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EARLY WINTER 



The cold quiet of the suburban woods intensifies 

 the charms of solitude. The life that shrank timidly 

 away from strollers and revellers in summer comes 

 forth with confiding indifference. The lone invader 

 is treated as a friend, no more dangerous than the 

 distorted roots that afford a comfortable resting-place. 

 In such silence the mild tapping of a Downy Wood- 

 pecker is a distinct and insistent disturbance. This 

 little fellow in boldly mottled black and white is one 

 of the most friendly perennial residents. He flits from 

 tree to tree, ignoring visitors, clinging to the bark 

 and using his tail for a support, chipping off the bored 

 and tunneled covering and reaching his long, barbed 

 tongue after the hiding grubs and beetles. When 

 near, the scarlet crescent on his head shows quite 

 distinctly. It is an ornament which his mate does not 

 wear. Like most devotees to excessive activity, he 

 lacks thoroughness. A few taps here and there, a 

 cursory inspection while hurriedly hopping for a few 

 feet on the bark, and a tree is abandoned for another 

 adjacent. Thus as each tree furnishes its morsel 

 the quest goes on, never relieved by the discovery of 

 food in easy abundance. The Chickadee is another 



