98 ORCHABD KNOB. 



with a few chickadees, to see how tame a 

 little encouragement would make them. A 

 flock of five came about him day after day, 

 at luncheon-time, and by dint of sitting 

 motionless he soon had two of them on terms 

 of something like intimacy ; so that they 

 would alight on his hand and help them- 

 selves to a feast. He was not long in discov- 

 ering, and reporting to me, that they carried 

 much of the food to the trees round about, 

 and packed it into crannies of the bark. 



"Are you sure of that ? " I asked. 



" Oh, yes," he answered ; " I saw them do 

 it, and then I went to the trees and found 

 the crumbs." 



Did any one ever suspect the chickadee of 

 such providence ? If so, I never heard of it ; 

 and it is more likely, I think, that the birds 

 had never before done anything of the sort ; 

 but now, finding suddenly a supj)ly far in 

 excess of the demand (one day they ate and 

 carried away half a doughnut), they had 

 sense enough to improve the opportunity^. 

 What they had done, or had not done, in 

 times past, was nothing to the point, since 

 they were creatures not of memory alone, 

 but of intelligence and a measure of reason. 



