Song Birds and Water Fowl 



various returning friends, botanical and orni- 

 thological, I am not so desperately ambitious 

 of priority in greeting them as is many 

 another naturalist, and can bear with equa- 

 nimity the accusation that my affections are 

 sluggish. It is a delightful circumstance that 

 each one, for himself, turns the leaves in 

 the great annual book of Nature; and, to 

 all intents and purposes, my first bluebird is 

 the first of all the year, even though my 

 neighbor may have seen the same two weeks 

 before. 



There is a factitious value in these first speci- 

 mens, something like the factitious value of 

 "first editions" of books. The discovery of 

 the one, like the possession of the other, is 

 certainly very enjoyable to those who can in- 

 dulge in the luxury, but not to be compared 

 with the far more solid satisfaction of intimate 

 acquaintance, be it with bird or book. It 

 seems sometimes as if the sharp-eyed birds 

 were fully aware of this emulative trait in 

 human nature, and were making merry at our 

 expense; at one time, by appearing before 

 they were even looked for, and at another time 

 by aggravatingly delaying their arrival. For, 

 however uniform their advent in general, there 

 256 



