422 



RECREATION. 



of hunting you will enjoy it 10 times 

 as much as you ever enjoyed a day's shoot- 

 ing in your life, and you will go home at 

 night with the delightful consciousness that 

 you have left the birds for other people to 



days ; of the hush and repose of the 

 waters ; of the gorgeous colors of plant and 

 shrub ; of the reddened sky at sunset, and 

 the afterglow which painted the heaven 

 far into the gathering twilight. 





&mrz 



AND SETTLE DOWN AGAIN WITHIN EASY WALKING DISTANCE. 



study and to enjoy. Remember, there are 

 thousands of men, women and boys in the 

 United States who never fire a gun, and 

 who never care to do so; yet there is 

 scarcely one of them who does not love 

 and admire birds, to a greater or less ex- 

 tent. Why not consider the interests and 

 the desires of these hosts of people? 



The birds seem to center here in Ne- 

 braska, from all over the continent. We 



Without these mute reminders I could 

 scarcely have recalled to-night the mag- 

 nificent plumage of the cardinal, the oriole, 

 the robin, the meadow lark or the wood 

 duck. 



I could scarcely have recalled the waving 

 fields of asters, and of goldenrod. I could 

 scarcely have heard, as I now seem to hear, 

 the rustle of the dying flags and rushes 

 that bordered the sloughs and lakes. 



THE WAVING FIELDS OF ASTERS AND OF 



have more bird life here in spring, summer 

 and fall than can be found in perhaps any 

 other State in the Union, and many of the 

 most delightful hours of my life have been 

 spent in watching these birds. Of course 

 I have killed some of them, but have never 

 wasted any. 



I have found great delight in mounting 

 some of the best specimens I have killed, 

 and afterward in looking over these birds 

 and in recalling the scenes amid which I 

 found them. If I had not saved some of 

 these specimens, I should not have enjoyed 

 the delightful recollections that now come 

 to me, of the hazy, shimmering autumn 



I might have forgotten the gorgeous and 

 erratic butterflies that lingered into the 

 autumn when I was collecting these birds. 



I might have forgotten the cohorts of 

 ducks and geese and gulls that circled and 

 doubled over my head repeatedly, before 

 settling into the water. 



I might have forgotten the grateful and 

 exhilarating chatter of these birds after 



