38 ON THE BIRDS' HIGHWAY 



Mount Madison in the foreground, Adams, 

 Jefferson, Clay and Washington rising in 

 order behind it. The peak a short dis- 

 tance down the side of Washington was 

 snowbound. 



A few crossbills, two blue jays and a 

 merry company of chickadees, red and 

 white breasted nuthatch, were among the 

 spruces. The little red squirrels were very 

 numerous, and so tame that when my 

 companion made a squeaking sound they 

 approached within a few feet of us, their 

 bright eyes twinkling and their bodies 

 twitching with nervous excitement. We 

 passed a deserted lumber camp and flushed 

 a " partridge " from some hemlock boughs 

 about its dooryard. The loud tattooing 

 of a woodpecker attracted us and we soon 

 found a female hairy and three downies 

 about a few old stubs. The difference in 

 size between these two species is quite 

 noticeable when the birds are seen to- 

 gether. We returned to the farm down 

 the old logging road. Great piles of 

 hemlock bark and corded wood ran along 

 each side of the path, and again a grouse 

 sprang from the thicket and whirred into 

 denser cover. 



