^ ^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // :/ 5r ^/^ 4 1.0 [rlM lllM I.I 11.25 ^ 1^ 12.0 JA nil 1.6 vV^ 9 ?v ^^' L1>' -A> 4^\ A^\ ^\ % V ^ v^ %' CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions tnstitut Canadian de microreproductions historiques 1980 Technical Notes / Notes techniques The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original copy available for filming. Physical features of this copy which may alter any of the images in the reproduction are checked below. n Coloured covers/ Couvertures de couleur Coloured maps/ Cartes giographiques en couleur L'Institut a microfilmd le meilleur exemplai:e qu'il lui a 6td possible de se procurer. Certains ddfauts susceptibles de nuire d la quality de la repi^oduction sont not^s ci-dessous. D 0 Coloured pages/ Pages de couleur Coloured pl&tes/ Planches en couleur Th< poi of filn Th( coi or api Th filr ins 0 0 s Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ Pages d<^color6es, tachet^es ou piqu^es Tight binding (may cause shadows or distortion along interior margin)/ Ruliure serrd (peut causer de I'ombre ou de la distortion, le long de la marge intdrieure) D \/ Show through/ Transparence Pages damaged/ Pages ondommag^es Additional comments/ Commentaires suppldmentaires Due to tight binding, the captions on some plates may be obscured. A list of coloured plates is contained on pages [xi] and [xii] . Pages wholly or partially obscured by errata slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to ensure the best possible image. Mi in up bo fol Bibliographic Notes / Notes bibliographiques n Only edition available/ Seule Edition disponible Bound with other material/ Reli6 avec d'autres documents Cover title missing/ le titre de couverture manque D D D Pagination incorrect/ Erreurs de pagination Pages missing/ Des pages manauent Maps missing/ Des cartes gdographiques manquent D Plates missing/ Des planches manquent Additional comments/ Commdntaires suppldmentaires The images appearing here are the best quality possible considering the condition and legibility of the original copy and in keeping with the filming contract specifications. Les images suivantes ont 6x6 reproduites avec le plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et de la nettet^ de I'exemplaire film6, et en conformity avec les conditions du contrat de filmage. The last recorded frame on each microfirhe shall contain the symbol —►{meaning CONT'NUED"), or the symbol V (meaning "END"), whiciever applies. Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la der- nidre image de cheque microfiche, selon le cas: le symbols — »► signifle "A SUIVRE", le sy-^ole y signlfie "FIN". The original copy was borrowed from, and filmed with, the kind consent of the following institution: Library, National Museums of Canada Maps or plates too large to be entirely included in one exposure are filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames as required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: L'exemplaire film6 fut rsproduit grdce 6 la gdn6rosit6 de l'6tablissement prdteur suivant : Bibliothdque, Musses Nationaux du Canada Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul clich6 sont filmdes d partir de Tangle supdrieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la m6thode : 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 BIRD NEIGHBORS Ed GOLDFINCH. /.; Life-size. ■\'\i • )l) .■ AN ' ^ ■ ]-. Li ! \ ' 'l !• 1 >. I , ^:'> H^'';RrM,.M,,iiS M) \'l\ I . rW^ ' (A.)! ' >K|-j» !'!,A!1 ^. ,^' ^4Af ih % Lifo-i!ize. : ■ ' (. -,*< » (f p BIRD NEIGHBORS. AN INTRODUCTORY ACQUAINTANCE WITH ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY BIRDS COMMONLY FOUND IN THE GARDENS, MEADOWS, AND WOODS ABOUT OUR HOMES BY NELTJE BLANCHAN WITH INTRODUCTION BY JOHN BURROUGHS AND FIFTY-TWO COLORED PLATES -1-^ 1'^- rJ TORONTO GEORGE N. MORANG 1898 X 0l2t05 LIBIURY NATIO?^AL MU: OF CANADA Copyright, 1897, by DOUBLEDAY & McCLURE CO. Colored plates copyrighted, 1897, by THE NATURE STUDY PUBLISHING CO. Chicago, III. Third Edition TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction by John Burroughs Preface List of Colored Plates I, Bird Families: Their Characteristics and the Representatives of Each Family included in " Bird Neighbors " II. Habitats of Birds III. Seasons of Birds IV. Birds Grouped According to Size . V. Descriptions of Birds Grouped According to Color Birds Conspicuously Black .... Birds Conspicuously Black and White . Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored Birds . Blue and Bluish Birds Brown, Olive or Grayish Brown, and Brown and Gray Sparrowy Birds .... Green, Greenish Gray, Olive, and Yellowish Olive Birds Birds Conspicuously Yellow and Orange Birds Conspicuously Red of any Shade . Index PAGB vii ix xi I «7 25 3} 39 5« 65 97 H3 167 187 213 229 .■m-Ammm ■ iipi]».-U»lniiL^J>.i ' n.imn J'li " 1 INTRODUCTION I WRITE these few introductory sentences to this volume only to second so worthy an attempt to quicken and enlarge the gen- eral interest in our birds. The book itself is merely an introduc- tion, and is only designed to place a few clews in the reader's hands which he himself or herself is to follow up. I can say that it is reliable and is written in a vivacious strain and by a real bird lover, and should prove a help and a stimulus to any one who seeks by the aid of its pages to become better acquainted with our songsters. The pictures, with a few exceptions, are remarkably good and accurate, and these, with the various group- ing of the birds according to color, season, habitat, etc., ought to render the identification of the birds, with no other weapon than an opera glass, an easy matter. When 1 began the study of the birds I had access to a copy of Audubon, which greatly stimulated my interest in the pursuit, but 1 did not have the opera glass, and 1 could not take Audubon with ine on my walks, as the reader may this volume, and he will find these colored plates quite as helpful as those of Audubon or Wilson. But you do not want to make out your bird the first time; the book or your friend must not make the problem too easy for you. You must go again and again, and see and hear your bird under varying conditions and get a good hold of several of its characteristic traits. Things easily learned are apt to be easily for- gotten. Some ladies, beginning the study of birds, once wrote to me, asking if 1 would not please come and help them, and set them right about certain birds in dispute. 1 replied that that would be getting their knowledge too easily; that what I and any one else told them they would be very apt to forget, but that the things they found out themselves they would always remem- ber. We must in a way earn what we have or keep. Only thus docs it become ours, a real part of us. Not very long afterward 1 had the pleasure of walking with one of the ladies, and I found her eye and ear quite as sharp as my own, and that she was in a fair way to conquer the bird king- dom without any outside help. She said that the groves and fields, through which she used to walk with only a languid inter- vu est, were now completely transformed to her and atforded her the keenest pleasure; a whole new world of interest had been disclosed to her; she felt as if she was constantly on the eve of some new discovery; the next turn in the path might reveal to her a new warbler or a new vireo. I remember the thrill she seemed to experience when I called her attention to a purple finch jinking in the tree-tops in front of her house, a rare visitant she had not before heard. The thrill would of course have been greater had she identified the bird without my aid. One would rather bag one's own game, whether it be with a bullet or an eyebeam. The experience of this lady is the experience of all in whom is kindled this bird enthusiasm. A new interest is added to life; one more resource against ennui and stagnation. If you have only a city yard with a few sickly trees in it, you will find great delight in noting the numerous stragglers from the great army of spring and autumn migrants that find their way there. If you live in the country, it is as if new eyes and new ears were given you, with a correspondingly increased capacity for rural enjoyment. The birds link themselves to your memory of seasons and places, so that a song, a call, a gleam of color, set going a sequence of delightful reminiscences in your mind. When a soli- tary great Carolina wren came one August day and took up its abode near me and sang and called and warbled as I had heard it long before on the Potomac, how it brought the old days, the old scenes back again, and made me for the moment younger by all those years! A few seasons ago I feared the tribe of bluebirds were on the verge of extinction from the enormous number of them that perished from cold and hunger in the South in the winter of '94. For two summers not a blue wing, not a blue warble. I seemed to miss something kindred and precious from my environment — the visible embodiment of the tender sky and the wistful soil. What a loss, 1 said, to the coming generations of dwellers in the country — no bluebird in the spring ! What will the farm-boy date from ? But the fear was groundless : the birds are regaining their lost ground; broods of young blue-coats are again seen drifting from stake to stake or from mullen-stalk to mullen-stalk about the fields in summer, and our April air will doubtless again be warmed and thrilled by this lovely harbinger of spring. John Burroughs. August 17, '97. Vlll er en of to ;he ich an PREFACE Not to have so much as a bowing acquaintance with the birds that nesi in our gardc;ns or under the very eaves of our houses; that haunt our wood-piles; keep our fruit-trees free from slugs; waken us with their songs, and enliven our v, alks along the roadside and through the woods, seems to be, at least, a breach of etiquette toward some of our most kindly disposed neighbors. Birds of prey, game and water birds are not included in the book. The following pages are i'ltended to be nothing more than a familiar introduction to the birds that live near us. Even in the principal park of a great city like New York, a bird-lover has found more than one hundred and thirty species; as many, probably, as could be discovered in the same sized territory anywhere. The plan of the book is not a scientific one, if the term scientific is understood to mean technical and anatomical. The purpose of the writer is to give, in a popular and accessible form, knowledge which is accurate and reliable about the life of our common birds. » This knr>wledge has not been collected from the stuffed carcasses of birds in museums, but gleaned afield. In a word, these short narrative descriptions treat of the bird's char- acteristics of size, color, and flight; its peculiarities of instinct and temperament; its nest and home life; its choice of food; its songs; and of the season in which we may expect it to play its part in the great panorama Nature unfolds with faithful precision year after year. They are an attempt to make the bird so live before the reader that, when seen out of doors, its recognition shall be instant and cordial, like that given to a friend. The coloring described in this book is sometimes more vivid than that found in the works of some learned authorities, whose conflicting testimony is often sadly bewildering to the novice. In different parts of the country, and at different seasons of the year, the plumage of some birds undergoes many changes. The reader must remember, therefore, that the specimens examined and described wen not, as before stated, the faded ones in our museums, but live ds in their fresh, spring plumage, studied afield. ? The birds have been classed into color groups in the belief that this method, more than any othe», will make identification most easy. The color of the bird is the first, and often the only, characteristic noticed. But they have also been classified accord- ing to the localities fo: which they show decided preferences and in which they are most likely to be found. Again, they have been grouped according to the season when tb^y may be expected. In the b''ief paragraphs that deal with groups of birds separated into t. arious families represented in the book, the characteristics and tr ' of each clan are clearly emphasized. By these several aids it is ui^iieved i.he merest novice will be able to quickly identify any bird neighbor that is neither local nor rare. To the uninitiated or uninterested observer, all small, dull- colored birds are "common sparrows." The closer scrutiny of the trained eye quickly differentiates, and picks out not only the Song, the Canada, and the Fox Sparrows, but finds a dozen other familiar friends where one who "has eyes and sees not" does not even suspect their presence. Ruskin says: "The more I think of it, I find this conclusion more impressed upon me, that the greatest thing a human soul ever does in this world is to see something. . . . Hundreds of people can talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see. To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion — all in one. ' While the author is indebted to all the time-honored standard authorities, and to many ornithologists of the present day, — too many for individual mention, — it is to Mr. John burroughs her deepest debt is due. To this clear-visioned prophet, who has opened the blind eyes of thousands to the delights that Nature holds within our easy reach, she would gratefully acknowledge many obligations: fir.'t of .^11, for the plan on which " Bird Neigh- bors " is arranged ; next, for his patient kindness in reading and annotating the manuscript of the book; and, not least, for the inspiration of his perennially charming writings that are so largely responsible for the ready-made audience now awaiting writers on out-of-door topics. Neltje Blanchan. LIST OF COLORED PLATES FACING PAGE Goldfinch— F/'o«//5/'/^^^ Kingbird . Mocking BIRD . Crow Bronzed Crackle . Red-winged Blackbird Red-headed Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Sapsucker Snow Bunting . Rose-breasted Grosbeak Bobolink . • • • Black-and-white Creeping Warbler Chimney Swift Wood Pewee Phcebe Chickadee Catbird . J UNCO White-breasted Nuthatch Northern Shrike Bohemian Waxwing Bluebird . . • • Indigo Bird Kingfisher Blue Jay . Barn Swallow House Wren Long-billed Marsh Wren 4 12 41 44 48 54 56 58 60 62 64 67 68 72 76 80 83 84 86 90 99 100 102 104 106 115 118 Brown Thrasher Wood Thrush Hermit Thrush Flicker Meadowlark . Horned Lark . Nighthawk Yellow-billed Cuckoo Smith's Painted Longspur Song Sparrow Ruby-throated Humming-bird Ruby-crowned Kinglet . Warbling Vireo Yellow-throated Vireo . Evening Grosbeak , Yellow Warbler or Summer Yellow-breasted Chat . Blackburnian Warbler . Baltimore Oriole Cardinal . Scarlet Tanager Red Crossbill . Robin Orchard Oriole Yellowbird FACINO PACE I 20 122 124 130 132 134 138 142 148 158 170 172 178 189 192 204 206 208 210 215 218 220 224 226 PACB I BIRD FAMILIES THEIR CHARACTERISTICS AND THE REPRESENTATIVES OF EACH FAMILY INCLUDED IN "BIRD NEIGHBORS" Wl an Ca of ne ab P< p: n hi n it BIRD FAMILIES THEIR CHARACTERISTICS AND THE REPRESENTATIVES OF EACH FAMILY INCLUDED IN "BIRD NEIGHBORS" Order Coccyges: CUCKOOS AND KINGFISHERS Family Ciictilidce : CUCKOOS Long, pigeon-shaped birds, whose backs are grayish brown with a bronze lustre and whose under parts are whitish. Bill long and curved. Tail long ; raised and drooped slowly while the .ird is perching. Two toes point forward and two backward. Call-note loud and like a tree-toad's rattle. Song lacking. Birds of low trees and undergrowth, where they also nest ; partial to neighborhood of streams, or wherever the tent caterpillar is abundant. Habits rather solitary, silent, and eccentric. Migratory. Yellow -billed Cuckoo. Black-billed Cuckoo. Family Alcedinid(B: KINGFISHERS Large, top-heavy birds of streams and ponds. Usually seen perching over the waver looking for fish. Head crested ; upper parts slate-blue ; underneath white, and belted with blue or rusty. Bill large and heavy. Middle and outer toes joined for half their length. Call-note loud and prolonged, like a policeman's rattle. Solitary birds ; little inclined to rove from a chosen local- i,y. Migratory. g^,,,, ^i^gfl^her. Order Pici: WOODPECKERS Family Picidce: WOODPECKERS Medium-sized and small birds, usually with plumage black and white, and always with some red feathers about the head. 3 Bird Families (The flicker is brownish and yellow instead of black and white.) Stocky, hi^'h-shoiildered build ; bill strong and long for drilling holes in bark of trees. Tail feathers pointed and stiffened to serve as a prop. Two toes before and two behind for clinging. Usually seen clinging erect on tree-trunks ; rarely, if ever, head downward, like the nuthatches, titmice, etc. Woodpeckers feed as they creep around the trunks and branches. Habits rather phlegmatic. The flicker has better developed vocal powers than other birds of this class, whose rolling tattoo, beaten with their bills against the tree-trunks, must answer for their love-song. Nest in hollowed-out trees. Red-headed Woodpecker. Hairy Woodpecker. Downy Woodpecker. Yellow-bellied Woodpecker. Flicker. Order Macrochires GOATSUCKERS. SWIFTS, AND HUM- MING-BIRDS Family Caprimulgidce : NIGHTHAWKS, WHIPPOORWILLS, ETC. Medium-sized, mottled brownish, gray, black, and white birds of heavy build. Short, thick head ; gaping, large mouth ; very small bill, with bristles at base. Take insect food on the wing. Feet small and weak ; wings long and powerful. These birds rest lengthwise on their perch while sleeping through the brightest daylight hours, or on the ground, where they nest. Nighthawk. Whippoorwill. :S Family Micropolidce : SWIFTS Sooty, dusky birds seen on the wing, never resting except in chimneys of houses, or hollow trees, where they nest. Tips of tail feathers with sharp spines, used as props. They show their kinship with the goatsuckers in their nocturnal as well as diurnal habits, their small bills and large mouths for catching insects on 4 tl n 0 it ri b V tl V p f( n L n s 0 ■P Bird Families the wing, and their weak feet. Gregarious, especially at the nesting season. Chimney Swift. Family 7rochilidce : HUMMING-BIRDS Very small birds with green plumage (iridescent red or orange breast in males); long, needle-shaped bill for extracting insects and nectar from deep-cupped (lowers, and exceedingly rapid, darting flight. Small feet. Ruby-throated Humming-bird. Order Passeres : PERCHING BIRDS Family Tyrannidce : FLYCATCHERS Small and medium-sized dull, dark-olive, or gray birds, with big heads that are sometimes crested. Bills hooked, at end, and with bristles at base. Harsh or plaintive voices. Wings longer than tail ; both wings and tails usually drooped and vibrating when the birds are perching. Habits moody and silent when perching on a conspicuous limb, telegraph wire, dead tree, or fence rail and waiting for insects to fly within range. Sudden, nervous, spasmodic sallies in midair to seize insects on the wing. Usually they return to their identical perch or lookout. Pug- nacious and fearless. Excellent nest builders and devoted mates. Kingbird. Phoebe. Wood Pewee, Acadian Flycatcher. Great Crested Flycatcher. Least Flycatcher. Olive-sided Flycatcher. Yellovz-bellied Flycatcher. Say's Flycatcher. Family Aflaudidce : LARKS The only true larks to be found in this country are the two species given below. They are the kin of the European skylark, of which several unsuccessful attempts to introduce the bird have S Bird Families been made in this country. These two larks must not be con- fused with f- .i.eadow larks and titlarks, which belong to the blackbird and pipit families .espectively. The horned larks are birds of the ground, and ;;ie seen in the United States only in the autumn and winter. In the nesting season at the North their voices are most musical. Plumage grayisii and brown, in color ha'-mony with their habitats. ■ Usually found in flocks ; the first species on or near the shore. Horned Lark. Prairie Horned Lark. Family CorvidiV : CROWS AND JAYS The crows are large black birds, walkers, with stout feet adapted for the purpose. Fond of shifting their residence at dif- ferent seasons rather than strictly inigratory, for, except at the northern limit of range, they remain resident all the year. Gre- garious. Sexes alike. Omnivorous feeders, being partly car- nivorous, as are also the jays. Both crows and jays inhabit wooded country. Their voices are harsh and clamorous ; and their habits are boisterous and bold, particularly the jays. De- voted mates ; unpleasant neighbors. Common Crow. Fish Crow. Northern Raven. Blue Jay. Canada Jay. lill Family Icteridce : BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. Plumage black or a brilliant color combined with black. (The meadow lark a sole exception.) Sexes unlike. These birds form a connecting link between the crows and the finches. The blackbirds have strong feet for use upon the ground, where they generally feed, while the orioles are birds of the trees. They are both seed and insect eaters. The bills of the bobolink and cow- bird are short and conical, for they are conspicuous seed eaters. Bills of the others long and conical, adapted for insectivorous diet. About half the family are gifted songsters. Red-winged Blackbird. Rusty Blackbird. 6 Bird Families Purple Crackle. Bronzed Crackle. Cowbird. Meadow Lark. Western Meadow Lark. Bobolink. Orchard Oriole. Baltimore Oriole. Family Fringillidce: FINCHES, SPARROWS, CROSBEAKS, BUNTINCS, LINNETS, AND CROSSBILLS Cenerally fine songsters. Bills conical, short, and stout for cracking seeds. Length from five to nine inches, usually under eight inches. This, the largest family of birds that we have (about one-seventh of all our birds belong to it), comprises birds of such varied plumage and habit that, while certain family re- semblances may be traced throughout, it is almost impossible xo characterize the family as such. The sparrows are comparatively small gray and brown birds with striped upper parts, lighter underneath. Birds of the ground, or not far from it, elevated perches being chosen for rest and song. Nest in low bushes or on the ground. (Chipping sparrow often selects tall trees.) Coloring adapted to grassy, dusty habitats. Males and females similar. Flight labored. About forty species of sparrows are found in the United States ; of these, fourteen may be met with by a novice, and six, at least, surely will be. Ihe. finches and their larger kin are chiefly bright-plumaged birds, the females either duller or distinct from males ; bills heavy, dull, and conical, befitting seed eaters. Not so migratory as insectivorous birds nor so restless. Mostly phlegmatic in temperament. Fine songsters. Chipping Sparrow. English Sparrow. Field Sparrow. Fox Sparrow. Grasshopper Sparrow. Savanna Sparrow. Seaside Sparrow. Sharp-tailed Sparrow. •"N Bird Families Song Sparrow. Swamp Song Sparrow. Tree Sparrow. Vesper Sparrow. White-crowned Sparrow. White-throated Sparrow. Lapland Lottgspur. Smith's Painted Longspur. Pine Siskin (or Finch). Purple Finch. Goldfinch. Redpoll. Greater Redpoll. Red Crossbill. White-winged Red Crossbill. Cardinal Grosbeak. Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Pine Grosbeak. Evening Grosbeak. Blue Grosbeak. Indigo Bunting Junco. Snowflake. Chewink. ■iiir Family Tanagridce : TANAGERS Distinctly an American family, remarkable for their brilliant plumage, which, however, undergoes great changes twice a year. Females different from males, being dull and inconspicuous. Birds of the tropics, two species only finding their way north, and the summer tanager rarely found north of Pennsylvania. Shy inhabitants of woods. Though they may nest low in trees, they choose high perches when singing or feeding upon flowers, fruits, and insects. As a family, the tanagers have weak, squeaky voices, but both our species are good songsters. Suffering the fate of most bright-plumaged birds, immense numbers have been shot annually. Scarlet Tanager. Summer Tanager. 8 / Bird Families Family Hirundinidce : SWALLOWS Birds of the air, that take their insect food on the wing. Migratory. Flight strong, skimming, darting ; exceedingly graceful. When not flying they choose slender, conspicuous perches like telegraph wires, gutters, and eaves of barns. Plu- mage of some species dull, of others iridescent blues and greens above, whitish or ruddy below. Sexes similar. Bills small ; mouths large. Long and pointed wings, generally reaching the tip of the tail or beyond. Tail more or less forked. Feet small and weak from disuse. Song a twittering warble without power. Gregarious birds. Barn Swallow. Bank Swallow. Cliff (or Eaves) Swallow. Tree Swallow. Bough-winged Swallow. Purple Martin. Family /tmpelidce: WAXWWGS Medium-sized Quaker-like birds, with plumage of soft browns and grays. Head crested ; black band across forehead and through the eye. Bodies plump from indolence. Tail tipped with yellow ; wings with red tips to coverts, resembling sealing- wax. Sexes similar. Silent, gentle, courteous, elegant birds. Usually seen in large flocks feeding upon berries in the trees or perching on the branches, except at the nesting season. Voices resemble a soft, lisping twitter. Cedar Bird. Bohemian Waxwing. Family Laniida^ : SHRIKES Medium-sized grayish, black-and-white birds, with hooked and hawk-like bill for tearing the flesh of smaller birds, field- mice, and large insects that they impale on thorns. Handsome, bold birds, the terror of all small, feathered neighbors, not ex- cluding the English sparrow. They choose conspicuous perches when on the lookout for prey : a projecting or dead limb of a 9 Bird Families tree, the cupola of a house, the ridge-pole or weather-vane of a barn, or a telegraph wire, from which to suddenly drop upon a victim. Eyesight remarkable. Call-notes harsh and unmusical Habits solitary and waiidering. The first-named species is resi- dent during the colder months of the year; the latter is a summer resident only north of Maryland. Northern Shrike. Loggerhead Shrike. Family yireonidce : VIREOS OR GREENLETS Small greenish-gray or olive birds, whitish or yellowish underneath, their plumage resembling the foliage of the trees they hunt, nest, and live among. Sexes alike. More deliberate in habit than the restless, flitting warblers that are chiefly seen darting about the ends of twigs. Vireos are more painstaking gleaners ; they carefully explore the bark, turn their heads up- ward to investigate the under side of leaves, and usually keep well hidden among the foliage. Bill hooked at tip for holding worms and insects. Gifted songsters, superior to the warblers. This family is peculiar to America. Red-eyed Vireo. Solitary Vireo. Warbling Vireo. White-eyed Vireo. Yellow-throated Vireo. : :! Family mniotiltidce : WOOD WARBLERS A large group of birds, for the most part smaller than the English sparrow ; all, except the ground warblers, of beautiful plumage, in which yellow, olive, slate-blue, black, and white are predominant colors. Females generally duller than males. Ex- ceedingly active, graceful, restless feeders among the terminal twigs of trees and shrubbery ; haunters of tree-tops in the woods at nesting time. Abundant birds, especially during May and September, when the majority are migrating to and from regions north of the United States; but they are strangely unknown to all but devoted bird lovers, who seek them out during these months that particularly favor acquaintance. Several species are erratic in lO Bird Families their migrations and choose a different course to return southward from the one they travelled over in spring. A few species are sum- mer residents, and one, at least, of this tropical family, the myrtle warbler, winters at the north. The habits of the family are not identical in every representative ; some are more deliberate and less nervous than others ; a few, like the Canadian and Wilson's warblers, are expert flycatchers, taking their food on the wing, but not usually returning to the same perch, like true flycatchers; and a few of the warblers, as, for example, the black-and-white, the pine, and the worm-eating species, have the nuthatches' habit of creeping around the bark of trees. Qyite a number feed upon the ground. All are insectivorous, though many vary their diet with blossom, fruit, or berries, and naturally their bills are slen- der and sharply pointed, rarely finch-like. The yellow-breasted chat has the greatest variety of vocal expressions. The ground warblers are compensated for their sober, thrush-like plumage by their exquisite voices, while the great majority of the family that are gaily dressed have notes that either resemble the trill of mid- summer insects or, by their limited range and feeble utterance, sadly belie the family name. Bay-breasted Warbler. Blackburnian Warbler. Blackpoll Warbler. Black-throated Blue Warbler. Black-throated Green Warbler. Black-and-white Creeping Warbler. Blue-winged Warbler. Canadian Warbler. Chestnut-sided Warbler. Golden-winged Warbler. Hooded Warbler. Kentucky Warbler. Magnolia War' ':r. Mourning Warbler. Myrtle Warbler. Nashville Warbler. Palm Warbler. Parula Warbler. Pine Warbler. Prairie Warbler. II Bird Families Redstart. Wilson's Warbler. Worm-eating Warbler. Yellow Warbler. Yellow Palm Warbler. Ovenbird. Northern Water Thrush. Louisiana Water Thrush. Maryland Yellowthroat. Yellow-breasted Chat. Family Moiacillidcv.: WAGTAILS AND PIPITS Only three birds of this family inhabit North America, and of these only one is common enough, east of the Mississippi, to be included in this book. Terrestrial birds of open tracts near the coast, stubble-fields, and country roadsides, with brownish plumage to harmonize with their surroundings. The American pipit, or titlark, has a peculiar wavering flight when, after being flushed, it reluctantly leaves the ground. Then its white tail feathers are conspicuous. Its habit of wagging its tail when perching is not an exclusive family trait, as the family name might imply. American Pipit, or Titlark. Family Troglodytida' : THRASHERS, WRENS, ETC. Subfamily Mimiiuv: THRASHERS, MOCKING-BIRDS, AND CATBIRDS Apparently the birds that comprise this large general family are too unlike to be related, but the missing links or inter- mediate species may all be found far South. The first subfamily is comprised of distinctively American birds. Most numerous in the tropics. Their long tails serve a double purpose — in assist- ing their flight and acting as an outlet for their vivacity. Usually they inhabit scrubby undergrowth bordering woods. They rank among our finest songsters, with ventriloquial and imitative powers added to sweetness of tone. Brown Thrasher. Catbird. Mocking-bird. 12 AMEniCAN MOCKING BIRD. % Life-size. abo^ Wir easil scol seer As ; spec ica. and larv witl in c chi( son like fror oft bill: -i! Iv'i the Bird Families Subfamily Troglodytincs: WRENS Small brown birds, more or less barred with darkest brown above, much lighter below. Usually carry their short tails erect. Wings are small, for short flight. Vivacious, busy, excitable, easily displeased, quick to take alarm. Most of the species have scolding notes in addition to their lyrical, gushing song, that seems much too powerful a performance for a diminutive bird. As a rule, wrens haunt thickets or marshes, but at least one species is thoroughly domesticated. All are insectivorous. Carolina Wren. House Wren. Winter Wren. Long-billed Marsh Wren. Short-billed Marsh Wren. Family Certhiida;: CREEPERS Only one species of this Old World family is found in Amer- ica, it is a brown, much mottled bird, that creeps spirally around and around the trunks of trees in fall and winter, pecking at the larvae in the bark with its long, sharp bill, and doing its work with f ithful exactness but little spirit. It uses its tail as a prop in climbing, like the woodpeckers. Brown Creeper. Family Parida- : NUTHATCHES AND TITMICE Two distinct subfamilies are included under this general head. The nuthatches (Sittina;) are small, slate-colored birds, seen chiefly in winter walking up and down the barks of trees, and sometimes running along the under side of branches upside down, like flies. Plumage compact and smooth. Their name is derived from their habit of wedging nuts (usually beechnuts) in the bark of trees, and then hatching them open with their strong straight bills. White-breasted Nuthatch. Red-breasted Nuthatch. The titmice or chickadees (Parince) are fluffy little gray birds, the one crested, the other with a black cap. They are also 13 Bird Families expert climbers, though not such wonderful gymnasts as the nut- hatches. These cousins are frequently seen together in winter woods or in the evergreens about houses. Chickadees are partial to tree-tops, especially to the highest pine cones, on which they hang fearlessly. Cheerful, constant residents, retreating to the deep woods only to nest. Tufted Titmouse. Chickadee. Family Sylviidce : KINGLETS AND GNATCATCHERS The kinglets (RegulincB) are very small greenish-gray birds, with highly colored crown patch, that are seen chiefly in autumn, winter, and spring south of Labrador. Habits active ; diligent flitters among trees and shrubbery from limb to limb after minute insects. Beautiful nest builders. Song remarkable for so small a bird. Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet. The one representative of the distinctly American subfamily of gnatcatchers (Polioptilince) that we have, is a small blue-gray bird, whitish below. It is rarely found outside moist, low tracts of woodland, where insects abound. These it takes on the wing with wonderful dexterity. It is exceedingly graceful and assumes many charming postures. A bird of trees, nesting in the high branches. A bird of strong character and an exquisitely finished though feeble songster. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. m Family Turdidx : THRUSHES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC. This group includes our finest songsters. Birds of moderate size, stout build ; as a rule, inhabitants of woodlands, but the robin and the bluebird are notable exceptions. Bills long and slender, suitable for worm diet. Only casual fruit-eaters. Slen- der, strong legs for running and hopping. True thrushes are grayish or olive-brown above; buff or whitish below, heavily- streaked or spotted. Bluebird. Robin. 14 '1 1 ''I ijl;: Bird Families Alice's Thrush. Hermit Thrush. Olive-backed Thrusn. Wilson's Thrush (Veery). Wood Thrush. Order Columbce : PIGEONS AND DOVES Family Columbidce : PIGEONS AND DOVES The wild pigeon is now too rare to be included among our bird neighbors ; but its beautiful relative, without the fotally gre- garious habit, still nests and sings a-coo-oo-oo to its devoted mate in unfrequented corners of the farm or the borders of woodland. Delicately shaded fawn-colored and bluish plumage. Small heads, protruding breasts. Often seen on ground. Flight strong and rapid, owing to long wings. Mourning or Carolina Dove. 15 ::Jliij u HABITATS OF BIRDS m '■■:& HABITATS OF BIRDS BIRDS OF THE AIR CATCHING THEIR FOOD AS THEY FLY Acadian Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher, Least Fly- catcher, Olive-sided Flycatcher, Say's Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Kingbird, Phoebe, Wood Pewee, Purple Martin, Chimney Swift, Barn Swallow, Bank Swallow, Cliff Swallow, Tree Swallow, Rougli-winged Swallow, Canadian Warbler, Blackpoll, Wilson's Warbler, Nighthawk, Whippoorwill, Ruby- throated Humming-bird, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. BIRDS MOST FREQUENTLY SEEN IN THE UPPER HALF OF TREES Scarlet Tanager, Summer Tanager, Baltimore Oriole, Orchard Oriole, Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, nearly all the Warblers except the Ground Warblers; Cedar Bird, Bohe- mian Waxwing, the Vireos, Robin, Red Crossbill, White-winged Crossbill, Purple Grackle, Bronzed Crackle, Redstart, Northern Shrike, Loggerhead Shrike, Crow, Fish Crow, Raven, Purple Finch, Tree and Chipping Sparrows, Cardinal, Blue Jay, Kingbird, the Crested and other Flycatchers. BIRDS OF LOW TREES OR LOWER PARTS OF TREES black-billed Cuckoo, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, the Sparrows, the Thrushes, the Grosbeaks, Goldfinch, Summer Yellowbird and other Warblers; the Wrens, Bluebird, Mocking-bird, Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Maryland Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat. = BIRDS OF TREE-TRUNKS AND LARGE LIMBS Hairy Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Red-headed Woodpecker, Yellow-bellied Woodpecker, Flicker, White- 19 Habitats of Birds breasted Nuthatch, Red-breajted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby- crowned Kinglet, Black-and-white Creeping Warbler, Blue- winged Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Pine Warbler, Blackpoll Warbler, Whippoorwill, Nighthawk. BIRDS THAT SHOW A PREFERENCE FOR PINES AND OTHER EVERGREENS Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, the Nuthatches, Brown Creeper, the Kinglets, Pine Warbler, Black-and-white Creeping Warbler and all the Warblers except the Ground Warblers; Pine Siskin, Cedar Bird and Bohemian Waxwing (in juniper and cedar trees). Pine Grosbeak, Red Crossbill, White-winged Cross- bill, the Crackles, Crow, Raven, Pine Finch. BIRDS SEEN FEEDING AMONG THE FOLIAGE AND TER- MINAL TWIGS OF TREES The Red-eyed Vireo, White-eyed Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Solitary Vireo, Yellow-throated Vireo, Golden-crowned King- let, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Black-billed Cuckoo, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Yellow Warbler or Summer Yellowbird, nearly all the Warblers except the Pine and the Ground Warblers ; the Fly- catchers, Blue-gray Gnatcatchei. BIRDS THAT CHOOSE CONSPICUOUS PERCHES Northern Shrike, Loggerhead Shrike, Kingbird, the Wood Pewee, the Phoebe and other Flycatchers, the Swallows, King- fisher, Crows, Crackles, Blue Jay and Canada Jay; the Song, the White-throated, and the Fox Sparrows ; the Grosbeaks, Cedar Bird, Goldfinch, Robin, Purple Finch, Cowbird, Brown Thrasher while in song. BIRDS OF THE GARDENS AND ORCHARDS Bluebird, Robin; the English, Song, White-throated, Vesper, White-crowned, Fox, Chipping, and Tree Sparrows; Phoebe, Wood Pewee, the Least Flycatcher, Crested Flycatcher, Kingbird, Brown Thrasher, Wood Thrush, Mocking-bird, Catbird, House 20 Habitats of Birds Wren; nearly all the Warblers, especially at blossom time among the shrubbery and fruit trees; Cedar Bird, Purple Martin, Eaves Swallow, Barn Swallow, Purple Finch, Cowbird, Baltimore and Orchard Orioles, Purple Crackle, Bronzed Crackle, Blue Jay, Crow, Fish Crow, Chimney Swift, Ruby-throated Humming- bird, the Woodpeckers, Flicker, the Nuthatches, Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, the Cuckoos, Mourning Dove, Junco. BIRDS OF THE WOODS The Warblers almost without exception; the Thrushes, the Woodpeckers, the Flycatchers, the Winter and the Carolina Wrens, the Tanagers, the Nuthatches and Titmice, the Kinglets, the Water Thrushes, the Vireos, Whippoorwill, Nighthawk, Kingfisher, Cardinal, Ovenbird, Brown Creeper, Tree Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow. Junco. BIRDS SEEN NEAR THE EDCES OF WOODS The Wrens, the Woodpeckers, the Flycatchers, the Warblers, Purple Finch, the Cuckoos, Brown Thrasher, Wood Thrush, Cow- bird, Brown Creepers, the Nuthatch' s and Titmice, the Kinglets, Chewink; the White-crowned, White-throated, Tree, Fox, and Song Sparrows ; Humming-bird, Bluebird, Junco, the Crossbills, the Crosbeaks, Nighthawk, Whippoorwill, Mourning Dove, Indigo Bird, Brown Thrasher. BIRDS OF SHRUBBERY, BUSHES, AND THICKETS Maryland Yellowthroat, Ovenbird (in woods) ; Myrtle Warbler, Mourning Warbler, Yellow-breasted Chat, and other Warblers during the migrations; the Shrikes; the White-throated, the Fox, the Song, and other Sparrows; Chickadee, Junco, Che- wink, Rose-breasted Crosbeak, Cowbird, Red-winged Black- bird, Catbird, Mocking-bird, Wilson's Thrush, Coldflnch, Red- polls, Maryland Yellowthroat, White-eyed Vireo, Hooded Warbler. BIRDS SEEN FEEDINC ON THE CROUND The Sparrows, Junco, Meadowlark, Horned Lark, Chewink, Robin, Ovenbird, Pipit or Titlark, Redpoll, Creater Redpoll, 21 Hi Habitats of Birds Snowflake, Lapland Longspur, Smith's Painted Longspur, Rusty Blackbird, Red-winged Blackbird, the Crows, Cowbird, the Water Thrushes, Bobolink, Canada Jay, the Crackles, Mourning Dove; the Worm-eating, the Prairie, the Kentucky, and the Mourning Ground Warblers; Flicker. BIRDS OF MEADOW, FIELD, AND UPLAND The Field and Vesper Sparrows, Bobolink, Meadowlark, Horned Lark, Goldfinch, the Swallows, Pipit or Titlark, Cow- bird, Redpoll, Greater Redpoll, Snowflake, Junco, Lapland Long- spur, Smith's Painted Longspur, Rusty Blackbird, Crow, Fish Crow, Nighthawk, Whippoorwill; the Yellow, the Palm, ind the Prairie Warblers; the Grackles, Flicker, Bluebird, Indigo Bird. BIRDS OF ROADSIDE AND FENCES The Sparrows, Kingbird, Crested Flycatcher, Yellow-breasted Chat, Indigo Bird, Bluebird, Flicker, Goldfinch, Brown Thrasher, Catbird, Robin, the Woodpeckers, Yellow Palm Warbler, the Vireos. BIRDS OF MARSHES AND BOGGY MEADOWS Long-billed Marsh Wren, Short-billed Marsh Wren; the Swamp, the Savanna, the Sharp-tailed, and the Seaside Sparrows; Red-winged Blackbird. BIRDS OF WET WOODLANDS AND MARSHY THICKETS Northern Water Thrush, Louisiana Water Thrush, Oven- bird, Winter Wren, Carolina Wren, Phcebe; Wood Pewee and the other Flycatchers ; Wilson's Thrush or Veery, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Yellow-breasted Chat ; the Canadian, Wilson's Black-capped, the Maryland Yellowthroat, the Hooded, and the Yellow-throated Warblers. BIRDS FOUND NEAR SALT WATER Fish Crow, Common Crow, Bank Swallow, Tree Swallow, Savanna Sparrow, Sharp-t'iiled Sparrow, Seaside Sparrow, Horned Lark, Pipit or Titlark. 22 liii Habitats of Birds BIRDS FOUND NEAR STREAMS AND PONDS Kingfisher, the Swallows, Northern Water Thrush, Louisiana Water Thrush, Phoebe, Wood Pewee, the Flycatchers, Winter Wren, Wilson's Black-capped Warbler, the Canadian and the Yellow Warblers. BIRDS THAT SING ON THE WING Bobolink, Meadowlark, Indigo Bird, Purple Finch, Gold- finch, Ovenbird, Kingbird, Vesper Sparrow (rarely), Maryland Yellowthroa* Horned Lark, Kingfisher, the Swallows, Chimney Swift, Nighthawk, Song Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Pipit or Titlark. 93 m SEASONS OF BIRDS THE LATITUDE OF NEW YORK IS TAKEN AS AN ARBITRARY DIVISION FOR WHICH ALLOW- ANCES MUST BE MADE FOR OTHER LOCALITIES ■i :■ TH Hai Uo' Yel Re( Flic Me Pra Blu Crc Fis Enj So( En Tn w: Sw Ve W Fo So Sn Jul He M( THE SEASONS OF BIRDS IN THE VICINITY OF NEW YORK OR, APPROXIMATELY, OF THE FORTY-SECOND DEGREE OF LATITUDE PERMANENT RESIDENTS Hairy Woodpecker. Downy Woodpecker. Yellow-bellied Woodpecker. Red-headed Woodpecker. Flicker. Meadowlark. Prairie Horned Lark. Blue Jay. Crow. Fish Crow. English Sparrow. Social Sparrow. Swamp Sparrow. Song Sparrow. Cedar Bird. Cardinal. Carolina Wren. White-breasted Nuthatch. Tufted Titmouse. Chickadee. Robin. Bluebird. Goldfinch. WINTER RESIDENTS AND VISITORS BIRDS SEEN BETWEEN NOVEMBER AND APRIL English Sparrow. Tree Sparrow. White-throated Sparrow. Swamp Sparrow. Vesper Sparrow. White-crowned Sparrow. Fox Sparrow. Song Sparrow. Snowflake. J unco. Horned Lark. Meadowlark. Pine Grosbeak. Redpoll. Greater Redpoll. Cedar Bird. Bohemian Waxwing. Hairy Woodpecker. Downy Woodpecker. Yellow-bellied Woodpecker. Flicker. Myrtle Warbler. Northern Shrike. White-breasted Nuthatch. 27 Seasons of Birds Red-breasted Nuthatch. Tufted Titmouse. Chickadee. Robin. Bluebird. Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Golden-crowned Kinglet. Brown Creeper. Carolin" Wren. Winter Wren, Pipit. Purple Finch. Goldfinch. Pine Siskin. Lapland Longspur. Smith's Painted Longspur. Evening Grosbeak. Cardinal. Blue Jay. Red Crossbill White-winged CrossbilL Crow. Fish Crow. Kingfisher. SUMMER RESIDENTS BIRDS SEEN BETWEEN APRIL AND NOVEMBER Mourning Dove. Black-billed Cuckoo. Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Kingfisher. Red-headed Woodpecker. Hairy Woodpecker. Downy Woodpecker. Yellow-bellied Woodpecker. Flicker. Whippoorwill. Nighthawk. Chimney Swift. Ruby-throated Humming-bird. Kingbird. Wood Pewee. Phoebe. Acadian Flycatcher. Crested Flycatcher. Least Flycatcher. Olive-sided Flycatcher. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. Say's Flycatcher. Bobolink. Cowbird. Red-winged Bla.kbird. Rusty Blackbird. Orchard Oriole. Baltimore Oriole. Purple Crackle. Bronzed Crackle. Crow. Fish Crow. Raven. Blue Jay. Canada Jay. Chipping Sparrow. English Sparrow. Field Sparrow. Fox Sparrow. Grasshopper Sparrow. Savanna Sparrow. Seaside Sparrow. Sharp-tailed Sparrow. Swamp Song Sparrow. Song Sparrow. Vesper Sparrow. Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Blue Grosbeak. 28 Seasons of Birds Indigo Bird. Scarlet Tanager. Purple Martin. Barn Swallow. Bank Swallow. Cliff Swallow. Tree Swallow. Rough-winged Swallow. Red-eyed Vireo. White-eyed Vireo. Solitary Vireo. Warbling Vireo. Yellow-throated Vireo. Black-and-white Warbler. Black-throated Green Warbler. Blue-winged Warbler. Chestnut-sided Warbler. Golden-winged Warbler. Hooded Warbler. Pine Warbler. Prairie Warbler. Parula Warbler. Worm-eating Warbler. Yellow Warbler. Redstart. Ovenbird. Northern Water Thrush. Louisiana Water Thrush. Yellow-breasted Chat. Maryland Yellowthroat. Mocking-bird. Catbird. Brown Thrasher. House Wren. Carolina Wren. Long-billed Marsh Wren. Short-billed Mar^h Wren. Alice's Thrush. Hermit Thrush. Olive-backed Thrush. Wilson's Thrush or Veery. Wood Thrush. Meadowlark. Western Meadowlark. Prairie Horned Lark. White-breasted Nuthatch. Chickadee. Tufted Titmouse. Chewink. Purple Finch. Goldfinch. Cardinal. Robin. Bluebird. Cedar Bird. Loggerhead Shrike. SPRING AND AUTUMN MIGRANTS ONLY, OR RARE SUMMER VISITORS The following Warblers Bay-breasted. Blackburnian. Black-polled. Black-throated Blue. Canadian. Magnolia. Mourning. Myrtle. Nashville. Wilson's Black-capped. Palm. Yellow Palm. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Summer Tanager. 29 Seasons of Birds MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS IN VICINITY OF NEW YORK FEBRUARY I") TO MARCH IS Bluebird, Robin, the Grnckles, Song Sparrow, Fox Sparrow, Red-winged Blackbird, Kingfisher, Flicker, Purple Finch. MARCH IS TO APRIL I Increased numbers of foregoing group; Cowbird, Meadow- lark, Phoebe ; the Field, the Vesper, and the Swamp Sparrows. APRIL I TO 15 The White-throated and the Chipping Sparrows, the Tree and the Barn Swallows, Rusty Blackbird, the Red-headed and the Yellow-bellied Woodpeckers, Hermit Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Pipit ; the Pine, the Myrtle, and the Yellow Palm War- blers; Goldfinch. APRIL IS TO MAY 1 Increased numbers of foregoing group; Brown Thrasher; Alice's, the Olive-backed, and the Wood Thrushes ; Chimney Swift, Whippoorwill, Chewink, the Purple Martin,- and the Cliff and the Bank Swallows; Least Flycatcher; the Black-and-white Creeping, the Parula, and the Black-throated Green Warblers ; Ovenbird, House Wren, Catbird. m MAY I TO 15 Increased numbers of foregoing group; Wilson's Thrush or Veery; Nighthawk, Ruby-throated Humming-bird, the Cuckoos, Crested Flycatcher, Kingbird, Wood Pewee, the Marsh Wrens, Bank Swallow, the five Vireos, the Baltimore and Orchard Ori- oles, Bobolink, Indigo Bird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Scarlet Tana- ger, Maryland Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, the Water Thrushes; and the Magnolia, the Yellow, the Black-throated Blue, the Bay-breasted, the Chestnut-sided, and the Golden- winged Warblers. 30 lUI , Seasons of Birds MAY 15 TO JUNE I Increased numbers of foregoing group; Yellow-bellied Fly- catcher, Mocking-bird, Summer Tanager ; and the Blackburnian, the Blackpoll, the Worm-eating, the Hooded, Wilson's Black- capped, and the Canadian Warblers. JUNE, JULY, AUGUST in June few species of birds are not nesting; in July they may rove about more or less with their increased families, search- ing for their favorite foods; August finds them moulting and mop- ing in silence, but toward the end of the month, thoughts of returning southward set them astir again. AUGUST 15 TO SiiPTEMBER 1 5 Bobolink, Cliff Swallow, Scarlet Tamger, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Purple Martin; the Blackburnian, the Worm-eating, the Bay-breasted, the Chestnut-sided, the Hooded, the Mourning, Wilson's Black-capped, and the Canadian Warblers; Baltimore Oriole, Humming-bird. SEPTEMBER 1 5 TO OCTOBER 1 Increased numbers of foregoing group ; Wilson's Thrush, Wood Thrush, Kingbird, Wood Pewee, Crested Flycatcher; the Least, the Olive-s'ded, and the Acadian Flycatchers; the Marsh Wrens, the Cuckoos, Whippoorwill, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Orchard Oriole, Indigo Bird; the Warbling, the Solitary, and the Yellc»v-throated Vireos; the Black-and-white Creeping, the Golden-winged, the Yellow, and the Black-throated Blue War- blers; Maryland Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, Redstart. ocTOBEP. I TO 15 Increased numbers of foregoing group; Hermit Thrush, Cat- bird, House Wren, Ovenbird, the Water Thrushes, the Red-eyed and the White-eyed Vireos, Wood Pewee, Nighthawk, Chimney Swift, Cowbird, Horned Lark, Winter Wren, Junco; the Tree, the Vesper, the White-throated, and the Grasshopper Sparrows," the Blackpoll, the Parula, the Pine, the Yellow Palm, and the Prairie Warblers; Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse. 31 Seasons of Birds OCTOBER 15 TO NOVEMBER 1 5 Increased numbers of foregoing group ; Wood Thrush, Wil- son's Thrush or Veery, Alice's Thrush, Olive-backed Thrush, Robin, Chewink, Brown Thrasher, Phoebe, Shrike; the Fox, the Field, the Swamp, the Savanna, the. White-crowned, the Chipping, and the Song Sparrows; the Red-winged and the Rusty Blackbirds; Meadowlark, the Crackles, Flicker, the Red-headed and the Yellow-bellied Woodpeckers; Purple Finch, the Kinglets, the Nuthatches, Pine Siskin. » IV BIRDS GROUPED ACCORDING TO SIZE n B Hun The The Alll el: Red Ove Chic Tuft Red Wh Blue Yell Acai Leas Pur; The The Ves Seas Tre( LAF Yell Chii The I t i I BIRDS GROUPED ACCORDING TO SIZE SMALLER THAN THE ENGLISH SPARROW Humming-bird. The Kinglets. The Wrens. All the Warblers not mentioned elsewhere. Redstart. Ovenbird. Chickadee. Tufted Titmouse. Red-breasted Nuthatch. White-breasted Nuthatch.. Blue-gray Gnat:atchtr. Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. Acadian Flycatcher. Least Flycatcher. The Redpolls. Goldfinch. Pine Siskin. Savanna Sparrow. Grasshopper Sparrow. Sharp-tailed Sparrow. Chipping Sparrow. Field Sparrow. Swamp Song Sparrow. Indigo Bunting. Warbling Vireo. Yellow-throated Vireo. Red-eyed Vireo. White-eyed Vireo. Brown Creeper. ABOUT THE SIZE OF THE ENGLISH SPARROW Purple Finch. The Crossbills. The Longspurs. Vesper Sparrow. Seaside Sparrow. Tree Sparrow. Junco. Song Sparrow. Solitary Vireo. The Water-thrushes. Pipit or Titlark. Downy Woodpecker. LARGER THAN THE ENGLISH SPARROW AND SMALLER THAN THE ROBIN Yellow-bellied Woodpecker. Chimney Swift (apparently). The Swallows (apparently). Kingbird. Crested Flycatcher. Phoebe. 35 1 vr»^ ^^rf ^^S'CANADA ^:^::3m Birds Grouped According to Size Olive-sided Flycatcher. Wood Pewee. Horned Lark. Bobolink. Cowbird. . Orchard Oriole. Baltimore Oriole. The Grosbeaks : Evening, Blue, Pine, Rose-breasted, and Car- dinal. Snowflake. White-crowned Sparrow. White-throated Sparrow. Fox Sparrow. The Tanagers. Cedar Bird. Bohemian Waxwing. Yellow-breasted Chat. The Thrushes. Bluebird. ABOUT THE LENGTH OF THE ROBIN Red-headed Woodpecke'. Hairy Woodpecker. Red-winged Blackbird Rusty Blackbird. Loggerhead Shrike. Northern Shrike. Mocking-bird. Catbird. Chewink, Purple Martin (apparently). LONGER THAN THE ROBIN Mourning Dove. The Cuckoos. Kingfisher. Flicker. Raven. Crow. Fish Crow. Blue Jay. Canada Jay. Meadowlark. Whippoorwill (apparently) Nighthawk (apparently) The Crackles. Brown Thrasher. 56 liil DESCRIPTIONS OF BIRDS GROUPED ACCORDING TO COLOR Pe\ BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK Common Crow Fish Crow American Raven Purple Crackle Bronzed Crackle Rusty Blackbird Red-winged Blackbird Purple Martin Cowbird See also several of the Swallows; the Kingbird, the Phoebe, the Wood Pewee, and other Flycatchers; the Chimney Swift; and the Chewink. i -„„ illliilill I'llll :!■ hi :, ;f' u. ^'^-^ .)?' 5:5iA' «..^ ..■ I ,s"fel ti i; f?Cl'' . 'w e£^^ BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK :i\ The Common Crow (Corvus Americanus) Crow family Called also: CORN THIEF Length — 16 to 17. so inches. Male — Glossy bhick witii violet reflections. • Wings appear saw- toothed when spread, and almost equal the tail in length. Female — Like male, except that the black is less brilliant. .^fl/z^r— Throughout North America, from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico. Migrations — March. October. Summer and winter resident. If we have an eye for the picturesque, we place a certain value upon the broad, strong dash of color in the landscape, given by a flock of crows flapping their course above a corn-field, against an October sky ; but the practical eye of the farmer looks only for his gun in such a case. To him the crow is an unmitigated nuisance, all the more maddening because it is clever enough to circumvent every means devised for its ruin. Nothing escapes its rapacity ; fear is unknown to it. it migrates in broad day- light, chooses the most conspicuous perches, and yet its assur- ance is amply justified in its steadily increasing numbers. In the very early spring, note well the friendly way in which the crow follows the plow, ingratiating itself by eating the larvae, field mice, and worms upturned in the furrows, for this is its one serviceable act throughout the year. When the first brood of chickens is hatched, its serious depredations begin. Not only the farmer's young fledglings, ducks, turkeys, and chicks, are snatched up and devoured, but the nests of song birds are made desolate, eggs being crushed and eaten on the spot, when there are no birds to carry off to the rickety, coarse nest in the high tree top in the woods. The fish crow, however, is the much 41 Conspicuously Black greater enemy of the birds. Like the common crows, this, their smaller cousin, likes to congrejiate in winter along the seacoast to feed upon shell-fish and other sea-food that the tide brings to its feet. Samuels claims to have seen a pair of crows visit an orchard and destroy the young in two robins' nests in half an hour. He calculates that two crows kill, in one day alone, young birds that in the course of the season would have eaten a hundred thousand insects. When, in addition to these atrocities, we remember the crow's depredations in the corn-field, it is small wonder that among the first laws enacted in New York State was one offering a reward for its head. But the more scientific agriculturists now concede that the crow is the farmer's true friend. II Fish Crow (Corvits ossifragus) Crow family Length — 14 to 16 inches. About half as large again as the robin. Ma't; and Female — Glossy black, with purplish-blue reflections, generally greener underneath. Chin naked. Range — Along Atlantic coast and that of the Gulf of Mexico, northward to southern New England. Rare stragglers on the Pacific coast. Migrations — March or April. September. Summer resident only at northern limit of range. Is found in Hudson River valley about half-way to Albany. Compared with the common crow, with which it is often confounded, the fish crow is of much smaller, more slender build. Thus its flight is less labored and more like a gull's, whose habit of catching fish that may be swimming near the surface of the water it sometimes adopts. Both Audubon and Wilson, who first made this species known, record its habit of snatching food as it flies over the southern waters — a rare practice at the north. Its plumage, too, differs slightly from the common crow's in being a richer black everywhere, and particularly underneath, where the "corn thief" is dull. But it is the dif- ference between the two crows' call-note that we chiefly depend upon to distinguish these confusing cousins. To say that the fish crow says car-r-r instead of a loud, clear caw, means little 42 Conspicuously Black until we have h.J nn opportunity to compare its hoarse, cracked voice with the other bird's familiar call. From the farmer's point of view, there is still another dis- tinction: the fish crow lets his crops alone. It contents itself with picking up refuse on the shores of the sea or rivers not far inland; haunting the neighborhood of fishermen's huts for the small fish discarded when the seines are drawn, and treading out with its toes the shell-fish hidden in the sand at low tide. When we see it in the fields ii is usually intent upon catching field- mice, grubs, and worms, with which it often varies its fish diet. It is, however, the worst nest robber we have ; it probably destroys ten times as many eggs and young birds as its larger cousin. The fishermen have a tradition that this southern crow comes and goes with the shad and herring— a saw which science unkindly disapproves. American Raven (Corvus corax principalis J Crow family Called also: NORTHERN RAVEN Length — 26 to 27 inches. Nearly three times as large as a robin. Male and Female— CAossy black above, with purplish and greenish reflections. Duller underneath. Feathers of the throat and breast long and loose, like fringe. Range — North America, from polar regions to Mexico. Rare along Atlantic coast and m the south. Common in the west, and very abundant in the northwest. Migrations — An erratic wanderer, usually resident where it finds its way. , The weird, uncanny voice of this great bird that soars in wide circles above the evergreen trees of dark northern forests seems to come out of the skies like the malediction of an ev'l spirit. Without uttering the words of any language — Poe . "Nevermore" was, of course, a poetic license — people of all nationalities appear to understand that some dire calamity, some wicked portent, is being announced every time the unbirdlike creature utters its rasping call. The superstitious folk crow with an "I told you so," as they solemnly wag their heads when they hear of some death in the village after "the bird of ill-omen" has 43 Conspicuously Black made an unwelcome visit to the neighborhood. It receives the blame for every possible misfortune. When seen in the air, the crow is the only other bird for which the raven could be mistaken; but the raver does more sailing and less flapping, and he delights in describmg circles as he easily soars high above the trees. On the ground, he is seen to be a far larger bird than the largest crow. The curious beard or fringe of feathers on his breast at once distinguishes him. These birds show the family instinct for living in flocks large and small, not of ravens only, but of any birds of their own gen- era. In the art of nest building they could instruct most of their relatives. High up in evergreen trees or on the top of cliffs, never very near the seashore, they make a compact, symmetrical nest of sticks, neatly lini d with grasses and wool from the sheep pastures, adding soft, comfortable linings to the old nest from year to year for each new brood. When the young emerge from the eggs, which take many curious freaks of color and mark- ings, they are pied black and white, suggesting the young of the western white-necked raven, a similarity which, so far as plu- mage is concerned, they quickly outgrow. They early acquire the fortunate habit of eating whatever their parents set before them — grubs, worms, grain, field-mice; anything, in fact, for the raven is a conspicuously omnivorous bird. Purple Crackle (Quiscalus quiscula) Blackbird family Called also: CROW BLACKBIRD; MAIZE THIEF; KEEL- TAILED CRACKLE Length — 12 to 13 inches. About one-fourth as large again as the robin. iJ/j/f— Iridescent black, in which metallic violet, blue, copper, and green tints predominate. The plumage of this grackle has iridescent bars. Iris of eye bright yellow and conspic- uous. Tail longer than wings. Female — Less brilliant black than male, ana smaller. Kange—Gw\i of Mexico to S7th parallel north latitude. Migrations— ?exm:\x\en\. resident in Southern States. Few are permanent throughout range. Migrates in immense flocks in March and September. 44 in to its thi pil bii its ale to St 01'^ gr inj an so T[ rai lia wi sti ve w en to so ch Sti foi CO as Conspicuously Black This "refined crow" (which is really no crow at all except in appearance) has scarcely more friends than a thief is entitled to ; for, although in many sections of the country it has given up its old habit of stealing Indian corn and substituted ravages upon the grasshoppers instead, it still indulges a crow-like instinct for pillaging nests and eating young birds. Travelling in immense flocks of its own kind, a gregarious bird of the first order, it nevertheless is not the social fellow that its cousin, the red-winged blackbird, is. It especially holds aloof from mankind, and mankind reciprocates its suspicion. The tallest, densest evergreens are not too remote for it to build its home, according to Dr. Abbott, though in other States than New Jersey, where he observed them, an old orchard often contains dozens of nests. One peculiarity of the grackles is that their eggs vary so much in coloring and mark- ings that different sets examined in the same groups of trees are often wholly unlike. The average groundwork, however, is soiled blue or greenish, waved, streaked, or clouded with brown. These are laid in a nest made of miscellaneous sticks and grasses, rather carefully constructed, and lined with mud. Another pecu- liarity is the bird's method of steering itself by its tail when it wishes to turn its direction or alight. Peering at you from the top of a dark pine tree with its staring yellow eye, the grackle is certainly uncanny. There, very early in the spring, you may hear its cracked and wheezy whistle, for, being aware that however much it may look like a crow it belongs to another family, it makes a ridiculous attempt to sing. When a number of grackles lift up their voices at once, some one has aptly likened the result to a "good wi\eel-barrow chorus!" The grackle's mate alone appreciates his efforts as, standing on tiptoe, wiiii half-spread wings and tail, he pours forth his craven soul to her through a disjointed larynx. With all their faults, and they are numerous, let it be re- corded of both crows and grackles that they are as devoted lovers as turtle-doves. Lowell characterizes them in these four lines : " Fust come the black birds, clatt'rin' in tall trees, And settlin' things in windy Congresses ; Queer politicians, though, for I'll be skinned If all on 'em don't head against the wind." 45 Conspicuously Black The Bronzed Crackle [Qiiiscalus quisciila ceneus) differs from the preceding chiefly in the more brownish bronze tint of its plumage and its lack of iridescent bars. Its range is more west- erly, and in the southwest it is particularly common ; but as a summer resident it finds its way to New England in large num- bers. The call-note is louder and more metallic than the purple grackle's. In nearly all respects the habits of these two birds are identical. Rusty Blackbird ( Scolecophagus carolinus) Blackbird family Called also : THRUSH BLACKBIRD ; RUSTY GRACKLF ; RUSTY ORIOLE ; RUSTY CROW ; BLACKBIRD Length — 9 to 9.SS inches. A trifle smaller than the robin. Male — In full plumage, glossy black with metallic reflections, intermixed with rusty brown that becomes more pronounced as the season advances. Pale straw-colored eyes. Female — Duller plumage and more rusty, inclining to gray. Light line over eye. Smaller than male. Range- North America, from Newfoundland to Gulf of Mexico and westward to the Plains. Migrations — April. November. A few winter north. A more sociable bird than the grackle, though it travel in smaller flocks, the rusty blackbird condescends to mingle freely with other feathered friends in marshes and by brooksides. You can identify it by its rusty feathers and pale yellow eye, and easily distinguish the rusty-gray female from the female redwing that is conspicuously streaked. In April flocks of these birds may frequently be seen along sluggish, secluded streams in the woods, feeding upon the seeds of various water or brookside plants, and probably upon insects also. At such times they often indulge in a curious spluttering, squeaking, musical concert that one listens to with pleasure. The breeding range is mostly north of the United States. But little seems to be known of the birds' habits in their northern home. Why it should ever have been called a thrush blackbird is one of those inscrutable mysteries peculiar to the naming of birds 46 Conspicuously Black which are so frequently called precisely what they are not. In spite of the compliment implied in associating the name of one of our finest songsters with it, the rusty blackbird has a clucking call as unmusical as it is infrequent, and only very rarely in the spring does it pipe a note that even suggests the sweetness of the redwing's. Called also . Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceiis) Blackbird family SWAMP BLACKBIRD ; RED-WINGED ORIOLE ; RED-WINGED STARLING Length — Exceptionally variable — 7.50 to 9.80 inches. Usually about an inch smaller than the robin. Male — Coal-black. Shoulders scarlet, edged with yellow. Female — Feathers fmely and inconspicuously speckled with brown, rusty black, whitish, and orange. Upper wing- coverts rusty black, tipped with white, or rufous and some- times spotted with black and red. Range — North America. Breeds from Texas to Columbia River, and throughout the United States. Commonly found from Mexico to 57th degree north latitude. Migrations — March. October. Common summer resident. In oozy pastures where a brook lazily finds its way through the farm is the ideal pleasure ground of this "bird of society." His notes, " h'-wa-ker-ee" or " con-qtier-ee" (on an ascending scale), are liquid in quality, suggesting the sweet, moist, cool retreats where he nests. Liking either heat or cold (he is fond of wintering in Florida, but often retreats to the north while the marshes are still frozen); enjoying not only the company of large flocks of his own kind wiih whom he travels, but any bird associates with whom he can scrape acquaintance ; or to sit quietly on a tree-top in the secluded, inaccessible bog while his mate is nesting; satisfied with cut- worms, grubs, and insects, or with fruit and grain for his food — the blackbird is an impressive and helpful example of how to get the best out of life. Yet, of all the birds, some farmers complain that the black- bird is the greatest nuisance. They dislike the noisy chatterings when a flock is simply indulging its social instincts. They _ 47 Conspicuously Black complain, too, that the blackbirds eat their corn, forgetting that having devoured innumerable grubs from it during the summer, the birds feel justly entitled to a share of the profits. Though occasionally guilty of eating the farmer's corn and oats and rice, yet it has been found that nearly seven-eighths of the red- wing's food is made up of weed-seeds or of insects injurious to agriculture. This bird builds its nest in low bushes on the margin of ponds or low in the bog grass of marshes. From three to five pale-blue eggs, curiously streaked, spotted, and scrawled with black or purple, constitute a brood. Nursery duties are soon finished, for in July the young birds are ready to gather in flocks with their elders. " The blackbirds make the maples ring With social cheer and JLibilee ; The red-wing flutes his ' O-ka-lee ! ' " — Emerson. Purple Martin (Prague subis) Swallow family Lettgth—'] to 8 inches. Two or three inches smaller than the robin. Male — Rich glossy black with bluish and purple reflections ; duller black on wings and tail. Wings rather longer than the tail, which is forked. Female — More brownish and mottled ; grayish below. Range — Peculiar to America. Penetrates from Arctic Circle to South America. Migrations — Late April. Early September. Summer resident. In old-fashioned gardens, set on a pole over which honey- suckle and roses climbed from a bed where China pinks, phlox, sweet Williams, and hollyhocks crowded each other below, martin boxes used always to be seen with a pair of these large, beautiful swallows circling overhead. But now, alas! the boxes, where set up at all, are quickly monopolized by the English sparrow — the one bird that the martin, courageous as a kingbird in attacking crows and hawks— cannot withstand, Bradford Torrey tells of seeing quantities of long-necked squashes dangling from poles about the negro cabins all through 48 ./' i# RED-WINGED BLACK BIKD the squi darij am bird and ship rest! Abb cons It is swa men laug Call Len^ Mai Fern Ran^ Mig IJI amo whii be s ing inse Conspicuously Black the South. One day he asked an old colored man what these squashes were for. "Why, deh is martins' boxes," said Uncle Remus. "No danger of hawks carryin' off de chickens so long as de martins am around." The Indians, too, have always had a special liking for this bird. They often lined a hollowed-out gourd with bits of bark and fastened it in the crotch of their tent poles to invite its friend- ship. The Mohegan Indians have called it "the bird that never rests" — a name better suited to the tireless barn swallow, Dr. Abbott thinks. Wasps, beetles, and all manner of injurious garden insects constitute its diet — another reason for its universal popularity. It is simple enough to distinguish the martins from the other swallows by their larger size and iridescent dark coat, not to mention their song, which is very soft and sweet, like musical laughter, rippling up through the throat. ■ I Cowbird (Molothrus ater) Blackbird family Called also: BROWN-HEADED ORIOLE; COW-PEN BIRD; COW BLACKBIRD ; COW BUNTING Length — 7 to 8 inches. About one-fifth smaller than the robin. Male — Iridescent black, with head, neck, and breast glistening brown. Bill dark brown, feet brownish. Female— Y)\x\\ grayish-brown above, a shade lighter below, and streaked with paler shades of brown. Range — United States, from coast to coast. North into British America, south into Mexico. Migrations — March. November. Common summer resident. The cowbird takes its name from its habit of walking about among the cattle in the pasture, picking up the small insects which the cattle disturb in their grazing. The bird may often be seen within a foot or two of the nose of a cow or heifer, walk- ing briskly about like a miniature hen, intently watching for its insect prey. Its marital and domestic character is thoroughly bad. 49 Conspicuously Black Polygamous and utterly irresponsible for its offspring, this bird forms a striking contrast to other feathered neighbors, and indeed is almost an anomaly in the animal kingdom. In the breeding season an unnatural mother may be seen skulking about in the trees and shrubbery, seeking for nests in which to place a sur- reptitious egg, never imposing it upon a bird of its size, but se- lecting in a cowardly way a small nest, as that of the vireos or warblers or chipping sparrows, and there leaving the hatching and care of its young to the tender mercies of some already burdened little mother. It has been seen to remove an egg from the nest of the red-eyed vireo in order to place one of its own in its place Not finding a convenient nest, it will even drop its eggs on the ground, trusting them to merciless fate, or, still worse, devouring them. The eggs are nearly an inch long, white speckled with brown or gray. Cowbirds are gregarious. The ungrateful young birds, as soon as they are able to go roaming, leave their foster-parents and join the flock of their own kind. In keeping with its unclean habits and unholy life and character, the cowbird's ordinary note is a gurgling, rasping whistle, followed by a few sharp notes. 50 BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK AND WHITE Red-headed Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Woodpecker Chewink Snowflake Rose-breasted Grosbeak Bobolink Black-poll Warbler Black-and-white Creeping Warbler See also the Swallows; the Shrikes; Nuthatches and Titmice; the Kingbird and other Flycatchers; the Nighthawk; the Redstart; and the following Warblers: the Myrtle; the Bay-breasted; the Blackburnian; and the Black-throated Blue Warbler, i ■ i^' , Bl Lt M M al: cc gl ht it of ci n( V( th ti( tr al Pi tr S2 BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK AND WHITE Red-headed Woodpecker (Melancrpes crythrocephaliis) Woodpecker family Called also: TRI-COLOR ; RED-HEAD Length— ^.^0 to 9.75 inches. An inch or less smaller than the robin. Male and Female — Head, neck, and throat crimson; breast and underneath white; back black and white; wings and tail blue black, with broad white band on wings conspicuous in flight. Range — United States, east of Rocky Mountains and north to Manitoba, Migrations— k\)\xx\diM\\. but irregular migrant. Most commonly seen in Autumn, and rarely resident. In thinly populated sections, where there are few guns about, this is still one of the commonest as it is perhaps the most conspicuous member of the woodpecker family, but its striking glossy black-and-white body and its still more striking crimson head, flattened out against the side of a tree like a target, where it is feeding, have made it all too tempting a mark for the rifles of the sportsmen and the sling-shots of small boys. As if suffi- cient attention were not attracted to it by its plumage, it must needs keep up a noisy, guttural rattle, her-r-ruck, ker-r-riuh, very like a tree-toad's call, and flit about among the trees with the restlessness of a fly-catcher. Yet, in spite of these invita- tions for a shot to the passing gunner, it still multiplies in dis- tricts where nuts abound, being " more common than the robin " about Washington, says John Burroughs. All the familiar woodpeckers have two characteristics most prominently exemplified in this red-headed member of their tribe. The hairy, the downy, the crested, the red-bellied, the sapsucker, and the flicker have each a red mark somewhere about S3 Conspicuously Black and White their heads as if they had been wounded there and bled a little — some more, some less ; and the figures of all of them, from much flattening against tree-trunks, have become high-shouldered and long-waisted. The red-headed wc^dpecker selects, by preference, a partly decayed tree in which . o excavate a hole for its nest, because the digging is easier, and the sawdust and chips make a softer lining than green wood. Both male and female take turns in this hollowing-out process. The one that is off duty is allowed "twenty minutes for refreshments," consisting of grubs, beetles, ripe apples or cherries, corn, or preferably beech-nuts. At a loving call from its mate in the hollow tree, it returns promptly to perform its share of the work, when tbs carefully observed " time is up." The heap of sawdust at the ^ottom of the hollow will eventually cradle from four to six glossy-white eggs. This woodpecker has ihe thrifty habit of storing away nuts in the knot-holes of trees, between crack'-, in the bark, or in decayed fence rails — too often a convenient storehouse at which the squirrels may help themselves. But it is the black snake that enters the nest and eats the young family, and that is a more deadly foe than even the sportsman or the milliner. The Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosiis) Woodpecker family Length — 9 to 10 inches. About the size of the robin. Male — Black and white above, white beneath. White stripe down the back, composed of long hair-like feathers. Bright- red band on the nape of neck. Wings striped and dashed with black and white. Outer tail feathers white, without bars. White stripe about eyes and on sides of the head. Female — Without the red band on head, and body more brovi- ish than that of the male. Rang^ — Eastern parts of United States, from the Canadian bor- der to the Carolinas. Migrations — Resident throughout its range. The bill of the woodpecker is a hammering tool, well fitted for its work, its mission in life is iu rid the trees of insects, 54 RED-HKADED WOODPECKER. Lite -size. is a\ ^^ te w hi hi hi si di hi sf m h( n( ra w ni se w u: tb m di w d L M T 4 i Conspicuously Black and White which hide beneath the bark, and with this end in view, the bird is seen clinging to the trunks and branches of trees through fair and wintry weather, industriously scanning every inch for the well-known signs of the boring worm or destructive fly. In the autumn the male begins to excavate his winter quar- ters, carrying or throwing out the chips, by which this good workman is known, with his beak, while the female may make herself cosey or not, as she chooses, in an abandoned hole. About her comfort he seems shamefully unconcerned. Intent only on his own, he drills a perfectly round hole, usually on the under side of a limb where neither snow nor wind can harm him, and digs out a horizontal tunnel in the dry, brittle wood in the very heart of the tree, before turning downward into the deep, pear- shaped chamber, where he lives in selfish solitude. But when the nesting season comes, how devoted he is temporarily to the mate he has neglected and even abused through the v/inter ! Will she never learn that after her clear-white eggs are laid and her brood raised he will relapse into the savage and forget all his tender wiles ? The hairy woodpecker, like many another bird and beast, fur- nishes much doubtful weather lore for credulous and inexact ob- servers. "When the woodpecker pecks low on the trees, expect warm weather" is a common saying, but when different individ- uals are seen pecking at the same time, one but a few feet from the ground, and another among the high branches, one may make the prophecy that pleases him best. The hairy woodpeckers love the deep woods. They are drummers, not singers; but when walking in the desolate winter woods even the drumming and tapping of the busy feathered workmen on a resonant limb is a solace, giving a sense of life and cheerful activity which is invigorating. The Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens) Woodpecker family Length— 6 to 7 inches. About the size of the English sparrow. ^a/^— Black above, striped with white. Tail shaped like a wedge. Outer tail feathers white, and barred with black. Middle tail feathers black. A black stripe on top of head, and distinct white band over and under the eyes. Red patch on upper 55 Conspicuously Black and White side of neck. Wings, with six white bands crossing them transversely; white underneath. Female — Similar, but without scarlet on the nape, which is white. Range — Eastern North America, from Labrador to Florida. Migrations — Resident all the year throughout its range. The downy woodpecker is similar to his big relative, the hairy woodpecker, in color and shape, though much smaller. His outer tail feathers are white, barred with black, but the hairy 's white outer tail feathers lack these distinguishing marks. He is often called a sapsucker — though quite another bird alone merits that name— from the supposition that he bores into the trees for the purpose of sucking the sap ; but his tongue is ill adapted for such use, being barbed at the end, and most orni- thologists consider the charge libellous. It has been surmised that he bores the numerous little round holes close together, so often seen, with the id,,a of attracting insects to the luscious sap. The woodpeckers never drill for insects in live wood. The downy actually drills these little holes in apple and other trees to feed upon the inner milky bark of the tree — the cambium layer. The only harm to be laid to his account is that, in his zeal, he sometimes makes a ring of small holes so continuous as to inad- vertently damage the tree by girdling it. The bird, like most others, does not debar himself entirely from fruit diet, but enjoys berries, especially poke-berries. He is very social with birds and men alike. In winter he attaches himself to strolling bands of nuthatches and chickadees, and in summer is fond of making friendly visits among village folk, frequenting the shade trees of the streets and grapevines of back gardens. He has even been known to fearlessly peck at flies on window panes. in contrast to his large brother woodpecker, who is seldom drawn from timber lands, the little downy member of the family brings the comfort of his cheery presence to country homes, beating his rolling tattoo in spring on some resonant limb under our windows in the garden with a strength worthy of a larger drummer. This rolling tattoo, or drumming, answers several purposes: by it he determines whether the tree is green or hollow; it startles insects from their lurking places underneath the bark, and it also serves as a love song. < 56 /, nT y ELLOW-BELLIKD SAPSUCKER. ' •, Tjif" size. I Conspicuously Black and White Yellow-bellied Woodpecker ( Sphyrapiciis varius) Woodpecker family Called also: THE SAPSUCKER Length— ^Xo 8.6 inches. About one-fifth smaller than the robin. Male — Black, white, and yellowish white above, with bright-red crown, chin, and throat. Breast black, in form of crescent. A yellowish-white line, beginning at bill and passing below eye, merges into the pale yellow of the bird underneath. Wings spotted with white, and coverts chiefly white. Tail black; white on middle of feathers. Female — Paler, and with head and throat white. Range — Eastern North America, from Labrador to Central America. Migrations — April. October. Resident north of Massachusetts. Most common in autumn. It is sad to record that this exquisitely marked woodpecker, the most jovial and boisterous of its family, is one of the very few bird visitors whose intimacy should be discouraged. For its useful appetite for slugs and insects which it can take on the wing with wonderful dexterity, it need not be wholly con- demned. But as we look upon a favorite maple or fruit tree devitalized or perhaps wholly dead from its ravages, we cannot forget that this bird, while a most abstemious fruit-eater, has a pernicious and most intemperate thirst for sap. Indeed, it spends much of its time in the orchard, drilling holes into the freshest, most vigorous trees ; then, when their sap begins to flow, ii siphons it into an insatiable throat, stopping in its orgie only long enough to snap at the insects that have been attracted to the wounded tree by (he streams of its heart-blood now trickling down its sides. Another favorite pastime is to strip the bark off a tree, then peck at the soft wood underneath — almost as fatal a habit. It drills holes in maples in early spring for sap only. If it drills holes in fruit trees it is for the cambium layer, a soft, pulpy, nutritious under-bark. These woodpeckers have a variety of call-notes, but their rapid drumming against the limbs and trunks of trees is the sound we always associate with them and the sound that Mr. Bicknell says is the love-note of the family. Unhappily, these birds, that many would be glad to have 57 Conspicuously Black and White decrease in numbers, take extra precautions for the safety of tiieir young by making very deep excavations for their nests, often as deep as eighteen or twenty inches. The Chewink {Pipilo erythrophthaliiiiis) Finch family Ca//eci a/so : GROUND ROBIN ; TOWHEE ; TOWHEE BUNT- ING ; TOWHEE GROUND FINCH ; GRASEL Length — 8 to 3. s inches. About one-fifth smaller than the robin. Male — Upper parts black, sometimes margined with rufous. Breast white; chestnut color on sides and rump. Wings marked with white. Three outer feathers of tail striped with white, conspicuous in flight. Bill black and stout. Red eyes; feet brown. Female — Brownish where the male is black. Abdomen shading from chestnut to white in the centre. Range — From Labrador, on the north, to the Southern States ; west to the Rocky Mountains. Migrations — April. September and October. Summer resident. Very rarely a winter resident at the north. The unobtrusive little chewink is not infrequently mistaken for a robin, because of the reddish chestnut on its under parts. Careful observation, however, shows important distinctions. It is rather smaller and darker in color; its carriage and form are not those of the robin, but of the finch. The female is smaller still, and has an olive tint in her brown back. Her eggs are in- conspicuous in color, dirty white speckled with brown, and laid in a sunken nest on the ground. Dead leaves and twigs abound, and form, as the anxious mother fondly hopes, a safe hiding place for her brood. So careful concealment, however, brings peril to the fledglings, for the most cautious bird-lover may, and often does, inadvertently set his foot on the hidden nest. The chewink derives its name from the fancied resemblance of its note to these syllables, while those naming it "towhee" hear the sound to-whick, to-ivhick, to-whee. Its song is rich, full, and pleasing, and given only when the bird has risen to the branches above its low foraging ground. It frequents the border of swampy places and bushy fields. 58 'i J Conspicuously Black and White It is generally seen in the underbrush, picking about among the dead leaves for its steady diet of earthworms and larvje of in- sects, occasionally regaling itself with a few dropping berries and fruit. When startled, the bird rises not more than ten or twelve feet from the earth, and utters its characteristic calls. On ac- count of this habit of flying low and grubbing among the leaves, it is sometimes called the ground robin, in the South our modest and useful little food-gatherer is often called grasel, especially in Louisiana, where it is white-eyed, and is much esteemed, alasl by epicures. Snowflake (Plectrophenax nivalis) Finch family Called also : S'^O^ BUNTING; WHITEBIRD ; SNOWBIRD; SNOW LARK Length — 7 to 7. 5 inches. About one-fourth smaller than the robin. Male and Female — Head, neck, and beneath soiled white, with a few reddish-brown feathers on top of head, and suggesting an imperfect collar. Above, grayish brown obsoletely streaked with black, the markings being most conspicuous in a band between shoulders. Lower tail feathers black; others, white and all edged with white. Wings brown, white, and gray. Plumage unusually variable. In summer dress (in arctic regions) the bird is almost white. Jiange — Circumpolar regions to Kentucky (in winter only). Migrations— }A\d^'\n\.Qr visitor; rarely, if ever, resident south of arctic regions. These snowflakes (mentioned collectively, for it is impossible to think of the bird except in great flocks) are the "true spirits of the snowstorm," says Thoreau. They are animated beings that ride upon it, and have their life in it. By comparison with the climate of the arctic regions, no doubt our hardiest winter weather seems luxuriously mild to them. We associate them only with those wonderful midwinter days when sky, flelds, and woods alike are white, and a "hard, dull bitterness of cold" drives every other bird and beast to shelter. It is said they often pass the night buried beneath the snow. They have been seen to dive beneath it to escape a hawk. Whirling about in the drifting snow to catch the seeds on 59 IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) V /. V rn^.j. 1>^ :/ 4 ;.o I.I 1.25 III 2.2 IM 1.8 U IIIIII.6 V] <^ /A ^/ CM tL^'W s> ^^^ M V>J^ rv^ ^^ V "**■ ^ ^^ Q- Conspicuously Black and White the tallest stalks that the wind in the open meadows uncovers, the snowflakes suggest a lot of dead leaves being blown through the all-pervading whiteness. Beautiful soft brown, gray, and predominating black-and-white coloring distinguish these capri- cious visitors from the slaty junco, the "snowbird" more com- monly known. They are, indeed, the only birds we have that are nearly white ; and rarely, if ever, do they rise far above the ground their plumage so admirably imitates. At the far north, travellers have mentioned their inspiriting song, but in the United States we i;ear only their cheerful twitter. Nansen tells of seeing an occasional snow bunting in that desola- tion of arctic ice where the Fram drifted so long. The Rose-breasted Grosbeak (Habia ludoviciana) Finch family Length — 7. 7 5 to 8. 5 inches. About one-fifth smaller than the robin. Male — Head and upper parts black. Breast has rose-carmine shield-shaped patch, often extending downward to the centre of the abdomen. Underneath, tail quills, and two spots on wings white. Conspicuous yellow, blunt beak. Female — Brownish, with dark streakings, like a sparrow. No rose-color. Light sulphur yellow under wings. Dark brown, heavy beak. Raftge — Eastern North America, from southern Canada to Panama. Migrations — Early May. September. Summer resident. ^ A certain ornithologist tells with complacent pride of having shot over fifty-eight rose-breasted grosbeaks in less than three weeks (during the breeding season) to learn what kind of food they had in their crops. This kind of devotion to science may have quite as much to do with the growing scarcity of this bird in some localities as the demands of the milliners, who, however, receive all of the blame for the slaughter of our beautiful songsters. The farmers in Pennsylvania, who, with more truth than poetry, call this the potato-bug bird, are taking active measures, how- ever, to protect the neighbor that is more useful to their crop than all the insecticides known. It also eats flies, wasps, and gru'^^. Seen upon the ground, the dark bird is scarcely attractive with his clumsy beak overbalancing a head that protrudes with stupid- 60 !ii.i •t ROSE-BREASTED GROSSBEAKS. S^io Life-size. Conspicuously Black and White looking awkwardness; but as he rises into the trees his lovely rose-colored breast and under-wing feathers are seen, and before he has had time to repeat his delicious, rich-voiced warble you are already in love with him. Vibrating iiis wings after the manner of the mocking-bird, he pours forth a marvellously sweet, clear, mellow song (with something of the quality of the oriole's, robin's, and thrush's notes), making the day on which you first hear it memorable. This is one of the few birds that sing at night. A soft, sweet, rolling warble, heard when the moon is at its full on a midsummer night, is more than likely to come from the rose-breasted grosbeak. It is not that his quiet litile sparrow-like wife has advanced notions of feminine independence that he takes his turn at sitting upon the nest, but that he is one of the most unselfish and devoted of mates. With thHr combined efforts they construct only a coarse, 'inlovely cradle in a thorn-bush or low tree near an old, overgrown pasture lot. The father may be the poorest of archi- tects, but as he patiently sits brooding over the green, speckled eggs, his beautiful rosy breast just showing above the grassy rim, he is a sufficient adornment for any bird's home. The Bobolink (Dolichonyx ory{ivorus) Blackbird family Called also: REEDBIRD; MAYBIRD; MEADOW-BIRD; AMERI- CAN ORTOLAN ; BUTTER-BIRD ; SKUNK BLACKBIRD Length — 7 inches. A trifle larger than the English sparrow. Male — In spring plumage: black, with light-yellow patch on upper neck, also on edges of wings and tail feathers. Rump and upper wings splashed with white. Middle of back streaked with pale buff. Tail feathers have pointed tips. In autumn plumage, resembles female. Female — Dull yellow-brown, with light and dark dashes on back, wings, and tail. Two decided dark stripes on top of head. Range— 'Hoxih America, from eastern coast to western prairies. Migrates in early autumn to Southern States, and in winter to South America and West Indies. Migrations — Early May. From August to October. Common summer resident. 61 Conspicuously Black and White Perhaps none of our birds have so fitted into song and story as the bobolink. Unlike a good cliild. who should "be seen and not heard, " he is heard more frequently than seen. Very shy, of peering eyes, he keeps well out of sight in the meadow grass before entrancing our listening ears. The bobolink never soars like the lark, as the poets would have us believe, but gen- erally sings on the wing, flying with a peculiar self-conscious flight horizontally thirty or forty feet above the meadow grass. He also sings perched upon the fence or tuft of grass. He is one of the greatest poseurs among the birds. In spring and early summer the bobolinks respond to every poet's effort to imitate their notes. "Dignified 'Robert of Lin- coln ' is telling his name," says one; " Spink, spank, spink," an- other hears him say. But best of all are Wilson Flagg's lines: . . . " Now they rise and now they fly ; They cross and turn, and in and out, and down the middle and wheel about, With a ' Phew, shew, Wadolincon ; listen to me Bobolir':on ! ' " After midsummer the cares of the family have so worn upon the jollity of our dashing, rollicking friend that his song is seldom heard. The colors of his coat fade into a dull yellowish brown like that of his faithful mate, who has borne the greater burden of the season, for he has two complete moults each year. The bobolinks build their nest on the ground in high grass. The eggs are of a bluish white. Their food is largely insectivo- rous: grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, spiders, with seeds of grass especially for variety. In August they begin their journey southward, flying mainly by night. Arriving in the Southern States, they become the sad- colored, low-voiced rice or reed bird, feeding on the rice fields, where they descend to the ignominious fate of being dressed for the plate of the epicure. Could there be a more tragic ending to the glorious note of the gay songster of the north? 1^ '^•, Conspicuously Black and White Blackpoll Warbler (Dendroica striata) Wood Warbler family Length — ^.^ to 6 inches. About an inch smaller than the English spi'rrow. Male — Black cap; cheeks and beneath grayish white, forming a sort of collar, more or less distinct. Upper parts striped gray, black, and olive. Breast and under parts white, with black streaks. Tail olive-brown, with yellow-white spots. Female — Without cap. Greenish-olive above, faintly streaked with black. Paler than male. Bands on wings, yellowish. Range— ^oxXh America, to Greenland and Alaska, in winter, to northern part of South America. Migrations — Last of May. Late October. A faint " screep, screep," like "the noise made by striking two pebbles together," Audubon says, is often the only indication of the blackpoU's presence; but surely that tireless bird-student had heard its more characteristic notes, which, rapidly uttered, increasing in the middle of the strain and diminishing toward the end, suggest the shrill, wiry hum of some midsummer insect. After the opera-glass has searched him out we And him by no means an inconspicuous bird. A dainty little fellow, with a glossy black cap pulled over his eyes, he is almost hidden by the dense foliage on the trees by the time he returns to us at the very end of spring. Giraud says that he is the very last of his tribe to come north, though the bay-breasted warbler has usually been thought the bird to wind up the spring procession. The blackpoll has a certain characteristic motion that distin- guishes him from the black-and-white creeper, for which a hasty glance might mistake him, and from the jolly little chickadee with his black cap. Apparently he runs about the tree-trunk, but in reality he so flits his wings that his feet do not touch the bark at all; yet so rapidly does he go that the flipping wing-motion is not observed. He is most often seen in May in the apple trees, peeping into the opening blossoms for insects, uttering now and then his slender, lisping, brief song. Vivacious, a busy hunter, often catching insects on the wing like the flycatchers, he is a cheerful, useful neighbor the short time he spends with us before travelling to the far north, where he mates and nests. A nest has been found on Slide Mountain, in the Catskills, but the hardy evergreens of Canada, and some- 63 I Conspicuously Black and White times those of northern New England, are the chosen home of this little bird that builds a nest of bits of root, lichens, and sedges, amply large for a family twice the size of his. Black-and-white Creeping Warbler (Mniotilta variaj Wood Warbler family Ca//ed also : VARIED CREEPING WARBLER ; BLACK-AND- WHITE CREEPER ; WHITEPOLL WARBLER Length — s to 5.5 inches. About ;m inch smaller than the English sparrow. Male — Upper parts white, varied with black. A white stripe along the summit of the head and back of the neck, edged with black. White line above and below the eye. Black cheeks and throat, grayish in females and young. Breast white in middle, with black stripes on sides. Wings and tail rusty black, with two white cross-bars on former, and soiled white markings on tail quills. Female — Paler and less distinct markings throughout. Range — Peculiar to America. Eastern United States and west- ward to the plains. North as far as the fur countries. Win- ters in tropics south of Florida. Migrations — April. Late September, ' mmer resident. Nine times out of ten this active little warb. ,r is mistaken for the downy woodpecker, not because of his coloring alone, but also on account of their common habit of running up and down the trunks of trees and on the under side of branches, looking for insects, on which all the warblers subsist. But presently the true warbler characteristic of restless flitting about shows itself A woodpecker would go over a tree with painstaking, systematic care, while the black-and-white warbler, no less intent upon securing its food, hurries off from tree to tree, wherever the most promising memi is offered. Clinging to the mottled bark of the tree-trunk, which he so closely resembles, it would be difficult to find him were it not for these sudden flittings and the feeble song, " Weachy, iveacby, zveachy, 'twee, 'tzvee, 'tweet," he half lisps, half sings between his dashes after slugs. Very rarely indeed can his nest be found in an old stump or mossy bank, where bark leaves, and hair make the downy cradle for his four or five tiiiy 1 abies. 64 !| '. I BLACK AND WHITE CRKEPINQ WARBLER, Life- Bir the cat Gri an( DUSKY AND GRAY AND SLATE-COLORED BIRDS Chimney Swift Kingbird Wood Pewee Phoebe and Say's Phoebe Crested Flycatcher Olive-sided Flycatcher Least Flycatcher Chickadee Tufted Titmouse Canada Jay Catbird Mocking-bird Junco White-breasted Nuthatch Red-breasted Nuthatch Loggerhead Shrike Northern Shrike Bohemian Waxwing Bay-breasted Warbler Chestnut-sided Warbler Golden-winged Warbler Myrtle Warbler Parula Warbler Black-throated Blue Warbler Sec also the Grayish Green and the Grayish Brown Birds, particularly the Cedar Bird, several Swallows, the Acadian and the Yellow-bellied Flycatchers- Alice's and the Ohve-backed Thrushes; the Louisiana Water Thrush; the Blue-gray Gnat- catcher; and the Seaside Sparrow. See also the females of the following birds • Pine Grosbeak; White-winged Red Crossbill; Purple Martin; and the Nashville, the Pine and the Magnolia Warblers. ' I :i^ CHIMNEY SWIFT. % Life-size. '•JT-'l DUSKY, GRAY, AND SLATE-COLORED BIRDS A . *'' Chimney Swift (Chcetura pelagica) Swift family Called also: CHIMNEY SWALLOW; AMERICAN SWIFT Length — ^ to 5.45 inches. About an inch shorter than the Eng- lish sparrow. Long v/ings make its length appear greater. Male and Female — Deep sooty gray ; throat of a trifle lighter gray. Wings extend an inch and a half beyond the even tail, which has sharply pointed and very elastic quills, that serve as props. Feet are muscular, and have exceedingly sharp claws. Range — Peculiar to North America east of the Rockies, and from Labrador to Panama. Migrations — April. September or October. Common summer resident. The chimney swift is, properly speaking, not a swallow at all, though chimney swallow is its more popular name. Rowing towards the roof of your house, as if it used first one wing, then the other, its flight, while swift and powerful, is stiff and mechan- ical, unlike the swallow's, and its entire aspect suggests a bat. The nighthawk and whippoorwill are its relatives, and it resem- bles them not a little, especially in its nocturnal habits. So much fault has been found with the misleading names of many birds, it is pleasant to record the fact that the name of the chimney swift is everything it ought to be. No other birds can surpass and few can equal it in its powerful flight, sometimes covering a thousand miles in twenty-four hours, it is said, and never resting except in its roosting places (hollow trees or chim- neys of dwellings), where it does not perch, but rather clings to the sides with its sharp claws, partly supported by its sharper tail. Audubon tells of a certain plane tree in Kentucky where he counted over nine thousand of these swifts clinging to the hollow trunk. 67 Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored Their nest, which is a loosely woven twig lattice, made of twiij^s of trees, which the birds snap off" with theit beai«.>..■■' j\ JH ^^*^ 'ft-i^ s^^l L^ ^^K ' .^f^^ i ^^^^^^^^^^^r mM 1 h ^ ^U \ IBfe-^N <*% > c^s^ ■£3 J^ n Tx ,. • T" ^^^ ■t^-^ ' ^ ^V ' fHv^ "<*-^ jf '' ' ^^^-^'^rS^^^flHr J j^^^^^^^^^^H / i;^t(«£..-'^'K.. ^^^^^^^^^^1 WOOD PEWEE. •' s Life-Size. Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored love of it, without prov'ocation, rhyme, or reason. One can but watch with a degree of admiration his bold sallies on the big, black crow or the marauding hawk, but when he bullies the small inoffensive birds in wanton attacks for sheer amusement, the charge is less entertaining. Occasionally, when the little vic- tim shows pluck and faces his assailant, the kingbird will literally turn tail and show ihe white feather. His method of attack is always when a bird is in flight; then he swoop' down from the telegraph pole or high point of vantage, and strikes on the head or back of the neck, dr-'rting back like a flash to the exact spot from which he started. By these tactics he avoids a return blow and retreats from danger. He never makes a fair hand-to-hand fight, or whatever is equivalent in bird warfare. It is a satisfaction to record that he does not attempt to give battle to the catbird, but whenever in view makes a grand detour to give him a wide berth. The kingbird feeds on beetles, canker-worms, and winged insects, with an occasional dessert of berries. He is popularly supposed to prefer the honeybee -'.s his favorite tidbit, but the weight of opinion is adverse to the charge of his depopulating the beehive, even though he owes his appellation bee martin to this tradition. One or two ornithologisti declare that he selects only the drones for his diet, which would give him credit for marvel- lous sight in his rapid motion through the air. The kingbird is preeminently a bird of the garden and orchard. The nest is open, though deep, and not carefully concealed. Eggs are nearly ro'".nd, bluish white spotted with brown and lilac. With truly royal exclusiveness, the tyrant favors no community of interest, but sits in regal state on a conspicuous throne, and takes his grand flights alone or with his queen, but never with a flock of his kind. Wood Pewee (Contopus virens) Flycatcher family Length — 6. 50 inches. A trifle larger than the English sparrow. Male — Dusky brownish olive above, darkest on head ; paler on throat, lighter still underneath, and with a yellowish tinge on the dusky gray under parts. Dusky wings and tail, the wing coverts tipped with soiled white, forming two indistinct bars. Whitish eye-ring. Wings longer than tail. Female — Similar, but slightly more buff underneath. 69 Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored Hange — Eastern North America, from Florida to northern British provinces. Winters in Central America. Migrations — May. October. Common summer resident, T\\2 v'ood pewee, like the '^live-sided flycatcher, has wings decidedly longer than iis tail, and it is by no means a simple matter for the novice to ' 11 these birds apart or separate them distinctly in the mind frou the other members of a family whose coloring and habits are most confusingly similar. This dusky haunter of tall shady \>.es has not yet learned to be sociable like the phoebe; but while it may not be so much in evidence close to our homes, it is doubtless just as common. The orchard is as near the house as it often cares to come. An c'd orchard, where modern insecticides are unknown and neglect allows insects to riot among the decayed bark and fallen fruit, is a happy hunting ground enough ; but the bird's real preferences are decidedly for high tree-tops in the woods, where no sunshine touches the feathers on his dusky coat. It is one of the few shade-loving birds. In deep solitudes, where jt surely retreats by nesting time, however neighborly it may be during the migrations, its pensive, pathetic notes, long drawn out, seem like the expression of some hidden sorrow. Pe-a-wee, pe-a-wee, pewee-ah-peer is the burden of its plaintive song, a sound as depressing as it is familiar in every walk through the woods, and the bird's most prominent characteristic. To see the bird dashing about in his aerial chase for insects, no one would accuse him of melancholia. He keeps an eye on the "main chance," whatever his preying grief may be, and never allows it to affect his appetite. Returning to his perch after a successful sally in pursuit cf the passing fly, he repeats his "sweetly solemn thought " over and over again all day long and every day throughout the summer. The wood pewees show that devotion to each other and to their home, characteristic of their family. Both lovers work on the construction of the flat nest that is saddled on some mossy or lichen-covered limb, and so cleverly do they cover the rounded edge with bits of bark. and lichen that sharp eyes only can detect where the cradle lies. Creamy-white eggs, whose larger end is wreathed with brown and lilac spots, are guarded with fierce solicitude. Trowbridge has celebrated this bird in a beautiful poem. 70 C-- Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored Phoebe (Sayornis phocbe) Flycat.:her family C«//^^a/j^; DUSKY FLYCATCHER; BRIDGE PEWEE; WATER PEWEE Length — 7 inches. About an inch longer than the English sparrow. Male and Female — Dusky olive-brown above ; darkest on head, which is slightly crested. Wings and tail dusky, the outer edges of some tail feathers whitish. Dingy yellowish white underneath. Bill and feet black. Range— Worth America, from Newfoundland to the South At- lantic States, and westward to the Rockies. Winters south f the Carolinas, into Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies. Migrations — March. October. Common summer resident. The earliest representative of the flycatcher family t' come out of the tropics where insect life fairly swarms and teems, what does the friendly little phoebe find to attract him to the north in March while his prospective dinners must all be still in embryo ? He looks dejected, it is true, as he sits solitary and silent on some projecting bare limb in the garden, awaiting the coming of his tardy mate; nevertheless, the date of his return will not vary by more than a few days in a given locality year after year. Why birds that are mated for life, as these are said to be, and such de- voted lovers, should not travel together on their journey north, is another of the many mysteries of bird-life awaiting solution. The reunited, happy couple go about the garden and out- buildings like domesticate ' wrens, investigating the crannies on piazzas, where people m..y be coming and going, and boldly entering barn-lofts to find a suitable site for the nest that it must take much of both time and skill to build. Pewit, phoebe, phoebe; pewit, phoebe, they contentedly but rather monotonously sing as they investigate all the sites in the neighborhood. Presently a location is chosen under a beam or rafter, and the work of collecting moss and mud for the founda- tion and hair and feathers or wool to line the exquisite little home begins. But the labor is done cheerfully, with many a sally in midair either to let off superfluous high spirits or to catch a morsel on the wing, and with many a vivacious outburst of what by courtesy only we may name a song. 71 Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored When not domesticated, as these birds are rapidly becoming, the pha'bes dearly love a cool, wet woodland retreat. Here they hunt and bathe ; here they also build in a rocky bank or ledge of rocks or underneath a bridge, but always with clever adaptation of their nest to its surroundings, out of which it seems a natural growth. It is one of the most linished, beautiful nests ever found. A pair of phoebes become attached to a spot where they have once nested; they never stray far from it, and return to it regularly, though they may not again occupy the old nest^ This is because it soon becomes infested with lice from the hen's feathers used in lining it, for which reason too close relationship with this friendly bird-neighbor is discouraged by thrifty house- keepers. . When the baby birds have come out from the four or six little white eggs, their helpless bodies are mercilessly attacked by parasites, and are often so enfeebled that half the brood die. The next season another nest will be built near the first, the fol- lowing summer still another until it would appear that a colony of birds had made their homes in the place. Throughout the long summer — for as the phoebe is the first flycatcher to come, so it is the last to go — the bird is a tireless hunter of insects, which it catches on the wing with a sharp click of its beak, like the other rricmbers of its dexterous family. Say's Phoebe (Sayornis saya) is the Western representative of the Eastern species, which it resembles in coloring and many of its habits. It is the bird of the open plains, a tireless hunter in midair sallies from an isolated perch, and has the same vibrat- ing motion of the tail that the Eastern phoebe indulges in when excited. This bird differs chiefly in its lighter coloring, but not in habits, from the black pewee of the Pacific slope. Great-crested Flycatcher (Myiarchus crinitus) Flycatcher family Called also: CRESTED FLYCATCHER r Length — 8. so to 9 inches. A little smaller than the robin. Male and Female — Feathers of the head pointed and erect. Upper parts dark grayish-olive, inclining to rusty brown on wings and tail. Wing coverts crossed with two irregular bars of yellowish white. Throat gray, shading into sulphur-yellow 72 1,1 {4, 4 Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored underneath, that also extends under the wings. Inner vane of several tail quills rusty red. Bristles at base of bill. Jian^^e— From Mexico, Central America, and West Indies north- ward to southern Canada and westward to the plains. Most common in Mississippi basin ; common also in eastern United States, south ot New England. Migrations— }Ai\y. September. Common summer resident. The most dignified and h ndsomely dressed member of his family, the crested flycatcher nevertheless, an air of pensive melancholy about him when in r , ise that can be accounted for only by the pain he must fee! every lime he hears himself screech. His harsh, shrill call, louder and more disagreeable than the king- bird's, cannot but rasp his cars as it does ours. And yet it is chiefly by this piercing note, given with a rising inflection, that we know the bird is in our neighborhood ; for he is somewhat of a recluse, and we must often follow the disagreeable noise to its source in the tree-tops before we can catch a glimpse of the screecher. Perched on a high lookout, he appears morose and sluggish, in spite of his aristocratic-looking crest, trim figure, and feathers that must seem rather gay to one of his dusky tribe. A low soliloquy, apparently born of discontent, can be overheard from the foot of his tree. But another second, and he has dashed off in hot pursuit of an insect flying beyond our sight, and with extremely quick, dexterous evolutions in midair, he finishes the hunt with a sharp click of his bill as it closes over the unhappy victim, and then he returns to his perch. On the wing he is exceedingly active and joyous ; in the tree he appears just the reverse. That he is a domineering fellow, quite as much of a tyrant as the notorious kingbird, that bears the greater burden of opprobrium, is shown in the fierce way he promptly dashes at a feathered stranger that may have alighted too near his perch, and pursues it beyond the bounds of justice, all the while screaming his rasping cry into the intruder's ears, that must pierce as deep as the thrusts from his relentless beak. He has even been known to drive off woodpeckers and bluebirds from the hollows in the trees that he, like them, chooses for a nest, and appropriate the results of their labor for his scarcely less belligerent mate. With a slight but important and indispensable addition, the stolen nest is ready to receive her four cream-colored eggs, that look as if a pen dipped in purple ink had been scratched over them. 73 .^ Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored J The fact that gives the great-crested flycatcher a unique in- terest among all North American birds is that it invariably lines its nest with snake-skins if one can be had. Science would scarcely be worth the studying if it did not set our imaginations to work delving for plausible reasons for Nature's strange doings. Most of us will doubtless agree with Wilson (who made a special study of these interesting nests and never found a single one without cast snake-skins in it, even in districts where snakes were so rare they were supposed not to exist at all), that the lining was chosen to terrorize all intruders. The scientific mind that is unwilling to dismiss any detail of Nature's work as merely arbitrary and haphazard, is greatly exercised over the reason for the existence of crests on birds. But, surely, may not the sight of snake-skins that first greet the eyes of the fledgling flycatchers as they emerge from the shell be a good and sufficient reason why the feathers on their little heads should stand on end.? "In the absence of a snake-skin, 1 have found an onion skin and shad scales in the nest," says John Burroughs, who calls this bird "the wild Irishman of the flycatchers." Olive-slded Flycatcher (Contopus borealis) Flycatcher family Length—'] to 7.5 inches. About an inch longer than the 'English sparrow. Male and Female — Dusky olive or grayish brown above; head darkest. Wings and tail blackish brown, the former some- times, but not always, margined and tipped with dusky white. Throat yellowish white ; other under parts slightly lighter shade than above. Olive-gray on sides. A tuft of yellowish-white, downy feathers on flanks. Bristles at base of bill. Range — From Labrador to Panama. Winters in the tropics. Nests usually north of United States, but it also breeds in the Catskills. Migrations — May. September. Resident only in northern part of its range. Only in the migrations may people south of Massachusetts hope to see this flycatcher, which can be distinguished from the rest of its kin by the darker under parts, and by the fluffy, yel- 74 i } J ti h C Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored lowish-white tufts of feathers on its flanks. Its habits have the family characteristics: It takes its food on the wing, suddenly sallying forth from its perch, darting about midair to seize its prey, then as suddenly returning to its identical point of vantage, usually in some distended, dead limb in the tree-top; it is pug- nacious, bold, and tyrannical; mopish and inert when not on the hunt, but wonderfully alert and swift when in pursuit of insect or feathered foe. The short necks of the flycatchers make their heads appear large for their bodies, a peculiarity slightly em- phasized in this member of the family. High up in some evergreen tree, well out on a branch, over which the shapeless mass of twigs and moss that serves as a nest is saddled, four or five buff-speckled eggs are laid, and by some special dispensation rarely fall out of their insecure cradle. A sharp, loud whistle, when — o-wheu-o-wheu-o, rings out from the throat of this olive-sided tyrant, warning all intruders off the premises ; but however harshly he may treat the rest of the feathered world, he has only gentle devotion to offer his brooding mate. Least Flycatcher (Empidonax minimus) Flycatcher family Called also: CHEBEC Length — 5 to 5.5 inches. About an inch smaller than the English sparrow. Male — Gray or olive-gray above, paler on wings and lower part of back, and a more distinct olive-green on head. Under- neath grayish white, sometimes faintly suffused with pale yellow. Wings have whitish bars. White eye-ring. Lower half of bill horn-color. Female — Is slightly more yellowish underneath, i?a«^f— Eastern North America, from tropics nor*^ward to Quebec. Migrations — May. September. Common suminer resident. This, the smallest member of its family, takes the place of the more southerly Acadian flycatcher, throughout New England and the region of the Great Lakes. But, unlike his Southern rela- tive, he prefers orchards and gardens close to our homes for his hunting grounds rather than the wet recesses of the forests. Che-bec, che-bec, the diminutive olive-pated gray sprite calls out 75 Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored from the orchard between his aerial sallies after the passinp insects that have been attracted by the decaying fruit, and cheber "he name by which many New Englanders know him. While giving this characteristic call-note, with drooping, jerking tail, trembling wingc, and uplifted parti-colored bill, he looks unnerved and limp by the effort it has cost him. But in the next instant a gnat flies past. How quickly the bird recovers itself, and charges full-tilt at his passing dinner! The sharp click of his little bill proves that he has not missed his aim; and after careering about in the air another minute or two, looking for more game to snap up on the win?;, he will return to the same perch and take up his familiar refrain. Without hearing this call- note one might often mistake the bird for either the wood pewee or the phoebe, for all the three are similarly clothed and have many traits in common. The slightly larger size of the phoebe and pewee is not always apparent when they are seen perching on the trees. Unlike the "tuft of hay" to which the Acadian flycatcher's nest has been likened, the least flycatcher's home is a neat, substantial cup-shaped cradle softly lined with down or horsehair, and placed generally in an upright crotch of a tree, well above the ground. The Chickadee (Parus atricapillus) Titmouse family Called also .• BLACK-CAPPED TITMOUSE ; BLACK-CAP TIT Length — 5 to 5.5 inches. About an inch smaller than the English sparrow. Male and Female — Not crested. Crown and nape and throat black. Above gray, slightly tinged with brown, A white space, beginning at base of bill, extends backwards, widen- ing over cheeks and upper part of breast, forming a sort of collar that almost surrounds neck. Underneath dirty white, with pale rusty-brown wash on sides. Wings and tail gray, with white edgings. Plumage downy. Range — Eastern North America. North of the Carolinas to Lab- rador. Does not migrate in the North. Migrations — Late September. May. Winter resident ; perma- nent resident in northern parts of the United States. No " fair weather friend " is the jolly little chickadee. In the depth of the autumn equinoctial storm it returns to the tops of 76 /■■"^ ■ac^i. 4 Jf^ A CHICKADEE. Life-size. ;1 111 ■I:i Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored the trees close by the house, where, through the sunshine, snow, and tempest of the entire winter, you may hear its cheery, irrepressible chickadee-dee- dee-dee or dciy-day-day as it swings around the dangling cones of the evergreens. It fairly over- flows with good spirits, and is never more contagiously gay than in a snowstorm. So active, so friendly and cheering, what would the long northern winters be like without this lovable little neighbor ? It serves a more utilitarian purpose, however, than bracing faint-hearted spirits. "There is no bird that compares with it in destroying the female canker-worm moths and their eggs," writes a well-known entomologist. He calculates that as a chickadee destroys about 5,500 eggs in one day, it will eat 138,750 eggs in the twenty-five days it takes the canker-worm moth to crawl up the trees. The moral that it pays to attract chickadees about your home by feeding them in winter is obvious. Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright, in her delightful and helpful book "Birdcraft," tells us how she makes a sort of a bird-hash of finely minced raw meat, waste canary-seed, buckwheat, and cracked oats, which she scatters in a sheltered spot for all the winter birds. The rapid way in which this is consumed leaves no doubt of its uni- versal popularity. Friendly as the chickadee is — and Dr. Abbott declares it the tamest bird we have — it prefers well-timbered districts, especially where there are red-bud trees, when it is time to nest. It is very often clever enough to leave the labor of hollowing out a nest in the tree-trunk to the woodpecker or nuthatch, whose old homes it readily appropriates ; or, when these birds object, a knot-hole or a hollow fence-rail answers every purpose. Here, in the sum- mer woods, when family cares beset it, a plaintive, minor whistle replaces the chickadee-dee-dee that Thoreau likens to "silver tink- ling " as he heard it on a frosty morning. Piped a tiny voice near by, Gay and polite, a ciieerfiil cry — Chick-chickadeedee ! saucy note Out of sound heart and merry throat, As if it said, ' Good-day, good Sir ! Fine afternoon, old passenger ! Happy to meet you in these places Where January brings few faces.' " — Emerson. 11 Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored \ > Tufted Titmouse {Parus bicolor) Titmouse family Called also : CRESTED TITMOUSE ; CRESTED TOMTIT Length— d to 6. 5 inches. About the size of the English sparrow. Male and Female— Cxes\. high and pointed. Leaden or ash-gray above; darkest on wings and tail. Frontlet, bill, and shoul- ders black; space between eyes gray. Sides of head dull white. Under parts light gray; sides yellowish, tinged with red. Range — United States east of plains, and only rarely seen so far north as New England. Migrations — October. April. Winter resident, but also found throughout the year m many States. "A noisy titmouse is Jack Frost's trumpeter" may be one of those few weather-wise proverbs with a grain of truth in them. As the chickadee comes from the woods with the frost, so it may be noticed his cousin, the crested titmouse, is in more noisy evi- dence throughout the winter. One might sometimes think his whistle, like a tugboat's, worked by steam. But how effectually nesting cares alone can silence it in April ! Titmice always see to it you are not lonely as you walk through the woods. This lordly tomtit, with his jaunty crest, keeps up a persistent whistle at you as he flits from tree to tree, leading you deeper into the forest, calling out " Here-here-here!" and looking like a pert and jaunty little blue jay, minus his gay clothes. Mr. Nehrling translates one of the calls " Heedle-dee- dle-dee-dle-dee ! " and another ' ' Peto-peto-peto-daytee-daytee ! " But it is at the former, rharply whistled as the crested titmouse gives it, that every dog pricks up his ears. Comparatively little has been written about this bird, because it is not often found in New England, where most of the bird litterateurs have lived. South of New York State, however, it is a common resident, and much respected for the good work it does in destroying injurious insects, though it is more fond of varying its diet with nuts, berries, and seeds than that all-round benefactor, the chickadee. 78 :i? ! •» i Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis) Crow and Jay family Calledaho: WHISKY JACK OR JOHN ; MOOSE-BIRD; MEAT- BIRD; VENISON HERON; GREASE-BIRD; CANADIAN CARRION-BIRD; CAMP ROBBER Length — 1 1 to \2 inches. About iwo inches larger than the robin. Male and Female — Upper parts gray; darkest on wings and tail; back of the head and nape of the neck sooty, almost black. Forehead, throat, and neck white, and a few white tips on wings and tail. Underneath lighter gray. Tail long. Plu- mage fluffy. Range — Northern parts of the United States and British provinces of North America. Migrations — Resident where found. The Canada jay looks like an exaggerated chickadee, and both birds are equally fond of bitter cold weather, but here the similarity stops short. Where the chickadee is friendly the jay is impudent and bold; hardly less of a villain than his blue relative when it comes to marauding other birds' nests and destroying their young. With all his vices, however, intemperance cannot be attributed to him, in spite of the name given him by the Adi- rondack lumbermen and guides. "Whisky John" is a purely innocent corruption of " Wis-ka-tjon," as the Indians call this bird that haunts their camps and familiarly enters their wigwams. The numerous popular names by which the Canada jays are known are admirably accounted for by Mr. Hardy in a bulletin issued by the Smithsonian Institution. "They will enter the tents, and often alight on the bow of a canoe, where the paddle at every stroke comes within eighteen inches of them. I know nothing which can be eaten that they will not take, and I had one steal all my candles, pulling them out endwise, one by one, from a piece of birch bark in which they were rolled, and another peck a large hole in a keg of cas- tile soap. A duck which 1 had picked and laid down for a few minutes, had the entire breast eaten out by one or more of these birds. I have seen one alight in the middle of my canoe and peck away at the carcass of a beaver I had skinned. They often spoil deer saddles by pecking into them near the kidneys. They 79 Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colrred do great damage to the trappers by stealing the bait from traps set for martens and minks and by eating trapped game. They will sit quietly and see you build a log trap and bait it, and then, almost before your back is turned, you hear their hateful ca-ca-ca! as they glide down and peer into it. They will work steadily, carrying ofl meat and hiding it. i have thrown out pieces, and watched one to see how much he would carry off. He flew across a wide stream, and in a short time looked as bloody as a butcher from carrying large pieces; but his patience held out longer than min'^ 1 think one would work as long as Mark Twain's California jay did trying to fill a miner's cabin with acorns through a knot-hole in the roof They are fond of the berries of the mountain ash, and, in fnct, few things come amiss; I believe they do not possess a single good quality except industry." One virtue not mentioned by Mr. Hardy is their prudent saving from the summer surplus to keep the winter storeroom well sup- plied like a squirrel's. Such thrift is the more necessary when a clamorous, hungry family of young jays must be reared while the thermometer is often as low as thirty degrees below zero at the end of March. How eggs are ever hatched at all in a tempera- ture calculated to freeze any sitting bird stiflF, is one of the mys- teries of the woods. And yet four or five fluffy little jays, that look as if they were dressed in gray fur, emerge from the eggs before the spring sunshine has unbound the icy rivers or melted the snowdrifts piled high around the evergreens. Catbird (Galeoscoptes carolinensis) Mocking-bird family Called also : ^LkCK-CA??E'D THRUSH Length— () inches. An inch shorter than the robin. Male and Female — Dark slate above; below somewhat paler; top of head black. Distinct chestnut patch under the tail, whicn is black; feet and bill black also. Wings short, more than two inches shorter than the tail. Range — British provinces to Mexico; west to Rocky Mountains, rarely to Pacific coast. Winters in Southern States, Central America, and Cuba. Migrations — May. November. Common summer resident. 80 li!!Jii( •^5^-: 'f*'^JSi. IR. CATl^IHD. ''/b Life-size. ;,J8| IT rr h P e a si f( n u h s s c i; 0 t V t t Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored Our familiar catbird, of all the feathered tribe, presents the most contrary characteristics, and is therefore held in varied esti- mation— loved, admired, ridiculed, abused. He is the veriest "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" of birds. Exquisitely proportioned, with finely poised black head and satin-gray coat, which he bathes most carefully and prunes and prinks by the hour, he ap- pears from his toilet a Beau Brummell, an aristocratic-looking, even dandified neighbor. Suddenly, as if shot, he drops head and tail and assumes the most hang-iog -ir, without the least sign of self-respect; then crouches and lengthens into a roll, head forward and tail straightened, till he looks like a little, short gray snake, lank and limp. Anon, with a jerk and a sprint, every muscle tense, tail erect, eyes snapping, he darts into the air intent upon some well-planned mischief. It is impossible to describe his various attitudes or moods. In song and call he presents the same opposite characteristics. How such a bird, exquisite in style, can demean himself to utter such harsh, altogether hateful catcalls and squawks as have given the bird his common name, is a wonder when in the next moment his throat swells and be- ginning phut-phiit-coquillicot , he gives forth a long glorious song, only second to that of the wood thrush in melody. He is a jes- ter, a caricaturist, a mocking-bird. The catbird's nest is like a veritable scrap-basket, loosely woven of coarse twigs, bits of newspaper, scraps, and rags, till this rough exterior is softly lined and made fit to receive the four to six pretty dark green-blue eggs to be laid therein. As a fruit thief harsh epithets are showered upon the friendly, confiding little creature at our doors; but surely his depredations may be pardoned, for he is industrious at all times and unusually adroit in catching insects, especially in the moth stage. The Mocking-bird (tMimus polyglottus) Mocking-bird ftimily Length — 9 to 10 inches. About the size of the robin. Male and Female — Gray above; wings and wedge-shaped tail brownish; upper wing feathers tipped with white; outer tail quills white, conspicuous in flight; chin white; under- neath light gray, shading to \/hitish. Jiiinge — Peculiar to torrid and temperate zones of two Americas. Migrations — No fixed migrations ; usually resident where seen. 81 Dusky, Gray, and Slate-co' .'red North of Delaware this commonest of Southern birds is all too rarely seen outside of cages, yet even in midwinter it is not unknown in Central Park, New York. This is the angel that it is said the catbird was before he fell from grace. Slim, neat, graceful, imitative, amusing, with a rich, tender song that only the thrush can hope to rival, and with an instinctive preference for the society of man, it is little wonder he is a favorite, caged or free. He is a most devoted parent, too, when the four or six speckled green eggs have produced as many mouths to be sup- plied with insects and berries. In the Connecticut Valley, where many mocking-birds' nests have been found, year after year, they are all seen near the ground, and without exception are loosely, poorly constructed affairs of leaves, feathers, grass, and even rags. With all his virtues, it must be added, however, that this charming bird is a sad tease. There is no sound, whether made by bird or beast about him, that he cannot imitate so clearly as to deceive every one but himself. Very rarely can you find a mocking-bird without intelligence and mischief enough to appre- ciate his ventriloquism. In Sidney Lanier's college note-book was found written this reflection: " A poet is the mocking-bird of the spiritual universe. In hint are collected all the individual songs of all individual natures." Later in life, with the same thought in mind, he referred to the bird as "yon slim Shakespeare on the tree." His exquisite stanzas, "To Our Mocking-bird," exalt the singer with the immortals : " Trillets of humor, — shrewdest whistle-wit — Contralto cadences of grave desire. Such as from off the passionate Indian pyre Drift down through sandal-odored flames that split About the slim young widow, who doth sit And sing above, — midnights of tone entire, — Tissues of moonlight, shot with songs of fire ; — Bright drops of tune, from oceans infinite Of melody, sipped off the thin-edged wave And trickling down the beak, — discourses brave Of serious matter that no man may guess, — Good-fellow greetings, cries of light distress — All these but now within the house we heard : O Death, wast thou too deaf to hear the bird ? 1 w ' i'.i ■ f ;■■(;; ; 1 i: 82 JUNCO. Life-size. Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored " Nay, Bird ; my grier gainsays the Lord's best right. The Lord was fain, at some late festal time, That Keats should set all heaven's woods in rhyme, And Thou in bird-notes. Lo, this tearful night Metiiinks I see tiiee, fresli from Death's despite, Perched in a palm-grove, wild with pantomime O'er blissful companies couciied in shady thyme. Methini