214 -IN BIRD-LAND 



lives on fish is a mistake, as insects form a part 

 of its diet I have seen it among trees away from 

 water, where it was probably feeding. 



If we wish to see the bushes by the stream in 

 the height of winter beauty, our visit must be made 

 soon after sunrise ; for when the sun is higher in 

 the heavens many of the delicate crystals melt, 

 and the birds knock a quantity of them off the 

 branches. 



Small families of Long-Tailed Titmice climb 

 about the slender branches of pollarded willows, 

 while the small brown Wren searches among the 

 rugged bark, and peers into and enters the 

 numerous holes which are everywhere on these 

 trees. When insect food is scarce, Wrens, unlike 

 some other birds, never starve, owing to an in- 

 dustrious habit of looking into all the little crevices, 

 and in this way finding many hidden insects that 

 others, less keen, might overlook. 



During certain very cold winters that I have 

 known, I have found many insect-eating birds 

 dead, being literally starved, owing to the in- 

 sufficiency of their supplies. Birds do not die of 

 cold, as is sometimes supposed to be the case. 

 Their feathers, being a bad conductor of heat, 

 preserve a high temperature of the body. This 

 temperature ranges from 106 to 112 Fahr., ex- 



