A DAY\S DRIVE IN THREE STATES 5 



with the tone of a man who had broken his 

 full share of hearts. He was one of the 

 fortunates who are born with their eyes 

 open. I quizzed him about birds. Yes, he 

 had noticed them ; he had been hunting a 

 good deal. This and the other were named, 

 — partridges, pheasants, doves, meadow 

 larks, chewinks, chats, night-hawks. Yes, 

 he knew them ; if not by the names I called 

 them by, then from my descriptions, to 

 which in most cases he proceeded to add 

 some convincing touches of his own. The 

 chat he did not recognize under that title, 

 but when I tried to hit off some of the bird's 

 odd characteristics he began to laugh. " Oh 

 yes, sir, I know that fellow." As for whip- 

 poorwills, the whole country was full of 

 them. "You can't hear your ears for 'em 

 at night," he declared. " No, sir, you can't 

 hear your ears." With all the rest he was 

 a "silverite." At the end of the drive I 

 handed him a dollar bill, one of Uncle Sam's 

 handsomest, as it happened, fresh from the 

 bank. He looked at it dubiously, fumbled 

 it a moment, and passed it back. "Say, 

 boss," he said, " can't you give me a silver 

 dollar? It might rain." In a land of 



