FAR AND NEAR 



A few hours afterward it journeyed to the end of the 

 plate again, and tlien turned and rushed back. The 

 third time its heart was braver, its wings stronger, 

 and leaping into the air with a shout, it flew easily 

 to some rocks a dozen or more yards away. Each of 

 the young in succession, at intervals of nearly a day, 

 left the nest in this manner. There would be the 

 first journey of a few feet along the plate, the first 

 sudden panic at being so far from home, the rush 

 back, a second and perhaps a third attempt, and 

 then the irrevocable leap into the air, and a clamor- 

 ous flight to a near-by bush or rock. Young birds 

 never go back when they have once taken flight. 

 The first free flap of the wing severs forever the ties 

 that bind them to home. 



The chickadees we have always with us. They 

 are like the evergreens among the trees and plants. 

 Winter has no terrors for them. They are properly 

 wood-birds, but the groves and orchards know 

 them also. Did they come near my cabin for better 

 protection, or did they chance to find a little cavity 

 in a tree there that suited them ? Branch-builders 

 and ground-builders are easily accommodated, but 

 the chickadee must find a cavity, and a small one at 

 that. The woodpeckers make a cavity when a suit- 

 able trunk or branch is found, but the chickadee, 

 with its small, sharp beak, rarely does so; it usually 

 smooths and deepens one already formed. This a 

 pair did a few yards from my cabin. The opening 



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