t -.T^^' "^ <:^^ I. ■ -*to 3")^ ^x^^^-^-^ on thisoaS^ °'*' " --ssponsible for aUbook, drawn noH<£r'*' '°' "'^■•-'^''^ b°°ks 2o . day ptoocet c< PorW p^rty"-^ '^•■^"''^ o* ■^' S«coad Printing September Manufactured in the United Sutee of America 5^^ C5) AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED TO VIRGINIA CORDIER NELLIS AND ALBERT PRICE CORDIER, JR. t^' V i2L>425() mzQim CONTENTS Page Preface 11 Introduction 13 Bird Personalities and Habits 17 Bird Migration 19 Identification, Nest-building, General Field Observations 22 Photographing Birds 29 Photographic Equipment 39 The Umbrella Tent 43 The Great Bird-Breeding Rookeries 46 Big Bird Island : Laguna de la Madre 51 Herring Gull 57 Laughing Gull 59 Least Tern 61 Black Skimmer 63 Snake-Bird 65 Cormorant 70 American Brown Pelican 72 Roseate Spoonbill 76 White Ibis 78 Great Blue Heron 80 Snowy Heron 84 Louisiana Heron 88 Little Blue Heron 89 Little Green Heron 91 limpkin 93 Bob-White 94 Passenger Pigeon 96 Mourning Dove 97 Bla«k Vulture 99 (Jolden Eagle 102 Bald Eagle 104 Sparrow Hawk 107 Audubon's Caracara 109 American Osprey 110 Long-eared Owl Ill CONTENTS— (CantifM««(i) Page Screech Owl 114 Yellow-bUled Cuckoo 116 Kingfisher 120 Downy Woodpecker 122 Pileated Woodpecker 124 Red-headed Woodpecker 127 Red-bellied Woodpecker 129 FUcker 131 Whip-poor-will 133 Night-Hawk 135 Ruby-throated Hummingbird 138 Kingbird 142 Great Crested Flycatcher 144 Phoebe 146 Prairie Horned Lark 148 Blue Jay 150 Canadian Jay 152 Crow 154 Cowbird 156 Red- winged Blackbird 159 Meadowlark 163 Baltimore Oriole 165 Bronzed Crackle 167 Great Boat-tailed Crackle 169 American Goldfinch 171 Savanna Sparrow 173 Harris's Sparrow 175 Tree Sparrow 177 White-throated Sparrow 179 Chipping Sparrow ISO Field Sparrow 181 Snowbird 182 Song Sparrow 184 Fox Sparrow 185 Towhee 187 Redbird 189 Rose-breasted Grosbeak 192 Indigo Bunting 194 Dickcissel 196 Bank Sparrow 198 CONTENTS— ( Cow«imt«d) Paok Migrant Shrike 200 Red-eyed Vireo 203 BeU's Vireo 205 Prothonotary Warbler 207 Yellow Warbler 209 Myrtle Warbler 212 Maryland Yellow-Throat 214 Mockingbird 216 Catbird 218 Brown Thrasher 220 Western House Wren 223 Brown Creeper 226 Tufted Titmouse 228 Chickadee 230 Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher 232 Wood Thrush 234 American Robin 237 Varied Thrush 240 Bluebird 241 Water Ouzel 242 ILLUSTRATIONS Fig. Pagb 1. Teaching the Cat a Wrong Lesson 18 2. Arsenated Skins 18 3. Comparative Size Pictures Made with Various Lenses 19 4. UmbreUa Tent 20 5. Diamond-backed Rattlesnake 20 6. Hudson Bay Indian Guide 21 7. Animated Lines 21 8. Lnpenetrable Mangrove Roots 22 9. Brown Pelican Breediag Colony 22 ^ 10. Nest and Eggs of Reddish Egret 23 ,'11. Great Blue Heron Ground Nest 23 12. Herring Gulls 24 13. Laughing Gull 24 14. Eggs of Least Tern and Nest 25 15. Black Skimmers 25 16. Brooding Anhinga Frontispiece 17. Male and Female Anhinga 30 18. Mexican Cormorant 30 19. Man-o-War Birds 31 20. Brown Pelican 31 21. Brown Pelicans Flying . 38 22. Brown Pelican's Nest and Eggs 38 23. White Ibis's Nest and Eggs 39 24. White Ibis's Head and BiU 39 ^ 25. Great Blue Heron 42 26. Great Blue Heron at Nest 42 27. Great Blue Heron with Plume- Crested Head 43 28. Snowy Heron, Mother Bird 43 29. The Two Orphans 58 30. Young Snowy Herons 58 31. Snowy Herons in Missouri 59 32. Limpkin 59 33. Little Blue Heron Nest and Eggs 62 34. Louisiana Heron 62 35. Eggs of Bob-White 63 36. The Last Passenger Pigeon 63 ^37. Mourning Doves 70 38. Black Vulture's Nest and Egg 70 39. Harris Hawk 71 40. Golden Eagle 71 ILLUSTRATIONS— (CcmtifMWKl) Fio. Pa(HI 41. Bald Eagle's Nest 74 42. Audubon's Caracara 74 43. Sparrow Hawk Egg 75 44. Bald Eagle Young 75 46. Osprey's Nest 90 ^ 46. Screech Owl 90 47. Long-Eared Owl's Young 91 48. Long-Eared Owl's Nest and Eggs 91 49. Yellow-billed Cuckoo 94 50. Yellow-billed Cuckoo Young at 9 A. M 94 ' 51. Yellow-billed Cuckoo Young at 3 P. M 95 52. YeUow-billed Cuckoo Young at 4 P. M 95 53. Belted Kingfisher's Nest and Eggs 102 54. Belted Kingfisher Young 102 - 55. Belted Kingfisher Makes His Picture 103 56. Downy Woodpecker 103 57. Pileated Woodpecker Chippings 106 58. Pileated Woodpecker at Nest 106 59. Pileated Woodpecker at Nest 107 60. Pileated Woodpecker Young 107 61. Red-headed Woodpecker Young 122 ^ 62. Red-headed Woodpecker at Nest 122 ^63. Red-bellied Woodpecker 123 , 64. Flicker 123 ^ 65. Whip-poor-will 126 .66. Night-Hawk 126 •^7. Ruby-throated Hummingbird 127 68. Ruby-throated Hummingbird 127 69. Kingbird 134 70. Kingbird Young 134 71. Great Crested Flycatcher 135 72. Prairie Homed Lark Incubating 135 73. Phoebe Young 138 74. Prairie Homed Lark's Nest and Eggs 138 75. Phoebe 139 . 76. Blue Jay 139 77. Canada Jay 154 78. American Crow's Nest and Young 164 , 79. Cowbird Young 155 80. Red-winged Blackbird's Nest and Young 155 81. Red-winged Blackbird Brooding 168 , 82. Red-winged Blackbird Yotmg 158 83. Meadowlark's Nest and Eggs 159 "84. Meadowlark Incubating 159 85. Baltimore Oriole's Nest 166 ^ 86. Baltimore Oriole Young 166 ILLUSTRATIONS— ( Conttnttcd) Fig. Page 87. Bronze Grackle Young 167 88. Boat-tailed Grackle's Nest and Eggs 167 89. Great Boat-tailed Grackle's Nest and Egg 170 90. Great Boat-tailed Grackle Incubating 170 91. American Goldfinch 171 92. Savanna Sparrow 171 93. Lark Sparrow's Nest and Eggs 186 94. Lark Sparrow Incubating 186 95. Harris's Sparrow 187 96. Harris's Sparrows at Feeding Station 187 97. Tree Sparrow 190 98. White-Throated Sparrow 190 99. Chipping Sparrow 191 ^100. Slate-Colored Junco 191 101. Field Sparrow 198 102. Song Sparrow 198 103. Fox Sparrow 199 104. Towhee 199 105. Cardinal's Nest and Eggs 204 yrl06. Cardinal Brooding 204 ^107. Rose-breasted Grosbeak 205 , 108. Indigo Bunting's Nest and Eggs 205 -" 109. Indigo Bunting Young. Note Cowbird Egg 206 110. White-Rumped Shrike's Nest and Eggs 206 111. Bank Swallow Nest Sites 207 112. Dickcissel's Nest 207 113. Young Shrike 208 114. Shrike at Nest 208 115. Shrike-Impaled Bluebird 209 116. Red-eyed Vireo's Nest. Note Cowbird Egg 209 117. Red-eyed Vireo Incubating 210 118. Young Cowbird in Vireo's Nest 210 119. Bell's Vireo Brooding 211 120. Bell's Vireo Brooding 211 121. Prothonotary Warbler Nesting Sites 212 122. Yellow Warbler's Nest with Walled-off Cowbird Egg 212 123. Yellow Warbler's Nest and Young 213 124. Myrtle Warbler 213 125. Maryland Yellow-throat's Nest and Eggs 214 126. Mockingbird Young 214 y 127. Mockingbird at Nest 216 128. Catbird's Nest and Eggs 215 ^ 129. Brown Thrasher 216 130. Brown Thrasher Young 216 131. House Wren 217 y-132. House Wren 217 ILLUSTRATIONS— ( Co«fmw«(?) Fig. . Page 133. Brown Creeper ; 220 134. Tufted Titmouse 220 ,- 135. Tufted Titmouse Young 221 „ 136. Chickadee 221 137. Blue-Gray Gnatcateher 224 ^ 138. Wood Thrush at Nest 224 139. Blue-Gray Gnatcatcher's Nest. Note Cowbird Egg 225 ,140. Robin at Nest, Male 225 141. Robin at Nest, Female 230 142. Water Ouzel's Nest 230 143. Varied Thrush 231 • 144. Bluebird 231 PREFACE The author makes no claim that this book is a com- plete treatise on all the birds of a given locality. Only those with which he has come in photographic contact in their natural feeding and breeding haunts are con- sidered. Personal observations and conclusions of the author, while making these pictures, are the basis of the sub- ject matter. Many of the photographs have been taken under trying circumstances, almost insurmountable difB.- culties and discouraging outlooks. This has been the experience of all bird photographers. Those who have preceded me in this work have covered the field thor- oughly and have left very little new to discuss. The work of the many world-renowned ornithol- ogists, Audubon, Coues, Wilson, Chapman, Reed, Job and others, has blazed the way and made the labors of those who follow less arduous ; but no thoroughfare was ever traveled without presenting some new phase worth recording by the late arrival. • The author hopes that the lay reader will find much of interest in this book of birds, as it deals largely with that phase of bird life observed about their homes. The writer trusts that the technical ornithologist, he who by his untiring efforts has elevated this subject to its present high standard, will find in some of the author *s personal observations here recorded, points of value. The author has faithfully endeavored briefly to record the behavior and personalities of the birds with which he has come in contact. The scientific nomen- clature has been gleaned by reading and copying from the books of recognized authorities at command. For various courtesies and valuable assistance the writer is under many obligations to: T. Gilbert Pear- son, President, National Association of Audubon So- oities; E. W. Nelson, Chief of Bureau of Biological PEEFACE Survey ; Frank Hodges, Purd B. Wright, Librarian, Kan- sas City Public Library ; Caryl De Voe ; to Professor A. A. Allen, Cornell University, for the illustration num- bered 133; and to Professor A. E. Skirling for illustra- tions 63, 64, 96 and 107. INTRODUCTION Some persons go through life surrounded by na- ture's rarest gems without taking any interest or ob- serving them. A tree is a tree, a bird a ''sparrer," a rock is a rock ! One of my acquaintances was curious to know what I got out of my bird experiences that he had not also received. As an illustration, I said to him: *'You do not know that a Blue Jay belongs to the Crow family. ' ' He replied: '*No, I don't, and I don't give a damn." There is quite a gap between this friend and another, who is a scientific ornithologist and who told me when I appealed to him to classify a Savanna Sparrow, as to whether it was just a common Savanna or the Western subspecies, that it would be utterly impossible, unless he had before him for examination a hundred specimens collected from a given locality. Poor Western Savanna! It were better to remain in unclassified obscurity than to become exterminated by ''scientific classification" methods. Reed, one of our very best and most learned ornithol- ogists, says : ' ' To identify the various subspecies of the Red-winged Blackbird would require micrometer calipers and the services of the man who separated them." ''Many subspecies are recognized only by the expert with the specimens in hand and under favorable light conditions," says another. Between my Blue Jay friend and these scientists there is a vast chasm, and somewhere within that gap I am content to remain. The technical field has been thor- oughly covered. What the general bird-lover enjoys most is a true picture of birds, and an account of their daily doings afield and at home. It is not necessary to know that water is composed of two parts of hydrogen and one of oxygen, in order to enjoy to the fullest the grandeur of a Niagara or of a Yellowstone waterfall; neither is it essential for one exploring an untraveled mountain range to be a learned INTRODUCTION geologist, in order to glorify and become enthusiastic on the beauties and magnitude of a towering obsidian or basaltic uplift. Most of our real pleasures come through the special senses of sight and hearing, and not through a knowledge of their source based on prior conception. Wlhile the minute anatomy of birds, in relation to osteology, muscular distribution and function, is of much scientific interest and practical value to the serious bird student, it is not at all necessary to one who enjoys ob- serving the home life of birds, and coming into actual contact with them in their freedom. The dissecting knife and the laboratory are of inestimable value to science, and may be compared to the pick and chemistry in the study of the geology of a vast mountain range ; yet, with- out all this knowledge, the surface beauties of high alti- tudes, rugged precipices and unharnessed waterfalls may be photographed, and their beauties accurately portrayed, so that those who cannot visit the scenes may witness them in fancy. I do not wish to be understood as placing a stamp of depreciation upon the serious and scientific study of ornithology, botany or geology ; it is a noble work and is the prime essential along all lines of investigation. Those who engage in it are the trail-blazers and pioneers. Few persons have the time or inclination to pursue so diflS- oult a task. Too much praise and credit cannot be given such workers as Chapman, Reed, Forbush, Job, Findley, T. Gilbert Pearson and many others. One cannot come in intimate contact with birds, and study them, without becoming broader in his knowledge of trees, vines, flowers, soil, insects and many other allied subjects. To the busy man, a trip into the field, bird-hunting with pen and camera, will give a vacation; to the man who has nothing to do, it will give pleasant occupation. Rather than go afield with a gun, collecting hundreds of specimens, I am content to view the fruits of the labor of the scientists who delve into osteology and minute measurements of the toes and other anatomical features of birds. As a rule the general reader is not so much interested in the number of bones in the head as in the color and general exterior appearance of a bird. INTRODUCTION its habits at home and afield, and the range and beauty of its song. Osteology, like geology, is permanent. Bird habits and bird behavior present great flexibility in mannerism, and a careful observer may see new stories in any day's visit with his feathered friends. Those true to types set by learned ornithologists, only prove that there are exceptions: hence, credence should be given to investi- gators who find and recognize those exceptions. Many birds, by force of circumstances, change their habits and extend or vary their diet, as may be seen when the Osprey's nest, or that of the Great Blue Heron, is found upon the ground; or when the Cardinal, looked upon as a seed and grain eating bird, does not taboo a nice fat angleworm; and since the automobile has sup- planted the horse in our cities, the English Sparrow has changed its dietetic requirements and busies itself col- lecting foliage-destroying pests, or, perchance, stealing the angleworms from the bill of the industrious Robin. BIRDS THEIR PHOTOGRAPHS AND HOME LIFE BiBD Personalities and Habits Practically every human emotion is manifested in the life histories of birds. Pride, generosity, jealousy, anger, fear, love, shyness, caution, shrewdness and sus- picion are only a few of the traits and actions observed in our feathered friends. I see no object in calling these sentiments human, since they are all expressed in the most forceful manner. Why not call them bird traits I They are also found in man, it is true, but are not birds entitled to their own personalities? Because a bird will fight in defense of its young, or act as though crippled in order to entice you, as you chase it, from the vicinity of its nest, or because it will feign death on your approach, is no reason why these acts should be called human traits. In the interpreta- tion of them we may use our thoughts and human words, and apply them with justice to bird thoughts and bird actions. Many writers do not give birds sufficient credit for possessing an intelligence of their own, peculiar to the species, or acquired by adaptability to new or varied sur- roundings. Birds accomplish many things easily where we would make dismal failures. Personal contact with wild birds of ttimes gives vary- ing experiences, probably as a result of difference of environment, failure of the powers of observation, or inability to record the results correctly at the time the observations are made. The habits of a bird in a cage and the behavior of a bird in its wild, unhampered state may differ materially and with a casual observer may lead to wrong deductions. Some birds may, by force of surroundings, merge their natural traits into those of others, nest-building in unusual places and adopting a diet foreign to their usual one ; yet these birds do not, in the main, lose their personality, for once their natural surroundings have been re-established, their broods 17 18 BIRDS quickly pursue the line peculiar to the species. Whether one calls this new adaptability to unusual conditions, or a resumption of the old, or instinct or reason, is of little consequence to the general bird-lover. The individual who does not care to enter into the minute scientific details of ornithology may find in the study of the personal or individual peculiarities of birds in their home lives much of interest. For instance, the male Rose-breasted Grosbeak is the ideal bird husband and his mate, I take for granted, is the original suffra- gette. Think of a husband who patiently remains at home attending to all the household duties while his wife is away at the club or voting-place! Just think of it I He is so happy while attending to these same home duties that he actually sings, as he incubates, morning, noon and night. Is not that a lovely bird personality? It is, with a vim ! Of all birds who possess a despicable personality the Cowbird is the limit: it does not mate, is polyga- mous in its breeding habits, builds no nest of its own, lays its egg in some small bird's nest and abandons the egg and the hatched young to the tender mercies of foster- parents. Whether the small bird whose nest is despoiled by this slacker, is unsuspecting or is filled with a parental love so strong that it fails to detect the fraud, I do not know. At all events, the intruder in the family circle of the small bird receives the same parental care as her own brood. ^^K^ ^1 ^V'i ^ ^< ft ^H Hp J ft«i i.fl ■r^J b 1 is. M ■L-S Fig. 1. TEACHING THE CAT A WRONG LESSON (page 28) Fig. 2. ARSENATED SKINS (page 32) 1 ^^IH ^^^^irt-i M R *^^k^^^^^^H H HKkliJB.H 1 CO to ca ■m-" n BiBD Migration In any given locality, so regular is the date of the return of the migratory birds in their flight from nesting site or winter resort that the exact time may be predicted as accurately as an eclipse of the moon or sun. Migration is a kind of marathon in which all the birds of a species are entered. This race is run twice each year and is attended by many difficulties, almost insurmountable, that only the healthy and strong can conquer. By day and by night the procession wings its semi-annual flight along unmarked aerial trails, just a few miles, or hours, in the advance southward before the chilly blast of approaching winter, pausing here and there just long enough to rest a tired wing, or gather a few seeds or other provender. Storms and man with his automatic shotgun make great inroads on these travelers. During the glacial period, when the central part of the United States was under an ice-cap, the birds exist- ing at that time had, in all probability, as their northern limit of migration, the southern extremity of the glacial area, in about the same latitude as Kansas City, Mis- souri, and Cincinnati, Ohio. This gap between the south- ern and northern migratory points has, by the retreat of the ice sheet, been extended to the Arctic Ocean and to the islands farther north. I have often wished I could join the bird frontiers- men as they go to their unsettled territory in the Far North. What could be more enjoyable than to follow a trail not even blazed by human hand! Yet for ages these winged travelers have followed an imaginary thor- oughfare without leaving a footprint or a sign-board, guided only by that something in their make-up which is more accurate than the stars or the mariners' com- pass. Day and night the right of way is cleared from Brazil to Point Barrow. 19 20 BIRDS It has been said that river courses and mountain ranges act as sign-posts for birds in migration. This may be true of some water birds, but many other species disregard all surface markings and fly across rivers, laJkes and mountain ranges. The Arctic Tern is the cham- pion of all long-distance migratorial birds, as it nests within a few degrees of the North Pole and, on its southern journey each season, travels eleven thousand miles to the border of the Antarctic Circle, making this round trip of twenty-two thousand miles in twenty weeks. The Golden Plover, nesting north of the Arctic Circle, on its southern journey flies across the Atlantic Ocean from Nova Scotia to South America, a distance of two thousand five hundred miles, without a pause to feed or to rest its tired wings. The most pessimistic individual becomes an opti- mist when he looks from his window on a cold, bleak March day and beholds on his front lawn the first spring messengers of the season. A Robin or a Bluebird in March suggests glorious sunshine, warm balmy air, blooming tulips and grassy lawns. During the late fall and winter the Kingbird and flycatchers, feeders on the moth and other flying insects, must go far south, where delicate winged insects are not killed by the cold. Seed and grain eating birds may and do remain many degrees farther north, and many do not migrate at all; for instance, the Quail, Wild Turkey and Downy Wood- pecker. Birds of prey, or those depending on capturing liv- ing things, as mice and other birds, are governed wholly by their food supply. With their ability to cover a large scope of territory while hunting, they manage to pick up a meagre food supply the year round in almost any locality. The southern migration cannot be for food-seeking reasons alone. You have only to watch the congregating of the Redwinged Blackbirds or of the Grackles in Oc- tober to appreciate the unity of purpose existing in all migrants of any species as the time approaches for their journey to the South. I? to' dp" O d CO > o 5^ M O > H H .^ W « CO Fig. 6. HUDSON BAY INDIAN GUIDE (page 38) Fig. 7. ANIMATED LINES (page 48) BIRD MIGRATION 21 Just imagine the vastness of the unknown and un- explored territory north of the Great Lakes and south of the Arctic Ocean, and the number and kinds of our feathered friends that annually rear their young there; then it is possible to appreciate the unlimited number of migrants. Of all that countless throng only a scattering few sojourn in the Arctic regions during the prolonged boreal night. Millions upon millions annually make the southern journey. The northward trip is marked by depletion in ranks and is a journey made in response to the breeding in- stinct. The survival of the fittest is the rule in this north- ward rushing horde. During the seasonal migration many surprises and pleasurable moments await those who go into the fields and woods for a day's outing. A traveler from the Mackenzie River delta may sing you a polar ditty, or a visitor may bring you a song from a South American winter resort. Or a tourist from the shores of Hudson's Bay may pause near you to gather a few seeds from a weed stalk or a cedar tree in your front yard. During the night these travelers of the dark may be faintly heard as they pursue their journey along the unblazoned aerial highways. With a unified purpose they pursue their course year after year. Their hazardous trips should be made without additional risk through man 's predatory inclinations. m Identification, Nest-Building, General Field Observations When one goes afield he should carry with him pen- cil and paper for recording his observations on the spot. Memory is fickle and what one sees today may be soon forgotten. When you go bird-hunting armed with only a pencil and paper, a camera and some one of the standard books on bird identification you are sure not to be met by the landowner and ordered from his prem- ises. Therefore, take your time. For comparison in size I know of no better way than to think of the familiar Eobin as being ten and the Crow, twenty inches long. For color estimates the task is more difficult, as the plumage of a given bird as in the young or the sexual difference often varies greatly. Make note of the following : 1. Where nest is located. 2. Of what nest is made. 3. Whether old or new nest is made. 4. Time of year. 5. Whether both birds assist in building. 6. Number of eggs, size and color. 7. Incubation periods. 8. If both birds incubate. 9. If both birds feed the young. 10. How long the young remain in nest. 11. How fed at nest and after leaving it. 12. Plumage of young as compared to that of old birds. 13. How nest is cleaned. 14. If young returned to nest after leaving it. 16. When they arrive and depart, if migratory. 17. If residents, where they reside and feed. 18. If both birds fight in defending the young. 19. Color of young as compared to that of old birds. 20. What young birds are fed and how often. Fig. 8. IMPENETRABLE MANGROVE ROOTS (page 50) rftfOfi ^ • "^^^^^kHI M pgpg|^m||^ ^^sm mjfSk^ jBH p^- fl ^r jP^^^^^^^m. Q 1 L * f''' Pf^ n mH^^- *i^SSB^^B| ^^^^^^^^^1 ^^1 ^^^^^^^^^1 ^^1 t '' "^^tflLfi Ml * / JBi! ^^H 1 W',' .-iii^^a^BS ^^ iT N?' "'^ ^1 1 S^^^^l^l^^ ^^^B ^BBE3p^Ml§feEi^'*T^jC' " ""3. Fig. 9. BROWN PELICAN BREEDING COLONY (page 53) Fig. IC. NEST AND EGGS OF REDDISH EGRET (page 54) Fig. 11. GREAT BLUE HERON, GROUND NEST (page 55) IDENTIFICATION, NEST-BUILDING, ETC. 23 To this list should be added the list of the general nest-building materials, as : 1. Lint-like strippings from plants. 2. Twigs of vines. 3. Fragmentary substances of plants. 4. Old leaves. 5. Snake skins. 6. Feathers. 7. Hair. 8. Spider-webs. 9. Lichens. 10. Rabbit fur. 11. Cotton-like plant substances. 12. Strings. 13. Paper. 14. Roots. 15. Mud. 16. Mosses. 17. Pine needles. 18. Bare ground. 19. Shell heaps. 20. Down from parents' breasts. The preceding tables will be of much assistance in the identification of the owners of any nest found when the builders are not at home; and the comparison of the familiar Robin and Crow will be an aid in identifying birds by size comparison, when referring to the field guide-book. Birds are more easily approached during the nesting, incubating and brooding periods, not that they appre- ciate our presence close to their homes at these times, but because tiiey loose their usual caution and timidity and are drawn closer to their eggs and young by their own home ties and parental feelings. Some birds seem to seek nesting sites near to man's habitation, not because they recognize man and desire his companionship but because they seek favorable con- ditions that man has brought about; orchards and open spaces for Bluebirds and Flickers, hanging and un- crowded elm branches for Orioles, bunches of lilacs for Brown Thrashers and climbing vines for Chipping Spar- rows. 24 BIRDS Like that of human home-builders bird architecture presents many phases, from the Kingfisher's *' dug-out," the Yellow-billed Cuckoo's mere platform, the Oriole's beautifully woven basket and the Osprey's skyscraper, to the Condor's cliff dwelling. In size and material used the scale is equally diversified, as may be seen in the nest of the Ruby-throated Humming-bird, with its plant- silk and spider-web lining, that of the Night-hawk, with only a bare rock or the ground, or the nest of the Bald Eagle, with its pile of driftwood six or seven feet in diameter, the home of a permanently mated pair for many years. Much confusion in the identification of birds is brought about by dissimilarity in the size of the bird and the character of the plumage in the male and the female of a given species, as well as the juvenile plumage of those birds that are slow in taking on the permanent garb. Should one point out a female Red-wing Black- bird to a beginner in bird study, and at the same time show him the male, it would be hard for him to accept the statement that they are male and female of the same species. Who would believe, without being told, that the long-legged bird wading in the slough near the road- side is only a Little Blue Heron in its white juvenile plumage, or that the dark grey bird, larger than its feed- ing parents, is none other than a young bird of the beau- tiful Indigo Bunting? Of much assistance in identification is the presence of the parent birds in their fixed plumage, in company with the young. Seasonal and mating plumage, or even that of the moulting period, may be very confusing. The identification of a bird is usually possible by the aid of its song, its location, its methods of flight, its associates and its recognized personality, even under adverse conditions. The breeding plumage of the Sky- lark and the juvenile markings of the Robin and other birds are typical illustrations of the difficulties often encountered in bird identification with the appearance of the plumage as guide. Unfortunately, the beautiful plumes of many of our birds are at their height of per- fection only during the love-making, nesting and brood- Fig. 12. HERRING GULLS (page 57) Fig. 13. LAUGHING GULL (page 60) Fig. 14. EGGS OF LEAST TERN (page 61) Fig. 15. BLACK SKIMMER (page 63) IDENTIFICATION, NEST-BUILDING, ETC. 25 ing periods, at which times they are easily approached and killed by ' * plumers. ' ' The parental love and affection in most birds is not surpassed by that of any other warm-blooded animal. I know of no mother more aifectionate or solicitous of her young than a bird mother. Observe the patient resig- nation of the incubating Robin as it sits day after day in the scorching sun; or of the Kingfisher in its dark and ill-ventilated recesses. Notice the reckless disregard for its personal safety of the Shrike in its valiant attack on the disturber of its home and young; or the sad and pathetic appeal of the Mockingbird as you survey its nest and babies. Hardened indeed must be the heart of the individual who would hear these appeals and not be touched by a bond of sympathy. If you have never stood near a nest of young birds and timed the parents in their feeding trips, you can form no conception of the devotion of the old birds nor of the amount of food a brood of young requires for healthy existence and rapid growth. For the first few days a well-fed, healthy, young Kingbird or Sparrow will increase from fifty to sixty per cent in weight, while the feathers, as in the case of the Cuckoo and Kingfisher, seem actually to burst into existence. As with all accurate observations on any subject, it is an exacting and interesting work to keep tab on the doings in a bird dining-room and nursery. The semi- downy stage of these animated little bodies is to me the most beautiful period in the life of many birds ; there is a delicacy in the neutral tints of grays and browns never found in the plumage of mature birds. The peculiarly delicate silvery sheen on the back, the modest gray of the breast, the innocence and confiding appearance of the little fellows, as they sit as still as miniature statues, must elicit the admiration and sympathy of all bird- lovers. The poor attempts at flight of the young birds seem to put disgust and consternation into their parents as they follow the little ones from limb to limb, either scold- ing or praising the feeble efforts. Should you return to a nest and find that the young birds have left it, wait patiently near by and you will 26 BIEDS surely see the old birds endeavoring to attract your atten- tion away from the location of the young. You will hear the protest and see the excitement of the parents when you come near the hiding young birds. Then, if you remain quiet, you will hear the youngsters calling their faint, * * peep, peep ! ' ' and, if you hunt carefully, you may find the little fellows sitting on a limb near the body of the tree, close to the ground, or peering at you from behind a leaf or tuft of grass. The language of birds is expressed in a few words, easily understood by their kind. Some of the sounds uttered are like the Indian sign language, understood by all birds of any species within hearing. The alarm note of the Robin, or the screaming of the female Red-winged Blackbird as you disturb her brood, instantly arouses every feathered denizen of that vicinity to battle for a common cause, the protection of the helpless young. The limited vocabulary of the Water Turkey is in striking contrast wtih that of the Mocking- bird or the Brown Thrasher, yet the former succeeds in making itself understood by its kind, as I have frequently witnessed while working in the bird rookeries of the Everglades of Florida. Did you ever hunt Wild Geese ? After manoeuvering for a place of vantage on a flock of feeding geese, and after crawling on your stomach for a half-mile, all the while barely keeping your eyes above the grass, you hear a signal from the old sentinel gander and see the whole flock take wing in an opposite direction from your hiding- place ; then you understand the goose language, and con- clude that a goose is not such a goose, after all. The alarm-call of the barnyard hen, as she suddenly ceases her scratching for her brood, sends all the chickens, as a similar warning sends the wild birds, scurrying to a place of safety. Many composers of the world's masterpieces of music have tried to reproduce the songs of our best bird musicians; their efforts have been notes of mockery reproduced on instruments foreign to the delicately at- tuned reeds or vocal cords of birds, and are as expres- sionless as the monotonous tones of a bagpipe. One who has heard the tones of the Wood-Thrush in the stillness IDENTIFICATION, NEST-BUILDING, ETC. 27 of approaching twilight or early dawn must appreciate the futility of man's puny efforts at reproducing its notes. The marvels of the protective coloring of the birds are a constant source of wonder to all bird-lovers. One would think that the Meadow-lark, with its beautiful golden- yellow breast, would be conspicuous ; however, it is amply cared for by its ground-feeding and nesting habits. As it sits on the nest its gray and dark striped back blends with its surroundings so accurately that its body is hard to detect a few feet away. The same is true of practically all ground-nesting birds — Sparrows, Quails, Grouse, and others of like habits. The Ptarmigan, with gray summer and pure white winter plumage, is an illustration of the seasonal protective plumage of birds. The American Bittern, its neck and beak extended as it stands motionless in a bunch of dry or dead slough grass, is almost indistinguishable from its surroundings, even though you are only a few feet from the bird and saw it when you first approached its location. The Black Skimmer and a few other birds are excep- tions to the rule of plumage mimicry of natural surround- ings. The better acquainted we become with birds, their habits and home lives, the more we realize the benefit they are to civilization and the firmer our affections are cemented to them. The birds are ever reducing the number of harmful bugs, moths, worms, rodents and weed seeds, regardless of their location. Whether these pests are beneath the water, under the bark of trees, on the leaves or in the air, there exist birds whose feeding habits are such as to lead them to seek and destroy these pests. "We have been too slow to recognize bird benefactors, and in enacting laws for their protection. The great Audubon Society, and other organizations, are carrying on propaganda of inestimable value along this line. Two of the birds' most civilized enemies are house cats and lovable, tender-hearted and sympathetic women. I am sure that if every woman who wears a stuffed bird, or the feathers of one, could have a true picture presented to her of the sacrifice of life made in order that her hat 28 BIRDS may be decorated, she would at once discontinue their use ; then the shameful traffic in decorations that cost life would cease. She who demands such sacrifice of bird life places herself on an equal footing with house cats, snakes, red squirrels, skunks and other enemies of birds and their preservation. (Fig. 1.) The evil spirit of egg-collecting has never taken pos- session of me. My dominating sentiment has been to let nature take its full course in the life history of birds. One of my long bird-picturing trips was ruined by my extending an invitation to a casual acquaintance to ac- company me. Mj opportunities to pursue my harmless picture-taking of the birds was thwarted by this fellow's going ahead of me and, when we arrived at the rookery, disturbing the birds and robbing their nests of eggs. Whether the eggs were fresh or incubated it was all the same to him. I trust he found out the difference between a good and a bad egg, later. In disgust, I took my de- parture, a wiser, more experienced man. An acquaintance of mine visited the celebrated Cuth- bert Rookery in Southern Florida a few years ago. He told me he saw piles of the American Egret ten feet high, where the plume hunters had piled the birds after strip- ping them of their beautiful nuptial and brooding aigrettes — a disgrace to our civilization. IV Photographing Bmos: The Peinciples Involved in THE Work The interest I had always felt in nature studies re- ceived a new enthusiasm when I beheld the beauties of my first bird photograph — that of the Prairie Horned Lark. The impression it made upon me has been so lasting and the memories connected with it have been so pleasant, that my zeal has not been diminished by time. There is an enticing thrill in every prospective excursion to a bird home or rookery. Coming in contact with wild life, be it mammal or bird, is to me the very climax of pioneer history-making. If you would not make bird pictures, study geology or go fishing; cultivate the habit of going into the fields and woods. Nature 's lures will sooner or later catch you at some point and hold you fast. You will learn that all of nature 's handiwork is of much more interest than the company of some human beings. Your bird-picturing trips do not end with your return home. The possessive instinct is a great and dominant feature of our make-up ; if you are the possessor of a good picture you are far wealthier than if you owned the skin and feathers of that bird. The latter are the personal property of the bird, and you have no right to covet them. The commercial value of a good bird picture may not be worth so much on the market as a mounted bird, or a bird's skin; but to the future generation the value of a live bird in the bush is greater than that of two dead ones in the hands of a commercial ornithologist. I am not de- crying the works of the museum collectors, but the amateur who has the hobby of collecting bird eggs and bird skins, trading and selling them, or who goes through life perched on this bird-carcass hobby, deserves all of the censure bestowed on him by the conservationists. The average bird-lover gets far more actual knowl- edge from a picture true to life than from a bunch of 29 30 BIRDS feathers and skins preserved in arsenic and protected by the fumes of bisulphid of carbon. If you are an amateur I beg of you to remain as such. The tang of the out- doors, with its glorious sunshine and pure, health-giving air, is more seductive than glass cases and drawers filled with specimens and noxious gases. I gladly relegate to the scientist my interest in the laboratory division of ornithology, and am content with hearing the unbottled sweet songs and with seeing the bright natural plumage and the unsurpassed poses and graceful flights of the living birds. While I have, in a few instances, killed a rare migra- tory bird in order to procure a good picture of it, I must admit that in every instance this desperate procedure robbed me of all pleasure in the work, as I have in- variably had a feeling of guilt, remorse and shame, until I have resolved not to repeat the practice. Although I say that I detest the practice of killing large numbers of birds for their skins, I understand the necessity of such a course to procure specimens in order to fill a gap in a public museum or in an educational institution. But the same methods should not be tolerated in amateurs and commercial skin and egg collectors. With the works of some of the famous ornithologists before me — ^works that will live throughout all time — I find in one this statement: ''Begin by shooting every bird you see." Bird life is too beautiful to destroy to no purpose. Yet, as if that were not enough, the writer adds, ''Endeavor to kill as many females as males," and continues: "Fifty birds shot and skins preserved in a day is a very good day's work." I say it is horrible butchery. Some are obeying the injunction at the present time, or at least it would appear so, when one reads in a late issue of a magazine devoted to ornithology that eighty-seven specimens of one species were killed that the juvenile plumage of the species might be studied. An ornithologist, in a conversation last spring, told me that he had over thirty thousands bird skins. His field outfit consisted of a cheap camera, no tripod, a pair of tree climbers and a small bore shotgun. He said he had located a small flock of Carolina Paro- ' . V' Fig. 17. MALE AND FEMALE ANHINGA (page 68) Fig. 18. MEXICAN CORMORANT (page 70) Fig. 19. MAN-O'-WAR BIRDS (pa,st'7-_>l i Y ^^ ^ 1 V ^ ^ ^^^^^I^^H^HlMHferfK^^Hii^fa^ samk Fig. 20. BROWN PELICAN (page 7:i) PHOTOGRAPHING BIEDS 31 quets, probably the last of the kind. Poor Paroquets ! I saw their finish. "With few exceptions the illustrations in this book are photographs, made by the writer, of living wild birds in their natural surroundings, in full possession of their freedom and uninjured before or after the pictures were procured. The picturing of two or three small migrants was made possible by trapping the birds, administering chloroform to keep them quiet while the pictures were being taken, then resuscitating them and returning them to their freedom, none the worse for their forced chemi- cal restraint. I have repeatedly resorted to this same procedure with poisonous reptiles, minus the resuscita- tion. No permanent resident or brooding or feeding bird, has ever sustained an injury from my association with it, or making pictures of it. It is no easy task to make good photographs of birds, as all who have seriously taken up this work will testify. It may be an easy thing to get a picture of a Robin on the lawn in your front yard, but the taking of a *' close- up " of a Bald Eagle at the nest-side is fraught with diffi- culties and dangers not easily avoided. Far more skill is required, and a greater feat is ac- complished, in getting a close-up bird picture than in kill- ing that same bird with a gun, at a distance of a hundred yards. In order to be of educational value a picture of a bird must be an actual photograph showing details, and can be made only in close proximity to the subject. I trust that every bird picture in this volume will act as a true-to-life pictorial appeal in behalf of the conservation of these, our feathered friends. There is no limit to the ''bag'* or law violations by gunners in trespassing on ''No hunting" posted estates. In fact, the landowner welcomes you and your camera, as he realizes you are his and his bird- tenants' best friend. The enthusiasm engendered by the taking of a series of successful bird pictures is far more pleasurable and lasting than the memory of a ruthless slaughter of these harmless and beneficial little creatures. After the photo- 32 BIRDS graphic exposure of a rare bird has been made and you enter your dark-room to develop the plate — with a feeling of some uncertainity as to the results — I know of nothing that gives greater thrills than beholding, in the dim, soft, ruby light, the chemical transformation taking place on that plate, as on its blank, cream-colored pictureless sur- face an image slowly grows into an exact likeness of the bird, just as your eyes and the lens of the camera saw it at the instant of exposure. No skinning of the lifeless bird and no taxidermy can produce such thrills or life- like reproductions. It is an easy matter to take your photographic out- fit and under favorable light conditions secure a good landscape picture. But when it comes to making a good photograph of a living bird in its native haunts many entirely different problems confront the camera man. ''Birds have no interest in any device that assists in their identification, and due recognition should be given their protest by avoiding all unnecessary exposure of their eggs and young to unfavorable climatic and other dan- gers. Undue exposure to the burning rays of the sun may prove fatal to a young bird, or the fertility of eggs may be so destroyed." In after years, in reviewing your labors, your thoughts will be of light values, time of exposure, de- velopers and good pictures, and not of the size of the shot, the distance from the gun and the mangled bodies of birds. I detest the idea and practice of photographing dead bodies of birds, yet there are occasions when one is jus- tified by force of circumstances in resorting to the pro- cedure. One of our most readable books on birds has its beauty marred and its value depreciated by the illustra- tions, which, without exception, are photographs of mum- mified museum specimens. The listless eyes, the rickety legs, the moth-eaten appearance and the unnatural sur- roundings and postures on pedestal perches, all proclaim in pathetic language a funeral oration on the defenseless original owners of the arsenated skins. (Fig. 2.) No country has ever enacted a law restricting ' * cam- era shooting" of any of its birds, at any season, and in unlimited numbers. By painstaking care and persistent PHOTOGRAPHING BIRDS 33 effort most bars to good pictures can be surmounted and a good photograph secured, although geographical dis- tribution, or inaccessible nesting-places or the shyness of the birds, make it impossible in some instances. How- ever, it requires time, caution, experience and a good working knowledge of how to use a photographic outfit to the best advantage to secure first-class pictures of some birds in their natural surroundings. I have resorted to practically all kinds of devices or blinds, as natural foliage, pits, caves and the umbrella tent. I have found the latter to be the most efficient, convenient and easily transported. All birds, from tradition or inheritance, have a deeply-rooted fear of mankind. However, their parental instinct has remained strong and the bird photographer may utilize it in overcoming that timidity and fear, and thus be enabled to come in close touch with them during the brooding period. Birds, even of the same species, manifest much diversity of temperament, so you cannot tell in advance how any bird will behave at the nest in the presence of the camera. The use of the tent, in such cases, will be of great assistance. From this private box the naturalist may observe minutely every mood and act of both old and young birds in their unhampered sur- roundings, an advantag'e that can be secured in no other manner. Proximity to birds is best obtained by letting them approach you, waiting patiently in the vicinity of their known resting places, feeding grounds, watering places and nest-sites. The larger birds, as Hawks, Ducks and Herons have a ** pursued alertness," while smaller birds, as Warblers, Vireos and others, are possessed of a "nat- ural timidity. ' ' Every effort should be made to rob the birds of all alarm and catch them in their natural poses. This requires a knowledge of the birds ^ usual tempera- ment. Avoid all quick motions of the body and hands, or the breaking of dead twigs, when near birds. When the incubating instinct is fully established the setting bird will permit of close approach and thus even time expo- sures may be made. In many timid birds parental love is so firm that it completely overshadows fear and all sense of danger. 34 BIEDS I have repeatedly noticed the remarkable sense shown by parent birds in protecting their offspring from heavy rains and the sun^s hot rays by spreading the wings in such a position as to shield and cast the shadow of the body and wings on the young. This has been espe- cially true when I have tied aside the limbs shading the nest, to get better light for photographing the youngsters in the nursery, I am always careful to replace the pro- tecting foliage as soon as possible. It is desirable in picturing birds to be as nearly on a level with the subjects as possible, as the actinic rays of the clear sky act so quickly on the sensitive plate, when full time is given, that on the side next to the camera, the sky is so over-exposed that the plate is fogged. By select- ing the time of day and placing the camera in the best spot available, a fairly good or first-class picture may be obtained. The use of a ray-filter, or screen, is desirable, but unfortunately it increases the time of exposure so much that its utility is doubtful. In making a picture of a nesting bird a side view with a quartering illumination, if in sunlight, is desirable. The eggs and young should be pictured just as the old birds placed them. Avoid handling the eggs and expos- ing them to the hot sun 's rays, all that is possible. Pictures at the nest show the rapidity of growth of the young and the variety and amount of food furnished by the old birds. The breathing of birds on hot, sultry days is rapid and requires, if the camera is within a few feet of the birds, a quick exposure. By quick exposure I mean using stop F. 8, 1/25 to 1/100 of a second, and light conditions must be favorable to get full-timed nega- tives at these speeds. The force of habit in birds is beautifully amplified in the feeding parents in their manner of approaching the nest. The exact lighting spot near the nest and the direc- tion of approach are so frequently followed that one^ may with assurance focus on some particular place with a good chance that the bird will pursue the route, as ob- served before placing the camera in position. This knowledge of bird habits often prevents failure through having the subjects out of focus. If in doubt as to whether there is sufficient light to secure a good picture I have, on many occasions, resorted PHOTOGEAPHING BIEDS 35 to the use of the Imp flash-gun and secured good fully timed negatives. This is a very ingenious little affair arranged so that the cable release may be attached in such a manner that when the flash takes place the shutter is sprung. I have repeatedly used this method to obtain pictures in dark ravines and at night. By a simple at- tachment of my own application the gun may be sprung by the bird. This consists of a five-cent mouse-trap at- tached to one leg of the tripod ; from the trap spring that catches the mouse is a string that is fastened to a lever on the gun, that throws the exploding hammer. This requires more pressure to release than the bird would make, so to overcome that, a string is fastened to the deli- cate little trigger to which, when mouse-baiting, the cheese is fastened. This string is passed to a point over the nest or across the entrance hole and the least pressure from the bird's body or feet throws the mouse-trap spring, which in turn jerks the gun lever that explodes the magnesium powder. At the same time a plunger presses on the wire release to the shutter and the picture is made at 1/100 of a second. All this is done so quickly that the bird's actions do not blur the picture. The con- trivance is much simpler and easier to work than to ex- plain. The pictures of the Wood Thrush, the Flicker and the Kingfisher in this book were made by this magnesium flash method. A photograph of a living bird is a picture true to life, and no artist can duplicate it with pen or brush. The artistic work of some of our bird artists is truly mar- velous; the poses, however, are imaginary and rather fixed in types, like museum specimens. Many of the pic- tures in this book are of young birds and portray phases of bird life as truly as do the pictures of fully grown birds : for example, the early plumage of the young, their positions in perching and their hiding positions are clearly shown. Many of the young birds pictured are practically full-grown birds that had broken home ties before I discovered them and made their pictures in exactly the locality in which I found them. Careful handling of a full-grown young bird inspires confidence and dispels fear. It will remain in the position in which you place it, and various beautiful natural poses can thus be obtained. No rough handling or undue restraint must 36 BIRDS be indulged in after pursuing and capturing young birds that have left the nest, if you wish them to pose for you. Having selected the site for making the picture, focus on the spot where you expect to perch the captured young bird. Then gently and loosely hold the bird in the whole hand, so its neck and head are not restrained, place the hand over the selected spot and let the bird find its own footing; it will usually grasp the perch as soon as the feet touch it. Now quietly hovering the hand for a few seconds, remove it slowly and press the bulb or shutter release, with the other hand. Be sure that no part of your body or your shadow is in the camera's range. As to the immediate surroundings in the picture your personal taste and judgment will dictate. Oftentimes bird pictures are ruined by bird motion, and sometimes they are ruined by a shaking of the cam- era or by under-exposures, but rarely by too much time. My best endeavors to obtain the pictures of full-grown young birds have often been thwarted by the parent birds' giving warning of danger and causing an excite- ment in the youngsters that human efforts could not appease. A good contrast developer should be used on bird- exposed plates. One containing pyro and metol meets the requirement. I always use plates by preference, as they are more reliable than films, giving a more accurate and smooth surface, while films often buckle and make uneven and out-of-focus surfaces. It is true the plates are heavier and more easily destroyed than films, but this drawback is more than counterbalanced by other good qualities. I develop most of my plates by the tray method, but unless one is qualified to do his own developing in this way I should advise the use of the tank, following the in- structions enclosed with the developing powders. Care- ful fiixing and washing should be carried out regardless of the methods used in the developing of the plate or film. If you have a friend who wishes to accompany you on a bird-picturing trip I should advise you to leave him at home, unless he is thoroughly in sympathy with the work, lest you tax his patience beyond the endurance point and he spoil your entire trip by getting tired and pleading to go home. It is better to go it alone. But to PHOTOGRAPHING BIRDS 37 the patient worker and bird-lover loneliness is impos- sible while with such good entertainers as the birds. ' ' One must be full to the brim of bird enthusiasm to enjoy the many things encountered on a trip through the Everglades of Florida, surrounded by sharp-pointed, un- yielding forests of palmetto, thorny-leafed clusters of beautiful Spanish daggers and meadows of rasping-edged saw-grass." The travel over, under and through these ob- stacles is anything but conducive to good cheer and bodily comfort. Then add to these drawbacks a pair of hip waders, a Graflex camera, a 4x5 plate camera and a few other necessities, free both hands to ward off the wind- tossed foliage and myriads of mosquitoes and you are fairly busy. Such is the experience of the photographer in the Everglades. One does not have to go through these hardships from choice, since in every city suburb, golf course and park there are always to be found many birds to study. On the farm, on old brush-grown abandoned fields, birds congregate in sufficient numbers during migration and nesting time to offer a rich pictorial yield to anyone who will take the time to reap the ornithologi- cal harvest. It is a comparatively easy matter whenever a live bird is found to procure a bird 's skin with the assistance of a shotgun. The instant a bird^s life is sacrificed its body ceases to be a thing of much interest to anyone ex- cept the scientist for compilation or for the preservation of a rare or almost extinct species. Many have become extinct from this very cause. I know a number of collec- tors who look forward to the semi-annual migration of rare birds and never fail to aid in the extermination by collecting specimens, or by stealing eggs during the nest- ing time. **By following the subdued and sweet refrain of some mother bird, I have often been led to beautiful and enchanting woodland nooks." Birds are by nature romantic and poetical, temperamentally speaking. Their nesting sites are so well hidden and often so remote that one must have special inducements to visit and locate these isolated beauty-spots. I can no better illustrate some of the pleasant fea- tures of remote bird picture hunting than by quoting from my field notes, made on a trip to the Arctic Ocean 38 BIEDS watershed. After an active and successful day's work, I wrote : * ' I capped my lens, folded my tripod, boxed my cam- era and took my departure. I soon reached the edge of the small lake near my camp, where I found my Hudson 's Bay Indian guide with the canoe, waiting for me. (Fig. 6.) We soon rowed across the narrow stretch of water to my quarters. When I retired to my bed of pine boughs, an evening farewell-look from my tent showed, standing by the dying embers of the campfire, this perfect physical specimen of an Indian, in the midst of his solemn appeal to the Great Spirit. As I closed my eyes in the slumber that comes to him whose labors have been pleasant, I thought, 'twas the 'end of a perfect day.'" Fig. 21. BROWN PELICANS FLYING ())age 74) Fig. 22. BROWN PELICAN'S NEST AND EGGS (page To) Fig. 23. WHITE IBIS'S NEST AND EGGS (page 78) Fig. 24. WHITE IBIS'S HEAD AND BILL (page 79) Photographic Equipment Photography, with its far-reaching and accurate records, has invaded every department of scientific in- vestigations. Whether it be the farthest star, millions of miles away in unlimited space, or the microscopical death-dealing microbe, this aid to the investigator has made possible permanent records for future workers. The improvement made in lenses and shutters in this department of science has reached a perfection thought impossible up to a few years ago. From the single meniscus, concavo-convex lens with all possible errors and slowly working powers, to the single achromatic with its partial chromatic correction, to the rapid rectilinear corrected for most errors except curvature of field and astigmatism and, finally, to the fast-working anastigmat with its full correction for all optical errors, is quite a gap and represents the very climax in lens-making. The anastigmat is a fast-working lens, giving critical definition at full apertures of F. 3.5 to F. 6.3, and smaller. Many of these lenses have symmetrical front and back elements and may be used singly at the expense of lengthened focus and much increase in the time of exposure, but with marked increase in the size of the image on the ground glass. In photographing birds rapid working is a most essential quality of any lens, yet depth of field and speed, when near an object, are of equal importance. By depth of field is meant the distance from the nearest object to the farthest in focus. Depth of focus is the distance ground glass may be moved, when the object is in focus, without blur. All lenses, regard- less of make, of the same focal length and the same stop or aperture, are of the same depth of field and focus and of equal speed. The shorter the focus the deeper the field. The longer the focus length the larger the image. The speed at which the various lenses work may be stated as follows : 39 40 BIRDS The cheap meniscus F. 16. Single Achromatic F. 11. Rapid Rectilinear F. 8. Anastigmat F. 4. Thus the F. 4 lens works at about four times the speed of the F. 8. In other words, if an exposure with an^ anastigmat lens working at F. 4 required one second, using the rapid rectilinear would require four seconds, at its largest working aperture, or F. 8. The rapid rectilinear lens consists of two single ele- ments, which may be used separately with about double the focal length and size of the image. This type of lens requires a smaller diaphragm opening than the anastig- mat to secure sharp definition in the negative, hence is a much slower lens than the anastigmat. The latter lens is a more expensive one. While the anastigmat lens is fully corrected and is nearly as perfect as a lens can be made, under some light conditions and extensions of bellows it occasionally de- velops a flare spot, and either destroys the negative or reduces its brilliancy. All shining metal surfaces within the camera and shutter should be given a coat of black finish. The cheap fixed focus cameras, while giving great depth of field, have uncorrected lenses and should not be used for this work. If you are going to make pictures of birds worth while you must expect to devote much time and have un- limited patience ; added to these must be a practical work- ing knowledge of how to use a first-class photographic equipment. My equipment consists of three cameras, a number of the best anastigmat lenses and a telephoto lens with about a nine taagnification, as compared to an ordi- nary 6-inch focus lens. All the cameras are equipped with a ground glass for accurate focusing and a good firm wooden tripod, to which is fixed a tilling tripod head for use in picturing on the ground and in trees. One of my cameras is a Gundlac 4x5 revolving back plate-using machine, fitted with a front and back exten- sion of 22 inches. This long bellows is used in connection with the telephoto lens. To this camera I have fitted a number of lens boards. The lens I use for ground, tent PHOTOGEAPHIC EQUIPMENT 41 and field work in general is a 7^-inch Protar F. 7. con- vertible anastigmat with a 11%-inch back and a 13%-incli front element focus, this fitted to a volule shutter work- ing from time to 1/150 second, with thumb, bulb and pull release. I use the telephoto lens on this camera. This lens is an Adon, working at F. 15 with a bellows extension of 5 inches and giving a magnification of three times at this extension as compared to a lens of 5-inch focus, or the equivalent focus of a lens of 13-inch focus. When at 22-inch focus, it gives an F. value of 55, an equivalent focus of F. 45 and a magnification of 9 diameter. The Adon telephoto lens is composed of a front cemented doublet of 4i/^-inch positive focal length, and a back negative cemented doublet of 2-inch focal length. The separation of the elements is governed by a rack and pinion movement. This lens is complete within itself; hence it requires no other lens and thus gives better illu- mination and more speed than if used as an attachment to another lens. The entire Adon weighs only five ounces. In brief, this lens gives a picture three times the size of any other lens at an equal bellows extension. For the benefit of anyone who may wish to purchase an Adon the following table is inserted : Lin. mag. As comp. Camera Focal F. No. as comp. with Time Beg. Adon Extension Length with 5-in. Lens 8-in. Lens Camera Stop 4 Inches Inches Diameter Diameter See, Sec. 6 18 15 31/2 3 1/11 1/3 9 24.5 21 5 31/2 Vs 4/5 11 29 24 6 4 1/4 1 14 36 30 7 V2 2 16 40 34 8 5 18 45 38 9 % 3 20 49 39 10 22 54 45 11 8 1 4 All shutters used with any lens should be as free from noise as possible. In using the Adon with this long bellows extension there must be no vibration of the camera, either from a shaking tripod or jarring shutter blades, as the exposures are from two to eight seconds long. This lens can be 42 BIRDS used only on birds that are incubating or are perfectly still and in good light. Many of the pictures used in illustrating this book were made with the Adon, at moder- ate magnification. (Fig. 3.) For speed pictures of birds flying or moving, a re- volving back Graflex with its focal plane shutter and rapid F. 4.5 Tessar lens meets all the requirements. It cannot be dispensed with. Its hood and ground glass permit you to see the object photographed up to the instant of the exposure, and thus make it possible to get good pictures of all moving or restless birds. Its rapid F. 4.5 lens makes quick exposure possible on dark days. The focal plans shutter works from time to 1/1000 of a second. A 4x5 inch revolving back Graflex is a good size to use and is the one usually employed. For tree or other climbing work where the camera must be carried to great heights and anchored, a small 3^x51/^ Tenax metal camera fitted with a Goerz Dagor F. 6.8, six and one-half inch focus lens in a compound shutter, is easily carried up to the vicinity of the nest and is quickly anchored to a limb or the body of the tree by fastening it snugly to the tripod. The focusing cloth may be fixed over the camera and a few green leaves and limbs quickly tied over it. I prefer plates to films for this work; the Standard Orthonon and Hammer Extra Fast ortho are both to be endorsed as they give beautiful tone values. But there are a number of other equally as efficient plates on the market. Fig. 27. GREAT BLUE HERON WITH PLUME-CRESTED HEAD (page SI!) Fig. 28. SNOWY HERON, MOTHER BIRD (page 84) VI The Umbrella Tent The bird tent is indispensable to the bird investigator and photographer. When once used it will not be dis- carded. It is light and is quickly erected. The one I prefer and use is of the umbrella variety; it weighs only four pounds, complete, and can be erected in thirty seconds. No blind of any kind can be made practical and at the same time convenient and comfortable, for all blinds prohibit free air circulation, restrict freedom of movement and limit your equipment. Anyone who does bird photography seriously does not expect or exact the comforts of a wind-swept front porch. (Fig. 4.) This tent is easily made, is inexpensive and meets all the requirements necessary for thorough work. It consists of three very thin pieces of hollow iron tubing, graduated to telescope snugly. This tubing should be one-half inch in diameter for the bottom joint, and in the end of this piece a solid bolt, sharpened at its end, should be screwed so that it may be pushed into the ground easily, while in use. Each joint should be from two to three feet in length. Little clips can be arranged to grip the segments to govern the height, and the depth it is pushed into the ground will also determine the height of the tent. Let the top segment be the exact inside measurement of the iron rod to an ordinary full-sized umbrella handle. Now make a sack of some firm muslin, about seven feet long, the diameter of which exactly fits the size of the umbrella when stretched. The top of this sack is more easily made separately, as it must fit the raised umbrella snugly. One side of the sack is left open up to the end of the umbrella ribs when stretched. About one foot from the bottom of the sack, make a tuck around it just large enough to take a one-quarter inch rope, and at four equal distant points tie to this girdling rope, pieces of rope two feet long, to be used in holding the edge of the tent close to the ground and to keep it from 43 44 BIRDS flapping in the wind. A similar rope must be run around the sack at its junction with the ribs of the umbrella and three or four pieces, each ten or fifteen feet long, tied to it, these to be used as guy ropes to anchor the tent to stakes, roots or any immovable objects. On two or three sides of the tent, on a level with your eyes when standing, cut windows one foot by eight inches, leaving the flap attached at the top side. Now in these openings sew two thicknesses of green mosquito bar. The tent should then be dyed a drab-green. At three points cut vertical slits in the sides to correspond with the size of the camera bellows and height of lens when in use, and the tent is completed. Have plenty of safety pins stuck into the goods for use while in the field. When taken down, the tent makes a small roll about as long as an umbrella. All the parts should be kept in one bundle by a couple of firm rubber bands. If you so desire the umbrella cover may be removed, using only the frame, and a circular hole left in the dome of the tent for a ventilating flue. I have found that the umbrella, complete, has saved me from several good soakings when I was overtaken by rain storms while working in the field or woods. There can be no practical set rules governing the lo- cation of the tent at all nest-sites. The judgment of the individual at the time must decide that problem. This much, however, it is safe to say ! Place the tent in such proximity to the nest or bird as to insure a good-sized picture, showing details on your ground glass. The loca- tion and character of light must always enter into the decision. The focal length of the lens in use will govern the distance. The longer the focal length of lens the greater the distance from which you may get a good picture. Some birds disregard the presence of the tent, while others are slow to accept its intrusion without much pro- testing. Occasionally a bird is found that even abandons its nest; especially is this true soon after the first or second egg has been laid, or during early incubation. No detailed instructions are necessary on how to put up the tent. Anybody can raise an umbrella. Then, since it is an object that neither moves nor resembles any known bird enemy, and is silent, it is soon accepted as a THE UMBBELLA TENT 45 part of the natural landscape, confidence is restored, and the actions of the birds at the nest become true to their usual habits. The alarm, when the tent is first erected, bidding the young birds to ''lay low" and keep quiet, is soon replaced by the assurance that all is safe. The youngsters resume their positions at the festive board, with gaping mouths ready to be fed, while in the tent the photographer in joyous anticipation awaits the return of the feeding parents. Every call and response may be distinctly heard and the minutest details of the feeding and brooding or the cleaning of the nest, are plainly seen and recorded by the camera. When the nest containing the young is in a location where it cannot be photographed — as the perch of a Ked- winged Blackbird anchored to cattails in deep water, or a muddy bottom, or the basket of an Oriole swinging on a limb too high for the tent — the nest with its natural sur- roundings may be moved to a nearby and suitable locality in which the work can be carried on from the tent. The original natural surroundings should be preserved as nearly as possible if the picture is to be of much value. A canvas background should never be used. A fresh bunch of natural foliage is preferable. The moving of the nest should be resorted to only in extreme cases as the foliage soon withers after being cut and thus leaves the young exposed to the sun and rain. When it has been photographed, the nest should be returned near its former position and securely anchored in a shaded spot. The parent birds soon find the nest in its new location and renew their feeding and brooding as though the nest had not been disturbed or moved. In the absence of the tent an improvised blind will be of much help. This may be either a pit dug in a bank or the ground, or the material at hand, as grasses, green leaves of the palmetto or ferns. All these substitutes, however, are hard to erect or devise and are not so effi- cient as the tent. If two persons go to the tent and one enters and remains hidden while the other retires, the watching birds, unable to count two, decide that the tent is vacant and soon return to the nest. vn The Great Bied-Breeding Rookeries Along the Florida, Atlantc and Gulf Coasts The United States, Florida, other States and the National Association of the Audubon Societies, have very wisely set apart a number of islands and other suitable locations for the exclusive use of the shore birds as breeding rookeries. These reservations are under the supervision of game wardens who have, in a measure, checked the shameful and ruthless slaughter of birds and the sale of their plumage. A special permit must be secured before one is allowed to visit or land on the reser- vations. Through the courtesy of Mr. E. W. Nelson, Chief of the Bureau of the United States Biological Sur- vey; Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, President of the National Association of Audubon societies, and Mr. B. J. Pacette, Inspector of Federal Reservations, I was granted the privilege of visiting these vast rookeries for the purpose of studying their population and making photographs. Early in March, 1920, 1 made a trip to Florida, plan- ning to visit Pelican Island, in the Indian River. Two days before my arrival a five-inch rain and an adverse wind caused the flooding of the island and the destruction of over three thousand nests and their eggs. I returned to Kansas City at once, resolving to make a second visit later in the season. On May 20, 1920, as I took my departure for my second trip that year to the big bird rookeries along the Florida Coast, I recalled my former visit and the seeming sadness and lonely aspect of the Pelican population, as they aimlessly sat around on the sand or floated on the water near by, their incubating destroyed for the season. I contrasted them with their long-necked and slender- legged, graceful bird neighbors a few miles from there, at another rookery. I thought of the brackish tide-water flowing through the mangrove swamps; of the countless peace-destroying and disease-breeding Florida mos- 46 ROOKEEIES ALONG FLORIDA 47 quitoes ; of the swamp diamond-backed rattlesnakes — the most deadly of all American reptiles — and of the lazy cotton-mouth water moccasin, sunning himself on the dead and fallen timber and lily pads (Fig. 5) ; of the myriad birds with their babel of tongues — to me an un- known language ; of the beautiful white-plumed American Egret and the gracefully-formed Snowy Heron. I re- membered the ideal May weather we were having at Kansas City ; yet there was something indescribable say- ing to me: '^ Florida and its haunts of untrammelled nature are calling to you." And I was happy in the thought that I had heard the summons and was obeying. On this trip I visited reservations on both the At- lantic and the Gulf coasts and found them very much alike, as far as their citizens are concerned. I succeeded in getting good comfortable quarters within a few miles of the rookeries. As twilight drew near, looking out across the vast expanse of water beyond the bird islands with their fringe of low, mangrove- covered shores, I was often reminded, by the disappear- ing sun with its play of subdued multi-colored light, of a vast art-glass memorial window, placed there by unseen hands in commemoration of the departure of another day. The long, solemn procession of home-coming birds with their vesperal chantings completed a picture of enchant- ing and inspiring beauty. What a glorious privilege to behold nature's handiwork in all its splendor! If you have never visited a large shore bird-breeding rookery and have never been enthused by the doings of their busy residents, you have missed many a pleasurable surprise. The dark-colored birds, the Louisiana Heron, the Little Blue Heron, the Water Turkey and the Cormorant, are inconspicuous while perched in the trees among the foliage of the densely-studded mangrove islands, and cor- rect estimate cannot be made, from a distance, of the number of tenants occupying a given rookery. Then, as you draw near, each leaf seems to take on life, as the unseen birds, with mingled screams, make their hasty exits from their resting places. The white birds, the Snowy Heron and the White Ibis, can be seen from afar, for their color stands out in marked contrast to the green leaves. 48 BIRDS With each revolution, the * * chug ! chug ! " of my gaso- line engine brought to view above the treetops thousands of heads on snake-like craning necks, unlike anything to be seen elsewhere. As the boat drew up to the water's edge and the anchor was thrown overboard the noise produced by its accidentally striking the edge of the boat, acted as a signal of universal alarm and thousands of big birds took wing, screaming and flying in all direc- tions. How they avoided collisions I do not understand. The Cormorants and Anhingas darted hither and thither on a horizontal plane, at lightning speed; the Pelicans, with awkward beating of wings, flew in frantic con- fusion, while many of the marvelous flyers, the Man-o- war birds with their small bodies and eight feet of wing-spread, ascended higher and higher in airplane-like circles until almost lost to view. The ocean and gulf island rookeries are compara- tively easy for the photographer, as there are no tall trees to climb, or cypress swamps to splash through for miles, before reaching them. All of the Everglade cy- press swamp and ocean and gulf breeding grounds are invariably located on islands, or their equivalent. The birds have learned that they are safe there from the invasion of skunks, wildcats and other bird-destroying animals. That ever-present villain, the Fish Crow, I found to be these birds ' worst enemy. The activities and noises in a mixed rookery of Water Turkeys, Little Blue Herons, Louisiana Herons, with the Fish Crows flying overhead, may be compared to those of a public market square, where the salesmen are made up of many nationalities, all crying their wares at the same time, each in his native tongue. Side by side, the Turk, the Italian and the Greek, each patronized by his kind, shows due consideration and a let-alone policy to the stall adjoining. During the morning and evening feeding periods great animated lines keep coming and going, as if from a central telephone station, all with messages to craws' capacity. No mother or father dares to return to the hungry young without bringing a ''full dinner pail." (Fig. 7.) mm ROOKERIES ALONG FLORIDA 49 Many of the trees in Florida are covered with poison- oak vines and I should advise him whose skin is sus- ceptible to the baneful influence not to visit a Florida Herony. Again, the mosquitoes have no respect for for- mality and unceremoniously introduce their germ-laden bills into one 's anatomy on any and all occasions. The long-legged waders and quick-diving birds mani- fest none of the combative traits of the land tree-dwell- ers, an example of which is the bullet-like swoop of the Migrant Shrike or the Robin. Long persecution and destruction by game birds or by *' game-hog" plume hunters has instilled a fear of man and his loud noise of destruction. This is seen in the wild commotion that is set up by the quick snapping of a twig, when one is walking through a protected bird colony. With one acclaim all birds able or old enough to fly take wing the instant a dry twig is broken. It is nothing unusual to see several dead birds hang- ing by the feet or neck where they have slowly died while dangling, held fast by the imprisoned member in the crotch of a mangrove limb. All young birds that fall from the nest to the ground starve, for the old birds never descend to feed them. Like monkeys, the young birds climb from limb to limb and tree to tree, making it very difficult to capture them for close picture-mak- ing. On arrival at the rookery I carefully surveyed my surroundings and selected the most favorable location for my blind, amidst the most populous portion of the island. Within a very few moments the tent was in place and I was securely hidden and awaiting the return of the birds that had been frightened away by my ap- pearance. Someone has said that in a bird tent you don't have to sit as still as a stone dog on a lawn. The scene from the tent was truly like a great steaming hot-house in this mangrove morass, with cider-colored water on every side, filled with alligators, reptiles and other things that crawl, while the steaming air was dense with flying pests. Looking from the blind into the almost impenetrable roots of mangrove I was reminded of a vast monkey cage, so much do these young birds resemble the monkey, as they crawl over the limbs of the trees. Add to this, 50 BIRDS the noise of the coming and going of the feeding birds, and you have a true picture with a jungle setting. (Fig. 8.) I soon learned not to set up my tent or to stand di- rectly underneath a nest full of young Herons or Cormo- rants. It is decidedly unsanitary and unwholesome to do so. Even one's usual dread of poisonous reptiles is, in a measure, overcome by his eagerness to picture some of these birds. Such was my experience while making the Anhinga picture. While I was in the blind of pal- mettoes, with my rubber-boot encased feet and legs buried in the mud to my knees, a large water moccasin slowly crawled within a few inches of my leg and a twelve-foot alligator sunned himself close by on a mud bank. I se- cured the Anhinga pictures by keeping still. vin Big Bibd Island: Laguna db la Madee Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, President of the National Audubon Societies, related, in a communication to me, his experience while on a visit to Big Bird Island and Laguna de la Madre. This decided me as to where I should go next. I made arrangements by letter for a guide and a boat to take me from Corpus Christi, Texas, to Big Bird Island, a distance of about fifty miles. When I arrived I found the boat on the skids undergoing re- pairs and waiting for replacement of parts broken. The latter never came. After waiting seven days I employed another boatman. His boat drew nearly three feet of water. The Laguna de la Madre is a very shallow stretch of partly land-locked salt water about four miles across, extending from Corpus Christi to the mouth of the Rio Grande. The island is located in this lagoon. To reach it requires a boat of a very shallow draft, not over two feet. Our craft, drawing, as it did, three feet of water, gave us much trouble. In fact, we made much of the journey by land, using the bottom of the lagoon as the road-bed. Sometimes, for a mile at a stretch, two or three of our party were in the water, generating manpower to assist the splendid forty horsepower, six cylinder engine in its work of plowing a furrow as the boat was shoved along on the bottom of the lagoon. This was truly working one's passage. We passed numerous small shallow-bottomed fishing sailboats, manned by Mexicans. The lagoon abounds in splendid edible game fish, as the red fish, sea trout and others. A few hours' run brought us in sight of the island, which is a mere sand spit, a few inches above the shallow tide limit, covered in part with coarse stem grass and weeds. Not a tree is found on its soil. Boggy places a few feet in extent and filled with salt water abound, and the whole shore line is one of sand and broken shells. 51 62 BIRDS The water in the little pools over the islands is one mass of bubbling gasses that abound in sulphurated hydrogen, as distinguished by the sense of smell. Owing to the depth of the water we had to anchor the boat a half-mile from the shore off the island and use a rowboat to land us. As we approached the low, shell-strewn shore line, the gulls began rising, first in pairs, then in scores, hun- dreds and thousands, all the while mth screaming laugh- ter circling about our heads and threatening to do us bodily injury. They would form in great flying squad- rons and after turning and revolving close over us a number of times return to the island and drop down in the little open brackish pools or in the grass, their black heads and white necks and breasts forming con- spicuous objects as they stood motionless, viewing our approach. When I landed and began my search for nests the throng again took wing and continued the screaming until I moved to another section of the island. Those first disturbed then dropped back to their nests, while those under my feet were constantly rising, only to return as soon as I passed on. Many of the birds did not appear at all frightened at my presence. The men who were assisting me had been in the terrible tidal wave of 1916, and again in 1919, and had been compelled to wade, swim and battle with the awful death-dealing salt-water demon for hours to save their lives. Their homes and all other property were de- stroyed. They are naturally uneasy, therefore, when storms threaten, and their restlessness does not add to the feeling of safety of a newcomer, or tenderfoot, when a few thunderheads arise on the northeastern horizon. "We had anchored the boat on the northeastern shore of the island, in plain view. After working all day pic- turing and taking field notes, I was surprised, on re- turning to the spot where the boat had been left, to find that it was nowhere to be seen. It was just at dark, and I was hungry and very thirsty, and for a few minutes a little alarmed; however, I soon discerned it on the opposite side of the island, where the boatman had re- moved it for protection, in case of storm. We rowed out to the boat, had supper and then retired for the night. BIG BIRD ISLAND 53 While we were lying on the bottom of the boat, with the star-studded dome above us, all the horrors of the last tidal wave were gone over in detailed conversation by the two men, for my comfort, I presume, as they fre- quently referred to the sinister appearance of the cloud- rimmed eastern horizon, where forked streaks of light- ning zigzagged through space, to be followed by the distant rumblings of thunder, the forerunners of a storm that never materialized. During the night I awakened and for an instant thought we were on the verge of being engulfed by an approaching tidal wave. However, when I recalled that the distant low rumbling was the pounding of the surf of the Gulf of Mexico on the shore of Padre Island that for two miles separates Laguna Madre from the gulf, all of my fears vanished and I dropped into sleep, such as one gets only when he breathes the purest air and knows that all is well. The next day, as I neared the farther end of the Island, I was gratified to see what on casual view ap- peared to be a vast garden of large, full-blooming, white flowers. This, I at once recognized as a Brown Pelican breeding colony in full bloom. (Fig. 9.) The big, comic- ally solemn-looking birds were there by the hundreds and presented all phases of Pelican home life. The nests were large structures, on the ground, made of dried grass, weeds and sticks, all mud-plastered into a conical mass a foot or more in height and two feet across, with a slight depression in the center. These nests were promiscuously scattered over sev- eral acres of ground and in many instances were so closely studded that their walls were in contact with those of the next-door neighbors. From my tent I witnessed some very amusing incidents while I was making pic- tures of the parent birds and taking field notes of my close-up observations. The old birds have a persistent longing for the nest- building material of their nearest friends, and do not hesitate to steal a few sticks or blades of grass and ap- propriate them to the beautifying of their own domiciles, all of which is sure to bring a vigorous protest and cor- poral punishment from the rightful owners, together 54 BIEDS with a return of the stolen building material and a little bit more. The young birds in most of the nests were large enough to tumble out and waddle in an awkward way to the yard next door and beg to be fed by the first old bird returning. These visitors were quickly repri- manded and sent home squawking to their parents. The big birds become, under the parental feeling, very tame and permit of a close approach during the period of feeding and caring for their young. When the parent bird arrives from the fishing grounds and drops down by the nest with extended wings and dangling feet the young birds at once begin their pleading to be fed by pecking at the old birds' breasts and bill, all the while making a noise such as can be made by a young Pelican, only. The parent bird, with its strong bill drooping on its breast, and its large yellow eyes look- ing nowhere in particular, yet everywhere, seems to say by its stoical attitude, ' * Just you wait a minute. ' ' But all the while the young bird keeps up its persistent pleading. When the psychological moment arrives the parent bird raises the upper mandible and the young, their necks stretched to their fullest and bills extended, fight for first choice, shoving each other as they push their bills, heads and even part of their necks through the old bird's mouth into the ''dinner pail" and proceed to help themselves to the partly digested fish. This scene was being enacted all around me the whole time I was an observing, photographing and re- cording visitor to the large nursery of the Brown Peli- cans. One of the rare birds of our southern shoreline is the Reddish Egret. (Fig. 10.) I was fortunate in find- ing a few of this species nesting on the island. They may easily be mistaken for the Little Blue Heron, as their general size, color and habits are similar to those of this Heron, but the color of the bill and the reddish ruffled neck of the Reddish Egret is different. This bird was frequently seen in company with the Louisiana and Little Blue Herons; on approach, however, the latter were sure to remain for a short period after the former had flown away. Their nests were on the ground and BIG BIRD ISLAND 55 were built of grass; each contained three pale bluish eggs, larger than those of the Little Blue Heron. I found several nests of the Big Blue Herons on this island. They were voluminous structures, each contain- ing three eggs or three young birds. When one realizes the fondness of this Big Heron for a nest-site in the tallest of trees, he cannot fail to appreciate the adapta- bility of nature's subjects to conditions as they find them, when he sees a Great Blue Heron's nest on the ground, surrounded by grass and cactus. (Fig. 11.) Most of the nest-building material, except the coarse grass for the Heron and Pelican nests, must be carried from the mainland three miles away. I saw one of these big birds flying with a two-foot piece of brush to be used in constructing its home. Many of the Pelican nests contained only one egg^ although the usual quota is three; in some the young were just leaving the shell, and in others they were cov- ered with pin-feathers and were half-grown, showing that these birds have a variable laying and hatching period. The year before, as I have stated, I had visited the great Pelican ground on the nesting island in the Indian River, Florida; but a few days before my arrival a flood had washed the nests and eggs away and I found only the dejected and sad-looking birds, waddling aim- lessly about the island, as though they thought, ''Well, what's the use?" So I congratulated myself on my good fortune in finding this big colony in the full period of incubating and feeding the young. I spent many hours with these birds. There were probably eight or ten thousand Laughing Gulls on the island ; their nests of grass and dead weeds were on the ground, everywhere. I could hardly step without disturbing an incubating or laying Gull. The eggs, two to four in number, were of a muddy brown, with drab-colored spots. There were no young Gulls in any of the nests, as the season had been one of unusual lateness with many cold spells. These Gulls, like all of their kind, are inveterate thieves. When I approached the Pelican nesting site and some of the old birds flew away from their young, they did not dare to remain away long, for the Laughing 56 BIRDS Gulls collected in screaming masses over the Pelicans' nests. Every morsel of food lying about or in a nest was quickly seized by a Gull, who was promptly pursued by those less fortunate and made either to swallow the stolen fish or drop it to be caught by some one of the pursuers. A very young Pelican is not eschewed by these brigands. Pelicans do not collect their food from the ground when once disgorged or dropped during the feeding process, so I presume the Gulls are a benefit to the Peli- cans' surroundings because they remove decaying fish. The year before I visited the island, Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson had found on Little Bird Island, a mile away, forty of the Great White Pelicans, nesting — a rare find, indeed, as these birds do not, as a rule, nest south of Utah and Wyoming. But not a vestige did I find of a nest of these birds on either Little Bird Island or Big Bird Island. In fact. Little Bird Island was prac- tically deserted, for I found only a few Boat-tailed Graeckles' and two or three Big Blue Herons' nests on the whole island. On Big Bird Island the Black Skimmers were begin- ning to arrive in large numbers and their sand-exca- vated nests were just being formed. I found only one egg of these peculiar birds. They were flying up and down the shoreline with their long lower mandibles skim- ming the water, picking up minnows, occasionally, as they flew; and all the while some were objecting to my pres- ence by their usual bark-like voices and by sudden dart- ings around my head. One day, as I was walking through the grass, a Purple Gallinule flew up from beneath my feet and join- ing the throng of Gulls in the air was soon lost to view. The sky and sun were behind masses of heavy clouds most of the time I was on the island, thus hampering my efforts at good speed flight pictures with the Gra- flex, but affording ideal conditions for tripod work on nest and eggs. IX Hekring Gull 51. Larus argentatus The Herring Gull is the largest and most widely dis- tributed of the Gulls ; it is twenty-four inches long. With its mantle of deep pearl gray or gull blue, its breast and the rest of its body pure white, and its black-tipped wings, this bird is the most beautiful of its family. Ow- ing to its wide distribution and semi-domestic traits it is also the best known of the Gulls. Its breeding range extends over a large area of the United States and as far north as portions of Alaska and British Columbia. Viery few are the seaside and lakeshore resorts that do not have a flock of these big Gulls frequenting their water fronts. (Fig. 12.) They become very tame and may be seen perched on the piling and sand spits, pa- tiently waiting for the cooks on the anchored boats to toss overboard the crumbs and scraps from the tables. Herring Gulls are not so numerous on the Pacific as on the Atlantic coast. The nest is beautiful and both birds take active part in nest-building. It is made of miscellaneous ma- terial, including grass, weeds, chips of wood and feathers, and is built on the ground from choice, but often in trees. A last year's nest is sometimes utilized by repairing it. Like many land birds, Gulls shape the nest by mould- ing it to fit the builder's breast. After the nest is com- pleted, or even at times when the birds are incubating, they have a habit of carrying around and collecting build- ing material. Whether this is a prolonged building in- stinct or a permanent habit, naturalists have been unable to decide. These birds are persistent fighters among them- selves. Often, during an encounter, they will suddenly cease their combat and in an indifferent manner peck at any object near by, or pick up pieces of grass or sticks. 57 58 BIRDS The Herring Gull does not dive for its food and is a poor swimmer, yet no bird floats more gracefully on the water, or is more skillful in catching food tossed to it. If the morsel is missed, the Gull picks it from the surface of the water, without alighting. These Gulls may frequently be seen dozing, like a domestic hen, with heads snugly tucked beneath their feathers. The young retain their juvenile plumage for the first year. This may lead to confusion in identification. Gulls like to loaf around man's abode, where they can reap a rich harvest of food with less labor than from the open ocean. They are not particular in regard to their diet list. Garbage, sewerage, and dead fish all look alike to a hungry Gull. With its beautiful white plumage this bird appears out of its sphere when seen feeding on a ship's refuse or on city garbage. The Gull does not look like a scav- enger. I have stood on a steamer's deck, when out of sight of land, and watched a flock of them as they fol- lowed in the wake of the boat. They would come scream- ing and begging for more refuse to be cast upon the waters. How they kept up with the ship was a wonder to me. Regardless of the fact that the vessel was mak- ing fifteen miles per hour in the face of quite a gale, these big Gulls kept close, seemingly without winged or other effort. With their wings in graceful, cup-like curves, they bored into the air currents. While I was big game hunting on the Aleutian Pen- insula, the Pacific type of these Gulls was to be found there in great numbers. The natives told me that they collected large quantities of Gull 's eggs each year during the nesting period. On Kodiak Island I saw these birds at low tide, feed- ing on clams and other moluscae, which are abundant there. I saw a Gull pick up a large clam, fly with it to a height of twenty feet, and drop it on a pile of glacial boulders. If the shell was broken the clam was greedily eaten ; but if the drop failed to smash the shell, the Gull picked it up and from a greater height dropped the clam again. This was repeated until the objective was at- tained, often requiring many efforts. Is this reasoning! If not, what is it? Fig. 29. THE TWO ORPHANS f])age 85) Fig. 30. YOUNG SNOWY HERONS (page 85) to Laughing Gtull; Black-Headed Gull 58. Larus atricilla (Linn.) This beautiful and noisy Black-headed Gull is found all over temperate North America. Its breeding range is practically confined to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and the South Atlantic Ocean. Laughing Gulls congregate in vast numbers during the breeding season. Their nests are built on the ground and are constructed of coarse sea-grass and weeds. The eggs are usually three in number and are of an olive shade mixed with splotches of brown. The bird is about sixteen inches long. The name, Laughing Gull, was given it because of its peculiar and persistent laughter-like call. This Gull is marked by a black head, the black ex- tending faither on the chin and throat than on the nape. There is a white spot back of the eye. The general mark- ing is whitish, the mantle grayish. The outer six pri- maries are black with white tips; the bill, eyes and feet are carmine. The Franklin, Bonaparte and Laughing Gull are marked somewhat similarly. While I was working on an island in the Laguna de la Madre, in the last weeks in May, the vast throng of these feathered hosts began to arrive. They at once got busy building nests on the ground. A few days later great numbers of Royal and Cabot Terns made their appearance. The island was now covered with an ever- moving mass of feathers and the air was full of mingled screams and laughter. The Terns pre-empted the sandy, shell-strewn beaches, while the Laughing Gulls preferred the grassy stretches between the many little brackish, sulphurated gas-charged pools. I found hundreds of nests scattered all through the grass. In fact, I had to be ever on the alert to keep from stepping on the eggs. Most of the nests contained three brownish ones, but there were no young birds in any 09 60 BIEDS of the nests. The breeding birds did not manifest much fear, as they were constantly flying around me and hov- ering near my head. I repeatedly walked within a few feet of a Gull, while it stood knee-deep in a brackish little pool, complacently viewing the intruder. (Fig. 13.) As I walked across the island hundreds of these birds arose a few feet or yards in front of me, circled and dropped into the grass as soon as I passed. In numbers, like those of a great grasshopper pestilence, they seemed to spring from every blade of grass. Such a laughing chorus one will rarely hear elsewhere. I could scarcely hear my own voice, so loud and constant was the scream- ing laughter about my head. This noise was truly a great treat to the ears of an ornithologist. XI Least Tekn; Sea Swaul-ow 74:. Sterna antillarum This is the smallest of the Terns and is popularly known as the Sea Swallow. Having once seen the bird, with its trim wings and forked tail, in flight, one can read- ily see the resemblance to a Swallow. The upper sur- face of the Least Tern is of a delicate pearl gray. The bird has a black cap, and is pure white on its under surface ; it shows much docility in disposition, when not disturbed, and its ferocity in protesting your presence in its nesting domain is equally marked. These Terns nest over a large area of the United States, and are about nine inches long, or the same size as the Robin. Their bills are tipped with black, and led me, when I first saw one, to believe, as it flew over me, that it was carrying a small mollusk. The nest of the Sea Swallow is like that of the Black Skimmer and many other shore birds, being simply a depression in the sandy beach or a broken shell heap above high tide. Most of the nests I have found have contained only two eggs. (Fig. 14.) The nest is made in an isolated locality away from those of other Terns and Gulls. The eggs are of a whitish-brown, with min- ute chocolate-colored specks all over the surface. These birds feed from a height, from which, as soon as they have discovered it, they hover over a school of minnows, which they capture, not by diving like the Pelican, but by a skimming process with the bill barely touching the water. While I was walking along the shore of the Laguna de la Madre, on the Texas Gulf Coast, two of these grace- ful Terns flew over my head, screaming as if they were being tortured by some unseen hand. It was in their nesting season and I understood the meaning of all their noise and confusion — I was near their nest; they were protesting against the intrusion on their shell-strewn, 62 BIRDS sandy nesting beach. I looked for an hour before I lo- cated the nest, with its two brownish chocolate-spotted eggs. All the while the birds were screaming and dart- ing at my head and kept it up until I had made the pic- ture and taken my departure. They are beautiful little birds and are on the verge of shameful extermination, through the demands of our fair sex for hat and other decorations. Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, President of the National Audubon Societies, says : *'The beauty of plumage, the ease with which they might be killed and their vast numbers all contributed to their popularity with the feather trade, and during the eighties, before the Audubon work became effective, their slaughter constituted one of the blotches on our American life, ten thousand being taken on Cobb Island in one season. ' ' These birds are now under United States protection, and are said to be on the increase. Fig. 33. LITTLE BLUE HERON NEST AND EGGS (page 89) Fig. 34. LOUISIANA HERON (page 88) XII Black Skimmer; Scissor-Bill ; Cut-Watee 80. Rynchopsnigra This freakish-looking bird is marked by a black back, white outer tail feathers and belly, and under mandible an inch or more longer than the upper; its lower bill, legs and feet are bright carmine. It is about nineteen inches long and its nest is a rounded excavation made by the bird's moulding its body into the yielding sand. Four cream-colored eggs with dark brown splotches are laid in the sand spit. A barren sand spit is selected for a nesting site. (Fig. 15.) The Black Skimmer is strictly maritime and is rather abundant along the Florida and Texas gulf coastline, breeding in large numbers near Corpus Christi, on the low, sandy beaches in the Laguna de la Madre. The bird is a typical migrant, appearing along our southern coast in May and breeding in colonies. Chapman, in his admirable description of the Black Skimmer, says : * ' On Cobb 's Island, when the nests were reached, the uproar increased and with it the excite- ment and boldness of the particular bird whose eggs or nest I chanced to be standing near. ' ' They repeatedly charged him. The early ornithologist maintained that these birds incubate only during the night and in stormy weather. This has been proved to be a mistake, as both birds have repeatedly been seen on the nest at all hours of the day or night. They have a harsh voice of a scolding char- acter. As they feed they skim along the shoreline, the lower mandible plowing a furrow through the shal- low water, the mouth open to pick up surface minnows and other edible things, as small crabs and crustaceous denizens of the seashore. One day in March, while bird-picturing along a sandy beach of Tampa Bay, Florida, I discovered a flock of one hundred or more of these remarkable and unusual look- 63 64 BIRDS ing birds, standing on a partly submerged spit. They were all facing one way and with their freakish-looking bills and definite black, white and red coloring, pre- sented an unusual and interesting picture. After care- ful stalking, I got within picture range and secured a fair photograph of the group. I met this bird on more intimate terms in the Laguna de la Madre two years later, near Corpus Christi, Texas. xin Snake-Bied; Daetee; Watbe Tuekey; Anhinga 118. Anhinga anhinga (Linn.) This bird is a native of the tropics and semi-tropics of most countries of the earth. Having once seen it in the water, with its small head and waving neck, one can easily understand why it is often called ** Snake-bird. " Then, when the same bird is perched awkwardly in the top of a dead tree or on the high limbs of a tall cypress, its fan-shaped tail, ladder-bar black markings and wings with black and white bars, make its resemblance to a Wild Turkey truly striking; hence the name, ''Water Turkey." Its torpedo-shaped body and the wonderful webbing of its front and back toes make the Anhinga one of the fastest diving birds. It is said to pursue and capture fish under the water by its rapid swimming, using its wings to increase its speed, but of the truth of this statement I am in doubt, as the bird^s wings are large and not shaped for use under water. However, a fish once within the grasp of its long, sharp, backward, ser- rated, teeth-like bill has indeed very little chance of escape. Of all birds with which I am acquainted this one presents the most varied coloring. Joseph of old, with his coat of many colors, had nothing on the Anhinga, with its mane of black feathers and side plumes of purple and whitish-brown; its breast of fawn-color with a rich chestnut border, and its back feathers of brown with edges and centers of black; its neck of grayish-brown to reddish, iris red, its bill yeUow with green edges, the bare skin about its eyes livid green, its nucal sac yellow and its feet olive or yellow with black claws. The parental instinct is very strong in these big birds while incubating and rearing their offspring. The young require much protection from the cold rains at night and from the mid-day heat of the burning tropical sun. The female is often seen standing over the nest 65 ee BIRDS with wings half drooping and feet far apart, head erect and mouth open, panting for breath, while the young lie snugly placed in the cool shadow of the parent bird's body, fresh from the water. It was during one of these brooding periods that I secured my best pic- ture of the Snake-bird. The nest is composed of coarse sticks and is a large, compactly built structure, placed, usually, from ten to fifteen feet over the water. The number of eggs is from two to four. The full-grown bird measures about thirty- six inches. It was while photographing in the big bird rookeries of Florida that I found my first Snake-bird's nest, which was located twenty feet from the water in a mangrove tree. In order to photograph the birds at close range it was necessary for me to devise some method of steady- ing the ever-moving treetop and anchoring my camera close to the nest. This I did by running many ropes from one tree to another, until I had the swaying boughs snugly fastened. Then I left the camera, or rather the focusing cloth, for three days at the point where I had decided to anchor the camera. When the birds had ceased to take notice of it I securely fastened my camera in posi- tion and tied the focusing cloth over it, focused sharply on the spot which the old bird occupied while feeding and brooding. Then I dropped a fishing line to the ground and trailed it one hundred feet into the mangrove and palmetto snake-ridden swamp. Returning to the tree, I climbed to the camera and set the shutter at 1/25 second with an F.8 diaphragm opening, after which I went back to my muddy hiding-spot to await the return of the old birds. It was then that I was enabled to make my first Snake-bird picture. The old birds, craning their necks from the tops of the tall trees four hundred yards away, had been watch- ing my every movement; they now began to rush back- wards and forwards over the nest-site, their heads turned sidewise. After several skirmishing flights the female lighted in the mangrove near the nest and remained perfectly quiet for half an hour. She then moved down the limb toward the begging young, until she was within two feet of the nest, but out of focus — and in this posi- SNAKE BIRD 67 tion she tantalizingly remained for two long hours. All of that time I was cramped up in my palmetto blind with the villainous mosquitoes taking every advantage of my enforced non-combative attitude toward them. With my fish line grasped expectantly in wait for a proper position of the bird, I passed those two hours under a nervous tension rarely experienced, even on some of my big game hunts. During the prolonged absence of the parent birds, caused by the presence of the focusing cloth, the young kept up a most persistent ''skeek, skeek, skeek!" wav- ing their snake-like necks, while their gular sacs oscil- lated with the rapidity of an electric buzzer. With the old birds within a few feet of the nest the pleadings and begging were pathetic. This continued until the old birds responded by feeding the young. The Sn^ke-bird comes in with the blustering noise of a Wild Turkey, lighting awkwardly and making a great noise with its wings, while its actual perching is ungainly and clumsy to a marked degree. Every day as I approached the nest tree, the old birds flew a few hundred yards away from me, then sud- denly wheeled about and at great speed returned, passing over me and repeating their rapid flights, each time ris- ing higher than before, until they were several hundred feet high, when they soared in vast circles, with out- spread wings, all the while ascending until they became mere circling specks of black in the dome of the sky. Now, after I had concealed myself for a short time, they came tumbling back, without any preliminary skir- mishes, and landed in the tops of the mangrove trees near the nests. Thence, with much fuss, they waddled down the limbs toward their long-necked, pleading young. The male, as he approached the nest containing the young, presented a formidable appearance, with his jet- black rigid neck, his bristling plumage and open mouth, all the while producing sounds like the striking of two pebbles together, alternating with sounds like the squeak- ing of a new leather riding saddle. The female was far more tractable, in both appearance and action. The male reminded me of a maddened baboon with all his hair turned the wrong way. (Fig. 16. Frontispiece.) 68 BIEDS The female finally reached the nest, and from the instant of perching to the time she settled by the side of the two ugly, leathery-looking young birds, her atti- tude was one of extreme caution and suspicion, as the camera was tied to the tree within six feet of the nest The male put in his appearance with a great bluster of apparent courage, lighting within two feet of the female. With their snaky necks craning and waving in all directions, their rat-like eyes searching every nook and cranny for possible enemies or suspicious dangerous movements, while their acute hearing gave an alarm at the snapping of every twig, each seemed to await the advance of the other. First one and then the other, with cautious and awkward waddles, went down the limb lead- ing to the nest, all the while giving vent in protesting Anhinga to disapproval of the presence of that black something with the big, staring, glass eye too near the domicile. The female, after reaching the nest, spread her wings so as to protect the young from the glare of the sun. First one young bird and then another received a portion of pre-digested food from the mother's beak, the mother all the while keeping the young in the shade, without letting her body touch them. I watched this performance for several minutes with unbounded interest before I pulled the line on the camera shutter and made my first Anhinga photograph. Then the tired, muddy, patient and anxious camera man folded his tent, so to speak, and hiked to other parts of the rookery. Although I lived in doubting anticipation of the re- sult of my efforts, I was sure that the light conditions and time of exposure were correct and that proved to be the case, as the frontispiece in this book testifies. Many a naturalist has spent weeks in the vicinity of the nesting site of the Snake-bird without securing a good picture. (Fig. 17.) My own pictures were obtained after much painstaking effort and patience. *'The Brooding Anhinga" is probably the best photograph ever made of this shy bird. In the grouping is contained a complete record of the household doing of the Anhinga nursery. The brooding attitude of the mother, the plead- SNAKE-BIED 69 ing of the one hungry young bird, the satisfied composure of the one last fed is plainly shown. I have never made a bird picture that required more caution or greater patience than this one, but it is worth all it cost me. XIV Cormorant: Nigger Goose 121. Phalacrocorax dilophns floridanus This big black bird is about thirty inches long and is easily identified if one will only remember that no other water bird resembles it closely, save the Water Turkey, or Anhinga. The Cormorant is sometimes incorrectly called "Water Turkey." The Double Crested Cormorant is the bird usually seen passing through the central part of the United States to its northern nesting grounds, while the other variety is found in the great rookeries along the Gulf coast. While on a hunting trip to Kodiak Island, Alaska, I frequently saw at close range specimens of the Red- faced Cormorant, and of the Violet Shag, the largest of the family. They are beautiful birds with richly irides- cent greenish plumage. All of this family fish either from the surface or from a perch on a rock or post. They do not dive, like the Brown Pelican and Kingfisher, from a height while flying over the water. With their great strength of body and rapid swimming ability these big birds pursue and capture fish as they dart through the water, and the fish have little chance of escape when once captured by their hooked, serrated bills which, with their dilatable gular sacs, can swallow a fish a foot long, a pound in weight, and larger than the neck of the birds. (Fig. 18.) I spent a part of several days in a Cormorant rook- ery on an island in the Gulf of Mexico, off the west coast of Florida. This rookery, with its closely and roughly built nests of coarse sticks, reminded me of a vast hive of giant, black-feathered bees. So closely packed were the nests in some of the live oak trees that their sides overlapped. In an area of twenty by thirty feet I pictured sixty-two nests, all occupied by young Cormo- rants. Just imagine a spectator's predicament under- 70 Fig. 37. MOURNING DOVES (page 97) Fig. 38. BLACK VULTURE'S NEST AND EGG (page 99) Fig. 39. HARRIS HAWK (page 102) Fig. 40. GOLDEN EAGLE (page 102) COBMORANT 71 neath one of these trees ! It was no place for a full-dress suit and a plug hat. Of all the bird rookeries, that of the Cormorant is undoubtedly the filthiest. It reeks in filth ; the ground beneath is moist and muddy, and is covered with excrement and partly digested and decayed fish, while all around are scattered the mouldering bodies of dead birds that have either died in the nest and been pushed out, or have fallen and been killed by the fall, or have starved to death after falling, since the old birds do not come to the ground to feed the fallen young. The trees are thoroughly calcimined and myriads of small red bird-lice are to be found on every leaf or floating in the air. Add to all this the dense foliage and prison- like bars of mangrove bordering the water's edge of the island, the mosquitoes with rapacious appetites and the humid atmosphere and you have some idea of the abundance of the inducements offered one to stay away from these rookeries and let the birds enjoy to their fullest their freedom and home comforts. I have seen an old bird disgorge a fish ten or twelve inches long — one that must weigh fully a pound — into a nest beside the young and then depart, as if to say, * * There you are ! Help yourself ! ' ' That, however, is a task not always easily accomplished by the young birds ; hence every few minutes a big juicy fish finds its way to the ground. This must account for the number of Man- o-war birds that I saw sitting on the edge of the Cormo- rants' nests, for the Man-o-war birds are great flyers and secure their food by attacking other birds and taking their meal from them. Evidently, the long-winged birds were eating the disgorged fish by the side of the young Cormorants. (Fig. 22.) The old Cormorants, in a moment of surprise or excitement, will divide their last meal with the man under the tree, with reckless disregard of the features of the visitor and his wearing apparel. I can testify to the fact. The last day I put in at this rookery I was forced to wade into the Gulf of Mexico and launder my outer and under clothing before I was in a fit condition to return to civili- zation or could be passed on favorably by the Board of Health. XV American Brown Pelican 126. Pelicanus fuscus This remarkable-looking big water bird, with its bill several times the length of its head and a ''dip net" holding a gallon attached to the under side of its bill, is represented in the United States by two varieties of sub-genus, the White Pelican and its lesser brother, the Brown Pelican. Both are fish eaters, the Brown secur- ing its fish by diving from a height into a school of sur- face-swimming minnows. The White Pelican, the skin of which is filled with air cells, cannot dive but must pa- tiently wait for its food supply to come within reach of its beak, to be scooped up by a quick stroke, the wide- open bill and sac forming a semi-vacuum into which fish- laden water rushes. With a rapid closure the fish are imprisoned, while the water is gradually forced from the sac along the edges of the bill; then the fish are swallowed. The White Pelican is a bird of the middle and west- em United States ; it breeds both along the seashore and along inland fresh water lakes, as in the Yellowstone and the Klamath lakes. The Brown Pelican is maritime and abounds along the Gulf of Mexico from the Rio Grande to Key West and up the Atlantic shore to South Carolina. Both species are gregarious and gather in untold thousands in some localities, to breed. (Fig. 19.) On beholding these awkward-looking birds as, with ministerial mien, they pose, seemingly for their pictures, one could hardly believe with what grace and ease they can soar to great heights and hover there for hours, with the facility of an Eagle or a Condor. When a Brown Pelican discerns a school of Men- haden minnows near the surface it instantly strikes out after them with a Pelican scream, which every bird within hearing interprets as the call, ''Dinner is now 72 AMERICAN BROWN PELICAN 73 being served!" Down comes each to join in the feast, pitching from a height of thirty or more feet, headlong into the water, with open beak and breast, so hard and fast that it reminds one of a heavy stone tossed into the water from an equal height. When the bird rights itself it presents a ridiculous and comical picture as, with much seeming dignity, it gradually forces the water from the distended sac and tosses its head upward to swallow the imprisoned prey. If the fish is five or more inches long and turned tail downward the bird skilfully maneuvers until the head points toward its stomach before swallow- ing the victim. All of this time you are amused to see one or more Gulls following in the wake of the feeding Pelicans and picking up the crumbs from the latter 's table, or even alighting on the Pelicans' backs or heads, screaming, quarreling and begging for food, often actually seizing the tails of protruding fish from between the lightly- clasped bills of the Pelicans and holding on so per- sistently that the big birds, as if in disgust, relax their hold and seem to say: ''Take it, you beggar. Thief I" Birds that swim and dive for their food are all awk- ward and ugly on land, while those that wade are the emblems of poise and beauty, as personified in the Great Whooping Crane, and the Great Blue Heron. One of the best known and most accessible large breeding places of the Brown Pelican is on Pelican Island, in the Indian River, on the east coast of Florida. (Fig. 20.) This island of only three acres is the breeding place each season for four thousand pairs of Pelicans. The general surface of the island is only three feet above the water line at the usual stage ; therefore, a heavy rain with a strong wind from the north may flood the entire surface, except a little knoll on the eastern side of the island. A few years ago the island was studded with stunted mangrove trees, but at the time of my visit only two or three dead stumps remained. The river at this point is about three miles wide, the island being within half a mile of the eastern shoreline. A very rich deposit of guano makes up the surface of the island. I was told by someone wMle visiting in the vicinity that much of this guano had been removed and 74 BIRDS used for fertilizer on nearby farms. As to the truth of this I cannot vouch. ^ The island had been flooded a few days before my visit and thousands of eggs and destroyed nests were piled in promiscuous heaps at various points. Great numbers of the old birds were sitting on the water near the island in a most pensive and solemn mood, if one could judge from their actions and appearance. Some of the birds had taken to the nearby Long Island, separating the river from the Atlantic, and I could plainly see their white heads as they perched in the mangrove trees. A few years ago the Pelicans tried to rear their young on Long Island but the mosquitoes were so bad that the birds had to abandon the venture, at the ex- pense of thousands of young that were literally killed by the pests. Mosquitoes do not thrive or remain on the treeless, wind-blown and isolated small islands in the river ; hence the tortured birds soon returned to their old haunts. These particular Pelican Island birds prefer terrestrial nest-sites, as was illustrated when they moved to the wooded island before mentioned, where most of the nests were built on the ground. (Fig. 21.) On the west coast of Florida I have seen thousands of nests in trees and not a single one on the ground. I presume that if all the trees were removed the birds would gladly accept the new conditions and adopt the ground-nesting habit. One would suppose that this awk- ward big bird would have much difficulty in alighting, balancing and feeding its young from the small branches surrounding the arboreal nest-site, and such is the case ; however, a very small percentage of the young birds wander far enough from the nest to fall to the ground or to be out of reach of the parent bird at meal-time. I have, for hours, stood in my tent within twenty feet of fifteen Pelicans' nests, each containing two or three young birds, and watched the movements of the old ones while they were feeding the young, and I have never seen a nestling fail to get its rations. But I did see some dead young birds hanging in the trees and a very few on the ground, for the old birds do not go to the ground to feed fallen young. Fig. 43. SPARROW HAWK EGG (page 107) Fig. 44. BALD EAGLE YOUNG (page 106) AMERICAN BROWN PELICAN 75 The Brown Pelicans soon accept man's presence as something not to be dreaded and become very tame. I have repeatedly had them, near the winter resorts in Florida, take food from my hand, or rather catch the food tossed to them, while within three feet of me. (Fig. 22.) Fish Crows, large Gulls and mosquitoes are the prin- cipal enemies of the water-surrounded nest-sites of the rooking birds. Man is the only destroyer of living things who has no special motive save a selfish and useless one. An additional handicap under which these birds labor in rearing their young on the ground is the habit of the full-grown young birds of devouring the less matured nestlings of their neighbors. The parent birds do not, as do our Robins and Wood Thrushes, show parental love and affection. Seemingly, home duties cease with the supplying of food. Brown Pelicans are very ungainly in their efforts to pick anything from the ground, but their headlong diving is the very climax of grace and accuracy. There does not appear to be any neighborly or friendly intercourse between the water birds that colon- ize at the breeding places. In fact, I witnessed many a fight between next door neighbors on Big Bird Island, in the Laguna de la Madre, when an over-zealous bird tried to steal a stick from the side walls of a neighbor's nest. A flock of breeding Pelicans undoubtedly devours large numbers of fish in a season, but from all reliable sources it is understood that their food consists of the unsavory Menhaden, or mullet. Far more than I relish a tasteless baked or fried mullet, I enjoy seeing a Pelican catch one. The birds are welcome to my share of these fish. XVI , Roseate Spoonbill 188. Ajaja ajaja While viewing the surroundings on the first after- noon after my arrival on the shore of the Laguna de la Madre, I beheld a sight that would thrill any nature- lover, especially an ornithologist. I saw approaching a rose-colored streak, like those of the rays of the setting sun on the top of a distant lofty mountain peak or cloud bank. It was my first view of the Roseate Spoonbill, a bird once plentiful but now rarely seen on our coastline. There were twenty-three in this flock. I watched them with my glasses until they lighted on a sand spit a mile away, where I frequently observed them, afterward, as long as I remained in that vicinity. A few miles west and south of this point, in Old Mexico, there is a large breeding ground occupied by these birds. Like the Egrets, they have been killed for their beautiful-colored plumage, practically to the point of extermination. One view of this flock was more refresh- ing to me than to stand on a busy thoroughfare and watch a long parade of women wearing ornaments made from the feathers of the birds. Even when they were two miles away, on a sandy beach, the beautiful rose-red line, could be plainly seen. How I longed to be within photographing distance of them ! I trust our United States bird-killing restrictions may become more firm and that the Roseate Spoonbills will return in large numbers to decorate our gulf shores, and not some fair lady's head-wear. Late one morning I tried to get within picturing dis- tance of this flock. When I had approached to within one hundred yards of them they took flight. I stood watch- ing the procession, as with measured wing-beats it slowly made its way toward an island in the Gulf of Mexico. 76 EOSEATE SPOONBILL 77 The setting sun, playing with rich, mellow rays on the big, roseate birds, made a picture of incomparable beauty. Enchanted by the sight I kept my eyes on the flock until the last glow of rose and gold had vanished in the distance. XVII White Ibis; Spanish Cublew 184. Guar a alba With exception of the longest wing feathers, which are glossy black, the plumage of the White Ibis is a pure white. Its legs, feet, bill and bare face are orange red. The bill is sickle-shaped and is about six inches long; hence the resemblance to the Curlew and the popular name. The sexes are alike in color and the length of the bird is twenty-four inches ; it is a permanent resident of the South Atlantic and Gulf states, rarely visiting the Central United States, and breeds in communities along with other shore birds. The nest, placed a few feet from the ground, is composed of coarse twigs. The White Ibis lays from three to five chalky-white eggs, splotched with brown. (Fig. 23.) The feet of the birds are not webbed ; hence they are poor swimmers, feeding on frogs, cray- fish and other kinds of fish that are easily accessible. These birds prefer to ''rook" by themseles, but when their nests are disturbed will colonize with Herons, An- hingas and other birds of like species. On one island in Florida I saw three thousand White Ibis' nests, and every nest had been robbed by the Fish Crows. The poor birds had finally abandoned the nesting place and sought new quarters with the Herons on another island a mile away. The villains — the Fish Crows — had followed and were flying over the rookery, looking for more nests to plunder. I repeatedly wit- nessed the act of robbing a nest. The black burglar would light nearby and sit there with its complaining "caw, caw!" waiting for the incubating or the laying bird to leave the nest ; the instant this occurred the Crow would hop or light on the edge of the nest and proceed to peck holes in the eggs and suck them dry, or, as was the case in some instances, deliberately throw two or three eggs out of the nest on the ground, and fly away 78 WHITE IBIS 79 with one in its thieving bill. Not a protest was offered by the Ibis or Herons, while they sat quietly near and saw their homes pillaged by the renegades. There should be a special bounty placed on the scalp of the Fish Crow by the states where it thrives from its ill-gotten gains. On nearing a rookery, one day, I saw a great flutter- ing of white wings in a mangrove tree. On going nearer, I found that a White Ibis had by some means caught its foot in the fork of a small limb and was dangling head downward. I released the bird but its leg was badly fractured. The bones were protruding from the lacer- ated flesh and skin. Here I brought to bear my profes- sional skill, by anaesthetizing the bird, amputating its leg and fixing it up, surgically speaking. I then made a close-up photograph of its long, decurved, sickle-shaped bill and turned the bird loose. (Fig. 24.) Six months later, I received a letter from Mr. Ashbumer, the warden, telling me that my one-legged patient was, to all appear- ance, well and thriving. Because of the habit these birds have of resting on one leg, let it be hoped that my patient will manage to get along, in the years to come, with its remaining support. XVIII Great Blue Heron ; Blue Crane 194. Ardea herodias The Great Blue Heron has a wide range and breeds over the same territory, usually nesting in tall trees, but often on the ground, and laying from three to six dull greenish-blue eggs. It is a bird forty-two inches long, and is found in flocks only at the nesting sites. The male and female divide household duties and are mated for the season; they fight faithfully for their home rights, and are patient, accurate and quiet fishers. The nest is a piece of coarse, rickety architecture. No lichen upholstery is put into this nursery and no bur- nishing of the wicker-work outer walls is found. While working in a Cormorant rookery in the Gulf of Mexico, off the coast of Florida, one hot May day, I discovered, much to my surprise, a full-grown Blue Heron perched on top of a dead tree stump thirty feet from the ground and almost directly over me. (Fig. 25.) It was posed as gracefully as any etching on a bronze vase, and its seeming indifference to my approach led me to conclude that it was a young bird. However, it was an old bird that was taking a much-needed rest after the morning meal had been served. I had made no effort at secret approach or stalking, and I was heavily loaded with a Graflex and a 4x5 plate camera, extra lenses and a carrying case filled with loaded plate-holders and a tri- pod. I deliberately deposited my load in a selected dry spot, set up my tripod, mounted the long bellows camera, carefully focused on the bird statuary and made two exposures of three seconds each. I used an Adon telephoto lens. All this time the bird was practically motionless. Finally I decided I wanted a different pose, so I called up to the Heron to change its position, where- upon, much to my surprise and chagrin, it deliberately straightened its neck to full length, gave one beat with 80 GREAT BLUE HERON 81 its powerful wings and then, with beautifully curved neck and extended rudder-like legs, flew away. It is indeed a rare opportunity for the bird photog- rapher to have such good luck as to have a full-grown Blue Heron pose for its picture within thirty feet of the camera. On looking for the source of attraction I dis- covered, within ten feet of the dead tree, a large open- work nest, and sitting in it a full-grown young Big Blue Heron, fully feathered, but with weak legs and untried wings. To secure a good picture of the young in the top of the wind-blown mangrove, surrounded, as it was, with green leaves, was impossible. I decided to climb the tree and bring the bird to the ground, picture it there and return it to its perch. I climbed the fresh guano-frescoed tree to within reach of the bird, but I soon found that a four-inch bill projected two feet with the power and rapidity of an arrow was something to be reckoned with, when holding to a waving tree with one hand and reaching for a long shinbone of a young Great Blue Heron with the other. I persisted in my efforts but each time I thought I could secure a hold the young bird climbed a little farther out on the limb, until I could go no farther; then down the tree I climbed, or sHd, and up another I went. Each time the bird kept beyond my reach. I finally secured a ten-foot pole to which I fastened a loop of soft twine, and by this method I was able to bring the young bird to the ground without injury and photograph it. It fought to the last trench and I returned it to the perch tempera- mentally unconquered, but photographed. While on a trip to the Laguna de la Madre, near Corpus Christi, I heard of a Big Blue Heron breeding rookery a few miles back in shore. (Fig. 26.) Taking my bird tent, two cameras, tripod and field glasses, I struck out to work my way to the place. That part of the Texas gulf shoreline had been under the awful tidal wave of two years before. Driftwood and sea-weed were piled everywhere on the ground and in the mesquite trees, many of which had been killed by the salt water. Dead mesquite trees are just about as unyielding as barbed wire entanglements. Add to this many bunches of cacti with the probability of a Texas diamond-backed rattle- 82 BIRDS snake being hidden under a cactus and ready to strike at any time, and you have an idea of the many pleasures one must miss, as he worms his passage two or three miles through this mess. My bird enthusiasm and clothing were somewhat dampened long before I heard, smelled or saw the breed- ing grounds. I arrived at last with my skin and clothing somewhat the worse for wear, but my enthusiasm was renewed as soon as I beheld the size of the rookery and the number of its inhabitants. There were about three hundred big waders nesting in the tops of the low mes- quite trees. Many of the nests were empty, as the young had grown to the size of full-grown birds and were away, feeding in the lagoons. Others, full-grown young, were in the nests. At my approach, the old birds arose from every treetop while many of the young began screaming from fright and others kept on begging for food. The old birds, with folded necks and outstretched legs, were flying in confusion over my head, dropping a chalk line at every post and disgorging partly-digested catfish or mullet at every turn. There were three young birds in most of the nests, and three fresh eggs in those of incubating birds. One youngster had a wing off at the elbow but was perfectly well and active. Near the rookery I saw a Large White Heron associating with the Big Blues. A Mr. Watson, living near the rookery, told me that this white bird was often in the blue rookery, and had been visiting there four years. It was very wild and hard to approach. This was probably a hybrid or an albino phase of the Big Blue. I found one full-grown bird dead, hanging head down, with a foot grasping a limb in a death grip. These birds are good climbers and will return to the nest if by chance they should tumble to the ground. I selected a nest with three young in it, located favor- ably for picturing, and erecting the umbrella tent within fifteen feet of the spot I entered the hot-air prison to await the return of the old birds. While the sun was streaming its torrid rays, the three little Herons, with pulsating gular sacs and perspi- ration in great drops dripping from their yellow and black bills, patiently awaited the return of the food-pro- GREAT BLUE HERON 83 viding parents. The sight of the latter was the signal for great commotion on the part of the young, who, with craning necks and a *'kek, kek, kek!" rapidly repeated, made wild rushes about the nest. "With great wing expanse the immense and hand- some parent birds floated on the air currents, as they drew near the nest, and alighted gracefully and gently as a falling autumn leaf. Their departure was of equal charm and free from winged noise. In fact, were it not for the excited, hungry pleadings of the young, as the parents approached, the old birds could have come to the nest and departed without being heard by one concealed within ten feet of it. He who has never had a close-up view of a Big Blue Heron, except in a glass museum case, or behind the wire netting of a park aviary, can form no idea of the real beauty of the big and graceful birds until he comes in contact with them during the rearing of the young. While standing on the edge of the nest with its three full-grown young birds around it, the parent Heron presents a picture of statuesque beauty beheld in no other bird that I have seen. (Fig. 27.) With its plume- crested head and rapier-like bill, its streaming nuptial breast plumes, its graceful neck, trim legs, and shapely body silhouetted against a sky of pure azure, this bird stands out sharply like a clear-cut medallion by a master of his art. However, when the actual feeding process is in full action all graceful lines are broken into a con- fused mass of fluttering wings and jumbling beaks, mixed with what appears to be the agony of death from strangu- lation, and the performance looks like a wrestling match with no holds barred. The full-grown young birds are unable to fly after a hearty meal of two pounds of mullet, but they often, in a moment of excitement and fear, disgorge the partly digested fish and thus lightened of their load of ballast, make an awkward but sure getaway. It is not unusual for such young birds to donate their last meal of partly digested fish to the visitor beneath the nest tree. These Texas birds were the Wards Heron, a little larger than the usual run of Big Herons, and measuring forty-eight inches, while the ordinary Big Blue Heron measures forty-two inches. XIX Snowy Heron; Little White Egret; Bonnet Martyr 197. Egretta candidissima This pure white bird is about twenty-four inches long and is marked by beautiful crest and back feathers dur- ing the breeding period. The eyes and toes of the Snowy Heron are yellow ; the bill is yellow at the base and black the rest of the way; the lower part of the black legs are also yellow; the claws are black. The bird is a perma- nent resident of the Southern United States, on the Gulf and Atlantic sides of Florida, occasionally wandering into the central states during August. It lays from three to five eggs of a bluish color. The nest is a rather poor specimen of a bird's home, built of coarse sticks and located five or more feet from the ground. These birds breed in communities; since they are generally recognized as the birds furnishing plumes for the millin- ers, these Herons are popularly known as the ''Bonnet Martyrs." (Fig. 28.) With its dorsal train and decomposed crest of head feathers and general plumage of the purest white, this little Heron symbolizes innocence and purity. So pure is the white of the bird's plumage that against the blue of the Florida midday sky it is almost lost to view be- cause of its blending with the actinic rays. It is, there- fore, difficult to make a good picture of the bird. The Snowy Herons have been hounded from island to island by plume hunters. The birds were on the verge of extinction, at one time ; however, by a rigid enforce- ment of the laws protecting them, they are now on the increase. Of Florida's assets these birds are high in the Ust. Within my umbrella tent, with the Herons all round me, I had ample opportunities to study their every trait while nesting. Once, two tiny half-naked baby Herons stood on a limb within five feet of my tent, waiting patiently for the 84 SNOWY HERON 85 parents that never came ; the young birds were doomed to death by starvation, while, in all probability, some woman who thinks more of pet cats and of feathers than of mother birds with starving babies, was displaying the nuptial and breeding plumes of the dead parents of these little Snowy Herons. (Fig. 29.) If no market were created by women wearing such plumes, there would be no incentive to hunt and destroy these birds during their breeding lives. One female had evidently lost her mate. I photo- graphed her frequently from the tent for several days. At no time did the male come to the nest to assist the little mother in appeasing the hunger of her two fledg- lings. I named her ' ' The Young Widow Ardea Candidis- sima,*^and like all young widows she was the very essence of beauty and propriety. When she came to the nest to feed, her manners were those of a modest, solicitous, loving parent, whose thoughts were centered on the duty of caring for her brood. The feeding act was not one of a perfunctory character, performed because nature demanded it ; it was done from a truly motherly instinct. As she approached the young her attitude was one of enthusiastic anticipation. Look how she clucks with glee, as she strolls down a nearby limb toward the nest, with its anxious, hungry babies, whose calls are always, "more, more, more!" (Fig. 30.) See how she displays her lovely nuptial plumage ! How each delicate feather vibrates, like nothing else of which one can think ! Shame on any woman whose vanity would create a market for this Heron's maternity garments! Just watch this bird as she gently steps upon the threshold of her brood! Her steps are queenly and dignified! Observe how she impartially distributes a little to this one and to that: no favors shown; all must be served alike. Even though the mother has fished all day in some distant shallow pond she must disgorge from her meager supply, food probably needed for her own sustenance. On one occasion, a young bird had left the nest a few feet. The mother came, fed those that had remained in the nest, but refused to feed the disobedient one until it had returned. On another, after feeding, she caressed her brood, brushed her pearly white feathers until they 86 BIRDS were immaculately clean, posed for her picture, yawned a few times as though the tent and its occupant made her weary, then let herself down gently upon her brood, with her bosom of soft whiteness, and dropped to sleep — all this within six feet of me and my camera. No theatre, with its dazzling electric-lighted splen- dor, its upholstery of the finest plush and its tapestries of high price, can, to my mind, be compared, for real en- joyment, to my bird tent in the days I spent in the mangrove swamp with these island actors. If any of the young birds happen to be away from home, playing or visiting their neighbors, they make a bee-line for the nest the minute they hear the call, ** Din- ner is served ! " If neighbors ' children accompany them home, the outsiders are sure to be unceremoniously sent away, hungry, and with a good sound flogging from the feeding parent. Although the nests of other Herons are often within two feet of a feeding bird, the young make no effort to intrude or plead for what does not belong to them. In the Gulf of Mexico, near the Mexican border, I saw these birds feeding along the shallow shore line. They have a peculiar way of doing a species of buck dancing, or scraping with their feet, to dislodge hidden food particles in the sandy or muddy bottom, then jump- ing three or four feet into the air, as if some invisible mollusk or crab had seized their toes and they were try- ing to shake the creature off. (Fig. 31.) On a shooting preserve in Bates County, Missouri, there is a large swampy section of ground, covered with weeds of various kinds. This place is ideal for water birds, as myriads of small fish and frogs are to be found in its morasses. In August, 1921, I saw and pictured there six beautiful white Herons which remained about the body of water for six weeks. They were genuine Snowy Herons, and not Little Blues in the white phase. I made the pictures with the camera within sixty feet of the birds as they perched on the dead tree stumps in the water. I was told by the keeper that these birds come to the place yearly. I had studied and pictured these beautiful Little Herons in their homes on the islands in the Gulf of Mexico, and elsewhere, where they are found SNOWY HERON 87 in yearly increasing numbers since the Federal restric- tions were placed on their being killed and on the wearing of their plumage, and I estimated that there was sufficient food in this one swamp for the sustenance of a thousand of these birds. XX Louisiana Heeon ; Lady of the Waters ; Louisiana Egeet 199. Hydranassa tri-color ruficollis The Louisiana Heron is slaty-black on its back and wings, with a whitish streak down the throat. It has a reddish crest and back of neck, white crest feathers, and some white on the rump. Long whitish feathers extend from the back over the tail. The bill in general is black ; the feet are bluish-iris red. This Heron is about twenty-six inches long and is found along our southern shore with other Herons, but is rarely seen far from the seashore. It has no plumes, except in the breeding period. The young do not have the juvenile white stage as the Little Blue Herons do. (Fig. 34.) The nest and eggs of the Louisiana Heron are similar to those of the Snowy Heron. I have seen the homes of these two birds within three feet of one another, and the only way in which I could distinguish them apart was to see the rightful owner on its nest, or leaving or coming to it. The general habits of the two are so similar that no additional description is necessary. 88 XXI Little Blue Heron ; Little White Heron 200. Ardea caerulea (Linn.) This Heron is about twenty-four inches long and is of a general slate-bluish color, with a maroon-colored neck and head. The basal half of its upper bill is of a greenish black and the lower mandible is yellow. The nest is composed of sticks and a few leaves placed ten or more feet from the ground, frequently on limbs of the mangrove, overhanging the water. The Little Blue Heron lays four bluish-green eggs and breeds in vast numbers along with other Herons. In some instances it retains the juvenile white plumage up to or through the first breeding period, but there is no excuse for confusing it with the beautiful Snowy Heron. The general contour is different and the individual plumage does not look like that of the other Heron, except in general color ; the ac- tions about the nest are very different, and the color of the feet and bill of the two birds does not correspond. It is only necessary to come into close contact with both to differentiate, while the Little Blue Heron is in its juvenile white phase. The Little Blue Heron is more restricted in its breed- ing range than the Great Blue Heron and is a diurnal feeder, roosting with large flocks of its kind and feeding near the shore of small lakes or shallow sloughs, being a patient fisher, but not so accurate as the Snowy Heron. Near a rookery in Florida I witnessed a Little Blue building its nest of fine twigs, gathered from a burned- over area. Each twig was carefully selected from the dead limbs of the same bush, and was broken off and carried to the nest. The trips were made on an average of every seven minutes and the nest was completed and contained one egg at the end of forty-eight hours. (Fig. 33.) The feeding note of these birds as they approach the nest is much like that of a guinea fowl; the fighting, or 89 90 BIRDS quarreling note resembles the scream of a parrot when it sees a dog coming around a corner toward its perch. When the young birds have been fed the parent fre- quently stands by the nest for an hour or more, all the while uttering a contented note, much like that of a barn- yard hen as she struts around the yard with her half- grown brood following her. The owner of a nest near my tent had the habit of descending to the ground and eating bill after bill-full of the mud so abundant under the trees, continually dancing and jumping around as if enjoying the feast. The actual act of feeding is, to say the least, a vicious and terrible affair. The parent bird stands by the nest in a seemingly indifferent mood, while the young are screaming and fighting for the best position. Each time the parent's bill is within reach, a young bird seizes it crosswise at the base and jerks violently, while there is much protesting noise from the other less fortunate youngsters. The old bird may, with stoical indifference, refuse to feed for some time, during which the young bird continues, with bull dog tenacity, to pull and jerk at the parent's beak, getting nearer and near to the tip. When the psychological moment for regurgitation arrives the partly digested fish is either forced down the throat of the nestling or, perchance, it may light on the interested photographer's head or camera outfit. Such are the doings in a Heron-breeding rookery at meal time. The proceedings are not an appetizing affair from a human point of view, but they are of absorbing interest to the naturalist, and of vital importance to the young Herons. o w w o o f^ Fig. 47. LONG-EARED OWL'S YOUNG (page 112) Fig. 48. LONG-EARED OWL'S NEST AND EGGS (page 111) xxn Little Green Hebon; Fly-Up-the-Creek ; Chalk-Line, Poke 201. Butorides virescens (Linn.) With the single exception of the Least Bittern, this is the smallest of the long-legged fish-eating Herons. In- cluding the length of its long bill, neck, legs and little body the bird measures only from seventeen to eighteen inches. It is marked by a greenish crown and line below the eyes, a buffy- white throat, a general reddish chestnut back and an ashen belly. Anywhere in temperate North America or even as far north as Manitoba this Heron may be found. Its favorite habitat is along the tree and brush-grown shores of shallow lakes and small streams, where it finds an abundance of minnows, snails, crawfish and other small denizens of the shallow water. From choice the Little Green Heron prefers solitude and is seldom seen with others of its kind, though on rare occasions it builds its nest along with other Herons and with Cormorants. This nest is an unfinished affair of coarse sticks, usually located in trees from ten to fifteen feet from the ground. All country boys are on familiar terms with this little Heron, as both are wont to frequent the same swim- ming hole or fishing stream. Many of us recall the soli- tary bird fisherman, dropping on noiseless wings on a dead snag or stump near where we were fishing. Do you, dear reader, remember how it used to register surprise when it discovered you, fairly springing into the air like a "jack in the box" and uttering agitated squawks, as with dangling legs and extended neck it flew to some nearby dead tree or limb, where it perched with its neck stretched to its fullest, watching you and giving an occa- sional squawk of protest? From its habits you recall 91 92 BIEDS one of its names, ''Fly-np-the-creek*'; the other is unprintable. If the bird is not disturbed too much it becomes very tame and will continue its fishing within a few yards of you, as long as you remain perfectly quiet. The Little Green Heron should be protected. XXIII Limpkin; Crytng Bird; Coulan; Clucking Hen 207. Aramus gig aniens Having seen this queer-looking bird as it slowly walks through the tough slough grass on its rickety legs, one can easily understand why it is called the Limpkin. Every stride is seemingly made with a labored effort and lack of confidence in its powers of balancing. As it worms its way through the swamp it frequently gives a clucking sound like that of the domestic hen. I have never heard its crying call or, if so, I have failed to recog- nize it. (Fig. 32.) This bird is found in the swampy areas of Florida and Texas, also along grassy banks of sluggish streams. It is about thirty inches long and builds its nest of coarse twigs in low trees or on the ground. The Limpkin lays from four to seven eggs, cream color, marked with spots of brown. Like the Bittern it hides easily and will remained ** fixed," its long neck and bill extended, making its detection very difficult, especially if it is standing in dead brown grass. I have walked or rowed to within ten feet of the bird before it took to flight. It is an awkward and ugly thing while on the wing, with its dangling legs and slow, measured wing-beats. It feeds on snails, frogs and other small aquatic denizens. XXIV Bob-White; Quail; Partpidge 289. Colinus virginianus The Quail is the best known and most highly es- teemed of the American game birds. It is widely dis- tributed and, like most of the family, does not migrate but prefers to remain near the place of its birth, where it collects in flocks or coveys. It is an intelligent bird and, like the coyote and fox, maintains its place in spite of the advance of civilization. In fact, the Quail prefers man's open fields as summer breeding places, and his hedgerows as its winter resorts, where, on the coldest days, it may be seen huddled in flocks to maintain warmth. The Quail is fond of dust baths and there are very few dusty country roads that are not pitted by the body of the dust-bathing Quail. The California and Gambel Quails in a measure sup- plant the Bob-White in Texas and other western and southern states. Bob-White proclaims his name from stump or fence post, as he perches there while his mate incubates. The young are hatched fully fledged and leave the ground nest as soon as the shell is broken. The Quail is a prolific layer, often laying as many as eighteen or twenty eggs. (Fig. 35.) Of all birds I have tried to picture, I consider this the most difficult. I have tried the tent method, cover- ing the camera and tripod with vines, leaves and grass, and all methods have failed. I have succeeded in pic- turing only the eggs in the nest, just as I found them. In most instances where I have parted the grass to ex- pose the eggs for picturing, the nest has been abandoned. A young Quail can hide under a leaf right before your eyes, and the only way you can see it is to cause it to change its position. The old bird feigns great dis- tress and resorts to every subterfuge to lead you away from her brood. 94 Fig. 49. YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO (page 116) m^ms^smmmw^^m :'"j ^'^T ^^^ *.- Wig v'^<^:f\"CV'v' ■T?;"\" ^ ■ ^^^ •£• , . VVX x-'-J. M^ki^ HmK^^mMI |L jvSUf^v^ -J*? — ^ — -* /*^ — .' ^^*^i^^^ Fig. 50. YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO YOUNG (page 118) Fig. 51. YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO YOUNG (])iige 118) Fig. 52. YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO YOUNG (page 118) BOB-WHITE 95 A timid hunter is much upset when a covey of Quail rise up from almost beneath his feet and with great buzzing of wings fairly shoot into the nearest thicket. His markmanship is here put to a severe test, and usu- ally results in ''Quail on toast," minus the Quail. The flesh of the Bob- White is delicious and much sought by those who are fond of wild game birds. XXV Passenger Pigeon 315. Ectopistes migratorius Dr. William C. Herman, of Cincinnati, has kindly presented me with an original negative of the last living Passenger Pigeon. (Fig. 36.) This bird, a female, died in the zoo at Cincinnati, in 1916. Thus closed the career of one of the most numerous bird hosts the world has ever known. Pathetic in the extreme was this Pigeon's prison death. All of its ancestors and companions had died from natural causes, or from man's ruthless slaugh- ter. This last survivor was captured and placed behind prison bars, like a murderer or vicious criminal, where it spent its last days. The National Audubon and other bird-protecting organizations were too late to save the Great Auk and the Passenger Pigeon. In my early life in Kentucky, near the great roosting places of Passenger Pigeons, I have seen the dome of the sky burnished with a continuous layer of beautiful glittering necks of gold and violet iridescence, by the passing of vast hordes of these birds. Many factors entered into the extermination of the Passenger Pigeon, some of which will ever remain a secret. If some equalizing methods did not govern repro- duction the whole earth would become one brier patch, a mass of tangled vines, a jam of buffaloes or of Pas- senger Pigeons. The distribution and sustenance of any given species are kept at a standard by food supply, dura- tion of life and natural enemies. The larger the animal or tree, the fewer are the numbers produced or surviving ; yet they live the longest, as the Elephant, the whale and the Sequoia Gigantia. The smelts, the moths and grass seeds illustrate numerically the small things furnishing food for the larger and less numerous. E. H. Forbush says: **This action and reaction of natural forces constitutes what is known as the balance of nature." 96 XXVI MouBNiNG Dove; Turtle Dove 316. Zenaidura macroura carolinensis (Linn.) This bird is so universally distributed over the whole United States that its identification is easy and requires very little to be said about its plumage, as an aid to its recognition. Its head and neck are brown and the general coloring of the bird is grayish-blue ; it has a golden irides- cence at the side of the neck and black spots under the ear coverts. The tail is leaden blue and bordered with white. Mourning Doves are about twelve inches long and are semi-gregarious, migrating in small flocks about the first of October. The eggs, two in number, are pure white. The Dove^s nest is one of the poorest samples of bird architecture; it is a mere flat layer of small twigs, resembling a piece of corduroy road, a willow mat- tress, or a log raft. Why the round eggs do not roll off this platform, I cannot understand. Mourning Doves are ground feeders, eating only grain and weed seeds and showing partiality for wheat and oat stubble fields, where, in August and September, small flocks may be seen flying, when disturbed, from one farm to another. (Fig. 37.) Late in the day, as roosting time approaches, these birds fly to old aban- doned weed fields and drop on the ground out of sight of Hawks and Owls. When you are walking across the fields after dark the Doves, ever on the alert, fly up several feet ahead of you and disappear in the darkness. Unfortunately, for them, they are very palatable and much sought by hunters during the months of August and September. I have seen a hunter have in his possession two hundred of these most innocent of the harmless and beneficial birds. »7 98 BIEDS Their song is a low and plaintive "coo, con, u — ^u!** during the mating period. On hot and sultry days this cooing may be heard a long distance. Doves are rapid flyers and make a metallic noise with their rapidly vibrating wings as they fly. These birds are very shy when near their nest and will abandon their eggs, if disturbed very much. If approached too closely while incubating, they will tumble from the nest to the ground and feigning the most helpless and crippled condition go fluttering away with the unsuspecting ob- server in fruitless pursuit. As soon as the would-be captor has been beguiled to a safe distance the poor crippled things suddenly recover flight power and dis- appear in the distance, much to the pursuer's surprise and chagrin. XXVII Black Vulture; Caerion Crow 326. Catharista atrata Turkey Vulture ; Turkey Buzzard 325. Cathartes aura (Linn.) These two big, black, repulsive carrion eaters are so much alike in their general make-up and habits that with a few additions the description of one will, for all prac- tical purposes, answer for both. The Turkey Vulture is thirty inches long, slightly longer than the Black Vulture, but is not so heavy. The Black Vulture is black all over, including the naked skin of the head, while the head of the Turkey Vulture is of a deep crimson, and this bird is thus much more repul- sive in its appearance than the other. Its range is broader than that of the black species, the latter being pretty well confined to the southern Gulf and Atlantic states. Both species breed over their entire range, nesting in hollow logs, stumps, and on the ground and in rocky caverns, each female laying two eggs, cream-colored with large brown blotches. The Turkey Vultures frequently breed in communities. (Fig. 38.) The young are fed by the regurgitation of in jested carrion of anything putrid that is found. Be it snake, rat, skunk or a cholera-infected hog, it all looks, smells, and tastes alike to them. The beautiful, delicate Humming-birds also feed by regurgitation, but their food is the purest, freshest and sweetest of flower nectar. The black species of Vulture at one time was a com- mon visitant to Southern Kansas, but of late years it is rarely seen there. This species flaps its wings more while flying than does the Turkey Buzzard. The latter frequently soars gracefully, high in the air, for hours at a time, with scarcely a visible movement of its wings. 99 100 BIEDS In some of the southern cities the Black Vultures become very tame, and may be seen perched on the house- tops and strolling along the public thoroughfares, where the dogs and the passing throng seem not to disturb them. It has ever been a mystery how these birds discern a carcass, whether by sight, by smell or by some special sense not possessed by any other living thing. A hog or steer is hardly cold in death before Vultures are hov- ering over the body, and they seem to come from all directions, when, two hours before, not a Buzzard was to be seen. When a boy, I used to try to deceive these big birds by feigning death, but I never succeeded ; all they would do was to quicken their speed, as they sailed over me with their heads turned to one side to get a good view. But just drag a dead hog out into a pasture and every tree in that vicinity is quickly filled with these putrid flesh eaters. They do not attack any living thing; they are far from being ''the purifiers of the air," as some writers have seen fit to call them, although they are looked upon in some localities as great and beneficient scavengers. In Mexico, these repulsive things, in some of the cities, dispute with you the freedom of the streets and sidewalks. Any country or city that depends on these filth-eaters to cleanse the streets or to get rid of dead animals and other refuse is resorting to an out-of-date and dangerous so-called sanitary measure. While on a bird-picturing trip along the gulf coast of Texas, I saw many Vultures and their nests. Both birds assisted in the incubation, which, I was told, lasts twenty-eight days. By a peculiar, awkward hopping on the ground, as they approach the nest, they make a little path easily followed. Goss says : ''Their rank odor is not alone from their food, but from natural causes." Nature here did the Buzzard a great favor by making its own odoriferous body out-rank that of its food supply. Can you imagine any bird more repulsive than this one, with its nauseating feeding habits, its natural in- tolerable stench and its refusal to defend itself when at- tacked, except by hisses, only? The Vulture possesses BLACK VULTURE 101 no semblance of a song. Add to all this ugliness its habit of disseminating contagious diseases among hog herds, which is undoubtedly the case in hog cholera, where one epidemic is spread to distant droves by Vul- tures polluting water courses and hog drinking-troughs, and the evidence is sufficient to convict the Vulture and lead to its extermination. While looking for the Black Vulture's nest in Old Mexico, near the Rio Grande River, I saw a Painted Bunting, passerina ciris, with its unrivalled plumage, ex- celling that of any other bird I have ever seen in the harmonious blending of ultra-marine blue on the head, Vermillion red on the under parts, green and yellow on the edge of the chin and greater wing coverts and pur- plish blue on the tail. As I looked at this symphony in colors and saw near me the hissing, incubating Black Vul- ture, I considered that the maker of the latter had just about ruined it. XXVIII Golden Eagle; Black Eagle 349. Aquila chrysoetos (Linn.) This rapacious and tyrannical great Sampson of the bird kingdom, with one exception, the Condor, is un- doubtedly the strongest and most robust of all diurnal birds of prey ; it is of a beautiful dark brown color, with feathers extending to its toes. It is slow in reaching breeding maturity but lives many years — some say one hundred years. Although from choice it lives in the mountains and far northern countries, it is often forced by food conditions to tarry or migrate and nest in densely wooded districts far from the place of its choice. (Fig. 39.) The eyry of the Eagle is a huge affair of coarse sticks and twigs, lined with leaves, moss and feathers, and is used year after year, being repaired and added to each season. The eggs, usually two, are drab colored, splashed with sienna or umber. What a shark is to the fishes of the sea, what a tiger is to the mammals of the jungle, this Eagle is to all birds of the air and small mammals of the earth. It is the king of the air, the monarch of its nesting zone. Small mammals or birds that invade the territory of the Golden Eagle do so at the risk of their lives. (Fig. 40.) From a mere speck in the sky this bird, three feet long with seven or more feet of wing-spread, by its gift of powerful eyesight, can detect the smallest bird, mouse or rabbit and swoop upon it with a speed and accuracy almost unbelievable. While on big game hunting trips on the upper reaches of the Frazier River in British Columbia, I repeatedly saw these great birds and heard them scream- ing as they circled high in the sky when I approached their eyries on some, to me, inaccessible mountain crag. Golden Eagles do not take kindly to captivity; they 102 Fig. 53. BELTED KINGFISHER'S NEST AND EGGS (page 120) Fig. 54. BELTED KINGFISHER YOUNG (page 121) Fig. 55. BELTED KINGFISHER MAKES HIS PICTURE (page 121) Fig. 56. DOWNY WOODPECKER (page 122) GOLDEN EAGLE 103 may live for years in cages, yet they never show any disposition to meet their keepers on half-way friendly terms, but remain combative and defiant to the last. These birds are fond of young pigs, lambs, rabbits and chickens, and instances where young children have been attacked are of frequent occurrence. Although they prefer to capture and kill their prey. Golden Eagles have been known, on rare occasions, from lack of an abun- dance of fresh food and force of hunger, to feast on putrid carcasses of cattle and horses. While this is the exception with the Golden Eagle, it is of common occur- rence with the Bald Eagle. As I have repeatedly seen the latter perched on the cast-up carcasses of large fish of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, I cannot understand why the Golden Eagle, with all its power, dignity, courage and clean habits was not selected as our national emblem, instead of the Bald Eagle — a bird whose every trait shows cowardice in the protection of its home and its young, thieving indolence in procuring its food and perverted and depraved taste and filthy habits in selecting the character of that food. None of these traits typify the character of this, the greatest of the Great Nations. XXIX Bald Eagle; White-Headed Sea Eagle; Bird of Washington 332. Haliocetus leucocephalus (Linn.) The Bald Eagle, the emblem of our country, is a bird of wide distribution, extending from the Alaskan penin- sula to Key West, Florida. The body of the Bald Eagle is dark brown in color and its head and tail are white; it is about three feet long, with a wing-spread of seven or more feet. The first three years of its life this bird is of a blackish brown color; then the white on the head and tail makes its appearance and becomes the distinguishing mark of the Bald Eagle, as compared to the Golden species. The nest is usually in a tall tree near the ocean, a large inland lake, or river course, and is primarily a huge affair, while the repairs added each year make it assume proportions almost beyond belief. (Fig. 41.) It must be recalled that these birds are said to mate for life and have been known to occupy the same eyry for forty or fifty years. Sticks as large around as a man's wrist and four feet long enter into the walls of these homes. Each nest usually has two eggs, with no special markings. In Florida, laying usually begins in November and December and by late February the young birds are ready to leave the nest. In Alaska, the nesting season is in May and June. The Alaskan species is larger than the southern bird. Bald Eagles are more docile in captivity than the Golden and in some instances become attached to their keepers, but they are always timid or rabid with stran- gers. These birds are not so skilled as Ospreys at fishing from the water, but are expert when it comes to attacking the other fishermen in the air. An Osprey or Gull with a beak full of fish has very little show of reaching home with the catch if a Bald Eagle should make an attack 104 BALD EAGLE 105 on it. The only chance for the victim of the attack is to let go of the fish and flee, while the Eagle, with a speed and accuracy almost beyond belief, catches the prey before it reaches the water or the ground. Bald Eagles are filthy in their habits ; they may be seen along the Gulf shore with Vultures and Caracara, feasting on the carcasses of rotten fish, horses or cows, although the Eagles can and often do capture their prey of living mammal or fish. The bird, moreover, is an unscrupulous and persistent thief; it is capable of ig- noring weather conditions of cold and rain and will remain in any locality where food is obtainable. During certain seasons of the year Bald Eagles feed on the dead salmon lining the banks of the streams enter- ing the Northern Pacific Ocean, gorging themselves until unable to fly, and thus are easily captured by the Ladians, bears and lynxes. While hunting the Kodiak brown bear along the shore of Kodiak Island, I saw hundreds of Bald Eagles. Many were perched in dead trees that, from a distance, looked like a giant snowball bush with blooming flowers all over it. Unfortunately, a bounty has been placed on the scalps of Bald Eagles and before long flocks of them will be a sight of the past. In Alaska, especially, this asset of the country should receive legal protection, as a part of every attractive landscape the visitor beholds as he travels along the shore. Near St. Petersburg, Florida, there are a number of Eagles' nests, and many a winter sojourner who has never seen a real bird's nest in all its magnitude visits these nest-sites and returns with new experiences to relate to the people at home. Thus the Bald Eagle of Florida, also, is an asset worth preserving. In company with Frank Hodges, of Olathe, Kansas, I visited an eyry in Florida. We secured the services of a painter, his automobile dray and ladders, and drove eight miles out to this nest. It was ninety feet from the ground, in a yellow pine tree. Old settlers in that vicinity told me that the nest had been occupied yearly for over forty seasons. After the ladders had been anchored to the tree the nest was reached and the ac- companying picture of the young full-grown bird was 106 BIBDS made. (Fig. 44.) Although this young Eagle had never been away from the nest, when Mr. Hodges got within three feet of it, the bird hopped to a nearby limb, posed for its picture, spread its vast blackish wings and plunged into space. Thence, with the grace, ease and wing poise of an old bird, it sailed away over the waters of the bay and was soon lost to sight. Among other articles of Bald Eagle diet in this nest was half of a putrid skunk and a half -eaten water moccasin. As far as concerned that nest and its owners, if scentiment were the issue in selecting the bird as our national emblem, the judges would have received strong support had they decided according to the exhalations in tile top of this yellow pine tree that hot March after- noon. Fig. 59. PILEATED WOODPECKER AT NEST (page 125) Fig. 60. PILEATED WOODPECKER YOUNG (l)age 120) XXX Spaeeow Hawk 360. Falco sparverius (Linn.) This is the smallest of the United States Hawks, measuring about ten inches, or about the length of the Eobin. The Sparrow Hawk is a beautiful bird of a gen- eral chestnut, gray and black color, and is found all over temperate North America. The bird is easily identified, as no other Hawk resembles it. It nests in natural cavi- ties in trees and in abandoned Woodpecker holes in tele- phone poles. It lays from three to four eggs, of a buff color marked with brown splotches. (Fig. 43.) The Sparrow Hawk has the habit of hovering over a given spot, with wings all a-quiver and head turned to one side, inspecting a suspicious mouse-looking object on the ground. If a mouse is discovered the bird swoops down with the rapidity and accuracy of an arrow and grasping its prey in strong and sharp-pointed talons flies to a nearby perch and proceeds to execute the victim. One day I saw a Sparrow Hawk capture a mouse, on the ground, and as the bird arose the mouse evidently bit the Hawk's foot, causing it quickly to release its hold. But the mouse was recaptured before it reached the ground and was borne to a nearby telephone pole, where it was quickly killed and eaten. I once discovered a pair of Sparrow Hawks inspect- ing a Flicker's hole in a telephone pole by the side of a road. I watched the two birds on and off for several days, then I climbed the pole and peeped into the house ; it contained one egg, of a dirty mottled brown color. Two weeks later I inspected the nest again. I found the mother bird incubating. I put my face within six inches of her head. She did not wink an eye and seemed perfectly composed, making no effort to escape. What a glorious sense of security motherhood brings, even to a bird of prey ! Her attitude of confidence seemed to say : 107 108 BIRDS **Can you not see I am busy incubating? Please go away and let me alone." One day I saw one of these birds fly to a hole about twenty feet from the ground, in a telephone pole. The bird hung to the side of the pole with its feet, as a Woodpecker does, and poked its head into the hole, with- drew its head and looked around, then took another peep. I presumed that its mate was incubating. As I came closer the Sparrow Hawk flew away and lighted on a wire fifty yards distant. I struck the pole with a stick, and to my surprise a Flicker stuck its head from the hole and surveyed the surroundings. Then seemingly satisfied that everything was all right it withdrew to the inside. The entrance hole was too small for the Hawk ; therefore Mrs. Flicker was permitted to continue her household duties with no further interruption. XXXI Audubon's Caracaba; Mexican Buzzard 362. Sub-Family, polyhorinae caracara This big carrion eating bird possesses many of the traits of Hawks, but more of those of Vultures, with which the Buzzard associates; it is about twenty-two inches in length and is found along the southern maritime border of the United States from Florida to the mouth of the Eio Grande River. (Fig. 42.) The bird feeds on or near the ground along with the Black and Turkey Vultures ; it is of a general blackish color with throat, upper breast and neck of a dirty white, crossed by blackish bars. It has a well-defined ashen crest; the tail is white, barred with black. In many re- spects this Buzzard resembles the Osprey. It builds its nest in low trees, lays two or three cream-colored eggs, marked with rich reddish-brown splotches, and is gre- garious while feeding. While I was doing some field work near Lake Okee- chobee, Florida, I first met with the Caracara and not having posted myself on the bird, I was much puzzled as to its identity. The natives of that locality called it the Mexican Buzzard and treated it with much contempt, on all occasions, by calling it many other unprintable names. It was associating with Black Vultures, as they fed on dead fish and putrid alligators. It would perch on a fence post or dead stump of a tree near a carcass, and at every opportunity, when the Vultures left an opening in their circle around the carrion, the Buzzard would dart in, pull off a billfull of flesh and return to the perch greedily to devour the filthy decayed mass. The next time I met this bird was near the mouth of the Rio Grande, in Texas. It was there associated with a Harris Buzzard, Parahutes unicinctus, locally known as the Mexican Eagle. This latter bird possesses many of the traits of the Caracara. Truly, *' birds of a feather flock together." 109 XXXII American Ospbey; Fish Hawk 364. Pandion halioetus carolinensis The extent of the living and breeding range of the Osprey is not surpassed by that of many birds. It is found practically all over the North American continent, and breeds wherever unfrozen rivers and lakes are found, during the nesting season wintering in abundance in the Gulf states. It is of a general dark brown color, with head, neck and under parts white, and, by the inexperienced, is often mistaken for the Bald Eagle. The diet of the Osprey consists of fish caught in the water by grasping them with its long bill and powerful talons, as it swoops upon them from great heights. It refuses to collect and eat dead fish from the ground, as is the habit of the Bald Eagle. (Fig. 45.) The Osprey is a sociable and friendly bird, often seen in small flocks of its kind, and does not shun or attack other birds. Many instances are on record where other birds have actually made their nests in the coarsely built nests of Ospreys, as if seeking protection. The nest is a bulky affair of rough sticks and is fre- quently seven feet across. Each year the old nest is repaired and used again ; thus it increases in dimensions. It is placed in the highest branches of the tallest trees or on pinnacled rocks. As one travels through Yellow- stone Park, the guide is very careful to point out to his passengers the Eagles' nests, high on a pinnacled rock in Golden Gate and the Grand Canyon, both of which are the nests of the Osprey. The Osprey is a splendid flier. It dives like an air- plane and suddenly shoots upward in its practice flights, or while fishing. If it is successful in its plunge for a fish it rises with a triumphant cry, shaking the water from its feathers like a water spaniel. It is met at its nest by its mate, to whom the food is transferred and in turn fed to the young. 110 xxxm Long-Eaked Owl 366. Asio wilsonianus This Owl is easily identified by its long ear tufts as compared to the ground-roosting, Short-eared Owl, and by its smaller size as compared to the Great Horned and Barred Owls. It is very shy and loves to seek seclusion and safety in the deep, dark woods. It is rarely seen unless one actually frightens it from its hiding place. When on the alert, as you approach, it contracts its feathers snugly about its body and re- mains so erect and quiet that its dark gray feathers blend with the surroundings and make it hard to discover. On dark and cloudy days it may leave its retreat for a short period. Its usual hunting time is in the night. When on its noiseless flight, the small night-prowl- ing mammals may well be on the lookout lest they are picked up by this bird, as its dietetic list is made up principally of small rodents. Long-eared Owls hoot during the breeding season only, the call being more like that of the Screech Owl than the hoot of the Barred or Great Horned Owls. The species should be legally protected, for it is one of the best friends of the farmer. These Owls rarely nest in holes, preferring last year's Crows' nests and other abandoned nests. (Fig. 48.) On April 22, 1922, while exploring some timbered tracts, forty miles west of Kansas City, I discovered what proved to be a Crow's nest fifteen feet from the ground in a red-haw tree. It was in a good state of pres- ervation and showed recent repair work near its rim. As I neared the nest I discovered that it was occupied by an Owl. The bird contracted her feathers until she disappeared below the top of the nest, all save the ear tufts. I could see her big yellow eyes, as she peered from between the coarse sticks that capped the rim. Ill 112 BIRDS I started to climb. I had hardly touched the tree before the Owl rose from the nest and with much ado, with voice and threatening manner, wheeled about my head for a short time. Then, with a great feigning of complete invalidism, useless wings and legs, she fell to the ground within fifty feet of me and, like a Mourning Dove, proceeded to demonstrate how utterly helpless an incubating Long-eared Owl can become in the face of threatened injury to her home and its contents. I climbed to the nest and found six cream-colored eggs, seemingly far advanced in incubation. These I carefully lowered and placed in a Crowds nest that I had secured near by. Then I made several negatives and returned the eggs to their original position. The male bird had soon joined the female, but made no move toward assisting her in the protection of their home and its contents. The female repeatedly alighted within a few yards of me, while I was making the pic- tures, each time giving a scolding-like squeal and hiss. Three Blue Jays had also put in their appearance (they frequently pry into other birds' affairs). With much enthusiasm and rage they attacked the female and thus added to her troubles, all the while proclaiming the virtues of the Jay family! There were a number of Crows' nests in this little body of timber and several Crows were flying about all the time, but they made no move toward an attack on the Owls. These Owls lay early enough in the season for their young to be hatched and leave the nest before the Crows begin to lay; thus a last year's Crow's nest may be used as an incubating home for both an Owl and Crow in the same season. Crows frequently repair and use their last year's nests. At the end of two weeks I returned and found that all six of the eggs had hatched. The bird's habit of beginning incubation as soon as one egg is laid was beau- tifully illustrated in this instance, as the young varied in size from the oldest, as large as one 's fist, to a baby, just hatched, the size of the egg of the Long-eared Owl. I succeeded in getting a picture which shows this varia- tion in size due to stages of incubating. (Fig. 47.) LONG-EAEED OWL 113 These little mice and lizard catchers, even in their infancy, have the characteristic, pectinated, sharp claws of their foot-grasping parents. I am convinced that these birds begin their incubating as soon as an egg is laid, to keep the eggs from freezing and to prevent the Crows from stealing them. XXXIV Screech Owl; Little Horned Owl 373. Meg as cops asio (Linn.) This, the smallest of the eared Owls, is about the length of the Kobin and, having long ear feathers, looks like the Great Horned Owl in miniature. The Screech Owl is the best known of the Owl family, as it frequently nests in hollow limbs near our homes, in abandoned Flicker holes, under the eaves of the bam or other out-houses or, perchance, in a box prepared for the Purple Martins. The range of the Screech Owl is over the entire United States and southern Canada. It presents many color phases, from an ashen gray to a beautiful chest- nut brown, the feathers marked with wavy bars. (Fig. 46.) There is a wrong impression prevailing that Owls do not see during the day. Just try to sneak up on one as it perches in some darkened shadowy nook and ob- serve how quietly it disappears to a safe distance. The Screech Owl has the usual absurdly dignified- looking facial expression seen in most members of its family. Its melancholic, tremulo notes on moonlight nights are familiar sounds to many a city dweller, as most city parks harbor one or more pairs of these birds. This sociable little night prowler often makes its home in the same place for several seasons. In a big leaning black walnut tree on a golf course over which I play, a Screech Owl once lived for many years. Every day, as I passed the tree, I could see the little fel- low thirty feet from the ground, sitting in his front door, blinking away at the sunlight as he watched the day and the golfers go by. If I approached, he faded away like a dissolving motion picture scene. The Screech Owl has the peculiar habit of cutting off the heads of mice and eating those choice morsels first. The bird*s upper and lower mandibles have free motion 114 SCREECH OWL 115 like a snake's; thus the owl is enabled to swallow objects that are large in proportion to its own head. It is fond of small snakes, grasshoppers, small birds and, especially, mice. Any farmer owning Screech Owls will have fewer mice about his premises. When the shadows grow long this silent bunch of feathers and blinking eyes grows animated, and its ghost- suggesting trills and screams may be heard all through the treetops as it moves on wings free from noise. Its facial resemblance to one of the worst bird-destroying mammals, the house cat, is remarkable. Like the wise ant, the Screech Owls frequently lay by a food supply to be used in bad weather. They often hunt in pairs. The night call of this Owl suggests the thought of one of the late so-called dances, the **shimmie." Add to this the bird's droll habit of slowly winking one eye and the picture is that of a **shimmie vamp." The ne- groes in the Southern States call the Screech Owl the ** Shivering Owl." XXXV Yellow-Billed Cuckoo; Eain-Ceow; Rain-Dovb 387. Coccyzus a/mericanus The Yellow-billed Cuckoo has an olive-gray back and is pure white below; its tail is long, white-tipped and edged with white ; the lower mandible is yellow. The Yellow-billed Cuckoo breeds throughout the cen- tral part of the United States, but it is a poor builder; it nests in apple and other low trees, on a horizontal branch from ten to twenty feet from the ground. The nest is a mere platform of sticks with no side walls, and why the eggs and the young birds do not fall off is a mystery. It looks as if every passing breeze would dash them to earth. The eggs are three or four in number, ash colored, and are laid rather late in the season. (Fig. 49.) These Cuckoos are migratory, leaving their summer homes late in September. The male arrives a week in advance of the female. Both birds work together in building the nest, incubating and feeding the young, and both are loyal mates and devoted parents — sentiments not shown by the Cowbird and the European Cuckoo, both of which are polygamous and parasitic in habits. The Cuckoo often feigns a broken leg or wing, as it tumbles from the nest at your approach and goes flutter- ing along the ground in an endeavor to lead you away. Cuckoos are partial to caterpillars and canker- worms, pests usually shunned by other birds. They lay their eggs over a long time ; hence fertile eggs and large young may be found in a nest at the same time. Yellow- billed Cuckoos have occasionally been known to drop an eg^ in another bird 's nest. I found a Cuckoo's nest containing one egg on the twentieth of July; on the first of August, another was laid ; on September the seventeenth, the old bird was still setting; on the twentieth of September, she abandoned 116 YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO 117 the nest, neither egg hatched. Two long hot months with no young birds ! No parasitical traits there ! These birds are accused of being egg-suckers, but I doubt it; they are also accused of doing much harm by destroying the eggs of other birds, and are frequently called '^Eain Crows" and unjustly denounced as false weather prophets, when, in the imagination of the lay- man, the birds' "couk! couk!" fails to bring a down- pour. The Cuckoo call, like that of other birds, is given at any and all times and is frequently heard during the night. It is so universally believed that the Cuckoo never builds a home, but lays its eggs in other birds' nests, that one of the big daily papers of Kansas City, Mis- souri, my home city, offered one thousand dollars reward to any man, woman or child who would show the editor a Cuckoo's nest. At the time I was making daily visits and picturing the family and the doings of a pair of Cuckoos, in their own home, within the city limits. In an old abandoned plum and apple orchard I had found a regular land bird-nesting rookery, including many nests of the Mourning Doves, Catbirds, Mocking- birds, Flickers, Bronze Grackles and, along with them, one Yellow-billed Cukcoo's nest. It was on a horizontal limb of an apple tree, about fifteen feet from the ground. The nest, as usual, was a flimsy, shallow affair of small sticks, containing two bluish-green or whitish eggs. The birds were incubating and were easily approached, but the location of the nest made it difficult to get a good pic- ture, for the limb kept swaying with every breeze. How- ever, I anchored the camera within a few feet of it and with line to shutter proceeded to picture the old birds at their activities. I kept this up for several days ; then one egg hatched. The female came and perched within five feet of the nest for half an hour, all the while holding in her black and yellow mandibles a big caterpillar. The male now put in his appearance, gave his assurance call, and the female flew to the nest to feed the young bird. This youngster, when only two days old, was four times as large as the unhatched egg in the nest by its side. It was very black-skinned and was an ugly thing, with 118 BIRDS unusually large mouth-spread. At the end of four days some straggling downy hairs put in an appearance on the bare spots, while the pin-feathers were developing rapidly. In this bird the feathers remain sheathed up to the last days in the nest, as the picture beautifully illus- trates. The unhatched egg so often found in the nest is accounted for by the habit the female has of laying an egg after her incubating period has begun. At the end of seven days the young Cuckoo resembled a porcupine more than a bird. I now cut the limb holding the nest and brought it to the ground. Within three feet of it I then put up the umbrella tent that I might at close range observe minutely the rapid transition of a porcupine-looking object into a fully feathered, beauti- ful Eain Crow. I entered the tent with my camera at nine a. m. Soon the parents renewed their feedings. What anxious, expectant and sizzling moments I spent in that tent that August day, for five or six hours, no one can imagine unless he has endured the same. Did I enjoy it? Every second was a thrill of pleasure, of new experience and added knowledge. The first picture was made at nine o'clock. (Fig. 50.) This shows the young by the un- hatched egg; the horny, sheathed feathers were fully two inches long, making the bird look like a porcupine. About ten-thirty the sheaths began to burst, and with each split a fully formed feather was liberated. This process took place with such rapidity that it reminded me of the commotion in a corn popper or a rapidly blooming flower. All the while I was within three feet of the bird, and could see every new feather, as it blos- somed, so to speak. At three p. m., six hours after the first picture was taken, I made another photograph, showing this same bird in the full plumage of a Cuckoo, except the long tail. (Fig. 51.) This was one of the most remarkable trans- formations in so short a time that I have ever witnessed in any living, blooded being. Thirty minutes after its transformation the young bird left the nest and posed three feet from it for a last picture. (Fig. 52.) I then emerged from the tent, YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO 119 looking like one who had been imprisoned in the hot room of a Turkish bath, but thoroughly satisfied and rather proud of having had such a rare opportunity of actually seeing at close range a Cuckoo's appearance change from that of a repulsive porcupine to that of a beauti- ful bird whose feathers presented lovely delicate blue- grays and varying browns. XXXVI KiNGFisHEE ; Belted Kingfisheb 390. Ceryle alcyon This bird is such a regular summer resident along all small streams that merely to mention its name is to convey to the mind exactly what it looks like, its size and its general habits. It is about thirteen inches long, and is colored in a general way something like a Blue Jay, with crested head and white collar, and is of a general bluish color with white breast. I have met species of these birds from the Aleutian Islands to the City of Mexico. For a nesting site the Kingfisher selects the bank of a creek or a soft earth bluff. Two or three feet from the surface it makes a burrow extending from six to eight feet underground. The entrance to this tunnel usually has two grooves marking the place where the bird dragged its feet in backing out. Frequently, an extra burrow a few inches deep and close to the main tunnel is made. At the end of the main tunnel a cavity fifteen inches across is excavated for the future nest. No nest- ing material is carried into this dark recess. Like their remote ancestors, the alligators, these birds are tunnel diggers and cave dwellers. They will work for days excavating their homes, but waste no time upholstering the interiors. In each of these gloomy cavities are laid from five to seven pure white eggs and here are hatched an equal number of the ugliest looking young kings that ever ruled a kingdom. (Fig. 53.) In their dark and dingy restricted chamber they remain for several weeks before the glories of the out-of-doors, with its sunshine and fresh air, be- come their domain. Before this time the pale blue of the old birds is plainly visible on the porcupine-like quills of the young. Having once seen the interior of this dark, damp, dungeon-like nursery one naturally wonders why the featherless young birds do not have blindness, bron- 120 KINGFISHEE 121 chitis, pneumonia and rheumatism. With their porcn- pine-quill-looking feathers, their alligator-like heads and bills and their quarrelsome dispositions, the young are comical little clowns. One would suppose that a family of these birds would be congenial, cooped up as they are in a small chamber during their early lives, but such is not the case ; they are constantly pecking at each other, refusing to be shoved about without vigorous protest. The young have the peculiar habit of walking back- ward on the whole length of the tarsus, or shank bone — a habit that some claim is due to backing in and out of the entrance tunnel on the approach of the parents with the usual food supply of frogs and minnows. (Fig. 54.) Kingfishers fish from a perch or, like Brown Peli- cans, while flying, or from a hovering position from ten to thirty feet above the water. A minnow rarely escapes the rapid and accurate plunge of one of these birds, the toes of which are constructed so they can hold a slimy fish against a limb while perching. Having cap- tured a fish they kill it by whipping it against a post or the limb on which they perched before diving for the prey. When a given reach of a stream abounding in small fish has been once pre-empted by a pair of King- fishers any intrusion upon the territory by another bird meets with assertive protest. The fishing hole of a King- fisher must not be poached on by any of its king neigh- bors. Its only song seems to be a kind of chatter or rattle, usually given with much enthusiasm. If you are canoeing or walking along the bank of a small stream, any time between March and December, on rounding a bend you may discover this king perched on his throne overhanging the water. The bird takes flight, with much grumbling protest and disappears around the next bend, only to have you rout him out again. This performance the bird, like the Little Green Heron, con- tinues to repeat until it decides to return to its usual haunts, when it circumvents you by flying up over the treetops, all the while chattering Kingfisher objections. My picture of this bird was made by passing a line across the tunnel entrance and fastening it to the shutter release. The Kingfisher threw the shutter by passing across the taut line. The seven little kings were the young birds belonging to this nest. (Fig. 55.) XXXVII Downy Woodpecker ; Checkerboabd 394. Dryohates pubescens medianus (Swaims.) There are six sub-species of these birds, but the Downy Woodpecker is the one found in the central part of the United States and in northern Canada. Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers are often incorrectly called " Sapsuckers. " The latter bird is much larger, and its range is farther north than that of the former. The Hairy Woodpecker is larger than the Downy, but resembles it very closely. The Sapsucker selects trees that are sound in which to excavate a nest, often drilling through several inches of hard pine to reach the dead heart of the tree, in which the nest is built. (Fig. 56.) The Downy is the smallest of the family and is a sociable little fellow, accepting your proffered bit of suet with grace and freedom. However, he insists on helping himself before surrendering any of his rights to his win- ter associates, the Titmouse and Chickadee. The Downy eats very deliberately and rarely shows any restless- ness or suspicion, as is the case with the Titmouse. This Woodpecker has very acute hearing and may frequently be seen pausing in its pursuit of insects to turn its head to one side, as if listening for concealed wood-borers. It is a persistent food-hunter. When the ground is frozen solid and the trees are popping like a great forest cannonade, this strong-necked and hard- billed little carpenter may be seen cheerfully pursuing its labors, as it chisels away at the bark in search of dinner. Whether on the upper or lower side of a limb or vertical branch, the bird is equally and easily poised, as it sends its awl-like bill into the tree. I have stood so close that the bark chips fell all over my clothing. The Downy Woodpecker is a confiding bunch of down and feathers, and will let you almost touch it, as it pokes its bill into the bark crevices, looking for worms and eggs. It may with modesty, lest it offend you, work 122 Fig. 61. RED-HEADED WOODPECKER YOUNG (l)age 127) ! ^ .1 Fig. 62. RED-HEADED WOODPECKER AT NEST (page 128) I»» 1'% ^- ■ 1 '• Hi ^ i I ■ !ty Fig. 63. RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER (page 129) Fig. 64. FLICKER (page 132) DOWNY WOODPECKEB 123 slowly around the tree trunk to the opposite side, but don^t think for an instant that your presence has been forgotten, for the bird will repeatedly take a careless glance at you from around the comer. Our highest paid forester, in proportion to his size, does not render a greater service to our trees than does the little Downy. He is busy winter and summer destroy- ing injurious insects and their larvae. Like most hole-nesting birds Downy lays unmarked white eggs. Its association with Chickadees and Tufted Titmice is not a mere coincidence of winter residents, but is for mutual interest in food-hunting and safety from enemies. XXXVIII PiLEATED Woodpecker; Cock of the Woods; Northern Pn^ATED Woodpecker 405. Phoetomus pileatus cdbieticola (Bangs.) When I was a boy in Kentucky, these big Wood- peckers were to be found along the creek bottoms where there were large bodies of heavy timber. The birds were extremely shy and required about as much skill in stalk- ing to within gunshot range as a Wild Turkey. Their departure was so silent that you did not discover their flight until you heard them a half-mile away, seemingly daring you to follow. The Pileated Woodpecker is a powerful bird, about as long as a Crow — eighteen inches — ^with a bluish-black general marking and a white stripe from the angle of the mouth, beneath the eyes and down the side of the body. The head is capped with a large crest of the deepest scarlet ; the bill is black, this feature being one of the principal distinguishing marks as compared to the Ivory-billed bird, now almost extinct, found chiefly in the Everglades of Florida, where I saw three in 1921. The United States pileated, black-billed bird also is becoming very rare, yet a few are to be found along the larger watercourses, bordered by primeval forests. It has a loud and rasping voice that is monotonous in its repetition during the mating season. In the same game preserve in Missouri in which I pictured the Snowy Heron and the Prothonotary Warbler in 1921, 1 saw and heard several Pileated Woodpeckers. They are extremely shy and only two or three are to be seen in one locality. They are so much afraid of man that they will not remain when he invades their territory but retreat before civilization into the remote fastnesses of big tracts of heavy timber. The Pileated Woodpecker is the best wood-carver of the Woodpecker family, and great piles of chips are always to be found on the ground at the root of a nest 124 PILEATED WOODPECKER 125 tree, or where the bird has been feeding. (Fig. 57.) It is mostly insectivorous, and with its great strength of neck and powerful bill is enabled to search out and live on the hibernating larvse and worms so abundant in the vast forest in which it lives during the rigors of winter. These powerful birds pull great splinters of dead wood from the trees while seeking their food of wood-borers and other tree-destroying worms. This Woodpecker does not migrate, even from the cold climate of Canada. I have seen it along the streams flowing north into Hudson's Bay. The Indians call the bird, ''Cock of the Woods," or "Log Cock." When you approach a tree in which one of them is feeding, it is very careful to keep on the farther side from you and all you will see will be an occasional poke of the bird's head from behind the trunk, to see what you are doing. (Fig. 58.) I used to have another boy "circle" the tree at a hundred yards distance, while I remained hidden until the bird showed up on my side of the tree. By this ruse, I am sorry to say, I succeeded in killing a few of these big birds. Whenever I have wounded one of them the tenacity with which it clung to the tree before falling was something remarkable. The Pileated Woodpecker will fight to the death, if you wound and capture it. In 1922, while bird-hunting with my camera in south- em M;issouri, I discovered a nest of this big Woodpecker. It was located in a dead tree, standing a hundred feet from the shore in an artifically made lake. The nest hole was sixty feet from the water. The problem of get- ting a "close-up" of the old birds at the nest was there- fore a perplexing one. However, there was a dead limb near by. I climbed up, anchored my camera on this limb within four feet of the body of the tree and, covering it with paw-paw leaves, dropped a fishing line which I trailed to the bank where I had built a blind of green boughs. Entering the blind, I had my assistant get into the canoe and row across the lake. Within ten minutes I had secured the first picture as this great bird, with characteristic poise, posed for me just before she entered the nest to feed the young. (Fig. 59.) I changed plates and retired to my blind to await the return of the feeding birds. I remained in tiie blind 126 BIEDS for one hour and a half, but the birds had seen me enter and refused to come to the nest. Leaving my position I motioned for my assistant to come back. He walked with me to the blind ; I entered and he took his departure. The birds, thinking all was well, returned within twelve minutes and I secured the second picture — ^birds count only one! I then removed the three young birds, photographed them, and returned them to the nest. (Fig. 60.) These young birds were about the size of a frying chicken, and were covered with pin-feathers. Their grizzly pileum was a deep, poppy red. Even in these youngsters the female was distinguishable by the fore- head and part of the crown of grayish-brown. "A woodpecker pecks A great many specks Of sawdust, while building a hut. He works like a nigger To make the hole bigger; He's sore if his cutter don't cut. He has no use for plans Of cheap artisans. But there's one thing can rightly be said: The whole excavation Has this explanation, He builds it by using his head." — F. L. Rice. Fig. 65. WHIP-POOR-WILL (page 134) Fig. 66. NIGHTHAWK (page 136) Fig. 67. RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD (page 138) Fig. 68. RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD (page 140) XXXIX Red-headed Woodpecker; Teicolob 406. Melanerpes erythrocephalus The red, white and bluish-black markings of the Red- headed Woodpecker are so well defined and so uniformly present that having once recognized the bird is to re- member it. It is ten inches long and more migratory in its habits than are its cousins, Downy and Hairy. While most of these birds have taken their departure by October a few may remain in the central states all winter and may be seen with the Downy seeking food stored in the crevices and holes by the last summer's neighbors. (Fig. 61.) The Red-headed Woodpecker has the habit of laying up a winter's supply of acorns and nuts, which it often never returns to eat. It is a great destroyer of injurious wood-borers and foliage-eaters. I have, on two or three occasions, caught this bird in the act of destroying the eggs and devouring the young of other birds. It builds its nest in a cavity excavated by its own labors in a dead tree trunk or a dead limb of a live tree. Here it lays from four to six eggs which, like those of most birds that nest in dark recesses, are pure white, unmarked. This bird is especially fond of clearings where many large dead trees have been left standing, from the tall- est limbs of which it seeks its winged prey. No flying insect coming within visual range is safe. I have seen a Woodpecker fly from its perch, vertically, two hun- dred feet, and catch some kind of flying moth or beetle. Woodpeckers often quarrel among themselves and with their bird neighbors, regardless of any justification, but, though quarrelsome and inclined to fight one an- other, there are times when they show much friendship and sense of humor while playing a game of **You Are It" or "Hide-and-Seek." It is of absorbing interest to watch a half-dozen of these birds engaged in this amusing pastime. 127 128 BIRDS WMle the Red-headed Woodpecker is fond of in- sects and animal food it has an appetite for acorns, beech- nuts and fruits and is in a measure governed in its migra- tion south more by the harvest promises of the latter than the scarcity of the former. Every child of school age knows this bird on sight and by hearing, for it is as conspicuous on every tele- phone pole near our cities as the advertisements setting forth the superior qualities of a particular brand of chewing gum, liver pills or smoking tobacco. In fact, the owners of some of the trolley lines entering Kansas City have found it necessary to wage war on these kitch- enette builders in the cedar trolley poles. (Pig. 62.) My residence is on one of the most traveled boule- vards in the city, yet within a half -block of my house several Red-heads live each year and become tame, hav- ing pre-empted several phone poles in an alley just back of me. Daily during the mating season a male bird may be heard riveting away on the top coping of the slate roof of my house. Why he does not break or dull his awl-like bill I do not understand. It may be music to the patient and devoted ears of his mate but, to my way of thinking, there is a lack of that harmony one expects in music. XL Red-bellied Woodpecker; Zebra Woodpecker 409. Centurus carolinus (Linn.) The Red-bellied is one of the handsomest of the Woodpecker family. The male, with crown and nape of deep scarlet and a faint redness on the belly, with white- barred outer tail feathers, white rump and general gray- ish color, is easily identified. In the female the red of the throat is replaced by white. The Red-bellied Woodpecker may be readily differ- entiated from the Sapsucker, or Yellow-bellied Wood- pecker, since the latter has a crimson crown bordered with black, and a crimson patch on its chin, similarly bordered ; the remainder of its under parts are yellowish- white. Red-belly is about ten inches long. The young quickly assume the plumage markings of the old birds. The species is distributed over the central part of the United States, where it may often be found at all seasons. These Woodpeckers excavate nest cavities in dead limbs of live trees and in trunks of dead deciduous trees. The nesting hole is usually a deep, roomy affair in which are laid from four to six eggs. No nesting material is carried into this dark recess. The bird shows a remark- able sagacity in selecting the under side of a limb or leaning tree trunk, where the front door will be pro- tected from the rain and glaring rays of the sun. Like its big pileated cousin the Red-bellied Wood- pecker resides from choice in large and heavily timbered flats near watercourses ; it is not so alert or so shy as the former, but occasionally builds its home and rears its young in the large trees in suburban residential districts, and is a much more peaceable bird than the Red-headed Woodpecker. (Fig. 63.) Like the Hairy Woodpecker the Red-bellied bird is often wrongly called a Sapsucker. The latter ^s breed- 129 130 BIEDS ing range is much farther north and it prefers live conif- erous trees in which to excavate a nesting chamber. Like the rest of the family the Red-bellied Wood- pecker secures much of its food from beneath the bark of trees ; it may be seen at all seasons spirally girdling the tree trunks in search of insects and their larvae, often interrupting this routine by darting after some winged insects of its choice, as they fly near. These Woodpeckers do not visit fruit and berry patches as often as the Red-head, and thus are far more beneficial to the farmer than harmful to the orchardist. XLI Fuckeb; Noetheen Flickee; Golden-Winged Wood- peckee; High Hole; Yellow-Hammee 412. Colaptes auratus luteus (Bangs.) The Flicker and its sub-species are found over most of the United States ; it is migratory and, like most insect eating birds, is governed by climate and food supply. This Woodpecker is about twelve inches long. Its wings have black bars on a brownish background ; white, on its rump, is especially noticeable while the bird is in flight; the tail and wings have a beautiful lining of freshly-burnished, old golden-yellow. There is a black crescent across the breast of the male and a black stripe from the upper mandible, likened to a moustache. On the nape is a scarlet spot. As these birds fly they open and close their wings, making undulating sweeps. Flickers nest in holes of their own maMng or in natural cavities in trees, selecting dead trees or decayed wood to excavate for nest-sites. The eggs — from four to six in number — are pure white. The birds carry no nest- ing material into the excavated cavities. Although Flickers are wild birds, nesting in seclusion, they often invade large cities and carve their nest holes in large trees along the sidewalks and in the parks. As it likes the open fields and grassy pastures for feeding grounds, the Flicker prefers to live near the habitation of man. It is fond of man's Flicker houses, when they are constructed along its own architectural lines, although it is a good carpenter and chisels the deepest nest of any of its family. There, however, its wood-carvings cease, as it does not, like the rest of its kind, dig into trees in search of food but is a ground feeder. Nothing suits the Flickerish taste more than a meal of big, black ground ants. These birds are a common sight on golf courses and cattle pastures, digging away at ant Mils. A Flicker soon starts a commotion in an ant colony, and, of course, 131 132 BIRDS as usual, the ants rush to the surface. All Mr. Flicker has to do then is to lick them up with his long, sticky tongue. While on the ground their bodies lie very flat and they have the habit of frequently raising their heads to assure themselves that no danger is near, and then slowly resume their food-seeking labors. Progress, on the ground, is made by a series of jumps; in the air, by a wave-like bounding. It is an amusing and interesting sight to witness a social gather- ing of several of these birds on a big oak limb. Of all the polite bowing, scraping of feet and sidestepping you ever saw this is the greatest. While these gyrations are going on the most voluble gossip is under way, first one, then another taking turns, as if indulging in backyard scandal. The Flicker is a bold, fearless bird when nesting and will return to the nest while you are within a few feet of its location. The picture here shown was made as the bird passed over a fish line running from below the nest entrance to the shutter release. (Fig. 64.) Like other members of their family. Flickers love to peck away on a tin roof or chimney. They are the drummer boys of the bird regiments in every woodland and pasture. XLII Whip-poor-will; Night-jar 417. Antrostomus vociferus As the twilight fades and the shades of approaching darkness are slowly drawn over the woodland landscape, after the Wood Thrushes have ceased their songs, then the Whip-poor-will from its far-off leafy dell begins its evening concert, which is soon taken up by others in nearby glens, until the night resounds with the music of these nocturnal songsters. If you approach the source of the song cautiously, you may ^et within a few feet of the bird and hear its ventriloquist-like subdued tones before it takes flight on noiseless wings, only to renew its serenade from the next ravine. The Whip-poor-will is an abundant summer resident in the Mississippi valley. It prefers scrub-oak, dry hill- sides for its home. Swope Park in Kansas City, for in- stance, is a favorite nesting place for the bird. It does not frequent pastures since, if it did so, its eggs would be destroyed, as are those of all ground-nesting birds, by grazing herds or devoured by hogs. The nest is a mere depression in the ground, no building material or lining being used in its construction. The nesting bird is rarely found unless you flush it from beneath your footsteps ; then it goes away in the feigned condition of a bird terribly crippled in both wings and legs. In my early life I was led away from the eggs many times by this ruse, the bird flying to safety when I had followed it for quite a distance from the nest. The Whip-poor-will resembles the Night-hawk very closely, and the latter bird is often called the Whip-poor- will. But if one will only recall that the habits of the two are entirely different the mistake will not often occur. While many Night-hawks may be seen flying in great circles on cloudy days and at approaching night- fall, these birds that so much resemble the Night-hawk 133 134 BIRDS are never seen in flocks and do not feed during daylight. The Whip-poor-will is a solitary bird, feeding after dark near the ground. With noiseless wings it glides across the fields at dusk in pursuit of insects. It is about ten and one-half inches long, of a general ashy-gray color, finely mottled, with a black medium stripe on the head and a collar of white marking the under side of the neck ; the belly is of a dirty white with faint brown trans- verse bars, and a part of the outer tail feathers are dirty white. The picture of the Whip-poor-will in this collection was kindly furnished me by Professor A. E. Shirling. (Fig. 65.) Fig. 69. KINGBIRD (page 142) Fig. 70. KINGBIRD YOUNG (page 143) • 'V\t.:'.v>-Cfi.i,/^'".;^;-'"" J''- ~"-: '*"■' xLin Night-Hawk; Bull Bat 420. Chordeiles virginianus sennetti The Night-hawk is ten inches long and has beautiful gray and white-marked feathers, well adapted to blend with its setting when nesting, as it does, on the bare ground or on a rock. The eggs are stone gray. No preparation is made by the bird for the comfort of the two prospective young; the nest is just a bare spot on the cold damp earth, where the surroundings are so nearly the color of the setting bird that it is hard to see or picture, so completely does the plumage mimic the background. This bird in no way resembles a Hawk either in actions or appearance : it has neither the grasping talons nor the hooked bill of the raptores ; neither is it a bird of prey. It is often mistaken for the Whip-poor-will which it resembles in appearance, but not in habits. It is a graceful, swift and sure flycatcher. Not even the quick dragonfly can escape the accurate and vigorous movements of the Night-hawk. From the bellowing-like noise produced by the air rushing through its wings as it makes a lightning head- dive from great heights, the bird is known as the Bull Bat. With a frog-like mouth bordered by bristles and a diminutive beak, it is a peculiar looking bird. It has not a single bad trait and many useful ones. It should be protected from ruthless slaughter. When the young first escape from the egg they re- semble a miniature powder puff, or a bunch of rabbit's fur, and are colored so much like their surroundings that they are hard to find, even after one has marked their location. They are birds of wide distribution in the United States, with similar traits, regardless of locality. They have white identification marks on wings and tail, by which they may be distinguished from the Whip-poor-wilL 186 136 BIEDS The daylight-feeding habits of the Bull Bats and their habit of collecting in flocks late in the evening also are traits not observed in the Whip-poor-will. The Night-hawk, or Bull Bat, is a poor percher, owing to the shape of its feet. As with closed eyes and feather-hidden beak it sits lengthwise of the perch, it presents a sphynx-like appearance. In almost any locality, at certain seasons, on a cloudy evening, flocks of these birds can be found darting after their flying food; they are the original animated head-divers. During the mating season many may be observed circling high in the air; and occasionally from no discernible motive one may be seen to take a headlong dive toward the earth at such a rapid and reckless speed that you fear for the safety of the bird, but it glides gracefully in a beautiful curve upward and takes its place among its companions whirling high above it. As a boy, I remember many a fruitless chase after this bird, as it fluttered from its eggs in a most helpless and pathetic endeavor to escape being trampled upon. The race usually resulted in leading me away from the eggs or young and always in the bird's suddenly recover- ing from the feigned helpless condition and taking refuge in a flight to safety, much to my surprise and disappoint- ment. The photograph in this collection is of that pale sub- species known as the Sennett's Night-hawk, found in the open prairie sections of the central United States. (Fig. 66.) I had been longing for a chance to make a good pic- ture of this bird and had about abandoned all hope, when early one morning Mrs. Cordier, looking from her bed- room window, discovered a bird sitting the long way of a metal down-spout on the porch roof, within ten feet of the pane. She called my attention to it and within ten minutes I was busily engaged in taking the Night- hawk's picture. It was the most artistic piece of bird- repose posing I have ever seen. It rested in this position from seven a. m. until half after five, and during that time I made one dozen good negatives. As twilight approached and the glare of the sun diminished, the sleeping bird slowly opened its eyes, gently ruffled its feathers, spread its fluffy wings and noiselessly took its departure to join NIGHT-HAWK 137 its feeding companions, as they circled and dived in the insect-laden upper air currents. Should the bird ever pass this way again on tired wings, a hearty invitation to visit me awaits it and the down-spout will be found in the same old place. XLIV Euby-Theoated Hummingbird 428. Archilochus coluhris The back of the Euby-throated Hummingbird is of a metallic green color ; the chin is black, the throat is ruby and the belly is whitish. The females and the young are without the ruby throat. The tail feathers are barred black and white-tipped. The length of the bird is four inches. The *' Hummers" are confined to this continent where about five hundred species have been classified, extending over a range from the Arctic Circle to Pata- gonia, About sixteen species are found in the United States. The Euby-throat is the only one found in the vicinity of Kansas City, Missouri. (Fig. 67.) They are late nesters, as the warm season must be thoroughly established lest the delicate young be chilled to death by an unexpected cold spell. The nest is located a few feet from the ground on a horizontal limb, fre- quently over the water. There are two eggs, pure white, or slightly rose-tinted. The nest is the very climax of bird architecture, finished in wonderful perfection and lined with the most delicate, silken, plant down. The male is very attentive during the mating season ; he is frequently seen feeding the female and bestowing other sweet and loving tributes, but as soon as the eggs are laid he refuses to accept as any part of his duty the drudgery of household affairs. Incubation lasts about twelve days, and the young remain in the nest twenty- eight days after hatching. Hummingbirds are pugnacious to a marked degree and do not hesitate to attack birds many times their size, or even human beings if the sanctity of the bird homes is invaded. These birds feed on honey from the flowers and eat the small aphis so abundant on flowering plants. The delicate feet of these beautiful little creatures are rarely 188 Fig. 73. PHOEBE YOUNG (page 147) Fig. 74. PRAIRIE HORNED LARK'S NEST AND EGGS (page 148) Fig. 75. PHOEBE (page 146) Fig. 76. BLUEJAY (page 150) RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD 139 seen by the average observer, as they are seldom still when within close range. From the bird tent, for the first time, I got a good look at the feet of a living Hum- mingbird, and such diminutive naked ankles and bare feet as they have ! The foot is a perfect anatomical foot of a perching bird. When one beholds these four-inch mites of the bird kingdom and compares them with the great Condor, the Ostrich, the Eagle or the Man-o-war bird with its eight feet of wing-spread, one can only marvel at the disparity in size, and the kind and quantity of food consumed by each. Just imagine the graceful poise of the Eagle as, without effort, it soars high in the heavens, and compare it with the halo of invisible vibrations of the wings of the tiniest of our birds. Then view the exquisite shimmer of the Hummingbirds in their floral settings and you will not dispute their right to the title, ** Jewels of the Bird Creation.'* The first day I arrived off the coast of Laguna de la Madre, in Texas, I was much surprised at the vast num- ber of Ruby-throats. They were whizzing in all direc- tions, as they flew from flower to flower. Many of the birds had the black gorgets of the Black-chinned, or Alex- ander's Hummingbird. I hunted faithfully for a nest, but failed to find one in the locality. My first nest was found in Missouri, on an apple limb six feet from the ground. Daily I visited this nest, being careful to avoid disturbing the mother bird. One day when I peeped into the nursery I beheld two naked, helpless atoms, looking as little like their beautiful feathered parents as possible. Without form, with big heads, and with dimmed darkened areas the location of their eyes, they resembled a young drone bee, or anything else, rather than a bird. What a change in the appearance of these babies a few days made 1 At the end of ten days the young birds were partly feathered and had increased several times in bodily weight. At the end of four weeks they were snugly packed into the little cup-shaped nest, fully feathered, and were making preparations for breaking home ties. With vibrating wings and much ado these pygmies perched on the rim of the cup and made their first effort to fly a few feet and perch a short time before 140 BIRDS taking their departure into the big world beyond. (Fig. 68.) One afternoon, while prowling through an unfre- quented part of Kansas City's great Swope Park, I found a large bed of jewel flowers in full bloom. I paused on the edge of this matchless spread of pink and yellow blossoms to admire its beauty. A flash of color shot by my head, accompanied by the hum of a pair of wings, then another and another, until I stood in the midst of a flock of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, eight of them, busily endeavoring to drive the unwelcome guest from the vicinity of their cups of nectar. First one and then another darted above my head like feathered bullets. Finally, seeming to realize that I meant them no harm, they accepted my presence as of no significance and re- turned to their unfinished repast. I soon discovered that there were three or four families. No full-grown males were present. After a few flowers had been robbed of their sweets one or more of the birds alighted on a certain small dead twig near the ground in the edge of the flower bed. I soon had my umbrella tent erected and my lens focused on the spot where the birds had been resting, and in the course of two hours succeeded in getting eight good negatives of this hard-to-photograph bird. On one occasion, just as I was on the eve of making the exposure of the plate, a large green grasshopper alighted on the twig within two inches of the bird. I quickly pressed the bulb. The Hummer, not much larger than the grasshopper, looked inquiringly at the intruder and in a dignified manner jumped three inches to another twig, and I pictured the pair a second time. I examined many of the flowers in this bed for small insects, but failed to find a single bug. Whether the bugs had all been removed by the birds, I cannot say, but anyway the birds were feeding persistently ; it must have been on flower juices alone. These smallest of all birds are truly little comedians ; their antics were very amusing as they tried to feed two at a time from the same flower, or as they chased one another from flower to perch, and around the sides of the tent. The birds repeatedly fed so close to the slits EUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD 141 in the walls of the tent that I could have touched them with a finger through the openings. The mother bird was constantly uttering words of assurance or advice, all the while flying about the young. The whole time they were feeding they kept up a con- tinuous chattering that sounded more like that of a basket of young kittens, or the squeaking of a small piece of unoiled machinery, than a young bird's song. When they fed within two inches of a tent-slit near my face the buz- zing of the air was like that of an electric fan. XLV Kjngbibd; Bee-maetin; Bee-bird 444. Tyrannus tyr annus (Linn.) After watching this bird, which is only eight inches long, in its persistent and vicious attacks on birds many- times its size, one can appreciate why it is called the Kingbird, or the Tyrant, It has a broad territorial range and breeds where found during its summer sojourn. There are few open pastures, parks or golf courses whose wide spaces, scattering shade and ornamental trees do not harbor a pair of these birds. The Kingbird is of a blackish ash color over the back ; it has a white breast, dusky wings with white edg- ings ; a beautiful fan-shaped tail of twelve dark feathers tipped with white, and a crested crown with a flaming spot on the center. (Fig. 69.) The nest is placed from ten to fifteen feet from the ground and is composed of twigs, grasses, rags, twine and paper. The eggs, usually four, are white, thinly speckled with lilac or brown. The Kingbird is the best of our flycatchers. For hours, patiently, this bird will perch on a dead mullen stalk or isolated twig, ever on the alert for passing in- sects; it is a great moth killer, thus destroying the Qgg layers of the small insect pest. The Kingbird has no song and its only utterance is '*keet, keet, keet!" while perched on some dead twig, waiting and watching for food. These same notes are rapidly repeated when the bird is fighting other birds, or anything that invades the sanctity of its home surround- ings. Its every utterance, its every attitude, is one of alertness. With white-rimmed eyes and erect crown the bird looks the tyrant its name implies. A Cowbird would be risking her very safety should she try to deposit one of her eggs in the nest of a Kingbird. It is the bravest of birds and will attack an Eagle, a Hawk or Crow. In 142 KINGBIRD 143 fact, it has a special aversion to the egg-stealing Crow and the black rascal has rough sailing when it ventures across the border of the Kingbird's domain. I have re- peatedly seen the fighter, in its vicious attack on a Crow, actually light on the latter 's back, throw the plucked feather into the air, and keep it up for fully a mile. All the while the Crow was flying for dear life, acting quite as though it felt it had made a great mistake in traveling along that route that day. I am willing to wager it went the other way next time. Yet, with all its reputation for bravery and for fighting I have seen the tyrant put to flight by the smallest of our birds, the audacious Ruby- throated Hummingbird, with seemingly little effort. The pictures of the young birds were made after they had left the nest and were able to fly a hundred yards. (Fig. 70.) I captured them by throwing my focus- ing cloth over them, then by gentle handling persuaded them to pose for their photographs. Rest assured many assaults were made on me by the old birds. Repeatedly, my straw hat was knocked off as with bullet-like speed they darted past my head, all the while screaming their protest in the few words at their command. XLVI Gbeat Crested Flycatcher 452. Myiarchus crinitus (Linn.) This bird is olivaceous in color, with brown head and a prominent crest; the throat and breast are ashen-col- ored, meeting abruptly the bright yellow of the belly. The length of the Crested Flycatcher is eight inches and its body is of a rather slim build. Like all worm and insect eating birds it is migratory, and is a woodland bird by choice, nesting in natural cavities in trees and in abandoned Woodpecker holes. The nest is of an enormous size for so small a bird, and is composed of miscellaneous material into which, frequently, the cast-off skins of snakes enter. The eggs number from five to eight, buff-colored, with heavy, wavy, purplish longitudinal markings which are characteristic of the eggs of these birds. The Crested Flycatcher is very quarrelsome and ill- tempered, and is also exclusive, claiming as its own the territory in the vicinity of the nest. Owing to its habit of selecting a nest-site in heavily timbered areas this bird is not observed as frequently as its relative of the open glade — the Kingbird. However, that the Flycatcher sometimes invades the haunts of man is shown by the picture illustrating this chapter. Its screaming note, ''what!" is often made just before it flies to another limb or tree, and you must not expect to see it at the point from which the call came. The loud shrill notes during the mating period and early nest- building cease with the advent of the young. My friend. Professor A. E. Shir ling, a lover of birds and the out-of-doors, was fortunate enough to draw in his bird box lottery a nesting pair of Great Crested Fly- catchers, and through his courtesy I was privileged to picture and study the pair at close range. (Fig. 71.) After I had once anchored my camera close to the nest the birds made no attempt at attacking me or the 144 GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER 145 camera, although they are brave and are given to the habit of pulling out the tail feathers of their rivals and tearing them to pieces. In the nest referred to were enormous numbers of chicken feathers, as though the birds had visited the barnyards in that vicinity. There were, also, large patches of chicken skin with feathers attached, as if the birds had utilized them as substitutes for snake skin. It is claimed by some naturalists that a snake never goes near a piece of its own hide. The Crested Fly- catcher, of all birds, most frequently utilizes a piece of snake skin in building, yet the nest is placed high in holes in trees too large for any snake to climb. The fact seem- ingly would negative the theory of the skins ' being used as protection against snakes, but its use may be due to a preconceived idea on the part of the birds, or to inher- ited tradition. It would be just as well to reason that a Wood Thrush universally adds a piece of newspaper to her nest to keep away the editors and newsboys. Each time the parents came with food, they perched on a nearby limb and silently viewed the camera, then flew to the nest entrance and quickly entered the box to feed the young. The box was full of loose feathers; a carpet-sweeper or a firm breeze across the entrance would surely have aspirated many of them. I could see the long necks, the big ugly heads and large eyes of the young birds as they were waved to and fro among the feathers. In this nest one of the very young birds became ensnared in the coils of a hair from a horse's tail and was found dead, hanging from the entrance to the nest, evidently thrown there by the old birds as it was too young to have escaped unassisted. I considered myself very lucky in having the oppor- tunity so easily to get a good picture of this living bird. The picture shows the temper of the bird, as it brooks no interference with its home affairs. XLvn Phoebe; Bridge Bied; Wateb Pbweb 456. Sayornis phoebe After the arrival of the Prairie Horned Lark, Blue- bird and Robin, our earliest spring birds, comes the little seven-inch-long Phoebe, adobe or mud nest-building, Bridge or Culvert Bird. The male arrives two weeks in advance of the female. The little plasterer — the male does not assist in the building — ^with moss and mud fres- coes her future home on the sides of the bridge stone- work, and if a deep pool of water is underneath the bridge all the better for Phoebe's choice. In it she lays four white eggs. The male, while shirking the plas- ter work, is faithful in feeding the female during incu- bation and in caring for the young. (Fig. 75.) In unsettled localities Phoebes build under overhang- ing rocks near streams and other damp places. How- ever, these birds prefer man-built bridges, not because man has built them, but because about them man has made open pastures and broad lanes, where the Phoebe loves to perch on a dead twig while watching for its flying food supply. As it patiently awaits the flying moth its tail is ever twitching and over and over it repeats its plaintive call, * ' Phoebe, Phoebe ! ' ' These birds are skilful flyers and artful flycatchers. A moth wandering into a Phoebe's range rarely escapes the quick snap of the bird's mandibles. Once, on the twenty-eighth of May, I watched the parents of three young Phoebes that had left the nest, gathering moths and other insects and feeding them to the young birds. The rapidity and accuracy with which they accomplished this task was a surprise. The old birds did not pause a second after catching a miller before delivering it to the young; this was managed exactly as a Humming- bird probes a honeysuckle — -that is without alighting dur- ing the act of feeding. The Phoebe, a confiding little creature, appeals to all bird-lovers. It is so demure in manner that it at 146 PHOEBE 147 onoe elicits our sympathy and excites our admiration. Its very selection of a nesting site is one that takes us in memory back to the happy days of bare feet and muddy knees, when, as boys, we sought the location of a nest securely mortared against the bark on a log supporting the old-fashioned wooden bridge that spanned our favor- ite fishing branch or creek. Oh, how we all loved to leave the tracks of our bare feet, knees and other parts of our anatomy imprinted on the slick banks underneath the old bridge — the home of the Phoebes ! I am thrilled, in memory, as I write, remembering with what joy we — there are always two or three boys in every country neighborhood — proclaimed the discovery of a Phcebe^s nest ; and how surprised we were by the flight of the bird from beneath the bridge. Like the early prairie settlers who built their homes from the material at hand, the prairie sod or sun-dried bricks or adobe, the Phoebe does not go far for its nest- building material. The nest is beautifully built and se- curely anchored, and often covered with growing moss and lined with feathers and rabbit fur. Under a bridge spanning a creek of the Blue Hills golf course a Phoebe built its nest. Hundreds of golfers crossed the bridge with only the thickness of an inch board separating their spiked soles from the head of the incubating bird. The male, perched on a nearby snag, watched tirelessly for insects, singing his song of ''Phoebe, Phoebe!" and wagging his tail in a salute to the passing throng. And, incidentally, he had his photo- graph taken. Later, by the aid of a mirror, I secured some splendid negatives of the nest and young under the bridge. (Fig. 73.) XLVIII Peaibie Hoened Laek 474. Otocoris alpestris praticola The scientific description- for identification of this bird is entirely too long for a short treatise on birds, such as this book is intended to be. In a general way the Prairie Horned Lark resembles a Field Sparrow. It is about seven and one-half inches long and is marked by a grayish back, and a pale yel- low on the throat; the under parts are white and there is a black streak across the forehead, ending on each side in a feathery horn; a black bar extends from the upper bill through the eye. The nesting habits of the Prairie Horned Lark are very different from those of the Sparrow. The Lark is one of the very earliest birds to build its nest and rear its young; it has a broad stretch of territory for its range, breeding from Indiana to the Rocky Mountains and from Texas to Canada. (Fig. 74.) The nest is a depression in the ground, lined with fine grass. The eggs are four in number and are of a dark drab color, marked with splotches of brown. Early in March, if you should be playing golf or strolling across a pasture on a gentle sloping hillside toward the east or south, where the early spring sunshine has melted the snowbanks and thawed the frozen soil, and should behold two little birds running along on the ground, pausing every few feet to look at you, then tak- ing wing, flying in a circle and dropping near the spot from which you flushed them, busying themselves in a most indifferent manner gathering grass seed, you would be quite safe in the guess that these same birds were Prairie Horned Larks. Then, if you should look about and find a little grass-lined cup in the ground, you could be sure of the identity of the owners of the nest. I have set my camera directly over the incubating bird and made her picture without disturbing her. (Fig. U8 PEAIRIE HOENED LARK 149 72.) It was a picture ever to be remembered. Four inches of snow fell when the young were a week old. I had visited the nest the day before, so when I looked from my bedroom window and saw the earth clothed in a mantle of pure white, my first thoughts were of the little, featherless, young birds. I made haste to visit them. When I reached the vicinity of the nest I could locate it only by the stake I had driven into the ground to keep the golf players from stepping on it. Much to my pleasure and surprise the little mother, with her gray back and beady eyes, was snugly hovering over her babies, while the drifting snow in the face of a stiff March wind had nearly hidden her patient and warm little body. That afternoon the snow on that southern exposed hill- side melted, and the devoted little mother reaped her full reward by rearing all four of her precious, tender off- spring. The little fellows increased forty per cent in weight the first four days. After watching the fidelity of the old birds to pa- rental duty, and noting the frequency with which these little ground birds were fed, one can easily understand the rapid increase in their weight. The parents invari- ably alighted on the ground a few feet from the nest and, running quickly to its site, fed the young, cleaned the nest and flew away. One of the birds kept close to the nest most of the time, but occasionally both birds joined in the chase of a particularly hard-to-catch moth. Prom early morn till late at night these parents fed on an average of every four minutes. No wonder the young birds fairly burst into full-grown birdhood. XLIX Blue Jay; Jay-Bibd 4:77. Cyanocitta cristata cristata A minute description of this well-known bird is un- necessary. With its blue tail, tipped with white, bright blue wings with black bars, and its purplish-blue back, the Bluejay is most easily identified. If you do not see the bird, it will proclaim to you its name from a nearby tree, *'Jay! Jayl D^Jay! D'Jay!" It has a coarse, but substantial, nest, building when possible in an evergreen tree. There are from three to five eggs, buff with brown markings. Blue Jays have a limited migratory habit, but are considered permanent residents of most of the central part of the United States. These birds have the habit of storing acorns and grain, to which they rarely return. Because it has many disagreeable traits, the Blue Jay is justly placed on the black list of the birds we do not enjoy or encourage to be with us. (Fig. 76.) ''D^Jay! D'Jay!" the usual noisy exclamation, is frequently interrupted by an attempt to put consterna- tion into the hearts of all hawk-fearing birds, by giving a good imitation of the cry of the Eed-tailed or other Hawk — a kind of scream, followed by ''Smart Alec, Smart Alec!" Blue Jays are fond of bathing. During the nesting period the female acts as if she were the owner of an illicit "moonshine distillery," ever on the outlook for detectives on her trail. Observe her, as she noiselessly and slyly approaches the nest, dropping from limb to limb, until she reaches the threshold, when with no ado she settles into its depths, almost out of sight. As she sits in the nest a good picture can be made only when the camera is pointed downward on her back. This is not always possible, as the nest-site is frequently close to the body of the tree, thus making it difficult to place the camera in a good position. The Jay will let you picture 150 BLUE JAY 151 the nest, or disturb the young, seemingly satisfied to re- main quietly perched near by, as an onlooker. The Blue Jay — the usually unsuspected demon of the bird world — is so demure and gentle in its meanderings of investigation that it will mislead you until you ac- tually catch it in the act of stealing the eggs or devouring the young of other birds. Most birds are allies when it comes to making war on the Blue Jay, their common ene- my. A Brown Thrasher whose nest was in my backyard, had daily fights with a Blue Jay, until a certain friend of the former put an end to the Jay's invasion of the Thrasher's domain. Jays are great conversationists and seem to delight in their assembly meetings, or in gossip of a most earnest and confiding fashion, first one and then another, in turn, expressing views on the subject under discussion. This is true, especially, in family gatherings, after the young have left the nest. Jays have no tender spot in my bird affections. To me, the Blue Jay has a disagreeable per- sonality, in that I look upon it as a villain, first, last and all the time. It belongs to no league of bird nations, rec- ognizes no laws of bird-home boundaries, and invades the privacy of other bird homes, destroying the eggs and devouring the young. It is a sneak in its personality, yet proclaims its virtues in the loudest tones when it sees an Owl or Hawk, even joining the bird throng attacking the birds of prey. Canadian Jay; Whiskey Jack; Camp Robbee; MoOSE-BlBD 484. Perisoerus canadensis This Jay is much paler in all of its colorings than the Blue Jay. The head and nape of the Canadian Jay are blackish and its back is ashy gray ; the wings and tail are ashy blue and faintly tipped with white. The length of the bird is twelve inches. These Jays build their nests in coniferous trees in remote and secluded places in the bottom land in Canada and the northern states, and on the foothills and sides of the Rockies. There is no bird that boasts a warmer or more serviceable nest than the Canadian Jay, as it is the very earliest to build, frequently building and lay- ing its eggs in zero weather. In our northern states full- grown young birds are often seen in early April. The eggs, four in number, are grayish with dark brown spots. This Jay has a variety of pleasing notes and, like the Blue Jay, may fool you by its mimicry of other birds. It is an omnivorous eater and has the audacity of a pet Crow. Repeatedly, while on big game hunting trips in the remote regions of Canada, Alaska and the Rockies of the United States, I was visited at my camps by some of these birds, who made themselves at home by help- ing themselves to anything that met their fancy. I found them to be inveterate thieves; they would perch on a pine tree ten or fifteen feet from where I was eating and fuss, quarrel and complain about my want of hospitality, or charity. The instant my back was turned, or I took my eye off them, or the food was left for a minute, one of the Jays flew to my plate, grabbed a piece of venison or moose meat and departed in triumphant haste. One day I nailed a piece of tough mountain goat meat to a stump near my tent and gave ''Jack" an invitation to help himself. He was not slow in accepting my hospi- tality, at the same time having his picture made. (Fig. 77.) 152 CANADIAN JAY 153 When he is about your camp-site just watch his sly expression, which seems to say: ''You just give me a chance and see how quickly I will help myself to anything edible or transportable. " Despite his audacity and thiev- ing proclivities I was always glad to see him and I gave him a hearty welcome. If you have two Indian guides, a cook, a congenial hunting companion, a few chipmunks and camp thieves about your tent, making free with your supplies, and you are not happy, your case is utterly hopeless. One must admire the Canadian Jay for its endurance and stability, as it winters near a zero home-site, while nearly all its summer neighbors migrate to sunny climes. These Jays will eat anything they can find, and they will steal everything they can carry. At one of my hunting camps in British Columbia, one of these birds actually devoured half a bar of laundry soap and did not appear to regret its unusual diet, for it continued to be a daily caller as long as I remained in that vicinity. LI Crow; Common Ambeican Crow 488. Corvus americanus The head and back of the Crow are dull black, with wings and tail burnished. It is about twenty inches long and is found all over North America, nesting in tall trees or hedges. The nest is a large, compact structure of sticks and in localities where much binding twine is used in wheat fields, that material is freely used. I have seen nests where half of the structure was composed of twine. The eggs number from four to six and are of a greenish- white with lilac or brown blotches. Crows are very intelligent and have held their own despite the farmers ' dislike of them. They use an alarm sentinel while the flock is feeding; they are omnivorous feeders. It is claimed that they are mated for life. Both birds equally assume the nursery duties. (Fig. 78.) In winter Crows congregate in large flocks at night at one spot to roost. These birds are great lovers of their kind and of their homes. In its evening flight the Crow suggests, in its every movement, eagerness to reach the roosting rookery before dark. Ever on the alert, the bird is able to detect the presence of a gun in your hand or on your shoulder from a great distance. In crossing a field where Crows are peacefully feed- ing on the ground, you may walk quite near them if you are unarmed, but just let their sentry, perched on a nearby elevation, see you with a pitchfork or hoe handle over your shoulder, and instantly his warning * * caw, caw, caw!" puts consternation into the whole bunch and they hurriedly make their getaway. As the plowman plods along behind his team and the furrows are turned, these same Crows seem to say, as they strut down the freshly- turned soil behind the farmer and his plow, **A11 I find is mine." From a sentimental point of view the Crow has some traits to be admired, but from its general character as 154 Fig. 77. CANADA JAY (page 152) Fig. 78. AMERICAN CROW'S NEST AND YOUNG (page 154) Fig. 79. COWBIRD YOUNG (page 157) Fig. 80. RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD'S NEST AND YOUNG (page 160) CROW; COMMON AMERICAN CROW 155 a robber of other birds' eggs and young, and from its custom of pulling up freshly sprouted com, it loses much of the sympathy of the farmers, who believe that their neighborhoods would be improved by the extermina- tion of Crows. In persons we exact a standard of honor and usefulness. If we used the same measure in estimat- ing the standing of the Crow in its community it would fall below the one hundred per cent mark. However, lest we do the bird an injustice, let us not use our own virtues for the basis of a Crow's standard. We must not let our young corn, young chickens, birds ' eggs and economy make us narrow and exacting. No farming community would be complete without its Crows. What farmer's inventory at the end of the season would be full without listing a few of these big black rascals among his livestock. We may not have much friendly feeling for the Crow, but we cannot re- frain from admiring its audacity and persistence in its endeavors to be our neighbor and our guest. On the cold- est winter day the Crow remains with us to give good cheer by its presence, as it wends its way through the cold air to nowhere in particular and every place in general. The incomparable tribute of Bishop Quayle to the Crow will ever remain a <;lassic: * ' The Crow — ^nothing would induce me to part from him. Frankly, I love him, though to the best of my be- lief he does not return my affection. I love him and am glad I have woods where he nests in summer and where he spends his nights in winter, with his dusky wings closed against his dusky sides and his sagacious eyes asleep. He may do harm, but I doubt it; he does more good than harm .... for wherever he may have been by daylight, home he comes by twilight If everybody knew enough to come home at night, wher- ever they may have been by day, the world would have more laughter and sweeter mirth and more heaven be- fore heaven were journeyed to." Ln CowBiRD ; Cow Blackbibd ; Lazy-Bibd ; Vagabond ; Tramp 495. Molothrus; ater ater Most birds possess some trait that appeals to our admiration, love or sympathy; they are either beautiful, sweet singers, or useful adjuncts to our pest-destroyers, or they are edible. In the Cowbird we have a freai, in so far as its personality is concerned. Unfortunately, it does not possess a single quality that appeals to any of our better emotions. With its mongrel coloring of dull black and rusty brown, its unmusical, noisy attempt at singing, it's lazy method of obtaining food, its polyga- mous ideas and its utter abandonment of all parental re- sponsibility, it is placed beyond the pale of human sen- timent, and in the list of the outcasts of the bird kingdom. The company of the Cowbird is avoided by all birds save the English Sparrows and Red-winged Blackbirds, which, in the fall of the year, are often seen mingling with the outcasts in small flocks. Because of the fact that Cowbirds lay their eggs in the nests of other birds there is no way of estimating the number laid in any season. The eggs are dull white, sprinkled with small amber blotches. The Cowbird is an omnivorous eater and is equally fond of seeds, berries and insects ; it is just as broad in its social habits as it is firm in the belief of Mormonism and the practice of polygamy, and, void of parental in- stinct, it refuses to build a nest for its own use, or to as- sume any responsibility in the incubation of eggs and providing for the young, leaving all family pleasures, cares and responsibilities to some small bird in whose nest the Cowbird ^s egg is deposited and abandoned to the protection of the foster-parents. The intruder's egg, being larger than those of the small bird, receives more warmth from the body of the incubating bird than the other eggs receive, and is hatched first. Then, being rapid in development, it 156 COWBIRD; COW BLACKBIRD, ETC. 157 crowds either the unhatched eggs or the little birds out of the nest and appropriates all the food the busy little foster-parents can provide. (Fig. 79.) When the female Cowbird slyly steals through the underbrush and stealthily deposits her egg in the nest of the little Vireo, or the Yellow Warbler, and abandons it, she knows by some mysterious instinct that her egg and its future young will be amply provided for by the foster-parents. When the time comes for the Cowbird to lay her egg she does not feel the home-building im- pulse, or at least does not respond to it. Why bother about anticipated maternal duties by building a nest, or changing plumage, or pressing the male into the car- pentry or plasterer 's trade, when all these duties may be performed by others? The Cowbird, to me, always has a peculiar sheep- dog, sneaking demeanor, with nothing dignified, assertive or pugnacious to be seen in its actions. Watch the fe- male as she sneaks to the branches near the ground in her quest of some nest to despoil with her egg. Her every action is that of a thief, or eavesdropper. She does not protest your presence in that locality. In fact, she seems to say, by her actions, that you have more rights near a bird^s nest than a Cowbird has, and I fully agree with her on that point. Unless I desire to observe the rearing of the young Cowbird by its foster-parents, I always remove the egg from the nest with a little stick, as the Vireo and other birds often abandon the nest if you touch their eggs with your fingers. Cowbirds are good nest-finders. But on some oc- casions the small bird refuses to assume additional forced parental duty and builds a false floor in the nest to cover the Cowbird 's egg. She then lays her own eggs on the new nest-bottom and thus thwarts the endeavors of the slacker. The Yellow Warbler often resorts to this procedure. One day in July, while looking for nests and birds to photograph, I saw a slacker come up from the weeds and underbrush to a low limb. Her every expression was that of a sneak ; her every movement was that of a traitor and a coward. I was satisfied that there was, in that vicinity, some bird's nest which she had been despoiling 158 BIEDS with one of her eggs. Sure enough, there, within two feet of the ground, in a small paw-paw bush, was a nest of the exquisite Indigo Bunting, containing three young Indigo birds, about half -grown, and right on top of them was a freshly laid egg of the Cowbird. This is the only instance in which I have actually driven the bird from the nest. It is the only instance where I have found a Cowbird 's egg in a nest containing half -grown young birds. The parental feeling in the foster-parents is much stronger than their power of identifying their own young, so the intruder continues to be cared for to the exclusion of the smaller weaklings, until, in many instances, the foster-parents' own young die from overcrowding and neglect, while the young Cowbird thrives on an undivided food supply. I have seen a blue-gray G-natcatcher, not much larger than a Hummingbird, feeding a young Cow- bird larger than the whole nest and its contents. The Cowbird is the one so often seen on the backs of cattle grazing in the roadside pastures. The Cowbird was justly named, when the older orni- thologists dubbed it, ''MoPothrus"^ — the Vagabond, Tramp, Parasite. c t- ^^^^^^HHS . kritn '^""" ^'^ ^ ^^^^P jHffSp^^^i^Bfcf ' \; ^^^fa5^^^^ 1 Fig. 81. RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD BROODING (page 161) Fig. 82. RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD YOUNG (page 162) Fig. 83. MEADOW-LARK'S NEST AND EGGS (page 163) Fig. 84. MEADOW-LARK INCUBATING (l)