Now slowly raise your opera glass to your eyes, adjust the focus to bring the bird clearly before you, and proceed to study him. First you want his description so that you can name him. Look very carefully at him, his size and shape, his coloring above and below, his peculiar markings, the shape of his tail at the end, and the color and shape of the beak. As you settle one point write it in your note book, which you have quietly drawn out of its pocket.

His description recorded, proceed to note his manners; whether quiet or restless, whether he jerks his tail, or his head; walks or hops. See what he is doing; picking up insects, digging them from bark or ground, seeking them among flowers or leaves, or whether he is eating seeds from the grass or weeds. Sit there as long as that bird is in sight, and note down everything he does, even his calls and his song as it sounds to you.

When you go home take your manual and look for a description that matches yours. This is where troubles begin, not only the obscure scientific terms, and the Latin names, but the knowing where in that big book to start.

You will be helped by observing what the bird ate. If he hammered on the bark and picked his food from tree trunk or limb, look among the woodpeckers; if he flew out, made a turn or two and back to his perch seek him among the flycatchers; if he was eating seeds, look among the finches; and so on.

When by a little work you have passed this Rubicon — where so many turn back discouraged — you will reap your reward, success. Having persevered, and named your bird without help, you will feel a new pleasure in his acquaintance, as if he belonged to you, and you will never forget him.

Then go out and make acquaintance with another. You will find him easier to identify, and as you will become familiar with its idiosyncrasies the manual will lose its terrors for you.

Of course all this trouble will be avoided if you begin with the study of scientific ornithology. But in that case you are in danger of becoming absorbed in the science, and getting to care more for the dry bones and the dead skin, than for the living bird, and thus adding one more to the ornithologists, and taking one from the students of life."