216 A BIRD-LOVER'S APRIL. 



these " pensioners upon the traveler's track " 

 scurry past the window in advance of them. 



It is pleasant to observe how naturally birds 

 flock together in hard times, precisely as men 

 do, and doubtless for similar reasons. The edge 

 of the wood, just mentioned, was populous with 

 them : robins, bluebirds, chickadees, fox spar- 

 rows, snow-birds, song sparrows, tree sparrows, 

 phoebes, a golden-winged woodpecker, and a 

 rusty blackbird. The last, noticeable for his 

 conspicuous light-colored eye-ring, had some- 

 how become separated from his fellows, and re- 

 mained for several days about this spot entirely 

 alone. I liked to watch his aquatic perform- 

 ances ; they might almost have been those of 

 the American dipper himself, I thought. He 

 made nothing of putting his head and neck 

 clean under water, like a duck, and sometimes 

 waded the brook when the current was so 

 strong that he was compelled every now and 

 then to stop and brace himself against it, lest 

 he should be carried off his feet. 



It is clear that birds, sharing the frailty of 

 some who are better than many sparrows, are 

 often wanting in patience. As spring draws 

 near they cannot wait for its coming. What 

 it has been the fashion to call their unerring 

 instinct is after all infallible only as a certain 

 great public functionary is, in theory; and 



