A TRIBE OF WEED WARRIORS 237 



linger late ; vigorous as they are, they hurry south- 

 ward before an\^ hard frosts come." 



The Towhee 



Length about eight and a half inches. 



Male : black with chestnut sides, white belly, tan-colored under 

 the tail, the side feathers of which are white-tipped. 



Female: reddish-brown where the male is black. 



A Summer Citizen of the United States east of the plains, and 

 along the southern border of Canada. Nests northward from 

 Georgia. Winters south of the Middle States. 



A Ground Gleaner, Seed Sower, and Weed Warrior. 



THE CARDINAL 

 (The Cardinal Grosbeak) 



"There is a legend about this Cardinal — the soldier 

 witli a red uniform," said the Doctor ; " one of Mammy 

 Bun's strange stories that came from the Indians to 

 the negroes, always growing larger and stranger. 



" There were two Indian warriors of the southwest 

 that hated each other. One had an only daughter and 

 the other a son. While their fathers were at war, this 

 boy and girl met in the green forest. The old women 

 of their tribes told them that they must never speak to 

 each other, or their fathers would surely kill them. 

 But the children said, ' There is no war or hate in our 

 forest; the birds meet — why may not we?' One 

 summer evening they stayed too long, watching the 

 fish swim in the river and floating little sticks for 

 canoes. The two warriors returned suddenly to their 

 villages, missed their children, and then some one told 

 them tales. 



