Wh bi iy AY) ny i) His Me Ai) , LE A TH i il AS iy Hi yy LAM Wie h i a Hy H Hh) HN HT HE Wi NS alt oo faterfouls THE JOHN - CRAIG LIBRARY COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE ere = LEGE Pee P ‘i yng iar oi uJ es os Cd { fo —- a EV Ty ITH: DATE DUE Scuba ane | - perties GAYLORD PRINTEDINU.S.A, Cornell University Library QL 676.D74 irds that hunt and are hunted; life hist AUMINN ATA 3 1924 001 446 586 BIRDS THAT HUNT AND ARE HUNTED PASSENGER PIGEON. 14 Life-size. rs BIRDS THAT HUNT AND ARE BONE LIFE HISTORIES OF ONE HUN- DRED ano SEVENTY BIRDS OF PREY, GAME BIRDS ano WATER- FOWLS BY NELTJE BLANCHAN | AUTHOR OF ‘‘BIRD NEIGHBORS” WITH INTRODUCTION BY G. O. SHIELDS (Coquina) AND FORTY-EIGHT COLORED PLATES NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY & McCLURE CO. 1898 = GAL: 6a CopyRIGHT, 1898, BY DOUBLEDAY & McCLURE CO. COLORED PLATES COPYRIGHTED, 1897, 1898, BY THE NATURE STUDY PUBLISHING CO. Cuicaco, ILL. GAME BIRDS AND DES Do OF PREY = LIE E ES PORIES: Gr “ONE N= DRED 2xp SEVENTY BIRDS. OF PREY, GAME BIRDS anpD WATER- FOWLS BY NELTJE BLANCHAN AUTHOR OF ‘‘BIRD NEIGHBORS” WITH INTRODUCTION BY G. 0; SHIELDS (Cooutna) AND FORTY-EIGHT COLORED PLATES TORONTO GEORGE N. MORANG 1898 CopyRIGHT, 1898, BY DOUBLEDAY & McCLURE CO. CoLORED PLATES COPYRIGHTED, 1897, 1898, BY THE NATURE STUDY PUBLISHING CO. Cuicaco, ILL. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION BY G. O. SHIELDS PREFACE List OF COLORED PLATES . Part I. WaTER Birps Diving Birds . The Grebes The Loons ‘ : Auks, Murres, Puffins, etc. Long-winged Swimmers Jaegers and Skuas Gulls ; : Terns, or Sea Swallows . Skimmers Tube-nosed Swimmers . Shearwaters Petrels Fully Webbed Swimmers Cormorants Plate-billed Swimmers ; Mergansers, or Fishing Ducks River and Pond Ducks Sea and Bay Ducks Geese Swans PAGE 114 134 143 Table of Contents Part II. Wapinc Birps . : Herons and their Allies . Ibises ; : : Wood Ibises and Storks . Herons and Bitterns Marsh Birds Cranes Rails Gallinules Coots Shore Birds Phalaropes Avocets and Stilts Snipe, Sandpipers, etc. Plovers : ; Surf Birds and Turnstones Oyster-Catchers Part III. GaLtinaczEous GAME BIRDS Bob Whites, Grouse, etc. Turkeys . Columbine Birds Pigeons and Doves . Part IV. Birps OF PREY . Vultures . Kites, Hawks, Eagles, etc. Barn Owls j Horned and Hoot Owls . INDEX vi INTRODUCTION Bir life is disappearing from the United States and Canada at so alarming a rate I sometimes feel it is wrong, at this day and age of the world, to encourage the hunting and shooting of birds of any kind. Mr. W. T. Hornaday, the Director of the New York Zodlogical Society, has recently collected and compiled statistics from more that thirty states, showing that the decrease of birds within the past fifteen years has averaged over forty per cent. At this rate another twenty years would witness the total extermination of many birds in this country. Several species have already become extinct, and others are rapidly approaching the danger line. Conspicuous among these are the wild turkey and the pinnated grouse, two of the noblest birds on the con- tinent. Several species of water-fowl are also growing scarce. Not only are game birds pursued and killed, in season and out of season, under the name of sport and for market, but the song birds, plumage birds, water-fowl, and many innocent birds of prey are hunted, from the Everglades to the Arctic Circle, for the barbaric purpose of decorating women’s hats. The extent of this traffic is simply appalling. Some of the plumes of tropical and semi-tropical birds sell at as high a price as fifteen dollars an ounce. No wonder the cupidity of ignorant and heartless market hunters is tempted by such prices to pursue and kill the last one of these birds. It seems incredible that any woman in this enlightened and refined age, when sentiment against cruelty to animals is strong in human nature, could be induced to wear an ornament that has cost the life of so beautiful a creature as an egret, a scarlet tanager, or a Baltimore oriole. What beauty can there be in so clumsy a head decoration as an owl or a gull? Yet we see women whose nature would revolt at the thought or the sight of cruelty to a horse or a dog, wearing the wings, plumes, and heads, if not the entire carcasses of these birds. Not only is the life of the bird sacrificed, whose plumage is to be thus worn, but in thousands of instances the victim is the mother bird, and a brood of young is left to starve to death in consequence of her cruel taking off. Is it not time to check this ruthless destruction of bird life by the enactment and enforcement of proper laws ? Vil Introduction A great crusade against bird slaughter is sweeping over the country. Thousands of progressive educators have inaugurated courses of nature study in the schools, which include object lessons in bird life. Bird protective associations are being formed everywhere. The League of American Sportsmen is doing a noble work in this direction. It is waging a relentless war on men who kill game birds out of the legal season, or song birds at any time. This organization stands for the highest type of men who hunt, and it is laboring to educate the other kind up to its standard. The surest way to promote this sentiment of bird protection is to induce our people to study the birds. Nearly every man, woman, and child who becomes intimately acquainted with them learns to love and to respect them for their incalculable benefits to mankind. The reading of such a book as this is a step in the right direction. The next step should lead the reader into the fields, the woods, and by the waters. I have read the manuscript of this book carefully. It shows the most patient and industrious research, and it is safe to say no work of its class has been issued in modern times that contains so much valuable information, presented with such felicity and charm. The author avoids technicalities, and writes for the lay- man as well as for the naturalist. While the volume caters in a great measure to sportsmen, yet it is the hope of the author and the editor that they may learn to hunt more and more each year without guns; for all true sportsmen are lovers of nature. The time has come when the camera may and should, to a great extent, take the place of the gun. Several enthusiasts have demonstrated that beautiful pictures of wild birds may be made without taking their lives. How much more delight must a true sportsman feel in the possession of a photograph of a beautiful bird which still lives than in the mounted skin of one he has killed! A few trophies of this latter class are all right, and may be reasonably and properly sought by anyone; but the time has passed when the man can be commended who persists in killing every bird he can find, either for sport, for meat, or for the sake of preserving the skins. The colored plates in this book are true to nature, and must prove of great educational value. By their aid alone any bird illustrated may be readily identified. G. O. SHIELDs. vill PREFACE THE point of view from which this book and ‘‘ Bird Neigh- bors” were written is that of a bird-lover who believes that per- sonal, friendly acquaintance with the live birds, as distinguished from the technical study of the anatomy of dead ones, must be general before the people will care enough about them to rein- force the law with unstrained mercy. To really know the birds in their home life, how marvelously clever they are, and how positively dependent agriculture is upon their ministrations, can- not but increase our respect for them to such a point that wilful injury becomes impossible. In Audubon’s day flocks of wild pigeons, so dense that they darkened the sky, were a common sight; whereas now, for the lack of proper legislation in former years, and quite as much be- cause good laws now existing are not enforced, this exquisite bird is almost extinct, like the great auk which was also seen by Audubon in colonies numbering tens of thousands. Many other birds are following in their wake. England and Germany have excellent laws protecting the birds there in summer, only for the Italians to eat during the win- ter migration. And it is equally useless to have good game and other bird laws in a country like ours, unless they are reinforced in every state by public sentiment against the wanton destruction of bird life for any purpose whatsoever. This altruism has a solid foundation in economic facts. It is estimated that the farmers of Pennsylvania lost over four millions of dollars one year through the ravages of field mice, because a wholesale slaughtering of owls had been ignorantly encouraged by rewards the year before. Nature adjusts her balances so wisely that we cannot afford to tamper with them. It is a special pleasure to acknowledge indebtedness to Mr. G. O. Shields. To his efforts, as president of the League of American Sportsmen and as editor of Recreation, is due no small measure of the revulsion against ruthless slaughter that has long ix masqueraded under the disguise of sport. True sportsmen, worthy of the name, are to be reckoned among the birds’ friends, and are doing effective work to help restore those happy hunting grounds which, only a few generations ago, were the envy of the world. NELTJE BLANCHAN. LIST OF “COLORED: PLATES FACING PAGE PASSENGER PIGEON—Frontiispiece PIED-BILLED GREBE . : : : : ? : : 10 Loon ; : : : : : : : : ; 14 BRUNNICH’S MuRRE . ; ; : : . : : 39 HERRING GULL . : : ; ; 2 F : : 40 COMMON TERN . : : . : : : : ; 50 BLack TERN. : : : : : : : : 58 WILson’s STORMY PETREL : ; : : : : 68 RED-BREASTED MERGANSER : ; : . : 5 88 MattarbD Duck ; , : : : : : : 94 Biack Duck. ; : ‘ ‘ : : ‘ : 98 BALD-PATE DUCK : : : : ; : , : 100 GREEN-WINGED TEAL . : ; F : : ; . 104 Pin-TAIL Duck . d : : : : : : ; 110 Woop Duck . : : ; F P ; ; ; 112 CANVASBACK Duck. ‘ ; , s : : ; 116 GOLDEN-EYE Duck. : 3 : = : : : 122 CANADA GOOSE : : : : : : . » 133 Least BITTERN ; ; : : : : : . 158 GreAT BiueE Heron . : : ; : : : : 162 BLACK-CROWNED NIGHT HERON . : : : : . 168 Sora Ralt : : . : : 5 : F i 180 PURPLE GALLINULE . ; : : ; ‘ . . 184 CooT or Mup Hen . : : : : : ; ; 188 xi List of Colored Plates FACING PAGE AVOCET . , , ; : : : ; : ‘ 198 Woopcock : : ; ; ; . . : . 202 WILson’s OR JACK SNIPE . : ‘ ‘ : : . 206 PECTORAL SANDPIPER OR GRASS SNIPE : ‘ F 2 19 LEAST SANDPIPER. : : : : : ; & 2016 YELLOWLEGS : : ‘ ; z , : « 294 BARTRAMIAN SANDPIPER OR UPLAND PLOVER 4 ; . 230 GOLDEN PLOVER : ; : F . : : . 240 SEMIPALMATED OR RING PLOVER : : : : . 244 Bos WHITE. : : : : : : F . 260 Dusky or BLUE GROUSE . : ; : : : . 268 RUFFED GROUSE : : : : ; : ‘ a 37D PRAIRIE HEN. : : ; s : ‘ ‘ . 298 PRAIRIE SHARP-TAILED GROUSE . : : : : . 282 WiLbD TURKEY . ; : : , i ‘ : . 288 MourninG Dove : ‘ 3 ; ‘ : : . 296 TURKEY VULTURE . : : : : ; ‘ . 304 MarsH HAWK . : ‘ ; : ‘ ; ‘ 312 RED-SHOULDERED HAWK. ; : : : 3 . 320 SPARROW HAWK. : : : ‘ : : - 330 OSPREY. : : : : ; : : ; 334 Saw WHET OWL. : ‘ , é : ‘ . 342 SCREECH OWL . : , : ; : : : 344 GREAT HORNED OWL : : : : : ; . 346 Snowy OWL . : : : : ‘ : : . 350 xii PART | WATER BIRDS TO A WATERFOWL Whither, ’midst falling dew, While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue Thy solitary way? Vainly the fowler’s eye Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, As, darkly seen against the crimson sky, Thy figure floats along. Seek’st thou the plashy brink Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide, Or where the rocking billows rise and sink On the chafed ocean side? There is a Power whose care Teaches thy way along that pathless coast, The desert and illimitable air, Lone wandering, but not lost. All day thy wings have fann’d, At that far height, the cold, thin atmosphere, Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land, Though the dark night is near. And soon that toil shall end; Soon shalt thou find a summer home and rest, And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend Soon o’er thy sheltered nest. Thou’rt gone, the abyss of heaven Hath swallowed up thy form; yet, on my heart, Deeply hath sunk the lesson thou hast given, And shall not soon depart. He who, from zone to zone, Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight, In the long way that I must tread alone, Will lead my steps aright. WILLIAM CULLEN Bryant. bo DIVING BIRDS Grebes Loons Auks Murres Puffins DIVING BIRDS GREBES, LOONS, AUKS, MURRES, PUFFINS (Order Pygopodes ) The birds of this order, whose Latin name refers to their sit- ting posture when on land, represent the highest development in the art of swimming and diving, being the nearest lineal de- scendants of the reptiles, the ancestors of all birds, evolutionists tellus. The American Ornithologists’ Union has classified these divers into three distinct families. Grebes (Family Podicipide ) Grebes, although similar to the loons in general structure and economy, have peculiarly lobed and flattened-out toes connected by webs that are their chief characteristic. In the breeding sea- son several species wear ornamental head-dresses, colored crests or ruffs that disappear in the winter months. Plumage, which is thick, compact, and waterproof, has a smooth, satiny texture, es- pecially on the under parts. | Wings, though short, are powerful, and enable the grebes to migrate long distances; but they are not used in swimming under water, as is often asserted. The mar- velous rapidity with which grebes dive and swim must be credited to the feet alone. No birds are more thoroughly at home in the water and more helpless on land than they. By keeping only the nostrils above the surface they are able to remain under water a surprising length of time, which trick, with many other clever natatorial feats, have earned for them such titles as ‘‘ Hell Diver,” “Water Witch,” and ‘Spirit Duck.” On shore the birds rest up- right, or nearly so, owing to the position of their legs, which are 5 Diving Birds set far back near the rudimentary tail that serves as a prop to help support the top-heavy, awkward body. Holbeell’s Grebe Horned Grebe Pied-billed Grebe or Dabchick Loons (Family Urinatoride) Loons, while as famous divers and swimmers as the grebes, are not quite so helpless on land, for they use both billand wings to assist them over the ground during the nesting season, almost the only time they visit it. They dive literally like a flash, the shot from a rifle reaching the spot sometimes a second after the loon has disappeared into the depths of the lake, where it seems to sink like amass of lead. It can swim several fathoms under water; also, just below the surface with only its nostrils exposed, and pro- gressing by the help of the feet alone. The sexes are alike. They are large, heavy birds, broad and flat of body, with dark backs spotted with white, and light under parts. Owing to the position of their legs at the back of their bodies, the loons stand in an upright position when on land. The voice is extremely loud, harsh, and penetrating. Common Loon Black-throated Loon Red-throated Loon Auks, Murres, Puffins (Family Alcide) Unlike either the grebes or the loons, these diving birds are strictly maritime, passing the greater part of their lives upon the open sea and visiting the coast chiefly to nest. Enormous colonies of them appropriate long stretches of rocky cliffs at the far north at the breeding season, and return to the same spot generation after generation. In spite of their short wings, which are mere flippers, several species fly surprisingly well, although the great auk owed its extinction chiefly to a lack of wing-power. Under water the birds of this family do use their wings to assist in the 6 Diving Birds pursuit of fish and other sea-food, which grebes and loons do not, many ornithologists to the contrary notwithstanding. On land the bird moves with a shuffling motion, laboriously and with the underparts often dragging over the ground. Agreeing in general aspects, the birds of this family differ greatly in the form of the bill in almost every species. This feature often takes on odd shapes during the nesting season, soft parts growing out of the original bill, then hardening into a horny substance, showing numerous ridges and furrows, and sometimes becoming brilliantly colored, only to fade away or drop off bit by bit as winter ap- proaches. Puffin or Sea Parrot Black Guillemot Briinnich’s Murre Common Murre Californian Murre Razor-billed Auk Dovekie or Sea Dove THE GREBES, OR LOBE-FOOTED DIVERS (Family Podicipide) Holbeell’s Grebe (Colymbus holbellit) Called also: RED-NECKED GREBE Length—About 19 inches. Largest of the common grebes. Male and Female—In summer: Upper parts dusky; top of head, small crest, and nape of neck glossy black; throat and cheeks ashy; neck rich chestnut red, changing gradually over the smooth, satiny breast to silvery white or gray dappled under parts; sides also show chestnut tinge. /u winter: Crests scarcely perceptible; upper parts blackish brown; ashy tint of cheeks and throat replaced by pure white; under parts ashy, the mottling less conspicuous than in summer. Red of neck replaced by variable shades of reddish brown, from quite dark to nearly white. Elongated toes furnished with broad lobes of skin. Young—Upper parts blackish; neck and sides grayish; throat and under parts silvery white. Head marked with stripes. Range—Interior of North America from Great Slave Lake to South Carolina and Nebraska. Breeds from Minnesota northward, and migrates southward in winter. Season—Irregular migrant and winter visitor. The American, red-necked grebe, a larger variety of the European species, keeps so closely within the lines of family traditions that a description of it might very well serve as a com- posite portrait of its clan. Six members of this cosmopolitan family, numbering in all about thirty species, are found in North America; the others are distributed over the lakes and rivers of all parts of the world that are neither excessively hot nor cold. On the border of some reedy pond or sluggish stream, in a floating mass of water-soaked, decaying vegetation that serves as a nest, the red-necked grebe emerges from its dull white egg and 8 Grebes instantly takes to water. Cradled on the water, nourished by the wild grain, vegetable matter, small fish, tadpoles, and insects the water supplies, sleeping while afloat, diving to pursue fish and escape danger, spending, in fact, its entire time in or about the water, the grebe appears to be more truly a water-fowl than any of our birds. On land, where it almost never ventures, it is ungainly and uncomfortable; in the water it is marvelously graceful and expert at swimming and diving; quick as a flash to drop out of sight, like a mass of lead, when danger threatens, and clever enough to remain under water while striking out for a safe harbor, with only its nostrils exposed above the surface. Ordi- narily it makes a leap forward and a plunge head downward with its body in the air for its deep dives. The oily character of its plumage makes it impervious to moisture. Swimming is an art all grebes acquire the day they are hatched, but their more remark- able diving feats are mastered gradually. Far up north, where the nesting is done, one may see a mother bird floating about among the sedges with from two to five fledglings on her back, where they rest from their first natatorial efforts. By a twist of her neck she is able to thrust food down their gaping beaks with- out losing her balance or theirs. The male bird keeps within call, for grebes are devoted lovers and parents. It is only in winter that we may meet with these birds in the United States, where their habits undergo slight changes. Here they are quite as apt to be seen near the sea picking up small fish and mollusks in the estuaries, as in the inland ponds and streams. During the migrations they are seen to fly rapidly, in spite of their short wings and heavy bodies, and with their heads and feet stretched so far apart that a grebe resembles nothing more than a flying projectile. Horned Grebe (Colymbus auritus) Called also: DUSKY GREBE; HELL DIVER; SPIRIT DUCK: WATER WITCH; DIPPER Length—14 inches. Male and Female—In summer: Prominent yellowish brown crests resembling horns; cheeks chestnut; rest of head with puffy black feathers; back and wings blackish brown with a few 9 Grebes whitish feathers in wings; front of neck, upper breast, and sides chestnut; lower breast and underneath, white. /n winter: Lacking feathered head-dress; upper parts grayish black; under parts silvery white, sometimes washed with gray on the throat and breast. Elongated toes are furnished with broad lobes of skin. : Young—Like adults in winter plumage, but with heads distinctly striped. fange—From Northern United States northward to fur countries in breeding season; migrating in winter to Gulf States. Season—Plentiful during migrations in spring and autumn. Win- ter resident. The ludicrous-looking head-dress worn by this grebe in the nesting season at the far north has quite disappeared by the time we See it in the United States; and so the bird that only a few months before was conspicuously different from any other, is often confounded with the pied-billed grebe, which accounts for the similarity of their popular names. As the bird flies it is some- times also mistaken for a duck; but a grebe may always be dis- tinguished by its habit of thrusting its head and feet to the farthest opposite extremes when in the air. No birds are more expert in water than these. When alarmed they sink suddenly like lead, and from the depth to which they appear to go is derived at least one of their many suggestive names. Or, they may leap forward and plunge downward; but in any case they protect themselves by diving rather than by flight, and the maddening cleverness of their disappearance, which can be indefinitely prolonged owing to their habit of swimming with only the nostrils exposed above the surface, makes it simply impossible to locate them again on the lake. On land, however, the grebes are all but helpless. Standing erect, and keeping their balance by the help of a rudimentary tail, they look almost as uncomfortable as fish out of water, which the evolutionists would have us believe the group of diving birds very nearly are. When the young ones are taken from a nest and placed on land they move with the help of their wings as if crawling on “‘all fours,” very much as a reptile might; and the eggs from which they have just emerged are ellipsoidal—i. e., elongated and with both ends pointed alike, another reptilian characteristic, it is thought. But oology is far from an exact science. As young alligators, for example, crawl on_ their ife) PIED BILLED GREBE. a Sl te I ait at ew Sl ote I et te i NC i tS I tei NU ci ti Wl di i CG dite i Med ee i tI i BU i tale ss o zy 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 n+ Co ewe ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee eee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee ee Qos he a Aa ig eRe Ring Ra ag MS eel Ning IR eg SM Sa Bing IR eg Na ae Bing Ra eg ON) Se Fo Wag Ra sg Ga FS Nag Re Ap gM a Es Ning Re pg nr Sete Rng Ep acne a es 7 a a ae a a ee a a a idee > © tt. % 1%. e * % > e@ . ” ds = F *@ *, la *e = Grebes mother’s back to rest, so the young grebes may often be seen. With an underthrust from the mother’s wing, which answers every purpose of a spring-board, the fledglings are precipitated into the water, and so acquire very early in life the art of diving, which in this family reaches its most perfect development. For a while, however, the young try to escape danger by hiding in the rushes of the lake, stream, or salt-water inlet, rather than by diving. Grebes are not maritime birds. Their preference is for slow- moving waters, especially at the nesting season, since their nests are floating ones, and their food consists of small fish, mollusks, newts, and grain, such as the motionless inland waters abundantly afford. In winter, when we see the birds near our coasts, they usually feed on small fish alone. Unhappily the plumage of this and other grebes is in demand by milliners and furriers, to supply imaginary wants of unthinking women. Pied-billed Grebe (Podilymbus podiceps) Called also: DABCHICK; DIEDAPPER; LITTLE GREBE; HELL- DIVER; WATER-WITCH; CAROLINA GREBE; DIPPER; DIPCHICK Length—14 inches. Smallest of the grebes. Male and Female—In summer: Upper parts dusky, grayish brown; wings varied with ashy and white; throat black; upper breast, sides of throat, and sides of body yellowish brown, irregularly and indistinctly mottled or barred with blackish and washed with yellowish brown; lower breast and under- neath glossy white. A few bristling feathers on head, but no horns. Bill spotted with dusky and blue (pied-billed) and crossed with a black band. Toes elongated and with broad lobes of skin. / winter: Similar to summer plumage, ex- cept that throat is white and the black band on bill is lacking. Young—Like adults in winter. Heads beautifully striped with black, white, and yellowish brown. fange—British provinces and United States and southward to Brazil, Argentine Republic, including the West Indies and Bermuda, breeding almost throughout its range. II Grebes Season—Common migrant in spring and fall. Winters from New Jersey and southern Illinois southward. The most abundant species of the family in the eastern United States, particularly near the Atlantic, the pied-billed grebes are far from being maritime birds notwithstanding. Salt water that finds its way into the fresh-water lagoons of the Gulf States, or the estuaries of our northern rivers, is as briny as they care to taste; and although so commonly met with near the sea, they are still more common in the rivers, lakes, and ponds inland, where tall reeds and sedges line the shores and form their ideal hunting and nesting grounds. The grebes and loons are not edible, nor are they classed as game birds by true sportsmen; nevertheless this bird is often hunted, although the sportsman finds it a wary victim, for there is no bird in the world more difficult to shoot than a ‘‘water-witch.”” One instant it will be swimming around the lake apparently unconcerned about the intruder; the next instant, and before aim can be taken, it will have dropped to unknown depths, but presumably to the infernal re- gions, the sportsman thinks, as he rests meditatively upon his gun, waiting for the grebe to reappear in the neighborhood, which it never dreams of doing. It will swim swiftly under water to a safe distance from danger; then, by keeping only its nostrils ex- posed to the air, will float along just under the surface and leave its would-be assassin completely mystified as to its whereabouts —a trick the very fledglings practice. It is amazing how long a grebe can remain submerged. In pursuing fish, which form its staple diet; in diving to escape danger, to feed, to loosen water- weeds for the construction of its nest, among its other concerns below the surface, it has been missed under water for five minutes, and not at all short of breath on its return above at the end of that time. Fresh-water mollusks, newts, winged insects, vegetable matter, including seeds of wild grain and some grasses, vary the bird’s fish diet. Ungainly and ill at ease on land, in fact, almost helpless there, a grebe rarely ventures out of the water either to sleep or to nest. The young rest on their mother’s back after their first swim- ming lessons that are begun the hour they are hatched; but they quickly become wonderfully expert and independent of every- thing except water: that is their proper element. Nevertheless they can fly with speed and grace, though with much working 12 Grebes of their short wings and stretching of their short bodies, from which their heads project as far as may be at one end and their great lobed feet at the other. The nest of all grebes is an odd affair, one of the curiosities of bird architecture. A few blades of ‘‘saw grass” may or may not serve as anchor to the floating mass of water-weeds pulled from the bottom of the lake and held together by mud and moss. The structure resembles nothing so much as a mud pancake ris- ing two or three inches above the water, though, like an iceberg, only about one-eighth of it shows above the surface. A grebe’s nest is often two or three feet in depth. In a shallow depression, from fourto ten, though usually five, soiled, brownish-white eggs are laid, and concealed by a mass of wet muck whenever the mother leaves her incubating duties. At night she sits on the nest, and for some hours each day; but at other times the water- soaked, muck-covered cradle, with the help of the sun, steams the contents into life. 13 THE LOONS (Family urinatoride) Loon (Urinator imber) Called also: GREAT NORTHERN DIVER; COMMON LOON; LOOM Length—3\ to 36 inches. Male and Female—In summer: Upper parts glossy black, showing iridescent violet and green tints. Back and wings spotted and barred with white; white spaces on the neck marking off black bands, and sides of breast streaked with white. Breast and underneath white. Bill stout, straight, sharply pointed, and yellowish green. Legs, which are placed at rear of body, are short, buried and feathered to heel joint. Tail short, but well formed. Feet black and webbed. /n winter and immature specimens: Upper parts blackish and feathers margined with grayish, not spotted with white. Under- neath white; throat sometimes has grayish wash. Range—Northern part of northern hemisphere. In North America breeds from the Northern United States to Arctic Circle, and winters from the southern limit of its breeding range to the Gulf of Mexico. Season—A wandering winter resident. Most common in the mi- grations from September to May. This largest and handsomest of the diving birds, as it is the most disagreeably voiced, comes down to our latitude in winter, when its favorite inland lakes at the north begin to freeze over and the fish to fail, and wanders about far from the haunts of men along the seacoast or by the fresh waterways. Cau- tious, shy, fond of solitude, it shifts about from place to place discouraging our acquaintance. By the time it reaches the United States—for the majority nest farther north—it has exchanged its rich, velvety black and white wedding garment for a more dingy suit, in which the immature specimens are also dressed. With 14 Pail ie wien pineal LOON. » Life-size. Loons strong, direct flight small companies of loons may be seen high overhead migrating southward to escape the ice that locks up their food; or a solitary bird, some fine morning in September, may cause us to look up to where a long-drawn, melancholy, uncanny scream seems to rend the very clouds. Nuttall speaks of the ‘‘sad and wolfish call which like a dismal echo seems slowly to invade the ear, and rising as it proceeds, dies away in the air. This boding sound to mariners, supposed to be indica- tive of a storm, may be heard sometimes two or three miles when the bird itself is invisible, or reduced almost to a speck in the distance.” But the loon has also a soft and rather pleasing cry, to which doubtless Longfellow referred in his ‘‘ Birds of Pas- sage,” when he wrote of ‘ “The loon that Zaughs and flies Down to those reflected skies.” Not so aquatic as the grebes, perhaps the loons are quite as remarkable divers and swimmers. The cartridge of the modern breech-loader gives no warning of a coming shot, as the old-fashioned flint-lock did ; nevertheless, the loon, which is therefore literally quicker than a flash at diving, disappears nine times out of ten before the shot reaches the spot where the bird had been floating with apparent unconcern only a second before. As its flesh is dark, tough, and unpalatable, the sportsman loses nothing of value except his temper. Sometimes young loons are eaten in camps where better meat is scarce, and are even offered in large city markets where it isn’t. In spring when the ice has broken up, a pair of loons retire to the shores of some lonely inland lake or river, and here on the ground they build a rude nest in a slight depression near enough to the water to glide off into it without touching their feet to the sand. In June two grayish olive-brown eggs, spotted with um- ber brown, are hatched. The young are frequently seen on land as they go waddling about from pond to pond. After the nesting season the parents separate and undergo a moult which some- times leaves so few feathers on their bodies that they are unable to rise in the air. When on land they are at any time almost helpless and exceedingly awkward, using their wings and bill to assist their clumsy feet. 15 Loons The Black-throated Loon ( Urinator arcticus), a more north- ern species than the preceding, reaches only the Canadian border of the United States in winter. It may be distinguished from the common loon by its smaller size, twenty-seven inches, and by its gray feathers on the top of the head and the nape of the neck, though in winter plumage even this slight difference of feathers is lacking. Red-throated Loon (Urinator lumme) Called also: SPRAT LOON; RED-THROATED DIVER; COBBLE Length—25 inches. Male and Female—In summer: Crown and upper parts dull brown- ish black, with a greenish wash and profusely marked with white oval spots and streaks. Underneath white. Bluish gray on forehead, chin, upper throat, and sides of head. A triangular mark of chestnut red on fore neck. Bill black. Tail narrowly tipped with white. /1 winter and tmmature specimens: Similar to the common loon in winter, except that the back is spotted with white. Range—Throughout northern parts of northern hemisphere; mi- grating southward in winter nearly across the-United States. Season—W inter visitor or resident. It is not an easy matter at a little distance to distinguish this loon from the great northern diver, for the young of the year, which are most abundant migrants in the United States, lack the chestnut-red triangle on the throat, which is the bird’s chief mark of identification. Its smaller size is apparent onlyat close range. In habits these loons are almost identical; and although their name, used metaphorically, has come to imply a simpleton or crazy fellow, no one who has studied them, and certainly no one who has ever tried to shoot one, can call them stupid. It is only on land, where they are almost never seen, that they even look so. Audubon found the red-throated loons nesting on the coast of Labrador, near small fresh-water lakes, in June. The young are able to fly by August, and in September can join the older mi- grants in their southern flight. In England these loons follow the 16 Loons movements of the sprats, on which they feed; hence one of their common names by which our Canadian cousins often call them. Fishermen sometimes bring one of these divers that has been gorging on the imprisoned fish, to shore in their nets. For a fuller account of the bird’s habits, see the common loon. 17 AUKS, MURRES, PUFFINS (Family Alcide) Puffin (Fratercula arctica) Called also: SEA PARROT; COULTERNEB; MASKING PUFFIN Length—1 3 inches. Male and Female—Upper parts blackish; browner on the head and front of neck. Sides of the head and throat white; some- times grayish. Nape of neck has narrow grayish collar. Breast and underneath white. Feet less broadly webbed than a loon’s. Bill heavy and resembling a parrot’s. In nesting season bill assumes odd shapes, showing ridges and furrows, an outgrowth of soft parts that have hardened and taken on bright tints. A horny spine over eye. Colored rosette at corner of mouth. Range—Coasts and islands of the North Atlantic, nesting on the North American coast from the Bay of Fundy northward. South in winter to Long Island, and casually beyond. Season—W inter visitor. Few Americans have seen this curious-looking bird outside the glass cases of museums; nevertheless numbers of them strag- gle down the Atlantic coast as far as Long Island every winter, from the countless myriads that nest in the rocky cliffs around the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Bay of Fundy. Unlike either grebes or loons, puffins are gregarious, especially at the nesting season. In April great numbers begin to assemble in localities to which they return year after year, and select crevices in the rocks or bur- row deep holes like a rabbit, to receive the solitary egg that is the object of so much solicitude two months later. Both male and female work at excavating the tunnel and at feeding their one offspring, which has an appetite for fish and other sea-food large enough for a more numerous family. By the end of August the 18 Auks, Murres, Puffins entire colony breaks up and follows the exodus of fish, completely deserting their nesting grounds, where any young ones that may be hatched late are left to be preyed upon by hawks and ravens. “Notwithstanding this apparent neglect of their young at this time, when every other instinct is merged in the desire and neces- sity of migration,” wrote Nuttall, ‘‘no bird is more attentive to them in general, since they will suffer themselves to be taken by the hand and use every endeavor to save and screen their young, biting not only their antagonist, but, when laid hold of by the wings, inflicting bites on themselves, as if actuated by the agonies of despair; and when released, instead of flying away, they hurry again into the burrow.” A hand thrust in after one may drag the angry parent, that has fastened its beak upon a finger, to the mouth of the tunnel; but a certain fisherman off the coast of Nova Scotia, who lost a piece of solid flesh in this experiment, now gives advice freely against it. The beak that is able to inflict so serious an injury is this bird’s chief characteristic. It looks as if it had been bought at a toyshop for some reveller in masquerade; but the puffin wears it only when engaged in the most serious business of life, for it is the wedding garment donned by both contracting parties. It is about as long as the head, as high as it is long, having flat sides that show numerous ridges or furrows from the fact that each represents new growth of soft matter that finally hardens into horn as the nesting season approaches, only to disappear bit by bit until nine pieces have been moulted or shed, very much as a deer casts its antlers. The white pelican drops its ‘‘centre- board” ina similar manner. In the puffins there is also a moult of the excrescenses upon the eyelids, and a shrivelling of the col- ored rosette at the corner of the mouth, peculiarities first scientif- ically noted by L. Bereau about twenty years ago. The change of plumage after moult is scarcely perceptible. On land the bird walks upright, awkwardly shuffling along on the full length of its legs and feet. It is an accomplished swimmer and diver, like the grebes and loons, although, unlike them, it uses its wings under water. When a strong gale is blowing off the coast, the puffins seek shelter in the crevices of the rocks or their tunnels in the sand; but some that were over- taken by it on the open sea, unable to weather it, are sometimes found washed ashore dead after a violent storm. Mr. Brewster, 19 Auks, Murres, Puffins who made a special study of these birds in the Gulf of St. Law- rence, writes: ‘‘The first report of our guns brought dozens tumbling from their nests. Their manner of descending from the higher portions of the cliff was peculiar. Launching into the air with heads depressed and wings held stiffly at a sharp angle above their backs, they would shoot down like meteors, check- ing their speed by an upward turn just before reaching the water. In a few minutes scores had collected about us. They were per- fectly silent and very tame, passing and repassing over and by us, often coming within ten or fifteen yards. On such occasions their flight has a curious resemblance to that of a woodcock, but when coming in from the fishing grounds they skim close to the waves and the wings are moved more in the manner of those of a duck.” Black Guillemot (Cepphus grylle) Called also: SEA PIGEON Length—1 3 inches. Male and Female—In summer: Prevailing color sooty black, with greenish tints above and lighter below. Large white patch on upper wings, and white ends of wing feathers, leave a black bar across the wings, sometimes apparently, though not really, absent; wing linings white. Bill and claws black; mouth and feet vermilion or pinkish. /n winter: Wings and tail black, with white patch on wings; back, hind neck, and head black or gray variegated with white. Under parts white. Young—-Upper parts like adults in winter, except that the under parts are mottled with black. Nestlings are covered with blackish-brown down. Feet and legs blackish. Range—Breeds from Maine to Newfoundland and beyond; mi- grates south in winter, regularly to Cape Cod, more rarely to Long Island, and casually as far as Philadelphia. Small companies of sea pigeons, made up of two or three pairs that keep well together, may be seen almost grazing along the surface of the sea off our northern States and the Canadian coast, following a straight line at the base of the cliffs while keeping a sharp lookout for the small fish, shrimps, baby crabs, and marine insects they pick up on the way. Suddenly one of 20 Auks, Murres, Puffins the birds dives after a fish, pursues, overtakes, and swallows it, then rejoins its mate with little loss of time; for these sea pigeons use their wings under water as well as above it, and so are able to reappear above the surface at surprising distances from the point where they went down. They are truly marine birds; never met with inland, and rarely on the shore itself, except at the nesting season. Large companies nest in the crevices and fis- sures of cliffs and rocky promontories, heaping up little piles of pebbles that act as drains for rainwater or melting snow under the eggs. Incubation takes place in June or July, according to the latitude. Two or three sea-green or whitish eggs, irregu- larly spotted and blotched with blackish brown, and with pur- plish shell-markings, make up a clutch. In the diary kept on the Jeannette, De Long recorded meeting with black guillemots in latitude 73°, swimming about in the open spaces between the ice-floes early in May; and Greely ate their eggs off the shores of Northern Greenland in July. Both explor- ers mentioned the presence of fox tracks in the neighborhood of the guillemots, proving that this arch enemy pursues them even into the desolation of the Arctic Circle. One of the first lessons taught the young birds is to hurl themselves from the jutting rocks to escape the fox that is forever threatening their lives in the eyries, and to dive into the sea that protects and feeds them. Bruinnich’s Murre (Uria lomvia) Called also: BRUNNICH’S GUILLEMOT; ARRIE; EGG BIRD; PENGUIN; FOOLISH GUILLEMOT Length—16.50 inches. Male and Female—Sooty black above, brownest on front of neck. Breast and underneath, white. White tips to secondaries form an obscure band. Greenish base to the upper half of bill, which is rounded outward over the lower half. Bill short, stout, wide, and deep. Aange—Coasts and islands of the North Atlantic and eastern Arc- tic Oceans. South to the lakes of Northern New York and the coast of New Jersey. Nests from the Gulf of St. Law- rence northward. Season—W inter visitor in United States. 21 Auks, Murres, Puffins ‘‘The bird cliffs on Arveprins Island (Northern Greenland) deserve a passing notice, not for Arctic travellers, but for the gen- eral reader,” writes General Greely in ‘‘Three Years of Arctic Service.” ‘For over a thousand feet out of the sea these cliffs rise per- pendicularly, broken only by narrow ledges, in general inaccessi- ble to man or other enemy, which afford certain kinds of sea fowl secure and convenient breeding places. On the face of these sea-ledges of Arveprins Island, Briinnich’s guillemots, or loons, (sic) gather in the breeding season, not by thousands, but by tens of thousands. Each lays but a single gray egg, speckled with brown; yet so numerous are the birds, that every available spot is covered with eggs. The surprising part is that each bird knows its own egg, although there is no nest and it rests on the bare rock. Occasional quarrels over an egg generally result in a score of others being rolled into the sea. ‘“The clumsy, short-winged birds fall an easy prey to the sportsman, provided the cliffs are not too high, but many fall on lower inaccessible ledges, and so uselessly perish. A single shot brings out thousands on the wing, and the unpleasant cackling, which is continuous when undisturbed, becomes a deafening clamor when they are hunted. ‘“The eggs are very palatable. The flesh is excellent—to my taste the best flavored of any Arctic sea fowl; but, to avoid the slightly train-oil taste, it is necessary to keep the bird to ripen, and to carefully skin it before cooking.” Later on, the starving survivors in the camp near Cape Sabine owed the prolonging of their wretched existence from day to day largely to these very birds. When these murres come down from the far north to visit us in winter they keep so well out from land that none of our ornithologists seem to have made a very close study of them. Like other birds of the order to which they belong, they dive sud- denly out of sight when approached, and by the help of wings and feet swim under water for incredible distances. The Common Murre or Guillemot (Uria trozle), so called, is certainly less common in the United States than the preceding species. Massachusetts appears to be its southern limit. In winter, when we see it here, it can be distinguished from 22 %¢ Life-size. Auks, Murres, Puffins Briinnich’s murre only by its bill, which is half an inch longer. Some specimens show a white ring or ‘‘eye-glass” around the eye and a white stripe behind it; but doubt exists as to whether such specimens are not a separate species. Much study has still to be given to this group of birds before the differences of opin- ion held by the leading ornithologists concerning them will be settled satisfactorily to all. The habits of the three murres men- tioned here are identical so far as they are known. Penguin and foolish guillemot are titles sometimes given to the common murre; but to add to popular confusion, they are just as frequently applied to Briinnich’s murre. The Californian murre, the Western representative of these species, differs from them neither in plumage nor habits, it is said. It breeds abundantly from Behring’s Sea to California, and the na- tives of Alaska depend upon its eggs for food. They were among the first dainties sold to the Klondike miners. Razor-billed Auk (Alca torda) Called also; TINKER Length—16.50 inches. Male and Female—In summer: Upper parts sooty black; browner on fore neck. A conspicuous white line from eye to bill; breast, narrow line on wing, wing-linings, and underneath, white. Bill, which is about as long as head, and black, has horny shield on tip and is crossed by sunken white band. Tail upturned. /u winter: Similar to summer plumage, ex- cept that it is duller and the sides and front of neck are white. Bill lacks horny shield. White line on bill, sometimes lacking on winter birds and always on immature specimens. Range—‘‘ Coasts and islands of the North Atlantic; south in win- ter on the North American coast, casually to North Carolina. Breeding from Eastern Maine northward.”