almost precisely the same habits and col- 

 ors as the downy, and differs only in size. 

 He, also, is one of our winter residents, 

 but not so commonly as the other. 



The flicker or yellow hammer is 

 another woodpecker that is with us in 

 winter as w^ell as summer. He varies 

 somewhat from the rest of his family in 

 habits, in that, he feeds considerably on 

 the ground, consuming a large number of 

 ants. He is quiet during the winter, but 

 his loud and cheerful notes are one of the 

 first bird songs of spring. 



A bird which resembles the wood- 

 pecker in his method of feeding, is the 

 brown creeper, a pretty little brown bird, 

 with a long curved bill and long sharp 

 claws, who spends most of his time in 

 climbing trees. Unlike a woodpecker, he 

 goes up the trunk by going spirally 

 around it, thus going over the whole tree 

 before he flies to the next one and re- 

 peats the operation. The color of his 

 back closely resembles the bark of a tree, 

 and when disturbed he will sometimes 

 crouch close to the tree where it is almost 

 impossible to see him. In the spring, be- 

 fore departing north to breed, they often 

 sing their pretty tune to us, which, how- 

 ever, we are lucky to hear. In the coldest 

 weather they are frequently seen on trees 

 by the wayside, and I have seen them on 

 Bolyston street, Boston, as busy and con- 

 tented as ever. 



The nuthatch is another bird which 

 climbs, and, unlike either the woodpeck- 

 ers or creepers, he goes down the tree 

 head first, instead of backing down, and 

 for this reason has been nicknamed 

 "Devil Downhead." There are two nut- 

 hatches which are fairly common during 

 the winter months, the white-breasted 

 and the red-breasted. The former more 

 commonly frequents orchards and the 

 roadside, while the latter prefers to frolic, 

 with the chicadees, among the evergreens. 

 They seldom stay with us in the summer, 

 usually nesting farther north. 



The goldfinch is also a regular winter 

 visitor ; but at this season he has none of 

 his bright colors of the summer time ; but 

 is a plain little olive green liird, with dark 

 wings and a gray 1)rcast. They feed 

 considerably on thistles, but when the 

 snow falls they take whatever lierries 

 they can find. T rcmcml)cr seeing four or 

 five of thcni, one day two winters ago, 



coming up and feeding upon the berries 

 of a honeysuckle vine near my window, 

 and at another time I saw them eating 

 with chicadees in some cedars. 



Cedar birds, although they do not stay 

 with us any length of time, may be seen 

 at different periods during the winter. 

 They are very pretty birds, being brown- 

 ish drab above and sulphur yellow below, 

 while the wings are marked by spots of 

 bright red. They travel in very large 

 flocks and soon have one locality com- 

 pletely cleared of food, when they depart 

 elsewhere. One is first attracted by their 

 peculiar lisping notes, which, coming 

 from so many throats, make quite a 

 noise, and upon looking up, he will see 

 them perhaps in flight or more probably 

 roosting on the branches of some elm or 

 oak ; or flitting about a cedar, stripping 

 it of its berries. They are also great 

 lovers of cherries, and when this fruit is 

 ripe they may be seen in large numbers 

 in some orchard. 



A journey into the woods on a cold 

 winter day may reveal to one a flock of 

 small birds, which have the appearance 

 of a lot of sparrows which had been dyed 

 purple, the colors of the sparrow plainly 

 showing, beneath the purple tinge or 

 wash on their backs and heads. These 

 are lesser redpoll linnets. Very hard 

 working little birds, that usually delight 

 in the arctic regions, we see them only 

 when the severest cold drives them south. 

 They fly in very large flocks, and Miss 

 Blanchan says of them, ''First, we see a 

 quantity of dots, like a shake of pepper, 

 in the cloud above, then the specks grow 

 larger and larger, and finally the birds 

 seem to drop from the sky upon some tall 

 tree that they completely cover — a verit- 

 able cloudburst of birds." 



The red crossbill is a similar bird to the 

 redpoll, but is larger and has the two 

 mandibles of his bill crossed, by the 

 means of which he extracts the seeds 

 from the pine cones. We only see him 

 in the coldest winters, but then he is very 

 tame and may allow one to pick him 

 up, and he has even been known to stay in 

 a cage without a murmur. 



These are all our important winter 

 birds, but the robin and blue jay might 

 ])c mentioned althouuh they are more 

 birds of the summer than winter. 



WiNTiiROP Smith. 



68 



