A member of the same guilds as the Scarlet Tanager.
CHAPTER XVI
A TRIBE OF WEED WARRIORS
(Containing both Soldiers and Quakers)
"A new family? Soldiers and Quakers? What does that mean?" asked Nat. "I thought my jolly yellow bird with the black cap came next."
"His family does come next--the Finch family. You must hear a little about that first, and let your American Goldfinch take his turn with his brothers and cousins, for Rap"s Rose-breasted Grosbeak belongs also in this family."
"You say my bird is called American Goldfinch. He is such a bright yellow that gold is a good name for him, but what does "Finch" mean?"
"Finch, as I said, is the name of the great family to which he belongs.
It is the very largest family in Birdland, and members of it live in almost all parts of the world. All kinds of Finches and Sparrows belong to it, and so do Grosbeaks and Buntings, as well as the Canaries that we keep for pets. There are about five hundred and fifty different kinds of them.
"The birds that you have been studying thus far, from the Bluebird, Robin, and Wood Thrush to the Tanagers, belong to several different families and are chiefly insect-eaters, taking various fruits and berries in season, it is true, but making insects their regular diet.
Insects are not hard for any bird to eat, and so the bills of these birds do not have to be very stout or thick--some, indeed, are very thin and weak, like the Brown Creeper"s.
"But the habits of the Finch family are quite different, and their beaks also. They are true seed-eating birds, and their beaks are short, stout, and thick--cone-shaped it is called, like that of the White-throated Sparrow you learned about one day. This enables them to crack the various seeds upon which they live at all times except in the nesting season, when few seeds are ripe. During this time they eat a variety of insects, and feed them to the young birds; for young birds must grow so rapidly, in order to be strong enough for the autumn journey, that they require more nourishing food than seeds.
"The Finch family being able to live so well upon seed food do not have to make such long autumn journeys; for even in very cold places there are plenty of seeds to be had all through the winter."
"Do you mean berries, please, uncle?" said Dodo; "because if it was very cold wouldn"t berries freeze as hard as pebbles?"
"They eat berries, but only as Weed Warriors,--for the seeds that are in the berries,--not for the juicy, fruity part, as the Seed Sowers do.
"The Robin, Thrush, and Catbird eat fruits and berries for the juicy, pulpy part. They swallow this, and the seeds or pits pa.s.s out with the wastage of their bodies; this is what makes them Seed Sowers. But when one of the Finch family eats berries, it is for the seed or pit inside the pulp. His strong beak cracks the seed and his stomach digests its kernel. So these birds do not _sow_ the seeds they eat, but _destroy_ them. This is why I call them Weed Warriors. A warrior is any one who goes to war, and fights against enemies; we have enemies among plants, and these birds fight for us against them. There are hundreds of different kinds of plants, whose flowers have no beauty, and for which we have not as yet found any use; so we call them weeds. All such seeds would be blown about, take root, and sprout everywhere, thus filling the place of useful plants, if they were not held in check by these seed-eating birds."
"Isn"t it wise the ways things are fixed?" said Rap. "Some birds to eat the insects and sow wild fruits and berries; some birds to eat weed seeds and prevent them from being sown. I think some people would do better if they didn"t think themselves so smart and mix things all up!"
"You are right, my boy! We should not interfere with Heart of Nature by foolishly trying to aid him unless we are perfectly sure that he wishes and needs our help.
"There is one member of this Finch family, the European Sparrow, that we know by the name of English Sparrow. In his native country he eats both insects and seeds, and also does some good by eating certain tree-worms.
A number of years ago the trees in our cities were being eaten by canker-worms, and some one said--"Let us bring over some of these Sparrows to live in the cities and eat the canker-worms." This person meant well, but he did not know enough about what he was doing.
"The birds were brought, and for a while they ate the worms and stayed near cities. But soon the change in climate also changed their liking for insects, and they became almost wholly seed and vegetable eaters, devouring the young buds on vines and trees, gra.s.s-seed, oats, rye, wheat, and other grains.
"Worse than this, they increased very fast and spread everywhere, quarrelling with and driving out the good citizens, who belong to the regular Birdland guilds, taking their homes and making themselves nuisances. The Wise Men protested against bringing these Sparrows, but no one heeded their warning until it was too late. Now it is decided that these Sparrows are bad Citizens and criminals; so they are condemned by every one. All this trouble came because one man, as Rap says, "thought he was so smart and mixed things up.""
"It was those Sparrows in the city that made me think all wild birds must be ugly; but that was because _I_ was too smart and didn"t know anything about other birds," said Nat frankly.
"I think we are getting way off from Nat"s yellow bird," said Dodo; "and now I see lots more of Rap"s Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, over on the fence.
I want to know what they are doing in the potato field. I hope they don"t dig up the little potatoes."
"No, you need not worry about that," said the Doctor, "and you must wait a bit yet, for the Rose-breast does not come until nearly the end of his family."
"There must be a great many different-looking birds in this Finch family," said Rap, "if plain Sparrows and yellow Goldfinches both belong to it." "Indeed there are! Did I not say that there were both Quakers and soldiers in it?" said the Doctor. "For in addition to the Goldfinch there is a bright-blue cousin and a red one."
"What are their names, and shall we see them here?" cried Dodo.
"You will learn their names very soon. The blue one now has a nest across the meadow, and the red one makes us a visit every autumn; but you must stop asking questions if you want to hear about them to-day.
"The first of the Finch family is a bird you will only see in the winter, and not even then if you are living further south than the middle range of States. It is called the Pine Grosbeak."
THE PINE GROSBEAK
"This bird has a great heavy beak, that makes him look rather stupid; in fact, this beak gives him the name of Gros-beak, which means the same as Great-beak. He loves the pine woods of Canada and builds his nest among them, only a little way above the snow that still covers the ground at the early season when this bird begins housekeeping.
"When the northern winter is very severe, Pine Grosbeaks gather in flocks and scatter through the States. But you must not expect to see a whole flock of beautiful strawberry-red birds, for only the old males are red; the females are dull gray and yellowish, while the young males look like their mothers, and do not wear their gay coats until they are two years old. You will not be likely to hear these birds sing, though they sometimes do so on their winter trips. Their usual call-note is a whistle which they give when flying.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Pine Grosbeak.]
"Some day this winter when you are taking a walk you may see them on the ground under chestnut and beech trees, and in old pastures where the red sumach berries are the only bright things left above the snow. You will think it a very cheerful sight--red birds and red berries together. You will also have time to take a good look at them, for they move slowly, and be glad to know the names of your friends who are hardy enough to brave the cold.
"Though this Grosbeak seems rather dull and stupid out of doors, he is a charming cage pet, growing tame and singing a delightful warbling song.
I picked up one with a broken wing when I was a boy, and kept him for many years; the hurt wing was soon healed, and the bird was always tame and happy after that, though he soon lost his bright feathers. But I would never advise any one to make a cage pet of a bird who has been born wild and once known liberty. No matter if he lives and thrives: he will sometimes remember the days when he was free, and be very sad."
"My Canary is never sad," said Nat: "he is always singing."
"For very many years Canaries have been bred in cages, to be pets, and as these have never been wild they are used to cage life. They are the best birds for pets, because they are seed-eaters, and it is easy to supply the food they like.
"Some winter day, or even late in autumn, you may see on your walks, another red bird--a near relation of the Pine Grosbeak; in fact, the two often flock together. This bird is called the American Crossbill."
The Pine Grosbeak
Length about nine inches.
General color of adult male strawberry-red, the wings and tail dark, with some light-brown and white edgings; the tail forked a little.
The female and young male gray, tinged here and there with saffron-yellow.
A Summer Citizen as far north from the States as trees grow, roving in winter about the northerly and middle States.
A fine, large Weed Warrior, with a very stout beak, almost like a Parrot"s.
THE AMERICAN CROSSBILL
(THE CONE WRENCHER)
"When it is winter in the northern parts of North America, and the Great Snow Owls have scattered on their southward journey--when heavy snows have beaten down and covered the seed-stalks of weeds and well-nigh walled the little fur-bearing beasts into their holes--then in regions where March brings only storms of sleet to coat the tree-trunks and lock up insect food, a pair of strange birds are already building their nest.
"These two birds, though alike in shape, are as different in color as Mr. and Mrs. Scarlet Tanager. But there is one point about them by which you may tell them from any others. Their curving bills are _crossed at the tip_, which strange arrangement gives them their name of Crossbill.