302 PERCHERS AND SINGERS 
years I never have seen even one in the Zoological Park, but 
I hear that they do occasionally appear in southern New York. 
They come in flocks of from ten to twenty birds, and settle in 
the snow as if they loved it. But for a few dark streaks on back 
and wings, they are the color of snow, and generally have the 
plump outlines which 
i SK: pf : tA. betoken good feeding 
. (4 f Jp: a Va My and contentment. 
(tn fn LZ Af Wi When you see this 
aa ea y 4 bird, remember that it 
SsS— eZ ‘ _ belongs to the polar 
Gre | world, quite as much as 
ot 5 ae the arctic fox and musk- 
ox, and in summer it 
goes to the “‘farthest 
North” on our continent. Rarely indeed does it breed in 
even the most northerly portions of the United States, and 
SNOW BUNTING. 
seldom enters a southern state. 
In winter the food of this pretty bird consists chiefly of 
the seeds of weeds that send tall fruit-stalks above the level 
of the snow. In our park grounds we scatter wheat for it, 
on the tops of granite ledges from which the wind has blown 
the snow, but it is only the juncos and jays and a few other 
birds that come for this food. 
THE SLATE-COLORED JuNCO,! often called the Snow Brirp, 
is also a bird of the snow-fields; but it is a home product 
rather than a visitor from the desolate Barren Grounds. 
When seen on snow, its slaty-blue back makes it appear like 
1 Jun'co hy-e-mal’is. Length, 6 inches. 
