94 THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE 



dumb; the earth was covered with ice 

 crystals; the snow dropped its obliter- 

 ating veil between the two, and there 

 was no sun to mark the season by its 

 position. Was it midwinter? No one 

 could tell by mere sense of vision. 

 Colin lifted his head, and extending 

 his moist, vibrating nostrils, sniffed 

 suspiciously. The black-capped tit- 

 mice, the brown and white buntings, 

 and the slate-coloured juncos fearlessly 

 picked up the crumbs near his kennel, 

 and the nuthatch, less trustful, seizing 

 a morsel, took it to a more quiet place. 

 Colin, raising himself, crept softly 

 toward the copse of spruces, lifting 

 his feet from the new snow with cat- 

 like deliberation. Did he hear the 

 crossbill snapping the scales from 

 the pine cones? Hardly that, for the 

 flock, seeing him, had changed their 

 position, and he halted before the 



