80 THE MEANING OF EVOLUTION 
flicker and red-headed woodpecker are also spending 
their winter in the South. The great mass of our 
bird population has left us until warmer weather shall 
bring back to us once more our feathered friends. It 
is true that we are south to the snowbirds or juncos, 
and their little slate-colored bodies, with their light 
breasts and their white on each side of the tail, make 
our bare hedge rows brighter by their presence. A 
few of our birds like the song sparrow and the car- 
dinal are hidden away in the thicket, and have not 
all joined their comrades in the south. 
The English sparrow was once probably quite as 
migratory as any of the rest of these, but a great 
change has come over his habits. With his newly 
acquired fondness for the haunts of men he has suf- 
fered a change in this respect also. Whatever may 
have been his reason for migrating, it no longer holds. 
He now finds himself quite able to stand the cold of 
winter. Accordingly he never leaves us, except very 
temporarily. When the migrating season comes the 
sparrows of the neighborhod are very likely to gather 
themselves together in a single group and take to the 
neighboring country. I believe this flocking on their 
part at this time of the year is a remnant of the old 
migratory habit. Until snow covers the ground the 
sparrow is not likely to be seen again in such num- 
bers in the city. The advantage the sparrow gains 
