Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1881-02-11
Birds of Winter.

winter than the graceful little snow-birds.
What beautiful, perfectly finished pieces
of natures workmanship they arei How
intense is the luslre of their tiny black eyes!
what vivid ray of intelligence darts
from those electric life centres! Ali birds
impress us with keen sense of their
Astounding vitality; but the snow-bird is
one of those in which we recognize some
thing closely akin to an acutely sensitive,
delicately organized human being. There
is dreamy sugg astion of poetic beauty
about the fairy like little creatures. The
pure ivory whlteness of their slender bill,
so dainty turned. SO smoothly polished,
tr 'nslucent and pinky in the sunlight, is a
unique mark I, aristocratic distinction.
Of a different race from these mild and
gentle pets are the pugnacious English
sparrows, who battle so fercely over the
possession of bigger crumb or fuller
grain. They are Of the earth. earthly; and
their gatherings. their seedlings and squab-
bles are quite as commonplace as those OF
some of their human brothers CroWdinp
to the feeding ground in noisy flock, they
8 tile down contentedly to the repast, each
fluffy little ball Of feathers strongly re-
lieved against the snow. then rising with
many flutterings and chirpings they circle
merrily in the welcome CLEANS of winter
sunshine, leaving the snowy sui face just
trodden so diligently by them covered with
o., int io 10 0P do1ioofo Off
the markings made by those slender but
busy little feet of theirs.
The chicadee, or titmouse, that tiny bird
whose CHEEKY courage in Drawing the rig
OFFS of our winter, Emerson has shown
forth in the crystal mirror of his verse, is
our occasional guest at this season. IL
his thick plumage of gray and black, re-
lieved with white. so suggestive in its COL
or and texture of the furs worn by some
Arctic explorer, he bravely makes his Wa.
through t Q snowy woods, perching now
and again, while his merry note rings forth
no unmeaning challenge to all the powers
of the air that wait in the train of old Win
ter and do his bidding. Ice. frost, Snow
sleet, hail, rime, he cheerfully meets them
all undaunted. Whether the storm cloud
darkens the air with smothering fakes, or
or whether the spirit of piercing cold.
whose touch is stab, and whose grasp ID
death. walks abroad, the radiant heart OF
The chicadee beats upchilled and his clear
note still sounds on in triumph of gayetv
What fry spark of vitality burns in the
breast of this least of creatures!
Here moves this atom in full breath,
Hurting defiance at vast death"
But passing from the chickadee to an
other bird of the same race, the downy
woodpecker, we can but pay homage in
our strongest terms of admiration to so
exquisite creature, an incarnation of ma
lures most dainty and luxurious mood.
NY lord is assuredly one of the darlings of
luxury. The adjective downy, which de-
science has applied to him, ex-
actly suggests the texture and gloss of his
wonderful plumage. This prince of the
woodpeckers rarely condescends to display
his royal robes of velvet and ermine-velvet
of the richest, jettiest dye, ermine Of the
purest, intensesJ whiteness-in the plebeian
precincts of our dooryards; but on some
damp November morning you may hear
his high, insistent, repeated note, ard
gla"cing out you will soon discover this
feathered aristocrat fiuttering about, with
an assured air of domination among the
leafiess branches, while he taps the bark
with his powerful bill, after the character
istic manner of his race. He is scarcely
larger than robin, though his white plu-
mage enhances his apparent size; and his
notified markings even suggest something
as familiar as the feathers of the silver
spangled Poland fowls, but no robin, much
less, a domestic fowl, ever bore himself
with the lordly ease of this free creature
of the woods. You may come quite near
him; he hardly deigns to notiea your ap-
proach; nor shows any more fear of you
than of the small birds who gather in hum.
BILE admiration around the subeb stranger,
or hurriedly retire before his imposing
presence. Fresh from the solitude of the
deer, woods, he knows no law but his own
regal Will. no domain Other than that
which he claims by hereditary right
W men you nave succeeded in prevailing
poor hospitality, YOU feel as deeplY honor
ed as did any humble adherert tina az.
lied Stuart, when that naunarch % wracinnss,,
supped with his loyal retainer to
she Prousaenes "a. n JppynaI ~