230 VIRGINIA 



and new flowers could allay its symptoms. I 

 had counted upon finding a similar state o£ 

 things here, — all the woods astir with wings. 

 Instead of that, I found the fields alive with 

 chipping sparrows, the air full of chimney 

 swifts, the shade trees in front of the hotel 

 vocal with goldfinch notes, and, compara- 

 tively speaking, nothing else. By the end 

 of the second day I was fast becoming dis- 

 consolate. " No birds here," I wrote in my 

 journal. " I have tried woods of all sorts. 

 A very few parula warblers, two or three 

 red-eyed vireos, one yellow-throated vireo, 

 seven Louisiana water thrushes in the glen, 

 one prairie warbler, and a few oven-birds ! 

 No Bewick wrens. Two purple finches and 

 one or two phoebes have been the only addi- 

 ctions to my Virginia list." A pitiful tale. 

 Vacations are short and precious, and it 

 goes hard with us to see them running to 

 waste. 



The next evening (May 3) it was the 

 same story continued. " It is marvelous, the 

 difference between this beautiful place, diver- 

 sified with fields and woods, — hard wood, 

 cedar, pine, — it is marvelous, the difference 

 between this heavenly spot and Pulaski in 



