414 
RURAL HOURS. 
air quite oppressive, and thermometer at 64. The grass quite green 
again, in patches ; cows feeding in some pastures. 
Saturday, 9 th. — Still same mild weather, with dark skies. 
A large flock of tree-sparrows about the house this morning. 
These birds come from the far north to Avinter here ; they are not 
so common with us, however, as the snow-bird and the chicadee. 
The little creatures were looking for seeds and insects among the 
bushes and on the ground, and they seemed to pick up glean- 
ings here and there. Though constantly fluttering about among 
the honeysuckles, they passed the berries without tasting them ; 
and often, when birds have been flitting about in autumn when the 
fruit of the honeysuckle looked bright and tempting, I have ob- 
served that it was left untouched. The birds do not like it. The 
blueberries of the Virginia creeper, on the contrary, are favorite 
food with many birds, though poisonous to man. 
The tree-sparrow is one of the largest and handsomest of its 
tribe, its head being marked with a brighter bay than others. 
Upon its breast is a dark spot, as though it bore its escutcheon 
there. When it first arrives in November, it has a pleasant, low 
warble, and it may very possibly sing well in its summer haunts. 
But our sparrows generally are not musical birds ; the song-spar- 
row is the most marked exception. 
This dull, cheerless winter day, while watching the sparrows 
searching for food among the bare and naked branches, and on 
the brown, cold earth, I was strongly impressed with the recol- 
lection that these little creatures were chosen by their Maker to 
teach us a most important lesson. The passage in the Holy Gos- 
pel in which they have a place is very remarkable, and is given 
to us by St. Matthew and St. Luke. The Evangelists tell us that 
