THE BIRDS’ CHRISTMAS TREE 249 
“As for this little fellow, it is another of our winter 
visitors, the T’ree-sparrow or Winter Chippy, and there is 
probably quite a flock of his kin at this moment dis- 
tributed over the wild fields below, doing the work of seed- 
destroying that the farmers have neglected; for, aside from 
the cheerful companionship of all these winter birds, the 
Sparrow tribe is working for us all winter as Weed War- 
riors,! just as the tree-trunk birds are Tree Trappers, the 
birds who take insects while on the wing, Sky Sweepers, 
and the silent birds of prey, who sit in wait for the field- 
mice and other vermin, Wise Watchers. 
“Ah, it is my turn now to make discoveries,” said 
Gray Lady, as they turned into the orchard at the end 
opposite the lunch-counter tree. ‘‘ Keep very quiet, and 
look at the mossy branch of that half-dead tree to which 
some frozen apples still hang; what do you see, Goldi- 
locks? Take my glasses and look carefully before you 
answer.” 
“Where?” said Goldilocks; “‘yes; I see. One isa little, 
fluffy, greenish gray bird with a dirty white breast. Oh! 
he has a red stripe edged with yellow on top of his head! 
He moves so quickly that I can’t seem to see the whole 
‘of him with one look, though he is small. The other bird 
is a little bigger, and not so fat; he has a yellow spot on 
his head, and a brighter one over the tail, and a yellow 
spot on each side; he is striped gray and black all over, 
except some white on his wings and underneath. How 
he flits about, just like that bird that looked like a red- 
and-black butterfly that we saw last summer that you 
said was a Redstart.” 
1See Citizen Bird. 
