Midsummer Memoranda 



As for myself, I have always been able 

 to retain quite enough to occupy my mind 

 when necessary out of these things of the 

 past, which accumulated so rapidly while 

 they were transpiring that it was impos- 

 sible to keep full pace with them then. 

 Furthermore, this midsummer in which 

 I write seems to give fuller proof of the 

 fact than any of former years; a great 

 throng of recollections of this sort pressing 

 in upon me almost daily as never before. 

 And for some reason at the present moment 

 those of the charming little Acadian Fly- 

 catcher are in the lead. 



However, the Acadian comes first prob- 

 ably because I have found him tamest 

 and most companionable of his clan. 

 His kinsfolk, the Crested and the Tyrant 

 Flycatchers, always treat your approach 

 as an unwelcome intrusion, the voice of 

 the former being marked by a tone of chill 

 surprise when he sees you, while the high- 

 keyed, nervous notes of the latter are full 

 of actual resentment and alarm. But he 

 himself, though much less in size than they, 



[137] 



