1 8 In Touch with Nature. 



lingers in the sheltered nooks. The greenbrier 

 is a forbidding tangle, offering no shelter from the 

 keen winds that whistle through it ; the tall grasses 

 have long been levelled ; the bare trees stand stiff 

 and stark against a cold gray sky. It is truly a 

 stout-hearted intruder that dares venture now 

 along the river shore, yet such brave creatures 

 are seldom wanting. No winter's blustering ever 

 daunted the chickadee, nor driving snow-storm 

 frightened the crested tit. Less courageous spar- 

 rows and the cardinal red-bird will seek the south- 

 side shelters, and you may ramble for miles and 

 hear not even the twitter of a tree-creeper; but 

 let the next day be warmer, the wind come from 

 the south, and all is changed. Then no nook is 

 too exposed, and we shall have not only birds 

 a-plenty, but bird music. At such a time one 

 may look for January cat-birds. They are no stay- 

 at-homes when the valley is filled with winter sun- 

 shine. Their dreary dens in the dark cedars are 

 promptly vacated. 



I did not think of over-staying summer birds 

 to-day. It was enough to have the nuthatch 

 make merry as it rattled the loose bark of the 



