88 BIRD PARADISE 



The weather has not been perfect, but it seems to 

 make no difference with the birds. They go 

 about with their usual spirit, apparently as con- 

 tent with the storm as with the sunshine. Of the 

 early comers the robin is the most active. Just 

 how he keeps up his natural motion all day long 

 is a problem to the parson. He does it, how- 

 ever, and for anything I can see "brings back at 

 eve, immaculate, the manners of the morn." I 

 have beea wondering a little how much truth 

 there is in the saying that the male birds are the 

 first to arrive in the Northern haunts. I am quite 

 sure that the two sexes appeared here together this 

 year. Perhaps it is an off year, or it may be that 

 the birds are off. Why should they not be, now 

 and then ? They have a right to make mistakes, 

 and very likely make them. As I write half a 

 dozen birds are rollicking on my lawn, giving 

 every sign of being perfectly happy. The earth- 

 worms seem to be ready for them, also the nicely 

 prepared insects that have lain all winter in the 

 grass. What a table is ready for them and how 

 they partake of its bounty, never in the slightest 

 degree acting as though they were not sure of 

 their next meal. Bobin faith has a good deal of 

 that character which secures the " Be it unto you 

 even as thou wilt." 



