Speaker 1: Section twenty two of Birds and All Nature, Volume seven,
Speaker 1: number two, February nineteen hundred. This is a LibriVox recording.
Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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Speaker 1: by Betty B. A Winter Walk in the Woods Anne W. Jackson.
Speaker 1: Last week I had the good fortune to be invited
Speaker 1: with two other girls to spend a few days in
Speaker 1: the country. We hailed the invitation with delight and accepted
Speaker 1: it with alacrity, for we all three loved to get
Speaker 1: out in the woods and fields. We started on Friday afternoon,
Speaker 1: going the first part of the journey by train. The
Speaker 1: sky was cloudy, in the weather mild. We watched the
Speaker 1: moving pictures that sped by the car windows as eagerly
Speaker 1: as children. After a half hour's ride, we arrived at
Speaker 1: a little town insisting of the station, one store, one house,
Speaker 1: one grain elevator, and a blacksmith's shop. Here our hostess
Speaker 1: met us with a surrey and pear, and we were
Speaker 1: soon driving along at a brisk pace, drinking in the
Speaker 1: fresh air and country scenery with pure delight. The person
Speaker 1: whose power of enjoyment in little things has become blunted,
Speaker 1: is greatly to be pitied. Ours was as keen as
Speaker 1: though newly sharpened for the occasion, and nothing we saw
Speaker 1: from the fields, trees and hedges to the setting sun
Speaker 1: failed to give us pleasure. A merry drive of three
Speaker 1: or four miles brought us to the farmhouse, where we
Speaker 1: were cordially welcomed. I should like to tell you about
Speaker 1: all the fun we had that night, for it was
Speaker 1: our hostess's birthday, and there was a surprise party at
Speaker 1: which we were as much surprised as she was. But
Speaker 1: as it is our walk I'm going to tell about,
Speaker 1: I must leave the events of our first evening unrelated.
Speaker 1: Next morning, we three girls decided to take a walk,
Speaker 1: as we were anxious to see what birds there were about.
Speaker 1: It was a gray day, threatening rain, and very wild
Speaker 1: for December. The moment we set foot out of doors,
Speaker 1: the distance kaw of the crows sounded like an invitation
Speaker 1: in our ears. How I love that sound. It is
Speaker 1: to the ear what a dash of color is to
Speaker 1: the eye. We took the road to the right, where
Speaker 1: we saw some woods a quarter of a mile or
Speaker 1: more away. Before we had gone far we heard a
Speaker 1: medley of bird notes coming from the fields on our left.
Speaker 1: We couldn't make out what they were, as they were
Speaker 1: some distance away, but I caught a note now and
Speaker 1: then that sounded like a fragment of the meadow lark's song,
Speaker 1: just a faint reminiscence of it. After passing two pastures
Speaker 1: and a cornfield on our left, we came to a
Speaker 1: piece of thin timber land. The road which began to
Speaker 1: descend here had been cut down somewhat, leaving bangs more
Speaker 1: or less steep on either side. We went along slowly,
Speaker 1: stopping frequently to examine the beautiful mosses and lichens which
Speaker 1: abound it. We had seen no birds, with the exception
Speaker 1: of a woodpecker at close range, Yet presently we came
Speaker 1: to a turn in the road which led us up
Speaker 1: a slight rise of ground, bordered on both sides by woods.
Speaker 1: Arrived at the top of this hillock, we loitered about,
Speaker 1: looking at the many interesting things that are always to
Speaker 1: be seen in the woods. All at once we were
Speaker 1: startled by a shrill scream or cry which sounded like
Speaker 1: some young animal being strangled, And behold an immense hawk
Speaker 1: flew off over the tree tops It didn't fly very far, though,
Speaker 1: and gave us more of its music at intervals. The
Speaker 1: road from this point led down to a small brook
Speaker 1: spanned by a wooden bridge. Looking down toward this bridge,
Speaker 1: a gorgeous sight met our eyes. A flock of cars
Speaker 1: half a dozen or more were flying and sporting about
Speaker 1: among the low bushes near one end of it. What
Speaker 1: a delicious touch of color for a winter landscape. There
Speaker 1: were chickadees, too, hopping about among them in a most
Speaker 1: neighborly fashion. We watched them closely, quietly, drawing nearer and nearer.
Speaker 1: Pretty soon they flew into the trees close by, and
Speaker 1: from thence deeper into the woods, we saw and heard
Speaker 1: many woodpeckers, both the downy and the hairy, being very plentiful.
Speaker 1: As the place where we had seen the red birds
Speaker 1: was such a pretty one, we were in no haste
Speaker 1: to leave it even after they had departed, So we
Speaker 1: perched ourselves on top of an old rail fence and
Speaker 1: waited for some birds to come to us and be
Speaker 1: looked at. We hadn't been there very long before some
Speaker 1: tufted tit mice came into the trees near us and
Speaker 1: delighted us with their cheery notes and cunning ways. The
Speaker 1: kaw of the crows was quite loud here, and with
Speaker 1: the added notes of the woodpeckers and chickadees, made it
Speaker 1: quite lively. Every once in a while a few drops
Speaker 1: of rain would fall, but this only added to the
Speaker 1: wildness of our surroundings and seemed to put us further
Speaker 1: away from the rest of the world. Though we found
Speaker 1: our rural perch very enjoyable, we felt obliged to move
Speaker 1: on again, however reluctantly, so we crossed the bridge and
Speaker 1: climbed the hill beyond. A short walk then brought us
Speaker 1: to another turn to the right, but on the left
Speaker 1: and open gate into the woods. We lost no time
Speaker 1: in turning in here. You may be sure we found
Speaker 1: many more birds inside the woods than we had along
Speaker 1: the road. Here were tit mice, chickadees, plenty of nut hatches,
Speaker 1: white breasted, hairy and downy woodpeckers, and also a third
Speaker 1: kind that we were uncertain about. Its upper parts looked
Speaker 1: like black and white shepherd's plaid, and the back of
Speaker 1: its head and nape were deep red. Its note was
Speaker 1: the sonorous cow, cow, Cow, Cow, Cow. We heard brown
Speaker 1: creepers about, and saw many flocks of juncos. When we
Speaker 1: came to the end of the woods, we saw a
Speaker 1: pair of our cardinals flying about some low brushwood. It
Speaker 1: was like seeing old friends. I must not forget to
Speaker 1: mention the blue jay, who added his voice in brilliant
Speaker 1: color to the pleasure of our walk. We had entered
Speaker 1: a cornfield, and as we advanced, flocks of little birds,
Speaker 1: mostly juncos, would start up before us and fly into
Speaker 1: the hedge or next field, twittering gaily. Twice we heard
Speaker 1: distinctly the goldfinch's note, but as the birds all flew
Speaker 1: up at our approach, we couldn't get near enough to
Speaker 1: distinguish them. It seemed very odd to hear this summary note.
Speaker 1: Amidst that wintry scene. We crossed the cornfield and came
Speaker 1: to a fence at right angles, following which took us
Speaker 1: in the direction of the road. Just as we came
Speaker 1: up to a few scattered trees art in the field
Speaker 1: and part in the pastures on the other side of
Speaker 1: the fence, we again heard our medley chorus of many voices,
Speaker 1: some of which had reminded us of the meadow larks.
Speaker 1: The members of the chorus who proved to be the
Speaker 1: meadow larks cousins. The rusty blackbirds settled in these trees
Speaker 1: and gave us a selection in their best style. Some
Speaker 1: of the solo parts were really sweet. After climbing a
Speaker 1: rail fence, we crossed a small pasture and looked in
Speaker 1: vain for a gate, nothing but barbed wire. We finally
Speaker 1: made our escape through a pig's corn pen, from whence
Speaker 1: we emerged into another pasture where the grass was like
Speaker 1: the softest carpet to our feet. This pasture had a
Speaker 1: gate opening on to the road, so we were very
Speaker 1: soon back again at the house with appetites for dinner
Speaker 1: fully developed. We saw and heard no less than fourteen
Speaker 1: different kinds of birds during our walk, so those who
Speaker 1: desired to see birds need not to spare of finding them.
Speaker 1: Because it is winter, Nature always has plenty of beautiful
Speaker 1: things to show us, no matter what the time of year.
Speaker 1: My story ought to end here, but I must tell
Speaker 1: you about the tufted tits we saw next morning. The
Speaker 1: weather turned very cold that night, and in the morning
Speaker 1: a keen wind was blowing, so we didn't think many
Speaker 1: birds would be about, but hearing some chickadees in the yard,
Speaker 1: we ventured out and went across the road, where we
Speaker 1: sat down in the shelter of a large corn crib.
Speaker 1: From here we saw plenty of chickadees, tit mice, nuthatches,
Speaker 1: and other woodpeckers busily engaged in hunting their breakfasts. We
Speaker 1: had a fine opportunity of studding them with our glasses.
Speaker 1: One bold tit stole a grain of corn from the
Speaker 1: crib and carried it off to the tree in front
Speaker 1: of us, where he took it in his claw and
Speaker 1: proceeded to pick the choicest morsel out of it. Presently,
Speaker 1: another tufted rogue flew up, and there were some passages
Speaker 1: of arms and to flight into another tree, and in
Speaker 1: the midst of the fray alas the corn was dropped.
Speaker 1: End of Section twenty two.