Introduction 



Yeabs of close and cordial friendship yield 

 all the cardinal eleraents of true life. The ex- 

 perience of youth, and mature age, — the ripening 

 of advancing years — in short, the friendship of 

 the entire life, appears in the pages of this book. 

 The daily intercourse, — life living with life — the 

 citizens of nature walking hand in hand with 

 man. Surely the story of such a fellowship 

 must be replete with thought and things of vital 

 interest to every soul. The name of the book 

 " Bird Paradise" is suggested in the very nature 

 and shaping of the story itself. The wooded tract 

 on the eastern slope of the old farm has long 

 borne the name of Bird Paradise. It is an ideal 

 home of the birds. The life of its many residents 

 appears in these pages, just as that life is passed 

 in the daily experience of the creatures, each 

 page the shaping of an incident complete in 

 itself. The varied nature of the incidents re- 

 corded is of the varied nature of the real ex- 

 perience of true life. The key to it all is in the 

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