Page:Handbook for Boys.djvu/108

Rh Each booklet contains outline figures of the five leading types of birds: (1) small perching birds, (2) hawks, (3).snipes, (4) herons, (5) ducks. On the Page opposite is a list of numbers corresponding to colors. You can quickly mark in the outline the proper numbers, and note with your pencil any marks on the bird. Then check the other data on the page, add any additional memoranda, and you have your "bird in the hand" ready to take back .and look up at your leisure.

Careful Observation

Notice particularly the "range" of the birds in your reference book, and eliminate all those not stated as occurring in your territory. Notice too, dates of the birds' coming and going, and do not expect to find species at any other time of year than within the dates mentioned. By thus narrowing down the possibilities the task is much simplified. As a final resort, the National Association of Audubon Societies stands ready to help all scouts who are positively "stumped," and if the descriptive slips are mailed with return envelopes to the secretary of the association, 1974 Broadway, New York City, an identification will be made, ff the information furnished renders it in any way possible.

The next time you see a bird that you have once identified, you will probably remember its name, and in this way you will be surprised to find how rapidly your bird acquaintance will grow. After a time even the flight of a bird or its song will be enough to reveal an old acquaintance, just as you can often recognize a boy friend by his walk or the sound of his voice, without seeing his face. And what a new join life there is for anybody that really knows the birds about him. He can pick from the medley of bird songs the notes of the individual singers; he know when to look for old friends of the rear before; no countryside is ever lonely for him, for he finds birds everywhere and knows that any moment he may make some rare discovery or see a bird before unknown to him.

Bird Lists

A scout should make a list of all the birds he has positively identified. This is his "life list" and is added to year by year. In addition he will keep daily lists of the birds seen on special trips in the field; Two or more patrols can enjoy a rivalry by covering different regions and seeing which can observe the largest variety of birds. Hundreds of well-known