96 RAMBLES ABOUT HOME. 



those that remain throughout the year there are but few, 

 though at no season are we without a sufficient variety to 

 make it as pleasant as it is profitable to indulge in out-of- 

 door studies in ornithology. Even in the gloomiest days 

 of winter there will always be a stray song-sparrow, nut- 

 hatch, or tit, a brave cardinal, a lark, or at least a crow, 

 jay, or woodpecker, to enliven the woods and fields, and 

 no bird can be long watched, as it hovers about its chosen 

 haunts, without giving us some further insight into the 

 mysteries of bird-life. 



