290 



THE GUIDE TO NATURE. 



Hartford Courant" with two photo- 

 graphs that he had taken. These were 

 forwarded in the evening mail, and I 

 received them at <j.i5 the next forenoon 

 at my home in Stamford, Connecticut. 

 While I was busy reading his story, 

 members of my family said, "Come to 

 the window and see the large number 

 of blackbirds in our trees." 

 filled with a noise of their 

 the rustling of the leaves, 

 around our house that da\ 

 the next and then departed to regions 

 unknown. It surely was a curious coin- 

 cidence. I will not claim that they came 

 along to verify the story of their exist- 

 ence ! 1 must admit it gave me a cur- 

 ious mental emotion to see the flock just 

 as I was reading about it. The next 

 morning's mail brought a letter from the 

 Hartford resident, stating that the prev- 

 ious evening the flock had gone off to the 

 southeast. It was in all probability the 

 same flock. 



The air was 



cackling and 



They stayed 



and part of 



FROM TWO POINTS OF VIEW. 



What a variety in every bit of natural 

 scenerv ! As a child might sit with a 



kaleidoscope and turn it around and 

 around tirelessly for an entire evening, 

 accompanied with frequent exclamations 

 of delight, so may the true nature lover, 

 day after day and in unceasing delight, 

 travel around and around any natural 

 scene. I think that we naturalists often 

 attempt too much. Linnaeus had the 

 proper spirit when he said to a pupil a» 

 he laid his hand on a bit of moss, "Heic 

 is sufficient material for the study of a 

 life-time." And he might well have ad- 

 ded, "Admiration and entertainment for 

 a lifetime." 



It is not necessary to keep going for- 

 ward to find ever changing scenes of 

 beauty. If the beautiful scene under 

 consideration will not turn, then get the 

 different points of view by rotating 

 yourself. One of my favorite haunts 

 of nature near my own home bears thus 

 turning-thirty-two points of the compass 

 every day in the year. Herewith I show 

 north and south points of view from the 

 same center. They are distinct enough 

 and different enough to be totally dif- 

 ferent scenes in two totally different 

 places, and varied enough to necessitate 



LOOKING SOUTH. 



