212 A MIDWINTER WALK. 



theory. They txcted, too, as if they had been away 

 from home and were glad to get back to the old 

 place ; for I never saw them more pert and cheer- 

 ful. Why, they almost broke into song, and treated 

 me to three or four variations obviously to display 

 their vocal resources. 



Another surprise awaited me in a more distant 

 part of the woods. At my first visit I had also 

 missed my little winter friend, the golden-crowned 

 kinglet, but to-day he suddenly glanced into sight 

 by the side of the wood-road I was pursuing, his 

 amber crownpiece, with its ruby set in the center, 

 gleaming in the sunlight. He behaved more like 

 a nuthatch or a creeping warbler than a kinglet. 

 He flew to the stems of the saplings and clung to 

 them and even climbed, them, and then actually 

 darted to the trunk of a large oak-tree and as- 

 cended that a foot or two. Never had I seen 

 Master Golden-Crown deport himself in this way. 

 Presto ! he dashed to the ground and hopped 

 nimbly about in the deep snow, picking up here 

 and there a delicacy that he seemed to relish. 

 Who would not love this flitting jewel of the 

 wild-wood ? 



Again I found the tree sparrows at the boi'der 

 of the woods, for, as a rule, they disdain shelter 



