SPRING SJORES. 151 



plants have died down, would sweep the most valuable 

 parts of the soil into the beds of the streams ; and they 

 afford both shelter and food to the birds. The berries 

 of the holly, and, after they are gone, those of the ivy, 

 preserve a very great number of the feathered tribes, 

 in those early times of the year when the eggs of 

 insects are not hatched, and the slugs and shell snails 

 have not come out of their hiding places ; and even in 

 the deepest storms, the little tenants of the woods 

 may be seen under the pine branches that are loaded 

 with snow, hopping from twig to twig, and dexterously 

 raising the scales of the cones so as to get at the seeds. 



The breaking up of the storm is indeed a sort of 

 harvest to the birds ; and it is a valuable one almost 

 in proportion as the snow has been deep. At that 

 season they want both provisions and furniture, and 

 these are not only found in abundance, but the re- 

 moval of them is an advantage. There is always a 

 great quantity of withered twigs and grass and the 

 fibres of roots, by which the earth is rendered un- 

 sightly ; and as the season advances, there is a great 

 deal of animal exuvice in the cast fur and hair of 

 animals, the moulting of birds, and even the cocoons 

 out of which the warmth of the year has already called 

 forth the inhabitants in a new state of being. These 

 are all, as one might say, lumber ; they have answered 

 their purpose in their present form as portions of 

 organic life, they are now dead matter, and some of 

 them are not dead matter in the state in which its 

 parts most easily separate and enter into new organic 

 forms. But the birds want thousands of fabrics in 

 which to rear their young, and they are ready cus- 



