Bird lore - Project Puffin

220 Bird - Lore
THE WINTER BIRDS
Some of the winter birds mentioned here are true winter residents in the
park, spending that season there; others are merely casual or occasional visi-
tors, in some cases having been noted but once or twice, and in other cases are
CATBIRD
of irregular occurrence in dif-
ferent years. As might be
expected, Tree Sparrows and
Juncos are the most abundant,
no less than five sorts of the
latter birds having been noted,
as the preceding list shows.
The Pink-sided is the most
common, with the Gray-headed
next; the others are compara-
tively rare. These birds are
together more or less, and
spend a good deal of time about
the food-tables, but also hunt
for seeds in the grass and about
the bushes. Their relative
abundance varies somewhat,
sometimes one being the more
numerous, sometimes the other.
The first Tree Sparrows some-
times come as early as September
22, and they are gone by
April 15; while the first Juncos
usually come early in October,
but have been seen September
30, and have about all left by
the middle of April though
once noted on the 27th. In
December, 19 13, we had an
unusually heavy snowfall and
for a time the Sparrows and
Juncos were rather scarce, but returned as the snow disappeared.
One or two Song Sparrows spend the winter, and are somewhat exclusive,
not associating much with the other birds, though I have seen them at the
tables occasionally. Other members of the Sparrow family are the House
Finch, Cassin's Finch, Evening Grosbeak and Pine Siskin. With the excep-
tion of the first named, which is a permanent resident in town and in the
park, these are all extremely irregular, sometimes very abundant, sometimes