The Auduben Societies 63 



advantages and the other the disadvantages which a bird has, and add up the 

 results to see what the actual chances are for birds to live in winter. 



Advantages — 



Disadvantages — 



Flight 



Scanty Food-supply 



Sight 



Enemies 



Plumage 



Colds 



Sense of Direction 



Storms 





Other Dangers 



Looking at the disadvantages first, we find that the food-supply of birds 

 is decreased in many ways. Ponds, small streams and many rivers and lakes 

 are generally frozen over, which means that most water- and shore-birds can- 

 not find suitable feeding-areas in cold latitudes. A few species, like the Her- 

 ring Gull and others of its kind, have discovered an artificial source of food in 

 the garbage-scows about the harbors of our large cities and towns, but the 

 majority of fish-eating, water-loving birds must migrate south in order to live 

 through the winter. Some of the diving ducks find food on the coast or in 

 open water throughout cold weather, but when we consider that they may 

 go down as far as one hundred and fifty feet to secure a meal of small crus- 

 taceans, clams or other tasty morsels, we realize that existence with them 

 calls for far greater energy and sense of location than we would have in simi- 

 lar conditions. 



It is not cold weather, but the effect of cold weather which makes ice-bound 

 surroundings unfit for most of these birds in winter, since lack of food or 

 inability to break through the ice in search of food are both results of frigid 

 conditions. 



Land-birds fare little better, with the exception of seed-eating and carnivor- 

 ous species and a few insect-hunters like the Woodpeckers, Nuthatches and 

 Chickadees, for the ground is frozen and covered with snow much of the time 

 in winter, cutting off the supply of worms and sundry other small creatures. 



There are no winged insects flying about trees and shrubs or through the 

 air. There are no nectar-bearing flowers and no berries or fruits except an 

 occasional frozen apple, pear or the like while the supply of seeds and nuts is 

 scanty as compared with autumn abundance, indeed, one might hunt a long 

 time without discovering sufficient nourishment of any kind for a meal. 



There are pine-cones in certain places, to be sure, but only the Crossbills 

 are fitted to pry them open. There is a great quantity of insects' eggs and 

 larvse, too, well hidden away in crevices or under the bark of trees, or even 

 rolled up in occasional dead leaves that cling and flutter in the high winds 

 of January and February. 



There are some small animals which may be found by the far-seeing 

 Hawks and Owls, field-mice and squirrels, for instance, but for the most part, 

 the silence of the outdoor world is unmistakable — a land of plenty has become 

 a land of^^want. 



