KNOWING THE WINTER BIRDS 131 



us and ordinarily migrating past us to the South, a few 

 of which may linger for the winter in the Northern 

 and Middle States. Of these the principal examples 

 are the myrtle warbler, junco, winter wren, brown 

 creeper, white-throated sparrow, and the two kinglets, 

 especially the golden crowned. 



To the third class belong those species from the far 

 North that ordinarily come to us only as winter vis- 

 itors. These are the snowflake, horned lark, Lapland 

 longspur, tree sparrow, northern shrike, pine siskin, 

 redpoll, the red and white-winged crossbills, and the 

 pine grosbeak. With these belong some northern 

 birds of prey, such as the snowy owl. 



It is well to bear in mind that various species of our 

 summer birds are liable to constitute themselves mem- 

 bers of the first class by some bold or careless indi- 

 vidual remaining or returning in actual winter. I 

 have seen the fox sparrow and hermit thrush in De- 

 cember, and even such southerly birds as the cardinal 

 and mockingbird have been found in winter as far 



north as Massachusetts. It adds interest to winter 



* 



rambles to have an eye out for these unusual occur* 

 rences. 



A number of these species in winter are found in 

 flocks. In open fields, where various seeds can best 

 be found, we may look for flocks of goldfinches, sis- 

 kins, redpolls, snowflakes, and horned larks. The 

 last two are larger birds than the others and are 

 more terrestrial, often being found in company, and 

 yet easily distinguished, since the snowflakes are so 



