THE COUNTRY IN WINTER 



song and eats his fill. As I sit at my desk, ostensibly 

 writing, my eyes are within a foot of these exquisite 

 creatures; and I may as well acknowledge here that 

 their interesting actions do form a large part of my 

 daily diversion. When the thermometer gets to zero 

 and below, the nuthatch squats down, so that his feathers 

 protect his feet; but the chickadee pecks away uncon- 

 cernedly at the food held in his claw, no matter if the 

 gale does blow his tiny feathers all awry. 



A gorgeous blue jay at times appears on my south 

 maple. He has doubtless noticed birds coming and 

 going from my window: is n't there something for him 

 too? I have carefully refrained from putting whole 

 nuts on this table, so as not to invite his lordly presence, 

 but on the floor of the upstairs porch he spies his favor- 

 ite food and darts to the jar, then to the railing with a 

 peanut in his beak. Tucking it into a corner of the 

 vine he is back for more; presently his mate follows 

 him, and they take turns at their breakfast until the 

 supply is exhausted. His blue coat with square in- 



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