WINTER FROLICS. 55 
about by these precious children of the woods! In 
this respect the snowbirds and tree-sparrows differ 
from the crested titmice, which reject the pulp of 
the dogwood berries entirely, but bore out the ker- 
nel of the pit and eat it with a relish. And as to 
the gluttonous robins, bluebirds, woodpeckers, and 
waxwings, they swallow these berries whole. Every 
citizen of Birdville to his own taste, so I say. 
In the corn-field adjoining the woods I witnessed 
another little scene that filled me with delight. At 
some distance I perceived a snowbird eating seeds 
from the raceme of a tall weed, which bent over ina 
graceful arc beneath its dainty burden. Apparently 
he was enjoying his repast allto himself. I climbed 
the fence, and cautiously went nearer to get a better 
view of the little diner-out. What kind of discovery 
do you suppose I made? I could scarcely believe 
my eyes. There, beneath the weed, hopping about 
on the snow, were a tree-sparrow and a junco, pick- 
ing up the seeds that their little companion above 
was shaking down. It was such a pretty little 
comedy that I laughed aloud for pure delight. It 
seemed for all the world like a boy in an apple-tree 
shaking down the mellow fruit for his playmates, 
who were gathering it from the ground as it fell. It 
was a pity to disturb the birds at their festivities, 
and I felt like a bully for doing so; but in the inter- 
est of science, you see, I had to drive them away to 
see what kind of table they had spread. Beneath 
the weed the snow was etched with dainty bird- 
tracks, and thickly strewn with black seeds from the 
raceme of the weed-stalk. 
