8 ON THE BIRDS' HIGHWAY 



If we were to go to the beaches, dunes 

 or meadows along the shores during the 

 winter, especially in the early or 

 "%l^^. latter part, we would find run- 



ning hither and thither a jolly 

 company of shore larks with 

 their comrades the snow bunt- 

 ings and perhaps a stray lapland 

 longspur. They are all beautiful birds, 

 and as they wheel up and down or dodge 

 between the driftwood their plumage is 

 displayed to the best advantage ; the larks 

 with yellow breasts and black collars, the 

 buntings, " snowflakes " as they are called, 

 but like snowflakes fallen on the earth 

 where winter sunshine shows small dark 

 patches through. 



Another guest from boreal regions, one 

 that makes your heart glad with his sweet 

 low song in midwinter from out the 

 thicket, is the tree sparrow and many a 

 bleak day this chestnut-crowned pedestrian 

 and the chickadee have been my only 

 companions. 



On Christmas day last year while mak- 

 ing my way over log and brook, a little 

 brown bird whirled from my feet and 

 bobbed out of sight behind a log. A rare 



