192 WINTER SKETCHES. 



or when he blots the white page of the fields. 

 "Away with the doldrums! My coat is sombre, 

 but my spirits light." In these Winter days he is 

 more than ever a vegetarian. He scours the 

 orchards for the stray "frozen thaws," and has an 

 eye for brilliant berries on the shrubs. Sometimes 

 he finds in chinks and crevices of the ledges a 

 caterpillar, or a fat, ham-like cocoon pendent, on 

 walls and plants ; or if he can spice his diet with 

 an occasional mouse or small bird, he counts it as 

 no sin, but the best of fortune, for in this season 

 of starvation, such viands act as a kind of cardiac 

 nutriment, which invigorates the heart and gives 

 strength and cheerfulness. 



The rains have again carried off much of the 

 snow to the streams and ponds, and the fields and 

 pasture-lands are figured with irregular patches of 

 brown and white, as if "gigantic spotted hides 

 were stretched over them." By the stream a 

 single male robin chirps in a subdued and pathetic 

 tone — in contrast to his manner, for he has all 

 the warm weather pomp and pretension. He has 

 come to the water to wash down his breakfast of 

 berries. He does not indulge in a bath, as he 

 would surely have done had the season been 

 further advanced. In this uncertain and "catch- 

 ing weather" he must take care to keep his plu- 

 mage as dry and polished as circumstances will 

 permit. 



