k. Perhaps some of the
readers of YOUNG PEOPLE have tamed the little yellow-birds. Julia
tamed one, and it was a great pet. I have a pet dove named Philip.
He will follow me about in the woods. When he misses me, he hunts
till he finds me. When we are eating dinner, if the door is open,
I often hear a pat-pat on the step, and in comes Philip, nodding
his head from side to side, and lights on my shoulder, for me to
give him his dinner. He is now two years old. I will send you his
portrait. I think Bertie Brown drew a first-rate picture.

ALLIE VOORHEES.

* * * * *

TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN.

The first hepaticas (liverwort) that I saw this year were picked
the first day of March. Has any one living in the same latitude
found them earlier? The arbutus is nearly in bloom. When we were
out in the woods the other day we saw a beautiful gray fox.

MABEL BATES.

* * * * *

COLLEGE GROVE, TENNESSEE, _March 1, 1880_.

I send you a violet, and also the earliest wild flower of this
section, _Erigenia_, or "daughter of the early spring" [a species
of groundsel]. We have had crocuses and daffodils ever since
Christmas. I have lots of pets. We have nine cats. One is fourteen
years old. And we have a shepherd dog that has a great deal of
sense. I have three white hens--one top-knot, one plain, and one
with pantalets. I have a chicken grave-yard, and we have funerals.
The red and blue birds, wrens, jays, and woodpeckers, staid with
us all winter. I found a nest of hatched partridge eggs, and the
large ends were all picked round even, and opened like box-tops.
We live in the woods, and I see many pretty things.

ANNA RUCKER.

* * * * *

I am twelve years old. I live on the border of a large lake in the
province of New Brunswick, Canada. Though so far north, our
winters are often mild and pleasant. Father says it is because we
are not far from the sea. I have been ill with acute rheumatism
for six months past, and the weekly visits of YOUNG PEOPLE are a
great comfort and pleasure to me, as I am mostly confined to the
house. I found some willow "pussies" three days ago (March 4), and
I send a few, to let you see what New Brunswick can do in this
way.

W. SCOTT BUTL