THE INVITATION. 229 



was attracted by these strange birds, evidently sparrows. 

 The figures of some of the rarer species of buntings, 

 like Henslows and the black-throated, kept recurring 

 dimly to my mind, but only to make the puzzle more 

 puzzling, as both these species are shy field-birds. 

 The matter remained a mystery till I heard of the 

 introduction of this house-sparrow. These birds are 

 said to be performing a rare service in the parks of 

 New York, and for the fruit growers round about, by 

 utterly exterminating the canker-worm, and other pests 

 of this kind. I hear they have been introduced in the 

 Island of Cuba, with like beneficial results. An im- 

 porter in Havana, indignant at the duties imposed 

 upon his feathered freight, liberated the birds in the 

 faces of the custom-house officials, when they showed 

 themselves masters of the situation, and at once made 

 themselves at home. Attempts to introduce the Eng- 

 lish skylark into this country have been less successful, 

 owing largely to the extent to which the birds suffer on 

 the passage over. 



After one has made the acquaintance of most of the 

 land-birds, there remain the sea-shore and its treas- 

 ures. How little one knows of the aquatic fowls, even 

 after reading carefully the best authorities, was re- 

 cently forced home to my mind by the following cir- 

 cumstance : I was spending a vacation in the interior 

 of New York, when one day a stranger alighted be- 

 fore the house, and with a cigar box in his hand ap- 

 proached me as I sat in the doorway. I was about 



