BIRD PARADISE 29 



journeying. Some of these fellows that greet me 

 so cheerily have roamed over the continent far 

 within the Arctic regions. Of course I get noth- 

 ing from them concerning their trip, and still, 

 perhaps, the case hardly warrants so strong a 

 statement. There is no experience lost. Wherever 

 its lines fall it leaves its mark and a little observ- 

 ance reveals the fact. The junco of extensive 

 travel is a larger bird than the plodder that has 

 never been outside its own dooryard. Whether 

 he realizes it or not he has gathered from the 

 wider fields and the harvest a new feather in his 

 cap. I like to see him wear it ; yes, even when 

 his small head seems to be a little turned by the 

 experience. I never have heard the fellow's 

 song, but read that it is a pleasant sparrow war- 

 ble. They will stay about here a few days then 

 take their trolley line for the South, returning in 

 the spring happy and careless apparently as the 

 day is long. 



A killdeer passed over the rectory last evening 

 moving on rapid wing. At every stroke of the 

 wings he gave his peculiar cry, moving appar- 

 ently without effort. A pair of killdeers nest 

 near the swamp, and I hear their sharp call 



