240 NATURE'S DREAMS 
familiar haunts among the now disconsolate and 
naked trees* 
A hesitating, discontented, but familiar chirp 
comes from a closely-crowded bunch of Cedars half 
way up the hillside* But a long and patient wait 
does not induce the friend of summer to reveal him- 
self* The Cedars must be slowly and steadily circled 
so as not to disturb him* An opening appears above 
a low-spreading branch, and there, with bunched 
and huddled form outlined against the background 
of snow, sits a solitary Robin who has preferred the 
cold of the dense Evergreens to the gay surroundings 
of the hospitable south* He will be of the first to 
greet the returning spring* Both in sombre colour 
and quiet demeanour he contrasts with the lively, 
energetic, and sometimes noisy Blue Jay that has 
flown out of the deeper woods* This gay disturber 
is pulling energetically at a belated acorn that has 
remained, like the bunches of last year's leaves, on a 
lofty branch of the white Oak* Although distressingly 
industrious, and even vain of it, the Jay is easily 
forgiven* When he stays through the winter he makes 
the best of the situation and takes the white world as 
he finds it, never sulking, grumbling, nor assuming 
an air of dejection. He never huddles together in his 
feathers to wait for summer, but lives his life day by 
day, taking all the joy there is and shedding it about, 
indifferent to all seasons. He is the mischievous child 
