BIRD-FEEDING TIME. 223 



those hollows caused by the melting of the snow around 

 trees, fence posts and boulders, and alongside stone walls, 

 into which the wind carries great quantities of leav^es, 

 blown from the oaks and bearing in mini^*^~o-4lls and ex- 

 crescences myriads of insect larvae and puptt, " to be 

 sure, but offering an acceptable variation to the aiet of 

 the birds. Into these troughs, also, the wind blew a 

 wealth of seeds from the gray and yellow birches, which 

 last season were borne in such profusion by nearly every 

 tree. 



It is true, also, that birds suffer less from cold than is 

 commonly supposed. Indeed, it is quite probable that a 

 well-fed winter bird, if sheltered from the wind, does not 

 feel the cold at all. But when, as often happens, a rain 

 or storm of sleet is followed by days of cold, during which 

 an icy coat is frozen to every twig and covers every seed ; 

 or when, as this year, snow in large quantities falls in 

 April, after many summer birds have returned, there is in- 

 evitable and widespread suffering among the feathered 

 tribes. It is in the times of sleet in winter and of late 

 snows in spring that the birds need assistance. 



The following, from a personal letter, not intended, at 

 the time it was written, for publication, gives an interest- 

 ing account of the way the birds were cared for at one 

 New Hampshire home during the unusual April stress : 



" I wouder if I told you what a lot of birds we fed during those 

 unseasonable snow storms — thirteen kinds. All our winter birds — 

 hairy woodpecker, downy woodpecker, nuthatch, chickadee, tree 

 sparrow, bluejay (bad 'cess to him for a rascal ! ) junco, then the 

 spring birds, robins five or six, a flock of twenty fox sparrows, four 

 bluebirds, five or six purple finches, a chipping sparrow, and, think 

 of W.— four hermit thrushes! 



" I worked valiantly to provide food, but I am afraid one or two 

 bluebirds succumbed to cold and starvation. The snow was eight 

 inches deep and it was no easy matter to shovel it away from 

 enough ground to make a feeding place. 



Mr. W. had a great pile of dead leaves, with a little stable man- 



