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iio BULLETIN O1' Tile COOPER ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. landscape. A plain, old road-house with adjacent out-buildings have sur- vived in some degree the industrial paralysis. A garden with rows of cult- ivated vegetables and an orchard ex- tending back to the woodland, lend an air of home-like comfort to the sur- roundings. We miss the rustle of In- dian corn and the yellow plumes of golden-rod, but an old worm fence sur- rounding the enclosure completes a rustic scene that would appeal to the memory of thein who know aught of of eastern rural life. Rustic simplicity prevails within. An old dusty bar, a relic of other days, be- fore which many a weary soul has re- ceived spirituous consolation, has been promoted to the dignity of post-office. A broad, open fire-place hints of the evening blaze and the seductive pipe. "This is the place we long have sought And mourned because we found it not." Here freedom is unconfined. We may occupy three chairs at a time, bunk on the post-office, skin birds on the table and smoke the room blue without provoking a questioning glance. The flag of the Cooper Club is unfurled over Sportsman's Hall, conventionality kicked out of the back door and free- dom invited to shriek. It is surprising how the appetite gains upon the clock but it is not yet the hour for luncheon and my cot- leagues have already assumed their nondescript costumes and vanished in the wilderness. Conservation of energy is my distinguishing trait and for what little popularity I have attained among my fellow-men, I am indebted to this virtue. Therefore I light my pipe and saunter out to see what Nature may add to the rustic picture. An "old oak- en bucket" that hangs in a well of clear, cold water tempts me to the verge of harmless intoxication and then I pause by a dripping trough where a band of small frogs are rehearsing for the evening entertainment. Barn Swallows circle and twitter about the old barn, wherein a noisy hen is pro- claiming the accomplishment of a ma- ternal duty. A band of Lark Sparrows are ex- ploring a barren pasture over the way, while far up in the adjacent cedars a band of those mountain Gypsies,--Blue- fronted Jays,--are juggling bird lan- guage in a most distracting nmnner. A meadowlark perches himself on the old rail fence and utters his dear, ring- ing call like a bugler on parade, while a robin in a neighboring apple tree be- trays the proximity of its nest by dis- tressing cries. A pair of bluebirds have reared their brood in the cavity of a tall stub and now spend their time gos- siping about the pasture with a band of purple finches. A patch of dead black- berry vines are investigated without result, but in a growth of young coni- fers by the orchard fence I can hear the whining plaint of the Spurred Towhee. Upon nearer approach I hear the cry of tsit, tsit, tsit, so common to many birds of divergent natures that it: seems as if somewhere back in the his- tory of bird evolution they had a com- mon parentage and this the primal, per- haps only, note of their vocabulary. The alert, black head of a Juneo discloses the author of the eries and upon part- ing the foliage, a feeble flutter of baby wings reveals the cause of parental anxiety. A Red-shafted Flicker with his merry "cheer-up" stops to explore a dead pine. With the exception of the Red-breasted Sapsucker he seems the only representative of his kind, for though this is a haunt of the Pileated and Cabanis' Woodpeckers as well as of their smaller White-headed cousin, they are not often in evidence. A number of goldfinches are flitting about the orchard but the hour for luncheon is at hand and one cannot spoon with Nature while suffering from the pangs of art unrequitted appetite. Nature has not here shown her bold- est handiwork in mountain sculpture or in arboreal creations, for the pass is rtot the highest, and the majestic shafts about us are but wands as compared to the giant sequoias of Calaveras and Mariposa. Yet she has done enough to impress one most profoundly with the vastness of her conceptions. Veell it is that the government has sought to res- cue this great aviary froln the hands of the despoiler for the desecration of the axe and saw-mill is in evidence on every side. The results of our daily excursions among the warblers and