THE SPARROW TRIBE AND ITS KIN 97 



tribe refuses insect meat in season, and all give it to their 

 nestlings, there is never a time when they cannot find food 

 even at the frozen North where some weedy stalks project 

 above the snow. They are not fastidious. Fussy birds, 

 like fussy people, have a hard time in this world; but the 

 whole sparrow tribe, with few exceptions, make the best of 

 things as they find them and readily adapt themselves to 

 whatever conditions they meet. How wonderfully that 

 triumphant little immigrant, the EngUsh sparrow, has 

 adjusted himself to this new land! 



Members of the more aristocratic finch, bunting, and 

 grosbeak branches of the family, however, who wear 

 brighter clothes, pay the penalty with decreasing numbers as 

 our boasted civilization surrounds them. Gay feathers 

 aflford a shining mark. Naturally birds of bright feather 

 prefer to live among protective trees. They are dehghtful 

 singers, and so, indeed, are some of their plain httle spar- 

 row cousins. 



Not alone the grosbeaks, but all the members of the 

 family, have strong, conical bills well suited to crush seeds, 

 and gizzards, like a chicken's, to grind them fine. These 

 little grist-mills within the birds' bodies extract all the 

 nourishment there is from the seed. The sparrow tribe 

 do immense service by destroying the seeds of weeds, 

 which, but for them, would quicldy overrun the farmer's 

 fields and choke his crops. Because these hardy gleaners 

 can pick up a living almost anywhere, they do not need to 

 make very long journeys every spring and autumn. Their 

 migrations are comparatively short when undertaken at 

 all. As a rule their flight is labored, slow, and rather 

 heavy — just the opposite of the wonderfully swift and 

 graceful flight of the swallows. 



