FIRST-COMERS. 43 



One of my pleasantest memories is of a sparkling April 

 morning in 1874, at Scott's Landing, a little railway-junc- 

 tion on the Ohio Elver. It was bright and cold, and the 

 wheezy steamboats passing up and down the river trailed 

 from their tall and slender stacks great golden banners 

 athwart the rising sun. The birds were up betimes. Crows 

 from far and near were gathering to breakfast at the banks 

 of the river, as is their custom at seasons of high water. 

 The crow blackbirds redundancy of title ! were moving in 

 small flocks about some newly ploughed ground, smacking 

 their horny lips at one another over some luscious, luckless 

 grub ; and their cousins, the military redwings, were in the 

 highest glee. Cardinals are the natural bird-feature there ; 

 and their bold whistling resounded from every hill-side. Out 

 of the orchard came the sharp squeak of a black-and-white 

 creeper, the noisy chatter of chipping -sparrows, and the 

 dee-dee-dee of the miniature Southern chickadees. One tree 

 was the haunt of a single robin rara avis in that locality 

 and he sang loiid and long, not minding his loneliness. 

 Bluebirds were not plenty, but a pair of them, and per- 

 haps two families, inhabited an old cherry-tree so, near 

 to the railway - track that the tops of the passing cars 

 pushed aside the boughs. I have noticed so many nests 

 of birds built in close proximity to railways that I have 



