Many books give complete color keys which are to help the beginner. I do not believe much in these, because I have always found them tedious and difficult. I believe that good sketches obviate much of the need of such keys.
Topography of a Bird
In making your studies be careful not to expect to find birds during seasons when they do not normally occur. On the other hand, if you identify a bird at a time which is not indicated in this manual, special note should be made, for pioneer records such as these are valuable to the author who wants to gather together all data, and the last word has not yet been said upon all the movements of even our commonest species.
BIRD-SONGS
It is my belief that but few people altogether lack a sense of tune. Some of my students at the University of Pittsburgh had difficulty, I remember, in diagramming bird-songs; but with a little practice you will be able to jot down syllables which will help you to recall bird-songs. The well-known names Chickadee, Phœbe, and Killdeer are all permanent records of this very sort of syllabization of bird-songs—an attempt to write down what the bird is saying. Sometimes a bird will be heard again and again before it is seen. If my notes concerning songs are at all accurate, some of these will help you to find birds which you might have difficulty in identifying from appearance alone.
NOTE-BOOKS
Write down all sorts of notes, be they ever so incomplete. Make sketches of birds as you see them; diagram the songs and call-notes. Keep all that you write as accurate and free from imagination as possible. Do not accredit a bird with certain colors until you see them.
A note-book may take the form of a diary wherein is stated the temperature of the day, the weather conditions, the length and route of your field-trip, and the birds which you saw, together with notes upon them. Or, your system may be more elaborate, with a separate sheet for each species whereon you put all the data which you accumulate, more or less, perforce, in chronological order. The principal point to remember is that notes should be written while they are fresh in the mind, on the spot, if possible, to avoid inaccuracies.