THE LOON 



Vol. 1. JUNE, 1889. No. 6. 



A WOODLAND REVERIE. 



BY E. B. WEBSTER. 



The habits of the majority of our birds are extremely 

 interesting when studied aright. If we would see them, 

 not as preserved mummies in our cabinets and museums, 

 but as tenants of the air, possessing life and freedom, we 

 must wander away from the noise of busy city life to the 

 woods and fields, where the voice of nature alone is 

 heard. Here we shall see the birds in all their freshness 

 and beauty, and as we seek the shade of a cluster of vine 

 covered oaks, reposing on a mossy bank, with the smoke 

 lazily curling up from our comforting cigar, we may ob- 

 serve their varied habits and modes of life. 



Across the meadows before us, on yonder hill, we may, 

 if it be earbv eventide, catch faint echoes of the boom- 

 ing of the pinnated grouse, while to our right and rear 

 his near cousin is loudly drumming defiance to all his 

 former rivals. The noisy chatter of a troup of charm- 

 ing little chickadees directs our attention upwards and 

 we notice, through the interstices of the sparse foliage, 



