NATURE IN ARMOR. 9 



and bounded up the trunk of an oak, but he 

 reckoned without the ice, and when part way up 

 lost his grip and fell back upon the crust below, 

 a very much mortified squirrel. 



In dense growths of pitch-pines and savins I 

 came across six flocks of chickadees, in all per- 

 haps twenty of the merry little birds. They 

 seemed to keep dry, and by working on the 

 under and westerly sides of the branches found 

 food not covered by ice. In one of the flocks 

 were two little brown creepers who were unable 

 to make spirals or zigzags round the tree-trunks, 

 as is their frequent practice, but who seemed 

 happy in hitching straight up the trunks of the 

 pines and the oaks. The chickadees, creepers 

 and crows, as well as the robins, were very talk- 

 ative. The only other bird seen was a small 

 hawk, which sailed silently over the snow in a 

 secluded pasture. 



About two o'clock I gained the crest of a high 

 ridge from which I could see many miles of 

 snow-covered country. The sky was a cold gray- 

 ish white ; the pines and cedars looked almost 

 black. Against the sky the ice-covered, leafless 

 trees were a darker gray than the clouds, but 

 against the evergreens or in masses by them- 

 selves they were ashes-of -roses color and wonder- 

 fully soft in tone. Looking across a sloping 

 pasture at a swamp filled with elms and willows, 



