54 BIRD PARADISE 



dicate it. The thing, however, in their manner 

 that gave me the most satisfaction was the air of 

 true freedom with which they bore themselves. 

 The field and the grove, air and water, sunlight 

 and darkness, the flicker spirit and all bird spirit 

 seem to say, "They are all mine — not a thing in 

 the wide house of my home that is aught else but 

 mine. " Free born, free livers, free in every sense 

 that exalts true character. A long line of illus- 

 trious ancestors appears in my visitors, and I ex- 

 tend to them my heartiest fellowship. 



The recent warm weather opened a wide door 

 in the fields and groves. Not that any of the in- 

 habitants therein really awakened from their 

 sleep, though possibly some of them might have 

 done so. But the door was opened and the op- 

 portunity given to all the residents to say some- 

 thing if the mood was on. I watched the danc- 

 ing sunbeams on one of the clear days and surely 

 their movements were indicative of a lease of new 

 life. The winds gathered their legions and when 

 they had once gotten down to their special work 

 there were no echoes left to slumber in field or 

 grove. Sometimes I half fancy that the echoes 

 are living things. Anyway the rollicking winds 



