166 Bailey, In Memoriam: Olive Thome Miller. [April 



about ornithology," she confesses; "indeed, 1 knew by sight not 

 more than two birds, the English Sparrow and the Robin, and I was 

 not very sure of a Robin either! I mast say in excuse for myself," 

 she adds, " that I had never spent any time in the country and had 

 been absorbed all my life in books. My friend was an enthusi- 

 ast, and 1 found her enthusiasm contagious. She taught me to 

 know a few birds, a Vireo, the charming Catbird, and the beautiful 

 Wood Thrush, and indeed before she left me 1 became so interested 

 in the Catbird and Thrush that 1 continued to visit the park to 

 see them, and after about two summers' study the thought one 

 day came to me that 1 had seen some things that other people might 

 be interested in. 1 wrote what 1 had observed and sent an article 

 to the ' Atlantic Monthly ' and it was accepted with a very precious 

 letter from Mr. Scudder, who was then editor. All this time my 

 love of birds and my interest in them had been growing, and soon 

 1 cared for no other study. 1 set up a bird-room in my house to 

 study them winters and 1 began to go to their country haunts in 

 the smnmer." 



Of the bird-room described so interestingly in 'Bird Ways' it 

 is only necessary to say that first and last Mrs. Miller had about 

 thirty-five species of birds which she bought from the bird stores 

 in winter and allowed to fly about in her bird room, where she could 

 study them unobtrusively at her desk by means of skillfully 

 arranged mirrors. For twenty summers, from 1883 to 1903, she 

 spent from one to three months in the country studying the wild 

 birds, visiting among other sections, Maine, Massachusetts, 

 Vermont, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, North Carolina, 

 Michigan, Colorado, Utah, and California, taking careful notes 

 in the field and writing them up for publication at the end of the 

 season. To one who has not known her, the method may sound 

 deliberate and commercial, but to one who has worked joyfully 

 by her side, each year's journey is known to have meant escape 

 from the world, to the ministering beneficence of Nature. Let 

 her speak for herself. — " To a brain wearied by the din of the city 

 . . . .how refreshing is the heavenly stillness of the country! To 

 the soul tortured by the sights of ills it cannot cure, wrongs it can- 

 not right, and sufferings it cannot relieve, how blessed to be alone 

 with nature, with trees living free, unfettered lives, and flowers 



