22 OUT WITH THE BIRDS 



is a golden eagle. Soon he leans forward, lifts 

 his great wings, and launches off slowly down 

 the ravine toward the river, doubtless putting a 

 cold chill into the heart of every hare below him, 

 along the way. 



The ravine is deep and well wooded, a verit- 

 able stronghold for the winter creatures, and it 

 is good to stand and listen for sound to break 

 in upon that dull, impressive, winter silence of 

 the North woods. Comes the prolonged 

 " Chirrrrr " of a red squirrel from near the nest 

 in the oak, the sudden whutter of a ruffed grouse 

 wing from the poplars, or from a distance, the 

 sweetly musical three-note song of the pine 

 grosbeak, then again utter silence. Hello! — 

 across the ravine in the oak scrub is a gray- 

 brown shape with a whitish spot in the center 

 of it — the rump of a black-tailed deer. He is 

 feeding on the twigs of the oak scrub, the motion 

 of his head as he bites and nods upward — always 

 upward — being discernible. 



It is a difficult way down that ravine side, 

 through the scrub on snow-shoes; it is ten times 

 more difficult getting up the other and steeper 

 side, especially as it is faced with a thorny hedge 

 of buffalo-berry bushes, just where quietness is 



