32 NEWS FROM THE BIRDS. 



light to hop about on the snow, eating seeds 

 and making dainty trails ! This I saw them do 

 one day when the weather was fierce, my farmer 

 neighbor declaring that the mercury had stood 

 at twenty-two degrees below zero in the morn- 

 ing. The birds seemed to be very comfortable 

 without stockings or shoes. Nature has given 

 them all the foot gear they need. More would 

 only be in the way. 



As the spring advances and the weather 

 becomes milder, the birds regain their lost 

 voices, and if my readers will then go out of 

 doors they will find all the woods and fields, 

 uplands and lowlands, flooded Avith melody. 

 I give you a season ticket free to all the out- 

 door concerts you have time to attend. Do 

 not let the opportunity go by unimproved. 



How much we miss by not being always on 

 the alert ! '' Always " is a good time to have 

 your eyes open. This is true in the study of 

 Nature as well as in the study of anything else. 

 I read in a book a good many years ago that it 

 was not worth while to study the birds in mid- 

 summer, as they were then molting and did 

 scarcely anything but skulk about among the 

 bushes, ashamed to be seen. 



That advice did me a great deal of harm for 

 several years, but at last I resolved to test it for 



I 



