The Wizarding World- in particular its schools- judges the power of wizarding children by incidences of accidental magic. The Book of Souls records these incidences and the power of each, completely automated. The system works well; it records all instances of accidental magic, including those by muggleborns, and since no magical child can keep from performing accidental magic it finds all magical children. And if they choose to, those professors who have access to the Book of Souls can learn which children are more powerful, and which are all but squibs.
Of course, the Book of Souls is not completely accurate, although it's accurate enough for the purpose of discovering magical children, and of course the children cannot perform magic which takes more power than what they have. But there are some few who are content enough with their lives, or self-controlled enough, that they never manifest accidental magic which requires all of their power. These are often also among the most powerful, filled with power enough that any who have learned to feel magic can feel the air around them sing with it. Feeling magic is a skill which is rare to the point of obscurity, despite its utility and simplicity.
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