274 GLEANINGS FROM NATURE. 



V. 



'Twas the day before Christmas bright and beauti- 

 ful a winter day in name only. As I tramped town rds 

 the boundaries of one of nature's domains, far beyond 

 the city limits, 



A balmy thermal breeze 



To me, 

 From sunny, southern seas 



Came joyously. 



Ah, rare the day 



At Christmas tide, 

 When on such breeze 



One's thoughts can ride. 



Reaching the border of a thicket enclosed by an old 

 worm fence, I seated myself on the topmost rail of 

 one of its panels and waited for sound or sight of ani- 

 mal life. I had not long to wait ; for soon the chatter 

 of a noisy jay came from the top of a near-by oak, 

 while a crow in the midst of the thicket began to 

 challenge me with his limited vocabulary of " hah-hah, 

 hah-hah." His call was immediately answered by one 

 of his brethren in a neighboring woods this one by 

 still another farther away, and thus a series of signals 

 traveled across the township a wave of crow laugh- 

 ter, as it were of which I, perhaps, was the involun- 

 tary cause. 



Suddenly another sound broke upon my ear, a clear, 

 ringing, highly musical note " willy-way, willy-way, 

 willy -way" repeated at short intervals. It resembled 

 somewhat the whistle of the cardinal grosbeak, or 

 " red bird," but was a far louder and more pleasing 



