they crossed to the pine under which I sat, where- 

 upon one, direftly over my head, began cautiously 

 descending from branch to branch through the 

 lower dead limbs until he was but a few feet from 

 my face. Here he sat, regarding me in a gentle 

 friendly way and talking to himself in an under- 

 tone — or was he talking to me? The impelling 

 force continued to draw my little friend — it was 

 mutual did he but know, a true case of love at 

 sight — for at last, with an indescribable little 

 flutter, he dropped from his perch with the evi- 

 dent intent of alighting upon me, but changed his 

 course direcSly in my face, and with a swift mo- 

 tion of the wings darted into the shrubbery. Upon 

 a near view the spell had broken, and he was 

 again the timid solitary thrush. 



It is because the wild life is so shy and elusive 

 that the unexpected encounters have such charm. 

 They are altogether clandestine and romantic. You 

 may stroll time and again without the least en- 

 couragement, as though wholly ostracized from this 

 society; and then some morning you are wel- 

 comed on every hand and admitted to the inner 

 circle of the wood life. About the woods there is 

 ever an enticing mystery. They invite us to enter 



9 



