146 TREE SPARROW AND REDPOLL. 
The bird’s cheery twitter is as welcome as a ray of sun- 
light on a cloudy day. 
With the Juncos we may often find a company of 
Tree Sparrows or Winter Chippies. They resemble our 
Tree Sparrow, familiar Chipping Sparrow, but the 
Spizella monticola. blackish dot in the center of their 
ae a breasts is a good distinguishing mark. 
Then, too, the true Chippies all leave for the South in 
November, while the Winter Chippies come in October 
and remain until April. 
Tree Sparrows are sociable birds, with apparently the 
best of dispositions. They are usually found in small 
companies, each member of which seems to have some- 
thing to say. Watch them feeding on an old weed stalk 
left uncovered by the snow. It bends beneath the weight 
of half a dozen birds, but, far from attempting to rob one 
another, they keep up a conversational chatter bespeaking 
the utmost good fellowship. Z0o0-ld-7t, too-ld-it, each one 
calls, and I have only to remember this note to bring 
clearly to mind a bright winter morning with the fresh 
snow crystals sparkling in the sunshine, and in the dis- 
tance a tinkling chorus of Tree Sparrows at breakfast. 
Another winter associate of the Junco’s, and an inti- 
mate friend of the Tree Sparrow’s, is the Redpoll, Red- 
Redpoll, poll Linnet, or, as he is sometimes 
Acanthis linaria. called, Red-capped Chippy. The Red- 
nen poll nests in the far North, and the 
extent of his southern journeys depends very much upon 
the supply of food he finds in his winter wanderings. 
When there are seeds in abundance north of the United 
States, we do not see many of these birds, but if the 
larder fails they may come into New England in great 
numbers, and a few may venture as far south as Virginia. 
One can not tell, therefore, when to expect them, but it 
is well to be on the lookout from November to March. 
