86 East and West 
Surely Onteora might be known for the 
society of its birds. Keeping tuneful homes 
in dim ancestral halls of spruce and hem- 
lock, or in fields and pastures open to the sky, 
like other summer residents they descend 
the mountains in autumn to flit southward, 
leaving a few permanent residents like the 
ruffed grouse, and a few winter visitors, the 
crossbills and snowbirds, in sole possession 
of the woods until another spring. 
