560 
A YEAR WITH THE BIRDS 
X 
The Birds of Autumn 
When school opens the early part of September the birds' 
family life as well as the moulting season is over, and they are 
gathering in flocks, and shift about constantly, even before 
they start on their journey south. 
If you have not learned the names of the brightly-colored 
birds in springtime you will not name them now, for they are 
wearing their dull traveling cloaks, and even the plainly- 
dressed sparrows and thrushes are not as distinctly marked 
as in spring. You will at once see that the Robin, whose 
breast in spring was the brick-red color of a new flower pot, 
has grown paler, and the Bluebird’s cinnamon-colored vest has 
also faded. 
Yet there are some birds that you will notice now perhaps 
for the first time, though they have been about all the season, 
and others that drop in from the north one by one for either a 
long stay or a short visit. 
The Swallows are flocking, and the Crow-Blackbirds are 
walking all over the fields, while the saucy Jays, the largest of 
our three blue birds, come about boldly and begin to keep an 
eye on the nut and acorn crop. The Song Sparrow, our dear 
little friend, sings now and then, but his cousin, the White- 
throat, will be coming, and perhaps whisper softly, “All day 
whittling-whittling,” as he feeds under the bushes. 
Some morning you will see a few slate-gray birds with 
white vests and two white tail feathers, that show when they 
fly. These are Juncos, from the north, and they will stay 
about all winter, if you make the lunch counter attractive. 
If there are some old apple trees near by, trees with cracks 
full of grubs and insects that are hiding for the winter, any 
fine morning you will see a pair of black and white striped 
birds, one with a red patch on the back of its head. 
These are Mr. and Mrs. Downy Woodpecker, the smallest 
of their tribe, and they are great bug killers. If you did not 
know you might think that they were sucking sap, because of 
