THE BIRDS AT DINNER. 



34* 



to take away for nest-building ; sometimes it pulls hard, or they 



try to take too large a piece ; then they will brace their feet, set 



their bodies, and tug with a vim ; something has to give way, 



nd very soon it is the sticky web ; then away goes my yellow- 



hroat, a happy conqueror. 



The orioles are the next most frequent visitors. They peck 



earlessly into the nest; so do the little flycatchers the che- 



ecs. The yellow warblers, robins, redstarts, and rose-breasted 



rosbeaks, and, of course, numerous English sparrows peck 



round the foliage near the nest and try a worm occasionally 



hat has crawled from the nest, but they do not often trouble the 



est itself. 



Nature plans very beautifully for her creatures. Every bird 



has its food within reach of its own well-directed effort ; but it 



emains for the bird to make the effort and secure the food. The 



tructure of the bird's body his beak, feet, feathers, length of 



eck his manner of flight, his habits, and tastes, all are nicely 



lanned for the little owner's daily quest for food. 



A humming bird would not enjoy a sparrow's chubby beak, 



neither would the grosbeak find it easy to open pea pods or pick 



potato bugs with the humming bird's needlelike bill. The shore 



birds the sandpipers and herons would find it difficult to scale 



the trunk of a tree for their dinner, as do the nuthatches and 



woodpeckers, but their long, slender beaks deftly pierce the mud 



for snakes and worms, while the ducks find their large, flat beaks 



onvenient for seizing and holding a frog. 



The nocturnal birds, as the owls and whip-poor-wills, each pos- 

 sess interesting physical characteristics for securing their food 



Tongue of Woodpecker. 

 Magnified. 



Orchard Oriole. Im. $ second year; 

 natural size. 



in the dark. When we have learned the tastes and habits of any 

 bird, we shall see how perfectly he is equipped with an apparatus 

 that would be an incumbrance to some neighbor bird, but to him 

 is indispensable to life and comfort. 



If we will study something of the birds their structure, their 



