20 NEWS FROM THE BIRDS. 



But those pygmies in plumes, the golden- 

 crowned kinglets — no larger than a man's 

 thumb — how do they manage to keep Jack 

 Frost at bay ? It may well be asked, indeed, 

 how birds in general keep warm in winter, liv- 

 ing, as they do, on cold branches or the frozen 

 ground. During the day constantly in motion, 

 flitting here and there and everywhere, in 

 search of seeds and insects, their constant 

 exercise generates w^armth in theia^ bodies. 

 When night comes some of them, no doubt, 

 creep into hollow limbs and tree trunks, and, if 

 they cuddle close together, like children in bed, 

 there is little danger of their freezing. 



But the song sparrows, which have been 

 living along the small stream in the marsh, are 

 not the kind of birds that plunge into holes in 

 the trees. They find little, well-covered apart- 

 ments beneath the overhanging sod of the 

 banks, where the dead weeds, vines, and grasses 

 are sufficiently thick to hold up the snow that 

 forms a roof over them. Some of these little 

 rooms are quite cozy, and well protected from 

 the keen, biting winds. The sparrows often 

 dart up from these hiding places as I walk 

 about in the marsh. 



A friend living in northern Indiana — evi- 

 dently a close observer of birds — writes an in- 



