i66 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



they are often seen in more than double their numbers 

 of the summer months. 



When the icy hand of winter has shorn the greater 

 number of trees and shrubs of their leafy covering, the 

 Bunting seeks shelter in the branches of the evergreen. 

 Nightly you see them enter its dense and impenetrable 

 foliage, and after a twittering concert settle down to un- 

 disturbed repose. I think few things are more interest- 

 ing in the study of animated nature than to observe the 

 actions of birds at the close of day. Then, too, the par- 

 ticular time at which they seek repose strictly harmonises 

 with their habits. We find in winter that seed-eating 

 birds, as the Bunting for instance, retire early to rest ; 

 while insect feeders, as the Robin, and feeders on animal 

 substances, as the Redwing, only seek their roosting 

 places when night wraps all things in her gloomy 

 mantle. 



