Song Birds and Water Fowl 
various returning friends, botanical and orni- 
thological, I am not so desperately ambitious 
of priority in greeting them as is many 
another naturalist, and can bear witli equa- 
nimity the accusation that my affections are 
sluggish. It is a delightful circumstance that 
each one, for himself, turns the leaves in 
the great annual book of Nature; and, to 
all intents and purposes, my first bluebird is 
the first of all the year, even though my 
neighbor may have seen the same two weeks 
before. 
There is a factitious value in these first speci- 
mens, something like the factitious value of 
‘‘first editions’’ of books. The discovery of 
the one, like the possession of the other, is 
certainly very enjoyable to those who can in- 
dulge in the luxury, but not to be compared 
with the far more solid satisfaction of intimate 
acquaintance, be it with bird or book. It 
seems sometimes as if the sharp-eyed birds 
were fully aware of this emulative trait in 
human nature, and were making merry at our 
expense; at one time, by appearing before 
they were even looked for, and at another time 
by aggravatingly delaying their arrival. For, 
however uniform their advent in general, there 
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