io6 OUR WINTER BIRDS 



Even now, their coming is a mystery. We can 

 name almost the exact day when the Flycatcher, 

 Warbler, or Vireo will come back to us from the 

 distant tropics, but no one can tell when the Red- 

 polls will appear. Years may go by and not one be 

 seen; then, without warning, some October or No- 

 vember flocks of them will arrive. 



They visit the fields for weed-seed and the birches 

 to get seeds from the catkins, calling and acting not 

 unlike Goldfinches and Siskins. Usually they re- 

 main until early spring and then return to the boreal 

 regions whence they came. 



There, in early June, in a low tree or tuft of grass, 

 they build a nest of dried grasses and moss, and line 

 it with hair, feathers and plant-down. The eggs 

 number from four to six and are white, tinged with 

 green or blue, spotted with reddish brown. 



Siskin 

 {Fig. 55) 



The Siskin seems midway between the Redpoll 

 and the Goldfinch. He has the streaked dress of the 

 former, while the tinge of yellow in his plumage 

 and the wing-bands of this color, which he displays 

 in flight, mark his relationship to the latter. 



The coming of the Siskin, like that of the Redpoll, 

 cannot be foretold, but since his summer home in 



