CITY BITS OF NATURE STUDY. 211 



robin's comfort, so with a chuckle of surprise 

 and a rush of wings away he went. But my 

 foot had been hallowed by his touch, and even 

 yet I can recall the thrill of soul I felt as on 

 my toe he gently settled. 



It was, I think, the same robin that sings unto 

 himself the little ditty of joy when he has suc- 

 ceeded in capturing a big billful of fishing 

 worms. Three times have I heard this song and 

 noted the vibrations of the throat below the bill 

 which he dare not open. It is uttered just be- 

 fore he takes wing for the nest across the street. 

 There a quartet of hungry youngsters are await- 

 ing him and perhaps it is to them he calls: 

 "Cheer up little ones, I am coming. Stretch 

 high your heads and open wide your gaping 

 jaws that no time may be lost in thrusting into 

 your gullets the fine juicy mouthful I have found 

 for you." 



Two other bits of "nature study" worth re- 

 cording did I see in the city in the fortnight 

 past. One a young flicker, so busy gathering 

 ants from a crack between the slabs of concrete 

 sidewalk that he did not fly when I approached, 

 but only hopped to one side a foot or two to let 

 me by, then back again to work. 



Second, the doings of a fox squirrel which 

 often visits my back yard in search of break- 

 fast. On a recent morn he came to the base of 

 a maple about which I had cut the grass the 



