ORNITHOLOGIST 



_a:<d— 



OOLOGIST. 



$1.00 per 

 Annum. 



PUBLISHED BY THE FRANK. ELAK.E WEBSTER COMPANY. 



ESTABLISHED MARCH, 1875. 



Single Copy 

 10 cents. 



Vol. XVIII. HYDE PARK, MASS., JANUARY, 1893. 



No. I. 



The First Spring Outing. 



I foot up. "O, let me climb to the nest!" 

 Of course I don't think I shall ever climb 

 The winter and spring of 1S92 wilP another tree if it be over two feet up to 

 long be remembered for the visitation of; j^g branches. 



the Russian epidemic, La Grippe. Un- 

 sparing in its infliction, it numbered its 

 victims in every household and in every 

 avocation. Even the ornithologist was 



It was a pleasant morning for a pleasant 

 trip ; it seemed to put new life into one 

 debilitated by the epidemic. The drum- 

 ming of the Grouse, and the startling 



made to realize how it felt, and the walls whirr when we flushed one, stirred the 

 of my house echoed and re-echoed to the blood, and we stopped to listen to the 

 form of expressing the presence and effect sweet song of a Purple Finch as, perched 

 of the detested plague in all its variations. ;„ a tree top, he repeated his delightful 



When one has passed through these ex- jay. Little families of Chickadees, cheer- 

 periences week after week and week after ;„„ each other with pleasant notes, were 

 week, the things that charmed before lose intent on the important business of secur- 

 much of their attraction ; even life itself jng g breakfast, while one member of the 

 bears a different aspect. What though family in different garb from the others 

 the almanac indicated the near approach showed that he had not been adopted long 

 of spring, with its fascinations to the col- enough to learn the family language when 

 lector, I guessed that I shouldn't do much ^g tried to join them in singing, his notes 

 collecting this year and then suspended ; sounding more like the tinkling of a tiny 

 thinking long enough to sneeze a few | bell. What a melodious whistle sudden- 

 '"fss- ly burst on the ear, loud and clear and 



But one morning the sun came out startling in the quiet of the forest, and 

 bright and warm, the winds were hushed I while the boy looked at me with inquiring 

 and I didn't hear anybody sneezing, wonderment expressed on his face, a flock 

 How different one feels at such a time; of Fo.x-colored Sparrows began springing 

 the world looked more attractive, tlie up from the ground and darting away one 

 llelds seemed inviting and a thought of after another. How they can sing and 

 the woods reviving. I gently suggested ! what splendid voices they have. Wouldn't 

 the possibilities of a trip to that old hollow i it be deliglitful, when they get home, to 

 tree, where the Barred Owl had been ac- be there with them and listen to their 

 customed annually to prepare a set of eggs | chorus. > I wonder where the enchanted 

 for me, to my boy, and iiis eyes danced spot may be. 



and sparkled with animation. But then A turn of the path brought in view the 

 he hadn't been through the Grippe, and place we sought and a surprise awaited us 

 of course was all ready to start, with one — the spoiler had been there with the 



Copyright, 1892, by Frank Blake Webster Company. 



