306 In Touch with Nature. 



throated sparrows enjoy it ! As I sat where the 

 noontide sun could shine upon me, I watched these 

 birds, as often before, but now they were newly 

 suggestive. There were five on the same reach 

 of stout greenbrier, all facing me. At brief in- 

 tervals one would chirp and the others reply, but 

 there was little movement and no demonstration. 

 How vividly they recalled certain loungers on the 

 long tavern porch ! There were five of them, too, 

 and I was ever glad to sit near by and listen to 

 their drowsy talk. They talked of old times, and 

 the birds here make me think of my old times ; 

 for, be it few years or more, our best times were 

 those farthest removed from the present. The 

 Delaware is now very tame since I have seen the 

 St. Lawrence, but it is none the less dear, and tells 

 so strange a story that few believe it from hear- 

 say. It is commendable loyalty to defend the 

 merits of one's birthplace, and I think those the 

 wisest birds of their kind that make this river 

 valley their home. The white-throats and I are 

 one in this, and so what wilds in the remotest 

 regions can equal the greenbrier thickets of the 

 homestead meadows ? We are not exclusive, 



