160 SCRAPING ACQUAINTANCE. 



out the brains of rabbits and squirrels is an 

 innocent and delightful pastime, as everybody 

 knows ; and the delectable excitement of pull- 

 ing half-grown fishes out of the pond to perish 

 miserably on the bank, that, too, is a recreation 

 easily enough appreciated. But what shall be 

 said of enjoying birds without killing them, or 

 of taking pleasure in plants, which, so far as we 

 know, cannot suffer even if we do kill them? 



Of my many pleasant associations of birds 

 with places, one of the pleasantest is connected 

 with the red-headed woodpecker. This showy- 

 bird has for a good many years been very rare 

 in Massachusetts ; and therefore, when, during 

 the freshness of my ornithological researches, I 

 went to Washington for a month's visit, it was 

 one of the things which I had especially in 

 mind, to make his acquaintance. But I looked 

 for him without success, till, at the end of a 

 fortnight, I made a pilgrimage to Mount Ver- 

 non. Here, after visiting the grave, and going 

 over the house, as every visitor does, I saun- 

 tered about the grounds, thinking of the great 

 man who used to do the same so many years 

 before, but all the while keeping my eyes open 

 for the present feathered inhabitants of the sa- 

 cred spot. Soon a bird dashed by me, and 

 struck against the trunk of an adjacent tree, 

 and glancing up quickly, I beheld my much- 



