42 WINTER 



T ^ * Yes, seeds. Gather several small boxes of them and' 

 when you return home take a small magnifying glass' 

 'and make them out the sticktights, gray birches, 

 yellow birches, pines, ragweeds, milfoil I cannot} 

 number them ! It is a lesson in the way the winds V 

 and the snows help to plant the earth. Last win-- 

 ter I followed for some distance the deep frozen, 

 tracks of a fox, picking out the various seeds thati 

 had drifted into every footprint, just so far apart, * 

 .?', as if planted in the snow by some modern plant- J 

 ing-machine. It was very interesting. 



mean 



When the snow lies five or six inches deep, walk 

 out along the fence-rows, roadsides, and old fields 

 to see the juncos, the sparrows, and goldfinches feed- 

 ing upon the seeds of the dead weeds standing stiff 

 and brown above the snow. Does the sight 

 anything to you? What does it mean? 



VI 

 Burns has a fine poem beginning 



" When biting Boreas, fell and doure, 

 Sharp shivers thro' the leafless bow'r," 



in which, he asks, 



" Ilk happing bird wee, helpless thing ! 



What comes o' thee ? 



Whare wilt thou cow'r thy chittering wing, 

 An' close thy e'e ? " 



I 



