Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See https://archive.org/details/clerkofwoods00torr Transcriber’s note: Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. THE CLERK OF THE WOODS * * * * * * Books by Mr. Torrey. THE CLERK OF THE WOODS. 16mo, $1.10, _net._ Postpaid, $1.20. FOOTING IT IN FRANCONIA. 16mo, $1.10, _net._ Postpaid, $1.19. EVERYDAY BIRDS. Elementary Studies. With twelve colored Illustrations reproduced from Audubon. Square 12mo, $1.00. BIRDS IN THE BUSH. 16mo, $1.25. A RAMBLER’S LEASE. 16mo, $1.25. THE FOOT-PATH WAY. 16mo, gilt top, $1.25. A FLORIDA SKETCH-BOOK. 16mo, $1.25. SPRING NOTES FROM TENNESSEE. 16mo, $1.25. A WORLD OF GREEN HILLS. 16mo, $1.25. HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. BOSTON AND NEW YORK. * * * * * * THE CLERK OF THE WOODS by BRADFORD TORREY “News of birds and blossoming.” SHELLEY. [Illustration: The Riverside Press] Boston and New York Houghton, Mifflin and Company The Riverside Press, Cambridge 1904 Copyright 1903 by Bradford Torrey All Rights Reserved Published September, 1903 PREFATORY NOTE The chapters of this book were written week by week for simultaneous publication in the “Evening Transcript” of Boston and the “Mail and Express” of New York, and were intended to be a kind of weekly chronicle of the course of events out-of-doors, as witnessed by a natural-historical observer. The title of the volume is the running title under which the articles were printed in the “Evening Transcript.” It was chosen as expressive of the modest purpose of the writer, whose business was not to be witty or wise, but simply to “keep the records.” CONTENTS PAGE A SHORT MONTH 1 A FULL MIGRATION 9 A FAVORITE ROUND 17 IN THE CAMBRIDGE SWAMP 25 A QUIET AFTERNOON 34 POPULAR WOODPECKERS 42 LATE SUMMER NOTES 50 WOOD SILENCE 60 SOUTHWARD BOUND 67 FOUR DREAMERS 74 A DAY IN FRANCONIA 82 WITH THE WADERS 91 ON THE NORTH SHORE AGAIN 104 AUTUMNAL MORALITIES 117 A TEXT FROM THOREAU 127 THE PLEASURES OF MELANCHOLY 135 IN THE OLD PATHS 142 THE PROSPERITY OF A WALK 152 SIGNS OF SPRING 159 OLD COLONY BERRY PASTURES 168 SQUIRRELS, FOXES, AND OTHERS 177 WINTER AS IT WAS 186