80 BIRDS THROUGH AN OPERA-GLASS. 



mulleins were ranged in stiff files, like soldiers in 

 yellow uniforms, and each bird as we passed re- 

 mained motionless, looking like a continuation of 

 the spike, of which one might easily be deceived 

 into thinking it part and parcel. As soon as we 

 had passed by, the birds were again busy, flitting 

 from plant to plant, feeding on the seeds and 

 enjoying themselves." 



What a difference it makes in our thought of 

 winter to know that our little goldfinch will never 

 find it too cold to visit us. Being a vegetarian, his 

 storehouse is always well filled, for if the snow 

 covers the seeds he would gather from the brown 

 weed tops, he goes to the alders in the swamp ; 

 and if they fail him he is sure to find plenty in the 

 seeds of the hemlock, the spruce, and the larch. 



XXI. 



PHCEBE. 



CLASSING the crow -blackbird, bobolink, and 

 oriole together in No. 3 by their striking colors, 

 and distinguishing the sparrows in No. 4 by their 

 striped backs, the common flycatchers, who belong 

 in our first pigeon-hole, No. 1, stand out as un- 

 striped, dull, dark grayish birds, with light breasts. 

 Mr. Burroughs describes them as "sharp-shoul- 

 dered, big-headed, short-legged, of no particular 

 color, of little elegance of flight or movement." 



