60 



CITIZEN BIUB 



3. Sky Sweepers. 



4. Wise Watchers. 



5. Seed Sowers. 



6. Weed Warriors. 



The birds who, while on the wing, 

 catch flying insects. 



The large, silent birds, who sit in 

 wait for their prey of field-mice 

 and other little gnawing mam- 

 mals, as well as insects. 



The birds who eat wild fruits and 

 berries, and after digesting the 

 pulp and juice, sow the seeds 

 with their bodily wastage. 



The birds who crack seeds in their 

 stout beaks, eat the kernels, and 

 so destroy millions of harmful 

 weed-seeds. 



*' You must write the names and definitions of these 

 six guilds down in your books, because when you hear 

 about each bird I will tell you to which guild he be- 

 longs, and if you knoAV where and upon what a bird 

 feeds it will be easier for you to find him. All the 

 Land Birds belong to one or more of these guilds ; but 

 perhaps we shall find before we are through that some 

 of the Water Birds have a guild of Sea Sweepers." 



For a few minutes the children scribbled away in 

 silence. 



" My book will be very mussy," said Dodo, " for I 

 can't w^rite well when I sit all humped up on a branch." 



" Of course }' ou cannot," said the Doctor ; " but by 

 and by you can copy it out neatly in a clean book, and 

 it will give you something to do on rainy days, for 

 there are some things that we always remember better 

 if we have once Avritten them down." 



