of the country. The book is
not intended so much for the advanced student in ornithology, as for the
beginner. Its purpose is to answer many of the questions that students
in this charming field of outdoor study are constantly asking of those
more advanced in bird-lore. In conformity with the custom employed
during many years of college and summer-school teaching, the author has
discussed numerous details of field observation, the importance of which
is so often overlooked by writers on the subject.

If one can, in the recounting of some experience that he has found
interesting, awaken in the mind of a sympathetic hearer a desire to go
forth and acquire a similar experience, then indeed may he regard himself
as a worthy disciple of the immortal Pestalozzi. Let the teacher who
would instruct pupils in bird-study first acquire, therefore, that love
for the subject which is sure to come when one begins to learn the birds
and observe their movements. This book, it is hoped, will aid such
seekers after truth by the simple means of pointing out some of the
interesting things that may be sought and readily found in the field and
by the open road.

In the preparation of this volume much valuable aid has been received
from Messrs. E. W. Nelson, F. E. L. Beal, Wells W. Cooke, T. S. Palmer,
H. C. Oberholser, and others of the United States Biological Survey, for
which the author desires to make grateful acknowledgment.

Parts of some of the chapters have previously appeared in the "Craftsman
Magazine" and "Country Life in America," and are here reproduced by the
courtesy of the editors.

T. GILBERT PEARSON.

{ix}

CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v

CHAPTER

I. FIRST ACQUAINTANCE WITH THE BIRDS . . . . . . . . . . . 3

_Caution in Nest Hunting--Going Afield--Notebooks--Reporting
Blanks--Bird Books--Movements of Birds--Artificial
Cover in Hiding--The Umbrella Blind--Conclusion._

II. THE LIFE ABOUT THE NEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

_Nest Hunting--Behaviour when Nest Is Discovered--Lessons
to Be Learned--Character of Material Used--Nests in
Holes--Variety of Locations--Variation in Families--Meagre
Nests._

III. DOMESTIC LIFE OF THE BIRDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

_Parental Care of Young--Sharing