INTRODUCTION 5 



panse of snow. The sky is gray; the shutters creak 

 fretfully in the wind. The glory of a summer gar- 

 den is marked only by a stalk or two above the snow. 

 The world seems dead, when a feathered mite flits 

 through the air, perches on a nearby limb and calls 

 a merry "Chick-a-dee-dee-dee." 



What a difference in the scene his coming makes ! 

 What good cheer and contentment he brings with 

 him I 



When we go to the fields and woods in winter, 

 birds are the only living creatures we are sure of 

 seeing. Tree Sparrows chatter happily over their 

 breakfast of seeds; a Nuthatch stops his search for 

 insects' eggs long enough to look down and greet us 

 with his queer "yank-yank." A Downy Woodpecker, 

 intent on the capture of a grub, hammers indus- 

 triously, tap-tap-tap. He is too busy to stop, but 

 calls his clear "peek" to us as we pause to watch him. 

 What a sense of companionship we have with these 

 feathered friends of ours! They make us feel at 

 home with Nature. How lonely we should be with- 

 out them ! 



THE BIRDS OUR ALLIES 



We are indebted to these winter birds for more 

 than their friendship; for more than giving life to 

 the otherwise silent fields and woods. They are our 



