WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



of these are ''winter " birds here, properly speaking, 

 but only loiterers behind the summer host, and 

 ought really to be excluded from the comparison ; 

 nor by the crow, crow-blackbird, bluejay, Canada 

 jay, and butcher-bird — but these are all large and 

 strong, able for the most part to defend themselves ; 

 while, on the contrary, the colors of the large but 

 timid and defenceless woodcock, quail, and grouse 

 are highly protective. 



Birds of prey themselves scarcely need such 

 protection from one another, yet some of them 

 regularly exchange their summer plumage for a 

 winter dress of lighter and (in the general white of 

 the landscape) less conspicuous tints ; but this may 

 operate to their advantage in the reverse way 

 of allowing them to attain a closer, because un- 

 observed, approach to their quarry. This leaves 

 us, among the land-birds, only the bright red- 

 poll and the waxwing as exceptions to the sup- 

 posed rule that the plumages of winter birds are 

 colored in a way directly favorable to their special 

 preservation at that season of augmented danger. 



But against one persecutor no concealment of 

 natural color or artful device avails, and the brains 

 of the pretty songsters, so full of wit to avoid other 

 enemies and provide for each day's need, are his 



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