WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



^ . ^ 



and we discover a few cylindrical cases of young 

 caddis-flies anchored to the submerged stems of 

 the plants. The mosses and little ferns on the 

 bank are green, and where the meadows have 

 been overflowed the alders are so full of embryo 

 blossoms that their branches seem loaded with 

 purple fruit. 



Although the woods are so silent at this early 

 season (whenever you are beyond hearing the 

 frogs), echoing only occasionally the odd, jerky 

 soliloquy of the scrambling little nuthatch, the 

 cheery voice of the chickadee, and perhaps the 

 boastful scream of a bluejay, there is a large aggre- 

 gate of feathered life abroad in March, even before 

 many migratory birds have come. Several of 

 the birds of prey, and often the ravens and crows, 

 are already breeding. The snowbirds and tree- 

 sparrows linger in the pastures; the large, hand- 

 some, fox-colored sparrows appear; the cedar-birds 

 whirl in and out of the red cedars and eat their 

 purple berries greedily ; a few song-sparrows dodge 

 about the fence-rows, and little woodpeckers are 

 hammering here and there wherever they can find 

 a dead limb that may possibly conceal some un- 

 discovered grub, or will, at any rate, reward them 

 with a cheerful tattoo. 



6 8l 



