The Burgess Bird Book for Children 



He was even singing as Peter came up, and all 

 about Dotty's friends and relatives were twittering 

 as happily and merrily as if it were the beginning 

 of spring instead of winter. 



Dotty was very nearly the size of Little Friend 

 the Song Sparrow and looked somewhat like him, 

 save that his breast was clear ashy-gray, all but 

 a little dark spot in the middle, the little dot from 

 which he gets his name. He wore a chestnut cap, 

 almost exactly like that of Chippy the Chipping 

 Sparrow. It reminded Peter that Dotty is often 

 called the Winter Chippy. 



" Welcome back, Dotty !" cried Peter. " It does 

 my heart good to see you.' 



"Thank you, Peter," twittered Dotty happily. 

 "In a way it is good to be back. Certainly it is 

 good to know that an old friend is glad to see me." 



"Are you going to stay all winter, Dotty ?" asked 

 Peter. 



" I hope so," replied Dotty. " I certainly shall if 

 the snow does not get so deep that I cannot get 

 enough to eat. Some of these weeds are so tall 

 that it will take a lot of snow to cover them, and 

 as long as the tops are above the snow I will have 

 nothing to worry about. You know a lot of seeds 

 remain in these tops all winter. But if the snow 

 gets deep enough to cover these I shall have to 

 move along farther south." 

 [300] 



