LEAVES FROM A JANUARY NOTE BOOK 19 



tive gives them exactly natiiral size; but of a necessity they are 

 here reproduced somewhat under that, though not very much so. 

 Note the elegant little green caterpillar on the stem. This plant 

 has very handsome, deep yellow flowers that may sometimes be 

 seen quite late in the season — even as late as the end of October in 

 the South. The leaves are of a velvety feel, hence its name. 



Leaves from a January Note Book 



Notes taken at a window commanding a bird-feeding station: 



Jan. 13. — The male Downy remarks "tsip" quite frequently. 

 He and his wife were here together all the morning. The weather 

 has a rather thawy feeling and there are flurries of snow. The 

 sky is thick and gray-white to the horizon and the distant woods 

 are brownish-gray. A ;>> cold color, even though 



there is red in it. The ^^>^ hemlocks are coated with 

 snow, while the pines ^^^^^^^ hold very little of it, 

 quite a difference in the (^/\\ '^'^'^ ^^ ''^^^'^ respect. A 



snow storm of great soft flakes has just begun and 



many perfect crystals of this type are to be seen. 



Jan 14. — "The snow that began in the gloaming" has heaped 

 everything in sight with a silence deep and white. Even the 

 telegraph wires were cables three inches in diameter, and on the 

 limbs of the tree in front of the window the snow is heaped five 

 inches high. In just a few places the wind has blown it off so that 

 the tree looks as if it were decorated with wads of cotton wool. 

 Under this heavy snowfall the pines are more weighted than the 

 hemlocks. Harriet (the female hairy woodpecker), has just come 

 with a "tsip-tsip" and has hunted out the suet under the snow. 

 She tried to get it from above, failed, and then tried it from below 

 successfully. The little Madam (the female downy) came after- 

 wards and did the same, then came the chickadees and had their 

 breakfast, bottom side up. 



Jan 15. — It is a cold windy morning with udw and then a cold 

 flurry of hard snow. Madam Downy has been hanging on the lee- 

 ward side of the tree, drawn up into a little bunch and her feathers 

 fluffed out. Occasionally she cleaned a feather or scratched herself 

 with her beak quite at ease. Heard a chickadee singing his little 

 high note, "teedle-chk-teeledle." It is a sort of chickadee yodle. 



