GARDEN BIRDS 



elect to roost by himself far from the coverts, in some 

 lonely tree in open fields. 



GARDEN BIRDS 



WHEN the garden birds, tamed by cold, troop to the 

 house windows for food, Dick Dunnock, 

 Dick the hedge-sparrow (bird of forty names), 



Dunnock is sure to have a modest place in the throng, 

 with his mate beside him. Their hearts are 

 as faithful as the hearts of a pair of crows, and they are 

 always side by side, even roosting at night cuddled one 

 to another. When seen at close quarters, the quiet 

 beauty of the dunnock's dun plumage is very taking, 

 as delicately pencilled as a water- rail's. 



WHEN a greenfinch is attracted to a garden in Winter, 

 as by sunflower seeds, he cuts a striking 

 An figure at the bird-table, for there is some- 



Engaging thing prosperous, portly and aldermanic 

 Finch in his dapper appearance, with his smart 



sage-green coat, slashed with yellow. The 

 greenfinch is not famed for song, though his somewhat 

 canary-like trilling in season seems full of jollity and 

 summery ideas; he and his mate are slovenly nest- 

 builders; but their prosperous air suggests that they 

 know the art of living well, when others are pressed for 

 food, and, generally, " times be badish vor the poor." 



THE starling is looked upon as a dandy of the bird 



world, like the green woodpecker, so 



Starling happily named " popinjay," but he might 



Fashions claim to enjoy a peculiar range of fashions. 



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