/ID^ Mlnter 6ar^en 



thrusts back into the blood a load of waste 

 tissue. 



In my Winter Garden we have no such 

 plunges from heat to cold. During the 

 chillest weather I write by an open fire, 

 and when I fling aside the pen for the bow 

 or the fishing-rod, the change from the 

 atmosphere of the study to the open air is 

 but a sweetly tonic experience, which goes 

 through my brain Hke a gust of song. No 

 swaddling in furs, no gasping, no icy in- 

 halations, no numbing feet or fleece- gloved 

 hands; we hold our shoulders back and 

 breathe as if the draught were something to 

 make one greedy beyond reserve. 



Doubtless the Southern summer added 

 to the Southern winter would enervate us ; 

 but the birds found out eons ago that a 

 swinging life, alternating summer in a high 

 latitude with winter in the warm South, 

 afforded just the climatic influences neces- 

 sary to perfect health. I have studied 

 wild birds with persistence and with every 

 facility at hand, in all seasons and under 

 all conditions, between Canada and the 

 islands of the Gulf of Mexico ; but I never 

 30 



