Page:The Way of the Wild (1923).pdf/171

 After identifying each species, it is well to note the difference between the markings of the male and the female. As a general rule, the male bird is more gorgeous than the female. In the human species, the female wears all the fine feathers, but not so with the birds where the males wear the fine feathers and also do all the singing.

Many of the birds may be told simply by their flight when they are so far distant that one can barely see them. Thus it is that the woodpeckers gallop, the hawks sail, the swallows skim and dart. So it is often a very slight thing that gives the clue to the identity of the bird.

It is very pleasant to know all the bird songs. Here a single note will often betray the bird, although he may be hidden away in the deepest thicket.

Squirrels are harder to discern among the tree tops than are birds, for their neutral-tinted coats blend readily with bark and foliage. The squirrel has acquired the trick of keeping perfectly still if he knows you are searching for