THE DRAWBRIDGE. 287 



wood could be heard the Carolina wren's clear call of 

 defiance, mocking the rage of an angry winter day. 



And how different the smaller winter wren! shy, 

 wood -haunting, thicket - loving, silent, and so, to very 

 many, even though they are often abroad, unseen, un- 

 suspected, quite unknown. His close acquaintance is 

 well worth making, and I can promise that his many 

 pleasant ways will cause the rambler to forget the usual 

 drawbacks of a winter walk. The winter wren only 

 chirps at this season, it is true ; but it is such a hearty, 

 ringing chirp that it may well pass for a song ; accept- 

 able, because it appears to be uttered for your pleasure 

 as much as for the bird's. I have said it was .a shy 

 bird : it is shy of approaching us and our ordinary sur- 

 roundings ; but go to its home in the retired nooks and 

 corners of the wood, and it will not fear you ; indeed, 

 in an hour's time it may become quite familiar. 



Another winter bird, and one of both great beauty 

 and accomplishments, is the horned lark. You are not 

 treated to a glimpse of one merely, nor a meagre dozen, 

 but of a hundred. They are never in the woods, even 

 during violent storms, but out in the open fields. Pos- 

 sibly you may have to tramp knee-deep to find them, 

 but if you do, the walk will never be regretted. I have 

 so often mentioned these larks that I can only name 

 them now. 



But a word concerning the pipit. In him we have a 

 lark, a splendid songster, and altogether a bird of many 

 attractions, even were it mute ; yet far and near, both 

 in town and country, my neighbors do not know it. 

 Pipits come in October, scattering about the least fre- 



