214 A MIDWINTER WALK. 



making a beautiful loop of bird's footprints on 

 the snow. It was a rare picture. 



On ni}^ way home I witnessed one more curious 

 freak of bird deportment. This time a downy wood- 

 pecker was the actor. A unique little genius he is 

 at all times, as he pecks and hammers and chisels 

 and pries at the crannies of the tree-trunks. But 

 that day he had a new trick. I noticed him clam- 

 bering up the stem of an oak with a white worm 

 between his long mandibles. I wondered why he 

 didn't swallow it. Presently he Avheeled about and 

 deftly pushed the tidbit into a crevice of the bark, 

 where he left it, and then hurled himself to another 

 tree. Evidently he was not hungry, and so stowed 

 the worm away in his larder for a future emergency. 



