SPARROWS AND FINCHES 51 



When the sun shines they will be found about 

 the old fields and pastures where last year's 

 stalks of goldenrod, wild aster and various weeds 

 show above the snow. Here they busily feed, 

 two or three clinging to the same stalk in the 

 most amiable and cheerful manner, uttering 

 little notes of conversation, not in the least 

 alarmed at your presence. Feeding over, away 

 they fly to a near-by tree, and you may be so 

 fortunate as to hear their sprightly song ^Uoo- 

 la-it, too-la-it/' gentle and cheerful, telling of 

 contented and happy lives. Then away they 

 go to the thicket where they spend the night, 

 cozily tucked away in the thick top of friendly 

 spruce or fir. 



In late autumn when the rear guard of the 

 summer army is disappearing beyond the hori- 

 zon, the Tree Sparrows come down to us from 

 their breeding range in far-away Labrador; they 

 stay with us during the months of snow and 

 disappear to the northward just as the van- 

 guard of the migrant army appears from the 

 South. How grateful we should be that we are 

 never without birds to cheer and interest us! 



Purple Finch. Close behind Robin, Blue- 

 bird and Song Sparrow, those outposts of the 

 bird army that regularly invades the North with 

 the return of spring, come a large number of 

 hardy migrants. Some of these winter so far 

 north that they may be classed among our per- 

 manent residents, for there is no time of year 

 when representatives of their species are not 

 found in the Northern States. Prominent among 

 them is the Purple Finch, a most attractive bird 



