24 IN BIRD LAND. 



II. 



BIRD CURIOS. 



EVERY observer of birds and animals has 

 doubtless amassed many facts of intense 

 interest — at all events, of intense interest to him- 

 self — which he has not been able to adjust to any 

 systematic arrangement he may have made of his 

 material. That is true of the incidents described in 

 this chapter. It will, therefore, necessarily partake 

 of the nature of bric-a-brac. If it were not so self- 

 complimentary, I should dub it bird mosaic, and 

 have done. The reader will perhaps be more dis- 

 posed to trace a resemblance to an eccentric old 

 woman's " crazy quilt ; " and if he prefers the home- 

 lier and less poetical title, I shall not complain. 



But even a bit of patchwork must be begun 

 somewhere, and so I shall plunge at once in medias 

 res. 



The day was one of the fairest of early spring. 

 How shall I describe it ? No sky could have been 

 bluer, no fields greener. The earth smiled under 

 the favoritism of the radiant heavens in happy 

 recognition. My steps were bent along the green 

 banks of a winding creek in northern Indiana. 

 Suddenly a loud, varied bird song fell on my ear 



