92 THE BIRDS ABOUT Us. 



They are found (the Common Cross-bill) in Penn- 

 sylvania all the year round, but only in a mountainous 

 region. Occasionally a large flock will appear in the 

 valley of the Delaware in the winter and scatter 

 among the evergreens in the villages; but as soon 

 as seen the village paper reports them, and that means 

 waging a war of extermination. 



The true Linnets, or Redpolls, are other arctic birds 

 that occasionally come well southward if there is a 

 severe winter, and it has been that this even was not 

 essential to bring them. It is said to be a pretty com- 

 mon and regular winter visitor to Northern Pennsyl- 

 vania. Probably much depends upon the character 

 of the woodland tracts. I believe when our upper 

 Delaware Valley had its original pine and hemlock 

 forest that a great many of these " irregular" and rare 

 birds were common, and a constant feature of the win- 

 ter or summer as the case might be. So far as the red- 

 polls are concerned, I have seen flocks of from fifty to 

 a hundred suddenly come upon the scene, and then after 

 a brief stay mount upward and make off, not to be seen 

 again perhaps all that winter. If it is correct that they 

 are regular visitors to Pennsylvania, it is not strange 

 that occasionally a flock should wander to the Dela- 

 ware Valley, not more than one hundred miles away. 



At last we come to a common and common-sensed 

 bird that not only lives where the bulk of humanity 

 does, but stays about all the year round. If you 

 have the courage to go into a snow-clad field, where 

 a few seed-bearing bushes and rank grasses project 

 beyond the glittering plain, it is not improbable that 

 you will see a few dusty yellow and blackish birds 



