124 Birds Every Child Should Know 
are especially useful when birds are migrating; 
without them, many stragglers from the flocks 
might get lost. Juncos, who are extremely 
sociable birds, except when nesting, need help 
in keeping together. A crisp, frosty 'tsip 
call note signifies alarm and away flies the 
flock. They are quiet, unassuming visitors, 
modest in manner and in dress; but how we 
should miss them from the winter landscape ! 
SNOWFLAKE 
In the northern United States and Canada, 
it is the snowflake or snow bunting, a sparrowy 
little bird with a great deal of white among its 
rusty brown feathers that is the familiar winter 
visitor. Instead of hopping, like most of its 
tribe, it walks over the frozen fields and 
rarely perches higher than a bush or fence rail, 
for it comes very near being a ground bird. 
Delighting in icy blasts and snow storms, flocks 
of these irrepressibly cheerful little foragers 
fatten on a seed diet picked up where other 
birds would starve. 
AMERICAN GOLDFINCH 
Called also: Black-winged Yellow-bird; Thistle 
Bird; Lettuce Bird; Wild Canary 
Have you a garden gay with marigolds, sun- 
flowers, coreopsis, zinnias, cornflowers, and gail- 
