Chickadees are exceedingly useful birds, and
make great havoc among the insects.
"Our next bird is merely a winter sojourner, for he goes north in spring
like the kinglet. The scientists, with a fine sense of the fitness of
things, have given him a name in harmony, _Troglodytes parvulus_, var.
_Hyemalis_."
"What monster bird is this?" cried Amy.
"He is about as big as your thumb, and ordinary mortals are content to
call him the winter wren. He is a saucy little atom of a bird, with his
tail pointing rakishly toward his head. I regret exceedingly to add that
he is but a winter resident with us, and we rarely hear his song. Mr.
Burroughs says that he is a 'marvellous songster,' his notes having a
'sweet rhythmical cadence that holds you entranced.' By the way, if you
wish to fall in love with birds, you should read the books of John
Burroughs. A little mite of a creature, like the hermit-thrush, he fills
the wild, remote woods of the North with melody, and has not been known
to breed further south than Lake Mohunk. The brown creeper and the
yellow-rumped warbler I will merely mention. Both migrate to the North in
the spring, and the latter is only an occasional winter resident. The
former is a queer little creature that alights at the base of a tree and
creeps spirally round and round to its very top, when it sweeps down to
the base of another tree to repeat the process. He is ever intent on
business.
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