The Big Snow 197 



snow less than a foot it can break through, 

 by rising all together. That is, unless the 

 snow is crusted over. Then the poor brown- 

 ies beat their lives out knocking against the 

 crust. Joe found that some coveys had been 

 wise enough to leave their ground perches for 

 the thickets. Even there they were in snow 

 caves, since the thickets were all mounded 

 over. But they had at least a chance of 

 life and some small show for food. There 

 were peas and sumach berries in most thickets 

 standing higher than the snow. The buck- 

 berries, though, were all hidden, so were most 

 of the weed seed, all of the grasses, and 

 likewise all of the mast. 



Joe scattered food in every likely place — 

 wheat, corn, peas, heads of millet, locks of 

 hay. He threw corn only under the thick- 

 ets. If he put it in the open he knew the 

 pestilent crows would steal it, and also try to 

 seize upon other smaller birds as they came 

 to feed. Several rescued coveys he turned 

 loose in the granary, which was big and quiet, 

 and had still bins of wheat along one side. 

 The birds would be safe there from foxes and 

 minks — he knew if he took them home and 

 put them in a coop, they would be too fright- 

 ened to feed well. Since many birds would 

 infallibly be lost, he wanted to save every life 

 possible among them. 



