WILD LIFE OF ORCHARD AND FIELD 



catch'm, catch'm, catch'm ! as my mother used to 

 phrase it for me. They receive the name from 

 the habit of taking to the trees when disturbed, in- 

 stead of diving into the bushes and skulking away 

 as do the other sparrows; but the less common 

 name, Canada sparrow, is better. Once in a while 

 they come into the towns; but the English spar- 

 rows soon get news of their presence and drive 

 them away in true buccaneering style. These 

 same outrageous English sparrows are the most 

 conspicuous, really, of all our January birds, and 

 now practise a real semi-annual migration back 

 and forth between city and country like so many 

 tramps. 



Some birds besides those already noticed are res- 

 idents with us the year round: thus a few robins, 

 bluebirds, crows, bluejays, cedar-birds, kingfishers, 

 nickers, blackbirds, purple finches, wild pigeons, 

 quails, grouse, and woodcocks are always likely 

 to be found in the neighborhood of New York in 

 January; while one or two of the arctic wood- 

 peckers, the Canada jay, the waxwing, and some 

 other rarities, may be met with at long intervals. 

 Of the birds of prey, we have in greater or less 

 numbers this month the golden and bald eagles 

 (about the Palisades), an occasional osprey, the 



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