ows--there is
a perfect network of bird tracks in the snow beneath a clump of weed
stalks. How dainty they are, like tiny chains, twisted and coiled
about on the white surface! They were made by the juncos and tree
sparrows, and on examining the seed pods and clusters above the bank we
note that they are torn and ragged. The feathered banqueters have been
here, and while they were industriously culling the pods, some of the
seeds fell to the white carpet below, and these have been carefully
picked up by the birds, as we see, so that nothing should be wasted.

It is not often you catch a bird in the singing mood in the winter; yet
on December 19, a purple finch was piping quite a vivacious tune in the
woods. Of course, he was not in his best voice, but his performance
was good enough to entitle it to the name of bird music. The finches,
by the way, are strong flyers. At your approach, instead of flitting
off a little way, perhaps to the next tree or bush, after the manner of
the tits and nuthatches and many other birds, the finches tarry in the
tree-tops as long as they deem it safe, then take to wing and fly to a
distant part of the woods, and you may not see them again that day.
However, they may come back to you after a while, as if they relished
your company. The goldfinches are also long-distance flyers, not
flitters. Usually they give some signal of their presence, either by
their vivacious "pe-chick-o-pe" or their childlike and semi-musical
calls; but there are times when a good-sized flock of them will
suddenly appear in the tree-tops above you, and you cannot tell when
they arrived, for you did not see them there at all a few minutes
before.

WAYSIDE OBSERVATIONS

The previous chapter closed with some notes on the behavior of birds in
the winter time. My home rambling grounds in northeastern Kansas were
extremely undulating, cut up into ridges and ravines, most of which
were covered with a thick growth of weeds, bushes, and timber. In some
places the thickets were so dense as to be almost impenetrable. This
diversity in the topography of the country afforded considerable
variety in the faunal life of the region.

For example, in bitter winter weather most of the birds would hug the
sheltered hollows, where they found coverts in the copses, and would
avoid the hilltops, which were exposed to the nipping winds blowing
from the western prairies. As the spring approached, bringing blander
weat