The Birds' Calendar 



rather questionable value of rarity. Its habits 

 are the same as those of the common crossbill, 

 except that its range is more northerly, and 

 differs in appearance only in having white wing- 

 bars. 



If a bird has any ambition to be duly ad- 

 mired and appreciated, it should be wise enough 

 to put in an appearance in winter or early 

 spring, when it will receive the warmest wel- 

 come and full measure of praise. 



There are some scenes in nature that make 

 a peculiarly vivid impression, and linger for 

 years in the memory. An experience of this 

 sort came in a morning's walk early in March, 

 after a fall of damp snow that clung to every 

 trunk and branch and tiniest twig in the thickly 

 wooded Ramble, presenting a spectacle that 

 far surpassed all the luxuriant beauty of foliage 

 and bloom that a few weeks afterward replaced 

 this momentary shroud. 



Beneath a leaden sky the woods yet glowed 

 with a soft, almost unearthly light, and in the 

 utter stillness and solitude the long paths, over- 

 arched with sweeping whitened elms, seemed 

 like long aisles in a vast cathedral whose mas- 

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