CERTAIN PHASES OF BIRD-LIFE. 349 



would result differently. It must be remembered, however, that where 

 a bird is noticed in its natural haunts, once, even if for more than an 

 hour which is an unusually long observation there are weeks when 

 this same bird is unseen, and therefore what its acts may be are ab- 

 solutely unknown. For this reason, an ingenious act of a bird may 

 be frequently repeated, and almost certainly is. Indeed, our igno- 

 rance of bird-life is so great, that what seem to us " curious instances," 

 because but seldom witnessed, are frequently daily occurrences, and 

 ordinary features of the bird's life. It can scarcely have escaped the 

 notice of close observers of our winter birds, that their comparative 

 abundance is only during clear, pleasant weather, when they will be 

 as lively and restless as spring birds in early summer, and that during 

 the winter certain localities, as the southern outlooks of wooded hill- 

 sides and such sheltered spots, are those where these hardy species 

 " most do congregate." During a mild day, at some such spot, we 

 can almost delude ourselves into thinking that spring is coming ; but 

 on the morrow a fierce wind rattles the bare branches above you, 

 clouds of stinging dust, or driving snow, fill the chilled air, and not a 

 bird is to be seen or heard, the cheery sights and sounds of yesterday 

 having given place to a dreariness most drear. One question now 

 arises, and we naturally ask, "What has become of the birds, so lately 

 here ? " 



During the winter of 18V4-'75 (the coldest except one 1885-'36 

 since 1780), I endeavored to determine to what extent these birds 

 sought shelter, and the character of it, not only as a protection 

 against severe storms, but as regular winter quarters, i. e., for roosting- 

 places. I was led to do this from the fact that these winter residents, 

 as the bluebird, the cardinal redbird, and the titmouse, do not roost in 

 the trees, as in summer, and it seemed probable that, seeking warmer 

 quarters in ordinary weather, they should seek shelter from severe 

 storms, and not temporarily migrate to some point beyond the limits 

 of the storm; not only this, but that some spot is selected early in the 

 season as such roosting-place and refuge, and occupied as such through- 

 out the season. So far as my observations extend, I was correct in my 

 surmises. 



I have, on my farm, a deep " gully," or ravine, thickly wooded, 

 and with overhanging banks, extending a considerable portion of the 

 entire length. This overhanging earth is held in place, partly by the 

 character of the soil, and more by the roots of the trees growing near 

 the margins of the gully. In this locality, under the overhanging 

 earth, in some instances at a distance of three feet from the open 

 ground, I found the snow-birds, song and chipping sparrows, occa- 

 sionally a flock of cedar-birds, the arctic snow-bird, and horned larks, 

 roosting ; and, judging from the amount of excreta upon the ground, 

 this had been the accustomed roosting-place for many weeks. A little 

 before sundown, during January, I would find these birds, some or 



