all. Were our eyes and ears so dull, then? There
was the robin, the blue jay, the bluebird, the yellow-bird, the
cherry-bird, the catbird, the chipping-bird, the woodpecker, the
high-hole, an occasional redbird, and a few others, in the woods or
along their borders, but who ever dreamed that there were still others
that not even the hunters saw, and whose names no one had ever heard?

When, one summer day, later in life, I took my gun and went to the
woods again, in a different though perhaps a less simple spirit I
found my youthful vision more than realized. There were, indeed, other
birds, plenty of them, singing, nesting, breeding, among the familiar
trees, which I had before passed by unheard and unseen.

It is a surprise that awaits every student of ornithology, and the
thrill of delight that accompanies it, and the feeling of fresh, eager
inquiry that follows, can hardly be awakened by any other pursuit.
Take the first step in ornithology, procure one new specimen, and you
are ticketed for the whole voyage. There is a fascination about it
quite overpowering. It fits so well with other things,--with fishing,
hunting, farming, walking, camping-out,--with all that takes one to
the fields and woods. One may go a-blackberrying and make some rare
discovery; or, while driving his cow to pasture, hear a new song, or
make a new observation. Secrets lurk on all sides. There is news in
every bush. Expectation is ever on tiptoe. What no man ever saw before
may the next moment be revealed to you. What a new interest the woods
have! How you long to explore every nook and corner of them! You would
even find consolation in being lost in them. You could then hear the
night birds and the owls, and, in your wanderings, might stumble upon
some unknown specimen.

In all excursions to the woods or to the shore, the student of
ornithology has an advantage over his companions. He has one more
resource, one more avenue of delight. He, indeed, kills two birds with
one stone and sometimes three. If others wander, he can never go out
of his way. His game is everywhere. The cawing of a crow makes him
feel at home, while a new note or a new song drowns all care. Audubon,
on the desolate coast of Labrador, is happier than any king ever was;
and on shipboard is nearly cured of his seasickness when a new gull
appears in sight.

One must taste it to understand or appreciate its fascination. The
looker-on sees nothing to inspire such enthusias