August 



quite numerous among the apple-trees and the 

 wayside elms and maples, holding a continuous 

 high carnival : so brimful of delight that it 

 seemed as if they must dissolve in song. Their 

 merriment is infectious, and their joy as trans- 

 parent as that of a child — the purest in the 

 world, for no sorrow is lurking in their hearts. 

 Emerson's words concerning the chickadee can 

 with almost equal aptness be addressed to the 

 purple finch : 



" There is no sorrow in thy song, 

 No winter in thy year." 



Although with its silence from fall until spring 

 one cannot say of the finch as of the chickadee, 

 that it is no respecter of seasons. 



I shall long remember the welcome that one 

 of these finches seemed most graciously to give 

 me, as it flew to a branch of an apple-tree al- 

 most within hand-reach, just after my arrival, 

 and began to carol deliciously, as if to say, 

 " Glad to see you, glad to see you, ha, ha, ha ! 

 hope you'll have a jolly time ! " After a few 

 days the whole flock suddenly ceased singing, 

 almost as if by a preconcerted signal. I think 

 they must have left the neighborhood, or else 

 had received some bad news. 



235 



