3n t^t IXfinttt ^noi^0 



the snow and without trouble located and bored 

 down through the snow to his cone-deposit. 

 . With difficulty he climbed up through the heavy 

 snow with a cone. He did not enjoy floundering 

 through the clinging snow to the tree-trunk. 

 But at last up he started with a snow-laden cone, 

 in search of a dry seat on which to eat. After 

 climbing a few feet he tumbled back into the 

 unpleasant snow. In some manner the wet 

 snow on the tree-trunk had caused his downfall. 

 With temper peppery he gathered himself up, 

 and for a moment glared at me as though about 

 to blame me for his troubles. Then, muttering, 

 he climbed up the tree. Sometimes the chip- 

 munk, and the squirrel also, indulge in hiber- 

 nating periods of sleep despite their ample stores 

 of convenient food. 



The ptarmigan is preeminently the bird of 

 the snows; it is the Eskimo of the bird world. 

 It resides in the land realm of the Farthest 

 North and also throughout the West upon high 

 mountain-tops. In the heights it lives above 

 the limits of tree growth, close to snow-drifts 

 that never melt, and in places above the alti- 



271 



