THE APPEAL OF THE SPORT 



haunts of the various birds, the times each season when 

 the different species breed, how they build their nests, 

 and any number of other interesting things. 



The boys, however, do not have this fun all to them- 

 selves. It appeals just exactly as much to strong, 

 active men. I began when I was a young boy, and 

 now, after thirty years of the sport, I like it just as well 

 as ever. And there are thousands, increasing thou- 

 sands, of men who have the same feeling. The sport 

 has in it the elements of adventure and activity, just 

 the thing to alternate with the strain and confinement 

 of professional or business life, a means of health and 

 strength, of keeping enthusiasm and youthful freshness. 

 Of course any outdoor sport is useful in this direction, 

 yet the quest of the study of Nature, in some of its 

 departments, has special advantages for providing 

 refreshing resource for the mind, as well as for the 

 body. Bird study has a peculiar inducement in that 

 it is seasonable the year round, and deals with living 

 subjects, which are beautiful and of special fascination 

 because of their power of flight. The gunner and the 

 fisherman at the close of their short season — all too 

 brief it seems — put away their implements of the chase 

 with regret, for it will be many long months before it 

 will be time again to start out. But the ornithologist 

 may go whenever his time permits, when the longing 

 for the wild floods his soul. 



If there were any question of the right of bird study 

 to rank as a sport, and a leading one at that, a certain 



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