56 The Wilson Bulletin. 



Kinglets feed in the evergreen trees on the campus and about 

 town all winter. A Brown Creeper has made the college 

 campus his feeding ground this winter. One flock of a dozen 

 Bob-whites ventured well within the settled portion, for no 

 apparent reason, unless their ancestors owned that particu- 

 lar spot by right of long occupation. Crows have frequently 

 passed over within easy range. American Crossbills and 

 Cedar Waxwings are irregular winter residents. 



A question that I have often asked myself may occur to 

 others. How is it that the birds pass over the same field, 

 or even small area of weed tops, again and again during the 

 winter, evidently finding something to eat each time? Or, 

 in another way, why don't they clean each weed head up 

 before going to another? One could not watch a company 

 of Tree Sparrows for five minutes without discovering that 

 they merely nip here and there as they pass along, without 

 the intention of making an entire meal at any one place, 

 however abundant the food. There appear to me to be two 

 reasons for this conduct. First, in cold weather they must 

 keep moving or freeze. Second, they want variety. Neither 

 would be true of the flesh-eating birds, both because they 

 are larger and therefore have greater resistance to cold, and 

 because they bolt their food and digest it without grinding. 

 They seldom feed upon frozen food, as the smaller birds 

 must. In the cold weather the smaller birds keep moving 

 all day long, or else seek some sheltered place where a de- 

 gree of comfort is possible, and all the while they are feed- 

 ing, now upon this, now upon that sort of food. Even the 

 woodpeckers don't stop to dig long in one place. 



If movement is necessary to life in cold weather, how can 

 the birds sleep? Just like any other animal, I suppose. 

 They seek out some sheltered place and curl up. The 

 woodpeckers and other birds which nest in holes in trees 

 sleep there in winter. The sparrows and other birds which 

 build nests in bushes or trees or on the ground, find shelter 

 among the dried foliage of last season, or among the grass 

 on the ground, or even under the snow. Many times have 



