IN THE WHITE WOODS 



whirled upward as if a single muscle 

 moved every wing, swung a short ellipse 

 and lighted again, often in the same trees. 

 As they worked into the birches almost 

 over my very head I could see every mark- 

 ing on them; the black mandibles, the 

 lower yellowish at the base, the reddish 

 brown crown and the back streaked with 

 the same color, with black, and a yellowish 

 buff, the wing coverts tipped with white 

 and the grayish white breast with what 

 looks like an indistinct dark spot in the 

 center. In a kaleidoscopic flock of three 

 hundred or more it is not easy to give 

 every bird even a passing glance, but I 

 am quite sure there were other than tree 

 sparrows present. I seemed to see birds 

 without the faint dark spot in the breast. 

 A few, I know, had a distinctly rufous tint 

 there, and I fancy swamp sparrows, a 

 few of which winter hereabouts, and per- 



