176 TEXAS AND ARIZONA 



very exciting tale at such length), it is the chief 

 delight of bird-gazing in a strange country that 

 one has to begin, as it were, all one's studies over 

 again ; as I have seen a professor of botany in 

 similar circumstances fingering the leaves of the 

 manual like the veriest schoolboy, as for the time 

 being he was. It is not the proudest way of re- 

 newing one's youth, but it will answer. And con- 

 ditions being as they are, nothing else will answer. 

 Such is my present case here in Texas. Even 

 now, in the dead of winter, with the number of 

 species greatly reduced, the novelties seen in one 

 walk are so many that the man who uses no gun, 

 and so can take no specimens home with him for 

 inspection, is often put to his trumps when he 

 comes to run over his day's notes. Though he 

 may have done his best, he is certain to have 

 overlooked or forgotten some detail which, with 

 the book before him, turns out to be all impor- 

 tant. What a pity he did not note with more 

 exactness the proportion of white on the tail 

 feathers, or the position of a certain black spot 

 on the side of the head ! He must go out again, 

 and — if he is fortunate enough to find the bird 

 — secure a stricter and more intelligent obser- 

 vation. It is plaguing fun, but it is fun, never- 

 theless, and good practice, besides ; and withal, 

 it leaves work for to-morrow. 



