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Bird - Lore 



THE WINTER BIRDS 



Some of the winter birds mentioned here are true winter residents in the 

 park, spending that season there; others are merely casual or occasional visi- 

 tors, in some cases having been noted but once or twice, and in other cases are 



of irregular occurrence in dif- 

 ferent years. As might be 

 expected, Tree Sparrows and 

 Juncos are the most abundant, 

 no less than five sorts of the 

 latter birds having been noted, 

 as the preceding list shows. 

 The Pink-sided is the most 

 common, with the Gray-headed 

 next; the others are compara- 

 tively rare. These birds are 

 together more or less, and 

 spend a good deal of time about 

 the food-tables, but also hunt 

 for seeds in the grass and about 

 the bushes. Their relative 

 abundance varies somewhat, 

 sometimes one being the more 

 numerous, sometimes the other. 

 The first Tree Sparrows some- 

 times come as early as Septem- 

 ber 22, and they are gone by 

 April 15; while the first Juncos 

 usually come early in October, 

 but have been seen September 

 30, and have about all left by 

 the middle of April though 

 once noted on the 27th. In 

 December, 19 13, we had an 

 unusually heavy snowfall and 

 for a time the Sparrows and 

 Juncos were rather scarce, but returned as the snow disappeared. 



One or two Song Sparrows spend the winter, and are somewhat exclusive, 

 not associating much with the other birds, though I have seen them at the 

 tables occasionally. Other members of the Sparrow family are the House 

 Finch, Cassin's Finch, Evening Grosbeak and Pine Siskin. With the excep- 

 tion of the first named, which is a permanent resident in town and in the 

 park, these are all extremely irregular, sometimes very abundant, sometimes 



CATBIRD 



