INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS. 



time of greatest hardship for all birds that depend in any- 

 way upon insect food. The Robins leave, except for a few 

 individuals ; the Quails come from the brush and feed with 

 the Meadow and Horned Larks. The four resident Hawks 

 — the Sharp-shinned, Cooper's, the Red-tailed, and Red- 

 shouldered — are now the only inhabitants of the woods and 

 remote pastures; there is something invigorating in the 

 way in which they sail through the lonely air. Food is 

 very scarce, mice are snowed under, rabbits do not ven- 

 ture far from their burrows, and it is too early for young 

 chickens. Besides, the farmer's vnie, knowing Hawk ways, 

 keeps her poultry safely guarded in a sunny place in view of 

 the kitchen window. Alas ! for the flocks of Snow Buntings 

 that have been tempted too far afield. Every time a Hawk 

 swoops, and dropping suddenly wheels back to its perch, 

 there is one Bunting less to return to its boreal birthplace. 

 The Shrike drops on his prey with the thud and click of the 

 guillotine ; the Hawk flashes through the air with the curv- 

 ing sweep of the scimiter. 



The Brown Creeper is seen daily winding about the tree 

 trunks ; if it is severely cold and there is much ice he only 

 comes at mid-day and works on the sunny side of the tree, 

 while his friends, the Chickadees, call encouragingly to him. 

 January, with us, is the month of all the year that comes the 

 nearest to being birdless; there are days when not even a 

 Crow is seen ; then a mild streak follows, and the murmur- 

 ings of the Chickadees, Bluebirds, and Goldfinches give cheer, 

 and if you tie some bits of fat meat or well-covered bones to 

 the branches of a tree in a sheltered spot you will be sur- 

 prised at the number of visitors that will come to dine. 



With February the days begin to lengthen visibly, and a 

 reaction sets in. There is a return movement among the 

 Robins, who have gone but a short distance southward, and 

 the Buntings travel in large flocks. Late in the month a 

 thaw brings the Kingfisher back, and at any time you may 

 expect to hear the Song Sparrow in his old haunts, — in fact, 

 you may have heard him early in the month, or in January 

 even, but now it is his spring song, only needing companion- 



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