Fight your way one of these winter days to the crest of some high hill and stand up against a northwest gale. Feel the sweep of the winds from across the plain beneath you; hear them speaking close in your ear, as they fly past; catch them and breathe them, until they run red in your leaping veins. Master them, and make them, mighty as they are, your own. And something large and free, strong and sound will pass into you; and you will love the great world more, and you will feel how fit a place, for the strong of heart, is this earth to live on. III Keep a careful list of the winter birds you see; and visit every variety of wood, meadow, and upland in your neighborhood--not neglecting the parks and city trees--for a sight of the rarer winter visitors, such as the snowy owl, the snow buntings, and the crossbills. IV If you know little about the birds, then this is the time to begin your study. When they are so few and scarce? Yes, just because they are few and scarce. On a June morning (unless you are at home in the woods) you will be confused by the medley of songs you hear, and the shapes flitting everywhere about you; and you may be tempted to give up your study for the very multitude. Get a pair of good field or opera glasses and a good bird book, such as Hoffmann’s, “Guide to the Birds,” and go into the fields and woods--leaving the book at home. The first bird you see follow up until you can remember (1) his size, color--whether he has a white bar on wings, or small spots or large clear spots on breast; (2) his chirp, or call; (3) something peculiar about his flight--a flirt of the tail, a habit of flying down to the ground in getting away. Then come back to your book and identify him _from memory_. If you cannot, then go out again and again; and it will not be long before either this first one, or others, will be accurately made out--the beginning of an acquaintance that you can extend in the summer, but which will be plenty large enough for your “coming-out” winter into bird society. For here is a list of the birds you may be able to find during the winter:-- Screech owl, crow, robin, flicker, jay, goldfinch, tree sparrow, English sparrow, song sparrow, junco, golden-crowned kinglet, nuthatch, brown creeper, downy woodpecker, quail, partridge. V See to it that no bird in your neighborhood starves for lack of food that you can supply. Tie a piece of suet to a tree or bush near the house (by the window if you can) for the chickadees and blue jays; keep a place on the lawn cleared of snow and well supplied with crumbs and small seeds for the juncos and the sparrows; hang a netted bag of cracked nuts out somewhere for the nuthatches; and provide corn and nuts for the squirrels. VI