68 FRESH WOODS. 



the spring by way of eating grubs to com- 

 pensate for the damage they do to my goose- 

 berry trees in the winter. If they would only 

 eat the grubs now as industriously as they ate 

 the fruit and leaf-buds in the winter, I could 

 forgive them. On many of the trees the 

 branches are bare of leaf and fruit just so far 

 up as the twig would bear the weight of a 

 sparrow, and the leaves and fruit are found 

 only on the tips which they could not reach. 

 Just now as I am writing I can see two of 

 them in our best pear tree pegging away 

 they have nearly eaten a whole pear while I 

 am looking on. On the whole, I think 

 sparrows are a nuisance they are as mis- 

 chievous as they are impudent ; but I don't 

 dislike them. 



One Sunday in January, a very cold, frosty, 

 and foggy afternoon, I noticed scores of star- 

 lings sitting in twos and threes on the top 

 branches of the naked trees, their feathers 

 ruffled up as if they were " a-cold," and occa- 

 sionally uttering a low wailing note, subsiding 

 into crooning little guttural songs. They 

 seemed to have given up their business for 

 the day as hopeless labour on the frozen 

 ground ; but when I threw down a few hand- 

 fuls of bread-crumbs, the lawn was soon alive 

 with starlings and sparrows. 



