of the bird in almost any position, while the vainly hidden clusters of
insect eggs are pried into. Without ceasing a moment in their busy
search for food, the fluffy feathered members of the flock call to each
other, "_Chick-a-chick-a-dee-dee!_" but now and then the heart of some
little fellow bubbles over, and he rests an instant, sending out a sweet,
tender, high call, a "_Phoe-be!_" love note, which warms our ears in
the frosty air and makes us feel a real affection for the brave little
mites.

Our song sparrow is, like the poor, always with us, at least near the
coast, but we think none the less of him for that, and besides, that fact
is true in only one sense. A ripple in a stream may be seen day after day,
and yet the water forming it is never the same, it is continually flowing
onward. This is usually the case with song sparrows and with most other
birds which are present summer and winter. The individual sparrows which
flit from bush to bush, or slip in and out of the brush piles in January,
have doubtless come from some point north of us, while the song sparrows
of our summer walks are now miles to the southward. Few birds remain the
entire year in the locality in which they breed, although the southward
movement may be a very limited one. When birds migrate so short a
distance, they are liable to be affected in colour and size by the
temperature and dampness of their respective areas; and so we find that in
North America there are as many as twenty-two races of song sparrows, to
each of which has been given a scientific name. When you wish to speak of
our northeastern song sparrow in the latest scientific way, you must say
_Melospiza cinerea melodia_, which tells us that it is a melodious song
finch, ashy or brown in colour.

Our winter sparrows are easy to identify. The song sparrow may, of course,
be known by the streaks of black and brown upon his breast and sides, and
by the blotch which these form in the centre of the breast. The tree
sparrow, which comes to us from Hudson Bay and Labrador, lacks the
stripes, but has the centre spot. This is one of our commonest field birds
in winter, notwithstanding his name.

The most omnipresent and abundant of all our winter visitors from the
north are the juncos, or snowbirds. Slate coloured above and white below,
perfectly describes these birds, although their distinguishing mark,
visible a long way off, is the white V in their tails, formed by several
white out