NATURE'S CALENDAR 



nuts to ripen and fall, but cuts the stems 

 by which they hang, till many lie scattered 

 on the ground below. He then descends 

 and collects them in a heap between, or 

 near, the roots of the trees; or, if he 

 thinks that too exposed, carries them di- 

 rectly to some hollow log or stump. 

 Later in the season, when the mast is fully 

 ripe, and the danger from mould is past, 

 he fills the hollows of the limbs and trees 

 about his nest, and often secretes reserve 

 hoards in his burrows in the earth. In the 

 evergreen forests he lays up supplies of 

 cones. . . . He cuts the yet green cones 

 from the branches, and, when a sufficient 

 number have fallen, takes them to some 

 hiding-place to ripen for his winter's fare." 



This is only a glimpse of the careful 

 and skilful economy practised by many of 

 the small rodents at this season of plenty. 



The birds of the season are chiefly 

 those which can subsist on seeds and 

 fruit mainly, if not wholly. "The birds 

 seem to delight in these first fine days of 

 the fall," Thoreau observes ; " in the warm 

 hazy light — robins, bluebirds (in families 

 on the almost bare elms), phoebes, and 

 probably purple finches. I hear half- 

 strains from many of them, as the song- 

 sparrows, bluebirds, etc., and the sweet 

 p he-be of the chickadee. 



" 1 see and hear probably flocks of 

 grackles with their split and shuffling 

 note, but no redu-ings for a longtime: 

 chipbirds [tree-sparrows.^] . . . baywings 



