SUBURBAN EXCURSION. 11 



meadows are no Fieldfares or Redwings at present, the frost 

 not having been intense enough, or sufficiently continued, to 

 drive them here in search of food. Many haws still hang on 

 the branches, and yonder are two rowan trees whose twigs 

 droop with yet unfaded and untouched clusters of scarlet ber- 

 ries. As to the heps of the dog-rose, so plentiful on the bank, 

 birds eat them only when they can get little or nothing besides. 

 But here are some Blackbirds, and if we search for an hour or 

 two along the hedges, we may obtain enough for our purpose. 

 Many Rooks, too, are in the cornyard and on the highway ; 

 but of them a single specimen will suffice. 



It is only by proceeding in this manner, carefully observing 

 the habits and haunts of birds, that one can become usefully 

 acquainted with them. It is obviously impossible, however, for 

 an individual to examine all the species of a country so closely 

 as to become personally couA^ersant with every particular of 

 either their manners or structure. Even of this beautiful male 

 Blackbird which we have just procured, I cannot now de- 

 scribe all that is interesting in the organization ; but, as I 

 have promised to present an account of its vocal and respira- 

 tory organs, which may be considered as a continuation of the 

 remarks on the structure of birds offered in the first volume, 

 we shall inspect them on our return, and compare them with 

 those of a variety of other species. 



But, Master mine, some folks say there is no use in all this 

 wandering and talking. A would-be critic in a magazine 

 now extinct, conscientiously warns his subscribers of the folly 

 of buying your book, alleging that the writing appears to him 

 an affected attempt to imitate Isaak Walton and Audubon. 

 These excursions of ours he dislikes " in toto," body and soul, 

 or, as he expresses it, " substance and spirit.*" 



Good Pupil, be assured of this : — If ever you do an honour- 

 able deed, some one will find it reasonable to censure it. If 

 you write a book, he who has penned a worse on the same 

 subject, will make it his duty to decry it. Let him alone. 

 Our walks are agreeable to ourselves, and useful to others, our 

 conversation is not unworthy of disciples of Linnaeus, nor is 

 our mode of observing nature less efficient than that adopted 



