The second student : He never told me how it 

 happened ; whether he had been reading poetry, 

 had been advised by his doctor to get out-of- 

 doors, or had simply found himself without a 

 hobby. Anyhow, one winter night he deter- 

 mined that he would study birds. He waited 

 until morning, then started for Philadelphia, 

 where he bought all the bird-books he could 

 find. 



I shall never forget the beautiful light on his 

 face as he told me the exact amount, to the cent, 

 that the enormous pile of volumes cost him.. 



He put the literature all away until June,— 

 until things were ablare with bird-song,— then 

 took himself and his library to Tuckahoe, the 

 birdiest spot in New Jersey, and there began. 



This trip in June became a habit. One au- 

 tumn I met him in the city. "How did the 

 birding go last summer ? " I inquired. 



"Slow, slow," he replied. "Did n't do much. 

 But—" with an emphasis that surely meant he 

 had seen the ivory-billed woodpecker or the 

 great auk— "6m< I paid expressage to Tuckahoe 

 on sixty-seven pounds of bird-books ! " 



Number three is a woman, and naturally less 

 [172] 



