Where Snowbirds Sleep on Cold 
Winter Nights. 
BY L. B. CUSHMAN, NORTH EAST, PA. 
After a severe snowstorm in zero 
weather, when the wind has piled the 
snow in big drifts and swirled it into 
every crack and cranny, I often think 
of our winter birds, and wonder which, 
if any, are passing comfortless nights. 
A few species would be naturally 
housed in holes excavated by wood- 
peckers, but not all. 
My thoughts have run especially to 
the snowbirds ; not that they are more 
sensitive to the cold than others; per- 
haps because in winter they so greatly 
outnumber all the other birds here. 
Where do they go when night 
comes? Being so thoroughly a ground 
bird, they would naturally be supposed 
to sleep on the ground. But in case 
all ground is hidden under the deep 
snow, would they then take to the hem- 
lock trees or to the grapevine bowers? 
Would they huddle together on top of 
the snow, taking advantage of what 
protection some windbreak might af- 
ford ? 
My books give me no light. I have 
seen ruffed grouse dive into the snow 
for protection. Perhaps snowbirds do 
the same. Doubtless there are those 
who can speak from actual observation. 
In furtherance of that idea, I wrote 
to Professor Lynds Jones for informa- 
tion. He is editor of “The Wilson 
Bulletin,” the official organ of the 
Wilson Ornithological Club, of Chi- 
cago, and is also in charge of the De- 
partment of Animal Ecology in Ober- 
lin College. Professor Jones has had 
a great deal of actual field experience, 
and is perhaps our best authority on 
the habits of birds frequenting this lake 
shore country. Here is what he says: 
“Mr. L. B. Cushman, North East, Pa. 
“Dear Sir : I have your letter of the 
nth, asking about the roosting habits 
of the snow bunting. 
“It was my fortune to have to walk 
three miles to attend Iowa College 
(now Grinnell) while I was pursuing 
my education. This walk led a quarter 
of a mile through a woods, and the re- 
mainder of the way over hills and 
across the prairie where both horned 
larks and snow buntings were common. 
Since the first recitation came at 7 
o’clock, sun time, it was necessary for 
me to start before daylight during the 
winter months. 
“On these walks it was a common 
thing for me to rout from their snowy 
beds both the larks and the buntings. 
They were securely hidden beneath the 
light snow, and when I approached 
would dart out with a protesting cry, 
only to dive headfirst beneath the snow 
again a few rods away. 
“Here in Ohio I have found the larks 
doing the same thing, and also hiding 
at night beneath the dry grasses of the 
fields. I think that this tucking of 
themselves away beneath the snow at 
night is a common practice of open- 
country birds. Certainly the prairie 
chickens practice it regularly. I have 
seen them do it. 
“Yours sincerely, 
“Lynds Jones.” 
From this, it is evident that the 
snowbirds dive into the snow when it 
is new and loose, each one by itself, do 
not bunch together, and there spend 
the night rather comfortably, for they 
are a hardy bird, inured to the cold. 
In case the snow is hard, it would seem 
natural for them to bunch on top of it 
in some protected nook — pile up like 
a lot of young pigs — and each contrib- 
ute to the warmth of the rest. Im- 
agine two or three hundred birds in one 
pile! 
Birds have no external ears and no 
chain of bones in the middle ear. Yet, 
apparently, their hearing is acute and 
they seem to locate sounds accurately. 
More observations are needed on these 
points. 
