A Book on Birds 



you have been wise enough to bring along 

 — the while your feathered enigma skips 

 from twig to twig and poses at every pos- 

 sible angle; and then at last to place him 

 surely, mark for mark, and follow his secret 

 haunts to his very nest — this is vital and 

 satisfying; and this only. 



Each acquaintance thus acquired will 

 stir you with the joy of new discovery. 

 He is yours — you will say. You have 

 made him so by dint of personal search 

 and observation. The book you have 

 at home was merely a preliminary; the 

 achievement is your own, and to you 

 belongs the credit of it. 



This is the spirit that will ultimately make 

 a bird-lover and a field-lover of any one. 

 Lectures, essays, pictures — of themselves — 

 never; except as they incite you to pick up 

 your hat and field-glass and start right off 

 for the great open book of nature itself. 

 Here you will truly master your subject, if 

 you are in earnest, and be fascinated by it; 

 and your scant and vague and uncertain ideas 

 will grow, and become definite and reliable. 



[16] 



