248 



THE OOLOGIST. 



that the making of the acquaintance of 

 a bird foi' the first time gave him 

 almost as much pleasure as though he 

 had been the discoverer of that species. 



Surely I find it so. The meeting, for 

 the first time, of a looked-for species, is 

 a red-letter day in mj^ history, — a date 

 to be remembered. Do I not remem- 

 ber distinctly the day I met my first Fox 

 Sparrow? Was it not March 27th? And 

 wasn't it April 7th when I found that 

 Chewink, strayed into this northern dis- 

 trict? And wasn't it just two days later, 

 April 9th, when, in a lonely Avooded 

 wilderness, I came upon my first Her- 

 mit Thrush? Yes, I know the morning 

 referred to was October 21st. No 

 amount of forcible persuasiveness could 

 make me believe it to be the 20th or the 

 22nd. That moi"ning was October 21st. 



But I am deviating. The morning in 

 question found me mounted on my 

 faithful, two-wheeled steed of steel and 

 nickle, — my bicycle, ^at 6 o'clock,— 

 twenty-five miles from home, and fac- 

 ing a steady, although gentle breeze. 

 Oh! what a morning that was. A sting- 

 ing frost had forced its subtle influence 

 into every nook and crevice of Mother 

 Earth and sent the last painted leaf 

 twirling to the ground. The roofs of 

 farm-houses and their adjacent barns 

 and sheds, were so many sheets of 

 frosted writing-paper,- on which I dare 

 stay, the fairies were tempted to enroll 

 their names. And then the sun, — not 

 many minutes uj), — shining over all 

 from a clear sky, made everj^ frosted 

 object truly beautiful. Meadows and 

 pastures were vast, unbounded carpets 

 of glittering whiteness, Avoven, "hit- 

 and-miss," of frostiness and sunbeams. 

 The mullein, — that despised and over- 

 looked weed of the pasture and road- 

 side,— was for once queen of all, for, 

 with head aloft, and her large velvety 

 leaves, deeply frosted, outstretched to 

 receive the morning sun, she indeed 

 excelled all other objects in beauty, and 

 -stood motionless as if anxious to shoAv 



to all the world the beauties of a frosted 

 mullein-leaf. What Avonder, then, that 

 a breakfast-seeking goldfinch, undulat- 

 ing over the fence with his merry tsee- 

 te-day, should stop just long enough to 

 leaA^e the print of his tiny feet upon her 

 glittering mantle? But I am soaring. 



It was cold that morning at 6 

 o'clock, — yes it was cold. With chat- 

 tering teeth and quaking limbs, I 

 pushed my wheel out of the driA^e-way 

 of the old-fashioned farm-house of my 

 uncle into the highway and headed my 

 steed for home. Increasing my speed 

 to a racing pitch, after about a mile of 

 hard riding, I succeeded in driving the 

 "shivers" from my body, became thor- 

 oughly Avarmed through and in keep- 

 ing with the surrounding atmosphei'e, 

 and settled doAvn to a slow-and-easy 

 gait to enjoy the richness of my ride. 

 Oh, it was grand! The exceeding crisp- 

 ness of the air made the A'ery act of 

 breathing a luxury in itself. One could 

 not but breathe full and long. Even 

 noAv, as I Avrite, I can almost feel my 

 nostrils distended Avith one more 

 draught of that frosty, morning air. 



But those blackbirds, — I almost for- 

 get them. All the morning they Avere 

 flying southAvard in flocks of a half- 

 dozen or greater, — sent with one accord 

 by this, — the first truly stinging hoar- 

 frost of the fall. One flock would 

 scarcely haA^e passed OA^erhead, before 

 another could be seen coming in the 

 distance, — and so, detachment by de- 

 tachment, hundreds of Rusty Black- 

 bii'ds were hastening to their Avinter- 

 quarters, fully aroused to their sense of 

 duty by this piercing October frost. 



One lone indiA^dual came flying by 

 himself (thus proA'ing the truth of the 

 saying, — "birds of a feather, flock 

 together") as though he cared not 

 for friend or travelling-companion. 



Approaching, he alighted on the top- 

 most twig of a large maple which stood 

 at the intersection of another road, as 

 though he were appointed sentinel to 



