42 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



and which needed his constant attention. He had 

 a son and two daughters about my own age. 



So I began to equip myself for my first real ex- 

 pedition as a naturalist. It was only a small stock 

 of powder, some dust-shot, a few pounds of arsenic, 

 some cotton, needles and thread, note-books, and 

 my tools that went with me, but I shall never 

 forget the preparation. Many times since I have 

 fitted myself for prolonged stays in the wilderness, 

 with stores, provisions, and equipments of various 

 kinds, most elaborate and bulky, but I look back 

 to the day when I spent my few dollars for the 

 things I have described for my trip to West 

 Virginia, and feel again the joy and anticipation 

 which no subsequent preparation has awakened. 



I went by rail to Baltimore, thence via Harper's 

 Ferry to Parkersburg on the Ohio River, and by 

 steamboat on this river to a town near the mouth 

 of the Kanawha, called Gallipolis, where another 

 boat conveyed me up the Kanawha River to Coal- 

 burg. This was a roundabout journey, and the 

 boat part of it exceedingly slow. On the way I 

 saw several birds never met with alive, and two 

 of them I observed particularly. The first was 

 the red-headed woodpecker, conspicuous from 

 his definite markings exhibited in flight, and the 

 other the turkey-buzzard, at which I never ceased 

 to wonder, as it soared with so much ease, or passed 

 the trains as if they were stationary. 



