Fighting? What birds do you observe whipping or driving birds larger than themselves? Which parent do young birds most resemble? Name the purposes for which birds sing. Which senses are very acute? Why? Dull? Why? Can you test your statements by experiment? A partridge usually sits with 18 to 24 eggs in nest. About how long after laying first egg before sitting begins? Do several partridge hens lay in the same nest?
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Fig. 310.—House Wren.
Haunts.—Name some birds that are found most often in
the following localities: about our homes, in gardens and orchards,
fields and meadows,
in bushes, in the woods,
in secluded woods, around
streams of water, in thickets,
in pine woods.
Size.—Name birds as large as a robin or larger, nearly as large, half as large, much smaller.
Colors.—Which sex is more brilliant? What advantage are bright colors to one sex? What advantage are dull colors to the other sex? Which have yellow breasts, red patch on heads, red or chestnut breasts, blue backs, black all over?
Habits.—Name the birds that walk, jump, swim, live in flocks, sing while flying, fly in undulations, in circles, have labored flight.
Such books as Wright's "Birdcraft" (Macmillan, N. Y.), Clark's "Birds of Lakeside and Prairie" (Mumford, Chicago), and Pearson's "Stories of Bird Life" (B. F. Johnson, Richmond), will be of great help. The last book is delightfully written, and is one of the few treating of bird life in the South.
Economic Importance of Birds.—Farmers find their
most valuable allies in the class aves, as birds are the deadliest
enemies of insects and gnawing animals. To the innumerable
robbers which devastate our fields and gardens,
nature opposes the army of birds. They are less numerous
