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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds Illustrated by Color Photography
+[August, 1897], by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Birds Illustrated by Color Photography [August, 1897]
+       A Monthly Serial designed to Promote Knowledge of Bird-Life
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: September 19, 2008 [EBook #26656]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Anne Storer and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
+http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+ BIRDS
+
+ A MONTHLY SERIAL
+
+ ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY
+
+ DESIGNED TO PROMOTE
+
+ KNOWLEDGE OF BIRD-LIFE
+
+
+ VOLUME II.
+
+
+ CHICAGO.
+ NATURE STUDY PUBLISHING COMPANY.
+
+
+
+
+ COPYRIGHT, 1897
+ BY
+ NATURE STUDY PUBLISHING CO.
+ CHICAGO.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION.
+
+
+This is the second volume of a series intended to present, in accurate
+colored portraiture, and in popular and juvenile biographical text, a
+very considerable portion of the common birds of North America, and
+many of the more interesting and attractive specimens of other
+countries, in many respects superior to all other publications which
+have attempted the representation of birds, and at infinitely less
+expense. The appreciative reception by the public of Vol. I deserves
+our grateful acknowledgement. Appearing in monthly parts, it has been
+read and admired by thousands of people, who, through the life-like
+pictures presented, have made the acquaintance of many birds, and have
+since become enthusiastic observers of them. It has been introduced
+into the public schools, and is now in use as a text book by hundreds
+of teachers, who have expressed enthusiastic approval of the work and
+of its general extension. The faithfulness to nature of the pictures,
+in color and pose, have been commended by such ornithologists and
+authors as Dr. Elliott Coues, Mr. John Burroughs, Mr. J. W. Allen,
+editor of _The Auk_, Mr. Frank M. Chapman, Mr. J. W. Baskett, and
+others.
+
+The general text of BIRDS--the biographies--has been conscientiously
+prepared from the best authorities by a careful observer of the
+feather-growing denizens of the field, the forest, and the shore,
+while the juvenile autobiographies have received the approval of the
+highest ornithological authority.
+
+The publishers take pleasure in the announcement that the general
+excellence of BIRDS will be maintained in subsequent volumes. The
+subjects selected for the third and fourth volumes--many of them--will
+be of the rare beauty in which the great Audubon, the limner _par
+excellence_ of birds, would have found "the joy of imitation."
+
+                                      NATURE STUDY PUBLISHING COMPANY.
+
+
+
+
+                       BIRDS.
+         ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY
+         ================================
+         VOL. II.      AUGUST       NO. 2
+         ================================
+
+
+
+
+BIRD SONG.
+
+
+We made several early morning excursions into the woods and fields
+during the month of June, and were abundantly rewarded in many
+ways--by beholding the gracious awakening of Nature in her various
+forms, kissed into renewed activity by the radiance of morn; by the
+sweet smelling air filled with the perfume of a multitude of opening
+flowers which had drunk again the dew of heaven; by the sight of
+flitting clouds across the bluest of skies, patching the green earth
+with moving shadows, and sweetest of all, by the twittering, calling,
+musical sounds of love and joy which came to the ear from the throats
+of the feathered throng. How pleasant to lie prone on one's back on
+the cool grass, and gaze upward through the shady green canopy of
+boughs, watching the pretty manoeuvers, the joyous greetings, the
+lively anxieties, the graceful movements, and even the sorrowful
+happenings of the bird-life above us.
+
+Listen to the variety of their tones, as manifest as the difference of
+form and color. What more interesting than to observe their habits,
+and discover their cosy nests with their beautiful eggs in the
+green foliage? Strange that so many persons think only of making a
+collection of them, robbing the nests with heartless indifference to
+the suffering of the parents, to say nothing of the invasion which
+they make of the undoubted rights the birds have from nature to
+protection and perpetuation.
+
+Strictly speaking, there are few birds to which the word "singing"
+can properly be applied, the majority of them not having more than
+two or three notes, and they with little suggestion of music in them.
+Chanticleer crows, his spouse cackles or clucks, as may be suitable to
+the occasion. To what ear are these noises musical? They are rather
+language, and, in fact, the varying notes of every species of bird
+have a significance which can alone be interpreted by its peculiar
+habits. If careful note be made of the immediate conduct of the male
+or female bird, as the case may be, after each call or sound, the
+meaning of it becomes plain.
+
+A hen whose chicks are scattered in search of food, upon seeing a
+hawk, utters a note of warning which we have all heard, and the young
+scamper to her for protection beneath her wings. When she has laid an
+egg, _Cut-cut-cut-cut-ot-cut!_ announces it from the nest in the barn.
+When the chicks are hatched, her _cluck, cluck, cluck_, calls them
+from the nest in the wide world, and her _chick, chick, chick_,
+uttered quickly, selects for them the dainty which she has found, or
+teaches them what is proper for their diet. A good listener will
+detect enough intonations in her voice to constitute a considerable
+vocabulary, which, if imitated
+
+[CONTINUED ON PAGE 57.]
+
+
+
+
+THE AMERICAN OSPREY.
+
+
+Here is the picture of a remarkable bird. We know him better by the
+name Fish Hawk. He looks much like the Eagle in July "BIRDS." The
+Osprey has no use for Mr. Eagle though.
+
+You know the Bald Eagle or Sea Eagle is very fond of fish. Well, he is
+not a very good fisherman and from his lofty perch he watches for the
+Fish Hawk or Osprey. Do you ask why? Well, when he sees a Fish Hawk
+with his prey, he is sure to chase him and take it from him. It is for
+this reason that Ospreys dislike the Bald Eagle.
+
+Their food is fish, which as a rule they catch alive.
+
+It must be interesting to watch the Osprey at his fishing. He wings
+his way slowly over the water, keeping a watch for fish as they appear
+near the surface.
+
+When he sees one that suits him, he hovers a moment, and then, closing
+his wings, falls upon the fish.
+
+Sometimes he strikes it with such force that he disappears in the
+water for a moment. Soon we see him rise from the water with the prey
+in his claws.
+
+He then flies to some tall tree and if he has not been discovered by
+his enemy, the Eagle, can have a good meal for his hard work.
+
+Look at his claws; then think of them striking a fish as they must
+when he plunges from on high.
+
+A gentleman tells of an Osprey that fastened his claws in a fish that
+was too large for him.
+
+The fish drew him under and nothing more was seen of Mr. Osprey. The
+same gentleman tells of a fish weighing six pounds that fell from the
+claws of a Fish Hawk that became frightened by an Eagle.
+
+The Osprey builds his nest much like the Bald Eagle. It is usually
+found in a tall tree and out of reach.
+
+Like the Eagle, he uses the same nest each year, adding to it.
+Sometimes it measures five feet high and three feet across. One nest
+that was found, contained enough sticks, cornstalks, weeds, moss, and
+the like, to fill a cart, and made a load for a horse to draw. Like
+the Crows and Blackbirds they prefer to live together in numbers. Over
+three hundred nests have been found in the trees on a small island.
+
+One thing I want you to remember about the Osprey. They usually remain
+mated for life.
+
+ [Illustration: From col. F. M. Woodruff.
+                OSPREY.]
+
+
+
+
+THE AMERICAN OSPREY.
+
+
+An interesting bird, "Winged Fisher," as he has been happily called,
+is seen in places suited to his habits, throughout temperate North
+America, particularly about islands and along the seacoast. At Shelter
+Island, New York, they are exceedingly variable in the choice of a
+nesting place. On Gardiner's Island they all build in trees at a
+distance varying from ten to seventy-five feet from the ground; on
+Plum Island, where large numbers of them nest, many place their nests
+on the ground, some being built up to a height of four or five feet
+while others are simply a few sticks arranged in a circle, and the
+eggs laid on the bare sand. On Shelter Island they build on the
+chimneys of houses, and a pair had a nest on the cross-bar of a
+telegraph pole. Another pair had a nest on a large rock. These were
+made of coarse sticks and sea weed, anything handy, such as bones,
+old shoes, straw, etc. A curious nest was found some years ago on the
+coast of New Jersey. It contained three eggs, and securely imbedded
+in the loose material of the Osprey's nest was a nest of the Purple
+Grackle, containing five eggs, while at the bottom of the Hawk's nest
+was a thick, rotten limb, in which was a Tree Swallow's nest of seven
+eggs.
+
+In the spring and early autumn this familiar eagle-like bird can be
+seen hovering over creek, river, and sound. It is recognized by its
+popular name of Fish-Hawk. Following a school of fish, it dashes from
+a considerable height to seize its prey with its stout claws. If the
+fish is small it is at once swallowed, if it is large, (and the Osprey
+will occasionally secure shad, blue fish, bass, etc., weighing five or
+six pounds,) the fish is carried to a convenient bluff or tree and
+torn to bits. The Bald Eagle often robs him of the fish by seizing it,
+or startling him so that he looses his hold.
+
+The Osprey when fishing makes one of the most breezy, spirited
+pictures connected with the feeding habits of any of our birds, as
+often there is a splashing and a struggle under water when the fish
+grasped is too large or the great talons of the bird gets entangled.
+He is sometimes carried under and drowned, and large fish have been
+washed ashore with these birds fastened to them by the claws.
+
+Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright says: "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 was a
+monstrous crow's nest, but on returning the second week in May I saw a
+pair of Ospreys coming and going to and fro from the nest. 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 upon the ground.
+Among the debris were sticks of various sizes, dried reeds, two bits
+of bamboo 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."
+
+It is well known that Ospreys, if not disturbed, will continue
+indefinitely to heap rubbish upon their nests till their bulk is very
+great. Like the Owls they can reverse the rear toe.
+
+
+
+
+THE SORA RAIL.
+
+
+Various are the names required to distinguish the little slate-colored
+Carolina Rail from its brethren, Sora, Common Rail, and, on the
+Potomac river, Ortolan, being among them. He is found throughout
+temperate North America, in the weedy swamps of the Atlantic states in
+great abundance, in the Middle states, and in California. In Ohio he
+is a common summer resident, breeding in the extensive swamps and wet
+meadows. The nest is a rude affair made of grass and weeds, placed on
+the ground in a tussock of grass in a boggy tract of land, where there
+is a growth of briers, etc., where he may skulk and hide in the wet
+grass to elude observation. The nest may often be discovered at a
+distance by the appearance of the surrounding grass, the blades of
+which are in many cases interwoven over the nest, apparently to shield
+the bird from the fierce rays of the sun, which are felt with
+redoubled force on the marshes.
+
+The Rails feed on both vegetable and animal food. During the months of
+September and October, the weeds and wild oats swarm with them. They
+feed on the nutricious seeds, small snail shells, worms and larvae of
+insects, which they extract from the mud. The habits of the Sora Rail,
+its thin, compressed body, its aversion to take wing, and the
+dexterity with which it runs or conceals itself among the grass and
+sedge, are exactly similar to those of the more celebrated Virginia
+Rail.
+
+The Sora frequents those parts of marshes preferably where fresh water
+springs rise through the morass. Here it generally constructs its
+nest, "one of which," says an observer, "we had the good fortune to
+discover. It was built in the bottom of a tuft of grass in the midst
+of an almost impenetrable quagmire, and was composed altogether of old
+wet grass and rushes. The eggs had been flooded out of the nest by the
+extraordinary rise of the tide in a violent northwest storm, and lay
+scattered about the drift weed. The usual number of eggs is from six
+to ten. They are of a dirty white or pale cream color, sprinkled with
+specks of reddish and pale purple, most numerous near the great end."
+
+When on the wing the Sora Rail flies in a straight line for a short
+distance with dangling legs, and suddenly drops into the water.
+
+The Rails have many foes, and many nests are robbed of their eggs by
+weasels, snakes, Blackbirds, and Marsh Hawks, although the last cannot
+disturb them easily, as the Marsh Hawk searches for its food while
+flying and a majority of the Rails' nests are covered over, making it
+hard to distinguish them when the Hawk is above.
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: From col. Chi. Acad. Sciences.
+                SORA RAIL.]
+
+THE SORA RAIL.
+
+
+This is one of our fresh-water marsh birds. I show you his picture
+taken where he spends most of his time.
+
+If it were not for the note calls, these tall reeds and grasses would
+keep from us the secret of the Rail's home.
+
+Like most birds, though, they must be heard, and so late in the
+afternoon you may hear their clear note, ker-wee.
+
+From all parts of the marsh you will hear their calls which they keep
+up long after darkness has set in.
+
+This Rail was just about to step out from the grasses to feed when the
+artist took his picture. See him--head up, and tail up. He steps along
+carefully. He feels that it is risky to leave his shelter and is ready
+at the first sign of danger, to dart back under cover.
+
+There are very few fresh-water marshes where the Rail is not found.
+
+When a boy, I loved to hear their note calls and would spend hours on
+the edge of a marsh near my home.
+
+It seemed to me there was no life among the reeds and cat-tails of the
+marsh, but when I threw a stone among them, the Rails would always
+answer with their _peeps_ or _keeks_.
+
+And so I used to go down to the marsh with my pockets filled with
+stones. Not that I desired or even expected to injure one of these
+birds. Far from it. It pleased me to hear their calls from the reeds
+and grass that seemed deserted.
+
+Those of you who live near wild-rice or wild-oat marshes have a good
+chance to become acquainted with this Rail.
+
+In the south these Rails are found keeping company with the Bobolinks
+or Reed-birds as they are called down there.
+
+
+
+
+THE KENTUCKY WARBLER.
+
+
+Although this bird is called the Kentucky Warbler, we must not think
+he visits that state alone.
+
+We find him all over eastern North America. And a beautiful bird he
+is.
+
+As his name tells you he is one of a family of Warblers.
+
+I told you somewhere else that the Finches are the largest family of
+birds. Next to them come the Warblers.
+
+Turn back now and see how many Warblers have been pictured so far.
+
+See if you can tell what things group them as a family. Notice their
+bills and feet.
+
+This bird is usually found in the dense woods, especially where there
+are streams of water.
+
+He is a good singer, and his song is very different from that of any
+of the other Warblers.
+
+I once watched one of these birds--olive-green above and yellow
+beneath. His mate was on a nest near by and he was entertaining her
+with his song.
+
+He kept it up over two hours, stopping only a few seconds between his
+songs. When I reached the spot with my field-glass I was attracted by
+his peculiar song. I don't know how long he had been singing. I stayed
+and spent two hours with him and he showed no signs of stopping. He
+may be singing yet. I hope he is.
+
+You see him here perched on a granite cliff. I suppose his nest is
+near by.
+
+He makes it of twigs and rootlets, with several thicknesses of leaves.
+It is neatly lined with fine rootlets and you will always find it on
+or near the ground.
+
+In the September and October number of "BIRDS" you will find several
+Warblers and Finches. Try to keep track of them and may be you can do
+as many others have done--tell the names of new birds that come along
+by their pictures which you have seen in "BIRDS."
+
+ [Illustration: From col. F. M. Woodruff.
+                KENTUCKY WARBLER.]
+
+
+
+
+THE KENTUCKY WARBLER.
+
+
+Between sixty and seventy warblers are described by Davie in his
+"Nests and Eggs of North American Birds," and the Kentucky Warbler is
+recognized as one of the most beautiful of the number, in its manners
+almost the counterpart of the Golden Crowned Thrush (soon to delight
+the eyes of the readers of BIRDS), though it is altogether a more
+conspicuous bird, both on account of its brilliant plumage and
+greater activity, the males being, during the season of nesting, very
+pugnacious, continually chasing one another about the woods. It lives
+near the ground, making its artfully concealed nest among the low
+herbage and feeding in the undergrowth, the male singing from some old
+log or low bush, his song recalling that of the Cardinal, though much
+weaker.
+
+The ordinary note is a soft _schip_, somewhat like the common call of
+the Pewee. Considering its great abundance, says an observer, the nest
+of this charmer is very difficult to find; the female, he thought,
+must slyly leave the nest at the approach of an intruder, running
+beneath the herbage until a considerable distance from the nest, when,
+joined by her mate, the pair by their evident anxiety mislead the
+stranger as to its location.
+
+It has been declared that no group of birds better deserves the
+epithet "pretty" than the Warblers. Tanagers are splendid, Humming
+Birds refulgent, others brilliant, gaudy, or magnificent, but Warblers
+alone are pretty.
+
+The Warblers are migratory birds, the majority of them passing rapidly
+across the United States in spring on the way to their northern
+nesting grounds, and in autumn to their winter residence within the
+tropics. When the apple trees bloom they revel among the flowers,
+vieing in activity and numbers with the bees; "now probing the
+recesses of a blossom for an insect, then darting to another, where,
+poised daintily upon a slender twig, or suspended from it, they
+explore hastily but carefully for another morsel. Every movement is
+the personification of nervous activity, as if the time for their
+journey was short; as, indeed, appears to be the case, for two or
+three days at most suffice some species in a single locality."
+
+We recently saw a letter from a gentleman living at Lake Geneva, in
+which he referred with enthusiasm to BIRDS, because it had enabled him
+to identify a bird which he had often seen in the apple trees among
+the blossoms, particularly the present season, with which he was
+unacquainted by name. It was the Orchard Oriole, and he was glad to
+have a directory of nature which would enable him to add to his
+knowledge and correct errors of observation. The idea is a capitol
+one, and the beautiful Kentucky Warbler, unknown to many who see it
+often, may be recognized in the same way by residents of southern
+Indiana and Illinois, Kansas, some localities in Ohio, particularly in
+the southwestern portion, in parts of New York and New Jersey, in the
+District of Columbia, and in North Carolina. It has not heretofore
+been possible, even with the best painted specimens of birds in the
+hand, to satisfactorily identify the pretty creatures, but with BIRDS
+as a companion, which may readily be consulted, the student cannot be
+led into error.
+
+
+
+
+THE RED BREASTED MERGANSER.
+
+
+Why this duck should be called red-breasted is not at first apparent,
+as at a distance the color can not be distinguished, but seen near,
+the reason is plain. It is a common bird in the United States in
+winter, where it is found in suitable localities in the months of May
+and June. It is also a resident of the far north, breeding abundantly
+in Newfoundland, Labrador, Greenland, and Iceland. It is liberally
+supplied with names, as Red-Breasted Goosander or Sheldrake, Garbill,
+Sea Robin, etc.
+
+There is a difference in opinion as to the nesting habits of the
+Red-Breast, some authorities claiming that, like the Wood Duck, the
+nest is placed in the cavity of a tree, others that it is usually
+found on the ground among brushwood, surrounded with tall grasses and
+at a short distance from water. Davie says that most generally it is
+concealed by a projecting rock or other object, the nest being made of
+leaves and mosses, lined with feathers and down, which are plucked
+from the breast of the bird. The observers are all probably correct,
+the bird adapting itself to the situation.
+
+Fish is the chief diet of the Merganser, for which reason its flesh is
+rank and unpalatable. The Bird's appetite is insatiable, devouring its
+food in such quantities that it has frequently to disgorge several
+times before it is able to rise from the water. This Duck can swallow
+fishes six or seven inches in length, and will attempt to swallow
+those of a larger size, choking in the effort.
+
+The term Merganser is derived from the plan of the bird's bill, which
+is furnished with saw teeth fitting into each other.
+
+The eggs of the Red-Breasted Merganser vary from six to twelve, are
+oval in shape, and are of a yellowish or reddish-drab, sometimes a
+dull buffy-green.
+
+You may have seen pictures of this Duck, which frequently figures in
+dining rooms on the ornamental panels of stuffed game birds, but none
+which could cause you to remember its life-like appearance. You here
+see before you an actual Red-Breasted Merganser.
+
+ [Illustration: From col. J. G. Parker, Jr.
+                RED-BREASTED MERGANSER.]
+
+
+
+
+BIRD SONG--Continued from page 41.
+
+
+with exactness, will deceive Mistress Pullet herself.
+
+To carry the idea further, we will take the notes of some of the birds
+depicted in this number of BIRDS. The Osprey, or Fish-Hawk, has been
+carefully observed, and his only discovered note is a high, rapidly
+repeated whistle, very plaintive. Doubtless this noise is agreeable
+and intelligible to his mate, but cannot be called a song, and has no
+significance to the listener.
+
+The Vulture utters a low, hissing sound when disturbed. This is its
+only note. Not so with the Bald Eagle, whose scream emulates the rage
+of the tempest, and implies courage, the quality which associates him
+with patriotism and freedom. In the notes of the Partridge there is a
+meaning recognizable by every one. After the nesting season, when the
+birds are in bevies, their notes are changed to what sportsmen term
+"scatter calls." Not long after a bevy has been flushed, and perhaps
+widely scattered, the members of the disunited family may be heard
+signaling to one another in sweet minor calls of two and three notes,
+and in excitement, they utter low, twittering notes.
+
+Of the Sora Rails, Mr. Chapman says, "knowing their calls, you have
+only to pass a May or June evening near a marsh to learn whether they
+inhabit it. If there, they will greet you late in the afternoon with
+a clear whistled _ker-wee_, which soon comes from dozens of invisible
+birds about you, and long after night has fallen, it continues like a
+springtime chorus of piping hylas. Now and again it is interrupted by
+a high-voiced, rolling whinney, which, like a call of alarm, is taken
+up and repeated by different birds all over the marsh."
+
+Poor Red-Breasted Merganser! He has only one note, a croak. Perhaps
+it was of him that Bryant was thinking when he wrote the stanzas "To
+a Water-Fowl."
+
+"The sentiment of feeling awakened by any of the aquatic fowls is
+pre-eminently one of loneliness," says John Burroughs. "The Wood Duck
+(see July BIRDS) which you approach, starts from the pond or the
+marsh, the Loon neighing down out of the April sky, the Wild Goose,
+the Curlew, the Stork, the Bittern, the Sandpiper, etc., awaken quite
+a different train of emotions from those awakened by the land birds.
+They all have clinging to them some reminiscence and suggestion of the
+sea. Their cries echo its wildness and desolation; their wings are the
+shape of its billows."
+
+But the Evening Grosbeak, the Kentucky Warbler, the Skylark, land
+birds all, are singers. They have music in their throats and in their
+souls, though of varying quality. The Grosbeak's note is described by
+different observers as a shrill _cheepy tee_ and a frog-like _peep_,
+while one writer remarks that the males have a single metallic cry
+like the note of a trumpet, and the females a loud chattering like the
+large Cherry Birds.
+
+The Kentucky Warbler's song is entirely unlike that of any other
+Warbler, and is a loud, clearly whistled performance of five, six, or
+seven notes, _turdle, turdle, turdle_, resembling in tone some of the
+calls of the Carolina Wren. He is so persistent in his singing,
+however, that the Red-Breasted Merganser's simple croak would
+sometimes be preferable to it.
+
+But the Skylark--
+
+              "All the earth and air
+                With thy voice is loud,
+              As, when night is bare
+                From one lonely cloud
+ The moon rains out her beams and heaven is over-flowed."
+
+                                --C. C. MARBLE.
+
+
+
+
+THE YELLOW LEGS.
+
+
+Yellow Legs, or Lesser Tell tale sometimes called Yellow-leg Snipe,
+and Little Cucu, inhabits the whole of North America, nesting in the
+cold temperate and subarctic districts of the northern continent,
+migrating south in winter to Argentine and Chili. It is much rarer in
+the western than eastern province of North America, and is only
+accidental in Europe. It is one of the wading birds, its food
+consisting of larvae of insects, small shell fish and the like.
+
+The nest of the Lesser Yellow Shanks, which it is sometimes called,
+is a mere depression in the ground, without any lining. Sometimes,
+however, it is placed at the foot of a bush, with a scanty lining
+of withered leaves. Four eggs of light drab, buffy or cream color,
+sometimes of light brown, are laid, and the breast of the female is
+found to be bare of feathers when engaged in rearing the young. The
+Lesser Yellow legs breeds in central Ohio and Illinois, where it is
+a regular summer resident, arriving about the middle of April, the
+larger portion of flocks passing north early in May and returning
+about the first of September to remain until the last of October.
+
+A nest of this species of Snipe was found situated in a slight
+depression at the base of a small hillock near the border of a prairie
+slough near Evanston, Illinois, and was made of grass stems and
+blades. The color of the eggs in this instance was a deep grayish
+white, three of which were marked with spots of dark brown, and the
+fourth egg with spots and well defined blotches of a considerably
+lighter shade of the same.
+
+ [Illustration: From col. F. M. Woodruff.
+                YELLOW LEGS.]
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: From col. F. M. Woodruff.
+                SKY LARK.]
+
+THE SKYLARK.
+
+
+This is not an American bird. I have allowed his picture to be taken
+and placed here because so many of our English friends desired it.
+
+The skylark is probably the most noted of birds in Europe. He is found
+in all of the countries of Europe, but England seems to claim it. Here
+it stays during the summer, and goes south in the winter.
+
+Like our own Meadow Lark, he likes best to stay in the fields. Here
+you will find it when not on the wing.
+
+Early in the spring the Skylark begins his song, and he may be heard
+for most of the year.
+
+Sometimes he sings while on the ground, but usually it is while he is
+soaring far above us.
+
+Skylarks do not often seek the company of persons. There are some
+birds, you know, that seem happy only when they are near people. Of
+course, they are somewhat shy, but as a rule they prefer to be near
+people. While the Skylark does not seek to be near persons, yet it is
+not afraid of them.
+
+A gentleman, while riding through the country, was surprised to see
+a Skylark perch on his saddle. When he tried to touch it, the Lark
+moved along on the horse's back, and finally dropped under the horse's
+feet. Here it seemed to hide. The rider, looking up, saw a hawk flying
+about. This explained the cause of the skylark's strange actions.
+
+A pair of these Larks had built their nest in a meadow. When the time
+came for mowing the grass, the little ones were not large enough to
+leave the nest. The mother bird laid herself flat on the ground, with
+her wings spread out. The father bird took one of the little ones from
+the nest and placed it on the mother's back. She flew away, took the
+baby bird to a safe place, and came back for another.
+
+This time the father took his turn. In this way they carried the
+little ones to a safe place before the mowers came.
+
+Like our Meadow Lark, the Skylark builds her nest on the ground--never
+in bushes or trees. Usually it is built in a hole below the surface of
+the ground. It is for this reason that it is hard to find.
+
+Then, too, the color of the nest is much like that of the ground.
+
+Four or five eggs are usually laid, and in two weeks the little larks
+crack the shells, and come into the world crying for worms and bugs.
+
+
+
+
+THE SKYLARK.
+
+
+The English Skylark has been more celebrated in poetry than any
+other song-bird. Shelley's famous poem is too long to quote and too
+symmetrical to present in fragmentary form. It is almost as musical as
+the sweet singer itself.
+
+"By the first streak of dawn," says one familiar with the Skylark, "he
+bounds from the dripping herbage, and on fluttering wings mounts the
+air for a few feet ere giving forth his cheery notes. Then upward,
+apparently without effort he sails, sometimes drifting far away as he
+ascends, borne as it were by the ascending vapors, so easily he mounts
+the air. His notes are so pure and sweet, and yet so loud and varied
+withal, that when they first disturb the air of early morning all the
+other little feathered tenants of the fields and hedgerows seem
+irresistibly compelled to join him in filling the air with melody.
+Upwards, ever upwards, he mounts, until like a speck in the highest
+ether he appears motionless; yet still his notes are heard, lovely
+in their faintness, now gradually growing louder and louder as he
+descends, until within a few yards of the earth they cease, and he
+drops like a fragment hurled from above into the herbage, or flits
+about it for a short distance ere alighting." The Lark sings just as
+richly on the ground as when on quivering wing. When in song he is
+said to be a good guide to the weather, for whenever we see him rise
+into the air, despite the gloomy looks of an overcast sky, fine
+weather is invariably at hand.
+
+The nest is most frequently in the grass fields, sometimes amongst
+the young corn, or in places little frequented. It is made of dry
+grass and moss, and lined with fibrous roots and a little horse hair.
+The eggs, usually four or five in number, are dull white, spotted,
+clouded, and blotched over the entire surface with brownish green.
+The female Lark, says Dixon, like all ground birds, is a very close
+sitter, remaining faithful to her charge. She regains her nest by
+dropping to the ground a hundred yards or more from its concealment.
+
+The food of the Lark is varied,--in spring and summer, insects and
+their larvae, and worms and slugs, in autumn and winter, seeds.
+
+Olive Thorne Miller tells this pretty anecdote of a Skylark which
+she emancipated from a bird store: "I bought the skylark, though I
+did not want him. I spared no pains to make the stranger happy. I
+procured a beautiful sod of uncut fresh grass, of which he at once took
+possession, crouching or sitting low among the stems, and looking most
+bewitching. He seemed contented, and uttered no more that appealing
+cry, but he did not show much intelligence. His cage had a broad base
+behind which he delighted to hide, and for hours as I sat in the room
+I could see nothing of him, although I would hear him stirring about.
+If I rose from my seat he was instantly on the alert, and stretched
+his head up to look over at me. I tried to get a better view of him by
+hanging a small mirror at an angle over his cage, but he was so much
+frightened by it that I removed it."
+
+"This bird," Mrs. Miller says "never seemed to know enough to go home.
+Even when very hungry he would stand before his wide open door, where
+one step would take him into his beloved grass thicket, and yet that
+one step he would not take. When his hunger became intolerable he ran
+around the room, circled about his cage, looking in, recognizing his
+food dishes, and trying eagerly to get between the wires to reach
+them; and yet when he came before the open door he would stand and
+gaze, but never go in. After five months' trial, during which he
+displayed no particular intelligence, and never learned to enter his
+cage, he passed out of the bird room, but not into a store."
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: From col. F. M. Woodruff.
+                WILSON'S PHALAROPE.]
+
+WILSON'S PHALAROPE.
+
+
+Perhaps the most interesting, as it is certainly the most uncommon,
+characteristic of this species of birds is that the male relieves
+his mate from all domestic duties except the laying of the eggs. He
+usually chooses a thin tuft of grass on a level spot, but often in an
+open place concealed by only a few straggling blades. He scratches a
+shallow depression in the soft earth, lines it with a thin layer of
+fragments of old grass blades, upon which the eggs, three or four,
+are laid about the last of May or first of June. Owing to the low
+situation in which the nest is placed, the first set of eggs are often
+destroyed by a heavy fall of rain causing the water to rise so as to
+submerge the nest. The instinct of self preservation in these birds,
+as in many others, seems lacking in this respect. A second set,
+numbering two or three, is often deposited in a depression scratched
+in the ground, as at first, but with no sign of any lining.
+
+Wilson's Phalarope is exclusively an American bird, more common in
+the interior than along the sea coast. The older ornithologists knew
+little of it. It is now known to breed in northern Illinois, Iowa,
+Wisconsin, Minnesota, the Dakotas, Utah, and Oregon. It is recorded as
+a summer resident in northern Indiana and in western Kansas. Mr. E. W.
+Nelson states that it is the most common species in northern Illinois,
+frequenting grassy marshes and low prairies, and is not exceeded in
+numbers even by the ever-present Spotted Sandpiper. While it was one
+of our most common birds in the Calumet region it is now becoming
+scarce.
+
+The adult female of this beautiful species is by far the handsomest of
+the small waders. The breeding plumage is much brighter and richer
+than that of the male, another peculiar characteristic, and the male
+alone possesses the naked abdomen. The female always remains near the
+nest while he is sitting, and shows great solicitude upon the approach
+of an intruder. The adults assume the winter plumage during July.
+
+
+
+
+THE EVENING GROSBEAK.
+
+
+Handsomer birds there may be, but in the opinion of many this visitant
+to various portions of western North America is in shape, color, and
+markings one of the most exquisite of the feather-wearers. It has for
+its habitation the region extending from the plains to the Pacific
+ocean and from Mexico into British America. Toward the North it ranges
+further to the east; so that, while it appears to be not uncommon
+about Lake Superior, it has been reported as occuring in Ohio, New
+York, and Canada. In Illinois it was observed at Freeport during the
+winter of 1870 and 1871, and at Waukegan during January, 1873. It is a
+common resident of the forests of the State of Washington, and also of
+Oregon. In the latter region Dr. Merrill observed the birds carrying
+building material to a huge fir tree, but was unable to locate the
+nest, and the tree was practically inaccessable. Mr. Walter E. Bryant
+was the first to record an authentic nest and eggs of the Evening
+Grosbeak. In a paper read before the California Academy of Sciences he
+describes a nest of this species containing four eggs, found in Yolo
+county, California. The nest was built in a small live oak, at a
+height of ten feet, and was composed of small twigs supporting a thin
+layer of fibrous bark and a lining of horse hair. The eggs are of a
+clear greenish-ground color, blotched with pale brown. According to
+Mr. Davie, one of the leading authorities on North American birds,
+little if any more information has been obtained regarding the nests
+and eggs of the Evening Grosbeak.
+
+As to its habits, Mr. O. P. Day says, that about the year 1872,
+while hunting during fine autumn weather in the woods about Eureka,
+Illinois, he fell in with a number of these Grosbeaks. They were
+feeding in the tree tops on the seeds of the sugar maple, just then
+ripening, and were excessively fat. They were very unsuspicious, and
+for a long time suffered him to observe them. They also ate the buds
+of the cottonwood tree in company with the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak.
+
+The song of the Grosbeak is singularly like that of the Robin, and to
+one not thoroughly familiar with the notes of the latter a difference
+would not at first be detected. There is a very decided difference,
+however, and by repeatedly listening to both species in full voice it
+will be discovered more and more clearly. The sweet and gentle strains
+of music harmonize delightfully, and the concert they make is well
+worth the careful attention of the discriminating student. The value
+of such study will be admitted by all who know how little is known
+of the songsters. A gentleman recently said to us that one day in
+November the greater part of the football field at the south end of
+Lincoln Park was covered with Snow Birds. There were also on the field
+more than one hundred grammar and high school boys waiting the arrival
+of the football team. There was only one person present who paid any
+attention to the birds which were picking up the food, twittering,
+hopping, and flying about, and occasionally indulging in fights, and
+all utterly oblivious of the fact that there were scores of shouting
+school boys around and about them. The gentleman called the attention
+of one after another of ten of the high school boys to the snow birds
+and asked what they were. They one and all declared they were English
+Sparrows, and seemed astounded that any one could be so ignorant as
+not to know what an English Sparrow was. So much for the city-bred
+boy's observation of birds.
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: EVENING GROSBEAK.]
+
+THE EVENING GROSBEAK.
+
+
+In the far Northwest we find this beautiful bird the year around.
+During the winter he often comes farther south in company with his
+cousin, the Rose-Breasted Grosbeak.
+
+What a beautiful sight it must be to see a flock of these
+birds--Evening Grosbeaks and Rose-Breasted in their pretty plumage.
+
+Grosbeaks belong to a family called Finches. The Sparrows, Buntings,
+and Crossbills belong to the same family. It is the largest family
+among birds.
+
+You will notice that they all have stout bills. Their food is mostly
+grains and their bills are well formed to crush the seeds.
+
+Look at your back numbers of "BIRDS" and notice the pictures of the
+other Finches I have named. Don't you think Dame Nature is very
+generous with her colors sometimes?
+
+Only a few days ago while strolling through the woods with my field
+glass, I saw a pretty sight. On one tree I saw a Redheaded Woodpecker,
+a Flicker, an Indigo Bunting, and a Rose-Breasted Grosbeak. I thought
+then, if we could only have the Evening Grosbeak our group of colors
+would be complete.
+
+Have you ever wondered at some birds being so prettily dressed while
+others have such dull colors?
+
+Some people say that the birds who do not sing must have bright
+feathers to make them attractive. We cannot believe this. Some of our
+bright colored birds are sweet singers, and surely many of our dull
+colored birds cannot sing very well.
+
+Next month you will see the pictures of several home birds. See if
+dull colors have anything to do with sweet song.
+
+
+
+
+THE TURKEY VULTURE.
+
+
+This bird is found mostly in the southern states. Here he is known by
+the more common name of Turkey Buzzard.
+
+He looks like a noble bird but he isn't. While he is well fitted for
+flying, and might, if he tried, catch his prey, he prefers to eat dead
+animals.
+
+The people down south never think of burying a dead horse or cow. They
+just drag it out away from their homes and leave it to the Vultures
+who are sure to dispose of it.
+
+It is very seldom that they attack a live animal.
+
+They will even visit the streets of the cities in search of dead
+animals for food, and do not show much fear of man. Oftentimes they
+are found among the chickens and ducks in the barn-yard, but have
+never been known to kill any.
+
+One gentleman who has studied the habits of the Vulture says that
+it has been known to suck the eggs of Herons. This is not common,
+though. As I said they prefer dead animals for their food and even eat
+their own dead.
+
+The Vulture is very graceful while on the wing. He sails along and you
+can hardly see his wings move as he circles about looking for food on
+the ground below.
+
+Many people think the Vulture looks much like our tame turkey.
+
+If you know of a turkey near by, just compare this picture with it and
+you won't think so.
+
+See how chalk-white his bill is. No feathers on his head, but a bright
+red skin.
+
+What do you think of the young chick? It doesn't seem as though he
+could ever be the large, heavy bird his parent seems to be.
+
+Now turn back to the first page of July "BIRDS" and see how he differs
+from the Eagle.
+
+ [Illustration: From col. F. M. Woodruff.
+                TURKEY VULTURE.]
+
+
+
+
+THE TURKEY VULTURE.
+
+
+Turkey Buzzard is the familiar name applied to this bird, on account
+of his remarkable resemblance to our common Turkey. This is the only
+respect however, in which they are alike. It inhabits the United
+States and British Provinces from the Atlantic to the Pacific, south
+through Central and most of South America. Every farmer knows it to
+be an industrious scavenger, devouring at all times the putrid or
+decomposing flesh of carcasses. They are found in flocks, not only
+flying and feeding in company, but resorting to the same spot to
+roost; nesting also in communities; depositing their eggs on the
+ground, on rocks, or in hollow logs and stumps, usually in thick woods
+or in a sycamore grove, in the bend or fork of a stream. The nest is
+frequently built in a tree, or in the cavity of a sycamore stump,
+though a favorite place for depositing the eggs is a little depression
+under a small bush or overhanging rock on a steep hillside.
+
+Renowned naturalists have long argued that the Vulture does not have
+an extraordinary power of smell, but, according to Mr. Davie, an
+excellent authority, it has been proven by the most satisfactory
+experiments that the Turkey Buzzard does possess a keen sense of smell
+by which it can distinguish the odor of flesh at a great distance.
+
+The flight of the Turkey Vulture is truly beautiful, and no landscape
+with its patches of green woods and grassy fields, is perfect without
+its dignified figure high in the air, moving round in circles, steady,
+graceful and easy, and apparently without effort. "It sails," says
+Dr. Brewer, "with a steady, even motion, with wings just above the
+horizontal position, with their tips slightly raised, rises from the
+ground with a single bound, gives a few flaps of the wings, and then
+proceeds with its peculiar soaring flight, rising very high in the
+air."
+
+The Vulture pictured in the accompanying plate was obtained between
+the Brazos river and Matagorda bay. With it was found the Black
+Vulture, both nesting upon the ground. As the nearest trees were
+thirty or forty miles distant these Vultures were always found in this
+situation. The birds selected an open spot beneath a heavy growth of
+bushes, placing the eggs upon the bare ground. The old bird when
+approached would not attempt to leave the nest, and in the case of the
+young bird in the plate, the female to protect it from harm, promptly
+disgorged the putrid contents of her stomach, which was so offensive
+that the intruder had to close his nostrils with one hand while he
+reached for the young bird with the other.
+
+The Turkey Vulture is a very silent bird, only uttering a hiss of
+defiance or warning to its neighbors when feeding, or a low gutteral
+croak of alarm when flying low overhead.
+
+The services of the Vultures as scavengers in removing offal render
+them valuable, and almost a necessity in southern cities. If an animal
+is killed and left exposed to view, the bird is sure to find out the
+spot in a very short time, and to make its appearance as if called by
+some magic spell from the empty air.
+
+    "Never stoops the soaring Vulture
+    On his quarry in the desert,
+    On the sick or wounded bison,
+    But another Vulture, watching,
+    From his high aerial lookout,
+    Sees the downward plunge and follows;
+    And a third pursues the second,
+    Coming from the invisible ether,
+    First a speck, and then a Vulture,
+    Till the air is dark with pinions."
+
+
+
+
+TO A WATER-FOWL.
+
+
+    Whither, 'midst falling dew
+      While glow the heavens with the last steps of day,
+    Far through their rosy depths dost thou pursue
+      Thy solitary way?
+
+    Vainly the fowler's eye
+      Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong,
+    As, darkly painted on the crimson sky,
+      Thy figure floats along.
+
+    Seek'st thou the plashy brink
+      Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide,
+    Or where the rocky billows rise and sink
+      On the chafed ocean side.
+
+    There is a Power whose care
+      Teaches thy way along that pathless coast--
+    The desert and illimitable air--
+      Lone wandering, but not lost.
+
+    All day thy wings have fanned,
+      At that far height, the cold thin atmosphere,
+    Yet stoop not, weary, to the welcome land
+      Though the dark night is near.
+
+    And soon that toil shall end;
+      Soon shalt thou find a summer home, and nest,
+    And scream among thy fellows; reeds shall bend,
+      Soon o'er thy sheltered nest.
+
+    Thou'rt gone, the abyss of heaven
+      Hath swallowed up thy form; yet on my heart
+    Deeply has sunk the lesson thou hast given,
+      And shall not soon depart.
+
+    He who from zone to zone,
+      Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
+    In the long way that I must tread alone,
+      Will lead my steps aright.
+
+                               WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT.
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: From col. F. M. Woodruff.
+                GAMBEL'S PARTRIDGE.]
+
+GAMBEL'S PARTRIDGE.
+
+
+Gambel's Partridge, of which comparatively little is known, is a
+characteristic game bird of Arizona and New Mexico, of rare beauty,
+and with habits similar to others of the species of which there are
+about two hundred. Mr. W. E. D. Scott found the species distributed
+throughout the entire Catalina region in Arizona below an altitude of
+5,000 feet. The bird is also known as the Arizona Quail.
+
+The nest is made in a depression in the ground sometimes without any
+lining. From eight to sixteen eggs are laid. They are most beautifully
+marked on a creamy-white ground with scattered spots and blotches of
+old gold, and sometimes light drab and chestnut red. In some specimens
+the gold coloring is so pronounced that it strongly suggests to the
+imagination that this quail feeds upon the grains of the precious
+metal which characterizes its home, and that the pigment is imparted
+to the eggs.
+
+After the nesting season these birds commonly gather in "coveys" or
+bevies, usually composed of the members of but one family. As a rule
+they are terrestrial, but may take to trees when flushed. They are
+game birds _par excellence_, and, says Chapman, trusting to the
+concealment afforded by their dull colors, attempt to avoid detection
+by hiding rather than by flying. The flight is rapid and accompanied
+by a startling whirr, caused by the quick strokes of their small,
+concave, stiff-feathered wings. They roost on the ground, tail to
+tail, with heads pointing outward; "a bunch of closely huddled
+forms--a living bomb whose explosion is scarcely less startling than
+that of dynamite manufacture."
+
+The Partridge is on all hands admitted to be wholly harmless, and at
+times beneficial to the agriculturist. It is an undoubted fact that it
+thrives with the highest system of cultivation, and the lands that are
+the most carefully tilled, and bear the greatest quantity of grain and
+green crops, generally produce the greatest number of Partridges.
+
+
+
+
+SUMMARY.
+
+
+Page 43.
+
+#AMERICAN OSPREY.#--_Pandion paliaetus carolinensis._
+
+RANGE--North America; breeds from Florida to Labrador; winters from
+South Carolina to northern South America.
+
+NEST--Generally in a tree, thirty to fifty feet from the ground,
+rarely on the ground.
+
+EGGS--Two to four; generally buffy white, heavily marked with
+chocolate.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Page 48.
+
+#SORA RAIL.#--_Porzana carolina._
+
+RANGE--Temperate North America, south to the West Indies and northern
+South America.
+
+NEST--Of grass and reeds, placed on the ground in a tussock of grass,
+where there is a growth of briers.
+
+EGGS--From seven to fourteen; of a ground color, of dark cream or
+drab, with reddish brown spots.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Page 51.
+
+#KENTUCKY WARBLER.#--_Geothlypis formosa._
+
+RANGE--Eastern United States; breeds from the Gulf States to Iowa and
+Connecticut; winters in Central America.
+
+NEST--Bulky, of twigs and rootlets, firmly wrapped with leaves, on or
+near the ground.
+
+EGGS--Four or five; white or grayish white, speckled or blotched with
+rufous.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Page 55.
+
+#RED-BREASTED MERGANSER.#--_Merganser Serrator._
+
+RANGE--Northern parts of the Northern Hemisphere; in America breeds
+from northern Illinois and New Brunswick northward to the arctic
+regions; winters southward to Cuba.
+
+NEST--Of leaves, grasses, mosses, etc., lined with down, on the ground
+near water, among rocks or scrubby bushes.
+
+EGGS--Six to twelve; creamy buff.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Page 60.
+
+#YELLOW LEGS.#--_Totanus flavipes._
+
+RANGE--North America, breeding chiefly in the interior from Minnesota,
+northern Illinois, Ontario County, N. Y., northward to the Arctic
+regions; winters from the Gulf States to Patagonia.
+
+EGGS--Three or four; buffy, spotted or blotched with dark madder--or
+van dyke--brown and purplish gray.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Page 61.
+
+#SKYLARK.#--_Alauda arvensis._
+
+RANGE--Europe and portions of Asia and Africa; accidental in the
+Bermudas and in Greenland.
+
+NEST--Placed on the ground, in meadows or open grassy places,
+sheltered by a tuft of grass; the materials are grasses, plant stems,
+and a few chance leaves.
+
+EGGS--Three to five, of varying form, color, and size.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Page 66.
+
+#WILSON'S PHALAROPE.#--_Phalaropus tricolor._
+
+RANGE--Temperate North America, breeding from northern Illinois and
+Utah northward to the Saskatchewan region; south in winter to Brazil
+and Patagonia.
+
+NEST--A shallow depression in soft earth, lined with a thin layer of
+fragments of grass.
+
+EGGS--Three to four; cream buff or buffy white, heavily blotched with
+deep chocolate.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Page 70.
+
+#EVENING GROSBEAK.#--_Cocothraustes vespertina._
+
+RANGE--Interior of North America, from Manitoba northward;
+southeastward in winter to the upper Mississippi Valley and casually
+to the northern Atlantic States.
+
+NEST--Of small twigs, lined with bark, hair, or rootlets, placed
+within twenty feet of the ground.
+
+EGGS--Three or four; greenish, blotched with pale brown.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Page 73.
+
+#TURKEY VULTURE.#--_Catharista Atrata._
+
+RANGE--Temperate America, from New Jersey southward to Patagonia.
+
+NEST--In hollow stump or log, or on ground beneath bushes or
+palmettos.
+
+EGGS--One to three; dull white, spotted and blotched with chocolate
+marking.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Page 78.
+
+#GAMBEL'S PARTRIDGE.#--_Callipepla gambeli._
+
+RANGE--Northwestern Mexico, Arizona, New Mexico, southern Utah, and
+western Utah and western Texas.
+
+NEST--Placed on the ground, sometimes without any lining.
+
+EGGS--From eight to sixteen.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds Illustrated by Color Photography
+[August, 1897], by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR ***
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