72 WINTER 



houses. Now and again they escape; yet when they 

 do it is always a matter for wonder. 



I was following an old disused wood-road once when 

 I frightened a robin from her nest. Her mate joined 



ther, and together they raised a great hubbub. Im- ' 

 mediately a chewink, a pair of vireos, and two black 

 and white warblers joined the robins in their din. " 

 Then a chickadee appeared. He had a worm in his 

 beak. His anxiety seemed so real that I began to* 1 

 watch him, when, looking down among the stones 

 for a place to step, what should I see but his mate 

 emerging from the end of a tiny birch stump at my 

 very feet! She had heard the racket and had come 

 out to see what it was all about. At sight of her, 

 t t Mr. Chickadee hastened with his worm, brushing my 



face, almost, as he darted to her side. She took the . 

 |L worm sweetly, for she knew he had intended it for ; 



her. But how do I know it was intended for her, ,; 

 y and not for the young? There were no young in 

 ^ the nest; only eggs. Even after the young camev 



(there were eight of them ! ), when life, from day- 

 $?, light to dark, was one ceaseless, hurried hunt for 

 " worms, I saw him over and over again fly to Mrs. ; 

 ~ Chickadee's side caressingly and tempt her to eat. 



The house of this pair did not fall. How could it ; 

 when it stood precisely two and a half feet from the 

 ground ? But that it was n't looted is due to the amaz- 

 ing boldness of its situation. It stood alone, close to 

 the road, so close that the hub of a low wheel in c 





