about you, try to acquire the habit of gauging the size, general colour, and poise at a glance, gaining the details, if possible, afterward. Impress upon yourself the location in which you saw the bird, its occupation, its method of feeding, whether, if upon the ground, it walked or hopped. Was it dashing through the air or skimming low over the meadows, uttering a twittering cry and turning and curving sharply as it caught
insects in its wide mouth? If so, you must look for it in the Swallow Family.
Was it a brown or olive~backed bird somewhat of the build of the Robin but smaller, with a light-coloured breast more or less speckled, scratching among the bushes for the insects upon which it feeds? You must look for it in the Thrush Family, and if you do not place it there search among the Ground Warblers. Or was it a tiny olive-gray bird that caught your eye as it peeped about the twigs of the orchard trees in the autumn, turning its head and looking at you sidewise, showing every now and then its gold and scarlet crest? Then you must look among the Kinglets.
If you keep a note-book and pencil in your pocket when you are on the bird—quest, many particulars can be jotted down to refresh your memory when consulting the reference book. In rapidly gauging the size of a particular bird do not think in inches, but compare it mentally with some bird that is familiar to you. Say to yourself, Is it as large as Robin, a Bluebird, or a Chippy?
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