THE PROSPERITY OF A WALK 153 



" I know not what it was," he says, " but 

 something shocked my mind at that thought, 

 and I durst not speak the words. ' How 

 canst thou be such a hypocrite ? ' said I." 



So I imagine that most bird-gazing men 

 would hesitate to thank the Divine Provi- 

 dence for a northern winter, with its rigors, 

 its inordinate length, and its destitution. 

 They put up with it, make the best of it, 

 grumble over it as politely as may be ; but 

 they are not so piously false-tongued as to 

 profess that they like it. 



By the last of December they have begun, 

 not exactly to tire of chickadees and blue 

 jays, but to sigh for something else, some- 

 thing to go with these, something by way of 

 variety. " Where are the crossbills," they 

 ask, " and the redpoll linnets, and the pine 

 grosbeaks ? " All these circumpolar species 

 are too uncertain by half, or, better say, by 

 two thirds. Summering at the apex of the 

 globe, so to speak, with Europe, Asia, and 

 America equally at their elbow, they seem 

 to flit southward along whatever meridian 

 happens to take their fancy. Once in a 

 while chance brings them our way, but only 



