The Birds' Calendar 



ihat sometimes it is as pleasant to l)e reminded 

 of what we already know, as to be told some- 

 thing new, — to see a familiar ol)ject through 

 another's eyes, as an unfamiliar one through 

 our own. 



Between the purely literary works upon orni- 

 thology that flit about over the sul)ject like a 

 ])utterfly, and require a previous knowledge of 

 birds for their full appreciation, and the techni- 

 cal books of reference whose information is so 

 methodical, impersonal, coldly accurate, and 

 highly prosaic — between these extremes there 

 seems to be a gap, which this book will per- 

 haps help to fill. 



The path opening before us discloses also in 

 its long vista a deeper enjoyment of nature in 

 all her varied and manifold aspects. It is one 

 of the charms of nature that her revealments 

 and concealments go hand in hand. Every- 

 where mystery covers all, like the fulness of the 

 sea. To the sensitive soul no scene can be 

 commonplace. Even the departed glories of 

 primal Paradise seem faintly to linger and echo 

 in a fair morning's dewy and fragrant baptism 

 of earth and air, in the resplendent sky-flush of 

 purple and crimson, when 



" All the orient laughcth of the light,' 

 14 



