A TRIBE OF WEED WARRIORS 219 



would say how very much obliged they are for the 

 food. 



" When the snow melts they fly away. By the time 

 they have got home again, weather and travel have 

 worn the brown edges of their feathers away, so that 

 the black parts show ; and thus, without a second 

 moulting, they are black-and-white birds again. 



" When you search for them look in the air, or on 

 the shed-top, or about the haystack, or on the ground ; 

 for they seldom perch in trees." 



"Why is that?" asked Rap. "I should think it 

 would be Avarmer for them in the thick evergreens." 



" They nest on the ground, and as they also gather 

 their food there, are unused to large trees." 



" Why don't they nest in trees up North ? " asked 

 Nat. 



" For the same reason," laughed Olive, " that Simple 

 Simon didn't catch a whale in the Avater pail ! There 

 are no trees where the Snowflake nests ! " 



The Snowflake 



Length seven inches. 



In summer snow-white, with black on the back, wings, and 

 tail. 



In winter wears a warm brown cloak, with black stripes, fastened 

 with a brown collar, and a brown and white vest. 



A Citizen of the Xorth, travelling southward in snowstorms as 

 far sometimes as Georgia. 



A member of the guild of Weed Warriors, eating seeds at all 

 seasons. 



