THE APPLE. 



127 



birds " can always be depended on. Indeed there are 

 few better places to study ornithology than in the or- 

 chard. Besides its regular occupants, many of the birds 

 of the deeper forest find occasion to visit it during the 

 season. The cuckoo comes for the tent-caterpillar, 

 the jay for frozen apples, the ruffed grouse for buds, 

 the crow foraging for birds' eggs, the woodpecker and 

 chickadees for their food, and the high-hole for ants. 

 The red-bird comes too, if only to see what a friendly 

 covert its branches form, and the wood-thrush now and 

 then comes out of the grove near by, and nests along- 

 side of its cousin, the robin. The smaller hawks know 

 that this is a most likely spot for their prey, and in 

 spring the shy northern warblers may be studied as 

 they pause to feed on the fine insects amid its branches. 

 The mice love to dwell here also, and hither comes 

 from the near woods the squirrel and the rabbit. The 

 latter will put his head through the boy's slipper- 

 noose any time for a taste of the sweet apple, and the 

 red squirrel and chipmunk esteem its seeds a great 

 rarity. 



All the domestic animals love the apple, but none 

 so much so as the cow. The taste of it wakes her up 

 as few other things do, and bars and fences must be 

 well looked after. No need to assort them or pick out 

 the ripe ones for her. An apple is an apple, and there 

 is no best about it. I heard of a quick-witted old cow 

 that learned to shake them down from the tree. While 

 rubbing herself she had observed that an apple some- 



