STUDENT DAYS 39 



James, the elder, and others were frequent callers. 

 Samuel Longfellow, the poet's brother, also came, 

 and the social circle was both charming and cul- 

 tivated. 



To return to my college work, Mr. J. A. Allen 

 had recendy made a tour of parts of Kansas, Colo- 

 rado, and Wyoming, principally for the purpose 

 of obtaining ornithological material. The collec- 

 tions that he had so made were in the neighbor- 

 hood of fifteen hundred birds, and had just 

 arrived at the museum. Part of my regular 

 work during this year was the study of these 

 collections, and I became conversant, at least, 

 with the external appearance of the specimens in 

 the bird fauna in question. In 1878 I visited al- 

 most the same region where Mr. Allen had worked, 

 and met no birds that were not recognized at 

 sight, so careful and thorough was the kind of 

 training pursued under Mr. Allen's direction. 



I kept up my out-of-door study and field-work. 

 One of my favorite rounds for such investigation 

 was a place we called " The Farm." It was just 

 back of Mount Auburn, and among its features 

 was a large apple-orchard, and a considerable pine 

 wood, while in the more open land was a large 

 field of asparagus which was allowed to go to seed. 

 To these asparagus beds many birds came in the 

 fall and winter, among them great flocks of cedar- 

 birds, to feast on the berries. The passenger- 



