If you have an idea
of how long a bird
is (from tip of the
beak to the end of
the tail) the Size
attribute is a good
way to start you
search. However
there is another way
to search when you
know the bird's
length or wingspan
called, naturally,
Length. Lets see how
these two attribute
work.
The
Size attribute
presents five images
representing one of
five sizes, Large
(16 - 32 inches),
Medium (9 - 16
inches), and so on.
The image itself is
symbolic, it doesn't
mean you are picking
a duck when you
select Medium for
example. Its just
represents something
in that size range.
There are some
weaknesses with the
Size attribute. Its
is fine when you
know the bird falls
into the middle of
one of the size
ranges, but what if
its on the edge of a
range?
A better attribute
to use is the one
called
Length Range.
This is found in the
Body Group.
There is also a
similar one called
Length which is
found in the
Extras Group.
Length Range
represents all the
different sizes a
particular bird can
have, for example a
sparrow might be
between 5 and 6
inches in length.
The database stores
two values for
almost every bird.
The Length attribute
on the other hand
is a single number
that represents the
average length of a
bird.
Visually on the page
these attributes
present two
"sliders" -- one
called Minimum and
one called Maximum.
You slide each
pointer to the
closest value you
believe the bird's
minimum and maximum
size is, then click
Next. You can see
the actual values
appear in small
boxes to the right
of the slider. Thus
if you think the
bird is between 8
3/4 inch and 9 1/2
inch you can move
the sliders to these
positions.
In doing so you will
isolate birds that
are either an
average size between
those two numbers,
or in the case of
Length Range,
actually varies in
size between those
two values.
By the way when you
use the sliders you
will notice that it
is not a linear
representation but
rather skips some
values. That's
because it
represents the
actual values in the
database. This is a
very slick feature
as you can't pick a
length value that
does not exist.
