334 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
Blackbirds are added to the winter residents in February. 
These, however, belong to a sort of roving advance- 
guard; the real procession comes in March, the exact 
time depending upon the weather, for the insect-eating 
birds cannot stay if their larder of field and air is ice 
locked. 
“So we may look for larger flocks of the birds that 
drifted along in February, and in addition to these 
the Woodcock, the Great Fox Sparrow as big as the 
Hermit Thrush, Phcebe, Kingfisher, Mourning Dove, and 
Field Sparrow of the flesh-pink bill, rusty head and back, 
and buff breast, who sings his little strain, ‘cherwee-cher- 
wee-cherwee-iddle-iddle-iddle ee,’ as the sun goes down. 
“The three birds that are the most noticeable in the 
latter part of March, that has made up its mind to go 
out like a lamb and let Pussy-willow wave in peace in 
moist pasture and the delicate blue-and-white hepaticas 
star the edges of dry woods, are the Redwing Black- 
birds, the Kingfishers, and the cheerful little Phoebe. 
Alllove the vicinity of water, but the Redwing locates often 
in merely marshy ground, while the bird who is a fisher- 
man by trade locates near a pond or stream of consid- 
erable size and the Phaebe comes to house or woodshed. 
“¢Among all the birds that return to us in late March 
The Rea- OF April, which is the most striking and most 
wing compels attention?’ asked a bird-lover of a 
group of kindred spirits. 
“<The Fox Sparrow,’ said one, who lived on the edge 
of a village where sheltered wild fields stretched uphill 
to the woodlands. ‘Every morning when I open my 
window I can hear them almost without listening.’ 
