BIRD PARADISE 205 



Curious how the mild weather interferes with 

 some of the plans of our winter birds. Several 

 species go into hiding somewhere when the south 

 wind mellows the temperature of the air. I 

 never see or hear the buntings only when the 

 winds and snow are holding one of their stirring 

 carnivals. The yellowbirds rarely interview 

 me in mild weather. So, too, the wood birds 

 are not apt to call on the parson except when 

 they come on the wings of the snow and the cold. 

 I like the kind of character which rises to meet 

 the occasion, especially when the occasion in 

 wind and storm has become more or less for- 

 bidding. Bunting's method of using a storm is 

 an admirable one. He responds to its shouts 

 and clamor in kind for kind. He sails with the 

 wind any whither that the wind may please to 

 take him. At such a time he trills his best song, 

 as he also shows his greatest activity. What 

 preachers the birds are. In fact, the fellows are 

 living texts and the sermons, like the texts, are 

 rich, I sometimes think, with the "alive and 

 dead and alive again forevermore." 



Where do the crows sojourn for several weeks 

 in the fall ? They disappear for a time, scarcely 



