206 THE WOODS IN ERMINE. 



them standing on the end of a rail where the snow 

 had been blown away, he replied, in pantomime if 

 not in word : '* If one foot gets chilled I draw it 

 up into the feathery pocket of my bosom and warm 

 it, like this," and he accompanied the explanation 

 by the action. 



Stepping up to the fence and looking down 

 among the weeds, I could see the dainty paths 

 of these birds winding about in the snow. What 

 hardy creatures they must be td make the cold 

 snow their tramping ground ! But nature, their 

 loving mother, has seen to it, I suppose, that these 

 wintei' residents are supplied with plenty of warm 

 blood for the cold and stormy weather. How 

 rhythmically Sir Edwin Arnold, in his poem, 

 " The Light of the World," has described our 

 Heavenly Father's care for the feathered tribes ! 



" He told us not one bird 

 Folds failing wings, and shuts bright eyes to die, 

 But That which gave their stations to the stars, 

 And marked the Seas their limits, and the Sun 

 His shining road, signed soft decree for this, 

 And did in pity plan kind consequence." 



In the deep seclusion of the woods I found the 

 tree sparrows holding a convocation in the tree- 

 tops over some important matter, in company with 



