FEATHERED PIONEERS 



N the annual war of 

 the seasons, March is 

 the time of the most 

 bitterly contested bat- 

 tles. But we and very 

 likely the birds can look 

 // ' ahead and realise what the 



/ final outcome will invariably be, and, 



our sympathies being on the winning 

 side, every advance of spring's outposts 

 gladdens our hearts. But winter is a stub- 

 born foe, and sometimes his snow and icicle 

 battalions will not give way a foot. Though by day the 

 sun's fierce attack may drench the earth with the watery 

 blood of the ice legions, yet at night, silently and grimly, 

 new reserves of cold repair the damage. 



Our winter visitors are still in force. Amid the stinging 



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