A PUZZLE IN BIRDS 



were so tame that it was quite easy to photograph them 

 with the reflecting camera. I met one httle boy in 

 town carrying around a paper bag of salt, trying to 

 catch grosbeaks by putting salt on their tails, which he 

 had been told was the proper method ! Yet for all their 

 familiarity they were timid in a way, for at any sudden 

 noise, as of a wagon or a train, the flock would unitedly 

 spring up with a twitter and a whir of wings and dart 

 off, not to return for an hour or two. Sometimes there 

 would be three dozen grosbeaks on our lawn at the 

 same time, mostly gray birds, though once I saw seven 

 rosy males. 



When they finally disappeared it really seemed 

 lonely without their intimate companionship, but kind 

 Nature provided a most appropriate substitute in an 

 equally large flock of Purple Finches, which stayed 

 with us from late March pretty well through April. 

 The carmine-hued males were, in this case, about equal 

 in number to the somber females. After a time the 

 flocks, which I often met in the woods as well as gar- 

 dens, broke up into pairs, and presently they were nest- 

 ing in scattered cedars or other evergreens in pastures 

 or gardens. They are quite hardy birds and are some- 

 times found as far north as New England in the dead 

 of winter, though they are not as northerly as the 

 species we have been describing. 



With them w^e may well associate the beautiful Gold- 

 finch, sometimes, but improperly, called the Wild 

 Canary. They are interesting birds, original in their 



162 



