Beyond the Snow-Path 



species, however, do give utterance to a brief 

 musical phrase, the black-cap titmouse, or 

 chickadee, for instance; and, more notably 

 still, the winter wren, though the latter bird 

 is comparatively rare, and its exquisite and 

 copious winter song is not often heard north 

 of Pennsylvania or Southern New York. 



As I flounder along through the snow, 

 I am soon greeted by five or six lively chick- 

 adees, that dart out of the evergreens with 

 loud chirps, one after another, as if in sport- 

 ive pursuit. Then the whole flock flits along 

 from clump to clump of hemlocks, attending 

 me as if for company's sake, and all the 

 while keeping up that cheery three-syllabled 

 chirping phrase by way of conversation. 

 An old hunter told me that, if you will fol- 

 low these birds, they will lead you to the 

 spot where some ruffed grouse is hiding in 

 the thicket or the snow, and so give you a 

 shot at game which you might otherwise 

 have failed to find. I suspect, however, that 

 the old hunter's experience was a mere mat- 

 ter of chance or coincidence, having no more 

 basis of certainty than this, that chickadees 

 and ruffed grouse frequent the same kind of 

 cover in winter the thickest evergreen 

 189 



