TWELVE WINTER BIRDS.* 



I. 



The woodland fields in winter are not the silent, 

 deserted places which most people believe them to be. 

 Any person who will look with both eyes and listen 

 with both ears can detect in them many forms of life 

 occupying many strange and wonderful positions 

 and gaining a livelihood in many quaint and curious 

 ways. 



With the wind blowing at the rate of thirty miles 

 an hour, the air thick with falling flakes of snow, and 

 the temperature 15 degrees Fahr., or less, one is, per- 

 haps naturally, disposed to stay indoors and take it 

 for granted that all the birds have long since departed 

 for the sunny south. But herein mankind sadly errs, 

 for even during such days, both in the woods and 

 fields, there are birds and birds. The ornithologist, 

 strolling for a mile or two beyond the city limits can 

 on such a day, devoted solely to the observation of 

 his feathered friends, usually detect 30 or more species, 

 while fully 28 additional kinds are found in the State 

 during the winter season. These may be classified 

 among three groups : 



First. PERMANENT RESIDENTS, or those which rear 

 their young here ; they or other individuals of their 



* First published in Terre Haute Gazette ; December, 1893-March, 1894. 

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