WHEN THE DAYS BEGIN TO LENGTHEN 



or so easy-tempered as not to insist on straight- 

 way being rid of it; though this is no more in- 

 scrutable, it may be, than for another bird per- 

 sistently, as it were on principle, to cast her own 

 offspring on the protection of strangers; while 

 this in turn is not more mysterious than ten thou- 

 sand every-day occurrences all about us. After 

 all, it is a wise man that knows what to wonder 

 at; while the wiser he grows the stronger is 

 likely to become his conviction that, little as may 

 be known, nothing is absolutely unknowable; 

 that in the world, as in its Author, there is prob- 

 ably ' no darkness at all/ save as daylight is dark 

 to owls and bats." 



If it were not for the rigors of the day we 

 might stand and examine at our leisure the 

 make-up an'd movements of this little downy 

 woodpecker, for his fearlessness permits a very 

 close approach. Take one look at the conven- 

 ient arrangement of his toes; two back and two 

 front. Here we have the secret of the ease with 

 which he takes his perpendicular walk; also the 

 solution of his being able to sleep resting against 

 a tree-trunk. The hind toes act as props and 

 the stiff tail-feathers may serve as additional sup- 

 ports whenever he chooses to press them into the 



