36 THE SEMI-ANNUAL. 



and soon become common in the weed growths along old fences. 

 It is like meeting old friends, to see their familiar forms flitting 

 along the roadsides again and coming at this season, when the 

 year is dying and other birds leaving us, they are doubly 

 welcome. 



If Bvirrough's Bluebird, with the hue of the sky upon his 

 back and that of the eai'th upon his breast, stands for Spring ; 

 then the Snowbird may well stand for the opposite season, 

 Autum ; when his plumage matches the lead-grey sky above and 

 the frosty earth beneath and the tail edged with white, hints of 

 the coming snow. 



The Snowbird seldom stays with us after the middle of De- 

 cember. At the first snow storm he and his merry companions 

 are off for the south to be seen no more until Spring. Yet they 

 are not always so afraid of cold weather, for I have seen them 

 all Winter along the west branch of the Susquehanna River. 

 They remained in the fields until pressed by the severe cold and 

 then gathered about the house and barn in company with the 

 flocks of English Sparrows. 



During the last week in March, the Snowbirds appear from 

 the south. They are generally but little behind the Song 

 Sparrows and often in compan}' with them. When they arrive 

 they are usually found in the tops of pines, but soon become 

 common in the " slashings " and the edges of the woods. At 

 this season they often feed in company ^vith their near relations, 

 the Tree Sparrows, and migrate with them. 



That this is one of the most common of American birds, may 

 be inferred from the area covered in their migrations. This ex. 

 tends, according to Wilson, from the Artie circle to the Gulf of 

 Mexico, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi Valley. 

 On a journey from northern Maine to Georgia, a distance, as he 

 travelled, of eighteen hundred miles, he found the Snowbird 

 abundant all the way and says, " I cannot but consider this bird 

 as the most numerous of its tribe of any within the United 

 States." 



When the birds arrive from the north, they have but a single 

 call note — a smacking chip, like the twang of a bow-string. In 

 the absence of other bird voices the chipping of a company of 



