B mie*Vite "Ramble 



measurers. The birds do not look upon winter 

 as most men do ; but man does not seem to have 

 found this out. We have often more music in the 

 leafless woods than when the foliage is at its fresh- 

 est, at the flood-tide of its growth. Not the same 

 music ; in fact, with few exceptions, not the same 

 birds, but this signifies nothing. It is music, none 

 the less, and as heartily rendered as ever by nest- 

 ing birds. There are those who say they have 

 never heard this, but they forget there are hospi- 

 tals for the deaf. The trouble largely lies in the 

 fact that there is no radical cure for laziness. 

 There is a vast difference between a summer stroll 

 and a winter tramp. 



We have many winter residents as well as all- 

 the-year-round birds, and they are not disposed 

 to remain forever quiet. A crested tit would ra- 

 ther be struck dead than struck dumb. Song is the 

 very soul of a tit's existence, and I have never seen 

 the storm that he dared not face and whistle his 

 merriest when the north wind carried the mercury 

 below zero. Bluebirds and song-sparrows, that 

 are forever prated about as harbingers of spring, 

 are just as merry and full of song in December as 

 in April, and the latter are here to-day, as they 

 have been ever since the species was evolved, for 

 aught any ornithologist knows to the contrary, 

 and will be until the end of time, unless collectors 

 increase, or there is a total change of climate. 

 The birds that really indicate the coming of spring 

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