36 THE APPLE. 
from the seed, and you yourself have pruned and 
grafted them, and worked among them, till every 
separate tree has a peculiar history and meaning in 
your mind. Then there is the never-failing crop of 
birds — robins, goldfinches, king-birds, cedar-birds, 
hair-birds, orioles, starlings —all nesting and breed- 
ing in its branches, and fitly described by Wilson 
Flagg as “Birds of the Garden and Orchard.” 
- Whether the pippin and sweetbough bear or not, the 
“punctual birds” can always be depended on. In- 
deed, there are few better places to study ornithology 
than in the orchard. Besides its regular occupants, 
many of the birds of the deeper forest find occasion to 
visit it during the season. The cuckoo comes for the 
tent-caterpillar, the jay for frozen apples, the ruffed 
grouse for buds, the crow foraging for birds’ eggs, the 
woodpecker and chickadees for their food, and the 
high-hole for ants. The red-bird comes too, if only 
to see what a friendly covert its branches form; and 
the wood-thrush now and then comes out of the grove 
near by, and nests alongside of its cousin, the robin. 
The smaller hawks know that this is a most likely 
spot for their prey; and in spring the shy northern 
warblers may be studied as they pause to feed on the 
fine insects amid its branches. The mice love to 
dwell here also, and hither comes from the near woods 
the squirrel and the rabbit. The latter will put his 
head through the boy’s slipper-noose any time fora 
taste of the sweet apple, and the red squirrel and chip- 
munk esteem its seeds a great rarity. 
All the domestic animals love the apple, but none 
so much so as the cow. The taste of it wakes her up 
as few other things do, and bars and fences must be 
well looked after... No need to assort them or pick 

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