1 he Birds' Calendar 



big and rostlul aspect of permanence over the 

 mutabilities of existence. 



Furthermore, in the prevalent distribution 

 of their principal types, botany and ornithol- 

 ogy insure to the student a comfortable home- 

 feeling, wherever he may walk abroad, in the 

 sense of old - time com};anionship. In the 

 same zone, even continent answcreth to conti- 

 nent in identical and similar types, and one 

 can never be utterly a stranger in a strange 

 land, when he discovers on every hand the 

 counterparts of forms and faces familiarized 

 and endeared by the memories of early life. 



But the herbarium and the stuffed speci- 

 mens ! Good for bait, to catch the wandering 

 interest of the novice. There is something de- 

 pressing, almost melancholy, in these dead and 

 withered specimens within brick walls, when 

 one has seen their living, joyous confreres in 

 their native haunts, the air laden with the fra- 

 grant smells of earth in the dewy freshness of 

 an early breeze, and has heard them sing 



" Their choicest notes in bush and spray, 

 To gratulate the sweet return of morn." 



What a pitiable travesty do we fmd in the con- 

 trast of nature's vital, melodious handiwork. 



