Page:Birdcraft-1897.djvu/63

 time of greatest hardship for all birds that depend in any way upon insect food. The Robins leave, except for a few individuals; the Quails come from the brush and feed with the Meadow and Horned Larks. The four resident Hawks —the Sharp-shinned, Cooper's, the Red-tailed, and Red. shouldered — are now the only inhabitants of the woods and remote pastures; there is something invigorating in the way in which they sail through the lonely air. Food is very scarce, mice are snowed under, rabbits do not venture far from their burrows, and it is too early for young chickens. Besides, the farmer's wife, knowing Hawk ways, keeps her poultry safely guarded in a stiny place in view of the kitchen window. Alas! for the flocks of Snow Buntings that have been tempted too far afield. Every time a Hawk swoops, and dropping suddenly wheels back to its perch, there is one Bunting less to return to its boreal birthplace. The Shrike drops on his prey with the thud and click of the guillotine; the Hawk flashes through the air with the curving sweep of the scimiter.

The Brown Creeper is seen daily winding about the tree trunks; if it is severely cold and there is much ice he only comes at mid-day and works on the sunny side of the tree, while his friends, the Chickadees, call encouragingly to him.January, with us, is the month of all the year that comes the nearest to being birdless; there are days when not even a Crow is seen; then a mild streak follows, and the murmurings of the Chickadees, Bluebirds, and Goldfinches give cheer, and if you tie some bits of fat meat or well-covered bones to the branches of a tree in a sheltered spot you will be surprised at the number of visitors that will come to dine.

With February the days begin to lengthen visibly, and a reaction sets in. There is a return movement among the Robins, who have gone but a short distance southward, and the Buntings travel in large flocks. Late in the month a thaw brings the Kingfisher back, and at any time you may expect to hear the Song Sparrow in his old haunts, — in fact, you may have heard him early in the month, or in January even, but now it is his spring song, only needing companion-