Page:Field key to the land birds .. (IA fieldkeytolandbi00knob).pdf/31

 FIELD

KEY TO THE LAND

BIRDS.

The

object of this field book is to enable any lover of without previous knowledge or study of the subject, to identify readily any of our wild birds. As a bird rarely remains long in one spot, it is necesTherefore sary to be able to handle the book quickly. the student is requested to familiarize himself with its simple plan before attempting to use it in the field. Scientifically, birds are classified according to their feet and bills, which are too small and obscure to serve for the identification of birds in the field but their size, shape, color, markings, habits, and sometimes their calls can be easily observed. For this reason families have been somewhat broken up in arranging the plates, though in the text the usual classification has been followed. In the arrangement of the plates the plan has been to group the birds according to their size. On Plates I. and II. are all our birds the size of a common crow or larger on Plates III. and IV. the birds about the size of the robin, blue jay, or pigeon. On Plates V., VL, and on VII. are all the birds about the size of a sparrow Plate Y. those with gay plumage, on Plate VI. those not speckled, and on Plate VII. those which are speckled and brown. On Plates VIII. and IX. are all the birds smaller than a sparrow, like the warblers and wrens. All the birds on each plate are drawn in the same proportion, but the large birds on Plates I. and II. are of course drawn on a much smaller scale than those on Plates III. and IV., and these latter on a correspondingly smaller scale than those on Plates V., VI. and VII. On each plate those birds which resemble each other birds,





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