SPKING ARRIVAL OF THE BIRDS. 11 



dreds and thousands of their hfeless boches in shops, on 

 hats and fans, in private cases and in museums, knowing 

 too that for every one preserved many more are wasted 

 and thrown away, we only wonder that any remain. 

 We may truly say of these, as was said of old of other 

 things, "Except these days be shortened, none shall be 

 saved." 



To those who truly love the birds and who make 

 pleasant companionship with them, a yearly chronicling 

 of their first arrival in the spring is an agreeable recrea- 

 tion. The observing naturalist knows pretty well when 

 to expect the different species, although the weather 

 may hasten or retard for a few days the arrival of some 

 of the earlier migrants. A few of the hardier species 

 remain in this latitude the year round. Among these 

 are the snow-buntings, snow-birds, woodpeckers, nut- 

 hatches and titmice. The buntings and snow-birds feed 

 mostly from seeds of the tall weeds which stand above 

 the snow, while the others live on larvae and insects' 

 eggs, hidden in the bark of shrubs and trees, so that all 

 Aveather is alike to them excepting Avhen the trees are 

 covered with a coating of ice. Many a day during the 

 past winter, when the thermometer was near zero, and 

 sometimes even below, the little black-capped titmouse 

 {Parus aUricajnllus), cheerful and sprightly, hsped out 

 his chick-a-de-dee as he searched the limbs of the maple 

 trees for food. Occasionally on milder mornings, his 

 sweet, plaintive whistle, much resembling that of the 

 white-throated sparrow, was a grateful surprise, as this 

 whistle is his usual love-song, oftener heard at mating 



