64 Feathered Pioneers [FIRST WEEK 



cold the wee brown form of a winter wren will dodge 

 round a brush pile a tiny bundle of energy which defies 

 all chill winds and which resolves bug chrysalides and 

 frozen insects into a marvellous activity. Other little 

 birds, as small as the wren, call to us from the pines 

 and cedars golden-crowned kinglets, olive-green of body, 

 while on their heads burns a crest of orange and gold. 



When a good-sized brown bird flies up before you, 

 showing a flash of white on his rump, you may know him 

 for the flicker, the most unwoodpecker-like of his family. 

 He is more or less deserting the tree-climbing method for 

 ground feeding, and if you watch him you will see many 

 habits which his new mode of life is teaching him. 



Even in the most wintry of Marches some warm, 

 thawing days are sure to be thrown in between storms, 

 and nothing, not even pussy willows and the skunk cab- 

 bage, yield more quickly to the mellowing influence than 

 do the birds sympathetic brethren of ours that they 

 are. Hardly has the sunniest icicle begun to drop tears, 

 when a song sparrow flits to the top of a bush, clears his 

 throat with sharp chirps and shouts as loud as he can: 

 " Hip! Hip! Hip! Hurrah ! " Even more boreal visitors 

 feel the new influence, and tree and fox sparrows warble 

 sweetly. But the bluebird's note will always be spring's 

 dearest herald. When this soft, mellow sound floats from 

 the nearest fence post, it seems to thaw something out of 

 our ears; from this instant winter seems on the defensive; 

 the crisis has come and gone in an instant, in a single 

 vibration of the air. 



Bright colours are still scarce among our birds, but 



