CIHM
Microfiche
Series
(l\/lonographs)

ICIVIH

Collection de
microfiches
(monographles)

Canadian Institut. for Historical Microreproduction. / Inttitut Canadian da microraproductiona hittoriquaa

Technical and Bibliographic Notes / Notes techniques et bibliographiques

The Institute has attempted to obtain the best original
copy available for filming. Features of this copy which
may be bibliographically unique, which may alter any
of the images in the reproduction, or which may
significantly change the usual method of filming, are
checked below.

D
D
D
D
D
D

n
n

Coloured covers/
Couverture de couleur

Covers damaged/
Couverture endommagee

Covers restored and/or laminated/
Couverture restauree et/ou pellicula

Cover title missing/

Le titre de couverture manque

Coloured maps/

Caites geographiques en couleur

Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/
Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire)

Coloured plates and/or illustrations/
Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur

Bound with other material/
Relie avec d'autres documents

Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion
along interior margin/

La reliure serree peut causer de I'ombre ou de la
distorsion le long de la marge interieure

Blank leaves added during restoration may appear
within the text. Whenever possible, these have
been omitted frorn filming/
II se peut que certaines pages blanches ajout^s
lurs d'une restauration apparaissent dans le texte,
mais, lorsque cela etait possible, ces pages n'ont
pas ete f ilmees.

L'Institut a miciofilme Ic meilleur exemplaire qu'il
lui a ete possible de se procurer. Les details de cet
exemplaire qui sont peut^tre uniques du point de vue
bibliograpi>ique, qui peuvent modifier une image
reproduite. ou qui peuvent exiger une modification
dans la methode normale de f ilmage sont indiques
cidessous.

□ Coloured pages/
Pages de couleur

□ Pages damaged/
Pages endommagees

□ Pages restored and/or lami.i «'^ j
Pages restaurees et/ou pellict '.

□ Pages discoloured, stained or foxi;j.
Pages decolorees, tachetees ou piquees

Pages detached/
Pages detachees

Showth rough/
Transparence

Quality of print varies/
Qualite inegale de I'impression

Continuous pagination/
Pagination continue

E Includes index(es)/
Comprend un (des) index

Title on header taken from:/
Le titre de I'en-tSte provient:

□ Titip page of issue/
Page de titre de la livraison

□ Caption of issue/
Titre de depart de la livraison

□ Masthead/
Genertque (periodiques) de la

livraison

Additional comments:/
Commentaires supplementatres:

Willi

This Item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/

Ce document est filme au taux de reduction indique cidessous.

10X 14X 18X

22X

26 X

30X

12X

16X

20X

24 X

28 X

32 X

^^,.^"-

The copy filmed here has been reproduced thanks
to the generosity of:

University of Toronto,
Science 6 Medicine Library

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.

L'exemplaire film* fut reproduit grace i la
gAnArositA de:

University of Toronto,
Science S Medicine Library

Les images suivantes ont 6tA rsproduites avec le
plus grand soin, compte tenu de la condition et
de la nettetA de l'exemplaire iWmi. et en
conformity avec les conditions du contrat de
filmage.

Original copies in printed paper covers are filmed
beginning with the front cover and enJing on
the last page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, or the back cover when appropriate. All
other original copies are filmed beginning on the
first page with a printed or illustrated impres-
sion, and ending on the last page with a printed
or illustrated impression.

Les exemplaires originaux dont la couverture en
papier est imprimte sont filmAs en commenpant
par le premier plat et en terminant soit par la
derniire page qui comporte une empreinta
d'impression ou d'illustration, soit par le second
plat, salon le cas. Tous les autres exemplaires
originaux sont filmAs an commenQant par la
premiire page qui comporte une empreinte
d'impression ou d'illustration et en terminant par
la darniire page qui comporte une telle
empreinte.

The last recorded frame on each microfiche
shall contain the symbol — <»■ (meaning "CON-
TINUED "). or the symbol ▼ (meaning "END"),
whichever applies.

Un des symboles suivants apparaitra sur la
darniAre image de cheque microfiche, seion le
cas: la symbols ^^- signifie "A SUIVRE '. le
symbols V signifie "FIN".

Maps, plates, charts, etc.. may be filmed at
different reduction ratios. Those too large to be
entirely included in one exposure are filmed
beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to
right and top to bonom, as many frames as
required. The following diagrams illustrate the
method:

Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc.. peuvent &tre
filmis A des taux de rMuctior diffirents.
Lorsque le document est trop grand pour hue
reproduit en un seul cliche, il est filmi d partir
de Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche d droits,
et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre
d'imeges nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivants
illustrent la mithode.

■1^

w^^^w

*V m. '

MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART

(ANSI and ISO TEST CHAR* No, 2l

1.0

I.I

|50 ""'=

\T 13.6

1.4

2.5
2.2
ZO

1.8
1.6

A APPLIED ItVHGE I

^^^ 1653 Ea5l Ma.n Sfeel

S^S Rochester, Ne* York 1 46^^ USA

'.= ;"6) 482 - 0300 - Phore

^~ (716) 288 - 5989 - Fo,

1:/. ^-'^

-r,f '♦.i,.

A'^

>^K^1?-r

?iJ^W.

•^vJi^-

' ^ K.

\ S'-^

HOW TO ATTRACT THE BIRDS

iit'i

A (chI;,! u;'.\->\iiii; in a ilicilvL-ilierry trtf. iC'!i;ii;ttr 31

trv/ilisptec

j> ! I> !

1*1 IV 1

AND OIIIKR

TALKS AHOIT BIRD \ K I (, II H() I K S

M-;i;i"JK BLANC MAX

A lit 111 >r lit " Kiril \riy;lilioiirN. " ' MiriN that 1 1 mil .mil Arc Iliiiiifil
ami ' ' \aturt'-. (iankii

i'V. ^'^

lORONTO

THi: COPP CI..ARK CDMPAN^. l.iMiTKr)
I 902

H\ noIMlI n.\\ , PM.K Si COMI'.WV

i!)li>licil Ditobcr, i<;02

£|9ount DIrnoant {^trss

J. HOKAIE Mlt'ARLASn CilMPANV
HAKRISBURC • I'tNNSYLVASIA

lABLi; Ol CONTKN'rS

1. How K) IWIIK HlKI) \ll(.MK(l'<S

II. Thk Ri in -I riKi)\ I s c' \ 1 1 Rt''^ .
III. UiKi) AkcMiTK II n: ....

I\ . HoMI. I. IKK

\ . Natlrk's Firsi I, aw

\'I. S()\(.s Urnioi r Words

VII. Why Mirds Comk avd ( Jo .

\ III. \\H.\T iilRDS Ho KOR L's . . .

I.\. SOMK N.>'' yAl.l/H) FoRKKiNKRS .

Inuk.\

')i

U«

"'3

221

^.Jk

RJil

■?J'

HOW TO INVITE BIRD NEIGHBOURS

e::£

'/'

-cv

HOW^ TO
ATTRACT THE BIRDS

CHAPTER I

HOW TO INVITE UIKD N HIGH HOURS

Thf birds' point of view differs scarcely at all
from our own in the essentials in life : Protection
from enemies, the preservation of the family, a
sheltered home, congenial environment, abundant
fo(^d, and pure water — these natural rights the birds,
like men, are ever seekin<£.

Kach spring day bringing as it does hosts of
feathered travellers from the IVopics and the
Southern States where they have passed the winter,
how can we induce some of them to pause on the
journey long enough to investigate our garden
attractions and hnppily to become our neighbours
tor the summer r Some birds there are — the wild
ducks and hawks, for example — that no v- lount of
coaxing would induce to confide in man — the worst
enemy or the best friend every creature has. Hut
very many of the sinaller birds, reiving more on the

How to Attract the Birds

safety and abundance ot food near human settle-
ments than on the more doubtful protection that
deep remote forests afford, need little persuasion to

l'li..|..i;r.M.li l.y lituuiKll

Cellar wax-winjrs |)(i>tiH)iie ncstiiifj till niiilsuiiimer

remain, John Burroughs was not the only one to
teel disappointed at the scarcity of bi'- .s about an
Adirondack Camp as compared with his villa
home.

age

How to Invite Bird > ij^hbours

A HIRDS-KYi: \IK\V OK OIR CARDKNS

It we realized how caret'ull\ ami liow liope-
fully oui Li;ardens ami orchards are serutiiii/ed exeri,-
sprini,r, ;ind on what details judirmeiK' upon them is
passed hv the sharp-eyed inspectors, we mii^ht, so
easily, with a little forethoiiji;ht, arrange them to the
taste v^ the home seekers. I'.ven in trollev nettled
suburbs and in very small door-vards it is possible
to make some birds, at least, feel conscious ot"
their welcome. Large estates can be converted into
great natural aviaries at one-tenth the cost of a hot-
house. Cost, did I say ? Why, one pair of chick-
adees in an orchard will destroy more insect
eggs than the most expensive spraving machine.

It takes birds a surpris-
ingly short time to resort
where no gunning is allowed
and very quickly, too, they
learn where to avoid the
silent deadlv air-riries and
sling-shots of small bovs ;
where pronling cats are
permitted to nrL: jn ambush,
and red squirrels, tield mice
and snakes play the role of
villain in the tragedies of the
nests. At the outset, everv
tamily must choose between
a cat id the wild birds
as pets ; only heart-breaks
result from the cruel com-
iiination.

All carlv iicvt-liiiiiilir

How to Attract the Birds

HOLSK HUNTING

When a \o\\n^ man's fancy lightly turns to
thoughts ot" love, mating is the hirds' one absorhing
idea. Some ot" them, having taken partners tor lite

in pre\ ious vears, or having found mates on

th(

Blue-bir(l> arc iittriiifr about to: some hole in an oiii liolloH tree or fence

lourney nt>rth\vard, are ready to begin housekeeping
as soon as thev reach our home grounds. Others,
though still in the agonies ot" jealousy or the bliss
ot" wooinir, do not lonq; delav the serious work
ot' life. Onlv the cedar waxwings and goldfinch
postpone nesting until midsummer, when their prin-
cipal food supplies — choke-cherries and thistle '^eeds
— are most abundant. But even in March, blue-
birds are peering about for some hole in an (»id
hollow tree or lence rail to shelter their nest trom

How to Invite Bird Xci^'h hours

rude spring winds. Flocks ot' iridescent grackles or
blackbirds, as they are also called, whec/e and creak
their discussions over suitable sites in the top of our
tall evergreens. The robins' clear, riu' ing, military
call is heard again i'rv)iii
the apple trees and lawn.
Dusky little phcrbes
timidly investigate tiie
beams under our piazza
roots; swallows skim
above our barns. A
little later come fennv
Wren and Sir Christo-
pher to dispute with the
uiiiquitous sparrow the
rigJit ot pt)ssession to
every sheltered crann\ :
the shutters of our
h o u s e ' oxerhanging
eaves, bird boxes and
tree hollows. With a temper tnit of all proportion
to its diminutive size, the house wren dashes at anv
intruder near the chosen home, chattering scoldings
into his very ears until even the sparrow" is glad to
leave the place. Then how quickly bubbles up the
rollicking song of ecstatic joy from the tinv victor's
throat! In a free right "the bluebird, too, whose
disposition is by no means so heavenlv as his feathers,
worsts the sparrow. Robins pay no iiiore attention
to the teasing impudence of that dingv little up- tart
than a St. Bernard pays to the velps of small curs.

A lioriK- that ^m^^■ ^riw oil n
gourd-vine

I low to Attract tlic Birds

IHK SPARROW QUKSriON

Iiulceil, a great deal ot nonsense is talked ahi»iit
sparrows driving away i)ther birds. Like the do\. n-
tiodden Italian and other peasants from the Old

World, the sparrows are
prepared to live here
where others would
starve. Thev kill no
birds. We are too wont
to attribute the results
of our own misdeeds or
shortct>mings — the bar-
barities of millinery
fashions, wanton slaugh-
ter masquerading as
sport, the lack of good
bird laws and the en-
forcing ot' them, where
such exist —upon these
troublesome, noisy,
quarrelsome little feath-
ered gamins. Flitted to
survive after centuries
of competitive struggle, they cannot be extermi-
nated. As well trv to eliminate that other trium-
phant Euri>pean immigrant, the daisy, from our
tields. }ust as the introduction of the honey bee
from Europe must cause our native flowers and in-
sects to undergo certain changes of structure and
habit, so the introduction of the Knglish sparrow
mtan'^ chan<j;e, adaptation, tn onr iiuti\e birds. In
spite of tiie sparrows, there is already noticeable a

A lia^kel li(iii>e

I low to fnviff Bird ^'i-i^lihoiirs

Poke-need berries

PhntM;:r«ph by Browiu'Il

large increase in the number of song birds w herever
protective laws, reinforced by Audubon Societies
and public sentiment, have operated tor even a few
years. Sparrows drivi no birds from Kngland.

ATIRACTIVE TREES, SHRUBS AND VINES

Protection and home being assured, the food
supply becomes a burning question bv June when,
in well-regulated bird homes, there are little, gaping,
clamouring mouths thrust above the nest everv few
minutes throughout the long day. In planting our
gardens and lawns, why not remember the neeils of
the birds, if we really wish them about r

That birds love trees, large old ones and plenty of
them, groves of mixtu species, rather than a single

How to Attract the Birds

kiiui, uiulfrhriish, shrubbery and tangled vines to
hide and hunt among, no one need be told ; but
certain trees and bushes attract certain birds more
than ()thers. Some trees there are — the cotti)n-

wood tor example —
which, trom the bird's
standpoint, are useful
merely as perches, but
others furnish food, too,
or favourite nesting sites,
therefore, \v h v not
choose them r If the
bird-lover's door-vard is
so small as to hold only
one tree, no other one
will attract so many
feathered \isitors as the
Russian mulberry.
Robins, catbirds, tan-
agers, grosbeaks, wax-
wings, orioles and
thrushes are not bv anv
means the only ap-
preciative visitors with the poor sense to prefer the
insipid, sweet truit, to the best berrv Ciod ever
made. Scientific farmers are now systematically
planting mulberry trees, the shad bush and June
berry as counter attractions to their strawberry beds,
whose fruit ripens at the same time. Myriad r"
rlies, ants, wasps and other insects that come to ip
the syrup ot over-ripe mulberries, draw insectivorous
birds, as well as more dainty feasters.

Probably the next best food tree for birds is the

Bt•rrie^ of tlii- Ariierii ;iii liollv

How to Invite Bird Ncij^hhours

choke therrv, wIi-jm- racemes ot small Mack Iriiit
ripen trom )ulv to Septemlier. Here con<fre>fate
lari^e Hocks nf crested cedar w a\-\\ in'j>, more
properly called cherrv birds tnic thinks when the
distended gullets ot these sociai'jie iroiirmands are
observed tliroiigh the opera glass. I he flickers,
which seek the tree at daw n, robins and cuckoos,
leave tew cherries tor hun<;rv migrants on their wav
.southward in autumn. There is always a y/z/'d pro
'jU'j in nature. Ot course the birds are iu)t the re-
cipi Mits ot" purely disinterested ta\t)ur>. My droppinsr
undigested seeds tar and wide, and so starting new
colonies ot" plants, they
repay their hosts tor
every favour received.
Tree and bush dot;-
woods, mountain ash,
spruces, pines, juniper,
haw thorn, v i b u r n u m,
elder, black alder, wild
plums, blackberries,
cherries, crab apples, cur-
rants, raspberries, grapes
and gooseberries, cat-
brier, burning bush,
moonseed, wild yam,
buckthorn, s u m a c h ,
holly, bittersweet, wild
rose, wlntergreen, par-
tridge \ine, hackberrv,
snowberrwkinnikinic, auraiia, honeysuckle bushes and
twiners, mock orange, iiop vine, huckleberries, Vir-
ginia creeper, clematis, bayberries, shad-bush —these

Arriiw WD.id ln-rries (Octolxn

How t«t Attract the Hirils

arc aiiu..ig the many wiKl and i ultivatcd trees, sh uhs
anil vine^, whose triiit attracts the hirds. Some berries
and seeds ripen early in summer, some in aiitmnn, others
thn)uiili the winter and last until the migrants

ot' the ti)lU>wing spring
eagerlv holt them on
their way North.

In the tluwer garden
manv seeds are pecked
at, hut the sunHowers',
w hich give all the tinch
tribe a rich teast, are
prime favourites, (iold-
tinches, however, ap-
parentlv pret'er the blue
corn-tiowers or ragged
sailors, which should
be sow n in a corner ot
the wild garden if not
tor their beauty's sake
then certainly for their
seeds.

That jewelled atom, the ruby-throated humming
bird, delights in so many flowers and plays so im-
portant a part in their cross-fertili/ation that l.e
requires a separate chapter.

Birds can endure intense cold i>n full stomachs,
but their winter l;irder must oi\i.n be \ery lean.
Never is hiispitalitv so keenly appreciated as then ;
never are birds so welcome to us. Trimmings ot
beefsteak, lumps of suet and a rind of pork tied on
the branches oi' trees near enough to the home to
be watched bv its inmates, attracr some \ ery inter-
im

I'll. l-i;rii.li ly llr.,»n. II

Bittersweet l)errie> that fiiriii>li l;ill
prov '.r for tlie biril*

flow to Invite Bird N'ciyliboiirs

c^tinii winter iici;,rlih»)iirs : i hi^kadc-o, nuthati lit-s,
tutted titiniee, brown ireepers, woodpeckers and
blue jays. Minced raw meat, waste canarv, beinp
and Mmriower seed, buckwheat, .racked i)ats and
corn, crumbs and the sweepings trom the hav lott,
scattered over the ground, make a delectable hash
tor teatbered boarders with varied appetites. ImhhI
that can be put in dishes on piazza u»t"s or on
shelves in trees either winter or summer tor such
sott-billed birds as robins, catbirds, blocking birds,
thrushes and orioles — the most delighttul and tunetul
ot" bird neighbours — is n.ade ot" equal parts ot" corn-
meai, pea-meal and (;erman moss into which
enough molasses a n d
malted suet or lard h.t\e
been stirred to make a
thick batter. If this
mixture is tried for halt
an hour, it can be
packed away in jars and
will keep for weeks,
(irated carrot or minced
apple is a w e 1 c o m e
addition.

Last autumn, when a
New Vt)rk familv was
seated aro'uid thebieak-
tast t a b 1 e , a v o u n g
woodthrush flew into
thedining-rot>m through
the open windi)w. It was a straggler frofu ;) Hock
on its way South. Weary, hungry and faint with
travel, it alighted on the frame of a picture which.

liirrii> lit tin- \'irL;ini.i ( rfcpcr

How to Attract tht- Birds

hv a strange and heautitul coincidence, was one of
Audubon's old prints. Some branches of bright

alder berries happily
stood in a vase on the
mantel below. Fear
was instantly lorgot-
ten in the joy ot
feasting. After a
heartv meal of the
familiar fruit, a n d
deep draughts o t
water from a cup
placed near the ber-
ries, the thrush de-
parted as it came,
but refreshed for its
travels. If this den-
izen ot the woods

A combination bath tul. and .Irinking pan ^,^^^^|^j ^-^^^^^^^ j^^ j^,^^_

ural shvness under such unnatural conditions, how-
much more readilv will invitations to teast be
accepted liI fresco '■f

" J" -

If ?, fa

THE MOSr IN"rF,RKSriN(] SPOI" ON
^OLR CROINDS

In regions where there are no brooks or lakes,
birds must sometimes tiv manv miles for a drink.
Perhaps more voung birds die iov lack of water
than from anv other cause. Not e\en a mulberry
tree attracts so nianv visitt>rs as a bath tub, which
also serves them as a drinking pan, for thev ;' e not
squeamish !

How to Invite Bird Nci^lihoiirs

et It ;ilone throuijh tear of drowniiiLr

I^ut see to it that the pan is raiseil ahove the
reach ot cats; onlv on large estates where nc»ne are
kept is it sate to sink the pan into a hiw n. Birds
cannot tlv tar with wet t'eathers. Thev imist first
drv and preen them. I"'or this reason, as well as tor
the cool shade thev attoril, trees and shnihherv
shoidd partialh' screen the drinkinjj; water. \\ here
a small stream cannot trickle into a t'oimtain, tresh
water poured in a pan dailv, or even twice a da\' at
midsumnier, is verv gratetullv appreciated when
manv a rare, shv hird, its hill open and gasping trom
the heat, seeks retreshment. It the water he dee[\
the birds wi
when thev staml on
the brim, and tip
t o r w a r d as thev
must tor a drau'^ht.
A pan s h a 1 1 o w
enough tor wading,
or a deeper one sup-
plied with stones tor
the drinkers to stand
on satelv, lurnishes
m ore interesti mi
sitrhts to a household
and pure tun than
anv other t)biect vou
can watch tiirough-
out a season. C'hil-
dreii enjov it keenlv.
Sixt\-nine ditt'erent
species ot birds, manv rare warblers and migrant
among them, came in one .sca>C)n to lirink on ;

.\ t)illl lloillt' III. lilt- ll'lHII ,1 Wlliuli'll

»tai(li liiix

How to Attract the Birds

suburban li-wn, althou-h a tinx aggressive wren felt
cocksure that he alone o\\ ned that basni.

H()LSP;S TO LF/r

In our over-conventional gardens hollow trees or
one with so much as a partially decayed branch

A ^i^ll)lt' tvpe uf bird Imx

such as the tiicker, the sapsucker, the red-headed,
downv and hairy woodpeckers, bluebirds, martins,
wrens, chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, the smaller
t)wls, crested tiycatchers, and some other birds love
to nest in, are cut down ; but w hat suK-^titutes tor
these- natural shelters do we provide r

A short loii sawed in two, the halves hollowed
v>ut in the centre and nailed together again witli an

How to Invite Hird Neij^hhours

I-

How to Attract the Birds

IS a

entrance ti) the cavity on one side ot the log,
pattern that anv village carpenter or schoolboy can
adapt to the tinv wren and the large woodpecker.
Wooden starch boxes, provided with sloping roots
and covered with bits of bark, may be divided into
two compartments w ith an entrance and perches at
either end, although a i>ne-room cabin is preferable,
for birds love privacy at the nesting season, however
lar-re mav be their tiocks at other times. The ten-
ement for twentv families is a modern city attain-
iiKMir h)r humans'to w hich few birds aspire. There-
fore, do not make many-roomed hi>uses or put more
&.\n one log cabin, can, gourd or box in one tree.
Lodunnirs -hould be in readiness very early in the
spring, lest a pair of hopeful feathered house-hunters
slip bv, unable to find u home.

inkirif; >lifll alunc llir reacli nf iat»
18

THE RUBY-THROAT'S CATERERS

'%;:

;.«•. '-♦» ,,«

CHAPTICR II

THK RUin-lHROAI S
CATKKKRS

What tempts the ruhy-throated luiinininti-liinl
to travel e\ery spring troin Central .\merica\is far
north as the Arctic Circle, leavinLj JK-liind him tor
a season those tropical delights so dear to tour hun-
dred or more stay-at-home relatives while he, the
sole representative of this charmin.r Xew World
tamily found east of the Mississippi ;ind north ot
Morida, spends half his life among us in voluntarv
exile: How it stirs the imagination to picture the
solitary, tiny migrant, a iiiere atom oi hird lile,
mo\ing above the range of human sight through
the vast dt)me of sky, " lone wandernig hut imt
lost " I Borne swiftly onw ard hy rapidlv \ ihratinii
wings that measure barely two inches in Uniith, he
covers the thousands of miles !>et\\ een his w inter
home and liis summer one by easv stages and arrives
at his chosen destination, weather permittini^, at
approximately the same date year after vear. \\ hv
does he come North : '

One of the enlarging ideas gained through the
study oi Nature is that the sanie primal motives
govern tlie actions .,f plant, bird, bea-t dud man
alike, — that all sentient beings act intellioc Hv

How to Attract the Birds

,,,,.,,h the sa.ne strong, animating clc.ires. their
powei^s dithering onlv in cietirce. not in kuul. Nat-
Lrallv. self-preservati<m and the ia^ ourahle perpetu-
ation of the species are hmdamental.

In tropical Anu-rica, where vegetat.on ,s prodigal
,t bloom and insect lite hiirly teen.s, the ruby-
throat tinds himself among a host ot nvals h>r e e
drop of nectar secreted in the riowers and tor exery
,i,!ute insect his tongue craves. Hut the compe "
tion for food, however keen, .s .10 stronger than
J e V creatur^ requires to keep its tacult.es thor-
ou.rhlv alive. Presently even the luxunant trop.c 1
vegetation takes a rest; in.ect life becomes dornvant ;
thtre is not food enough for all -- /-'"^^^[' ;^;
sharpest of spurs, begins to pr.ck. Hcnv d d e
ruin-throat learn of our sun.mer at the North, an
that bv following the course ot the sun he imght
live in' perpetual abundance r Doubtless his ances-
f ^ tors tor ages back wan-

dered tarther and tarther
northward year by year
in search of food, tind-
intr enci)uragement all
the way; and through
what scientists call the
instinct oi orientation,
that is, the law ( t re-
versed direction, traced
their wav back to the tropics even from Labrador.
Stirred bv tiie same impulse, intelligent merchants
closely pressed bv competition in the great centres ot
trade 'at home, mi-^rate to China or the Philippines,
where thev mav have the whole tield to themseUes.

r^:m^

The Ruby-throat's Caterers

Hetore the coining of the luiropeans to the^e
shores with their imported trees, vines, shruhherv
and flowering plants, what flowers in our area
ot Nature's garden undertook
to teed the riihv-throat ?
It is true that ahnost any
blossom w hicM secretes nec-
tar could be robbed bv this little
sprite. Nature alwavs rewards
the more highly developed ot' her
struggling children by making
tile forms beneath them tributary
to them. "All things are vours ''
was said to mari alone. ()n such
tlowers as are easily drained bv the mob of bees,
wasps, moths and butterriies, 'the hummin<r-bird
wastes little time. I'lowers like Jack-iii-the-pulpit
avowedly cater to gnats. Some, like the carriiMi-
scented trillium allure tiesh tlies. 'Ihe iris, gentian
and many another blue or purple riower charm the
more highly specialized bees by wearing what Sir
John Lubbock proved to be their favourite coK)ur.
Butterriies delight in bright pinks especiallv,
although there are few exclusive butterriv Hower's!
The night-riying n--oths come to the wooi'ng of the
twining white honeysuckle, tobacco plant, lilv,
moon-riower, evening primrose and a host of other
white or yellow charmers, easily seen in tn^ "-loam-
ing when brighter hues iiave faded into ihe prevail-
ing darkness, or detected from afar bv their perfume.
And so, it we could go through the entire list of
riowcrs in our gardens and tlu»c gro\\in<r wild, we
sliould tind that each is deliberatelv desicrped to

2-i

How to Attrait tlic- Birds
attract. s^uU .pccial plca>,n^ features the insect or

insect; upon wh.ch it '^- ^-^ , f I^^''^^^;; ..^
help in getting it. pollen transferred iron, riouc to
Hower. Self-pollination, we now clearly .ee, I^ one

niei
one

,,f the horrors of the vegetable kingdoni ; yet it
not until Darwin proved in countless exper,-
,ts that cro>>-fertili/ation pollen earned tron,
.„.. rioN.er and placed upon the stign^i ot another,
result, in ot^-spri.vg which vanquish thec>tispnng ot
self-fcrtih/ation in the struggle tor eM>ter,ce, that
the imn,ense value of insect pollen earners was
,,ulerstood. No wonder the flowers take >nHn,te
pains to entertain their insect henetactors and nunish
relentles.K the useless intruders !

Hut certain riowers, it has been noticed, do not at-
tract insect.; cxe,i the great hun.hle-hee., motn> and
hutterdio, with verv long tongues, can.u.t dran, Iw
fair mean., the cohunhine, for example. It is true that
.mischievous hee. .\o occa.ionallv bite holes throug;
the tin of the coUunbine's horns ot olentv, but it is
evident that, since the Hou er receives no benetit trom
this ra.callv procedure, they cannot be legitimate
.rue.ts Large bumble-bee., however, doubtless pay
dieir wav. Y'lovv er. and insect, form a mutual ben-
crit co-o'.e.-ative as.ociation, in which there is iu>t halt
so much pilfering doneas in our bu.iness world. 1 here
must be v.'-//'^ r'. or there is no trade m nature.
FiniHV it was learned that just as there are tlv,
bee, beetle, wa.n, butterHy and n-uuh Howers, .o
there are lowers which avowedly cater to the
,,^,„,,,,i„.._lMrd. He is an exacting little guest, de-
manding^mlch of iu. entertainer wno would tn tui n
be served bv bin.. i-'irst of all, he likes to have a

lrt>pa^viri<: mi iIr. |.utt.rri>'v prcscrv

|ircscr\e>

riic Riibv-tliroat's C'lti-nr;

vniii ;ul\ tTtiscnu-nt to
attract his cm- w Ikm 1;c
is ria^liin^r alumt through the
siin>hinc in scirch ot" huul.
Some i)iic oiii c a s k c d
Kiigcnc Field what \\a> his
favourite colour. ** W hv, I
like any coh)ur at all, so lonu
as it's red," he replied — an
ar wer which the ruhv-
throat made to the t1i)\vers atjes ago. It will he
noticed that the blossoms which the bird mom>po-
h/es are either red or orange: }>o'>siblv the latter
please him for the sake «)f the red that was mixed
with the yellow when their corollas were painted.
Such riowers as cater to insects must provide a
landing place, a lip or Hattened platform of some
kind; but this the humming-bird, which
sucks with his wings in motion, of
course dt)es not reipurc. Nor does per-
tume appeal to him. l^lth^inliers to
the nectary — little dark lines or
patches of bright colour on the
petals such as the bee likes to see
on his riowers — the humming-
bird may igr.ore. Hut he does
demand that his red or orange
riowers shall hide awav rheir
nectar in deep tubes, where the mob
cannot drain them ami where even liis
^ most threatening rivals, the larger bumble-
bees, moths and butterriies, will rind it\iirficult to
extract. From the tip of his needle-like bill his

»' >":Jt

>f^

-"*

How to Attract the Birds

tonu;ue can lic run out at w ill and
turned in an\ dircctit>n to lick
up the la>t drop ot sweets in a
cur\ed cornueopia, whereas both
lu-e and Initterflv nui^t insert their
tonirues in a straitiiit line. Here
lie lias a i^reat advantaiie o\er
rheni.

Airain, he stipulates that the
wild riowers wiiich cater to him here shall
hlooni so a> to reed him in orderly succession
while it suits his con\ enience to remain away
tVom the tropics, not to t^orge liim at one time and
star\e him at another. His vi>it in the vicinity ot
New ^'ork lasts \vom Mav to October.

In the Southern States, through which he is
pas>!n'j: in April, wooded hillsides and thickets are
alreadv 'j;av with whorls ot' the coral honeysuckle'^
brilliant, slender, tubular riowers, flaunted trt)m tiie
tips ot" the branchinjr \inc where the dullest eye
must be arrested bv their beautv. Into tliese deep
wells he plunges jiis
bill and linds amfWe re-
tVeshment on his journey,
especialK' when he acids to
his W(7/// some ot the gauzy-
winged little insects w hicii ha\e
taken shelter from the spriiig
winds within the orange-lined red
trumjiets. \W carrying the ripe
pollen -bed tVom the anthers ot o])c
tiower to the stigma ot" another, the
ruin -throat pa\s the oiii\ price asked tor

^pm^fMWj

Draining; tlit ii)iiiiiilMiii'> li()rii> of plenty

*^/fn^. ;;"'.^wF«)t" ^

^^'"■v'SMi5^''f

■•/ fi7,\*^ ^*'' ■ v^^-

The Rubv-throiu's Caterers

his generous eiitertainnient. Late in the >eason
other hirger birds on their way southward will bolt
the bright berries on this vine and distribute the
seeds over a wide area. It would, perhaps, be im-
possible to rind another plant more whollv depend-
ent upon the ministration oF birds than the coral
ho?ieysuckle. Small-tiowered bush honevsuckl
have adapted " n-
selves to smal.
those with 1( -t^er
tubes and greater
ambition strive to
please bumble-bees;
the twining honev-
suckle seen on e\ erv
village porch wooes
the sphinx-moth
with white, deli-
ciouslv sweet How-
ers, most fragrant at
evening and which
turn yellow after
fertilizatit)n. (-iuite
f r e q u e n 1 1 v the
larger sphinx-moths
are mistaken for
iuimming-birds at gUvaming when the foimer begin
their rounds. It is true the rubv-throat often visits the
nn)th's own Howers, but in the tubes o'i those which,
like the twining honeysuckle, have newly opened at
evening for their legitimate benefactors' benerit, the
bird rinds lifle left to reward his search the follow-
ing day unless the previous evening has been too

>vve>;o if,i

How to Attract the Birds

windv or I'aiin tor the moths to tiv. The coral
honeNMickle'- nectar cannot easilv he reached hv
bees; it.^ trumpets coulil not he seen after dark hv the
n. >ths ; moreoxer, it Ud-^ no traunance to ^uiile tliem,

hut it pleases the ruhv-throat
in e\erv e>seiitial respect.

W hat is the next flower
to spread his feast: With a
broader and more northerlv
.AU'j^c than the coral honev-
--uckle's, the painted-cup or
Inilian paint-brush scatters its
\ i\ ill scarlet tufts throuL;;h the
ti'e.sh Lrreen irrass on meadow
and prairie in Mav, its bloom-
iirj; season extendinij; to fulv.
I dually the tirst humir.inLj-
bntl ot the season is seen
suspendeii as if hv ma!j;i._ o\ er
the>e urlouinn; Hakes of tire. In this species not the
riowers themselves — f)r thev are a;reenish vellow —
but the tioral bracts which enfold them are ver-
milion advertisements to citch the rubv-throat"s eve.
Other members of the titjwort familv, to w hich the
painted-cufi lielon^^s, vear the bee's favourite colour
and have provided a landing; place on their lower
lip- lor their benefactors; but here, what would be
superfluous at the painted-cup's entrance, Nature has
eliminated.

Closely follow inu; the painted-cup., and indeed
partly overlappinij its season, comes the L>;racet"ul,
swuiunny:, rock-lo\inL,r columbine. Inasmuch as
rioth these Mowers rareh'

• -row-

in the

Same

Vr\

■W» ."; -.-.

^»er^]aps

M^^^Mr.vsL^jm:^

riic Ruby-tlT'oat's Caterers

neighbourhood, and as increased numbers ot rub\-
throat migrants need to be ted at their blooming
season, there is ample opportunity for both ri\als to
riourish. In the swollen ti[>s of each ot the tive
inverted red and vellow horns of plejitv which go
to make up a columbine, nectar is secreted. Small
bees with their short tongues mav well abandon
hope ot reaching it. ()\\ ing tc the position ot the
tlower, butterflies, which would have to place them-
selves upside down, could scarcely hold by their
weak legs while sucking, and their tongues tie\
readily only when directed downward toward their
bodies. Large bumble-bees, to which the shorter
spurred blue wild columbine ot I.urope is pertectlv
adapted, rind o u r
species so dithcult
to drain that, rather
than attempt the
task, tiiey too often
nip hjles in the
nectaries, just as
they do in the lark-
spurs, Dutchman's
breeches, stpiMTel-
ct»rn, butter ; nd
esiirs, jewel weed
and other flowers
which make dining
too difficult for the
clever rot^ues. Hut
w li e n the ruby-
throat "vhirrs up to
the c o 1 u m b i n e.

C,u.ini;il ri.

<r. :

■^0iy-''f

J-W--

fa f

-'^.a

How to Attract the Birds

poising on rapidlv \il>rating wings before first one
inverted horn, then another, until he circles the
flower and drains each tube with ease, it will he
seen that, in making tiiis rt)und, his foreiiead and
bill must wipe off some of the pollen from the
golden tassel of stamens w hich protrudes from the
olde" flowers and that in \isiting the new Iv ojiened
coknnbines in the stigmatic stage, he must neces-
sarily leave some of the vitalizing dust on them.
Thus the columbine compels its chosen guest, all
unwittintxlv, to do its biddintr.

After the columbine has faded, w iiich is the next
flower to lure the rubv-throat ? Kxquisite bright
orange-coloured and nrow n-speckled jewel-weed
blossoms hantjin'j; at a horizontal from the tender
plant which fringes our mill ponds, ditches and
streams, appear in July, to last sparingly through
the summer. The incurved, slender tip of their
horns secrete nectar w itb whose overflow onlv the
lustv, acrobatic bumble-bee must be content. To
the abundant white pollen, however, he freelv helps
himself, and in so doing he mav sometimes benefit
his entertainer. Hut the humming-bird, charmed
by thtf bright, graceful flower — and, indeed, who is
not r — has no difticultv in directing his tongue
around curves; and as he inserts his bill i>blic]uelv
into the spur while he hovers above, the observer
can easily see, on studying the jewel-weed's mechan-
ism, how invaluable his services to it must be.
This is one of the plants which bear also cleistoga-
mous, or never opening, self-fertilized inconspicuous
flowers. It has found its way into r.ngland, and
Darwin recorded that there are twenty plants

ir :sLtMmf'''^^^0si

The Ruby-throat's C'atcrcrs

producing clei.stogainous riowcrs there to one ha\in<j
the showv bU).ssoins. Since there are no huniniintr-
birds in luirope, whv should the jewel-weed waste
its energies? Mumble-bees can be its onl\- benefac-
tors there and thev are not \\orth such expenditure.

(flowing scarlet heads ot Oswego tea, bee balm
or Indian plume, as it is \arii>uslv called, pro\ e to
be next ot kin to the scarlet salvia ot our gardens,
which comes from the tropics and w hich is there,
as here, lertilized bv the hunimiin'-bird. C'ertainlv,
the Indian plume's colour, torm, mechanism and
blooming season ( trom |ulv to September i are as
pertectlv adapted as the sahia's to the rubv-throat, a
constaiii \isitor. l:\cu the flowers protruding
stamens, and quite frequentlv the bracts and upper
leaves, wear his favourite colour. W here the Indian
plume rears its rounded heads fringed with irreg-
ularly slender tubes beside a mountain stream, onlv
tiie cardinal flower can vie with it in splendor.

Kvervone wht) has a trumpet creeper on the
vails of his home knows ln)W inesistiblv attractive
to the rubv-throat are its clusters oi laru:e, taw iiv
red tubes outstretched to hail him. Occasionally
the viiiC escapes from our gardens at the North, but
trom New Jersey to Illinois and southward to the
(nilf it grcnvs wild in Nature's garden, blooming in
August and September. Flashing, w birring, darting
about the gorgeous flowers, their guest feasts with
perfect satisfaction for do they not tttfer all he
desires ?

\\ by should the exquisite cardinal flower deck
itself in incomparable red while its twin sister, the
great lobelia and its lesser kin w ear blue r Watch

"'Hrr^^

'^^M: ■^■iMAWi,

'2r^^^!^^mi

How to AttriKt the Birds

the contented hees hiizzin»r aliout the latter shorter
tubed ;^rt)iip and then the ruhv-throat poised in
ecstasy bet'ore the long-tiibeil cardinal flowers in
September, it' yt)ii would distint>;ui^h their true
inoti\es.

How delighted must the humming-bird have
been when we tirst added to our i^ardens — and his
>//,->/// — his tavdurite salvias, cannas, nasturtium>,
balsams, scarlet runner, t'uschias, pelargoniums and
gladioli, among many other welcome plants impi)rted
from warmer climes I Ihese, w hile unnatural, un-
expected rivals to wild Howers which undertook to
teed him, earn our threetold gratitude tor briniriii"-
him to our very doors, causing his 'lumbers to
increase and prolonging his stay until tVost blackens
the once 'j^.iv garden beds. Not till then does he
leave them tor the tropics.

\'c>iint; liinl> in ilic iieit
^(1

"tMS;^.

W.*.T

♦#i'\i.

»A. ./.;

^^^^■^■-'i?%:^wi

^^'rWmmfm^T,.' J^,^< M

.lis '>\

r.-i

A-r I 1-

« m- . .•' ■: ^.7^i-*.t..^,:se*^W^J^>\v»^ii*ai»»^

rHAPTHR III

BIRD ARCMIIKCI URE

J- 'ST as surely as the peoples of the earth have
each a characteristic style ot architecture, a Hotten-
tot hut or an Iiuiian tepee, a Moorish mosque, a
(n)thic cathedral or a Chinese paL,ocia heing stamped
on its tace with the racial imiividualitv ot" the
designer, so the humhlest home of the hirds ahout
us tells at once to the practised eve the species of
the feathered architect who made it. The " dang-
ling cup of felt " is quite as characteristic of the
Baltimore oriole, ' ■ example, as the temple with
its rows of profusely ornamented columns was of the
Corinthian Greek. And the marvel is that, guided
only hv instinct, the hirds should continue to repeat
generation after generation the special architecture
ot their ancestors without taking the pains to study
a finished model or standing hy to watch the expert
masters of their craft at work. For birds reared in
captivity build as good homes and hv precisely the
same >in)del as the wild birds of their species. Xor
does any bird servilely copy the nest of one not of
his own tribe. It would he difficult to name the
style ot architecture to which most of our modern
suburban villas belong (unless we call it the Con-
glomerate) ; but everv farmer's bov can tell ;it a
lance the rooin's mud-plastered nest from the song

Primitive

sparrow's or bobolink's grassv cradle

How to Attract tlu- Bird*

creatiiro ot iR-(.cs>it\ Ikuc ^iIl^lL•ln.•^^,^ ct purpDse ; it
i^ Dtih when \\ c impcrtcHtlv ci\ili/t*il himiaiis bc-

I'ii • , i.],h ' ) < irli

Tlir roliin'* tiuid-iilnstprrd nest

conie bewildered by the iiiultiplicitv of ideas pre-
sented tor us to choose tVoin, that we are in danger
ot losing our natural siinplicitv.

INDIFFKRF.Nr Hl'II.DF.RS

Ages and ages ago when the tirst birds evohed
from reptiles (from which all are descended i it is
probable they neither built nests, nor incubated their
t^ggs, but left them for the sun to hatch, iu>t a.s the
reptiles leave theirs to this da\ . Birds of the lower
orders are still indifferent builders w lien thev build
at Mi. A ilepressiiin in the earth, su<h is ivarn-vard
licib and ducks make with their bodies, and the

Mini

liitti tmc

r -rav

«.';i\cs ami tcatlu-rs to i^ixc
to itiain w armtli. w i-ic- it-r tain

urailiial ailditi

comfort as well as

marks ot f>r(>ii;ress.

I'". veil Uctore t h i-

days (it rlu' steam

ploii<4;li or the mow

iiig machine, — the

hi rds" juggernaut,

— there were ten

e n e m i es of the

nests on the ground

tt) one in the trees;

and it did not take

very hi'^rhlv devel-

oped birds to per-
ceive that t h e

perches on which

the y themselves
sought safety from
snakes, rats, mice
and the larger prowling animals, might support a
nursery. Fear has ever heei> a powerful spur to
achievement. Stift' sticks, unyielding twigs that In
no possibility could be woven into a cradle were
simply piled in lot)se heaps on the limb of a tree;
yet these crude lattices mark the first step in the
evolution of bird architecture. On such bare slats
the young of hertins, egrets, pigeons, doves, cuckoos
and many other birds that come into the world
naked or with a thin coat of down, at most, to
protect rhrir tender Hesb. m.-sr speiui an unusuallv
long and helpless babyhood. Quite naturallv, then',
the next step forward was to carrv the mattress of

riif s(iiit;-s|>:irri)w\ ;;ras>iy iraillr

How to Attract the Birds

grass, moss, leaves, hair, iiir or leathers into the tree.
\\ hen some birds had learned to weave these mater-
ials into a cup-shaped cradle (the second step), and
choicely lined it (the third); rinally when a tew of
the number actuallv expressed a sense of the beauti-
ful in the exquisite neatness, svmmetrv and adorn-
ment of their home, their architecture became an
art indeed. The nest had stood for love and duty
before ; now with the higher development of the
intellectual and asthetic sense of the home-maker
came new delight in achievement. Imagination
awoke.

Hut it must not be inferred that all the intelli'jent
birds nest in trees and all the stupid ones remain on
the ground. In a later paper we shall see that the
terns and other sea birds which place their eggs
among the pebbles on the beach, and the rurf'ed
grouse which lays hers among dead leaves in the
woods, and the night hawk which frequently
chooses a depression in a bare rock to cradle her
treasures, show just as much intelligence as the most
expert weaver.

rUNNEL HUILDFRS

The belted kingfisher and the bank swalk)W
secure protection for themselves and tiieir voung,
not bv nestinu^ in the trees, but bv excavating a hole
in a bank, preferably one that is steep enough to
discourage intruding climbers. It usuallv takes a
fortnight oi hard digging h)r the kingfisher to tumicl
tour feet deep, so that when a home is found t\\ ice
tiiat depth with ample nurserv accommodations at

iMui,» wir£«f«4ik.^»n<E^.:

#-!•

,ic;.;j---v*r-'I»

mgsx^^nmKirri

Bird Archirecture

Opening t.) thr Imir-foot tiinn.l ,.t tlu- l.cll.il kin;;rislifr

the tar eiui, we can easily imagine the hihoiir in-
volved. No wonder the hirds become devotedlv
attached to this place of refuge from the storm anci

How to Attract the Birds

fortress against enemies. One might suppose that
parents capable ot" so much hard work would do
just a little more and provide a comfortable bed for
their babies. Not they ! Disgorged rish bones and
scale form the prickK cradle.

1 he bank swallow, like all his kin, is fond of
associating with large numbers of his fellows even

I'll 1 ^r, ,|,1, !,v |i,,.„n,.||

.'tank s«,illipu'> ne»t arnl cfig^ lBiiri(i« in tlie >aiul opencil tn >liinv nest)

at the nesting season. The face of an entire hank
where a colonv of these graceful birds elect to live
will be drilled with hole.> as if it had been used as a
target by soldiers practising with small cannon. To
dig at least twenty inches into the sandv bank is no
slight task for so small a bird, which still has energv
enough remaining to carrv twigs, grass and feathers
into the end of the tunnel.

Bird Architecture

CARPENTERS IN FEAIHERS

Not a few birds which like to hide awav in
deep holes prefer not to he underground and if thev

I'li-r-'-^n;*' Ir .111 !i- ■ '■ ■. \ !. I'l ■; ' rn

A m.ister iMrpi'iiliT — ;i Hicker at lu-r Iml,-

do not rind a hollow tree what is there to do hut
use their stout hills as chisel and haiiinier to hollow

•Jri. .-,iM

How to Attract the Birds

out a tunnel tt) their likini;; r Ot cc)u^^t*, the master
carpenters are tlie stockilv built woodpeckers whose
deserted iioines manv a hluehird, owl, tree swallow,
wren or woodduck is thanktul to ucciipv. I'irst a

t ■-;

riif chicknclrrs ^^veltpr In :i liiiiiifr ,,f t,ir -muI fiallifr>

circle ot holes, more perfect than vou or I are
likely ^<> draw, is drilled on the trunk or larijer limb
ot a tree. Naturally, a partially decayed one is
preferred. After the circular doorway has been cut
out, how Mr, and Mrs. \V\)odpecker, working in

4»

Bird Architecture

turn, make the chips riy ! To chisel two or three
inches c)!" sound or even partially decayed wood is a
full day's work; yet, it" for any reason the pair t)t" car-
penters become disgusted with'the site, thev do not hes-

I'll l..^T1i.li Ir ■m 111, t,y li,i^.,li r

(■hi(k,i(li-c nml vouriK liie^t npciucl i

itate about beginning another tunnel, another and still
anothtr, in different trees until they rinallv complete
a horizontal passage descending abruptlv into a pear-
shaped chamber. Truly the workman' is known by
his chip; here the riner ones remain in the nest

How to Attr: ct the Birds

and form its lining, whereas the nuthatches, tit-
mice and chickadees, which live in similar homes,

The chimney swift's wicker cradle which the bird glues to the bricks

swelter in a lining of fur or feathers, prohablv he-
cause their hardv ancestors, living at the far North,
needed warm hedquilts which their more widelv
travelled descendants are too conservative to discard.

PROdRKSSINK MOrHKRS

Occasit)nallv a bird is strong minded enough to
hrcak awav from old traditions. Before this countrv
w -IS .settled, the switt also nested in hollow trees ;
hut after trees began to be cut down and chimnevs
arose abt)ve the roots ot houses evervw here, the birds
were tjuick to perceive that tires are generalK out
by their nesting season ; therefore, whv not take
advantage ot the innovation r So completelv did

^^W=

■^%i*H- .._V:

■ .r=%^

-Mi,'ff

Bird Architecture

they forsake their old nestin^u: sites to In.ild in chim-
neys that the name chimnev sw in is now universallv
apphed to them. iThev are not swallows; not even
related to them, however frecjuentlv one hears them
miscalled .himney swallows. , At the nesting season
the saliva glands become much enlarged and with
the mucilage-like Huid riowing from them the birds
glue their u icker cradle together and hang it on
the bricks inside of the chimnev. The mucilag-
inous nest of our swift's Asiatic relative is much
sought by Chinese epicures.

\\ e now speak of house wrens as if it had
always been the habit of these friendlv littie birds
to live under the
eaves of our houses
or in the boxes set
up for them about
the home grounds ;
but, b e f o r e there
were houses on this
continent they, too,
nested in tree hol-
lows and do still when
a satisfactory natural
shelter can be found.
The exquisitely
beautiful little wood-
duck, cousin of the
Chinese .Mandarin
duck, likewise shows
remarkable indepen-
dence to nest in a ht)llow tree while nearly all her
relatives place their eggs either on the ground, in a

Witns tdriiurU iii-sttil in trer IioIIuhs

WWZT:

?5^^l^5^

S^nSTC^'r '^- , V -■

I low to Attract the Birds

tussock ot" grass or in a floating mass of leaves and
nuick. Si'iice baby ducks can swim long before
thev can Hv, this strong-minded little mother will-

The barn swall hangs its clay bracket against tlie rafttr

ingly carries hers to the lake in her bill, much as a
cat carries her kittens, rather than risk the loss of
her eggs on the ground from the depredations of
water rats.

K.|

TRADES REPRESENTED.

The tailor bird, one of th^; warbler tribe living
in the Hast Indies, which sews leaves together to
form a cradle, cannot be named to swell the list ot
trades represented in our birds' architecture ; but
we have niaiiv expert weavers, carpenters, telters,
masons, moulders, decorators and a tew protessional
hum-bu<i;'<. The b;',rn kwp.Uow, manufacturing bricks
witht)ut straw, hantis its clav bracket ay;ainst the

Bird Architecture

rafters; the Baltimore oriole makes a unique pouch
from fine grasses, hair, string, plant fibre, down,
woollen or cotton strips, felting the numerous mater-
ials into a thin hut wonderfully strong materia! that
neither storms nor the weight of a family can tear
where it hangs from the tip of a high branch well
beyond the reach of snakes and small boys — equally
unwelcome visitors from the bird's point of view.
Birds are exceedingly particular about the materials
tor their nests; even the slovenly, amorous dove
rejects one stick in
preference to another
for her ricketv lat-
tice. The little, chip-
ping sparrow will

have horse hair, that

and nothing else in the

world, to linehercup-

shaped cradle. The

goldfinch chooses

thistledown tor her

upholstery. After a

heavy rain, how

many robins' nests

tall to the Ljround !

Thi-^ is because the

unfortunate masons

used mud among the

g-asses in the cradle

rather than sticky,

impervious clav,

which, unhappily, is not always to l)c found 71ie

phoebe, cementing her exquisite nest of moss and

riie little (hippiiif; sparrow will lia\e liurst
hair, tlial mh! inpiiuii^ tl>t- in tin- worlii,
'.II line litr (Hip-sliaprd cradle

How ID A I! tct the Birds

lichrns u itli mud, lui iiniii^ r with hair, saves it from
Minilar iiestriKtit)ii hy placing it under bridges, cliffs
and the eaves ot" piazzas. Like a miniature Dutch
oven is the nest otthe golden-crowned thrush, whose
domed nurserv only the sharpest eyes can detect
among the h•ave^ on the ground in the woods.

Which are the best decorators among birds ?
W hile many show true strivings after the beautiful,
one hesitates between the parula warbler and the
humming-bird before awarding the palm, for the
f>rmer will Ci)nsent to live onlv where she can
gather the graceful gray moss to festoon her nest,
winle the latter builds the daintiest, downiest!
tiniest nest imaginable, then stuccos it w ith bits of
lichen for the purpose of concealing this master-
piece of architecture, no doubt; but surelv this
a'sthetic little creature is also inriuenced bv a' ^ense
ot be:..ity.

\\ hich birds then are hum-bugs' If the marsh-
wren, which goes to the pains of building a number
o: nests among the tall grasses in the ame vicinitv
tor the purpo . of misleading intruder., doe^ „ot
belong ,n this .ateg. the duskv crested rivcatcher
certamly does. This .^ ild Irishman among birds"
scours the country for cast snake skiii> tol^hu.- in
his nest; but when ^ll bugaboo cann .t be t ,un.i
he has had to L.nitent hmi^df more than on r u ,th
the skin of an onion! At a catb.rdV imitat -.n ,f
pussy s mew, e\ en the houst-dog prick up h; c -
The yellow-breasted chat will lead vou , ..rpv cli;,
throwing his tmmisical, v entriloquous voi.e n.
into the cat-brier tangle across the stream !,..>...
ann)ng the uiuiergrow th far bevond.

rill riiar>h-wrcM i:oc< to tilt- pains of hinl.H.nj: a numh-.r of i-.p^f-. t,; ir.i^ieaj

the intruder

L#if

Bird Architecture

HOW THE YELLOW WARBLER OUTWITS
THE COWBIRD

There are still many lazy, slovenly, indifferent,
commonpla'c or utilitarian home makers among
undeveloped or degenerate birds as among humans,
but happily only one oiour birds disgraces itself, like
the European cuckoo, by refusing to make a home
and to perform any domestic duties whatever. When
other virtuous nest builders are working and singing
from morning till night, the cowbird, a dark, silent,
decadent relative of those charming songsters, the
oriole, bobolink and meadowlark, skulks about alone,
J^lyly looking for the chance to drop an egg in the
nest of some little warbler or vireo — any small, weak,
tender-hearted foster-mother she can iind — leaving
to various such victims the labour of hatching and
rearing her scattered brood. A serious task indeed
awaits the over-burdened little mother who must
teed a great gaping gourmand in the cradle with
her own crowded and half-starved babies.

But there is at least one ingenious little architect
among the cowbird's special victims whose w its fre-
quently save it from such misfortune. Finding a
strange egg in its cup-shaped nest and being unable
to roll it out, the yellow warbler proceeds to weave
a new bottom, effectually sealing up the cow-bird's
egg and preventing the heat from her brave little
heart from warming it into life. Suppose this " wild
canary," as it is often called, had already laid her
own eggs in the nest at the time of the' cowbird's
visit : what then ? In this case the warbler does not
hesitate to sacririce them, sealing them up with the
cowbird's by weaving a new bottom above them,

■^7

How to Attract the Birds

rather than hatch out one interloper to worry and
starve her brood. Where a second persecution
has taken place, two new cradle bottoms have been
woven. If you ever have the good fortune to rind
a two or three storied nest, you may be sure it
belongs to this little Spartan mother.

THE CLIMAX OF BIRD-LIFE.

For special and excellent reasons of their own,
some birds may build earlier in the season, some
not until midsummer, but for the great majority
May is the month of happy achievements; jealousies
of courtship have given place to blissful" content;
every moment is rilled with happy, proritable labour.'
Sometimes both lovers busy themselves with the
home building; perhaps the wife does all the
manual work, while the mate merely makes her
pretty speeches, approves her every act, applauds
her mdustry, her skill, cheers her 'by his constant
presence and such music as love alone inspires.
What of that? She is perfectly satisfied; these May
days are her realization of Paradise. Whatever i's
best in the nature of both mates at least temporarily
triumphs over the base; for however selrish bird's
may lie at other seasons, in May they are truly one
in purpose and sympathy. According to their tem-
perament, some work impulsively wii:» outbreaks
ot rollicking ecstatic, passionate song like the wren,
or with steady persistence and the serene hymn of
the thrush. At last the end crowns the work: the
building of the nest embodies all that is irreatest in
a bird's life. ^

Vflliiw vN.iriiltr'- ih-<. niiriiul »Ii.i|k-

'W#- «plb^L

Ycli'.nv ».ui.l,.r\ M.M. sh„u,„^, |,„„ ,lu- l,|r.l I,;,, nimiit l,,,-:,,,., ,,t r,|H-at..;
lurseculams of rhe coubir.l. (One c.ml.ir.lN e^-^ i„ „„ „,„ ,,,.„ „„„ ,

HOME LIFE

rer

l-'^

CHAPTER IV

HOMK IJFK

Sharp, ringing cries of alarni, then of terror
coming trom a pair ol" robins one morning in |i,ne
caused me to drop my ,a)rk suddenlv. dash (u.t ol
doors and iollow the sound through the garden
across the lane to a meadow where a vagrant cat'
vvith a now-or-never desperation, made a leap throusrh
the grass even as I approached and, !>efore mv verN
eyes snapped up a baby robin i.i its cruel' jaw.s
With as frantic a leap upon the cat, I quicklv pried
Its jaws apart and released the limp and apparentlv
dead bird. 'Ihree other young robins, which had
alien out ot the same nest in the cherrv tree when a
lieavy thunder shower weakened its mud-i)lastered
walls the mght before, were scpiattintr dejectcdlv on
the ground, unable to Hy. So I gatheVed "them up in
my arms too, lest thev fall a certain prev to the car
and deposited the little familv in an' i.nprovised
tiannel nest on a sunny upper balct)ny.

One might have supposed that the parents would
tind thc-m here, within riftv vards of their cherrv
tree hoiMc, mvj come to tt^vd them. Stran-rclv
enough, the old birds' cries of distress were the^is't
s.g„ from eith, r of them in the neiu^hbourhood.
Hid they riee the place in dt-siniir, thinkin'r their
habies foully murdered bv the cat and me r "^ After
waiting in xair. for some response from them to the

TZETTTT^

"fi.'

How to Attract the Birds

incessant, insistent <//(■(•/», <•//('(•/>, from the balcony
niirserv, I coiilii resist the cries ot hunger no longer.
I^ven the baby which had been literally snatched

A tluiiiilcr>li>riii wtakcniil it> Piuiil-pla>iertil walls

from the jaws ot death had now recovered from his
tright, not having received so much as a scratch,
and w as clamouring for food as loudly as the others,
jerking himselt upright with every (//,•<■/), a ii stamjt-
ing both feet with impatience at delay.

6,S

wr^^^^^mm

nrnc

I if<

A SIXIKF \ HOIK \' >kK'\v; DW

I roin that hour my prctoiuci.td iy.{v.\< ol' Im ii
lite V ere nuli(.:illy Juui^eii. Oiue i h:id ^\i.\vcd tfie
popular notion ot" h\\\\. as rather i IK- ^ natures ut'
ple.iMi ' sifit^Mnu; to p;iss the time au.tv, free from
everv care while th( v Hew nmlessK alnxit in the
sunsliit>e, teil from the alnn.d.wit han i ot" Nature.
Mut hr: iging np thoM- four teathereii waits taught
me that birds iloiihtle- work a- nani tor their livinir
as any t•reatnre^ on earth. At about t'oi.- o\loik
every mornint; .harp, hiinury erii- !".)m the haleony
wakened me. Perhaps it w a> he> ,ui>e I w .i onlv a
step-mother that I refused to no out on the lawn
then in seareli ot early \\()rin>. Another n p was
m( re agreeably pureh.i^ed by stutling each little (Top
full of the volk ai hard boik-il egg ;,,ui baked potato
mashed iuro a soft pa.te, the lump> washed down
with a tin;, trickle ot" tre>h water from a st\ IcL^naphic
pen-dropper. such ganing yellow ca\ lhis as were
stretched alott lo be lilleil 'while the little birds
trembled with excitement, jostleii one another and
scrambled for tir^r turn ! h.\ er\ hour regularlv
throughout the long liay those imperious ' babies
liad to be satish'-d. Ant eggs from the bird store,
a taste iA mocking-bird \\hk\ mixed with potato
and an occasional cherry ^^r strawberrv agreed with
the little gourmaniis perfectly. A smafl boy, who
•yas >ub>iili/eii to ilig earthw(.rms for them, called
the bargain ott" after one day's ettbrt to supply their
demand. Sixty ^^ orms had not 'neen sufficient for
creatines which eat at least their weight of food
e\ery »-\\ ent\ -foni- hours.

v^7!R«S'3BB

How to Attract the Birds

DouhtlesR they were spoiled babies troni the
rirst. At anv rate they had me completely enslaved;
all other interests were forgotten; not tor anything
would I have gone beyond their call. But real
motherly joy in them ctu'ne when their pin ieathers

A full crop distended his specicled, thrush-liiie vest

fluffed out, their legs became stout enough to climb
and hop over the wistaria vine on the balcony,
stubby little tails tanned out pertly and t"ull crt)ps
distended their speckled, thrush-like vests. W hen,
after abt)ut two wcck^ spent on and around the bal-
cony, the last oi the quartette spread his strong
winiis II, d riew oti" to tiie strawberry patcli to pit k
up his own living thenceforth, I realized as never

fiT'Ct ■

■■s^Wif

Home Life

before why the alert, niilitar\ -looking, red-hreasted
robin o\' the spring becomes more and more faded
and dejected as summer advances, and the joyous
song ot courting days diminishes until it ceases alto-
gether aiter the father has helped his mate raise two
broods. Vet with my utmost care I had probably
not done half for those fledglings that their parents
uoidd ha\e done.

WHAr rr means to kfar a hrood

In a state of nature, what would a pair of robins
do for their family r After the building of the
nest — of itself no small labor — there follow fourteen
long weary days and nights of confinement upon the
eggs before they hatch. Thenceforth on the avera"-e
of every tifteen minutes daily from dawn till dark
both parents visit the nest, usually bringing in their
bills food which they often travel far and work hard
to find — earthworms, gi asshoppers, h.custs, beetles,
the larva' of insects, choke cherries ur other small
fruits to be crammed with sharp but painless thrusts
into the ever hungry mouths. The scconil an old
bird alights on the home branch, up spring the little
heads, every one agape, like |acks-in-the-box. In
their loving zeal, the parents themselves often
lorget to eat. After every feeding, the nest must
be inspected and cleaned, the excreta being either
swallowcil or carried away. Then the tiedglings are
picked over lest lice irritate their tender skins. Very
many young birds die from this common pest of the
nests, especially those whose cradles arc lined with
chii ktn feathers, which ar^ nearly always infested.

How to Attract the Birds

Birds, like all wild creatures, live in a constant
state of fear, but parenthood develops courage amaz-
ingly, just as it develops all the virtues. When
clinihing cats, snakes, small boys, hawks, t)\vls, crows,
blue jays, red squirrels and other foes do not threaten
the baby robins' safety, either heavy rains, high
winds, or tierce sunshine may require the patient

riit vireoN education lits;in>

little mother to brood over her treasures. Before
thev are a week old their education begins. On the
eleventh day, if all goes well, it is usually the mother
who utters low endearing baby talk, coaxing the
little Mlows to hop oi't of the nest aiul about it.
Couiiirj; near an .unltitious Nosmgster she stamls but
dt)eN n;.'t deliver ;_ tempting morsel held just beyond
bi^ bill. Lurii'g him \\::b it tarther ;md farther
jioiniini; and riving from branch to branch,

a\va\

mmmm

nic

Life

she tantalizes the hungry haov, perhaps, but she
educates him with no loss of time. \\ lien rinallv
the yt)ung are able to trip lightly, swittly over the
g ass after their parents, have learned to cock their
heads to one side and li-ten with the intentness ot
veterans for the stirring of worms beneath the sod,
to capture their own food and Hy swiftlv out ot the
presence of danger, their education is considered
complete. The remainder thtv must acquire bv
experience, for even now their parents mav be re-
pairing the old nest or building a new one to receive
a second brood.

BAHV BIRDS' DIET

Walking along a hot, sandy road in Florida one
morning, I met a ycni ng coloured woman with a
little baby in her arms, pacing back and forth under
a blazing sun. A glance sutiiced to show that her
baby was ill. It moaned pitei)usly and its ^kin was
burning hot, as well it might be even without fever.

"Come up.dcr tliis tree," said I. "and r..ll me
why you are carrying tiiat baby about in the heat."
"'Cause he's sick and I'^e wairiif f)' de doctor
to happen along dis veah roail."

"What do vow tiiink is the matter with \<>in-
baln:"

'• I specks he done eat too imirh fried fi^h di^
n. )rnin'."

"fried ri.sh ! " I exclaimed. "Win, the babv
has n(> teeth ! "

"No'm; he ain't got no teeth \et, but iie's
pou erful fond of fried Hsh."

How to Attract the Birds

A Florida jav, which was noisily searching in
the palmetto scrub behind us for a mouthful of food
to carry home to her HedgHngs, was evidently more
discriminating in her choice than the equally un-

The ilovcV niisTiianast'l mir~(rv

taught human mother, for she rejeeted as unfit
many insects which she, herself, would gladly have
swallowed.

Many birds have one diet for their babies and
another, tjuite diri-'erent, for theniNclves, only the seed-
eaters reverse our ideas and give tiieir strongest meat
to babes. However strict vegetarians certain of the
tinch tribe may be at maturitx, they pro\ ide tor the
nursery a variety of iiisfcrs. Tliese are not otten
gi\eii ali\e aiui sijuiruiing, but attcr they ha\e been

oiiie

Lift

knocked and bruised into a pulpv conditio i that is
sure to cau.se no colic.

Kven the birds which jirovide tor their babies
the same food that they themselves enio\ — which is
by far the <rreater number — usually take the trouble
to give it special preparation for the tender stomachs.
Having no pepsin, lime-water or sterilizer at com-
mand, what could be a simpler wav to prepare a
perfectly digestible baby food, than to lirst swallow
and digest it themselves, then pump it down the
throats ot offspring not yet old enough to be
squeamish .- In this wav the vountr tikkers for
example, are fed, but, :^^ far as is known, no other
woodpeckers. The flicker, or high-hole, collects
a square meal of perhaps two or three thousand ants
which partially digest while she is i)m her way
home. Her approach is sure to summon tiie
hungriest, or possibly the greediest youngster to
the entrance of the tree cavity. Thrusting her bill
tar down his gaping throat, she uses force enough
to impale him. One confidently expects the pt)mt
to appear somewhere through the baby's back.
W ith the same stiuwit'j motion used w hen drum-
ming t)n a tree, she jerks her bill up and down so
violently that the fledgling has all he can possibly
do to hold on during the second or tw o it takes to
pump part of the contents of her stomach into his.
^ et the next baby pushes and scrambles for position
w'len the rirst one slips back satisfied, just as if he
anticipated a truly delightful experience! By this
same method — regurgitation — are humming-birds,
purple finches, and many other birds W(\, doubtless
many more than we suppose, tor it is only a few

I low to Attract the Birds

vears since the habits of so ci»iniiion a bird as the
flicker were thorouiihly studied. 'Ihe vultures eject
the contents ot" their stomachs at will, as we shall
see in a later chapter, tor quite a ditierent purpose.

l'isli-eatini(
birds especially
are wont to re-
gurij;itate their
food. While
the cormorant
i> tlxinu: home
w ith its babies'
dinner sately
stowed awav,
the hsh's .skill
will be digested
ot¥ CiMiipletelv,
leaving the
meat in prime
condition tor
xDunu; st()m-
achs. On the
other h a n il ,
some tish eaters
allow their ba-
izes to .swal'ow skin, bones ;uul all. 'I'he pelicans
whiih pl\ tiie cou'^t ot 1-lorida. searching tor towd,
collect a t|uantit\ of tisli in tiic great p uich \\ hitli
han;i;s from their lower bill like the silk bag \v IplIi
useil to lirop tVom beneath our grandmother's sewinti
tables. On returning to the nest, open Hies the
''« .rents bill tiispla\ing tlie tish. I he eager, erowd-
i i'4 babies are in\ited to thrust their heads into the

i Iumhiuml; l'ir>l ii-^nniril.itiii.; t '"I in;-' inip
lit hir soun;^

Home Life

pouch and help theIn^clvc.s. Ami how thev prod
and poke about ainonn; the morning's catch, to make
the best selection pi)ssible ! It is a wonder the
skinny pouch is not torn asunder by such thrusts
and stabs as the ill-mannered little Ljoiirmands <rive
It No sooner is the family larder eniptied, and^he
parent's back is turned to retill it, than the dis-
>atished younu^sters begin to squabble over the con-
tents ot one another's pouches. Their greed seems
even more insatiable than their appetites.

I he hawk?>, ow Is, ospreys and some other birds
>hould make the best of stepmotiiers, so bountifullv
do they provide tor their nurseries. Mice, muskrats,
eels, small rish, young rabbits, rats, woodcock and
grouse, weighing over eighteen pounds in the aggre-
gate, were the surplu> tood removed from the nest
ot a pair of horned owls, wherein two ow iets only
had to he supplied. Some birds t)f prev heap food
about their ortspring until they can scarcelv see over
the piles. ()wl> choose the brains cidv of most of
their captives as food for their babies. '

A remarkable provision is made for \r,uu<j:
pigeons during the tir^t week i)f their lives. \\lKn
rhe s(]uab> thrust their bills into their parents' throats
to be ted, there arises what is erroneously called
"pigeon'; milk" trom the cr..ps of both the father
■md the mother. This secretion, f )rmed fro-n the
peeled lining of the parents' crop — a result f ^llowin^r
incubation — gradually becomes mi\ed with re-ur"^
gitated food as the squabs grow olk-v, ;iiui it ctuses
i'lilv when their digestion is strong ei.ouuh to dis-
pense with baby diet. Apparently this strange
-.ecietion is peculiar to the pigeon tribe.

How to Attract the Birds

■V

LOWER AM) UPPFR CLASSES

The labour involved in reariiiij a t'aniilv differs,
ot" course, with the species by reason ot physical
conditions, temperament, and environment. Some
birds i)f the lower orders have little required ot
them bv Nature, while others, nn)re highly organized,

A prccDcial i;rou>c iliiik

are enslaved bv tamilv cares as i«" they were afflicted
with the New I^ngland conscience. But, generally
speaking, there are onlv two classes: the lower or
precocial liirds, including tho^e w hich, fully clothed
and wide awake when hatched, are able to run or
-swim at once and pick up their own living like our
domestic tow K, ducks, Hob Whites, grouse, plover
and snipe; and the altricial birds — those which come
into the world blind, naked and helpless, or nearly

onic

Life

so, like the heron, kiiigtishcr, woodpecker, robin,
■.iiui all our song birds. I'he prccocial riitied grouse
develops from an egg that is large in proportion to
the size of the mother's body, the hea\ \' yolk
nourishing the young bird during eighteen days of

Blind, naked .md liel|>lfs>i nltri(ial>. Voiint; lilui liirds

incubation and even after, whereas the altricial vireo
lays a very >niall egg that hatches in one week. Hut
even precocial and altricial birds of the same <\/.c
in maturity may have come out of shells that dirter
as g'-eatly as a silver dollar differs from ;; ipiarter.
And ihe length of the period of incuhatiiui is in
nearly, it not exact, ratio to rlic -i 'c of the ei^o.
The largest bird's egg wc kn.>\\, t'le ostrich's re-

Flow to Attract the Birds

ijuires torty da\ >, soiiu-tinio .i full six w ecks, to hatch.
.\s in all arbitrary iii\iNioiis, it is not alwavs possible
to draw a .sharp di\idinti 'i'H-. Hciuccn prccocial
and altricial birds, innumerable tiradafions occur,

Anioni: the K>\\er bird torms, polvganiv being
ci)innion, there can be no home lite, and it is tor-
tunate these chicks are independent little creatures
from the first. Indeed, it was John I'iske who
contrilnited to science the tact that the advancement
ot all creatures — not ot" the liuman race alone — has
been measured by the prolongation ot" the period ot'
infancy. The longer the young are dependent on
both parents, the stronger the tie becomes between
mates, the more prolonged and beautit'ul the home
lite with all its strengthening phvsical and moral in-
fiuences making tor the uplift ot the species, luitil,
anions cixili/eii humans, home living becomes a lite
habir, tar outlasting the presence ot' chiliiren beneath
the root. Let the so-ealkd ad\anced woman, with
her unscientitic notions ot' a reaiijustmeiit ot' the
partition ot labor between the sexes, remember that
the males amonu the ostrich tribe, most nea- \ re-
lated to the rei^tiles, take iiuire charire oi the
young. Certain plover lathers, too, and phalarop.
.irteiul to nurser\ duties, e\ en to sittiiiL! i>n the e'r<'s
itaxnig vheir wnes tree to waste their strength on
club,-. [>ink teas, or whatever ma\ be the equivalent
among "advanced" t'earhered females. On the
other hand, the selfish, danditieii drakes of' .some of'
our vviki ducks tiesert their m.ites as soon as the
first egg is laii], lest any domestic duties might
be demanded of tht-m; nr ilo thev rejoin their
t'amilies until fhe ducklings are educated and t'ullv

Home Lift-
able to Hy. By way ot" apology tor such neglect it
is said that a drake retires necessarilv to shed his
wedding garment, and that hy the time the duck-
lings' education hegins their father is apt to he so
denuded of feathers as to he not only useless, hut a
positive drag on the family, since he cannot ri\ . In
very rare instances could this he true. One ha> onl\
to watch a hen care for her chicks to realize that
even precocial hirds need the guardianship of at
least one parent. Devoted little lioh W hite, with a
fidelity rare among precocials, is a model hushand
and hither, volunteering to take entire charge of the
family, while Mrs. White sits on the secoiid set of
eggs. When she leads forth the new hrood to he
educated in wood lore with their more aiivanced
hrothers and sisters, the hew thenceforth enjovs an
ideal family life. Roving through the irpajn rields,
underhru>h and stuhhie, the large' familvpartv keeps
cK)se together, especially at night when paren:s and
chicks huddle into a compact group, tails toward
the centre, one of the nuinher alwavs remainin-r on
guard to warn the sleepers of approaching danger.
Such prolonged devotion among the quaH is ^he
more heautiful in hirds closeiy related to the poly-
gamous, indit^crent harn-yard rooster ami to the
turkey gobbler, from whom his mate runs away to
hatch and rear her young lest they hdl victims to
their father's tits ot jealous, murderous rage.

pr()(;ri ss rnKorcjn homi; \.\vv

The more that the home life of the binis means
to them, the higher have they a>ceiuled in the evo-

MICROCOPY RESOLUTION T€ST CHART

(ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2)

1.0

I.I

1.25

■ 4.0

1.4

2.5

2.0
1.8

1.6

A APPLIED irVMGE Inc

^=; 1653 tost Main Street

5*.= Rochester, New York 14609 USA

'-^ (7'6) 482 - 030U - Phone

S^S !7 16) 288 - 5989 - ra«

'^■3ffS!«'.--jrf!ki's»r;-

IIow to Attract the Birds

liitionary scale, the more pains they take to hiiild a
practical, heautit'ul nest, the nn)re attached they
become to it, to their mates and helpless young; so
that it there were not a tew prominent exceptions
among precocial birds one might almost sav that
domestic virtues and true domestic bliss are mono-
polized bv the altricials. However, among the
latter it bv no means follows that ci)niugal devotion
necessarilv extends bevond a single nesting season.
Few birds, indeed, seem to enjoy the society of their
mates the whole year through ; and we have seen
that degenerates, like the cow bird, occur in the
most respectable, altricial families. Even the eagle,
which mates tor life, appears to care less for the
partner of his joys and sorrows alter the annual
brood is carefully reared, than he does for his eyrie,
just as his relative, the osprey or tish hawk, which
also remains faithfidly wedded to one mate till death
parts them, appears to love nothing in the world
quite so much as the great bundle of sticks, every
year of greater bulk, which they build in some tree
top near the shore. Indeed he thinks it no shame
to snatch the tish from his wife's talons and eat it
himself. To see a pair of loving little downy
woodpeckers at work in turn exca\ ating their hollow
home, or the mother feeding their young while the
tather considerately goes in search of food for her
when she is too tired to hunt for her t)W ii dinner,
one might think that here, at least, was devotion
enough to last a lifetime; but when the little wood-
peckers have tlow n and winter nights are long and
cold, it is \Ir. Downy alone who occi pies the
sheltered cozy home in the tree trunk, leaxing his

->^.i^-j^^;'i>:«r

^^^^rmFWW.

.U. :&.-i:;i- --:■

'^ffj*ly~f. M':,itiJi

"^■hW

■li"''.

Home Life

wife to excavate another shelter or shift for herself
as best she inav.

•"THEN. JF K\;:R, COMK PKRFF.CT DAYS "

While it is true that inaiiiiers improve steadily
the higher birds ascend in the evohitionarv scale;
that hen-pecked husbands are treated with more
consideration, overworked wives with j^reater respect
and even tenderness until burdens become more
evenly shared by both mates, and such retinements
as song develop to express the highest emotions of
which a bird is capable, nevertheless ideal devotion
is short lived, conhned as it is to the nesting season.
Home life, wo-thy of the name, occupies but a frac-
tion of the birds' year. After the young are reared,
nests are usually deserted, and the (')ld biVds go off t()
moult and mope. When new feathers are grown, it
is time for most of them to gather in riocks and pre-
pare tor the autumn migration to warmer climes

But in June, home life in all its brief duty is at
its height; now is the best time in all the year to
really know the birds. And it is never necessary to
look tar betore rinding some happy, feathered neiijh-
bours; yet if you intrude upon their home life and
trighten the parents away, another tragedy of the
nest may be added to the long chapter. A youiij
girl trom the city who was thoughtless enou-,^h to
uv-ar a sturied sea-gull on the front of her hat, stood
on the piaz/a railing of a certain tarmhouse to
peep in the nest of a phoebe that had built under
the eaves. With a pitei)us cry the startled little
mother sprang from h.er nest, fluttered an instant.

■^M:^'M^^hM^ MIM&

How to Attract the Birds

then dropped onto the pia/za door dead trom iright.
The coi.>cieiKe-strickeM girl ripped that gull orf" her
hat at once, but tive ei)ld little eggs tull<uved it to

Five c

(ilil liltif eiiL'-

foiidwed it to the a>li Uarrfl

the ash barrel the next day. Now she watches the
lirds from a distance through an opera glass.

hf:n character tfi-I-s

One iniiiht tell no end of stc.ries to show how

the birds, like human parent.s, tail or .succ

eed

Home Life

training their young. Watch some over-indulgent
little sparrow mother, harassed hv the most spoiled
ot children as large as she and twice as greedv,
which follow her ahout, drooping their wui'^s to
teign helplessness, teasing for food that the\ are per-
fectly aide hut too lazy to Ci)llect. Daring, a'^rres-
sive, impertinent to others, the I-lnglish sparrows are
especially weaic in the presence of their children.
On the other hand, many birds are strict disciplin-
arians and do not hesitate to enforce their commands
with a vigorous slap of the winsr.

It IS in his family relatioiis that a bird's true
character may be read most plainly. The kingbird,
which usually shows only the pugnacious side of his
disposition to the world, fearlessly dashing after th •
largest crow to drive him away +rom the sacreu
precincts of home, reserves iiis lovable traits for the
family circle. No dragon-fly he captures on the
wing is too choice to d -ny himself for the benefit
of his babies, or too large, apparently, to be crammed
dt)wn their throats. In June, neither the brMliant
scarlet tanager nor the gorgeous Baltimore oriole
hesitates to help his inconspicuou:> mate rear their
brood for fear his tell-tale coat mav invite destruc-
tion from the passing gunner. In' June, fear and
selfishness alike are overcome bv love. If vou will
focus the t)pera glasses on the nest to which the
ori()le's rich, continuous song dincted vour suspicions
a few weeks ago, you will see both father and mother
feeding their noisy young at the rate of abou ; twentv
visits an hour.

A more charming sight than an oriole family
feasting on basket worms among the ^reen sprav oi

How to Attract the Birds

ft
■ ii

riie nuthatches' Hrst acrobatic fcat>

a tainarix bii'^h would
hf hard to Hnd, unless
volt happilv discover
a tiiiv hiini!iiin<i-hird
teaching lier diniimi-
tive babies how to
preen their feathers
daintilv with their
needle-like bills.
They are taught to
attend to their toilet
when they are scarcelv
larger than bumble-
bees.

It was the rattle
ot a male kingfisher
informing his babies
hidden within the
bank of a woodland
stream that he was
bringing them rish
for dinner, that tir>t
advertised his well-
concealed nursery.
Through the lonci;
tunnel the absurd-
looking, skinny little
birds, following one
another in Indian tile,
would run forward
to greet him, then
as quickly run back-
wards to receive the

Home Life

tresh rish. Docs any ether bird possess this curious
ahihty to run forward a-id hackuard like a reversible
.steam engine? Surely not unless it lives in a narrow
tu?inel.

The distracted oven-bird, feigning a broken winir
as she crosses your path in the woods, invites pitv oV
perhaps destruction, if „nlv v(.u will spare tlu^sc

speckled trea^ < hich she thinks vou knoxv must

be somewhe. although, but Vor her frantic

performance. ;i.t not have discovered the well-

concealed nes. ,,r O istopher Wren, bv the verv
exuberance of his bubbling, continuous song, betravs
the precious secret that Jennv, bv her excited scold-
ings, no better coiaeals. Hut the bobolink, swavinr
on a stalk of tiim.thy in the meadow, and singing
with rollicking abandon, is cpiite as clever as the
ventnloquial yellow-throat in luring vou from his
■u^st hidden in the grassy jmigle. How jealouslv
the true bird-lover likewise learns to guard nest
secrets! The best children in the world can't be
trusted with them.

Some boys in North Carolina robbed a crow's
nest and kept the riedglings hung in a cage in their
garden. I he distracted parents visited \he place
houily, brought food to their voung and tried in
vam to break open the wire prison. j'inally, in
despair, they dropped poisonous berries through
the bars: it was evident'- easier for them to see
thfcir babies dead than prisoners of the enemy

mm^j.i''^md

.V^'

r'^'JiRT

^isnmt'ismmipjmr'^^n:^

.^^<Mmi^Kai^

CHAITKR V

NAILKK S FlRSr LAW

(Jrfai was the astonishm:fnt of a lady 'ated
beside an open window sewing t)ne Mav morning
to iiave a Baltimore oriole Hv trom its hali-biiili
nest in the elm tree on the lawn to her window .
alight on the sill, timidly advance toward ' « - work
basket on the window-seat, and, while .^he sat
motionless, breathless, to see it tug at the end of
some darning eotton and then dart through the
window with the cutting trailing from its bill. It
did nc-t take the delighted hostess long to prepare
more tempting invitations for her guest to return.
Breaking off short lengths of worsteds, some bright
coloured, some brownish grav natural wool, she
spread t'lein about on the casement. Presently t' e
bird riew by the house again, caught sight of the
" orsteii>, wheeled suddenly ab(^ alighted on the
shutter hopped to the worsteds, selected a gray
stiand and tlew off. Again the oriole returned ;
again she chose the natural wool. On the sixth
trip her feminine taste was apparently sorely tempted
by a bit of pink yarn, for she touched it fw ice with
her bill before deliberately carrying awav the las.
grayish piece. Every bright-colored strand was re-
jected. 'I'his set the lady t.b inking.

()t all our common birds, the oritde is perhaps
the most asthetic. That she is far in advance of
most ot her kind is show n by her marveiious skill

How to Attract the Birds

as a weaver, and further proved hv the attractions
in a mate that are necessarv to woo lier — the most
gorgeous of orange and hlaci<. feathers, and, as if
they were not enough, the most persistent of deli-
cious songs throughout the courtship. Certainlv, a
hird with so keen an appreciation of form, colour
and music must have some excellent reason for

Young uhippoorwills feel a sense of security from protective colouring

heing so quietly clad and for choosing somher-
coloured materials for her nest. The ohvious reason
explains also the motives of very many other hirds
respecting their plumage and homes.

A child less wise than Macaulay's schoolhov
knows that various hird; have adopted various
methods of protecting themselves and their vountj,
ahout w horn they are even i7iore concerned, everv
'-pecies having some special method of its own. Hv
hir the greatest numher, however, depend chicHv on

Nature's First Law

the protective colouring of their plumage, and the
more closely it harmonizes with their surroundings
the more likely are they to escape the ever-watch-
ful eyes of their foes. Naturally, it is the female
which requires the greater prote'ctitm, for, as we
have just seen, it is she who huilds the nest in the
great majority of cases, covers the eggs and cares for
the young, often with little help from her mate.
His chief husiness in life is to woo and win her,
therefore on him Nature lavishes her choicest gifts
ot plumage and song, even if she sometimes skimps
on his beauty of character.

The oriole, more than any other of our brightly
coloured birds, has learned to confide in man, living
on terms of neighbourly intimacy with him; and,
rinding itself comparatively safe, it has lost the fears
that once must have beset all conspicuous birds.
Vet there is need tor the mother oriole to redect in
her feathers the olive green, soft grayish brown and
yellow of the leaves, twigs and sunlight she lives
among. She still swings her cradle frcMii the tip of
a high branch where small boys, cats, red squirrels
and snakes fear to dangle, and, in regions where
hawks are common, she makes the felt pouch deep
enough to conceal her while she broods.

I'he mate of the brilliant scarlet tanager likewise
mimics with her clothes the sunny green light of
the tree tops. Except for the merest suspicion of
blue in her plumage, one would never suspect the
indigo bunting's dingy brown little mate of belong-
ing to him. She, like her sparrow cousin of the
dusty roadsides and dry rields, looks of the earth,
earthy, while he, to win her, boldlv dares to wear

How to Attract the Birds

a deeper blue than heaven among the glistening
verdigris tints of his coat. Nor are any telltale
feathers worn by the wives of our most brilliant
warblers, the blackburnian and the redstart, which
must instantly arrest the dullest eye when they Hash

Young grouse confident they are hidden from the camera man

glowing bits of flame and salmon among the deep
shadows of their favourite evergreens. 'I he robin
merely wears a deeper red on his breast than his
mate. Such accenting of colour at the nesting
season in males that are otherwise similar to the
females is common when neither bird has much to
fear from brilliancy of hue. Male woodpeckers
always wear more or less red on their heads, literally

Nature's First L

setting their caps for a bride. The Knglish sparrow
need attempt nothin<r more showy than a black
cravat to impress his easily pleased sweetheart.

Young birds of either sex and of manv species
usually look like their mother when there is anv-
thing to be lost by following their father's shiniutr
example. In the latter case young males come into
their splendid heritage of feathers bv degrees, that
they may be as inconspicuous as possible while
learning the ways of this wicked world— probably
not because their heads might be turned before
maturity. Thus it takes the purple finch two vears
to perfect his raspberry colour, and during his youth
he, too, looks sparrowy, betraying his kinship.
Partly because the plumage of no group of birds
is more admirably protective in their environment,
the sparrows are inheriting the earth.

WHAT BEAUTY COSTS

Necessarily, every bird has the means to conceal
or defend itself, or to escape from its fhftuni/ i'ots;
but when, after ages of natural selection, especially
beautiful feathers developed on manv, neither shot-
guns nor milliners had entered into the birds' cal-
culations. How could the snowv white heron of
the CJult States have foreseen that the exquisite
plumes (aigrettes) that he wears on his back as a
wedding decoration would some flav be transferred
to the unthinking heacis of vain women in such
enormous numbers as to cause the extermination of
his species? And on the face of it, would it not
seem ridiculous fur any woman to wish to wear a

How to Attract the Birds

KtutFed purrot on her hat r ^'et the Carolina parro-
quet, which was once common even as tar north as

I.ettinp; his chivalry (Hitwtigh liis iiriideiue. Cardinal near ne^t

New Jersey, has heen practically annihilated for no
more worthy end. The wonder is thnt, in spitt^ of
a s^laiighter oi the innocents repeated year after

v*. . .' ''-''■ --M '.r* 'f

.,., t... ♦

Nature's First Law

year there should new he a„v hirds left. But so
apu Iv has puhlic senti.nent i„ favour of protect V
d-ch,.ed, .„ the last decade especially, thLt th^"
aread a percepnhle .ncrease iu the nu.nhers of
b ird. around our homes. " The earnest expectation
of the creature- has not waited whollv in ain ''^
the manifestation of the sons of (;od.'''

"No Ioni:cr n„u ,!,c winjicd habitants
That ,., the u„„ds their sv.cct lives si„K auav
Flee fr,„n the f„r,v of ma„ ; but Kathe round

Tout l\'^'"' "''''"^ "' '^'"'dlv sport

ioudrd dreadless partners of their plav.

And- science-dawn, ;hou.h late, upofe::^-

the ^T' ""' ''""' '■' '^''"^ ''' ^^'^'■^''•^'» ^^^ ^■^nrin'^d to

be ut ;;;";;" h'^p'"^-^ ^'r- '^^-^^- ->npicuousiv

be.utiful h.rds-even those brilliant tar^e s for the
gun and shng-shot, the Baltimore oriole the carlet
tanager and the cardinal-risk their li;Io"n'

in' ^V , '•"«*^-t;-'--'^-^ted grosbeak, frequently let-
ting chn.lry get the better of prudence, actuallv
.;^on^t^ nest to relieve his plain little sparro.-

A CHANGE OF CLOTHES

birdff.^'r ^"T ''"""' ^'"'" K'™" '™"^- -'»1'-
h.Hls tor ,,n,ru,<-f p„rp„,^, „„| ^^., . ■

M..ne o tlu. lu,„ted cr.at. c: i.ek pr„,ec,i.,„ i,
<>. All h.rds „„derg„ at leaKt „„e ,„„k a ve.r-

How to Attract the Birds

After tiimily cares are over and our rollicking,
tunetul bobolink has stopped singing — and he is the
first to become silent — he changes his beautiful
black, white and buff suit for a winter one of
streaked brown like his mate's, because they will go
South to li\e among the ripe brown grasses and
sedges. In spite of Nature's kindly protective
colouring, thtiusands of bobolinks ireedbirds, so-
called) fall a prey to pot-hunters every autumn when
the best beefsteak costs onlv twentv cents a poiMid,
and it takes a dozen plucked reedbirds to make a
handful !

Who that did not know h in the vear round
would recognize the bright-vellow, black-winged
little goldhnch of sunny pastures after he has ex-
changed his nuptial clothes for the drab-brow ii
family dress r So cleverly does it match the colour-
ing of weedy foraging grounds after frost, that one
may pass a Hock of goldfinches in late autumn
without suspecting there is a bird in the field.
Except for their waving fiight one might mistake
them tor a tiock of sparrows.

Arctic birds, like Arctic animals, turn white in
winter so as to be scarcely detected in the snowv
landscape. It is a poor rule that wt>n't work both
ways: white enemies are quite as likelv to approach
unseen as white prev is likelv to escape. Occasion-
ally a great snowy owl comes over the Canadian
border, — a ghostly apparition among our birds. The
ptarmigan, which lives above the timber line in oar
western mountains as well as at the far north, is
white while the snow lasts, but bv the time there
are eggs and chicks to be covered the mottled

UXJ

Nature's First Law

gray, black and brown feathers, which have jrmd-
ually taken the place of the white cues, may be

Seasonal plumages of Dtarmigan

scarcely distingnished from the soil and stones
among which the hen broods.

RELIANCE ON DECEPTION

Feeling absolute confidence in the harmonious
blend.ng ot their feathers with their natural sur-
roundings, many birds keep perfectly still even in
the actual presence of danger, thinking themselves
overlooked, as, indeed, they are apt to be. Another

lOI

How to Attract the Birds

M i

\i ■

i S

advantage ot deceptive colouring is that their prev
olU'?i cotne unawares within striking distance. The
bittern standing motionless in his niarshv home,
iiis neck stretched upward, looks far less like a bird
when in this attitude than like a stump or snag
among the bushes. Bi.r look out lor his wing slap
a.id thrust of the sharp beak if he thinks his clever
deception has fiiled ! A weapon intended to impale
frogs makes an ugly wound on the human bodv.

It takes very sharp eyes indeed to tell bird from
tree when the nighthawk rfattens and stretches her-
self lengthwise along the log or horizontal limb,
with whose mottled colouring her own blends so
perfectly. Certain rocks match not only her plum-
age but her eggs too, which is why she often chooses
a depression in such a rock to cradle them when a
decayed stump or suitable site on the bare ground
among dry leaves cannot be found. Indeed, the
mottled eggs of both the nighthawk and the whip-
poorwill are as difficult to detect as any laid, although
neither bird takes the trouble to build a nest.

Certain beach birds which lav their eggs among
the sand and peiibles above high-water mark allow
the sun to do most of the incubating while they plv
the waters for food with an easy mind, feeling quite
sure that the sharpest-eyed enemy cannot detect their
treasures scattered among the shingle. Ciulls and
terns, which have fivourite islands off our coast,
return to them generation after generation to rear
their families. Colonies of terns choose a nesting
site on the mottled beach among rounded pebbles
of the same size, shape and colour as their eggs, on
which one may innocently tread, so perfectly are

102

Q&SKji^':^^'

ill

"■V?

:.-"^

Nature's First Law

they concealed while yet complefelv exposed.
^ oiing terns, when running ahoi-t the' heach fur
food, stop short the instant danger threatens and
keep still instinctively — their colouring usualh
affords all the protection necessary.

Kvery sportsman knows how wary the wood-
cock is, yet so conridently does the hen rely on the
mimicry of plumage amid the drv leaves aiui fallen
logs around her, that one can place a camera
squarely in front of her ground nest and photograph
her on it without causing her concern enough to
wink an . yelin. Th re was no need for hirds so
protected to huild in trees. Seated among last year's
leaves, the brown ruffed grouse feels sure, as well
she may, that you can scarcely distinguish her from
them. When danger threatens her chicks, the
youngest downy hall knows enough to stand or squat
motionless, while the mother, by feigning lameness
or a broken wing, tries to decov'vou awav. Stand-
ing even in the midst of a surprised covev of voung
grouse, who is clever enough to count tliem ;i''

EVERY FEATHER MEANS SOMETHING

The most casual observer must have noticed
that many birds are dark above and lighter under-
neath, like the cuckoos, vireos, Hvcatchers, and
sparrows, to mention only a few groups. Of what
birri, indeed, is the reverse true? This colouring,
(' course, accords with a law of optics wherebv
dark upper parts receiving the most light appeiir no
darker when seen from a di^tance than pale under
parts which receive less direct light. The result.

1(1=

How to Attract the Birds

so far as birds are concerned, tends to unitorniity
and makes them inconspicuoi. ,. His great advantage

A fof (i{ lilt air anil \t> vittini

in this respect is well known to the duskv kingbird,
fur hf cahnly sirs unobserved ou the tt^nve rail or
other point ot vantage, waiting ihr an unsuspecting

106

Nature's First Law

flv to sail by. u'hcn ..rf' he dashes, dicks his hill over
his victim, and returns to the same lookout to watch
tor anv)tiier.

As he tlew off; you mav have noticed the u hite
band across the cm\ of his tail. In common with
many other birds that must migrate thou.sands of

VouHK Ki.har.lv.n^ jirouM- Irarnn.K e.. ,.<.Rh above the rrach
of prowlinj; enemies

miles every year, he shows the white feather vet
not to his enemies— for his pugnacitv often amounts
to tyranny— but to his friends that travel with him
in Hocks. Were it not for such showv white signals
as the vesper sparrow likewise wears in his taif the
flicker on his h er back, and various other birds
display on tail, ,uck and wings, many a migrant

•v#?tv.,^_iMKjul .-^.

How to Attract the Birds

would be lost, unable to follow the travellers just
ahead through dusk or fog.

When he goes courting, the flicker takes ridiculous
pains to show only his beauty marks in front to the
well beloved. How sillv feathered Benedicts are, too !
Many a modestly attired little bird is as conscious of
his charms at the wooing season, and displays them
with as much pride, as if he were a peacock. In human
beings, touch is the sense most acutely developed;
in animals, smell; in birds, sight. F'eathered lovers
charmed the eye ages betore they appealed to the ear.

't 't^

OTHER MEANS OE PROTECTION

To insure themselves against being overtaken in
a chase on land, some birds, like the ostrich,
have developed extraordinary powers ot running
and kicking. The loon dives at the flash of a gi:n,
several seconds betore the shot reaches the place
where he disappears into the lake. Chimney
swifts and wild ducks, amcMig others, travel on the
wing faster than the fastest locomotive, and woe
betide any weakly or maimed bird that straggles
behind the flock, ofl^ering an invitation to dine that
hawks are not slow to accept Indeed, the weak
and sickly have littl chance in Nature when all
laws converge toward perpetuating only the best
there is in lite. Beside their toes of the air — ma-
rauding haw ks that swoop upon them by day, and
stealthy, >ilent owls that snatch the dreamers from
their perches prowling animals from mice to foxes,
ami big and little snakes in the grass, are ever seek-
ing whom thev may devour.

1 08

Nature's First L

The unarmed turkey vultures or buzzards, so
common in our Southern States, keep adversaries
away by the foul trick of
disgorging over them the
contents of their carrion-
iilled stomachs. Roosters
fight with spurs; eagles
and hawks with beak and
talons; geese and other
birds still strike as effect-
ive a blow with their
wings as did those which
wore ivory spurs long
ago. Kven the tiny hum-
ming-bird is a desperate
fighter and will longe his
rapier-like bill at a rival
like any duelist. The
largest animal fears hav-
ing his eyes put out by
the pecks of the smallest
bird. Why should the

guilty crow dy awav

from the outras^ed kinsr-

bird's nest at his fastest

speed if not that the

big, powerful thief fears

blindness from the stabs

of the infuriated little

parent dashing about his

head in hot pursuit? No bird is so poor as to be

without some method of self-defense. The tree of

' fe in Nature, as in lulen, must be guarded.

log

An ejrp-sucker. A foe of the jzun

How to Attract the Birds

ACCUSE NOT NATURE. SHE HATH DONE HER
PART: DO IHOU BUI" THINE •

Wooikock nil ne^t showiii}; proti-ctive lolouriii};. The Invik is cvtr stuck
under twigs ami str.nvs till it looks imicli like tluiii

Certainly, birds handed together for imitual pro-
tection as instinctively as ever men did, vet throiiLjh
men have come the chiet failures of their tiockin'r
habit. I',iu)rmons flocks ot wild pigeons, consisting
ot millions of birds, so manv that thev darkened
the sky, were a not uncommon sight in this land
ot libertv lesr, than tiftv vears atj-o. I^ut because
pigeons nested in vast roosts, thev were easily netted
and slaughtered wholesale, until it is difficult to ob-
tain a single pair ot these exquisite birds for museum
specimens to-day. Audubon tound auks in numbers

N-^ture's First Law

beyond computing around the gulf of St. Lawrence
But when a bird lays only one c-;^ a vear as the auk
did, and when lawless men not onlv robbed a colony
ot all Its eggs but clubbed thousands of old birds to
death, extinction followed speedily. Far better for
pigeons and auks had they scattered themselves oyer
a wide area and had pairs nested apart, better, too
tor their race, if instead of prolonged grief oVer !
ost mate they had followed the kainple of the
happy-go-lucky l-jiglish sparrows.

A pair of these prolihc little pests be-an to
build in the shutter of a New Jersey country'^house.
I he ornithologist who lived there shot tlie male
but in less than an hour the widow returned
triumphantly with his successor. He likewise was
promptly killed, and so was the third mate and the
fourth, and so on and on until sixty cheerful volun-
teers had been ensnared to their death throu-h the
charms ot the equally cheerful widow. Of course
the ornithologist claims that he did this execution
purely in the interests of science!

1 1 1

sox(,s wiTHorr words

CHAPTKR VI

SON(JS WITHOUT WORDS

Anatomy shows us that the lower larynx, the
syrinx or voice organ of singing birds, is the most
marvek)us musical instrument known, not excepting
the prima Jonnas throat; that this organ, which is
of the simplest form in birds of the lower orders,
became more and more intricately complex the more
highly birds developed, for song is of comparatively
late achievement in their evolution ; that the music
which enchants us comes from where the bronchial
tubes fork into the upper lungs; that a modulating
apparatus, consisting of various kinds and numbers
of bony half rings and muscles around the tubes and
differing greatly with the diflFerent species, have
much to do with a bird's scientific classification;
that, by the automatic working of these muscles'
musical messages of changeable tone and increased
or diminished volume of sound may be sent at will
through the tracheal sounding pipe — all this and
vastly more that is anatomical might be told ; and
yet a deaf person, who has never heard a bird sing,
could form absolutely no idea of its music.

" Vou cannot with a scalpel find the poet's soul,
Xor vet the wild bird's song."

Or, let the technical musician, whose trained ear
catches the most delicate gradations of tone, attempt
to write down, for example, the little house wren's

115

How to Attract the Birds

j^ushing lyric. Again, impossible! Just as there
arc intervals in the African negro's melodies too
subtle to be recorded on paper, although they are
caught by the ear of each generation from its pre-
decessor and passed on correctly to posterity, so there
is an elusive cjuality in bird music defying both
scientific analysis and translation into set musical
terms. As well try to convey music itself through
a dictionary's definitions of it as to catch the rol-
licking, bubbling song of the bobolink on a printed
page.

Many beginners in bird study write to the orni-
thologist, asking him to name the songster whose
music is laboriously described on an enclosed sheet.
Staff, added lines, clef, time, bars, notes, sharps,
flats, naturals, rests, accents — all are as carefully set
down as if the inquirer were copying an intricate
B.'.ch fugue ; yet not once out of ten times can the
bird be na.ned correctly by its written song alone,
no matter how well up in field practice the orni-
thologist may be : the quality is lacking, and that is
the very essence of the song. Lacking that, some
description of size, plumage, or habit must be
mentioned to aid identification.

CALL THE HIRDS TO YOU

But catching bird music by ear is a different
matter from writing it. Every farmer's boy knows
that by crowing like his pet rooster he can make
him reply, and that first one cock, then another,
will echo the chpUenge, until every rooster in the
neighborhood is set to flapping his wings and crow-

ii6

A gorgeous rniiixrcl— the Baltimore oriole

Songs Without Words

ing with all his might. Certain wild hirds have
simple songs so pure of tone, or so slowlv delivered,
or so sharply accented, that the merest novice who
can whistle has little difficulty in imitating them well
enough to deceive even the feathered singer himself
mto thinking that one of his kind is replying from
the u(H,d. One can "whistle up" silent hirds, too,
trying Hrst one call, ihen another, to learn what
bird IS within hail; then, hearing a replv in the far
distance, bring the minstrel nearer and nearer to
investigate the freaky song — so like his own and
yet so different! — that curiositv must be satisHed
by closer inspection, until he frequently gets near
enough to photograph, if not to touch.' No birds
^ are more readily attracted than the

p=E:^ j friendly little chickadees, whose three

LI ^^, 1 very high, clear . all-notes, once heard,

are easily imitated.
The quail on the outskirts of the f; rm calls back a
a cheerful "bob-white" to your sharp staccato whis-
tle, and quite as promptlv as if you were a sentry
demanding "Who goes there?" Timid plover hid-
ing in the grain fields u^' . a plaintive, almost petulant
kill-dee, kill-dee to one who can call them bv name.
The pna^be bird, building under the roadside bridge
or the rafters of your piazza, keeps up a monotonous
peu-it pha-he, peuif plurbe vvhether you ask his name
or not, although even he likes to hear it called.
His relative, the wood pewee, whose song in B-flat
minor ^^uggests a rather melancholy rell^ieux living
apart from this wicked world, is quite ready to repeat
h.s 'one sweetly solemn thought," whiJh "comes
to him o'er and o'er"— at your suggestion. Indeed,

How to Attract the Birds

nothing; seems to daunt this pensive minstrel. When
midsummer silences nearly every other voice he still
sin^s on, with the indij^o bunting and the red-eyed
vireo. How refreshing is the song sparrow's cheer-
ful, merry, but alas! inimitable, outburst after the
solemn pewee ! But one soon learns that the bird
music which really enchants us — the bobolink's,
cardinal's, thrush's or mocking-bird's, for example,
— can never be imitated by human lips, albeit birds
and humans are the only creatures that can sing.
.Andrew Carnegie said he would as lief shoot an
angel as a song-bird, f'- ' must he akin because

they sing and tly.

While a good whistle; satisfaccory -esults

by repeating after the birds certain of the siuip'.e'
songs un*'l they are learned perfectly, it is »]uite a
different matter to so record them on paper that
one who had never heard them before could whis-
tle them ofif, like ordinary tunes from a book, well
enough to deceive the feathered songsters them-
selves. I doubt if it could be done. Take, for
instance, t^ : white-throated sparrow's familiar, well-
defined strain. When this comes to be set down
in cold type, no two books in the library record it

j^- i

k- _^ ^.^

~^3n

r-)

■^ / y :J/ V V ■

Sivee . . . eet Can - a - Aa. Can - a - da,

t. /, I'la -/>;./. y. I',a-hiul-y.

Can
Pia

- a

■y

•i

alike. New Englanders think the bird devotes his
vocal energies to glorifying ''Old Sam Peabody,"
while t)ur British cousin^, over the border, are so
certain that he sings the praises of their land they

I2(J

Smigs Without Words

actmlly call liini the Canada sparrow. "What's in
a name?" All sorts ot phrases, in words of three
syllables, have been fitted to this strain in various
sections, yet however differently people record the
son},', it is perhaps the only one written — the one
out of every ten submitted — by which the perse-
^.uied orniiholo<,nst conlij (orrectly nai.ie the bird
without further description. The sets of triplicate-
notes identify it, not the words which imajrination
supplies. But pri r can convey no idea of the ex-
(juisite (juality of that high-pitdied. piercing, sweet,
tenderly plaintive strain. Whistle it from memory,
in the cool of a sprinj,' day, in some deep northern
forest— perhaps not one, but a half a dozen white-
throats will pierce t'le evening stillness, complimen-
ting your poor performances as no opera singer
yet was encored.

HOW BIRDS IJ-.\R\ TO SINd

It is nature's only way to teach sound— by ear—
and still the most e.xact. As a child is born a certain
racial type of linguist and learns to speak by imita-
ting the words in daily use about him, so" a bird
enters life the kind of singer that he is and learns his
notes by imitating those of his closest associates.
Only, the more clevei young Jiild, given an etjual
opportunity to hear two languages, acijuires one as
readdy as the other; while the bird, in a state of
nature, usually confines its notes to the traditional
ones of its clan, although it may hear the notes nf
scores of other species e\ery day of its youth. (Yt-
tain very young European goldfinches, isolated from

121

•

How to Attract the Birds

others of their kind, showed a decided tendency
to repeat only the notes of the ca^^ed songsters
ahout them; still, they used some inherited notes,
too, and these, with the inherited (juality of voice,
made their song sufficiently characteristic of the
species to be recognizable. Many more experi-
ments are necessary, however, to prove with scien-
tific accuracy that a bird even partially inherits his
song. We know that expert trainers have taught the
bullfinch to whistle "Yankee Doodle." The mock-
ing-bird is by no means the only mimic. A certain
pet canary could so perfectly imitate the English
sparrows that came about his cage on the porch to
pick up the waste seed, that it was only by watching
the movements of the feathers on his throat that one
could believe it was he who was amusing himself by
imitating the chirpings and twitterings of an entire
sparrow flock.

Probably a bird both inherits and acquires his
notes; otherwise, how could we account for the many
variations of the same song rendered by different
birds of the same species? No two canaries in any
shop sing precisely alike, although all may have been
hatched in the same peasant's house in the Hartz
Mountains. In every case individuality reveals itself
in shrillness or mellowness of tone, in the low,
sweet, tender warble, or the sharp, almost vindictive
roundelav incessantly repeated with the evident de-
sire to overpower all rivals; yet we recognize the
can ;ry ii' each. song. 'I"o the general characteristics
of rhe species we must add individuality of tempera-
ment and the training received from the individual's
associates before we can understand any bird's music.

122

Songs Without Words

Travelers in the Canary Islands say that the wild
canaries there are by no means so -killed musicians
as the caged singers. Doubtless the bird's voice has
been improved by cultivation as much as his feathers,
which, originally, were greenish gray and brown,

'S!TT&'»M^SSi

The tliii'f .American M)ii,t:>tci-— a voiuii; .\Ii)ckin>;-liiril

when canaries were first imported into luirope in
the sixteenth century. Nevertheless, our own wild
songsters show alnn^st, if not t]uite, as much diversity
as the caged canaries when we concentrate our studv
on the music of a single species.

How many people who have spent their lives in
the country recognize all the songs and c; .« even of

»23

^^^
-^^l

fip?::'-

K'^fc-

.mmMm^Km''-^--i^.'

.fe'^*-.'^*jtt4^';*'

How t<i Attract the Birds

the robin? Probably he is the first bird we learned
to know by name. Among the first arrivals and the
latest stayers, he lives on terms of neighborly inti-
macy with us at least two-thirds of every year; yet
the fact that twenty-five distinct si-ngs and calls have
been recorded of a single indivir'ti. ' by on'- who too'.v
no pains to study robin music in aiii'erent sections ol
tlie country — where bird voices differ as greatly as
human dialects— causes many people to lift their eye-
brows with an incredulous "Is it possible?"

How his first salute to spring electrifies us with
good cheer! The hair -sparrow's wiry little trill
has scarcely roused the sleeping choir at dawn
when he begins a subdued warble, which gradually
increases with the niorning light until, his throat
attuned and all his powers fully alert, he
bursts at last into the splendid exuberant
performances which so delight us.
I^verybody knows it. Heard at its
best, none is more exhilarating
and few are more beautiful,
but even his own meditative,
tender, warbled even-song ex-
cels the matins. Then there
are two less familiar strains
given before and after rain,
the exquisite love song without
words yet perfectly understood, a
call of caution to his mate, a clear,
vigorous, ringing, military alarm, a
signal to take wing, a summons to his comrades
when they liave gathered in an autumn flock, a
self-conscious brag, an outburst of temper, endc.a

1 24-

Songs \\'ithout Words

ing, coaxing notes for the young, scoldings for the
cat, and so on through the gamut of hi.s experiences.
There appears to he a different vocal expression
for each. And he has an old trick of humniing
to himself with his mouth closed, as if practicing
for public recitals, — the most humorous perform-
ance of all, if you have good fortune to sur-
prise him at it.

WHY BIRDS SING

A study of farmyard poultry reveals a surprising
number of call-notes in common use among chicks,
hens and roosters, not to mention the ejaculations
reserved for such unusual occurrences as the sud-
den swoop of a hawk or the headsman's axe. Forty
distinct utterances do not exhaust their vocabulary.
Here, better than elsewhere, we may observe the
necessity for every call-note and its fitness, and apply
some of our knowledge to the less accessible song-
birds.

But a call is quite different from a song, and
was doubtless evolved ages before it. One is a
first necessity, the other a higii. ; desirable but sec-
ondary acquisition generally attained only by the
male. For the same reason that a rooster crows —
to challenge his rivals or to make a favorable im-
pression on the hens of his acquaintance — does a
bird sing, and the more refined and beautiful his
voice the higher does he rank in the books. Bird
music means vastly more than a crow, gobble, boom,
or drumming. It indicates the triumph of the

hi<rher nature over the !

)wer; it may become
125

th(

♦

-:-^:Ji

^. -r.

Ht)\v to Attriict the Birds

expression of those i]ual'ties which we usually asso-
ciate with soul. "So orii^inal water- haunter or
ground - builder ever sani;," says janies Newton
Baskett. " Kvrv melody 's a march — a command
to move (<. .ard — to the ear that can truly com-
prehend it."

^j- n .

INSTRUMENTAL PERFORMERS

For the sake of advertising their location as well
us to please, some birds that can't sing resort to
curious expedients. The prairie-cock inflates two
loose yello"' sacs on the sides of his head that stand
out like small oranges. F^rom these he lets out
air to produce a booming sound, — powerful, pene-
trating like the deep tones of an organ, — which he
repeats again and again until the whole neighbor-
hood reechoes and all rival cocks have been chal-
lenged to boom more loudly than he. Then all
assemble, to fight w^ith beak and claws, on their
favorite "scratching ground," in the presence of an
admiring circle of hens. The prize-fight among
birds indicates no higher plane of development than
among humans. We don't expect much of galli-
naceous fowls.

Another of these, the ruffed grouse, usually
mounts a fallen log, preferably one that has served
many seasons as a drumming and trysting place.
At first slowly beating his wings, he moves faster
and faster, until there is only a blur where the
wings vibrate too rapidly for human sight to follow.
Without touching the log with his wings, striking
only the air, he beats a rolling tattoo, a deep, muf-

126

Mi-

^mMm:^

tit

syiPt iiiF! iHiiiMFiWTraa^,.

^>^.-.;

»iWfiffiT5^

^ikfe.

WiE^^'9:^1^

^'ijt'z

Songs \\ itliout \\ Ords

fled, sonorous, crcpitatinjt; u/iir-r-r-r that serves as
advertisement, challenge, love song, and an outlet
to his inordinate vanity and vigorous animal spirits.
Kverv sportsman
knows that sound
of the drummer
without a drum.

When the night-
hawk drops down-
ward from a great
h.'ight, his out-
stretched wings
and tail create an
a'olian instrument
which gives forth
the jarring, boom-
ing, whirring nt)ise
that is more weird
than musical.

With the excep-
tion of the flicker
— a law unto him-
self among his
clan — our native
woodpeckers are
instrumental per-
formers only. The
rap-tap-tapping of ,. , . , i

r t '' . The flicker— our onlv \voiM|>eckfr voraliM

their bills agauist

the tree trunks is as cheerful music as any in the
spring woods. The sapsucker hammers his vigor-
ous, impetuous, staccato proposal with more sense of
musical values, perhaps, than the others; but al! arc

I2Q

How to Attract the Birds

musicians, though they can't sinij; a note. Sonji;lcss
hirds have found various ways of expressinj^ their
sentiments. Some dance, some oji;le, and none
i-^ more ridiculous in liis antics to woo the well-
heloved than the Hicker, whose vocal accomplish-
ments are by no means to he despised. All the
wooiipeckers delight in sound, however produced.
Hairy ;ind Downy freiiuentlx tap on the tin roofs
and gutters of our houses simply because they
like the noise. A pair of red-headed woodpeckers
reared their family in a hollow tree next the railroad
track in the station-yard at Atlanta, where the smoke
of every passing locomotive enveloped their house
but engineers let off steam and do much bell-ringing
when about the yards, and these woodpeckers evi-
dently enjoyed the din enough to compensate them
for the smoke and publicity.

To hear the kingfisher flying up stream advising
his mate that he is coming home, one might suspect
that he, too, is an instrumentalist, his instrument
being a policeman's rattle. The cuckoo also has a
peculiar rattle, kr-r-r-r-r-mk-iK k-tnk , suggesting a
great tree-toad ; but neither of these birds may be
used to swell the short list of in-frumental perform-
ances. Both are vocalists.

PEERLKSS MUSICIANS

But when we «neak of vocalists no one has in
mind either kingfisher or cuckoo, or the screaming
blue jay that goes roving about through the autumn
woods with n troop of noisv fellows, or his cousin
the crow, or the wheezy grackles whose notes sug-

130

m..^^'

All iii»triiiiitiuali..t with a call like a poiiccmaii's rattle — Kingfisher

aJkt^r

?rf

^ •w ^lE^mK^rz^u:.

S()njj;s W'itliDUt Words

gest waj^on-whccls in need of axle-crease, or the
luuantiy owls wliose hoots make nii;ht hideous, or
strident hawks, or wild j^eese honking as they speed
hij^h above us in a we'^ce-sha})ed Hock. To him

Tlie blue jay — mimic, vcntrilo<nii>t, ti-ase and raval

that hath ears to hear even these are musical. No;
the real star performers of the world are such as buy
no castles in Wales with the proceeds of a single
concert tour, but shy, often persecuted .reatures,
which, like the hermit thrush, lift up their heavenly
voices in woodland solitudes with only a devoted lit-
tle mate for an audience. Love alone inspires these
highest attainments. Neither ft)r applause nor hope
of gain does the mocking-bird till the southern

^33

. i-

How to Attract the Birds

jrroves with its ciuhantini; melody, or thrushes peal
their silvery bell-hke notes through northern woods.
For bejjjt^ar or kin^ the humble little Held-sparrow
makes no variations of its exijuisite sonj^. The gor-

ji;eo u s cardinal's
rich whistle, the
hobol i n k's hur-
ried, tripping ca-
denzas, the wren's
tuneful frolic, the
vesper- sparrow's
hvmn-like bene
diction at close ot
day — all are free
as salvation ' It is
the u n earthly,
soulful cjualitv in a.
bird's voice that
thrills one with
shivery creeps of
svmpathetic vibra-
tion.

VVHFN lURDS
SINC,

In February,
before we have
hei£un to look for
pussv - willows or
skunk - cabbat^es,
thesong-spai row's
s wee t , sprightly

The wood -thrush

134

•j^^_

Sonj^s Without \N

"merry cheer"
opens the coritert
of bird imisic.
Presently robins,
bhiebirds, bhick-
birds, and other
mij^rants return-
ing from the south
in advance of the
females, burst into
joyous songs of ex-
pectancy, every
day adding some
new minstrel to
the choir, until to-
ward the end of
spring the birds
are holding such a
May festival as
Theodore Thomas
never conducted.
Late in the merry
month n e a r 1 y
every throat that
can make music is
rippling, whistling
and warbling its
utmost best ; for a
bird's season of
song usually corre-
sponds with its
nesting season. Some musicians, it is true, attune
their voices long before the courting days, yet in

The sons;-sp3rro\\ cIihom- j ( oii>|>ii nous
perch tor his perforiiiaiuf

'35

How to Attract the Birds

anticipation of them ; and they still have enough
vitality left after they have helped raise two broods
and have molted their feathers, to express enjoyment
of life in song. Either or both of these physical
strains is enough to stop some birds' melody alto-
gether. One rarely hears a bobolink after the fourth
of July. Few birds, indeed, attempt to sing after
family cares and midsummer heat and the growing
of new feathers deject their spirits Such as continue
through these ordeals usually drop so many notes that
one can scarcely recognize the broken fragments of
their real song. But after the new suit of clothes is
well on, whether it is joy in the possession of them
or a returned sense of physical well-being, in early
autumn a second singing usually begins — not so
long, nor so exuberant, nor so pleasing, but still a
welcome reminder of spring joys.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF BIRD AND
HUMAN MUSIC

Whether the evolution of bird music has paral-
leled that of our own is not yet a settled question
among scientists, but a great mass of evidence seems
to prove that it has followed similar lines, and that
its tendency is still toward the same ideal. We
have already noied that it is the quality of voice,
not so much the intervals of the melodic scale, that
ditiferentiates avian from human music. That sense
of rhythm is variously developed among birds we
realize on comparing the Carolina wren's precisely
emphasized beats with the jumbled jargon of that
rollicking polyglot, the Maryland yellow-throat. All

136

One of our sweetest though unappreciated songsters — the rose-breasted grosbeak

Songs Without Words

the intervals of the major and minor scales that we
can write, as well as some too elusive to record, are
used by birds in perfection of tone. They employ
very eflfectively repetitions of notes and phrases,
sometimes so combined as to produce a formal
theme,— some birds of quite limited powers thus pro-
ducing the most pleasing results. They trill on two
notes or more, introducing a finer tremolo than a
pipe-organ's. Antiphonals are indulged in by sev-
eral of the tuneful sparrows, chewinks and meadow-
larks; in short, they make unconscious use of musi-
cal intervals ; id methods that men have formulated
into laws, i: .use they are laws, we arc just be-
ginning t r. aze that they may be of wide enough
applicatioi . nclude the birds' music. Above all,
there is a purity, an exquisite quality of a bird's
song, with which no other on earth is to be com-
pared. That music such as theirs can be written
at all in the set forms that we use for ours would
seem to indicate that the lines of development of
both are not so divergent as one at first might
suppose. Foremost critics declare that the opera
and oratorio of the future will be sung, like bird
music, without words.

139

if • r

\¥'--

Ml - k ■ ■i. i'TMm^^^^^^^

mmmmmm

CHAPTER VIT

WHY HIRDS COME AND GO

Whoever notices what is going on in the natural
world about him must be impressed with the fact
that no two months in the year are alike so far as
the bird population is concerned. In winter, bird
life is at its minimum ; in June, at its height ; and be-
tween the two extremes there is constant fluctuation.
Great flocks of migrants stream southward across
the sky in autumn. Then, if we search the heavens
with a telescope on moonlight nights, we find the
vast procession stealing a march on its watchful ene-
mies of the day, some detachments moving slowly,
laboriously ; others, like the wild ducks, at the rate
of over a mile a minute. Hour after hour, both by
day and by night, day after day, week after week,
the procession passes ; yet in the spring, doubtless,
every one of these birds that has survived will reverse
the tedious journey. With the coming of warm
weather we waken every morning to find in our
gardens birds that may have been a hundred miles
away— yes, or even a thousand— only the day before.
Chimney - swifts fly at almost incredible speed.
Audubon picked up in Kentucky a dead wild pigeon
in whose crop were berries that did not grow nearer
than five hundrec' miles from his home, yet they
were only partly digested ! Why do so many birds
attempt these wearisome journeys twice a year?

143

How to Attract the Birds

What relentless impulse drives the little travelers
back, and forth, north and south, here to-day, away
to-morrow?

CONSTANT FRIENDS ARE FEW

Wherever you live you will find that some of th
birds about you are more or less in evidence the
year round. If you walk far enough you are likely
to see a crow or a sparrow, for example, any month

1 '

"Criyws, like the poor, are always uitli lis"

in the twelve. But other birds simply pass regularly
through your locality on their spring and fall migra-
tions, harelv affording a glimpse of their feathers as
they hurrv bv. With such disdain are we treated by
the majority, but not all, oi the warbler tribe, —
charminglv-colored, restless, dainty little sprites
which flit among the spring blossoms for a day or

144

Why Birds Come and (io

two on their way to Canadian forests, where so many
nest. These are the days when one grudges every
moment that must be spent in the house; such rare
guests do us the honor to pause awhile at our very
doors, affording us, if not an opportunity for inti-
mate acquaintance, at least the chance to know them
again by sight. Within six months increased num-
bers of these warblers will stop again for a hasty
lunch of insects, in the garden shrubbery and or-
chard, to refresh themselves on their journey back
to the Gulf States, Central or South America or the
West Indies. Clever little creatures, thus to live in
perpetual summer! Some of the old birds having
exchanged their wedding clothes for more quiet
suits, and some of the young ones not yet wearing
the feathers of maturity described in the books, the
poor novice is often sadly bewildered in autumn, by
not recognizing in its change of clothes a species he
may have identified easily in spring. He misses,
too, the characteristic songs and call -notes of the
courting season; because the autumn travelers are
mostly silent, they slip by unobserved.

The migrants, then, must be classed among one's
fair-weather friends, and these, like human ones,
alas! constitute the largest class. But no reproach
on the birds is intended by this comparison : theirs is
a motive compelling desertion when conditions of
life become too hard for endurance in our neighbor-
hood. Thus the robin and bluebird remain con-
stant residents in some favored parts of the Cnited
States, while, in others, conditions make of them sum-
mer residents onlv. You may know the wood-thrush
as a migrant, while to me he may be a near neigh-

145

How to Attract the Birds

bor from May to October ; for the bird population
differs in different localities, though they may be not
more than ten miles apart, just as surely as it differs
from month to month everywhere. Why, you see
different birds at different hours of the same day !

That is one of the rea-
sons why bird study is of
perennial interest; there
is about it always the
charm of variety and the
unexpected.

No sooner have the
summe' residents and
the more tender mi-
grants deserted us in the
fall than certain hardy
birds egularly appear;
some, like the chicka-
dees, merely from deep
woods where they have
nested ; others, like the
sea-gulls in our harbors
and the Great Lakes, from inaccessible nesting islands
off the northern coast; still others from the region
of the north pole. But whether the so-called win-
ter birds come from the next county or from the
arctic regions, they are in evidence about our homes
only at the most inclement season. With the return
of the sun, bringing joy and abundance in its train,
away go chickadees, nuthatches, kinglets, winter
wrens, longspurs, juncos, snow-buntings, crossbills,
redpolls, shrikes and gulls.— not to be seen again
until the frost or snowfalls of next autumn.

146

"Where Chickadees delight
to dangle "

■S-^

^■ii

Why Birds Come and (

HOW IS THEIR CALENDAR RFC.L' LATHI) '

In spite of this constan. shifting of the feathered
popuhition, there is astonishing system and punctu-

"A colli exposure" — Rcilpoli on a ieilar tree

ality of appearance and disappearance of the greater
part of it, one discovers on keeping a hird diary,
which, bv the way, is even more interesting than
Pepys's. For thirty years the purple martins reached
a certain home set up for their benefit in a New
Jersey garden, on the 20th, 27th, or 28th oi April,

147

r. W*VC-'-". f.V

^ ff Tiwa^i

How to Attract the Birds

leaving' it as rcj^ularly >m one of four dates earls in
September. Sportsmen know almost to a day wlun
ducks, plover and snipe may be found in the marshes^
There are late springs and early sprmj^s; a belated
bli/zard mas free/c back the buddin- fruit trees, ra«-
inji >rms mav retard the pr..j?ress of many a north-
bound rtock. hut the irnini.r and coming of nearly
dl birds mav be reckoned just as certamlv as the
coming of apple blossoms. One confidently listens
for the first bluebird's song in March, when pok-
ing about in the leafless woods for the first hepatica.
Wlien shad ascend the rivers from the sea, and the
shadbush stretches out fleecy white blossoms from
the woodland borders with wild, irregular grace,
then the Indians taught us to expect the first
night-hawk's uncanny, mournful, jarring sound.

FFATfU-RF-l) NOMADS

All birds, however, are not so punctual in their
goings and comings as a railroad express, by any
means. S.)me few species habituall) ad a gypsy-
like existence, roving hither and yonder, not as fancy
dictates altogether, although rheir movements cer-
tainlv appear erratic. Flocks of lispm .. twittering,
amiable cedar-waxwings, clad like Quaker^ but hav-
ing a rather frivolous crest, ma\ visit y .u for a week
if there are plenty of choke-cherrv and jumper trees
about, vet one mav not come again for a year. In
addition to the more or less familiar visit.us whose
habits are known to be roving, occasionally, 'Mrcly.
a toi.d stranger to vour neigborhood appears. N)ine
extraordinary natural phenomenon m one part of

14M

^.*^.-«*t»_

win Birds Cone ami (in

the world often afifeLt> tli bird pnpi. ti<.i i

place very far distant, .is whm a m .ty terf bet .n^
iii^ on the Florid Ke\s t; )t caui^i t in tornado
and was bl»)wn m. tinvard m til it had lo^t it> reik-
onintis. linaiiv, if -vvas picked up exhausted in a

Erratic wmu' vi-itor- - Wlute-\vii._'cd Crossbiii-

Huds. 1 river village. On soni winter walk, that
rar'; a} nirition, \ great, 1 inkin ;. snowy owl ro-ii
ihe ar«.tic- regions, may s-irt, you, like a :, ^ t
among the evergreens. Quan ies of -"ed crossbills
came far over the Canadian border a few winters
ago. Bird lovers wrote each other excited letters
in their joy at finding these charming, friendly little

149

I'll t

Ik i '

How to Attract the Birds

strangers pecking at the seeds in the cones of their
pine trees. Cameras didn't frighten them. It may
be a decade, perhaps a lifetime, before the severity
of the cold at the north or a driving storm sends
such numbers to us again. Doubtless the warm
reception of hot-shot they received in some places
had much to do with their sudden disappearance.
One zealous ornithologist - of all men! -calmly
told of killing eighty crossbills to learn what kind
of food thev had in their stomachs! These are the
little birds which, legend says, dyed their breasts
crimson and twisted their bills awry in their strug-
gle to pull the nails from our crucified baviour s
hands and feet.

FIVE DISTINCT GROUPS

As permanent residents, summer residents, win-
ter residents, migrants and visitors, whether regular
or uncertain, we may, then, classify the birds; but,
however their habits may differ, one chief motive
impels the going and coming of them all — the
findinjj of adequate food. Perhaps, in the spring
migration, this is more for the sake of the young
than for the parents themselves. Fish migrate to
spawn, running into harbors and rivers from the
sea, leaping cataracts and mill-dams, if need be to
reach quiet, shallow, warmer waters, where there
is greater hope of protection from foes and more
suitable food for small fry left to make their ovvn
wav in life without either parent or guardian. Prob-
ably birds are influenced by similar considerations
when they migrate.

150

Why Birds Come and Go

Of course the food question incites the greater
part of the activities in our own world; and be it
observed that birds and other wild creatures seek
those places where the food on which life itself de-
pends is abundant just as udcrringly, with just as
much intelligence and forethought, as men do.
When conditions prove too hard in Russia, Italy or
Ireland, a great stream of human immigrants pours
into America— greater in our prosperous years than
in the lean periods of financial depression. When
the birds are starved out of frozen Canada and the
northern states, they go south, where the proverbial
hospitality of that genial land will be extended to
them by nature. Those which can live on pine
seeds, insect eggs, larvae, and grubs hidden in the
bark of trees, the dry, seedy weed-stalks that rear
themselves above the snow, the fish and refuse in
the open waters of our larger streams, lakes and
harbors, may safely remain at the north all winter,
and they do. But we shall never find a flycatcher
north then. To escape competition from the horde
of contestants that pours out of the south in spring,
the winter residents beat a retreat on their approach.
Plenty of birds do not find it necessary to shift their
residence farther than the next state in order to live
in a land of plenty. Robins from Ohio may find
Kentucky perfectly satisfactory as a winter resort.
Robins, crows, and wild geese often sleep in one
state and eat in another, going and coming daily as
regularly as sunrise and sunset from one to the other.
Geese, which prefer to sleep a-float, fly early to
inland feeding grounds to spend the day — that is,
if hunters are not waiting in ambush to receive them.

How to Attract the Birds

■:m

A FEW WONDERFUL TRAVELERS

That it may have the entire field to itself and
escape the keen competition of hosts of tropical
relatives for the nectar and minute insects in the
deep-tubed, brilliant flowers that please him best,
we have seen that the ruby-throated humming-bird

'A lean fora<:ing pround"

travels from Central America, or beyond, to Lab-
rador and back again every summer of its inces-
santly active little life. Think what the journey
from Yucatan even to New I^ngland must mean
for a creature so tiny that its outstretched wings
measure barely two inches across! It is the smallest
bird we have. Then what must be the size of the
body itself beneath its dress of feathers? Wherein

152

Why Birds Come and Go

lodges the force that propels it through the sky at
a speed and a height which take it instantly beyond
the range of human vision?

" There is a Power whose care
Teaches thy way along the pathless coast,

The desert and illimitable air,
Lone wandering, but not lost.

"He who from zone to zone
Guides through the air thy certain flight.

In the long way that I must tread alone.
Will lead my steps aright."

Leaving our grassy meadows in August, the joy-
ous, rollicking bobolinks go to feed on the wild rice
m our southern states, en route for Brazil; and some
may count themselves fortunate if they do not end
their journey suddenly as reedbirds, which, plucked
and broiled, are served at the epicure's table.

As near the north pole as Grinnell Land, Gen-
eral Greeley found ring -neck plovers nesting in
July; yet the young birds, hatched at this lute day,
were ready by the end of August to journey toward
the Amazon country, their winter resort. IVLiny
birds must divide their residence between the upper
and the lower half of the globe to secure a living.
Sandpipers travel between Alaska or Greenland and
Patagonia twice a year as a matter of course. ]\Lin
does not appear to be only a little lower than tlie
angels when he is willing to take advantage of the
tameness of these birds, which, because they have
been reared in out of-the-way corners of the earth
where he is practically unknown, allow him to ap-

^53

n-"

How to Attract the Birds

proach with his gun, when their autumn flocks are
resting awhile among us, near enough to rake the
last innocent

HOW SOME BIRDS TRAVEL

In spring some happy couples, already mated,
travel northward together ; or, all the males may
come in one flock, a sort of bachelor's club, ungal-
lantly leaving the females to find their way alone.
Then, how these same bachelors sing to advertise
their locahty when possible mates are expected to

arrive ! ,

Different species have different travehng meth-
ods, and even the same species does not always
follow the same method in spring and fall. Some of
the wild ducks, for instance, which go southward in
large familv parties, return in mated couples, very
tenderlv attached to each other one might think
who had never observed the dandified drake calmly
desert his partner just as soon as nursery duties
threaten to interfere with his leisure and pleasure.
The devoted phctbe, in his somber drab suit, sits
about near last year's nest very early in spring, call-
ing repeatedly to a mate that may be many miles
awav; but in a few davs how unerringly she finds
the 'old home, and the faithful lover waiting at the
trvsting-place beside the bridge to welcome her!
The joy of such reunited lovers puts a song into
the heart of all beholders.

When the cares of a young family beset them,
and when old featl.eis must b.- replaced by new ones
during July and August, birds are seldom sociable.

•5+

Permanent residents without the Hocking' hahit — youn"- >< nrch o'

Why Birds Come and Go

The males of only a few species, that sleep in club-
like roosts even at the nesting season, must be ex-
cepted. Indeed, so silent and moping ire the vast
majority when molting that they seem to have en-
tirely disappeared. In the course of a walk through
the midsummer woods we may neither see nor hear
one. But with the proud consciousness of new
clothes and the return of energy with the cooler
weather, out they come from their rest-cure retreats,
refreshed and even tuneful again, ready to welcome
as friend any bird of the same feather, to collect into
family parties, or join any passing band of good fel-
lows which receives not only individuals but small
roving flocks, one after another, day after day, until,
perhaps, many thousands so assemble. Now the
meadows and marshes are alive with swallows, and the
telegraph wires, strung with them, look like bars of
printed music-scrolls stretched across the sky. Now,
robins, chewinks, and thrushes congregate along
woodland borders, to feast on dogwood or whatever
bright berries cling to the trees and bushes waiting
for just such distributing agents as they. (For how
much of the earth's beauty are not birds, the seed-
carriers, responsible!) Mr. William Brewster de-
clares that he has found as many as twenty -five
thousand robins sleeping together in one roost. It
i^ well known that crows, likewise, roost in enormous
numbers. At the approach of cool weather even the
English sparrow, although at no time a shy recluse
exactly, becomes intensely gregarious. Great num-
bers of sparrows — sometimes a sprinkling of the
rarer cousins in the flock — scltlitig oti the lawn,
speedily clean of^ the seeds of whatever grasses may

157

How to Attract the Birds

ir ,1
li' '-

have got ahead of the mowing machine. Large
companies of feeders must necessarily be rovers.
Now, flocks of slate-colored juncos appear among the
late asters and goldenrod by the waysides. Hosts
of old friends come back to us every day ; some new
acquaintances may turn up at any hour.

High up in the air, sometimes a mile or more
above the earth, if the weather be clear, travel Hocks
of migrants where they can obtain a bird's-eye view
of the country to be traversed. Geese have been
detected four miles high. Rivers running like silver

threads across the
.' ' ' map, mountain
ranges, valleys, and
the seacoast line,
must be far more
familiar to the birds
tha? follow them sys-
tematically than to
Macaulay's school-
boy. Only large,
strong, or coura-
geous birds dare
travel in broad day-
light. A mellow
honk^ honk from the
veteran leader of a
wedge-shaped flock
of wild geese will
be answered all
along the ranks by
his lusty followers,
lest any straggler

Vnijr.g Bliiehtn! renting tor rt-frpHhmenfs after
wing practice. A catuiidate for a personally
conducted cxcut'sion next Novem'uer

158

Why Birds Come and Go

should be lost ; for sound as well as sight aids their
flight The twitterings and pipings of the birds that
pass in the night float earthward to our listening
ears from the dark vault overhead, where they move
unseen by friend or foe.

In autumn, great numbers of migrants dash to
their death against the lighthouses along our coasts,
partly because many are young, inexperienced, way-
ward travelers; partly because fog now often ob-
scures their course, and chiefly, because they are
irresistibly attracted toward the bright, cheerful bea-
cons, much as moths are drawn to the flame. Young
birds have learned to flv swiftly in a straight line be-
fore they can steer their bodies well. Once launched
on a long flight, it is easier to keep going than to stop
s'.^rt. Immature ccdar-waxwings, for example, do
i.... lag behind their swift parents when they fly in a
straight course above the tree -tops; but I have
picked up in September the dead bodies of more
young waxwings than I care to recall, simply be-
cause, in flying low between one choke-cherry tree
on the lawn and another on the road, they couldn't
turn out suddenly enough to escape the corner of
the house that stood in a direct line between the
trees, and so tiiey broke their poor little necks by
dashing at top i^petd against the piazza posts.

HAVE BIRDS A SIXTH SENSK ?

Opposing theories to account for the migratory
instinct are advanced by scientists. By some it is
contended that peculiar acuteness of the five senses,
inherent in all animals, would account for the birds'

'59

I •

How to Attract the Birds

faculty of finding their way from one region to an-
other, even from one continent to another, with pre-
cise regularity, which birds alone possess in the
highest degree. Other scientists insist that orienta-
tion, the instinct of determining direction or relative
position in general, brings into play a sixth sense not
dependent on the other five. Doubtless the descent
and withdrawal of the ice in the glacial period had
much to do with the origin of the migratory habit.
Certain it is that only a bird which has once made a
journey can find its way back to the starting point.
Therefore, every young traveler must be "person-
ally conducted" by a veteran. A bird will alwavs
return, if possible, to the region of its birth. It
knows no other course to follow than the one once
taken. A wounded young bird that is not able to
leave with the south-bound flock in autumn and
recovers strength too late to overtake it, must remain
perforce at the north, 'f the food it requires fail,
die it must, for by no possibility could it find its way
alone to a land of plenty. The soaring I irk, wliich
"at heaven's gate siii^^s^" oas been imported to this
country from Europe, only to die, in most cases,
because, at the approach of winter, it couldn't mi-
grate over unknown territory, and couldn't find
food enough in our snow-covered northern fields,
where, however, it was perfectly content in summer.
In all probability the journeys undertaken by
birds at first were short, roving excursions from
home; gradually the routes traversed were length-
ened of necessity, until, in generation after genera-
tion, the habit of traveling became hereditary; the
"homing instinct" led little by little to fixed migra-

i6o

Why Birds Come and (^^^

tory habits. The entire subject irs our imagina-
tion as no other phase of bird hie docs; for, after
all has been said about migration by the scientists,
the wonder and the mystery remain.

A ricar liigluvay for tlif mi^'raiits hftwiiii ttjz am

i6i

WHAT BIRDS DO FOR US

CHAPTER VIII

WHAT HIRDS IX) FOR US

Man's attitude toward nature reveals a long
step in his evolution. Shocked now and again into
sudden recognition of her power by some mighty,
destructive phenomenon — an earthquake, volcanic
eruption, cyclone or flood — undeveloped man of all
nations, trembling with terror, purchased ease of
mind only by offering sacrificial gifts to appease
the wrath of imaginary gods, and then straightway
relapsed into indifiference. Her gentle, kindly
ministrations every hour of his life, her marvelous
beauties, impressed him not at all. Whenever
he thought of nature it was of something mystic,
beyond his comprehension, evil, terrible.

Even the matchless art of the Greeks reveals
no appreciation of natural beauty beyond the glori-
fied human physique. For all the great masters
among early Christi;'Ji painters, for Raphael, Michael
Angelo, Correggio, the lovely, smiling Italian Eden
lying around them did not exist. It was literally
beneath their notice, for their sight, lifted perpetu-
ally heavenward in search of subjects, could include
ni>thing but clouds as natural settings for their
Madonnas and cherubim. Not until the last cen-
tury did artists come down to earth and discover
the landscape for die people. And not until the last
generation has natuie study, the trained observation

i6s

I' M.i

[i ;
11 '

How to Attract the Birds

and love of nature, the most spiritualizing of all his
lessons, formed part of the American child's edu-
cation.

One of our greatest religious thinkers has recently
set himself the task of getting acquainted with the
trees, birds and wild flowers around his summer
home. "When I was a boy," he says, half apolo-
getically, " we never noticed these things. The
good people fixed their thoughts so steadfastly on
the next world, they quite overlooked this. We left
nature unread then, thinking that everything worth
knowing had to be studied out of lesson books.
And the idea of knowledge that obtained in a New
England academy was almost medieval . It bore
almost no relation to the people's daily lives. Where
nearly the entire population earned a living from the
soil, absolutely nothing was done toward making the
people understand it md love it. Is it any wonder
that farming meant failure so often and that the
ambitious young people rushed madly toward the
cities? We are ( just learning to enjoy nature,

to open our blind eyes and see the world around
us, to stop destroying and preserve the beneficent
gifts lavished upon us, to utilize them intelligently,
which is to agree with our Creator that His creation
is good."

A NEW THING UNDF.R THK SUN

In the quite sudden popular interest in nature
recently manifest, birds have come in for, perhaps,
the lion's share of attention. Unlike most move-
ments, this is an absolutely new one in the history of

i60

-3
C

■

What Birds Do for Ts

the world, not a revival. One might have thought
tl^ at so intensely practical a people as ti\e Americans
would have taken up economic ornithology first of
all, have learned with scientific certainty which hirds
are too destructive for survival and which so valua-
ble that every measure ought to be taken to preserve
and increase them. In reality this has been the last
aspect of the subject to receive attention. First
came the classifiers — Wilson, Audubon, Baird, and
Xuttall — the pioneers in systematic bird study.
Thoreau was as a voice crying in the wilderness.
His books lay in piles on the attic floor, unsold many
vcars after his death. It remained for John Bur-
roughs to awaken the popular enthusiasm for out-of-
door life generally and for birds particularly, which
is one of the signs of our times.

Ahiong the first acts passed in the Colonies were
bounty laws, not only ottering rewards for the heads
of certain birds that were condemned without fair
trial, but imposing fixed fines upon the farmer who
did not kill his quota each year. Of course every
man and boy carried a gun. The bounty system did
much to foster the popular notion that everything in
feathers is a legitimate target. Thus it is that

"The fvil that birds do lives after them :
Tlie j;oud is oft iiilerred with their bones."

For two centuries and a half this systematic de-
stru.tion of birds, which blundered ignorantly along
in evcrv colonv, state and territory, resulted in a loss
to our agriculture whose colossal aggregate would
"stagger luimanity" if indeed, our minds could grasp
the estimated figures in dollars and cents. \^en now

169

How to Attract the Birds

living among us were absolutely the first to study the
food of any one species of bird through an entire
year and in various sections of the country, and to
pass scientific judgment upon it only after laboratory
tests of the contents of its stomach,— that final court
of appeal. Through pressure brought to bear upon
Congress by the American Ornithologists' Union,
the Department of Agriculture was authorized in
1885 to spend a ridiculously small sum to learn the
positive economic value of birds to us, a branch of
scientific research now included under the Division
of Biological Survey. Until that year all the scien-
tific work that was done in this line could have
been recorded in a very small volume indeed.

A GENERAL VVHITLWASHING

As might have been expected, when the white
search-light of science beats upon the birds, none,
not even the crow, appears as black as he has been
painted. Only a few culprits among the hawks and
owls, and only one little sinner not a bird of prey,
stand convicted and condemned to die. When it
came to a verdict on the English sparrow, after the
most thorough and impartial trial any bird ever re-
ceived, every thumb, alas! was turned down. But
having proven itself fittest to survive in the struggle
for existence after ages of competition with the birds
of the Old World, being obedient to nature's great
law, it will defy liian's legislation to exterminate it.
Toilers in our over -populated cities, children of the
slums, see at least one bird that is not afraid to live
among them the year nround.

170

A much maligned ally of the farmer — the Red-shouldered Hawk

-- 1 ? •

What Birds Do for Us

One of the first good etifects of the Government's
scieiUilic investigation of birds, and the consequent
whitewashing of bird characters that ensued, was the
withdrawal of bounties by many states. Pennsylva-
nia, for instance, woke up to realize that her noto-
rious "scalp act" had lost her farmers many millions
of dollars through the ravages of field mice, because
the wholesale slaughter of all hawks and owls, re-
gardless of their food and habits, had been systemati-
cally encouraged. A little knowledge on the part of
legislators, backed by an immense amount of popu-
lar ignorance and prejudice against all of the so-
called birds of prey, proved to be a very dangerous
thing. Even better than the withdrawal of bounties
is the action taken by many states to protect the
birds. Instead of laying stress upon only the appar-
ciit evil in nature, as undeveloped pagans did, we
are a.' last putting the emphasis where it rightly be-
longs, — upon the good.

THK PARTITION OF APPETITES

Whoever takes any notice of the birds about us
cannot fail to be impressed with the regulation of
tliat department of nature's housekeeping entrusted
to them. The labor is so adjusted as to give to each
class of birds duties as distinct as a cook's from a
chambermaid's. One class of tireless workers is bid-
den to sweep the air and keep down the very small
gauzv- winged pests such as mosquitoes, gnats, and
midges. Swallows dart and skim above shallow
water, fields, and marshes; purple martins circle
about our gardens; swifts around the roofs of '.nsr

173

How to Attract the Birds

houses, nij^ht- hawks and whippoorwills through the
open country, all plying the air for hours at a time.
Some, which fly with their mouths open, need not
pause a moment for refreshments.

On distended upper branches, preferably dead
ones, on fence rails, posts, roofs, gables and other
points of vantage where no foliage can impede their
aerial sallies, sit kingbirds, pewees, pha-bes, and
kii drcd dusky, inconspicuous flycatchers, ready t.)
launch otif into the air the second an insect heaven in
sight, snap it up with the click of a satisfied beak,
then return to their favorite look-out and patiently
wait for another. This class of birds keeps down the
larger flying insects. For generations the kingbird
has been condemned as a destroyer of bees. Rigid
investigation proves that he eats very few indeed, and
those mostly drones. On the contrary, he destroys
immense numbers of robber-flies or bee-killers, one
of the worst enemies the bee farmer has. The mere
fact thai the k'ligbird has been seen so commonly
around apiaries was counted sufficient circumstantial
evidence to condemn him in this land of liberty.
But after a i.ur trial it was found that ninety per
cent of his food consists of insects chiefly injurious:
robber-flies, horse-flies, rose chafers, clover weevils,
grasshoppers, and orchard beetles among others.

THK CARF. OF FOLIAC^E

To such birds as haunt the terminal twigs of trees
and shrubbery— the warbler tribe and the vireos,
^-hiefly— was assij. .ed the duty of cleaning the foliage
on the ends of the branches, where many kinds of

174

What Birds Do for Us

insects deposit their eggs that their young may have
the freshest, tenderest leaves to feed upon. Some
few warblers, in the great family, confine their labors
to the ground and undergrowth, it is true, and a few
others pick their living out of the trunks of trees,
but they are the exceptions which prove the rule.
Countless millions of larvae, plant lice, ants, canker-
worms, leaf-hoppers, flies, and the smaller cater-

Paraxitcs on Caterpillar host. What the Vireo sees under a leaf

pillars go to supply the tireless energy of these
rharming little visitors each time they migrate
through our neighborhood. Generally speaking,
the vireos, or greenlets, are less nervous and more
deliberate and thorough in their search than the
warblers. Cocking their heads to one side, they
scrutinize the under half of the leaves where insects
have sought protection from just such sharp eyes as
theirs, as well from rain and sun. After a warbler

175

MICROCOPY RESOLUTION TEST CHART

(ANSI ond ISO TEST CHART No. 2)

1.0

I.I

12.8

2.5

1.4

12.2

^ ill 2£

1.8

1.6

^ APPLIED IKA^GE I

^^ 1653 Eost Moin Street

S^S Rochester. New York t4609 USA

■^ (716) 482 - 0300 - Phone

^S <"6) 288 - 5989 - Fa.

How to Attract the Birds

has snatched a hasty lunch in any given place, the
vireo <.an follow him and find a square meal to be
cnjoved at leisure.

But vireos and warblers, which are smaller than
sparrows, however efficient as destroyers of the lesser
insects, would be powerless to grapple with the lar-
ger pests found
in the same
places. Accord-
ingly, another
gang of larger
feathered work-
ers helps take
care of the foli-
age for that
most thorough
of housekeepers,
Dame Nature.
Hidden among
the foliage of
trees and shub-
b e r y , a n im-
mense army of
feathered work-
ers — ma ny of
our most beauti-
ful birds and

A fia-t of feiit caterpillar* tor t:u- cuckoo finest SOngStCrS

among them — serve her without hire, and during
longer working hours than any trades - union
would allow. Thrushes, bluebirds, robins, mock-
ingbirds, orioles, catbirds, thrashers, wrens, and
tanagers — these and many others keep up a lively

176

What Birds Do for Us

insect hunt throughout a long sojourn among us,
coming when the first insects emerge in the spring
and not wholly giving up the chase until the
last die or become dormant with the coming of
winter. What could a little warbler do with tent
caterpillars, for exaii.ple? But slim, large cuckoos
glide among the leafy branches and count them-

"Most birds will not touch the hairy itinii "

III II I » iiipni <iiiiinBiiiiiiiiiiiwBi I iiiPiyiiiiiniii i! mn n iiwi'>iii

How to Attract the Birds

W^'

selves lucky to enter a neighborhood infested by
them. The s idden appearance of a new insect pest
often attracts large numbers of birds not commonly

seen in the
neighborhood.
If dead or muti-
lated larvs of
tent caterpillars
are seen near the
torn tent it was
probably opened
by an oriole, for
the cuckoo does
his work more
thoroughly, leav-
ing no remains.
The black-billed
cuckoo has been
an invaluable ally
of the farmers in
their herculean
task of destroy-
ing the gypsy
moth, an alarm-
ing pest which,
although only
recently intro-
duced from Eu-
rope, has already
laid waste large sections of New England. The
stomach of a single yellow -billed cuckoo examined
contained two hundred and seventeen fall web-
worms! Hairs have been considered a means of

178

An important item on the Baltimore Oriole's bill

of fare ismooth Caterpillar)

What Birds Do for Us

protection adopted by many caterpillars. Most liirds
will not touch the hairy kind. But cuckoos arc not
so fastidious. The walls of their stomachs are some-
times as closely coated with hairs as a gentleman's
beaver hat. Caterpillars are also the most important
item on the Baltimore oriole's bill of fare, of which
eighty-three per cent is insect food gleaned among
the foliage of trees. Click beetles, which infest
every kind of cultivated plant, and their larva-,
known as wire-worms, destroy millions of dollars'
worth of farm produce every year. Now, there are
over five hundred species of them in North America,
and the oriole, which eats them as a staple and
demolishes very many other kinds of beetles, wasps,
bugs, plant-lice, craneflies, grasshoppers, locusts, and
spiders, should win opinions as golden as his feathers
for this benefaction alone. It has been said that were
all the insects tc perish, all the flowers would perish
too, which is not half so true as that were all the
birds to perish men would speedily follow them.
At the end of ten years the insects, unchecked,
would have eaten every green thing off the earth !

THE BIRDS THAI' HAVE CHARCJE OF IHE MARK

For obvious reasons, then, many crawling insects
hide themselves under the scaly bark of trees or in
holes laboriously tunneled in decaying wood ; others
deposit their eggs in such secret places. When they
die a natural death at the close of summer ii is with
the happy delusion that the next generation of their
species, sleeping in embryo, is perfectly safe. But
see how long it takes a woodpecker to eut a hundred

i79

How to Attract the Birds

111 . M

insect egj?s and empty a burrow of every j^rub in it !
Inspecting each crevice where moth or beetle mij^ht
lay her eggs, he works his way around a tree from
bottom to top, now stopping, to listen for the stirring
of a borer under the smooth, innocent- looking bark,
now tapping at a suspicious point and quickly drill-
ing a hole where there is a prospect of heading otif
his victim. L'sing his bill as a chisel and mallet and
his long tongue as a barbed spear to draw the grub
from its nethermost hiding place, he lets nothing
escape him. Boring beetles, tree -boring caterpil-
lars, timber ants, and other insects which are inacces-
sible to other birds, must yield their rckictant bodies
to that merciless barbed tongue. Our little friend
downy and the hairy woodpecker, the most benefi-
cial members of the family, the flicker that descends
to the ground to eat ants, the rcd-hi\.ded wood-
pecker that intersperses his diet with grasshoppers,
even the much-maligned sapsucker that pays for his
intemperate drinks of freshly drawn sap by eating
ants, grasshoppers, flies, wasps, bugs, and beetles,—
to these common woodpeckers and ':o their less
neighborly kin, more than to any other agency, we
owe the preservation of our timber from hordes <;f
destructive insects.

Bui acknowledgment of this deep obligation
must not cause us to overlook the nuthatches, brown
creepers, chickadees, kinglets, and such other help-
ers that keep up cjuite as tireless a search for insects
on the tree trurks and larger limbs as the more
perfectly ecjuipped woodpeckers. "In a single day
a chickadee will sometimes eat more than four hun-
dred eggs of the apple plant-louse," says Professor

1 80

Preservers of timber : Dowry Woodpeckers

|l4

What Birds Do for Is

Clarence Moores W^eed, "while throughout the
winter one will destroy an immense number of the
eggs of the canker-worm."

CARETAKERS OF THE GROUND FLOOR

Hidden in the grasses at the foot of the trees,
amon«: the undergrowth of woodland borders, under
)et of last year's leaves, and buried in the
. I itself, are insect enemies whose name is
'- . iV;nong the worst of them are the white
grubs — th larvs of May beetles or June bugs — and
the wireworms which attack the roots of grasses
and the farmers' grain; the maggots of crane-flies
which do their fatal work under cover of darkness in
the soil ; root- and crown-borers which destroy an-
nually fields of timothy, clover, and herds-g.ass;
grasshoppers, locusts, chinch bugs, cutworms and
army worms that have ruined crops enough to pay
the national debt many times over.

But what a hungry feathered army rushes to
their attack ! And how much larger would that
army have been if, in our blind stupidity or igno-
rance, we had not killed ofif billions of members of it !

Some habitual fruit- or seed-eating birds of the
trees descend to the ground at certain seasons, or
when an insect plague appears, changing the , diet
to suit nature's special need; others "lay low" the
the year around, waging a perpetual insect war.
First in that war stands the meadow-lark. It is esti-
mated that every meadow-lark is worth over one
dollar a year to the farmers, if only in consideration of
the grasshoppers it destroys; and as insects constitute

183

••ma^iTsmK

How to Attract the Birds

seventy-three per ccn

t of its iliei the remainder

ghi

bein« seeds of weeds chietiy, the farmer might as
raw money out of the bank and throw it ir

11 d

the sea as to allow the meadow-lark to be shot; yet it

An apiHti/irii; iliiiiKT

has long been classed among game birds — a target

for gunners.

"The averagJ'a'hTiual loss which the chinch hug
causes to the United States cannot be less than
twenty million dollars," says Dr. L. O. Howard, of

184

What Birds Do for I's

t!ie- Dcpartiiictit of A^'ricultiirc. "It feeds on Indian
corn and on wheat and other small grains and
grasses^ piineturinj; the stalks and causinjr them to
wilt." fncalcuiahle numbers of this pest are eaten
every season hy Boh Whites, or iiuail, whieh, it will
he seen, are perhaps as valuable to the American peo-
ple wher roamin|4 throuj^h our grain fields as when
served on loast to our epicures. Blackbirds, cr<>w;.
rob. native sparrows, chewinks, oven-binls, brown
thrasher , ground warblers, Wv)odc()ck, grouse, plov-
ers, and the yellow-winged woodpeckers or flickers,
which feed on ants (whose chief offense is that the\
protect aphides or plant lice to "milk" them)— these,
and many other birds contribute to our national
wealth more than the wisest statistic iiin could esti-
mate. Many old farmers will wi?h at least the crow
or the blackbird removed from this white list, but
scientific expert iiave proved that the workman is
worthy of his hire — that the birds which destrov
enormous numbers of white grub?, army worms, cut-
worms and grasshoppers in the hchh are as much
entitled to a share of the corn as the horse that plows
it or the ox that treads it out. The evil results fol-
lowing a disturbance of nature's nice balances rest
ori no scientilic theories but on historic facts. Pro-
tective bird laws, which very i]uickly imrease Jie
insect police force, add many million dollars annuallv
to the permanent wealth not only of such enlight-
ened states as have adopted them, but to the countrv
at large, for birds, like the rain, minister to the
just and the unjust. And the rising generation
of farmers is the first to ,c taught this simple
economic fact !

185

How to Attract the Birds

WEED DESTROYERS

Weeds have been defined as phmts out of phice,
and agriculture as an everhistinj; war against them.
What natural alhes has the pestered farmer?

Happily, the sparrows and finches, among the
most widely distributed, prohlic and hardy of birds,
are his constant co-workers, some members of their
hirge clan being with him wherever he may live
every day in the year. Nearly all, it is true, vary

their diet with in-
sects, but surely
they are no less
welcome on that
acc«)unt !

"Certain gar-
den weeds pro-
duce an incredi-
ble number of
seeds," says Dr.
Sylvester Judd,
of the Biologi-
cal Survey. "A
single plant of
one of these spe-
cies may mature
as many as a
hundred thou-
sand seeds in a
season, and if un-
checked would
produce in the

"nch — Vtilk-weeil seeds for ' . c U

"theHnches Spring of the

i86

A tpmji!ir:L

VVh,- Birds Do for Us

third year ten billion plants." With these figures
in mind, it is easy to account for the e.ceedinglv
rapid spread of certain weeds from the Old VN'orld
— daisies and wild carrot, for example — of com-
paratively recent introduction here. The j^rcat ma-
jority of weeds being annuals, the parent plant
dying after frost or one season's growth and the
species living only in embry». during t' remain-
der of the year, it follows that seed-tratini )irds are
of enormous practical value. Kvcn .he despised
English sparrows do great good a? ^vced destroyers
— almost enough to tip the rales oi uistice in their
favor. In autumn, what noisy Hocks of the little
gamins settle on our lawns and clean off seeds of
crab-grass, dandelion, plantain, and other upstarts
in the turf! The song sparrow, the chipping spar-
row, the white-throated sparrow, and the goldfinch
are glad enough to follow after their Knglish cousin
and get out the dandelion seeds exposed after he
cuts of? several long, protecting scales of the invo-
lucre. Because of his special precrence, however,
the little black and yellow goldfinch, an uneijualed
destroyer of the mposite weeds, is often called
the tliistle-bird. '1 he few tender sparrows which
must winter in the south are replaced in autumn by
hardier relatives, whose feeding grounds at the far
north are buried under snow^ ; by juncos, snowflakes,
longspurs, redpolls, grosbeaks, and siskins, all of
which are busy gleaners among the ^/low furrows in
fallow land, and the brown weed-sralks that flank
the roadside; or rear themselves above the snowy
fields. In enumerating the little weeders that serve
us without so much as a "thank you" — and fifty dif-

187

How to Attract the Birds

ferent birds are on this list— we must not forget the
horned lark, chewink, blackbirds, cowbird, grackles,
meadow-lark, bobolink, ruffed grouse. Bob White,
and the mourning dove.

Even the most sluggish birds— and some of the
finch tribe have a reputation for being that— are fast
livers compared with men. Their hearts beat twice
as fast as ours; we should be feverish were our blood
less hot; therefore, the quantity of food required to
sustain such high vitality, especially in \vmter, is
relatively enormous. A tree sparrow will eat one
hundred seeds of pigeon-grass at a single meal, and
a snowflake, observed in a Massachusetts garden one
February morning, picked up over a thousand seeds
of pigweed for breakfast.

BUSINESS CO-PARTNERSHIPS

In view of the enormous amount of work certain
birds are capable of doing for the farmers, how many
take any pains to secure their free services continu-
ously ; to get help from them as well as from the
spraying machine and insect powder on which so
much time and money are spent annually? The
truth is that verv few farmers indeed realize the true
situation; therefore the intelligent, the obvious thing
to be done is generally neglected.

One of the most successful fruit-growers in Cieor-
gia, whose luxuriant orchard and luscious peaches are
famous throughout the market, entered some time
ago into a systematic, business-like understandmg
with a number of birds whose special appetites for
special insect pests make them invaluable partners.

i88

iik

What Birds Do for Us

Up and down through the long avenues of trees he
erected poles from twenty to thirty feet high, and
from them swung gourds for the purple martins to
nest in, hecause he has found this hird his chief ally
in keep'ng down the cuculio beetle, the most de-
structive foe, perhaps, the fruit-grower has to fight.
Through its attack alone the value of a single peach

Mow a su:(t'>>ful |naili <iri)Htr in Cjcorjiia makes the purple
iTiartiiis wiirk for him

orchard has been reduced from ten thousand dollars
to nothing i;: three weeks! The damage this little bee-
tle does to American fruit-growers annually amounts
to many millions of dollars. Just when the martins
return from the tropics, it is emerging from its winter
hibernation. And when the nuptial flight of the cur-
culio and the shot -hole borer and of the root -borer
moth occurs, it ought to be obvious to every fruit-
grower that he cannot have too many insectivorous

189

How to Attract the Birds

birds about. Bluebirds, which readily accept invita-
tions to nest in boxes placed on poles and trees, de-
stroy immense numbers of insects taken from the
trees, ground, and air. In the Georgia orchard re-
ferred to, titmice, chickadees, and nuthatches are at-
tracted by raw peanuts placed in the trees and scat-

junior partners: vnunr; Inuse-wreiis almost ready to earn their own living

tered over the ground. Once these favorite nuts
were discovered, this family of birds likewise joined
the firm which, with the addition of the owner of the
estate, now consists of purple martins, barn swallows,
chimney-swifts, bluebirds and wrens. Of course they
have numerous assistants that come and go, but these
are the recognized partners, both full-fledged and
juniors, with homes on the place. And all draw

190

What Birds Do for Us

enormous dividends from it in that unique and
happy manner which greatly increases the cash rev-
enues of the business. Perhaps the junior partners,
the fledgUngs, with appetites bigger than their
bodies (for many eat more than their weight of ft)od

''An Indijjo Bunting mother docs not hesitate to ram a
large grasshopper down her small baby's throat after
she has nipped off the wings"

every twenty-four hours) , are of greater value than
the seniors. Even seed -eating birds, as we have
seen in a previous chapter, feed insects to their nest-
lings: an indigo bunting mother does not hesitate to
ram a very large grasshopper down her very small
baby's throat after she has nipped ofi the wings.

PARTNERSHIPS IN NATURE

Just as many insects have resorted to curious and
ingenious devices to avoid the birds' attention, so

191

& 9

How to Attract the Birds

many trees, shrubs, and plants, with ends of their
own to be gained, take great pains to attract it.
Some insects mimic with their coloring that of

their surround-
ings : one must
look sharp be-
fore discovering
the glaucous
green \vorm on
the glaucous
green nastur-
tium leaf . Some,
like the milk-
weed butterfly,
secrete disagree-
able juices to re-
pel the birds,
and other but-
terflies, which
secrete none,
fool their foes by
bearing a super-
ficial resem-
blance to it.
Others, like the
walking-stick, assume a form that can scarcely
be distinguished from the objects it frequents.
With what pains does the caterpillar draw together
the edges of a leaf and hide within it, sleeping until
ready to emerge into its winged stage, if by chance
a pair of sharp eyes does not discover it at the
beginning of its nap, and a sharper beak tear
it ruthlessly from the snug cradle 1 Children who

192

A slim enough dinner for anv bird that
discovers it.— The walking sticic

"For how much of eartli's beauty are not birds, the sceil carrier-, responsible!"
Cedar bird in wild-grape vine

'm^

V.^* J 'r ,

What Birds Do for Us

gather cocoons in the autumn are often disap>pointed
to find so many already empty. They f<)r;^et that
thousands of hungry migrants have been out hunt-
ing every morning before they left their beds. No
cradle yet woven is tO( tough for some bird to tear
open for the luscious, fat morsel withm. To the
Baltimore oriole looking for a dinner, the strong
cocoon of the great cecropia moth
yields one as readily as another;
and I have watched an orchard
oriole that brought her
young family to feast in

The cicropia mnthS larj^e,
strong; cncoon imist liki-
wise yiclii its <()iitint> to
the oridlc

a tamarix bush in the garden, pick forty-seven
basket-worms from their cleverly concealed baskets
in fifteen minutes.

But how the bright berries, hanging on the dog-
wood, mountain ash, pokeweed, choke- cherry,
shadbush, partridge vine, wintergreen, bittersweet,
juniper, V^irginia creeper, and black alder, crv a.'oud
to every passing bird, "EAT MK," like Alice's mar-
malade in Wonderland ! Many plants depend as
certainly on the birds to distribute their seeds as on

'95

11^

How to Attract the Birds

bees And other insects to transfer the pollen of their
flowers. It is siud that the cuckoo-pint or spotted
arum of Europe, a relative of our jack-in-the-pulpit,
actually poisons her messenjrers carryinj; seed, he-
cause rhe decayinji Hesh of the dead hirds affords
the mo>t nourishing,' food for her seed to jrcrminate
in. Happily we have no such cannibalistic pest
here. Our wild trees shrubbery, plants, and vines
are honorable partners of the birds. They feed
them royally, asking in return only that the undij^es-
ted seeds or kernels which pass through the alimen-
tary canal uninjured may be dropped far away from
the parent plant, to found new colonies. For how
much of the earth's beauty are not birds, the seed-
carriers, responsible !

Up-to-date -farmers who wish to protect their
cultivated fruits have learned that birds actually have
the poor taste to prefer wild ones, and so they plant
them on the outskirts of the farm, along walls and
fences. They have also learned that many birds
puncture grapes and drink fruit juice simply because
thev are thirsty. Pans kept Hlled with fresh water
compete successfully with the grape arbor.

SAINTS AM) SINNERS

Hawks and owls may be so labeled, yet it would
be difficult, if not impossible, to convince some peo-
ple that there is a saint in the group. There is an
instinctive popular hatred of every bird of prey,— a
hatred so unreasoning and unrelenting that it is well-
nigh impossible to secure legislation to protect some
of the farmers' most beneficial friends. After con-

196

What Birds Do for I's

demnin^ the duck hawk for its vilhiinics upon our
wild water -fowl, and that powerful hrij^and, the
^osiiawk, for audaciously tarrying <>fif full-grown
poultry, rufited grouse and rahhits, and C'oopi r's
hawk, a deep-dyed thicken stealer, wliose aggregate
misdeeds are greater
than atiy others (simply
because his species is
the most numerous),
and his smaller proto-
type, the sharp-shinned
hawk for destroying
little ch.'ckens and
song-birds, Dr. Fisher,
who made an exhaus-
tive study of hawks and
owls for the Govern-
m e n t , recommends
clemency toward all
the others. He investi-
gated forty birds of
prey found within our
borders.

"It would be just
as rational to take the
standard for the human
race from highwaymen
and pirates as to judge
all hawks by the deeds
of a few," he says.
"P>en when the industrious hawks are observed
beating tirelessly back and fortli over the harvest
fields and meadows, or the owls are seen at dark

A Or. Jikyll and Mr. HyiU-:
horiitil owl

the

199

Eli i

fa «

How to Attract the Birds

flyinjr silently about the nurseries and orchards, bus-
ily engage.: in hunting the voracious rodents which
destroy alike the grain, produce, young trees, and
eggs of birds, the curses of the majority of fanners
:ind sportsmen go with them, and their total extinc-
Jum would he welcomed. How often are the ser-
vices to man misunderstood through ignorance!
Ihe birds of prey, the majority of which labor day
and night to destroy the enemies of the husbandman,
are persecuted unceasingly, while that gigantic fraud
— the house cat— is petted and fed and given a
secure shelter from which it may emerge to spread
destruction among the feathered tribe. The differ-
ence between the two can be summed up in a few
words: Only three or four birds of prey hunt birds
when they can procure rodents for food, while a cat
seldom touches mice if she can procure birds or
young poultry. A cat has been known to kill
twenty young'chickens in a day, which is more than
most raptorial birds destroy in a lifetime."

Hawks and owls admirably supplement each
other's work. One group hunts while the other
sleeps. The owls usually remain in a chosen neigh-
borhood through the winter, while the hawks go
south. \N'e are never left unprotected. In con-
sideration of the overwhelming amount of good
these unthanked friends do us, can we not atiord to
be to their faults a little blind?

A VOI.UNTF.KR HE.XLTH DEPARTMFNT

In the soutiicrn states, Cuba, and the adjacent
islands, the great dark vultures that go sailing high

200

>•

What Birds Do for Us

in air express the very poetry of motion ; hut surely
their terrestrial hahits have to do with the very prose
of existence, for self-constituted health officers are
they, scavengers of the fields, that rid them of pu-
trefying animal matter. Instead of burying a dead
chicken, dog, cat, or even a large domestic animal,
the easy-going Negro lets it lie where it dropped,
knowing full well that before it becomes offensive
the vultures will have begun to feed upon it. In
some of the smaller cities the vultures mingle freely
with the loungers about the market-place, gorging
upon the refuse thrown about for the only street
cleaners in sight. Where robins, woodpeckers, and
many species of small song-birds are so lightly re-
garded as to be killed in shocking quantities and
not always for food, the vultures are carefully pro-
tected by the Southern people, who, not yet realiz-
ing the greater value of insectivorous birds to the
farmer, do nevertheless know enough to throw the
arm of the law around their feathered scavengers.
As if enough services that birds render us had
not already been enumerated in this list, — which is
merely suggestive and very far indeed from being
complete, — the birds that rid our beaches of putre-
fying rubbish must not be forgotten. While several
sea and beach birds share this task, it is to the gulls
that we are chiefly indebted. In the wake of gar-
bage scows that put out to deep water from the har-
bors of the seacoast and Great Lakes where our
large cities are situated, and following the ocean
liners for the food thrown overboard from the ship's
galleys; or resting in the estuaries of the larger
rivers where the refuse floats down toward the tide,

203

How to Attract the Birds

flocks of strong -winged gulls may be seen hovering
about with an eye intently fastened on every floating
speck. p:normous feeders, gulls and terns cleanse
the waters as vultures do the land. Millions of these
graceful birds that enliven the dullest marine picture
have been sacrificed for no more worthy end than to
rest entire or in mutilated sectit)ns on women's hats!
But now that the people begin to understand what
birds do for us, a happier day is dawning for them all.

204

CHAPTER IX

SOME NATURALIZED FOREIGNERS

From time to time American travelers, wishing
to add some bird from the Old World to the steadily
decreased ranks of our native species, have brought
home with them game birds, songsters and birds
presumably useful to the agri' ulturis., to be re-
leased in various parts of the U' d States. Which
are these immigrants living ; ir midst? How
have they fared? Have all provt. themselves worthy
of naturalization among our feathered citizens?

THE ENGLISH SPARROW

This w^as among the first aliens introduced, and
1850 is the earliest known date of his arrival. Then
eight pairs were imported by the directors of Brook-
Ivn I 'Jtc into their city; and, notwithstanding
the tliat the -narrows' first itiipressions of

Ameri.a were formed in Greenwood Cemetery,
where they were set at liberty, they went to house-
keeping with great cheerfulness and that marvelous
adaptability to new conditions which has made them
the most successful colonists among the feathered
tribes. It certainly is not because they are meek
that they are inheriting die earth.

Not only did individuals continue to import spar-
rows for the next twenty years, and set them free at

207

vof'liLi. f*.

-f.

How to Attract the Birds

various places from Sandy Hook to Iowa — the San
Francisco and other western colonies were not
started until 1875 — but corporations took up the
task of introducing them into cities where the
measuring worms hung from every tree and dropped
on every passer-by, only to be crushed under foot
until the sidewalks were disgusting. Philadelphia
alone imported a thousand sparrows. People benev-
olentlv disposed sent them to friends in distant
states- they protected, fed, housed and coddled
them Meanwhile the birds, which needed nobody's
care, being fit to survive if ever creature was, muhi-
plied enormously, and soon escaped from the cities
to towns, and from towns 10 villages, but always
keeping near man, for a parasitical existence ever
suits them best. The hardships and dangers of the
wild, independent state are carefully avoided by these
little' tramps. By 1870 they had gained a foothold in
twenty states, the District of Columbia, and two
Canadian provinces. Now only Alaska, Arizona,
Montana, Nevada and New Mexico remain to be in-
vaded. In an old number of the "Transactions of
the New York Academy of Sciences" there is an ac-
count bv a local ornithologist of his visit to Madison
Square to see if he could find some English Spar-
rows which, he had heard, might be seen there.
Though written less than forty years ago, it reads
like a page of ancient history.

As the "yellow peril" is to human immigration,
so is this sparrow to other birds. It is true he ban-
ished the measuring caterpillar from our cities and
helps destrov the seeds of crab-grass, dandelions, and
other noxious weed? on our lawns: but so numerous

2o3

m^Msmjm.

Some Naturalized Foreigners

are the charges brought against him in the Govern-
ment's exhaustive report — charges tliat the bird
lover fain would pardon, if in justice he might — that
one by one his staunchest old friends are deserting
him. In several wheat-growing states where his
depredations on the ripened grain cost the farmers
many thousands of dollars a year, a price is put upon
his head. Reversing the order of Pope's epigram
on vice, we first embraced, then pitied and mow must
endure the English sparrow. Yet had a sparrow ex-
clusion act been suggested when the sparrow craze
was at its height, it is doubtful if a single senator
who lent his voice to secure the Chinese exclusion
act would have given it his support. But our
legislators have learned a lesson : the Lacey Act
permits no one to bring a foreign bird into this
country without permission from the Department of
Agriculture.

Not to be confounded with the P2nglish house-
sparrow is the useful and tuneful European tree -
sparrow, which has been successfully acclimated
after repeated failures, around St. Louis, Missouri.

AN INFLUX OF SONGSTERS

A few years before the first English sparrow
came across the ocean, Thomas Woodcock, presi-
dent of the Natural History Society of Brooklvn, im-
ported, for their charm's sake, European goldfinches,
linnets, bullfinches, and the skylarks, whose mottled
brown coloring suggests more of earth than of
heaven. It is known that the last-named species, at
least, survived two winters, albeit that over-populated

209

=75'

How to Attract the Birds

city of the dead, (ireenwood Cemetery, seemed to
be the most satisfactory asylum they could find. Pos-
sibly the little strangers wished to be personally con-
ducted daily by American angels to sing "at heaven's
gate" when "Phcjubus 'gins arise." In 1853 more
skylarks were liberated in Greenwood, also wood-
larks, English blackbirds, and brown thrushes, the

.•:T? j

One of the first anil most delightful European immijjrants to arrive —
the skylark. (From a mounted specimen)

little robin red-breast— a diminutive edition of our
robin — and another lot of goldfinches. Skylarks
imported by other enthusiastic lovers of this heav-
enly minstrel were then soaring and singing above
the fields around Wilmington, Delaware, and Wash-
ington, D. C, but none survived. So far as is
'-nown, the bird has become naturalized only in
certain Long Island meadows, not many miles

210

Some Naturalized F()rcijj;ncrs

from Brooklyn, and in the vicinity of Portland,
Orej^on.

In the early seventies the Acclimatization Society
of Cincinnati imported ahoiit twenty species of
Kuropean birds, spending nearly nine thousand dol-
lars on the four thousand individuals that were set at
liberty. Unhappily that laudable experiment proved
a failure. A similar society at Cambridge, Massa-

The Kiiropcan sokltinch now naturali/td in Massathiisctts ami New Vi.rk
(Mounted specimen)

chusetts, had better success, at least with its gold-
finches, whose descendants are now found in several
places in the eastern part of the state, (ioldhnches
released in Hoboken, New Jersey, in lo^'J, soon
found their way across the Ffudson river to Central
Park, New York city, where their descendants still
flourish. .Apparently the charming little black and
yellow American goldfinches gave their less amiable

211

How to Attract the Birds

European relatives a cordial welcome, for flocks
seen in Bronx Park and at other points around the
upper end of Manhattan Island frequently contain
hoth spe<ies. The immiji;rant is a trifle larger than
the native, althouj^h hoth are smaller than the spar-
row; he has a bright red region around the base of
his strong, sharp bill ; the lop of his head and the
sides of his neck are black, as are also his wings and
tail; the former is crossed by a yellow band, the lat-
ter marked with touches of white ; his back is cinna-
mon brown and the under parts are white, lightly
washed with the same shade across the breast. May
his tribe increase !

Neither expense nor failure seems to prevent
enthusiastic bird lovers from continuing these colo-
nization schemes, at which nature cruelly laughs so
often. Three attempts to introduce the starling
were made in New York before 1890, when at length
success crowned the efforts of Mr. Eugene Schief-
felin, who has probably paid the passage of more
feathered immigrants to this country than any other
American. Like the sparrow, the starling is not
afraid to live in cities. It nests on the Strand, Lon-
don, and early in the :.Ting of 1902 three pairs made
their home in the cornice of the building on Union
Square, New York, where the publishers of this
book have their offices. The clanging of cable-cars
in the busy thoroughfare below, the rattle of wagons,
street vendors' cries, even the steam drill and the
blasting of rocks in the subway, which shook the
building to its foundations, did not disturb their
dome'^tic peace. Oacked corn, crushed hemp seed,
and mockingbird food, which were kept on the fire

212

Some Natur;i'i/cci l-'orcij^tu-rs

escape outside the publisher's uiiulous, may have
had something to ilo with their perteit eontent.
Passers-by would look up at the sound of their un-
familiar musical whistle — two lonu; - drawn, high,
clear notes, the last a tritle higher than the first
— and see an unfamiliar l)Iack bird, suggesting a
grackle, but with a short, square tail, which emplia-
si/ed the length and point of the wings. Seen at
close range at the nesting season, the plumage is
glossy black brightly shot with purple, green, and
steel-blue iridescence. After the annual molt new
feathers come in tipped with buff, which makes the
plumage look heavily speckled at first. Gradually
it is more lightly sprinkled with dots, as the mark-
ings wear ofif, until the bird is wholly black in time
to go a- wooing. Then his bill becomes bright
yellow.

With us the starling is a permanent resident.
From Staten Island ami the opposite New Jersev
and Long Island shores up the Hudson thirty miles
or more, and along the Sound as far as New Haven.
Connecticut, it is slowly extending its range. Xoisv
broods are reared in tree hollows preferably. Seen
in (light, iie bird appears triangular, owing to the
wide stretch of its long wings and its short tail,
whereas the grackle's long steering gear is its most
characteristic feature. Sailing for some little dis-
tance before alighting, the starling finally settles in
large, open spaces and walks over the ground —
crow fashion. On the South Downs of England
1 have watched it familiarly riding on the sheeps'
backs, looking for pests imbedded in the fleece, or
walking through the fields after the plow, devt)uring

21;

How to Attract the Birds

wholesale iiuantities of ^ruhs and crawling insects.
Both agriculturists and graziers count it their very
useful ally, and it is so considered throughout
Europe. The worst that can be said of it is that

-: A ^,1

'!■

Starling bcloic liis >i.n kk> have «nm otf. (M..untc.l >iuii.r:n)

it occasionally pilfers small fruits, but never so much
as the robin.

With extraordinary precision, great llocks of
starlings, numbering sometimes hundreds of birds,
wheel around through the air, close ranks, spread
out again, rise and descend, as if the regiment were
a single living thing. I'iiis is their usual evening
performance before settling to roost in their native
land. At their present rate of iiicrease, it will not
be h.iig before they can cng.igc iii -imilar mar.-iu-
vers here.

214

Some Xaturali/cd F'orcijjncrs

WF.STKRN CC)'.()NIZIN(J ACKNTS

Activity in introducing foreign birds has been by
no means confined to the east. Beside the ^roiip of
men in St. Louis who naturahzed the tree-sparrow
already referred to, many individuals throughout the
western states have encouraged the immigration of
birds from Asia, as well j> liuiope. The first Mon-
gohan and other Asiatic pheasants to reach the
I'nit vl States were sent to Oregon from China in
iHSi oy Judj;e(). \. Denny, formerly consul-j^etieral
at Shanghai. Most of the birds died on the long
voyage, only twelve males and three females reach-
ing Portland alive. Later, about three dozen ring-
necked pheasants were liberated in one place atul
nineteen at another. Two years after, g:)Iden and
silver pheasants were placed with sonic ' in;f-necks on
Protection Island, near Port lOwnsend, Washington.
W hile all four colonies were successful, the hardy,
prolific Mongolian pheasant, as might have been ex-
pected, increased more rapidly than all the others put
together. Within ten years it had overrun western
Oregon, and now promises to become a common
game bird if sufficiently protected.

"Knglish pheasants," says Mr. T. S. Palmer, of
the Biological Survey, " have been i^nported mainly
in the eastern uates ; some were liberated near
Tarrvtown, New ^'ork, about thirty-five years ago;
seventy-eight were turned out on jekyl Island near
Brunswick, Georgia, in 1S87, and these increased to
eight hundreil and fifty during the following year;
others were introduced iiuw New jersey. Since iStjii
there has been widespread intere.-t in these experi-

215

'^j^'^^^msii.-:'^:S^j^ihi'^i

^ *iM

•;/>--Vi.t'

How to Attract the Birds

ments, and pheasants (mainly Mongohan) have now
been introduced into at least twenty-five states, and
have increased rapidly througli protection laws and
the establishment of pheasantries for their propaga-
tion." Concerning the other foreign game birds,
for whose naturalization many enthusiastic sports-
men have labored in vain, the painful facts are
quickly told. The few sand grouse liberated in
Oregon promptlv disappeared. Of a large importa-
tion of Indian black partridges only three lived to
reach their destination in Illinois. The black
grouse, which has been liberated in Newfoundland,
in Vermont and other eastern states, appears to be
holding its own. Recently the capercailzie has been
introduced in the Adirondacks.

Although several thousand European quail were
distributed in New England and the middle states,
all disappeared after a year or two. What splendid
results the same amount of money and efifort ex-
pended on our more desirable Bob -White, or the
fast disappearing prairie -grouse, or the woodcock,
for example, might have accomplished! Ought we
not to be just before we are generous?

Thanks to the homesickness of the Dutch and
English colonists, who had no sooner cleared the
wilderness around their homes than they sent to
Europe for trees, shrubs, vines, and plants from the
dear old gardens left behind, our native flora was
specdilv enriched bv valuable additions, many of
which 'took kindlv to the soil and, escaping from
cultivation, became wild. And how many weed
seeds st.)le a passage across the Atlantic with them!
Perhaps the colonists longed as greatly to see the

216

«i5^^ --^m^xjmv

Some Naturalized Foreigners

familiar birds from their old homes, too, but no
one risked sending for them until steam shortened
the ocean crossing. Within the last few years, a
number of bird-loving Germans living in Portland,
Oregon, have been doing their utmost to naturalize
the songsters of the Fatherland on the Pacific slope.
Owing partly to the eijuable climate of the Puget
Sound region making migration unnecessary, their
■ efforts are uncommonly successful. Blackbirds,
thrushes, starlings, skylarks, green finches, and gold-
finches have been acclimatized, and are increasing.
A second attempt to introduce the nightingale and
the blackcap was made early in the spring of 1902,
when a large importation reached New York in
safety; but, shameful to tell, the majority of them
were permitted to die on the way to Oregon for
want of water !

A CHASE IN MID -OCEAN

If some of these feathered travelers from Europe
could write the story of their adventures and their
impressions of America, what thrilling, hair-breadth
escapes might be told, what a stimulating effect the
"odious comparisons" might have on our lightly-
enforced or non-existing bird laws! Because the
birds chiefly concerned in the following tale couldn't
write it, unfortunately it necessarily ends at the
opening of its most interesting chapter.

In an out-of-the-way corner of London, at the
back of a bird fancier's shop, where cockatoos and
parrots screamed and swore at one another, dogs
yelped and whined while straining at their chains,

217

.•A.<-Ji,-,

^»rg^:lf=^^:

-^mdM^m^

How to Attract the Birds

pigeons cooed their tiresome love stories all the day
long, and shrill-voiced canaries tried to drown every
other noise, some blackbirds and brown thrushes
were seen huddled together, silent and disconsolate,
in tiny, dirty cages. From the condition of their
plumage it was ■- 'ident that they had been caged
many months.

On that brig' t vlay mt rning when an American
visitor chanced to enter the bird shop, wild thrushes
were tripping lightly and swiftly through the grass
on every lawn in England with the same freedom of
motion, the same alert grace that characterizes their
American cousin, the robin. Sweet, bell -like notes
were pealing from the throats of happy thrushes
throughout merry England at that glad time of the
year. In every English hedge blackbirds piped the
richest of sweet songs to nesting mates hidden
among the blossoming hawthorns. There are no
finer songsters living than these two. The contrast
afforded by the miserable, dejected thrush and black-
bird prisoners in the shop was too appealingly
piteous : every one— there were only twelve pairs-
was purchased forthwith.

But the American visitor loved her own land too
well not to take those birds home with her. Two
days later they had started westward across the
Atlantic, comfortably housed in large cages, which
were placed in a sunny, sheltered corner of the upper
deck. Their spirits quickly revived; so did their
appetites, which were amazing. A sack of sand, an-
other of crushed hemp, some patent food for soft-
billed birds, garden snails, and fresh fruit from the
table, kept them in perfect health.

218

.>>ii«ii^':':'^:a»^^H*>.^ c

Some Naturalized Foreigners

No matter how much food was in their cages,
they ate only twice a day, in the early morning and
late afternoon. One evening when their guardian
opened the thrushes' door to refill a drinking cup,
suddenly a bird brushed past her face : a thrush had
escaped! From stem to stern of that great steamer
a lusty German sailor and the bereaved American
pursued that little bird. After resting a moment on
the mooring ' lifeboat it Hew among the rigging,

then down t deck, then up on the captain's

bridge, and fi.ially took shelter from the wind and
human pursuers under a piece of sail-cloth beyond
reach. And the wise captain would not permit the
sailor to climb after it then. "If it flies away from
the ship," said he, "it is lost forever; it could never
overtake us and W(-)uld soon die. Wait until it goes
to sleep ; then tlie sailor may try again."

Darkness fell ; the long, tah/e a liote dinner of a
(jerman liner finally dragged to an end, and news of
the supperless, solitary thrush under the sail-cloth was
eagerly sought for. "It's too bad," said the officer
on the bridge, in his kind German way. "When you
were at dinner your little bird was sleeping with one
eye open, it seems; he was too quick for that sador.
No; I don't know which way he flew. Maybe he
went straight to sea .n the dark; maybe he flew to-
ward the stern of the ship. If so, I guess he was
drawn by suction down one of those big funnels, and
that ends him, sure, if he went down the one that
leads to the pngine-room. Never mind," he con-
tinued, trying to be consoling. "What's the use of
bothering about one leetle bird?"

But the guardian, refusing to be comforted,

219

^^" . ■ ^-«, . ' ^' TJi^^ ' tl :>*^' -'Tr'ii^^^'

^:^3^^mimmt^a.m^%fm

How to Attract the Birds

soLiglit the seclusion that the cabin granted, and sur-
rendered her imagination to dismal reflections. Poor
little solitary waif, beating its wings, so long unused,
bvk and forth above the waves o/er an unknown
sea, engulfed in darkness, straining every m-iscle to
- .ich the lights on the fast disappearing vessel, only
to sink at last from exhaustion into the cruel, cold
s^.' ! A sharp knock at the stateroom door startled
the occupant. Without waiting for a "Come in,"
blonde Gustave, the room steward, threw open the
door and entered, smiling, with the truant thrush saf^
in his hand! "It flew down the funnel into the
butcher shop," said Gustave, simply. The butcher
asked the officer on the bridge if a pet bird had been
lost by any of the passengers. The officer said,
"Yes; take it to stateroom 117."

Not a feather had been injured. That particular
thrush took an extra long nap the next morning
when its companions were feasting on snails, other-
wise it appeared none the worse for its reckless ad-
ventures. Three days later, when the cage doors
were purposely opened on the lawn of their guar-
dian's Long Island home, thrush followed thrush
with a glad cry, and blackbirds followed thrushes to
the trees and freedom. Now the really interesting
part of this story would properly begin.

220

I N D K X

The asterisk •*) lieforc a luimhcr imlicates the |Ki^'e mi whiili a piiture i>(
the liiril or its nest mav In- foiiiul.

Aiik, The, i lo, 1 1 1 .

Heach liirds, 102, 203.
Hitlerii, American. 102.
Khiikhiriis, The, 185, 188, 217.
Blackliird, European, 210, 218.
Blackbird, Red-Hiiij;e(l, 135.
Blackcap, European, 217.
Bluebird,

148, *i
Blue Jay. See Ja\ .
Bobolink, 39, 57, 89, ion, 116, 120,

134, 136, 153, 188.
Bob White. 78, 81, 119. 185, 188.

216.
Bullfinch, European, 122, 209.
Bunting, Indij^o, 95, 120, ''191.
Buntinj;, Snow, 146, 187, 188.
Buzzard. See \'ulture.

Canary, 122, 123.

Canary. Wild. Set Yellow Warbler.

Capercailzie, 216.

Cardinal CJrosbeak. "see tJrosbeak.

Catbird. 10, 13, 54. : -6.

Cedar-bird, or Waxwing. See Wax-

wing.
Chat, Yellow -breasted, 54.
Cherrybird. See Waxwing.
Chewink, 139, 157, 185, 188.
Chickadee. 5, 13, 16, *48. *49, 50.

119. 146. 180. 190.
Chicken. Barnyard. 40, 78, 81, 109.

116, 125.
Cormor ut, 76.

Co«' -rd. 57, *6i, 82, 18X.
Creeper, Brown, 13, i.<o.
Crossbill. American Red. 14^1. 149.
Crossbill. *White-winj;ed. 149.
('row, American. 72. 87, 89. 109. 1 ;o,

*i44, 151, 157. 170, 185.
Cuckoos, The, 11, 41, loc, I7h. 177,

.78.
C'uckoo, Black-i)ilkd. 17X.
("uckoo. F^urnpean, 57.
Cuckoo. Yellow -billed. 130, 178.

Dove. Mourning. 41, *43, 53, *74,

188.
Ducks. The. 3, 4c, 78. 80, 108. 143,

14X. 154.
Duck. C'liinese Mar.darin. 51.
Duck, Wood, 48, 51.

Eagle, 82, 109.
Egret. 41.

Finches, The, 12, 186, 188.

Finch. CJreen, European, 217,

Finch, Purple. 75, 97.

Flicker, 11, 16, *47. 75. 107, loS,

'129, 1 50. 180, 185.
Flycatchers, The, 105, 147, 151,

'74-
Flycatcher, Crested, 16, 54.

(ioldhnch, American, ( Fhistle-bird ) ,

6, 12, 53, 100, 187, 21 r.
(ioldtinch, Europea 121. 209, 210,

*2i I, 217.

221

Index

Goose, Wild, 109, r33. i^i, 158.

(idshawk, 199.

(JrMckIc, Bron/til, *5, 7. '3°. '**■

213.
(Jni^heak, Cardinal, 10. *';S, >)<). 120,

'34-
(".rci-lieak, Rosc-lireavti-d, ')'). *IJ7.

1S7.
(iroiiiid Robin. Ste Chcxviiik.
(irotiM', The, 185.
(jrcHise, Black, 216.
(iroiise, Canada, 127.
<inHi>e, Prairie, 12'', 216.
Ciniuse, RicliartlNonS, *io7.
Grouse, Riitfe<i, 42, *7X, *y6, 105,

125, 188, lyy.
(iroii>e. Sand, 216.
GiilU, Tlie, 102, 146, 203.
CJiill. Anicriran Herring. 85, 146. *202

Ilaivks, rhc, 3. 72, 77. 95, 108, 109,

133. >70. '73- >y''-
Hawk, Cooper's, 199.
Hank, Duck, 199.
Hawk, Fish. See Osprey.
Hawk, Red-shoiildeied, *i7i.
Hawk, Sharp-s.hir.ned, 199.
Herons, The, 41 , 79.
Htron, Snowy, 97.
Hiu'li-hole. See Flicker.
Humming-bird. Ruby-throated, 12,

*2i-36, 54, 75, *-(>. S8. 109, 152.

Iiuiigo Bunting. Sec Bunting.

jay. Blue, 13, 72, lyt, *iji3-
Juv, Florida, 74.
Junr(), 146, 158. 187.

Kildeer, 119.

Kingbird, 87, 106, 109. 174.

Kingfisher, Belted, 42. *45, 79, 88,

130, *i3i.
Kinglet, Golden - Crowned, 14(1.

iSo.
Kinglet, Ruby-Crowned, 146, iSo.

I. ark. See Skylark.

l.ark, Horned, 188

I. ark. Meadow. See Meadow-lark.

l.ark. Wood, 210.

Linnet, 209.

I.ongspur, 146, 187.

Loon, Common, 108.

NLirtin, Purple, 16, 14;, 173, *i89.
Meadow-lark, 57, 139, 183, 18S.
Mixking-bird, 13, 120, 122, *i23,
■33. '7ft-

Night-hawk, 42, 102, *io3, 129, 148,

'74-
Nightingale, European, 217.
Nuthatches, The, 13, 16, 50, *88,

146, 180, 190.
Nuthatch, Reil- Breasted, 65.
Nuthatch, White-Breasted, *65.

Orioles, The, 176, 178.

Oriole, Baltimore, 10, 13, 53, 57, 87,

93. yS. 99. *"7. 178. »79. '95-
Oriole, Orchard, 10, 195.
IKprey, 77.
Ostrich, 79, 80, 108.
Ovenbird, 54, 89, 185.
Owls, The, 16, 48, 72, 77, 108, 133,

170, 173. >9'J-
Owl, Horned. 77, *I99.
Owl, Screech, *i 55.
Owl, Snowy, 100, 149.

Paroquet, Carolina, 98.
Partridge, Indian Black, 216.
Peabody Bird. See White-throated

Sparrow .
Pelican, Brown, 76.
Pewee, Wood, 119, 174.
Phalarope, 80.
Pheasant, English, 215.
Pheasant, Mongolian, 215.
Pheasant, Ring-necked, 215.
Pheasant, Silver, 2:5.
Phd-be, 7, 53, 85, 86, 119, 154, 174.

222

'WJi %-•

^r-i.-iA

Index

Pigeon, Willi, 77, iio, iii, 143.
Plover, The, 78, 80, 148, 185.
Plover, Kililcer, 1 19.
Plintr, Rin^-iieiked, 153.
Ptarmigan, 100, *ioi.

Quail. Sue Bol. White.
Quail, I'.uropcan, 2 16.

Redpoll, 146, *I47, 187.

RciUtart, <j(>.

Reeilliird. See Bobolink.

Rohin. Ameriean, 7, 10, i^, 39.

*40, 53, 67, *68, 70, /<;. <)<). 124.

132, 145, 151, 157, I7(>, 185, 203,

218.
Roliiii, Red-brea>t, P^uropean. zio.

Sandpiper, 153.

Sap'-Mcker, The, 16, 129, 180.

Shrike, Northern, 146.

Siskin, 1S7.

Skylark, I-uropcan, 160, 209, *2io,

217.
Snipe, 78, 148.
Snowbird. See Junco.
SnowHake. See Snow Bunting.
Sparro\v>, The. 87. 97, 105, 139, 144,

176, 185, i8f., 210.
Sparrow. Canada. See White-throated

Sparrow .
Sparrow, Chipping. *53, 124. 187.
Sparrow, English, 8, 87, 97. iii, 122,

157, 170, 1S7, 207.
Sparrow, Field, 134.
Sparrow, Hair. See Chipping Spar-
row.
Sparrow, Song, 39, *4i, 120, 131,

135. 187.
Sparrow, Tree, 188, 209, 215.
Sparrow, Vesper, 107, 134.
Sjiarrow, White-Throated, 120, 187.
Starling, European. The. 212, *2i4,

217.
Swallows, riie, 46, 51, 157, 173.
Swallow, Bank, 42, *^h.

Swallow, Barn, *$2, 190.
Swallow, Chininev. See Swift.
Swallow, Tree, 48.
Swift, C'himney, *5o, 51, iu8, 143,
17J. lyo.

>o, 87, 95.

')')•

Tailor-bird, 52.
Tanagcr. Scarlet

176.
Terns, The. 42. 102, 105.
Terns, Sootv, 149.
Thistle-bird. See Anieriran (iold-

Hnch.
Thrasher. Brown, 17^, 185, 210,

218.
Thrushes, The, 10, 13. 58, 134, 157,

176.
Thrush, Brown, European, 217.
Thrush, (iold-erow ned, 54.
Thrush, Hermit, 120, 133.
Thrush, Wood. 13, 134, 145.
Titmouse, Tufted, 13, 16, 50, 190.
Turkey, Wild, 81.

Vireos, The, 57, 79, 105, 174.
\ ireo. Red-eyed, 120.
\'ireo. White-eyed, *jz.
N'ultures, The, *198, 200.
N'ulture, Turkey, 76, 109.

Warblers, The, 15. 57. 144, 174,

'77-
Warbler, Blackburnian, 96.
Warbler, (Jround. 185.
Warbler. Parula, 54.
WarbUr, Redstart, 96.
Warbler, Yellow, 57, *6o, *6i.
Wa.xwing, Cedar. Frontispiece. *4,

6, 10, II, 148, 1 59, *i93.
Whip-poor-will, ^94, 102, 174.
Woodcock, 77, 105, *iro, 185, 216.
Woodpeckers, The, 13, 48, 79, 96,

129, 179, 203.

Woodpecker, Downy. i(), S2, S5,

130, 180, *iSi.
Woodpecker, Hairy, 16, 130, 180.

223

Index

Woodpecker, Red-headed, ift, 150, Wrtn, Hi)ii«e, 7, 16. 48. *iii. sS. 89.

iSu. 115, i}4. *'y<).

Wiiuilpfcker, \'tllii\> -\viiii;eil. Sie Wrtn, Mar'li, 54. '"s,

P'lii'kcr. Wren, Winter, 14(1.
Wren-i, Tlie, 17(1, lyo.

Wren, C"arolin:i, 136. ; ^elliin-tliroat, Maryland, 8y, 136.

•I

224

■I b

' •if^;-.yf *^-t^^*^