THE SUMMIT OF THE YEARS 



It always amuses me to see in late May a " chippy " 

 or a goldfinch ride down the dandelion stalk that 

 is carrying its frail globe of down high above the 

 grass. You are looking out over the lawn when you 

 see one of these silver balls suddenly go down. A 

 chippy or a goldfinch has thrown itself upon the 

 stalk and borne it to the ground for the seed. 



The dandelion seeds are about the first that ripen, 

 and the seed-eating birds are hard put for food at 

 this time. Hence these globes are a godsend to them. 

 Not long before I had seen the goldfinches and the 

 purple finches pecking to pieces the button-balls of 

 the sycamore for the seeds they held, put up so com- 

 pactly. 



In May the squirrels are hard put also. It is at 

 this season that the chipmunk pulls up the corn, and 

 that the red squirrel robs the birds' nests of both 

 eggs and young. Their last year's stores of nuts 

 and grains are exhausted, and the new crop is not 

 yet formed. I think that the chipmunk has learned 

 that there is something for him also in the dandelion 

 seed, but I doubt whether the red squirrel has. 



The latter has found out that there is some- 

 thing for him in the seeds of the elm-tree, which 

 usually get fully developed in May. The elm affords 

 short commons, but it is better than nothing. The 

 chaff is big and the grain small, but probably sweet. 

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