MCZ LIBRARY SEP 1 6 1992 JARVARD SVERSITY _ Issued by Cc. P. CARY State Superintendent CUES COWS TH Bivrd-Stusyp o¢ Welletta *¢ 1306 : SANs : ~~ A Re: * pree ay B Y MR. and MRS. I. N. MITCHELL EDITED BY Maud Barnett, State Library. Clerk ISSUED BY Coe. Caty,- Sraie Superintendent MADISON Democ:at Printing Co., State Printers 906 Aga COLLEGE], (Gp ) rer oie) 1906 — Abpeinge wes This bulletin is published in the hope that through it children may become better acquainted with their neighbors, the birds; that they may learn to know them, love them and protect them. The birds selected are common ones. They may be found in nearly every part of the state at some time during the year. The robin and bluejay have been omitted, as it is thought they are already known by the great majority of pupils. Teachers should use the descriptions of birds given in the following pages in their claasswork, and should afford their pupils opportunity to use the same, and to study the colored plates, which are particularly valuable in teaching ready recognition of the birds. Reeords should be kept showing the arrival and departure of the different birds. Pupils should be encouraged to observe the birds and to talk about what they have seen. They should also be encouraged to keep note books showing the results of observation. Before the close of the coming summer each pupil should be able to recognize easily such of the birds included in this pamphlet, as are common to his neighborhood, and should also have acquired a consider- able knowledge of their habits and economic value. This bulletin will be followed by other similar bulletins, so that in the course of a few years the youth of Wisconsin may be familiar with the majority of the birds in the state. The series should be carefully preserved. The descriptions contained herein are entirely the work of Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Mitchell, Milwaukee, Wis., to whom grateful thanks are due. M. B. \\ WW \\\; \\ LAN ANN Aw ASR i, Al OO 8 i HOUSE WREN. 86 721. Troglodytes aedon. (Vieill.) Life-size, COPYRIGHT 1900, BY A. W. MUMFORD, CHICAGO Pepe ee. Bird-Study Bulletin. HOUSE WREN. Abundant summer resident; length five inches; sexes alike; nest of twigs lined with grasses or feathers, im vines about buildings or im a hole or box; eggs five to eight; broods two or three; song a strong cheery warble. ; The robin, bluebird and tree-swallow have settled down to their housekeeping by the time this little brown sprite makes his appear- ance and begins to look around for a cozy nook or hole or box. He generally comes in full song and that morning is a happy one that hears his joyous warble for the first time. To the grown-up. this first spring sone of the wren is much the same as the first snow-fali to the child. What a singer this busy little body is! From early in the morning till dusk he repeats his short but whole-souled warble. ‘The rests between songs are about as long—or short as the song itself, so this musical mite is singing about half of the time. The robin sings his ‘“‘cheer-up’’ well intc the summer, but it becomes conspicuously a morning and evening song. The bluebird soon settles down into quiet watchfulness; his heavenly blue still pleases the eye but the ear listens in vain for the accompanying fiute-notes. A brief period of courtship occurs between the flying of the first brood and the cor- pleticn of the second set of eggs. In this short interval the welcome song is again heard but it soon gives way to the serious duties of life. The wren on the contrary, is a good lover. He is never too serious to sing. He is a veritable Mark Tapley: the cares of lifc only serve to inerease his good nature. As long as there is an egg unhatched or a youngster to be fed, he cheers his mate and his neigh- bors with his song. Ever on the alert, he gives timely warning of the approach of their arch-enemy the cat, and vigorously resents the close approach of their human friends by a rapid clicking or chattering note that — amounts almost to a hiss. He reminds one of Sir William Jones’s lines: ‘“What constitutes a state? Men who their duties know, But know their rights, and, knowing, dare maintain.’’ 6 WISCONSIN BIRD-STUDY BULLETIN. The wrens are models of industry. Two to three broods a year with from five to eight youngsters in a brood leave no chance for race suicide. With so many little ones to care for they need more than an elght hour day. The wren begins his sone and his search for in- sects by half past four in the morning and keeps up both as long as he can see. He and Mrs. Wren are said to make as many as three hundred visits to the nest per day. This is probably when the young are about ready to leave the nest. The wrens hunt on and near the ground, under and among plants and bushes. They run along the ground like-a streak and in the j dusk are easily mistaken for mice. The gardener can afford to be friendly to these little brown mites, for their hundreds of visits each day to the bean patch and lettuce bed mean the destruction of great numbers of caterpillars and full erown insects that would live on the vegetables if they were given a chance. Almost anyone may have the pleasure of the company of a pair of wrens if he will extend the proper invitation. Nor is the invita- tion a difficult one to extend. Any box with a small hole in it if placed in a tree, on a pole, or among vines where he can easily find it will prove attractive. The door way should be only a little larger than a silver quarter, say one and one-eighth inches, and should wpe about three or four inches above the bottom of the box. If the door- way 1s much larger than a quarter, the bluebird, tree swallow or English sparrow is likely to appropriate the box. An old wooden shoe, a boot, a tomato can, an olive bottle, a coat pocket, a gourd with a hole in it, a knothole in the side of a house are among the forms of invitation that have proved acceptable to the wrens. There seems to be a family feed between the wrens and bluebiras. If, therefore, the bluebirds are already established on the premises, it would be wise to place the wren, box as far away as possible; even then the bluebird may drive the wren to a neighboring yard. This is more likely to happen in the spring before the vines and leaves offer the wren good hiding places. The wren is probably the cause of this ill feeling. He can not resist the temptation to enter every hole he finds. He has a passion for house cleaning or for mischief, maybe for both. He slips into the boxes of the bluebirds and swallows and throws out their nest- ing material, not for use in his own nest, but apparently just for fun. He will bring bit after bit, feather after feather to the doorway and flirt it out. With head tilted to one side he watches, with apparent pleasure, the bit or feather fall or float away. No wonder that the bluebird does not wish him for a neighbor. BALTIMORE ORIOLE. COPYRIGHT 1900, BY A. W. MUMFORD, CHICAGO 56 507. Icterusgalbula. (Linn.) ¥ Life-size. WISCONSIN BIRD-STUDY BULLETIN. T BALTIMORE ORIOLE, FIRE BIRD, HANG-NEST. Abundant summer resident; length seven and one-half wnches; sexes unlike; nest a deep, hanging pocket woven of strings, hair, grass, plant fibers at or near the end of a branch; favorite tree, the elm; eggs four to six. The bright, flaming orange body with the black head, neck and back of this bird make him an easy mark for the beginner. The female is harder to know, because her colors are less bright. The back is a rusty orange; the under parts a dull orange; the head and back are mottled with black. The oriole flashes into the landscape of the southern half of Wis- consin in the first week of May. It is then that we turn to Lowell's ““Under the Willows’’: ‘Hush! ~t is he! My oriole, my glance of summer fire, Is come at last, and ever on the watch, Twitches the pack-thread I had lightly wound About the bough to help his housekeeping,— Heave, ho! Heave, ho! he whistles as the twine Slackens its hold; once more, now! and a flash Lightens across the sunlight to the elm Where his mate dangles at her cup of felt.’’ He comes in full song and usually a few days in advanee of his mate, or of her who is to be his mate. His song is a bright cheery whistle. He seems to say here, here, come here, dear, and, sweet-heart, come here! here! as he hunts over the bark of the apple tree. Notice how long and sharp his bill is. It is just the thing for reaching the eggs and caterpillars of insects that are hidden in the deep crevices of the bark. The oriole is known to destroy the contents of the cocoons of moths. With his sharp bill he pierces a hole through the tough silken case and eats the pupa that lies snugly within waiting for the warm weather to complete its wonderful change to a beautiful moth. But, alas! that change never comes to those that the oriole attacks. The tent caterpillars suffer much at his bill. He tears open their great web tents in the apple and walnut trees and destroys the inmates as they try to escape. Watch him at his work. How carefully he searches over the limbs, eating and whistling. He reminds one of a hound. As the hound shows his enjoyment of the chase by frequent bayings, so the oriole hunts and sings. Now a bug, thanks! now a caterpillar, thank you! now a click-beetle, thank you, ma’am! he seems to say. In his spring cleaning of the trees, he is paying in advance for the few cherries or grapes or peas that he may take in the summer. The oriole is one of the most skillful of bird architects. Her deep S WISCONSIN BIRD-STUDY BULLETIN. nest swings lightly from a swaying bough, and her young are rocked im the cradle of the air. Their most appropriate lullaby would be: ‘“Rock-a-bye birdie in the tree-top, When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.”’ The nest is usually fastened securely to three branches. - The fibers, grasses, strings and hairs are skillfully interwoven into a firm pouch or sack about five inches deep. The birds work together in building the nest, but only the female occupies it. The oriole takes kindly to civilization, probably because men take kindly to him and protect him in return for his bright plumage, his cheerful song and his great value as an insect destroyer. His friendliness and curiosity are prettily shown by an incident that occurred in a Milwaukee home. Within a clematis covered window which overlooked the garden, hung the cage of Lorenzo D., the canary. One day an oriole was noticed clambering in the vines next to the window. The bird was observed by the family, who were at dinner, to be apparently attracted by something inside the window. After . Investigating for a few minutes he flew away. The next day he came again and again showed the same curiosity. After exchanging call notes with the canary several times he again flew off. The lady of the house, attracted by the calls, now placed the bird cage on a win- dow-seat in front of the open window. In a few minutes Lord Bal- timore returned. The lady, from an adjoining room, watched pro- ceedings with great interest: The oriole entered the window, flew upon the cage and the two birds touched bills in a friendly way. The oriole then flew to the back of a chair from which point he looked curiously about. While he was thus engaged, Lady Baltimore appeared in the clematis and called. At her call Lord B. attempted to fly out to the vine, but as usual with birds, he could not appreciate glass, and struck against it. He fell below the sash, however, and easily escaped. Either his curiosity was satisfied or Lady Baltimore entered a protest against such conduct for the visit to the canary was not repeated. ‘“How falls it, Oriole, thou hast come to fly In tropic splendor through our northern sky? At some glad moment was it Nature’s choice To dower a scrap of sunset with a voice? Or did some orange tulip flaked with black, In some forgotten garden, ages back, Yearning toward Heaven until its wish was heard, Desire unspeakably to be a bird?’’* *“To an Oriole,’ by Edgar Faweett, from With the Birds of Indi- ana, compiled by The Public Library Commission. ABA Abele ote, Log Mn i he Ef i t i i i Hi & fat ; : f f | ‘ 3 ; 3 | 7 : i f 4 3 . = ‘ ; % a4 , : > 4 Bete 2c Acenimertonee a Ae. fencer , oe g 5 i ° | me ~* » a “ad esis i - . a, ‘ . h ‘ 3 ; - . a eo? 2 t - ‘ iz — ‘ " ‘ K ith { CHIMNEY SWIFT. COPYRIGHT 1900, BY A. W. MUMFORD, CHICAGO 93 423. Chetura pelagica. (Linn.) 24 Life-size. WISCONSIN BIRD-STUDY BULLETIN. 9 CHIMNEY SWIFT, CHIMNEY SWEEP. Abundant summer resident; length about five and one-half inches; sexes alike; nest made of light twigs or leaf stems glued together against some wall by saliva in such a way as to form a shallow, half saucer-shaped bit of lattice work; eggs four to. six, pure white. The chimney swift with his long, narrow, scythe-shaped wings, looks and acts so much like a swallow that it is often mistaken for one. It has even come to be called the chimney swallow. The swifts are dusky lttle birds of a sooty black color, lighter on the throat. The bill is quite short but the mouth is very wide at its base. The tail is noticeably different from the ordinary bird’s tail. The feathers are short and the quills or shafts extend beyond the vanes for about a quarter of an inch. These spiny tips of the tail feathers serve as.a brace to help support the body while clinging against a surface just as the stiff tail-feathers of the woodpeckers form a sort of camp-stool for that tribe. The chimney swifts do not rush off for the north on the first balmy spring breezes as the robins and bluebirds do. It is the last week in April or the first week in May before they venture into southern Wis- consin. By that time the air is again filled with insects and their food supply is sure. To know the swifts, one must look for them on the wing for they are tireless sailors of the azure sea. Their wing strokes are rapid and produce a twinkling motion that is readily recognized. Unless to high in the air, the end of the short tail may be seen as a pointed oval. These birds are masters of the air. They even pick their building material from the trees without alighting. They sweep through the sky, they circle and turn, they chase each other as though playing some kind of air tag and as they fly they make a twittering noise that is in keeping with their twinkling wings. Their food consists entirely of insects and is taken on the wing. As most of the insects captured are very small, these little fly and - mosquito hunters must be very active in order to get enough to eat, to say nothing of caring for their young. ‘Suppose that boys could get something to eat only while playing tag or shinny or while skating; suppose further, that the food came in bits hardly large enough to taste, what runners and skaters they would come to be! They too would probably earn the name of swifts. We are told in the books that many animals are protected by their colors; for instance, that the weasel, being white in winter and brown in summer is less easily seen while hunting or being hunted because he matches or harmonizes with his surroundings; or that Mrs. Bob White is safer while on the nest because her feathers are 10 WISCONSIN BIRD-STUDY BULLETIN. the same color as the nest and the ground on which it is built. Doubtless this same instinctive desire to be in keeping with its sur- roundings that has guided the bird in choosing the materials for its nest has had everything to do with the modern nest building habits of the swifts. Where could they find a nesting place that would more completely match their color than a sooty-black chimney! We are often inclined to think, cart-before-horse fashion, that they are sooty black because.they- live in chimneys. The swifts lived, of course, long before there were any chimneys - and lived then as they do now where there are no chimneys, in hollow trees. Their presence in such great numbers about the homes of man in city and country seems to show that they prefer civiliza- tion with its chimneys to the forest with its hollow trees. Moses Coit Tyler has said that our real names are not those that were given us by our parents but those that we have earned for our- selves. On this ground the swift should have two good names, for he has earned two; one by his rapid flight, the other by his building in chimneys. What more natural than to call him the little chimney sweep? a name already recorded by Mr. Bendire. The picture shows nicely the form and size of the nest and how it is glued to the bricks. Notice that it has no lining. The six eggs nearly fill it. How then can it hold the growing nestlings? Mr. Otto Widman of Missouri and other observers have found that the nest does not hold them long. They tell us that the parent birds take turns in sitting on the nest: that they sit with the bill against the wall over the middle of the nest, wines outspread to cover it: that the young sit in a half cirele, heads together, against the wall, their tails sticking over the edge; but that in a fortnight or less they are too big for the nest, clamber out and thereafter cling to the wall, at first under the nest as if they were hiding. We had the pleasure once, of finding a nest in a bath-house on the shore of Lake Michigan. There were no chimneys near. ‘The nest was glued to the rough boards about eight feet from the floor. The young were out of the nest when found. They did not hide under it but scattered out over a square yard or more of the board wall. The old birds entered through a small window hole near the top of the door. When they came with food and began feeding one youngster, the others scuttled over to the fortunate one with much spreading of wings and a chorus of squealing, purring notes. On the departure of the old bird, the young ones again scattered over the wall. We took one of the little fellows from the boards and let him cling to the back of our hand. His claws pricked like pins and we were glad to replace him. 110-7 MARR adpasasna TAGAREN SASL SSID a AMERICAN GOLDFINCH. 529, Spinus tristis, (Linn.) %, Life-size. COPYRIGHT 1900, BY A, W. MUMFORD, CHICAGO WISCONSIN BIRD-STUDY BULLETIN. 1] AMERICAN GOLDFINCH, THISTLE BIRD. Resident; length about five inches; sexes wnlike; nest a thick walled, compact, well made cup, outside of fine grasses, fibres of bark, wool and moss, mside thickly lined with thistle-down, wool and coi- ton; eggs three to six. This is the yellow bird that so many people in Wisconsin call the wild canary.* The resemblance between our wild finch and the cui- tivated immigrant from the Canary Islands is so striking, sometimes, both in color and voice, that the name seems almost justified. Let us be patriotic, however, and claim our own bird as the American gold- finch. How well the name suggests his clear, beautiful, yellow body color. This, with his black crown, wings and tail make the male bird an easy one to know. The female, though dressed in the same general eolors, is much harder to identify. The yellow is darkened to a brownish olive, and the black of the wings and tail is a dusky, brown- ish black. The crown patch is wanting. She may be known by the company she keeps better perhaps, than by the colors of her coat. In the fall the male changes color and then looks like the female. The goldfinch is one of the birds that is easy to recognize by the manner of flight. He adopted the coaster-brake style of locomotion ages before the days of the bicycle. He pumps vigorously for a few strokes and sends himself forward on an upward, wave-like curve, then takes it easy for a bit and falls through another graceful curve. He seems to enjoy the coasting slide and sings ‘‘Now, here we go’’ as he falls. The wavy line of flight and the song ‘‘per-chic-o-ree’’ as sv many know it, are nicely illustrated in Mr. Frank M. Chapman’s Hand Book of Birds. ; The voice of the goldfinch is peculiarly soft and clear. His eal is a short ‘‘sweet’’ and ‘‘dearie’’ that arouses in his human hearer feel- ines of tenderness and affection caused by no other wild bird and vivalied only by those suggested by the sweetest notes of the canary In the mating season the song is prolonged and canary like. To hear a flock of them singing in chorus is an event of a season. Being a seed eater, the goldfinch finds it possible to remain in Wis- consin throughout the winter. They are so much less noticeable in their winter plumage that many people do not recognize them. They rove through the fields in large flocks feeding on the seeds of the weeds that stick above the snow. They are most abundant during the last week of April and the first week of May. This may be because many of them have returned from farther south, or they may only seem commoner because the male has again put on his summer coat and because they go in flocks. The *In some parts of the country the yellow warbler is called wild canary. 12 WISCONSIN BIRD-STUDY BULLETIN. gvoldfinches are a happy, jolly, care-free lot of rovers. They seem to be strongly attached to each other and prolong the life in the fiock well into the summer; then they go off in pairs to begin their house making and house keeping duties in the crotch of some bush or tree. From the viewpoint of the farmer and gardener the goldfinch is a most desirable neighbor. He takes no liberties with anything that man in his selfishness has tried to appropriate to his own exelusive use. He is not only negatively good, he is very positively good. He is one of the unpaid but very efficient assistants of the weed commis- sioner, and never hesitates to invade a thistle patch for fear of hurt- ing the feelings of the owner of the land, nor for fear of injuring his own chances of reelection. He helps with the dandelions and plan- tain, with the ragweed and dock. He is fond of sunflower seeds biit eets hardly a taste of them if English sparrows are about. These beautiful birds are more than weed-seed destroyers. Like their relatives, the finches and sparrows, they feed their young on in- sects and thus help to hold in check the beetles and grasshoppers and the rest of that pestilential army: phi iia Bith mes * a Fra lay ae ny ELLOW WARBLER. COPYRIGHT 1900, BY A. W. MUMFORD, CHICAGO 652. Dendroica estiva. (Gmel.) 2 Life-size. WISCONSIN BIRD-STUDY BULLETIN. 13 YELLOW WARBLER, SUMMER YELLOW BIRD. Abundant summer resident; length five mches; sexes nearly alike; nest of fine grass, plant-down and fibers placed in bush or tree, some- times about the home grounds, more frequently in woods or clearings. This little fellow is a member of the largest and to many, the mos interesting family of birds that visit Wisconsin—the warbiers. With one exception they are small, dainty birds; so trim and prettily dressed and so active and graceful that they merit the title given them by Mr. Henry Van Dyke, ‘‘The little dandieg of the air.’’ Not one of them is a winter resident with us, and only two or three stay through the summer, unless it be in the very northern part of the state. They go to extremes: to Central and South America for the winter and to British America for the summer. The warbler tide sweeps northward over Wisconsin during the first half of May. Then the air is full of them. They loiter among the bushes and trees. They give a touch of life and an added beauty to the blooming orchards. They coquette with the sweet scented clusters of the wild plum and crab-apple blossoms. They invite one out into the open with note-book and opera glass to view their passing show; and no one has been properly initiated into the great fraternity of bird-lovers who has not accepted their invitation and caught the warbler fever The yellow warbler is a common summer resident in our state. He comes to us, in company with that other flash of golden yellow, the Baltimore oriole, on the third day of May. Like pupils with a record — for punctuality to maintain, some of them come ai little early for the sake of being on time, and may be seen the last day or two of April. The picture shows the male bird. Note that the whole body is yei- low—an orange or reddish yellow. It is easy, therefore to distinguish him from the goldfinch with his black and lemon plumage. The back of this warbler is a little greenish and the under parts are streaked with reddish brown. The female has few if any of the brownish streaks and is a little greener above. The picture gives a good idea of the nest with its full clutch of eggs. The male stands above the nest alert and, it may be, anxious; at all events it is a period of great anxiety on the part of himself and mate. Thus far all is well: the nest is complete: maybe the female has be- gun to sit and is now off for exercise and food. What a pity it would be to have all their trouble for nothing—not only that, but to go on having trouble, a growing trouble that shall fill the nest and spcil everything! They have reason to be anxious for they have an enemy lurking about. A red squirrel? Well, he is an enemy, but it is not he.