up and them at his ease a good deal of had to be done before he got anything to eat because the lower scales are barren but when he had patiently worked his way up to the fertile ones he found two sweet nuts at the base of each shaped like trimmed and spotted purple like birds eggs and notwithstanding these were dripping with soft and covered with and so strongly put together that a boy would be puzzled to cut them open with a he accomplished his meal with easy dignity and cleanliness making less effort apparently than a man would in eating soft from a plate breakfast done i whistled a tune for him before he went to work curious to see how he would be affected by it he had not seen me all this while but the instant i began to whistle he darted up the tree nearest to him and came out on a small dead limb opposite me and composed himself to listen i sang and whistled more than a dozen airs and as the music changed his eyes sparkled and the mountains of he turned his head from side to side but made no other response other hearing the strange sounds came around on all sides also and birds one of the birds a handsome seemed even more interested than the after listening for awhile on one of the lower dead of a pine he came forward within a few feet of mj face and remained fluttering in the air for half a minute or so himself with wing beats like a humming bird in front of a flower while i could look into his eyes and see his innocent wonder by this time my performance must have lasted nearly half an hour i sang or whistled o o er the water to woods o lee etc all of which seemed to be listened to with bright interest my first sitting patiently through it all with his telling eyes fixed upon me until i ventured to give the old when he screamed his name turned tail and darted with ludicrous haste up the tree out of sight his voice and actions in the case leaving a somewhat profane impression as if he had said i be hanged if you get me to hear anything so solemn and this acted as a signal for the general of the whole hairy tribe though the birds seemed willing to wait further music being naturally more in their line what there can be in that grand old church tune that is so offensive to birds and i can t the imagine a year or two after this high concert i was sitting one fine day on a hill in the coast range where the common ground were abundant they were very shy on account of being hunted so much but after i had been silent and motionless for half an hour or so they began to venture out of their holes and to feed on the seeds of the gi and around me as if i were no more to be feared than a tree stump then it occurred to me that this was a good opportunity to find out whether they also disliked old therefore i began to whistle as nearly as i could remember the same familiar airs that had pleased the of the they at once stopped eating stood erect and listened patiently until i came to old when with ludicrous haste every one of them rushed to their holes and bolted in their feet twinkling in the air for a moment as they vanished no one who makes the acquaintance of our will fail to admire him but he is far too and warlike ever to be taken for a darling how long the life of a may be i don t know the young seem to from knot holes perfect from the first and as enduring as their own trees it is difficult indeed to realize that so a piece of sun fire should ever become dim or die at all he is seldom killed by hunters for he is too small to encourage much of their attention and when pursued in settled regions becomes excessively shy and keeps close in the of the highest trunks many of which are of the same color as himself indian boys however the mountains of lie in wait with patience to shoot them with arrows in the lower and middle a few fall a prey to occasionally he is pursued by and etc but upon the whole he dwells safely in the deep bosom of the woods the most highly favored of all his happy tribe may his tribe increase c m l � l h � � � i s w j i k v � w� a sa i chapter x a wind storm in the forests the mountain winds like the dew and rain sunshine and snow are ed and bestowed with love on the forests to develop their strength and beauty however the scope of other forest influences that of the winds is universal the snow and the upper forests every winter the lightning strikes a single tree here and there while down thousands at a as a gardener out a bed of flowers but the winds go to every tree every leaf and branch and not one is forgotten the pine towering with outstretched arms on the rugged of the icy peaks the and most retiring tenant of the they seek and find them all caressing them tenderly bending them in exercise their growth off a leaf or limb as required or removing an entire tree or grove now whispering and through the branches like a sleepy child now roaring like the ocean the winds blessing the forests the forests the winds with beauty and harmony as the sure result after one has seen pines six feet in bending like 