THE BIRD-LIFE OF A YEAR. 18 
to the weather. Where seed-bearing weeds are 
accessible, there we may look for Juncos and Tree 
Sparrows ; a cedar-tree filled with berries often 
tempts Robins, Bluebirds, and Waxwings to win- 
ter near it. I recall a sheltered pile of buckwheat 
chaff at Englewood, N. J., which furnished food 
for a small flock of Mourning Doves all one winter. 
In Central Park, New York city, a Mockingbird, 
who had evidently escaped from a cage, fed upon 
the berries of a privet tree, and survived in apparent 
comfort the most severe winter weather. Food, 
therefore, rather than temperature, is the all im- 
portant factor in a bird’s life at this season. 
BIRDS OF THE MONTH. 
Permanent Resipents (see page 6). 
Wixrer Visirants (see page 7). 
Feprvary. 
The conditions prevailing in the bitd world dur- 
ing January will be practically unchanged until the 
latter part of February. Then, should there be a 
period of milder weather, we may expect to hear 
the Song Sparrow and Bluebird inaugurate the sea- 
son of song. An unusually warm day, earlier in 
the month, may have tempted either or both of these 
_ birds to prematurely welcome spring, but as a rule 
we do not hear them until late in February, and then 
only under favorable conditions. |. 
The song of these birds bids us keep watch for the 
earliest migrants, the Robin, Purple Grackle, and 
