a single downy woodpecker accompanying them. 

 If one chance to drop a morsel he will descend 

 to the ground in search of it. He will not waste 

 a spider's egg, so severe has been the lesson in 

 economy. In zero weather the jay forgets to be 

 saucy, and if there is a glaze on the snow, his 

 native impertinence seems to ooze from him, and 

 he becomes meek enough. Taking a weazened 

 acorn from the tree, he holds the nut with one 

 claw, and with vigorous taps of his bill tears it 

 open. After extradling the frozen kernel, he drops 

 the shell with a trace of his customary imperti- 

 nence, as though feeling in somewhat better spirits 

 for even this poor repast. A bone nailed to a tree 

 is inducement for him to stay near the house, but 

 not when he can get acorns readily. 



The board may fairly creak with its weight of 

 partridgeberries, beechnuts and acorns, many of 

 the latter crushed and available, and then in a 

 night this plentiful feast is put out of sight under 

 a six-inch layer of snow, to which the next day 

 adds a glaze as if to seal irrevocably the doom of 

 all bob-whites. A fast has been declared in efFedt, 

 as peremptorily as by any medieval pope, to be 

 broken only with an occasional leaf bud or the 

 1 60 



