Where Town and Country Meet 



swamp. When I rose and looked out I saw 

 them huddled there, in two trees, as far 

 away from the cutting edge of the north 

 west wind as they could get. Every now 

 and then one or another of them would get 

 weakly upon the wing, fly a short distance 

 against the wind, and then return to his 

 perch exercising, I suppose, to keep his 

 blood in circulation. It reminded me of a 

 cabman, walking to and fro at his stand, and 

 slapping his hands under his arms. These 

 crows staid in the grove most of the day, 

 utterly heedless of passers-by, and com 

 plained as distinctly as if in words of their 

 hunger and cold. Their distress was really 

 pitiful, but there seemed no way of reliev 

 ing it. In the latter part of the afternoon 

 the crows took their departure, a sad, sable 

 company, winging slowly southward. 



The sun had not long been up, on this 

 bitter Sunday morning, when I saw two 

 hairy woodpeckers, blown or tossed, as it 

 were, into the swamp by the fierce north 

 west wind. They wheeled and alighted on 

 the trunks of two adjoining trees, where 

 the sun struck on the northeast side. Here, 

 somewhat protected from the wind, and 

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