OBCHABD KNOB. 97 



ter of inherited habit, and more a matter of 

 personal intelligence — than has commonly- 

 been assumed. In general, no doubt, like 

 human beings, they do what their fathers 

 did, what they themselves have done here- 

 tofore. So much is to be expected, since 

 their faculties and desires remain the same, 

 and they have the same world to live in ; 

 but when exceptional circumstances arise, 

 their conduct becomes exceptional. In other 

 words, they do as a few of the quicker- 

 witted among men do — suit their conduct 

 to altered conditions. A month ago I should 

 have said, after years of acquaintance, that 

 no birds could be more strictly arboreal than 

 golden-crowned kinglets. But recently, I 

 happened upon a little group of them that 

 for a week or more fed persistently on the 

 ground in a certain piece of wood. Then 

 and there, for some reason, food was plenti- 

 ful on the snow and among the dead leaves ; 

 and the kinglets had no scruples about fol- 

 lowing where duty called them. 



At the same time a friend of mine, a 

 young farmer, was at his winter's work in 

 the woods ; and being alone, and a lover of 

 birds, he had taken a fancy to experiment 



