This charming bird comes to us at a time when his presence may be
truly welcomed and appreciated, nearly all our summer companions of
the feathered tribe having departed. He might not inappropriately be
named the great Snowflake, though in winter he wears a warm brown
cloak, with black stripes, brown collar, and a brown and white vest.
In summer, however, he is snow white, with black on the back, wings,
and tail. He lives all over northern North America, and in the United
States as far south as Georgia.
About the first of November, flocks of Snowflakes may be seen
arriving, the males chanting a very low and somewhat broken, but
very pleasant song. Some call him White Snowbird, and Snow Bunting,
according to locality. The birds breed throughout the Arctic regions
of both continents, the National Museum at Washington possessing nests
from the most northern points of Alaska, (Point Barrow), and from
Labrador, as well as from various intermediate localities.
These birds are famous seed eaters, and are rarely found in trees.
They should be looked for on the ground, in the air, for they are
constantly seeking new feeding grounds, in the barn-yard, or about the
hay stack, where seeds are plentiful. They also nest on the ground,
building a deep, grassy nest, lined with rabbit fur or feathers, under
a projecting ledge of rock or thick bunch of grass. It seems curious
that few persons readily distinguish them from their sparrow cousins,
as they have much more white about them than any other color. Last
November multitudes of them invaded Washington Park, settling on the
ground to feed, and flying up and scurrying away to successive
pastures of promise. With their soft musical voices and gentle
manners, they were a pleasing feature of the late Autumn landscape.
"Chill November's surly blast" making "field and forest bare," had no
terrors for them, but rather spread before them a feast of scattered
seeds, winnowed by it from nature's ripened abundance.
The Snowflakes disappear with the melting of their namesake, the
snow. They are especially numerous in snowy seasons, when flocks of
sometimes a thousand are seen in the old fields and meadows. It is
unusual, though it has been known to breed in the Northern States. In
July, 1831, Audubon found it nesting in the White Mountains, and Dr.
J. A. Allen notes a pair as breeding near Springfield, Mass. The
Arctic regions are its nesting place however, and these birds were
probably belated on their return migration. The Snowflake and
Shorelark are so much alike in habits, that the two species
occasionally associate. Ernest E. Thompson says: "Apparently the
Snowflakes get but little to eat, but in reality they always find
enough to keep them in health and spirits, and are as fat as butter
balls. In the mid-winter, in the far north, when the thermometer
showed thirty degrees below zero, and the chill blizzard was blowing
on the plains, I have seen this brave little bird gleefully chasing
his fellows, and pouring out, as he flew, his sweet voluble song with
as much spirit as ever Skylark has in the sunniest days of June."
[Illustration: From col. F. M. Woodruff.
JUNCO.
Copyrighted by Nature Study Pub. Co., 1897, Chicago.]