OUR WINTER BIRDS. 33 



plumage. In the winter he loves to be on the border of clearings, 

 near dense wood^, apparently wishing to vary his surround- 

 ings, according to the weather, for on fine da3'S he can take to 

 the open, and even come about the houses of the Settlers to see 

 what he can pick up, and if the weather is uilfirbpitioup he can 

 "seek the seclusion which the forest grants." He is a greater 

 depredator than the crow in regard to the eggs ' and young of 

 other birds, and coolly goes about his murderous work even in 

 the very presence of the grief-stricken parents. According to U. 

 S. Agricultural Reports twenty-five per cent of its food is animal 

 and seventy-five vegetable. The animal food consists of the 

 young of birds, eggs, noxious insects, and useful insects, as far as 

 agriculture is concerned. The animal food naturally rises to 

 its highest point in August, when insect life is most abundant. 



The Canada jay. Tliis eccentric Httle bunch of feathers (for 

 •it is little more) is abundant everywhere in our forests, and you 

 have only to kindle a fire any time to tell how many of them are 

 within a mile's radius. It is very fond of animal food, which it 

 carries oft' and stores up for future use, and thus if hot watched 

 it will cause an immense amount of that kind of food to myster- 

 iously disappear. He is an amusing little thief, and many are 

 the traps that are laid for him around the lumber camps, where 

 he is a constant winter resident. ' -• 



Of the Fringillidffi we have the pine grosbeak {Pinicoln cn- 

 ^endcator), the red crossbill (Currirodra A'mericann), the white- 

 'winged crossbill (C. Lea copter a), {he ledpolled linnet {jEgiotl.us 

 Linarius), the mealy redpoll {A. exilipea), the pine linnet {Chry- 

 somitris ^n'mb), the snow-bunting {Pledrophanes nivalis)^ and the 

 Lapland longspur {Plectrophmws Lapitcnicus). ' '• 



These, with the exception of the snow bunting and Laplnnd 

 longspur, live in the dei)ths of the forest, and they all go fur- 

 fehep north in summer as a rule, but the grosbeak nests here oc- 

 casionally, and the red crossbill and the pine linnet often. 



The pine grosbeak is sometimes called the "winter robin,"' 

 but of course is no robin at all. He is quite a brilliant looking 

 bird, and not at all timid. 'Its favorite food is the seed of the 

 mountain oak berry {Pyrus Americnnus). They disappear about 

 ;-the first week of April from this locality, but are said to some- 

 times breed in the valley of the iRestigouche. The red crossbill 



