REV. GEO. B. PRATT. 79 



Thoreau's — with pessimism thrown out, however. Maurice 

 Thompson's " Byways" and " Sylvan Secrets " are delightful 

 reading, Olive Thorne Miller and Bradford Torrey show their 

 book faces in attractive familiarity. I also have " Birds 

 through an Opera-Glass," by Florence Merriam ; " Our Com- 

 mon Birds," by Jno. P. Grant ; " The Birds' Calendar," by 

 Parkhurst ; " In Bird Land," by Kayser, and " Birdcraft," by 

 Mabel O. Wright. I must be understood in this paper to be 

 simply giving my personal experience and possessions ; I at- 

 tempt nothing further. I find, as you may have noticed, that 

 ignorance is a close ghost arising before me — the substance 

 of Ornithological knowledge being inexhaustible. The 

 numbers and the classification of birds of all countries may 

 be approximately defined, but the nature, the habits, the 

 ways of the dear creatures have never and can never be 

 fully deciphered. I think a close observer will find new 

 points constantly arising in his study and observation. 



While the best observations can be made in the country 

 town, the question arises. How much can be done in the 

 city life ? Is there any way of getting at bird-life from the 

 heart of a city ? I believe the spring migration of birds 

 may be verj' fairly seen in some of our city parks, better 

 than some people may apprehend — even to the coming of 

 the Warblers, that phalanx of beautiful, parti-colored bodies 

 which nearly drove me wild to classify when I first began, 

 and memory now is very treacherous when brought suddenly 

 to the test. Did anybody see in this very Art Institute, 

 during the Congress of Religions, a little Warbler flying 

 for many days among the girders and bright flags of the 

 Hall of Columbus ? It was to me an emblem of a divine 

 spirit hovering over that great gathering, and reminded me 

 of Bayard Taylor's expression about the Mourning Dove, 

 (emblem of the Holy Spirit, as I take it), which he found 

 in every country in which he traveled. 



On the 3d of April, 1893, I spent part of an afternoon in 

 Douglass Park, Chicago. I counted 4 Robins, 2 Juncos, 



