E-text prepared by Al Haines
Transcriber's note:
The page numbers in the left margin are thosein the original book. However, in this e-book, toavoid the splitting of paragraphs, theillustrations may have been moved to the pagepreceding or following.
Wood Thrush
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
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
PREFACE
This book has been written for the consideration of that ever-increasingclass of Americans who are interested in acquiring a greater familiaritywith the habits and activities of wild birds. There are many valuablepublications treating more or less exhaustively of the classification ofbirds, as well as of form, colour, distribution, migration, songs, andfoods. Here an attempt is made to place before the reader a briefconsideration of these and many similar topics, and suggest lines ofaction and thought that may perhaps stimulate a fuller study of thesubject. Attention is also given to the relation of birds to mankind andthe effect of civilisation on the bird-life of the country. The book isnot intended so much for the advanced student in ornithology, as for thebeginner. Its purpose is to answer many of the questions that studentsin this charming field of outdoor study are constantly asking of thosemore advanced in bird-lore. In conformity with the custom employedduring many years of college and summer-school teaching, the author hasdiscussed numerous details of field observation, the importance of whichis so often overlooked by writers on the subject.
If one can, in the recounting of some experience that he has foundinteresting, awaken in the mind of a sympathetic hearer a desire to goforth and acquire a similar experience, then indeed may he regard himselfas a worthy disciple of the immortal Pestalozzi. Let the teacher whowould instruct pupils in bird-study first acquire, therefore, that lovefor the subject which is sure to come when one begins to learn the birdsand observe their movements. This book, it is hoped, will aid suchseekers after truth by the simple means of pointing out some of theinteresting things that may be sought and r