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BIOLOGY
U1RA1Y
BIRDCRAFT
PLATE I.
^
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BIRDCRAFT
A FIELD BOOK OF TWO HUNDRED SONG
GAME, AND WATER BIRDS
BY
WITH FULL-PAGE PLATES CONTAINING 128 BIRDS IN THE
NATURAL COLOURS, AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS
gotk
MACMILLAN AND CO.
AND LONDON
1895
All rights reserved
MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT
AUTHOR OF " THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE "
BIOLOGY LIBRARY
COPYRIGHT, 1895,
BY MACMILLAN AND CO.
J. S. Gushing & Co. Berwick & Smith .
Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
3.
A RECORD OF HAPPY FIELD DAYS
ABOUT HOME
\VALT5STEiN, FAIRFIELD, CONN,
MARCH 1, 1895
M85665
HAST THOU NAMED ALL THE BIRDS WITHOUT A GUN?
EMERSON.
AND THE BIRDS SANG ROUND HIM, O'ER HIM,
"DO NOT SHOOT US, HIAWATHA! "
SANG THE OPECHEE, THE ROBIN,
SANG THE BLUEBIRD, THE OWAISSA,
"DO NOT SHOOT US, HIAWATHA! "
LONGFELLOW.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
TO THE READER xi
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS :
THE SPRING SONG 3
THE BUILDING OF THE NEST 11
THE WATER-BIRDS 21
BIRDS OP AUTUMN AND WINTER 25
HOW TO NAME THE BIRDS 35
SYNOPSIS OF FAMILIES A_.^ 4 . 43
BIRD BIOGRAPHIES:
PERCHING SONG-BIRDS . >,-".! . * , 57
PERCHING SONGLESS BIRDS. . . .' 182
BIRDS OP PREY '**} ^
PIGEONS, QUAILS, GROUSE . . . . .*.'. . . . 225
SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS . . ... , . 231
SWIMMING BIRDS 255
KEY TO THE BIRDS 281
INDEX OF ENGLISH NAMES 309
INDEX OF LATIN NAMES . . 315
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLATE I.
1. Bluebird/
2. Long-billed Marsh Wren.
3. Hermit Thrush.
4. Winter Wren.
5. Carolina Wren.
G. Wood-Thrush.
7. Golden-crowned Kinglet,
Female.
Frontispiece
8. Golden-crowned Kinglet,
Male.
9. American Robin.
10. Catbird.
11. House Wren.
12. Indigo Bunting.
13. Brown Thrasher.
OPP. PAGE
PLATE II.
1. Yellow-breasted Chat.
2. Chestnut-sided Warbler.
:j. Black-throated Green War-
bler.
4. Water Thrush.
5. Bay-breasted Warbler.
0. Yellow Warbler.
7. Hooded Warbler.
8. Myrtle Warbler.
9. Black-throated Blue War
bier, Female.
10. Black-throated Blue War-
bler, Male.
11. Blue-winged Warbler.
12. Yellow-throated Vireo.
13. Maryland Yellow-throat.
14. Worm-eating Warbler.
15. Magnolia Warbler.
1C. Kentucky Warbler.
17. Parula Warbler.
18. American Goldfinch.
19. Ovenbird.
PLATE III 125
Humming-
1. Ruby-throated
bird, Male.
2. Ruby-throated Humming-
bird, Female.
3. Nighthawk.
4. Cliff Swallow.
5. Tree Swallow (White-bel-
lied Swallow), Male.
6. Tree Swallow (White-bel-
lied Swallow), Female.
7. Bank Swallow.
8. Chimney Swift.
9. Whip-poor-will.
10. Barn Swallow.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLATE IV
1. Cardinal. j 9.
2. Orchard Oriole, Male.
3. Orchard Oriole, Female. 10.
4. Blackburnian Warbler.
5. Baltimore Oriole, Male. 11.
C. Baltimore Oriole, Female, i 12.
7. Rose-breasted Grosbeak, 13.
Female. 14.
8. Rose-breasted Grosbeak,
Male.
OPP. PAGE
. 137
Red-winged Blackbird,
Male.
Red-winged Blackbird,
Female.
American Redstart.
Scarlet Tanager.
Pine Grosbeak.
American Crossbill.
PLATE V.
151
1. Red-eyed Vireo.
2. White-crowned Sparrow.
3. Pine Siskin (Pine Finch).
4. Vesper Sparrow.
5. Chipping Sparrow.
6. Tree Sparrow.
7. Cedar Wax wing.
8. Grasshopper Sparrow.
9. Snowflake.
10. Towhee.
11. Song Sparrow.
12. Field Sparrow.
13. White-throated Sparrow.
14. Junco.
15. Purple Finch.
16. Fox Sparrow.
PLATE VI
1. Mourning Dove, Male.
2. Mourning Dove, Female.
3. Passenger Pigeon, Male.
4. Cowbird, Male.
5. Cowbird, Female.
0. Purple Crackle.
7. Belted Kingfisher, Male.
171
8. Belted Kingfisher (young).
9. Meadowlark.
10. Bobolink, Male.
11. Bobolink, Female.
12. Blue Jay, Male.
13. Blue Jay, Female.
PLATE VII
1. Yellow-billed Cuckoo.
2. Olive-sided Flycatcher.
3. Northern Shrike.
4. Phoebe.
183
5. Acadian Flycatcher.
0. Black-billed Cuckoo.
7. Kingbird.
8. Horned Lark.
PLATE VIII. . . 197
1. White-breasted Nuthatch,
Male.
2. White-breasted Nuthatch,
Female.
3. Yellow-bellied Sapsucker.
4. Chickadee.
5. Hairy Woodpecker.
6. Red-headed Woodpecker.
7. Flicker, Male.
8. Flicker, Female.
9. Downy Woodpecker.
10. Brown Creeper.
11. Red-breasted Nuthatch.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLATE IX. 1
1. Red-shouldered Hawk.
2. Great Horned Owl.
3. Short-eared Owl.
4. American Barn Owl.
OPP. PAGE
. 206
5. Barred Owl.
6. American Long-eared Owl.
7 and 8. Screech Owls.
PLATE X. . "- ; '
1. Sharp-shinned Hawk.
2. Marsh Hawk.
8. American Sparrow Hawk.
4. American Osprey (Fish
Hawk).
215
5. Red-tailed Hawk.
6. Bald Eagle.
7. Cooper's Hawk.
PLATE XL .
1. Knot.
2. Wilson's Snipe.
3. Golden Plover.
4. Greater Yellow Legs.
5. Bob-white, Quail.
6. Bob-white, Quail, Female.
7. Bob-white, Quail (young).
227
8. Semipalmated Sandpiper.
9. Bartramian Sandpiper.
10. Woodcock.
11. Semipalmated Plover (Ring
Plover).
12. Ruffed Grouse, Partridge.
245
1. Clapper Rail.
2. Virginia Rail.
3. Black-crowned NightHeron.
4. American Bittern.
5. Great Blue Heron.
6. Sora (Carolina Rail).
7. Florida Gallinule.
8. Green Heron.
PLATE XIII. . . .
1. Turnstone.
2. Killdeer Plover.
3. Canada Goose.
4. Piping Plover.
5. Horned Grebe
summer).
250
(male
6. Horned Grebe, Female.
7. Horned Grebe (winter).
8. Black-bellied Plover.
9. Knot (winter).
10. Loon.
PLATE XIV. .... .
1. Wood Duck.-
2. Mallard.
3. Redhead.
4. American Merganser.
5. Brant.
255
6. Bufflehead.
7. Old Squaw.
8. Pintail.
9. Canvasback.
10. Black Duck.
1 In the case of the Hawks and Owls, the measurements given are of the females, as
they are larger than the males.
XI
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLATE XV. .
1. Herring Gull (summer).
2. Herring Gull (young, in
winter).
3. Laughing Gull (young).
4. Common Tern.
OPP. PACK
. 269
5. Herring Gull (winter).
0. Bonaparte's Gull.
7. Dovekie.
8. Wilson's Petrel.
The birds contained in these plates have been adapted and grouped
from Audubon's "Birds of America," Dr. Warren's "Birds of Penn-
sylvania," De Kay's "Ornithology of the State of New York," and
from Mr. J. L. Kidgway's illustrations to Dr. A. K. Fisher's "Hawks
and Owls of the United States."
xii
TO THE READER.
Do you want to know the birds and call them by their
familiar names ? You may do so if you will, provided you
have keen eyes and a pocket full of patience; patience is
the salt of the bird-catching legend.
The flowers silently await your coming, from the wayside
wild rose to the shy orchid entrenched in the depths of the
cool bog, and you may examine and study them at your
leisure. With the birds it is often only a luring call, a
scrap of melody, and they are gone. Yet in spite of this
you may have a bowing and even a speaking acquaintance
with them.
The way is plain for those who wish to study the science
of ornithology and have time to devote to the pursuit ; its
literature is exhaustive, and no country offers a more inter-
esting variety of species than our own. But for the novice,
who wishes to identify easily the birds that surround him,
to recognize their songs and give them their English names,
the work at first seems difficult. There are many scien-
tific terms, containing their own definitions, that lose force
and exactness when translated into simpler language, requir-
ing a dozen words to give the meaning of one. There is a
comforting fact, however, for the novice, that while scientific
nomenclature has been and is constantly changing, the com-
mon names, that science also recognizes, remain practically
unchanged. Our Bluebird bears the same name as in Audu-
bon's day, and the Meadowlark, who has been moved from
one genus to another, is called the Meadowlark still.
xiii
TO THE READER.
In speaking of the common names of birds, I would draw
a sharp line between the English names recognized by the
text books and the American Ornithologists' Union, and the
purely local titles. Local names, whether of flowers or
birds, are often a hindrance to exact knowledge, because
they frequently stand for more than one object. For
example, I have heard the term Redbird applied alike to
the Baltimore Oriole, Scarlet Tanager, and Cardinal ; but a
knowledge of the recognized common names of a bird will
enable the student to find its species in any of the manuals.
Allowing that you wish to name the birds, do not be held
back by minor considerations. You are not to be excluded
from the pleasures of this acquaintance even if you are
obliged to spend most of your life in the city. The bird-
quest will lend a new attraction to your holidays, and you
will be led toward the nearest park or along the front of
river or harbour. Bradford Torrey gives, in his inimitable
way, an account of the birds (some seventy species) which
he saw on Boston Common, and Frank M. Chapman lists
one hundred and thirty odd species which he has seen in
Central Park, New York. 1
The museums also are open to you, and their treasury of
skilfully preserved birds offers the advantage of close
inspection. The taxidermist's art has reached great per-
fection lately, and in the place of bird mummies, stuffed and
mounted each in the stiff attitude of its neighbour, without
the tribal marks of pose or expression, as much alike as
the f our-and-twenty blackbirds that were baked in the pie,
we now see the birds as individuals in their homes. The
American Museum of Natural History, New York, has sixty
such bird groups which show the Chimney Swift, nesting
on his little bracket, the Ruffed Grouse rustling through
the leaves with her tiny brown chicks, the Baltimore Oriole
and its swinging nest, or the Black Duck guarding its bed
i Mr. Chapman, Assistant Curator of the Department of Birds and Mam-
mals of the Museum of Natural History, has recently completed an excel-
lent Visitor's Guide to the Museum's Collection of Birds, found within fifty
miles of New York City, in which all birds seen in Central Park are spe-
cially noted.
xiv
TO THE READER.
of marsh-grass. We Americans have not yet thoroughly
acquired the habit of regarding the museums as great
picture books, and yet such they are, and in this connection
I wish to express my gratitude to Dr. J. A. Allen, Curator
of the Department of Birds and Mammals of the American
Museum of Natural History, for much valuable assistance
and advice in connection with this book.
If you are not a dweller in a large city, but live in a
suburban town with a few shrubs in your yard or a vine
over your door, you have the wherewithal to entertain bird
guests who will talk to you so cheerily that you will soon
be led to discover that there is a lane or a bit of woods
within walking distance, where you may hear more of such
delightful conversation. Read the " Bird Songs about Wor-
cester," l by the late Harry Leverett Nelson, a graphic as
well as charming account of the birds to be found in the
neighbourhood of a rural city, and you will be encouraged.
And you who through circumstance, rather than choice
perhaps, live in the real country and, as yet, feel the isola-
tion more than the companionableness of Nature, who love
the flowers in a way, but find them irresponsive, I beg of
you to join this quest. You will discover that you have
neighbours enough, friends for all your moods, silent, melo-
dious, or voluble; friends who will gossip with you, and
yet bear no idle tales.
If you wish to go on this pleasant quest, you must take
with you three things, a keen eye, a quick ear, and loving
patience. The vision may be supplemented by a good field-
glass, and the ear quickened by training, but there is no
substitute for intelligent patience. A mere dogged persist-
ency will not do for the study of the living bird, and it is
to the living bird in his love-songs, his house-building, his
haunts, and his migrations, that I would lead you. The
gun that silences the bird voice, and the looting of nests,
should be left to the practised hand of science ; you have
no excuse for taking life, whether actual or embryonic, as
1 Boston : Little, Brown & Co.
XV
TO THE READER.
your very ignorance will cause useless slaughter, and the
egg-collecting fever of the average boy savours more of the
greed of possession than of ornithological ardour.
Finally, whoever you are who read these pages, spare for
me a little of your hoard of the same patience with which
you are to study the birds, if, while striving to lead you
through the wood-path, I often stumble or retrace my steps.
M. O. W.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.
THE SPRING SONG.
THE BUILDING OF THE NEST.
THE WATER-BIRDS.
BIRDS OF AUTUMN AND WINTER.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPt^RS.
THE SPRING SONG.
What tidings hath the Swallow heard
That bids her leave the lands of summer
For woods and fields where April yields
Bleak welcome to the blithe newcomer ? BOURDILLON.
THE trees are leafless, and there are snow patches in nooks
and corners ; the air is laden with chilly gusts, but at noon a
little softness creeps into it; the days, though gray, hold
twelve hours of light, and the vernal equinox is at hand.
Come to the window, my friend, you who are going to
spend some days, weeks, or months upon the bird-quest.
You say that you see nothing but the bare trees, not even
"the sun making dust and the grass growing green," like
sister Anne in the fairy tale. Open your window, or better
still, go into the porch, for a procession is soon to pass, and
you must hear the music. Listen ! on the branch of the oak
where the leaves still cling is the bugler, the Song Sparrow,
calling through the silence, " They come ! They come ! They
come ! Prepare the way."
Then presently, instead of tramping feet, you will hear
the rustling of the innumerable wings of the bird army.
Happy for you if it is a long time in passing and if a large
part of it camps for the season. Usually it sends forward a
few scouts, and then a company or two, before the brigade,
clad in its faultless dress uniform, sweeps on, singing the
greatest choral symphony of Nature, the Spring Song.
There are many reasons, both of fact and of fancy, why it
is best to begin the study of birds in the spring. The
3
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.
untrained eye becomes gradually accustomed to its new
vocation^ before it is overtaxed. The matter of eyesight is
\o tlie; i^r^t importance in the study of the living bird. Is
your sight sufficiently good to allow you to exercise it in this
i sp&yfc .The trijc^s tb.at you study will not be in the hand,
1 'but in the b\islu
You may be accustomed to an out-door life, you may
comprehend at a glance all the details of a landscape, or
be able to detect a particular flower fields away; but in
the quest of a bird which is oftentimes on the wing, your
eyes will be obliged to distinguish certain details in a mov-
ing object backgrounded by a dazzling sky, and at the next
moment refocus, to discover a bird, with perhaps very dull
plumage, who is eluding you by circling in the black shadows
of the pines. Thus you will be either peering into dim
recesses or facing the strongest light twenty times to a single
chance of seeing a bird in a clear light, with his plumage
accentuated by a suitable background. If you squint and
cannot face the sun, you must study birds in the museums,
or learn to know them by their songs alone; a field-glass
will lengthen the sight, but it will not give the ability to
endure light.
Many people think that a bird wears the same plumage
and sings the same songs all the year round, and expect to
identify it by some easy and inflexible rule, which shall
apply to all seasons and circumstances, but this is im-
possible.
When the birds come to us in spring they wear their
perfect and typical plumage and are in the best voice, as
befits those who are going courting. The male wears the
most showy, or at least the most distinctly marked coat, and
is generally slightly larger than the female, except in the
case of Owls and a few others, where the female is the
larger. In many families there is very little variation
between the colouring of the male and female, and at a short
distance you would probably notice none, except that the
female is the paler of the two. But sometimes the differ-
ence is so marked that the novice invariably mistakes the
4
THE SPRING SONG.
female for a bird of another species ; hence the importance
of describing the plumage of both sexes.
The Scarlet Tanager has a green mate (there is great wis-
dom in this a brilliant brooding bird would betray the
location of the nest); the female Hummingbird lacks the
ruby throat of her spouse ; and the wife of the sleek black,
white, and buff Bobolink wears sober br&wn. When the
birds arrive in the spring, these colour distinctions are
marked ; but after the nesting time, which occurs mostly in
May and June, a fresh complication arises. The young
birds on leaving the nest, though fully grown perhaps and
capable of strong flight, often wear hybrid feathers in which
the characteristics of both parents are mingled. Soon after
this time the summer moulting takes place, for the majority
of birds moult twice a year. August is the time of this
moulting. The jubilant love-song ceases, and the birds,
dishevelled and moping, keep well in the shelter of the trees
or retreat to the woods, as they are weakened and their
power of flight is diminished. After the moulting comes
another disturbing element, not only for the novice, but for
those well versed in bird ways ; with many birds the colours
of the spring plumage are either wholly changed or greatly
modified, and though the song may be in a measure renewed
for a brief season, it is infrequent and not always true. The
young birds are now associating with the old and adding
their attempts at warbling, so that I think the snares that
lie in the way of beginning the study of Song-birds after
midsummer are quite evident.
The male Bobolink, after moulting, becomes brown like
the female ; the American Goldfinch, a late moulter, turns a
dull olive ; the Bluebird fades and takes a rusty hue ; many
Warblers lose their identifying bands and streaks while the
Baltimore Oriole keeps his flaming feathers.
After this moulting the bird's life as an individual ceases
for a season ; he is no longer swayed by sex, but by the flock-
ing impulse of self-preservation, and in this case it is not
always birds of a feather that flock together.
In the early spring, when the relaxing touch of the sun is
5
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.
felt, the second moulting occurs, and the feathers that have
borne the wear and tear of winter give place to the fresh
new coat, and the bird throat swells with the Spring Song.
From a residential standpoint, we have four distinct
grades of birds to consider:
I. The summer residents : Those birds which, coming to
us in the spring, rear their young, and after shifting
about somewhat in late summer, retreat more or less
southward for the winter.
II. The residents: Comprising those species which are
represented by individuals all the year round.
III. The winter residents : The birds who are inhabitants of
boreal regions, breeding beyond the northern border
of the United States, coming only to us in winter,
and retiring northward at the time of the general
upward migration.
IV. The migrants : Birds that are with us for a few weeks
in spring, en route from the south to their more
northern breeding haunts, and are also visible for a
similar period during the return trip in autumn. We
may class with these the casual visitors that appear
for a brief visit either summer or winter.
The two movements of bird life in spring and fall are
known as the great migrations, some birds being plentiful
in spring and quite rare in the autumn, and vice versa, as
the path chosen for the upward and downward trip may not
be the same. The individuals belonging to these classes will
be specified in turn, and they are mentioned here to show
you that if you do not begin the bird-quest in spring, in time
to meet the army of migrants, you may miss some of the
most interesting species.
Conspicuous among the birds that lodge with us in April
and May, letting us hear their song for a brief period, is the
great Fox Sparrow, the White-throated and White-crowned
Sparrows, the group of lovely Warblers, and, rarest of all,
the Hermit Thrush, whose heavenly notes of invocation, if
once heard, are never forgotten.
THE SPRING SONG.
If you are ready for this quest when the sun crosses the
equinox the 21st of March, you will be in good time, and
your labours will be lightened by studying the birds as they
come one by one, hearing each voice in a solo, before all have
gathered in late May and individual notes blend in the
chorus. In this locality there is very little general upward
movement before the vernal equinox, for the weather is too
capricious. A few Song Sparrows and Bluebirds begin to
sing, but the Yellowbirds that have wintered with us are
still wearing their old coats, and have not broken into song.
Last spring (1894) I noted in my diary the return of the
Song Sparrows March 5, but the flocks of Bluebirds and
Robins did not come until the 13th, when a flock of a hun-
dred or more Fox Sparrows also arrived, and the White-
throated Sparrows followed them.
The birds oftentimes arrive singly or by twos or threes,
and then again suddenly in great flocks. One afternoon
there may not be a White-throat in sight, the next morning
they will be feeding upon the ground like a drift of brown
leaves. Almost all birds migrate at night, and every dawn
will show you some new arrival, pluming and drying his
feathers in the first rays of the sun. Birds who depend
upon insect diet, Lke the Phoebe, the commonest of the fly-
catchers, may arrive too soon, before insect life has quick-
ened, and suffer much through their miscalculation. Often
the appearance of individuals of a species does not indicate
the beginning of the general return, as they may be birds
that have not gone far away, but have merely been roving
about all winter.
From the last of March until the first of June the spring
migration is in full swing, some of the earlier birds to arrive
will have passed on, before the Tanagers and Black-polls,
the latest of the Warblers, appear. The last week of May the
Spring Song is at its height ; let us look at the order in which
the singers begin and end their daily music.
You must be up in the long twilight that precedes dawn,
if you wish to hear the little precentor the Chipping.
Sparrow give the signal on his shrill pitch pipe. Then
7
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.
the Song Sparrow sounds his reveille of three notes and a
roulade " Maids, maids, maids, put your kettle-ettle on."
The Robin answers with his clarion notes, and the Bluebird,
mildly plaintive, seems to regret that the quiet night is
past, and sighs " Dear, dear, think of it, think of it."
Then the various Swallows begin their twitterings, and the
Chimney Swift redoubles his winged pursuit of insects, and
the Purple Martins, rising in pairs, coquette in mid-air, and
their cheerful warble seems to drop from the clouds. As it
becomes light, the Phoebe joins his " Pewit, phoebe-a," with
the Wood Pewee's "Pewee, pewee peer," and the Field
Sparrow whistles and trills somewhat in the key of the
Chipping Sparrow. Then up from the meadow wells the
song of the Bobolink, our only bird that rivals the English
Lark in singing and soaring, pouring out its delicious melody
with virile fervour, while in the same field the Meadowlark
rings his bell-like " Spring o' the year, spring o' the year ! "
and the Indigo Bunting lisps from the briars.
One by one, the Oriole, the Song and Wood Thrushes, the
Mourning Dove, Catbird, Towhee, Wrens, Warblers, Chat,
and the obstreperous Yireos chime in. These are the birds
that you may hear in your garden and the near-by meadows.
Down in the lowlands the Red-winged Blackbird " flutes his
okalee," the Crows keep up an incessant cawing, and in the
woods between these lands and the marshes, the Herons
cry; while from the marshes themselves the Snipe call.
The flocking Sandpipers " peep " from the beach edge, and
the migrating Ducks call as they settle in the flags.
Above the inland woods the Nighthawk, the Whip-poor-
will's kinsman, skirling, circles a few times before hiding
from day. There are Hawk cries, as Cooper's Hawk (the
dreaded chicken-killer) bears a tender morsel to her nest-
lings already well fledged, who are in the top of the tall
hickory, and the Quail whistles " Bob- white ! Poor Bob-
white ! " the Ruffed Grouse clucks henlike, and the Wood-
cock calls like his brother Snipe.
It is in these woods, within sound of running water, that
you may hear the Veery, though he is not so much the bird
8
THE SPRING SONG.
of dawn as of twilight, and in this same spot some day the
Hermit Thrush may give a rehearsal for your private ear, of
the music with which he will soon thrill the northern woods.
This is the Matin Song. When it ceases, you must watch
for the individual birds as they go to and fro, feeding or
building, or perching on some favourite twig to sing, either
to their mates or from pure exultation. From nine o'clock
in the morning until five in the afternoon, the principal
singers are the Bobolink, Meadowlark, Vireos; the Red-
start, who declares that every morsel he swallows is " Sweet,
sweet, sweeter ! " the Black-throated Green Warbler, who
flashes his yellow feathers calling, " Will you co-ome, will
you co-ome, will you?" the sprightly Maryland Yellow-
throat, who almost beckons as he dashes about laughing,
" Follow me, follow me " ; the Baltimore Oriole, who alter-
nately blows his mellow horn or complains querulously ; and
the Song Sparrow, who sings equally at all times.
Towards five o'clock the Evensong begins, and the Purple
Finch, perching in the elm top, warbles in continuous bursts
" List to me, list to me, hear me, and I'll tell you, you,
you," each peal being more vigorous than the last. The
Wood Thrushes take up their harp-like "Moli Uoli-, aeo-
lee-lee," the Vesper Sparrow tunes, the birds of morning
follow, one by one ; but there are new voices that we did
not hear in the matinal that continue after the chorus is
hushed the Eose-breasted Grosbeak, the Veery, and the
Whip-poor-will.
The Veery rings his echo notes in the morning also, but
his evensong is the best ; and, as the dusk deepens, his notes
have a more solemn quality. The Grosbeak has a sweet,
rounded, warbling song that it is difficult to render in sylla-
bles intelligently, but when you hear it in the twilight you
will know it, because it is unlike anything else. The Mock-
ingbird is not heard freely as a night singer in this latitude,
but further south he gives his real song only to the night
wind ; not his mocking, jeering ditty of squeaks and cat-
calls, but his natural heart-song; and when you hear it, you
may listen for the martial note of the Cardinal, who seems
9
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.
to tell the hours, adding to each " All's well." Then the
Whip-poor-will calls, and the Owls answer, hooting, laugh-
ing, purring, according to the specific note.
When you go through garden, lane, and wood, on your
happy quest, circling the marshes that will not yield you
foothold, remember that if you wish to hear the Spring Song
and identify the singers, you must yourself be in tune, and
you must be alert in keeping the record, lest the troop slip
by through the open doorway of the trees, leaving you to
regret your carelessness all the year.
As you listen to the song and look at the birds, many will
disappear, and you will know that these are the migrants
who have gone to their various breeding haunts ; and that
those who are busy choosing their building sites, and are
carrying straw, clay and twigs, are the summer residents.
Then you must glide quietly among the trees to watch the
next scene of the bird year the building of the nest
which is the motive of the Spring Song, and you will feel
that in truth
" Hard is the heart that loveth nought
In May."
10
THE BUILDING OF THE NEST.
Know'st thou what wove yon woodbird's nest
Of leaves, and feathers from her breast ? EMERSON.
MAY and June are the nesting months. Some impatient
Bluebirds and Robins begin in April, and the lonely Owls
and larger Hawks breed even in February and March, while,
on the other hand, the Goldfinches and Cedar Waxwings
wait until July ; and other birds, who raise several broods
in a season, like the Robins, Sparrows, Swallows, and Wrens,
continue laying through July and straggle into August, but
the universal song and nesting belong to May and June.
In early May the singing is wildly spontaneous, the birds
are unguarded in their movements and constantly show
themselves ; but when they have mated, a sense of responsi-
bility comes over the gay minstrels, and they become more
wary. The soberly clad wife cautions secrecy ; there is so
much to discuss that must be whispered only in the echo-
less depths of the branches, for the great question of the
season, the location of the nest, is to be settled, and quickly,
too.
There are many things that the bird couple have to con-
sider : the home must be within convenient distance of the
proper food supply ; there must be some protection from
sun and rain, even if it is only a few leaves, or a tuft of
grass ; and then loom up the enemies to be avoided, birds
of prey, squirrels, snakes, and man. Of the four, the birds
seem to dread man the least, and are constantly appealing
to him, and taking him into their confidence as a protector
against the others. Poor little birds ! they do not realize
that man with all his higher intelligence is really the most
relentless of all. The other enemies kill for food only, man
kills for food casually, for decorative feathers wantonly, and
11
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.
for scientific research, plausibly, with the apology that the
end and aim is knowledge. Are not the lives of hundreds
of song-birds a high price for the gain of a doubtful new
species, which only causes endless discussion as to whether
it really is a species or merely a freak ? One ornithologist
proudly makes the record that, in the space of less than
three weeks, he shot fifty-eight Rose-breasted Grosbeaks,
to ascertain their average article of diet, and this slaughter
was in the breeding season ! There is also the stubbornly
ignorant farmer, who measures only by dollars and cents
and sets his hand against all birds, because half a dozen
kinds in the excess of their friendliness invite themselves
to supper in his berry patch, and think that no perch is so
suitable for their morning singing as a cherry tree in June.
Now is the time to study all the best attributes of bird
life, the period when we may judge the birds by our own
standard, finding that their code of manners and morality
nearly meets our own. We see them as individuals having
the same diversity of character as people of different nations,
and it is in the homes that we can best see their ruling
instincts. Each bird now has a mind of his own and devel-
ops his own ideas. He is master of many arts.
If you wish to see all this, habit yourself in sober colours,
wear soft, well-tried shoes, and something on your head that
shall conceal rather than betray your presence, Mrs. Olive
Thorne Miller's leaf-covered hat is a clever invention. Do
you realize how large you appear to the bird, whose eyes
have twenty-five times the magnifying power of our own ?
Walk gently but naturally, do not step on dry branches, but
at the same time avoid a mincing gait. Have you not
noticed in the sick-room, that a light easy tread is far less
distracting than a fussy tiptoeing? Do not make sudden
motions, especially of the arms, a writer has said that birds
are much more afraid of man's arms than of man himself.
Go through the lanes where the bushes hedge and the
trees arch, thread between the clumps of crabs and briars
that dot waste pastures, watch every tree and vine in the
garden, skirt the hay meadows (their owners will hardly let
12
THE BUILDING OF THE NEST.
you tramp through them), for there will be Bobolinks in the
timothy. Best of all, swing a hammock in the old orchard,
and, lying in it, you will see and hear so much that, wonder-
ing greatly, you will agree with Burroughs when he says,
"I only know that birds have a language which is very
expressive and which is easily translatable into the human
tongue."
After watching the skill that builds the nest, it is dif-
ficult to overestimate the individual beauty of some of the
structures. Comparatively few, outside of the charmed cir-
cle, know the diversity of form and materials shown in nest
building, and the wonderful adaptability of both, by the
bird, to its special needs.
The length of time which a nest remains in use varies
with different birds. Burroughs says in the chapter on
Birds' Nests, in his perennial " Wake Robin," 1 " The birds
may be divided, with respect to this and kindred points, into
five general classes. First, those that repair or appropriate the
last year's nest, as the Wren, Swallow, Bluebird, Great-
crested Flycatcher, Owls, Eagles, Fish Hawks, and a few
others. Secondly, those that build anew each season, though
frequently rearing more than one brood in the same nest.
Of these the Phoebe-bird is a well-known example. Thirdly,
those that build a new nest for each brood, which includes
the greatest number of species. Fourthly, a limited number
that make no nest of their own, but appropriate the aban-
doned nests of other birds. Finally, those who use no nest
at all, but deposit their eggs in the sand, which is the case
with a large number of aquatic fowls."
Birds' nests are often regarded as merely aggregations of
sticks and straws twisted together more or less careless ly ;
on the whole, rather monotonous, dirty affairs. I know an
observant farmer who understands all the weather signs
and a great deal of woodcraft, and spends his year in the
pasture, field, brush lot, and woods ; but whose ideas of birds'
nests are purely conventional. He does not call any structure
1 " Wake Robin," by John Burroughs, Houghton, Mifflin & Co., Boston
and New York.
13
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.
a nest, unless it follows the pattern of a Robin's or Sparrow's.
I asked him one day if there were many kinds of nests in
his neighbourhood. " Wall/' he said, leaning on his axe (for
it was the wood-chopping season) and giving a reminiscent
gaze through -the brush, "there's plenty o' birds, but, bless
yer, not half on 'em makes any reg'lar sort o' nests. Sparrers
and Kobins does, an' Catbirds an' Crows ; but Swallers ony
makes mud-pies, an' Humbirds jest sets down right where-
ever they see a round o' moss on a branch, and the warmth
o' them makes the moss grow up a bit, but I don't call that
a nest. The Hangbird (Oriole) he strings up a bag in a
tree, an' them Bed-eyed Warblers (Vireos) hooks a mess
o' scraps in a twig fork, but those ain't real nests : an' tree-
mice (Nuthatches) don't have none at all, jest stuffs a few
feathers in a hole, I seen one to-day ; " and after turning
over his wood he produced an upright branch containing
the feather-lined bed of the White-breasted Nuthatch.
Spend a month on the bird-quest, or a week even, and
your eyes will be opened to the possibilities, and you will
become alive to the fact, that the feathered race has its
artisans the same as the human brotherhood. Weavers
whose looms antedate all man's inventions, masons, car-
penters, frescoers, decorators, and upholsterers, its skilled
mechanics, and shiftless, unskilled labourers, and its para-
sitic tramps, who house their young at the expense of others.
As for varied materials, hay, sticks, feathers, hair, moss,
bark, fur, hog-bristles, dandelion-down, mud, catkins, seed-
pods, lichens, paper, rags, yarn, and snake skins, are only
a part of the bird architect's list of usable things.
You must not hope to identify all the nests possible to
your locality in a single season, or even in three or four, but
be always on the watch. If you fail to see the birds build,
which is the easiest and surest way of knowing the nest,
when the autumn comes and the leaves fall away many
nests will be revealed in places where you never thought
they existed, and you will learn where to look another
season. If these nests are of marked types, you can iden-
tify them even in the autumn, and it will give you a new
14
THE BUILDING OF THE NEST.
interest in the waning season ; something to look for in the
naked woods, a motive for winter walks. Though many of
the frailer structures melt away or are torn down by high
winds, the more carefully woven ones often remain over the
winter.
On looking out one morning last January, after a night
when a light, thawing snow had been followed by a sharp
freeze, I was surprised and fascinated by the appearance
of an Oriole's nest which hung from an elm near the house,
and which had been invisible before. Its gray pocket was
brimful of soft snow, which was oozing out of the top like
foam, while the outside was coated with thin ice, which
accentuated the woven strands and hung down in fantastic
icicles scintillating in the sun.
Another winter day I was attracted by seeing a field-
mouse run from a tuft of grass at the root of a small bush,
and I found there a nest, presumably that of a Song Spar-
row, containing two Sparrow eggs and one belonging to the
Cowbird. The nest had evidently been abandoned on
account of the alien egg, and it made a convenient hiding-
place for the mouse, who had nibbled at the eggs and found
their contents dried away. In the autumn and winter you
may appropriate the nests you find, and examine and pull
them apart with a freedom which, if indulged in during the
spring or early summer, would give many a bird the heart-
ache and an added distrust of bipeds.
Do you remember the January entry in Thoreau's
journal? "Another bright winter's day, to the woods to
see what birds' nests' are made of."
Now if you are interested, awake, and clear-eyed, go out
as I have said, and I will lead you, figuratively, telling you
what you may find as a foretaste. Begin near at home ; go
through the garden first, then to the nearest field and the
bit of marsh-bordered wood. Do not go further than where
you may walk without ceremony or fuss. Never make a
laborious tour of the bird-quest, or think that you must live
in a tent remote from people, in order to name the majority
of our every-day birds.
15
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.
My first tramping-ground was the garden, enclosing eight
acres of varied land, flowers, brush, open, plenty of trees,
deciduous and evergreen, and a little pool of clear water.
During the seasons of which I have the record forty species
of birds have nested within its borders, and oftentimes many
pairs of the same species ; for example, as last year, when
the garden sheltered five pensile nests of the Eed-eyed
Vireo. These forty nests were located in the following
manner :
Robin : In vines, hedge, and trees.
Wood Thrush : Spruces, bushes.
Catbird : Syringa bushes, and other shrubs.
Bluebird : Hole in old tree and bird-house.
Wren : Little houses and in outbuildings.
Yellow Warbler : Apple tree and elder bushes.
Maryland Yellow-throat : Tall grass and bushes.
Chat : Barberry bush.
Eedstart: Spruces.
Tanager : Swamp oak.
Barn Swallow : Hay loft.
Martin : Bird-house.
Eed-eyed Vireo : Sugar-maple, apple tree, and birches.
White-eyed Vireo: Beech.
English Sparrow : Everywhere, until banished.
Purple Finch : Old quince-hedge.
Goldfinch : Sugar-maples.
Vesper Sparrow : Smoke-bush.
Grasshopper Sparrow : Under small spruce.
Song Sparrow : In many places, hedge, bushes, ground.
Chipping Sparrow : High in evergreens, also in shrubs.
Field Sparrow : Meadow-sweet bush.
Towhee : On ground under a wild grape tangle.
Cowbird : Eggs found in the nests of a dozen different birds, par lieu
larly the Song Sparrow's.
Orchard Oriole : Old apple tree.
Baltimore Oriole : Elms on lawn.
Crow : Top of spruce.
Kingbird : In pear tree.
Phoebe : On beams in shed, also on bracket supporting the porch.
Chimney Swift : In brick-chimney.
Hummingbird : Cedars, elm, beech, and high in a spruce.
Yellow-billed Cuckoo : Wild tangle of vines, etc.
16
THE BUILDING OF THE NEST.
Flicker : Sassafras and hickory.
Hairy Woodpecker: Hickory.
Mourning Dove : White pines.
Quail : Under a thick, wild hedge.
Screech Owl : Hollow sassafras.
Barred Owl (only once) : In a sycamore.
Cedar-bird : Old cherry tree.
You may add to these, as nests perfectly possible to
find, those of the birds of marshy-edged meadows, the
Bobolink, Meadowlark, and the Eed-winged Blackbird;
the Rose-breasted Grosbeak, nesting in bushy pastures ; the
White-bellied Swallow of bird-boxes and hollow trees ; the
Bank Swallow, who burrows holes in railroad cuts, river
and other sand-banks, where you may also discover the
Kingfisher's home. In the river and creek marshes you
will find the torch-shaped nests of the Long-billed Marsh-
wren and the tussock nests of the Sharp-tailed Finch and
the Seaside Sparrow. In swampy woods you may discover
a heronry, or at least some single nests of the Green Heron,
or the familiar Black-crowned Night Heron ; and, perhaps,
in some great tree leaning over the water you will see the
huge platform-nest of the Osprey. The Marsh Hawks,
Least Bittern, and Marsh Owls choose similar locations,
and in the heart of the fresh-water marshes the Clapper
and Virginia Rails, the Spotted Sandpiper and Woodcock,
breed, though the latter more frequently nests in dry woods
near a swamp.
Inland woods, especially if traversed by a stream, will
yield countless nests : on the ground, the Veery's, the Oven-
bird's hut, and the Ruffed Grouse's heap of leaves ; above, in
the trees, nests of the Blue Jay, Yellow-throated and War-
bling Vireo, and the White-breasted Nuthatch. In drier
woods the Blue- winged Warbler builds upon the ground;
and the Black-throated Green Warbler nests in the hem-
locks ; while in high rocky woods you will see the eggs of
the Whip-poor-will and Nighthawk, lying in depressions of
the ground, and with your glass discern the nests of Hawks
and Owls in the tree tops.
c 17
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.
" I am poorly situated ; there are no birds in my vicinity
except Robins and Wrens," you say. Nonsense ! it is impos-
sible. You make me feel as Dean Hole, the genial ecclesias-
tical rose-grower did when certain lazy amateur gardeners,
after admiring his rose garden, said that they could not
grow roses because their soil was unsuitable, exclaiming,
" Oh, what a garden yours is for roses ! Old Mr. Drone, our
gardener, tells us he never saw such soil as yours nor so bad
a soil as ours for roses." And the Dean dryly exclaimed,
" Herein lies a fact in horticulture, Mr. Drone always has
a bad soil."
Get the best possible results from your limited area, and
if it is anything better than a back yard, you need not be
discouraged. The difficulty with us Americans is that we
are accustomed to a limitless extent of country, and scram-
ble carelessly over it, in our amateur scientific investiga-
tions, as well as in other ways, instead of thoroughly
studying home first. If the English naturalists ranged as
wildly as we do, they would exhaust the island, and fall off
the edge in a month. White, of Selborne, has left us a
book that is classic, from his knowledge of one county, and
our Thoreau has given us the perfect literature of wood-
craft from his intimate knowledge of a comparatively small
area.
The first nest that you will probably find, and one that
will confront you at every turn, will be the Robin's. Com-
mon, rough in structure, and anything but pretty, it is a
type nevertheless ; being partly made of sticks and lined
with clay, it is a combination of carpentry and masonry.
The Wood Thrush also uses mud in a similar manner, but
builds more neatly. Sparrows you will find lodged every-
where, in the hedge, under bushes, by thick grass tufts,
their individual nests being so much alike that it is diffi-
cult to distinguish them apart. Dried grass and fine roots
are the chief materials used by them, with the exception of
the little Chipping Sparrow, who combines horsehair and
pine-needles with the grasses, which, together with its
delicacy and small size, identify the nest.
18
THE BUILDING OF THE NEST.
Next conies the Catbird, with a twig lattice, and the
Wren, with a feather-lined pile in the little house provided
for her ; or, lacking the house, she uses an old hat or boot
leg, instead. The Thrasher chooses a stout bush, and tosses
together a bunch of grape-vine bark, sedge grass, and strong
tendrils, in a way to correspond with his bravura, music.
The Purple Finch sets his large, sparrow-like nest in a high
bush ; you must visit it often, for you will always hear good
music close by.
The Flicker utilizes a soft place in the swamp maple,
boring his nest hole with great accuracy ; the Yellow War-
bler and Hummingbird strip the soft wool that wrapped
the big, juicy Osmunda ferns in their winter sleep. The
Warbler mixes the fernwool with cobwebs and milkweed
flax, taking it to the apple tree; while the Hummingbird
bears his load to a mossed cedar branch, and rounds a two-
inch nest, blending it with the- branch until it looks merely as
if lichens had encrusted a raised knot hole. Next you will
admire the work of the weavers, the Orioles and Vireos.
The darned basket of the Orchard Oriole is, perhaps, set
in the strawberry-apple tree, as if to catch its early fruit ; he
makes his beak point his shuttle ; as Coues says, antedating
Elias Howe, who invented a needle with the eye at the
point ; and the Baltimore Oriole treads flax from old milk-
weed stalks, gathering his string far and near. The Balti-
more Oriole builds too well to work quickly ; and the pouch,
sometimes eight inches deep, swings freely and firmly from
its branch, so placed as to be safe from above and below.
The Vireos make a little pocket (like a stocking heel set
between the knitting-needles) which is fastened firmly in
the fork of a small branch. Woven into it are papers,
scraps of hornets' nests, and flakes of decayed wood. The
Solitary Vireo adds hair and fur to his, and the Eed-eyed
Vireo, the wings of moths and other insects, cocoons, and
snake skins. It was in the nest of this Vireo, that Hamil-
ton Gibson found twisted a bit of newspaper, whose single
legible sentence read: "... have in view the will of
God."
19
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.
To go into much detail now may confuse you wholly, and
you will find that every bird has a description of its haunts,
nest, and eggs, in its particular division ; this sketch is only
to show you the possibilities. There is one more nest that
I must mention, the prettiest thing that you may ever
hope to find when, on the quest, the lace hammock of the
Parula Warbler. You must search for it early in June, in
remote but rather thin woods, but never very far away from
running water; often it is on a branch that overhangs a
stream. Sometimes it will be on a slender birch twig and
sometimes on the terminal spray of the hemlock-spruce. It
is suspended lightly, like a watch-pocket with the opening
on one side, and made of a delicate lace-work from the gray-
white usnea moss, that grows on old trees. The whole
fabric swaying in the breeze is the work of the two little
birds with slate-blue backs and yellow breasts, who are
watching you so anxiously. -No, you must not take it now ;
it will keep until they are through with it, for it is much
more durable than it appears.
The building of the nest will raise many questions in your
mind. Do both birds take part in building? Does the
female select the site and do the work and the male simply
supply her with materials ? Very pretty tales are told of
the rejection of unsuitable stuff by the particular wife of
a non-discriminating spouse and the consequent squabble.
Alack ! did not the labour question, as well as that of the
equality of the sexes, begin as near to Eden as the building
of the nest ? But in spite of this there are still nests !
20
THE WATER-BIRDS.
With mingled sound of horns and bells,
A far-heard clang, the Wild Geese fly,
Storm sent from Arctic moors and fells,
Like a great arrow through the sky. WHITTIER.
WHEN you think of the Water-birds, you say, perhaps,
that they are uninteresting, have no song, and inhabit
marshy and desolate places ; the Gulls are picturesque, to be
sure, but as for the others, Snipe, Eail, and Ducks, they are
only Game-birds and so much food, of a variety that does
not particularly suit your palate. This is because you have
regarded them as mere merchandise, and have never seen
or considered them as living birds, winging their way over
the lonely marshes and wind-swept beaches, clad in feathers
that blend in their hues the sky, the water, the mottled
sands of the shore, the bronzed splendour of the seaweeds,
and the opalescence that lines the sea-shell. Though in a
sense they are songless, their call notes are keyed in harmony
with the winds that they combat, and the creaking reeds that
hide their nests, and their signalling cries rise as distinctly
above the more melodious sounds of Nature as the whistle
of the distant buoy sounding above the surf.
The very remoteness of the Water-birds gives them a
charm for certain natures. They do not build in the garden
and come about your door craving attention ; you must not
only go half-way to meet them, but all the way, and that
too right cautiously. There is an invigorating spice of
adventure when the bird-quest tends shoreward, whether
it is the banks of a river or lake that furnishes shelter and
sustenance alike to the nesting bird and the restless migrant ;
or the shore of the sea with its possibilities and changing
moods, the sea that stretches infinitely on, ribbed by light-
21
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.
guarded reefs, where the Gulls flock and the Petrels dash
in the wake of cautious ships, its arms reaching landward
until the bay, where the Wild Ducks float, laps the shore,
where the Sandpipers patter ; and creeping on through the
land as a sluggish creek, traverses the marshes where the
Rail clamours about his half-floating nest, and finally ming-
ling with fresh downward currents loses its way among gaunt
trees, where the Herons and Bitterns build, and is absorbed
by some low, wood-girt meadow, where the last earth-filtered
drops make mud, from which the Snipe and Woodcock
probe their insect food, and give a deeper green to the
coarse grasses where the Plover pipes.
The Water-birds have another claim also upon your at-
tention ; you may study them in autumn and winter, and they
fill many gaps in the bird year by their presence at seasons
when the Land-birds are few. The majority of Water-
birds come to us as migrants, or as winter visitors : the
Herons, Bitterns, several of the Eails, a few Plovers, and
Sandpipers breed in our marshes, and the beautiful Wood
Duck nests in the river copse. When these birds breed,
however, the high tides and spring-flooded meadows render
it very difficult to approach the nests, or to gain a satisfac-
tory knowledge of the birds themselves, and the same diffi-
culty obtains in watching the migrants on their upward
course. But in autumn the conditions are changed, espe-
cially in seasons of summer drought, and as the Land-birds
withdraw, one by one, you will have the leisure to go shore-
ward.
The Plovers, Eails, and Sandpipers begin to gather in
early August, and from that time until the rivers and
creeks are ice coated, the Water-fowls will be passing every
day, and from twilight until dawn. Various Ducks will go
over the garden itself, and next day you will find them feed-
ing in the sluggish marsh pools, where you gathered the cat-
tail-flags and rose-mallows, or else floating on the mill-pond
in the place of the summer lilies.
The Gulls return to the bar and shore islands, from their
breeding-haunts at the eastern end of the Sound. The old
22
THE WATER-BIRDS.
charcoal burner, coining down from the hills with his dusky
load, after the first light snow, tells of the Wild Geese that
passed over his clearing the night before, and settled on the
Forge Pond, and that when long John Hunt went after
them in the morning, his gun kicked and knocked him into
the worse bog hole ; whereupon the whole flock flew away,
laughing fit to kill themselves ; and adding with a hoarse
chuckle, " Sarved him right, too ; never gives nuthin' he
gits to neighbours, allers sends ? em to N'York."
In November and December, the hardy but inedible Sea
Ducks return from the north, and settle noisily in their
winter quarters; and all through the fall the lighthouse-
keeper sends ashore some of the rarer migrants that, dazed
and storm-blown, have dashed to death against his tower;
and, as a bird-lover, he will find you out. If, in the autumn
or early winter, you should chance to spend a little time
among the lakes, or along the real sea-coast, from Massa-
chusetts southward to the Chesapeake, a new pathway of
delight will stretch before you, read of the Sea-birds that
Celia Thaxter entertained at Appledore in her Island Gar-
den. And now that many people take their outings about
the eastern shore, overrunning the pleasant islands, you too,
may see the summer nesting of the Gulls and Terns, birds
that before you had considered mysterious wanderers from
the north.
These Water-birds, that count space as nothing and dis-
tance the swiftest locomotive in their flight, ever on the
wing from the very necessities of their existence, always
bring with them some of the atmosphere of their native
haunts. The Wild Ducks, hanging in the market-stall, still
wear on their wings a patch of rainbow colour, as if stamped
there by the sun and mist through which they took their
first flight. Call these birds songless, give them any names
you please, they will remain mysteries, coming out of the
sky and disappearing again in its horizon, pushing on to
an invisible haven; because their homes are so remote
we do not realize that they are like other birds, and we
forget, when the garden trees are full of nests and sway
23
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.
with ecstatic music, that the Water-fowl, hastening along at
twilight, is swayed by the same longings, that they guide
him surely to his journey's close.
And soon that toil shall end,
Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and rest,
And scream among thy fellows : reeds shall bend
Soon o'er thy sheltered nest. BRYANT.
24
BIRDS OF AUTUMN AND WINTER.
Dimly I catch the throb of distant flails :
Silently overhead the Hen-hawk sails,
With watchful, measuring eye and for his quarry waits.
LOWELL.
DURING the last week in August there is a decided stii
among the feathered folk. The summer residents who have
been moulting in seclusion for the last month, emerge from
their retreats and are joined by flocks of others of similar
species, who have summered further north and who will
remain with us for several weeks before beginning their
downward trip.
By calling certain species resident, it does not necessarily
mean that the same individuals remain in one place for the
entire year. Except in the breeding-season all birds rove
about, even if they do not absolutely migrate, guided in
their course by the food supply and the weather. The food
supply is the more potent motive of the two, for many
insect-eating birds like the Flycatchers and Vireos could
winter with us in the protection of hedges and evergreens ;
but with the coming of frost their food is cut off. Even
the seed-eating birds, like the hardy Goldfinches, Buntings,
and Juncos, are often driven to begging about barns and
granaries when a sudden snow-storm covers the low herbs
and grasses upon whose seeds they subsist.
It is during the last week in August that the Baltimore
Orioles gather, and pipe with an anxious note in their
voices, as much as to say, " It is very pleasant here still,
but we must be off before the leaves grow thin and betray
us to our enemies." The Kingbirds swoop and call, going
nearer to the house than usual. With September comes the
first decisive gathering of the bird clans. The Swallows
flock in the low meadows and on the edge of the beaches,
25
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.
flying and counter-flying, as if to strengthen their wings for
the long journey ; hordes of them wintering as far south as
the Bahamas. The cheery Yellow Warblers disappear from
the orchards, and the Veery comes from the moist woods
and scratches in the shrubbery.
Now you may look for the numerous Warblers as they
pass ; but you must be alert, for they go silently and may
only stop for a day. The length of time that migrating
birds remain varies greatly with different seasons ; during
some autumns they linger, and then again, without any
apparent reason, they hurry along, arriving and departing
sometimes the same night, so that you will be unconscious
that they have passed at all.
The most conspicuous summer residents that slip away
during September, are the Baltimore Orioles, Veeries, Chats,
Wood Thrushes, Flycatchers, Eose-breasted Grosbeaks, and
Bobolinks. The Chimney Swifts go in the wake of the
Swallows, and closely resemble them in habit if not in
anatomical structure. We miss these birds of the air sadly,
for their beautiful flights are the great feature of early
September. The voiceless brown Bobolinks are driven
from the shelter of the reeds and marsh-grasses by the
gunners, and in early evening, if you go down the lane, their
clinking, metallic call can be heard as .they fly over. The
Wood Thrushes leave quietly ; gathering for a week or so
in low trees, at this season their only note is a dry chirp
resembling the shaking of peas in a sieve. The last of the
month the Chickadees emerge and become prominent, and
the Juncos arrive in straggling flocks.
The Eobins flock in great numbers, and occasionally give
a sweet, reminiscent song; the Bluebirds are legion and
bustle about, calling, as Burroughs says they do in autumn,
"Bermuda! Bermuda!" The Goldfinches are no longer
yellow, but you can always distinguish them by their dip-
ping flight. Purple Grackles and Ked-winged Blackbirds
are also gathering, and the Wrens are peeping in and out,
but they have forgotten how to scold. The scanty music
is furnished chiefly by the faithful Song Sparrow, the
2C
BIRDS OF AUTUMN AND WINTER.
Purple Finch, and the Chicadee; there are individuals of
every species who do a little autumn singing, but it is heard
only from solitary voices.
Meanwhile, the tiny Ruby-crowned Kinglet, and the
Myrtle, Palm, and Bay-breasted Warblers make us a visit,
and the Brown Creeper, Black and White Warblers, and
White-breasted Nuthatches circle the trees.
By the first of October, the Blue Jays have returned from
the deep woods where they nested, and are in full scream, as
is their wont. Hermit Thrushes come and go, together with
the Thrashers. The Tanagers disappear, and the Vireos one
and all are packing their belongings. The lively Red-eyed
Vireo, who has preached and laughed at you all summer
from the maples, is taking a farewell peep under every bit
of loose bark, determined not to leave one insect behind.
You miss the Catbirds also, and in looking for them you
will find an occasional Pine Finch or Winter Wren. Quail
and Ruffed Grouse (Partridge) scramble furtively along road-
sides and through the stubble fields, and the Osprey fishes
more boldly.
All the while the various Warblers are trooping by, young
and old together ; if you have not recognized them in
spring, you will be sadly puzzled now. The White-throated
Sparrows hop along the paths, giving a few sweet notes, " Pe-
peabody-peabody-peabody," but without the springtime
fervour, and the rarer White-crowned Sparrows show them-
selves warily. In fact, the greater part of this family are
on the move, and even the ranks of Song Sparrows are
thinning. The Black-throated Green and the Black-throated
Blue Warblers come about the spruces again; the Phoebes
vanish and the trim Towhee no longer hops jauntily among
the briars. If there is an early frost the flocks go quickly,
but otherwise all the birds linger. We have Hummingbirds
here in the garden through October, unless the weather is
very gusty ; for I think that all birds dread wind more than
cold.
The third week of October sees the last of the Golden-
crowned Thrushes and Maryland Yellow-throats, the Fox
27
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.
Sparrows pay a flying visit, and the Red-breasted Nuthatches
settle down. Even if there has been no hard frost, Novem-
ber is sure to bring it, and then in the afterglow, the illusive
Indian summer, we begin to realize that the song-birds
have left us. Grackles we have and Meadowlarks, but the
Robins and Bluebirds are diminishing, and after the middle
of November the birds that you see may safely be called
winter residents.
The Blue Jay becomes very conspicuous now, and in late
November walks you will constantly see his pointed crest,
while his harsh notes no longer jar upon your ear, but sound
companionable. Most likely he is nutting, and jeering and
laughing at the squirrels who are filling their paunches
under the same tree. If, however, "he laughs best who
laughs last," the squirrels have decidedly the best of it, for
they frequently find the holes where the Jays hide their
plunder and rob them.
Golden-crowned Kinglets, with their dainty little heads
on one side, peep into every crevice in the apple trees, giving
a shrill, wiry call, the Winter Wrens are settled in their old
quarters about the woodpile, Pine Warblers come in bus-
tling flocks, White-throated Sparrows appear at rare intervals,
and three, at least, of the Woodpeckers.
If December is moderately snowy and not too cold, you
will see a distinct change even among the winter residents.
The Horned Larks become quite tame, and together with
the Meadowlarks keep near the upland farms, and if the
rivers are free from ice the Kingfisher still constitutes him-
self their guardian. The Tree Sparrow takes the place that
the Chipping Sparrow filled in summer, resembling it both in
appearance and note, and the Cedar-birds come from their
warm coverts and feast upon the remaining berries which
are now completely ripe and soft.
The Shrike is in his element seeing his victims afar
through the leafless trees, the Hawks grow bold and circle
over the meadows by the hour, and the Barred Owl, with
strange blue-black eyes, leaves the wood with the Great
Horned Owl, to forage in the brush and in open pastures.
28
BIRDS OF AUTUMN AND WINTER.
If you hear a snapping noise in the pines do not think that
it is merely the cones springing open, for you will find a
small flock of Red Crossbills, whose warped beaks seem
particularly adapted to tearing the scales from the cones
and liberating the pungent seeds. Middle December is the
time for the showy Pine Grosbeaks, whose stout bodies and
brilliant colouring at once reveal their identity; they are
sometimes abundant here but usually straggle about in pairs ;
and great flocks of the hardy American Goldfinches may be
seen if seed-bearing plants are not buried up by the snow.
The Crows are very hungry and prowl around the stacks of
dry corn stalks, going to the shore for clams and drift scraps,
and returning at night to their inland cedar roosts. This is
the season that you may successfully give them poisoned
corn, thus justly killing some of these cannibals who create
such havoc every spring among the nests of our Song-birds.
An occasional Purple Finch flies out of the evergreens,
though it is a difficult bird to recognize at this season, and the
Pine Siskin constantly flits in and out, swinging itself under
the cones and terminal sprays like an acrobat, and this is the
time for Snow Buntings and the little Redpoll Linnets. If
there are severe storms in the month, accompanied by north-
east gales, many of these birds appear on the very crest of
the storm, and when it ceases troop from the evergreens in
a half-famished condition, searching for bare places where a
few seeds may be found. The Redpoll feeds in the same
localities and in the same manner as the American Gold-
finch, and, having a similar call note, it is quite easy, at a
little distance, to mistake one for the other.
Now you may catch a glimpse of the great Snow Owls.
You will be more likely to find them back of the shore,
along the line of salt marshes and woody stubble, than
further inland. The marshes do not freeze so easily or
deeply as the iron-bound uplands, and field-mice are more
plentiful in them. This alert and powerful Owl is so fleet
of wing that he can follow and capture a Snow Bunting or
a Junco in its most rapid flight if his appetite is whetted.
Woodpeckers have mostly drifted southward, and this is the
29
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTERS.
time of greatest hardship for all birds that depend in any
way upon insect food. The Robins leave, except for a few
individuals ; the Quails come from the brush and feed with
the Meadow and Horned Larks. The four resident Hawks
the Sharp-shinned, Cooper's, the Red-tailed, and Red-
shouldered are now the only inhabitants of the woods and
remote pastures; there is something invigorating in the
way in which they sail through the lonely air. Food is
very scarce, mice are snowed under, rabbits do not ven-
ture far from their burrows, and it is too early for young
chickens. Besides, the farmer's wife, knowing Hawk ways,
keeps her poultry safely guarded in a sunny place in view of
the kitchen window. Alas ! for the flocks of Snow Buntings
that have been tempted too far afield. Every time a Hawk
swoops, and dropping suddenly wheels back to its perch,
there is one Bunting less to return to its boreal birthplace.
The Shrike drops on his prey with the thud and click of the
guillotine ; the Hawk flashes through the air with the curv-
ing sweep of the scimiter.
The Brown Creeper is seen daily winding about the tree
trunks ; if it is severely cold and there is much ice he only
comes at mid-day and works on the sunny side of the tree,
while his friends, the Chickadees, call encouragingly to him.
January, with us, is the month of all the year that comes the
nearest to being birdless; there are days when not even a
Crow is seen ; then a mild streak follows, and the murmur-
ings of the Chickadees, Bluebirds, and Goldfinches give cheer,
and if you tie some bits of fat meat or well-covered bones to
the branches of a tree in a sheltered spot you will be sur-
prised at the number of visitors that will come to dine.
With February the days begin to lengthen visibly, and a
reaction sets in. There is a return movement among the
Robins, who have gone but a short distance southward, and
the Buntings travel in large flocks. Late in the month a
thaw brings the Kingfisher back, and at any time you may
expect to hear the Song Sparrow in his old haunts, in fact,
you may have heard him early in the month, or in January
even, but now it is his spring song, only needing companion-
30
BIRDS OF AUTUMN AND WINTER.
ship and the mellowing effects of mild weather to bring it to
perfection.
The Snow Owls are thinking of going northward, unless
barred by an early March storm, and the Meadowlarks
that have braved the winter sing a full month before the
migrating flocks arrive. When March comes in, even if
it does roar like a lion, a single day may change the charac-
ter of the bird life about you and you will imagine that the
Snow Owls, Shrikes, Pine Finches, and Horned Larks are
under orders to vanish before the spring flocks of Fox Spar-
rows, Robins, and Bluebirds can appear. But when March
comes the ear is listening for the Spring Song and the win-
ter-birds are quickly forgotten, unless you happen to have a
stuffed Owl to preside in solemn silence in your library, per-
forming its mission of looking wise quite as well as a piece
of bric-a-brac as it did in life. Is not the Owl's general
immobility the reason why it was chosen for the pet of the
Goddess of Wisdom ? Doubtless her ancient ladyship knew
that her protege would never take the trouble to contradict
her and never express a decided opinion, and thus would
pass for the incarnation of knowledge.
Winter is the only season when you may point a gun at a
bird, and then never at a Song-bird, but you may do these a
favour by shooting some of their enemies, the Jays, English
Sparrows, and one or two Hawks and Owls. Yet you must
spare both Hawks and Owls with these exceptions, since Dr.
A. K. Fisher has given conclusive evidence of their value to
agriculture.
Never shoot even a G-ame-bird, or Wild Duck, merely for
the sake of killing, and remember when on the bird-quest to
keep your hands free from all destruction of life, so that you
may answer in the affirmative the question,
"Hast thou named all the birds without a gun? "
31
HOW TO NAME THE BIRDS.
HOW TO NAME THE BIKDS.
IN studying the birds as you see them about you, try to
acquire the habit of gauging the size, general colour, and
poise at a glance, gaining the details, if possible, afterward.
Impress upon yourself the location in which you saw the
bird, its occupation, its method of feeding, whether, if upon
the ground, it walked or hopped. Was it dashing through
the air or skimming low over the meadows, uttering a twit-
tering cry and turning and curving sharply as it caught
insects in its wide mouth ? If so, you must look for it in
the Swallow Family.
Was it a brown or olive-backed bird somewhat of the
build of the Eobin but smaller, with a light-coloured breast
more or less speckled, scratching among the bushes for the
insects upon which it feeds ? You must look for it in the
Thrush Family, and if you do not place it there search
among the Ground Warblers. Or was it a tiny olive-
gray bird that caught your eye as it peeped about the twigs
of the orchard trees in the autumn, turning its head and
looking at you sidewise, showing every now and then its
gold and scarlet crest? Then you must look among the
Kinglets.
If you keep a note-book and pencil in your pocket when
you are on the bird-quest, many particulars can be jotted
down to refresh your memory when consulting the reference
book. In rapidly gauging the size of a particular bird do
not think in inches, but compare it mentally with some bird
that is familiar to you. Say to yourself, Is it as large as a
Robin, a Bluebird, or a Chippy ?
35
HOW TO NAME THE BIRDS.
Read the Synopsis of Bird Families 1 to gain an idea of
their groupings, and if you fail to locate your bird in this
way go through the Key 2 very slowly, not jumping hastily
at conclusions, but following every reasonable clue. It is im-
possible to make such a key absolutely trustworthy, when
it is necessarily based upon the more superficial qualities,
and is arranged to guide those who rely upon impressions
of colour gained from a bird, perhaps many feet distant.
In condensing the attributes of each bird into a reference
table to precede its biography, its length in inches is given
as a means of comparison, especially in referring to the
illustrations ; for in adapting the bird portraits from many
sources it has been impossible to grade them according to a
mathematical scale. In these tables I have endeavoured to
give only such broad descriptions of plumage as shall be
recognizable with a field-glass, noting the difference in colour-
ing between male and female when it is at all marked,
and giving when possible the accentuated value of the song
and call notes in syllables. Not that any literal meaning
may be attributed to them, but that the sound of these
syllables, when repeated aloud, may aid in identifying the
song with the singer. Critics who do not understand the
motive of this syllabication, call it nonsense, and consider
it merely a sentimentalist's attempt to make the birds talk.
I only know that it has been a great help to me, and that
it has aided many people who depend even more upon the
ear than the eye in their study of birds. Thoreau and
Emerson understood it thoroughly, and Burroughs has
formulated much of the language, so that it does not lack
champions.
The seasons of bird migration, or residence, are in accord-
ance with records of this part of New England (southern
Connecticut), both from the notes of Rev. James Linsley,
Mr. C. K. Averill of Bridgeport, and others, and also from
my own diaries. Allowance must therefore be made by
those living further north or south, as in the spring migra-
tion birds will arrive in Delaware two weeks earlier than in
i Page 43. 2 p age 281 (1).
36
HOW TO NAME THE BIRDS.
Connecticut, and in Maine not for a week or two later. The
breeding-haunts are indicated, and the nest and eggs men-
tioned, when they are either accessible to the student, or,
when belonging to northern latitudes, of special interest.
The range of the bird for the year is taken from the Check-
list of the American Ornithologists' Union, which is the
acknowledged authority. The nomenclature is also that of
the A. O. U. Check-list, the first English name and the
Latin title being according to its tenets. In some cases I
have added one or more English names, because they are
universally understood and are more or less used in the
manuals and state publications.
In modern science, classification follows the method of
natural evolution, grading from the lowest forms to the
highest. Under this system the Diving Water-birds should
head the list, and the Thrush Family of Song-birds end it.
Some time ago a different system obtained, that of beginning
with the highest orders and descending in the scale, and
the birds in this book are so arranged. The reason for doing
this is that it presents the Song-birds first, and it is to these
that you will be first attracted, and, finding many of them
familiar, you will be led by easy stages to the Birds of Prey
and the Water-birds, which probably you have had less
chance to know. If, however, you prefer to habituate your-
self to the more modern method, all that you have to do is
to begin at the end of the book and work backward.
The two hundred birds chosen for description from the
A. 0. U. list of over nine hundred species of North Ameri-
can Birds are selected as being those which will be the most
likely to interest bird-lovers living in the temperate parts
of the country, and especially in the Middle and Eastern
States. If birds are included that are rarer (in other locali-
ties) than species that are omitted, it is owing to marked
characteristics or some interesting traits of the particular
birds.
The mazes of classification are omitted. As a novice who
wishes to recognize the birds by sight, you have no need of
their services beyond learning the English and Latin names
37
HOW TO NAME THE BIRDS.
of the birds, and that of the order and family to which they
belong; then you must buy a good manual to answer all
further queries, either Eidgway's, 1 Coues's, 2 or Chapman's 3
will serve your purpose. Bidgway's follows the modern
method, Coues's is altogether charming, and Chapman's is
both modern, simple, and comprehensive . It is the same as
when beginning the study of history : you first wish to learn
the name of a character, for what he was famous, and how he
appeared ; then with a distinct realization of the man's per-
sonality in your mind, you take an interest which, at first,
would have been impossible, in looking into his ancestry,
and finding precisely what union of races and families pro-
duced his particular type.
Inverted evolution, or working from effect to cause, is the
simplest way to interest popular attention in any branch of
science. If people accept a tangible fact and go no further,
they have at least gained some information ; if they possess
the thinking-faculty, and desire to find the causes, they
are one step on the right road. Of course this method, if
method it can be called, lies open to the charge of superfici-
ality, and to the saying that " when science and sentiment
meet, sentiment loses its case." There is, of course, a species
of maudlin sentiment that is the proverbial cloak of inaccu-
racy, the variety that weaves touching but perfectly im-
possible tales and fables about natural facts. This is the
sentiment that originated the story of the self-sacrifice of
the Pelican in feeding its young from the blood of its own
breast. Whereas the Pelican belongs to a class of birds
who, after taking their food into the crop and partly digest-
ing it, bring it up again to feed their offspring. The act of
pressing the bill against the distended crop to dislodge the
food, sometimes irritates the skin ; hence the conclusion was
drawn that it drew its own blood.
1 " A Manual of North American Birds," Robert Ridgway.
2 "Key to North American Birds," Dr. Elliott Coues, Boston: Estes &
Lauriat.
8 " Manual of the Birds of Eastern North America," Frank M. Chap-
man, New York: D. Appleton & Co.
38
HOW TO NAME THE BIRDS.
There may be also in the study of birds a sentiment that
is born of fact and accuracy, provable by all scientific re-
quirements, which will render the bird-quest a recreation,
and not a mental discipline; being a bridge where those
who can go no further, may rest and enjoy intelligently the
beauty and music of the bird world. Of course a little
learning may be a dangerous thing, but it is only so when
we overestimate the extent of our limited scope, and try to
speak a language of which we only know the alphabet.
Nature is to be studied with the eyes of the heart, as well
as of the microscope, and ever so scanty a knowledge of our
feathered brothers helps us to feel that the realms of Nature
are very near to the human heart and its sympathies, and
that " the truth of Nature is a part of the truth of God : to
him who does not search it out, darkness ; to him who does,
infinity.' 7
39
SYNOPSIS OF BIRD FAMILIES.
SYNOPSIS OF BIRD FAMILIES.
LAND-BIRDS.
ORDER PASSERES: PERCHING BIRDS.
SUB-ORDER OSCINES: SINGING BIRDS.
THE birds of this Order have the most highly complex
vocal organs, the term Oscines being derived from the
Latin, signifying those birds whose songs were regarded in
past times as augural.
Family Turdidae : Thrushes. Page 57.
7 Species. 1
Birds of moderate size and stoutish build, bills of mod-
erate length, sexes of nearly similar plumage. Melodious
singers, feeding chiefly on the ground. The American
Robin and the Bluebird belong to this family. The true
Thrushes vary through browns and olives on the back, with
light breasts more or less spotted, and tails that are wider
at the tip than at the base. Insectivorous birds, also casual
fruit-eaters. Hoppers.
Family Sylviidae : Kinglets. Page 68.
2 Species.
Very small insectivorous birds, feeding in the trees.
General tone of plumage olivaceous, with highly coloured
crown patch. Song, during the spring migration, rich and
powerful for such small birds. Seen here only in autumn,
winter, and early spring.
1 Number of species described.
43
SYNOPSIS OF BIRD FAMILIES.
Family Paridae : Nuthatches and Titmice. Page 71.
4 Species.
Birds seen creeping conspicuously about tree trunks,
especially in autumn and winter, frequently walking head
downward. The Nuthatches have compactly feathered
bodies, straight bills, are varied grayish above, with some-
what ruddy breasts. The Titmice are alert, sprightly little
birds, with gray, white, and black feathers, one having a crest
and the other a black cap and white cheeks. They feed also
about trees.
Family Certhiidee : Creepers. Page 75.
1 Species.
This bird is slender, with a long, sharp bill, much mottled,
brownish plumage and a long tail. It is seen creeping
spirally about trees in fall and winter.
Family Troglodytidse : Wrens, Thrasher, Catbird, etc. Page 76.
8 Species.
Insectivorous birds and highly accomplished singers.
The Wrens are all small, and more or less barred and washed
with browns, while the tail is usually held erect. The
Catbird (which really belongs to a sub-family) is dark slate
with a black cap, the Mockingbird gray and olive, and the
Thrasher is like a great red-brown Thrush with speckled
breast, and a long tail with which he continually beats the
air.
Family Motacillidae : Pipits, etc. Page 87.
1 Species.
American Pipit, Titlark. Brownish bird, with long, pointed
wings, slender bill, and outer tail-feathers white; seen in
stubble fields as a migrant in late fall and spring. Peculiar,
wavering flight.
Family Mniotiltidae : 'Wood Warblers. Page 88.
30 Species.
Beautifully plumed, graceful birds, which, with the excep-
tion of a few species, are practically unknown or rather
44
LAND-BIRDS.
unnamed by people in general. These Warblers inhabit
the woods, feeding among the trees, or, in some species,
upon the ground. They comprise both migrants and sum-
mer residents ; of small size, bills slender, shorter than the
head, wings pointed and usually shorter than the tail. All
but a few Ground Warblers have brightly coloured or much
varied plumage, ranging through all shades of olive, yel-
low, red, orange, brown, and black. They have sweet, lisp-
ing songs, which are neither full nor varied. The well-known
Yellow Warbler belongs to this class ; also the Black and
White Warbler. The exceptions to this rule are the Oven-
bird, Water Thrush, and the Louisiana Water Thrush, which
are Ground Warblers, having sober, Thrush-like plumage
and exquisite voices, and the Chat, which has brilliant
green and gold plumage and a clear, loud voice, mocking
and whistling by turns.
Family Vireonidae : Vireos. Page 116.
5 Species.
Birds of small size, bills hooked at tip shorter than
the head. Sexes alike in colouring ; the plumage (remain-
ing quite constant at all seasons) is generally olivaceous
above and whitish or yellow below. One species has red
and one white eyes. All are musical and persistent singers
of a colloquial type, feeding and singing in orchard or forest
trees, according to the species. A family easily confused
with the Warblers, unless its superior vocal abilities are
remembered.
Family Laniidae : Shrikes. Page 122.
1 Species.
Carnivorous birds, bold, handsome, and quarrelsome, bills
sharply hooked at end ; general colour gray and black, bris-
tles at nostrils, and muscular feet. In winter and early
spring they may be seen perching in the bare trees, where
they are on the watch for small birds, upon which they prey.
45
SYNOPSIS OF BIRD FAMILIES.
Family Ampelidae : Waxwings, etc. Page 124.
1 Species.
Birds of six or seven inches in length, stout-bodied, head
with a conspicuous crest ; beautifully soft, quaker plumage,
tail tipped with yellow, red ivax-like tips to the wing coverts,
straight black bill. Sexes similar ; a resident bird.
Family Hirundinidae : Swallows. Page 125.
5 Species.
Birds of the air in the fullest sense. " Bill flat, broad,
triangular." Mouth opening to below the eyes ; long, strong
wings, small feet, which are seldom used ; broad head and
stout neck ; the tail more or less forked. Sexes similar ;
song, a pleasant, twittering warble. The plumage in some
species is dull, but in others beautifully iridescent above
and ruddy below. All insectivorous birds and summer
residents.
Family Tanagridae : Tanagers. Page 131.
1 Species.
A brilliantly coloured family undergoing great changes of
plumage during the year, the colours of the sexes being
wholly different, the males having much red about them.
Bill short, the long, pointed wings exceeding the tail in
length.
Family Fringillidae : Finches, Sparrows, etc. Page 133.
28 Species.
The largest family of North American Birds, comprising
one-seventh of all our birds. These birds are true seed-
eaters, though they feed their young largely on an insectiv-
orous diet.
"The bill approaches nearest the ideal cone, combining
strength to crush seeds with delicacy of touch to secure
minute objects." (Dr. Coues.) The family contains birds
of every size and colour, sexes either similar or unlike,
Finches, Buntings, Linnets, Grosbeaks, Crossbills, and Spar-
rows, whose traits it is impossible to describe in general terms.
46
LAND-BIRDS.
Family Icteridae : Blackbirds, Orioles, etc. Page 165.
8 Species.
Forming a link between the Finch and Crow families and
containing, beside Blackbirds and Orioles, the Meadowlark,
Bobolink, and Cowbird. Sexes unlike. All species but the
Orioles have large, muscular feet adapted to walking, and
feed on or near the ground. They are both seed and insect
eaters, and vary much in size and colour. The predominat-
ing hues are black, white, orange-red, and what Dr. Coues
calls a "niggled pattern" of brown in the Meadowlark.
Musically the species are divided, half being highly vocal
and half casually so.
Family Corvidae : Crows, Jays, etc. Page 177.
3 Species.
The Crows are large black birds, having bills as long
as the head, stout feet suitable for walking, pointed wings
longer than the tail, appearing saw-toothed in flight. Gre-
garious ; sexes alike. The Jays are a great contrast to the
Crows, being crested and having conspicuous plumage in
which blue predominates. Both Crows and Jays are partly
carnivorous, and though having harsh voices, moderate them
to a not unpleasing song in the breeding season.
Family Alaudidae : Larks. Page 180.
1 Species.
True Larks, kin of the European Skylark, and not to be
confused with Meadowlarks or Titlarks. Our species, a
Shore Lark, seen here only in the fall and winter, is highly
musical in the breeding-season. It has very long, straight
hind claws, long, pointed wings, and two slender, feathered
ear tufts that give it the name of Horned Lark.
SUB-ORDER CLAMATORES: SONGLESS PERCHING BIRDS.
Birds with but poorly developed singing apparatus, the
vocal muscles being either small or few.
47
SYNOPSIS OF BIRD FAMILIES.
Family Tyrannidse : Tyrant Flycatchers. Page 182.
8 Species.
Insectivorous birds of small and medium size, with or
without erectile crests, having broad bills tapering to a
sharp point, and large mouths. Colouring ranging from
brown to olive-gray, with yellow washes on the breast.
Usually having harsh voices, one or two species, however,
possessing plaintive call notes. To be distinguished from
other birds of a general, similar appearance, who piirsue
insects upon the wing by the " habit of perching in wait for
their prey upon some prominent outpost, in a peculiar atti-
tude, with the wings and tail drooped and vibrating in readi-
ness for instant action ; and of dashing into the air, seizing
the passing insect with a quick movement and a click of the
bill, and then returning to their stand." (Dr. Cones.)
ORDER MACROCHIRES : WHIP-POOR-WILLS,
SWIFTS, ETC.
Family Caprimulgidae : Whip-poor-wills, Night-hawks, etc.
Page 190.
2 Species.
Medium-sized, heavy birds with long wings, short, thick
heads and gaping, bristly mouths, taking their insect food
on the wing (the Whip-poor-will is strictly nocturnal in
habit). When at rest they either perch lengthwise, on a
branch or sit on the ground.
Family Micropodidae : Swifts. Page 193.
1 Species.
The bird known commonly as the Chimney Swallow, but
which is in reality a Swift and closely allied to the Night-
hawk, being a nocturnal as well as diurnal feeder.
Family Trochilidse : Hummingbirds. Page 194.
1 Species.
Very small birds, with long, needle-like bills, small feet,
iridescent green plumage (ruby throat in male), and rest-
less, darting flight. Feeding among flowers.
48
LAND-BIRDS.
ORDER PICI: WOODPECKERS.
Family Ficidae : Woodpeckers. Page 196.
5 Species.
Birds of small and medium size, feeding as they creep
around the branches and trunks of trees. They are of
stocky, compact build, with strong, straight bills (one species
has a slightly curving bill), mottled and variegated plumage,
and red markings about the head. To be distinguished from
other creepers by their superior size, and the fact that they
seldom, if ever, walk head dowmvard.
ORDER COCCYGES: CUCKOOS.
Family Cuculidae : Cuckoos. Page 202.
2 Species.
Medium-sized tree-birds, with softly-tinted gray and brown-
ish plumage, most noticeable at the time of apple blossoms,
when they feed upon the nests of the tent-caterpillar.
Family Alcedinidae : Kingfishers. Page 204.
1 Species.
Common birds of streams and ponds. Head crested, long
bill. Lead blue plumage above, light breast banded with
blue. Seen perching on stumps and dead trees over the
water watching for fish.
ORDER RAPTORES : BIRDS OF PREY.
Family Strigidee : Barn Owls. Page 206.
1 Species.
Family Bubonidae : Horned Owls. Page 207.
7 Species.
Stoutly-built birds, varying in length from eight inches
to two feet, with and without feathered ear-tufts (horns),
and having mottled loose plumage, feathered disks around
the eyes, hooked beaks, and muscular feet. The family
comprises both diurnal and nocturnal species.
SYNOPSIS OF BIRD FAMILIES.
Family Falconidae : Hawks, Eagles, etc. Page 215.
8 Species.
Diurnal Birds of Prey, with mottled and streaked plumage,
no horns or eye disks ; of graceful build, and dashing, rapid
flight. The family includes the Osprey and the American
Eagle.
ORDER COLUMB^l: PIGEONS.
Family Columbidse : Doves and Pigeons. Page 225.
2 Species.
Wood Doves, with delicately-shaded, and often glossy plu-
mage, small heads and full breasts, long, pointed wings,
and soft, cooing voices. Often seen feeding on the ground
like the domestic Pigeon.
ORDER GALLING: GALLINACEOUS BIRDS (Birds
scratching on the ground like barnyard fowls).
Family Tetraonidse : Grouse, Partridges. Page 227.
2 Species.
Comprising our two most familiar Game-birds, the Ruffed
Grouse (Partridge) and the Quail, birds with mottled feathers
of varied browns, the Partridge having feathered legs. The
female rears the young, who leave the nest when hatched,
following her as a brood, after the manner of chickens.
ORDER LIMICOL-S3 : SHORE-BIRDS (Waders).
Family Aphrizidse : Turnstones. Page 231.
1 Species.
Small Shore-birds (8 inches long) with pied plumage, seen
turning over stones on rocky beaches, in search of marine
insects, etc.
Family Charadriidae : Plovers (Popular Game-birds). Page 232.
6 Species.
A large and important family of Shore-birds, frequenting
both fresh and salt water. They have Pigeon-like bills
50
LAND-BIRDS.
which are never longer than the head. In size they vary from
small to medium (7 to 12 inches); the plumage undergoes
many variations owing to season and age, but the sexes are
nearly alike. The neck is short, the head bullet-shaped, and
the body usually stout ; the wings are longer than the tail.
They are generally seen in flocks during the migrations, as
the majority of species breed far north. They fly and run
with great rapidity, and inhabit dry uplands, as well as the
vicinity of ponds, and the seashore. They all have pleasing
call notes, and one species has a melodious, piping whistle.
Family Scolopacidae : Sandpipers, Snipes, etc. Page 236.
11 Species.
Another large family, inhabiting inland meadows as
well as salt marshes and the seashore, including Wood-
cock and Snipe, both well-known Game-birds (that probe
for their food in the mud with their bills), and the less
familiar Sandpipers. Bills not Pigeon-shaped; usually many
times longer than the head. Plumage mottled and streaked
with neutral tints and sober colours. Voices peculiar, vary-
ing according to the species.
Snipe are among the most delicately flavoured of Game-
birds, and Sandpipers comprise the smallest of the Waders.
The Snipe group may be easily distinguished from the
rest by the plain, unbarred tail. The Tattlers are a long-
legged, noisy species, not probing for their food in the mud,
but picking it up in the vicinity of flats and sand bars.
ORDER PALUDICOL-Si : RAILS, GALLINULES, COOTS.
Family Rallidae : Rails. Page 245.
5 Species.
"Birds of medium and small size, generally with com-
pressed body and large, strong legs, enabling them to run
rapidly and thread with ease the mazes of the reedy
marshes to which they are almost exclusively confined;
while, by means of their long toes, they are prevented from
61
SYNOPSIS OF BIRD FAMILIES.
sinking in the mire or floating vegetation. . . . The head
is completely feathered ; the general plumage is ordinarily
of subdued and blended coloration, lacking much of the
variegation commonly observed in Shore-birds ; the sexes
are usually alike, and the changes of plumage not great with
age or season. The food is never probed for in the mud,
but gathered from the surface of the ground and water."
(Coues.)
ORDER HERODIONES: HERONS, ETC.
Family Ardeidae (Marsh Birds). Page 250.
5 Species.
Long-legged, long-necked, long-billed birds, often beau-
tifully crested in the breeding-season, and having broad,
generous wings. They nest in trees in swampy places.
Their voices are harsh, and they undergo great changes of
plumage, and must be recognized by the novice more by
general shape than detailed colour description. They may
often be seen standing on one leg on the edge of ponds or
swamps in the attitude of the Storks of Andersen's " Fairy
Tales."
ORDER ANSERES: LAMELLIROSTRAL SWIMMERS.
Family Anatidae : Ducks, Geese, etc. Page 255.
16 Species.
Stoutly-built birds of rivers and seashore, with varied and
beautiful plumage of a type familiar to every one. " Body
full, heavy, flattened beneath, neck of variable length, head
large, eyes small. . . . Wings of moderate length (rarely
very short), stiff, strong, pointed, conferring rapid, vigorous,
whistling flight ; a Wild Duck at full speed is said to make
ninety miles an hour. . . . Legs short, knees buried in the
general integument, toes palmate." (Coues.)
LAND-BIRDS.
ORDER TUBINARBS: TUBE-NOSED SWIMMERS.
Family Frocellaridae : Shearwaters, Petrels, etc. Page 268.
1 Species.
The various Petrels are comprised in this family ; they
are off-shore birds of Gull-like appearance. Dr. Coues says
of one group, that their " flight is peculiarly airy and flicker-
ing, more like that of a butterfly than like ordinary birds ;
they are almost always seen on the wing, appearing to swim
little if any, and some, if not all, breed in holes in the
ground like Bank Swallows."
ORDER LONGIPENNES: LONG-WINGED SWIMMERS.
Family Laridae : Gulls and Terns. Page 269.
7 Species.
Off-shore birds, breeding on the coastwise islands. The
Gulls are large and stout, with hooked bills, large feet, and
strong wings that make their flight even and steady, and
not impulsive and dashing like the Terns'. They both dive
for their food and glean it from the surface of the water.
The Terns are more slender, have greater rapidity in flying,
and. forked tails; the tails of the Gulls are never forked.
ORDER PYGOPODES: DIVING BIRDS.
Family Alcidae : Auks, etc. Page 275.
1 Species.
Our species, the Dovekie or Sea Dove, is an off-shore bird
seen usually about lighthouses and flying in the wake of
vessels. It is a rather small-sized, dusky bird, white below,
with a clumsy, awkwardly-shaped body, and long wings.
Family Urinatoridee : Loons. Page 276.
2 Species.
Stout divers with long bodies, legs set very far back, bob-
tailed, long twisting necks, and plumage which is more or
less spotted above and plain below. We see them only in
the migrations, as they breed in the far north.
53
SYNOPSIS OF BIRD FAMILIES.
Family Pygopodes : Grebes. Page 277.
2 Species.
Very dexterous diving birds of 'lakes and rivers, as well
as of salt water, variously crested in the breeding-season ;
their bodies are held upright by the posterior position of the
legs ; they are practically tailless, and, though smaller, bear
a close resemblance to the Loons.
BIRD BIOGRAPHIES.
PERCHING SONG-BIRDS.
PERCHING SONGLESS BIRDS.
BIRDS OF PREY.
PIGEONS, QUAILS, GROUSE.
SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS.
SWIMMING BIRDS.
PERCHING SONG-BIRDS.
ORDER PASSERES: PERCHING BIRDS.
SUB-ORDER OSCINES: SINGING BIRDS.
FAMILY TURDID^E: THRUSHES.
Wood Thrush: Turdus mustelinus.
PLATE I. FIG. 0.
Length : 7.50-8 inches.
Male and Female : Above tawny, deepest on head, tail olivaceous. Sides
of throat light buff, middle of throat, breast, and belly white ;
sprinkled on sides with heart-shaped or triangular dark-brown
spots. Whitish eye ring, bill dark brown, feet flesh-coloured.
Song : A melody in which some notes have the effect of a stringed
accompaniment. The syllables are uttered deliberately, about
four seconds apart " Uoli a-e-o-li, uoli uoli uol aeolee-
lee!"
Season : Early May to October.
Breeds : Throughout the eastern United States.
Nest : Of small twigs with a mud lining, sometimes saddled upon the
boughs of evergreens not far from the trunk, or in small trees
and bushes.
Eggs : Four usually, similar in colour to the Robin's, but smaller.
Range : Eastern United States to the Plains, north to southern Michi-
gan, Ontario, and Massachusetts, south in winter to Guatemala
and Cuba.
Next to the American Robin, the Wood Thrush is the
most widely known of its tribe. He is an exquisite vocalist,
the tones having a rare quality of rolling vibrance, and
often as he utters his placid notes, each one full and delib-
erate, the song seems like the music of a flute and an
57
Thrashes SONG-BIRDS.
seolian harp strung in the trees. "Uoli," he begins, and
after pausing continues, "Aeolee-lee" (the last syllable
having the harp quality),, "Uoli-uoli aeolee-lee." First
softly, then modulating, reiterating sometimes for an hour
together ; but compassing in these few syllables the whole
range of pure emotion.
The Wood Thrush is called shy by many writers, but
here in Connecticut it is both abundant and sociable, feed-
ing about the lawn in company with Eobins, though it keeps
more in shelter, skirting the shrubbery, as it scratches.
Two pairs nested last season in the spruces below the
lawn. Their nests so closely resemble the best efforts of
the Robin, and the eggs being of a like colour, that I had
mistaken them until I saw the Thrushes in possession.
These nests were made wholly of sticks, and lined thinly
with clay, but two others that I found in the woods showed
more varied materials. One was placed, some six feet from
the ground, in a cedar bush close to a pool. The mud used
to line the nest was full of Sphagnum, and of the water-
soaked seed vessels of the sweet-pepper bush, which, min-
gled with dry beech leaves, made the nest very picturesque,
while the mud was barely visible through the bedding of
the runners of Potentilla, to whose stems some identifying
leaves still clung.
The second nest was in a laurel bush on the top of high
rocks in Samp-Mortar woods. It was beautifully stuccoed
with lichens and lined with the hair-like roots that cover
the surface of leaf mould.
The Wood Thrush builds the middle or last of May, and
as it comes often the very first day of the month and con-
tinues singing well into July, it gives us a goodly season of
song. Wood Eobin is one of its local names, but this is
used, somewhat at random, for other Thrushes.
Wilson's Thrush ; Veery : Turdus fuscescens.
Length: 7-7.50 inches.
Male and Female : No eye ring. Above evenly olive-brown, with a
tawny cast. Throat buff, flecked on the sides with fine arrow-
58
SONG-BIRDS. Thrushes
shaped brown spots. Breast and under parts white. Bill dark
above, lower mandible light. Feet light.
Song : Ringing, echo-like. Professor Ridgway indicates it thus :
"Taweel 'ah taweel 'ah, twil-ah, twil-ah !"
Season : Early May to October.
Breeds : According to Coues, in the northerly part of its range, but it
also breeds freely in our river groves and in the more southern
portion of the Middle States.
Nest : Built either upon or near the ground, of sticks and twigs like
that of the Wood Thrush, but lacking the mud.
Eggs : Like Robin and Wood Thrush, of a greenish blue, but smaller
than either.
Range: Eastern United States to the Plains, north to Manitoba,
Ontario, Anticosti, and Newfoundland.
The Veery, the most slender and graceful of the Thrushes,
^is with us all the season, but it is so shy and elusive in its
ways of slipping through the trees and underbrush in
swampy woodlands that it seems scarcely an actual pres-
ence. Change a word in Wordsworth's verses on the Cuckoo
and the description is perfect :
" O Veery I shall I call thee bird,
Or but a wandering voice ? "
When it first arrives, and before mating, the Veery is seen
frequently in the garden, prying under dead leaves and in
low bushes like all its insect-eating kin, but when it retires
to the woods to nest all but the voice seems to vanish. That
wonderful, haunting voice ! It was a woodland mystery to
me not so very long ago ; a vocal Will-o'-the-Wisp. Lead-
ing on and on, up and down river banks, into wild grape
tangles and clinging brush, then suddenly ceasing and leav-
ing me to return as best I might.
There came a time, however, when a few pairs, mating
before they left the garden in the spring, surprised us by
singing while in view, and the same season we took a leis-
urely drive through the country to see the orchards in bloom,
and stopped for the night at a hospitable farmhouse in a
hollow that winds between banks clad with laurel and hem-
locks up to the old village of Redding Kidge.
59
Thrushes SONG-BIRDS.
We were told that the woods were full of birds "that sang
all night," so we walked up the lane road, the soft light
coming partly from the setting sun and partly from the high
May moon.
The waterfall resounded from where the hills dropped
suddenly to the hollow. A single Whip-poor-will darting
from the woods almost brushed my face and uttered his
mournful call in my ear. Above the waterfall was a chain
of ponds, and sitting on the rail of a separating bridge we
listened and waited. A fox crept down to the water to
drink, and as the wind blew toward us he did not suspect
our proximity and lapped at leisure, the clear moonlight
showing his shabby, faded spring coat.
Suddenly from the woody banks the Veeries began their
song. They had been singing by twos and threes ever since
sunset, but now the sound was as of a full chorus compared
to the humming of a few voices. From all sides the notes
rang : " Taweel <ah, taweel <ah ! " and then a tone lower ;
" twil-ah, twil-ah ! " no two birds seeming to sing precisely
at once but continually echoed themselves and each other.
Why is not this bird called the Echo Thrush ? The name
would reveal its identity to any one who had ever heard the
song.
The music lasted until after nine o'clock, when it died
away in a whisper like a benediction of the night and the
Whip-poor-will was left as sentry for the midnight hours.
Gray-cheeked Thrush: Turdus alicice.
Length: 7.50-8 inches.
Male and Female : No eye ring. Head and back uniform olive-brown.
Throat buff and slightly speckled ; sides dull grayish white, the
specks running into a wash. Cheeks gray ; bill slender.
Song : In tone like other Thrushes, but differently accented " Wee-o,
wee-o, tit-ti wee-o ! " (Torrey.)
Season : April, remaining a week or so ; return migration in October.
Breeds : Northward from northern New England.
Nest : In bushes made of moss, twigs, and grass.
Eggs : 4, greenish blue, speckled with brown.
60
SONG-BIRDS. Thrushes
Range : Eastern North America, west to the Plains, Alaska, and east-
ern Siberia, north to the Arctic coast, south in winter to Costa
Rica.
This Thrush is one of the rarest in southern New Eng-
land, and for many years it was considered a variety of the
Olive-backed Thrush, from which it differs in having gray
sides to the head and in being somewhat larger. A few of
the Gray-cheeked Thrushes come to the garden and lane
every spring and fall ; but even these migratory visits are
very irregular. Bradford Torrey, whose White Mountain
experience has brought him into intimate contact with this
Thrush during its season of song, says that "... while
the Gray-cheek's song bears an evident resemblance to the
Veery's, . . . the two are so unlike in pitch and rhythm that
no reasonably nice ear ought ever to confound them."
The song is one of the most infrequent sounds in this
locality ; but I have heard it three times in the lane, and
have come within identifying range of the singer, attracted
and aided by Mr. Torrey's description and syllabication. 1
Olive-backed Thrush : Turdus ustulatus swainsonii.
Length: 7-7.50 inches.
Male and Female : Yellowish eye ring. Head and back olive-brown,
deepest on wings and tail. Buff breast and throat, deepening
in colour on the sides and speckled everywhere but on the
throat with arrow-shaped blackish spots. Dark bill ; feet pale
brown.
Song : Of the same quality as the Wood Thrush's, but less inspiring,
and tinged with melancholy.
Season : Arrives in April, often in company with White-throated Spar-
rows, passes on in early May, and returns in October.
Breeds : From northern New England northward.
Nest : In low trees and bushes, like that of Wood Thrush minus the
mud.
Eggs : 4-5, greenish blue, freely spotted with brown.
Range : Eastern North America and westward to the upper Columbia
River and East Humboldt Mountains, straggling to the Pacific
coast.
i " The Foot-Path Way," Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
61
Thrushes SONG-BIRDS.
The early ornithologists were rather mixed as to the
identity of the Hermit, Gray-cheeked, and Olive-backed
Thrushes. Samuels calls the latter the least common of
New England Thrushes, while Nuttall confused the Hermit
with the Wood Thrush.
The Olive-backed Thrush comes quite freely to the gar-
den, rather early in the spring migration, at the time when
the other migratory Thrushes and northern-breeding Spar-
rows appear, and hops about quite sociably, but seldom gives
any other sound than its liquid call note. Its identification
is easy, owing to the even olive colour of its back, and it
entirely lacks the tawny warmth of its kin. This colour
difference of the Thrushes is tritely summed up on page 60
of Stearns & Coues's " New England Bird-life " : " The Wood
Thrush is tawny, turning to olive on the rump. The Her-
mit is olive, turning to tawny on the rump. The Olive-back
is entirely olive. The Veery is entirely tawny." When
seen feeding with the Wood Thrush along the garden edges,
this colour difference appealed to me very plainly, as well
as the greater slimness of the Olive-back.
Mr. Nehrling says that this Thrush, in company with the
Veery and Wood Thrush, is killed in great hordes, by the
miserable pot-hunters about New Orleans, on its return in
the fall migration ; so that even sober plumage is no protec-
tion, and the fact that our country is not wholly birdless
goes far to prove the wonderful power that Nature uses in
her struggle with the destructive side of man.
Hermit Thrush : Turdus aonalaschkce pallasii.
PLATE I. FIG. 3.
Length: 7-7.25 inches.
Male and Female : Above olive-brown, reddening on the rump. Yel-
lowish eye ring. Throat, sides of neck, and breast washed with
buff and thickly sprinkled with brown arrowheads growing
larger on belly. Under parts white. Bill blackish above, lower
mandible light ; feet light brown.
Song : Flute-like, ascending. " spheral, spheral ! holy, holy !
clear away, clear away ! clear up, clear up ! " (Burroughs.)
Season : Comes in the migrations with the other northern Thrushes.
62
SONG-BIRDS. Thrushes
Breeds : From Massachusetts northward.
Nest and Eggs : Similar to those of the Veery.
Eange : Eastern North America, wintering from the Northern States
southward.
Burroughs says : " If we take the quality of melody as a
test, the Wood Thrush, the Hermit Thrush, and the Veery
Thrush stand at the head of our list of songsters." One may
be very familiar with the songs of two of this trio without
ever having identified the third, or at least without having
heard it sing.
At the first glance the Hermit closely resembles the Wood
Thrush, but a good field-glass will enable you to see the
colour distinction of the back, and also that the Hermit has
a more yellowish throat and that the breast spots are more
acute. Its rarity differs very much according to location.
It is comparatively common in the northeast, and Dr. Warren
says that in Pennsylvania it is, with the exception of the
Robin, the commonest of the Thrushes and breeds occasion-
ally in some of the higher mountain districts. Here, as well
as in many of the Middle States, where it is only a migrant,
its full song is seldom heard. I have not found it a shy
bird, not more so than the Wood Thrush, but it doubtless
becomes shy in its breeding-haunts.
I made its acquaintance, several years ago, in the lane back
of the garden, and had watched its rapid, nervous motions
during many migrations before I heard it sing. This, spring,
the first week in May, when standing at the window about
six o'clock in the morning, I heard an unusual note, and
listened, thinking it at first a Wood Thrush and then a
Thrasher, but soon finding that it was neither of these I
opened the window softly and looked among the nearby
shrubs, with my glass. The wonderful melody ascended
gradually in the scale as it progressed, now trilling, now
legato, the most perfect, exalted, unrestrained, yet withal,
finished bird song that I ever heard. At the final note I
caught sight of the singer perching among the lower sprays
of a dogwood tree. I could see him perfectly : it was the
Hermit Thrush! In a moment he began again. I have
63
Robin SONG-BIRDS.
never heard the Nightingale, but those who have, say that
it is the surroundings and its continuous night singing that
make it even the equal of our Hermit ; for, while the Night-
ingales sing in numbers in the moonlit groves, the Hermit
tunes his lute sometimes in inaccessible solitudes, and there
is something immaterial and immortal about the song. Pres-
ently you cease altogether to associate it with a bird, and it
inspires a kindred feeling in every one who hears it.
Mrs. Olive Thome Miller tells delightfully of her pursuit
of the Hermit in northern New York, where it was said to
be abundant, but when she looked for him, he had always
" been there " and was gone ; until one day in August she
saw the bird and heard the song and exclaims : " This only
was lacking. . . . This crowns my summer." 1
Among many local names this bird has received, that given
by the early settlers in the Adirondack region is the most
appropriate ; they call it the Swamp Angel.
American Robin : Merula tnigratoria.
PLATE I. FIG. 9.
Length : 10 inches.
Male: Above olive-gray, head black, wings dark brown, tail black
with white spot on two outer quills. Entire breast brick-red.
Throat streaked with black and white. White eyelids. Bill
yellow, dusky at tip ; feet dark.
Female : Paler throughout, resembling the autumn plumage of the male.
Song : A vigorous interrogative melody, cheerful but somewhat lacking
in variety. "Do you think what you do, do you think what
you do, do you think ? " Call note, " Quick ! Quick ! "
Season : Present all the year. The migratory flocks come in March
and leave in October and early November.
Breeds : From the southern borders of the United States to the Arctic
coast.
Nest: On a horizontal branch, in a tree crotch, hedge, or strong vine.
Made of small sticks, plastered more or less and lined with mud.
Eggs : 4, of the peculiar green- blue, known by the name of the bird.
Range : Eastern North America to the Rocky Mountains, including
eastern Mexico and Alaska. Winters from southern Canada
and the Northern States (irregularly) southward.
i " Little Brothers of the Air."
64
SONG-BIRDS. Robin
In early March the Robins come flocking from the South,
and those seen before this time are usually the roving
winter residents. At first they sing most freely at noon or
late in the afternoon, when their notes mingle with the
peeping of the marsh-frogs, but with milder weather the
Robin becomes the bird of dawn, whose persistent, regular
melody unites the whole chorus.
From this time until late July, at morning before twilight
and at intervals all through the day, he sings, varying the
accentuation of the melody, even while its range remains the
same. At dawn he says, " Cheerily, cheerily, cheer up, cheer
up ! " While one who sings every afternoon in the apple
tree by my window says plainly, " Do you think what you
do, do you think what you do, do you thi-n-k ? "
Wilson Flagg, who is always unique if sometimes in-
accurate, writes, "There is no bird that has fewer faults
than the Robin, or would be more esteemed as a constant
companion." Passing over his habit of helping himself to
the ripest cheek of cherry or strawberry, which is a trifling
harm when compared with his good reputation as an insect
destroyer, and which from a bird's standpoint of course is
not a fault at all, he has two radical defects that detract
from the pleasure of his society. He is extremely and
unnecessarily noisy in his cries of alarm when any one
approaches his nest, not only in this way calling attention
to its location, but setting the entire bird colony in an
uproar. His sharp, useless call, given vehemently, often
without cause, reminds one of the silly housewife who ran
down the village street crying, "Fire! Fire!" because the
damper being closed, her stove smoked.
It is very aggravating to be thus interrupted while watch-
ing the movements of some rare or shy bird. One day I had
almost located a Hummingbird's nest when a Ilobin cried,
" Quick ! Quick ! " and the Hummers took the hint.
His other fault is untidiness and general disorder in nest-
building. If Robins build about the porch or in an arbour,
they invariably make a litter and exercise little of the pre-
caution, used by so many birds, in removing the excrements
F 65
Bluebird SONG-BIRDS.
of the young from the nest. In the choice of a nesting
location they are often extremely stupid. The nest being
a combination of clay and sticks, is a rather bulky and
weighty affair, yet the birds frequently build it in a spot so
exposed that a heavy summer shower will reduce it to pulp ;
or on so slender a branch that the weight of the growing
young cause it to tip over.
Twelve pairs of Robins, that I know of, nested this
season in various parts of the garden, some huddled close
to the house, or in fruit trees, others in the evergreens,
but in addition to these homes I found five nests, some con-
taining eggs, which, though of the season's building, had
been abandoned through hopeless faults of location and
construction, and the Robin does not lightly abandon its
nest after the eggs are laid, like some other Thrushes and
many Warblers.
But with the list of the Robin's shortcomings before us,
the cheery sound of his piping effaces them all, and
awakens memories that go back to the very dawn of life.
He was the first bird, probably, that we learned to call by
name, and every spring he returns as the marshal of the
feathered hosts and well sustains the honour.
The American Robin is an entirely different species from
the English Robin Redbreast ; the latter is a smaller bird
of more compact build, with a brilliant red breast, in form
resembling our Bluebird.
Bluebird: Siala stalls.
PLATE I. FIG. 1.
Length: 6.50-7 inches.
Male: Azure-blue above. Wings blue with some dark edgings.
Breast brick-red, lower parts white. Bill and feet black.
Female: Dull blue above. Breast paler and more rusty. Young
with speckled breast and back.
Song: A sweet plaintive warble, seeming to say, " Dear ! dear ! think
of it, think of it!" Burroughs says it continually calls
" Purity, Purity " ; in either case the accent is the same.
Season : A resident species, though the majority come early in March
and retire to the South in late October.
66
SONG-BIRDS. Bluebird
Breeds : All through its range.
Nest : Hardly to be called a structure as it is usually merely a lining
in a decayed knot hole, a bird-house, or the abandoned hole of
the Woodpecker.
Eggs : 4-6, pale blue, shading sometimes to white.
Range: Eastern United States to the eastern base of the Rocky
Mountains, north to Manitoba, Ontario, and Nova Scotia ; south
in winter, from the Middle States to the Gulf States and Cuba.
Bermuda, resident.
The Bluebird is the colour-bearer of the spring brigade,
even as the Song Sparrow is the bugler. There may be
snow on the ground, and the chimney nightly tells the com-
plaint of the wind. All other signs fail, but when we see
the Bluebird in his azure robe and hear his liquid notes
(he is April's minstrel), we know that spring is close at
hand, for in autumn and winter the blue coat pales and has
a rusty-brown hue, as if the murky storms had cast their
shadows upon it. The Bluebird's note is pleasing and
mellow, mingling delightfully with the general spring
chorus, but in itself it ranks more with the music of the
Warblers than with its own Thrush kin. It has a rather
sad tone, a trifle suggestive of complaint or pity. Heard at
a distance it has a purling quality. Uttered close at hand,
as when the birds go to and fro about their nests, it sounds
as if their domestic arrangements were being discussed
with the subdued, melancholy voice so often assumed by
unwilling housewives. Then the male will fly off on a
marketing expedition, murmuring to himself, " Dear, dear,
think of it, think of it ! " In fact, these birds seem to be
practical, every-day sort of little creatures, and very seldom
exhibit any tokens of affection after the nesting season
begins. Yet the Bluebird is one to which romance strongly
attaches us, its notes recall the first thrill of early spring,
and we cannot disassociate him from blooming orchards.
In the autumn he is one of the latest to call to us, the last
leaf (so to speak) on the tree of beautifully coloured Song-
birds, from which the Oriole, Tanager, Rose-breasted Gros-
beak, and Cardinal have dropped away.
67
Kinglets SONG-BIRDS.
One of the finest bird eulogies in any language is Bur-
roughs's chapter on this bird in " Wake Robin " ; it has even
a greater charm than Michelet's rhapsody on the Nightingale.
One paragraph quoted will lead the reader to search out the
whole.
" When Nature made the Bluebird she wished to propi-
tiate both the sky and the earth, so she gave him the colour
of one on his back and the hue of the other on his breast,
and ordained that his appearance in spring should denote
that the strife and war between these two elements was at
an end. He is the peace-harbinger ; in him the celestial
and terrestrial strike hands and are fast friends."
FAMILY SYLVIIDJE: WARBLERS, KINGLETS.
SUB-FAMILY REGULIX^E : KINGLETS.
Golden-crowned Kinglet: Regulus satrapa.
PLATE I. FIGS. 7-8.
Length : 4 inches.
Male : Flame- coloured crown spot edged with yellow and enclosed by
black line. Above olive-green and yellowish olive, which is
more decided on wings, rump, and tail. Under parts yellowish
gray. Whitish line over eye. Bill and feet black.
Female : Crown yellow, no flame colour or black line.
Song : A sharp call and a few notes. Mr. Brewster gives them as,
u Tzee-tzee-tzee-tzee, ti-ti-ter-ti-ti-ti-ti ! "
Season : A fairly constant winter resident.
Breeds : From northern New England northward.
Nest: Bulky for the size of the bird. A ball of hair, moss, etc.,
often lined with feathers, placed on the low bough of an ever-
green.
Eggs : 6-10, white, thickly speckled.
Range : North America generally, migrating south in winter to Guate-
mala.
The dainty little Golden-crowned Kinglet shares with the
Winter Wren and Hummingbird the distinction of being
one of the three smallest birds in the United States. It is
ranked as a winter resident, for, coming from the north with
the Ruby-crowned species, it lingers well into the winter,
SONG-BIRDS. Kinglets
passing southward in rigorous seasons, for a time in January
and February, but returning very early in March en route
to its northern breeding-grounds.
It has a decided preference for evergreens and searches
tirelessly by the hour for insects in the rough bark, but it
is so very small and restless that it may easily escape notice.
My first discovery of the bird in the garden was in Decem-
ber, while looking in the spruces for the source of what I
supposed to be the wiry note of some belated insect. A
gleam of sunlight shooting through the branches, touched
the naming crown of the Kinglet, who was quite close and
eyeing me inquisitively.
The bird has been known to breed in Worcester County,
Mass., and the nest is described by Mr. Brewster, who says
that in one nest the outer walls were made of soft green
mosses and lichens ; near the top were feathers of the Ruffed
Grouse, Hermit Thrush, and Ovenbird, ranged quills down
so that they made a tent-like protection for the eggs. In
the two nests which contained eggs, they were so numerous
as to be piled in two layers, one above the other.
It would be interesting to know how the tiny birds man-
age to hatch such a quantity of eggs : whether they are turned
and stirred up daily in order to bring all equally to the
warmth of the body, or if perhaps the top row hatches first
and the young birds, by their warmth, aid in bringing out
their brothers and sisters.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet: Regulus calendula.
Length: 4-4.50 inches.
Male: Vermilion spot on crown (which, however, does not always
appear until the second year). Ash-gray head, back olive-gray,
yellowish on tail. Wings brownish olive with yellow and white
edgings. Breast and under parts yellowish gray. Edges of
eyelids white. Bill black, feet dark brown.
Female : Lacking the red head spot.
Song: A thin, metallic call note, like a vibrating wire. Song full,
varied, and melodious ; often heard here in the spring migration,
Season : In the migrations April and November.
Breeds : Mostly north of the United States.
Kinglets SONG-BIRDS.
Nest: Very rare, only six known. Of matted hair, feathers, moss,
etc. Bulky, globular, and partly pensile.
Eggs: Marked "unknown" in Coues's "Key to North American
Birds," but have been more recently found. Dirty cream- white,
deepening at larger end to form a ring. Some specimens are
spotted.
Eange : North America, south to Guatemala, north to the Arctic coast.
In late autumn, even after a light November snow, these
cheery, sociable, little birds come prying and peering about
the orchard or garden fruit trees, examining every twig or
nook which may conceal insects with profound interest.
They remain at the most only a few weeks, but make us a
similar visit in April on the return trip. I only know its
call note, though its full song is often heard in the spring
migration, and is said to be rich and sweet. Mr. Nehrling, 1
who has heard it sing in central Wisconsin and northern
Illinois, speaks of the "power, purity, and volume of the
notes, their faultless modulation and long continuance."
Dr. Coues says of it, " The Kinglet's exquisite vocalization
defies description."
It is a very valuable bird to the agriculturist, coming
when most insect-eaters have passed on, and does prodigious
work among all classes of fruit trees, by killing grubs and
larvae.
The Kinglets have been, in common with many other
attractive birds, recklessly killed for millinery purposes,
but the present law in many States prohibits the sale of
stuffed song-birds for such use, and this, together with the
increase of public opinion against this vandalism, is not with-
out effect ; for I have never seen so many of these little
sprites as during the past December.
1 " Our Native Birds of Song and Beauty," Henry Nehrling, Milwaukee.
70
SONG-BIRDS. Titmouse
FAMILY PARID7E: NUTHATCHES AND TITMICE.
SUB-FAMILY PARINJE : TITMICE.
Tufted Titmouse: Parus bicolor.
Length : 6-6.50 inches.
Male and Female : Crested, with black spot on brow at base of crest.
Above ash-gray, wings and tail darker. Sides of head dull
white. Under parts whitish with brownish wash on sides.
Bill lead- black, feet lead-colour.
Song : A persistent whistle, which Mr. Nehrling translates as " Hee-
dle-dee-dle-dee-dle-dee," and at other times " Peto-peto-peto-
day tee-day tee ! "
Season : Straggling to southern New England in early April or May
in company with many of the Warblers.
Breeds : In all but northerly parts of range.
Nest : Sometimes in bird-boxes, otherwise in the abandoned holes of
Woodpeckers, etc., lined with hair and feathers.
Eggs : 6-8, white, spotted with reddish-brown and lilac.
Range : Eastern United States to the Plains, but rare towards the
northern border, being a straggler merely to southern New
England.
The Tufted Titmouse is quite rare here, but is a summer
and, perhaps, winter resident in southern New York ; and
whenever it is seen, it is sure to be recognized.
In shape it has all the jaunty pertness of the Blue Jay,
but with an added air of confidence and sociability. Dur-
ing the winter they travel about in flocks searching for food,
and when insects fail they content themselves with nuts
and hard seeds which crack readily, after the fashion of the
Nuthatches. They pair in April, and Mr. Nehrling says
that they grow silent as the nesting time approaches, and
very stealthy in their movements ; a pair occupied a Blue-
bird house, which he had placed on the edge of the .woods
near his home in Texas, and then shifted to a Wren box to
raise the second brood.
Montague Chamberlain, who heard these Titmice singing
in the South in January, thinks that their song sometimes
takes the high key of the Baltimore Oriole, and that among
other colloquial expressions they frequently said, " Whip-
Chickadee SONG-BIRDS.
Tom-Kelly," but he gives them the name of Peto, from their
most characteristic note.
Chickadee; Black-capped Titmouse: Parus
atricapillus.
PLATE VIII. FIG. 4.
Length : 5.50 inches.
Male and Female: No crest. Above gray with a brownish tinge.
Crown and nape, and chin and throat black ; sides of head white.
Below white, shading to light gray with brown wash. Wings and
tail gray with white edgings. Bill and feet lead-black.
Song : Cheerful, conversational. " Chickadee-dee-dee-dee ! " varied in
winter with " Day, day, day ! "
Season : From late September to May.
Breeds : Nearly throughout its range.
Nest: Made of all sorts of soft material, wool, fur, feathers, and
hair, placed in holes in tree stumps.
Eggs : 6-8, white, thickly sprinkled with warm brown.
Range : Eastern North America, north of the Potomac and Ohio
Valley.
This hardy little fellow, always cheery and lovable, is a
familiar figure in our light woods and garden trees in
autumn and winter, seeming, by his good-nature and energy,
to be trying to console us, in a measure, for the loss of the
tree-haunting summer Warblers.
The Chickadee adapts himself to all surroundings and to
all circumstances, suiting his appetite to what he can find,
when insects fail, taking kindly to seeds, berries, cone-
kernels, and crumbs.
In the winter of 1891-92, when the cold was severe, the
snow deep, and the tree trunks often covered with ice, the
Chickadees repaired in flocks daily to the kennel of my old
dog Colin and fed from his dish, hopping over his back and
calling " Chickadee, dee, dee," in his face, proceedings that
he never in the least resented, but seemed rather to enjoy.
Taking a hint from this, I made a compound of finely
minced meat, waste canary seed, buckwheat, and cracked
oats, which was scattered in a sheltered spot from which
the snow had been swept. This bird-hash was rapidly con-
72
SONG-BIRDS. Nuthatches
sumed, and I was convinced during that season that it was
a food suited to the needs of all our winter-birds, both seed
and insect eaters finding in it what they required.
The Chickadee breaks the silence of many winter days
with his jovial notes, and fairly begs for companionship :
Chic-chicadeedee ! saucy note
Out of sound heart and merry throat,
As if it said, ' ' Good day, good sir !
Fine afternoon, old passenger !
Happy to meet you in these places,
Where January brings few faces." R. W. EMERSON.
FAMILY PARID^E: NUTHATCHES AND TITMICE.
SUB-FAMILY SITTING: NUTHATCHES.
White-breasted Nuthatch: Sitta carolinensis.
PLATE VIII. FIGS. 1-2.
Length: 5.50-6 inches.
Male and Female : Body flat and compact. Above slate-blue. Top of
head and nape black. Wings slate, edged with brown. Outer
tail feathers brownish with white bars. Belly white, rusty
toward vent. Bill dark lead-colour, feet dark brown. Female
paler with colour boundaries less distinctly marked.
Song : A call note, * Quank-quank-quank ! "
Season : A common resident, roving about all winter.
Breeds : Freely in all parts of range.
Nest : In tree holes, which it excavates with great patience, and lines
with feathers, moss, etc., after the fashion of Titmice.
Eggs : Often 10, white, speckled with red and lilac.
Range : Southern British Provinces and eastern United States to the
Rocky Mountains.
This Nuthatch, who is onr most conspicuous bird-acrobat,
persistently Avalking head downward and performing various
tortuous feats while he searches for food, is a resident of
the eastern United States, only leaving the most northerly
parts of his range for a short time in winter.
He appears to migrate in spring and return in autumn,
but in reality only retreats to the woodlands to breed,
emerging again when the food supply grows scant in the
autumn.
73
Nuthatches SONG-BIRDS.
The Nuthatches are great friends of the Kinglets and
Titmice, and often travel in flocks with them. They pass
for being shy, but are not so in reality, but merely elusive
because of their restless habits, which seldom allow them to
stay in one spot long enough to be examined. In fact " tree-
mice," the local name our farmers give them, is quite
appropriate.
This species has a particularly adroit way of knocking off
bits of decayed or loose bark with the beak, to obtain the
grubs or larvse hidden beneath. They never suck the sap
from trees, as is sometimes supposed, but are wholly bene-
ficial to vegetation.
Red-breasted Nuthatch: Sitta canadensis.
PLATE VIII. FIG. 11.
Length : 4.50-4.75 inches.
Male : Above lead- coloured, brownish on wings and tail. Crown and
sides of neck black. White stripe over eye, meeting on brow.
Under parts rust-red. Bill dark lead-colour, feet lead-brown.
Female : Paler, crown and back of one colour.
Song : Note " Day-day- day-dait ! "
Season : A winter resident in Connecticut, but seen most frequently
in early spring and late autumn.
Breeds : Chiefly north of the United States.
Nest : In holes, like the White-breasted species.
Eggs : Very heavily speckled with red-brown.
Range, : North America at large, migrating south in winter.
This species, like the preceding, and the whole family,
in fact, walk head down around the trunks of trees, and
often roost in this singular fashion. Their bright colouring
makes them particularly noticeable among the leafless trees.
They come about the garden every spring, but more particu-
larly in late November, when I have noted them in numbers
011 Thanksgiving Day in 1888-89-91-92. They search the
bark of the orchard trees, at this time, with all the care of
the Kinglets ; notwithstanding, this species does not seem to
be considered by some authorities a common bird in Con-
necticut.
74
SONG-BIRDS. Brown Creeper
Mr. Averill, of Bridgeport, says, " Abundant in September
and October, 1888. Not seen at any other time by me."
Dr. J. A. Allen writes, in his " Revised List of the Birds of
Massachusetts," " Winter visitant. Not generally common."
In New York State it seems to be plentiful only in the
migrations, but Bradford Torrey, in his essay on " December
(1888) out of. Doors," says, "Throughout December, and
indeed throughout the winter, Brown Creepers and Red-
bellied Nuthatches were surprisingly abundant. Every pine
wood seemed to have its colony of them."
On October 18, of the past autumn, half-a-dozen pairs
appeared in the spruces in the garden and remained all
winter, and on January 1 I saw five at one time feeding in
the old apple tree, where meat had been placed for their
benefit.
' FAMILY CERTHIID^E: CREEPERS.
Brown Creeper: Certhia famttiaris americana.
PLATE VIII. FIG. 10.
Length : 5.50 inches.
Male and Female : Above brown and ashy-white striped, the brown
being of several shades, growing more red on rump. Tail pale
brown. Throat, breast, and belly grayish white. Slender,
curving bill, black above, yellowish below. Feet brown.
Song : Wild and sweet, but difficult of syllabication. Call note short
and lisping.
Season : Winter resident, common from September to April.
Breeds : Locally in Massachusetts, but usually further north.
Nest : Tucked into a crevice between loose bark and the trunk of the
tree, and composed of moss, sticks, and soft bark.
Eggs: 4-8, cream-white (sometimes having a pink tinge) , spotted with
brown.
Eange : North America east of the Rocky Mountains, breeding from
the northern and more elevated parts of the United States
northward. Migrating southward in winter.
The Brown Creeper is one of the tree-trunk birds that,
together with Woodpeckers and Nuthatches, are chiefly to
be seen when prying their food from the crevices of the
bark. The Creeper is the most difficult to observe of them
all, for his colouring is a mixture of browns and grays that
75
Mockingbird SONG-BIRDS.
blend perfectly with the background upon which he rests.
He has also a peculiar spiral motion when creeping, which
renders it particularly uncertain at what point he will re-
appear. If, however, you chance to see him with a glass at
short range, his markings will surprise you by their rich-
ness; and his sharp, curving bill (very much like a sur-
geon's needle) completes his identification, as it is unlike
the bill of other tree-trunk birds.
The protective plan of his colouring is carried out in his
nest-building instinct, the nest being practically unfindable
unless the bird is seen coming from, or going to it. Mr.
William Brewster thus describes the location of a nest which
he found near Lake Umbagog : * " . . . I shortly detected
the sweet, wild song of the Brown Creeper, and, looking
more carefully, spied a pair of these industrious little
gleaners winding their way up the trunk of a neighbour-
ing tree. ... I instituted a careful search among the dead
trees that .stood around, and at length detected a scale of
loose bark, within which was crammed a suspicious-looking
mass of twigs and other rubbish. A vigorous rapping upon
the base of the trunk producing no effect, I climbed to the
spot and was about to tear off the bark, when the frightened
Creeper darted out within a few inches of my face, and the
next moment I looked in upon the eggs." He says of its
song : " It consists of a bar of four notes, the first of mod-
erate pitch, the second lower and less emphatic, the third
rising again, and the fourth abruptly falling, but dying
away in an indescribably plaintive cadence, like the soft
sound of the wind among pine boughs. I can compare it to
no other bird voice that I have ever heard."
FAMILY TROGLODYTID^E : WRENS, THRASHERS, ETC.
Mockingbird : Mimus polyglottos.
Length : About 10 inches.
Male and Female : Gray above, wings brown-gray, white spot on outer
edge. Tail brownish gray, three outer quills white. Breast
grayish white. Bill and feet black. Eemale smaller, paler.
i Bulletin Nuttall Club, IV., 1879.
76
SONG-BIRDS. Mockingbird
Song : Natural love-song, a rich, dreamy melody. "Mocking" song
distinctly different, an imitation of the notes of all the
birds of field, forest, and garden broken into fragments.
Season : A chance visitor, under which circumstances it is a summer
resident.
Breeds : All through the South, and casually as far north as Massa-
chusetts.
Nest: Loosely made of leaves and grass, rags, feathers, etc., bulky
and poorly constructed, never far from the ground.
Eggs : 4-6, bluish green, heavily spattered with shades of brown.
Range : United States south into Mexico. Rare from New Jersey, the
Valley of the Ohio, Colorado, and California northward.
The Mockingbird, commonly known in this part of the
country as a cage pet only, does not properly belong among
the birds of the Middle or Eastern States, but as there are
many records of its nesting in these latitudes, and as it is a
conspicuous and interesting bird, it is safe to include it.
Escaped individuals are often seen in our city parks, one
having lived in Central Park, New York, late into the
winter of 1892-93, a season which is remembered as being
very cold and stormy. Venturous pairs of Mockers have
reared their young as far north as Arlington, near Boston,
and they are noted as " rare summer visitants, occasionally
breeding, particularly in the Connecticut Valley," by Dr.
J. A. Allen. Stratford, Conn., also has one breeding-record
of long standing.
The Mockingbird is very valiant in the care of its young,
and particularly winning and sociable in its relations with
man, which friendliness is illy rewarded by the theft of its
nestlings, that they may be sold at home and abroad. In
addition to this, all through the South these birds are wan-
tonly shot by man and boy because they consume berries
and small fruits.
As a cage bird it retains its nocturnal habits, often sing-
ing and fluttering in the middle of the night ; it also shows
many intelligent traits and marked preferences for certain
individuals.
The power of song varies greatly in different individuals,
some become vocal jugglers, and others retain many of their
77
Catbird SONG-BIRDS.
thrilling, wild notes, which are to be much preferred. The
pathetic quality of its native night music inspired Walt
Whitman with the theme of one of his best poems, that
of the Mockingbird searching for his lost mate, singing and
calling in his loneliness :
"But soft! sink low;
Soft ! let me just murmur,
And do you wait a moment, you husky-noised sea ;
For somewhere, I believe, I heard my mate responding to me.
So faint I must be still, be still to listen ;
But not altogether still, for then she might not come immediately
to me."
Catbird: Galeoscoptes carolinensis.
PLATE I. FIG. 10.
Length : 8.50-9 inches.
Male and Female : Above clear, deep slate. Under parts lighter gray.
Crown and tail black. Vent rust-red. Bill and feet black.
Song : A brilliant recitative, varied and inimitable, beginning, " Prut !
Prut ! coquillicot ! really, really, coquillicot ! Hey coquillicot !
Hey! Victory!" Alarm cry, "zeay ! zeay !" like a metallic
mewing.
Season : Early May to October and November.
Breeds : Through range as far as Maine.
Nest : In bushes, of the type of the nests of the Thrushes, but without
clay.
Eggs : 4-6, clear green-blue.
Banye : Eastern United States and southern British Provinces, west
to, and including, the Rocky Mountains ; occasional on the
Pacific coast. Winters in the Southern States, Cuba and Middle
America to Panama. Accidental in Europe.
Next to the Thrushes, no bird would be so much missed
from the garden as the (to my mind misnamed) Catbird.
For it is as a garden bird that it is best known here, although
Wilson Flagg considers it more frequently a tenant of woods
and pastures. I have found it nesting in all sorts of places,
from an alder bush, overhanging a lonely brook, to a scrub
apple in an open field, but never in deep woods, and it is
when in its garden home, and in the hedging bushes of an ad-
78
SONG-BIRDS Catbird
joining field, that it develops its best qualities, "lets itself
out," so to speak. The Catbirds in the garden are so tame
that they will frequently perch on the edge of the hammock
in which I am sitting, and when I move they only hop away
a few feet with a little flutter. The male is undoubtedly a
mimic, when he so desires, but he has an individual and
most delightful song, filled with unexpected turns and
buoyant melody. The length of the song varies greatly,
sometimes lasting almost uninterruptedly for an hour. One
strain is used as an introduction and as a constant refrain,
Prut! Prut! coquillicot! The ejaculation "prut! prut!"
turns into the shrill " zeay ! zeay ! " when he is really alarmed
or angry.
His song is only second, in its colloquial variety, to that
of the Brown Thrasher, and it is sometimes for a moment
difficult to distinguish between the two. He is particularly
successful in imitating the whistle of the Chat (itself a
mimic and ventriloquist), and has several times lured me
by it, through bushes and briars, only to mock at me and
call, " Hey Victory," in my face.
That the Catbird is a fruit thief, its best friend cannot
deny ; but during the breeding-season it feeds largely upon
insects, and particularly upon many highly injurious kinds
then in the moth stage ; seizing them adroitly in the air and
when near the ground, after the manner of Flycatchers.
I kept a Catbird (that had fallen from the nest) in a
cage for many months, and became greatly attached to him.
He was perfectly fearless and would fly about the room
freely, and run about the floor with the rapidity of a mouse.
Frequently he would perch on my head, or flit up and dexter-
ously knock the ashes off O 's cigar to attract his atten-
tion. He had a great dislike of newspapers, and if O
tried to read, when he was at liberty, he would invariably
perch on the top of the sheet, thus bending it over and
stopping the proceedings, and then utter a triumphant
"Zeay, Z-e-a-y ! "
It seems strange that there should be any difference of
opinion about this merry, friendly bird. Mr. George H.
79
Thrasher SONG-BIRDS.
Ellwanger, near whose window one sang early every morn-
ing, writes : " Nothing could be more delightful than his
opening matin song, begun in a dulcet undertone ; did I not
know from experience his long-drawn crescendo and the
frenzy of the finale a perfect Hungarian ' Czardus ' !
Pelting him with stones, a pile of which I keep within
reach, stops him, as it does my morning nap."
Granting this even, it simply proves the wit of Nature, to
set this merry, rippling jester, this whirlwind of delightful
mockery, as a foil, a companion to the Thrushes with their
spiritual melodies. Was it not by the rendering of such
contrasts that Shakespeare mirrored Nature in every phase ?
Brown Thrasher: HarporJiynchus rufus.
PLATE I. FIG. 13.
Length: 11 inches.
Male and Female : Above reddish brown, darker on wings. Beneath
yellowish white, with brown, arrow-shaped spots on breast and
sides. Wings with two whitish bands. Tail very long. Female
paler. Bill black, lower mandible yellow at base ; feet light.
Song : Bravura style, with frequent colloquial strains.
Season : Last week in April to early October.
Breeds : Throughout range.
Nest : In low shrubbery or thickly leaved tree, a boldly made structure
of grape-vine, bark, grasses, twigs, and rootlets. In sandy
localities, generally on the ground.
Eggs: 4, green, sometimes paling to white, thickly speckled with
brown.
Eange : Eastern United States, west to the Rocky Mountains, north
to southern Maine, Ontario, and Manitoba, south to the Gulf
States, including eastern Texas. Accidental in Europe.
Song Thrush, Eed Thrush, Brown Mockingbird, Mavis,
are four of the local names for this most exultant and (quan-
tity and quality considered) dashing of our song-birds. He
arrives from late April to early May, and, after a week
or so of almost uninterrupted music, settles down and pre-
pares his nest.
It is impossible to mistake the Thrasher. The brilliant
80
SONG-BIRDS. Thrasher
rust-red which covers his entire back, his habit of twitching
and thrashing his tail when feeding on the ground, and his
bold, swinging flight are certain marks of identification. His
song is heard early in the morning from the bushes of some
pasture or thickly brushed waste, but later in the day he
usually perches on the topmost twig of a tree, and with
swelling breast and drooping tail pours forth his freest
music; and under no circumstances does he sing when
near his nest.
The song has the same colloquial quality as the Catbird's,
without its extreme rapidity, and one frequently detects in
it the pauses peculiar to the Wood Thrush. I have tried in
vain to reduce it to syllables, and find the result is mislead-
ing ; but the song is always bold and ejaculatory, as Thoreau
describes it : " Upon the topmost spray of a tree sings the
Brown Thrasher, or Eed Mavis, as some love to call him,
all the morning glad of your society (or, rather, I should say,
of your lands), that would find out another farmer's field if
yours were not here. While you are planting the seed he
cries, ' Drop it, drop it, cover it up, cover it up, pull it
up, pull it up, pull it up.' ' :
A different mood, that of a reflective shoemaker whom
Wilson Flagg knew, wove the song into other words, but
with the same accented value : " Look up, look up ! Glory
to God, glory to God ! Hallelujah, Amen, Videlicet ! "
The Thrasher is something of a fruit thief, and I encoun-
tered one this June, in a very picturesque attitude, swooping
directly toward me, wings extended, while from his beak,
hanging by their twin stalks, were a pair of luscious, ripe
cherries. His fruit and corn eating proclivities are much
exaggerated, however, and are inconsiderable, in view of
his usefulness as an insect-destroyer. The Thrasher's period
of song ends with June, or, at the latest, during the first
week in July, and Mr. Bicknell says that it does not seem
to have a second singing period after the moulting.
81
Wrens SONG-BIRDS.
FAMILY TROGLODYTID^E: WRENS, THRASHERS, ETC.
SUB-FAMILY TROGLODYTIN^E : WRENS.
Carolina Wren: Thryothorus ludovicianus.
PLATE I. FIG. 5.
Length : 6 inches.
Male and Female : Chestnut-brown above, wings and tail barred with
clear brown. Whitish stripe over eye. White chin. Under
parts buffy. Bill straight and dark, same length as head.
Feet dusky flesh-coloured. Female smaller.
Song : A joyful melody, " Sweetheart, sweetheart, sweet ! " Also
many varied mocking notes.
Season : A rather rare summer visitor north of New Jersey, yet
breeding sparingly in New England as far as Massachusetts.
Breeds : Through range, but seldom in the northern portion. Raises
two broods.
Nest: A "hole-breeder," preferring bird-boxes and other cavities.
It sometimes builds in shrubbery, and when it does usually
roofs over the nest.
Eggs : 6-7, white, spotted with purple and reddish brown.
Range: Eastern United States (rare toward the northern border),
west to the Plains. Rare in southern New England.
The Carolina is the largest of our Wrens and is also the
best vocalist, its melodies (for it sings several) having
called up many eulogies. In addition to this, it is a great
mocker, with an especial fancy for weird and unusual
sounds. When in full song it perches on the top of a bush
or small tree, raising its head and dropping its tail in Cat-
bird fashion.
It is a winter resident in some of the Middle States, and
is said by Dr. Warren to be abundant in southwestern Penn-
sylvania. Though much more shy than its smaller kin, it
builds like them about outhouses and in various odd nooks,
and has the House Wren's habit of prying and peeping.
It collects its food chiefly from the bark of trees, except in
autumn when, like many other insect-eaters, it feeds upon
berries.
Dr. Shoemaker, a Western bird-lover, wrote a song
beginning,
SONG-BIRDS. Wrens
* There is a little bird that sings
Sweetheart sweetheart sweet ! "
without knowing that it was the Carolina Wren, whose
notes his accurate ear interpreted in syllables.
House Wren: Troglodytes aedon.
PLATE I. FIG. 11.
Length: 4.50-5.25 inches.
Male and Female : Dark brown above, minutely barred with blackish.
Under parts gray with brownish wash and faint bandings.
Fairly long tail. Bill black above, lower mandible light ; feet
brown.
Song: A merry roulade, sudden, abruptly ended and frequently
repeated.
Season : Middle of April to October.
Breeds: Profusely through range. Frequently rears three broods a
season.
Nest : A loose heap of sticks with a soft lining, in holes, boxes, etc.
Eggs : 6-10, cream-colour, so thickly spotted with brown that the
whole egg is tinged.
Range : Eastern United States and southern Canada, west to Indiana
and Louisiana.
The House Wren is a bird who has allowed the word male
to be obliterated from its social constitution at least. We
always speak of Jenny Wren ; always refer to the Wren as
she, as we do of a ship. It is Johnny Wren who sings and
disports himself generally, but it is Jenny, who, by dint of
much fussing and scolding, keeps herself well to the front.
She chooses the building-site and settles all the little
domestic details. If Johnny does not like her choice, he
may go away and stay away; she will remain where she
has taken up her abode and make a second matrimonial
venture. In fact, a little exhibition of independence of this
kind took place in our barnyard last spring.
Jenny makes herself as much at home about the wood-
shed and outhouses as the mouse does in the granary, and
when she slips in and out of the woodpile she seems like a
mouse masquerading in feathers. Raise her suspicions or
83
Wrens SONG-BIRDS.
her anger, however, and there is no mouse-like meekness
about her ; she becomes a tiny shrew, almost thrusting her
bill in your face as she pierces your ears with her persist-
ent, " Chit-chit-chit-chit ! "
Forgive her for this ; it is merely a bad habit, not really
an attack, and even while she scolds, her mate is off perch-
ing on the pointed top of the clothes-post, head raised high
as if he would allow no unnecessary curve in his neck to
impede his outburst of sparkling song. "Foive notes to
wanst," was the Irish labourer's comment upon this song.
" Foive notes to wanst," it is, and I defy any one to render
this appoggiatum into intelligible syllables.
The Wrens are a most particular bird about the care of
their nest, and, though inhabiting pent-up places, their homes
are singularly free from vermin. Its industry is very great
in collecting the insects upon which it feeds, both itself and
the young, and oftentimes it seizes small butterflies when
on the wing. Usually, as many as twenty pairs of these
Wrens build in the garden bird-boxes and about the barn
and sheds. One nest, last year, was placed in an old leather
mitten which was left on a shelf in the tool-house ; the birds
going in and out through the wrist, and, after stuffing the
thing entirely full of sticks, to give stability, they lined a
little depression with soft duck feathers.
Winter Wren: Troglodytes hiemalis.
PLATE I. FIG. 4.
Length : 3.90-4.10 inches.
Mal<* and Female : Colour very similar to House Wren, but the under
parts rusty, dimly and finely barred with dark. Tail and bill
short, the latter dark, and slender ; feet dark.
Song : Strong, and very musical ; not often heard here. Call note,
" tr-r-r-r-r-r."
Season : Winter resident, arriving often in October. A summer resi-
dent of northern New England.
Breeds : Northern New England, northern portions of New York State,
and Pennsylvania northward.
Nest : In odd nooks, crevices, logs, etc. Of twigs mixed with moss,
hair, and feathers.
84
SONG-BIRDS. Wrens
Eggs: 5-8, pure white, finely dotted with purple and brown.
Range : Eastern North America generally, wintering from Massachu-
setts southward.
The Winter Wren is one of the group of tiny birds that
enliven December, January, and February. It is more
common than it appears to be, for it is the most retiring
and shy of its family. Though it will sometimes nest near
dwellings, it prefers seclusion, and especially the proximity
to running water. Mr. Otto Boehr writes of the breeding-
habits of this Wren in Sullivan County, Penn. : " We found
his nest but once. It was built on the side of a mossy log
that laid across a small run in a dark, rocky place. The nest
was composed entirely of moss, with the entrance at one
side near the bottom ; it contained six eggs, which resem-
bled those of the Chickadee. The eggs were fresh ; time,
July 4."
Burroughs considers that its song is surpassed by very
few, being of a gushing, lyrical character, uniting brilliancy
and plaintiveness.
Short-billed Marsh Wren: Cistothorus stellaris.
Length : 4.50 inches.
Male and Female : Above brown. Crown and part of back streaked
with black and white. Wings and tail barred. White line over
eye. White beneath, washed with rusty across breast and
along sides. Very short bill, dark above, light below; feet
brown.
Song: " 'Che, 'chet, de-de-de-de-de 1 "
Season : Early May to late September.
Breeds : In all but most southerly parts of its range.
Nest : Among the grasses of marshy meadows ; it is made of grass and
always softly lined ; closed over the top, with the entrance at
one side. It may be either suspended between rushes, or be
placed on the ground in a tussock, away from the water.
Eggs : 6-9, pure white.
Range, : Eastern United States and southern British Provinces, west
to the Plains. Winters in the Gulf States and southward.
The Short-billed Marsh Wren is a bird of moist meadows
and reedy places. As a summer visitor it is erratic and
85 -
Wrens SONG-BIRDS.
irregular, being locally fairly plentiful during one season,
and the next rare, but abundant in some adjoining place.
It is very adroit in eluding the curious, by disappearing in
the long grass, and not emerging until it is a long distance
away, very much as many of the Ducks escape notice by
diving, and swimming under water.
This bird, as well as the next species, has a peculiar habit
of building several nests every season. Samuels relates that
these are built, it is believed, to secure protection for the
female ; so that when people search for the nest near where
she is sitting, the male will lure the hunter to an empty
nest. Its haunts, in this vicinity, are similar to those chosen
by the Red-winged Blackbird.
Long-billed Marsh Wren: Cistothorus palustris.
PLATE I. FIG. 2.
Length : About 5 inches.
Male and Female : Above clear brown. Whitish line over eye. Neck
and back streaked sparingly with white. Wings and tail
brown, the latter barred. Below, white, washed with pale
brown. Bill nearly as long as head. Dark above ; lower
mandible light. Feet brown.
Song : Suggestive of the House Wren, but less agreeable, and at times
quite harsh.
Season : Summer resident. Early May to September.
Breeds : Throughout summer range.
Nest: Along river borders. Made of sedge and grasses suspended
between tall reeds, above tide level. Rather bulky, with
entrance on one side.
Eggs : 6-10, chocolate-brown.
Range : Southern British America and the United States. South in
winter, to Guatemala.
These Wrens have all the alert ways and nervous habits
of the family. They inhabit marshy and reedy river wastes,
and often build their torch-shaped nests in little colonies.
They are abundant summer residents all along the Housa-
tonic Eiver, from Stratford upward, following the course of
tide rivers in preference to smaller streams. It is not an
easy nest to find, even if you know where to look, and you
86
SONG-BIRDS. Pipit
should either go upon your search at high tide in a duck
boat, or else at very low water, wearing seven-league boots.
I could relate an amusing tale of an ardent female wearing
rubber boots on the bird-quest, who, approaching the reeds
from the land side, on seeing one of the coveted nests a
little beyond, lost her head completely, and, forgetting in
her enthusiasm to pick her way from hummock to hummock,
straightway found herself in two feet of hidden water, and,
when she finally extricated herself, the boots were left
behind as a tribute to the tenacity of the mud, and their
own generous size.
FAMILY MOTACILLID^E : WAGTAILS; PIPITS.
American Pipit, Titlark : Anthus pensilvanicus.
Brown Lark.
Length: 6.25-6.75 inches.
Male and Female : Above dark olive-brown. Tail and wings brown-
black, the tail shorter than the wings, several outer tail feathers
partly or wholly white. White eye ring and line over eye.
Underneath whitish with washes of various shades of brown.
Bill dark ; feet brown.
Song : A hesitating querulous note.
Season : Abundant on salt marshes in migrations, April, May, Oc-
tober, and November.
Breeds: Only in high latitudes, sub- Arctic regions, and in Rocky
Mountains, etc.
Nest : Close to ground, of grass, moss, or lichens.
Eggs : 4-6, chocolate-colour, marked and scratched with black.
Range : North America at large, wintering in the Gulf States, Mexico,
and Central America. Accidental in Europe.
The Titlark may be recognized by its very uncertain,
wavering flight, seldom remaining long in one spot, but
moving on and hovering and wheeling about the place
where it intends next to alight. I have seen them fre-
quently in the fields, on late October mornings when every-
thing was white with hoar frost and they were gleaning a
breakfast, uttering their thin notes and scattering irregu-
larly, only to gather immediately on some convenient fence-
87
Warblers SONG-BIRDS.
rail, or telegraph wire. They also flock in the autumn-
ploughed fields, searching out the newly uncovered grubs
and larvae. When on the ground they resemble the Water
Thrushes and they are continually jerking their tails about,
a habit which has give them, together with these Thrushes,
the title of Wagtails.
FAMILY MNIOTILTDXE: WOOD WARBLERS.
Black-and-white Creeper: Mniotilta varia.
Length : About 5 inches.
Male and Female : Above striped black and white. White stripe on
top of head, bordered by black stripe. White stripe over eye.
Black cheeks and throat, separated by a black line. Breast
white in middle, black stripe on sides. Wings and tail black ;
wings with two white cross-bars and some white edgings, tail
with white markings on outer quills. Bill and feet black.
Female paler stripings, less distinct. Strong resemblance to the
Downy Woodpecker.
Song: Feeble and lisping, " Weachy, weachy, weachy, 'twee 'twee,
'twee 'tweet."
Season : April to late September.
Breeds : Throughout eastern United States and northward.
Nest: Low down, either on a stump or the ground, composed of bark,
grass, leaves, hair. Very difficult to find.
Eggs : 4-5, white, dotted thickly with red and brown.
Range : Eastern United States to the Plains, north to Fort Simpson,
south, in winter, to Central America and the West Indies.
The Black-and-white Creeper is one of tho most familiar
and sociable of the Warblers. At first you will doubtless
think it a small Woodpecker, as it is seen, principally scram^
bling around tree trunks searching for the insect food upon
which it, together with the entire family of Warblers, sul>
sists.
During the past four years this Warbler has not varied a
week in the dates of his first and last appearance in the
garden. He has come to a certain gnarled old apple tree,
his favourite resort, twice on May 2, once May 1, and
once April 29, and has invariably been last seen, in the
same locality, between September 25 and October 2.
88
PLATE II.
SONG-BIRDS. Warblers
The Creeper, when at rest, is not at all graceful, but it is
most interesting to watch its zig-zag course from the tree
trunk out to the angles of the crooked branches, picking up
insects which are invisible to us, with its slender, sharp bill.
In watching the manoeuvres of all bark-feeding birds, you
must keep in mind that the eyes of birds are powerful mag-
nifiers, and that to them objects appear twenty-five times as
large as they do to us.
Worm-eating Warbler: Helmitherus vermivorus.
PLATE II. FIG. 14.
Length: 5.50 inches.
Male and Female : Head yellowish brown, black stripe on each side
of crown, also back of eye. Above greenish olive. Under parts
buffy. Bill and feet light.
Song: Similar to that of Chipping Sparrow, "trrrr-rrr-rrr,"
from which Mr. Eidgway says that "it is difficult sometimes
for the most critical listener to distinguish it."
Season : Rare summer resident in southern New England.
Breeds : In all parts of its United States range, but casually in the
northerly sections.
Nest : On the ground in woods, and in swamp tussocks, or in a ground
hollow like the Ovenbirds, and composed chiefly of leaves.
Eggs : 4-5, clear white, specked with reddish brown.
Eange: Eastern United States, north to southern New York and
southern New England, south, in winter, to Cuba and Central
America.
This compact, soberly clad Warbler is not at all common
north of New Jersey, and, even where it is plentiful, it is
very likely to escape notice ; for its colouring is such as to
make it blend with the ground upon which it nests, or with
the branches and trunks of trees where it frequently creeps
and circles in feeding, after the manner of the Brown
Creeper. Its nest seems also to be well concealed, and
generally in remote places, for the descriptions of it are
infrequent.
Warblers SONG-BIRDS.
Blue- winged Warbler: Helminthophila pinus.
PLATE II. FIG. 11.
Length : 4.75 inches.
Male : Above olive-green. Wings a slatish blue with white bars ; tail
plain slate. Forehead and under parts clear yellow, dark stripe
through eye. Bill bluish black.
Female : Paler throughout, with a general olive cast.
Song: Sharp and metallic : "ar-ree ar-ree." (Nehrling.)
Season : May to September. A common summer resident.
Breeds : Throughout range.
Nest : On or near the ground ; sometimes in the centre of a plant tuft.
Made of grass, etc., and rather deep and bulky.
Eggs : 4-5, white, with reddish dots.
Range : Eastern United States, from southern New York and south-
ern New England southward ; in winter Mexico and Guate-
mala.
The name of this bird is misleading to the novice, as the
blue of the wing is dull and inconspicuous, and not blue at
all in the sense in which this colour distinction is applied
to the Bluebird and Jay. It is well to remember the fact
that only two or three of our New England birds are " true
blue," and that the term, when applied to the Warblers
especially, simply means either a bluish gray, or slate, which
seems barely different from plain gray at a short distance.
These Warblers are not a bird of gardens and open places,
preferring well-brushed woods, but come frequently into the
orchard in the blossoming time, and search the trees care-
fully for insects, as they feed almost wholly upon spiders,
larvae, and beetles, such as are found in bark, bud, or flower.
They are very beautiful birds, with brilliant plumage, and
dainty little tricks and manners, and are usually seen con-
sorting in pairs.
Golden-winged Warbler : Helminthophila chrysoptera .
Length : About 5 inches.
Male: Yellow crown and wing bars. Above bluish gray. Chin,
throat, and eye stripe black. Throat divided from sides of
head by white line. Below ashy white, tinged with yellowish.
Bill and feet blackish.
90
SONG-BIRDS. i Warblers
Female : Olive above. Below dusky, eye stripe gray.
Song : Not loud, sweet, and thrilling, resembling the Maryland Yellow-
throat's. Call note, "tseep." (Nehrling.)
Season : Summer resident ; May and September.
Breeds : All through United States range, but only casually north of
Massachusetts.
Nest and Eggs : Similar to those of the last species.
Eange : Eastern United States ; Central America in winter.
The Golden-winged Warbler seems to be considered rare,
or only locally common, in many parts of its range. It
comes about the orchard sparingly in May, but has a habit
of retiring very suddenly into dense underbrush, which ren-
ders its' identification difficult. Its name also is very delu-
sive ; for, if you go out to search for a gorgeous bird with
canary-yellow wings, you will never suspect this bird, with
small golden splashes on the wing coverts only, of being the
Golden-winged Warbler.
All Warblers depend upon their markings rather than
song for their identity, which renders the majority of the
tribe of greater interest to the scientist than to the novice.
In fact, until you have named four or five of the com-
monest species as landmarks, you will be considerably con-
fused, and feel oftentimes inclined to scold the brilliant
beauties, and tell them that they are bores, like gaily dressed
people who have no conversational ability ; and also that
fine feathers do not make fine voices, but quite the reverse.
Then some gloomy recess in the pines will be lighted by
the flitting birds, like sun motes filtering through the
branches, and all is forgiven, and you will say, " I know, at
least, that these are Warblers" which, after all, is some-
thing.
Nashville Warbler: Helminthophila ruficapilla.
Length : About 5 inches.
Male and Female : No bars on wings or tail. Clear yellow below.
which remains constant all the season. Above olive-green,
brightening on the rump and shoulders. Slate-gray head and
neck, obscure chestnut spot on poll ; wings and tail brownish.
Bill and feet dark. Female dull olive.
91
Warblers SONG-BIRDS.
Song: Feeble " Que-ar-Que-ar-Que-ar," a note which Audubon
says sounds like the breaking of twigs.
Season : Summer resident, perhaps, from late April to September and
October, but only plentiful as a migrant.
Breeds : From New England northward.
Nest: On the ground, sometimes in mossy banks. Nest made of
fibres, pine-needles, etc. , with a lining of the softer grasses and
hair.
Eggs : 4, blush white (if fresh), thickly speckled.
Range: Eastern North America to the Plains, north to the Fur
Countries. Mexico in winter.
This brilliant Warbler is a common summer resident from
Massachusetts northward, but I think irregularly so in this
part of Connecticut. It visits us freely, however, in May,
or sometimes the last week in April, and usually appears in
merry flocks on its return trip in the fall. They are shy
birds, prying about the borders of woodlands, and heje, in
the fall migration, they haunt a belt of wild hemlocks that
border the rocky banks of a stream ; Dr. Warren says that
in the southward migration in Pennsylvania, they are seen
in small parties feeding among the willows along the banks
of streams and ponds.
The name " Nashville " was applied to this Warbler by
Wilson, who discovered it near Nashville, Tenn., but it is
another case of a poor name for a beautiful bird, and, like so
many other titles, unsatisfactory in the extreme. The ac-
cepted English name of a bird should embody some of its
personal attributes, as the Latin title frequently does ;
ruficapilla, from rufus, red, and capilla, hair, signifies that
the bird has red markings on his head. Why is Nashville
given as an English equivalent ? The American Ornitholo-
gists' Union has a magnificent chance to show its inventive
ability in such cases, and then, perhaps, the Wood Warblers,
as a family, may be better known by the masses.
92
SONG-BIRDS. Warblers
Parula Warbler : Compsothlypis americana.
Blue Yellow-backed Warbler.
PLATE II. FIG. 17.
Length : 4.50 inches.
Male and Female: Above slate-blue, triangular spot of greenish
yellow back of shoulders. Chin and throat yellow. Wings
brownish with two white bars ; two white spots on tail. Belly
white, reddish brown band across breast. Markings of under-
parts variable. Bill black above and flesh-coloured below.
Feet light. In spring the female closely resembles the male,
but lacks the brown wash on breast.
Song : Shrill wiry ' Chirr- rirr-irr-reeh." (Nehrling. )
Season : April to October.
Breeds : Eastern United States and northward.
Nest : In swamps where the usnea moss is plentiful, or, at least, never
far from water. Nest a delicate structure of filmy moss, sus-
pended from a slender branch.
Eggs : 4-5, with reddish spots.
Mange : Eastern United States, west to the Plains, north to Canada,
and south in winter to the West Indies and Central America.
In early May, before the apple trees are in bloom, if you
look up among their branches you will see this airy little
bird flitting in and out, pausing every moment, head down
in Titmouse fashion, then raising its head again to utter its
chirping song, and, lifting its wings, seems half to fly, half
to be blown from branch to branch.
This is the bird that awakened Burroughs, when a boy,
to the unfamiliar birds that lodge in very familiar woods.
He writes, under title of "The Invitation," in "Wake
Eobin " : " Years ago, when quite a youth, I was rambling in
the woods one Sunday with my brothers, gathering black
birch, wintergreens, etc., when, as we reclined upon the
ground,, gazing vaguely up into the trees, I caught sight of a
bird that paused a moment on a branch above me, the like
of which I had never before seen or heard of. ... How the
thought of it clung to me afterward ! It was a revelation.
It was the first intimation I had had that the woods we
knew so well, held birds that we knew not at all."
Warblers SONG-BIRDS.
So it is with each one of us. Some day a bird absolutely
new and unknown flies through the orchard or sings above
the familiar footpath through the woods, which, though it
is meant to be a " short cut " to somewhere, is often rendered
a loitering-ground by the magic of these very bird voices
that speak so directly to us.
A special gift of sight is needed to search out these tree-
flitting Warblers, but in this case the nest of the Parula will
tell you of its whereabouts if you are so lucky as to find it.
No other bird of our fauna builds a structure akin to its
swinging, eery, moss nest, and the day you. find it must be
noted with red ink in your journal. (See Building of the
Nest, p. 20.)
Yellow Warbler: Dendroica cestiva.
Summer Yellowbird.
PLATE II. FIG. 6.
Length: 4.75-5 inches.
Male and Female: Above rich olive-yellow, brightening on the rump;
breast and under parts golden-yellow. Breast streaked with
cinnamon-brown. Wings and tail olive-brown edged with yel-
low. Bill lead-coloured ; feet light brown. Female darker with
streaks on breast faintly marked or absent.
Song: Rapid warble, " S weet - sweet -sweet-sweet-sweet-sweeter-
sweeter ? " Seven times repeated.
Season : First week in May to middle September.
Breeds : In all parts of its North American range.
Nest : In the crotch of some terminal branch of a fruit tree, or stout
shrub, made of the frayings of milkweed stalks lined with
fern wool and hair.
Eggs : 4-5, greenish or grayish white, spotted and blotched with lilac
tints and red-browns.
Range : North America at large, south in winter to Central America
and northern South America.
In early May, often on May-day itself, if the weather is
clement, when the marsh-marigolds are vanishing from the
swamps, and the cherry trees are in bloom, the Yellow
Warblers descend upon the gardens and orchards.
They come like whirling leaves, half autumn yellow, half
94
SONG-BIRDS. Warblers
green of spring, the colours blending as in the outer petals
of grass-grown daffodils. Lovable, cheerful little spirits,
darting about the trees, exclaiming at each morsel that they
glean. Carrying sun glints on their backs wherever they
go, they should make the gloomiest misanthrope feel the
season's charm. They are so sociable and confiding, feeling
as much at home in the trees by the house as in seclusion.
This bird is one of the particular victims which the Cow-
bird (see page 167) selects to foster its random eggs, but
the -War bier puts its intelligence effectively to work, and
builds a floor over the unwelcome egg, and repeating the
expedient, if the Cowbird continues her mischief, until
sometimes a three-story nest is achieved. In spite of the
Warbler's seeming preference for man's society, it builds
also in lonely fields and byways. The most beautiful nest
that I have found, and which is now before me, was set in
the crotch of an old elder bush, about six feet from the
ground, by the side of the marsh lane. The outside is com-
posed of glistening milkweed flax, which forms a felt-like
case, and likewise lashes the nest to its support. The inte-
rior, to the depth of an inch, is made of the wool from the
stems of young ferns, matted into a material resembling
soft sponge ; and inside this, to give shape and stability, are
woven a few horsehairs. The Yellow Warbler sings from
its arrival until July, but has no second song period.
Black- throated Blue Warbler: Dendroica ccerulescens.
PLATE II. FIGS. 9-10.
Length: About 5 inches.
Male: Above bluish slaty, rather than blue; lighter on forehead.
Black throat, extending along sides of body. White spot on
wings; outer tail feathers, white spotted. Beneath white.
Bill and feet dark.
Female : Entirely different. Greenish olive above, light yellow under-
neath, wing spots smaller.
Song: A plaintive strain, not particularly noticeable. Call note,
"Z-ip, z-ip."
Season : Early May to September in northern New England. Here as
a migrant in May and October.
95
Warblers SONG-BIRDS.
Breeds : From northern New England and New York northward.
Nest : Close to the ground in bushes.
Eggs : Typical Warbler's eggs.
Range : Eastern North America to the Plains. West Indies in winter.
Again we find the term blue used in reference to a War-
bler which is of an inconspicuous, dull slate colour. This
Warbler is likely to be one of the most difficult of its tribe
to identify, as its plumage, being wholly devoid of yellow,
is not easily seen among the trees.
All authorities agree that its favourite nesting-haunts are
near swampy ground and in laurel thickets, especially in
those parts of Connecticut where it breeds. Mr. Averill
notes the bird as a " tolerably common migrant," but I can
find no breeding-record for it in this vicinity. Still, I think
that they sometimes breed here, for I saw a pair on May 30,
in the laurel glen near Aspetuck, who were evidently col-
lecting building-materials ; for the male bird had the dry
tendrils of a small vine in his beak.
Myrtle Warbler: Dendroica coronata.
Yellow-rumped Warbler.
PLATE II. FIG. 8.
Length: 5.50 inches.
Male : Slate colour, striped and streaked with black. Crown, sides of
breast, and rump yellow. Below whitish ; upper breast black.
Two white cross-bars on wings ; tail with white spots. In win-
ter, brownish olive ; yellow of rump constant, but lacking on
crown and breast. Bill and feet black.
Female : Resembling the winter male.
Song : A few notes only " Twhip-tweeter-tweeter. "
Season : Most plentiful Warbler in the migrations, and also a winter
resident.
Breeds : From the northern United States northward.
Nest : In low shrubs, particularly evergreens.
Eggs : 4-6, the usual Warbler variety.
Range : Eastern North America chiefly, straggling, more or less com-
monly, westward to the Pacific ; winters from the Middle States
and the Ohio Valley, southward to the West Indies and Central
America.
96
SONG-BIRDS. Warblers
In the spring and fall migrations, and particularly in the
spring, this is one of the most conspicuous of the smaller
migrant birds. In autumn it grows more sociable, and in
winter it comes freely about the barn and sheds in search of
food, often in the company of Juncos, Tree Sparrows, and
Titmice, individuals of this species, wintering as far north
as Massachusetts ; a few, according to Dr. Allen, remaining
at Cape Cod.
In winter it forsakes its usual insect diet for such ber-
ries as it can find. Dr. Warren says that in Pennsylvania
the berries of the poison-sumach (Rlius venencttd) are a
favourite article of its food, during the early winter, and
these Warblers congregate in considerable numbers where
the bush is abundant.
Speaking of the baleful poison-sumach, with its scatter-
ing clusters of whitish berries, it is well for the amateur
ornithologist to be on the watch for it, as its poison is so
insidious that it affects many people through substantial
clothing. It may be easily distinguished by the fact that
the flower clusters come from the leaf axils, and the berries
are whitish and semi-translucent, while the harmless species
of sumach bear their flowers in terminal spires, which turn
to sticky, opaque berries of a rich, brilliant red. Hamilton
Gibson's clever jingle will prove a talisman, against either
poison-sumach, or the commoner poison-ivy (Wius toxicoden-
dron) to those who will memorize it :
" Berries red,
Have no dread !
Berries white,
Poisonous sight !
Leaves three
Quickly flee!"
Magnolia Warbler: Dendroica maculosa.
Black-and- Yellow Warbler.
PLATE II. FIG. 15.
Length : 4.75-5 inches.
Male and Female : Above, back dark olive, crown a bluish ash, bor-
H 97
Warblers SONG-BIRDS.
dered by white lines, and these framed in black, extending
across forehead and sides of head. Wings dark, bars white,
and small spots of white on tail. Hump and under parts rich
yellow, the latter streaked with black across the breast and
along the sides. Bill and feet dark.
Song : Not particularly distinguishable.
Season : Migrant, common the middle of May.
Breeds : Breeding from northern New England, New York, and Michi-
gan, to Hudson's Bay Territory.
Nest and eggs : Warbler type.
Range : Eastern North America to the base of the Rocky Mountains ;
in winter, Bahamas, Cuba, and Central America.
The Magnolia Warbler is one of the most gaily dressed
of all his dainty family, and is quite easily identified by his
distinct markings. It is only a migrant here, lodging with
us a while in May, and passing through in autumn. But be
sure to look for it in May, for in October it wears the duller
travelling cloak with which Nature protects so many of her
feathered children in their journey through the leafless
trees.
Chestnut-sided Warbler : Dendroica pensylvanica,
PLATE II. FIG. 2.
Length : About 5 inches.
Male and Female : Top of head yellow. Black stripe running through
the eye, and a black spot in front of it. Back and wing cov-
erts streaked black and yellow. Throat and breast white, with
chestnut stripe starting at the black mustache and extending
down the sides. Belly black ; feet brown. Female less highly
coloured.
Song: " 'Che-'che-'ch-'ch6ea."
Season: First week in May to September. Also very plentiful in
migrations.
Breeds : From central Illinois, and probably northern Georgia north-
ward.
Nest : In bushes and low trees ; when in the latter a forking branch
is chosen. Nest on general plan of the Yellow Warbler's, but
coarser and less woolly.
Eggs : Some simply speckled ; others prettily chained with chestnut.
Range : Eastern United States and southern Canada ; west to the
Plains. Visits the Bahamas and Central America in winter.
SONG-BIRDS. Warblers
A most abundant and sociable bird in the spring migra-
tion, the Chestnut-sided Warbler becomes shy and retiring
in the breeding-season, and in the fall journey keeps well
in the protection of the trees.
During the second week of May, 1892, after a storm
which had lasted three days, a perfect swarm of Warblers
appeared in the garden, among the evergreens and on the
walks, and, after arranging their wind-beaten plumage, dis-
persed to satisfy appetites that seemed to have been tried
by a long fast. Upon going to the door about seven o'clock
in the morning, I was greatly surprised to see a dozen or
more of the Chestnut-sided Warblers, chiefly males, feeding
eagerly upon some minute insects that they picked from
the gravel, while among them were several Redstarts, mov-
ing backward and forward with the airy motion which is
peculiarly theirs, and which seems as if they were propelled
by a puff of wind rather than their own volition. The War-
blers were so fearless, owing to their hunger, that they only
moved a few yards away when I went out to see what they
were eating. Upon scanning the gravel on the path, I found
that it was literally plastered together by myriads of dead
ants, which had been drowned out of their hills at the roots
of some large trees, and washed down. The same condition
obtained in other parts of the garden, and these ants, together
with the abundant earth-worms and various seeds in the lawn
and many low-flying insects, brought together such a carni-
val of migrants as I had never before seen outside of the
cases of a museum, Thrushes, Warblers, Flycatchers, and
Finches of all descriptions, that seemed to have been swept
into the garden shelter by the fury of the storm.
Bay-breasted Warbler: Dendroica castanea.
PLATE II. FIG. 5.
Length: 5.25-5.75 inches.
Male and Female : Above streaked with black and grayish olive.
Forehead, cheeks, and sides of head black, enclosing a chest-
nut patch. Chin, throat, upper breast, and a streak along the
sides dull chestnut. Below buffy. White cross-bars on
99
Warblers SONG-BIRDS.
wings and white spots on tail. Bill and feet dark. Female
with a general olive wash.
Song : Not marked, insect like.
Season : A rare migrant here. Seen in May, and less frequently on
the return trip.
Breeds : From northern New England and northern Michigan north-
ward.
Nest : Large and rough, for so small a bird, made of tree moss and
twigs, and fur-lined.
Eggs : Blue-green and spotted.
Range : Eastern North America, north to Hudson's Bay ; winters in
Central America.
This Warbler is an irregular migrant in the greater part
of its range ; sometimes it will not be seen at all in a locality
where in previous seasons it was fairly constant. The chest-
nut colouring of the breast is the distinctive mark by which
it may be recognized, and this dull red breast renders it
conspicuous and more likely to be discovered than many
plainer, though more common species. In full spring plu-
mage the male looks, at a little distance, like a well-fed Robin,
in miniature.
The Bay-breasts seem, according to many authorities, to
be very freaky and capricious as to the course of their
migrations, and it is said they return to the South by a dif-
ferent route from that by which they travelled up in spring,
no two people being able to agree with certainty as to the
locations where they may be found. Dr. Allen, in his " List
of Massachusetts Birds/' says that they are common in
both migrations, varying in abundance; while Mr. Minot
says that as a rule these birds are rare in spring in eastern
Massachusetts and are never seen in autumn, the con-
sensus of opinion being that in some seasons the birds take
a westerly course in spring and an easterly in autumn, or
vice versa. All of which goes to prove that you may have
considered this Warbler an unknown bird in your locality,
and some May morning in looking out your window you will
find a little party of them almost peering in at you.
100
SONG-BIRDS. ,-, * /Warblorp
Black-poll Warbler: Dendroica striata.
Length : About 5.50 inches.
Male: Black cap, grayish white cheeks, general upper parts striped
gray, black, and olive. Breast white, with black streaks.
White spots on outer tail feathers ; upper mandible brownish
black, lower yellowish; feet flesh-coloured.
Female : Crown and back, olive-green, faintly streaked with black.
Paler than male all through.
Song: Call note, "Screep,-screep." Torrey says that, short as the
song is, it contains a perfect crescendo and a perfect decres-
cendo.
Season : Late May and late October. One of the latest arrivals among
the migrants.
Breeds : From northern New England northward.
Nest: In evergreens. Nest large for the size of the bird, as Mr.
Brewster notes several nests 5 inches across and 8 inches deep.
They are made of terminal shoots of conifers, lichens, rootlets,
and sedges, lined with grass panicles.
Eggs : Not especially marked.
Range : Eastern North America to the Rocky Mountains, north to
Greenland, the barren grounds, and Alaska. South in winter
to northern South America.
The jolly Black-poll has all the vivacity and activity of a
Flycatcher, and, in fact, Dr. Cones gives it credit for many
of the Flycatcher's attributes, and says that it catches
insects on the wing with the same ease as the Wood Pewee.
Some authorities say that the Black-poll climbs and walks
about the trees in the manner of the Black-and- White
Creeper. I do not think that it does this ; for I watched a
number of them at short range last spring, and while the
birds seemed to creep, they really Jleiv about by means of a
short and rapid flip of the wings.
Their call notes, which were the only ones I heard, were
very weak and scarcely distinguishable from other wood
sounds, and I have often mistaken them for the creaking of
a branch. Audubon says : "... its notes have no title to
be called a song. They are shrill, and resemble the noise
made by striking two small pebbles together more than any
other sound I know."
101
Wafers; SONG-BIRDS.
Blackburuian Warbler: Dendroica blackburnice.
Torch Bird.
PLATE III. FIG. 4.
Length: 5.50 inches.
Male : Black head, striped with flame, black wings and tail with white
markings, black streak on throat. Throat and breast flame-
colour. Lower parts yellowish. Bill and feet dark.
Female : Olive-brown above, entire breast yellow.
Song : A thin warble, with little variety, ending with a high Z .
Season : A migrant here ; abundant through May, and even more
plentiful in September.
Breeds: From the northern and more elevated parts of the eastern
United States northward. Dr. Merriam says that a few breed
in Connecticut, and Dr. Allen notes them as casual residents in
Massachusetts.
Nest : Well concealed by bark and moss ; built in small trees and
bushes, preferably evergreens.
Eggs : 4-6, white, with lilac and chestnut shell markings, chiefly on
the larger end.
Range : Eastern North America to the Plains ; in winter south to the
Bahamas, Central America, and northern South America.
Another Warbler, with a totally inadequate name. It
should be called the Torch Bird, for half a dozen of them, as
they flash about in the pines, raising their wings and jerk-
ing their tails, make the darkest shadows seem breaking
into little tongues of flame. Look for them in the autumn,
and you will find that even then their colours will vie with
the most brilliant leaf tints. But because some one named
Blackburn first discovered or reported the Warbler, it bears
the name Blackburnian. Burroughs says : " The burn seems
appropriate enough," . . . but "... the Orange-crowned
Warbler would seem to be his right name, his characteristic
cognomen."
Black-throated Green Warbler : Dendroica virens.
PLATE II. FIG. 3.
Length : 5 inches.
Male: Back and crown bright olive-yellow, sides and front of
head clear yellow. Entire throat and upper breast black,
black continued in a stripe down the sides. Lower parts
102
SONG-BIRDS. Warblers
yellowish white. Wings and tail brownish, white wing bars.
Bill and feet dark.
Female : Chin yellowish, throat dusky, below pale whitish. In au-
tumn plumage the male resembles the female.
Song : Cheerful interrogative, " Will you co-ome, will you co-ome,
will you?"
Season : A summer resident, also abundant in the migrations. Comes
in April, retires to woods to breed in May, emerges in September.
Breeds: From New England, New York, and the higher parts of
Pennsylvania northward.
Nest : At the forking of high branches ; made of twigs, bark, grasses,
and lined with hair, roots, down, etc.
Eggs : 4-5, white, sprinkled and veiled with brown-purple.
Range : Eastern North America to the Plains, north to Hudson's Bay
Territory ; in winter, south to Cuba and Panama. Accidental
in Greenland and Europe.
You will have but little trouble in recognizing this bril-
liant and talkative little Warbler, which comes to us both
as a summer resident and as a migrant. In late April I am
always sure to see its green and gold feathers among the
hemlocks on the east side of the garden, while it continually
utters its anxious and persuasive notes, to which I eagerly
respond. It repeats a little phrase that separates it from
the indistinct songs of so many of its tribe : " Will you
co-ome, will you co-ome, will you ? " it says, giving a par-
ticularly emphatic pause on the last two syllables.
It has never nested in the garden, and only comes to it
before the breeding and after the moulting season.
Pine Warbler: Dendroica vigorsii.
Length : 5.50-6 inches.
Male : Above bright yellowish olive, clear yellow below, dark streaks
on sides. Yellow eye line ; white bars on wings. White
blotches on two outer tail feathers.
Female : Dull throughout, dirty white instead of yellow breast.
Song: A delicately trilled whistle. (Minot.)
Season : A locally common summer resident, May to October and
November. Possibly a resident. Some remain in the Middle
States all winter.
Breeds : All through its range, beginning in the Carolinas in March.
Nest and Eggs : No special marks of identification.
103
Warblers SONG-BIRDS.
Range: Eastern United States to the Plains, north to Ontario and
New Brunswick, wintering in the South Atlantic and Gulf
States, and the Bahamas.
The Pine Warbler, the largest of the tribe, shares with
the Myrtle and Palin Warblers the distinction of being one
of the three hardiest of the tribe. Like so many of the
family, they are most frequently seen in hemlock and pine
woods, and also in parks and gardens where these conifers
have been planted freely. This Warbler has none of the
delicacy of shape or beauty of colouring belonging to his
kin. Even the male in full plumage shows few dainty
variations and blendings of colour, and it has a heaviness of
build that is more Finch-like.
The best way to designate its song is to say that it has
some of the qualities of a Sparrow's ; remembering to keep
in mind (as with all Warblers) that the notes are never clear
and pure as in the case of Sparrows and Thrushes, but are
half whispered, as if to save the strain on the vocal chords.
This Warbler combines some of the traits of a Creeper and
Flycatcher. It often circles about the tree trunks like the
Nuthatch or Brown Creeper, sails into the air after insects,
and then descends to the ground, all in the space of a few
minutes.
Yellow Palm Warbler: Dendroica palmarum hypo-
chrysea.
Length : 6 inches.
Male and Female : Chestnut crown, brownish, verging on olive above,
with some dark streaks ; rump and wing coverts yellowish.
Under parts clear yellow, with bright chestnut streaks on the
sides. Wings and tail dull, dark brown. Bill and feet dark.
Female not essentially different.
Song : Unknown to me. It gives a few whispering notes as it feeds.
Season : A migrant, middle of April and October.
Breeds : Northward from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
Nest : On the ground, and very deep ; made of weeds, grasses, and
lined with moss, fine grasses, and hair.
Eggs: 2-4, rosy white, marked with brown spots at the large end.
Range : Atlantic States north to Hudson's Bay ; winters in the South
Atlantic and Gulf States.
104
SONG-BIRDS. Warblers
This Warbler only distinguishable by slightly supe-
rior size and. a more evenly yellow breast from the Yellow
Eedpoll of the Interior and Western States is a lover of
cool, brisk weather, and is almost the first of its tribe to
pass upward to its northern breeding-grounds. It spends a
few early April days in the leafless roadside bushes, often
appearing when the first hepaticas are in bloom, and leav-
ing before the shadbush blossoms, and, though it feeds on
the ground, it has the habit of making little sallies into the
air like the Redstart and the Flycatchers.
It does not return in autumn until warm weather is a
thing of the past, and is not at all abashed if a hard frost,
or even a flurry of snow, overtakes it, seeming to partake of
the nature of the Yellow-rumped Warbler, who is the winter
companion of Chickadees and Kinglets.
Prairie Warbler: Dendroica discolor,
Length : 4.75-5 inches.
Male and Female : Colours much broken up. Upper parts olive-green
or yellow, chestnut-red streaks across back between the wings.
Under parts beautiful yellow ; also yellow streak running from
nostril back of eye, and two yellow wing bands. Sides of neck
and body streaked with black ; also black line through eye.
Inner webs of outer tail feathers white. Female paler, and
chestnut bars obscured.
Song : " Wee-wee-chee-chee-chee-chee ! "
Season : Common May migrant ; also probably breeds here.
Breeds : Through its United States range.
Nest : In small trees or low brush, scrub pines, etc. Cedar and grape-
vine bark, feathers and fern down, elaborate and beautiful.
Eggs : 4, greenish white, wreathed on larger end with various browns.
Range : Eastern United States to the Plains, north to Michigan and
southern New England ; winters in southern Florida and the
West Indies.
The diminutive Prairie Warbler, which may be known by
the reddish streaks across its back, has a decidedly southerly
range. It is quite abundant all through the Middle and
Southern States, and fairly common along the Massachu-
setts seaboard Massachusetts seems to be its usual north-
105
"Warblers SONG-BIRDS.
ern breeding-limit, though Mr. Minot found a nest in north-
ern New Hampshire.
Dr. Coues says that it is remarkable for its quaint and
curious song. I have never heard its best musical efforts,
for its notes seem to me tarsh, like the familiar call of the
Ovenbird.
Ovenbird; Golden-crowned Thrush: Seiurus
aurocapillus.
PLATE II. FIG. 19.
Length : 5.75-6.50 inches.
Male and Female: Olive-green above, white eye ring, two brown
stripes on head, enclosing an orange crown. White below, with
brownish spots in the centre of breast running into streaks
on the sides. Brown bill, legs and feet flesh-coloured.
Song: Call note, "Teacher-teacher-teacher!" given in gradual
crescendo. The love-song liquid like that of the Water Thrush,
but seldom heard.
Season : May to October.
Breeds : Northward from Kansas, the Ohio Valley, and Virginia.
Nest : A ball of leaves and grasses on the ground with a side opening,
hence the name Ovenbird, though the nest bears a closer resem-
blance to the earth huts the Italian labourers build.
Eggs: 4, cream- white, specked with brown-purple.
Range: Eastern North America, north to Hudson's Bay Territory
and Alaska ; in winter southern Florida, the West Indies,
and Central America.
With the Ground Warblers we come again to birds with
musical voices, who, even if they do wear more sober plu-
mage, are a welcome change from the lisping prettiness of
the previous groups.
If you wish to identify the Ovenbird, or Golden-crowned
Thrush, as he is still called, you must trust to sound rather
than sight, for you will hear far oftener than see him. On
his arrival in the early part of May, he comes familiarly
about the garden, sometimes in company with the Veery,
and spends a week, perhaps, among the shrubs and ever-
greens, running out on the ground occasionally, with an
alert air, as if looking for his mate.
106
SONG-BIRDS. Warblera
At this time the bird appears like a small, slender
Thrush, Avith a little golden-brown streak on the crown.
Suddenly from the pines comes the half-defiant call,
" Teacher, TEACHER, TEACHER ! " each syllable accented,
and rattled off with increasing volume, and you are quite
incredulous that so small a bird can utter such a sound.
The notes are familiar to you ; you have heard them, a hun-
dred times breaking the intense noon stillness of the woods,
but you had supposed that they proceeded at least from a
large Woodpecker; but no, it is the Ovenbird; and this
call has given him a third name, the Accentor. By the
tenth of May they leave the garden and seek the lighter
woods where, having paired, they go into deeper shade to
build their homes.
Hickory, oak, and beech woods, with fern-grown banks
sloping to a stream, are their favourite haunts, and on these
banks, where the ground is covered with leaves in various
stages of decay, they build their hut-like nests. While
thus occupied, the males give, at rare intervals, an exquisite
little serenade to their mates, which is wholly different
from the shrill call notes. It is most likely to be heard
when the bird is on the wing in the early evening, and
somewhat resembles the music of the Louisiana Water-
thrush. Many people who are familiar with its nest
and haunts have never heard this love-song. The nest
is extremely difficult to locate 5 settled as it is into a
ground hollow and roofed over, it may be easily passed
by as a bunch of huddled leaves. Sometimes you may
see a bird alight on the ground and run nimbly toward
such a tuft, and that will be the best method of finding the
nest, which, though it is cleverly hidden, often holds the
unwelcome eggs of the Cowbird. All the singing and call-
ing is done from the trees; and, as you look up in the
uncertain wood-light, the singers appear to be only dusky
specks, like the few last year's leaves that still lodge there.
But when the rare music is heard, the little brown mote is
transfigured, and soars above the trees.
107
Warblers SONG-BIRDS.
Water-thrush: Seiurus noveboracensis.
Water-wagtail.
PLATE II. FIG. 4.
Length : 5-6 inches.
Male and Female : Above, including wings and tail, plain olive-brown.
Under parts sulphur-yellow, specked everywhere, except a space
in the middle of belly, with dark brown. Spots small on throat,
and growing larger below Bill and feet dark.
Song : Liquid and Thrush-like.
Season : Same as the Ovenbird, but lingers rather later.
Breeds : From northern New England northward.
Nest : In inaccessible swampy places, especially sphagnum bogs, upon
the ground, or between old stumps ; bulky ; made of moss, roots,
and grass.
Eggs .- 4-6, white and thickly speckled.
Range : Eastern United States to Illinois, and northward to Arctic
America ; south in winter to the West Indies and northern
South America.
The Water Thrush usually appears at the same time as the
Ovenbird, but never ventures with it into the garden. He is
a water-loving- recluse, who seems to have learned his song
from the brooks that tinkle and dance over the little pebbles,
and is never content away from the voice of his teachers.
If you catch, a glimpse of him, away he goes, running
through the leaves and tangled underbrush, wagging or
jerking his tail in a very knowing way, and few land-birds
will lead you such an uncertain dance through bog and
briars as he will, if you have the pluck to follow him.
Louisiana Water Thrush: Seiurus motacilla.
Length .' 6-6.25 inches.
Male and Female . Peculiarly heavy, dark bill. Above grayish brown,
with a brown crown and white line over the eye. Creamy white
breast, sparingly streaked with brown. Legs lightish.
Song : A thrilling warble, interspersed with flute and water notes.
Season : Summer resident, arriving the last of April.
Breeds : Through its United States range.
Nest and Eggs : Like the last species, but often sunken in the ground.
Range : Eastern United States, north to southern New England and
Michigan, west to the Plains ; in winter, West Indies, southern
Mexico, and Central America.
108
SONG-BIRDS. Warblers
This Thrush, which, until comparatively lately, has been
considered out of its range in New England, is a fairly com-
mon summer resident all through this section and as far
north in the state as Say brook. It differs chiefly from the
Water Thrush in its superior size and heavier bill and the
buif colouring of its lower parts ; but its principal point of
identification at long range is the greater richness and mel-
ody of its song.
The past summer, in late June, a male of this species
spent an entire morning in a secluded part of the garden,
in some bushes near the pool. It was after the breeding-
season (unless this individual was either belated or about to
raise a second brood), but the song retained all of its spring
Tolubility. The song first attracted me, and, after crawling
cautiously through the tall grass, I discovered the singer.
He was perching near by, in the lower branches of a
scrubby arbor-vitae. He did not sing continuously, but,
after waiting a few minutes, took up his refrain. Droop-
ing his wings, he threw back his head, his smooth throat
swelling with pent-up music.
In a few minutes, he went down to the pool, took a few
sips of water, and amused himself by running over the thick
water-lily leaves, at the same time snatching insects from
their edges. He next took a vigorous bath, sprinkling the
water about with great force, and then retired into a clethra
bush to plume himself. This completed, he sang once more,
and he seemed to have a joyous yet serious message to im-
part, rather than a flood of gossip.
In the swamp in secluded recesses
A shy and hidden bird is warbling a song.
Sing on ! sing on, you gray-brown bird !
Sing from the swamps, the recesses, pour
Your chant from the bushes.
liquid and free and tender !
O wild and loose to my soul !
O wondrous singer !
WALT WHITMAN.
109
Warblers SONG-BIRDS.
Mourning Warbler: Geothlypis Philadelphia.
Length : 5.25-5.50 inches.
Male: Decidedly marked gray head and neck, the feathers having
black edges that give them a crape-like quality; the rest of
upper parts yellowish olive. Throat and upper breast usually
black, veiled with some ash-gray feathers. Rich yellow lower
breast and belly. Wings and tail glossy olive-green. Upper
mandible dark, lower mandible and feet flesh-coloured.
Song : " Let me see, let me see, let me see, do ! "
Season : A rare migrant, May and September.
Breeds: In the Berkshires, and from the mountainous portions of
Pennsylvania, New England, New York, and Michigan north-
ward.
Nest and Eggs : Like those of the Maryland Yellow- throat.
Range : Eastern North America to the Plains ; Central America and
northern South America in winter.
The Mourning Warbler is seen here only as a migrant, but
its appearance is so marked that it deserves mention even
when others of the same genus of equal rarity, but of less
distinctive plumage, are omitted. Dr. Coues refers to it
as resembling in its appearance and behaviour a gay and
agreeable widow, who is conscious that her weeds are becom-
ing. Its general habits, like its song, somewhat resemble
those of the Maryland Yellow-throat, but though a Ground
Warbler, nesting and spending much time in the bushes and
tangles, it does its most vigorous singing in the tree-tops of
woods where the underbrush has been left undisturbed.
Burroughs says: "The Ground Warblers all have one
notable feature, very beautiful legs, as white and delicate
as if they had always worn silk stockings and satin slippers.
High Tree Warblers have dark brown or black legs and
more brilliant plumage, but less musical ability."
Maryland Yellow-throat: Geothlypis trichas.
PLATE II. FIG. 13.
Length : 4.75-5 inches.
Male : Above grayish olive on head, clearing to bright olive on rump.
Under parts, under wing and tail coverts, beautiful yellow,
grading to white in middle of belly. Forehead and sides of
no
SONG-BIRDS. Warblers
head masked with black, separated by ash-white line from
crown. Black bill ; flesh-coloured feet.
Female : Smaller, and colours less distinct ; mask wanting, as it is
also in the young.
Song : "Follow me, follow me, follow me ! "
Season : From May to September. Common summer resident.
Breeds : From Georgia northward.
Nest : Large and deep, sometimes partly roofed over ; made of broad
grasses, either on ground or in bushy tangles.
Eggs : 4-6, white, sparsely sprinkled with brown.
Range : Eastern United States, mainly east of the Alleghanies, north
to Ontario' and Nova Scotia ; in winter, South Atlantic and
Gulf States and the West Indies.
Next to the Yellow-Wood Warbler, this Ground Warbler
is the best known and merriest of the entire clan, and easily
identified by his mask, yellow throat, and distinctive song.
Early in May you will see a flash of yellow among the
white flowers of the dogwood (Cornus florida), or quivering
in the willows, and a bright eye peers through the black
mask and a sweet, persuasive voice calls, "Follow me, fol-
low me, follow ! " If you wisely accept the invitation, you
will become so well acquainted with all of his little innocent
airs and graces that before the summer has passed you will
recognize his plainer, maskless mate, and perhaps note the
plumage development of the young.
In following this Merry Andrew across some old pasture
or along a thickly shrubbed fence, you will also discover his
nest. The nest that I have now before me was found not
far below the garden wall, in an old meadow, where a tangle
follows the watercourse, and was lodged between tall weeds
and grasses at a little distance from the ground. It is of a
long cup-shape, the form of the little baskets in which straw-
berries used to be sold, and which were called pottles. It is
quite bulky, made of wide grass-blades and leaves, and very
thick at the bottom, the nest being shallow in the interior
and lined with vanilla grass. This nest is not roofed over,
but shows a tendency to it by being higher and slightly
curved on one side, as if the bird had intended to form a
roof and then changed its mind.
Ill
Warblers SONG-BIRDS.
Yellow-breasted Chat: Icteria virens.
PLATE II. FIG. 1.
Length: 7.50 inches.
Male and Female : Olive-green above ; brilliant yellow throat, breast,
and wing linings. Whitish belly, white line over eye, and white
spot beneath. Brownish glaze on wings and tail. Strong, curv-
ing, blue-black beak. Feet lead-coloured.
Song : A varied whistle, with a decided ventriloquistic quality, inter-
spersed with mocking syllables.
Season : Common summer resident. May to September.
Breeds : All through its summer range.
Nest : Bulky, made of leaves, bark, and dead twigs, lined with grasses ;
placed in briary and inaccessible bushes.
Eggs : 3-4, often of unequal size, white, mottled with buff and spotted
with red and lilac.
Range: Eastern United States to the Plains, north to Ontario and
southern New England, south, in winter, to eastern Mexico
and Guatemala.
A bird easily recognized by its large size and brilliant
colour. The Chat has reversed the motto so often preached
at children, and is heard more than seen. When seen, how-
ever, it is the picture of healthy, well-groomed beauty, with
a voice at once powerful and melodious, and a reputation
for shyness of disposition, which trait takes the form of
a bewitching elusiveness that it seems to know is very
attractive.
Its call notes, and the mocking gibes which it utters from
the bushes to the distraction of the bewildered passer-by,
are wholly different from the fervent spring song. Then
it yields to an ecstasy of feeling, and soars singing into the
air, trailing its long legs behind like a Heron, and look-
ing, it must be confessed, very foolish; but after a few
weeks it abandons its aerial gymnastics and contents itself
with taunting, teasing, and misleading both man, beast, and
bird.
On general principles the Chat is a mischief-maker, who
starts petty deceits and fosters them, is quick to grasp a
situation, knowing at once the most provoking thing to say,
and is, in fact, a wood-imp. Near the garden wall there is
112
SONG-BIRDS. Warblers
a tangle of cedars, before which are the kennels where the
dogs are chained at night. Early one morning they set up
a chorus of grieved and disappointed howls, and, on going
to find the cause, I found them tugging at their chains and
casting longing glances toward the cedars. I listened a
moment, and there came a succession of whistles, like their
master's call, and I found that a Chat was working off his
spirits in this way. A few days later, in going up the lane
road with a very slow horse, I heard the same whistle from
the bushes, and it was not imagination alone that gave these
syllables to the chattering : " Whew ! whew ! whew ! Hi !
get a whip. Chuc-a-ohuck, chuck. Whew ! Hi ! " Then
the Chat flashed into the open, just to show that it was
really he himself, and was gone.
Hooded Warbler : Sylvania mitrata.
PLATE II. FIG. 7.
Length : 5-5.25 inches.
Male : Black hood, chin, and upper breast. Yellow face, lower breast,
and under parts. Above rich olive ; white spots on outer tail
feathers. Bill black, feet light.
Female : Similar, but with the cowl restricted or lacking.
Song : " Che-we-eo-tsip, tsip, che-we-eo ! "
Season : May to September. A rare summer resident here, according
to Mr. Averill.
Breeds : Through its United States range.
Nest : In bushes in damp woods, of bark strips, skeleton leaves, cat-
kins, and grasses, woven with spider webs.
Eggs : 4, white, with reddish brown speckles.
Range : Eastern United States, west to the Plains, north and east to
Michigan, southern New York, and southern New England ;
in winter, West Indies, eastern Mexico, and Central America.
In general appearance like the Yellow-throat, save that
the black on the head forms a complete hood (except for the
yellow face) meeting under the chin like a cape. This
jaunty little bird looks as if he had assumed his black cowl
for masquerading purposes only, and might be expected to
throw it off at any moment. Quite plentiful in some parts
of this state; it has been known to nest near Bridgeport,
i 113
Warblers SONG-BIRDS.
and also in the vicinity of Saybrook. It has a particular
fondness for our Connecticut swamps, where the pink azaleas
and laurels crown the intersecting banks, and it usually
nests at the time when the azalea fades, and the laurel
comes into bloom.
Wilson's Warbler : Sylvania pusUla.
Black-capped Warbler.
Length : 4.75 inches.
Male and Female : Slack cap. Above olive-yellow, olive-yellow edg-
ings to wings and tail. Under parts rich yellow, shades to olive
on sides. Line over eye and forehead deep yellow. Bill dark
above lower mandible and feet light. Female without the
black cap.
Song : An indistinct warble.
Season : An uncommon migrant, seen here in May.
Breeds : Chiefly north of the United States.
Nest : On the ground.
Eggs: 4-5, white, heavily spotted and sprinkled with mauve and
lilac.
Range: Eastern North America, west to and including the Rocky
Mountains, north to Hudson's Bay Territory and Alaska,
migrating south to Eastern Mexico and Central America.
This striking bird ranges quite freely through the state
as a migrant, but little is known of its New England breed-
* ing possibilities. Mr. H. D. Minot found its nest on Pike's
Peak at an altitude of 11,000 feet, almost at the timber line.
Canadian Warbler: Sylvania canadensis.
Length: 5.25-5.50 inches.
Male : Above ash-blue, crown spotted with arrow-shaped, black marks
blending on the brow. Below pure yellow, with a showy neck-
lace of black longitudinal bars across the breast. Yellow line
over eye, black patch under it. Bill dark, feet flesh-coloured.
Female : Paler all through, and the black obscured.
Song: "A fine sibilant chirp, reminding one of a canary's song, but
broken and incomplete." (Nehrling.)
Season : Common migrant in the latter half of May.
Breeds : Casually in New England, and north to the tree limit.
Nest: Of dry grass and leaves on the ground.
114
SONG-BIRDS. Warblers
Eggs 4-5, white, with irregular small blotches of reddish brown.
Mange : Eastern North America, westward to the Plains, and north
to the Arctic regions ; south, in winter, to Central America and
northern South America.
The Canadian Warbler may be identified by the beauti-
fully wrought jet necklace which he wears across his yellow
throat, the black crown streaks, and the peculiar bluish ash
back. He has charming manners, and a dainty way of giv-
ing a little old-fashioned bob courtesy whenever he sees a
passer-by. His song is quite pretty, but not by any means
a certain mark of identification ; in fact, I do not think that
there are more than eight or ten of the whole Warbler tribe
whose notes will serve as a guide to any one but an ornithol-
ogist well up in field practice.
American Redstart: Setophaga ruticilla.
PLATE IV. FIG. 11.
Length : 5-5.50 inches.
Male : Above brilliant blue-black, white belly, sides of body and wing
linings salmon-orange, which colour sometimes flushes the
breast. Some orange on base of wings ; tail feathers half
orange and half black. Bill and feet black.
Female : Brownish olive above and the orange of the male replaced
by yellow.
Song: Resembling that of the Yellow Warbler, "Sweet, Sweet,
Sweeter ! " but the word is only used three times, while it is
repeated seven times by the Warbler.
Season : May to September ; a common summer resident.
Breeds : From middle United States northward.
Nest : A carefully made structure of inoss fibres and sometimes horse-
hair, set in a forked branch usually about twenty feet from the
ground ; I have seen one at the top of a small spruce.
Eggs : Indistinguishable from other Warblers.
Mange: North America, north to Fort Simpson, west regularly to
the Great Basin, casually to the Pacific Coast ; in winter the
West Indies, and from southern Mexico through Central
America to northern South America.
Again the colour title of a bird is a misnomer. Redstart,
a corruption of the German roth stert, red tail, being very mis-
leading in this day of accurate colour distinctions. Mrs.
115
Vireoa SONG-BIRDS.
Olive Thome Miller is on the right path when she describes
it as wearing the Oriole's colour combination, except that
the Redstart has a more salmonish cast.
This Warbler, when it flutters through the spruces, seems
the veriest mite of creation, appearing much smaller than
its measurements indicate. The female is equally charming
in her brown and yellow habit, and together they are one
of the most interesting couples of the bird world, as well as
being capital illustrations of perpetual motion.
Though the Eedstart is a summer resident here, it is
more visibly abundant during the May migration, as those
that breed retire from the vicinity of dwellings to nest. I
once found a nest in process of construction in a spruce in
a remote part of the garden, and had the satisfaction of
seeing it completed and occupied. Its composition was
very similar to that of the Yellow Warbler, but smaller,
and with the addition of some green moss which decorated
the outside. One of their most characteristic motions while
searching for food, is to raise the wings slightly and alight
on a higher branch or else one a little in the rear of the
spot where they were before, as if a breeze had lifted them.
In brilliancy of flame-like colouring the Eedstart only
yields precedence to the Scarlet Tanager, Baltimore Oriole,
and the Blackburnian Warbler, and, in contrast to the dark
evergreens, it seems a wind-blown firebrand, half glowing,
half charred.
FAMILY VIREONID^E: VIREOS.
Red-eyed Vireo: Vireo olivaceus.
PLATE V. FIG. 1.
Length: 5.75-6.25 inches.
Male and Female : Olive-green above, crown ash with a dark marginal
line. White line over eye and a brownish stripe through it.
Below whitish, shaded with greenish yellow on sides and on
under tail and wing coverts. The iris ruby-red. Bill dusky
above and light below, feet lead-coloured.
Song : Emphatic staccato and oratorical, " You see it you know
it, do you hear me ? Do you believe it ? "
Season : Common summer resident ; late April through September.
116
SONG-BIRDS. Vireoa
Breeds : Through its United States range and northward.
Nest : Cup-like, pensile in slender forked branch of maple, birch, or
apple tree ; made of bark fibres, cobwebs, bits of paper, scraps
of hornets' nests, etc.
Eggs : 3-5, usually 4, white, with brown spots on the larger end.
Range: Eastern North America to the Rocky Mountains, north to
the Arctic regions.
The Vireos are a very interesting family, which, though it
may be somewhat overlooked in the general spring chorus,
comes to the front in the latter part of May. Of the six
Vireos that inhabit New England, five are reasonably plenti-
ful, and of these the Red-eyed is the most familiar. You
cannot fail to name this Vireo, for he is omnipresent ; if you
do not see him, you hear him ; if he chances to be silent,
which seldom happens, he peers at you with his sparkling,
ruby eyes that look out between a white line and a brown
stripe. Wilson Flagg has forever identified him with the
name of the Preacher, in reference to his elocutionary
powers. " You see it you know it, do you hear me ?
Do you believe it ? " he hears the Vireo say, and if you
keep these words in your mind you will recognize the bird
the first time that you hear his song.
May, June, July, and August, and still this Vireo sings
on ; in mid- August he does not articulate as nicely perhaps,
but as the month ends he has recovered his speech and
delivers a farewell exhortation in September.
Four pairs nested in the garden this season, and after the
young had flown the parents stayed about the same trees,
singing from five in the morning on through the scorching
noontime when the locust strove in vain to drone them
down until sunset sometimes, never leaving the particu-
lar tree where they began. Not that they sit and prate in
a state of idleness ; far from it, they are constantly glean-
ing their daily bread. This is very well for Matins and
Vespers, but the noon song becomes monotonous, it is in one
key, and there is such a thing even as too much good conver-
sation. At noon in summer, silence softened by the whis-
pering leaves is best. At such times the Vireo seems to me
117
Vireos SONG-BIRDS.
like an over-active housewife, who accompanies every
motion of her broom or flash of her needle with random
advice, maxims, etc., having all active gifts, but lacking the
grace of judicious silence.
Though the Vireo's pensile nests are usually built upon
one plan, a cup or little pocket in a branch fork, you
will never find two alike. Of half a dozen collected in the
garden, one is of cobwebs, soft cedar bark, and white
worsted ; one of paper, fibres, and bits of hornets' nest ;
and a third is a perfect collection of scraps of all sorts.
The Red-eyed is the largest of the Vireos, and may be
distinguished from the Warblers, with whom you will be
apt to confuse them, by its heavier build and a slight
Shrike-like hook at the point of the upper mandible.
Warbling Vireo : Vireo gilvus.
Length : 5.50-6 inches.
Male and Female : Above pale olive-green ; head and neck ash ; dusky
line over eye. No bars on wings. Below dull yellowish ; whiter
on throat and belly ; deeper on sides.
Song : A liquid and expressive voice, but not so powerful as the Red-
eyed. Wilson Flagg gives it these words : "Brig-a-dier Brig-
a-dier Brigate ! " The song lacks the jerky, colloquial style.
Season : May to September and early October.
Breeds: Through its United States range.
Nest : Similar in construction and shape to the Red-eyed, with gener-
ally a free use of moss ; in trees, usually at some height from
the ground.
Eggs : Slightly smaller ; otherwise not to be distinguished from the
last-named species.
Range : North America in general, from the Fur Countries to Mexico.
The Warbling Vireo is a common summer resident, and a
constant and delightful songster, having much more music
in its voice than any other member of the family. It war-
bles, as its name implies, the notes rippling easily ; and an
air of pleasant mystery is given to the performance by the
shyness that keeps the singer in the leafiest tree-tops. Plain-
ness is the chief characteristic of the plumage of this Vireo ;
it has no sharply contrasting colours, no wing bars, and a
118
SONG-BIRDS. Vireos
dusky line through the eye. It frequents the garden in
spring and at midsummer, but prefers greater seclusion for
its nest-building. When in the garden, it invariably sings
either in the elms or in a particular birch, locations that
the Purple Finch also chooses. Samuels thinks the song of
these two birds so identical that he has frequently mistaken
one for the other. I do not agree with him ; for the Vireo
lacks the power and richness of tone that the Finch pos-
sesses, and it is probably the similarity of their haunts that
misled him.
There is a lane, a mile away, that separates a birch wood
from a clearing, and the Warbling Vireo is housed, to his
complete satisfaction, in the trees of this border-land. So
plentiful are they in the birches, that it is perfectly safe in
late May and June to take people to see and hear the birds
in this haunt, for you are sure that they will make good
your promise, at least in part, and give a private concert
morning or afternoon ; they decidedly disapprove of evening
performances.
The Philadelphia Vireo ( Vireo philadelphicus) closely re-
sembles this species, but is very rare in New England.
Yellow-throated Vireo : Vireo flavifrons.
PLATE II. FIG. 12.
Length : 5.75-6 inches.
Male and Female : Splendid yellow throat and upper breast ; cheeks
yellow, shading to olive-green on head, back, and shoulders.
Yellow line over and around the eye. Wings and tail dark
brown. Two white bands on wings; tail edged with white.
Bill and feet lead-coloured.
Song : Rather sad " Pree6-preea-pree6-preea."
Season : Common summer resident ; May to September.
Breeds : Through its United States range.
Nest and Eggs : Pensile as usual, but more beautifully finished than
that of any other species; usually at some height from the
ground. Eggs normal.
Range : Eastern United States, south, in winter, to Costa Rica.
119
Vireoa SONG-BIRDS.
The Yellow-throated Vireo is of a stout, vigorous build,
and has all the brilliancy of colouring of the Chat. Though
in northern New England it is counted rare, it is quite
abundant in southern Connecticut, New York, and Penn-
sylvania. Its somewhat melancholy song is varied by
cheerful outbursts; and Mr. Bicknell says that it is the
only Vireo that he has noticed singing while on the
wing.
All authorities agree as to the great beauty of the nest of
this species, even though they differ as to its exact location.
It is considered to be wholly a woodland bird, loving tall
trees and running water, haunting the same places as the
Solitary Vireo. Dr. Warren says that during the migra-
tions he has seen the Yellow-throat in orchards and in the
trees along sidewalks and lawns, but that in Pennsylvania
it breeds in the woods, nesting twenty-five to thirty or forty
feet from the ground.
On the other hand, Mr. Minot describes the nest as,
"altogether one of the prettiest nests to be found. It is
placed in the fork of a horizontal branch, from three to
fifteen feet above the ground, as often in the orchard as in
the wood ; though I have found it in pines."
Blue-headed Vireo: Vireo solitarius.
Solitary Vireo.
Length: 5.26-5.75 inches.
Male and Female : Above dark olive, head bluish gray. White line
from beak to and around eye. Below white, with yellow wash
on sides and dusky tail and wings. Some tail feathers white-
edged. Female, head dusky olive.
Song: "Pitched in a higher key than the other species." (Stearns
and Coues. )
Season: Sometimes a summer resident, but common from middle
New England south in the migrations only.
Breeds : From New England northward, and also in the Middle States.
Nest and Eggs : Resembling those of the last species, but the nest
being sometimes placed in bushes.
Range : Eastern United States to the Plains, north to southern British
Provinces ; in winter, south to Mexico and Guatemala.
120
SONG-BIRDS. Vireos
This Vireo, whose mark of identification is an ash-blue
crown, is by no means as much of a recluse as the name
Solitary would indicate. It does, indeed, prefer remote and
swampy woods, but, though much rarer than the preceding
species, is often seen about orchards, and in the migrations
exhibits many of the cheerful, sociable family qualities,
peering at you in the woods, and often coming quite near in
its rather anxious curiosity.
Its song is of the unmistakable Vireo type, but is rather
shrill, and is continued for a long period ; according to Mr.
Bicknell, as late as October 9 on its return migration. To
learn to judge accurately and quickly between the songs of
the five Vireos is an accomplishment that you must not
expect to acquire until your ear is thoroughly seasoned ; but
three of the five the Red-eyed, the Warbling, and the
White-eyed will give you but little trouble.
White-eyed Vireo: Vireo noveboracensis.
Length : 5 inches.
Male and Female : Above olive-green, rump obscurely yellow. Below
white, sides of breast and belly clear yellow. Yellow line from
beak to and round eye. Two yellow icing bars. Iris white.
Tail feathers yellow-edged. Bill and feet dark lead-coloured.
Song : Colloquial. "Delivered with strong expression and very vari-
able in intonation."
Season : May to September. Common summer resident.
Breeds : Through its United States range, but more sparingly in the
Northern States.
Nest and Eggs : Similar to the Red-eyed, but in a low bush or vine ;
eggs decidedly smaller than the other species.
Range : Eastern United States, west to the Rocky Mountains ; south
in winter to Guatemala. Resident in the Bermudas.
This small, nervous Vireo, with a Wren's vehement scold-
ing powers, is a common garden and wood-lot bird, taking
refuge in bushy places like the Chat, Catbird, and Maryland
Yellow-throat. In other parts of New England it is rare
in varying degrees. Dr. J. A. Allen, writing of it from
Springfield, Mass., says that out of a thousand of the smaller
land-birds taken during three years by different collectors
121
Shrike SONG-BIRDS.
not a single White-eyed Vireo was found among them. It
is at times noisily talkative, and prefers the tangle to the
tree-tops, managing, however, to give great expression to its
simple song; sometimes scolding and arguing, and then
dropping voice, as if talking to itself.
Without having the imitative and ventriloquistic powers
of the Chat, you cannot fail to be reminded, of that exasper-
ating gamin when the White-eyed Vireo, ambushed in some
blackberry tangle and trembling for the safety of his nest,
undertakes to give you a piece of his mind.
FAMILY LANIID^E: SHRIKES.
Northern Shrike: Lanius borealis.
Butcher-bird.
PLATE VII. FIG. 3.
Length: 9-10.60 inches.
Male and Female: Powerful head, neck, and blackish beak with
hooked point. Above bluish ash, lighter on the rump and
shoulders. Wide black bar on each side of head from the eye
backward. Below light gray with a brownish cast, broken on
breast and sides by waved lines of darker gray. Wings and
tail black, edged and tipped with white. Large white spot on
wings, white tips and edges to outer quills of tail. Legs bluish
black.
Song : A call note, and in its breeding-haunts a sweet, warbling song.
Season : A roving winter resident ; seen from November to April.
Breeds : North of the United States.
Nest : In a low bush ; a basis of sticks, upon which is matted and felted
a thick, warm superstructure of bark-strip, grass, and soft vege-
table substance. (Coues.)
Eggs : 4-6 ; marblings of reddish brown and purple covering the gray-
green ground.
Range : Northern North America, south in winter to the middle por-
tions of the United States (Washington, D.C., Kentucky,
Kansas, Colorado, Arizona, northern California).
The Northern Shrike, though somewhat irregular in its
comings and goings, is always present in varying numbers
as a winter resident. In common with all winter birds, its
SONG-BIRDS. Shrike
movements are guided by the food supply, and if severe
cold and heavy snows drive away the small birds and bury
the mice upon which it feeds, the Shrike must necessarily
rove.
Grasshoppers, beetles, other large insects, and field mice
are staple articles of its food in seasons when they are ob-
tainable ; in fact, next to insects, mice constitute the staple
article of its diet, and protection should be accorded it on
this account, even though we know the Shrike chiefly as
the killer of small birds. The victims are caught by two
methods : sneaking, after the fashion of Crows, and
dropping upon them suddenly from a height like the small
Hawks. In the former case the Shrikes frequent clumps of
bushes, either in open meadows or gardens, lure the little
birds by imitating their call notes, and then seize them as
soon as they come within range. They often kill many
more birds than they can possibly eat at a meal, and hang
them on the spikes of a thorn or on the hooks of a cat-briar
in some convenient spot, until they are needed, in the same
manner as a "butcher hangs his meat, and from this trait the
name Butcher-bird was given them.
Their depredations are by no means confined to lonely
fields and gardens. I was told by a friend living in Chicago,
that last winter a Shrike visited her back yard regularly in
search of English Sparrows. He would hide in the bushes,
and, after killing half a dozen Sparrows, impaled them on
the frozen twigs of a lilac bush. After they had hung a
few days, he eat portions of them, and then proceeded to
kill more, a proceeding for which he should receive un-
limited applause.
In the Hawk-like method of killing, the Shrike sits motion-
less upon the bare branch of a high tree, and, as the little
birds pass unconsciously underneath, he drops upon one
with unerring aim. He will also try to seize cage birds
that are hung out of doors or even inside the window.
Last spring I was startled by a violent blow, struck upon a
window near which a Canary's cage stood upon a chair.
The Canary was trembling with fright, and on going outside
123
Waxwing SONG-BIRDS.
I found some Shrike's feathers, with their wavy markings,
adhering to the glass. He had evidently swooped without
taking the heavy glass into his calculations, and had bruised
his breast.
Twice only, in middle April, I have heard the Shrike's
real song; the notes are soft and very musical, and our
bird-loving Danish gardener tells me that in his country the
native species is prized as a cage bird and often shows
great cleverness as a " mocker."
FAMILY AMPELID^E: WAXWINGS.
Cedar Waxwing: Ainpelis cedrorum.
Cedar-bird.
PLATE V. FIG. 7.
Length: 6.50-7.25 inches.
Male and Female : Above grayish cinnamon. Crest, breast, throat,
wings, and tail, purplish cinnamon. Black line from back of
crest, extending through eye, and forming black frontlets.
Secondary icing quills tipped with waxy points. Tail feathers
banded with yellow, and sometimes red tips. Bill and feet
black.
Song: A buzzing call, "Twee, twee-zee." " A dreary whisper,"
Minot calls it.
Season : A resident, breeding here, and wandering about in flocks the
remainder of the year, feeding upon various fruits, and in win-
ter upon cedar berries.
Breeds : Irregularly through its North American range.
Nest : A deep bowl made of twigs, lined with grass and feathers, and
much miscellaneous material, either in a crotch, or saddled on
the limb of a stout cedar bush or a tree, preferably the apple
tree.
Eggs : 3-5, blue-white, with brown and lilac spots.
Mange : North America at large, from the Fur Countries southward ;
in winter, south to Guatemala and the West Indies.
You will at once recognize the Cedar Waxwing by its crest,
yellow tail tips, red wing appendages, and straight black
bill. Its feathers are more exquisitely shaded than those of
our more brilliantly coloured birds. The specimen I have
124
PLATE III,
SONG-BIRDS. Martin
before me is a male in full plumage, who came to an un-
timely end by flying against a treacherous wire trellis.
Nowhere except in the black frontlet, the tail, and wing
tips does he show a distinct colour demarcation; all the
rest of the feathers are tinted like a skilful blending of
water-colours. The Cedar Waxwings only remain in pairs
during the breeding-season (from late May until August),
and at other times travel in flocks. It is only when in
these flocks that they are conspicuous about the garden and
old pastures ; for when they are nesting they are very shy
and stealthy in their movements.
Last May a flock of fifty or more lodged for a whole morn-
ing in a half-dead ash tree, near the house, so that seated at
ease, I could focus my glass carefully, and watch them at
leisure. They were as solemn as so many demure Quakers
sitting stiffly in rows ; once in a while they shifted about,
and then seemed to do a great deal of apologizing for fan-
cied jostlings. Their movements interested me greatly,
until finally, to my surprise, I saw an illustration of the old
story of their extreme politeness in passing food to one
another, which I had always regarded as a pretty bit of
fiction. A stout green worm (for they eat animal as well as
vegetable food) was passed up and down a row of eight
birds ; once, twice it went the rounds, until half way on its
third trip it became a wreck and dropped to the ground, so
that no one enjoyed it, a commentary, in general, upon
useless ceremony. I could not help wondering, however,
whether it was all disinterested politeness, or whether the
worm was of a variety repugnant to Cedar-birds ; as Hamlet
put it, " Caviare to the general."
FAMILY HIRUNDINID^: SWALLOWS.
Purple Martin: Progne subis.
Length : 7.50 inches.
Male and Female : Deep, glossy, bluish purple, turning to black on
wings and tail, which is forked. Bill dark ; feet black. Female
more brownish and mottled, below grayish white.
125
Martin SONG-BIRDS.
Song : Very soft and musical, beginning " peuo-peuo-peuo."
Season : Late April to early September.
Breeds : Through range, rearing two broods a season.
Nest : A little heap of leaves ; in the East in boxes, but in the West
in hollow trees.
Eggs : 4-6, glossy white.
Range : Temperate North America, south to Mexico.
Without being precisely a common bird, the Purple
Martin is with us every summer, and its iridescent coat is
a familiar sight. Its size and colour easily separate it from
the rest of the family, and the sweet song completes the
identification.
A little after dawn, in early May, you may see pairs of
these Martins hovering in mid-air, half caressing, half quar-
relling, while from time to time you will hear the liquid
" peuo-peuo-peuo " merging into a more throaty ripple, like
laughter.
The Martin is a favourite, and always seems to have been
regarded as such. Houses are provided for his shelter,
children are cautioned not to molest him, and the farmer,
usually so callous toward bird attractions, has no word for
him but of praise ; as he consumes a vast quantity of
evil insects, and these, too, of a larger size and different
class from those captured by other Swallows, and he does
not claim a single bud or berry to discount his utility.
Even among the wild men he was always a protected
guest. Wilson relates that the Choctaw and Chickasaw
Indians used to strip the leaves from small trees near
their encampments, and hang upon the prongs, hollowed-
out gourds that the Martins might nest in them, and the
Mississippi negroes also hung similar contrivances on long
canes to coax the Martin to stay.
The Purple Martin is as courageous as the Kingbird in
attacking Crows and Hawks, but for all this he seems
unable to cope with the English Sparrow, who is steadily
and persistently appropriating his houses. The Sparrow
has the advantage of being more prolific, as well as more
gross and brutal in its methods, and represents in the bird
126
SONG-BIRDS. Swallows
world a class of emigrants whose human prototypes the
native American can barely withstand.
Cliff Swallow; Eaves Swallow: JPetrochelidon luni-
frons.
PLATE III. FIG. 4.
Length : 5-5.50 inches.
Male and Female : Above brilliant steel-blue ; beneath dusky white.
Sides of head, throat and chin rufous. Wings and tail glossed
with black. Bill dark ; feet brown. White, crescent-like front-
let, hence its specific name lunifrons, from luna, the moon, and
/rons, front.
Song : A squeak, more than a twitter.
/Season : Early April to late August.
Breeds : In colonies, raising two broods a year.
Nest : Either a bracket, or gourd-shaped, with the opening at the neck ;
of mud, with straws and feather-lined ; placed under eaves or
rocky cliffs.
Eggs : 4-6, white with brown and purple markings.
Mange : North America at large, south in winter to Brazil and Para-
guay.
This familiar Swallow, which we in the East know as the
bird who builds its much-modified, gourd-shaped nest under
the eaves of old houses, is in the West wholly a cliff-dweller.
With us the shape of the nest depends greatly upon the site
chosen, many nests being merely elongated brackets. When
it builds under the protection of shelving cliffs, the nests are
of the typical bottle shape, and are often squeezed as closely
together as the cells of a wasp nest.
This species is almost as brilliantly coloured as the Barn
Swallow, but lacks the grace in flying which the sharply
forked tail gives to the latter. Like all its tribe, it feeds
upon insects, which it takes on the wing.
liar ii Swallow: Chelidon erythrog aster,
PLATE III. FIG. 10.
Length : Variable, 6-7 inches.
Male and Female: Glistening steel-blue back, tail deeply forked.
Brow and under parts, rich buff, which warms almost to
Swallows SONG-BIRDS.
brick-red on throat. A partial steel-blue collar. Tail shows
white band from beneath. Female smaller and paler.
Song : A musical twitter like a rippling, merry laugh, ' ' Tittle-ittle-
ittle-ee."
Season : April to September.
Breeds: Everywhere.
Nest : A shallow bracket, made of pellets of mud and straw, placed
on or against rafters, etc.
Eggs: 4-6, white, curiously spotted with all shades of brown and
lilac.
Range : North America in general, from the Fur Countries southward
to the West Indies, Central America, and South America.
The Swallows belong to the air, as the Warblers do to the
trees and the Thrushes to the ground. Swallows, unless
when gathering before the fall migration, are seldom seen
perching, except upon telegraph wires, and they leave these
with such sudden and forking flight that they seem spurred
by the electric current. If, in the daylight hours, you see
a bird in rapid but nonchalant pursuit of insects, you may
safely assume that it is either a Swallow or the Chimney
Swift, for the Flycatchers have a different flight, the Night-
hawk is more ponderous, and Whip-poor-wills seldom take
to the air between dawn and dusk.
The distinguishing mark of the Barn Swallow is his sharply
forked tail, brick-red throat, and buff breast. It is the com-
monest species and the most familiar, owing to the fact that
it builds so freely about barns and dwellings. Its nest is
one of the earliest that country children learn to know ; and
the first eggs that many a boy has stolen and concealed,
while his conscience was still keen enough to prick him,
have been those of the Barn Swallow.
Several broods are sometimes raised in a season, the hatch-
ing continuing to late July. In fact, the last brood has en-
tered the world, through our hayloft window, the first week
in August. These Swallows have very sympathetic natures ;
for when danger threatens or disaster destroys a brood, the
friends quickly gather about and seem to offer advice or
condolence.
128
SONG-BIRDS. Swallows
Tree Swallow: Tachycineta bicolor.
White-bellied Swallow.
PLATE III. FIGS. 5-6.
Length : 6 inches.
Male and Female: Entire upper parts iridescent green, inclined to
black on wings and tail. Under parts soft white. Bill black ;
feet dark. Female dull.
Song : A warbling twitter.
Season : April to the middle of September. A few stragglers remain
later.
Breeds : Irregularly through range.
Nest : In dead trees, often in great colonies ; here I have seen two or
three pairs occupying old Woodpecker holes in telegraph poles.
Eggs : 4-9, usually 6, pure white.
Eange : North America at large, from the Fur Countries southward,
in winter, to the West Indies and Central America.
She is here, she is here, the Swallow !
Fair seasons bringing, fair years to follow !
Her belly is white,
Her back black as night.
Greek Swallow Song, J. A. SYMONDS, Trans.
The Tree, or White-bellied Swallow seems nearly to cor-
respond with the bird which was the herald of spring in
Greece ; for though our Swallow is a beautiful green above,
except when at close range or when the light glances across
its feathers, it appears black. The Tree Swallow, in times
before the country was inhabited by white men, like many
of its family, lived in hollow trees, but it now nests in Martin
boxes and other convenient nooks, though it may be still
found colonizing in old sycamores and willows.
If you live near the sand dunes or by a strip of beach
edged with scrub bushes, go out and watch the gyrations of
these lovely Swallows before the fall migration, the first
part of September ; you may also see the Bank Swallows or
Sand Martins gather at the same time.
The Tree Swallow always seeks the vicinity of water at
the time of the migration, probably because insects are more
plentiful in such places. This has led people to form the
K 129
Swallows SONG-BIRDS.
theory that it passed the winter under the mud bottom of
large ponds and rivers in a state of hibernation. The mat-
ter has even been treated seriously, in spite of its manifest
absurdity, the construction of the bird's breathing-apparatus
precluding such a possibility.
Bank Swallow: Clivicola riparia.
Sand Martin.
PLATE III. FIG. 7.
Length : 5 inches. The smallest of our Swallows.
Male and Female : Above dull mouse colour, wings and tail brownish,
below white, with a brownish breast band. Bill and feet dark.
Song : A giggling twitter.
Season : Common summer resident, arriving in May.
Breeds: All through its North American range.
Nest : In tunnelled holes in clayey banks ; made of grass and lined
with a few feathers.
Eggs : 4-6, pure white.
Range : Northern Hemisphere ; in America, south to the West Indies,
Central America, and northern South America.
The Bank Swallow is the plainest, as well as the smallest,
of the family. His back is the colour of the damp mottled
gray sand with which he is closely associated, and he shows
no glints of purple, steel-blue, and buff, like his brethren,
but wears a dusky cloak fastened about his throat with a
band of the same colour.
There is always a large colony of these Swallows near
Southport, where Sasco Hill is cut off abruptly by the
Sound. The bank is high, and shows a face of various
grades of loam and some strata of gravel ; below there is a
bit of stony beach, bare at low tides, but in storms the
water breaks half-way up the bank. A few feet above high-
water mark you can see the holes in the bank which are the
entrances to the Swallows' nests. They are not arranged
with any sort of regularity, but the birds have chosen inva-
riably the stiff loam, which was the least likely to crumble
away in the boring-process. None of the tunnels are within
130
SONG-BIRDS. Tanager
three feet of the top, and they are almost all wider than
they are high, as is frequently the case with mouse-holes.
These tunnels vary from a foot to eighteen inches in length,
and at the end are the wisps of grass and feathers that
hold the fragile white eggs. The feathers of many different
birds are found in the nests of this colony, the breast-
feathers of Ducks, Gulls, and various Shore-birds, which are
not in this vicinity at the Swallow's nesting-time. In the
autumn and winter many Water-birds are wounded by gun-
ners, but escape notice, and, drifting ashore, become wedged
between rocks and stones, and I think that it is mainly
from the scraps of down adhering to such carcasses that
this colony lines its nests.
The Swallows, as a family, show great inventive qualities
in the way in which they have adapted their habits to the
encroachments of civilization. Now, almost wholly domes-
ticated, they seem to prefer man's company, and each one
has appropriated a separate location for nesting. The Bank
Swallow adheres the most closely to his original haunts;
but even he may be found occasionally building under a
bridge.
The Hough-winged Swallow is another species, which
closely resembles the Bank Swallow, being slightly larger ;
but, as you would scarcely distinguish it when on the wing,
it does not need a separate description.
FAMILY TANAGRID^: TANAGERS.
Scarlet Tanager: Piranga erythromelas.
PLATE IV. FIG. 12.
Length : 6.75-7 inches.
Male : A rich scarlet. Wings and tail black. Feet deep horn colour.
Female : Olive-green above ; dull olive-yellow below. Wings and tail
dusky.
Song: Mellow and cheerful, " Pshaw ! wait wait wait for me,
wait ! " Call note " chip-chur ! "
Season : Arrives the middle of May, and leaves in late August. No
longer common.
131
Tanager SONG-BIRDS.
Breeds : Through its United States range.
Nest : Kather flat and ragged ; made of sticks, root fibres, etc. ; placed
on the high horizontal branch, preferably of an oak or pine.
Eggs : 3-5, dull green, thickly spotted with brown and mauve.
Range: Eastern United States, west to the Plains, and north to
southern Canada ; in winter the West Indies, Central America,
and northern South America.
A few years ago the Scarlet Tanager was as familiar
hereabout as the Yellow Warbler, or the Wood Thrush;
but now it has, in a great measure, left the gardens and
frequented woodlands, and become the resident of lonely
woods. Together with all of our brilliantly plumed birds,
it has been persecuted almost out of existence. Now that
this bird slaughter is against the law in all communities
that pretend to be civilized, the killing is at least abated,
but the Tanager's confidence in humanity has not yet
returned.
It is impossible to mistake this bird in full spring dress,
for any other. His fall coat, however, is olivaceous like the
female, and, as for the unmoulted young, they are a motley
lot, mainly olive-green, but with little tufts of scarlet, yellow,
and bright green, appearing at random, as if they were exam-
ples of feather patchwork. It is easy to see the wisdom
that clothes the female and young of this flaming Tanager
in sober colours. If a brooding female wore a scarlet cover-
ing, it would surely betray the nest to all enemies ; and if
the young were likewise conspicuous, they would be gobbled
by Hawks before they understood that Hawks are hardly
friendly.
The Tanager, though of a brilliant scarlet, lacks the
luminous quality that reveals the Baltimore Oriole and
Blackburnian Warbler, when partly concealed in dark green
foliage; you will be most likely to find it in a grove of
oaks, hickories, or swamp-maples, where there is an under-
growth of ferns, not briars, near by a stream or flag-
edged pond. It is a fruit and berry eater, as well as the
consumer of beetles, and other large winged insects, together
with many larvae.
132
SONG-BIRDS. Pine Grosbeak
FAMILY FRINGILLID^E: FINCHES, SPARROWS, GROS-
BEAKS, ETC.
Pine Grosbeak: Pinicola enucleator.
PLATE IV. FIG. 13.
Length : 6.50 inches.
Male : Heavy bill, giving it almost the appearance of a Parrot. Above
general colour strawberry-red, with some gray fleckings, deep-
est on head and rump. Wings and tail brown ; some feathers
edged with lighter brown and some with white. Below paler
red, turning to grayish green on belly. Bill and feet blackish.
Female : Ash-brown, with yellowish bronze wash on rump, head, and
breast.
Song : " A subdued, rattling warble broken by whistling notes."
Season : A winter visitor whose appearance is as irregular as the
length of its stay.
Breeds : Far north in evergreen woods ; also casually in Maine, New
Hampshire, and Vermont, but mainly north of the United
States.
Nest : Saddled on a branch or in a crotch. Twigs, roots, and fibres
below, with a soft upper section.
Eggs : 4, a greenish blue ground with dark brown spots.
This finely coloured Grosbeak comes to us only in win-
ter, and can be easily identified at a season when such
brilliant birds are rare. It is a resident of northern New
England, and, however much it may wander about in the
more southern states, it can only be regarded as an irregular
and capricious migrant.
The song of this species is said to be very attractive, but
is of course seldom heard so far away from the breeding-
haunts. Mr. Bicknell calls it a subdued, rattling warble,
which is sometimes heard as early as February and March,
and Dr. Coues calls the birds fine musicians. They come
in pairs or in flocks, and as the young males do not attain
their strawberry-coloured feathers until the second year,
and the females are a brownish yellow, the proportion of
red birds in these flocks is quite small.
Severely cold winters and strong gales seem to blow them
down to us ; a number appeared here in the snowy season
of 1892-93, while in the open winter of 1893-94 I did not
133
Purple Pinch SONG-BIRDS.
see or hear of one. Twice I have noticed pairs keeping
together and apart from the flock. In January, 1893, when
the snow had been on the ground since November, two
pairs roosted nightly in a very thick honeysuckle. In the
day the birds spent their time between an arbor-vitae hedge
and a group of pines. After an unusually severe snow
they became very hungry and descended to the ground for
food, and, while they refused to eat crumbs, relished some
cracked corn which had been soaked in boiling water until
it was partly softened.
Aside from their striking size and colour, and the fact
that they come in winter, a season at which any bird is a wel-
come excitement, these Grosbeaks are not very interesting.
They have no playful ways, and here, at least, are silent to
the verge of stupidity. They feed upon various small seeds
and also upon tree buds, particularly those of the maple and
hickory. Berries are also eaten, if other food fails.
Purple Finch : Carpodacus purpureus.
PLATE V. FIG. 15.
Length : 5.75-6.25 inches.
Male: Until two years old resembles a dull-coloured, heavy-billed
sparrow ; when mature, the head, shoulders, and upper breast
have a wash of raspberry-red, lower parts grayish white, wings
and tail dusky with some reddish brown tips. Bill and feet
brown.
Female : Olive-brown, clearer on rump, and streaked above and below
with dusky brown. Whitish beneath, and streaked on sides of
breast with arrow-shaped marks.
Song : Joyful and sudden, " 0, list to me, list to me, hear me, and
I'll tell you, you, you ! "
Season : March to November ; a common summer resident, individuals
remaining sometimes all winter.
Breeds : From Middle States northward.
Nest : In a bush or tree, of grass and fibre, and lined with horsehair ;
a flat nest.
Eggs: 4-5, greenish white, scratched and spotted with black and
lilac.
Range: Eastern North America, from the Atlantic coast to the
Plains.
134
SONG-BIRDS. Purple Finch
This is the most melodious of the Finches, who, perching
high in the elms on the lawn or in the birches by the river-
bank, pours out his gushing, liquid warble, while at the same
time he is completely hidden from sight. Long ago, being
told that a song which had delighted me belonged to the
Purple Finch, I tried to obtain a good view of him, expect-
ing to see a bird whose purple coat should match his regal
voice, but not at all. The first specimen that I caught
(with my field-glass), when in the act of singing, was dull
and Sparrow-like. Then followed the explanation that the
males take two seasons to perfect their plumage, and that
even then they are not purple, but merely washed locally
with a peculiar shade of red.
I think many early ornithologists who were responsible
for the naming of our birds must have been either colour-
blind or possessed of very limited vocabularies, for a modern
reading of many of their colour terms means dismay and
total collapse to the unfortunate novice. Burroughs, with
his fine sense of perception and language combined, at once
locates this Finch. " His colour is peculiar," he says, " and
looks as if it might have been imparted by dipping a brown
bird in diluted poke-berry juice. Two or three more dip-
pings would have made the purple complete."
In looking for this Finch, then, you must rely greatly
upon his song, remembering that he may or may not be red
coloured on the head and back, and that whether he is or
not, you will find it difficult to discover.
The suddenness with which the Purple Finch bursts into
song renders him one of our most conspicuous songsters,
and recalls the notes of the English Chaffinch. May and
June are the months of his most perfect music, but the
birds who have wintered here begin to warble early in March,
and occasional subdued songs may be heard in October, so
that the season of melody is almost as long as that of the
Song Sparrow.
135
English Sparrow SONG-BIRDS.
English Sparrow : Passer domesticus.
House Sparrow; Gamin, Tramp, Hoodlum. (Coues.)
Length : 5 inches.
Male and Female: Ashy above, shoulders and back striped with
black and chestnut. Dark chestnut mark over eye and on
sides of neck. Chestnut and white bar on wings, bordered by
a black line ; tail gray. Bill blue-black ; feet brown. Female
paler ; wing bars indistinct.
Song : A harsh chirp.
Season : A persistent resident.
Breeds : Everywhere in towns and in villages.
Nest: Rough, and loosely made of straws, sticks, or any material
which circumstances offer.
Eggs : 4-8, greenish white, speckled with chocolate and lavender.
Range : Eastern United States. Introduced about twenty years ago
into the United States, where it has become naturalized in
nearly all inhabited districts.
This unfortunate Sparrow, bearing a load of opprobrium
which he deserves, though largely through no fault of his
own, has for some time been furnishing an avi-social prob-
lem to both England and America. In the first-named
country, even the investigation of a special committee of
the House of Commons has failed to ascertain, with any-
thing approaching certainty, whether this Sparrow's services
as an insect-destroyer equal his own destructive qualities.
In Australia, it is said that the fifty birds originally im-
ported now flock by millions, and make the third of the
triad of emigrants with which unthinking people have
scourged the country, the other two being rabbits and the
Scotch thistle.
Here in America, the Sparrow is an absolute and unmiti-
gated nuisance, but for this, the unwise and superficial
theory that brought him over is chiefly to blame. No
thought was given to the change of habits that the change
of climate might effect in the bird's whole nature. A par-
tial insect-eater, at home, though of a seed-eating family,
brought here to free the trees from canker-worms, he,
instead, relapsed soon after, and became a rigid seed-eater.
136
PLATE IV.
12
14
SONG-BIRDS. Crossbill
Theodore Wood, in his instructive little book, "Our
Bird Allies," 1 devotes two chapters to an unprejudiced
review of the Sparrow question, which are well worth read-
ing, in which he quotes Prevost-Paradol and many other
authorities. " What wonder," he says, " if the Sparrow,
both in America and New Zealand, should turn from a diet
of insect to one of grain and fruit? Does not even man
himself alter his food in accordance with the climate?
Does he not, leaving England for a warmer country, depend
more upon vegetable food and less upon animal ? "
It is not the grain that he consumes that makes us
at war with the Sparrow, but because he steadily puts to
rout our most familiar birds, destroys their young, and
gives us only his ugly chirp in the place of their songs,
and his useless presence instead of their insect-consuming
powers. The destruction of the Sparrows, eggs and nests, is
now almost universally approved in the United States. Dr.
C. Hart Merriam of the Department of Agriculture, Wash-
ington, has prepared a consensus of reports from many
sources, containing evidence for and against the Sparrow,
168 being for, 837 against, and 43 neutral. The report
also contains a list of native birds that have been more or
less molested by the Sparrow, among which are not only
the Wrens. Bluebirds, and Martins of our garden bird-
boxes, but the valiant Kingbird, the Horned Lark, Hermit
and Wood Thrushes, the Mockingbird, Purple Grackle,
Meadowlark, and many Woodpeckers.
American Crossbill : Loxia curvirostra minor.
PLATE IV. FIG. 14.
Length: 6 inches.
Male: General colour Indian red. Head shaded with olive. Back
and shoulders brown with red edgings to the feathers ; wings
and tail brown. Beak crossed at the tip.
Female : General colour greenish yellow. Dull yellowish tints on the
head, throat, breast, and rump. Wings and tail brown with
lighter edges to some feathers.
1 New York, E. & J. B. Young & Co.
137
Redpoll SONG-BIRDS.
Song : Winter note ; a snapping chirp.
Season : An irregular winter visitor.
Breeds : Northward in late winter and early spring.
Nest : Among the twigs or in the fork of a tree, having a base of bark
and sticks, and being lined with finer materials.
Eggs : 3-4, greenish, marked with brown and lilac at larger end.
Mange: Northern North America; resident sparingly south in the
Eastern States to Maryland and Tennessee, and in the Alle-
ghanies ; irregularly abundant in winter ; resident south in the
Rocky Mountains to Colorado.
This bird of evergreens and cold weather, the Red Cross-
bill, is chiefly a winter visitor here, varying greatly in abun-
dance. It is impossible to confuse it with any other bird,
as the colour is of a different shade from the red of the
Pine Finch and Cardinal, and its warped bill is a distinctive
mark. The beak seems especially constructed for snapping
the scales from the cones, whose seeds furnish its food.
A very strange effect is produced when a flock of Cross-
bills settle in the pines north of the garden, and mingle
their snapping chirp with the dry crackling of the cones
that they are dissecting. There is a suppressed bustle about
the whole proceeding ; and if you close your eyes you may
imagine that the sounds proceed from the rending of the
corn from the stalk at an old time husking-bee. As with
all weird looking birds and animals, the Crossbill is the
subject of many tales, one of which Longfellow translated
from the German of Julius Mosen, under the title of " The
Legend of the Crossbill."
Redpoll : Acanthis linaria.
Redpoll Linnet.
Length: 5.50 inches.
Male : Head, neck, breast, and rump washed with rich crimson, over
a ground of gray and brown. Back, wings, and tail dusky ;
dusky white beneath. Tail short and forked ; wings long and
pointed. Bill very sharp, and either yellow, tipped with dusky,
or black ; feet dark.
Female : Dingy, having the crimson only on the crown.
Song : A Canary-like call note and a lisping song ; sometimes given
when flocking as well as in the breeding-season.
138
SONG-BIRDS. Redpoll
Season : A winter visitor from the north.
Breeds : In boreal regions.
Range : Northern portions of Northern Hemisphere ; south, irregu-
larly, in winter ; in North America, to the middle United
States (Washington, B.C., Kansas, southeastern Oregon).
The Redpoll, Redpoll Linnet, or Little Snowbird, as it is
locally called, comes out of the north on the snow clouds,
with the Buntings and Crossbills, and returns to its breed-
ing-grounds usually before its spring song is heard. It is
most frequently to be seen in weedy pastures, where it
feeds upon the seeds of small herbs, and after heavy snows
have covered the lowlands it retreats to the many-seeded
composite that swarm along the sides of grass-grown roads,
and in an extremity, feeds upon tree buds, especially those
of the black birch. It never becomes as friendly as its
cousin, the American Goldfinch, but you can easily identify
it and watch its movements when it is feeding upon some
conspicuous spray that protrudes from the fresh snow. At
such times a flock of Redpolls, with their little ruddy
crowns, are the prettiest things imaginable. Thoreau's
soliloquy upon these winter birds, as he stood looking over
the late November landscape, is too beautiful to quote merely
in part. He says : " Standing there, though in this bare
November landscape, I am reminded of the incredible phe-
nomenon of small birds in winter, that erelong, amid the
cold, powdery snow, as it were a fruit of the season, will
come twittering a flock of delicate, crimson-tinged birds,
Lesser Redpolls, to sport and feed on the seeds and buds
just ripe for them on the sunny side of a wood, shaking
down the powdery snow there in their cheerful feeding, as
if it were high midsummer to them. . . . They greet the
hunter and the chopper in their furs. Their Maker gave
them the last touch, and launched them forth the day of
the Great Snow. He made this bitter, imprisoning cold,
before which man quails, but He made at the same time
these warm and glowing creatures to twitter and be at
home in it. He said not only let there be Linnets in win-
ter, but Linnets of rich plumage and pleasing twitter,
139
Am. Goldfinch SONG-BIRDS.
bearing summer in their natures. ... I am struck by the
perfect confidence and success of Nature."
American Goldfinch: Spinus tristis.
Wild Canary } Thistle-bird, Yellowbird.
PLATE II. FIG. 18.
Length: 4.80-5.20 inches.
Male : Body, all but wings, tail, and frontlet, a clear gamboge-yellow.
Frontlet black. Wings black, varied with white. Tail blackish
with spots of white on interior of quills. Bill and feet flesh-
coloured. In September the black frontlet of the male disap-
pears, his colours pale, and he resembles the female and young.
In April the spring moult begins, and often is not completed
until middle May.
Female : Above brownish olive, below yellowish.
Song: A wild, sweet, Canary-like warbling. Call note, "Ker-chee-
chee-chee, whew-6, whew-e" ! "
Season : Resident in this section, but the numbers increase in May
and diminish in October.
Breeds: Southward to the middle districts of the United States (to
about the Potomac and Ohio rivers, Kansas, and California).
Nest : Round, very neat, and compact ; of grass and moss, lined with
seed and plant down, usually in a branch crotch.
Eggs: 4-6, blue-white, generally unmarked.
Range: North America generally, wintering mostly south of the
northern boundary of the United States.
The American Goldfinch, known under many titles, is as
familiar as the Robin, Catbird, and Wren, but its beauty
and winning ways always seem new and interesting. In
southern Connecticut, as well as in locations further north
and east, it is resident, and is revealed through its various
disguises of plumage by its typical dipping flight.
Its spring song begins early in April, though its plumage
does not resume the perfect yellow until late May ; the song
remains at its height all through July and well into August,
but ceases, almost abruptly, at the end of that month (from
the 20, to the 30, according to Mr. Bicknell).
These Goldfinches do not mate until June, and sometimes
not until the last half of the month. They always choose
140
SONG-BIRDS. Pine Siskin
for their nesting-place some large maples that grow by the
southwest wall of the garden, extending their branches over
a waste field, where dandelions, thistles, wild asters, and
goldenrod hold sway. A little before this time flocks of
birds assemble about the garden and every Jack chooses his
Jill, or vice versa. There is no more cheerful and confiding
garden companion than this Goldfinch. Seen even at a dis-
tance his markings are distinct, his identity complete ; you
do not have to puzzle or worry, but simply enjoy his society ;
he does not wish your berries, but helps you remove the
dandelion down from the lawn before the wind sows it
broadcast, and all the while you hear Canary-like music,
but wilder and more joyous, from behind a twig lattice
instead of cage bars.
The black cap gives the male a ferocious look, wholly
at variance with his character, while his mate is agreeably
feminine and gentle. These birds combine the rich colours,
which we associate with the tropics, and the stout-hearted,
cold-enduring New England nature, softened by the most
agreeably cosmopolitan manners. If you wish them to live
with you and honour your trees with their nests, plant sun-
flowers in your garden, zinnias, and coreopsis ; leave a bit of
wild grass somewhere about with its mass of composite.
Coax the wild clematis everywhere that it can gain footing ;
and in winter, when these joyous birds, gathered in flocks,
are roving, hard-pressed for food, scatter some sweepings of
bird seed about their haunts, repaying in this their silent
season, their summer melody.
Pine Siskin : Spinus pinus.
PLATE V. FIG. 3.
Length: 4.75 inches.
Male and Female : Striped generally ; above olive-brown and gray,
darkest on head and back. Below lighter, sometimes having a
decidedly sulphur-yellow tinge on rurnp and base of wing and
tail feathers. Bill and feet brown.
Song: Resembling that of the American Goldfinch, but in a more
fretful key, and seldom heard in this locality.
141
Snowflake SONG-BIRDS.
Season : An erratic winter visitor. Late October to March and early
April.
Breeds : Mostly north of the United States, and in the Rocky Moun-
tain region. Casually in northern New England and New York
State.
Nest : Rare, high in evergreens, principally.
Eggs : Light green, spotted with brown.
Range : North America generally, in winter south to the Gulf States
and Mexico.
The Pine Siskin, as its name implies, is a lover of ever-
greens, and spends the winter in roving from copse to copse.
It is strictly a seed-eater, and consumes alike the kernels of
large cones and the seeds of low herbs. It has the dipping
flight of the Goldfinch, and many other characteristics of
the two birds are similar. You will be most likely to iden-
tify the Pine Siskin as it clings to tufts of spruce cones,
peering between their scales ; the sulphur-yellow tinge of
the feathers showing plainly against the deep green.
Dr. Jonathan Dwight, Jr., who heard these Siskins sing-
ing between March 15, and May 2, at Kockaway and Cypress
Hills Cemetery, says that their song is a "soliloquizing
gabble, interspersed with a prolonged wheeze a pro-
longation of their usual note while flying." Mr. Bicknell
adds : " This hoarse note sometimes sounds like a common
note of the English House Sparrow. Before it was familiar
to me, it was with no little surprise that I heard at Big
Moose Lake, deep in the Adirondack wilderness, a bird note
so suggestive of city streets."
Snowflake: Flectrophanes nivalis.
Snow Bunting.
PLATE V. FIG. 9.
Length : 1 inches.
Male and Female : Summer plumage white, with the exception of
black back, white-banded wings, tail, and band across back.
Winter plumage soft browns and white, dead-leaf colours and
snow. Bill and feet black.
Song : Thoreau says, "a soft, rippling note."
Season : A midwinter visitor, especially in snowy seasons,
142
SONG-BIRDS. Snowflake
Breeds : In the Arctic regions.
Nest : Thickly lined with feathers set in a tussock.
Eggs : 4-6, variable in size and colour, whitish speckled with neutral
tints.
Range : Northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere. In North
America, south in winter into the northern United States, irreg-
ularly to Georgia, southern Illinois, and Kansas.
A bird well named, for the Snowflake, hurried from the
north by fierce winds and weather, comes to us out of the
snow-clouds. Travelling in great flocks, which are de-
scribed as numbering sometimes a thousand, they settle
down upon the old fields and upland meadows, subsisting
upon various seeds. Their winter plumage, by which we
alone know them, is exquisitely soft and beautiful, and the
birds themselves have a wonderfully mild and spiritual
expression as if they had come from an unknown region,
and craved a little food and shelter, but conscious that while
here they are the veriest birds of passage.
Though a native of Arctic latitudes, Snowflakes, belated
on their return migration, have been known to breed in the
Northern States. In July, 1831, Audubon found a couple
nesting in the White Mountains, and Dr. J. A. Allen notes
a pair as breeding near Springfield, Mass. In its home it is
said to have a cheerful inspiriting song, but here we only
know its Sparrow-like call note.
The Snowflake is very capricious in its visits, as are, in
fact, all the winter birds along the Connecticut shore of the
Sound. An easterly wind prevailing for several days drives
them two or three miles inland behind the Greenfield ridge
of hills. During the snowy winter of 1893-94 not a single
flock appeared, though the weather was evenly cold and
marked by northeasterly storms. On February 15, 1894,
one of the only days of the season when there was suffi-
cient snow for sleighing, a day with heavy, drifting clouds
and wind gusts which scattered the loose snow so suddenly
that it was driven with the sharpness of sand, I drove for
several miles along the road that separates the . shore and
marshes from cultivation, and was rewarded by seeing Gulls,
143
Longspur SONG-BIRDS.
Meadowlarks, Horned Larks, Redpolls, Snowflakes, and,
rarest of all, Lapland Longspurs, the first time that I had
identified them here.
The Redpolls and Snowflakes were feeding under similar
conditions, the E-edpolls keeping under cover of bushes and
furrows, while the Snowflakes were in the open, and the
flock continually arose with the drifting snow and settled
again like a part of it, uttering a soft chirp as they shifted.
Lapland Longspur: Calcarius lapponicus
Length : 6.50 inches.
Male: Winter plumage, top of head black, f edged with rusty, black
above, the feathers all tipped with white. A rusty black patch
behind and beneath the eye. Below grayish, with faint black
markings. Bill yellow, tipped with black ; feet and legs black.
Long hind claw or spur.
Female : Rusty gray above, whitish below.
Song : A charming song in the breeding-season, uttered while soaring
like .the Skylark's.
Season: A winter visitor; rare locally, but common on the Massa-
chusetts coast and also noted by Mr. Averill as associating with
Shore Larks near Stratford, Conn.
Breeds: In the Arctic regions, where it has a thick, fur-lined, grass
nest, set in moss on the ground.
Eange: Northern portions of the Northern Hemisphere; in North
America, south, in winter, into the northern United States,
irregularly to the Middle States, accidentally to South Carolina,
and abundantly in the interior to Kansas and Colorado.
When we are fortunate enough to see the Longspur, he is
wearing his winter dress, which resembles somewhat the
plumage of the Titlark.
I always considered them rare birds hereabout, until
I found them near the shore last February. I was first
attracted by unusual claw marks in the new snow, where it
was soft enough to take distinct impressions, under the
south side of a rick of salt hay. The Longspur is a ground
feeder like the Larks and Buntings, and the mark of the
long hind claw, or spur could be seen plainly; on the
opposite side of the rick were the birds themselves, seven
144
SONG-BIRDS. Sparrows
in all. They were climbing up the sloping sides, picking
seeds from the coarse grasses and weeds which served as
covering for the finer hay. The Longspurs, as well as the
Horned Larks that were with them, were so hungry and
intent upon feeding that they were not in the least dis-
turbed, even though they must have seen me plainly. This
lack of fear produced by hunger often gives the winter
birds an air of charming familiarity, and, though both win-
ter residents and visitors are comparatively few, a little food,
suited to their various needs, wisely scattered about the door
and around the hayricks and sheds, will bring you a troop
of grateful guests to whisper cheerfully, even if they do not
sing to you.
Vesper Sparrow: Pooccetes gramineus.
Bay-winged Bunting.
PLATE V. FIG. 4.
Length : 5.75-6.25 inches.
Male and Female: Above brown, varied with dusky. Lesser wing
coverts bright bay. Below soiled white, striped everywhere
except on the belly with brown. No yellow anywhere. Outer
tail feathers partly white, appearing conspicuously like two
white quills when the bird flies. Upper mandible brown j lower
and feet yellowish flesh-coloured.
Song : Sweet and clear, less loud than the Song Sparrow's, " Chewee-
chewee-cheewee, tira-lira-lira-lee ! "
Season : Common summer resident ; April to October.
Breeds : From Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri northward.
Nest : Sunk to the rim in the grass or ground, quite deep ; of grasses;
as carefully made as if it were a tree nest.
Eggs : 4-6, thickly mottled and spotted with brown.
Eange : Eastern North America to the Plains ; from Nova Scotia and
Ontario southward.
This is the Sparrow which is identified by the red-brown
shoulders and the two white tail quills, and who, though
living near the ground, often soars singing into the air. Its
song, though less constantly heard, is as familiar as the
Song Sparrow's, and its habit of singing from late afternoon
until twilight has given it the name of Vesper Sparrow.
L 145
Sparrows SONG-BIRDS.
In the garden, from the nook looking toward sunset, I am
always certain to hear a half dozen of these little soloists,
continuing their music after the evening chorus has ceased,
until finally, with the Veery and Rose-breasted Grosbeak,
they form a final trio which precedes such silence as Nature
allows to the early summer nights.
The Vesper Sparrows are, in the main, seed-eaters, but
during the summer they also feed upon insects, earthworms,
and berries. They are birds of the roadside and of waste
fields, where they are abundant in early autumn, fluttering
about in flocks, now perching on a fence rail, and as you
approach them, scattering widely, only to collect again a
few feet further on. They are dingy-looking birds in the
distance, but the white tail quills will always name them.
Ipswich Sparrow : Ammodramus princeps.
Length : 6.25 inches.
Male and Female : Above grayish, with a reddish cast to back ; dusky
streaks on top of head, separated by a broad stripe of pale
yellowish white. Below pure white, sides of throat and broad
band across breast and sides, streaked with red-brown ; bill and
feet brown.
Song : Poor and halting, as if the voice weak and tired.
Season : A rare winter resident.
Breeds : In the grass-covered sand-hills of Sable Island, Nova Scotia.
Nest: A few strands of grass in a hollow of the ground.
Eggs : Harlequin, pale green groundwork, jumbled with blotches of
brown of every shape and tint.
Range : Nova Scotia, south ; in winter, to South Carolina.
The Ipswich Sparrow is a puzzling bird to identify. It
was discovered by Mr. Maynard among the Ipswich sand-
hills hence its name. Its plumage is difficult to describe
tersely ; perhaps it is best to say that it resembles the Ves-
per Sparrow, but has a yellowish head stripe and two dull
white wing bars. Here it is seen either as a winter resi-
dent or a migrant, and is decidedly a local species. It is a
very hardy Sparrow ; Mr. Torrey has found it near Nahant,
Mass., in every one of the colder months from October to
April.
146
SONG-BIRDS. Sparrows
Savanna Sparrow: Ammodramus sandwichensis
savanna.
Length: 5.50-6 inches.
Male and Female : Above, back, wings, throat, and sides striped in
various shades of brown and bronze. Yellowish stripe on
crown and over eye, and yellowish wash around neck. Cheeks
golden bronze. Below whitish. Bill dark above, light below ;
feet light flesh-coloured.
Song: Described by Samuels as sweet and soft. " Chewee-chewitt-
chewitt-chewitt-chew6-et-chewee ! "
Season : A common resident, on the salt-marshes all the year, whose
migrating flocks arrive in April and leave in October.
Breeds: From New England to Labrador and the Hudson's Bay
Territory.
Nest : A slight affair, sunken in the ground like the last species.
Eggs : Also motley, like the last.
Range : Eastern Province of North America.
The Savanna Sparrow is a common resident, being found
in the thickets bordering the salt-marshes as well as in
the marshes themselves, where numbers remain even in
severe weather, and, while it is abundant along the coast,
it is proportionately rare in the interior. It is essentially
a ground Sparrow (which is one of its local names) ; for, in
addition to building on the ground, it limits its flight to
low bushes. Its plumage is so streaked and mixed that
it blends with the earth, a great protection to the bird,
but a condition which makes identification difficult. Keep
in mind that its under parts are whiter than in other Sparrows.
I associate this Sparrow with early June walks through
the marshes and upland meadows, when the wild flowers
are calling " Come pick us " ; when the beach plum's white
plumes are fading with the iris, and the star-grass and yel-
low thistles are in bloom, and the tall blackberry bushes
trace the tumble-down fences with their wands. Then you
may see the Savanna Sparrow hurrying through the sand-
grass, seeking the cover of bayberries, only to slip through
and disappear. He will not indicate by the slightest hint
which little circle of grass margins his home, barely sepa-
rating the young from the earth itself. He will lead you
147
Sparrows SONG-BIRDS.
as far away from it as he is able, and, if it is late afternoon,
will beguile you with his simple song, from no more ambi-
tious perch than a fence rail. The migrant flocks come to
us before or during the spring moult, and are not then in
full song ; and when they leave, in October, they are quite
voiceless.
Grasshopper Sparrow: Ammodramus savannarum
passerinus.
$ *
Yellow-winged Sparrow.
PLATE V. FIG. 8.
Length : 4.80 inches.
Male and Female : Line over the eye, centre of crown, lesser wing
coverts, and shoulders yellow. Above red-brown with an ash-
gray wash ; upper breast brownish drab ; belly whitish ; bill
stout and short, dark above, pale below ; tail feathers edged
with white ; feet dark.
Song: Note like a grasshopper's chirp; song somewhat resembling
the Chipping Sparrow's, but in a different key.
Season : Common summer resident.
Breeds : Throughout its United States range.
Nest : Like the Vesper Sparrow's, on the ground.
Eggs : Sparkling white, with spots and flecks of red and brown.
Range: Eastern United States and southern Canada to the Plains,
south to Florida, Cuba, Porto Rico, and coast of Central
America.
If you search for a Sparrow with yellow wings, as one of
its names suggests, you will altogether miss this species.
But if you look for a plain bird, with yellowish stripes
on the crown and over the eyes, lesser wing coverts dull
yellow, and bend of the wing bright yellow, who runs elu-
sively through the grass, giving a shrill, grasshopper chirp,
you will easily locate the Grasshopper Sparrow. The Spar-
rows and the Warblers will be inevitable stumbling-blocks
to you ; and when you have positively named half a dozen
species, and guessed at as many more, you will feel that
you have conquered ornithology. This particular Sparrow
keeps so persistently to the ground and to low bushes, in
148
SONG-BIRDS. Sparrows
addition having but the ghost of a voice, that it will not be
strange if you overlook it.
Sharp-tailed Sparrow: Ammodramus caudacutus.
Length : 5-5.50 inches.
Male and Female : Bill extremely sharp for a Sparrow. Above olive-
gray with bronze glints, streaked with black on the back, some
feathers with light edges ; marroon stripes on head ; buff stripe
through eye ; buff or orange cheeks ; buff sides to breast, streaked
with brown ; belly gray ; edge of wings yellow ; tail feathers
sharply pointed ; feet grayish blue.
Song : Wheezy and choking, which Dr. Dwight describes as " Lic-se-
e-e-oop."
Season : Common summer resident.
Breeds : Through its range ; two broods a season.
Nest : Of coarse grasses, lined with grass and furze, firmly fastened
between tussocks.
Eijys : Grayish white, thickly speckled with brown.
Range: Salt-marshes of the Atlantic coast, from Prince Edward
Island and Nova Scotia to the Gulf States.
The Sharp-tailed Sparrow must be identified by the brown-
ish orange or buff colouring of the sides of its head and the
sharp point which terminates each separate tail feather. I
specify this because many people mistake the term sharp-
tailed for /orM-tailed, and expect the bird to have a tail
like the Barn Swallow.
These Sparrows are shy and rather uninteresting, keeping
close under cover of sedges and the marsh weeds that edge
tide water, and have a feeble flight and a very poor song.
They tend to breed in colonies, and choose their haunts here
and there without any seeming method, so that they appear
to be rare in many eligible places.
Wilson credits them with all the nimbleness of Sand-
pipers, running about after dusk and roosting on the
ground ; and says that they are so fond of the vicinity of
water that they are only driven from it by strong north-
easterly storms. He also says that their diet is chiefly sea-
food, scraps of shell-fish, drift, etc., which gives the flesh a
sedgy taste.
149
Sparrows SONG-BIRDS.
Seaside Sparrow : Ainmodratnus maritimus.
Length : 5.75-6.25 inches.
Male and Female: Very dull brownish gray bird. Gray wash on
shoulders and the edges of some feathers. Breast mottled
gray with buff tinge. Throat yellow-white. Wings and tail
dusky. Yellow spot before eye and yellow mark on edge of
wing, the only bright colouring. Bill lead-coloured ; dark feet.
Song: Very similar to that of the last species.
Season: Common summer resident, breeding on salt-marshes.
Present December 9, 1889. Probably sometimes winters.
(Averill.)
Breeds : Through range.
Nest and Eggs : Indistinguishable from last species.
Range : Salt-marshes of the Atlantic coast, from Massachusetts south-
ward, and along the Gulf coast to the Kio Grande.
One of our two common Sparrows that have a maritime
turn of mind, breeding freely about Fairfield and Stratford
on the marshes. The two species are so closely associated
that it is easy to confuse them ; the Seaside Sparrow has the
least definite colouring, no distinct black stripes on the back,
and a blunt tail.
White-crowned Sparrow: Zonotrichia leucopJirys.
PLATE V. FIG. 2.
Length : 6.50-7 inches.
Male and Female : White crown set between two black stripes ; white
eye stripes. Cheeks, throat, and back of neck gray. Below
light gray ; some buff on sides and belly. Wings edged with
bay, and having two white cross-bars ; tail plain. Female, head
rusty, paler all through. Bill and feet reddish brown.
Song . 6 or 7 notes, forming a plaintive cadence.
Season : Rare migrant ; October and May.
Breeds: Chiefly in the Rocky Mountain region (including Sierra
Nevada) , and northeast to Labrador.
Nest and Eggs: Not to be distinguished from those of the White-
throated Sparrow.
Range : North America at large. .
One of the largest Sparrows, and also conspicuously
marked, the White-crown is scarcely the inferior of the
White-throat itself. It has a northerly range, and only
150
PLATE V.
13
*
. ** I I'm I I
SONG-BIRDS. Sparrows
comes to us as a very restless migrant in middle autumn and
late spring, when it is occasionally seen feeding with Jun-
cos and White-throats.
White-throated Sparrow: Zonotrichia albicollis.
PLATE V. FIG. 13.
Length: 6.50-7 inches.
Male and Female : A plump, handsome bird. White throat and crown
stripes. Back striped with black, bay, and whitish. Rump light
olive-brown. Bay edgings to wings, and two white cross-bars ;
under parts gray. Yellow spot before eye. Female crown,
brown, markings less distinct.
Song: Sweet and plaintive, "Pee-a-peabody, peabody, peabody!"
Season : Abundant migrant ; also a winter resident from September
to May.
Breeds : From New England and the Northern States northward.
Nest : A deep grass nest partly sunken in the ground or in a low bush.
Eggs : Variable, greenish, and thinly speckled with reddish brown to
gray, blotched heavily with chocolate.
Range : Eastern North America west to the Plains, north to Labrador
and the Fur Countries, and winters from the Middle States
southward.
This is unquestionably the most beautiful of all the Spar-
rows, not excepting the great Fox Sparrow, and its rich
velvety markings and sweet voice have made it one of the
welcome migrants, and the few that remain through the
winter are carefully fed and cherished.
The past season (1894) the upward migration began early
in March, the 7, being the first day that I noticed a de-
cided movement, and then no more large flocks appeared
until the first week of May. A flock settled on a bit of ground
newly sown with grass seed, and devoted themselves to it
with such zest that at the end of three days every seed had
found its way into their little stomachs ; however, as the
ground was near the piazza it gave me a fine opportunity to
watch them, and four quarts of grass seed was a small price
to pay for their society.
The White-throat's song has been expressed in many dif-
ferent syllables. It certainly says, " Pee-a-peabody, pea-
151
Sparrows SONG-BIKDS.
body, peabody " ; words from which, it received the name
of Peabody Bird.
Wilson Flagg says that the Maine folk interpret the
notes as, "All-day, whittling, whittling, whittling." And
then there is the evidence of Farmer Peverly, whom Ham-
ilton Gibson interviewed, who, upon being perplexed and
undecided as to the crop that he ought to sow in a particular
field, understood the Sparrow to say, " Sow wheat, Peverly,
Peverly."
You may take your choice as to the words, but pray notice
that all these interpretations have the same accented value,
and so equally imitate the song. This Sparrow also some-
times sings softly in the night,
"* * * *
Nestling in his tree
The sleeping Sparrow
Dreams a melody."
Tree Sparrow : Spizella monticola.
Winter Chip-bird.
PLATE V. FIG. 6.
Length : 5.75-6.25 inches.
Male and Female : Bright bay crown. Gray stripe over eye, cheeks,
throat, and breast. Dark brown back with feathers pheasant-
like, edged with orange and brown. Wings dark brown with
paler edgings and two white bars. Bill black above, lower
mandible yellowish, feet brownish black.
Song : In winter a twittering trill.
Season : Winter resident ; October to April.
Breeds : North of the United States, east of the Rocky Mountains.
Nest : Of grass, bark, and feathers ; on ground, in a bush, or occa-
sionally in a tree.
Eggs : 4-7, light green, finely sprinkled with reddish brown.
Mange : Eastern North America westward to the Plains, and from the
Arctic Ocean south, in winter, to the Carolinas, Kentucky, and
eastern Kansas.
Like the Junco, the Tree Sparrow is a winter resident,
though not so constant and abundant as the former. It is
much larger than the Chipping Sparrow, which it so closely
152
SONG-BIRDS. Sparrows
resembles as to be called the Winter Chip-bird, coining at a
season when the sociable Chippy has gone south. Why it
is called Tree Sparrow is not so plain, as it does not build
in trees as frequently as the Chippy, and it haunts low
bushes. I have seen these Sparrows in December, feeding
in flocks on the ground, in company with Snowbirds and
a few stray White-throats; dashing about and sometimes
singing in a sort of undertone, perfectly careless of cold.
Burroughs calls the song "a soft, sweet note, almost run-
ning into a warble."
They are very hardy birds, and to them, as with all winter
birds, mere cold is secondary in comparison with cutting
winds. I have often seen them huddled under stone walls,
and once found a flock feeding in the bottom of a dry ditch ;
and in ploughed fields you will notice that they keep closely
to the furrows in windy weather. At night they troop into
the evergreen hedge, the piazza vines, and under the rick
edges, anywhere that the wind may not pierce, for that,
together with scanty food, reduces their vitality.
Chipping Sparrow: Spizella socialis.
Hair-bird, Chippy.
PLATE V. FIG. 5.
Length: 5-5.25 inches.
Male and Female : Dark chestnut poll, gray stripe over eye, brown
stripe through it. Stripes along back, dark orange and brown.
"Wings and tail dust-brown. Under parts light gray. Young
with some black streaks on crown. Bill black ; feet light.
Song : An insect-like tremolo, varying a little in tone from a locust.
Call note, "Chip-chip!"
Season : Common summer resident ; April to October.
Breeds : In the greater part of its range.
Nest : In bushes and also high trees, made of fine grasses and lined
with horsehair hence the name, Hair-bird.
Eggs : 4, greenish blue, with dark brown speckles.
Range : Eastern North America, west to the Rocky Mountains, north
to Great Slave Lake, and south to eastern Mexico.
This is the precentor who, in early May dawns, gives the
key on his little pitch-pipe and leads the chorus that makes
153
Sparrows SONG-BIRDS.
four o'clock the most melodious hour of the day. T-r-r-r-r-r-
r-r-r-r-r-r-r he trills from the ground, before even a Robin
wakes, and then, as the music swells, he is lost in the har-
mony.
Who can fail to know the Chippy, whose mite of a gray-
brown body is set off by a chestnut-coloured velvet cap,
whose chirp, as he hops about the door craving crumbs, is as
familiar as his pretty air of sociability. He has many little
points of identity that separate him from the mazes of the
Sparrow tribe. He seldom, if ever, nests upon the ground,
and his nest, well built and carefully lined, is distinctive.
Here in the garden he shows a preference for high trees ;
out of eight nests built last season within the garden limits,
one was in a Deutzia shrub about three feet from the
ground; four were in tufts of needles on the horizontal
boughs of spruces, varying from eight to twenty feet high ;
and three were in white pines at distances of from twenty to
forty feet from the ground.
I am inclined to think that the nesting-habits of birds are
adapted by circumstances and their desire to locate in certain
places. The Chippies like the protection and society of the
house and "build near it. Low bushes and undergrowth in
this vicinity are limited, and the Catbirds usurp the most
desirable shrubs. Not finding room below the Chippy
ascends, as his fellow-men adapt themselves to the apart-
ment house, so that from being ground-walkers they become
"cliff-dwellers."
Field Sparrow : Spizella pusilla.
PLATE V. FIG. 12.
Length : 5.25-5.75 inches.
Male and Female : Pale red beak. Bright bay on the back between
wings. Crown dull chestnut, no black or white. Whitish wing
bars, tail longer than wings, below grayish white ; very light-
coloured feet.
Song: Very pleasing and melodious, " Whee-whee-whee-iddle, iddle,
iddle, ee!"
Season : Common summer resident.
Breeds : From Virginia northward.
154
SONG-BIRDS. Junco
Nest : Of grass, in low shrubs or on ground.
Eggs : 4, cloudy white, spotted and specked with brown.
Range: Eastern United States and southern Canada, west to the
Plains.
This is the tuneful Sparrow of fields and meadows that,
rising as you approach, goes with a wavering flight to the
next rift of grasses, never letting you come near it, and yet
not appearing to be shy. At first you will think it a Chippy,
but a glance with your field-glass will show you its reddish
bill, longer tail, and red-brown upper back, and while you
are considering these differences it will perhaps perch on a
branch and sing (it seldom sings while flying), and then you
will have been formally introduced to the Field Sparrow.
The three whistles which begin the song are very soft and
sweet, having nothing sibilant about them, and the final trill
dies away gradually, as if the bird was moving away as he
sang. The quality of song resembles the Vesper Sparrow's,
but has less variety. I have seen Field Sparrows here as
late as Thanksgiving, but the records go to prove that the
general range is more southerly than the Chippy's, and that
it cannot be called common north of Massachusetts.
Slate-coloured Junco : Junco hy emails.
Snowbird.
PLATE V. FIG. 14.
Length : G-6.50 inches.
Male and Female : Dark bluish slate all over, except lower breast and
belly, which are grayish white and form a vest. Several outer
tail feathers white, conspicuous in flying. Female, with a more
rusty cast and vest less distinct. Bill flesh-white, dusky at tip.
Song : A crisp call note, a simple trill, and a faint whispering warble,
usually much broken, but not without sweetness. (Bicknell.)
Song sometimes heard before it leaves in spring.
Season : Common winter resident ; late September to April.
Breeds : From the higher parts of the Alleghanies and northern New
York and northern New England, northward.
Nest : On ground, Sparrow-like.
Eggs : 4-6, white, peppered with reddish brown.
Range : North America at large, but chiefly east of the Rocky Moun-
tains ; south in winter to the Gulf States.
155
Song Sparrow SONG-BIRDS.
The Juncos, whose habits are Sparrow-like, come to us
after the summer moulting, varying their return with the
weather. In 1893, they appeared September 25, but they
may be expected to increase in number from this date until
late October, while in November they go off on excursions
in little parties, a habit that they keep up all winter.
You cannot fail to name the Junco, with his sad-coloured
coat, light vest and tail feathers; his cheerful habits will
allow you to become quite intimate with him before winter
is over, for he will come freely to the door for food, and
is a frequenter of city parks and even back yards.
Juncos are winter residents upon whom we can always
depend, although the numbers vary greatly. A small flock
has lodged for many seasons in the evergreen honeysuckles
about the house, and one bitterly cold February, when
every seed was frozen down, a number came into the barn,
feeble and exhausted, and pecked about the grain bin,
mutely waiting for food; nor were they disappointed.
Together with the Chickadee they are frequently to be
seen around the kennels, where the dogs always treat them
with courtesy. They usually leave in early April, but some-
times lingering into May, they let us hear their song before
they go northward for their wooing.
Song Sparrow : Melospiza fasciata.
PLATE V. FIG. 11.
Length: 6-6.50 inches.
Male and Female : Brown poll, somewhat striped. Above gray and
brown, thickly striped. Gray stripe over eye ; brown stripe each
side of throat; dark stripes across upper breast, forming a
black spot in front. Beneath gray, slightly striped. Bill dark
brown ; feet pale brown.
Song: "Olit, olit, olit, chip, chip, chip, che-char, che-wiss, wiss,
wiss ! " (Thoreau, " Walden.") " Maids, maids, maids, hang
on your teakettle-ettle-ettle ! " (A local interpretation. Tho-
reau, "Summer.")
Season : March until November. Individuals remain through the year.
Breeds : From Virginia and the northern portion of the Lake States
northward. Sometimes three broods are reared.
156
SONG-BIKDS. Song Sparrow
Nest : Location variable ; on ground or in low bush.
Eggs : Grayish white, spotted, marked, and clouded with browns and
lavender.
Range : Eastern United States to the Plains.
The Song Sparrow is the darling among the Song-birds ;
the Goldfinch's gay coat, the Bluebird's confidential mur-
mur, or the melody of the Thrushes cannot rival him in our
affections, even though they may possess superior qualities.
Plain as his coat is, he carries his identity in the little
black streaks that form two spots on his breast, and all the
year we may hope to hear his simple domestic ballad.
Thoreau says : " Some birds are poets and sing all summer.
They are the true singers. Any man can write verses in
the love season. We are most interested in those birds that
sing for the love of the music, and not of their mates ; who
meditate their strains and amuse themselves with singing ;
the birds whose strains are of deeper sentiment."
This is the Song Sparrow. He is the most constant singer
among our northern birds ; he has other songs in his reper-
toire beside love-songs, even though he excels in these, his
later efforts lacking their variety. He sings to you from
the snow-powdered trees in February, to keep up your
spirits. In March he comes out on a bush and tells you
that the buds are swelling and that it is really spring. In
April, May, and June he is in an ecstasy ; he sings to his
mate, to the earth, to the sky, and to you, varying his theme
until the simple melody of three notes and an appoggiatura
is lost in endless changes.
In July his song loses quality, and August heat drives
him, somewhat discouraged, to moult in bushy seclusion, but
does not wholly silence him. With middle September he
emerges and begins anew, greeting the migrating birds as
they return ; and all through October his notes sound clearly
above the rustling leaves, and some morning he comes to
the dogwood by the arbour and announces the first frost in
a song that is more direct than that in which he told of
spring. While the chestnuts fall from their velvet nests,
he is singing in the hedge ; but when the brush heaps burn
157
Song Sparrow SONG-BIRDS.
away to fragrant smoke in November, they veil his song a
little, but it still continues.
December daunts him, so long to spring, he thinks, but
even then a warm sunbeam draws out a note or two ; and
when January's iron hand numbs him, he whispers, "so
long since summer," and breathes a note in undertone for
memory's sake; so is completed this Sparrow's year of
song.
Swamp Song Sparrow: Melospiza georgiana.
Length: 4.50-4.80 inches.
Male and Female : Crown bright bay, gray stripe over eye and gray
wash over brown around neck. Back striped with various
browns. Tail reddish brown. Much bay on wings. Mottled
gray below.
Song : A liquid though monotonous trill.
Season : Migrant ; March and April, October and November. Breeds
here sparingly.
Breeds : From Northern States northward.
Nest and Eggs : In tussock or bush in swamp, otherwise like Song
Sparrow's ; eggs also similar.
Eange : Eastern North America to the Plains, accidentally to Utah,
north to the British Provinces, including Newfoundland and
Labrador. Winters in the Middle States and southward.
The distinctive marks of the Swamp Song Sparrow are
its bright bay crown, bay wing-edges, and absence of any yel-
low washes, or white tail feathers. The Chipping Sparrow
has the bay crown, but lacks the bay on the wings ; the
Vesper Sparrow has the bay wings, but lacks the crown,
but the Swamp Sparrow has both.
This Sparrow has neither the vocal powers or the sociabil-
ity of the Song Sparrow. It is a shy bird that loves deep,
cool thickets and haunts such impenetrable shrubberies as
border sphagnum bogs; and though it is common in such
places, when you look for it you will find it as elusive as
the Veery and Marsh Wrens.
Its fresh trill can be heard from middle April until it
passes on in May ; where it breeds it sings almost continu-
158
SONG-BIRDS. Fox Sparrow
ously until August, and after moulting has an intermittent
period of song before it leaves in October.
Fox Sparrow : Passerella iliaca.
PLATE V. FIG. 16.
Length: 6.50-7.25 inches.
Male and Female : The largest and reddest of the Sparrows, the size
of the Hermit Thrush. Above red-brown, varying from dark
to bright chestnut, brightest on rump and tail. Breast light
gray, arrowhead markings on throat and breast, sides streaked
with reddish brown. Bill dark above, lower mandible yellow-
ish, feet pale.
Song: A sweet, varied warble, sometimes heard during migrations.
Call note a feeble zip-zip.
Season: In migrations. Common in March, April, October, and
November. Found by Mr. Averill as late as December 29.
Breeds : North of the United States.
Nest : Usual Ground Sparrow nest.
Eggs : Greenish white, speckled with red-brown.
Mange : Eastern North America, west to the Plains and Alaska (val-
ley of the Yukon to the Pacific), and from the Arctic coast
south to the United States. Winters chiefly south of the Poto-
mac and Ohio rivers.
This bird, whose fox-red feathers, and not a sly dispo-
sition, give it the name of Fox Sparrow, is a delightful
songster as well as a large and boldly marked species.
They come in flocks in very early spring, when the Blue-
bird and Song Sparrow are sharing the musical honours,
and, settling on the pastures, send up a wave of gentle
music, and when they return in autumn they still give a
few soft notes.
Mr. Bicknell has heard them sing as early as February
29 and as late as November 17. He says that this
Sparrow seems indisposed to sing unless present in num-
bers. This probably applies only to the anti-nuptial song;
for, as a rule, the perfect song of wild birds is not heard
before they leave and after they rejoin the flocks, but only
at the period when they assert themselves as individuals.
159
Towhes SONG-BIRDS.
Towhee: Pipilo erythrophthalmus.
Chewink, Ground Robin.
PLATE V. FIG. 10.
Length: 7.50-8.75 inches.
Male : Head, neck, chest, back, and all but outer tail feathers black.
Belly and spots on outer tail feathers white, sides light bay.
Bill black ; feet light brown.
Female: Drab or brownish where the male is black.
Song : Clear and ringing, ** Tew6ek tew6ek towhee blure towhee
blure ! "
Season : Common summer resident ; late April to October.
Breeds : In its range generally.
Nest : On the ground ; of grass, fibres, hair, etc. ; large but well con-
cealed by underbrush.
Eggs; White, heavily speckled with brown.
Range: Eastern United States and southern Canada, west to the
Plains.
In early May when the Thrushes are scratching in the
shrubbery, a stranger appears among them, clad in bay,
white, and black, who hops with such exaggerated precision
that he seems like a messenger bearing important news.
But it is only another of the Sparrow tribe, wearing the
thick bill of the Buntings. He has probably been in
the vicinity a week or two but has kept aloof. He bears
the local name of Ground Robin, because he nests upon the
ground and has partially reddish under parts.
Although common summer residents they are so shy that
they are rarely seen after the breeding-season. If you ap-
proach the nest, the male will run through the bushes in an
opposite direction, uttering his sharp " teweek, towhee " (a
note which suggested the name Towhee) and in his anxiety
exposes himself fully to view. Late in the afternoon he
mounts a tree, at some distance from his nest, and rings out
his rather defiant song.
He is a very restless bird, prying about continually for
seeds and insects, upon which he feeds equally, and in
autumn he also eats such berries as he can glean. After
the moulting he only gives his call note and, being affected
160
SONG-BIRDS. Cardinal
by cold, leaves before hard frosts. A pair or two always
nest in the garden under a tangle of wild grape-vines.
Cardinal : Cardinalis cardinalis.
Cardinal Grosbeak , Virginia Nightingale.
PLATE IV. FIG. 1.
Length . 8-9 inches.
Male : Magnificent red, conspicuously crested ; black throat and band
around beak. Wings at some seasons washed with gray. Bill
light red ; feet brown.
Female : Brownish yellow ; crest, wings, and tail reddish.
Song: A full, rich whistle, " Cheo-cheo-chehoo-cheo ! " Female
also sings.
Season : A notable bird of the Southern States, straggling as far north
as Massachusetts.
Breeds : Through its range.
Nest : Bulky and loosely made of bark, leaves, and grass placed in a
bush.
Eggs : Pale gray, marked with brown, varying from red to chocolate.
Range: Eastern United States, north to New Jersey and the Ohio
Valley (casually farther), west to the Plains.
As a cage bird the Cardinal is familiar to nearly every
one; although in confinement he soon loses the brilliancy
of his plumage, he often keeps his full song. He is regarded
as a semi-tropical species, yet in the breeding-season he
strays into the New England States ; winters plentifully
in lower Pennsylvania, while a small colony are resident in
Central Park, New York.
The Cardinal owes many of his misfortunes to his " fatal
gift of beauty." It is simply impossible that he should
escape notice, and to be seen, in spite of laws to the con-
trary, means that he will either be trapped, shot, or perse-
cuted out of the country. The fact that this bird has not
become extinct is a wonderful proof of the endurance and
persistency of the species.
In the vicinity of New York, Mr. Bicknell says that its
song lasts from April to August, and 'that he has seen the
Cardinal in every month from October to March. Wilson
writes that the full song lasts, in the South, from March to
M 161
Grosbeak SONG-BIRDS.
September, and that in January and February this bird's
clear notes are the only music. In Europe, where they are
highly prized as cage birds, the name of Virginia Nightin-
gale is given them.
The most delicate and pathetic description of this bird,
whose beauty is his knell, is to be found in J. L. Allen's
" Kentucky Cardinal," that story in which a knowledge
of wild Nature and of the human heart are so perfectly
blended : " Lo ! some morning the leaves are on the ground,
and the birds have vanished. The species that remain, or
that come to us then, wear the hues of the season and melt
into the tone of Nature's background, blues, grays,
browns, with touches of white on tail and breast and wing
for coming flecks of snow.
" Save only him, proud, solitary stranger to our un-
friendly land, the fiery Grosbeak. Nature in Kentucky
has no wintry harmonies for him. He could find these
only among the tufts of the October sumach, or in the gum-
tree when it stands a pillar of red twilight fire in the dark
November woods, or in the far depths of the crimson sun-
set skies, where, indeed, he seems to have been nested, and
whence to have come as a messenger of beauty, bearing on
his wings the light of his diviner home. . . . What won-
der if he is so shy, so rare, so secluded, this flame-coloured
prisoner in dark green chambers, who has only to be seen
or heard and Death adjusts an arrow ! . . . He will sit for
a long time in the heart of a cedar, as if absorbed in the
tragic- memories of his race. Then, softly, wearily, he will
call out to you and to the whole world : Peace . . . Peace
. . . Peace . . . Peace . . . Peace . . . ! the most melo-
dious sigh that ever issued from the clefts of a dungeon."
Rose-breasted Grosbeak: Habia ludoviciana.
PLATE IV. FIGS. 7-8.
Length: 7.75-8.50 inches.
Male: Breast rose-carmine, which colour extends under the wings.
Above black ; belly, rump, three outer tail quills and two spots
on wings white.
162
SONG-BIRDS. Grosbeak
Female : Brownish, sulphur-yellow under wings ; no rosy tint ; heavy
brown bill.
Song : A delightful, rolling warble, often heard toward evening.
Season : Common summer resident ; May 1 to middle September.
Breeds : From the Middle States northward.
Nest: A perfect circle, neatly made of fibres and grass, lined with
finer grasses, placed in a low tree, or more frequently a thorn
bush in old pastures near the edge of woods.
Eggs: Dirty green, with dark brown spots and speckles.
Range : Eastern United States and southern Canada ; west to the
eastern border of the Plains ; south in winter to Cuba, Central
America, and northern South America.
You will always remember the day when you first see
this Grosbeak. Its song may be familiar to you, though
you are wholly unconscious of it; for in the great spring
chorus you may mistake it for a particularly melodious
Robin, who has added a few Oriole notes to his repertoire.
The Grosbeak's song, however, has a retrospective quality
all its own, and shared by neither Robin or Oriole, a sort
of dreaminess, in keeping with its habit of singing into the
night. Gibson says that its song is suffused with colour
like a luscious tropic fruit rendered into sound.
The songster itself, if seen feeding, as it sometimes does,
upon the grass, is a dark, clumsy-looking bird, with an awk-
ward beak ; and it is only when you look at it from beneath,
as it perches in the trees, that you see the rosy shield and
flush under the outspread wings.
I first identified bird and song one June twilight, after a
day when the roses had burst into sudden bloom; and it
seemed as if their glorious colour was reflected on this novel
bird and mingled with his song. I have never found the
nest near here, but Mr. Averill says that they breed freely
in the vicinity, and that this spring he saw a male covering
the nest, an unusual occurrence with birds of such conspic-
uous colouring.
In some parts of Pennsylvania, according to Dr. Warren,
the farmers protect this Grosbeak, owing to its services in
killing potato-bugs, and have christened it the Potato-bug
Bird. Its diet is varied, comprising beetles, flies, larvae,
163
Indigo Bunting SONG-BIRDS.
seeds, the buds of hickory, beech, and birch, and fruit
blossoms.
The distribution of the Grosbeak is somewhat irregular ;
it will be common on one side of a river and rare on the
other, or plentiful on both sides of a range of hills and un-
known among the hills themselves. The song is continued
well into August, but the bird is quite silent before leaving
in September. Two or three years are required to bring the
rose-coloured markings to perfection ; but Mr. Bicknell once
shot a young male on the 23, of September, whose breast
was crimsoning, and who was in full song. This last fact
adds proof to a pet theory of my own, that' the best autumn
music is made by the birds of the season.
Indigo Bunting: Passerina cyanea.
PLATE I. FIG. 12.
Length: 5.50 inches.
Male: Deep blue (in some lights, having a greenish cast) , deepest on
head ; rump, wings, and tail washed thinly with brownish.
Bill dark above, lighter below.
Female : Above, warm brown, whitening on breast.
Song : Sweet but weak, " Tshe tshe tshe tshay ! "
Season : Middle of May to third week in September.
Breeds: Through its United States range.
Nest : In bushes, bulky and rude, of leaves and grass.
Eggs : Bluish or pure white, with brown spots.
Range : Eastern United States, south, in winter, to Veragua.
Beautiful plumage and a very small voice is the sum of
the Indigo Bunting's attractions. It comes about the middle
of May with the Scarlet Tanager, and if you should chance
to find these birds in company, as sometimes happens, rest-
ing on the same rough fence rail, while a Goldfinch swings
near them among the wayside grasses, you will have seen
the primary colours as illustrated in bird life.
When the Bunting feeds upon the ground, as is his usual
habit, his food consisting mainly of the seed of small grasses
and herbs, his plumage is brought out wonderfully by the
play of light upon it, varying from deep blue to a tint of
verde antique, unlike the Bluebird's sky colour.
164
SONG-BIRDS. Bobolink
The most likely place to find him is in old, bush-grown
pastures, and along the lane hedges; like all the bright-
hued birds he is beset by enemies both of earth and sky,
but his Sparrow instinct, which has a love for mother-
earth, bids him build near the ground. The dangers of the
nesting-time fall mostly to his share, for his dull brown
mate is easily overlooked as an insignificant Sparrow. Na-
ture almost always gives a plain coat to the wives of these
gayly dressed cavaliers, for her primal thought is the safety
of the home and its young life.
FAMILY ICTERID^E: BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC. i
Bobolink : Dolichonya oryzivorus.
After moult Reedrbird.
PLATE VI. FIGS. 10-11.
Length : 6.50-7 inches.
Male : Black head, chin, tail, wings, and under parts. Buff patch on
back of neck ; also buff edges to some tail and wing feathers.
Rump and upper wing coverts white. Bill brown. In autumn
similar to female.
Female : Below yellowish brown. Above striped brown, except on
rump, with yellow and white tips to some feathers. Two dark
stripes on crown.
Song : A delightful, incoherent melody ; sung oftentimes as the bird
soars upward.
Season : Early May to October.
Breeds : From the middle United States northward, and winters south
of the United States.
Nest : A loose heap of twigs and grass on the ground in low meadows
and hay-fields ; common, but very difficult to discover.
Eggs : 4-6, clear gray, with clouds and markings of dark brown.
Mange : Eastern North America to the Great Plains, north to south-
ern Canada ; south, in winter, to the West Indies and South
America.
The Bobolink, the bird of two lives in one! The wild,
ecstatic black and buff singer, who soars above the May
meadows, leaving a trail of rippling music, and in autumn
the brown striped bird who, voiceless but for a metallic
"chink," is hunted through the marshes by the gunners,
165
Bobolink SONG-BIRDS.
making his last appearance as an article of food, heralded
011 the restaurant bill of fare thus : " Reed-birds, four on a
skewer, 50 cents."
Strange to say that two-thirds of the gunners who do the
shooting deny that the birds are identical and that they are
killing so much latent music. "The brown birds are all
females," they say, " which, being greatly in excess of the
males, remain after the latter have disappeared." I would
advise all such incredulous ones to buy The Auk (an intel-
ligible ornithological quarterly) for October, 1893, where
they will find a paper on this subject by Mr. Frank M.
Chapman, and a coloured plate showing the Bobolink life-
sized, in the spring transition, when he is again moulting
the stripes for the breeding-coat.
Of all our songsters none enter into the literature of fact
and fancy more fully than the Bobolink, and none so exhila-
rates us by his song. Sit upon the fence of an upland
meadow any time from early May until the last of June,
watch and listen. Up from the grass the Bobolinks fly,
some singing and dropping again, others rising Lark-like
until the distant notes sound like the tinkling of an
ancient clavichord. Then, while you are gazing 'skyward,
from the choke-cherry tree above your head will come the
hurried syllables in which Mr. Burroughs interprets the
song : " Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! I must have my fun, Miss Silver-
thimble, if I break every heart in the meadow, see, see, see ! "
Meanwhile, the grass is full of nests and brown mothers,
neither of which you see, for you are wholly entranced by
the song.
Bryant's poem on Robert of Lincoln contains a good
description of the bird's plumage, but is too precise and
measured to express the rapture of the song. It may de-
scribe a stuffed Bobolink, but never a wild, living one. Wil-
son Flagg's verses on The O'Lincon Family, one of which
I quote, are in truer key :
" Every one's a funny fellow ; every one's a little mellow ;
Follow, follow, follow, follow, o'er the hill and in the hollow.
Merrily, merrily, there they hie ; now they rise and now they fly ;
166
SONG-BIRDS. Cowbird
They cross and turn, and in and out, and down the middle and wheel
about,
With a ' Phew, shew, Wadolincon ; listen to me, Bobolincon !
Happy's the wooing that's speedily doing, that's speedily doing,
That's merry and over with the bloom of the clover ;
Bobolincon, Wadolincon, Winterseeble, follow, follow me ! '"
The prose writers vie with the poets in singing the Bobo-
link's praises, their own words turning to music under his
spell. Listen to what Thoreau says of the song: "It is
as if he [the bird] touched his harp with a vase of liquid
melody, and when he lifted it out the notes fell like bubbles
from the strings." ..." away he launches, and the meadow
is all bespattered with melody."
What matters it to us who hear his song in the north if
the singer, in his migrations, is at war with the rice-growers
of warmer regions ? Here he is the peerless musician, whom
no one should wittingly destroy; and yet we buy "Reed-
birds, four on a skewer, for 50 cents."
Cowbird : Molothrus ater.
PLATE VI. FIGS. 4-5.
Length: 7.50-8 inches.
Male : . Head, throat, and shoulders glistening dark brown ; all other
parts iridescent black. Bill dark brown ; feet rusty black. A
walker.
Female : Dull, brownish gray.
Song : A whistle and a few short, rasping notes. Call note, " Cluck-
see ! "
Season : March to November ; occasionally winters.
Breeds : Through range.
Nest : Builds none, but lays its eggs at random in the nests of other
birds, usually choosing those of species smaller than itself.
Eggs : Almost an inch long, white, speckled with brown and various
shades of gray.
Range : United States from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; north into
southern British America ; south, in winter, into Mexico.
The Cowbird is the pariah of bird-dom, the exception
that proves the rule of marital fidelity and good housekeep-
ing. It is the bird that you see so frequently in pastures,
167
Cowbird SONG-BIRDS.
walking after the grazing cattle and feeding upon the insects
dislodged from the grass by their cropping. Other birds
build a home and seek a mate, often remaining with the
same one a lifetime. The Cowbirds are polygamous, liv-
ing in roving flocks, building no nests, and providing in no
way for their offspring. When the laying impulse seizes
them, they slyly deposit the egg in the nest of some smaller
bird. This shows forethought, however; for there is less
likelihood of the eggs being thrust out, and it also obtains
a greater share of warmth than the other eggs in the nest
and hatches more rapidly.
Many birds do not allow themselves to be so imposed
upon, and either eject the strange egg, build a new nest
over it, or abandon their nest entirely; others seemingly
less intelligent will rear the ungainly stranger, even though
from its greater size and appetite it crowds and starves the
legitimate tenants of the nest. I have many and many a
time seen a young Cowbird, after leaving the nest, being
fed by a bird so much smaller than itself that the poor
foster parent had to stand on tiptoe.
Cowbirds' eggs have been found in the nests of the Chat,
Baltimore Oriole, Wood Thrush, Mourning Dove, Kingbird,
Towhee, Vireos, Warblers, and all the Sparrows, and even
in the secluded hut of the Ovenbird, while many nests are
so unfortunate as to contain more than one of these eggs.
Vagrants as the Cowbirds are in the breeding-season,
after the nesting the young do not continue with their
foster parents, but return to the flocks of their progenitors,
and remain with them. Thus these Cowbirds are the social-
ists among birds, and are like their human prototypes, who
send their young to free kindergartens and mission schools
that they may be fed and clothed at the expense of others ;
then drawing them surely back, with their inherited prin-
ciples unchanged. Some evils are inextricably mixed tip
with the foundations of things.
168
SONG-BIRDS. Red-winged Blackbird
Red-winged Blackbird: Agelaius phceniceus.
PLATE IV. FIGS. 9-10.
Length: Very variable ; 8.25-9.85 inches.
Male : Kich blue-black ; scarlet shoulders, edged with yellow.
Female : Finely speckled with rusty black, brown, and orange.
Shoulders obscurely orange-red.
Song : A rich, juicy note, " Oucher-la-ree-S 1 "
Season : Late March to October. Sometimes winters.
Breeds : Through summer range.
Neat : A bulky pocket hung between reeds or stems of alders, etc. ;
made of rush blades and grass, and lined with finer grasses.
Eggs : 4-6, light blue, fancifully marked with lines, dots, and patches
of black and lilac.
Range: North America in general, from Great Slave Lake south to
Costa Rica.
As a summer resident the Ked-winged Blackbird is a
familiar sight in low meadows and along roadsides. At a
little distance he appears to be only a plain, black bird, but
as he extends his wings his brilliant epaulets come into
prominence. The plumage of the female, though incon-
spicuous, is singularly beautiful when seen at close range.
It looks like a fabric of which the warp is black and the
woof a twisted thread of brown and yellow. The Ked-
wings are essentially early birds, often returning in spring
when their marshy haunts are still frozen over. Their
vocalization is suggestive of cool, moist ground and hidden
springs ; it continues until late July, and is briefly renewed
in October. The deep nest is half hung, half twined
between the stems of marsh-growing plants, and often
holds two broods of a season; the boggy location chosen
serves to protect it quite thoroughly from human invaders.
This Blackbird's clear notes are associated with those of
the Meadowlark, as they are both early singers and are
found in similar places. They are useful birds to the agri-
culturist, as they are great destroyers of cutworms. They
are sometimes polygamous, though as frequently seen in
pairs ; being very gregarious birds, many nests are usually
found in the same locality.
Meadowlark SONG-BIRDS.
Meadowlark : Sturnella magna.
PLATE VI. FIG. 9.
Length: 10-11 inches.
Male and Female : Much variegated above, general colour brown. Bill
stout and straight. Crown with brown and black streaks, black
line behind eye. Tail black with white outer quills ; wings edged
with yellow. Under parts yellow, black crescent on throat.
Strong legs, a walker. Female paler.
Song : Clear and piercing, " Spring o' the Y-e-a-r ! "
Season : A resident, the migrants remaining from April until late
October.
Breeds : Abundantly throughout its range.
Nest : Of dried grass ; placed on the ground ; usually concealed by a
tuft of grass, which makes a partial roof.
Eggs : 4-6, brilliant white, speckled with purple and reddish brown.
Range : Eastern United States and southern Canada, to the Plains.
This abundant bird, common in the migrations, and present
with us all winter in considerable numbers, is not a Lark at
all ; it has superb plumage, and its song, though consisting
of but a few syllables, is sweet and thrilling. Almost
before a tinge of green has come upon the meadows, these
birds are searching for worms and larvae, which form a large
part of their diet, and it is at this time that they show their
yellow breasts, with the striking black crescent, to the best
advantage. While they are feeding, they constantly give
their calling song, varying the intonation and accent in a
way which is very expressive " Spring o' the Y-e-ctrr,
Spring o' the Year ! " It has a breezy sound, as fresh and
wild as if the wind were blowing through a flute. They sing
from March until July, and then again after the moulting,
though at this time they never equal their spring song, and
I have heard a few notes in January, when they were linger-
ing about the stubble fields. In winter they often come
about the barns for food, and will stand quite still, and
watch me while I scatter seeds to them and other such way-
farers.
The Meadowlark is one of the most constant of the win-
ter colony, associating with the Horned Lark on the shore
170
PLATE VI.
SONG-BIRDS. Orchard Oriole
meadows, and with the Snowflakes in the inland fields, from
which he announces " Spring o' the Year " with his pene-
trating voice, almost before that coy season has awaked and
warmed her fingers in the sun's grudging rays.
Orchard Oriole: Icterus spurius.
PLATE IV. FIGS. 2 AND 3.
Length : 7 inches.
Male : Black head, chin, neck, throat, tail, and part of wings. Breast,
belly, rump, and shoulders chestnut-brown. White wing bar,
and some feathers edged with black and chestnut. Round
black tail edged with lighter. Bill and feet bluish black.
Female : Upper parts brown, wings with pale buff edges and shoulder
bars. Throat black, rump and edges of some tail feathers olive-
green. Under parts olive-yellow.
Song : Resembling that of the Baltimore Oriole, but less- shrill.
Season : Summer resident ; May to September.
Breeds : Throughout United States range.
Nest : A round basket-like structure, notable for its even weaving. It
may be pensile or only partly so, and is usually placed in a
fruit tree at a moderate height.
Eggs : 4, cloudy white, spotted with blackish brown.
Eange : United States, west to the Plains ; south, in winter, to Pan-
ama.
The Orchard Oriole is less known in New England than
the Baltimore Oriole, not only because of its duller colouring
but because its range is more southerly, and though it goes
all through the Eastern States it is not plentiful north of
Massachusetts.
I can always rely upon seeing a few pairs about the gar-
den in May, when the early apples are in bloom ; for though
these Orioles are chiefly insect-eaters, they will sometimes
help themselves to the fruit blossoms, and later on to an
occasional meal from the raspberry vines or the strawberry
bed. These depredations, however, are trifling in compari-
son to the good they do in destroying plant-lice, beetles, rose-
slugs, and cabbage-worms.
As singers their notes are more harsh and rapidly uttered
than those of the other species, and are not particularly
171
Baltimore Oriole SONG-BIRDS.
distinguishable in the bird chorus ; but as nest-builders they
excel, and there is no nest that more closely resembles man's
primitive efforts at basket-weaving. It is usually suspended
between branches or twigs, and is woven of dried grasses
of nearly equal size, so that the nest is very neat and even.
Old orchards are favourite haunts of this bird, for it is very shy
and seldom builds near dwellings. Its song season is brief,
being over in July, and even immediately after the nesting,
when the young birds mingle their immature plumage and
attempted song, the identification of either song or bird is
difficult for the novice.
Baltimore Oriole: Icterus galbula.
Golden Oriole, Hang-nest, Golden Robin.
PLATE IV. FIGS. 5-6.
Length : 8 inches.
Male : Black head, throat, and upper half of back. Wings black,
with white spots and edges ; tail quills spotted with yellow.
Everywhere else orange-flame. Bill and feet slatish black.
Female : Paler, the black washed with olive. Below dull orange.
Song: Somewhat shrill and interrogative, but withal martial. In
the breeding-season they have an anxious call, "Will you?
Will you really, really, truly?" Female's note a plaintive
"I w-i-11."
Season : 1st of May to the middle of September.
Breeds : Through range.
Nest: A pensile pocket, woven of milkweed, flax, fine string, or
frayings of cotton, rope, etc.; suspended at the end of a sway-
ing branch at considerable distance from the ground.
Eggs : 4-6, whitish ground, scrawled with black-brown.
Range : Eastern United States, west nearly to the Rocky Mountains.
There is a bit of history as well as tradition connected
with the naming of this splendid bird. George Calvert,
the first Baron Baltimore, who penned the charter of settle-
ment in 1632 of the country which now comprises the
states of Delaware and Maryland (a grant which fructified
later for the benefit of his son), is the subject of the tradi-
tion which still lingers in Maryland, and has sufficient facts
172
SONG-BIRDS. Baltimore Oriole
for a foundation to be credible. The story says that Gal-
vert, worn out and discouraged by the various trials and
rigours of temperature in his Newfoundland colony, in 1628
visited the Virginia settlement. He explored the waters of
the Chesapeake, with its noble tributaries and delicious
climate, and found the shores and woods teeming with birds,
and among them great flocks of Orioles, who so cheered
him by their song and colour that he took them as good
omens and adopted their colours for his own. Be this as it
may, it is a likely story ; for the Oriole has gone on cheering
and charming mankind to this day.
The Oriole comes in full plumage and song in time to
sing the praises of the blooming orchards, but if the season
is cold and late and the cherries do not yield their mimic
snow-storm, my Lord Baltimore also delays his coming.
When these Orioles first arrive the males are in the majority,
and they sit in the spruces calling by the hour, with a lonely
querulous note.
In a few days the females appear in force, and then the
martial music begins, and the birds 7 golden trumpeting often
turns to a desperate clashing of cymbals when two males
engage in combat ; for the Oriole has a temper to match his
flaming plumage and fights with a will.
The next step is the selection of a nesting-tree. It must
be tall with swinging branches to yield when the wind
blows, and near enough to civilization to intimidate the
Hawks.
Hush ! 'tis he !
My Oriole, my glance of summer fire,
Is come at last, and ever on the watch,
Twitches the pack-thread I had lightly wound
About the bough to help his housekeeping,
Twitches and scouts by turns, blessing his luck,
Yet fearing me who laid it in his way,
Nor, more than wiser we in our affairs,
Divines the providence that hides and helps.
Heave, ho ! Heave, ho I he whistles as the twine
Slackens its hold ; once more, now ! and a flash
Lightens across the sunlight to the elm
Where his mate dangles at her cup of felt. LOWELL.
173
Baltimore Oriole SONG-BIRDS.
If the situation is protected from birds of prey, the nest
is made quite open at the top ; but if it is in a wild and
remote region, the structure is more bottle-shaped, with a
small opening, which completely hides the sitting bird.
This accounts for the great variation in the form of nests
found in different localities.
The Oriole is a beneficent garden guest ; his food is largely
insectivorous, and he not only eats worms and grubs, but
also strips cocoons of their latent mischief ; so we will not
begrudge him a few cherries for dessert.
He is a quick-witted bird, and a good neighbour to his
fellows. Many instances of his power of thinking have
come under my eyes, but none more forcible than an epi-
sode of last season. In June I was sitting under the trees,
watching the evolutions of a pair of Redstarts, when a vio-
lent commotion in the shrubbery attracted me. Catbirds
were screaming lustily, and Robins, Wrens, and Sparrows
collected at the call in a body, while a gorgeous Oriole shot
through the trees, close above my head. The cause of the
rumpus was a chipmunk, who had dragged a young Catbird
from the nest by the leg (for this little pest steals birds as
well as eggs, though I have never seen them eat a bird).
The troop of birds succeeded in frightening away the
intruder, and I returned to my hammock, thinking no
more of it. Not so with the Oriole. He silently watched
the chipmunk, who sat chattering in a pine. Several min-
utes passed, and then the chipmunk ran out in full view on
a long bough. Quick as a flash the Oriole darted at him,
and pierced the poppy eyes with his slender beak, in rapid
succession. The unfortunate chipmunk fell to the ground,
and was put out of misery, while the Oriole flew off as if
nothing unusual had happened, and was soon swinging and
singing in the elm again, the type of summer fervour. Un-
like many highly coloured birds, he retains his brilliancy
after moulting, and also has a second period of song, which
lasts from August until early September, when he leaves us.
174
SONG-BIRDS. Blackbirds
Rusty Blackbird : ScolecopJiagus carolinus.
Thrush Blackbird.
Length: 9-9.50 inches.
Male : In breeding-plumage. Glossy black with metallic glints and a
rusty wash. In autumn more decidedly rust-coloured. Bill
and feet black.
Female : Deep rusty brown above, grayish below.
Song : Only a clucking call note.
Season: Common migrant; April, October, and November; may
winter.
Breeds : From northern New England northward.
Nest: Bulky, of dried grasses, lined with mud and slung among
reeds or bushes over water like that of the Red-wing.
Eggs : 4, colouring very variable, greenish blue to grayish white,
mottled with brown.
Range : Eastern North America, west to Alaska and the Plains.
You may identify these inconspicuous Blackbirds by
their pale, straw-coloured eyes, and the rusty wash that
dims their feathers, also from the fact that in spring they
arrive in single pairs and not in flocks like the Grackles,
while in fall they travel in small flocks and mingle with the
Cowbirds in the pastures.
Purple Grackle: Quiscalus quiscula.
Crow Blackbird.
PLATE VI. FIG. 6.
Length: 12-13.50 inches.
Male and Female: Glossy metallic black, iridescent tints on head,
tail, and wings. Iris bright yellow, tail longer than wings, feet
black. Female more dull and smaller.
Song : A crackling, wheezy squeaking ; call note a rasping chirp.
Season: Common summer resident. I have also seen them in every
month but January and February.
Breeds : Through range, most freely in the northern part of it.
Nest : A carefully built nest of rather miscellaneous materials, mud-
lined, usually in trees, sometimes in a hollow tree. In ever-
greens in many localities but never here, orchards being their
favourite spot.
175
Grackle SONG-BIRDS.
Eggs : Indescribable, different sets wholly unlike ; the average
groundwork soiled blue or green, waved, streaked, and clouded
with brown.
Range : Atlantic States from Florida to Long Island.
The most familiar of the Blackbirds as well as the most
persecuted. Hated by the farmer for the alleged destruc-
tion of corn-fields while even at the harvest season, they
rid the soil of noxious insects and grubs and all the rest of
the year are either harmless gleaners or beneficial scaven-
gers, their gravest fault being that they sometimes destroy
and eat the eggs of other birds.
The Grackles begin their upward migration early in
March, and some gray morning an immense flock will ap-
pear festooning the bare tree, in which they settle with
scintillating black, uttering at the same time a series of
unique and discordant cries which would put the wildest
banshee to shame. Hereabout they always choose an old
stumpy orchard as their nesting-place though many author-
ities consider that they nest preferably in conifers, Dr.
Abbot among others, giving a detailed account of their
preference, during a particular season, for pines, ignoring
the great beeches where they had previously colonized.
In May of last year I had the pleasure of watching a
fine male Grackle sing his ludicrous love-song. Ludicrous
from my point of view, though doubtless from a Grackle's
standpoint it was exceedingly thrilling, and the lady to
whom it was addressed so considered it.
It was the 15th of May, and the Grackle perched in my
blighted old ash tree, displaying his glistening coat to the
best advantage in the afternoon sun. The female was
coyly hidden in the dogwood below him. Suddenly he
spread his wings and tail, ruffed his breast, at the same
time rising on tiptoe, like a melodramatic tenor, and uttered
a high squeak expressive of his deep emotion. I expected
that the female would fly away in disgust, but no, at each
outburst she crept nearer and nearer and finally ventured
upon the same branch that held the frantic singer.
The flocking of the Grackles in early September is one
176
SONG-BIRDS. Blue Jay
of the first signs of autumn, and they drop and settle in the
lane and by the pool as if to warn the leaves that they
must soon follow.
FAMILY CORVID^E: CROWS, JAYS, MAGPIES.
SUB-FAMILY GARRULIN^: JAYS.
Blue Jay: Cyanocitta cristata.
PLATE VI. FIGS. 12-13.
Length : 11-12 inches.
Male and Female : Lead-blue above, head finely crested, a black collar
uniting with some black feathers on the back. Below grayish
white. Wing coverts and tail a bright blue barred transversely
with black.
Song : A whistling bell note in the breeding-season, the usual cry a
screaming "Jay, jay, jay ! "
Season : Resident. Also abundant in the migrations.
Breeds : Through range.
Nest : Bulky, in appearance like that of the Crow, but only one- quarter
the size.
Eggs : 5-6, about an inch long and broad for the length, brownish
gray, with brown spots.
Range : Eastern North America to the Plains, and from the Fur
Countries south to Florida and eastern Texas.
Here is a bird against whom the hand of every lover
of Song-birds should be turned in spite of its beautiful
plumage and many interesting ways ; for the Jay is a can-
nibal not a whit less destructive than the Crow. When you
see them in small flocks circling the trees in early spring
and gathering their crop of chestnuts in the fall and acorns
in early winter, you admire their brilliant colouring, jaunty
crest, and bold flight, and merely wish, perhaps, that their
cry was less harsh.
But what do these birds do with themselves in the period
between April and September, in their breeding and moult-
ing season, when they are comparatively inconspicuous, for
they go into the woods to breed and become almost silent,
but it is a case of still waters running deeply ? Day by
day they sally out of their nesting-places to market for them-
N 177
Am. Crow SONG-BIRDS.
selves and for their young, and nothing will do for them but
fresh eggs and tender squabs from the nests of the Song-
birds ; to be followed later by berries, small fruit, and grain.
Samuels cites an instance where a pair of Canada Jays (the
more northern species) devoured the half-grown young of
four nests of Snowbirds, sixteen in all, in one forenoon, and
Audubon wrote that the Jay robs every nest it can find,
sucking the eggs like a Crow, and tearing the young to
pieces (like misdemeanors have taken place in my garden) ;
that it will destroy the eggs of pigeons and domestic fowls
and, animal food failing, it will eat green corn, apples, peas,
etc. In short, it appropriates the best of everything, and
though it also destroys insects they do not counterbalance
its crimes.
The following quotation is a good summary of this bird's
traits as well as the reasons why he is tolerated: "The
Jay is a very questionable character, whose entire lack of
moral dignity and high principle is attested by a life of in-
sincerity, dishonesty, and profligacy, and whose errors are
far from condoned by his fine personal appearance. But the
rascal has assurance, which is a great social lever, and so
continues to hold his own, even in New England, where he
is perfectly well known, and where, it would seem, the bad
luck of being found out is not an absolutely unpardonable
sin." STEARNS AND COUES, "New England Bird Life."
SUB-FAMILY CORVINJE: CROWS.
American Crow : Corvus americanus.
Length : 18-20 inches.
Male and Female : Glossy black, with a purplish tinge. Wings which
appear saw-toothed when flying. Bill and feet black. Female
a less brilliant black.
Song : A quavering " Kar-r-r-er-r ! " in spring. Call note," Caw-w ! "
Season: Resident.
Breeds : All through North America.
Nest : Consisting of a platform of coarse sticks, upon which rests the
nest proper, made of smaller twigs and deeply lined with cedar
bark. Tall trees are chosen ; preferably evergreens.
178
SONG-BIRDS. Fish Crow
Eggs : 4-7, greenish ground, stained and spotted with brown ; vari-
able both in size and colour.
Eange : North America, from the Fur Countries to Mexico.
This is another bird that you may hunt from your woods,
shoot (if you can) in the fields, and destroy with poisoned
grain. Here he has not a single good mark against his name.
He is a cannibal, devouring both the eggs and young of
insect-destroying Song-birds ; he is a coward in all respects,
a convicted corn thief, and his own personality is extremely
disagreeable, owing to his harsh and persistent cawing. A
price is set upon his head, and his only picturesque quality
is a negative one, when he completes the dreariness of a
November landscape by napping solemnly over the stacked
corn-stalks in the brown fields.
Samuels arraigns the Crow, and condemns him unhesita-
tingly to death; these are his statistics boiled 'down. In
January, February, and March, when the ground is snow-
covered, the Crows gain a scanty living from a few frozen
apples, stray insects, or field-mice, so that in these months
they may be said to be beneficial. They also eat insects to
a certain extent in April ; but how about their conduct in
the breeding-season ? In order to supply their young with
the daily eight ounces of food which they require, we find
that a pair of Crows destroys in one day alone young birds
that in the course of the season would have consumed a
hundred thousand insects. He has seen a pair of Crows
visit an orchard and destroy the young in two Robins' nests
in half an hour. Like evidence is everywhere attainable,
so we must condemn the Crows unhesitatingly to death.
Fish Crow : Corvus ossifragus.
Length : 14-16 inches.
Male and Female : Glossy, purplish black.
Song : Resembling the last species, but with a different intonation.
Season : Summer resident.
Breeds : Through range.
Nest and Eggs : Hardly to be distinguished from those of the last
species.
Range : Atlantic coast, from Long Island to Florida.
179
Horned Lark SONG-BIRDS.
It is easy to confuse this Crow with the ordinary species,
the only marks of identification being its inferior size and
different call. It frequents the shore chiefly, and may be
seen here on its arrival in early spring, before the Gulls
have left, clamming on the mud flats and sand-bars of the
creeks that run into Long Island Sound. These Crows seem
to tread for the long-necked clams as people do, and then
dislodge them with a blow from their strong beaks, break-
ing the shell in the same manner, and tearing out the con-
tents with the aid of their claws. In winter I have seen
the common Crows flock to the beach and procure shell-fish
in the same way. The Fish Crow is said, by Audubon, to
catch fish like the Osprey, and flocks were seen by him sail-
ing through the air, above the St. John's Eiver, Florida, the
aerial excursion lasting for hours, after which the Crows
would turn their attention to fishing for half an hour, and
then alight in the trees to plume themselves.
Horned Lark: Octocoris alpestris.
Shore Lark.
PLATE VII. FIG. 8.
Length: 7-7.50 inches.
Male : Upper parts brown with a pinkish cast, most marked on ueck
and rump. Black crescent on breast ; black bar in front of
head, extending to side of head, forming two tufts or horns ;
frontlet, throat, and neck pale yellowish ; below whitish, streaked
with black ; bill dark ; feet black.
Female : Paler and somewhat smaller.
Song : Only a call note here, but a charming song in the breeding-
haunts.
Season : Winter resident along shore ; October to April.
Breeds : In March and April in boreal regions, and raises two broods
a season.
Nest : Of grass, in ground hollow.
Eggs : Variable, greenish white or gray, heavily marked with dark
gray.
Range : Northeastern North America, Greenland, and northern part
of the Old World ; in winter south in the eastern United States
to the Carolinas, Illinois, etc.
180
SONG-BIRDS. Horned Lark
The pinkish gray colouring of the Horned Lark is very
beautiful, but in the Middle and Eastern States he is rarely
seen in his spring garb, and his winter plumage lacks the
vivid contrasts and pure colour.
These Larks, if the snow is not too deep, settle in the marsh-
meadows, where they pick up a living from various seeds ;
or, if the snow has covered the fields, they take refuge in
sheltered spots by hayricks and even near houses. I have
seen them quite close to the village, picking up oats under
a shed where straw had been thrashed recently. According
to Audubon, they have, in the breeding-range, the habit of
singing as they soar in the air, after the manner of the
European Skylark.
181
PERCHING SONGLESS BIRDS,
ORDER PASSERES: PERCHING BIRDS.
SUB-ORDER CLAMATORES: SONGLESS PERCHING
BIRDS.
FAMILY TYRANNISE: TYRANT FLYCATCHERS.
Kingbird: Tyrannus Tyrannus.
Bee Martin.
PLATE VII. FIG. 7.
Length : 8 inches.
Male and Female : Above black, orange-red streak on poll. Beneath
grayish white, darkest on breast. Tail terminating in a white
band.
Bill and feet black.
Note : A piercing call note, " Kyrie-K-y-rie ! "
Season : Common summer resident ; May to September.
Breeds : Through its United States range.
Nest : Bulky and deeply cupped, made of sticks and grass, lined with
matted fibres, usually in a conspicuous position on a horizontal
branch in orchards or thin woods.
Eggs : Nearly an inch long and almost round, cream or bluish white,
boldly scratched and spotted with brown and lilac. Very hand-
some and richly coloured.
Range : Eastern North America, from the British Provinces south to
Central and South America. Rare west of the Rocky Mountains.
That the Kingbird the second largest of our Flycatchers
is a tyrant, as his Latin name indicates, no one will doubt
who has watched his tactics for a single day. He is born a
fighter ; he fights for his mate, he fights to protect his nest,
and when he no longer has a nest to protect he fights for
pure bravado, and when he cannot find an opponent he
emulates Don Quixote.
182
SONGLESS BIRDS. Kingbird
Look at him as lie sits motionless on the top wire of the
fence, resting from an aerial excursion. It is easy to iden-
tify him, for his grays and blacks are so distinct and the clear
white tail band is decisive. Suddenly he dashes into the
air or courses above the ground and secures an insect with a
sharp snap of the beak, a bee, perhaps, although the bees
that he captures are comparatively few, and returns to the
precise spot from which he started. This is a habit peculiar
to the Flycatchers. I once watched a Kingbird for nearly
two hours, his point of vantage being a rail and wire fence
between low meadows, and, though he would sail many
hundred yards away, he always returned to his original
perch. If a Crow or Hawk appears ever so far in the dis-
tance, he gives his shrill alarm note and goes in instant
pursuit ; and I am sorry to say, that if Robins and smaller
song-birds venture too near his royal person, he will attack
them also, for he is a great bully.
He does not seem, however, to care to cross swords with
the Catbird, not, perhaps, that he is absolutely afraid, but
he becomes suddenly near-sighted when that cunning
musician crosses his path. Dr. Abbott once tested the valour
of a particularly saucy Kingbird, by sending up a red and
yellow bird kite in the vicinity of its nest, pulling the kite
backward as the bird advanced and then when he was close
upon it slackening the string so that the Kingbird, unable
to check itself, plunged through the paper and bolted off in
a great fright, not returning for many hours.
Kingbirds make most devoted parents, and the young
birds are delightful little things to watch as they develop
if you are as fortunate in finding a nestful as was Mrs.
Olive Thome Miller, who has recorded their ways for all
bird-lovers present and future in her " Chronicle of Three
Little Kings." l
Opinions differ as to the Kingbird's bee-destroying pro-
clivities, for which he received the name of Bee Martin;
neighbouring farmers even tell different stories, one having
assured me that last year his hives were impoverished,
1 " Little Brothers of the Air," p. 19.
183
Flycatchers SONGLESS BIRDS.
while the other, an equally successful apiarist, says that
he has never suffered any appreciable loss from this bird.
They are said to take only drones.
Crested Flycatcher: Myiarchus crinitus.
Length : 8-9 inches.
Male and Female: Head feathers forming a pointed crest. Above
grayish olive, browner on wings and tail, feathers of former
with light edges. Throat gray, below sulphur-yellow, which
extends beneath wings. Bill dark, thick, and rather short.
Note : Harsh call, somewhat like the Kingbird's.
Season: Summer resident ; May to September.
Breeds : Through its United States range.
Nest: In hollow trees and posts, sometimes in abandoned Wood-
peckers' holes ; made of varied materials, in which snake skins
are often found.
Eggs: Uniquely marked, ground buff or clay-coloured, marked in
various ways with purple, chestnut, and chocolate brown.
Range: Eastern United States and southern Canada, west to the
Plains, south, in winter, through eastern Mexico to Costa Rica.
This is the great sulphur-bellied Flycatcher, who lines his
nest hollow with cast away snake skins. How many little
boys, as well as people of larger growth, have worked their
hands into the hole of a supposed Woodpecker, only to feel
the drying skin of a snake twisted up inside, and have fairly
tumbled to the ground, lest the former inhabitant of the
skin should be in the vicinity. These birds do not nest as
freely in the neighbourhood as the Kingbird, and, though
sufficiently pugnacious with their bird kin, keep rather
aloof from human society, so that their habits are less
familiar. In early May when they arrive, they feed upon
ground-beetles, etc., but later in the season frequent the
wooded edges of lanes and old pastures, and very little
insect life that passes by escapes their snapping gape.
Burroughs, in speaking of the Flycatchers in general,
says that "The wild Irishman of them all is the Great-
crested Flycatcher, a large leather-coloured or sandy com-
plexioned bird, that prowls through the woods, uttering
its harsh, uncanny note, and waging fierce warfare upon
its fellows."
184
SONGLESS BIRDS. Flycatchers
Phoebe : Sayornis phoebe.
Water Pewee.
PLATE VII. FIG. 4.
Length : 6.75-7.25 inches.
Male and Female : Above deep olive-brown ; straight black bill.
Outer edges of some tail feathers whitish ; an erectile crest.
Beneath dingy yellowish white ; feet black.
Note : " Phoebee, phoebee, pewit, phcebSe ! "
Season : April to October. Common summer resident.
Breeds : From the Carolinas northward.
Nest : In its native woods the nest is of moss, mud, and grass brack-
eted on a rock, near or over running water ; but in the vicinity
of settlements and villages, it is placed on a horizontal bridge
beam, timber supporting porch or shed.
Eggs : Pure white, somewhat spotted.
Range : Eastern North America, from the British Provinces south to
eastern Mexico and Cuba, wintering from the South Atlantic
and Gulf States southward.
The cheerful Phoebe, the first to come and the last to
leave of its tribe, can be distinguished by its sociability as
well as its musical cry. To those who are familiar with
the domestic Phoebe, who builds his bulky moss nest at
their very door, and who associate him with the Wren in
his love of nooks in the outbuildings, it will seem strange
to know that in his primitive state he haunts dim woods
and running water. The domesticated Phoebe is a great
bather, and may be seen in the half-light dashing in and
out of the water as he makes trips to and from his nest.
Here in the garden this bird frequently exhibits its love
of water, and after the young are hatched in the various
nests, both old and young repair to a maple near the pool,
and disport themselves about the water until moulting-time.
It is very amusing to watch them as they flash down, one
by one, for a dip or an insect, taking both on the wing
without a pause.
Do not let the Phoebes build under the hoods of your win-
dows, for their spongy nests harbour innumerable bird-lice,
and under such circumstances your fly-screens will become
infested and the house invaded.
185
Flycatchers SONGLESS BIRDS.
Olive-sided Flycatcher : Contopus borealis.
PLATE VII. FIG. 2.
Length : 7.50 inches.
Male and Female: Dark brown, deepest on head, olive-gray sides.
Wings brown, with some white tips. Chin, throat, and centre
of breast yellowish white. Bill, black above, yellowish below.
Feet black.
Note: "O wheo, O wheo, O wheo!" (Linsley.)
Season : In migrations ; May and September.
Breeds: From higher and mountainous parts of the United States
northward.
Nest : Made of small twigs, grass, and fibres ; very crude and shape-
less ; saddled on a high horizontal branch.
Eggs : 4-5, buff -white, spotted thickly with reddish brown.
Eange: North America; in winter, south to Central America and
Colombia.
The Olive-sided Flycatcher is an irregular migrant, which
is sometimes rarest in spring and sometimes in autumn. I
think, however, that it is rather plentiful in this neighbour-
hood in early September, for I have seen it repeatedly with
miscellaneous flocks of Flycatchers in the ranks of the early
returning migrants.
Wood Pewee : Contopus virens.
Length : 6-6.50 inches.
Male and Female : Dusky olive-brown above, darkest on head, throat
paler, middle of belly yellowish, growing lighter below. White
eye ring and two whitish wing bars. Feet and bill dusky or
black.
Note : " Pewee- a, peweea, peer ! " as much a song as that of many
birds classified as Song-birds.
Season : May to October.
Breeds : Throughout its range.
Nest : Flat ; its evenly rounded edge stuccoed with lichens like that
of the Hummingbird ; hardly to be distinguished from the bough
on which it is saddled.
Eggs : Creamy- white, with a wreath of brown and lilac spots on the
larger end.
Hange : Eastern North America to the Plains, and from southern
Canada southward.
186
SONGLESS BIRDS. Flycatchers
In early May the Wood Pewee comes to the garden lane
and whispers of his presence with his plaintive little ditty,
and in the autumn the same lonely call is virtually the
only wood note left. In spite of his name, he is not exclu-
sively a wood-bird, but comes through the garden, follow-
ing shyly in the Phoebe's wake. But he only trusts his
precious nest to some mossy woodland limb, a trifle softened
by decay, where he blends his house with its foundations by
the skilful use of moss and lichens.
Alert and swift of motion, he still wears an air of mystery,
and his pathetic note seems like the expression of a hidden
sorrow. Trowbridge's poem telling of his woodland search
for the Pewee is one of the most charming bird epics we
have, and the verse describing its plumage and song is the
bird's life history told in a few lines,
" I quit the search, and sat me down
Beside the brook, irresolute,
And watch a little bird in suit
Of sombre olive, soft and brown,
Perched in the maple branches, mute ;
With greenish gold its vest was fringed,
Its tiny cap was ebon-tinged,
With ivory pale its wings were barred,
And its dark eyes were tender starred.
'Dear bird,' I said, 'what is thy name ? '
And thrice the mournful answer came,
So faint and far, and yet so near,
Pewee ! pe-wee ! peer I ' "
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher : Empidonax flaviventris.
Length : 5.50 inches.
Male and Female : Above a decided olive-green, which colour extends
to the breast. Under parts pale yellow, including wing linings.
Yellowish eye ring and two yellowish bars on wings. Lower
mandible yellow ; feet black.
Note : " Kil-lic, kil-lic ! " Love note, u Pea-pe, we-yea ! "
Season : In migrations ; May and early September.
Breeds : From Massachusetts northward.
187
Flycatchers SONGLESS BIRDS.
Nest : Close to the earth in swampy ground, set in a stump or up-
turned root ; constructed of mosses and thick- walled and bulky,
like the Phoebe's.
Eggs: White, spotted.
Range: Eastern North America to the Plains, and from southern
Labrador south through eastern Mexico to Panama.
The Yellow-bellied Flycatcher is noted as a rare migrant
in this vicinity ; the only one that I have identified with cer-
tainty in the spring migration was killed by flying against a
wire trellis in the garden, but, like the last species, they are
more locally abundant in autumn. They sometimes breed in
northern Pennsylvania, in tangled thickets near streams.
They are late birds in the spring, and do not arrive in
southern New England, en route for their breeding-haunts,
until the middle of May.
Acadian Flycatcher: Empidonax ac adieus.
PLATE VII. FIG. 5.
Length : 5.75-6.25 inches.
Male and Female : Above dull olive-green. Below yellowish, turning
to light gray on throat and belly. White eye ring. Bill brown
above, pale below ; feet brown.
Note : " Hick up ! Hick up ! "
Season : Summer resident, May to September.
Breeds : From Florida to southern Connecticut and Manitoba.
Nest : Shallow and loosely built, near the end of a slim horizontal
branch ; made of grass, blossoms, and bark.
Eggs : Cream white, wreathed at the larger end.
Range : Eastern United States, chiefly southward ; west to the Plains,
south to Cuba and Costa Rica.
This little Flycatcher has a southerly range, only com-
ing over the New England border in summer; there are
but two breeding-records of it in Connecticut, one being
Greenwich, Conn., where a nest and young were found in
June, 1893. It is a common resident along the Hudson as
far north as Sing Sing, and Dr. Warren found it breeding
freely about West Chester, Penn., where he says the majority
188
SONGLESS BIRDS. Flycatchers
of nests were made entirely of blossoms, being rarely more
than eight or ten feet from the ground, and so open at the
bottom that the eggs could be seen from underneath. He
also says that it is a common resident of Pennsylvania from
May until late September, at which season it ekes out its
insect diet with berries.
Its nest is variously described as " a light hammock swung
between forks/ 7 and " a tuft of hay caught by the limb from
a load driven under it."
Least Flycatcher : Empidonax minimus.
Length : 5-5.50 inches.
Male and Female : Olive-gray, brightest on the head, paler on wings
and rump. Whitish eye ring, and wing-bars. Breast whitish,
growing more yellow toward vent. Bill dusky. Feet black.
Note: "Che-bee! Chebec ! " (Coues.)
Season : Common summer resident ; May to late September.
Breeds : From Pennsylvania northward.
Nest : In upright crotch of tree or bush, substantial and well cupped.
Materials varying with the location, plant fibres and weeds,
lined with down and sometimes horsehair.
Eggs : Usually unmarked, occasionally faintly spotted.
Range : Eastern North America, south in winter to Central America.
The least of his tribe, the mite, whose olive poll is seen
in great numbers darting about the orchard in May and
again in late September when the decaying fruit attracts
numerous insects. He is abundant, useful, and sociable,
though neither possessing gay feathers nor a single musical
note, yet he fills his own corner, doing his part in helping
man to keep the upper hand over the insect world. These
Flycatchers are solicitous parents and, as a rule, show great
affection for their young, becoming almost frantic if the
nest is approached.
189
Whip-poor-will SONGLESS BIRDS.
ORDER MACROCHIRES: SWIFTS, WHIP-
POOR-WILLS, ETC.
FAMILY CAPRIMULGID^E : GOATSUCKERS.
Whip-poor-will: Antrostomus vociferus.
PLATE III. FIG. 9.
Length : 9-10 inches.
Male and Female: A long- winged bird of the twilight and night.
Large mouth fringed with bristles. Plumage dusky and Owl-
like, much spotted with black and gray. Wings beautifully
mottled with shades of brown ; lower half of the outer tail
quills white in the male, but rusty in female.
Note : " Whip-poor-will, whip-poor-will ; " repeated usually five times
in succession, followed by a jarring noise during flight.
Season : Late April to September. Common summer resident, except
near the shore.
Breeds : In all parts of its range, but most freely toward the northern
portions.
Nest : Builds none, but substitutes a mossy hollow in rock or ground.
Eggs : 2, creamy- white, freely marked, and spotted with brown.
Range : Eastern United States to the Plains, south to Guatemala.
This weird bird, with its bristling, fly-trap mouth, who
sleeps all day and prowls by night, comes to us late in April,
if the season is warm, clamouring and waking strange echoes
in the bare woods, and in early September, mute and mys-
terious, he gathers his flocks and moves silently on, for the
Whip-poor-will has not at any time even a transient home'
to abandon ; like the pilgrims of old, the earth is his only
bed.
This bird is somewhat erratic in its local distribution.
It is noted here as a common summer resident, yet is sel-
dom heard within two miles of the beach, except in the
spring migration, and I have never but once found it in
the garden. After crossing the Greenfield Hill Ridge, the
numbers increase, and in the wooded hollow below Redding
Ridge they are so numerous as to make the early night
noisy.
' 190
SONGLESS BIRDS. Nighthawk
Many people are familiar with the cry who have never
seen the bird itself; for Nature has taken great pains to
blend the colours of its plumage with the browns and grays
of the bark and rocks of the forest, and has given it the
unusual habit of sitting lengthwise on the branch when it
perches, so that it is invisible from below, and so closely
resembles the branch against which it is so flattened as to
escape notice.
The Whip-poor-will prefers the forest solitude, but in his
nocturnal flights he often comes near houses, and sometimes
calls close to a window with startling vehemence.
The breeding-habits of this strange bird are not the least
of its peculiarities ; when the ground-laid eggs are hatched,
they are beset by many dangers from weasels, snakes, etc.,
but the young birds are almost invisible to the human eye,
even if their location is known. The female is very adroit,
and if she thinks her family has been discovered she will
move them to another place, carrying them in her mouth as
a cat does kittens. In fact, the Whip-poor-will is well pro-
tected both by nature and superstition ; the farmer knows its
value as an insect-destroyer, and the idle mischief-loving
class, who kill birds from pure wantonness, give it a wide
berth, as being the possessor of some occult power, akin to
the " evil eye," and associate its sudden cry with death or
calamity.
Mghthawk: Chordeiles virginianus.
Night-jar.
PLATE III. FIG. 3.
Length : 9-10 inches.
Male : Mottled black and rusty above, the breast finely barred, with
a V-shaped white spot on throat. Wings brown and large, white
spot extending entirely through them, being conspicuous inflight;
white bar on tail. In the female, the white markings are either
veiled with rusty or absent.
Note : A skirling sound while on the wing, u Skirk S-k-i-rk ! "
Season : May to October ; common summer resident.
Breeds : Gulf States to Labrador.
191
Nighthawk SONGLESS BIRDS.
Nest : A ground hollow like the last species.
Eggs : 2, of variable shades of gray latticed with olive.
Range : Northern and eastern North America, east of the Great
Plains.
Another bird of the twilight, feeding bat-like upon the
insects obtained in the air. It is most conspicuous in the
late afternoon, though it flies also by day, and may be
distinguished from the Whip-poor-will, which it closely
resembles, by the large white wing spots. After dark its
cry will easily identify the Nighthawk, for, instead of the
distinct syllables of the Whip-poor-will, it gives a peculiar
harsh whistling note, while on the wing, which is followed
every few minutes by a vibrating sound, as if a fully charged
telegraph wire was struck with a bit of metal ; or, as Nuttall
describes it, "a hollow whirr, like the rapid turning of a
spinning wheel, or a strong blowing into the bung-hole of an
empty hogshead, which is supposed to be produced by the
action of air in the open mouth of the bird." In the latter
conjecture he was wrong, as the jarring sound, which gave
the bird the name of Night-jar, is now conceded to come
from its habit of dropping suddenly through the air, thus
making a sort of stringed instrument of its pinions.
The Nighthawk has the Whip-poor-will's habit of laying
its eggs on a bare surface, only it chooses open fields and
waste pastures, or even flat roofs of city houses, instead of
the woods. The term Hawk, as applied to it, is an entire
misnomer; it is in no sense a bird of prey, and subsists
entirely on insects, and the stories told of its chicken-killing
propensities are wholly unfounded. In early autumn, prior
to the migration, the Nighthawks gather in enormous flocks
and fly about the entire afternoon, when they may be
distinctly seen.
192
SONGLESS BIRDS. Chimney Swift
FAMILY MICROPODIDvE : SWIFTS.
Chimney Swift : Chcetura pelagica.
Chimney Swallow.
PLATE III. FIG. 8.
Length : 5.25 inches.
Male and Female : A deep, sooty brown. Wings longer than the tail,
which is nearly even, the shafts of the quills ending in sharp
spines.
Note : A loud, Swallow-like twitter.
Season : Late April to September and October ; a common summer
resident.
Breeds : From Florida to Labrador.
Nest : A loose, twig lattice glued by the bird's saliva, or sometimes
tree-gum, to the inside of chimneys ; or in wild regions to the
inner walls of hollow trees.
Eggs : 4-5, pure white, and long for their width.
Eange: Eastern North America, north to Labrador and the Fur
Countries, west to the Plains, and passing south of the United
States in winter.
This bird, popularly known as the Chimney Swallow, but
which is more closely related to the Nighthawk, may be
easily distinguished from the Swallows when flying, by its
short, blunt tail. You will never see it perching as Swallows
do ; for, except when it is at rest in its chimney home, it is
constantly on the wing, either darting through the air, drop-
ping surely to its nest, or speeding from it like a rocket.
The Chimney Swift secures its food wholly when flying, and
is more active at night than in the day. In the breeding-
season its busiest time is that preceding dawn, and it then
works without cessation for many hours. The whirling of
the wings as the bird leaves the chimney makes a noise like
distant thunder, and if there is quite a colony the inhabi-
tants of the house may be seriously disturbed, and the pres-
ence of the nests often introduces bedbugs, as they are to
a certain extent parasites of these birds. This makes him
an undesirable tenant, and in modern houses, where the flues
are narrow and easily clogged, wire is stretched over the
chimney mouth to keep him out.
o 193
Hummingbird SONGLESS BIRDS..
Nothing, however, is more picturesque than these Swifts
as they circle above the wide stone chimney of some half-
ruined house, where the garden is overgrown by old lilacs,
and great banks of the fragrant bushes hide the crumbling
walls. I know of such a place, only a few miles away,
where the Swifts curve and eddy above the huge chimney,
bent with the weight of years, in such perfect accord and
rhythm, now wholly disappearing within, now curling forth
in a cloud, that it is easy to imagine the fire burns again
upon the hearth and that the birds are but the columns
of hospitable smoke.
In wild districts the Swift retains the habit of nesting in
hollow trees, the custom it must have followed until com-
paratively recent times in this country, as the Indians never
possessed even the ghost of a chimney. These trees are
used after the breeding-season as roosts, and there is evi-
dence that the birds may sometimes winter in them in a
state of hibernation. In building its nest the Swift snaps
little twigs from the trees, and in fixing them in place
braces itself in the chimney by means of its claws and the
sharp spines in which its tail feathers terminate. Its size is
nearly the same as the Bank Swallow and the two flock
prior to the autumn migration at about the same time, the
Chimney Swift being the last to leave.
FAMILY TROCHILID^E: HUMMINGBIRDS.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird: Trochilus colubris.
PLATE III. FIGS. 1-2.
Length : 3.25 inches.
Male : Above metallic green ; belly white. Wings and tail ruddy
black, the latter deeply forked. Glistening ruby-red gorget.
Female : Colours less iridescent ; gorget lacking, tail with rounded
points.
Note : A shrill, mouse-like squeak.
Season : Common summer resident ; May to October.
Breeds : From Florida to Labrador.
Nest : A dainty circle an inch and a half in diameter, made of fern-
wool, plant-down, etc., shingled with lichens to match the
colour of the branch on which it is saddled.
194
SONGLESS BIRDS. Hummingbird
Eggs : 2, pure white, the size of soup-beans.
liange: Eastern North America to the Plains, north to the Fur
Countries, and south, in winter, to Cuba and Veragua.
This is the only native Hummingbird of eastern North
America, and it is impossible to confuse it with any other
bird in its range.
When the late tulips and narcissi are blooming in the
garden, and you hear a tense humming near them, varied
by an occasional squeak, you know, without looking, that
the Hummingbirds have come. All through late May they
dart here and there, now among the flowers, and then disap-
pearing high up in the trees, searching for both honey and
aphides with their proboscis-like tongues, while their move-
ments exceed in dash and rapidity even the Swallows and
Swifts. They seem merely to will to be in a certain spot,
and they are there without effort.
With June they settle in or near the garden, where
the roses and honeysuckle supply them with nectar and
ambrosia, and this is the season to study them. Late after-
noon, between six and seven o'clock, is the best hour, for
they are taking their supper, and the sun being low behind
the trellis its rays shoot side wise and bring out all the
metallic splendour of their plumage. The adult birds seldom
perch, but, drawing up their tiny claws, pause in front of
the chosen flower, apparently motionless. But the hum
of the wings tells the secret of the poise.
They are very quarrelsome for birds so frail and jewel-
like, and they longe at each other with their rapier bills at
the slightest provocation.
The nest is worthy of the bird, but is rare in comparison
with the number of birds that are seen every year. There
are two reasons for this ; it blends so perfectly with the
supporting branch as to be invisible when the leaves are on
the trees, and owing to its spongy composition, it seldom
retains its shape for any length of time.
Various nesting-sites are chosen, and in the garden I have
found them, in different seasons, on a horizontal cedar bough,
a slanting beech branch, a sweeping elm branch over the
195
Woodpeckers SONGLESS BIRDS.
road, and one, which I discovered from a tower window, on
the topmost branch of a spruce some sixty feet from the
ground. In this last case the nest was covered with small
flakes of spruce bark, instead of the usual lichens.
After the nesting the males make themselves exceedingly
scarce, while the females and young haunt the garden,
feeding in flocks, the young being distinguishable by their
dulness of plumage and the fact that they perch frequently.
All through August and early September, before cooling
nights warn them away, they dart through the mellow haze
claiming the last Jacque roses and the blossoms that con-
tinue to wreathe the honeysuckle, only leaving them when
the twilight chill stiffens their feathered mechanism.
When the mild gold stars flower out,
As the summer gloaming goes,
A dim shape quivers about
Some sweet rich heart of a rose.
##*###*
Then you, by thoughts of it stirred,
Still dreamily question them :
" Is it a gem, half bird,
Or is it a bird, half gem ? " EDGAR FAWCETT.
ORDER PICI: WOODPECKERS, ETC.
FAMILY PICID^: WOODPECKERS.
Hairy Woodpecker : Dryobates villosus.
PLATE VIII. FIG. 5.
Length : 9-10 inches.
Male and Female : Above black and white, white stripe on middle of
back, red stripe on head. Wings spotted and striped wilh
black and white, four outer tail feathers white. Under parts
grayish white. Bill blunt, stout, and straight, nearly as long as
head. Female lacks red spot on head.
Note : A short, tapping sound.
Season : Resident ; shifting about in light woods.
Breeds : Through range.
Nest : In holes in trees at moderate height.
196
PLATE VIII.
SONGLESS BIRDS. Woodpeckers
Eggs: 5, clear white, but, according to Samuels, owing to their
transparency, they have a pink tint before they are blown.
Range: Middle portion of the eastern United States from the Atlan-
tic coast to the Great Plains.
The Hairy Woodpecker is a common bird in wooded
regions, especially where partly decayed trees have been
left standing. Its creeping motion when scanning tree
trunks for insects resembles that of the Black-and-white
Warbler. Though it is abundant, it is shy in the breeding-
season and keeps to secluded woodlands, but in the fall and
winter comes freely to orchards and about houses. It has
an affection for particular trees and often uses the same
tree, if not perhaps the same hole, for several successive
seasons.
Eight years ago I noticed this species in May in Samp-
Mortar woods, a wild, rocky place, covered with laurel and
abounding in the rarer ferns. From the crest of Mortar
Eock I could look into the top of a tall hickory, in which a
Hairy Woodpecker was boring. A few years later, at the
same season, I found a similar bird nesting in the same
tree and there were three holes visible in the trunk. This
year I went to the place early in June. The tree was
entirely dead and branchless from winter storms, the top
had crumbled away so that light came through the upper
holes, there were five apertures in all, and from the lowest
of these flew a Hairy Woodpecker, and when I beat on the
tree with a stick the clamouring inside told that the young
were hatched.
On seeing me the bird went into one of the empty holes
and then flew to a little distance and, joined by the male,
refused to go near the nest while I remained. The tree was
so shaky that it swayed with every breeze, and it is the last
year that it will shelter its black-and-white tenants. The
red head band is not very conspicuous in this Woodpecker
unless you look at it from above or catch a glimpse of it
when the bird is going up the tree trunk.
197
Woodpeckers SONGLESS BIRDS.
Downy Woodpecker : Picus pubescens.
PLATE VIII. FIG. 9.
Length : 6-7 inches, the smallest of our Woodpeckers.
Male and Female : Closely resembling the last species. Wings and
tail barred with white ; the narrow, red head band of the male
is replaced by a white stripe in the female.
Note : A short, sharp note and a rattling cry, which starts and ends
in an abrupt precision, suggestive of a mechanical contrivance
set off with a spring. This it uses in lieu of a song. (Bicknell.)
Season : An abundant resident.
Breeds : Through range.
Nest : In tree hole, varying from low apple to high forest trees.
Eggs : Similar to those of last species, but smaller.
Range : Northern and eastern North America, from British Columbia
and the eastern edge of the Plains northward and eastward.
The Downy Woodpecker, the persistent apple-tree borer,
is a miniature reproduction of the Hairy Woodpecker, except
that its tail is barred with black and white. This is the
little, bird that ornaments the fruit trees with symmetrical
rows of holes, such as would be made by small shot. He
does not, however, drain the vitality of the tree, as many
suppose, by taking the sap, but merely bores for insects
that lie between the bark and the tissue. In fact, the opera-
tion seems to be beneficial, perhaps acts as a system of
ventilation, for I have seen some very fine old trees where
the holes were so numerous as to form strange hiero-
glyphics upon every limb. This Woodpecker is much more
sociable than his big brother, and is present, about the
orchards and gardens, the entire year.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker: Sphyrapicus varius.
PLATE VIII. FIG. 3.
Length: 8.25-8.75 inches.
Male : Above black, white, and yellowish ; below greenish yellow.
Tail black, white on middle feathers, white edge to wing
coverts. OOMW, chin, and throat bright red. Bill about as
long as head, more pointed and slender than in last species.
Female: Throat and head whitish.
198
SONGLESS BIRDS. Woodpeckers
Note : A rapid drumming with the bill on the tree branch or trunk
serves for a love-song, and it has a screaming call note.
Season : In migrations ; more abundant in fall than in spring.
Breeds : North from Massachusetts.
Nest : In an unlined hole, which is often 18 or 20 inches deep.
Eggs: 5, pure white.
The Sapsucker is a superbly marked Woodpecker, but its
beauty is neutralized by its pernicious habit of boring holes
in the tree bark through which it siphons the sap or eats
the soft, inner bark.
In some localities they will destroy large tracts of fruit
trees by stripping off the entire outer bark. Here, in the
garden, they attacked a large spruce one autumn, and the
next spring the trunk was white with the sap that leaked
from the hundreds of " taps," and the tree has never since
recovered its vitality.
Where these birds are plentiful, many orchard owners
cover the tree trunks with fine wire netting, and it would
almost seem that the destruction of this species is justi-
fiable, but care should be taken not to confuse the other
innocent Woodpeckers with this red-crowned, red-throated
evil-doer. Only having seen the bird in its migrations, I
have never heard the wonderfully rapid drumming to which
Mr. Bicknell refers, and which he says does not occur until
the birds mate and is never heard in the autumn. This
tattoo, beat upon a tree with the beak, is, in fact, the love
note of the majority of Woodpeckers.
Red-headed Woodpecker : Melanerpes erthrocephalus.
Tricolour.
PLATE VIII. FIG. 6.
Length : 8.50-9.50 inches.
Male and Female : Head, throat, and neck crimson. Back, wings,
and tail blue-black. White below. White band on wings, and
white rump. Bill horn-coloured, and about as long as head.
Note : A guttural rattle, similar to the cry of the tree-toad. In April
a hoarse, hollow-sounding cry. (Bicknell.)
199
Woodpeckers SONGLESS BIRDS.
Season : A casual resident, and an abundant but irregular migrant,
especially in the fall.
Breeds : From Florida to northern New York and Manitoba.
Nest : Usually a hole near the top of a blasted tree in mixed woods.
Eggs : Glassy white.
llange : United States west to the Rocky Mountains, straggling west-
ward to Salt Lake Valley ; rare or local east of the Hudson
River.
This Woodpecker was once a regular summer resident
here, but has decreased greatly in numbers and has almost
come to be considered as a migrant only, and even then
it will be fairly abundant in one season and absent the next.
He is an unmistakable bird, when you are lucky enough to
see him, for he boldly wears the German flag in his red,
white, and black feathers, and you will recognize him at a
glance. His increasing rarity is the usual penalty paid by
highly coloured birds to thoughtless gunners, and he is a very
easy mark when he is feeding flat against a tree trunk.
Flicker: Colaptes auratus.
Goldenrwinged Woodpecker ; Yellowhammer, HigJiliole, Clape.
PLATE VIII. FIGS. 7-8.
Length: 12-13 inches.
Male : Above golden brown, barred with black. Slack crescent on
breast, red band on back of head. Round black spots on the
belly, black cheek patch. Wing linings and shafts of wing and
tail quills gamboge-yellow. Hump white. Bill slender, curv-
ing, and pointed, and dark lead-colour ; feet lead-colour.
female : Lacks black cheek patches.
Note: "Wick-wick-wick-wick!" Also a few guttural notes. "A
prolonged, jovial laugh." (Audubon.)
Season : Resident, but most plentiful from April to October.
Breeds : Through its range.
Nest : In partly decayed trees in orchard, garden, or wood.
Eggs : Usually 6, white.
Range: Northern and eastern North America, west to the eastern
slope of the Rocky Mountains and Alaska. Occasional on the
Pacific slope from California northward. Accidental in Europe.
200 .
SONGLESS BIRDS. Woodpeckers
This, the largest as well as most abundant of our common
Woodpeckers, can be easily identified, when at rest, by the
black throat crescent and red head patch, and when flying
by the white rump and golden wing linings. The Golden-
winged is a Woodpecker of many aliases, among which
Pigeon-woodpecker, Yucker, and Yellowhammer are locally
familiar. Individuals remain all the year, and frequent
orchards and wooded gardens more than deep woodlands;
they walk about on the ground in search of food in the man-
ner of Pigeons, and are in this respect quite independent of
trees.
The Flicker is a genial, sociable bird, and its hammering
is one of the first bird sounds of early spring that comes
from the orchard. In April or May it looks for a suitable
tree to bore, or else clears out a last year's hole. The birds
are very wary when the excavation is under way, and,
instead of dropping the chips by the tree where they are
working, carry them to some distance. There is a singu-
lar physiological fact connected with the laying powers
of this Woodpecker. Six is the usual setting of eggs, but if
the eggs are removed from the nest as soon as laid the female
continues laying uninterruptedly, and according to Dr. Coues
eighteen to twenty-three eggs have been taken from one
nest.
When the young are hatched the parents redouble their
attention, and resent any approach to the hole. They feed
their young by the process known as regurgitation, conveying
the partly softened food from their own crops to those of the
young by un-s wallowing it and placing their slender beaks in
the mouths of the nestlings. A tap on the tree at this time
will set the youngsters clamouring and the old birds fly out
in alarm. On leaving the hole the young are at first very
awkward and are unable to fly but a few feet from the
ground, and are easily caught in the hand; nor do they
seem to develop strength of wing for several days.
In autumn both old and young gather in considerable
numbers in the pastures and feed upon the ground, looking
in the distance like Meadowlarks.
201
Cuckoos SONGLESS BIRDS.
ORDER COCCYGES: CUCKOOS, KING-
FISHERS, ETC.
FAMILY CUCULID^E: CUCKOOS.
Yellow-billed Cuckoo : Coccyzus americamis,
PLATE VII. FIG. 1.
Length : 11-12 inches.
Male and Female : Powerful beak, about as long as head ; lower
mandible yellow; above olive with gray and metallic tints;
two middle tail feathers olive ; outer quills black, with white
spots ; wings washed with bright cinnamon ; under parts gray-
ish white.
Note : " Kuk-kuk-kuk ! " a harsh, grating sound.
Season : Late April to September.
Breeds : From Florida to New Brunswick.
Nest : Rudimentary ; only a few sticks laid in a bush or on a forked
bough.
Eggs : 4-8, pale green, sometimes little more than a greenish white.
Mange: Temperate North America, from New Brunswick, Canada,
Minnesota, Nevada, and Oregon south to Costa Rica and the
West Indies. Less common from the eastern border of the
Plains westward.
Of similar general appearance to the next species, this
Cuckoo may be identified by the following marks: yellow
bill, bright cinnamon wings, and white spots on the long tail
feathers which are very conspicuous in flight. A few years
ago the Yellow-billed Cuckoo was not a common bird here ;
but it seemed to follow the recent epidemic of tent-worms
into Connecticut, and for the past two seasons has been
abundant in orchards and gardens containing fruit trees,
forgetting its shyness, and coming close to dwellings. Its
hatred of the tent-worm is intense, for it destroys many
more than it can eat, by tearing the webs apart, and squeez-
ing the worms in its beak. So thoroughly has it done its
work, that orchards, which three years ago were almost
leafless, the trunks even being covered by slippery web-
bing, are again yielding a good crop.
SONGLESS BIRDS. Cuckoos
Audubon gives this bird a bad character, saying : " It robs
smaller birds of their eggs, which it sucks upon all occa-
sions, and is cowardly without being vigilant. On this ac-
count, it falls a prey to several species of Hawks, of which
the Pigeon-hawk may be considered its most dangerous
enemy."
Be this as it may, both of our Cuckoos are respectable
examples to their romantic but misguided European rela-
tive, for, like it, they lay their eggs at long intervals ; but
they still manage to scramble a nest together and rear their
own young, though they have to face the responsibility of
feeding nestlings, incubating, and laying more eggs, all at
the same time. So let us forgive the Cuckoo its faults,
and declare it the patron bird of the orchards and of over-
crowded nurseries.
Black-billed Cuckoo: Coccyzus erythrophthalmus.
Rain Crow.
PLATE VII. FIG. 6.
Length: 11-12 inches.
Male and Female : Slack bill ; eyelids red. Above, general colouring
same as last species. White spots on tail, small and incon-
spicuous.
Note: " Kow-kow-kow ! kuk-kuk!"
Season : May to late September.
Breeds : Through North American range.
Nest: In a bush ; a few sticks, with no edge to confine the eggs.
Eggs : Hardly distinguishable from the last species.
Range : Eastern North America, from Labrador and Manitoba south
to the West Indies and the valley of the Amazon ; west to the
Rocky Mountains. Accidental in the British Islands and Italy.
It seems a slur upon literary tradition to call our birds,
which bear the name, Cuckoos. We are so used to associate
the word with the merry wanderer that " sings as it flies "
of Chaucer and Shakespeare and all the lesser singers since
their day. And every child, in thinking of a Cuckoo,
expects to find the twin of the irrepressible little foreigner
Kingfisher SONGLESS BIRDS.
who bobs out of the clock, and will insist upon calling
mother's attention to the fact that it is bedtime.
The Black-billed Cuckoo is locally less common than the
Yellow-billed, though both species are well represented. It
is often called the Rain Crow, because of its habit of calling
loudly in damp or cloudy weather. It haunts streams with
lightly wooded banks, and sets its rickety nest in a briary
tangle or thick shrubbery. In spring it associates in the
orchards with the Yellow-billed, but at other seasons its
food is quite different, and it lives upon fresh-water mol-
lusks and the larvae always to be found in numbers near
ponds.
FAMILY ALCEDINID^: KINGFISHERS.
Belted Kingfisher: Ceryle alcyon.
PLATE VI. FIGS. 7-8.
Length: 12-13 inches.
Male and Female : Long crest. Straight bill, longer than head ; head
appearing large for size of body. Above lead-blue, somewhat
variegated with black. Below whitish. Two dull blue bands
across breast. White transverse bands and spots on the short
tail. Female has rusty bands across breast.
Note : A harsh, rattling cry, as familiar along river banks as the Jay's
scream in the woods.
Season : A common summer resident, which might almost be classed
as a resident, as it comes in March, and in mild seasons stays
late into the winter.
Breeds : From Florida to Labrador.
Nest .- In hollow trees and in earth burrows ; 6-8 feet deep.
Eggs : 6-8, crystal white.
Range : North America, south to Panama and the West Indies.
The Kingfisher may be easily named, as he sits on his
usual perch, a dead stump or limb jutting over the water,
by his large, long-crested head, which gives his body a bob-
tailed appearance. Living entirely upon fish, he is driven
from small streams to the larger rivers by the closing in of
the ice, but in open winters I have seen this bird in every
month from November to March.
204
SOXGLESS BIRDS. Kingfisher
The Kingfisher seizes his prey by diving, and if it is
small and pliable swallows it at once, but if it consists of the
larger and more spiney fish they are beaten to pulp against
a branch before they are swallowed, and even then the
struggles and contortions the bird goes through before
finally mastering the fish, would be very ludicrous were
they not so evidently distressing.
The term halcyon days (days of fair weather) is derived
from this bird's Latin name. The Kingfisher was once
supposed to build his nest on a little raft and float out to
sea with it, having the power of averting storms during the
period of incubation. The modern Kingfisher is too wise to
try any such experiment; he well knows that no one can
fathom our climate or restrain Apollos from watering at
unseemly times, so he digs deep into a bank, road cut, or
quarry and the precious eggs are laid many feet from the
outer air.
What a racket the old birds make in the breeding-season !
There may be loving, harmonious Kingfisher households,
but if so these sounds belie them. But w r ho can say how-
ever ; the seemingly angry shrieks of both parents may be
" Rock-a-Bye, Baby," arranged by a Kingfisher Wagner as a
duet!
205
BIRDS OF PREY.
ORDER RAPTORES: BIRDS OF PREY.
FAMILY STRIGID^E: BARN OWLS.
American Barn Owl: Striae pratincola.
PLATE IX. FIG. 4.
Length: 15-17 inches. Female the largest, as is usual with Owls.
Male and Female : Above tawny yellow, ash, and white, with black
and white spots ; below whitish specked with dark. Dark bars
on tail and wing. Legs long and feathered. Face disks heart-
shaped, eyes small and bluish black, bill light ; no horns.
Note : A quavering cry, " Kr-r-r-r-r-r-ik ! "
Reason : Rare resident ; has been taken at Stratford, Hartford, Madi-
son, and Sachem's Head, Conn.
Breeds : Through its range, in late February and March.
Nest : In wild regions in tree trunks, but when near villages in barns,
towers, and belfries.
Eggs : 3-6, dirty white.
Range: Warmer parts of North America, from the Middle States,
Ohio Valley, and California southward through Mexico.
The Barn Owl, having a rather southerly range, is one of
the rarest Owls to be found in New England, its records
are limited to Connecticut and Massachusetts and there
is a recent one for Vermont. In New York State and Penn-
sylvania it is more common, and breeds in the southern
portion of these states. Its appearance is so unique that it
is sure to attract attention, and it is not amiss to mention
it in connection with our common resident Owls. The face
looks like that of a toothless, hooked-nosed old woman,
shrouded in a closely fitting hood, and has a half-simple,
206
PLATE IX.
BIRDS OF PREY. Owls
half-sly expression, that gives a mysterious air. This spe-
cies has the same characteristics as the European Barn
Owl, which is pointed out as a bird of ill omen, having the
uncanny voice that calls from ivied turrets and a grinning,
witch-like face.
In fact, it is a harmless bird, feeding on mice, moles, large
beetles, etc. ; it is the Monkey-faced Owl of newspaper
natural history.
FAMILY BUBONIDvE: HORNED OWLS.
American Long-eared Owl: Asia wilsonianus.
Cat Owl.
PLATE IX. FIG. 6.
Length : 14-16 inches.
Male and Female: Above finely mottled with brown, ash, and dark
orange. Long, erect ear tufts. Complete facial disk, reddish
brown with darker inner circle ; dark brown broken bands on
wings and tail. Legs and feet completely feathered. Breast
pale orange with long brown stripes. Bill and claws blackish.
Note : A variety of hoot, also a moaning mew.
Season : Resident.
Breeds : In early spring, throughout range.
Nest : A rude structure which may be built either on the abandoned
nests of Hawks, Crows, or Herons, on the ground, or in hollow
stumps.
Eggs : 4-6, the usual soiled white.
Range : Temperate North America.
The Long-eared Owl, or Cat Owl (so called from its mew-
ing cry and round face), has conspicuous ear tufts, as long,
for the size of the bird, as those of the Great Horned Owl.
These Owls frequent the same lowlands as the Short-eared
species ; they are very abundant in early winter, both along
the marsh borders and in the woods by the river. Dur-
ing December, 1889, they were so common that several were
killed by boys with stones, and I have frequently seen
them among the evergreens in the garden. This species
has a very bright, saucy expression and looks at you as if
207.
Owls BIRDS OF PREY.
it was meditating a practical joke of a particularly aggra-
vating nature. From an agricultural standpoint it is a
beneficial Owl, feeding chiefly upon mice and other small
mammals, beetles, etc., only occasionally eating small birds.
Short-eared Owl : Asio accipitrinus.
PLATE IX. FIG. 3.
Length : 13.75-17 inches.
Male and Female : Inconspicuous ear tufts, facial disk with a dark
ring enclosed in a lighter one. Plumage varied from bright
orange to buffy white, with bold stripes of dark brown, darker
above and more mottled below, growing whiter toward vent.
Legs feathered with plain buff. Bill and claws dusky blue-
black.
Note : A quaver.
Season : A migrant ; common in the salt-marshes -in April and Novem-
ber.
Breeds : Through its range.
Nest : Of hay and sticks ; commonly on the ground in a little hollow or
clump of bushes.
Eggs : 4-7, dirty white.
Range: Throughout North America, nearly cosmopolitan.
A very useful Owl, feeding on small mammals, reptiles,
etc. ; seen here in considerable numbers in the marsh meadows
in the fall and early winter, possibly being resident. It is
a day owl, and can be seen even in sunny weather, prowling
about in the long, withered marsh-grass.
Mr. L. M. Turner, the Arctic explorer, says that among the
natives of the Yukon district (Alaska) the dried liver of
this owl, ground to a powder and administered in food, is
used as a love philter.
Nuttall describes the Short-eared Owl as being so fierce
that it will sometimes attack men seated by midnight camp-
fires. This seems very dubious, as even the powerful Great
Horned Owl rarely attacks man, unless he is cornered or
attacked first. It is more probable that at some time the
Owl, bewildered by smoke and flames, unwittingly flopped
into an encampment, and, when seized, fought for liberty.
208
BIRDS OF PREY. Owls
Barred Owl : Syrnium nebulosum.
PLATE IX. FIG. 2.
Length : 18-20 inches.
Male and Female : Eyes blue-black, instead of the usual yellow iris.
No ear tufts. Plumage mottled dark brown, rusty, and grayish.
Striped on breast with dark brown. Face feathers white tipped.
Wings and tail barred with brown. Legs and dark feet fully
feathered and faintly barred. Bill ivory-coloured.
Note : A loud, guttural call. " Koh ! Koh ! Ko, Ko, ho ! " or " Whah,
whah, whah, whah-aa ! " (Nuttall.)
Season: Resident.
Breeds : Through range.
Nest : In hollow tree or in crotch at some height from the ground.
Eggs : 4-6, laid in February, March, and April.
Hange : Eastern United States west to Minnesota and Texas, north
to Nova Scotia and Quebec.
The smooth-faced, twilight Owl of open woods, sheltered
farms, and waysides. Its hooting cry is hardly to be dis-
tinguished from that of the Great Horned Owl, but it has
several mocking and quavering notes peculiar to itself.
Its eyes are unlike those of any of the other Owls of its
family and will always identify it ; their deep blue colour
gives it a very mild expression which is at variance with its
ferocity in pouncing upon game-birds and smaller Owls,
being in this respect, according to a recent government
report, 1 quite a cannibal. The same report says that,
though it does make inroads into poultry yards, the result
of careful inquiry proves that the greater portion of its
food consists of small mammals that are the bane of agri-
culture.
It frequently lodges in barns and haylofts during the day,
and all about this region it is called the Barn Owl. And it
really is the Barn Owl of this locality, for the true Barn
Owl is practically unknown to the farming population ; and
when stuffed specimens are occasionally seen, having been
i " The Hawks and Owls of the United States in their Relation to Agri-
culture," prepared under the direction of Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Orni-
thologist, by A. K. Fisher, M.D., Washington, 1893.
p 209
Owls BIRDS OF PREY.
sent as curiosities from some other place, they are invariably
known as Witch Owls.
The Barred Owl is a noisy species and announces his
presence in 110 gentle way. It is supposed to be shy and
to love deep woods, but last fall a pair lived for a month or
more in the garden evergreens, appearing towards evening
and being especially active in the late dawns. I have a
very perfect specimen of a female shot in the winter of
1893, near the barn where it was perching in an elm, at four
o'clock in the afternoon, after having artfully harried a flock
of tame Juncos; but now that their usefulness has been
made plain, we no longer shoot Owls indiscriminately.
Saw-whet Owl : Nyctala acadica.
Acadian Owl.
Length : 7.50-8 inches. Smallest Owl of eastern United States.
Male and Female : No ear tufts. Above brown, spotted more or less
with lighter brown and white. Striped beneath with rusty
brown. Legs feathered, buffy white. Bill black, claws dark.
Note : A rasping cry resembling the filing of a saw (hence the name
Saw-whet) and a clicking noise like "Tlee-Klee, Tlee-Klee !"
Season: A whiter resident, locally common in the Eastern and
Middle States. Rare here.
Breeds : From Massachusetts and New York northward.
Nest : In old stumps.
Eggs : 3-6, white and nearly round.
Eange : North America at large, breeding from the Northern States
northward.
The Saw-whet is a night Owl and spends most of the
daylight hours in sleepy seclusion. This, together with its
small size, makes it pass as rare in places where it is really
a winter resident.
There are many stories told of the soundness with which
it sleeps, Mr. Eidgway citing a case where one was caught
by putting a hat over it as it slept, perched on the edge of a
Robin's nest in a dense willow thicket. It is a sociable
little Owl, of a cheerful disposition, and is easily tamed,
and though it cannot, owing to small size, prey upon many
210
BIRDS OF PREY. Owls
of the stronger mammals, it does good service in killing
field-mice, beetles, etc., and only seems to eat birds in times
of famine.
I have never seen but one Saw-whet in this neighbour-
hood, though I have heard their cry many times. This
one was found dead after a severe autumn storm in a
beech wood; its wings were broken, and it had evidently
died from starvation. This poor little Owl is destroyed
in great numbers for decorative purposes, and is thus famil-
iar to many people who have never seen it alive. It is
the bird that sits in a pensive attitude on a gilt crescent
moon, in the taxidermist's window, or yields its pretty
head to do duty as a rosette on my lady's hat.
Screech Owl : Megascops asio.
Little Horned Owl.
PLATE IX. FIGS. 7-8.
Length : 8-10 inches.
Male and Female: Conspicuous ear tufts. Bill light horn colour-
Two distinct phases of plumage belong to this species, having,
as Dr. Fisher says, "no relation to sex, age, or season." In
one state the Owl is mottled grayish and black, and the other
rust-red. Feet covered with short feathers ; claws dark.
Note: A hissing alarm note, "Shay-shay-shay!" and a moaning,
quavering wail, which is not loud, but penetrating.
Season : Common resident.
Breeds : Through range ; in April and early May.
Nest : In hollow trees ; sometimes in orchards, near dwellings, and on
wood borders.
Eggs : 4-6, almost spherical.
Range: Temperate eastern North America, south to Georgia, and
west to the Plains. Accidental in England.
It would be difficult to identify the Screech Owl by a de-
scription of its colour alone, for it goes through many
different colour changes without regular rotation, passing
from shades of wood-brown, hazel, tawny, rust-red, to gray
and almost black, and vice versa. Plate IX., Figs. 7 and 8
show its most conspicuous conditions, and all the novice can
211
Owls BIRDS OF PREY.
do is to remember its length, and that, of our two small
Owls, the one having horns is the Screech Owl.
They are bright, handsome birds, no matter what plumage
they wear, and inveterate mousers, who should receive every
encouragement and protection. They eat a few Song-birds,
but have also a fondness for English Sparrows, which wipes
out their small sins. Mr. George C. Jones, writing from
Brookfield Centre, Fairfield County, Conn., says : " I think
the smaller species of Owls feed upon the cutworm to some
extent. I have found cutworms in the stomach of the com-
mon Screech Owl and in the Long-eared Owl. The fact that
both the cutworms and the Owls are nocturnal leads me to
believe that the Owls, of all the birds, are the most efficient
exterminators of this formidable pest and should on this
account receive protection." Let flower lovers protect the
Owls by all means then, if in return they will keep the sly
cutworm from the young carnations and heliotropes.
Great Horned Owl : Bubo virginianus.
Hoot Owl.
PLATE IX. FIG. 2.
Length : 19-23 inches ; female, 21-24 inches.
Male and Female : Large ponderous birds. Long ear tufts, feathers
mottled irregularly, buff, tawny brown, and whitish. Iris yellow,
pupil round and large, with great power of contraction. Feet
and legs feathered. Bill and claws black.
Note: A wild startling " Hoo-hoo-oooo ! Waugh-hoo ! "
Season : Resident.
Breeds : In February or March, but the young grow slowly, remaining
ten to twelve weeks in the nest.
Nest : Seldom in holes at the north, usually a bulky nest on a horizon-
tal branch, in deep woods. Preferably in evergreens and near
the top.
Eggs : Usually 2, dirty white.
Range : Eastern North America, west to the Mississippi Valley, and
from Labrador south to Costa Rica.
This vigorous and untamable Owl is easily identified
because of its great size and long ear feathers. The largest
.212
BIRDS OF PREY. Owls
of our common Owls (the rare Great Gray Owl alone being
larger), it is a bird of the deep woods, swift in flight and
ferocious in the extreme, both in seizing large game as
well as in fighting when disabled. A nocturnal species, it
can see perfectly in bright sunlight, though it prefers to
remain secluded. During the nesting-season, if the weather
is cloudy, it searches for food both day and night.
It is the most destructive of Owls and of all the birds of
prey except perhaps the Goshawk and Cooper's Hawk. Dr.
Merriam, in speaking of its mischief in the farmyard, says,
"Indeed I have known one to kill and decapitate three
turkeys and several hens in a single night, leaving the
bodies uninjured and fit for the table." (In common with
many other birds of prey, it prefers the brain to any other
portion of the victim.) This savage Owl also destroys vast
quantities of large game-birds and may be safely considered
undesirable from the standpoint of the small farmer, how-
ever much it may aid the tiller of vast fields by its destruc-
tion of vermin.
I have seen the Great Horned Owl sit in the daytime
with its inner eyelids closed, and then suddenly open
them, blink once or twice, and fly away, snapping its beak
angrily. Its hooting cry, uttered in the bare woods in
early spring, is one of the most weird, uncanny sounds in
Nature. Icicles often hang from its nest; and ice still locks
the streams as it sweeps about, suggesting every form of
dark emotion by its voice, mocking laughter, despair, and
a choking rattle, until you feel that the Wild Huntsman
may be galloping through the shadows blowing his fatal
horn.
Snowy Owl: Nyctea nyctea.
Arctic Owl.
Length : 20-24 inches.
Male and Female : Plumage varying from pure white to white barred
and spotted with brown and black. No ear tufts. Legs and
toes thickly feathered. Bill and claws black. Female larger ;
young darker and more spotted.
213
Owls BIRDS OF PREY.
Note : A growl, a bark, and a hoot.
Season : A winter visitor.
Breeds : From Labrador northward.
Nest : On ground, lined with feathers.
Eggs : 5-10, laid at long intervals, so that when the last one is depos-
'ited the first bird is ready to fly.
Range : Northern portions of the Northern Hemisphere ; in winter
migrating south to the Middle States, straggling to South Caro-
lina and the Bermudas.
The Snowy Owl is one of the dramatic figures of the winter
landscape, and appears like a personification of Boreas him-
self, coining to superintend the arranging of his snow-
drapery. This Owl usually precedes or follows a severe
northeasterly storm, and when the snow has ceased, and
you go down the lane to the marsh meadows, breaking your
own path, the Buntings and Shore Larks are already about
searching for the few spears of seeded grass that are not
beaten down.
The incoming tide in the creek breaks the thin ice into
cakes that lie one over another like transparent shingles on
the banks ; the flats are hidden by plates of burnished silver,
and the Gulls hover over the long bar.
The sunshine seems blown off by the bleak wind,
As pale as formal candles lit by day :
Gropes to the sea the river dumb and blind ;
The brown ricks, snow- thatched by the storm hi play,
Show pearly breakers combing o'er their lee
White crests as of some just enchanted sea,
Checked in their maddest leap, and hanging poised midway.
LOWELL.
The oak island is edged with silver birches that stretch
marshward like whitened poles for holding some great nets.
Low down in one of them sits a motionless white figure.
Is it a Barred Owl, frozen and snow covered? No! it
swoops rapidly in a circle, and seizes a hapless Bunting,
and you expect to see the snow fall in powder from its
wings, but it returns to its perch white-flaked as before,
and you know that you are face to face with the Snowy Owl,
214
PLATE X.
BIRDS OF PREY. Hawks
the bird whose ghostly shape furnishes material for super-
natural tales told by the humble onion-growers whose cabins
touch the marshes.
The Snowy Owl is a great mouser and a skilful fisherman,
only devouring birds casually.
FAMILY FALCONID^: FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES.
Marsh Hawk: Circus hudsonius.
Harrier, Blue Hawk.
PLATE X. FIG. 2.
Length : 17-19 inches ; female averaging two inches longer.
Male : Above bluish gray ; below white mottled with brown. Wings
brownish, long, and pointed ; tail long ; upper tail coverts white.
Female : Dark reddish brown ; below rusty with spots. Bill hooked
and black, longer than the Owl's ; feet black.
Note : All Hawks have a screaming cry, but it is of little aid in iden-
tifying species.
Season : A common summer resident ; may winter.
Breeds : Through range.
Nest : On the ground, one foot in diameter, of grasses, etc. ; in swampy
meadows or among rushes in marshes.
Eggs : 4-5, whitish ; sometimes with irregular blotches of brown and
gray shell marks.
Mange : North America in general, south to Panama.
The Marsh Hawk is the most harmless and beneficial
of its family ; it feeds upon reptiles, locusts, grasshoppers,
and small mammals, and never disturbs domestic poultry.
In this locality it is more plentiful in the bogs near fresh
ponds, and in the vicinity of rivers, than in the salt-marshes.
It is the summer-day Hawk, and the species most fre-
quently seen in the warmest months. It flies by night as
well as day, however, and is often a companion of the
Screech Owl in its nocturnal rambles.
When on the wing the females and young may be distin-
guished by the warm, rusty colour of their under parts, and
while at rest by the white upper tail coverts.
I have seen companies of the females and young every
215
Hawks BIRDS OF PREY.
season in a strip of woods near Ciecos Brook, but the old
males are very wary, and seem to disappear soon after the
breeding-season.
Sharp-shinned Hawk: Accipiter velox.
PLATE X. FIG. 1.
Length : 12 inches ; female 14 inches.
Male and Female: Wings longer than tail. Eyes reddish. Above
bluish gray, deepest on head. Beneath whitish, barred on the
sides and breast with rusty and dark brown. Tail even or
notched. The young are spotted more or less on the back and
streaked below. Head of this and next species smaller than
last, while legs and tail are relatively longer. Feet slender.
Season : A common resident ; coming about farms and even city
parks in the winter.
Breeds : Through its range ; in May.
Nest : Occasionally on a rocky ledge, but usually in some thick ever-
green at a moderate height from the ground ; a bulky platform
of sticks with an upper story of bark, leaves, and moss.
Eggs: 4-5, purplish white, spattered heavily with dark brown; some-
times the spots form a wreath at the large end.
Range : North America in general ; south to Panama.
This small and very common Hawk is possessed by a
spirit of dash and daring altogether out of proportion to its
size. Dr. Abbott, in speaking of the rapidity of its move-
ments, says: "It is feathered lightning. He ceases to be
before you realize that he is."
The Sharp-shinned is one of the most destructive of our
common Hawks and shares, with the next species, the repu-
tation of being an inveterate poultry-killer, and it causes
such sad havoc among Song-birds that a black mark may
be set against it to denote that it is a worthy target for rifle
practice. Its dexterity in flying allows it to capture by
surprise game which larger Hawks secure by weight and
strength combined. Nuttall tells of a Hawk of this species
that came day after day to a farmhouse, until before it was
killed it had destroyed between twenty and thirty young
chickens.
216
BIRDS OF PREY. Hawks
Cooper's Hawk : Accipiter cooperi.
Chicken Hawk.
PLATE X. FIG. 7.
Length : 15-16 inches.
Male and Female : Uniform bluish gray above, top of head blackish ;
tail crossed by several blackish bands ; below white, with breast
and sides barred with dusky or rufous. This species resembles
the last, but is distinguishable by its greater size and rounded
tail. Feet rather stout, greenish yellow.
Season : Common summer resident from March to December ; oc-
casionally winters.
Breeds : Through range in April and May.
Nest : In the tops of trees in thick woods, some authors say in ever-
greens ; those I have seen have been in hickories.
Eggs : 3-4, bluish white, either plain or spotted with reddish.
Range : North America in general, south to southern Mexico.
A mischievous harrier of all birds from barnyard fowls to
Song-birds, doing by craft what it cannot accomplish by
daring alone.
A country woman, who is a very successful chicken-raiser,
tells me that she loses annually more chickens by this
Hawk than by weasels, rats, or disease, no matter how
carefully the broods are cooped. The Hawk takes up
his post on an old stump or tree in an adjoining wood
lot and gives a peculiar cry, which seems to lead the
chickens in its direction, and before the mother can give
a warning cluck one will be borne off. They will seize
rabbits, squirrels, and Partridges readily, but hesitate to
tackle a fully grown fowl, unless it is disabled in some way.
The protective instinct of the mother Hen, when a Hawk
is in the vicinity, and the unquestioning obedience of the
brood, is one of the prettiest, though most ordinary, spring
scenes on the farm. The hen-coops are perhaps barrels,
laid on their sides with slatted ends, ranged along the road-
side fence opposite the farmhouse, so that an easy watch
may be kept upon them. The Hen ventures out, scratching
and clucking to the chicks as she goes ; they follow, strag-
gling more or less on private investigations. The sky is
217
Hawks BIRDS OF PREY.
blue and cloudless ; in the distance hovers a bird of some
sort, but it is a mere speck. The Hen does not appear to
look up, but suddenly she becomes motionless. The speck
develops into a Hawk, which nears, flying in circles and
descending at the same time, so that it is difficult to predict
where it will alight. The Hen crouches, spreads her wings,
and gives a short cry, different from her usual cluck ; instantly
the brood rushes pell-mell to the offered shelter, the wings
drop, and when the Hawk makes a final swoop within two
feet of the ground he finds nothing but a very broad-
backed and resolute Hen flattened in the dust, and he dis-
appears over the meadows without having paused an
instant. But his mate for Hawks often prowl in pairs
is still sailing far off and mother Hen, having had one nar-
row escape, hustles her family back to their barrel.
Red-tailed Hawk: Buteo borealis.
Red HawJc, Hen HaivJe.
PLATE X. FIG. 5.
Length : 19-22 inches ; female, 22-24 inches.
Male and Female : Above dark brown, variegated with white, gray,
and tawny ; below whitish and buff, streaked across belly with
brown. Tail rust-red, with a black band near end ; in young,
tail gray with numerous narrow brown bars. Moderate, horn-
coloured bill ; feet stout and strong.
Season : A common resident.
Breeds : Through range.
Nest : Built in March, in a tall tree in deep woods. A bulky affair of
sticks with an upper nest ; lined with soft bark like the Crow's.
Eggs : 2-3, dirty white, thickly blotched with purplish brown.
Range : Eastern North America, west to the Great Plains.
Owing to different phases of plumage, it is often difficult
to identify the larger Hawks on the wing ; but the red tail
is a distinctive mark of the adults of this species at all
seasons.
Farmers regard it as a nuisance, and kill it whenever
they can as a punishment for poultry stealing; but Dr.
218
BIRDS OF PREY. Hawks
Fisher thinks it is a mistake to destroy it unless when
caught in the act ; as, after careful investigation, it has been
found that eighty-five per cent of its food is made up of
rodents destructive to agriculture. But still farmers make
scare-crows, and, when possible, shoot a Hawk and hang it
in the barnyard as a warning.
A persevering boy, living on the outskirts of the woods
near Aspetuck Mills, secured a male Red-tail and two
young, this spring, and I saw them after they had been in
confinement for a week. The nest was in a particularly
dangerous location, in the top of a tall hickory, and was
reached by an arrangement of three ladders; a steel trap
was placed over the nest, and the old bird secured in this
way. The male was evidently rearing the young single-
handed, his mate having probably been shot; for she did
not answer his cries, and was never seen about the tree.
The young, at the time I saw them, May 30, must have
been about five weeks old. They were downy and poorly
feathered with buffy white, barred and flecked with gray
and brown. The old bird did not struggle for liberty, but
seemed perfectly stoical, only turning occasionally when the
young clamoured (making a noise like the sharp peeping of
chickens), to ram a scrap of raw meat, of which there was
a supply in the cage, into their mouths, as they made no
effort to feed themselves.
Red-shouldered Hawk: Buteo lineatus.
Also called Hen Hawk.
PLATE IX. FIG. 1.
Length : 18-20 inches.
Male and Female: Shoulders rust-red. Above reddish brown, the
middle of the feathers darker than the edges. Head, neck, and
lower parts rusty, transversely barred with wfcitish ; tail black
with white bands. Feet and nostrils bright yellow.
Note : " Kee-o, kee-o 1 " an agreeable sound.
Season : Common resident.
Breeds : In April and early May all through its range.
219
Bald Eagle BIRDS OF PREY.
Nest and Eggs: Like the Red-tail's; eggs somewhat smaller. Nest
often used for several seasons.
Range : Eastern North America, west to Texas and the Plains, south
to the Gulf coast and Mexico.
The common Hawk, that we see so frequently in winter,
sitting motionless on a bare tree-top or stump, in the
vicinity of inundated meadows, or where there are unfrozen
springs, for it is particularly fond of frogs, etc. At a dis-
tance it resembles the last species, but at short range its red
shoulders identify it. The Ked-shouldered Hawk is a dig-
nified bird having an Owl-like flight, and when at rest the
pose of an Eagle. It is not easily disturbed, and will sit
half an hour at a time in one spot, giving you a fine oppor-
tunity of observing it with a field-glass or marine telescope,
which will bring it so close that every feather is distinct.
In "Upland and Meadow" Dr. Abbott draws a very
interesting picture of this species as well as of other
Hawks, and says that their soaring and screaming over the
winter meadows is one of the few bits of primitive wild-
ness left to us. This species is a hardy and valuable bird ;
at least sixty-five per cent of its food consists of injurious
rodents and the remaining thirty-five per cent is made
up of insects, reptiles, etc., with a very small proportion of
bird food.
Bald Eagle : Haliaetus leucocephalus.
White-headed Sea Eagle.
PLATE X. FIG. 6.
Length : 3 feet. Female larger.
Male and Female : Neck, head feathers, and tail pure white in adults,
brown in young ; beak yellow and abruptly hooked ; plumage
dark brown ; legs feathered only half-way down ; feet yellow.
Season : An uncommon resident, coming more like a visitor.
Breeds : Through range.
Nest : A bulky platform of stalks and litter, some 6 feet across and
3 feet deep ; either in large trees or on rocky ledges.
Eggs : 2, white ; 2| to 3 inches in length.
Range : North America at large ; south to Mexico.
BIRDS OF PREY. Bald Eagle
The white head feathers of this Eagle give it the name of
" Bald," which in reality, of course, it is not. It is called a
resident in Connecticut; but it is by no means common,
though a pair may usually be seen sailing over the marshes
some time between September and May.
The white head identifies the fully grown bird beyond
question; but as it takes the young three years to perfect
their plumage, some confusion will arise. The feathers of
the first year are uniform dark brown, and the birds are
called Black Eagles. The second year they are known as
Gray Eagles, not earning the title of Bald until the third
year. Kemember, however, that the Bald Eagle has its
daws and ankles unfeathered (while the other American
Eagle, the Golden, is feathered to the claws), and then
you will not confuse the species.
The Bald-headed Eagle is a long-lived bird, of majestic
appearance, whose piercing voice can be heard above a wild
storm ; and for these qualities it was unfortunately chosen
as the emblem of our Republic, for its noble qualities are in
reality either wholly superficial or else imaginary. It is an
inveterate bully, obtaining a great part of its food by rob-
bing the Fish Hawk, while perfectly able to fish for itself ;
and though it has been known to carry off lambs and young
pigs, it has been vanquished in a fair fight by a rooster.
Preferring a fish diet, it will, however, eat any kind of
animal food, even devouring carrion.
These Eagles are cowardly parents, but devoted as couples,
and their union, on the evidence of good authorities, appears
to be for life. They travel in pairs, and never in flocks, as
is the habit of Vultures. The female is not only the larger,
but the braver of the two birds, which fact, perhaps, led an
enthusiast in the latest Woman's Suffrage scrimmage to de-
clare that the Eagle on the United States coins is a female.
It certainly takes a very bold bird, indeed, to lend its coun-
tenance to our silver.
Sparrow Hawk BIRDS OF PREY.
American Sparrow Hawk: Falco sparverius.
PLATE X. FIG. 3.
Length: 10-11 inches, sexes the same size.
Male and Female: Above reddish, with or without black bars and
spots. Top of head bluish slate with a red patch. Below
varying from whitish to dark reddish, with or without black
spots. Wings narrow and pointed. Female has dusky bars on
back, wings, and tail. Bill dark ; feet deep yellow.
Season : Rare resident and common migrant.
Breeds : From Florida to Hudson's Bay.
Nest : Lays in hollow trees, old Woodpecker holes, and sometimes in
Dove cots.
Eggs : Variable ; some sets plain buffy brown, others heavily, splashed
with dark brown or wreathed at the larger end.
Range : Whole of North America, south to northern South America.
This is the smallest, handsomest, and one of the most
useful of our Hawks. It is one of the three small species
that Dr. Abbott characterizes as belonging to the impetuous
class, in distinction from the larger Hawks, which he calls
meditative and deliberate.
It is easily recognized from its small size, and it resem-
bles a big Fox Sparrow with a hooked beak and black
whiskers.
The Sparrow Hawk has the Shrike's trick of dropping on
its prey from a height, instead of approaching in circles.
They collect in numbers in the fall and early spring near
bird-roosts, and seize their victims when they emerge in the
morning, and particularly toward night.
Juncos, Chickadees, and Tree Sparrows lodge in the honey-
suckle hedge at the foot of the garden, and late one March
afternoon I saw a Hawk in a cedar tree near by. I watched
half an hour and thought it had gone. Suddenly a Junco
dashed into the hedge, followed by what seemed to be a
brown stone, it dropped so quickly, striking at right angles
against the heavy wire that supported the vine. The Junco
escaped through the trellis, and the Sparrow Hawk, in the
moment it took to recover itself, gave me a good chance to
identify it.
222
BIRDS OF PREY. Osprey
This Hawk is a consumer of beetles and other large in-
sects, mice, etc. ; it kills small birds, and sometimes Pigeons,
but not preferably.
##**##=**
In addition to the six Hawks described there are five
other species belonging casually, either as migrants or resi-
dents, to the same range, but they are rare and not easy for
the novice to identify. They are the
Goshawk : A rare winter visitor.
Broad-winged Hawk : An uncommon resident.
Hough-legged Hawk : Rare winter resident.
Duck Hawk : A migrant along the coast. Rare summer resident in
Hudson Highlands.
Pigeon Havsk : A common migrant along coast.
American Osprey : Pandion haliaetus.
Fish Hawk.
PLATE X. FIG. 4.
Length : About 24 inches ; female larger.
Male and Female : Plain dark brown above, the tail having a white
tip and a band of dark brown. Head, neck, and lower parts
white ; breast plain, or sometimes spotted faintly with brown.
Bill bluish black ; feet grayish.
Note : " Phew, phew, p-hew ! "
Season : April to November.
Breeds : From Florida to Labrador.
Nest : In trees near or over water ; a bulky nest on the plan of the
Eagle's.
Eggs: 2-3, variable in size and colour ; average, 2| x If inches.
Range : North America, from Hudson's Bay and Alaska, south to the
"West Indies and northern South America.
The familiar, brown, Eagle-like bird, with very large
talons, which is seen hovering over Sound, creek, and river,
particularly in spring and early fall. The Fish Hawk, as it
is popularly called, follows schools of fish, and, dashing from
considerable height, seizes its prey with its stout claws. If
the fish is small, it is immediately swallowed ; if it is large
(and it will secure occasionally shad, bass, etc., weighing
Osprey BIKDS OF PREY.
five or six pounds), it is taken to a convenient bluff or tree
and torn to bits. Sometimes the Fish Hawk dives quite
deep, and, when he emerges, shakes a shower of spray from
his wings and rises slowly. It is at this juncture that the
Bald Eagle usually manages to rob him of the fish by either
seizing it or startling the Hawk so that he looses his hold.
The Osprey when fishing makes one of the most breezy and
spirited pictures connected with the feeding-habits of any
of our birds, for often there is a splashing and a struggle
under water when the fish grasped is either too large or the
great talons become entangled. Occasionally the Osprey is
carried under and drowned, and large fish have been washed
ashore with these birds fastened to them by their claws,
though it usually feeds upon fish of little value.
I found an Osprey's nest in a crooked oak on Wakeman's
Island in late April, 1893. As I could not get close to the
nest (the island is between a network of small creeks and
the flood-tides covered the marshes), I at first thought it a
monstrous Crow's nest, but on returning the second week in
May I saw a pair of Ospreys coming and going to and from
the nest, and then obtained a nearer view. I hoped the
birds might return another season, as the nest looked as if
it might have been used for two or three years and was as
lop-sided as a poorly made haystack. The great August
storm of the same year broke the tree and the nest fell,
making quite a heap on the ground. Among the debris
were sticks of various sizes, dried reeds, two bits of a bam-
boo fishing-rod, seaweeds, some old blue mosquito netting,
and some rags of fish net, also about half a bushel of salt hay
in various stages of decomposition, and malodorous dirt
galore.
The Fish Hawk is said to breed in colonies along the New
Jersey coast. Here I have only seen it in pairs, and though
a common bird it always attracts attention whenever it
appears.
224
PIGEONS, QUAILS, GROUSE. Pigeon
ORDER COLUMB^E: PIGEONS.
FAMILY COLUMBID^E: DOVES AND PIGEONS.
Passenger Pigeon : Ectopistes migratorius.
Wild Pigeon.
PLATE VI. FIG. 3.
Length : Dependent upon the development of tail, 12-16 inches.
Male : Upper parts bluish gray, reddish brown below, fading to whitish
toward vent. Wings dark, with a few spots, tail quills dark
blue at the base and white at tips. Bill black ; feet lake-red.
Female : Dull gray above, breast ashy brown.
Note : A guttural " coo."
Season : A rare summer resident. Last considerable flight some 20
years ago. (Averill.)
Breeds: Locally and irregularly in the more northerly parts of its
range.
Nest : Merely a lattice of small twigs, through which the eggs may be
seen.
Eggs : 2, white.
Mange : Eastern North America, from Hudson's Bay southward, and
west to the Great Plains, straggling westward to Nevada and
Washington Territory.
The beautifully tinted Wild Pigeon is now almost a thing
of the past. Thirty years ago it was one of our most
abundant Game-birds, but it- has become exterminated in
some localities and is a rare summer resident whose appear-
ance is carefully noted. Old housekeepers remember when,
in New York and Boston every winter, carts loaded with
these birds went from door to door and potted pigeon was a
standard New England dish, alternating with roast beef,
turkey, and sparerib.
The disappearance of this Pigeon is only a page in the
sad history of the destruction of bird life in the United
States, and it seems as if the founders of the country, as
well as the ever-increasing stream of emigrants, had too
much faith in its resources, believing it to be a land not
amenable to the laws of Nature. So ruthlessly have these
Q 225
Mourning Dove PIGEONS, QUAILS, GROUSE.
Pigeons been slaughtered, that one account from the West
records instances where they have been shot down by the
hundred, and left on the ground as food for the pigs ! The
result is, that all game is only locally plentiful, and that we
have less in general than countries hundreds of years older
where a reasonable protection has existed. The only nights
of Wild Pigeons heard of now belong to the Northwestern
States and the Mississippi Valley at large. Then, too, the
destruction of the forests and far-extending blizzards have
hastened the extinction that the gun began.
Mourning Dove : Zenaidura macroura.
PLATE VI. FIGS. 1-2.
Length : 12-13 inches.
Male and Female : General appearance when in the trees, a bluish
fawn colour. Above olive-brown, varying to a bluish gray,
neck and head washed with metallic tints. Below a dull
purplish, changing to reddish brown. Two middle tail feathers
as long as the wings. Bill black, feet lake-red. Female duller.
Note : A plaintive mournful " Coo-o, coo-o ! "
Season : Common summer resident ; March to November.
Breeds : From southern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
Nest : A few loose sticks, sometimes laid on an old Robin's nest.
Eggs : 2, white.
Range : North America, from southern Maine, southern Canada and
Oregon south to Panama and the West Indies.
This Dove is one of most prettily shiftless housewives
among birds. She has softly coloured plumage, a refined,
though sad, voice, and many gentle, lady-like ways; but
when it comes to nest-building (and the female is always
rightly held responsible for the neatness of the home), she
is utterly wanting. Even though her mate should decline
to furnish her with a more liberal supply of sticks, she could
arrange those she has to better advantage ; but she evidently
lacks that indispensable something, called faculty, which
must be inborn.
The eggs or bodies of the young show plainly through
the rude platform and bid fair either to fall through it or
226
PLATE XI.
PIGEONS, QUAILS, GROUSE. Bob-white
roll out, but they seldom do. Meanwhile she coos regret-
fully, but does not see her way to bettering things, saying,
" I know that I'm a poor housekeeper, but it runs in our
family " ; but when the Doves choose a flattened-out Robin's
nest for a platform, the nestlings fare very well.
Though inhabitants of woodlands, these birds are coyly
sociable and always build a nest or two in the garden. They
usually choose the pines and spruces, and put the nest close
to the trunk where two adjoining branches start ; sometimes
the nest will be twenty feet from the ground, but it is usu-
ally lower. The monotonous cooing, which gives them their
name, is a rather desolate sound except as it blends with the
morning chorus.
They seldom feed upon insects ; but prefer seeds of various
sorts, and glean grain from the fields after harvest, though
I have never seen them take it from the ear, and they can-
not be said to do any damage. The young are easily tamed,
if taken from the nest, and make very gentle and attractive
pets, but are of too gross a habit to be kept in the house.
ORDER GALLINJE: GALLINACEOUS BIRDS.
FAMILY TETRAONID^: GROUSE, PARTRIDGES, ETC.
Bob-white ; Quail : Colinus virginianus.
PLATE XI. FIGS. 5-6.
Length : 10.50 inches.
Male and Female : Crown feathers slightly crested. White forehead ;
eye line and throat patch edged with dark. Above variegated
reddish brown flecked with black, white, and tawny. Below
whitish, warming on the sides to reddish, with dark streaks.
In female the forehead, throat, and eye stripes are buffy. Bill
rusty black.
Note: "Bob-white! Bob-white!" Sometimes also "Poor-Bob-
white."
/Season : Resident.
Breeds : Throughout range ; pairs here in April.
Nest : Small twigs and grass in a ground hollow.
Eggs : 10-15, white and blunt.
227
Bob-white PIGEONS, QUAILS, GROUSE.
Range : Eastern United States and southern Canada ; from southern
Maine to the South Atlantic and Gulf States ; west to Dakota,
eastern Kansas, and eastern Texas.
The most abundant and attractive of our Game-birds,
whose note is so cheery and melodious as to be as welcome as
an elaborate song. In April and May the clear call " Bob-
white ! Bob-white ! Poor-Bob- white ! " comes from the
stubble fields and bushy roadsides, with the staccato ring,
at the same time that the Meadowlark sings in the pastures
and marshlands. At this time Bob-white may be seen sit-
ting upon an old fence rail, telling of his lonesome plight,
and calling with a total disregard of the presence of man.
Again, in August, you will see him with his spouse and
flock of young running through the underbrush, or in fields
where the grain has been reaped. When the first gun is
fired in November, they take warning and retire from the
neighbourhood of settlements to thickly bushed hillsides,
where they remain until absolutely flushed.
In early winter, after light snow, you may often see
Quails scratching in the buckwheat fields ; for they are par-
ticularly fond of this grain, and you cannot do a kinder act
than by scattering a little every day on the snow where you
see their tracks, as they frequently suffer from hunger.
Like the Ruffed Grouse, they sometimes burrow in the snow
to hide from intense cold, and an ice crust forming above
them they are unable to get out, and die, often in great
numbers. They are keenly alive to the benefits of protec-
tion; for three successive years broods were raised in a
tangle underneath some old quince bushes at the foot of
the garden, and old and young continued to range in the
vicinity all summer, returning to hide in the shooting-
season under a hemlock hedge. The fourth year they were
disturbed by rock-blasting in the adjoining land, and have
not since nested in the garden. Two and often three fam-
ilies are raised in a season, and the breeding sometimes con-
tinues so late in the fall that winter overtakes a half-grown
covey. Twenty-five is not an unusual annual family for
these vigorous birds.
228
PIGEONS, QUAILS, GROUSE. Ruffed Grouse
Ruffed Grouse : Bonasa umbellus.
Partridge (New England), Pheasant (Middle and Southern
States).
PLATE XL FIG. 12.
Length: 16-18 inches.
Male and Female : Slightly crested head ; yellow eye stripe ; neck
mottled with reddish and dusky brown. Back variegated chest-
nut ; lower parts lighter, buff or whitish, with dark bars. Long
tail, which spreads fan-like, reddish gray, beautifully barred.
Neck ruff of dark feathers, with iridescent green and purple
tints, which, in the female, is dull. Claws not feathered.
Note,: A Hen-like cluck.
Breeds : In woodlands, through range.
Nest : On the ground, among dry leaves ; frequently a bunch of leaves
between the roots of a chestnut.
Eggs : 10-15, rich buff, usually plain, sometimes specked with brown.
Range: Eastern United States, south to North Carolina, Georgia,
Mississippi, and Arkansas.
The Ruffed Grouse, which, is called the Partridge in New
England, is a case where incorrect local nomenclature has
created permanent confusion. It is a true Grouse, and the real
Partridge is the Bob-ivhite. The term Partridge seems, how-
ever, to be a fixture in literature as well as in the markets.
The Ruffed Grouse is familiar to those who have been
in the habit of walking in the New England woods or
remote lanes in the spring or autumn ; it is a resident, but
is more apt to be seen at these two seasons. In woods
where the underbrush has been thinned out, and not wholly
cut away, and where shooting is forbidden, this Grouse
shows, in spring, almost the tameness of the domestic
fowl; but in autumn it is more shy, for, if protected in
some places, it is harried in others and become suspicious.
The Grouse mates in late April; and when the chicks
are hatched, they immediately leave the nest and follow
their mother. They obey her authority as quickly as chick-
ens do the Hen, except that when they hear the warning
note, they dive under leaves and bushes, while she leads the
pursuer off in an opposite direction. The female attends
229
Ruffed Grouse PIGEONS, QUAILS, GROUSE.
to the duties of nest-building and incubation alone; the
males seem to feel themselves cle trop at this time, and keep
separate, roosting together, and rejoining their mates when
the young are hatched, and then they roam as a family.
The male Buffed Grouse has the same habit of pluming
and strutting as the Turkey-cock, and also makes the drum-
ming noise which has caused so much dispute and which is
attributed to at least four different causes. This peculiar
sound begins in spring, and, though not belonging to the
breeding-season alone, is most frequently indulged in at that
time. It seems to be in token of general good health and
spirits as well as to call attention to the drummer. Heard
at a little distance it is a hollow, vibrating sound, beginning
softly and increasing, as if a small rubber ball was dropped
slowly and then rapidly bounced on a drumhead.
You may hear the drumming fifty times, without seeing
the bird from which it proceeds, and you may even see the
bird plainly without having the slightest clue to how the
sound is produced.
It is variously stated that the Grouse beats with its
wings on a log ; that it raises its wings and strikes their
edges above its back ; that it claps them against its side like
a crowing rooster, and, lastly, that it beats the air. You may
take your choice of the methods, the result is the same.
Last April, when in the woods near Ciecos Brook, I saw a
Grouse drum. I was sitting on the ground and the bird
flew over my head and lit on a rail that topped an old stone
wall; his back was toward me. For a few minutes he
remained quiet as if listening, ruffled his feathers, raised
his tail, moved his wings slowly, as if to test them. Then
beat them more and more rapidly until my eyes blinked
hopelessly. When the noise ceased, the wings drooped
slightly, and in a moment more the bird flew away.
This almost agrees with Thoreau's positive assertion that
he had seen a Partridge drum while standing on a wall, and
that it stood upright and struck its wings together behind
its back, but striking neither the wall or its body, and he
bravely declares that any one who affirms the contrary is
230
SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS. Turnstone
mistaken, even though he were Audubon himself. A snap-
shot with a camera might settle the question, but the
drummer seldom performs in places where the light would
permit of a photograph of whirling feathers.
As a Game-bird the Buffed Grouse is a favourite, having
white meat of a good flavour and less dry than that of the
Quail. Sometimes when driven by hunger it feeds upon
noxious berries and the leaves of the dwarf laurel or lamb-
kill, which may render it unwholesome food ; but if the bird
is properly cleaned at once no such trouble can ensue, as the
leaves and berries when digested cannot injure the flesh,
and the only danger comes from the poisonous matter
remaining in the crop and intestines and permeating the
entire bird.
The eyes of the Grouse are of the most wonderful depth
and softness. This autumn, during a violent storm, a young
bird with a broken wing "and leg was blown against the
house door. I took it in, and it lay for some time in my
hand, until we found that it could not be cured, and that
the kindest act would be to kill it. I shall never forget its
eyes, with their deep, expanding pupils and the golden-
.brown iris. Of all the expressive, speaking eyes that I have
seen among animals, the eyes of this bird were the most
beautiful and pathetic.
ORDER LIMICOL^E: SHORE-BIRDS.
FAMILY APHRIZID^E: SURF-BIRDS AND TURNSTONES.
Turnstone : Arenaria interpres.
Calico Snipe.
PLATE XIII. FIG. 1.
Length : 8-9 inches.
Male and Female: Above patched with black, white, red, brown
and gray in a calico pattern. Below white, with black throat
and breast, divided by a white line. Much white on wings and
tail. Bill black, shorter than head, and slightly recurved ; feet
orange. Adults, in winter, lack the red on the back and the
blacks are less clear.
231
Plovers SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS.
Season : Common migrant; May, August, and September.
Breeds : In high northern latitudes.
Range: Nearly cosmopolitan ; in America, from Greenland and Alaska
to the Straits of Magellan ; more or less common in the interior
of North America, on the shores of the Great Lakes and the
larger rivers.
The Turnstone has a bill that looks like two sharply
pointed ridge-backed pens placed face to face. He uses this
as a pry to displace small stones along the shore to secure
the various bits of marine life lodging under them. Hence
it is more common about the base of rocky cliffs and coves
than on smooth, sandy beaches. It is conspicuous for
its size, its boldly marked plumage contrasting with its sur-
roundings, while Sandpipers mingle with the sands and can
be hardly seen at a little distance unless revealed by some
abrupt movement.
FAMILY CHARADRIID^: PLOVERS.
Black-bellied Plover: Charadrius squatarola.
PLATE XIII. FIG. 8.
Length : 11-12 inches.
Male and Female : Breeding- plumage black and white, seldom seen
in United States. Fall plumage, above mottled with black,
gray, and yellowish ; beneath whitish. Wings and tail nearly
even. Bill long and black ; feet black. Axillary feathers black.
Season : Migrant ; common in autumn.
Breeds : Far north.
Range : Nearly cosmopolitan, but chiefly in the Northern Hemisphere,
migrating south in winter ; in America, to the West Indies,
Brazil, and New Granada.
The Plovers are wading Shore-birds, feeding on beetles,
grasshoppers, worms, larvae, and fresh-water shell-fish. This
species breeds in the Arctic regions and appears here in
numbers in the fall migration only. It is then fairly, but
irregularly, abundant about the marsh-ponds, and is an
extremely handsome bird, having a clear, whistling cry. It
arrives about the middle of September, after the general
migration of the Golden Plover.
232
SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS. Plovers
Golden Plover: Charadrius dominions.
Field Plover.
PLATE XI. FIG. 3.
Length : 10-11 inches.
Male and Female: Subject to great variations of plumage. Above
mottled with black and greenish yellow ; whitish below. Axil-
lary feathers dark ashy. Bill and feet black.
Season : Common autumn migrant ; early September.
Breeds : Arctic regions.
Range : Arctic America, migrating southward throughout North and
South America to Patagonia.
This species is the well-known Plover of the markets, and
the favourite of sportsmen. They are to be found in the salt-
marshes and about sand-bars and tide-pools. Their coming
is irregular ; sometimes a great flock will alight, and then
again only a few stragglers. They usually pass from late
August until middle September ; heavy storms may delay
them, or, if the weather is evenly fine, they often fly over
any given locality without pausing. This uncertainty about
the arrival of many birds, especially the various Water-
birds that visit us only as migrants, is due largely to the
chances of weather. If September is a pleasant month
and there are few gales, the great body fly out at sea and
pass Connecticut altogether. In the spring migration they
are but little noticed, the sportsman must not shoot them,
and the bird-lover is kept from marshes by the flood-tides ;
but when a great storm comes during the fall migration, the
Golden Plover not only flies close to the land, but flies low,
and then he falls an easy prey to the sportsmen who are
lying in wait for him.
Killdeer Plover: ^gialitis vocifera.
PLATE XIII. FIG. 2.
Length : 9-10 inches.
Male and Female : Gray -brown, washed with olive above ; rump
variegated with all shades of orange and reddish brown.
White frontlet and red eyelids. Below white; collar and
breastlet of black, Bill black ; legs light.
Plovers SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS.
Note: "Killdeer! kill-deer!"
Season : Once a summer resident, now rare, remaining from March
to November.
Breeds : Through its range.
Nest : A hollow in the grass or sand in vicinity of fresh water.
Eggs : 4, the ground, as with the eggs of many Waders, varying from
clay colour to cream, marked with brownish black.
Range : Temperate North America, migrating in winter to the West
Indies, and Central and northern South America.
You may hear this Plover cry and yet never see the bird
itself, though the black-banded breast, white frontlet, and
red eyelids make it easy to identify. It nests in our marsh
meadows, arriving in March, with the Bluebirds and Song
Sparrows, lingers until ice has formed on the edges of the
ponds, and yet we do not think of calling it a common bird.
According to Wilson, the Killdeers are somewhat nocturnal
in their habits, especially in feeding upon the worms that
then rise to the surface of the ground. Their loud cry
" Killdeer ! Kill-d-e-e-r ! " has all the shrillness of the Jay's
scream, and the Plover uses it frequently to mislead in-
truders or lure them away from his nest. Coues says that
" they abound in the West, are not gregarious or maritime
extensively, but somewhat irregularly migratory, and are
very noisy birds."
Semipalmated Plover : JEgialitis semipalmata.
Ring Plover.
PLATE XI. FIG. 11.
Length : 7 inches.
Male and Female : Bill black, orange at base. An orange ring around
eye. Above a dark ash-gray. Below white, with a black ring-
across breast and above this a white ring across back of neck.
Half-webbed yellow feet.
Season : "Abundant migrant, seen on flats at low tide. May and late
July to late September."
Breeds : North from Labrador.
Eange: Arctic and subarctic America, migrating south throughout
tropical America as far as Brazil and Peru.
234
SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS. Plovers
One of the commonest Plovers, or, in fact, of Shore-birds
in general, to be found along the beaches ; easily identified
by means of the complete neck ring, white upon dark and
dark upon light.
Like the Sandpipers, they dance along the shore in rhythm
with the ebbing tides, leaving sharp footprints on the wet
sand. These footprints will also give you a key to the bird,
for they show that its feet are half-webbed or semipalmated,
from which it takes its specific name.
I have only found these birds along the seashore, but
Samuels says that on their arrival in spring, small flocks
follow the course of large rivers, like the Connecticut. He
also found a single pair breeding on Muskeget, the famous
haunt of Gulls, off the shore of Massachusetts. On their
return migration, these Plovers are shot down promiscuously
with the Sandpipers, with which they associate closely.
Piping- Plover: JEgialitis tneloda.
Pale Ring-neck.
PLATE XIII. FIG. 4.
Length : 6.50 inches.
Male and Female : Above light gray. Coloured eye ring ; bill yellow
with black tip ; partial white collar on back of neck and a par-
tial dark band on throat. A black bar between the eyes. Be-
low white. Legs orange yellow. Female, the eye bar a pale
brown, and the neck rings merely spots.
Season : A summer resident, but not common.
Breeds : Northward from Virginia.
Nest and Eggs :. No real nest ; eggs 2-4, creamy or grayish, with brown
scratches or small spots ; laid on the sand.
Mange : Eastern Province of North America ; in winter the West
Indies.
This, the second of the King-neck Plovers, comes to us in
scattering flocks in late April, which a month later separate
into pairs. Samuels says that it sometimes strays into the
interior, and has been known to breed on the borders of
ponds twenty miles from the coast, but that in New Eng-
land it seldom wanders far from the shore, and prefers sand
235
Woodcock SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS.
islands near the mainland for its breeding-haunts. He has
found its eggs at Muskeget with those of the last species.
The Piping Plover, as well as the Bing-neck, live upon
insects, worms, eggs of fish, small Crustacea, etc.
FAMILY SCOLOPACID^: SNIPES, SANDPIPERS, ETC.
American Woodcock : Philohela minor.
PLATE XL FIG. 10.
Length : 10-11 inches. Female an inch longer.
Male : Eyes large, set in upper corner of head. Short, thick neck and
compact body. Above variegated with brown, black, tawny, and
gray. Below brown, ranging from buff to tawny. Legs very
short. Bill longer than head, straight and stout.
Note : A peep and a whistle. " P't-ul ! P't-ul ! " and " peent, peent "
(Brewster.)
Season : A summer resident ; March to December.
Breeds : Through range in April and May.
Nest : A hollow in the ground, lined with a few leaves.
Eggs: 4 usually, varying from stone-gray to buff, with indefinite
brown markings and gray cloudings.
Range : Eastern United States, north to the British Provinces, west
to Dakota, Kansas, etc.
The king of our Game-birds, to be distinguished from the
Snipe, which it resembles, by its heavier build, shorter legs,
and plain red-brown under parts. Though grouped with
Shore-birds, it is more frequently to be found in sheltered
bogs and in woods bordering swamps than by lakes or
rivers.
The Woodcocks obtain the grubs and larvae on which they
feed by probing in the soft mud with the bill, which is so
extremely sensitive at the tip as to enable them to select
food wholly by the sense of touch. The eyes are set in the
head at a very peculiar angle, which gives the birds a rather
foolish appearance. This is a protective provision of Nature.
The eyes being situated high up and far back in both the
Snipe and Woodcock enables them, by increasing the field
of vision, to escape from many of their enemies, even though
they cannot see their food.
236
SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS. Snipe
Woodcocks are as nocturnal in their feeding-habits as the
Nighthawk itself. They may be frequently seen in April
and May, an hour before twilight, peeping out from the
margin of woodlands, picking their way in a leisurely man-
ner to their feeding-grounds, or you may hear their short
song either then or at dawn, and see them make beautiful
nights into the air, sweeping in great circles and rising
spirally like the Skylark, leaving behind a whistling sound,
as if the wind rushed through a sharp-edged reed. At this,
the breeding-season, the male does a great deal of strutting
and preening, as is the case with many so-called songless
birds, who make pose take the place of voice in gaining
the attention of the desired mate.
The young are very attractive little chicks, following their
mother as soon as hatched. Early in May of last year I
happened to see the last of a brood of three emerge from the
egg. The callow little bunch had scarcely become accus-
tomed to the light and its down was moist and limp, yet
when the mother, on seeing me, gave tlie warning cry, it
disappeared from under my very eyes as promptly as if it
had studied wood tactics for a lifetime, and nothing re-
mained but some bits of shell, mingling with the dead
leaves, at the roots of a great tuft of evergreen ferns.
Wilson's Snipe : Gallinayo delicata.
English Snipe.
PLATE XI. FIG. 2.
Length: 10.50-11.50 inches.
Male and Female : Straight greenish gray bill 2^ inches long ; eyes
set far back, as in last species. Above reddish and dark brown ;
sides of head and neck buff. Dark, plain wings, margined and
tipped with white; tail bay and black, outer feathers dirty
white, with brown bars ; feet greenish gray.
Note : A peeping cry and several rolling notes.
Season : In the migrations, March, April, October, and November.
Breeds : Northward from the United States ; also, casually, farther
south.
Nest : A hollow in ground or a bog tussock.
237
Dowitcher SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS.
Eggs : 3-4, olive-gray washed with dull brown, marked on the larger
end with umber spots and black scratches.
Range: North and middle America; south, in winter, to the West
Indies and northern South America.
The true Snipe of sportsmen, which, is erroneously called
"English Snipe." Wilson's Snipe has many qualities in
common with the Woodcock. It is a bird of fresh-water
marsh meadows, where it returns in September, and is usu-
ally quite plentiful by the middle of October, going south
when ice closes its feeding-grounds. It is a nocturnal
feeder, and has the habit of soaring into the air at dawn
and sunset. Usually, it is only considered from the food
standpoint, but it really possesses musical qualities. I only
know its peeping cry, that seems to fall from the clouds in
the autumn nights when the migrating flocks pass over,
but Audubon says that the male and female birds rise into
the air, " now with continued beating of the wings, now
in short sailings, until more than a hundred yards high,
when they whirl round each other with extreme velocity,
and dance as it were to their own music ; for at this junc-
ture, and during the space of four or five minutes, you hear
rolling notes mingled together, each more or less distinct,
perhaps according to the state of the atmosphere. The
sounds produced are extremely pleasing, though they fall
faintly on the ear."
Dowitcher: Macrorhamphus griseus.
Red-breasted Snipe.
Length : Varying from 10.25 to 12 inches.
Male and Female : Bill dark, long and slender like last species, which it
generally resembles. ' ' Rump and tail white, the former spotted,
the latter banded with black." In summer plumage the back
is variegated with black, ash, and red, reddish below; tail
barred with dark. In winter it is ash-gray above and whitish
below. Feet greenish black.
Season : A fairly common migrant in August and September.
Breeds : In the far North.
Range : Eastern North America.
238
SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS. Knot
A coastwise Snipe, very handsome and richly feathered.
It can be distinguished when skimming over the marsh
meadows by its erratic and Swallow-like flight, and at
shorter range by its conspicuous white rump. It feeds
upon marsh snails, water beetles and worms, such as are
obtained in large numbers in the mud at the neck of tide
bars and in clam beds. Its flesh is delicate, and it is
greatly prized by sportsmen.
Knot : Tringa canutus.
Robin Snipe.
PLATE XL FIG. 1.
Length : 10.50 inches.
Male and Female : Straight bill 1| inches long. Above black, white,
ash, and reddish ; crown gray streaked with black ; nape of neck
reddish. Below rich chestnut; legs short and thick. Young,
the first two or three years until they put on the full plumage,
gray, black, and white above, white below, which led to the
idea that old males turned gray in winter. Female duller.
Note : " Wah-quoit ! " and a honk. (G. H. Mackay.)
Season : Irregular migrant.
Breeds : In high northern latitudes.
Eange : Nearly cosmopolitan.
This Sandpiper may be recognized by its large size and
very richly coloured feathers. With us it is a bird of the
sea-coast and marshes, but in the Interior States it may be
found about the larger lakes and rivers.
Mr. Averill has shot it in August on the Housatonic
meadows, and it may be occasionally seen pattering about
the pools on the beach at low tide, in search of small shell-
fish and marine insects, which are its usual articles of food
and which impart a marshy flavour to this as well as to
many similar Shore-birds.
The Knot is no longer a common Snipe, and any one who
reads Mr. George H. Mackay's very interesting monograph
upon it, in The Auk for January, 1893, will easily see why.
He says, not only have they been wantonly killed on the
Cape Cod marshes, by the process known as " fire-lighting,"
239
Sandpipers SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS.
but he has every reason to believe that they were formerly
shot along the Virginia coast in spring on their way to the
breeding-grounds ; he says, " one such place shipped to New
York City in a single spring, from April 1 to June 3, up-
wards of six thousand Plovers, a large share of which were
Knots." This was about thirty years ago, but it neverthe-
less serves to illustrate what kind of treatment these birds
received in those as well as later days, and bears out the
current belief of to-day that the Knots have in a "great
measure been killed off." The "fire-lighting" method of
capturing them was, " for two men to start out after dark at
half-tide, one of them to carry a lighted lantern, the other
to reach and seize the birds, bite their necks, and put them
in a bag slung over the shoulder." It is well to think that
this also took place many years ago, and was stopped by law,
to the honour of true sportsmen, who, after all that is said
against them, have done much to stop the butchery of game.
Pectoral Sandpiper: Tringa maculata.
Grass Snipe.
Length : 9-9.50 inches.
Male : Above black and reddish ; white stripe over eye ; neck short.
Below whitish, washed on neck and breast with dusky, broken
by brown lines. Hump black / wings dusky ; some tail feath-
ers tipped with white. Bill straight, half as long as head,
flesh-coloured tipped with black. Feet dusky greenish.
Season : Common migrant ; August to November.
Breeds : In Arctic regions.
Range : The whole of North America, the West Indies, and the greater
part of South America. Of frequent occurrence in Europe.
A fresh-water Sandpiper, found in wet meadows with
Wilson's Snipe. It comes in late summer from its northern
breeding-grounds in flocks of variable size, and remains as
long as the insects upon which it feeds hold out. Its habits
are more like those of the Snipes than of Sandpipers, and
its flesh has a similar sweetness, lacking the rankness of the
true Shore-birds. It has a loud, wiry call : " Tweet-tweet-
weet ! " which it often repeats when on the wing. In the
240
SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS. Sandpipers
breeding-season the male has a curious habit of inflating his
throat to a wonderful degree so that it hangs down upon the
breast like a great tumour. It is a popular bird with
gunners, and is known by them as Grass Snipe.
Least Sandpiper: Tringa minutilla.
Peep.
Length: 5.50 inches.
Male and Female : In summer plumage, above dark brown, feathers
edged with red. Neck ash-gray, spotted with black. White eye
stripe. Wings dusky, rump and tail coverts black. Below
grayish white. In winter becoming gray and white like many
other species. Bill black ; legs dull green.
Season : Common migrant ; April and May, August and September.
Breeds : North of the United States.
Range: The whole of North and South America. Accidental in
Europe.
The smallest of all Sandpipers, known everywhere by
the familiar name of Peep the cry they constantly give
when congregating on the beaches and flats at low tide. It
has a pretty way of dancing up to the shallow, frothy
ripples, meeting them, seizing some tiny morsel, and retreat-
ing with a sort of courtesy. All the Sandpipers have a half-
shy, half-sociable way of flitting afoot about the water's
edge that makes them very sociable. Often at low tide I
have walked down the beach toward Penfield Bar with
three or four of these little birds for companions ; they will
run on ahead, never letting me quite come up to them, and
yet half expecting me to follow. This habit gave motive to
one of the best bits of verse that Mrs. Celia Thaxter has left
with us :
" I watch him as he skims along,
Uttering his sweet and mournful cry ;
He starts not at my fitful song,
Or flash of fluttering drapery ;
He has no thought of any wrong ;
He scans me with a fearless eye.
Staunch friends are we, well tried and strong,
The little sandpiper and I." (3d verse.)
R 241
Yellow-legs SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS.
Dr. Coues, in his " Birds of the Northwest," gives a beau-
tiful picture of this bird in its Labrador breeding-haunts,
where the fogs hang low and wild waves rage, and the little
Sandpipers watch their half-sheltered ground-nest with
anxious devotion. "Now, later in the season, when the
young birds are grown strong of wing, family joins family,
and the gathering goes to the sea beach. Stretches of sand,
or pebbly shingle, or weed-loaded rocks, or muddy flats,
bestrewn with wrack, invite, and are visited in turn; and
each yields abundant sustenance. The unsuspecting birds
ramble and play heedlessly, in the very front of man, un-
mindful of, because unknowing danger; they have a sad
lesson to learn the coming winter, when they are tormented
without stint, and a part of their number slaughtered in
more civilized countries for mere sport, or for the morsel of
food their bodies may afford. Blasts fiercer than they ever
knew before, come out of the north ; autumn is upon them,
and they must not wait. Flocks rise on wing, and it is not
long before the beaches and the marshes of the states are
thronged."
The Semipalmated (half -webbed) Sandpiper Ereunetes
pusillus also shares the name of Peep with the last species,
with which it flocks. It can best be distinguished from
the Least Sandpiper by it feet, which are half-webbed, the
Least having no webbing. It is also slightly larger.
Greater Yellow-legs: Totanus melanoleucus.
Stone Snipe.
PLATE XI. FIG. 4.
Length : 13-14 inches.
Male and Female : Above dusky, spotted with black and white. Bill
green black ; over two inches long and slightly recurved. Be-
low white, streaked sparsely with gray on the neck. Rump
white, also tail feathers, which are barred with brown. Long,
thin, yellow legs.
Season : A common migrant ; May and August to November.
Breeds: In the cold temperate and sub-arctic portions of North
America. , . .
242
SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS. Sandpipers
Range : America in general, migrating south to Chili and Buenos
Ayres.
A handsome, noisy bird, commonly seen in flocks about
sand bars, creeks, and inlets. It has a shrill voice and gives
utterance to the most weird and startling cries when dis-
turbed as well as during migration. When half a dozen of
these birds converse the sounds are like the ejaculations of
a collection of shipwrecked foreigners, each speaking a
different tongue and mutually angry at not being under-
stood. It is followed by sportsmen, though as an article of
food its desirability is open to dispute.
Solitary Sandpiper: Totanus solitarius.
Length : 8-9 inches.
Male and Female: Long, slender, dark bill. In breeding-plumage,
dark brown above with an olive wash. Head and neck streaked
with white ; rest of upper parts spotted with white. Below
white, with some dark streaks on the breast. Legs dull green-
ish. Markings less distinct in the fall.
Season : Common migrant in May and September.
Breeds : From northern United States northward, and believed to
breed in more southern localities. Probably a summer resident
in New England.
Mange : North America, migrating southward as far as Brazil and
Peru.
Not a true Shore-bird, but an inhabitant of the neighbour-
hood of wooded ponds and the margins of out-of-the-way
watercourses ; which, if startled from its seclusion, pene-
trates the underbrush rather than expose itself by flight.
Wilson states that this Sandpiper lives in watery places in
the mountainous region from New York State southwest to
Kentucky, but that they are never numerous. Audubon
notes the expert way in which they catch insects, saying
that they are particularly apt in seizing small dragon-flies in
their descent from the trees to the muddy pools where they
breed. In this neighbourhood they are generally seen in
pairs, and I have never noticed more than six or eight dur-
ing any one season.
243
Sandpipers SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS.
Bartramian Sandpiper : Bartramia longicauda.
Field Plover.
PLATE XI. FIG. 9.
Length: 11.75-12.75 inches.
Male and Female: Bill short, grooved, and tipped with black, but
little longer than the head. Above dusky, varied with yellowish
and gray, a pale yellow stripe through the eye. Lower wing-
coverts white, banded with dark gray. Below varying from
white to buff, dark lines on breast, and spots on belly. Outer
tail quills white, barred with black. Feet dirty yellow.
Season : A summer resident, but becoming rare. Noted by Linsley
as breeding at Stratford, Conn.
Breeds : Throughout its North American range.
Nest : A few straws and tendrils to keep the eggs together ; in locations
similar to those chosen by the Meadowlark.
Eggs : 4, gray or cream ground, with irregular umber spots.
Eange : Eastern North America, north to Nova Scotia and Alaska ;
migrating in winter southward, as far even as southern South
America.
This species is classed as a Wading-bird, but is perfectly
independent of water, and inhabits meadows and uplands,
for which reason sportsmen call it the Upland or Field
Plover. It announces itself on its arrival by a long, melo-
dious whistle; it has several other cries in the breeding-
season, but they are the reverse of pleasing. After the
young are hatched, they flock with the adults, visiting the
grass fields and feeding more after the fashion of Meadow-
larks than of Sandpipers. As the frost blasts the inland
fields they gradually approach the shore. At this season
they are very plump, with sweet, well-flavoured flesh.
Spotted Sandpiper: Actitis macularia.
Teeter; Tilt-up.
Length : 7.50 inches.
Male and Female: Slender, flesh-colour bill, black tipped, longer
than the head. Above Quaker-gray, with an iridescent lustre,
spotted and streaked with black. White eye line. White
below, dotted with black: feet flesh-coloured. More dull
throughout in winter.
244
PLATE XII.
/<.
SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS. Rails
Note : A gentle "peet-weet peet-weet ! "
Season : Common summer resident.
Breeds : Throughout temperate North America.
Nest and Eggs : Resembling last species.
Eange: North and South America, south to Brazil. Occasional in
Europe.
This is the familiar little bird of roadside brooks and
moist meadows, where the marsh marigold of spring is
followed by the cardinal flower and gentian of autumn.
To me it is indelibly associated with gentian meadows, for
the first time that I ever throughly identified it I was
balancing on a big grass hummock, wondering if I could
step across a particularly deceitful looking bit of water, half
ditch, half sluggish stream, to secure a plant of blue fringed
gentian that branched like a magnificent candelabra with
cups of lapis lazuli; and this Sandpiper flew from an
opposite tussock and gave its plaintive cry. Seeing that I
did not stir, it walked unconsciously along the edge of the
ditch, mincing and balancing in a curious way, jerking
its body in see-saw fashion, which has given it the name
of " Teeter.' 7 Every few minutes it flew to the grass, whis-
pering to itself as it fed.
The Spotted Sandpiper possesses all the delicacy and
beauty of a Song-bird, and it seems as much an act of cruelty
to hunt it down for sport as if it was a Thrush or Oriole.
It does not live in flocks.
ORDER PALUDICOL^E: CRANES, RAILS, ETC.
FAMILY RALLID^E: RAILS, GALLINULES, COOTS.
Clapper Kail: Rallus longirostris crepitans.
/Salt-water Marsh Hen.
PLATE XII. FIG. 1.
Length : 14-16 inches.
Male and Female : General colouring sand-gray, with no reddish tinge.
Above variegated ash and olive-brown ; no decided mottlings.
Below, yellowish brown whitening on the throat ; wings and
tail dull brown. Bill longer than the head and yellowish
brown ; feet the same colour.
245
Rails SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS.
Season: Common summer resident from Connecticut southward.
May winter.
Breeds : In dense marshes, most abundantly in the Carolinas.
Nest : A collection of grasses and reeds ; on the ground, barely out of
the reach of water.
Eggs : Numerous, 6-12, cream- white, speckled with reddish brown.
Mange : Salt-marshes of the Atlantic coast of the United States, from
New Jersey southward ; resident from the Potomac southward,
casually north to Massachusetts.
The Clapper Eail is one of the noisiest of most obstrep-
erous of Shore-birds. It straggles to the Massachusetts
coast in summer, and is at times quite plentiful, but irregu-
larly so. This is the species that is killed in great numbers
among the salt-marshes in the neighbourhood of Atlantic
City, N. J. It takes its name longirostris, long bill, and
crepitans, crepitating, clattering from the extra length
of its bill and the incessant noise that it makes, especially
in the breeding-season. These Eails have a most ludicrous
gait, tipping forward as they run.
Virginia Rail: Rallus virginianus.
PLATE XII. FIG. 2.
Length : variable, 8.50-10.50 inches.
Male and Female : General tone streaky and reddish. Above dark
brown plainly streaked with olive, a white line from the bill
extending over the eye. Throat ivhite. Below bright reddish ;
wings dark brown ; coverts chestnut ; tail dark brown barred
with white.
Season : A common summer resident, breeding on the salt-marshes.
Sometimes winters.
Breeds: Northward from Pennsylvania.
Nest: A slight mat of grasses in a clump of reeds near water,
usually in an inaccessible place.
Eggs : 6-8, resembling those of the last species.
Range : North America, from the British Provinces south to Guate-
mala.
A very pretty species, having a general ruddy tint and
being abundant both in fresh and salt marshes. It is
246
SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS. RaUs
known locally as the Little Red Eail and is a perfect copy,
in miniature, of the King Rail, which only visits us
casually, but is well known from the Middle States south-
ward. The Virginia Eail is very shy and will always hide,
if possible, instead of flying, and it has the faculty of run-
ning across water upon a few floating sticks and bits of litter.
Dr. Coues, in his " Birds of the Northwest," in describing
a night scene in Arizona near the Mojave Biver, where he
suffered many hardships, speaks of the haunts of the Eail
thus : " At nightfall some Mallard and Teal settled into the
rushes, gabbling curious vespers as they went to rest. A
few Marsh Wrens appeared on the edge of the reeds,
queerly balancing themselves on the thread-like leaves, see-
sawing to their own quaint music. Then they were hushed,
and as darkness settled down, the dull, heavy croaking of
the frogs played bass to the shrill falsetto of the insects.
Suddenly they too were hushed in turn, frightened may be,
into silence ; and from the heart of the bullrushes, * crik-
crik-rik-k-k-k/ lustily shouted some wide-awake Eail, to be
answered by another and another, till the reeds resounded.
. . . The Eails are, partially at least, nocturnal. During
such moonlight nights as they are on the alert, patrolling
the marshes through the countless ways among the reeds,
stopping to cry, 'all's well 7 as they pass on, or to answer
the challenge of a distant watchman. That they feed by
night, as well as by day, cannot be doubted. Their habit
of skulking and hiding in the most inaccessible places they
frequent renders them difficult of observation, and they are
usually considered rarer than they really are."
Sora: Porzana Carolina.
Carolina Rail.
PLATE XII. FIG. 6.
Length : 8-9 inches.
Male and Female : Bill only -J inch long, straight and stout. Above
olive, brownish, and black, many feathers having white edges
and with black and white barring on the flanks. Breast slate-
247
Gallinule SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS.
colour, with some black on the centre of the throat. Tail
dusky brown, darkest in centre, and almost pointed.
Season : Summer resident.
Breeds : Freely from the Middle States northward ; in brackish and
salt marshes.
Nest : In reeds, near water ; a slight mat of marsh-grass, etc.
Eggs : Distinguishable from other species by the distinct drab ground-
colouring.
Range: Temperate North America, but most common east of the
Plains. South, in winter, to the West Indies and northern
South America.
The common Eail of gunners, a little larger than the
moulted Bobolink or Eeedbird, with which it is closely
associated in the southern marshes, sharing with it the
name of Ortolan.
The flesh of this Eail is tender and sweet, but rather
tasteless, unless an artificial flavour is imparted to it in the
cooking. Its value as an article of food, as in the case of
many Eeedbirds, depends upon the curiously enthusiastic
taste of gourmands, and, as with the Bobolink, it seems a
waste of powder, as well as of exuberant life, to kill them,
the edible result being a pitiful mouthful of gritty, shot-
filled flesh, stabbed through by a skewer, and merely serv-
ing to lengthen some weary dinner where a collection of
animal and vegetable bric-a-brac takes the place of satisfac-
tory nourishment.
Florida Gallinule: Gallinula galeata.
Blue Rail; Red-billed Mud Hen.
PLATE XII. FIG. 7.
Length : 12-14 inches.
Male and Female: Head and neck bluish gray, back olive-brown,
wings and tail dark. Beneath dark gray, grading to white
on belly. Bill and frontal plate red.
Season: Summer resident of the Housatonic River. Twelve eggs
taken at Stratford June 25, 1891, by Mr. W. H. Lucas.
Breeds : Through its range, but only casually in the northern part.
Nest : A platform of broken and matted reeds, built up to form a hol-
low nest, seeming oftentimes to rest on the water, as it is moored
to shifting reeds.
248
SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS. Coot
Eggs : Numerous ; often 14.
Range : Temperate and tropical America, from Canada to Brazil and
Chili.
This Gallinule, which inhabits both salt and fresh marshes,
is called Blue Kail by sportsmen because, at a little distance,
the various tints of its plumage merge in a grayish blue. A
feature of the family of Gallinules (which is a sub-family
under Rails) is the bare horny shield upon the forehead
and the very large, unwebbed feet.
American Coot : Fulica americana.
White-billed Mud Hen; Crow Duck.
Length: 14-16 inches.
Male and Female: Dark slate above, head and neck almost black.
"Whole edge of wing and tips of some quills white. Below paler
gray, tail dark brown. Bill flesh-white with a slight rusty black
mark at the tip. Feet pale dull green.
Season : Abundant autumn migrant.
Breeds: Locally all through range, in marshy spots near sluggish
creeks and rivers.
Nest : Like that of the last species.
Eggs : A dozen or more, shaped like Hen's eggs, ground gray with
dark brown spots from the size of a pinhead to the size of a
pea.
Range : North America, from Greenland and Alaska southward to the
West Indies and Central America.
A bird of like appearance to the Florida Gallinule, having
a similar but smaller frontal plate. The feet, however, are
constructed for swimming, all the toes being supplied with
flaps.
Its nesting-habits are very interesting, being akin to those
of the Grebes, and Dr. Coues writes graphically of them in
his "Birds of the Northwest."
249
Am. Bittern SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS.
ORDER HERODIONES : HERONS, ETC.
FAMILY ARDEID^E: HERONS, BITTERNS, ETC.
American Bittern : Botaurus lentiginosus.
Stake Driver.
PLATE XII. FIG. 4.
Length : Exceedingly variable, from 23-34 inches. (Coues.)
Male and Female : Above yellowish brown, much streaked and mottled
with different shades of brown, from dark to light. Below
buffy white, the feathers striped and edged with brown. Tail
brown, small, and rounded. Bill yellow, edged with black ;
legs yellow-green.
Note: Several harsh sounds and a note resembling the blow of a
mallet in driving a stake, hence its name Stake Driver.
Season : Summer resident ; May to November. Not common.
Breeds : Through range north of Virginia. In pairs, not in colonies.
Nest : A rude affair on the ground.
Eggs : 3-5, grayish brown.
Range : Temperate North America, south to Guatemala and the West
Indies.
This is the solitary Heron, of whom Hamilton Gibson
says, "many have heard the Stake Driver, but who shall
locate the stake?" It inhabits the loneliest bogs and
marshes and is the Booming Bittern to which Thoreau so
often refers.
Except in the breeding-season, it is an entirely solitary
bird, and utterly averse to companionship. One of its
habits, when disturbed in its reedy hiding places, is to
stand motionless with its bill pointing skyward, thus merg-
ing completely with the surrounding marsh growth.
The American Bittern is not a nocturnal feeder, though
his retiring habits lead people to think so ; he probably mi-
grates by night, but that is all. He seems to be a rather
sluggish, selfish character, mysterious to us ; simply because
we cannot fathom his plan of existence. He eats and drinks,
250
PLATE XIII.
SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS. Least Bittern
but is never merry, and maintains a stoical silence even, in
the midst of a bog of plenty ; a table fairly overladen with
the frogs, lizards, snakes, etc., that his appetite craves. His
long legs, which trail awkwardly behind him in flight, are
said to act as a rudder to direct his course.
Least Bittern : Ardetta exilis.
Length : 11-14 inches.
Male : Top of head, which is slightly crested, and back rich, greenish
black. Back of neck chestnut brown, also wing coverts and
the edges of some quills. Tail like back. Below muddy
yellow, with dark brown patches on sides of breast, and some
white around the throat. Bill, eyes, and toes yellow.
Female: Purplish chestnut above.
Season : Summer resident, breeding near Stratford on the Housatonic.
Breeds : Through range in marshes^in company with the Rails.
Nest : On the ground, a mat of old rushes.
Eggs : Usually 4, of a livid hue.
Hange : Temperate North America, from the British Provinces to the
West Indies and northern South America.
The Least Bittern, the smallest of its family, has a
curiously hybrid appearance, and is not easy to place; it
is shy and always hiding in the reeds, and even when you
catch a glimpse of it, the resemblance to a Eail is confus-
ing. You may startle them when looking for Marsh Wrens'
nests, and, as they shoot up from the reeds for a moment,
before settling again, you will have your best chance of
identifying them. After being once disturbed, and seeing
the cause, they remain wisely in seclusion, and no amount
of poking and thrashing will drive them out.
As with the majority of Shore and Water Birds, it is
almost impossible to go afoot to their breeding-haunts. A
canvas duck boat, easily carried, hip boots, and a water and
mosquito proof disposition are necessary for anything
more than the most casual study of these birds in their
haunts.
261
Blue Heron SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS.
Great Blue Heron : Ardea herodias.
Blue Crane.
PLATE XII. FIG. 5.
Length : 42-50 inches.
Male and Female: Long, black crest, the two longest feathers of
which are shed in the summer moult. Upper parts and tail
bluish slate, below black and white streaked, forehead and
crown white. Feathers about neck long and loose. Bill yel-
low and dusky ; legs and feet dark. This Heron can be recog-
nized by its great size and bluish slate back ; it is not distinctly
}>lue at all.
Season : Common, nearly resident, may breed. (Averill.)
Breeds : Locally through range.
Nest : Usually a rude pile of sticks in a tree.
Eggs : 3, large, and of a dull bluish green.
Range: North America from the Arctic regions, southward to the
West Indies and northern South America.
Without question the Great Blue Heron, locally called
the Blue Crane, is one of the most picturesque birds that
we have in New England, and only divides the honours
with the Bald Eagle and the Great Horned and Snow Owls.
In many places they appear in small flocks, but I have
never seen them here, except as individuals or occasionally
in pairs. They are wild, suspicious birds, and yet, if they
think themselves unobserved, they will stand almost motion-
less by the side of a small stream or pond half a day at
a time, only bending the long neck at intervals to seize some
frog or other edible. You may stand by a smooth mill-pond
walled by trees that hang into the water. Through many
gaps the distant meadows stretch, almost as smooth as the
pond, but of a different hue ; it is a lovely, placid scene, but
needs a bit of life to draw it to a focus. Look a second
time ; upon the muddy edge of one of the little islands, in
bold relief, sphinx-like, stands a solitary Blue Heron, and
you at once understand why Egypt gave reverence to the
Ibis. Deliberately it spreads its wings that winnow six
feet of air, and flies slowly across the water, its legs hang-
ing like twin reeds with clawing roots.
252
SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS. Green Heron
Green Heron: Ardea virescens.
Poke.
PLATE XII. FIG. 8.
Length : 16-18 inches.
Male and Female : Head with lengthened crest. Above dark glossy
green, sometimes with an iridescence. Edging of wing coverts
reddish. Neck a rich shade of chestnut, with a purplish wash,
white streak at the throat, and under parts whitish, shading to
ash below. Legs and bill yellowish.
Season : Common summer resident.
Breeds : Through its North American range.
Nest : Of sticks in a tree, seldom high up.
Eggs : 3-6, pale green.
Range : Canada and Oregon, southward to northern South America
and the West Indies ; rare in the arid interior.
That this Heron is the commonest and best known of its
family, is attested by the numerous local names it bears.
"Fly-up-the-creek," "Chalk-line," and "Chuckle-head" being
a few of the list to which every small boy feels it his duty
to add one, usually of a very uncomplimentary nature.
When seen in the breeding-season, at short range, the
plumage of these Herons is very lustrous and beautiful, but
when on the wing the iridescence of the feathers is invisible
and the receding head, accentuated by the long crest, and
the poking bill give the birds an idiotic expression.
In many places they breed in communities called Heron-
ries ; but here usually in single pairs, in the wooded strip
that runs from the marsh lane to the eastward of Wakeman's
Island. The Green Heron is a great believer in ventilation,
and its nest always reminds me of the boy's definition of a
sieve, which he said was " a sort of round thing made mostly
of holes." The sticks of the nest are so few and far be-
tween that one would imagine the current of air passing
between would prevent the eggs from hatching. I saw a
nest last spring that had listed so that one of the eggs lay
broken on the ground, and there is a very good story told
about a nest that was such a shaky concern that every time
the old birds jarred it a stick fell off, and the structure grew
253
Night Heron SHORE AND MARSH BIRDS.
smaller and smaller, until the day when the young were
ready to fly there were but three sticks left ; finally these
parted and the little Herons found themselves perching on
the branch that once held the nest !
This species feeds upon frogs, small fish, insects, the
larvae of the dragon-fly, etc. They are not strictly nocturnal,
but feed largely at dawn and dusk.
Black-crowned Night Heron: Nycticoraoc nycticorax
ncevius.
Qua Bird; Quawk.
PLATE XII. FIG. 3.
Length : 23-26 inches.
Male and Female: Above either dull or greenish black ; tail, wings,
and neck grayish. Throat and forehead whitish. Below livid
white. Crest of three long, white feathers rolled into one.
Bill black ; legs yellow.
Season : Common summer resident ; April to October.
Breeds : Southward from New Brunswick.
Nest: Nest not large, built in a very slovenly manner in treetops,
usually in communities.
Eggs : 3-4, pale sea-green.
Eange : America, from the British Provinces southward to the Falk-
land Islands, including part of the West Indies.
Another common Heron, only second to the Green, in
abundance. Here it frequents inland ponds in preference
to the salt-marshes, and, though I have not found its nests,
I have seen the birds all the way from Mill Kiver to Bed-
ding under circumstances that point to their breeding in
single pairs.
They are nocturnal, as the name indicates, and when
you come upon them in their roosts by daylight they are
dazed and sleepy, and use an effort to pull themselves to-
gether, but at twilight their heavy, dark bodies may be
seen flying overhead, identified beyond question by the cry,
" quok-quok," uttered at regular intervals. The sound is much
like that emitted by the kid bellows of a child's toy rooster,
and is the gazoo of the night orchestra. The skirl and
boom of the Nighthawk have an eery sound, and the Whip-
254
PLATE XIV.
SWIMMING BIRDS. Ducks
poor- will's cry is filled with, vague foreboding; the Night
Heron's merely suggests that he has half swallowed a
particularly unappetizing frog, and wishes to unswallow it.
This is the most gregarious of all the Herons. Dr. Wood
tells of a swamp some miles from East Windsor, Conn.,
which was the breeding-place of thousands. Samuels knew
of a Heronry near Dedham, Mass., where a hundred pairs
were collected in the space of an acre, and he at once
realized the force of Wilson's comment on a like congrega-
tion, that, " The noise of the old and the young would almost
induce one to suppose that two or three hundred Indians
were throttling each other."
As the birds resort, year after year, to the same crowded
breeding-grounds, it can be easily imagined that these
Heronries are not the most attractive places for ornitho-
logical research.
I had very much doubted the present existence of such
extensive colonies in populous regions, but Mr. Chapman in
'his " Guide to the Birds found near New York/' which has
been mentioned before, says, " There is a colony containing
about one thousand pairs not far from New York City."
ORDER ANSERES: LAMELLIROSTRAL
SWIMMERS. 1
FAMILY ANATID^E : DUCKS, GEESE, ETC.
SUB-FAMILY MERGING : MERGANSERS.
American Merganser: Merganser americanus.
Fish Duck.
PLATE XIV. FIG. 4.
Length: 23.50-27 inches.
Male : Bill toothed, chiefly red. Head slightly crested, and with upper
neck very dark glossy green ; upper half of back black. Below,
breast and part of the neck white, belly salmon. Wings largely
white, banded with black.
1 Term derived from the plan of bill, which is lamellate, signifying
that the mandibles are furnished with a series of laminar or saw-toothed
projections fitting into each other.
255
Ducks SWIMMING BIRDS.
Female : Smaller. Above brown and ash-gray, slightly crested.
Season: "Common winter resident from November to April."
(Averill.)
Breeds : North of the United States.
Range : North America generally.
"In buying a Duck notice the bill, that it be not cylin-
drical, hooked, or saw-toothed." This is good advice, for
the mission of the Wild Duck, as far as society in general
is concerned, seems to be the epicure's table, where it
appears in various stages of rawness, according to the
name under which it has been sold. There are many
Ducks that are totally unfit for food, and the Merganser
is one of these, being a " Fishing Duck," and able to fol-
low its prey under water. It is a gluttonous bird, gorging
itself with such quantities of fish, frogs, etc., as to render
its flesh exceedingly rank. It is beautifully feathered, how-
ever, and frequently figures in dining-rooms on the orna-
mental panels of stuffed Game-birds.
Another species associating with this is the Red-breasted
Merganser, which hardly differs from it save in the redness
of the upper breast and in having a long, pointed crest.
Both species inhabit the vicinity of fresh and salt water alike.
SUB-FAMILY ANATIN^E : RIVER DucKS. 1
Mallard: Anas boschas.
PLATE XIV. FIG. 2.
Length : 24 inches.
Male : Bill greenish yellow ; head and upper part of neck brilliant,
glossy green, a white colar dividing it from the chestnut-brown
of the lower neck. Under parts and sides pale gray, waved
with darker. Back reddish brown at top, growing dull near
tail. Tail coverts black ; tail mostly white ; wings gray, white,
and black. Speculum 2 shaded purple, bordered with black.
Feet orange-red.
1 Ducks feeding largely upon juicy vegetable matter, and not diving
for their food. Feet smaller than those of the Sea Ducks, and more suited
for walking.
2 The secondary quills of the wings of Ducks usually exhibit patches of
varied or iridescent colour ; this coloured patch is called the speculum.
256
SWIMMING BIRDS. Ducks
Female : Dull ; under parts yellowish, blotched faintly with dusky ;
above back, brown ; some feathers with rusty edges. Head and
neck mottled like under parts.
Season : A wandering visitor, taken occasionally in the autumn on
the Housatonic at Stratford.
Breeds : Northward from the Northern States, more frequently in the
interior.
Nest : Of dry grass, weeds, and feathers, on the ground near the water.
Eggs : 8-10, yellow, gray.
Eange : Northern part of Northern Hemisphere. In America south
in winter to Panama and Cuba.
A very handsome and notable game Duck, living chiefly
on vegetable diet, and having delicate flesh ; plentiful around
the Great Lakes.
Black Duck: Anas obscura.
PLATE XIV. FIG. 10.
Length : 22 inches.
Male and Female : Bill greenish yellow. Above dusky, but not black ;
feathers edged with rusty brown. Neck, throat, and sides of
head streaked with grayish and dark. Below brownish. Specu-
lum violet and black ; in the male tipped with white. Legs red.
Season : A resident, but more plentiful in the migrations.
Breeds : From New Jersey to Labrador.
Nest : A mat of marsh grasses on the ground.
Eggs : 8-10, a drab yellow.
Eange : Eastern North America, west to Utah and Texas, north to
Labrador.
This Black Duck (which is not black) is a great favourite
among sportsmen, on account of its delicately flavoured
flesh. It is plentiful about the larger ponds all through the
autumn, and I have seen it on the mill-pond in December
when there was thin ice on the margin.
The late Dr. Charles Slover Allen gives a delightful
account of its breeding-habits on Plum Island, in Tlie
Auk of January, 1893, from which the following is a par-
agraph :
"Early in the morning, May 27 (1888), I saw a Eail dodge into a
little clump from the water's edge, and in trying to find it I stepped
into the Duck's nest, flushing the bird and partly breaking one of the
s 257
Ducks SWIMMING BIRDS.
eleven eggs it contained. They were uncovered, though embedded in
down, and several were already pipped. The old bird soon came
back to the marsh and suddenly appeared in the clear water from
behind some bushes and tried to entice me away. After cutting
away some of the branches concealing the nest, I started back along
the causeway so as to bring my camera from the lighthouse. I had
gone but a hundred yards or so when another Black Duck appeared
swimming in a clear patch of water far out in the centre of the
marsh. It vanished behind a grassy ridge and then took wing.
Although I had no boots I waded out and examined a tuft of bushes
and grass far back in the direction from which the Duck was swim-
ming. This bird had undoubtedly been startled by the outcries of
the first, and had quietly left her nest, only showing herself when at a
distance. In this nest, fairly covered with down, were four young
already hatched and not dry as yet, and six eggs rapidly hatching in
the hot sun. When I returned to this nest with the camera an hour
later, every egg had hatched and nothing but the empty shells
remained. I could find nowhere the slightest trace of the birds,
young or old."
Green- winged Teal: Anas carolinensis.
Length : 14 inches.
Male and Female : Slightly crested. Head and neck rich chestnut,
with a band of green on either side behind the eyes. Above
waved bars of black and white. Wings dull gray. Speculum
half purplish black and half a rich green, other wing feathers
having chestnut, white, and purplish markings. Below whitish,
turning to pale brown on the breast, clouded with distinct black
spots ; throat and sides waved black and white, like the back.
Bill black ; feet grayish. Female with less green on the wings
and no crest ; mottled brownish above.
Season: Common fall migrant about the Housatonic at Stratford;
September and October.
Breeds : Chiefly north of the United States.
Eange : North America ; migrates south to Honduras and Cuba.
The Teal Ducks are two very small species, with beautiful
plumage and sweet, delicate flesh, which latter quality is
accounted for by the fact that their food is mainly vegeta-
ble, the seeds of numerous grasses, sedges, and other
aquatics, small fruits and berries. They also eat grasshop-
pers and many other insects, and tadpoles as well. They
are preferably fresh-water Ducks.
258
SWIMMING BIRDS. Ducks
Samuels has seen the Green-winged Teal associate with
the Ducks in a farmer's yard or pond, and has known them
to come into the barnyard with tame fowls and share the
corn thrown out for their food. Every fall I have seen them
flying over the garden by twos and threes, evidently mak-
ing their way from the interior toward the coast, which they
follow very closely in their migration. Oftentimes they fly
so low that the peculiar reedy whistling of their wings can
be plainly heard.
Blue- winged Teal: Anas discors.
Length : 15-16 inches.
Male and Female : Bill blackish. Head and neck purplish lead-colour,
black crown, small white crescent before each eye. Back varie-
gated dark brown and yellowish brown, and rump dark greenish
brown. Wing coverts dull sky blue. Speculum beautiful green,
between white bars. Below violet-gray, spotted with black on
the breast and barred on the flanks. Feet light-coloured. Fe-
male much the same, the head being dusky, but retaining the
bright wing markings. Other markings less distinct.
Season : Common in the fall migration with last species.
Breeds : From the northern United States northward.
Range: North America in general, but chiefly east of the Rocky
Mountains ; north to Alaska and south to the West Indies and
northern South America.
Resembling the last species in general habits, but in this
vicinity it is neither as tame nor as plentiful. Though
it prefers fresh ponds, it is more frequently found about
salt creeks than the Green-winged. It has been known to
breed in New England, and Giraud notes it as breeding on
Long Island also.
Pintail: Dafila acuta.
Sprig-tail.
PLATE XIV. FIG. 8.
Length : Variable ; sometimes 30 inches, according to the development
of the tail.
Male : Bill bluish black. Head and half of neck greenish brown ;
black and white stripe on either side of neck. Back and sides
259
Ducks SWIMMING BIRDS.
waved with soft gray and black. Wings generally gray ; specu-
lum purplish green between white, a bar in front, and a black
and white bar behind. Tail long, black and gray. Below
whitish, with black wavings on the sides. Feet lead-blue.
Female: Wing markings faint, only a trace of the speculum; tail
shorter; generally mottled above with black and yellowish
brown ; below pale ochre-brown.
Season : Migrant ; not rare at Stratford, Conn.
Breeds : Northward from the northern United States.
Nest : Of litter on the ground.
Eggs : 6-12, greenish clay colour.
Range : Northern Hemisphere ; migrates south to Panama and Cuba.
Very graceful Ducks of trim build and beautifully mot-
tled feathers, long body and well-poised head. Their flesh
is excellent, and they are much sought after by the sports-
men who go southward for the late fall shooting.
According to Wilson, it is a bird of mud flats and shallow,
fresh-water marshes ; and, unlike other Ducks, which when
alarmed scatter in different directions, the Sprig-tails mount
clustering confusedly together, and thus give the sportsmen
a good opportunity of raking them.
Wood Duck : Aim sponsa.
Summer Duck.
PLATE XIV. FIG. 1.
Length : 18-20 inches.
Male : A sweeping crest of golden green like the head, sides of head
with much purple iridescence. White stripe from reddish bill
to the eye, and from behind eye to throat. Front of neck
and upper breast ruddy, with white specks, other lower parts
white ; a black and white crescent before the wings, sides more
or less waved with black, white, and yellowish. Above brilliant
iridescent hues, purple, bronze, green, etc. ; speculum green.
Feathers on flanks lengthened, and variegated black and white.
Legs and feet yellowish.
Female : Crest slight or wanting. Gray head and neck, below mottled
gray, brown, and white, above glossy brown. Wings like the
male, but the contrasts much reduced.
Note : " Peet-peet, oe eek ! oe eek ! "
Season : A summer resident.
260
SWIMMING BIRDS. Ducks
Breeds : Through its range.
Nest : Usually a feather-lined hollow in a partly decayed tree, near
water and often at a considerable distance from the ground.
Eggs : A dozen or more, varying according to the age of the bird,
either greenish, clay-coloured, or pale buff, and smooth.
Range : North America, wintering in the Southern States.
This is the most beautiful of the native Ducks, taking its
specific name, sponsa, betrothed, from the richness of its
plumage, which gives it a bridal or festive appearance. It
is a fresh-water Duck, and exclusively so in the selection of
its breeding-haunts.
It arrives from the first to the middle of April, and locates
either in deep woods near water, or in narrow wooded belts
that follow the course of small rivers. Sometimes a hole in
a horizontal limb is chosen for the nest that seems far too
small to hold the duck's plump body ; occasionally it utilizes
the hole of an Owl or Woodpecker, the entrance to which
has been enlarged by decay. Many stories are told of their
attachment to their breeding-places, but an incident which
happened a dozen miles from here illustrates it as well as
any. For several years a pair of Wood Ducks had made
their nest in the hollow of a hickory which stood on the
bank, half a dozen yards from Mill River. In preparing to
dam the river near this point in order to supply water to
a neighbouring city, the course of the river was diverted,
leaving the old bed an eighth of a mile behind. The water
might move if it chose, but not the Ducks, who continued to
breed in the old place.
The young are frequently carried in the bill of their
parents from the nest to the water's edge, if the nest is
not directly over the water, where the little birds, who leave
the nest as soon as hatched, can easily drop to it, breaking
their fall by extending their wings.
Audubon says that when the nest is forty yards or more
from water, the young are led in the right direction by
their parents. This must have been the way that the Ducks
I mentioned regained the diverted stream ; for the height
and density of the trees between it and the nest would have
261
Ducks SWIMMING BIRDS.
made it impossible for the parent to fly with a duckling in
her beak.
The drake does not assist in the labours of incubation and
the female is left in the lurch in the same manner as the
Partridge.
SUB-FAMILY FULIGULIN.E: SEA DUCKS. l
Redhead: Aythya americana.
American Pochard.
PLATE XIV. FIG. 3.
Length : 20-23 inches.
Male : Not crested, head and neck a warm chestnut ; bill dull bluish
with black terminal band. Above ash waved with black lines,
giving a silvery hue. Below white, waved with black ; lower
neck, fore parts of body and lower tail coverts blackish. Tail
grayish brown. Wings gray with white specks ; speculum whit-
ish ash, bordered with black.
Female : " Wholly brown forehead and cheeks tinged with red."
Season : A migrant ; rare at Stratford according to Mr. Averill, but I
have seen it several times on the Fairfield marsh- meadows.
Breeds : Northward from California and Maine.
Range : North America.
The common Wild Duck of our markets which often,
when deprived of its identifying feathers, goes masquerad-
ing as the Canvasback, with whom it associates.
Canvasback : Aythya vallisneria.
PLATE XIV. FIG. 9.
Length : 20-22 inches.
Male: Bill blackish, 2| inches long, or not shorter than the head.
Above waved black and white, head tinged with black in front,
and a rich glossy chestnut neck and back to head. A brown-
ish black collar across upper breast, below whitish ; sides dusky.
Tail slatish, feathers pointed. Speculum white.
Season : Rare fall and winter migrant.
1 Feet fully webbed, large flap on hind toe, rapid swimmers, but awk-
ward on land. Feed largely upon animal food, and their flesh, with a
few notable exceptions, is rather coarse if not as rank as the fish-eating
species.
SWIMMING BIRDS/ Ducks
Breeds : From the Northern States northward to Alaska.
Range : Nearly all of North America, wintering from the Chesapeake
southward.
The favourite Duck of dinner parties and suppers, where it
divides the honours with diamond-backed terrapin. The par-
ticular flavour of its flesh, when at certain seasons it feeds on
vallisneria, or wild celery (which is not celery at all, but an
eel-grass) won its fame. But as this eel-grass is a local
plant, not growing all through the range of the Canvas-
back, and as when the celery is lacking it eats frogs, lizards,
tadpoles, fish, etc., a certificate of residence should be sold
with every pair to insure the inspiring flavour.
The biography of this Duck belongs rather to the cook-
book than a bird list, and in fact even its most learned
biographers refer mainly to its eatable qualities, and Dr.
Coues even takes away its character from that standpoint,
saying, "There is little reason for squealing in barbaric
joy over this over-rated and generally underdone bird ; not
one person in ten thousand can tell it from any other duck
on the table, and only then under the celery circumstances."
American Scaup Duck: Aythya marila nearctica.
Broad-bill.
Length : 20 inches.
Male: Heavy, broad, bluish bill. No crest. Above, upper back
glossy black with washes of green and purple. Below white, with
black wavings near the vent. Lower part of back waved with
black and white ; speculum white. Bluish feet ; claws black.
Female : Head and fore parts rusty brown, upper parts rusty black,
with some white wavings. Below white, and a conspicuous
white patch on forehead.
Season : A migrant ; common in March and April, October and Novem-
ber, sometimes wintering.
Breeds : Inland, north from Manitoba.
Eange : North America in general.
An abundant Duck, visiting the bays in great flocks, being
especially abundant about the Chesapeake. As it does not
eat fish, and subsists to some extent upon seeds and tender
263
Ducks SWIMMING BIRDS.
aquatic plants, its flesh is edible, and is prized next to that
of the Canvas-back Duck.
American Golden-eye: Glaucionetta clangula
americana.
Whistler.
Length : 17-20 inches.
Male: Head with puffy feathers, and neck glossy green. Above
blackish ; below generally whitish. Much white on the wings.
Iris golden yellow, a round, white spot before the eye. Feet
orange-coloured ; bill black, tipped with yellow.
Female : Head snuff-brown, upper parts brownish, lower parts marked
with grayish ; less white on wings.
Season : Common winter resident.
Breeds : From Maine northward.
Eange : North America, in winter south to Cuba.
The American Golden-eye and the three following species
are Sea Ducks whose Tank and fishy-smelling flesh excludes
them from the list of Game Ducks. They are seen about the
creeks and beaches at a time when there is little bird life
present, and are interesting on this account. The Whistler
is a title the Golden-eye receives, from the loud noise made
by its wings during flight, which is accomplished with
wonderful velocity.
Bufflehead: Cliaritonetta albeola.
PLATE XIV. FIG. 6.
Length: 12.75-15 inches.
Male: Above black, neck, shoulders, and all below white. Head
puffy, purplish green, with a large white patch on the nape
extending to front of eyes. Wings largely white ; tail black.
Bill short, about 1 inch.
Female: Above blackish with white streak on each side of head,
below whitish.
Season : Winter resident ; November to April.
Breeds : From Maine northward through the Fur Countries to Alaska.
Eange : North America, south in winter to Cuba and Mexico.
A handsomely plumed Duck with a puffy head ; to be
found by inland ponds and rivers that remain unfrozen, as
264
SWIMMING BIRDS. Ducks
well as on the coast. It is a cunning diver, and obtains its
food in this way ; it is said, that the Bufflehead, like the
Grebes and Loons, will dive at the flash of a gun, and re-
main under water with its bill alone visible.
Samuels writes that, "When several of these birds are
together, one always remains on the surface, while the others
are below in search of food, and, if alarmed, it utters a short
quack, when the others rise to the surface, and on ascertain-
ing the cause of the alarm, all dive and swim off rapidly to
the distance of several hundred feet."
Old Squaw: Clangula hy emails.
The Old Wife.
PLATE XIV. FIG. 7.
Length : Depending on the tail development, up to 23 inches.
Male : In winter, head and neck white, with gray cheeks ; above
varied with black and white. Breast blackish; belly white.
Four middle tail feathers blackish and very long. Wings gray-
ish ; no speculum. Bill black, tipped with orange ; feet dark.
Female : Dusky brown, paler on throat, whitish below. White patch
around eye and on side of neck.
Season : Common winter resident.
Breeds : Far north.
Mange : Northern Hemisphere ; in North America south to the Poto-
mac and the Ohio.
A clamouring, noisy Duck, but also having a sonorous
musical voice. It has the same habit of diving as the
Bufflehead, and is even less particular about its food than
the last two species. It locates usually on the reedy creek
bars and inlets from Long Island Sound. Dr. Coues says it
frequents large inland waters ; and Professor Koch, that it is
a visitor on the Susquehanna River in April.
American Scoter : Oidemia americana.
Booby; Sea Coot.
Length : 17-20 inches.
Male : Entire plumage blackish, the back and neck being more or
less glossy. Bill tumid or bulging at base, and parti-coloured.
Canada Goose SWIMMING BIRDS.
Female : Dingy brown, some white on the sides of head, below dirty
white. Dark feet ; bill not swollen.
Season : Fall migrant, staying well into winter.
Breeds : From Labrador northward.
Range : Coasts and larger lakes of northern North America ; south,
in winter, to New Jersey, the Great Lakes, and California.
This Coot has no beauty of plumage either in male or
female, is wonderfully tough and inedible, and is often
sold by unscrupulous gunners to ignorant housewives as
Black Duck. I know of a young housekeeper who bought
a pair under these circumstances. The difficulties began
when the Coots were plucked, every feather offering sepa-
rate resistance. The legs and wings seemed held firm by
brass rivets, and were immovable, and the cook made scep-
tical remarks, which, however, passed unheeded. But when
the "Black Ducks" appeared nicely browned on the table,
the illusion was broken ; it was impossible to carve them ;
even the breast yielded only a creaking chip. The next
day the dog tried one of them, and used it as a plaything
for some time, shaking it, and occasionally giving it a hope-
less gnaw. Then it was removed with the swill, being still
intact, and the man cut it in half with an axe, to see if it
could be done.
All this unscientific research goes to prove that the Amer-
ican Coot is a strongly built and most muscular bird, and
that his use in the world is best known to himself, but that
as a table delicacy he is a failure, and that in one household
the mention of his name is prohibited.
SUB-FAMILY ANSERINE: GEESE.
Canada Goose: Branta canadensis.
Wild Goose.
PLATE XIII. FIG. 3.
Length : 3 feet or more.
Male and Female : Dark ash ; head, neck, and tail black ; cheeks
and throat white ; bill and feet black. Short, rounded tail of
pointed feathers. Wings dark brownish, with paler edges.
Below a dirty white. Bill and feet black. Female paler.
SWIMMING BIRDS. Brant
Season : Familiar winter resident, but most common in the fall mi-
gration, when numbers remain until very cold weather, and
return all through the early spring.
Breeds : Chiefly northward, but sometimes in the northern United
States.
Range : Temperate North America, south in winter to Mexico.
This Wild Goose, even when only seen casually, is easily
identified by its great size, being almost ' twice as large as
the Brant, the only other common species. Its distinctive
mark, other than size, is a broad, white band that extends
like a handkerchief folded cornerwise under its chin and
tied on the top of its head.
The flight of the Goose is heavy, but very impressive.
Geese usually form in two columns, meeting in front on
either side of the experienced leader, forming a wedge. In
the late autumn of 1892, I saw this flock-formation take
place near Weston Mill Pond shortly before dark. The
Geese arose in a straggling column from some cat-tail flags,
in what, to me, seemed the greatest state of confusion, but
before they had gone a hundred feet the line had divided
into the wedge shape, though it was rather irregular. The
honking call seemed to come from several individuals, and
not from the leader alone.
Upon other occasions I have seen small flocks fly over the
meadows in almost a straight line. The honking of Geese
is a strange, unbird-like sound, and when they pass over at
night and you hear the fanning of their wings it seems as
if some sleeping cloud-goblin had awaked himself with a
sudden snore. As these Geese feed mainly upon vegetable
food their flesh is good, and they are perpetually harried
by gunners.
Brant : Branta bernicla.
PLATE XIV. FIG. 5.
Length : About 24 inches.
Male and Female : Head, neck, shoulders, and upper breast dark ash,
white patch on each side of the neck. Back with a brownish
267
Wilson's Petrel SWIMMING BIRDS.
cast, much white in the tail. Under parts brownish gray with
some white. Bill and feet black. Female smaller.
Season : A common coastwise migrant, and in mild seasons a winter
resident along Long Island Sound.
Breeds : In Arctic regions.
Range: Northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere. In North
America chiefly on the Atlantic coast ; rare in the interior or
away from salt water.
This small Goose, hardly larger than the Red-headed
Duck, is the common species of the Atlantic coast. It is
not so well known among amateurs as the Canada Goose,
but this may be accounted for by its sometimes being mis-
taken for a Duck. Its distinguishing mark is the small,
white patch on either side of the top of its glossy, dark neck.
The food of the Brant is like that of the Canada Goose,
but anything older than a bird of the year makes a very
muscular article of food, only to be enjoyed by a jaw that
has grown strong by much arguing, like that of Old Father
William, according to the version of the ballad given in
" Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."
ORDER TUBINARES: TUBE-NOSED
SWIMMERS.
FAMILY PROCELLARIID^E: FULMARS AND SHEAR-
WATERS.
Wilson's Petrel : Oceanites oceanicus.
Stormy Petrel
PLATE XV. FIG. 8.
Length : 8 inches.
Male and Female: Bill black. Above sooty brown, blackening on
wings and tail ; upper tail coverts white. Long black legs, the
foot- webbing spotted with yellow.
Season : A summer resident ; from May to late September.
Breeds : In the South Sea Islands, in January and February, accord-
ing to Mr. F. M. Chapman.
Range: Cosmopolitan.
PLATE XV.
SWIMMING BIRDS. Gulls
The commonest Petrel of the Atlantic coast, from Dela-
ware Bay northward ; it is the most plentiful of the three
" Mother Carey's Chickens." The Petrels seldom visit the
mainland in this locality, but are often seen about light-
houses. They seem like the very spirits of wind and waves,
dropping and whirling, resting a moment in the trough of
the sea, and then off again, tirelessly following in the wake
of vessels. Mr. Judson, the keeper of the Stratford light,
kept one of these Petrels, which he caught, in captivity for
some time.
Another species, Leach's or the White-rumped Petrel, is
common off the New England coast, where it is resident on
some of the islands, off the coast of Maine. It lays a single
egg in a ground burrow. This species is of the same size
and general appearance as Wilson's, bub has much longer
legs.
ORDER LONGIPENNES : LONG-WINGED
SWIMMERS.
FAMILY LAKID^: GULLS AND TERNS.
Kittiwake Gull : JRissa tridactyla.
Length : 16-18 inches.
Male and Female : Bluish gray above (darker in winter), head and
neck gray, and bill light yellow. Under parts pure white. Black
feet, black tips to tail quills.
Season : Winter and late fall visitor in the Middle States. In New
England common off the coast all winter.
Breeds: Gulf of St. Lawrence, Labrador coast, and casually off the
Maine coast.
Nest : By choice on rocky ledges over the water.
Range : Arctic regions, south in eastern North America, in winter, to
the Great Lakes and the Middle States.
The Kittiwake may be regarded as a winter migrant or
visitor along the shore, where it comes in small numbers
early in December, associating with the Herring Gulls, but
it is plentiful from Massachusetts and Ehode Island north-
ward.
269
Gulls SWIMMING BIRDS.
American Herring Gull : Larus argentatus
smithsonianus .
Winter Gull.
PLATE XIV. FIGS. 1, 2, AND 5.
Length : 24-25 inches.
Male and Female: Winter dress: above pure light gray, head and
neck streaked with dusky, under parts and tail white, the latter
having an imperfect dusky bar ; whig coverts mottled with gray.
Bill yellow.
Season : Common winter resident, coming in late October and remain-
ing until March.
Breeds : From the Great Lakes and Maine northward.
Nest : Hollow in the ground lined with a little grass or a few seaweeds.
Eggs : 2-3, ground colour dirty white, tinted with pale blue or green
deepening to brown, with numerous brown and black spots and
markings.
Eange : North America generally, in winter south to Cuba and lower
California.
The common Gull, both of coast and interior, seen in
great flocks about the beaches, and on the flats and sand bars
at low water. Prom middle autumn until the birds in
general are returning in the spring, these Gulls enliven the
solitude of the shore with their chatter, and their shrill^
high-keyed voices can be heard above the waves and storm.
Beside being beautifully plumed and decidedly picturesque
objects in the marine picture, they have an economic value
which appeals even to the most unsentimental minds. They
are excellent scavengers, taking from creeks, bays, and
rivers, as well as from the lakes and open sea, much refuse
that becomes unsavoury if washed ashore and left to decom-
pose.
Laughing Gull : Larus atricilla.
PLATE XV. FIG. 3.
Length : 16.50 inches.
Male and Female : Head and neck dark slate ; bill carmine. Back
slate-colour, divided from the head by the white of the neck.
All under parts white ; also tail coverts. Legs and feet dull
reddish. Young, upper parts gray tinted with various browns,
270
SWIMMING BIRDS. Gulls
mingled with the slate-colour of the adults on the wings, and
clouded with gray on the breast.
Season : A summer visitor ; once a common summer resident on Long
Island, but now rare.
Breeds : Off the Atlantic coast, from Maine to Florida.
Nest : Of dried sea grasses and beach-grass stubbs.
Eggs : 2-3, shaded olive, spotted and splashed irregularly with dull
reddish purple, and black-brown.
Range : Eastern tropical and warm temperate America, chiefly along
the sea-coast, from Maine to Brazil; Pacific coast of middle
America.
This Gull, taking its name from the peculiar quality of its
cry, which, is like a peal of laughter, belongs more commonly
to the coast south of New York than to New England. It
breeds, however, on Muskeget, and Mr. George H. Mackay
gives an account of its habits in The Auk of October, 1893.
He says that formerly they were much more plentiful than
to-day, the same sad story of all the soft-hued Water-birds
who have been hunted even from their sea-bound homes.
But this abuse is somewhat abating, at least, so all bird-
lovers hope, and there are fewer of our native birds seen in
millinery, and the feathers, other than Ostrich-plumes, that
are used now are largely dyed and baked chicken feathers,
twisted into many contortions, or queer birds with celluloid
beaks, ugly enough to make bird-wearing unfashionable.
Many tropical birds, however, are still used in making up
these grotesque adornments.
Bonaparte's Gull: Larus Philadelphia.
PLATE XV. FIG. 6.
Length : 14 inches.
Male and Female : Head and upper neck dark lead-colour ; bill black ;
back "gull-blue." Rump and tail white; also under parts.
Wings white and gull-blue. In winter the head is white, with
dark spots. Legs and feet light red.
Season : Common migrant in spring and fall, and sometimes winters.
Breeds : Mostly north of the United States.
Range : Whole of North America ; south, in winter, to Mexico and
Central America.
271
Terns SWIMMING BIRDS.
A very handsome little Gull, with a darting, skimming
flight, resembling that of the common Tern or Sea Swallow.
It passes up the Sound in scattering flocks in early spring
(Mr. Averill having noted large flocks April 21, 1888), and
is frequently seen in the autumn, while individuals appear
at intervals during the summer. It feeds upon insects and
large beetles, as well as marine food.
Common Tern: Sterna hirundo.
Sea Swallow.
PLATE XV. FIG. 4.
Length: 14.50 inches.
Male and Female : Bill long, coral-red at base, black toward end and
tipped with yellow. Upper head and back of neck black.
Entire back and wings light gray with a bluish wash. Tail
coverts, most of tail, and wing linings white ; belly and sides
of breast grayish white ; other lower parts white. Legs and
feet light red.
Season : Summer resident, breeding about the eastern part of Long
Island Sound.
Breeds : From the Arctic coast, somewhat irregularly to Florida and
Texas.
Nest : None ; eggs laid on the sand and indistinguishable from those
of other species.
Range : Greater part of the Northern Hemisphere. In North America
chiefly confined to the Eastern Province, and wintering from
Texas and Florida to southward.
The characteristics of this Tern are the black cap, coral-
red bill, legs, and feet.
The Terns are not distinctly different from the Gulls, the
size of some being identical; but the Terns have a more
trig, thoroughbred build, and bear the same relation to the
more ponderous Gulls that a yacht does to a trading-craft
of equal tonnage. The Terns have long, sharply pointed
wings that give them a Swallow-like dash in flying either
over the surface of the water when fishing, or above the
reed beds when searching for insects, some species being
partly insectivorous. This free, angled flight has given this
species the name of Sea Swallow.
272
SWIMMING BIRDS. Terns
When flying over the water in fishing, they hold their
beaks at right angles with their bodies, instead of poking
them forward like the Herons, which attitude makes them,
Dr. Cones says, " curiously like colossal mosquitoes."
Terns were very plentiful twenty years ago, but the per-
secution for millinery purposes has thinned the ranks piti-
fully ; and the survivors keep more and more aloof, until it
seems as if an absolute change in the bird's range will be
the result.
Muskeget Island, northeast of Nantucket, is a breeding-
place for these Terns, as well as many other Water-birds,
and there is a guardian on the island to see that they are
protected, especially in the breeding-season. A friend who
visited Muskeget last July, told me that everywhere on the
sand there were eggs in groups of two and three, and young
Terns in various stages of growth, who were so tame that
they allowed him to handle them as readily as kittens. The
heat of the sun keeps the eggs warm in the daytime, and as
soon as they are hatched the young birds go down to the
water's edge and feed upon a glutinous substance that is
washed up. The adults go in enormous flocks to Nantucket
every morning and spend the day in the harbour and little
bays, feeding upon the wastage of the island, returning to
Muskeget at dusk.
Roseate Tern : Sterna dougalli.
Length : 14-15 inches.
Male and Female : Bill black, yellow at tip, and reddish at base.
Black cap, and long head feathers ; back of neck white, also
entire under parts white with a rosy wash. Wings varied, gray,
tail pearl-gray. Feet and legs yellowish red.
Season : A rare summer resident.
Breeds : Casually along the Atlantic coast to Maine.
Eange : Temperate and tropical regions, north on the Atlantic coast of
North America to Massachusetts, and casually to Maine.
A rarely beautiful species, not often seen north of New
England, but breeding with the Common Tern at Muskeget,
and hardly daring to show its rosy breast to the vandals
T 273
Terns SWIMMING BIRDS.
in unprotected lands. I quote the following, relative to
the protection of these birds, from Mr. F. M. Chapman:
" Through the efforts of a number of bird-lovers, who raised
a sum of money for the purpose, permission has been
obtained from the Lighthouse Board to have the light-keeper
on Little Gull Island appointed a special game-keeper,
whose duty it shall be to protect the Terns on Great Gull
Island." A few days later, in reading a copy of Our
Animal Friends for December, 1894 (the humanizing monthly
magazine of the American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals), I saw the ensuing statement, which
supplements Mr. Chapman's very opportunely :
" We have received a report from Mr. Dutcher, 1 which lies
before us and contains much interesting information. Mr.
Dutcher says : ' I take pleasure in reporting that, during
the season of 1894, protection was given to the colony of
Terns on Great Gull Island, New York, during the breeding-
season. In 1886 the island was visited, and a colony of from
three to four thousand Terns was found there, but it was a
common practice for persons to visit the island and shoot
the birds, taking the eggs for various purposes, principally,
however, for eating. Subsequently it was ascertained that
the colony was decreasing year by year, and the necessity
of protection became apparent if it was not to be entirely
destroyed, as many others have been on the Long Island
coast. 7 In a letter, dated October 4, Captain Field reports
the result of one single year's protection to be most satis-
factory. The increase of the Tern colony at the close of
the season is estimated to have been from one thousand to
fifteen hundred birds, or, in other words, the colony has
been increased by one-half."
1 Mr. William Dutcher, through whose efforts mainly the Terns were
taken under protection of the A. O. U., the Linnean Society, and the
A. S. P.O. A.
274
SWIMMING BIRDS. Dovekie
Least Tern: Sterna antillarum
Length : 9 inches.
Male and Female : Legs and bill yellow. Crown black ; black wings ;
tail, and rump gull-blue. A few outer wing feathers black ;
below white.
Season : A migrant, formerly a summer resident along the Atlantic
coast.
Breeds : Casually through its range.
Range : Northern South America northward to California and New
England and casually to Labrador.
The smallest of the Terns, living upon fish and insects.
It flocks about inland waters as well as on the Atlantic and
some parts of the Pacific coast. It is a rather southerly
species, but was once a common summer resident along the
eastern shore. Its eggs are laid in the sand like those of
other species, and differ from them in sometimes having the
spots wreathed around the larger end, while the smaller is
almost plain.
ORDER PYGOPODES: DIVING BIRDS.
FAMILY ALCID^E: AUKS, PUFFINS, MURRES, ETC.
Dovekie: A lie alle.
Sea Dove; Little Auk.
PLATE XV. FIG. 7.
Length : 8-9 inches.
Male and Female : Short, thick, black bill. Above dark brown with
some white on wings ; below generally whitish.
Season : A winter migrant of varying rarity.
Breeds : In the Arctic regions.
Range : Coasts and islands of the North Atlantic and eastern Arctic
oceans ; in winter North America south to New Jersey.
An off-shore bird of heavy build and singular appear-
ance, to be seen about lighthouses and barren bits of coast
from New Jersey north. It is properly a coastwise bird,
but there are accounts of its being driven far inland by
storms.
275
Loons SWIMMING BIRDS.
FAMILY URINATORID.E : LOONS.
Lioon : Urinator imber.
Great Northern Diver.
PLATE XIII. FIG. 10.
Length: 31-36 inches.
Male and Female: Head, throat, and neck iridescent green, blue,
and purplish. Triangular patches of black and white streaks
on either side of the throat, almost joining at the back and nar-
rowing in front. Above spotted black and white. Breast
streaked on sides with black and white ; under parts white.
Bill dark yellowish green.
Season : Winter resident ; most common, however, in the migrations
September to May.
Breeds : Northward from the northern tier of States.
Range : Northern part of Northern Hemisphere ; ranges, in winter,
south to the Gulf of Mexico.
This Loon appears here more as a wandering visitor than
a winter resident, for those who remain after the general
migration are constantly shifting about. Its plumage is
very rich and velvety, though, as in the case of so many
Water-birds which we see only in the autumn and winter,
the fully plumed adult males are in the minority, and the
more dully feathered young predominate.
The Loon dives and swims in the same manner as the
Grebes. It only inhabits the interior while the lakes and
rivers remain unfrozen.
Bed-throated Loon : Urinator lumme.
Length : 25 inches.
Male and Female : Blue-gray forehead, chin, upper throat, and sides
of head ; crown and general upper parts dull black, with a
glossy greenish wash and streaked and mottled with white. A
triangle of rusty red on the front of neck. White below. Bill
black.
Season : Winter resident ; fairly common.
Breeds : In high latitudes.
Range : Northern part of Northern Hemisphere ; migrating southward
in winter, nearly across the United States.
276
SWIMMING BIRDS. Grebes
Smaller than the Great Diver, having a reddish brown
throat patch as a mark of identification, which, however, is
lacking in the young of the year. This Red-throated Loon
is the species most usually seen here, but it is neither a par-
ticularly handsome or conspicuous bird.
FAMILY PODICIPID^E: GREBES.
Horned Grebe : Colymbus auritus.
PLATE XIII. FIGS. 5, 6, AND 7.
Length : 14 inches.
Male and Female : In spring, prominent crests forming two yellow-
brown horns ; rest of head puffy and glossy black. Above dark
brown, with edgings of gray and black. Neck, upper breast,
and sides rusty brown ; some white on wings. Young without
horns ; neck and lower parts whitish. Bill black, with yellow
tip.
Season : A winter resident, and a plentiful migrant in spring and fall.
Breeds : North from the northern United States.
Nest and Eggs : The buffy white eggs are deposited on decayed reed-
beds, and sometimes on floating masses of reeds.
Range : Northern Hemisphere.
These curiously constructed birds are expert swimmers,
but very helpless on land. They have no tails to speak
of, and in the breeding-season wear variously feathered
head-dresses which give them a ludicrous appearance, and
make them veritable caricatures. But if you presume upon
this apparent stupidity, and try to approach them, you will
be very much surprised at the speed with which they slip
from the shore and dive out of sight ; not with a splash,
but sinking like lead, and escaping by swimming under
water, with the head alone visible. When inhabiting the
coast the Grebes live upon fish, but when inland they sub*
sist upon fresh-water newts, frogs, insects, and sometimes
the seeds of grasses.
277
Grebes SWIMMING BIRDS.
Pied-billed Grebe : Podilymbus podiceps.
Dipper; Dabchick.
Length : 13 inches.
Male and Female: Some bristling frontal feathers, but no regular
horns. Above dark brown, showy black markings on chin and
throat. Breast and lower throat yellowish brown, irregularly
spotted and barred, on the upper parts, lower parts glossy
white. Wings brown, gray, and white. Bill spotted with blue,
white, and dusky, and crossed by a black band, hence Pied-
billed.
Season : Common migrant, on Housatonic Kiver in September and
October.
Breeds : Through range.
Nesting : Habits similar to the last species.
Mange : British Provinces, southward to Brazil, Buenos Ayres, and
Chili, including the West Indies and the Bermudas.
The most common Grebe on the eastern coast, and, though
said to breed through its range, is not noted as a resident
hereabout. It frequents fresh water, even more freely than
salt, and Dr. Langdon gives an interesting account of its
inland breeding-habits in his " Summer Birds in an Ohio
Marsh " : " The little floating island of decaying vegetation,
held together by mud and moss, which constitutes the nest
of this species, is a veritable ornithological curiosity.
Imagine a ' pancake ' of what appears to be mud, measuring
twelve or fifteen inches in diameter, and rising two or three
inches above the water, which may be from one to three feet
in depth; anchor it to the bottom with a few concealed
blades of i saw grass/ in a little open bay, leaving its cir-
cumference entirely free; remove a mass of wet muck from
its rounded top, and you expose seven or eight soiled,
brownish white eggs, resting in a depression, the bottom of
which is less than an inch from the water ; the whole mass
is constantly damp. This is the nest of the Dabchick, who
is out foraging in the marsh, or, perhaps, is anxiously
watching us from some safe corner near by. . . . During
278
SWIMMING BIRDS. Grebes
the day we invariably found the eggs concealed by a cover-
ing of muck as above described ; but as we ascertained by
repeated visits at night, and in the early morning, they are un-
covered at dusk by the bird, who incubates them until the
morning sun relieves her of her task."
279
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
PAGE
SECTION I. LAND BIRDS (SONG-BIRDS, ETC.) . . 283
SECTION II. BIRDS OF PREY (HAWKS AND OWLS) . 296
SECTION III. GAME, SHORE, AND WATER BIRDS . . 299
(The descriptions in this key are of the male bird in
spring plumage, except in the case of those birds that
we see only in winter. The variations of the female
are noted in the detailed biographies.)
SECTION I. LAND BIRDS.
PAGE
A. BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY RED OR ORANGE 283
B. BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLUE 284
C. BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY YELLOW 285
D. BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK, DUSKY, OR DARK GRAY . . . 287
B. BROWN OR BROWNISH BIRDS, OF VARIOUS SIZES AND
MARKINGS 289
F. DAINTILY PLUMED SMALL BIRDS FEEDING ABOUT THE
BRANCHES AND TERMINAL SHOOTS OF TREES 292
G. TREE-CREEPING BIRDS OF VARIOUS SIZES, SEEN UPON THE
TRUNKS AND BRANCHES, FEEDING UPON BARK INSECTS . 293
H. WINTER BIRDS OF MEADOWS AND UPLANDS 294
I. BIRDS OF THE AIR, CONSTANTLY ON THE WING, FEEDING AS
THEY FLY 295
A. BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY RED OR ORANGE.
1. Entire breast and belly pale brick-red. Above olive-gray, head
black. Wings dark brown; tail black, with white spots on
the two outer quills. Throat streaked with black and white,
white eyelids. Bill yellow, dusky at tip ; feet dark.
American Robin. See page 64.
2. Above brilliant blue-black, white belly, sides of body and wing
linings orange-salmon. Bill and feet black.
American Redstart. See page 11".
3. Rich scarlet, wings and feet black.
Scarlet Tanager. See page 131.
4. Above strawberry-red with some gray neckings ; wings and tail
brown ; heavy blackish bill ; feet dark. Winter bird.
Pine Grosbeak. See page 133.
6. General colour Indian-red ; wings and tail brownish. Beak dis-
tinctly crossed at tip. Winter bird of pine trees.
American Crossbill. See page 137.
283
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
6. Red, conspicuously crested. Black throat and band around beak.
Beak light red ; feet brown.
Cardinal. See page 161.
7. Black head, throat, and upper half of back. Wings black, larger
coverts tipped and inner feathers edged with white. Middle
tail quills black, everywhere else orange-flame. Feet and bill
slatish black.
Baltimore Oriole. See page 173.
8. Throat and breast orange-flame colour, lower parts tinged with
yellow. Black head striped with flame ; black wings and tail
with white markings, black streaks on breast. Bill and feet
dark.
Blackburnian Warbler. See page 103.
9. Breast rose-carmine, which colour extends under the wings.
Above black; belly, rump, three outer tail quills, and two
spots on wings white. Heavy brown bill.
Rose-breasted Grosbeak. See page 162.
10. Crown, chin, and throat bright red. Above black, white, and
yellowish ; below greenish yellow. Tail black, white on the
middle feathers, white edge to wing coverts. A tree-creeper.
Bill pointed, about as long as head.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. See page 198.
11. Head, neck, and throat crimson. Back, wings, and tail bluish
black. White below, much white on wings, and white rump.
A tree-creeper. Bill horn-coloured.
Red-headed Woodpecker. See page 199.
B. BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLUE.
1. Azure-blue above. Wings blue with blackish tips, upper breast
brick-red, lower parts white. Bill and feet black.
Bluebird. See page 66.
2. Deep blue, in some lights having a greenish cast. Wings and tail
washed thinly with brownish. Bill dark above.
Indigo Bunting. See page 164.
3. Lead-blue above; head finely crested ; wing coverts and tail bright
blue, barred with black. Below grayish white with a black
collar.
Blue Jay. See page 177.
4. Above lead-blue^ variegated with black. Below whitish, two dull
blue bands across breast. Long crest ; straight bill longer than
head.
Belted Kingfisher. See page 204.
284
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
C. BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY YELLOW.
* WARBLERS. Small wood-birds with slender bills, much
varied plumage, and (as a rule) weak voices.
1 . Forehead and under parts clear yellow. Dark stripe through eye ;
bill bluish black. Above olive-green ; wings slaty blue with
white bars. Feet dark.
Blue-winged Warbler. See page 9O.
2. Clear yellow below, which remains constant all the season. Above
olive-green, brightening on the rump and shoulders. Slate-
gray head and neck. No bars on wings or tail, which are
brownish. Bill and feet dark.
Nashville Warbler. See page 91.
3. Above slate-blue, triangular spot of greenish yellow back of
shoulders. Chin and throat yellow. Wings brownish with
two white bars, two white spots on tail. White belly, reddish
brown band across breast. Bill dark above, flesh-coloured
below ; feet light.
Parula Warbler. See page 93.
4. Above rich olive-yellow, breast and under parts golden yellow.
Breast streaked with cinnamon-brown. Bill lead-coloured ;
feet light brown.
Yellow Warbler. See page 94.
5. Crown, sides of breast, and rump yellow. Above slate colour,
striped and streaked with black ; below whitish ; upper breast
black. Bill and feet black.
Myrtle Warbler. See page 96.
6. Bump and under parts rich yellow, the latter streaked with black
on the breast and sides. Above dark olive, wings barred with
white. Bill and feet dark.
Magnolia Warbler. See page 97
7. Back and crown bright olive-yellow, sides and front of head clear
yellow. Throat and upper breast black, black continued in
a. stripe down the sides. White below. Bill and feet dark.
Black-throated Green Warbler. See page 1058.
8. Above bright yellowish olive, clear yellow below with dark
streaks on sides.
Pine Warbler. See page 1O3.
9. Under parts clear yellow with bright chestnut streaks on the
sides. Chestnut crown. Brownish above. Rump yellowish.
Bill and feet dark.
Yellow Palm Warbler. See page 104.
285
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
10. Under parts rich yellow, yellow streak running from nostril back
of eye, and two yellow wing bands. Colours much mixed
above, olive, green, or yellow ; chestnut streaks forming
patch across back ; sides of neck and body streaked with
black.
Prairie Warbler. See page 105.
11. Rich yellow lower breast and belly. Decidedly marked gray
head and neck, the rest of upper parts yellowish olive.
Throat and upper breast usually black, veiled with ash-gray.
Wings and tail glossy olive-green. Upper mandible dark,
lower mandible and feet flesh-coloured.
Mourning Warbler. See page 11O.
12. Under parts, including wing and tail coverts, yellow, grading to
white on middle of belly. Above olive, head masked with
black. Bill black ; flesh-coloured feet.
Maryland Yellow-throat. See page 11O.
13. Brilliant yellow throat, breast, and wing linings. Olive-green
above ; strong, curving blue-black bill ; feet lead-coloured.
(Larger than the preceding species, voice strong.)
Yellow-breasted Chat. See page 113.
14. Yellow face, and under parts ; black hood, chin, and upper breast ;
above rich olive. Bill black ; feet light.
Hooded Warbler. See page 113.
15. Above olive-yellow ; under parts rich yellow, shading to olive on
the sides. Black cap. Bill dark above, lower mandible and
feet light.
Wilson's Warbler. See page 114.
16. Above ash-blue, crown spotted with arrow-shaped black marks
blending on the brow. Below pure yellow with a showy
necklace of black longitudinal streaks on the breast. Yellow
line over eye, black patch under it. Bill dark ; feet flesh-
coloured.
Canadian Warbler. See page 114.
** Birds with thicker sparrow-like bills.
17. Body, all but wings, tail, and frontlet, clear gamboge yellow.
Frontlet black ; wings black, varied with white.
American Goldfinch. See page 140.
*** Large ground-feeding birds.
18. Under parts bright yellow, black throat crescent. Much varie-
gated above, general colour brown. Bill stout and straight,
strong legs, a walker. A ground feeder and meadow bird.
Meadowlark. See page 17O.
286
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
D. BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK, DUSKY, OR DARK
GRAY.
1. Above olive-gray; head black. Wings dark brown; tail black,
with white spots on the two outer quills. Entire breast and
belly pale brick-red. Throat streaked with black and white ;
white eyelids. Bill yellow, dusky at tip ; feet dark.
American Robin. See page 64.
2. Gray above; wings brownish gray, white spot on outer edge.
Breast grayish white ; tail brownish, three outer quills white.
Night singer.
Mockingbird. See page 76.
3. Clear, deep slate above ; under parts light gray. Crown and tail
black ; vent rust-red.
Catbird. See page 78.
4. Dark bluish slate all over, except lower breast and belly, which
are grayish white, and form a vest. Several outer tail feathers
white, which are conspicuous in flying. Bird of autumn and
winter.
Slate-coloured Junco. See page 155.
5. Head, neck, breast, back, and middle tail feathers black. Belly
and spots on outer tail feathers white. Sides light bay. Red
eyes, black bill, light-brown feet.
Towhee. See page 16O.
6. Above black ; belly, rump, three outer tail quills, and two spots
on wings white. Breast rose-carmine, which colour extends
under the wings.
Hose-breasted Grosbeak. See page 162.
7. Above bluish ash, lighter on the rump and shoulders ; below light
gray, waved with darker lines. Black bar on each side of
head ; wings and tail black, outer quills of latter white-tipped.
Blackish beak ; legs bluish black. Winter bird.
Northern Shrike. See page 123.
8. Slack head, chin, tail, and under parts. Buff patch on back of
neck; also buff edges to some tail feathers. Rump and upper
wing coverts white. Bill brown. Meadow bird.
Bobolink. See page 165.
9. Body flat and compact. Above slate-blue ; top of head and nape
black. Wings blackish, edged with slate; belly white, grow-
ing rusty toward vent. Bill dark lead colour ; feet dark brown.
Tree-creepers ; most conspicuous in autumn and winter.
White-breasted Nuthatch. See page 73.
287
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
10. Above striped black and white. Breast white in middle, black
stripes on sides. Wings and tail black, with white markings ;
bill and feet black. Small tree-creeping bird.
Black-and-white Creeper. See page 88.
11. Above black and white; white stripe on middle of back, red cres-
cent on back of head. Under parts grayish white; wings
black and white. Bill sharp, stout, and straight, nearly as
long as head. Tree-creeping bird.
Hairy Woodpecker. See page 196.
12. Closely resembling the last species, but smaller. Wings and tail
barred with white. A tree-creeper.
Downy Woodpecker. See page 198.
13. Whole head and neck, tail, and part of wings black. Breast,
rump, and shoulders chestnut-brown. Whitish wing band,
and some feathers edged with white. Rounded black tail,
edged with lighter. Bill and feet bluish black.
Orchard Oriole. See page 171.
14. Small birds, feeding among tree branches. Crested, with black
frontlet. Above ash-gray, wings and tail darker, sides of head
dull white. Under parts whitish with brownish wash on sides.
Bill lead-black ; feet lead colour.
Tufted Titmouse. See page 71.
15. Feeding as last species. Conspicuous bird of autumn and winter.
No crest ; above gray with a brownish tinge ; crown, throat,
and neck black. Cheeks white. Below white, shading to gray
with a brownish wash. Wings and tail gray with white
edgings. Bill and feet lead-black.
Chickadee. See page 72.
16. Black cap, grayish white cheeks, general upper parts striped gray,
black, and olive. Breast white with black streaks. White
spots on outer tail feathers.
Black-poll Warbler. See page 101.
* Typical Blackbirds.
17. Head, throat, and shoulders glistening, dark brown; all other
parts iridescent black. A walker. Bill dark brown; feet
rusty black.
Cowbird. See page 167.
18. Rich blue-black ; scarlet shoulders, edged with yellow.
Red-winged Blackbird. See page 169.
19. In breeding plumage, glossy, black with metallic glints, and a
rusty wash. In autumn rust-coloured. Bill and feet dark.
Rusty Blackbird, See page 175.
288
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
20. Glossy, metallic black, iridescent tints on head, tail, and wings.
Tail long; feet black.
Purple Grackle. See page 175.
** Crows.
21. Large bird, glossy, purplish black. Wings appear saw-toothed
in flying, tail extending beyond wings. Bill and feet black.
American Crow. See page 178.
22. Smaller than last species. Glossy, purplish black, chin un-
feathered.
Fish Crow. See page 179.
*** Birds of the air, dashing from their perch to seize insects.
23. Above dark ash ; head, wings, and tail black ; orange-red streak
on poll. Beneath grayish white, darkest on breast, tail
terminating in a white band.
Kingbird. See page 183.
**** Birds of the air feeding on the wing.
24. A sooty-brown, swallow-like bird, building in chimneys. Wings
longer than tail, which is nearly even, the shafts of the quills
ending in sharp spines.
Chimney Swift. See page 193.
E. BROWN OR BROWNISH BIRDS, OF VARIOUS SIZES
AND MARKINGS.
* Brown or olive backs; rather long, slender bills. Lightish
breasts, more or less speckled. All fine songsters, run-
ning or hopping on the ground.
1. Above tawny-brown, deepest on head ; whitish eye ring. Sides of
throat light buff, middle of throat, breast, and belly white,
sprinkled on the sides with heart-shaped dark brown spots.
Bill dark brown ; feet flesh-coloured.
Wood Thrush. See page 57.
2. Above evenly tawny. Throat buff, flecked on sides with fine arrow-
shaped brown spots. Under parts white ; no eye ring ; feet
light.
Wilson's Thrnsh. See page 58.
3. Head and back uniform olive-brown. Throat buff and slightly
speckled ; sides dull grayish white. Cheeks gray ; no eye ring.
Bill slender.
Gray-cheeked Thrush. See page 60.
u 289
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
4. Above olive-brown. Buff breast and throat, deepening in colour
on the sides, and speckled everywhere but on the centre ;
breast with blackish spots. Yellowish eye ring. Dark bill ;
feet pale brown.
Olive-backed Thrush. See page 61.
5. Above olive-brown, reddening on the rump and tail. Throat,
neck, and sides of breast washed with buff and thickly sprinkled
arrowheads. Under parts white ; yellowish eye ring. Bill
blackish above, lower mandible light ; feet light brown.
Hermit Thrush. See page 62.
6. Long bird. Above reddish brown, beneath yellowish white, with
brown spots on breast and sides. Very long tail ; two light
bars on wings. Bill black, lower mandible yellow at base ;
feet light.
Brown Thrasher. See page 8O.
7. Above dark olive-brown. Tail and wings brownish black ; several
outer tail feathers partly or wholly white. White eye ring,
and line over the eye. Under parts whitish, with washes of
various shades of brown. Bill dark ; feet brown. A bird
of fields and waysides, seen in late autumn and spring.
American Pipit. See page 87.
8. Olive-brown above ; whitish eye ring ; two brown stripes on head,
enclosing a dull orange crown. White below, with brownish
spots in the centre of breast running into streaks on the sides.
Brown bill ; legs and feet flesh-coloured.
Ovenbird. See page 106.
9. Above, including wings and tail, plain olive-brown. Under parts
sulphur-yellow, speckled everywhere, except a space in the
middle of belly, with dark brown. Bill and feet dark.
Water Thrush. See page 108.
10. Above grayish brown, with a brown crown, and white line over
the eye. Creamy white breast sparingly streaked with brown.
Peculiarly heavy dark bill ; legs light.
Louisiana Water Thrush. See page 108.
** Brownish birds of very small size, with slender bills. Backs
usually barred with browns and grays. Tails held erect.
11. Chestnut-brown above, wings and tail barred with clear brown.
Under parts buffy. Bill straight and dark, same length as
head ; feet dusky flesh colour.
Carolina Wren. See page 82.
290
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
12. Dark brown above, minutely barred with blackish. Under parts
gray, with brownish wash and faint bandings. Fairly long
tail. Bill black above, lower mandible light ; feet brown.
House Wren. See page 83.
13. Colour similar to last species, except the under parts, which are
rusty and dimly, but finely, barred with dark. Tail and bill
short ; the latter dark and slender.
Winter Wren. See page 84.
14. Above brown. Crown and part of back streaked with black and
white. White beneath, washed with rusty across breast and
along sides. Wings and tail barred. Very short bill.
Short-billed Marsh Wren. See page 85.
15. Above clear brown, whitish line over eye, neck and back streaked
sparingly with white. Wings and tail brown; the latter
barred. Bill nearly as long as head.
Liong-billed Marsh Wren. See page 86.
*** Sparrow-like birds, with stout bills. General plumage
brown, gray, or rusty, much streaked and spotted, and
occasionally washed with reddish purple. One species
has a "white throat and one a white crown.
Finch Family. See page 133.
**** Birds with soft, Quaker-coloured plumage of browns and
drabs ; not barred, striped, or spotted.
A. Crested ; short, blunt, broad, black bill.
16. Black frontlet. Crest, breast, throat, wings, and tail purplish ash.
Secondary wing quills tipped with waxy red points. Tail
feathers banded with yellow, and sometimes tipped with red,
like the wings.
Cedar Waxwing. See page 124.
B. Not crested; head about the same length as long curving bill.
Tail long.
17. Powerful bill ; lower mandible yellow. Above olive, with gray
and metallic tints. Two middle tail feathers olive, outer
quills black, with conspicuous white spots. Wings washed
with bright cinnamon. Under parts grayish white.
Yellow-billed Cuckoo. See page 202.
18. Above general colouring same as last species. Black bill, red
eyelids. White spots on tail inconspicuous.
Black-billed Cuckoo. See page 203.
291
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
***** Mottled brown and black birds (other than true Hawks
and Owls) flying and feeding chiefly at twilight and night.
19. A long- winged bird of twilight and night. Large mouth, fringed
with bristles. Plumage dusky and Owl-like, much spotted
with black and gray. Wings mottled with shades of brown.
Lower half of outer tail quills white.
Whip-poor-will. See page 190.
20. A bird of day, as well as of night. Mottled black and rusty above ;
the breast finely barred and with a V-shaped white spot on
throat. Wings brown, a large white spot extending entirely
through them, conspicuous in flight. White bar on tail.
Night hawk. See page 191.
P. DAINTILY PLUMED SMALL BIRDS FEEDING ABOUT
THE BRANCHES AND TERMINAL SHOOTS OF TREES.
1. Tiny bird of autumn and winter. Flame-coloured crown spot,
edged with yellow and enclosed by black line. Above olive-
green and yellowish olive, which is more decided on wings,
rump, and tail. Whitish line over eye ; under parts yellow-
ish gray. Bill and feet black.
Golden-crowned Kinglet. See page 68.
2. Small bird with vermilion spot on crown. Ash-gray head ; back
olive-gray, yellower on tail. Breast and under parts yellowish
gray. Edges of eyelids whitish. Bill black ; feet dark brown.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet. See page 69.
3. Head yellowish brown ; black stripe on each side of crown, also
back of eye. Above greenish olive ; under parts buffy. Bill
and feet light.
Worm-eating Warbler. See page 89.
4. Yellow crown and wing coverts. Above bluish gray. Chin,
throat, and eye stripe black. Below slaty white tinged with
yellowish. Bill and feet blackish.
Golden-winged Warbler. See page 9O.
6. Top of head yellow. Black stripe running through the eye, and
a black spot in front of it. Back and wing coverts streaked
black and yellow. Throat and breast white with chestnut
stripe, starting at the black mustache and extending down the
sides. Bill black ; feet brown.
Chestnut-sided Warbler. See page 98.
292
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
6. Above bluish slate rather than blue, lighter on forehead. Black
throat, terminating in a line down the sides. White spot on
wings ; outer tail feathers white spotted. White beneath.
Bill and feet dark.
Black-throated Blue Warbler. See page 95.
7. Above streaked with black and grayish olive. Forehead, cheeks,
and sides of head black, enclosing a chestnut patch. Chin,
throat, and upper breast, and a streak along the sides dull
chestnut. White cross-bars on wings, and white spots on tail.
Bill and feet dark.
Bay-breasted Warbler. See page 99.
* Birds with bills slightly hooked at tip ; plumage olive above
and white or yellowish below; feeding in the trees;
loud and constant singers.
Vireo Family. See page 116.
G. TREE-CREEPING BIRDS OF VARIOUS SIZES, SEEN UPON
THE TRUNKS AND BRANCHES, FEEDING UPON IN-
SECTS AND THE LARVAE IN THE BARK.
1. Body flat and compact. Above slate-blue, head and hind neck
black. Wings blackish, edged with slate. Belly white, rusty
toward vent. Most conspicuous in autumn and winter.
White-breasted Nuthatch. See page 73.
2. Above lead-coloured, brownish on wings and tail. Crown and sides
of head and neck black. Under parts rust-red. Bill lead
colour, feet lead-brown. Bird of autumn and winter.
Red-breasted Nuthatch. See page 74.
3. Above brown and white striped, the brown being of several
shades, growing reddish on rump. Throat, breast, and belly
grayish white ; tail pale brown. Slender, curving bill. Bird of
late autumn and winter.
Brown Creeper. See page 75.
4. Small bird. Above striped black and white. Breast white in
middle, black stripes on sides. Wings and tail black, with
white markings. Bill and feet black.
Black-and-white Creeper. See page 88.
6. Above black and white, white stripe on middle of back, red stripe
on head. Under parts grayish white ; wings black and white.
Bill blunt, stout, and straight, nearly as long as head.
Hairy Woodpecker. See page 1O6.
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
6. Closely resembling the last species, but smaller. Wings and tail
barred with white.
Downy Woodpecker. See page 198.
7. Above black, white, and yellowish ; below greenish yellow. Tail
black, white on the middle feathers, white edge to wing
coverts. Crown, chin, and throat bright red. Bill about as
long as head, more pointed and slender than last species.
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker. See page 198.
8. Head, neck, and throat crimson. Back, wings, and tail bluish
black. White below, much white on wings and white rump.
Bill about as long as head.
Red-headed Woodpecker. See page 199.
9. Above golden brown, barred with black. Black crescent on breast,
red band on back of head. Round black spots on belly ; black
cheek patch. Wing linings gamboge-yellow, rump white. Bill
slender, curving, and pointed.
Flicker. See page 20O.
H. WINTER BIRDS OF MEADOWS AND UPLANDS.
1. Soft brown and white plumage ; bill and feet black. Birds seen
in large flocks, feeding upon seed-stalks that rise above the
snow.
Snowflake. See page 142.
2. Top of head black, edged with rusty ; black above, with feathers
all edged with white. Below grayish, with faint black mark-
ings. Legs and feet black, with a long hind claw or spur.
Birds of meadows, stubble-fields, and the shore.
Lapland Longspur. See page 144.
3. Upper parts with a pinkish cast, most marked on neck and rump.
Black crescent on breast ; black bar in front of head, extending
to side of head, forming two tufts or horns. Frontlet, throat,
and fore-neck pale yellowish. Below whitish, streaked with
black.
Horned Lark. See page 180.
4. Head, breast, and rump washed with rich crimson over a ground of
gray and brown. Back, wings, and tail dusky ; dusky white
beneath. Tail short and forked ; wings long and pointed.
Crimson wash not conspicuous as the bird flies.
Redpoll. See page 138
294
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
I. BIRDS OF THE AIR, CONSTANTLY UPON THE WING
AND FEEDING AS THEY FLY.
* With plumage more or less iridescent or tinted with metallic
colours.
a. Birds flying over low meadows, streams, and beaches ; tails more
or less forked; wings sharply pointed. Bills dark, widely
triangular.
Swallow Family. See page 125.
b. Very small birds, feeding about flowers ; bill long and needle-like.
Metallic green above, grayish below ; glistening ruby throat,
and deeply forked tail.
Ruby-throated Hummingbird. See page 194.
** Plumage not iridescent or metallic, but sooty brown, olive,
or grayish above, and white, gray, or yellowish below.
c. A Swallow-like bird, building in chimneys. Deep sooty brown.
Wings longer than the tail, which is nearly even, the shafts of
the quills ending in sharp spines.
Swift Family. See page 193.
d. Birds of small and medium size, with plumage ranging through
browns and olive, with yellow or gray breasts, with and without
erectile crests. Perching with drooping tail and wings vibrat-
ing and suddenly dashing into the air in pursuit of insects.
Tyrant Flycatchers. See page 183.
295
SECTION II. BIRDS OF PREY.
PAGE
A. STOUTLY BUILT BIRDS, WITH LARGE HEADS, LOOSE MOT-
TLED PLUMAGE, HOOKED BEAKS AND POWERFUL FEET.
WITH OR WITHOUT FEATHERED HORNS. BOTH DIURNAL
AND NOCTURNAL BIRDS or PONDEROUS FLIGHT .... 296
B. DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY, WITH SMALLER HEADS, NO HORNS.
GRACEFUL, RAPID FLIGHT. PLUMAGE PLAIN, STREAKED,
OR MOTTLED . 297
A. STOUTLY BUILT BIRDS, WITH LARGE HEADS, FACIAL
EYE DISKS, ETC.
* No feathered horns.
1. Above tawny yellow, ash, and white, with black and white spots;
below whitish, speckled with dark. Dark bars on tail and
wings. Legs long, and feathered. Small, bluish black eyes ;
bill light. Face disk heart-shaped.
Barn Owl. See page 206.
2. Mottled dark brown, rusty, and grayish. Striped on breast with
dark brown. Face feathers white tipped ; wings and tail
barred with brown. Legs and dark feet fully feathered. Bill
ivory-coloured ; eyes blue-black.
Barred Owl. See page 209.
3. Smallest United States Owl. Above brown, spotted more or less
with lighter brown and white. Striped beneath with rusty-
brown. Legs feathered with yellowish white. Bill black ; claws
dark.
Saw- whet Owl. See page 210.
4. Plumage varying from pure white to white barred and spotted
with brown and black. Legs and toes thickly feathered. Bill
and claws black.
Snowy Owl. See page 213.
296
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
** Horned Owls.
6. Above finely mottled with brown, ash, and dark orange. Long,
erect ear tufts. Complete facial disk reddish brown with
darker inner circle ; dark brown, broken band on wings and
tail. Breast pale orange with long, brown stripes. Legs and
feet completely feathered. Bill and claws blackish.
American Long-eared Owl. See page 207.
6. Inconspicuous ear tufts, facial disk with a dark ring enclosing a
lighter one. Plumage varied from bright orange to buffy white
with bold stripes of dark brown. Darker above, and more
mottled below, growing whiter toward vent. Legs feathered
with plain burf. Bill and claws dusky blue-black.
Short-eared Owl. See page 208.
7. Conspicuous ear tufts, bill light horn colour. Plumage either gray-
ish or rust-red and mottled ; tail and wings equal. Feet covered
with short dark feathers. Claws dark. A small common Owl.
Screech Owl. See page 211.
8. Large heavy Owl. Long ear tufts, feathers mottled irregularly,
buff, tawny brown or whitish. Feet and legs feathered ; bill
and claws black.
Great Horned Owl. See page 212.
B. DIURNAL BIRDS OF PREY, WITH SMALLER HEADS
THAN THE LAST GROUP, CONSPICUOUSLY HOOKED
BILLS AND CLAWS, NO HORNS OR PERFECT FACIAL
DISKS. FLIGHT GRACEFUL AND RAPID ; PLUMAGE
PLAIN, STREAKED OR MOTTLED.
* Plumage brightly coloured or much varied.
1. Tail long. Eyes reddish brown. Above bluish gray, deepest on
head. Beneath whitish, barred on the sides and breast with
rusty and dark brown. Small head, long legs, slender feet.
Flight dashing.
Sharp-shinned Hawk. See page 216.
2. Similar to last species, but larger. Tail rounded and barred with
dusky or rufous. Feet rather stout, greenish yellow.
Cooper's Hawk. See page 217.
3. Tail rust-red, with a black band near end. Above dark brown
variegated with white, gray, and tawny ; below whitish and buff,
streaked below with brown. Bill horn-coloured.
Red-tailed Hawk. See page 218.
297
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
4. Shoulders rust-red. Above reddish brown, the middle of the
feathers darker than the edges. Head and lower parts rusty,
barred with whitish ; tail black with white bands. Feet bright
yellow.
Bed-shouldered Hawk. See page 219.
5. Small, brightly coloured Hawk. Above reddish, with or without
black spots and bars. Top of head bluish slate with a red
crown patch. Below varying from whitish to reddish, with or
without dark spots. Wings narrow and pointed.
American Sparrow Hawk. See page 233.
** Plumage dark brown, gray, or whitish, not red or rusty.
1. Above bluish gray; below white, mottled with brown. Wings
brownish, long, and pointed. Tail long; upper tail coverts
white. Bill and feet black. A summer Hawk of moist lands.
Marsh Hawk. See page 315.
2. Very large bird. Head, neck feathers, and tail pure white. Beak
yellow and abruptly hooked. Plumage dark brown; legs
feathered only half-way down ; feet yellow.
Bald Eagle. See page 22O.
3. A fishing Hawk seen flying over large bodies of water. Plain
dark brown above, the tail having a white tip and a band of
dark brown. Head, neck, and lower parts white ; breast
plain, or sometimes spotted faintly with brown. Bill bluish
black ; feet grayish.
American Osprey. See page 323.
298
SECTION III. GAME, SHORE, AND WATER
BIRDS.
PAGE
A. WOOD DOVES, WITH DELICATELY SHADED AND OFTEN GLOSSY
PLUMAGE, SMALL HEADS, FULL BREASTS, AND LONG POINTED
WlNGS, OFTEN SEEN FEEDING ON THE GROUND LIKE DOMES-
TIC PIGEONS 300
B. BIRDS WITH MOTTLED FEATHERS OF VARIOUS SHADES OF
BROWN, WITH AND WITHOUT FEATHERS ON THE LEGS, SEEN
SCRATCHING AND WALKING ON THE GROUND LIKE BARNYARD
FOWLS. INHABITING LIGHT WOODS AND STUBBLE FIELDS 300
C. SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED SHORE BIRDS, WITH STOUT BODIES,
BULLET-SHAPED HEADS, SHORT NECKS, AND PIGEON- LIKE
BILLS WHICH ARE NEVER LONGER THAN THE HEAD. PLU-
MAGE VARIOUS, BLACK, WHITE, BROWN, OR ORANGE. IN-
HABITING THE VICINITY OF BOTH FRESH AND SALT WATER 301
D. SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED BIRDS OF MEADOWS, MARSHES, AND
SEASHORE. BILLS SLENDER, USUALLY MUCH LONGER THAN
THE HEAD. PLUMAGE MOTTLED AND STREAKED WITH NEU-
TRAL TINTS AND SOBER COLOURS. PLAIN, UNBARRED TAILS 301
E. BIRDS WITH LONG, STRONG LEGS, LONG TOES, AND COMPRESSED
BODIES. PLUMAGE SUBDUED AND MONOTONOUS, LACKING
THE CONTRAST AND VARIATION USUAL IN SHORE BIRDS.
INHABITANTS OF REEDY MARSHES 303
F. LONG-LEGGED, LONG-NECKED, LONG-BILLED LARGE BIRDS,
OFTEN BEAUTIFULLY CRESTED. PLUMAGE VARIOUS, UNDER-
GOING MANY CHANGES. LIVING IN WOODED SWAMPS, AND
OFTEN SEEN STANDING ON ONE LEG IN SHALLOW STREAMS
AND PONDS "-! i? iS " : i . . . ; ; ; . . .303
G. STOUTLY BUILT SWIMMING BIRDS OF FRESH AND SALT WATER
(FLYING WITH GREAT RAPIDITY). FULL FLAT BODIES,
LONG NECKS, LARGE HEADS, AND SMALL EYES. SHORT
LEGS, WEBBED FEET. PLUMAGE VARIED AND BEAUTIFUL.
BILLS LONG AND BROAD, FLAT OR ARCHED 255
299
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
PAGE
H. OFF-SHORE WATER BIRDS, FLYING MORE FREQUENTLY THAN
SWIMMING. FEEDING ABOUT BARS, LIGHTHOUSES, AND IN
THE TROUGH OF THE SEA, ALSO DIVING FOR FOOD. HOOKED
BILLS, LONG WINGS. TAILS FORKED OR STRAIGHT. LARGE,
STRONG, WEBBED FEET 304
I. STOUT-BODIED DIVING BIRDS OF FRESH AND SALT WATER ;
LEGS SET VERY FAR BACK, SHORT TAILS, LONG NECKS
CRESTED OR NOT CRESTED ; PLUMAGE VARIOUS. BODIES
HELD UPRIGHT OWING TO POSITION OF THE LEGS, MOVING
AWKWARDLY ON LAND, BUT SWIMMING AND FLYING WITH
GREAT EASE . . 305
A. WOOD DOVES, WITH DELICATELY SHADED AND
OFTEN GLOSSY PLUMAGE, ETC.
1. Upper parts bluish gray ; reddish brown below, fading to whitish
toward vent. Wings dark, with a few spots ; tail quills dark
blue at the base and white at tips. Bill black ; feet lake-red.
Passenger Pigeon. See page 225.
2. General colouring bluish fawn. Above olive- brown, varying to
bluish gray ; neck and head washed with metallic tints. Below
a dull purplish, changing to reddish brown. Bill black ; feet
lake-red.
Mourning Dove. See page 226.
B. BIRDS WITH MOTTLED FEATHERS, ETC.
(SEEN SCRATCHING ON THE GROUND LIKE BARNYARD FOWLS.)
1. Crown slightly crested. White forehead, eye line, and throat
patch, edged with dark. Above variegated reddish brown.
Below whitish, warming on the sides to reddish, with dark
bars. Bill rusty black ; legs not feathered.
Bob-white. See page 227.
2. Slightly crested head, yellowish eye stripe, and neck mottled with
reddish and dusky brown. Back variegated chestnut ; lower
parts lighter, with dark bars. Long tail, which spreads fan-
like. Neck ruff of dark feathers ; feathered legs.
Ruffed Grouse. See page 229.
300
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
C. SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED BIRDS, WITH STOUT
BODIES, BULLET-SHAPED HEADS, ETC., SEEN IN
THE VICINITY OF BOTH SALT AND FRESH WATER.
1. Shore birds of medium size, seen turning over stones on beaches as
they feed. Above patched with black, white, red, brown, and
gray, a calico pattern. Below white with black breast. Much
white on wings and tail. Bill black, shorter than the head,
and slightly recurved ; feet orange.
Turnstone. See page 231.
2. Above mottled with black, gray, and yellowish. Beneath mostly
black. Bill long and black ; feet black.
Black-bellied Plover. See page 232.
3. Above mottled with black and greenish yellow ; whitish below.
Axilliary feathers ashy brown. Bill and feet black. This
Plover is subject to great variations of plumage. A popular
game-bird.
Golden Plover. See page 233.
4. Gray -brown, washed with olive above ; rump variegated with all
shades of orange and reddish brown. White frontlet, and red
eyelids. Below white, collar and breastlet black. Bill black ;
legs light.
Killdeer Plover. See page 233.
6. Bill, and half-webbed feet, yellow, bill having a black tip. An
orange ring around eye. Above ash-gray ; below white with a
black band across the breast.
Semipalmated Plover. See page 234.
6. Above light gray. Coloured eye ring ; bill yellow ; partial white
collar on back of neck, and a partial dark band on throat.
Below white.
Piping Plover. See page 235.
D. SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED BIRDS OF BOGGY MEAD-
OWS, ETC., SLENDER BILLS, USUALLY MUCH
LONGER THAN THE HEAD.
1. Eyes large, set in upper corner of head. Short, thick neck, and
compact body. Above variegated with brown, black, tawny,
and gray ; below brown, ranging from buff to tawny. Legs
very short. Bill longer than head, straight and stout.
American Woodcock. See page 236.
2. Straight greenish gray bill, two and a half inches long. Eyes
set far back as the last species. Above reddish and dark
brown, sides of head and neck buff. Dark, plain wings
301
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
margined and tipped with white ; tail bay and black, outer
feathers soiled white with brown bars. Feet greenish gray.
Wilson's Snipe. See page 237.
3. Bill long and slender like the last species, which it greatly
resembles. " Rump and tail white, the former spotted, the
latter banded with black." Winter plumage ash-gray above
and whitish below. Bill and feet greenish black.
Dowitcher. See page 238.
4. Straight bill an inch and a half long. Above black, white, ash,
and reddish ; crown gray, streaked with black ; nape of neck
reddish. Below rich chestnut ; legs short and thick.
Knot. See page 239.
5. Bill straight, half as long as head, flesh-coloured, tipped with black.
Above black and reddish, with stripe over eye ; neck short.
Below whitish, washed on neck and breast with dusky, broken
by brown lines. Rump black ; wings dusky; some tail feathers
tipped with white. Feet dusky greenish.
Pectoral Sandpiper. See page 24O.
6. Above dark brown, feathers edged with ashy and reddish. Neck
ash-gray spotted with black. White eye stripe. Wings dusky,
rump and tail coverts black. Below grayish white. Bill black ;
legs dull green.
Least Sandpiper. See page 241.
7. Long, thin, yellow legs; bill greenish black, over two inches
long. Above dusky, spotted with black and white. Below
white, streaked sparsely with gray on the neck. Rump white,
also the tail feathers, which are barred with brown.
Greater Yellow Legs. See page 242.
8. Long, slender, dark bill. Dark brown above with an olive wash.
Head and neck streaked with white, rest of upper parts
spotted with white. Below white with some streaks on the
throat. Legs dull greenish.
Solitary Sandpiper. See page 243.
9. Short bill, but little longer than the head. Above gray, tinged
with reddish. Below varying from white to buff, dark lines
on breast and spots on belly. Outer tail quills white, barred
with black. Feet dirty yellow.
Bartramian Sandpiper. See page 244.
10. Slender, flesh-coloured bill tipped with black, longer than the head.
Above Quaker gray, with an iridescent lustre, spotted and
streaked with black. White eye line. White below, dotted
with black ; feet flesh-coloured.
Spotted Sandpiper. See page 244.
302
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
E. BIRDS WITH STRONG LEGS AND LONG TOES; SUB-
DUED PLUMAGE ; INHABITANTS OF REEDY MARSHES.
1. General colouring sand-gray, with no reddish tinge. Wings and
tail dull brown. Bill longer than the head, yellowish brown ;
feet the same colour.
Clapper Kail. See page 245.
2. General tone streaky and reddish. Above dark brown, plainly
streaked with olive, a white line from the bill extending over
the eye. Throat white. Below bright reddish. Wings dark
brown, barred with white.
Virginia Rail. See page 246.
3. Bill only three-fourths of an inch long, straight and stout. Above
olive, brownish, and black, many feathers having white edges,
and with black and white barring on the flanks. Breast slate-
coloured, with some black on the centre of the throat. Tail
dusky brown, darkest in centre and almost pointed.
Sora. See page 247.
4. Bill and frontal plate red. Above, head and neck bluish gray,
back olive-brown, wings and tail dark. Beneath dark gray,
grading to white on belly.
Florida Gallinule. See page 248.
5. Dark slate above, head and neck almost black. Whole edge of
wing and tips of some quills white. Below paler gray ; tail
dark brown. Bill flesh-white, with a slight rusty black mark
at the tip. Red frontal shield. Feet pale dull green.
American Coot. See page 249.
F. LONG-LEGGED, LONG-NECKED, LONG-BILLED, LARGE
BIRDS; LIVING IN WOODED SWAMPS.
1. Above yellowish brown, much streaked and mottled with different
shades of brown, from dark to light. Below yellowish white,
the feathers edged and striped with brown. Tail brown, small
and rounded. Bill yellow, edged with black ; legs yellow-
green.
American Bittern. See page 250.
2. Top of head, which is slightly crested, and back, rich greenish
black. Back of neck chestnut-brown ; also wing coverts and
the edges of some quills. Tail like back. Below muddy
yellow, with dark brown patches on sides of breast, and some
white around the throat. Bill, eyes, and toes yellow.
Least Bittern. See page 251.
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
3. Long black crest, the two longest feathers of which are shed in
the summer moult. Upper parts and tail bluish slate, below
black and white streaked, forehead and crown white. Bill
yellow and dusky; feet and legs dark. (Very large Heron,
often four feet long.)
Great Blue Heron. See page 252.
4. Head with lengthened crest. Above dark glossy green, sometimes
with an iridescence. Edging of wing coverts reddish. Neck
a rich shade of chestnut, with purplish wash ; white streak on
the throat ; under parts whitish, shading to ash below.
Green Heron. See page 253.
5. Above either dull or greenish black ; tail, wings, and neck grayish.
Throat and forehead whitish. Below livid white. Crest of
three long white feathers often rolled into one. Bill black ;
legs yellow.
Black-crowned Night Heron. See page 254.
H. OFF-SHORE BIRDS.
* Legs long.
1. A tube-nosed swimmer. Bill black. Above sooty brown, blacken-
ing on wings and tail; white rump. Long black legs, the
foot-webbing spotted with yellow. One of "Mother Carey's
chickens."
Wilson's Petrel. See page 268.
** Legs short.
2. Bluish gray above, bill light yellow. White below. Black feet
and tip to tail.
Kittiwake Gull. See page 269.
3. Above grayish blue or "gull-blue," l head and tail lighter; white
below. Bill yellow, feet flesh colour.
American Herring Gull. See page 270.
4. Head and neck dark slate ; bill carmine. Back slate-coloured,
divided from the head by the white of the neck. All under
parts white, also tail coverts. Legs and feet dull reddish.
Laughing Gull. See page 270.
6. Head and upper neck dark lead colour; bill black; back "gull-
blue." Rump and tail white, also under parts. Wings white
and gull-blue. Legs and feet light red.
Bonaparte's Gull. See page 271.
6. Bill long, coral-red at base, black toward end, and tipped with
yellow. Upper head and back of neck black. Entire back
and wings light gray with a bluish wash. Tail coverts, most
1 A peculiar shade of bluish gray.
304
KEY TO THE BIRDS.
of tail, and wing linings white ; below white and gray. Legs
and feet light red.
Common Tern. See page 272.
Bill black, yellow at tip, and reddish at base. Black cap and
long head feathers ; back of neck white, also entire under
parts white with a rosy wash. Wings varied gray ; tail pearl-
gray. Feet and legs yellowish red ; claws black.
Roseate Tern. See page 273.
Legs and bill yellow. Crown black ; back, wings, tail, and rump
gull-blue. A few outer wing feathers black ; below white.
Least Tern. See page 275.
I. STOUT-BODIED DIVING BIRDS OF FRESH AND SALT
WATER.
1. Short, thick, black bill. Above dark brown with some white on
wings ; below generally whitish. A small off-shore bird seldom
seen near land.
Dovekie. See page 275.
2. Bill black, edged with yellowish. Head, throat, and neck iridescent
green, blue, and purplish. Triangular patches of black and
white streaks on either side of the throat, almost joining at the
back, and narrowing in front. Sides of breast streaked with
black and white ; under parts white.
Loon. See page 276.
3. Bill black. Blue-gray forehead. Upper parts generally dull
black, streaked and mottled with white ; a triangle of rusty
red on the front of neck. White below.
Red-throated Loon. See page 276.
4. Prominent crest, forming two yellow-brown horns, rest of head
puffy and glossy black. Above dark brown with edgings of
gray and black. Neck, upper breast, and sides rusty brown ;
some white on wings. Bill black with yellow tip. These
birds are expert swimmers but practically helpless on land.
In winter, horns lacking.
Horned Grebe. See page 277.
5. Some bristling, frontal feathers, but no regular horns. Above
dark brown, showy black markings on chin and throat.
Breast and lower throat yellowish brown, irregularly spotted
and barred on the upper parts ; lower parts glossy white.
Wings brown, gray, and white. Bill much spotted.
Pied-billed Grebe. See page 278.
X 306
INDICES.
INDEX OF ENGLISH NAMES.
Auk, Little, 275.
Bee Martin, 182, 183.
Bittern, American (Plate XII.), 250.
Bittern, Least, 17, 251.
Blackbird, Crow, 175.
Blackbird, Red-winged (Plate IV.),
8, 17, 26, 86, 169.
Blackbird, Rusty, 175.
Blackbird, Thrush, 179.
Bluebird (Plate I.) , xi., 5, 7, 8, 11, 13,
15, 26, 28, 30, 31, 35, 66, 67, 69, 90,
157, 159, 164.
Bobolink (Plate VI.), 5, 7, 9, 13, 26,
165, 166, 167, 248.
Bob-white (Plate XI.), 227, 228, 229.
Booby, 265.
Brant (Plate XIV.), 267, 268.
Bufflehead (Plate XIV.), 264.
Bunting, Bay-winged, 145.
Bunting, Indigo, (Plate I.), 8, 164.
Bunting, Snow, 29, 30, 139, 142, 143.
Butcher-bird, 122.
Calico Snipe, 231.
Canvasback (Plate XIV.), 262.
Cardinal (Plate IV.), xii., 9, 67, 138,
161, 162.
Catbird (Plate I.), 8, 14, 16, 19, 27,
78, 79, 80, 121, 154.
Cedar-bird, 17, 28, 124, 125.
Chat, Yellow-breasted (Plate II.), 8,
16, 26, 112, 120, 121, 122, 168.
Chewink, 160.
Chickadee (Plate VIII.), 26, 27, 30,
72, 73, 85, 222.
Chip-bird, Winter, 153.
Chippy, 153.
Clape, 200.
Coot, American, 249.
Coot, Sea, 265.
Cowbird (Plate VI.), 15, 16, 95, 107,
167, 168.
Crane, Blue, 252.
Creeper, Black-and-white, 88, 89, 101
Creeper, Brown (Plate VIII.), 27, 30,
75, 76, 89, 104.
Crossbill, American (Red Crossbill),
(Plate IV.), 29, 137, 138, 139.
Crow, American, 16, 178, 179.
Crow, Fish, 179, 180.
Cuckoo, Black-billed (Plate VII.) ,
203, 204.
Cuckoo, Yellow-billed (Plate VII.),
202, 203.
Dabchick, 278.
Dipper, 278.
Dove, Mourning (Plate VI.), 8, 168,
226, 227.
Dovekie (Plate XIV.), 275.
Dove, Sea, 275.
Dowitcher, 238.
Duck, American Merganser (Plate
XIV.), 255, 256.
Duck, American Golden-eye, 264.
Duck, American Scaup, 263.
Duck, American Scoter, 265.
Duck, Black (Plate XIV.), xii., 257.
Duck, Broad-bill, 263.
Duck, Bufflehead (Plate XIV.), 264.
Duck, Blue- winged Teal, 259.
Duck, Canvasback (Plate XIV.), 262.
Duck, Crow, 249.
Duck, Green-winged Teal, 258.
Duck, Old Squaw (Plate XIV.), 265.
Duck, Old Wife, 265.
Duck, Pintail (Plate XIV.), 259, 260.
Duck, Pochard American, 262.
Duck, Redhead (Plate XIV.), 262,
268.
Duck, Summer, 260.
309
INDEX OF ENGLISH NAMES.
vJuck, Wood (Plate XIV.), 22, 2(50,
261.
Eagle, Bald (Plate X.), 220, 221.
Eagle, White-headed Sea, 220.
Finch, Grass, 145.
Finch, Pine (or Siskin) (Plate V.),
27, 31, 138, 141, 142.
Finch, Purple (Plate V.), 9, 16, 19,
27, 29, 119, 134, 135.
Flicker (Plate VIII.) , 17, 19,200,201.
Flycatcher, Acadian (Plate VII.), 188.
Flycatcher, Crested, 13, 184.
Flycatcher, Least, 189.
Flycatcher, Olive-sided (Plate VII.),
186.
Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied, 187.
Gallinule, Florida (Plate XII.), 248,
249.
Golden-eye, American, 264.
Goldfinch, American (Plate II.), 5,
11, 16, 26, 29, 30, 139, 140, 141, 157,
164.
Goose, Canada (Plate XIII.), 266, 267.
Goose, Wild, 266, 267.
Goshawk, American, 213, 223.
Grackle, Purple (Plate VI.), 26, 28,
137, 175, 176.
Grebe, Horned (Plate XIII.), 277.
Grebe, Pied-billed, 278.
Grosbeak, Pine (Plate IV.), 29, 133,
134.
Grosbeak, Rose-breasted (Plate IV.) ,
9, 12, 17, 26, 67, 162, 163, 164.
Grouse, Ruffed (Plate XL), 8, 17, 27,
69, 229, 230, 231.
Gull, Bonaparte's (Plate XV.), 271.
Gull, Herring (Plate XV.), 269, 270.
Gull, Kittiwake, 269.
Gull, Laughing (Plate XV.), 270.
Gull, Winter (Plate XV.), 270.
Hair-bird, 153.
Harrier, 215.
Hawk, American Rough-legged, 223.
Hawk, American Sparrow (Plate
V.),222.
Hawk, American Broad-winged, 223.
Hawk, Blue, 215.
Hawk, Chicken, 217.
Hawk, Cooper's (Plate X.), 8, 30,
213, 217.
Hawk, Duck, 223.
Hawk, Fish, 223.
Hawk, Hen, 218, 219.
Hawk, Marsh (Plate X.), 17, 215.
Hawk, Pigeon, 223.
Hawk, Red-shouldered (Plate IX.),
30, 219, 220.
Hawk, Red-tailed (Plate X.) , 30, 218,
219.
Hawk, Sharp-shinned (Plate X.),
30, 216.
Hen, Red-billed Mud, 248.
Hen, Salt-water Marsh, 245.
Hen, White-billed Mud, 249.
Heron, Black-crowned Night (Plate
XII.), 17, 254, 255.
Heron, Great Blue (Plate XII.),252.
Heron, Green (Plate XII.), 17, 253.
High-hole, 200.
Hummingbird, Ruby-throated (Plate
III.), 16, 19, 27, 68, 194, 195, 196.
Jay, Blue (Plate VI.), 17, 27, 28, 71,
90, 177.
Jay, Canada, 178.
Junco, Slate-coloured (Plate V.),
25, 26, 29, 155, 156, 222.
Killdeer (Plate XIII.), 233, 234.
Kingbird (Plate VII.), 16, 25, 126,
137, 168, 182, 183, 184.
Kingfisher, Belted (Plate VI.), 17,
28, 30, 204, 205.
Kinglet, Golden-crowned (Plate!.),
28, 68.
Kinglet, Ruby-crowned, 27, 69, 70.
Knot (Plates XI. and XIII.), 239.
Lark, Brown, 87.
Lark, Horned (Plate VII.), 28, 30,
31,137,144,145,170,180.
Linnet, Redpoll, 29, 138, 139.
Longspur, Lapland, 144, 145.
Loon (Plate XIII.), 276.
Loon, Red-throated, 276.
Mallard (Plate XIV.), 256.
Martin, Bee, 182, 183.
Martin, Purple, 8, 16, 125, 126.
Martin, Sand, 129, 130.
Meadowlark (Plate VI.), xi., 8, 9,
17, 28, 30, 31, 137, 144, 169, 170.
Merganser, American (Plate XIV.),
255, 256.
310
INDEX OF ENGLISH NAMES.
Merganser, Red-breasted, 256.*
Mockingbird, 9, 76, 77, 78, 137.
Nighthawk (Plate III.), 8, 17, 191,
192, 193.
Nightingale, 64, 68.
Nightingale, Virginia, 161.
Nuthatch.Red-breasted (Plate VIII.),
28, 74, 75.
Nuthatch, White-breasted (Plate
VIII.), 14, 17,27,73,74.
Old Squaw (Plate XIV.), 265.
Old Wife, 265.
Oriole, Baltimore (Plate IV.), 5, 8,
9, 10, 19, 25, 26, 67, 71, 116, 132,
163, 168, 171, 173, 174.
Oriole, Orchard (Plate IV.), 16, 19,
171.
Ortolan, 248.
Osprey, American (Plate X.), 17, 27,
223, 224.
Ovenbird (Plate II.), 17, 69, 106, 107,
108, 168.
Owl, Acadian, 210, 211.
Owl, American Barn (Plate IX.) , 206.
Owl, American Barred (Plate IX.),
17, 28, 209, 210.
Owl, American Long-eared (Plate
IX.), 207, 212.
Owl, Cat, 207.
Owl, Great-Horned (Plate IX.), 28,
209, 212, 213.
Owl, Hoot, 212.
Owl, Saw-whet, 210, 211.
Owl, Screech (Plate IX.), 17, 211,
212, 215.
Owl, Short-eared (Plate IX.), 208.
Owl, Snowy, 29, 31, 213, 214, 215.
Partridge (Plate XL), 229.
Peep, 241, 242.
Pelican, 38.
Petrel, Leach's, 269.
Petrel, Stormy, 268.
Petrel, Wilson's (Plate XV.), 268.
Pewee, Water, 185.
Pewee, Wood, 8, 101, 186, 187.
Pheasant, 229.
Phoebe (Plate VII.) , 7, 8, 16, 27, 185.
Pigeon, Passenger (Plate VI.), 225,
226.
Pigeon, Wild, 225, 226.
Pintail (Plate XIV.), 259, 260.
Pipit, American, 87, 88.
Plover, American Golden (Plate
XL) , 232, 233.
Plover, Black-bellied (Plate XIII.) ,
232.
Plover, Field, 233.
Plover, Killdeer (Plate XIII.) , 233,
234.
Plover, Pale Ring-neck, 235.
Plover, Piping (Plate XHI.) , 235, 230.
Plover, Ring, 234.
Plover, Semipalrnated (Plate XI.),
234.
Plover, Upland, 244.
Poke, 253.
Qua-bird, 254.
Quail (Plate XL), 8, 17, 27, 30, 227,
228, 231.
Quawk, 254.
Rail, Blue, 248, 249.
Rail, Carolina (Plate XII.), 247.
Rail, Clapper (Plate XII.), 17, 245,
246.
Rail, King, 247.
Rail, Virginia (Plate XII.), 17, 246,
247.
Rain Crow, 203.
Redhead (Plate XIV.), 262, 268.
Redpoll, 29, 138, 139, 144.
Redpoll, Yellow, 105.
Redstart, American (Plate IV.), 9,
16, 99, 115, 116.
Reedbird, 165, 166, 167.
Robin, American (Plate I.), 7, 8, 11,
14, 16, 26, 28, 30, 31, 35, 57, 63, 64,
65, 66, 163.
Robin, English, 66.
Robin, Ground, 160.
Sandpiper, Bartramian (Plate XL),
244.
Sandpiper, Least, 241, 242.
Sandpiper, Pectoral, 240.
Sandpiper, Semipalmated (Plate
XL), 242.
Sandpiper, Solitary, 243.
Sandpiper, Spotted, 17, 244, 245.
Sapsucker, Yellow-bellied (Plate
VIII.), 198, 199.
Scoter, American, 265.
Shrike, Northern (Plate VII.), 28,
30, 31, 122, 123, 124, 222.
311
INDEX OF ENGLISH NAMES.
Siskin, Pine (or Pine Finch) (Plate
V.), 27, 29, 31, 138, 141, 142.
Skylark, 8, 181.
Snipe, English, 237, 238.
Snipe, Red-breasted, 238.
Snipe, Robin, 239.
Snipe, Stone, 242.
Snipe, Wilson's (Plate XL), 8, 237,
238.
Snowbird, 155.
Snowflake (Plate V.), 142, 143,
144.
Sora (Plate XII.), 247, 248.
Sparrow, Chipping (Plate V.) , 7, 8,
16, 18, 28, 153, 154, 158.
Sparrow, English, 16, 31, 136, 137.
Sparrow, Field (Plate V.), 8, 16, 154,
155.
Sparrow, Fox (Plate V.), 6, 28, 151,
159, 222.
Sparrow, Grasshopper (Plate V.),
16, 148.
Sparrow, House, 136, 137.
Sparrow, Ipswich, 146.
Sparrow, Savanna, 147.
Sparrow, Seaside, 17, 150.
Sparrow, Sharp-tailed, 149.
Sparrow, Song (Plate V.), 3, 7, 9,
15, 16, 26, 27, 30, 135, 145, 156, 157,
158, 159.
Sparrow, Swamp Song, 158.
Sparrow, Tree (Plate V.), 28, 152,
222.
Sparrow, Vesper (Plate V.), 9, 16,
145, 146, 155, 158.
Sparrow, White-crowned (Plate V.) ,
6, 27, 150.
Sparrow, White-throated (Plate V.) ,
6, 7, 27, 28, 150, 151.
Sparrow, Yellow-winged, 148.
Sprigtail (Plate XIV.), 259.
Stake Driver, 250.
Swallow, Bank (Plate III.), 17, 129,
130, 131.
Swallow, Barn (Plate III.), 16, 127,
128.
Swallow, Cliff (Plate III.), 127.
Swallow, Eaves, 127.
Swallow, Roughed-winged, 131.
Swallow, Sea, 272.
Swallow, Tree (Plate III.), 129.
Swallow, White-bellied, 17, 129.
Swift, Chimney (Plate III.), xii., 8,
16, 128, 193, 194.
Tanager, Scarlet (Plate IV.), xii., 5,
7, 16, 27, 67, 116, 131, 132, 164.
Teal, Blue-winged, 259.
Teal, Green-winged, 258.
Teeter, 244, 245.
Tern, Common (Plate XV.), 272, 27;.
Tern, Least, 275.
Tern, Roseate, 273, 274.
Thistle-bird, 140.
Thrasher, Brown (Plate I.), 19, 27,
63, 80, 81.
Thrush, Golden-crowned, 27, 106.
Thrush, Gray-cheeked, 60, 61, 62.
Thrush, Hermit (Plate I.), 6, 9, 27,
62, 63, 64, 69, 137.
Thrush, Olive-backed, 61, 62.
Thrush, Song (Brown Thrasher), 80
Thrush, Wilson's, 58.
Thrush, Wood (Plate I.), 9, 16, 18,
26, 57, 58, 62, 63, 81, 132, 137, 108.
Titlark, 87, 88.
Titmouse, Black-capped, 72.
Titmouse, Tufted, 71.
Towhee (Plate V.), 8, 16, 27, 160, 168.
Turnstone (Plate XIII. ), 231.
Veery, 8, 9, 17, 26, 58, 59, 60, 61, 63.
Vireo, Blue-headed, 120.
Vireo, Philadelphia, 119.
Vireo, Red-eyed (Plate V.), 16, 19,
27, 116, 117.
Vireo, Solitary, 19, 120.
Vireo, Warbling, 17, 118, 119.
Vireo, White-eyed, 16, 121, 122.
Vireo, Yellow-throated (Plate II.),
17, 119, 120.
Wagtail, Water, 108.
Warbler, Bay-breasted (Plate II.),
27, 99, 100.
Warbler, Black and White, 27, 88, 89
Warbler, Black and Yellow, 97.
Warbler, Blackburnian (Plate IV.),
102, 116, 132.
Warbler, Black-capped, 114.
Warbler, Black-poll, 7, 101.
Warbler, Black-throated Blue (Plate
II.), 27, 95, 96.
Warbler, Black-throated Green
(Plate II.), 9, 17, 27, 102, 103.
Warbler, Blue-winged (Plate II.), 17,
90.
Warbler, Blue Yellow-backed, 93.
Warbler, Canadian, 114, 115.
312
INDEX OF ENGLISH NAMES.
Warbler, Chestnut-sided (Plate II.),
98, 99.
Warbler, Golden-winged, 90, 91.
Warbler, Hooded (Plate II.), 113.
Warbler, Magnolia (Plate II.) , 97, 98.
Warbler, Mourning, 110.
Warbler, Myrtle (Plate II.), 27, 96,
97, 104.
Warbler, Nashville, 91, 92.
Warbler, Parula. 20, 93, 94.
Warbler, Pine, 28, 103, 104.
Warbler, Prairie, 105.
Warbler, Wilson's, 114.
Warbler, Worm-eating (Plate II.),
89.
Warbler, Yellow (Plate II.), 16, 19,
26, 94, 95, 116, 132.
Warbler, Yellow Palm, 27, 104, 105.
Warbler, Yellow-rumped, 96.
Water Thrush (Plate II.), 108.
Water Thrush, Louisiana, 107, 108,
109.
Waxwing, Cedar (Plate V.), 11, 124,
125.
Whip-poor-will (Plate III.), 8, 9, 10,
17, 60, 128, 190, 191, 192.
Whistler, 264.
Woodcock, American (Plate XI.;,
8, 17, 236, 237.
Woodpecker, Downy (Plate VIII.),
198.
Woodpecker, Golden-winged (Flick-
er) (Plate VIII.), 200.
Woodpecker, Hairy, 196, 197.
Woodpecker, Red-headed (Plate
VIII.), 199.
Wren, Carolina (Plate I.), 82, 83.
Wren, House (Plate I.), 16, 19, 83 ;
84.
Wren, Long-billed Marsh (Plate I.),
17, 86, 158.
Wren, Short-billed Marsh, 85, 86,
158.
Wren, Winter (Plate I.), 27, 28, 68,
84, 85.
Yellowbird, Summer, 94.
Yellowhammer, 200.
Yellow-legs, Greater (Plate XI.),
242.
Yellow-throat, Maryland (Plate II.),
9, 16, 27, 110, 111, 113, 120.
313
INDEX OF LATIN NAMES.
Acanthis linaria, 138.
Accipiter cooperi, 217.
Accipiter velox, 216.
Actitis macularia, 244.
^gialitis meloda, 235.
-ZPgialitis semipalmata, 234.
-^gialitis vocifera, 233.
Agelaius phoeniceus, 169.
Aix sponsa, 260.
Alle alle, 275.
Ammodramus caudacutus, 149.
Ammodramus maritimus, 150.
Ammodramus princeps, 146.
Ammodramus sandwichensis sa-
vanna, 147.
Ammodramus savannarum passeri-
nus, 148.
Ampelis cedrorum, 124.
Anas bochas, 256.
Anas carolinensis, 258.
Anas discors, 259.
Anas obscura, 257.
Anthus pensilvanicus, 87.
Antrostomus vociferus, 190.
Ardea herodias, 252.
Ardea virescens, 253.
Ardetta exilis, 251.
Arenaria interpres, 231.
Asio accipitrinus, 208.
Asio wilsonianus, 207.
Aythya americana, 262.
Aythya marila nearctica, 263.
Aythya vallisneria, 262.
Bartramia longicauda, 244.
Bonasa umbellus, 229.
Botaurus lentiginosus, 250.
Branta bernicla, 267.
Branta canadensis, 266.
Bubo virgianus, 212.
Buteo borealis, 218.
Buteo lineatus, 219.
Calcarius lapponicus, 144.
Cardinalis cardinalis, 161.
Carpodacus purpureus, 134.
Certhia familiaris americana, 75.
Ceryle alcyon, 204.
Chsetura pelagica, 193.
Charadrius dominicus, 233.
Charadrius squatarola, 232.
Charitonetta albeola, 264.
Chelidon erythrogaster, 127.
Chordeiles virginianus, 191.
Circus hudsonius, 215.
Cistothorus palustris, 86.
Cistothorus stellaris, 85.
Clangula hyemalis, 265.
Clivicola riparia, 130.
Coccyzus americanus, 202.
Coccyzus erythrophthalmus, 203.
Colaptes auratus, 200.
Colinus virginianus, 227.
Colymbus auritus, 277.
Compsothlypis americana, 93.
Contopus borealis, 186.
Contopus virens, 186.
Corvus americanus, 178.
Corvus ossifragus, 179.
Cyanocitta cristata, 177.
Dafila acuta, 259.
Dendroica sestiva, 94.
Dendroica blackburniae, 102.
Dendroica cserulescens, 95.
Dendroica castanea, 99.
Dendroica coronata, 96.
Dendroica discolor, 105.
Dendroica maculosa, 97.
Dendroica palmarum hypochrysea,
104.
Dendroica pensylvanica, 98.
Dendroica striata, 101.
Dendroica vigorsii, 103.
Dendroica virens, 102.
315
INDEX OF LATIN NAMES.
Dolichonyx oryzivorus, 165.
Dryobates pubescens, 198.
Dryobates villosus, 196.
Ectopistes migratorius, 225.
Empidonax acadicus, 188.
Empidonax flaviventris, 187.
Empidonax minimus, 189.
Ereunetes pusillus, 242.
Falco sparverius, 222.
Fulica americana, 249.
Galeoscoptes carolinensis, 78.
Gallinago delicata, 237.
Gallinula galeata, 248.
Geothlypis Philadelphia, 110.
Geothlypis trichas, 110.
Glaucionetta clangula americana,
264.
Habia ludoviciana, 162.
Haliaetus leucocephalus, 220.
Harporhynchus rufus, 80.
Helminthophila chrysoptera, 90.
Helminthophila pinus, 90.
Helminthophila ruficapilla, 91.
Helmitherus vermivorus, 89.
Icteria virens, 112.
Icterus galbula, 172.
Icterus spurius, 171.
Junco hyemalis, 155.
Lanius borealis, 122.
Larus argentatus smithsonianus, 270.
Larus atricilla, 270.
Larus Philadelphia, 271.
Loxia curvirostra minor, 137.
Macrorhamphus griseus, 238.
Megascops asio, 211.
Melanerpes erythrocephalus, 199.
Melospiza fasciata, 156.
Melospiza georgiana, 158.
Merganser americanus, 255.
Merula migratoria, 64.
Mimus polyglottus, 76.
Mniotilta varia, 88.
Molothrus ater, 167.
Myiarchus crinitus, 184.
Nyctala acadia, 210.
Nyctea nyctea, 213.
Nycticorax nycticorax naevius, 254.
Oceanites oceanicus, 268.
Oidemia americana, 265.
Otocoris alpestris, 180.
Pandion haliaetus carolinensis, 223.
Parus atricapillus, 72.
Parus bicolor, 71.
Passer domesticus, 136.
Passerella iliaca, 159.
Passerina cyanea, 164.
Petrochelidon lunifrons, 127.
Philohela minor, 236.
Pinicola enucleator, 133.
Pipilo erythrophthalmus, 160.
Piranga erythromelas, 131.
Plectrophenax nivalis, 142.
Podilymbus podiceps, 278.
Poocsetes gramineus, 145.
Porzana Carolina, 247.
Progne subis, 125.
Quiscalus quiscula, 175.
Rallus longirostris crepitans, 245.
Rallus virginianus, 246.
Regulus calendula, 69.
Regulus satrapa, 68.
Rissa tridactyla, 269.
Sayornis phoebe, 185.
Scolecophagus carolinus, 175.
Seiurus aurocapillus, 106.
Seiurus motacilla, 108.
Seiurus noveboracensis, 108.
Setophaga ruticilla, 115.
Sialia sialis, 66.
Sitta canadensis, 74.
Sitta carolinensis, 73.
Sphyrapicus varius, 198
Spinus pinus, 141.
Spinus tristis, 140.
Spizella monticola, 152.
Spizella pusilla, 154.
Spizella socialis, 153.
Sterna antillarum, 275.
Sterna dougalli, 273.
Sterna hirundo, 272.
Strix pratincola, 206.
Sturnella magna, 170.
Sylvania canadensis, 114.
316
INDEX OF LATIN NAMES.
Sylvania mitrata, 113.
Sylvania pusilla, 114.
Syrnium nebulosum, 209.
Tachycineta bicolor, 129.
Thryothorus ludovicianus, 82.
Totanus melanoleucus, 242.
Totanus solitarius, 243.
Tringa canutus, 239.
Tringa maculata, 240.
Tringa minutilla, 241.
Trochilus colubris, 194.
Troglodytes aedon, 83.
Troglodytes hiemalis, 84.
Turdus aliciae, 60.
Turdus aonalaschksB pallasii, 62.
Turdus fuscescens, 58.
Turdus musteliaus, 57.
Turdus ustulatus swainsonii, 61.
Tyrannus tyrannus, 182.
Urinator imber, 276.
Urinator lumme, 276.
Vireo flavifrons, 119.
Vireo gilvus, 118.
Vireo noveboracensis, 121.
Vireo olivaceus, 116.
Vireo philadelphicus, 119.
Vireo solitarius, 120.
Zenaidura macroura, 226.
Zonotrichia albicollis, 151.
Zonotrichia leucophrys, 150.
317
BY THE SAME AUTHOR.
THE FRIENDSHIP OF NATURE.
A NEW ENGLAND CHRONICLE OF BIRDS
AND FLOWERS.
By MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT.
Cloth, i8mo, gilt top, 75 cents.
Large Paper Edition, with Illustrations, $3.00.
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more, she has rare insight and sees deeply, and the most precious
things lie deep." Boston Daily Advertiser.
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acquaintance with nature, the wild flowers, the fields, and the
brooks." Springfield Union.
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"A very clever little book. It ... takes us through a New
England year, describing the birds, flowers, and woods in a most
poetical and delightful mood." Detroit Free Press.
MACMILLAN & CO.,
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i
Macmillan & Co.'s Publications.
THE
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AND THE WONDERS OF THE WORLD
WE LIVE IN.
By The Right Hon. Sir JOHN LUBBOCK, Bart., M.P, 5
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" We know of none other better fitted to present ' the beauties of nature and
the wonders of the world we live in,' to the popular understanding and appreci-
ation than Sir John Lubbock, who is at once a master of his chosen topic and of
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which the reading public will recognize and hail immediately as among the most
delightfully instructive of the year's production in books. There is matter in
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and indeed scientific subjects, more than interesting. In the hands of most
authors they are intolerably dull to the general reader and especially to children.
Sir John Lubbock makes his theme as entrancing as a novel. . . . The book
is magnificently illustrated, and discusses the wonders of the animal, mineral,
and vegetable kingdoms, the marvels of earth, sea, and the vaulted heavens. In
the compass of its pages an immense amount of knowledge which all should
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the unscientific reader. The wonders of animal, especially of insect, life, of
plant life, of woods and fields, of mountains, of rivers, of lakes, of the sea and
of the starry heavens, are here delightfully described, and they are marvellous
indeed. ... It is a good book to kindle in the reader a love of nature. . . .
There is not a dry or dull page in the book." The Western Recorder.
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which covered not only the general features of landscape, but ex-
tended to the minutest objects, insects, plants, flowers, shrubs, trees,
birds, and fishes, all sketched most graphically in words, and we
need not say also in the pen and ink drawings which accompany
the text. Mr. Leslie may object to the comparison, if he likes,
still it is no exaggeration to say that he has done for these south
counties what Gilbert White did for Selborne in his famous ' Natu-
ral History.' The lover of nature will find this book a delight."
The Boston Daily Advertiser.
MACMILLAN & CO.,
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3
ROMANCE
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i2mo, Cloth, $1.25.
11 The volume is fascinating from beginning to end, and there are
many hints to be found in the wisdom and thrift shown by these small-
est animal creatures." Boston Times.
" A charming book to read, an interesting one to study, is a little
volume of untechnical natural history, ' Romance of the Insect World,"
by L. N. Badenoch. The chapter subjects are : The Metamorphoses
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in the simplest style and in a remarkably intelligent and lucid manner.
And on every page is evidence of the thorough familiarity of the writer
with the life of which he writes and his sympathy with the subject. The
result is a splendid book to be put in the hands of any youth who
may need an incentive to interest in out-door life or the history of
things around him." Chicago Times.
" Though not written for children, this is a delightful book for the
little folk. It tells the wonderful facts in the lives of beetles, bugs, butter-
flies and flies, ants and spiders, wasps and bees, and all their kin, their
transformations, their methods of capturing prey or laying up food, their
care of the young or the feeble in the case of those who have this
instinct, and many other things more marvelous than the indifferent
would suppose possible. . . . There are few readers of any age who will
not feel its charm." Evangelist.
MACM1LLAN & CO.,
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.
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