Why can't farmers get out of their plodding, ox-like
ways, and learn to co-work with Nature like men?"
"Hurrah for Webb!" cried Burt. "Who would have thought that the squire
and a crow could evoke such a peroration? That flower of eloquence surely
grew from a rank, dark soil."
"Squire Bartley amuses me very much," said Mrs. Clifford, from the sofa,
with a low laugh. "He seems the only one who has the power to ruffle
Webb."
"Little wonder," thought Amy, "for it would be hard to find two natures
more antagonistic."
"It seems to me that this has been a very silent winter," the minister
remarked. "In my walks and drives of late I have scarcely heard the chirp
of a bird. Are there many that stay with us through this season, doctor?"
"More than you would suppose. But you would not be apt to meet many of
them unless you sought for them. At this time they are gathered in
sheltered localities abounding in their favorite food. Shall I tell you
about some that I have observed throughout several successive winters?"
Having received eager encouragement, he resumed: "My favorites, the
bluebirds, we have considered quite at length. They are very useful, for
their food in summer consists chiefly of the smaller beetles and the
larvae of little butterflies and moths. Many robins stay all winter. It
is a question of food, not climate, with them. In certain valleys of the
White Mountains there is an abundance of berries, and flocks of robins
feed on them all winter, although the cold reaches the freezing-point of
mercury.
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