320 MY COUNTRY WANDERINGS 



for thine innocent existence! How I sprang up 

 and laughed and wept for joy, as all unconscious 

 of me thou didst shake out a shower of pearly 

 warblings on the breast of the soothed air! 

 Heavenly messenger of consolation . . . even now 

 I think of thee with tenderness — for thy sweet 

 sake all birds possess me as their worshipper; 

 humanity has grown hideous in my sight, but the 

 singing life of the woods and hills, how pure, how 

 fresh! . . . the nearest thing to happiness on 

 this side heaven! The Nightingale's liquid notes 

 floated nearer and nearer. I seemed to be drawn 

 along like one in a dream by the golden thread of 

 the bird's sweet singing." 



VII. WILD LIFE IN NOVEMBER 



It is quite true that the month of November is 

 usually associated in our minds with memories of 

 fog, mist, damp, and the like, the first link 

 in Winter's oftentimes lengthy chain. However, 

 November, as a season for the observation of wild 

 life, has its compensating advantages — the law of 

 compensation, of waste and yet renewal, is in- 

 tensely brought home to the careful and thought- 

 ful student of Nature and her wondrous ways — 

 for with the first frost or two down come the 

 leaves toppling to the ground from their Summer 

 abode, allowing us the more easily to observe such 



