WAVERLEY OAKS AND BUSSEY HEMLOCKS. 33 



the stubble field proved to be tree-sparrows. 

 They were feeding on the seeds of weeds found 

 on patches of moist earth left bare by the wast- 

 ing snow. Each bird was saying something in 

 a joyous recitative which he maintained continu- 

 ously, regardless of the rippling mirth of his 

 companions. I crept close to them and watched 

 them through the embrasures of an old stone 

 wall. Their chestnut caps, white wing-bars and 

 long slender tails make them easy birds to re- 

 cognize. As I rose they flew, nearly thirty 

 strong, and vanished in the mist. 



Recrossing Beaver Brook I kept along the 

 Belmont ridge for a mile or more, seeing crows, 

 chickadees, a flock of six cedar-birds, a brown 

 creeper, several kinglets and two grouse, seven 

 species all told. 



As sunset drew near the mist became denser. 

 The few springtails which I saw along the stone 

 walls seemed sluggish. While watching them 

 I noticed a tunnel under the snow, made, I sup- 

 pose, by a field mouse (arvicolapennsylvanicus), 

 and running from the wall to a pile of brush in 

 the pasture. It twisted and wound in and out 

 in strange figures. Here and there its maker 

 seemed to have poked his head through the 

 snow to get his bearings. From the length of 

 these tunnels I inferred that their little engineer 

 works either very fast or very long in making 



