The Bird Study Book

The Bird Study Book, by Thomas Gilbert

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Title: The Bird Study Book
Author: Thomas Gilbert Pearson

Release Date: April 8, 2007 [eBook #21007]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE BIRD STUDY BOOK
by
T. GILBERT PEARSON
Secretary, National Association of Audubon Societies
Coloured Frontispiece
Pen and ink drawings by Will Simmons
And sixteen photographs

[Frontispiece: Wood Thrush]

Garden City ------ New York Doubleday, Page & Company 1917 Copyright, 1917, by Doubleday, Page & Company All rights reserved, including that of translation into foreign languages, including the Scandinavian

TO MY WIFE
ELSIE WEATHERLY PEARSON

{v}
PREFACE
This book has been written for the consideration of that ever-increasing class of Americans who are interested in acquiring a greater familiarity with the habits and activities of wild birds. There are many valuable publications treating more or less exhaustively of the classification of birds, as well as of form, colour, distribution, migration, songs, and foods. Here an attempt is made to place before the reader a brief consideration of these and many similar topics, and suggest lines of action and thought that may perhaps stimulate a fuller study of the subject. Attention is also given to the relation of birds to mankind and the effect of civilisation on the bird-life 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 the Labours--Length of Mated Life--A Much-married Bluebird--The Faithful Canada Geese--Unmated Birds--Polygamy Among Birds--The Outcast.
IV. THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Moulting--Why Birds Migrate--The Gathering Flocks--The Usual Movement--The Travelling Shore Birds--The World's Migrating Champion--Perils of Migration--Keeping Migration Records.
V. THE BIRDS IN WINTER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
A Good Time for Field Walks--The Downy's Winter Quarters--Birds and the Night--The Food