THE BIRDS IN WINTER 



by; hence other food must be looked for in new di- 

 rections. Emboldened by hunger, the Starlings 

 alight at the kitchen door, and the Juncos, Sparrows, 

 Downy Woodpeckers, and Nuthatches come to feed 

 on the window-sill. Jays and Meadowlarks haunt 

 the manure piles or haystacks in search of fragments 

 of grain. Purple Finches flock to the wahoo elm 

 trees to feed on the buds, and Crossbills attack the 

 pine cones. Even the wary Ruffed Grouse will 

 leave the shelter of the barren woods, and the farmer 

 finds her in the morning sitting among the branches 

 of his apple tree, relieving the twigs of their buds. In 

 every field a multitude of weed stalks and stout 

 grass stems are holding their heads above the snow 

 tightly clasping their store of seeds until members of 

 the Sparrow family shall thrash them out against the 

 frozen crust beneath. 



Among those which are forced to become largely 



vegetarian in winter is the Bluebird. In summer he 



is passionately fond of grasshoppers, cutworms, and 



Arctia caterpillars, but now he wanders sadly over 



[87] 



