WINTER BIRDS 5 



ing his spiral ladder about an oak, and 

 from a patch of young spruces we hear the 

 clear note of the golden-crowned king- 

 lets, fearless little sparks of life and true 

 acrobats. Where the path runs down the 

 hillside to the brook we flush a ruffed 

 grouse from the underbrush and, when the 

 rising "whir "is over, with set wings he 

 sails off through the birches and is gone. 

 A flock of winter robins are feeding on 

 the vermilion berries of the black alder 

 by the brook and to hear their glad shout 

 is worth our long walk through the snow. 



Returning by another route over a bare 

 hill where the snow has drifted against 

 the wall we find in each gap between the 

 stones or in the gate-ways the tracks of 

 chipmunk^ and mice. Something has 

 walked the top of the old wall too, for on 

 each white-capped boulder four toes have 

 pressed, for which Bob White is probably 

 responsible. 



The snow has many a story to tell as 

 we tramp along : a rabbit has taken a 

 turn about his " brier patch," squirrels 

 have wandered in the woods, and a crow 



1 As far as my experience goes, the chipmunk is only 

 dormant in the very coldest weather of the winter. 



