Evening star., 1936-08-08

and has stripes on its breast, rather
than spots.
1t is a sedate little bird which, If one
can believe the pictures, greatly resem-
bles the Louisiana water thrush. Either
of these birds might be seen in this
vicinity, but the chances of seeing the
water thrush hereabouts are not great
Wherefore, the observer may feel that
what he sees is the oven bird, with its
intriguing name. 1t belongs to the large
number of songsterS which are easily
overlooked in the yard.
To spot" it is not the work Of the
non-observer. BY this we mean that
to be able to identify the birds which
come to your garden will require much
time, patience and study. While few
gifted persons (Who, no doubt, will be-
come ornithologists) may be able to dc
this instinctively. the great average bird
lover will find that bird Identification
like all Rome, is not built in a day.
A certain background must be built
up, not only in solid knowledge of the
more common birds, especially those
which Winter with us. but especially in
knowledge of the traits and habits of
birds.
When these two lines of knowledge
have been built to a certain satisfactory
point the bird watcher instinctively will
be able to reject all birds which resem-
BILE but which are surely not the bird
under observation.
Many little points, or even just one
little point, will establish the identity,
whereas the beginner would be entirely
at sea, even in the plainest cases.
Background birds we call all these less
conspicuous Songsters which appear now
and then in suburban gardens, stay
around for few days and then fly
away.
Mostly they are unseen, so that a
great many people who honestly love
the birds never know the variety of wild
life which frequents their own grounds.
Wherefore, resolving these background
birds into real acquaintance is one of
the most interesting things the bird
friend can do, next to feeding all the
songsters that will come.
In this way solid list is built up,
which becomes a priceless possession
and wherever one goes is always at COM
mand.
Others will wonder at this special
knowledge, as little as it may seem at
times to the holder, who knows better
than most all of which he is still in
ignorance.
This is a good side of knowledge. It
comes as near to being something which
cannot be taken away from one as this
old world offers AS long as the mind
holds. this world holds. He who thinks
iS-that was the dictum of the French
sage, and there is something in it.
He who thinks repeatedly of birds and
tries to study them without harassing
himself in the studying becomes, in a
sense, bird-that is, he enters into
their lives and begins to look at the
world somewhat as they must look at it.
In this way he achieves that good
taking of himself out of himself, as the
phrase has it, which Is at one and the
some time the height of wisdom, espe-
cially for those persons who are likely
to become too introspective at times.
Since it is exactly these people who will
normally love the birds, this may be re-
garded as a beneficent provision of
Nature for their own protection.
1t may be realized, therefore, why the
first discovery of a black-and-white
warbler and an oven bird in the home
garden makes any day veritable red
letter day, one set aside and long to be
remembered, and not to be outdone
until another new and strange bird
comes along.