THE BIRD-LIFE OF A YEAR. 



BASED ON OBSERVATIONS MADE IN THE VICINITY OF NEW 

 YORK CITY. 



JANUARY. 



PROBABLY during no other month is there less 

 movement among our birds than in January. All 

 the regular Winter Visitants have come ; the Fall 

 Migrants, which may have lingered until December, 

 have gone, and the earliest Spring Migrants will not 

 arrive before the latter part of February or early in 

 March. In fact, January is the only month in the 

 year in which, as a rule, some birds do not arrive 

 or depart. This rule, however, may be broken by 

 such irregular birds as the Pine Grosbeak and Red- 

 poll, and, south of the latitude of New York city, 

 by the Snowflake and Crossbill, birds which are 

 wholly absent some winters and abundant others. 



The only birds usually to be found in January, 

 therefore, are the Permanent Residents and regu- 

 lar Winter Visitants. Singing, mating, nesting, 

 molting, migrating events which, in their season, 

 play so important a part in a bird's life do not con- 

 cern the birds of January. With them food is the 

 one important question, and their movements at this 

 season are governed solely by the food supply. 

 Snow may fall and winds may blow, but as long as 

 the birds find sufficient to eat, they give small heed 



12 



