SPRING AND SUMMER MEET 53 



bond of sympathy is strong or weak, but some- 

 how the song of the towhee stirs me as few bird- 

 notes can. It is sweetly plaintive; it is happily 

 sad, or sadly happy; it is lonely, yet contented; 

 it is indescrible; and it is all expressed in " Sweet 

 bird si-n n n n g! " 



A flock of a dozen sprightly tree swallows, 

 just arrived, completed our observations at the 

 valley, and then we set off for home. We chose 

 a round-about way, and shortly before returning 

 to the farm-house, we visited a little pond in a 

 hay-meadow. We were soon made exceedingly 

 glad that we called here, for we met a migrant 

 stranger of note — one to go down in the note- 

 book with his name spelled in capitals and under- 

 lined. There were two of these worthies, hand- 

 some Hudsonian godwits, and they were in com- 

 pany with a pair of the commoner marbled 

 species. They were much occupied with each 

 other and allowed a close enough approach for 

 us to observe them well. It is this meeting with 

 rarities that lends to ornithological field work 

 one of its greatest charms and incentives. 



But though these big snipe occupied the cen- 

 ter of the stage, they were not the only waders 

 of interest at the pond. Several beautiful Wil- 



