An Introduction to the Birds of Pennsylvania — Reading Companion

Call Notes as Primary Identification Tools

Sutton repeatedly emphasizes that the small flycatchers—dull olive-green birds with wing-bars and eye-rings—are "reasonably easy to identify in the field, chiefly from their call-notes." He provides phonetic renderings for each species: the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher's tsek or chuh-bec, the Acadian's explosive pit-i-yuk or wee-zee-eep, the Alder's becky-weer, and the Least Flycatcher's energetic che-bec delivered with a violent toss of the head. He even warns that the Eastern Wood Pewee's song is "often almost perfectly imitated by the Starling," so that pewee songs heard in winter or unlikely places should be investigated. This reliance on vocalizations reflects the practical challenge of identifying visually similar species in the field.

Habitat and Seasonal Specificity

Each species account ties the bird to a precise habitat and seasonal window. The Acadian Flycatcher lives "in shadowy woodlands along ravines" where beech, maple, or hemlock overhang a stream; Sutton warns not to look for it in swamps or orchards. The Alder Flycatcher is found "in low growth along streams or in swamps, often actually among alders." The Least Flycatcher prefers "open aspen copses or orchards." Seasonal occurrence is given with care: the Yellow-bellied Flycatcher is a migrant in mid-spring and early autumn, nesting only at one or two high altitudes; the Acadian comes in early May and stays until mid-September. These details allow the reader to narrow possibilities by place and date.

Deliberate Omissions and the Beginner's Focus

Sutton's prefatory note explains that many species recorded in Pennsylvania are not mentioned, so as "to simplify the list for the beginner, who is confronted with a sufficiently formidable array of new and strange names as it is." He acknowledges that thorough works are needed—citing volumes by W. E. Clyde Todd and Witmer Stone then in preparation—but offers this manual as an interim guide. The excerpts show that even within included species, descriptions are brief: the Horned Lark entry, for instance, is a single paragraph contrasting the northern relative with the Prairie Horned Lark. Sutton's approach is to equip the beginner with enough to identify common birds without overwhelming detail, a strategy evident in the concise, field-oriented accounts.

Sutton's manual is best used as a companion in the field, not a desk reference. Readers should pay close attention to the phonetic call notes and habitat descriptions, which are the book's core identification tools. The pen-and-ink drawings, while simple, are intended to be adequate for field work; Sutton believed they avoid the misleading perfection of color plates. For those who keep ornithological notes, Sutton hopes their records will contribute to the larger, more exhaustive works he knew were needed.

Sometimes I think of Sutton’s quiet insistence that a bird is known best by its call and its place, and I remember another old volume on my shelf, Big Game Shooting, volume 1 (of 2) — Context and Discussion, with its patient attention to terrain and habit. Both felt less like manuals, more like someone sharing what they’d learned by simply watching.