BIRD CURIOS. 33 



surprised this bird eating a corn grain in the very 

 depth of the woods, a considerable distance from 

 the neighboring cornfields. 



One winter day a nuthatch picked three grains of 

 corn in succession from the fissures of an oak, and 

 greedily devoured them. On another occasion one 

 of these nuthatches was seen diving into a hole on 

 the under side of a limb. Presently he emerged 

 with a nut of some kind in his bill, and flew away, 

 remaining just about long enough to eat it, when he 

 returned for another. This he repeated until his 

 dinner was finished. 



No doubt, when cold and stormy weather comes, 

 these birds have many a luscious mouthful because 

 of their forehandedness, and no doubt they enjoy 

 their well-kept stores as much as the farmer and his 

 family rehsh their dish of mellow apples around the 

 glowing hearth on a winter evening. It is no fancy 

 flight, but a literal truth, that many a niche and 

 cleft is made to do duty as larder for the feathered 

 and furred tenants of the woods. 



With the birds that migrate, autumn is the season 

 for gathering in large convocations, holding " windy 

 congresses in trees," as Lowell aptly puts it. The 

 aerial movements of some of these feathered armies 

 are often worthy of observation. Memory lingers 

 fondly about a day in autumn when two friends and 

 myself were clambering up the side of a steep hill 

 or ridge that bounded a green hollow on the south. 

 We had gone half-way to the top when we turned 

 to admire the panorama spread out picturesquely 

 3 



