THE COUNTRY IN WINTER 



song and eats his fill. As I sit at my desk, ostensibly 

 writing, my eyes are within a foot of these exquisite 

 creatures; and I may as well acknowledge here that 

 their interesting actions do form a large part of my 

 daily diversion. When the thermometer gets to zero 

 and below, the nuthatch squats down, so that his feathers 

 protect his feet; but the chickadee pecks away uncon 

 cernedly at the food held in his claw, no matter if the 

 gale does blow his "tiny feathers all awry. 



A gorgeous blue jay at times appears on my south 

 maple. He has doubtless noticed birds coming and 

 going from my window: is n't there something for him 

 too? I have carefully refrained from putting whole 

 nuts on this table, so as not to invite his lordly presence, 

 but on the floor of the upstairs porch he spies' his favor 

 ite food and darts to the jar, then to the railing with a 

 peanut in his beak. Tucking it into a corner of the 

 vine he is back for more; presently his mate follows 

 him, and they take turns at their breakfast until the 

 supply is exhausted. His blue coat with square in- 



245 



