WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



use of when these are not to be found ; hollow trees 

 are natural houses in which large numbers huddle, 

 and the cave-like holes under the roots of trees 

 growing on steep banks become favorite hospices. 

 The grouse plunges through the snow down to 

 the ground, where it scrapes a ''form/' or crawls 

 under the hemlock and spruce boughs that droop 

 to the earth with the weight of snow, and allows 

 the white mantle to drift over it, subsisting the 

 while on the spruce-buds; when the storm ceases 

 it can easily dig its way out, but sometimes a rain 

 and hard frost follow, which make such a crust 

 on the snow that it cannot break up through, and 

 so it starves to death. The more domestic spar- 

 rows, robins, and flickers burrow into the hay- 

 mow, find a warm roost in the barn near the cattle, 

 or, attracted by the warmth of the furnace, creep 

 under the eaves or into a chink next the chim- 

 ney of the greenhouse or country dwelling. The 

 meadow-lark and quail seek out sunny nooks in 

 the fields and crouch down out of the blast ; while 

 the woodcock hides among the moss and ferns of 

 damp woods where only the very severest cold can 

 chain the springs. Along the coast many birds 

 go from the interior to the sea-shore in search of a 

 milder climate. 



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