TALKS WITH YOUNG OBSERVERS 285 



was a bird. " Approaching the window, I saw several 

 of them sitting not five feet away. I could inspect 

 them perfectly. They were a slate-color, with a 

 tinge of bronze upon the head and rump. In full 

 plumage the old males are a dusky red. Hence 

 these were all either young males or females. Oc- 

 casionally among these flocks an old male may be 

 seen. It would seem as if only a very few of the 

 older and wiser birds accompanied these younger 

 birds in their excursions into more southern climes. 

 Presently the birds left the apple-bough that 

 nearly brushed my window, and, with a dozen or 

 more of their fellows that I had not seen, settled in 

 a Norway spruce a few yards away, and began to 

 feed upon the buds. They looked very pretty there 

 amid the driving snow. I was flattered that these 

 visitants from the far north should find entertain- 

 ment on my premises. How plump, contented, and 

 entirely at home they looked. But they made such 

 havoc with the spruce buds that after a while I be- 

 gan to fear not a bud would be left upon the trees; 

 the spruces would be checked in their growth the 

 next year. So I presently went out to remonstrate 

 with them and ask them to move on. I approached 

 them very slowly, and when beside the tree within 

 a few feet of several of them, they heeded me not. 

 One bird kept its position and went on snipping off 

 the buds till I raised my hand ready to seize it, be- 

 fore it moved a yard or two higher up. I think it 

 was only my white, uncovered hand that disturbed 

 it. Indeed, 



