ad the same notice as your cousins whom you called
'crazy.' And from what I know of Mother Carey, you will probably have to
stick it out here all through the snow, not only now, but in every
winter after this; so you may as well make the best of it."

This was sad news for the Chicadee Tomtits; but they were brave little
fellows, and seeing they could not help themselves, they went about
making the best of it. Before a week had gone by they were in their
usual good spirits again, scrambling about the snowy twigs, or chasing
one another as before.

They were glad to remember now that Mother Carey said that winter would
end. They told each other about it so much that even at its beginning,
when a fresh blizzard came on, they would gleefully remark to one
another that it was a "sign of spring," and one or another of the flock
would lift his voice in the sweet little chant that we all know so well:

[Illustration: Spring soon]

Another would take it up and answer back:

[Illustration: Spring com-ing]

and they would keep on repeating the song until the dreary woods rang
again with the good news, and the wood-people learned to love the brave
little bird that sets his face so cheerfully, to meet so hard a case.

And winter did end. Spring did come at last. And the sign of its coming
was when the ice broke on the stream and the pussy willow came purring
out above it. The air was full of the good news. The Chicadees felt it,
and knew it through and through. They went mad with joy, chasing each
other round and round the trees and through the hollow logs, shouting
"The spring is here, the spring is here, Hurree, Hurree, Hurree," and in
another week their joyous lives were going on as before the trouble
came.

But to this day, when the chill wind blows through the deserted woods,
the Chicadees seem to lose their wits for a few days, and dart into all
sorts of queer places. They may then be found in great cities, or open
prairies, cellars, chimneys, and hollow logs; and the next time you find
one of the wanderers in any out-of-the-way corner, be sure to remember
that the Chicadee goes crazy twice a year, in the fall and in the
spring, and probably went into his strange hole or town in search of the
Gulf of Mexico.

TALE 40

The Story of the Quaking Aspen or Poplar

The leaf of the Quaking Asp is like the one marked "a" in the drawing.
Its trunk is smooth, greenish, or whitish, with black knots of bark like
"c". All