What Bird Is That?

What Bird Is That? is by Frank M. Chapman and describes itself as A Pocket Museum of the Land Birds of the Eastern United States arranged according to season. The text says that the student should learn to name the parts of a bird's plumage in order that he may write, as well as understand, descriptions of a bird's color and markings. The text calls August the Month of Molt and says that the first week in August virtually marks the end of the song season. The text also notes that one-brooded birds, having launched their families, will seek retirement to undergo the trying ordeal of molt.

One species entry covers Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow, Passerherbulus nelsoni nelsoni, which resembles the Sharp-tailed but is smaller and nests in the interior from South Dakota northward to Great Slave Lake. Another entry says that the Hermit Thrush may be known by the season in which he visits us, by his reddish brown tail, and by the low chuck note.