AM'EmCAN' ORNITHOLOGY. 



187 



A FOREST FRIEND, 



HERE is nothing more beautiful in 

 social life than true friendship. Most 

 happy is that individual \vho can num- 

 ber among his acquaintances many that 

 are "friends indeed." And this bless- 

 ing of friendship is not limited to our 

 own order of being. The lower animals 

 may become our companions ; and wise 

 indeed is thaf person who by kindness 

 wins the confidence of those creatures over which he is appointed lord, 

 and which have because of that lordship, become shy and suspecting. 

 I am glad that the science of Ornithology is becoming so popular, 

 for the study of birds is a potent factor in strengthening the-'bond of 

 friendship between man and the lower animals. No one^can study birds 



Photo from life by S. P. Brownell. 



A FOREST FRIEND. 



aright without becoming more tender in his treatment of them ; and that 

 tenderness will not be confined in its manifestation to the feathered 

 tribe alone. 



It was my privilege last spring so to win the confidence of a Ruffed 



