218 A BIRD-LOVER’S APRIL. 
and we can’t Sy whole of it in getting 
ready.” I never could discover that his elo- 
quence produced much effect, however. Her 
ladyship will have her own way; as indeed she 
ought to have, good soul, considering that she 
is to have the discomfort and the hazard. In 
one case I was puzzled by the fact that there 
seemed to be two females to one of the opposite 
sex. It really looked as if the fellow proposed 
to set up housekeeping with whichever should 
first find a house to her mind. But this zs 
slander, and I hasten to take it back. No 
doubt I misinterpreted his behavior; for it is 
true — with sorrow I confess it —that I am as 
yet but imperfectly at home in the Sialian dia- 
lect. 
For the first fortnight my note-book is full of 
the fox-colored sparrows. It was worth while 
to have come into the country ahead of time, 
as city people reckon, to get my fill of this 
Northern songster’s music. Morning and night, 
wherever I walked, and even if I remained in- 
doors, I was certain to hear the loud and beau- 
tiful strain ; to which I listened with the more 
attention because the birds, I knew, would soon 
be off for their native fields, beyond the boun- 
daries of the United States. 
It is astonishing how gloriously birds may 
sing, and yet pass unregarded. We read of 
