“Well, most of them are buried deep in the ground. Some of them are tucked up in warm cases, and hidden in the chinks of trees and walls.”
“Then why don’t the birds that feed on insects search those trees and walls for them,” Frank asked.
“So the birds do, but the sleeping insects are very hard to find. The cases which hold them are often coloured exactly like the tree or wall which they are fixed to; so that even the sharp eyes of a hungry bird cannot see them.”
Exercises on Lesson I.
1. Write out the names of all the wild birds you have seen. 2. Some of these we do not see in winter. How is this? 3. Why should we remember the birds in winter-time? 4. Describe the robin. How does he differ from the bullfinch?
II.—SEED-EATERS AND INSECT-EATERS.
The snow did not go away for some days. While it lasted, Frank and Tom watched the birds very closely. They learned many new and curious things about them.
The sparrows and robins had grown so tame that they would fly right up to the window-sill, and eat the crumbs and seeds that were placed there for them; while the tomtits paid great attention to the little net bag that hung quite close to the window. So long as they stood back a short distance from the window, the two boys could watch the funny tricks of these hungry little visitors.
Amongst other things, they learned to tell a seed-eating bird from one that feeds on insects.
