“understanded of the people,” and every household ought to 
own a few, one good reference book among them, such as 
Frank Chapman’s Handbook. 
There are so many delightful things about bird study that 
I can not begin to tell them all, but one is that it takes us 
into the outer air away from the small cares which sometimes 
do so crowd down the freedom of our spirits. As Thorea 
says, “I want to go to liveaway by the pond where I shall hear 
only the wind whispering among the reeds. It will be a 
success if I shall have left myself behind.” It is a great com- 
fort to “leave ourselves behind” sometimes. Have you ever 
been ill and had your thoughts persistently turning to un- 
pleasant and depressing subjects? I remember when I was 
quite ill one day what a solace it was to me to recall over and 
over a morning I had once spent in the Virginia mountains. 
A rushing stream dashed over boulders, and through dark 
pine woods, babbling and chattering, while an exquisite 
little water thrush tilted daintily along the edge, showing first 
his olive back and then his flashing white speckled breast, 
as he turned this way and that. Every few minutes he would 
fly to some overhanging branch and burst into his wild, ring- 
ing song, which rose clear and piercing above the noise of the 
water. He and I were all alone in that remote glen, and it 
seemed a subtle compliment to have such a shy wild creature 
allow me a glimpse of his secluded life. 
It is a great thing to have a new pleasure come into our 
lives as we grow older, and we can never grow too old to 
enjoy a friendship with birds, Then it is such an inexpensive 
pursuit. Think how much it costs to ride, to golf, to go to 
the theater, to travel, and here is a hobby which requires 
only a pair of good eyes or ears —I say or because the ears 
are all I have had to depend on — with no adjunct but an 
opera glass, which can be bought cheap at a second hand shop, 
and a few books. People travel to get change, and here 
change comes to you, for from March to June the changes toa 
bird lover are of the most exciting kind. Your joys lie right 
at your door. You simply step out of doors on a May 
morning to an absorbing interest which awaits you in every 
tree and thicket. 
Sometimes I have wandered far afield at much expense of 
time and strength and found nothing so rare as the bird I 
left in my own yard. Once in passing a most unattractive — 
not to say filthy — barnyard, I saw a pair of the most ex- 
quisite magnolia warblers, creatures of blue and gold and 
snowy white. After all it is the common, near at hand things 
that give us the most happiness. ‘‘Give me health and a day 
7 
