ashington, D. C.

{82}

CHAPTER V

THE BIRDS IN WINTER

With the approach of winter the country loses its charm for many people.
The blossoms and verdure, so common yet so beloved by all, have departed,
and only the brown expanses of dead grass and weeds relieve the blackness
of the forest trees. Even ardent nature lovers have been known to
forsake their walks at this season when the songs of the birds have
ceased and the forest boughs give forth only sobs and shrieks as they
sway to the strength of the north winds.

_A Good Time for Field Walks._--Nevertheless winter is a good time for
the bird student to go afield. If the wild life is less abundant, so is
the human life, and you have the country almost to yourself. If you but
say in your heart, "I will go and see what may be {83} found," you will
later rejoice, for with the falling of the leaves many of Nature's
secrets, which she has jealously guarded through the summer months, stand
revealed. Among the naked branches of the briars you may find the
Catbird's nest which defied all search last June. It will be a comfort
to learn that the bird really did have a nest just about the place you
thought it was located. Many other pleasing surprises await you in the
winter woods.

_The Downy's Winter Quarters._--One late autumn day I stopped to watch a
Junco feeding among some weed stalks near a hillside trail. After
remaining motionless for a minute or two I became conscious of a light
muffled tapping somewhere near by. It did not take long to locate the
sound. On the underside of a slanting decayed limb, twenty feet above,
was a new, well-rounded hole perhaps an inch in diameter. Even as I
looked the occupant came to the entrance and threw out a billful of small
chips. When these fell, I saw that the dead leaves on the earth beneath
had been well sprinkled by previous ejections {84} of the same nature. I
had discovered a Downy Woodpecker at work on his winter bedroom, and
later I had reason to believe that he made this his nightly retreat
during the cold months that followed.

Chancing to pass this way one dark cloudy morning, it occurred to me to
look and see if he had yet left his bed. Striking the limb near the hole
I was rewarded by seeing a little black-and-white head poked out
inquiringly. Fearing he might be resentful if such treatment were
repeated, I never afterward disturbed my little neighbour while he was
taking his morning nap. But