6 Our Bird Friends. 



After the hips and haws have been consumed 

 during the late autumn and winter, the mistletoe 

 and ivy seeds ripen between February and April, 

 and afford a plentiful supply of food in many parts 

 of the country before the advent of snails, worms, 

 and all kinds of creeping and winged insects. 



During long, hard winters, when the ground and 

 all its insect life are lying fast asleep beneath a thick 

 blanket of snow, the birds have a very hard time 

 indeed of it, and boys and girls a grand opportunity 

 of beings of real service to the huno-ry little creatures 

 and at the same time enjoying a lot of first-rate 

 fun. 



My little daughters and T turn our garden into a 

 birds' restaurant every winter. AVe save all our sun- 

 flower heads in the autunni, and directly the snow- 

 flakes commence to fly we take one or two out and 

 tic them to upright sticks fastened to the palings or 

 stuck in the ground, and the Greenflnches are not 

 long in paying us a visit. One will alight on the top 

 of a head and quietly extract seed after seed, cleverly 

 shelling each and dropping the husk to the ground, 

 all the while keeping a sharp look-out for the 

 approach of any marauding cat. If a companion 

 attempts to share the feast, the bird already in 

 possession will at once stretch out his wings and, 

 opening his great conical bill very wide, threaten to 

 swallow the intruder head, tail, legs, feet and all. I 

 know of no bird that can look quite so flerce as an 

 angry Greenfinch. Great Tits are very bold, dashing 



