THE DRAWBRIDGE. 287 



wood could be heard the Carolina wren's clear call of 

 defiance, mocking the rage of an angry winter day. 



And how different the smaller winter wren! — shy, 

 wood -haunting, thicket - loving, silent, and so, to very 

 many, even though they are often abroad, unseen, un- 

 suspected, quite unknown. His close acquaintance is 

 well worth making, and I can promise that his many 

 pleasant ways will cause the rambler to forget the usual 

 drawbacks of a winter walk. The winter wren only 

 chirps at this season, it is true ; but it is such a hearty, 

 ringing chirp that it may well pass for a song ; accept- 

 able, because it appears to be uttered for your pleasure 

 as much as for the bird's. I have said it was a shy 

 bird : it is shy of approaching us and our ordinary sur- 

 roundings ; but go to its home in the retired nooks and 

 corners of the wood, and it will not fear you ; indeed, 

 in an hour's time it may become quite familiar. 



Another winter bird, and one of both great beauty 

 and accomplishments, is the horned lark. You are not 

 treated to a glimpse of one merely, nor a meagre dozen, 

 but of a hundred. They are never in the woods, even 

 during violent storms, but out in the open fields. Pos- 

 sibly you may have to tramp knee-deep to find them, 

 but if you do, the walk will never be regretted. I have 

 so often mentioned these larks that I can only name 

 them now. 



But a word concerning the pipit. In him we have a 

 lark, a splendid songster, and altogether a bird of many 

 attractions, even were it mute ; yet far and near, both 

 in town and country, my neighbors do not know it. 

 Pipits come in October, scattering about the least fre- 



