How to Attract the Birds 



strangers pecking at the seeds in the cones of their 

 pine trees. Cameras didn't frighten them. It may 

 be a decade, perhaps a lifetime, before the severity 

 of the cold at the north or a driving storm sends 

 such numbers to us again. Doubtless the warm 

 reception of hot-shot they received in some places 

 had much to do with their sudden disappearance. 

 One zealous ornithologist — of all men! — calmly 

 told of killing eighty crossbills to learn what kind 

 of food they had in their stomachs ! These are the 

 little birds which, legend says, dyed their breasts 

 crimson and twisted their bills awry in their strug- 

 gle to pull the nails from our crucified Saviour's 

 hands and feet. 



FIVE DISTINCT GROUPS 



As permanent residents, summer residents, win- 

 ter residents, migrants and visitors, whether regular 

 or uncertain, we may, then, classify the birds; but, 

 however their habits may differ, one chief motive 

 impels the going and coming of them all — the 

 finding of adequate food. Perhaps, in the spring 

 migration, this is more for the sake of the young 

 than for the parents themselves. Fish migrate to 

 spawn, running into harbors and riv^ers from the 

 sea, leaping cataracts and mill-dams, if need be, to 

 reach quiet, shallow, warmer waters, where there 

 is greater hope of protection from foes and more 

 suitable food for small fry left to make their own 

 way in life without either parent or guardian. Prob- 

 ably birds are influenced by similar considerations 

 when they migrate. 



150 



