THE BIRDS AT DINNER. 



341 



to take away for nest-building ; sometimes it pulls hard, or they 

 try to take too large a piece ; then they will brace their feet, set 

 their bodies, and tug with a vim ; something has to give way, 

 and very soon it is the sticky web ; then away goes my yellow- 

 throat, a happy conqueror. 



The orioles are the next most frequent visitors. They peck 

 fearlessly into the nest ; so do the little flycatchers — the che- 

 becs. The yellow warblers, robins, redstarts, and rose-breasted 

 grosbeaks, and, of course, numerous English sparrows peck 

 around the foliage near the nest and try a worm occasionally 

 that has crawled from the nest, but they do not often trouble the 

 nest itself. 



Nature plans very beautifully for her creatures. Every bird 

 has its food within reach of its own well-directed effort ; but it 

 remains for the bird to make the effort and secure the food. The 

 structure of the bird's body — his beak, feet, feathers, length of 

 neck — his manner of flight, his habits, and tastes, all are nicely 

 planned for the little owner's daily quest for food. 



A humming bird would not enjoy a sparrow's chubby beak, 

 neither would the grosbeak find it easy to open pea pods or pick 

 potato bugs with the humming bird's needlelike bill. The shore 

 birds — the sandpipers and herons — would find it difficult to scale 

 the trunk of a tree for their dinner, as do the nuthatches and 

 woodpeckers, but their long, slender beaks deftly pierce the mud 

 for snakes and worms, while the ducks find their large, flat beaks 

 convenient for seizing and holding a frog. 



The nocturnal birds, as the owls and whip-poor-wills, each pos- 

 sess interesting physical characteristics for securing their food 



Tongue of Woodpecker. 



Magnified. 



Orchard Oriole. Im. $ second year; 

 natural size. 





ToNdUE OF Sapsucker. Magnified 



in the dark. When we have learned the tastes and habits of any 

 bird, we shall see how perfectly he is equipped with an apparatus 

 that would be an incumbrance to some neighbor bird, but to him 

 is indispensable to life and comfort. 



If we will study something of the birds — their structure, their 



