WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



which you may hide in your fist, to supply a whole 

 groveful of May songsters. He has the Spartan 

 virtue of an eagle, the cheerfulness of a thrush, 

 the nimbleness of Cock Sparrow, the endurance 

 of the sea-birds condensed into his tin}^ frame, 

 and there have been added a pertness and in- 

 genuity all his own. His curiosity is immense, 

 and his audacity equal to it; I have even had 

 one alight upon the barrel of the gun over my 

 shoulder as I sat quietly under his tree. The 

 chickadees appear to come to us with the first 

 frost, and keen eyes may discover them all the 

 year round in the quieter orchards or woodlands, 

 whither they retire to nest in some old wood- 

 pecker's hole. 



There is a winter wren also, but, although con- 

 siderably smaller, it is frequently mistaken for 

 the inquisitive and saucy house-wren, which fled 

 south in October. It is a species heard rather 

 than seen, evading observation in the dense brush 

 through which it moves more like a mouse than 

 bird. Its prolonged and startling bugle-song is a 

 wonder, and its whole history is charming, but I 

 must pass it by. If you wivsh to become acquainted 

 with it (and several of its midwinter associates) 

 in more genial days, you have only to go to the 



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