136 FRIENDS WORTH KNOWING. 



inconspicuous red, and a little black and white just the 

 colors one's eye takes in at a glance as he looks at a hem- 

 lock. The practical result for our eyes (or a falcon's) is, 

 that the pine-grossbeaks and finches, the crossbills and 

 purple finches, blend with the foliage and cones and dead 

 branches until they are lost to any but the most attentive 

 gaze. The snow-bunting rejoices in a cloak of white, and* 

 thus mingles inextricably to the eye with the feathery 

 flakes he whirls among, while his companion, the longspur, 

 is almost equally ghostly. . All the winter sparrows are of 

 the brown color of the sere grass, withered leaves, and 

 broken branches among which they dwell, except the slaty 

 snow-bird, and he is of a neutral tint, easily lost to view in 

 a shadow. 



This protection of adaptive colors is not enjoyed to any 

 great extent by the robin, bluebird, meadow-lark, cardinal- 

 grossbeak, and kingfisher but none 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- blackbirds, 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 colorjs of the large but timid and de- 

 fenceless woodcock, quail, and grouse are highly protective. 



