208 
NATURE STUDY. 
April 5th. October 2nd, ’94 brought him again, this time 
without a tail, his season closing April 6th. On October 
2nd, ’96 he appeared for his twenty-fourth and last season 
in full, beautiful plumage, and on April 2nd, 1896 he said 
“Farewell, ’ ’ never more to return. It is interesting to note 
the dates of his arrival and departure, year after year, as 
testifying to the exact regularity of the migratory move¬ 
ment. On several successive years he appeared on the 
same date, and on four successive years his departure took 
place on April 7th , 5th, 6th and 7th. 
A Fast Day Pilgrimage. 
BY FREDERICK W. BATCHEEDER. 
When that Aprille with his showres swoote 
The drought of March had perced to the roote— 
(After Chaucei') 
That is to say, on the 17th of April, 1902, “four solitary 
pedestrians” (after G. P. R. James) might have been 
seen, provided any one had thought them worth looking 
at, wending their way toward Goffstown hills and the se¬ 
cret shrine of St. Viola. They were armed with tin boxes 
and field glasses and note-books and various other para¬ 
phernalia of scientific investigation, not omitting the very 
essential adjunct of lunch. It may as well be stated at 
the outset that two of the four were ornithologists and two 
botanists. This is a perilous combination in most circum¬ 
stances. When it occurs in the same person the result is 
bad enough. If his eyes are set at the ornithological an¬ 
gle, a trifle above the horizontal, the botanist misses his 
aim. If they are set at a botanical angle, which is usual¬ 
ly about thirty degrees below the horizontal, the ornithol¬ 
ogist is similarly baffled. With a party the outcome is 
simply disastrous, at any rate to the botanists. The orni¬ 
thological side of the scale goes down with a bang the mo- 
