36 THE APPLE. 



from the seed, . and you yourself have pruned and 

 grafted them, and worked among them, till every 

 separate tree has a peculiar history and meaning in 

 your mind. Then there is the never- failing crop of 

 birds — robins, goldfinches, king-birds, cedar-birds, 

 hair-birds, orioles, starlings — all nesting and breed- 

 ing in its branches, and fitly described by Wilson 

 Flao-cr as "Birds of the Garden and Orchard." 

 Whether the pippin and sweetbough bear or not, the 

 "punctual birds" can always be depended on. In- 

 deed, there are few better places to study ornithology 

 than in the orchard. Besides its regular occupants, 

 many of the birds of the deeper forest find occasion to 

 visit it during the season. The cuckoo comes for the 

 tent-caterpillar, the jay for frozen apples, the ruffed 

 grouse for buds, the crow foraging for birds' eggs, the 

 woodpecker and chickadees for their food, and the 

 hiirh-hole for ants. The red-bird comes too, if only 

 to see what a friendly covert its branches form ; and 

 the wood-thrush now and then comes out of the grove 

 near by, and nests alongside of its cousin, the robin. 

 The smaller hawks know that this is a most likely 

 spot for their prey; and in spring the shy northern 

 warblers may be studied as they pause to feed on the 

 fine insects amid its branches. The mice love to 

 dwell here also, and hither comes from the near woods 

 the squirrel and the rabbit. The latter will put his 

 head through the boy's slipper-noose any time for a 

 taste of the sweet apple, and the red squirrel and chip- 

 munk esteem its seeds a great rarity. 



All the domestic animals love the apple, but none 

 so much so as the cow. The taste of it wakes her up 

 as few other things do, and bars and fences must be 

 well looked after. No need to assort them or pick 



