A WIDOW AND TWINS. 



" The fatherless and the widow . . . shall eat and be 

 satisfied." DEUTERONOMY xiv. 29. 



ON the 1st of June, 1890, I formally 

 broke away from ornithological pursuits. 

 For two months, more or less, till the 

 autumnal migration should set in, I was 

 determined to have my thoughts upon other 

 matters. There is no more desirable play- 

 thing than an outdoor hobby, but a man 

 ought not to be forever in the saddle. Such, 

 at all events, had always been my opinion, 

 so that I long ago promised myself never to 

 become, what some of my acquaintances, 

 perhaps with too much reason, were now 

 beginning to consider me, a naturalist, and 

 nothing else. That would be letting the 

 hobby-horse run away with its owner. For 

 the time being, then, birds should pass un- 

 noticed, or be looked at only when they came 

 in my way. A sensible resolve. But the 

 maker of it was neither Mede nor Persian, 



