CHAPTER XXXH 



BIRD HABITS 



Vocabulary 



Unmitigated, having no redeeming feature. 

 Excavated, dug out. 

 Inaccessible, hard to get at. 

 Stringent, strict. 



Feeding. As before mentioned, their intense activity requires 

 that birds obtain large amounts of food. Almost every thing that 

 can be eaten comes to the table of some kind of bird, certain ones 

 eating animal food exclusively, others are strict vegetarians, while 

 many use a mixed diet. 



Among those using animal food are large birds of prey, such as 

 hawks and owls, which feed upon rats, rabbits, field mice, and 

 other small animals, also upon some other birds. Then there are 

 many whose diet is largely or entirely fish, which they catch by 

 diving, as do the loon, grebe, pelican, and kingfisher. Some, 

 like the vulture and buzzard, are scavengers and eat any dead 

 animal that they can find; such birds have sight very keenly 

 developed. Probably the largest number of birds which enjoy 

 an animal diet live chiefly on insects which they may catch on 

 the wing (swifts), by burrowing (woodpeckers), from the ground 

 (robins), or on trees (warblers). 



Many birds live almost exclusively on seeds, doing much good 

 by the destruction of weed seeds while others, such as blackbirds 

 and bobolinks, do considerable damage by their preference for 

 grain, peas, and rice. Various kinds of both wild and cultivated 

 fruits, especially berries, are preferred by certain birds for all or 

 part of their bill of fare, though usually the fruit-eaters have to 

 change to an insect diet during seasons when fruit is scarce. 



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