A TRIBE OF WEED WARRIORS 229 



all weathers. First tliey ate the seeds of all the weeds 

 and tall grasses that reached above the snow, then 

 they cleaned the honeysuckles of their watery black 

 berries. When these were nearly gone, I began to feed 

 them every day with crumbs, and they soon grew very 

 tame. At Christmas an ice storm came, and after that 

 the cold was bitter indeed. For two days I did not 

 see my birds ; but on the third day in the afternoon, 

 when I was feeding the hens in the barnyard, a party 

 of feeble, half-starved Juncos, hardly able to fly, set- 

 tled down around me and began to pick at the chicken 

 food. 



" I knew at a glance that after a few hours' more 

 exposure all the poor little birds would be dead. So I 

 shut up the hens and opened the door of the straw-barn 

 very wide, scattered a quantity of meal and cracked 

 corn in a line on the floor, and crept behind the door 

 to watch. First one bird hopped in and tasted the 

 food ; he found it very good and evidently called his 

 brothers, for in a minute they all went in and I closed 

 the door upon them. And I slept better that night 

 because I knew that my birds were comfortable. 



" ' They may go in once, but you will never catch 

 them so again,' said my father, when he heard about it. 

 I had an idea, however, that the birds trusted me ; for 

 though they flew out very gladly the next morning, 

 they did not seem afraid. 



'' Sure enough, in the afternoon they came back 

 again I I kept them at night in tliis way for several 

 weeks, and one afternoon several Snowflakes came in 

 with them. Later on this same winter five thin starv- 

 ing Quails came to the barnyard and fed with the hens. 



