A FORWARD MARCH. 1 5 



method of extracting the seeds. They are of a 

 grayish ash color and variously streaked with 

 white. Their tails, which are spread out like fans 

 when they are in the inverted position but closed 

 when they are upright, are deeply notched, and 

 their crowns are ornamented with a large, dark, 

 blood-red patch, while the breasts and flanks of a 

 few individuals are tinged with carmine, like the 

 males of the purple finches. 



How hearty are these feathered mites ! Alder 

 seeds are evidently their favorite dish in winter. 

 They had come from the high northern latitudes 

 where the dwarf birches and alders form clumps 

 and thickets, by the streams that flow into the 

 Arctic Seas and Hudson's Bay. Perchance this 

 greedy fellow, who turns his pretty, watchful eye 

 toward me, between his prying and pecking, has 

 seen the swarthy Chippeway or the Esquimaux 

 within a month, and will line his nest next Sum- 

 mer with the hairs of the Marten or the Caribou. 



These hardy visitors, in their journeyings, had 

 met by chance their southern cousins, the song 

 sparrows, in Massachusetts, where they exchanged 

 congratulations, sang of the weather, and talked 

 of the prospects of the seed crop another year. 



It is certainly uncommon to see so early in the 

 season so many bridge pewees, or Phoebe birds 

 together. Five or six of them are flying about 

 the "pudding stone" quarry, alighting on the 



