HARD FARE. 63 



scarcity, and until their young made demands upon 

 them. 



The woodpeckers and chickadees doubtless find 

 food as plentiful during severe winters as during more 

 open ones, because they confine their search almost 

 entirely to the trunks and branches of trees, where 

 the latter pick up the eggs of insects and various mi- 

 croscopic tidbits, and where the former find their ac- 

 customed fare of eggs and larvae also. An enamel 

 of ice upon the trees alone puts an embargo upon 

 their supplies. At such seasons the ruffed grouse 

 " buds " or goes hungry ; while the snow-birds, snow- 

 bunting, Canada sparrow, goldfinches, shore-larks, and 

 red-polls are dependent upon the weeds and grasses 

 that rise above the snow, and upon the litter of the 

 hay-stack and barn-yard. Neither do the deep snows 

 and the severe cold materially affect the supplies of 

 the rabbit. The deeper the snow, the nearer he is 

 brought to the tops of the tender bushes and shoots. 

 I see in my walks where he has cropped the tops of 

 the small, bushy, soft maples, cutting them slantingly 

 as you would do with a knife, and quite as smoothly. 

 Indeed, the mark was so like that of a knife that, not- 

 withstanding the tracks, it was only after the closest 

 scrutiny that I was convinced it was the sharp, chisel- 

 like teeth of the rabbit. He leaves no chips, and ap- 

 parently makes clean work of eveiy twig he cuts off. 



The wild or native mice usually lay up stores in 

 the fall, in the shape of various nuts, grain, and seeds, 

 yet the provident instinct, as in the red squirrel and 



