INTRODUCTION 5 



panse of snow. The sky is gray; the shutters creak 

 fretfully in the wind. The glory of a summer gar- 

 den is marked only by a stalk or two above the snow. 

 The world seems dead, when a feathered mite flits 

 through the air, perches on a nearby limb and calls 

 a merry "Chick-a-dee-dee-dee." 



What a difference in the scene his coming makes ! 

 What good cheer and contentment he brings with 

 him! 



When we go to the fields and woods in winter, 

 birds are the only living creatures we are sure of 

 seeing. Tree Sparrows chatter happily over their 

 breakfast of seeds; a Nuthatch stops his search for 

 insects' eggs long enough to look down and greet us 

 with his queer "yank-yank." A Downy Woodpecker, 

 intent on the capture of a grub, hammers indus- 

 triously, tap-tap-tap. He is too busy to stop, but 

 calls his clear "peek" to us as we pause to watch him. 

 What a sense of companionship we have with these 

 feathered friends of ours! They make us feel at 

 home with Nature. How lonely we should be with- 

 out them ! 



THE BIRDS OUR ALLIES 



We are indebted to these winter birds for more 

 than their friendship; for more than giving life to 

 the otherwise silent fields and woods. They are our 



