tree sparrows

December 28.

Perhaps the coldest night. The pump is slightly frozen.

I hear and see tree sparrows about the weeds in the garden. They seem to visit the gardens with the earliest snow; or is it that they are more obvious against the white ground? 

By their sharp silvery chip, perchance, they inform each other of their whereabouts and keep together.

I noticed the other day that the ice on the river and pond was cracked very coarsely, and lay in different planes a rod or two in diameter. It being very smooth and the light differently reflected from the different surfaces, this arrangement was very obvious. 

In one place where the river was open yesterday, the water  tossed into waves, looked exceedingly dark and angry.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, December 28, 1853

By their sharp silvery chip, perchance, they inform each other of their whereabouts and keep together. See December 17, 1856 ("That feeble cheep of the tree sparrow, like the tinkling of an icicle. . ., is probably a call to their mates, by which they keep together. "); December 26, 1853 ("Their metallic chip is much like the lisp of the chickadee. ") See also  December 4, 1856 ("Saw and heard cheep faintly one little tree sparrow, the neat chestnut crowned and winged and white-barred bird, perched on a large and solitary white birch. So clean and tough, made to withstand the winter.") See also A Book of the Seasons, by Henry Thoreau, the Tree Sparrow

The water tossed into waves looked exceedingly dark and angry. See March 29, 1852 (“There is more water and it is more ruffled at this season than at any other, and the waves look quite angry and black.”)