FOOTNOTES
[1] In many cases the punctuation seems to be absolutely without significance; as if the writer had simply fallen into the habit of dropping dashes in an absent-minded way as he passed along. The following examples (the longest an extreme case) will show what is meant:—
"I heard from time to time—a new note."
"The Equisetum sylvaticum—there is now of a reddish cast."
"It is very difficult—to find a suitable place to camp near the road—affording—water—a good—prospect and retirement."
"Another alighted near—by—and a third a little further off."
[2] Under date of June 9, 1854, we find him writing: "I should like to know the birds of the woods better. What birds inhabit our woods? I hear their various notes ringing through them. What musicians compose our woodland quire? They must be forever strange and interesting to me." Even the glass that he finally bought was not an opera-glass, but a "spy-glass" (monocular) so called, and must have been of comparatively little help in the identification of woodland species.
[3] Once he saw it (August 3, 1858), and then it proved to be a Maryland yellow-throat. At other times it was almost certainly an oven-bird.
[4] [Week, p. 375; Riv. 464.]
[5] [Week, p. 314; Riv. 390.]