NATURE'S CALENDAR 



hemian waxwing, a bird of the same genus 

 as our cedar-bird, but larger and almost 

 restricted to the arctic coasts, where it 

 makes its nest long before the snow has 

 left the forests; few birds, even here, 

 breed so early as does this handsome 

 waxwing in the forests about Hudson Bay, 

 in Alaska, Siberia, or Lapland. Cross- 

 bills now and then visit us in winter in 

 the course of their irregular wander- 

 ings, and please us with their parrot-like 

 antics among the evergreen woods. This, 

 however, is only one of several North- 

 ern cone -billed winter visitors. Along 

 the sea-coast and on open areas, from 

 New England westward to Iowa, the snow 

 bunting, or snowflake, comes riding upon 

 the first severe gale from the North, and 

 usually brings with it the richly colored 

 Lapland longspur and the horned lark. 

 At this season, too, may frequently be 

 seen the great Northern shrike, more 

 dreaded than a hawk or an owl by the 

 little tree sparrows (Northern cousins of 

 the chippy), the sprightly golden-crowned 

 kinglets (hardly bigger than a humming- 

 bird, yet of arctic habitat), the redpoll, 

 whose rosy breast looks like a flower amid 

 the dark foliage of the spruces he fre- 

 quents, and the winter wren, whose song, 

 briefly heard in early spring, is one of the 

 surprises of the season. 



All these and some others, especially 

 among the sea-fowl, are rarities from the 

 far North, which will be seen only by dili- 



December 24 



December 25 



