98 ORCHAED KNOB. 



with a few chickadees, to see how tame a 

 little encouragement would make them. A 

 flock of five came about him day after day, 

 at luncheon-time, and by dint of sitting 

 motionless he soon had two of them on terms 

 of something like intimacy ; so that they 

 would alight on his hand and help them- 

 selves to a feast. He was not long in discov- 

 ering, and reporting to me, that they carried 

 much of the food to the trees round about, 

 and packed it into crannies of the bark. 



"Are you sure of that ? " I asked. 



" Oh, yes," he answered ; " I saw them do 

 it, and then I went to the trees and found 

 the crumbs." 



Did any one ever suspect the chickadee of 

 such providence ? If so, I never heard of it ; 

 and it is more likely, I think, that the birds 

 had never before done anything of the sort ; 

 but now, finding suddenly a supply far in 

 excess of the demand (one day they ate and 

 carried away half a doughnut), they had 

 sense enough to improve the opportunity. 

 What they had done, or had not done, in 

 times past, was nothing to the point, since 

 they were creatures not of memory alone, 

 but of intelligence and a measure of reason. 



