STRAY FEATHERS FROM MANY BIRDS. 



I. 



IN NATURE'S CONFIDENCE. 



IT has often been my lot to hear expressions of surprise 

 and even of incredulity from many persons when they 

 have been told of the great variety and abundance of 

 natural objects that may be seen and heard during the 

 course of an ordinary country ramble. You may tell 

 them you have heard such a bird, seen such an insect, 

 or met with such an animal during your rambles 

 through the lanes and woods, and yet they are loth to 

 believe it, as they may have been over exactly the same 

 ground on the self-same day, and never had the good 

 fortune to meet with anything out of the common run 

 themselves. Such people have no gift for observation ; 

 they have yet to learn the secret which will admit them 

 into Nature's confidence. They go noisily along the 

 lanes and crash through the woods, disturbing every 

 living creature in them ; their sense of hearing is not 



B 



