bird in the
woods of which I have told you, the thought had frequently occurred to
me, "I shall know the birds some day." But nothing came of the thought
and wish till the spring of '63, when I was teaching school near West
Point. In the library of the Military Academy, which I frequently
visited of a Saturday, I chanced upon the works of Audubon. I took fire
at once. It was like bringing together fire and powder! I was ripe for
the adventure; I had leisure, I was in a good bird country, and I
had Audubon to stimulate me, as well as a collection of mounted birds
belonging to the Academy for reference. How eagerly and joyously I took
up the study! It fitted in so well with my country tastes and breeding;
it turned my enthusiasm as a sportsman into a new channel; it gave to my
walks a new delight; it made me look upon every grove and wood as a
new storehouse of possible treasures. I could go fishing or camping
or picknicking now with my resources for enjoyment doubled. That first
hooded warbler that I discovered and identified in a near-by bushy field
one Sunday morning--shall I ever forget the thrill of delight it gave
me? And when in August I went with three friends into the Adirondacks,
no day or place or detention came amiss to me; new birds were calling
and flitting on every hand; a new world was opened to me in the midst of
the old.

At once I was moved to write about the birds, and I began my first
paper, "The Return of the Birds," that fall, and finished it in
Washington, whither I went in October, and where I lived for ten years.
Writing about the birds and always treating them in connection with the
season and their environment, was, while I was a government clerk, a
kind of vacation. It enabled me to live over again my days amid the
sweet rural things and influences. The paper just referred to is, as you
may see, mainly written out of my memories as a farm boy. The enthusiasm
which Audubon had begotten in me quickened and gave value to all my
youthful experiences and observations of the birds.

(This brings us to the time when our subject is fairly launched on early
manhood. He has regular employment--a clerkship in the office of the
Comptroller of the Currency, which, if not especially congenial in
itself, affords him leisure to do the things he most wishes to do. He is
even now growing in strength and efficiency as an essayist.--C. B.)

SELF-ANALYSIS

March, 1909

My Dear Friend,--

You once