200 LAND OF THE LINGERING SNOW. 



which the orchard abounds, and the mild-eyed 

 veery lives near the swampy spot by the great 

 willows. All of these singers have been pouring 

 out their notes during the past hour. 



While my little buttercup hunters have been 

 gathering great fistfuls of pure golden blossoms, 

 the turf of the orchard has not been wholly 

 theirs. Among a herd of a dozen deer-like 

 Jersey heifers six cowbirds have been walking 

 about catching flies ; chipping and song - spar- 

 rows have hopped about in the grass ; robins, 

 thrushes, and bluebirds have found worms in the 

 earth, and I suspect that a great glossy crow 

 who seems to have a nest in a high tree in the 

 swamp has found something edible while stalk- 

 ing up and down the brookside. From the 

 thick woods to the south comes every now and 

 then the clear " bob- white " of the quail, and 

 they are near enough for me to hear the low 

 " bob " which precedes the loud " bob " in their 

 three-syllabled whistle. 



I brought two wicker baskets to-day, one con- 

 taining milk, sandwiches, and strawberries, and 

 the other a distinguished and important member 

 of my household. His name is Puffy, and he now 

 sits on the dead limb of an apple-tree, his great 

 dark eyes solemnly gazing at a redstart, who is 

 abusing him from a neighboring limb. His 

 brown and white feathers blend so well with the 



