NATURE'S DREAMS 241 
of the woods* And who can resist a mischievous 
child i 
A cry, harsher than the most diabolical note of 
the Blue Jay, comes from a group of naked Silver 
Birches* It must be a conveniently cold winter that 
has enabled the blue disturber's rare cousin, the 
Canada Jay, to travel so far south* The bleak plain 
and naked trees must seem almost sultry to him as 
he moves rapidly but solemnly about* The Canada 
Jays are more serious than their gay - coloured 
relatives, and they build their nests and rear their 
young with the thermometer many degrees on the 
wrong side of zero, just to teach the world contempt 
for the weather* While watching the antics of the 
Canada Jay a half score of purple Grosbeaks settle 
in the Hemlock directly overhead and begin to pull 
the cones to pieces* In their arctic home they have 
learned nothing of human destructiveness, so a man 
is not an object of fear or aversion* They come to 
the lower limbs and look curiously into his eyes, but 
seem to regard him as a rather unprofitable proposi- 
tion* Nature is ever wise* Their confidence, even if 
born of indifference, is refreshing in a world of doubt. 
The Crows, wiser in their own generation, have a 
sentinel outlined against the sky on the tall spiked 
trunk of a dead pine, while they gather with their 
friends and neighbours at a sumptuous feast in the 
depth of the ravine* 
Q 
