tinue to sleep. Let it rain, blow, snow ; let the 

 sleet, like a slimy serpent, creep up tlie trunk 

 and wrap around tlie twigs : still lie will hold 

 on. Many a night I have seen them sleeping 

 through a driving winter rain, their breasts to 

 the storm, their tails hanging straight down, 

 shedding every drop. If a gale is blowing, and 

 it is cold, they get to the leeward of the tree, as 

 close to the trunk as possible, and anchor fast, 

 every bill pointing into the wind, every feather 

 reefed, every tail lying out on the flat of the 

 storm. 



As I watched the bands starting from the tree- 

 tops of the roost I wondered if they really 

 crossed the river into Cambridge and Charles - 

 town. A few mornings later I was again up 

 early, hastening down to the "West Boston Bridge 

 to see if I could discover the birds going over. As 

 I started out I saw bunches moving toward the 

 river with a free and easy flight, but whether I 

 reached the bridge too late, or whether they 

 scattered and went over singly, I do not know. 

 Only now and then did a bird cross, and he 

 seemed to come from along the shore rather 

 than from above the house-tops. 

 [105] 



