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

| For the past two months, our birc
 population has been decreasing, and
 by the end of November it will practi-
 cally be at it's lowest ebb. From then
 until the migrants begin to arrive ir
 the spring, the birds about us may be
 divided into two classes. One classes
 containing, perhaps, twenty-five spe-
 cies, consists of those birds which stay | with us the year round-such birds as
 the crow, blue jay, meadowlark, flicker Bob White and goldfinch, and several | of the hawks, owls and woodpeckers. The other class, containing about a dozen species, is made up of birds most of which reared their young in the | north, or at high attitudes in the noun tains, and which, on the approach of cold weather, came down to spend the winter with us.
 Most of those belonging to the latter
 class of birds of sober plumage, and
 their songs, where they have any, are usually reserved for their northern
 homes. But they need neither bright
 feathers nor sweet voices to recommend
 them. They are old friends come back
 to share with us the hardships of win-
 ter and to cheer us with their presence
 and with their quiet courage. They
 have a charm which neither sweetness or voice nor brightness of plumage
 can supply.
 About the earliest of these visitors to arrive is the junco, or snowbird, who makes his appearance on one of the first frosty mornings in September, and announces his purpose with a crisp tsip," 'tsip," suggestive of hoar frost and cheerful as sleigh bells.
 On the day of his arrival he Is like ly to be found along the edge of clear ing, or perhaps by the roadside where he hops along with his body close to the ground eagerly picking up what ever seeds he can find. There is no mis- taking his plump, slate- colored figure nor the white tips of his outer tail- feathers, which twinkle in the bushes to which he flies at our approach. La ter, when the air gets colder and when the snow covers up his harvest of pre- cious seeds, he will come into the gar den and even onto the veranda, if we are hospitable enough to supply him with crumbs
 About the same time, the brown creeper arrives. This is much more retiring bird than the junco, and per- haps the best place to look for him would be some quiet old orchard. Here we may find him creeping, mouse-like, over the trunks, examining closely every crack and Assure of the bark, as though he had left something there the day before and was trying hard to find it. What he Is searching for are the insects, insects eggs and larvae to be found in the crevices of the bark, and so intent is he upon his business, that we may often approach within few feet before he flutters away like a brown leaf to resume his search upon the trunk of another tree When we get near him we can see that his bill Is rather long and curved and finely instrument. well adapted for entering small openings, His tail feathers are sharp-pointed and when he pauses to probe a likely spot, he presses them in against the bark be- meath him and they serve as props to support his body He seldom has any thing to say for himself, and when he has, it Is expressed in few faint squaks, but in his northern home he