Correspondents and Critics. 297 



fortunate when their fellows find roses in Janu- 

 ary and ice in June. To the world at large, I 

 fancy, this enthusiasm of amateurs is ever as 

 welcome and not less instructive than the tech- 

 nicalities of the professional. 



But it has been claimed with much argument, 

 if not always with logic, that critics should never 

 be criticised. That, in other words, they were a 

 privileged class to whom was allotted the privi- 

 lege of saying what they chose, but must not 

 be answered ; their decisions borne in meek- 

 ness. It may be very foolish, when called a 

 name, to call back, but sometimes to do so 

 abounds in deep satisfaction. 



If there was no more life and suggestiveness 

 in the bird-world than is recorded in the recent 

 hand-books, outlines and nondescript dilutions 

 of ornithology, then the new Audubon societies 

 have no cause for organization ; the birds are 

 of no use that warrant their protection. Song- 

 birds that do not sing, and all birds that cut no 

 capers and have too little soul to animate their 

 feathers, would never draw us out of our houses 

 to know what happens in the field or forest. 

 To know the anatomy of birds down to the re- 



