72 HOW TO IDENTIFY BIRDS. on its wings. Probably it exists only through your hasty observation. Arm yourself with a field- or ojDera-glass, therefore, without which you will be badly handicapped, and look your bird over with enough care to get a general idea of its size, form — particularly the form of the bill — color, and markings. Then — and I can not emphasize this too strongly — put what you have seen into your note-book at once. For, as I have elsewhere said, "not only do our memories sometimes deceive us, but we really see nothing with exactness until we attempt to de- scribe it." It is true that all the birds will not pose before your glasses long enough for you to examine them at your leisure, but many of them will, and in following the others you will have all the excitement of the chase. Who knows what rare species the stranger may prove to be ! From your description, and what added notes on voice and actions you may obtain, the field key and illustra- tions on the succeeding pages should make identification a simple matter.* You should also take into considera- tion the season of the year when a bird is present, and not call a summer bird by a winter bird's name. The dates of migration given in the following pages will be of assistance here. They refer to the vicinity of l^ew York city, where, in the spring, birds arrive about a week later
- The publishers' liberality has resulted in securing bird portraits
of unusual excellence. Mr. Seton Thompson is an ornithologist as well as an artist ; his subjects are personal friends. He has spared no effort to make these pictures characteristic life sketches, and I ven- ture to claim that, as a whole, they excel in truth and beauty any bird-drawings ever published in this country.
