WINTER FROLICS. 51 



At one point I traced a path which bore evidence 

 of having been used a number of times for a long 

 distance, as it wound here and there in an ex- 

 tremely sinuous course among the bushes and briers. 

 Probably it was a sparrow- trail, if not a thoroughfare, 

 and had been used by many birds. In more than 

 one place were small hollows in the snow, just large 

 enough for a bird's body to wallow in. Usually 

 they were at the terminus of one of these thorough- 

 fares. Might the birds have tarried there to take a 

 snow- bath? I have seen birds taking pool-baths, 

 shower-baths, dew-baths, and dust-baths. Who will 

 say they never take a snow-bath? 



Next to the tree-sparrows, the juncos delight to 

 hold carnival in the snow ; but their behavior in this 

 element is somewhat different : they are not so fond 

 of hopping about in it, and do not plait such a net- 

 work of tracks among the bushes. They will fly 

 from a perch directly to the ground near a weed- 

 stalk or other cluster of dainties, and stand quietly 

 in the snow up to their little bodies while they take 

 their luncheon. Sometimes their white breasts rest 

 on the surface of the snow, or in a slight depression 

 of it, when they look as if they were sitting in a nest 

 of crystals. 



The eighth of January was a cold day ; in a little 

 opening in the midst of the woods was a covey of 

 snowbirds, and, incredible as it may seem, several 

 of them stood in the selfsame tracks in the snow, so 

 long that my own feet actually got frost-bitten while 

 I watched them, although I wore three pairs of 



