BIRDS. 



"THE birds, great Nature's happy commoners." ROWK. 

 "The poetry of earth is never dead." KEATS. 



AMONG the many attractions to a natural- 

 ist on the Molega Road are the birds. To 

 pass over them without notice in these studies 

 would be an ungracious act on my part. Often 

 enough my drives would have been lacking in 

 some special feature of interest had it not been 

 for my feathered acquaintances. I am painfully 

 aware that the general run of people do not give 

 much attention to birds. Residents of the coun- 

 try districts, although in the midst of good op- 

 portunities, seldom know even the names of 

 common birds. They recognize swallows, part- 

 ridges, owls, woodpeckers, chickadees, sparrows 

 and hawks ; but these are family names, and it 

 is rather a loose-jointed kind of knowledge 

 that does not go any farther than that. I am 

 not of the opinion that it is an easy matter to 

 learn the names of all or even half of our birds- 

 It requires enthusiastic interest, books and speci- 



