202 CITIZEN BIRD 



diet. Insects are not hard for any bird to eat, and so 

 the bills of these birds do not have to be very stout or 

 thick — some, indeed, are very thin and weak, like the 

 Brown Creeper's. . 



'' But the habits of the Finch family are quite differ- 

 ent, and their beaks also. They are true seed-eating 

 birds, and their beaks are short, stout, and thick — 

 cone-shaped it is called, like that of the White-throated 

 Sparrow you learned about one day. This enables 

 them to crack the various seeds upon which they live 

 at all times except in the nesting season, when few 

 seeds are ripe. During this time they eat a variety of 

 insects and feed them to the young birds ; for young 

 birds must grow so rapidly, in order to be strong enough 

 for the autumn journey, that they require more nour- 

 ishing food than seeds. 



" The Finch family being able to live so well upon 

 seed food do not have to make such long autumn jour- 

 nej'S ; for even in very cold places there are plenty of 

 seeds to be had all through the winter." 



" Do you mean berries, please, uncle ? " said Dodo ; 

 '' because if it was very cold wouldn't berries freeze as 

 hard as pebbles ? " 



" They eat berries, but onlj^ as Weed Warriors, — for 

 the seeds that are in the berries, — not for the juicy, 

 fruity part, as the Seed Sowers do. 



" The Robin, Thrush, and Catbird eat fruits and ber- 

 ries for the juicy, pulpy part. They swallow this, and 

 the seeds or pits pass out with the wastage of their 

 bodies ; this is what makes them Seed Sowers. But 

 when one of the Finch famil}^ eats berries, it is for 

 the seed or pit inside the pulp. His strong beak cracks 



