Se ee 
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THE BIRD-LIFE OF A YEAR. 29 
Plate Plate 
No. No. 
5. Blue-winged Teal.* Yellow Palm Warbler.* 
8. American Coot.* 70. Brown Creeper.+ 
48. Junco.t 72. Golden-crowned Kinglet.+ 
46. White-throated Sparrow.*{ | 72. Ruby-crowned Kinglet.* 
White-crowned Sparrow.* Winter Wren.+ 
61, Myrtle Warbler.* Gray-cheeked Thrush,* 
OctosEr. 
Early October generally brings the first killing 
frost, depriving insectivorous birds of a large part 
of their food, and of necessity forcing them to 
journey southward. Flycatchers, Warblers, Vireos, 
and Swallows now take their departure, and after 
the fifteenth of the month few insect-eating birds 
remain, except those which, like Woodpeckers, 
feed on insects’ larve or eggs. 
This is the season of Sparrows. In countless 
numbers they throng old stubble, potato, or corn 
fields, doing untold good by destroying the seeds 
of noxious weeds. Song, Field, Chipping, and Ves- 
per Sparrows may be found in flocks, all harvesting 
the year’s crop of seeds, and with them will be the 
lately arrived Juncos, Tree and Fox Sparrows. 
When disturbed, they seek shelter in the nearest 
hedgerow, and their mingled notes produce a twit- 
tering chorus, in which it is difficult to distinguish 
the voices of individual birds. 
This, however, will not be the only bird music 
of the month. Certain species now have a brief 
* Transient Visitant passing further south. 
+ Winter Visitant. 
