A NOOK IN THE ALLEGHANIES 197 



tion is, particularly in the autumn. Com- 

 paratively uninteresting, I say; for even 

 with the birch-trees swarming with black- 

 polls, each exactly like its fellow, the hope, 

 slight as it may be, of lighting upon a stray 

 bay breast among them may encourage a man 

 to keep up his scrutiny, leveling his glass 

 upon bird after bird, looking for a dash of 

 telltale color along the flanks, till at last he 

 says, "Nothing but blackpoUs," and turns 

 away in search of more stirring adventures. 

 Students of natural history, like less 

 favored people, should cultivate philosophy ; 

 and the primary lesson of philosophy is to 

 make the best of things as they are. If an 

 expected bird fails us, we are not therefore 

 without resources and compensations ; we 

 may be interested in the fact of its absence ; 

 and so long as we are interested, though it 

 be only in the endurance of privation, life 

 has still something left for us. Herein, in 

 part, lies the value to the traveling student 

 of a local list of the things in his own line. 

 It enables him to keep in view what he is 

 missing, and so to increase the sum of his 

 sensations. One of my surprises at Pulaski 

 (and a surprise is better than nothing, even 



