2 A FLYING TRIP TO THE TROPICS. 



In the fall of 1891 I was stationed at the U. S. Military Academy, 

 West Point, New York. My duties as instructor kept me occupied 

 throughout the greater part of the week, but on Saturday after- 

 noons I had a few hours which I usually devoted to rambling through 



the forests in the rear 

 of the government 

 reservation, on the 

 lookout for whatever 

 birds I might meet. 



One such afternoon 

 in November, I had 

 returned from a long 

 tramp over very rug- 

 ged ground with a 

 total of three species 

 of birds observed : 

 a pair of crows, a 

 downy woodpecker, 

 and a little band of 

 six tomtits, — very 

 meagre results for the 

 seven or eight miles 

 that I had gone over ; 

 and I was complaining 

 about it to my wife. 

 In the course of our 

 conversation, I was 

 led on to remark upon what I considered must be the enjoyment of 

 a naturalist who finds himself for the first time in the tropics, 

 surrounded by the most luxuriant vegetation ; where every object 

 would be of the deepest interest to him; where every bird, animal, 

 and insect that he should see would be new to him, and conse- 

 quently afford him the same pleasure as if he had discovered it 

 himself. Imagine his delight when, after having fired at some bird 



