junior IBaturalist /Ibontbl^ 



Published by the College of Agriculture of Cornell 

 University, from October to May, and entered at 

 Ithaca as second-class matter. L. H. Bailey, Director 



ALICE G. McCLOSKEY, Editor 



New Series. Vol. 2 ITHACA, N. Y., DECEMBER, 1905. 



No. 3 



WINTER BIRDS 



Ah, may I be as cheerful 



As yonder winter birds, 

 Througli ills and petty crosses. 



With no repining words ; 

 So, teaching me this lesson. 



Away, away they go, 

 And leave their tiny footprints 



In stars upon the snow. 



— George Cooper. 



If I should go into your 

 school and should ask you 

 why so many birds go 

 South in the winter, what 

 would you answer? Do 

 you think you would say, 

 "Because it is so cold?" 

 Probably, and yet the real 

 reason is because a great 

 many birds that stay with 

 us in summer cannot get 

 food enough when snows 

 lie deep and winds blow 

 cold. Now, in order to un- 

 derstand why birds cannot 

 get the food they need in 

 winter, we must consider 

 what they eat. I shall 

 mention a number of things 

 and perhaps some of our 

 girls and boys will be able 

 to add to the list. 



Let me see. Birds eat 

 seeds, such as ragweed, smartweed, rib grass, tick trefoil, and pigeon 

 grass. Berries, such as wintergreen, partridge berry, sumac berries, ber- 



3^1 



Fig, I, — A hungry little bird. 



