THE INVITATION. 259 



bird, the cat-bird, the chipping-bird, the 

 woodpecker, the high-hole, an occasional red- 

 bird, and a few others, in the woods, or along 

 their borders ; but who ever dreamed that 

 there were still others that not even the hun- 

 ters saw, and whose names no one had ever 

 heard? 



When, one summer day, later in life, I 

 took my gun, and went to the woods again, 

 in a different though perhaps a less simple 

 spirit, I found my youthful vision more than 

 realized. There were indeed other birds, 

 plenty of them, singing, nesting, breeding, 

 among the familiar trees, which I had before 

 passed by unheard and unseen. 



It is a surprise that awaits every student 

 of ornithology, and the thrill of delight that 

 accompanies it, and the feeling of fresh, 

 eager inquiry that follows, can hardly be 

 awakened by any other pursuit. Take the 

 first step in ornithology, procure one new 

 specimen, and you are ticketed for the whole 

 voyage. There is a fascination about it 

 quite overpowering. It fits so well with 

 other things with fishing, hunting, farm- 

 ing, walking, camping-out with all that 

 takes one to the fields and woods. One may 

 go a blackberrying and make some rare dis- 



