FIRST WEEK] January 7 



and winter. The individual sparrows which flit from bush 

 to bush, or slip in and out of the brush piles in January, 

 have doubtless come from some point north of us, while 

 the song sparrows of our summer walks are now miles to 

 the southward. Few birds remain the entire year in the 

 locality in which they breed, although the southward 

 movement may be a very limited one. When birds migrate 

 so short a distance, they are liable to be affected in colour 

 and size by the temperature and dampness of their respec- 

 tive areas; and so we find that in North America there 

 are as many as twenty-two races of song sparrows, to each 

 of which has been given a scientific name. When you 

 wish to speak of our northeastern song sparrow in the 

 latest scientific way, you must say Melospiza cinerea 

 melodia, which tells us that it is a melodious song finch, 

 ashy or brown in colour. 



Our winter sparrows are easy to identify. The song 

 sparrow may, of course, be known by the streaks of black 

 and brown upon his breast and sides, and by the blotch 

 which these form in the centre of the breast. The tree 

 sparrow, which comes to us from Hudson Bay and Lab- 

 rador, lacks the stripes, but has the centre spot. This is 

 one of our commonest field birds in winter, notwithstanding 

 his name. 



The most omnipresent and abundant of all our winter 

 visitors from the north are the juncos, or snowbirds. 

 Slate coloured above and white below, perfectly describes 

 these birds, although their distinguishing mark, visible a 

 long way off, is the white V in their tails, formed by several 

 white outer feathers on each side. The sharp chirps of 



