Sketches of Some Conimon Birds. 



I.— MEADOW MUSICIANS. 



" Now the meadows are blooming with flowers of various colors, 

 And with untaught throats carol the garrulous birds." 



—Longfellow. 



Who that is not physically incapacitated has not en- 

 joyed the luxury of walking across meadows and fields, 

 when nature was displaying the unfolding charms and 

 budding graces of spring? Such excursions are healthful, 

 and can be made profitable as opportunities for studying 

 various forms of life. Early in the spring the yellow 

 heads of the dandelions beseech us at frequent intervals 

 not to crush out their fleeting beauty, and as we gaze over 

 some portions of the meadows we imagine that we are 

 treading the veritable Field of the Cloth of Gold — that 

 gold which 



" Is the Spring's largess, which she scatters now 

 To rich and poor alike, with lavish hand." 



At a safe distance ahead of us the striped ground- 

 squirrel sits erect saucily to survey us before whisking 

 into his many-tunneled burrow, and when we have passed 

 his retreat he emerges to whistle shrilly, as though derid- 

 ing our apparent inability to injure him. 



The birds also frequently claim the attention of the 

 lover of nature, for in the open country we shall meet 

 species interesting and handsome. The successful student 

 of bird-life, however, should begin his walks abroad very 

 early in the spring, even before the season's alchemy has 

 transmuted the baser brown of the dead vegetation into 



