ii6 THE STORY OF A BIRD LOVER 



tegral part of a tin can, that indispensable adjunct 

 of civilization and index of its advance. No 

 single object more clearly indicates the invasion 

 of a new country than the countless empty and 

 abandoned tin cans scattered everywhere. But 

 the Derrys did not surrender them as useless 

 when empty; all were subjected to fire, and the 

 part of each that had once been the cylinder now 

 was a flat piece of tin again, firmly soldered to its 

 neighbors of like origin, the whole forming an 

 admirable water-tight roof. As this was no small 

 house, the patience and labor involved in making 

 such a covering can readily be imagined. 



Four or five days were spent in Denver in find- 

 ing a man who, besides having the necessary 

 conveyance, also had such knowledge of the 

 country as would enable him to pilot us to our 

 journey's end. Finally such service was secured, 

 and early one morning we began our slow jour- 

 ney in a traditional " prairie schooner " over what 

 was then an almost virgin country. 



I can but briefly indicate the many beauties 

 which nature spread prodigally before us on every 

 side. All along the way I recognized the birds 

 that crossed the road in front of us or that alighted 

 in the trees in the vicinity. They were the same 

 that Mr. Allen had brought back from this region, 

 and each one recalled my work in Cambridge. 

 As I saw them now alive for the first time none 



