BIRDS OF THE WEST 63 



eould easily be imposed upon. All he wants is to be left alone 

 while he helps the other sparrows to keep the weeds from posses- 

 sing the earth. 



Just as I was about to start him from his perch, his mate 

 came flying to him and I fear that she whispered something about 

 me for they both flew hastily away. Then the whistle blew. 



JUNCO. 



These little "birds of a feather flock together" and are rare- 

 ly seen except in flocks for they go farther north to break up in- 

 to pairs for their nesting. They have a reputation for shyness, 

 yet they flit about the roadsides flying as though in fright, 

 in and out of the brush and the smaller trees. Many birds 

 like the meadow lark, the vesper sparrow and the junco 

 have two white feathers in their tails that are not visible 

 except in flight when they become quite conspicuous. Did you 

 ever hear the expression "showing the white feather" meaning to 

 turn your back and "light out"? I imagine that I have suggested 

 to you the origin of it. 



Especially when the j uncos wear their little black cowl they 

 look like the monks and nuns of bird land and their little backs 

 are just the color of the clouds on a winter's day and their 

 breasts the color of the snow. 



If you would see them, you must look closely and watch for 

 the flash of their white feathers as they flit about you as though 

 you were a human hawk. You have doubless seen thousands of 

 them but have glanced at them only as you do at the sparrow 

 for which you have probably mistaken them. 



They will soon take wings for a colder clime, to Manitoba or 

 somewhere across the Canadian border to build their nests around 

 the fallen trees, but when our summer friends, our fair weather 

 friends, have gone to their sunny winter homes, the tireless little 

 j uncos will come to us again to spend the winter and gather 

 the weed seeds from our roadsides and, if very hungry, even the 

 crumbs from our doorsteps. 



The notes of the j uncos are as sweet as they can be. They 

 have a quality like that of the bluebirds, a sort of far away, al- 

 most ventriloqual note that suggests the dreariness of the winter 

 and early springtime. It is a whistle, a trill and a warble that 



