WHERE MISSOURI BIRDS SPEND CHRISTMAS. 



F course we know where the 

 English Sparrow spends his 

 Christmas. And the Snow- 

 bird came down in October 

 and is with ns yet. Likewise 

 the Bluejay is here in many of our 

 yards, and is quite respectable — like 

 Eugene Field's boy, now that there 

 are no eggs to eat nor young birds to 

 destroy. The Redhead Woodpecker 

 is probably in the deeper woods, 

 though I have not yet seen him this 

 winter. Sometimes he goes south and 

 digs grubs off the tall, dead, southern 

 trees. 



But we may be interested in where 

 some of our departed friends are 

 Christmasing. 



All our other Woodpeckers stay 

 with us — except the Yellowhammer. 

 He has taken to feeding upon the 

 ground a good deal of late and does 

 not like it frozen. 



The Redbreasted Woodpecker and 

 our two little Sapsuckers as we call 

 them, are always here in the winter — 

 the most optimistic birds we have. 



I heard the Nuthatch only a few 

 days ago. I did not see him but I 

 knew by the way he talked through 

 his nose that he was hanging head 

 down on some nearby tree. The 

 only other little bird that climbs up 

 tree trunks — except the Woodpeckers 

 — is the Browncreeper, a rather rare 

 bird with us. Some years ago one of 

 the public school teachers sent me one 

 that a little boy had found so chilled 

 that it was helpless ; so I suspect that 

 he ought to spend Christmas further 

 south — for his health. 



In the woods, the Tree-Sparrow, 

 associating with the Snowbird, occa- 

 sionally sings us a Christmas Carol — 

 the only bird here now from which we 

 may expect a song, unless some vernal 

 day should loose the syrinx of the 

 Cardinal, or provoke the " fee-bee " of 

 the Crested Titmouse. 



Christmas is on the vernal side of 

 the winter solstice and any sunny day 

 thereabout is more like spring than 

 autumn. 



Sometimes in warm swampy places, 

 the Fox-Sparrow spends the winter 

 about us, but I have never seen any 

 here, though they are on the river 

 about Louisiana, Mo., now, I suspect, 

 along with the Winter-Wren. They 

 both sing occasionally in winter. 



On our high backbone position here 

 at Mexico, between the rivers, we are 

 not favorably situated for bird study 

 because the little feathered folks prefer 

 the deep tangles of the river bottoms, 

 and they appreciate the fact that it is 

 naturally warmer there also. Even 

 Robins and Bluebirds sometimes stop 

 in these over winter here in Missouri. 



The Doves and Blackbirds are mostly 

 in the southern states, but not far ; for, 

 eating grain only now, they are after 

 climate rather than food. But such 

 birds as our swallows and the Fly- 

 catchers — say the Peewees, Bee-Martins, 

 and their kind — are much farther on 

 where the insects fly all the year round. 

 Some of them are in Florida and some 

 are in South America and a few per- 

 haps are banqueting in Old Mexico, 

 studying the silver question. — J. N. 

 BaskETT, in Mexico {Mo.) Intelligencer. 



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