They cut the frosty air around his head into curves and circles of crimson, blue, and black.

They chased each other from Freckles, and swept so closely themselves that they brushed him with their outspread wings.
At their feeding-ground Freckles set down his old pail of scraps and swept the snow from a small level space with a broom improvised of twigs.

As soon as his back was turned, the birds clustered over the food, snatching scraps to carry to the nearest bushes.

Several of the boldest, a big crow and a couple of jays, settled on the rim and feasted at leisure, while a cardinal, that hesitated to venture, fumed and scolded from a twig overhead.
Then Freckles scattered his store.

At once the ground resembled the spread mantle of Montezuma, except that this mass of gaily colored feathers was on the backs of living birds.