BIRD VISITORS FROM THE NORTHLAND 



BY A. BROOKER KLUGH 



WHEN the days grow short, the nights long, and 

 chilly winds sway the leafless branches most of 

 our familiar birds forsake southern Canada and 

 the northern States. But the land is not birdless by any 

 means. Some species, such as our blythe little friend 

 the chickadee, the nuthatches, and the woodpeckers, re- 

 main throughout the winter, and many avian visitors 

 come down from the northland. 



There is a charm about the study of these winter 

 visitors the charm of uncertainty, for they are very 

 irregular in their movements. Some species are usually 



AMERICAN CROSSBILL 



common and remain with us for a considerable time, but 

 may, in any winter be rare or present only for a brief 

 period. Other species again may be common during one 

 winter and then absent from that locality for several 

 years. 



They are rovers, one and all, rovers which descend 

 from their homes in the north in search of food. For it 

 is food they seek and not a milder climate. There is 

 no danger of a bird freezing as long as it has sufficient 

 fuel with which to keep the fires of life burning brightly. 

 A bird is clad in the warmest and lightest of all clothing, 

 in clothing, moreover, which can be regulated as to its 

 warmth at will. The best non-conductor of heat is a 

 dead-air space, and a bird can, by fluffing out its feathers, 

 increase the number of dead-air spaces between its body 

 and the outside air. Hence the "fat" appearance of 

 birds in cold weather and their slimmer appearance in 

 warm weather. 



One of the most regular and commonest of our winter 

 visitors is the snowflake. This species is about seven 

 inches in length, and in winter plumage is largely white 

 with light brown on the back and top of head and black 



104 



central tail-feathers. It breeds on the arctic tundra and 

 in the breeding season the males are entirely black and 

 white and the females black and white with some brown- 

 ish on the back. The snowflakes usually appear in large 

 flocks and as they fly overhead they utter a musical 

 trilling note. When the flock drops to earth the birds 

 run about among the weed-stems which project above the 

 snow and feed on the weed-seeds. Their favorite seeds 

 are those of rag-weed and pig-weed, though the seeds of 

 many other weeds are also eaten, and by thus destroying 

 the seeds of noxious weeds the snowflake renders a de- 

 cided service to the farmer. 



Another bird which often appears in large flocks, 

 though not with the regularity of the snowflake, is the 

 redpoll, a species about five and a half inches in length, 

 with a patch of red on the crown. While in flight the 

 redpolls utter a chattering call interspersed with long- 

 drawn "sque-e-e" notes. The redpolls feed in the open 

 fields after the manner of the snowflakes. The summer 



EVENING GROSBEAK 



home of this species is in Labrador and round Hudson 

 Bay, where it builds a compact nest of fine rootlets and 

 grass, lined with feathers, and placed about two feet 

 from the ground in a dwarf willow. In its winter 

 migration the redpoll sometimes goes as far south as 

 Virginia, Alabama, Kansas and Colorado. 



The pine siskin is a little bird about five inches in 

 length, flaxen-colored, and heavily streaked with dark 

 brown above, and whitish, streaked with dark brown 

 beneath. It is sometimes termed the "winter canary" 

 on account of its similarity in notes, size and behavior 

 to the American goldfinch or wild canary. This bird 

 breeds in Labrador, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, east- 

 ern Quebec and in the Rocky Mountain and Coast 

 Range. It also occasionally breeds further south. The 



