prise, proving that this species is not without character, as indeed
no species is. He leaped to the bole of a sapling, clinging there a
few moments like a chickadee or a wren, while he pecked an appetizing
morsel from the bark; then he dropped down to the snow for a brief
breathing spell, after which he sprang up again to the sapling for a
few more bits, repeating the little performance a number of times.

In the same part of the woods a company of chickadees was flitting
about in the trees, plunging into the little snowbanks on the twigs,
sometimes standing in them up to their white bosoms, and often brushing
a segment to the ground, thus making numerous breaches in the white
drifts. The racket they made with their scolding and piping might have
been called a musical din. Deciding to watch them a while, I flung
myself down upon the snow. This act was the signal for a precious
to-do among the nervous little potherers. Did any one ever hear or
read of such a performance in all the annals of birdland? What in the
world did it mean--a man lying flat on the ground out there in the
woods? I was highly amused at the hurly-burly, and decided to add
still more variety to it. Suddenly I sprang to my feet with a shout.
Several of the birds dropped, as if shot, into a thorn bush below them,
where they set up a hubbub that would have made on old-time Puritan
laugh, even at the risk of being censured for levity. By and by they
quieted down, and one of them began to whistle his pretty minor tune
with as much serenity as if he had never been excited in his life. My
winter outing proved that the Frost King and the hardy birds often go
cheek by jowl, as if they were on terms of the most cordial fraternity.

ODDS AND ENDS

The ornithologist is always interested in noting how the conduct of
birds of the same species differs and agrees in different localities.
In a previous chapter some of the differences between the avifauna of
Ohio and Kansas have been described, but a good deal still remains to
be said, teaching more than one lesson in comparative ornithology.

At the beginning of my studies in the Sunflower state the song sparrows
proposed an enigma for my solution, whether wittingly or unwittingly, I
know not. In Ohio they were the most lavish singers in the outdoor
chorus, chanting their sweet lays every month in the year, summer or
winter; indeed, their most vigorous recitals were often given in
February and Mar