“When we look out there, it makes us feel thankful that we have a nice
cosy room to play in and a warm fire to sit beside.”
It was Uncle George who spoke. His two nephews, Frank and Tom, stood at
the window watching the birds feeding outside, while Dolly, their little
sister, was busy with her picture-blocks on the carpet.
“Yes, it is better to be inside in winter,” said Frank, the elder boy.
“These poor little birds must have a hard time out in the cold all
night.”
“I should not mind being a bird during the rest of the year, though,”
said little Tom. “It must be so jolly to be able to fly wherever you
like.”
Uncle George smiled, and said, “Birds are very happy little creatures,
Tom, but they have many enemies. Their lives are in constant danger.
They must always be on the look-out for cats, hawks, guns, and cruel
boys. Those birds that stay with us all the year round have often a hard
fight for life in winter-time. In fact, many of them starve to death.
“Most of our birds fly to warmer countries in autumn, and come back to
us in spring. These miss the frost and snow, but a great number of them
get drowned while crossing the sea. I think, as a little boy, you are
much better off.
“Let me see; have you put out any food for the birds this morning?”
“Yes, Uncle George, we have done exactly as you told us,” said Frank.
“Mother made a little net, which we filled with suet and scraps of meat
for the tomtits. We hung it on the ivy, quite near the window. We also
put plenty of crumbs and waste bits from the kitchen on the space you
cleared for the birds yesterday.”
“Very good,” said Uncle George, “and I see your feathered friends are
busy in both places.”
He looked out and saw a crowd of birds hopping on the frozen lawn round
the well-filled dish. The little net, which hung just outside the
window, was alive with hungry tomtits. They pecked eagerly at the suet,
and chattered their thanks between every mouthful.
“What a lot of birds we have to-day,” Uncle George remarked. “Do you
know the names of them all, boys?”
“We know those you pointed out to us yesterday,” said Frank. “There is
the chaffinch, the thrush, the greenfinch, the blackbird, and the
hedge-sparrow, but I don’t know that one with the bright red breast,
black velvet head, and grey wings. And there is a new one among the
tomtits. He has a very long tail, and is like a small parrot.”
[Illustration: ]
Robin. Starling. Hedge-Sparrow.
Greenfinch. Bullfinch. Sparrow.
Chaffinch. Long-tailed Tit. Linnet.
Blackbird. Rook. Thrush.
“Oh,” said Uncle George, “the first you spoke of is the bullfinch. He is
so easily tamed that he makes a splendid pet. The hen bullfinch is there
too, I see. She has a dull brown breast, and is not quite so pretty as
her husband. The bullfinch is very fond of berries. If we could get some
hawthorn or rowan berries, we should have all the bullfinches in the
district around us. The other bird is the long-tailed tit. He is also a
very amusing little chap.”
[Illustration: Bullfinches.]
“Why do the tomtits make such a fuss about the suet?” asked Tom. “The
bullfinches do not come near it.”
“That is because the tomtit is a flesh-eater, Tom. He lives on insects.
The bullfinch feeds on berries and seeds. He is also blamed for eating
the young buds of fruit-trees in spring-time, but I am not quite sure
that he does this.”
“Where are all the insects in winter, Uncle George?” asked Frank.
“Well, most of them are buried deep in the ground. Some of them are
tucked up in warm cases, and hidden in the chinks of trees and walls.”
“Then why don’t the birds that feed on insects search those trees and
walls for them,” Frank asked.
“So the birds do, but the sleeping insects are very hard to find. The
cases which hold them are often coloured exactly like the tree or wall
which they are fixed to; so that even the sharp eyes of a hungry bird
cannot see them.”
Exercises on Lesson I.
1. Write out the names of all the wild birds you have seen.
2. Some of these we do not see in winter. How is this?
3. Why should we remember the birds in winter-time?
4. Describe the robin. How does he differ from the bullfinch?