4 THE LOG OF THE SUN 



acquainted with many species whose summer 

 homes are hundreds of miles away. 



No time is more propitious or advisable for the 



amateur bird lover to begin his studies than the 

 first of the year. Bird life is now reduced to its 

 simplest terms in numbers and species, and the 

 absence of concealing foliage, together with the 

 usual tameness of winter birds, makes identifica- 

 tion an easy matter. 



In January and the succeeding month we have 

 with us birds which are called permanent resi- 

 dents, which do not leave us throughout the entire 

 year; and, in addition, the winter visitors which 

 have come to us from the far north. 



In the uplands we may flush ruffed grouse from 

 their snug retreats in the snow ; while in the weedy 

 fields, many a fairy trail shows where bob-white 

 has passed, and often he will announce his own 

 name from the top of a rail fence. The grouse 

 at this season have a curious outgrowth of horny 

 scales along each side of the toes, which, acting 

 as a tiny snowshoe, enables them to walk on soft 

 snow with little danger of sinking through. 



Few of our winter birds can boast of bright 

 colours; their garbs are chiefly grays and browns, 

 but all have some mark or habit or note by which 

 they can be at once named. For example, if you 

 see a mouse hitching spirally up a tree-trunk, a 

 closer look will show that it is a brown creeper, 

 seeking tiny insects and theit eggs in the crevices 



