Fifty Kinds of Birds Winter in New York 



By George F. Guelf 



One of the most popular winter resorts for birds is near the shore of Lake 

 Ontario. As the main Hne of flight of the birds during their migrations is along 

 the lake shore, many of them stop there to winter or loiter along the way. 



There are many different species to be found, but one must know where to 

 look for them, for each has its own particular choice as to the character of its 

 winter habitat. Familiar birds of summer are occasionally met with, under 

 changed conditions and environment, and it is then that they become doubly 

 interesting. 



While there may be days when the birds do not appear very common, there 

 are always some birds to be found, and sometimes the unexpected ones. The 

 broad, open fields have their tenants as well as the sheltered woods. Where the 

 winter winds have swept the knolls bare of snow the Lapland longspur and horned 

 lark are usually to be found, their dull coloring blending in perfect harmony with 

 their surroundings. 



In a weedy, sheltered nook along the border of a marsh a meadow lark will 

 occasionally be found, for it is not unusual for a few of these birds of summer 

 meadows to spend the winter here. 



Along the hedgerows or an old brush-grown fence is the favorite haunt of 

 that feathered butcher, the shrike. Before the coming of a barbed wire fence 

 these birds selected a thorn tree on which to hang up their victims. But metal 

 hooks are just as good and much more convenient, and more numerous are the 

 places where their prizes can be swung to the breeze. 



The snowy owl is a regular winter visitor along the lake. His favorite hunt- 

 ing ground is the rough, open country, dotted with stone piles, and bordered with 

 old rail fences. Unlike his ducky cousin, the great horned owl, he prefers this 

 open country to the secluded woods and does most of his hunting during the early 

 hours of the day. 



Over the frozen marsh and through the thickets are found sharply printed in 

 the snow the three-barred tracks of the ring-necked pheasant. During the bleak 

 winter weather, when the snow is drifted deep in the cover, a band of these hardy 

 birds will often go on a seed hunting trip to the adjoining fields. Then it is that 

 there is some chance of observing the trailmakers themselves as they wander over 

 the fields, gleaning the seeds from the wood clusters exposd above the snow. 



In the woods and border thickets are found the greatest varieties of birds. 

 Dense towering hemlocks are a safe refuge into which the small feathered folks 

 may avoid the bold, swift dash of a hawk, are a protection against the north 

 winds, and are the source of principal food supply of the crossbill, its oddly shaped 

 bill being specially designed for extracting seeds from hemlock cones. When- 

 ever there is an abundant crop of cones, a large flight of crossbills may be looked 



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