broad and firm, but with hardly any hind toe 

 mark at all, as though they walked about on tip- 

 toe. Very different from these are the long, trian- 

 gular tracks of the jays, showing where they have 

 hopped upon the snow. It is thus fairly tramped 

 down and strewn with leaves and chaff where the 

 bob-whites have fed, leaving these husks in token 

 of their frugal meal. Such seed must be very 

 small provender for these birds — much like a diet 

 of crumbs for a hungry man. Goldfinches, juncos 

 and tree-sparrows seek the same meager repast. 

 The musical flocks of redpolls fare better in the 

 alders around the pond. These are not to be seen 

 every day, any more than the pine-siskins — per- 

 haps not at all during several years. But occasion- 

 ally an enormous flock will arrive and settle in the 

 alders with all the chattering and commotion of a 

 social and hungry company As the seeds are 

 shaken down upon the ice, the birds soon leave 

 the bushes, and are under the table, so to speak. 

 Crossbills have the easier time, feeding as they 

 do on the seeds of the pine, for these are always 

 available. No sound seems better to accord with 

 the spirit of a still cold winter day than this faint 

 crackling of opening cones, forced asunder by the 



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