We started on Friday afternoon, going the first part of the journey by train. The sky was cloudy and the weather mild. We watched the moving pictures that sped by the car windows as eagerly as children.
After a half-hour's ride we arrived at a little "town" consisting of the station, one store, one house, one grain elevator, and a blacksmith's shop. Here our hostess met us with a surrey and pair, and we were soon driving along at a brisk pace, drinking in the fresh air and country scenery with pure delight. The person whose power of enjoyment in little things has become blunted, is greatly to be pitied. "Ours was as keen as though newly sharpened for the occasion; and nothing we saw, from the fields, trees, and hedges, to the setting sun, failed to give us pleasure.
A merry drive of three or four miles brought us to the farm-house, where we were cordially welcomed.
I should like to tell you about all the fun we had that night, for it was our hostess' birthday, and there was a surprise party, at which we were as much surprised as she was. But as it is our walk I'm going to tell about, I must leave the events of our first evening unrelated.
The next morning we three girls decided to take a walk, as we were anxious to see what birds there were about. It was a gray day, threatening rain, and very wild for December.
The moment we set foot out of doors the distant "caw-caw" of the crows sounded like an invitation in our ears. How I love that sound! It is to the ear what a dash of color is to the eye.
We took the road to the right, where we saw some woods a quarter of a mile or more away.
Before we had gone far we heard a medley of bird notes coming from the fields on our left. We couldn't make out what they were, as they were some distance away, but I caught a note now and then that sounded like a fragment of the meadow-lark's song—just a faint reminiscence of it.
After passing two pastures and a cornfield on our left, we came to a piece of thin timber land. The road, which began to descend here, had been cut down somewhat, leaving banks more or less steep on either side. We went along slowly, stopping frequently to examine the beautiful mosses and lichens which abounded. We had seen no birds, with the exception of a woodpecker, at close range yet.
Presently we came to a turn in the road which led us up a slight rise of ground, bordered on both sides by woods. Arrived at the top of this hillock we loitered about looking at the many interesting thing that are always to be seen in the woods. All at once we were startled by a shrill scream, or cry, which sounded like some young animal being strangled, and behold! an immense hawk flew off over the tree-tops. It didn't fly very far though, and gave us more of its music at intervals.