SCRAPING ACQUAINTANCE. 149 
study of the manual I set him down as proba- 
bly the white-eyed vireo, —a conjecture which 
further investigation confirmed. This vireo is 
the very prince of stump-speakers, — fluent, 
loud, and sarcastic, —and is well called the 
politician, though it is a disappointment to learn 
that the title was given him, not for his elo- 
quence, but on account of his habit of putting 
pieces of newspaper into his nest. While I 
stood peering into the thicket, a man whom I 
knew came along the road, and caught me thus 
disreputably employed. Without doubt he 
thought me a lazy good-for-nothing ; or pos- 
sibly (being more charitable) he said to him- 
self, “ Poor fellow! he’s losing his mind.” 
Take a gun_on your shoulder, and go wan- 
dering about the woods all day long, and you 
will be looked upon with respect, no matter 
though you kill nothing bigger than a chip- 
munk; or stand by the hour at the end of a 
fishing-pole, catching nothing but mosquito- 
bites, and your neighbors will think no ill of 
you. But to be seen staring at a bird for five 
minutes together, or picking road-side weeds ! 
— well, it is fortunate there are asylums for the 
crazy. Not unlikely the malady will grow upon 
him ; and who knows how soon he may become 
dangerous? Something must be wrong about 
that to which we are unaccustomed. Blowing 
