SLATE-COLORED JUNCO. 



137 



weeds and grasses in the corn and cotton-fields and sugar plantations swarm with small 

 birds, while Whooping Cranes, in the shape of a V. with their leader in the front, are 

 soaring on motionless pinion overhead, or they suddenly stop, and in spiral curves are 

 ascending higher and higher, sometimes so high that they only appear as small spots. 

 They utter a loud, clear, and piercing musical call, sounding like hurr, hurr, which may 

 be heard at quite a distance. Wild Geese and Ducks are also moving southward. The 

 Passenger Pigeon I observed in large numbers during several winters, the bottom woods 

 of all the creeks and rivers swarming with them. Though the air is still warm and 

 sultry, Titmice, Bluebirds, and Wrens are seeking shelter in the nesting boxes and in 

 old Woodpecker's holes. As unexpected as the birds came, the roaring cold norther 

 sweeps over the country. Among the dense and still green thickets the Juncos find an 

 excellent shelter. 



In south-eastern Texas the Snowbirds arrive usually by the beginning of November 

 or late in October. By the middle of December even the last stragglers have arrived. 

 In south-western Missouri they appear about October 15, and in southern Wisconsin 

 and northern IlKnois by the beginning of that month. They winter fi-om the Middle 

 States southward, and small flocks are sometimes found during cold weather as far 

 south as New England. At Freistatt (Lawrence Co.), Mo., they were regular visitors 

 at my feeding places during the whole winter, though the majority moved farther south. 



The Snowbird does not excel by beautiful color or fine song. It is dressed in ' 

 a plain but neat, tasteful, and becoming attire, being altogether a very handsome, 

 attractive, and lovely bird, deserving to be affectionately cared for and protected by all 

 who love the beautiful and poetical in Nature. Indeed, it is one of our most familiar 

 birds, delightfully welcomed by old and young in many country places. Its summer 

 home extends from the northern parts of the Union northward to the Arctic regions, 

 breeding abundantly in northern New England, northern Wisconsin, Michigan, Minne- 

 sota, etc. In the mountain ranges of the East, especially in the AUeghanies, it is also a 

 common summer sojourner. "The Black Snowbird," says Dr. Elliott Coues, "is com- 

 monly supposed to come from the North in the fall and so it certainly does; but its 

 sudden appearance, dependent upon changes of the weather, remained unaccountable till 

 it was learned that the bird breeds in the mountains even as far south as Virginia and 

 North Carolina, and flies up and down, according to exigencies of the weather." 



The spring migration of the Snowbird is also extended over a considerable period. 

 In Wisconsin the first appear by the middle of March, while I have seen them in Lee County, 

 Texas, in large flocks as late as April 22, at a time when the sweet bay {Magnolia 

 glauca) and the large flowering Magnolia grandiSora were in full flower, and when 

 even the most delicate summer residents had arrived long ago, when the woods were 

 in full leaf since almost six weeks, and when the first brood of Bluebirds, Tufted and 

 Carolina Titmice and other birds had left their nests. In Milwaukee I have observed 

 them until late in May, at which time they suddenly disappeared. During their migra- 

 tion they are always partial to all kinds of shrubs and thickets, having a predilection 

 for evergreens wherever they occur. 



The Junco is a very gregarious bird and rarely only a few are observed. Flocks 



varying from a dozen to a hundred are always seen. Apparently the birds are suffering 



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