xiv NEWS FROM THE BIRDS. 



not be jealous of the plaudits given to the out- 

 door choralists, even if we human performers 

 are in a measure forgotten. 



Not only are books on birds in demand, 

 but the ornithologist is often solicited to give 

 talks and lectures in parlors, high schools, col- 

 leges, and churches, and at j)opular summer 

 assemblies. Even the stereopticon is being 

 used to illustrate lectures on feathered folk, 

 and young people, as well as their elders, seem 

 to listen with spellbound interest to the por- 

 trayal of bird life, and are as ready to break 

 into applause over some avian exploit as if it 

 were a tale of human achievance or heroism. 

 All these are cheering signs of the times, indi- 

 cating a healthy moral and mental growth. 



Yes, the ethical life, as Avell as the intel- 

 lectual, is stimulated by the enthusiastic study 

 of Nature. All of us are familiar wath Thomas 

 Chalmers's famous discourse on The Expul- 

 sive Power of a New Affection. The best way 

 to crowd out the evil is to crowd in the good. 

 Darkness flees before the advent of light. 

 If we harbor pure thoughts there will be no 



