12 East and West 
recalled with a thrill of satisfaction at one’s 
own discernment and the consciousness of a 
varied acquaintance. It is presumably with 
much the same feeling that your worldly dame, 
observing through her lorgnette some new- 
comer, recognises him from his nose and man- 
ner and recalls and recapitulates his family 
traits and family connections. Birds have so 
many little traits that reveal relationship. 
Their manner of flight, of feeding and sing- 
ing; their bills, their feet, their tails, speak of 
this and that family or genus, so that you 
know that your strange bird is a cousin at 
least of some old friend. But to know nota 
bird or a flower, nor even to recognise a mem- 
ber of a familiar family, is to be a stranger 
indeed in a strange land, and to miss the de- 
light which we owe to the companionship of 
friends and the recognition of celebrities in 
Nature. 
When it comes to a comparison of the songs 
of Eastern and Western birds, I am not yet 
prepared to commit myself. Certainly the 
Western meadow lark is far superior to the 
Eastern as a songster. Its song is, in fact, a 
heavenly strain always to be cherished. The 
blackheaded grosbeak is a splendid song- 
bird and a better vocalist than the rose- 
