BIRD PARADISE 233 



socially inclined, for I never see them only in 

 small flocks. Occasionally they appear in com- 

 pany with the crossbills — a bird that seems to 

 possess some of their traits besides being a winter 

 visitor to our hill country with the grosbeaks. 

 In the nesting season they hie away to the dense 

 forests of the far North, rarely ever breeding 

 south of the Canada line. I judge that the time 

 of their annual visits to our section is timed to 

 meet with and enjoy the inspiration of the driv- 

 ing cold and snow. Certainly their action as I 

 see them is of that cheery sort that makes the 

 best of existing conditions. Let them be what 

 they may, I am sure there are times when they 

 pass days without much food except the scant 

 supply which they manage to secure from the 

 wide snow-fields. The buds of the forest trees 

 are their principal reliance in the time of deep 

 snow. 



A few birds were on duty, but the summer 

 songs were all among the things of the past. Far 

 down the ravine a small company of crows talked 

 together — occasionally sounding their trumpet 

 hoarsely through the wood. Under the wide 

 carpet of leaves T fancied I could hear the sub- 



