The Breath of a Bird 187 
port, now hopping along a branch, now suspended from 
some wormy twig. 
Can we do aught but silently marvel at this alchemy? 
A little bundle of muscle and blood, which in this freez- 
ing weather can transmute frozen beetles and zero air 
into a happy, cheery little Black-capped Chickadee, as he 
names himself, whose bravery shames us, whose trust- 
fulness warms our hearts! 
And the next time you raise your gun to needlessly 
take a feathered life, think of the marvellous little en- 
gine which your lead will stifle forever; lower your weap- 
on and look into the clear bright eyes of the bird whose 
body equals yours in physical perfection, and whose tiny 
brain can generate a sympathy, a love for its mate, which 
in sincerity and unselfishness suffers little when compared 
with human affection. 
YZ — 220 
TT Get ~Watrer Kine Stone 1906. 
Fig. 138.—Chickadee in the snow. 
