The Birds' Calendar 



fastidious as to the company he keeps. One 

 niornin£,% when the newly fallen snow had seri- 

 ously limited the natural supplies of food, I 

 found an incongruous but apparently happy 

 family feeding most amicably at a spot where 

 provision is regularly made — a gathering com- 

 posed of peacocks, pigeons, several squirrels, 

 English sparrows, ''white-throats," cardinals, 

 and a huge but famishing rat ! While the 

 rest of the company did not openly resent the 

 intrusion of this base quadruped, and merely 

 ignored him in the most distant and polite 

 manner, it was evident that he felt an inde- 

 scribable chill in the atmosphere, for he was 

 plainly ill at ease amid so much beauty and 

 elegance, and he soon made his own motion, 

 and seconded it, to withdraw. 



The Park is a paradise for the scjuirrels. 

 One morning in a walk I counted about thirty, 

 chasing through the trees, swaying in sheer 

 sportiveness on slender branches that threatened 

 to break beneath their weight, or sunning 

 themselves by lying prone against the trunks, 

 heads downward, or ensconced under the can- 

 opy of their bushy tails enjoying a lunch. 

 They realize their immunity from danger, and 

 often, with the freedom and shamelessness of pro- 



58 



