s mind seemed
singularly distracted; and that, too, when the most precious moments
of the year were passing. He must put all other matters out of his
head, and think only of his great work.

Had the Blackburnian Warbler been seen in this neighbourhood, as he
had been told? He could hardly believe in such good fortune. The shy,
mistrustful bird, hunting the thickest foliage of the tallest forest
trees,--how should his landlady's daughter have seen it when she was
seeking for ferns? yet her description had been exactly that of the
books: "Upper parts nearly uniform black, with a whitish scapular
stripe and a large white patch in the middle of the wing coverts; an
oblong patch--" but she had not been positive about the head. No, but
she _was_ positive as to the bright orange-red on chin, throat, and
forepart of the breast, and the three white tail-feathers. Ah! why was
she gone? why was she not here to show him the way, as she promised,
to the place where she had seen the rare visitor? He might possibly
have found the nest, that rare nest which Samuels never saw, which
only Audubon had described: "composed externally of different
textures, and lined with silky fibres and thin, delicate strips of
bark, over which lies a thick bed of feathers and horsehair."

It should be found in a small fork of a tree, should it? five or six
feet from the ground, near a brook? well, he might still search, the
next time he went out; meanwhile, there were the ferns to analyze, and
that curious moss to determine, if might be. "But mosses are almost
hopeless!" he said aloud, with an appealing glance across the table,
where he was wont to look for sympathy and encouragement.

"Soap dish?" said Mrs. Mellen, with alacrity.

"Well, I don't wonder you ask, Mr. Lindsay. Why, I found it full of
frogs' eggs this very morning, and I hove 'em away and scalt it out.
It's drying in the sun this minute, and I'll bring it right up to your
room directly."

She beamed on him, and left the room. Mr. Lindsay groaned; looked
about him for help, but found none, and retired, groaning, to his
study.

Part II.

The minister had had a delightful but exhausting afternoon. He had
gone to look for the nest of a marsh-hen, which he had some reason to
think might be in a certain swamp, about five miles from the village.
He did not find the nest, but he found plenty of other things: his
pockets bulged with mosses and roots, his hat was wound with a curious