As civilization advances, however, innocence stands a
better chance. At least this is true of the harmless song-birds.
"I have now given you free-hand sketches of the great majority of our
winter residents, and these outlines are necessarily very defective from
their brevity as well as for other reasons. I have already talked an
unconscionably long time; but what else could you expect from a man with
a hobby? As it is, I am not near through, for the queer little
white-bellied nut-hatch, and his associates in habits, the downy, the
hairy, the golden-winged, and the yellow-bellied woodpeckers, and four
species of owls, are also with us at this season. With the bluebirds the
great tide of migration has already turned northward, and all through
March, April, and May I expect to greet the successive arrivals of old
friends every time I go out to visit my patients. I can assure you that I
have no stupid, lonely drives, unless the nights are dark and stormy.
Little Johnnie, I see, has gone to sleep. I must try to meet some fairies
and banshees in the moonlight for her benefit But, Alf, I'm delighted to
see you so wide-awake. Shooting birds as game merely is very well, but
capturing them in a way to know all about them is a sport that is always
in season, and would grow more and more absorbing if you lived a thousand
years."
A bent for life was probably given to the boy's mind that night.
CHAPTER XVII
FISHING THROUGH THE ICE
Every day through the latter part of February the sun grew higher, and
its rays more potent.
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