The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-11-09

executes sweet little song, doubtless
 for the benefit of his mate. With the l Junco, he will leave us in April. one of the handsomest of the Sep
 tember arrivals is the white-crowned
 sparrows, who may be found, usually in
 company with a number of his fellows, l amongst the undergrowth in the woods
 or under the hedges which border the
 fields Besides his white throat, the yell l low line in front of the eye and the yel- low at the bend of the wing should
 serve ao identify him. His usual note l is faint "tseep," but he is one of the few birds which have real autumn songs, and shortly after his arrival his
 rather sad, sweet whistle may be heard
 above the rustic of the falling leaves.
 He will stay with us till May and then
 journey northward perhaps as far as 1 Labrador to rear his young.
 In the latter part of October there came to us the tree sparrows, amongst
 the cheeriest of all our winter birds.
 They are easy to identify by the black
 spot which each of them wears on his
 otherwise unmarked breast. We may
 often come upon a flock of these folly
 little fellows in the winter, and the
 chances are that we shall hear their
 merry, tinklng chorus even though the
 air is biting cold and the snow covers
 all but the tops of the weed stalks.
 Sometimes they are accompanied by
 juncos, with whom they roam the win
 ter fields, hunting for seeds on the
 ground while 1t is bare, and when the snow has fallen, attacking the seed
 pods of the weed stalks which protrude above the crust. At such times they often keep up an incessant twittering, occasionally breaking out into a. full song.
 In our walks through the winter woods, we shall see, now and then, a plump cinnamon brown bird, somewhat smaller than a house-wren, working his way along the stone walls, or clam bering over moss covered stumps and fallen logs. At first glance we might mistake him for some warm -colored lit- tie mouse, but when he suddenly jumps upon weed stalk, we recognize a win ter wren. This is the smallest of our visitors, who has come down from Can ada to stay until April. Besides the abrupt little call notes with which he usually greets us, he has a most de- lightful song, but alas, it is not for us he reserves it to cheer his little mate in their home in the dark pine forests of the north.
 Another tiny visitor at this season is the golden crowned kinglet, an olive green bird with a yellow patch on the top of its head The male bird has little spot of orange in the very center of the crown, and this distinguishes him from the female whose markings are otherwise much the same as his own. We often find golden-c crowned kinglets amongst the pine trees, fitting about near the ends of the twigs, where I they sometimes hang poised in the air after the manner of humming birds.
 Occasionally we may chance to meet that interesting bird, the northern shrlke, whose strange habit of impaling his living prey upon thorns or barbed wre fences, is much better known to most of us than his own gray, black and white plumage. We are most like ly to see him on the top of tree, a pole, or some other lofty perch, from which he can command an extended view. From such position he will fly down at intervals to secure ! D mouse or perhaps small bird. He is [ said to be very fond of English spar rows and these birds are certainly very | much sconcerted whenever he puts in | an appearance. In flying he may be 1 by a characteristic habit. He does not fly straight to the point on | which he intends to alight. but in a line considerably below it. At the last moment, however, he makes ! sudden upward turn and arrives at | lis destination.
 Amongst the other winter visitors which we meet more or less frequently Ire the snowf1akes, horned larks and ed polls Then there is the diminutive saw-whet owl which is seen occasional y at night, and the cross bills, which urn up every now and then, sometimes 1t intervals of several years. The white winged cross bills are always welcome, because of their | earlessness. The winter of 1899-1900 vas cross-bill winter, and the birds were so tame that many people were lble to pick them up and examine them n the garden.
 ERNEST HAROLD HAYNES.