Happenings by the Way 119 



yank!" and " Ha-ha! ha-ha! ha-ha!" which may mean 

 anything that is kind and cordial and confidential. They 

 were either playing at a game of tag, or were having 

 a peep-show among the bushes, hiding for a moment in 

 some leafy cluster, then dashing in pursuit of one another 

 in the most frolicksome way. I crept in under the arches 

 of the snow-clad bushes to watch their caperings more 

 closely, but the ' birds at once quieted down, and went 

 about their more prosaic vocation of grub gathering. 

 They were no doubt "aching" to frisk about among the 

 snowy bushes, but would not indulge their playful mood 

 under the eye of a human spectator. 



Presently one of them was seen carefully primping 

 his feathers a function that I had not previously seen 

 a nuthatch perform. His plumes seemed to be really 

 quite damp, and, as there was no water at hand the 

 streams being mailed with ice as well as nearly a half 

 mile away --he must have used a snowbank for his 

 lavatory. But you ask how he arranged his toilet. I 

 had several times seen the little brown creeper clinging 

 to the vertical wall of a tree and preening his plumes 

 after a bath, and it was natural to suppose that his con- 

 gener, the nuthatch, being also a bird of reptatory habits, 

 would follow the same formula. But not so! Instead 

 of clinging to the upright bole of a tree, Master Nut- 

 hatch perched crosswise on a twig like a robin or a chick- 

 adee, and smoothed his ruffled plumes. 



After this interesting interview with the nuthatches, 

 I trudged about in the woods for some time without 



