138 STORIES OF PLANTS AND ANIMALS 



" am the Crossbill, and come from the same regions, 

 and I also seek my food between the cone-scales. 

 See, Heart of Nature has arranged my bill like 

 a pair of pincers, to wrench the cones apart." 



" So, then, you are one of the birds that I saw 

 this morning in the spruces. I thought that your 

 jaw was out of joint, and it quite worried me." 



" I," said the last of the three, with a crimson 

 cap and a beak sharp as a needle, " am the Jolly 

 Redpoll. I can weather anything in the way of 

 cold. I follow man as far north as he may go, 

 and build my nest but a little above his footsteps, 

 and now I am gleaning my food from the seeds in 

 your waste fields, even though the snow flies about 

 me like diamond dust. May I have some of those 

 seeds from the grasses on the mantel shelf ? " 



"Certainly," said Tommy- Anne. "Please all 

 help yourselves to anything you wish. See, here 

 are some fat mice for you, Waw-be-ko-ko." And 

 she pointed to a lower branch of the Christmas 

 tree, where some field-mice hung by the tails. 

 "What would Obi say," thought Tommy- Anne, 

 " if he knew that he had been catching mice for 

 an Owl ! " 



The Snow Owl was delighted with his feast, 

 and a peck came just then at the window, which 

 proved to be the Junco, the gray snow-bird with 



