252 /A r AUTUMN. 



paid no heed to my proximity. "What does 

 this mean ? " was the question I fancied each 

 asked of his comrade, and then a dozen would 

 attempt explanation at the same time. Such a 

 chattering ! Although the air was thick with 

 snow, it did not muffle the harsh sounds noises 

 as distracting as cracked sleigh-bells. A great 

 company of these birds had been for a week in 

 the hillside woods, sociably inclined but not in- 

 timately associated. The snow brought them 

 together, and after an hour of vain discussion, as 

 a compact flock, they left the woods and flew in 

 a direct line for a cluster of cedars half a mjle 

 away. It appeared to me that some one of 

 these birds made the suggestion that the cedars 

 were a better protection than half-leaved oak 

 woods, and all took up with it. At any rate, that 

 is where the birds went and remained until the 

 snow-squall was over. Of course, it might have 

 been a mere coincidence, and all their chatter- 

 ing mere meaningless noise, and so, to the end 

 of the chapter ; but I am not disposed to view 

 bird-life from such a stupid standpoint. It may 

 suit the " feather-splitters," as Burroughs aptly 

 calls them, to look upon birds as mere conven- 

 iences for their nomenclatorial skill, but he is 

 happy who escapes them and seeks directly of 

 each bird he sees to know what thoughts well 

 up from its little but lively brain. Now, I have 



