READING A CHECK-LIST 



suppose this is hardly to be expected, (news- 

 paper readers' time being precious), you will be 

 at the trouble to look up the place on the map 

 — a little south of Atlantic City, a pleasure resort 

 which every one, even a Californian, who has so 

 many excellent resorts of his own, may be pre- 

 sumed to have heard of. 



But what a distance for a bird, even for such 

 a swift one, to have strayed from home ! From 

 Argentina to New Jersey — and that only to be 

 " collected." Poor bird ! A Captain Cook among 

 terns. But what a crowning bit of luck for Mr. 

 Audubon ! 



Another day, and the book falls open of its 

 own accord at page 184. You are among the 

 kingfishers. One of them (there are only three in 

 North America, though there are a hundred and 

 fifty in the world), has what you have always 

 thought about the most beautiful of all scientific 

 names, Ceryle alcyon. Who could imagine any- 

 thing prettier, or better-sounding. Ceryle alcyon ! 

 It falls from the tongue like music, and suggests 

 the fairest of weather. 



But you are chiefly concerned just now with 

 another one, Ceryle americana septentrionalis. 

 Not so poetical an appellation by a good deal, 

 nor, to your North American ears, so very ap- 

 propriate, since the bird, so far from being a 

 163 



