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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30103 ***
+
+Transcriber's Note: Title added.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+              BIRDS ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY
+
+              Vol. One       MARCH, 1897       No. 3
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+    FROM: THE PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.
+
+                       _STATE OF NEW YORK_
+               _Department of Public Instruction_
+                    _SUPERINTENDENT'S OFFICE_
+
+                                _Albany_ December 26, 1896.
+
+  [Illustration: (seal)]
+  _Stenographic Letter_
+  Dictated by __________
+
+
+  W. E. Watt, President &c.,
+                   Fisher Building,
+                       277 Dearborn St., Chicago, Ill.
+
+  My dear Sir:
+
+  Please accept my thanks for a copy of the first publication of "Birds."
+  Please enter my name as a regular subscriber. It is one of the most
+  beautiful and interesting publications yet attempted in this direction.
+  It has other attractions in addition to its beauty, and it must win its
+  way to popular favor.
+
+  Wishing the handsome little magazine abundant prosperity,
+  I remain
+
+                   Yours very respectfully,
+                   [signature]
+                                State Superintendent.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+ _"The KING can do no wrong"_
+
+ [Illustration]
+                      MONARCH
+                       BICYCLES
+                       ARE
+                       FAULTLESS
+
+                      MONARCH
+                   CYCLE MF'G CO.
+                 CHICAGO, NEW YORK,
+                      LONDON.
+
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to advertisers.
+
+
+
+
+                 +----------------------------+
+                 |  #A. REED & SONS PIANOS.#  |
+                 +----------------------------+
+
+ Manufactured under patents granted by the governments of the
+      United States, England, Germany, France and Canada.
+
+                     #A New and Scientific
+                      Method of Piano
+                      Construction#
+
+          FREE SOUNDING BOARD, VIBRATION BAR, STRINGS
+           RESTING ON ALUMINUM WHEELS, ANTI-MOISTURE
+                      PIN BLOCK, LATERAL
+                            PEDALS
+
+              #Grand Diploma and Medal of Honor#
+         Awarded at Columbian World's Exposition, 1893
+
+  Only American Piano receiving mention in the Official Report
+                   to the German Government
+
+                       #A. REED & SONS#
+                No. 5 Adams Street ... CHICAGO
+
+  Illustrated Catalogues ...
+  containing full explanation Mailed Free.
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to advertisers.
+
+
+
+
+   #Every Teacher#
+
+       finds daily in her work
+       some new and perplexing
+       problem to solve.
+
+   With
+
+   The Teacher's
+        Practical Library
+
+     at hand for consultation the
+     answer may always be found.
+
+ It will cost you nothing
+
+     to have this library placed
+     upon your table for inspection.
+
+     Send postal-card for particulars,
+     mentioning this paper.
+
+                       #AGENTS WANTED#
+
+ #D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers#
+      NEW YORK--CHICAGO.
+ CHICAGO OFFICE--243 Wabash Ave.
+
+
+
+
+            #PREPARE FOR A GOOD POSITION#
+
+ #By studying Architecture, Engineering, Electricity, Drafting,
+ Mathematics, Shorthand, Typewriting, English, Penmanship, Bookkeeping,
+ Business, Telegraphy, Plumbing.# Best teachers. Thorough individual
+ instruction. Rates lower than any other school. Instruction also by mail
+ in any desired study. Steam engineering a specialty. Call or address,
+                          INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,
+                                 151 Throop St., Chicago.
+
+
+
+
+             What would #George Washington#
+                        think of
+                       Mark Hanna?
+
+                     [Illustration]
+
+               If you want to know, read
+                  #"SPIRITS OF '76,"#
+
+               By FREDERICK UPHAM ADAMS,
+                   in last number of
+
+                    #New Occasions#
+
+       A magazine of Reform; 96 pages; $1.00
+       a year; 10 cents a copy. No free samples,
+       but to any one sending us 6 2-cent
+       stamps we will mail a sample copy with
+       several reform books; over 300 pages
+       in all. Agents wanted.
+
+        Charles H. Kerr & Company, Publishers,
+               56 Fifth Ave., Chicago.
+
+
+
+
+ Buy Only the Best Presents for Children.
+      THE FINEST BLACKBOARD MADE.
+
+ IMPROVED
+           [Illustration]
+
+ Indispensable as an element for the general
+ education of the children. This is not a toy,
+ but an Educator for the home. Contains Sixteen
+ Lessons on heavy cardboard, Writing, Drawing,
+ Marking-letters, Music, Animal Forms, etc.
+ Frame made of oak, 4 feet high and 2 feet wide.
+ The Board is reversible and can be used on both
+ sides. Has a desk attachment for writing. Weighs
+ 10 pounds, packed for shipment.
+
+ #Price $3.50#                   Agents Wanted.
+                            Send for Agents Prices.
+
+ THE VAN-BENSON COMPANY,
+       84 Adams Street, CHICAGO, U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+               The "OLD Reliable" House of
+                       #"ANDREWS"#
+                        FURNISHES
+                   Everything
+                           for Schools
+
+      Rugby School Desks, Teachers' Desks and Chairs,
+      Blackboards, Erasers, Dustless Crayons, Globes,
+      Maps, Charts, Apparatus, etc., etc.
+
+      #The Jones Model of the Earth# shows the
+      reliefs of the land surface and ocean bed, 20
+      inches diameter. Used by the Royal Geographical
+      Society, Cornell University. Normal, and other
+      schools of various forms and grades.
+
+      #The Deep Sea Globe.# This new 12 in. globe
+      shows all that is seen on the common globe, but
+      in addition the varying depths of the ocean bed,
+      by color shading, also 500 soundings by figures.
+
+                 #The A. H. Andrews Co.#
+                        CHICAGO.
+
+        (Next Auditorium)         300 WABASH AVE.
+
+          Also Manufactures Office, Church and
+                    Bank Furniture.
+
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to Advertisers.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+LITTLE BOY BLUE.
+
+
+Boys and girls, don't you think that is a pretty name? I came from the
+warm south, where I went last winter, to tell you that Springtime is
+nearly here.
+
+When I sing, the buds and flowers and grass all begin to whisper to one
+another, "Springtime is coming for we heard the Bluebird say so," and
+then they peep out to see the warm sunshine. I perch beside them and
+tell them of my long journey from the south and how I knew just when
+to tell them to come out of their warm winter cradles. I am of the same
+blue color as the violet that shows her pretty face when I sing, "Summer
+is coming, and Springtime is here."
+
+I do not like the cities for they are black and noisy and full of those
+troublesome birds called English Sparrows. I take my pretty mate and
+out in the beautiful country we find a home. We build a nest of twigs,
+grass and hair, in a box that the farmer puts up for us near his barn.
+
+Sometimes we build in a hole in some old tree and soon there are tiny
+eggs in the nest. I sing to my mate and to the good people who own
+the barn. I heard the farmer say one day, "Isn't it nice to hear the
+Bluebird sing? He must be very happy." And I am, too, for by this time
+there are four or five little ones in the nest.
+
+Little Bluebirds are like little boys--they are always hungry. We work
+hard to find enough for them to eat. We feed them nice fat worms and
+bugs, and when their little wings are strong enough, we teach them how
+to fly. Soon they are large enough to hunt their own food, and can take
+care of themselves.
+
+The summer passes, and when we feel the breath of winter we go south
+again, for we do not like the cold.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+THE BLUE BIRD.
+
+    I know the song that the Bluebird is singing
+    Out in the apple tree, where he is swinging.
+    Brave little fellow! the skies may be dreary,
+    Nothing cares he while his heart is so cheery.
+    Hark! how the music leaps out from his throat,
+    Hark! was there ever so merry a note?
+
+              Listen a while, and you'll hear what he's saying,
+              Up in the apple tree swinging and swaying.
+              "Dear little blossoms down under the snow,
+              You must be weary of winter, I know;
+              Hark! while I sing you a message of cheer,
+              Summer is coming, and springtime is here!"
+
+    "Dear little snow-drop! I pray you arise;
+    Bright yellow crocus! come open your eyes;
+    Sweet little violets, hid from the cold,
+    Put on our mantles of purple and gold;
+    Daffodils! daffodils! say, do you hear,
+    Summer is coming! and springtime is here!"
+
+[Illustration: BLUE BIRD.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BLUE BIRD.
+
+
+    Winged lute that we call a blue bird,
+        You blend in a silver strain
+    The sound of the laughing waters,
+        The patter of spring's sweet rain,
+    The voice of the wind, the sunshine,
+        And fragrance of blossoming things,
+    Ah! you are a poem of April
+        That God endowed with wings.      E. E. R.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+Like a bit of sky this little harbinger of spring appears, as we see
+him and his mate househunting in early March. Oftentimes he makes his
+appearance as early as the middle of February, when his attractive note
+is heard long before he himself is seen. He is one of the last to leave
+us, and although the month of November is usually chosen by him as the
+fitting time for departure to a milder clime, his plaintive note is
+quite commonly heard on pleasant days throughout the winter season,
+and a few of the braver and hardier ones never entirely desert us. The
+Robin and the Blue Bird are tenderly associated in the memories of most
+persons whose childhood was passed on a farm or in the country village.
+Before the advent of the English Sparrow, the Blue Bird was sure to
+be the first to occupy and the last to defend the little box prepared
+for his return, appearing in his blue jacket somewhat in advance of
+the plainly habited female, who on her arrival quite often found a
+habitation selected and ready for her acceptance, should he find favor
+in her sight. And then he becomes a most devoted husband and father,
+sitting by the nest and warbling with earnest affection his exquisite
+tune, and occasionally flying away in search of food for his mate and
+nestlings.
+
+The Blue Bird rears two broods in the season, and, should the weather
+be mild, even three. His nest contains three eggs.
+
+In the spring and summer when he is happy and gay, his song is
+extremely soft and agreeable, while it grows very mournful and
+plaintive as cold weather approaches. He is mild of temper, and a
+peaceable and harmless neighbor, setting a fine example of amiability
+to his feathered friends. In the early spring, however, he wages war
+against robins, wrens, swallows, and other birds whose habitations are
+of a kind to take his fancy. A celebrated naturalist says: "This bird
+seems incapable of uttering a harsh note, or of doing a spiteful,
+ill-tempered thing."
+
+Nearly everybody has his anecdote to tell of the Blue Bird's courage,
+but the author of "Wake Robin" tells his exquisitely thus: "A few years
+ago I put up a little bird house in the back end of my garden for the
+accommodation of the wrens, and every season a pair have taken up their
+abode there. One spring a pair of Blue Birds looked into the tenement,
+and lingered about several days, leading me to hope that they would
+conclude to occupy it. But they finally went away. Late in the season
+the wrens appeared, and after a little coquetting, were regularly
+installed in their old quarters, and were as happy as only wrens can
+be. But before their honeymoon was over, the Blue Birds returned. I
+knew something was wrong before I was up in the morning. Instead of that
+voluble and gushing song outside the window, I heard the wrens scolding
+and crying out at a fearful rate, and on going out saw the Blue Birds in
+possession of the box. The poor wrens were in despair and were forced to
+look for other quarters."
+
+
+
+
+THE SWALLOW.
+
+
+    "Come, summer visitant, attach
+      To my reedroof thy nest of clay,
+    And let my ear thy music catch,
+    Low twitting underneath the thatch,
+      At the gray dawn of day."
+
+Sure harbingers of spring are the Swallows. They are very common birds,
+and frequent, as a rule, the cultivated lands in the neighborhood of
+water, showing a decided preference for the habitations of man. "How
+gracefully the swallows fly! See them coursing over the daisy-bespangled
+grass fields; now they skim just over the blades of grass, and then with
+a rapid stroke of their long wings mount into the air and come hovering
+above your head, displaying their rich white and chestnut plumage to
+perfection. Now they chase each other for very joyfulness, uttering
+their sharp twittering notes; then they hover with expanded wings
+like miniature Kestrels, or dart downwards with the velocity of
+the sparrowhawk; anon they flit rapidly over the neighboring pool,
+occasionally dipping themselves in its calm and placid waters, and
+leaving a long train of rings marking their varied course. How easily
+they turn, or glide over the surrounding hedges, never resting, never
+weary, and defying the eye to trace them in the infinite turnings and
+twistings of their rapid shooting flight. You frequently see them glide
+rapidly near the ground, and then with a sidelong motion mount aloft, to
+dart downwards like an animated meteor, their plumage glowing in the
+light with metallic splendor, and the row of white spots on the tail
+contrasting beautifully with the darker plumage."
+
+The Swallow is considered a life-paired species, and returns to its
+nesting site of the previous season, building a new nest close to the
+old one. His nest is found in barns and outhouses, upon the beams of
+wood which support the roof, or in any place which assures protection to
+the young birds. It is cup-shaped and artfully moulded of bits of mud.
+Grass and feathers are used for the lining. "The nest completed, five or
+six eggs are deposited. They are of a pure white color, with deep rich
+brown blotches and spots, notably at the larger end, round which they
+often form a zone or belt." The sitting bird is fed by her mate.
+
+The young Swallow is distinguished from the mature birds by the absence
+of the elongated tail feathers, which are a mark of maturity alone. His
+food is composed entirely of insects. Swallows are on the wing fully
+sixteen hours, and the greater part of the time making terrible havoc
+amongst the millions of insects which infest the air. It is said that
+when the Swallow is seen flying high in the heavens, it is a never
+failing indication of fine weather.
+
+A pair of Swallows on arriving at their nesting place of the preceding
+Summer found their nest occupied by a Sparrow, who kept the poor birds
+at a distance by pecking at them with his strong beak whenever they
+attempted to dislodge him. Wearied and hopeless of regaining possession
+of their property, they at last hit upon a plan which effectually
+punished the intruder. One morning they appeared with a few more
+Swallows--their mouths filled with a supply of tempered clay--and, by
+their joint efforts in a short time actually plastered up the entrance
+to the hole, thus barring the Sparrow from the home which he had stolen
+from the Swallows.
+
+[Illustration: BARN SWALLOW.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BROWN THRUSH.
+
+
+    "However the world goes ill,
+      The Thrushes still sing in it."
+
+The Mocking-bird of the North, as the Brown Thrush has been called,
+arrives in the Eastern and Middle States about the 10th of May, at which
+season he may be seen, perched on the highest twig of a hedge, or on the
+topmost branch of a tree, singing his loud and welcome song, that may be
+heard a distance of half a mile. The favorite haunt of the Brown Thrush,
+however, is amongst the bright and glossy foliage of the evergreens.
+"There they delight to hide, although not so shy and retiring as the
+Blackbird; there they build their nests in greatest numbers, amongst the
+perennial foliage, and there they draw at nightfall to repose in warmth
+and safety." The Brown Thrasher sings chiefly just after sunrise and
+before sunset, but may be heard singing at intervals during the day. His
+food consists of wild fruits, such as blackberries and raspberries,
+snails, worms, slugs and grubs. He also obtains much of his food
+amongst the withered leaves and marshy places of the woods and
+shrubberies which he frequents. Few birds possess a more varied melody.
+His notes are almost endless in variety, each note seemingly uttered at
+the caprice of the bird, without any perceptible approach to order.
+
+The site of the Thrush's nest is a varied one, in the hedgerows, under a
+fallen tree or fence-rail; far up in the branches of stately trees, or
+amongst the ivy growing up their trunks. The nest is composed of the
+small dead twigs of trees, lined with the fine fibers of roots. From
+three to five eggs are deposited, and are hatched in about twelve days.
+They have a greenish background, thickly spotted with light brown,
+giving the whole egg a brownish appearance.
+
+The Brown Thrush leaves the Eastern and Middle States, on his migration
+South, late in September, remaining until the following May.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+THE THRUSH'S NEST.
+
+    "Within a thick and spreading hawthorn bush
+      That overhung a molehill, large and round,
+    I heard from morn to morn a merry thrush
+      Sing hymns of rapture while I drank the sound
+    With joy--and oft an unintruding guest,
+      I watched her secret toils from day to day;
+    How true she warped the moss to form her nest,
+      And modeled it within with wood and clay.
+    And by and by, with heath-bells gilt with dew,
+      There lay her shining eggs as bright as flowers,
+    Ink-spotted over, shells of green and blue:
+      And there I witnessed, in the summer hours,
+    A brood of nature's minstrels chirp and fly,
+      Glad as the sunshine and the laughing sky."
+
+
+
+
+THE BROWN THRUSH.
+
+
+Dear Readers:
+
+My cousin Robin Redbreast told me that he wrote you a letter last month
+and sent it with his picture. How did you like it? He is a pretty
+bird--Cousin Robin--and everybody likes him. But I must tell you
+something of myself.
+
+Folks call me by different names--some of them nicknames, too.
+
+The cutest one of all is Brown Thrasher. I wonder if you know why they
+call me Thrasher. If you don't, ask some one. It is really funny.
+
+Some people think Cousin Robin is the sweetest singer of our family, but
+a great many like my song just as well.
+
+Early in the morning I sing among the bushes, but later in the day you
+will always find me in the very top of a tree and it is then I sing my
+best.
+
+Do you know what I say in my song? Well, if I am near a farmer while he
+is planting, I say: "Drop it, drop it--cover it up, cover it up--pull it
+up, pull it up, pull it up."
+
+One thing I very seldom do and that is, sing when near my nest. Maybe
+you can tell why. I'm not very far from my nest now. I just came down to
+the stream to get a drink and am watching that boy on the other side of
+the stream. Do you see him?
+
+One dear lady who loves birds has said some very nice things about me in
+a book called "Bird Ways." Another lady has written a beautiful poem
+about my singing. Ask your mamma or teacher the names of these ladies.
+Here is the poem:
+
+    There's a merry brown thrush sitting up in a tree.
+    He is singing to me! He is singing to me!
+    And what does he say--little girl, little boy?
+    "Oh, the world's running over with joy!
+        Hush! Look! In my tree,
+        I am as happy as happy can be."
+
+    And the brown thrush keeps singing, "A nest, do you see,
+    And five eggs, hid by me in the big cherry tree?
+    Don't meddle, don't touch--little girl, little boy--
+    Or the world will lose some of its joy!
+        Now I am glad! now I am free!
+        And I always shall be,
+        If you never bring sorrow to me."
+
+    So the merry brown thrush sings away in the tree
+    To you and to me--to you and to me;
+    And he sings all the day--little girl, little boy--
+    "Oh, the world's running over with joy!
+        But long it won't be,
+        Don't you know? don't you see?
+        Unless we're good as good can be."
+
+[Illustration: BROWN THRASHER.]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: JAPAN PHEASANT.]
+
+THE JAPAN PHEASANT.
+
+
+Originally the Pheasant was an inhabitant of Asia Minor but has been
+by degrees introduced into many countries, where its beauty of form,
+plumage, and the delicacy of its flesh made it a welcome visitor. The
+Japan Pheasant is a very beautiful species, about which little is known
+in its wild state, but in captivity it is pugnacious. It requires much
+shelter and plenty of food, and the breed is to some degree artificially
+kept up by the hatching of eggs under domestic hens and feeding them in
+the coop like ordinary chickens, until they are old and strong enough to
+get their own living.
+
+The food of this bird is extremely varied. When young it is generally
+fed on ants' eggs, maggots, grits, and similar food, but when it is full
+grown it is possessed of an accommodating appetite and will eat many
+kinds of seeds, roots, and leaves. It will also eat beans, peas, acorns,
+berries, and has even been known to eat the ivy leaf, as well as the
+berry.
+
+This Pheasant loves the ground, runs with great speed, and always
+prefers to trust to its legs rather than to its wings. It is crafty, and
+when alarmed it slips quickly out of sight behind a bush or through a
+hedge, and then runs away with astonishing rapidity, always remaining
+under cover until it reaches some spot where it deems itself safe. The
+male is not domestic, passing an independent life during a part of the
+year and associating with others of its own sex during the rest of the
+season.
+
+The nest is very rude, being merely a heap of leaves and grass on the
+ground, with a very slight depression. The eggs are numerous, about
+eleven or twelve, and olive brown in color. In total length, though they
+vary considerably, the full grown male is about three feet. The female
+is smaller in size than her mate, and her length a foot less.
+
+The Japan Pheasant is not a particularly interesting bird aside from his
+beauty, which is indeed brilliant, there being few of the species more
+attractive.
+
+
+
+
+THE FLICKER.
+
+
+A great variety of names does this bird possess. It is commonly known
+as the Golden Winged Woodpecker, Yellow-shafted Flicker, Yellow Hammer,
+and less often as High-hole or High-holer, Wake-up, etc. In suitable
+localities throughout the United States and the southern parts of
+Canada, the Flicker is a very common bird, and few species are more
+generally known. "It is one of the most sociable of our Woodpeckers,
+and is apparently always on good terms with its neighbors. It usually
+arrives in April, occasionally even in March, the males preceding the
+females a few days, and as soon as the latter appear one can hear their
+voices in all directions."
+
+The Flicker is an ardent wooer. It is an exceedingly interesting and
+amusing sight to see a couple of males paying their addresses to a coy
+and coquettish female; the apparent shyness of the suitors as they sidle
+up to her and as quickly retreat again, the shy glances given as one
+peeps from behind a limb watching the other--playing bo-peep--seem
+very human, and "I have seen," says an observer, "few more amusing
+performances than the courtship of a pair of these birds." The defeated
+suitor takes his rejection quite philosophically, and retreats in a
+dignified manner, probably to make other trials elsewhere. Few birds
+deserve our good will more than the Flicker. He is exceedingly useful,
+destroying multitudes of grubs, larvæ, and worms. He loves berries and
+fruit but the damage he does to cultivated fruit is very trifling.
+
+The Flicker begins to build its nest about two weeks after the bird
+arrives from the south. It prefers open country, interspersed with
+groves and orchards, to nest in. Any old stump, or partly decayed limb
+of a tree, along the banks of a creek, beside a country road, or in
+an old orchard, will answer the purpose. Soft wood trees seem to be
+preferred, however. In the prairie states it occasionally selects
+strange nesting sites. It has been known to chisel through the weather
+boarding of a dwelling house, barns, and other buildings, and to nest
+in the hollow space between this and the cross beams; its nests have
+also been found in gate posts, in church towers, and in burrows of
+Kingfishers and bank swallows, in perpendicular banks of streams. One
+of the most peculiar sites of his selection is described by William A.
+Bryant as follows: "On a small hill, a quarter of a mile distant from
+any home, stood a hay stack which had been placed there two years
+previously. The owner, during the winter of 1889-90, had cut the stack
+through the middle and hauled away one portion, leaving the other
+standing, with the end smoothly trimmed. The following spring I noticed
+a pair of flickers about the stack showing signs of wanting to make it
+a fixed habitation. One morning a few days later I was amused at the
+efforts of one of the pair. It was clinging to the perpendicular end of
+the stack and throwing out clipped hay at a rate to defy competition.
+This work continued for a week, and in that time the pair had excavated
+a cavity twenty inches in depth. They remained in the vicinity until
+autumn. During the winter the remainder of the stack was removed. They
+returned the following spring, and, after a brief sojourn, departed for
+parts unknown."
+
+From five to nine eggs are generally laid. They are glossy white in
+color, and when fresh appear as if enameled.
+
+The young are able to leave the nest in about sixteen days; they crawl
+about on the limbs of the tree for a couple of days before they venture
+to fly, and return to the nest at night.
+
+[Illustration: FLICKER.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BOBOLINK.
+
+
+    "When Nature had made all her birds,
+    And had no cares to think on,
+    She gave a rippling laugh,
+    And out there flew a Bobolinkon."
+
+No American ornithologist omits mention of the Bobolink, and naturalists
+generally have described him under one of the many names by which he is
+known. In some States he is called the Rice Bird, in others Reed Bird,
+the Rice or Reed Bunting, while his more familiar title, throughout the
+greater part of America, is Bobolink, or Bobolinkum. In Jamaica, where
+he gets very fat during his winter stay, he is called the Butter Bird.
+His title of Rice Troopial is earned by the depredations which he
+annually makes upon the rice crops, though his food "is by no means
+restricted to that seed, but consists in a large degree of insects,
+grubs, and various wild grasses." A migratory bird, residing during the
+winter in the southern parts of America, he returns in vast multitudes
+northward in the early Spring. According to Wilson, their course of
+migration is as follows: "In April, or very early in May, the Rice
+Buntings, male and female, arrive within the southern boundaries of
+the United States, and are seen around the town of Savannah, Georgia,
+sometimes in separate parties of males and females, but more generally
+promiscuously. They remain there but a short time, and about the middle
+of May make their appearance in the lower part of Pennsylvania. While
+here the males are extremely gay and full of song, frequenting meadows,
+newly plowed fields, sides of creeks, rivers, and watery places, feeding
+on May flies and caterpillars, of which they destroy great quantities.
+In their passage, however, through Virginia at this season, they do
+great damage to the early wheat and barley while in their milky state.
+About the 20th of May they disappear on their way to the North. Nearly
+at the same time they arrive in the State of New York, spread over the
+whole of the New England States, as far as the river St. Lawrence, and
+from Lake Ontario to the sea. In all of these places they remain during
+the Summer, building their nests and rearing their young."
+
+The Bobolink's song is a peculiar one, varying greatly with the
+occasion. As he flys southward, his cry is a kind of clinking note; but
+the love song addressed to his mate is voluble and fervent. It has been
+said that if you should strike the keys of a pianoforte haphazard, the
+higher and the lower singly very quickly, you might have some idea of
+the Bobolink's notes. In the month of June he gradually changes his
+pretty, attractive dress and puts on one very like the females, which is
+of a plain rusty brown, and is not reassumed until the next season of
+nesting. The two parent birds in the plate represent the change from the
+dark plumage in which the bird is commonly known in the North as the
+Bobolink, to the dress of yellowish brown by which it is known
+throughout the South as the Rice or Reed Bird.
+
+His nest, small and a plain one, too, is built on the ground by his
+industrious little wife. The inside is warmly lined with soft fibers of
+whatever may be nearest at hand. Five pretty white eggs, spotted all
+over with brown are laid, and as soon
+
+    "As the little ones chip the shell
+    And five wide mouths are ready for food,
+    'Robert of Lincoln' bestirs him well,
+    Gathering seeds for this hungry brood."
+
+
+
+
+BOBOLINK.
+
+
+Other birds may like to travel alone, but when jolly Mr. Bobolink and
+his quiet little wife come from the South, where they have spent the
+winter, they come with a large party of friends. When South, they eat so
+much rice that the people call them Rice Birds. When they come North,
+they enjoy eating wheat, barley, oats and insects.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Bobolink build their simple little nest of grasses in some
+field. It is hard to find on the ground, for it looks just like dry
+grass. Mrs. Bobolink wears a dull dress, so she cannot be seen when she
+is sitting on the precious eggs. She does not sing a note while caring
+for the eggs. Why do you think that is?
+
+Mr. Bob-Linkum does not wear a sober dress, as you can see by his
+picture. He does not need to be hidden. He is just as jolly as he
+looks. Shall I tell you how he amuses his mate while she is sitting?
+He springs from the dew-wet grass with a sound like peals of merry
+laughter. He frolics from reed to post, singing as if his little heart
+would burst with joy.
+
+Don't you think Mr. and Mrs. Bobolink look happy in the picture? They
+have raised their family of five. Four of their children have gone to
+look for food; one of them--he must surely be the baby--would rather
+stay with his mamma and papa. Which one does he look like?
+
+Many birds are quiet at noon and in the afternoon. A flock of Bobolinks
+can be heard singing almost all day long. The song is full of high notes
+and low, soft notes and loud, all sung rapidly. It is as gay and bright
+as the birds themselves, who flit about playfully as they sing. You will
+feel like laughing as merrily as they sing when you hear it some day.
+
+[Illustration: BOBOLINKS.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BLUE BIRD.
+
+
+    "Drifting down the first warm wind
+      That thrills the earliest days of spring,
+    The Bluebird seeks our maple groves
+      And charms them into tasselling."
+
+    "He sings, and his is Nature's voice--
+      A gush of melody sincere
+    From that great fount of harmony
+      Which thaws and runs when Spring is here."
+
+    "Short is his song, but strangely sweet
+      To ears aweary of the low
+    Dull tramps of Winter's sullen feet,
+      Sandalled in ice and muffled in snow."
+
+       *       *       *
+
+    "Think, every morning, when the sun peeps through
+       The dim, leaf-latticed windows of the grove,
+     How jubilant the happy birds renew
+       Their old, melodious madrigals of love!
+     And when you think of this, remember, too,
+       'Tis always morning somewhere, and above
+     The awakening continents, from shore to shore,
+     Somewhere the birds are singing evermore.
+
+    "Think of your woods and orchards without birds!
+       Of empty nests that cling to boughs and beams
+     As in an idiot's brain remembered words
+       Hang empty 'mid the cobwebs of his dreams!
+     Will bleat of flocks or bellowing of herds
+       Make up for the lost music, when your teams
+     Drag home the stingy harvest, and no more
+     The feathered gleaners follow to your door?"
+                    FROM "THE BIRDS OF KILLINGSWORTH."
+
+
+
+
+THE CROW.
+
+
+Caw! Caw! Caw! little boys and girls. Caw! Caw! Caw! Just look at my
+coat of feathers. See how black and glossy it is. Do you wonder I am
+proud of it?
+
+Perhaps you think I look very solemn and wise, and not at all as if I
+cared to play games. I do, though; and one of the games I like best is
+hide-and-seek. I play it with the farmer in the spring. He hides, in the
+rich, brown earth, golden kernels of corn. Surely he does it because he
+knows I like it, for sometimes he puts up a stick all dressed like a man
+to show where the corn is hidden. Sometimes I push my bill down into the
+earth to find the corn, and at other times I wait until tiny green
+leaves begin to show above the ground, and then I get my breakfast
+without much trouble. I wonder if the farmer enjoys this game as much
+as I do. I help him, too, by eating worms and insects.
+
+During the spring and summer I live in my nest on the top of a very
+high tree. It is built of sticks and grasses and straw and string and
+anything else I can pick up. But in the fall, I and all my relations and
+friends live together in great roosts or rookeries. What good times we
+do have--hunting all day for food and talking all night. Wouldn't you
+like to be with us?
+
+The farmer who lives in the house over there went to the mill to-day
+with a load of corn.
+
+One of the ears dropped out of the wagon and it didn't take me long to
+find it. I have eaten all I can possibly hold and am wondering now what
+is the best thing to do. If you were in my place would you leave it here
+and not tell anybody and come back to-morrow and finish it? Or would you
+fly off and get Mrs. Crow and some of the children to come and finish
+it? I believe I'll fly and get them. Good-bye.
+
+Caw! Caw! Caw!
+
+[Illustration: COMMON CROW.]
+
+
+
+
+THE COMMON CROW.
+
+
+    "The crow doth sing as merry as the lark,
+     When neither is attended."
+
+Few birds have more interesting characteristics than the Common Crow,
+being, in many of his actions, very like the Raven, especially in his
+love for carrion. Like the Raven, he has been known to attack game,
+although his inferior size forces him to call to his assistance the aid
+of his fellows to cope with larger creatures. Rabbits and hares are
+frequently the prey of this bird which pounces on them as they steal
+abroad to feed. His food consists of reptiles, frogs, and lizards; he
+is a plunderer of other birds' nests. On the seashore he finds crabs,
+shrimps and inhabited shells, which he ingeniously cracks by flying with
+them to a great height and letting them fall upon a convenient rock.
+
+The crow is seen in single pairs or in little bands of four or five.
+In the autumn evenings, however, they assemble in considerable flocks
+before going to roost and make a wonderful chattering, as if comparing
+notes of the events of the day.
+
+The nest of the Crow is placed in some tree remote from habitations of
+other birds. Although large and very conspicuous at a distance, it is
+fixed upon one of the topmost branches quite out of reach of the hand of
+the adventurous urchin who longs to secure its contents. It is loosely
+made and saucer shaped. Sticks and softer substances are used to
+construct it, and it is lined with hair and fibrous roots. Very recently
+a thrifty and intelligent Crow built for itself a summer residence in an
+airy tree near Bombay, the material used being gold, silver, and steel
+spectacle frames, which the bird had stolen from an optician of that
+city. Eighty-four frames had been used for this purpose, and they were
+so ingeniously woven together that the nest was quite a work of art.
+The eggs are variable, or rather individual, in their markings, and
+even in their size. The Crow rarely uses the same nest twice, although
+he frequently repairs to the same locality from year to year. He is
+remarkable for his attachment to his mate and young, surpassing the
+Fawn and Turtle Dove in conjugal courtesy.
+
+The Somali Arabs bear a deadly hatred toward the Crow. The origin of
+their detestation is the superstition that during the flight of Mohammed
+from his enemies, he hid himself in a cave, where he was perceived by
+the Crow, at that time a bird of light plumage, who, when he saw the
+pursuers approaching the spot, perched above Mohammed's hiding place,
+and screamed, "Ghar! Ghar!" (cave! cave!) so as to indicate the place
+of concealment. His enemies, however, did not understand the bird, and
+passed on, and Mohammed, when he came out of the cave, clothed the Crow
+in perpetual black, and commanded him to cry "Ghar" as long as Crows
+should live.
+
+And he lives to a good old age. Instances are not rare where he has
+attained to half a century, without great loss of activity or failure of
+sight.
+
+At Red Bank, a few miles northeast of Cincinnati, on the Little Miami
+River, in the bottoms, large flocks of Crows congregate the year around.
+A few miles away, high upon Walnut Hills, is a Crow roost, and in the
+late afternoons the Crows, singly, in pairs, and in flocks, are seen on
+the wing, flying heavily, with full crops, on the way to the roost, from
+which they descend in the early morning, crying "Caw! Caw!" to the
+fields of the newly planted, growing, or matured corn, or corn stacks,
+as the season may provide.
+
+
+
+
+THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS.
+
+
+     "Everywhere the blue sky belongs to them and is their appointed
+     rest, and their native country, and their own natural home
+     which they enter unannounced as lords that are certainly
+     expected, and yet there is a silent joy at their arrival."
+
+The return of the birds to their real home in the North, where they
+build their nests and rear their young, is regarded by all genuine
+lovers of earth's messengers of gladness and gayety as one of the most
+interesting and poetical of annual occurrences. The naturalist, who
+notes the very day of each arrival, in order that he may verify former
+observation or add to his material gathered for a new work, does not
+necessarily anticipate with greater pleasure this event than do many
+whose lives are brightened by the coming of the friends of their youth,
+who alone of early companions do not change. First of all--and ever the
+same delightful warbler--the Bluebird, who, in 1895, did not appear at
+all in many localities, though here in considerable numbers last year,
+betrays himself. "Did he come down out of the heaven on that bright
+March morning when he told us so softly and plaintively that, if we
+pleased, spring had come?" Sometimes he is here a little earlier, and
+must keep his courage up until the cold snap is over and the snow is
+gone. Not long after the Bluebird, comes the Robin, sometimes in March,
+but in most of the northern states April is the month of his arrival.
+With his first utterance the spell of winter is broken, and the
+remembrance of it afar off. Then appears the Woodpecker in great
+variety, the Flicker usually arriving first. He is always somebody's old
+favorite, "announcing his arrival by a long, loud call, repeated from
+the dry branch of some tree, or a stake in the fence--a thoroughly
+melodious April sound."
+
+Few perhaps reflect upon the difficulties encountered by the birds
+themselves in their returning migrations. A voyager sometimes meets
+with many of our common birds far out at sea. Such wanderers, it is
+said, when suddenly overtaken by a fog, completely lose their sense of
+direction and become hopelessly lost. Humming birds, those delicately
+organized, glittering gems, are among the most common of the land
+species seen at sea.
+
+The present season has been quite favorable to the protection of birds.
+A very competent observer says that not all of the birds migrated this
+winter. He recently visited a farm less than an hour's ride from
+Chicago, where he found the old place, as he relates it, "chucked full
+of Robins, Blackbirds, and Woodpeckers," and others unknown to him.
+From this he inferred they would have been in Florida had indications
+predicted a severe winter. The trees of the south parks of Chicago,
+and those in suburban places, have had, darting through their branches
+during the months of December and January, nearly as many members of the
+Woodpecker tribe as were found there during the mating season in May
+last.
+
+Alas, that the Robin will visit us in diminished numbers in the
+approaching spring. He has not been so common for a year or two as
+he was formerly, for the reason that the Robins died by thousands of
+starvation, owing to the freezing of their food supply in Tennessee
+during the protracted cold weather in the winter of 1895. It is indeed
+sad that this good Samaritan among birds should be defenseless against
+the severity of Nature, the common mother of us all. Nevertheless the
+return of the birds, in myriads or in single pairs, will be welcomed
+more and more, year by year, as intelligent love and appreciation of
+them shall possess the popular mind.
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: BLACK TERN.
+ Mother and Young with Eggs.]
+
+THE BLACK TERN.
+
+
+"The Tern," says Mr. F. M. Woodruff, of the Chicago Academy of Sciences,
+"is the only representative of the long-winged swimmers which commonly
+nests with us on our inland fresh water marshes, arriving early in May
+in its brooding plumage of sooty black. The color changes in the autumn
+to white, and a number of the adult birds may be found, in the latter
+part of July, dotted and streaked here and there with white. On the
+first of June, 1891, I found a large colony of Black Terns nesting on
+Hyde Lake, Cook County, Illinois. As I approached the marsh a few birds
+were seen flying high in the air, and, as I neared the nesting site, the
+flying birds gave notes of alarm, and presently the air was filled with
+the graceful forms of this beautiful little bird. They circled about me,
+darting down to within a few feet of my head, constantly uttering a
+harsh, screaming cry. As the eggs are laid upon the bare ground, which
+the brownish and blackish markings so closely resemble, I was at first
+unable to find the nests, and discovered that the only way to locate
+them was to stand quietly and watch the birds. When the Tern is passing
+over the nest it checks its flight, and poises for a moment on quivering
+wings. By keeping my eyes on this spot I found the nest with very little
+trouble. The complement of eggs, when the bird has not been disturbed,
+is usually three. These are laid in a saucer shaped structure of dead
+vegetation, which is scraped together, from the surface of the wet,
+boggy ground. The bird figured in the plate had placed its nest on the
+edge of an old muskrat house, and my attention was attracted to it by
+the fact that upon the edge of the rat house, where it had climbed to
+rest itself, was the body of a young dabchick, or piedbilled grebe,
+scarcely two and one-half inches long, and not twenty-four hours out of
+the egg, a beautiful little ball of blackish down, striped with brown
+and white. From the latter part of July to the middle of August large
+flocks of Black Terns may be seen on the shores of our larger lakes on
+their annual migration southward."
+
+The Rev. P. B. Peabody, in alluding to his observation of the nests
+of the Tern, says: "Amid this floating sea of aquatic nests I saw an
+unusual number of well constructed homes of the Tern. Among these was
+one that I count a perfect nest. It rested on the perfectly flat
+foundation of a small decayed rat house, which was about fourteen
+inches in diameter. The nest, in form, is a truncated cone (barring
+the cavity), was about eight inches high and ten inches in diameter.
+The hollow--quite shallow--was about seven inches across, being thus
+unusually large. The whole was built up of bits of rushes, carried to
+the spot, these being quite uniform in length--about four inches." After
+daily observation of the Tern, during which time he added much to his
+knowledge of the bird, he pertinently asks: "Who shall say how many
+traits and habits yet unknown may be discovered through patient watching
+of community-breeding birds, by men enjoying more of leisure for such
+delightful studies than often falls to the lot of most of us who have
+bread and butter to earn and a tiny part of the world's work to
+finish?"
+
+
+
+
+THE MEADOW LARK.
+
+
+        "Not an inch of his body is free from delight.
+    Can he keep himself still if he would? Oh, not he!
+        The music stirs in him like wind through a tree."
+
+The well known Meadow or Old Field Lark is a constant resident south
+of latitude 39, and many winter farther north in favorite localities.
+Its geographical range is eastern North America, Canada to south Nova
+Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario to eastern Manitoba; west to Minnesota,
+Iowa, Missouri, eastern Kansas, the Indian Territory, and Texas; south
+to Florida and the Gulf coast, in all of which localities, except in the
+extreme north, it usually rears two or three broods in a season. In the
+Northern States it is only a summer resident, arriving in April and
+remaining until the latter part of October and occasionally November.
+Excepting during the breeding season, small flocks may often be seen
+roving about in search of good feeding grounds. Major Bendire says
+this is especially true in the fall of the year. At this time several
+families unite, and as many as two dozen may occasionally be flushed in
+a field, over which they scatter, roaming about independently of each
+other. When one takes wing all the others in the vicinity follow. It
+is a shy bird in the East, while in the middle states it is quite the
+reverse. Its flight is rather laborious, at least in starting, and is
+continued by a series of rapid movements of the wings, alternating with
+short distances of sailing, and is rarely protracted. On alighting,
+which is accompanied with a twitching of its tail, it usually settles on
+some fence rail, post, boulder, weedstock, or on a hillock in a meadow
+from which it can get a good view of the surroundings, and but rarely
+on a limb of a tree. Its favorite resorts are meadows, fallow fields,
+pastures, and clearings, but in some sections, as in northern Florida,
+for instance, it also frequents the low, open pine woods and nests
+there.
+
+The song of the Meadow Lark is not much varied, but its clear, whistling
+notes, so frequently heard in the early spring, are melodious and
+pleasing to the ear. It is decidedly the farmers' friend, feeding, as
+it does, on noxious insects, caterpillars, moths, grasshoppers, spiders,
+worms and the like, and eating but little grain. The lark spends the
+greater part of its time on the ground, procuring all its food there.
+It is seldom found alone, and it is said remains paired for life.
+
+Nesting begins in the early part of May and lasts through June. Both
+sexes assist in building the nest, which is always placed on the ground,
+either in a natural depression, or in a little hollow scratched out by
+the birds, alongside a bunch of grass or weeds. The nest itself is lined
+with dry grass, stubble, and sometimes pine needles. Most nests are
+placed in level meadows. The eggs and young are frequently destroyed by
+vermin, for the meadow lark has many enemies. The eggs vary from three
+to seven, five being the most common, and both sexes assist in the
+hatching, which requires about fifteen or sixteen days. The young leave
+the nest before they are able to fly--hiding at the slightest sign of
+danger. The Meadow Lark does not migrate beyond the United States. It is
+a native bird, and is only accidental in England. The eggs are spotted,
+blotched, and speckled with shades of brown, purple and lavender. A
+curious incident is told of a Meadow Lark trying to alight on the top
+mast of a schooner several miles at sea. It was evidently very tired but
+would not venture near the deck.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: MEADOW LARK.]
+
+THE MEADOW LARK.
+
+
+I told the man who wanted my picture that he could take it if he would
+show my nest and eggs. Do you blame me for saying so? Don't you think it
+makes a better picture than if I stood alone?
+
+Mr. Lark is away getting me some breakfast, or he could be in the
+picture, too. After a few days I shall have some little baby birds, and
+then won't we be happy.
+
+Boys and girls who live in the country know us pretty well. When they
+drive the cows out to pasture, or when they go out to gather wild
+flowers, we sit on the fences by the roadside and make them glad with
+our merry song.
+
+Those of you who live in the city cannot see us unless you come out into
+the country.
+
+It isn't very often that we can find such a pretty place for a nest as
+we have here. Most of the time we build our nest under the grass and
+cover it over, and build a little tunnel leading to it. This year we
+made up our minds not to be afraid.
+
+The people living in the houses over there do not bother us at all and
+we are so happy.
+
+You never saw baby larks, did you? Well, they are queer little fellows,
+with hardly any feathers on them.
+
+Last summer we had five little birdies to feed, and it kept us busy from
+morning till night. This year we only expect three, and Mr. Lark says he
+will do all the work. He knows a field that is being plowed, where he
+can get nice, large worms.
+
+Hark! that is he singing. He will be surprised when he comes back and
+finds me off the nest. He is so afraid that I will let the eggs get
+cold, but I won't. There he comes, now.
+
+
+
+
+THE LONG-EARED OWL.
+
+
+The name of the Long-Eared Owl is derived from the great length of his
+"ears" or feather-tufts, which are placed upon the head, and erect
+themselves whenever the bird is interested or excited. It is the "black
+sheep" of the owl family, the majority of owls being genuine friends of
+the agriculturist, catching for his larder so many of the small animals
+that prey upon his crops. In America he is called the Great Horned
+Owl--in Europe the Golden Owl.
+
+Nesting time with the owl begins in February, and continues through
+March and April. The clown-like antics of both sexes of this bird while
+under the tender influence of the nesting season tend somewhat to impair
+their reputation for dignity and wise demeanor. They usually have a
+simple nest in a hollow tree, but which seems seldom to be built by the
+bird itself, as it prefers to take the deserted nest of some other bird,
+and to fit up the premises for its own use. They repair slightly from
+year to year the same nest. The eggs are white, and generally four or
+five in number. While the young are still in the nest, the parent birds
+display a singular diligence in collecting food for them.
+
+If you should happen to know of an owl's nest, stand near it some
+evening when the old birds are rearing their young. Keep quiet and
+motionless, and notice how frequently the old birds feed them. Every ten
+minutes or so the soft flap, flap of their wings will be heard, the male
+and female alternately, and you will obtain a brief glimpse of them
+through the gloom as they enter the nesting place. They remain inside
+but a short time, sharing the food equally amongst their brood, and
+then are off again to hunt for more. All night, were you to have the
+inclination to observe them, you would find they pass to and fro with
+food, only ceasing their labors at dawn. The young, as soon as they
+reach maturity, are abandoned by their parents; they quit the nest and
+seek out haunts elsewhere, while the old birds rear another, and not
+infrequently two more broods, during the remainder of the season.
+
+The habits of the Long-Eared Owl are nocturnal. He is seldom seen in the
+light of day, and is greatly disturbed if he chance to issue from his
+concealment while the sun is above the horizon. The facial disk is very
+conspicuous in this species. It is said that the use of this circle is
+to collect the rays of light, and throw them upon the eye. The flight
+of the owl is softened by means of especially shaped, recurved
+feather-tips, so that he may noiselessly steal upon his prey, and
+the ear is also so shaped as to gather sounds from below.
+
+The Long-Eared Owl is hardly tameable. The writer of this paragraph, when
+a boy, was the possessor, for more than a year, of a very fine specimen.
+We called him Judge. He was a monster, and of perfect plumage. Although
+he seemed to have some attachment to the children of the family who fed
+him, he would not permit himself to be handled by them or by any one in
+the slightest. Most of his time he spent in his cage, an immense affair,
+in which he was very comfortable. Occasionally he had a day in the barn
+with the rats and mice.
+
+The owl is of great usefulness to gardener, agriculturist, and landowner
+alike, for there is not another bird of prey which is so great a
+destroyer of the enemies of vegetation.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: GREAT HORNED OWL.]
+
+THE OWL.
+
+
+              We know not alway
+              Who are kings by day,
+    But the king of the night is the bold brown owl!
+
+I wonder why the folks put my picture last in the book. It can't be
+because they don't like me, for I'm sure I never bother them. I don't
+eat the farmer's corn like the crow, and no one ever saw me quarrel with
+other birds.
+
+Maybe it is because I can't sing. Well, there are lots of good people
+that can't sing, and so there are lots of good birds that can't sing.
+
+Did you ever see any other bird sit up as straight as I do? I couldn't
+sit up so straight if I hadn't such long, sharp claws to hold on with.
+
+My home is in the woods. Here we owls build our nests--most always in
+hollow trees.
+
+During the day I stay in the nest or sit on a limb. I don't like day
+time for the light hurts my eyes, but when it begins to grow dark then
+I like to stir around. All night long I am wide awake and fly about
+getting food for my little hungry ones. They sleep most of the day and
+it keeps me busy nearly all night to find them enough to eat.
+
+I just finished my night's work when the man came to take my picture. It
+was getting light and I told him to go to a large stump on the edge of
+the woods and I would sit for my picture. So here I am. Don't you think
+I look wise? How do you like my large eyes? If I could smile at you I
+would, but my face always looks sober. I have a great many cousins and
+if you really like my picture, I'll have some of them talk to you next
+month. I don't think any of them have such pretty feathers though. Just
+see if they have when they come.
+
+Well, I must fly back to my perch in the old elm tree. Good-bye.
+
+
+
+
+THE OWL.
+
+
+    In the hollow tree, in the old gray tower,
+      The spectral owl doth dwell;
+    Dull, hated, despised in the sunshine hour,
+      But at dusk he's abroad and well!
+    Not a bird of the forest e'er mates with him;
+      All mock him outright by day;
+    But at night, when the woods grow still and dim,
+      The boldest will shrink away!
+
+          O! when the night falls, and roosts the fowl,
+          Then, then, is the reign of the Horned Owl!
+
+    And the owl hath a bride, who is fond and bold,
+      And loveth the wood's deep gloom;
+    And, with eyes like the shine of the moonstone cold,
+      She awaiteth her ghastly groom.
+    Not a feather she moves, not a carol she sings,
+      As she waits in her tree so still,
+    But when her heart heareth his flapping wings,
+      She hoots out her welcome shrill!
+
+          O! when the moon shines, and dogs do howl,
+          Then, then, is the joy of the Horned Owl!
+
+    Mourn not for the owl, nor his gloomy plight!
+      The owl hath his share of good--
+    If a prisoner he be in the broad daylight,
+      He is lord in the dark greenwood!
+    Nor lonely the bird, nor his ghastly mate,
+      They are each unto each a pride;
+    Thrice fonder, perhaps, since a strange, dark fate
+      Hath rent them from all beside!
+
+          So, when the night falls, and dogs do howl,
+          Sing, Ho! for the reign of the Horned Owl!
+              We know not alway
+              Who are kings by day,
+    But the King of the Night is the bold Brown Owl!
+
+                     BRYAN W. PROCTER
+                           (Barry Cornwall.)
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+    THE
+     Racycle
+        NARROW TREAD
+
+    THE VERDICT IS IN
+
+     [Illustration]
+
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to advertisers.
+
+
+
+
+TESTIMONIALS.
+
+
+                           FRANKFORT, KY., February 3, 1897.
+ W. J. BLACK, Vice-President,
+                     Chicago, Ill.
+
+Dear Sir: I have a copy of your magazine entitled "Birds," and beg to
+say that I consider it one of the finest things on the subject that I
+have ever seen, and shall be pleased to recommend it to county and city
+superintendents of the state.
+
+                            Very respectfully,
+                                    W. J. DAVIDSON,
+                   State Superintendent Public Instruction.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                      SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., January 27, 1897.
+ W. J. BLACK, ESQ.,
+           Chicago, Ill.
+
+Dear Sir: I am very much obliged for the copy of "Birds" that has just
+come to hand. It should be in the hands of every primary and grammar
+teacher. I send herewith copy of "List of San Francisco Teachers."
+
+                            Very respectfully,
+                                       M. BABCOCK.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                            LINCOLN, NEB., February 9, 1897.
+ W. J. BLACK,
+     Chicago, Ill.
+
+Dear Sir: The first number of your magazine, "Birds," is upon my
+desk. I am highly pleased with it. It will prove a very serviceable
+publication--one that strikes out along the right lines. For the purpose
+intended, it has, in my opinion, no equal. It is clear, concise, and
+admirably illustrated.
+
+                            Very respectfully,
+                                      W. R. JACKSON,
+                   State Superintendent Public Instruction.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                         NORTH LIMA, OHIO, February 1, 1897.
+ MR. W. E. WATT,
+
+Dear Sir: Sample copy of "Birds" received. All of the family delighted
+with it. We wish it unbounded success. It will be an excellent
+supplement to "In Birdland" in the Ohio Teachers' Reading Circle, and I
+venture Ohio will be to the front with a good subscription list. I
+enclose list of teachers.
+
+                            Very truly,
+                               C. M. L. ALTDOERFFER,
+                                  Township Superintendent.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                                MILWAUKEE, January 30, 1897.
+ NATURE STUDY PUBLISHING COMPANY,
+             227 Dearborn Street, Chicago.
+
+Gentlemen: I acknowledge with pleasure the receipt of your publication,
+"Birds," with accompanying circulars. I consider it the best on the
+subject in existence. I have submitted the circulars and publication to
+my teachers, who have nothing to say but praise in behalf of the
+monthly.
+
+                            JULIUS TORNEY,
+             Principal 2nd Dist. Primary School, Milwaukee, Wis.
+
+
+
+
+OUR PREMIUM
+
+
+ A picture of wonderful beauty of the
+ Golden Pheasant almost life size in
+ a natural scene, plate 12x18 inches,
+ on card 19x25 inches, is given as a
+ premium to yearly subscribers. Our
+ price on this picture in Art Stores
+ is $3.50.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds Illustrated by Color Photograph
+[March 1897], by Various
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30103 ***
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds Illustrated by Color Photograph
+[March 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 Photograph [March 1897]
+       A Monthly Serial designed to Promote Knowledge of Bird-Life
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: September 26, 2009 [EBook #30103]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS ILLUSTRATED [MARCH 1897] ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper and Anne Storer,
+some images courtesy of The Internet Archive and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note: Title added.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+              BIRDS ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY
+
+              Vol. One       MARCH, 1897       No. 3
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+    FROM: THE PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.
+
+                       _STATE OF NEW YORK_
+               _Department of Public Instruction_
+                    _SUPERINTENDENT'S OFFICE_
+
+                                _Albany_ December 26, 1896.
+
+  [Illustration: (seal)]
+  _Stenographic Letter_
+  Dictated by __________
+
+
+  W. E. Watt, President &c.,
+                   Fisher Building,
+                       277 Dearborn St., Chicago, Ill.
+
+  My dear Sir:
+
+  Please accept my thanks for a copy of the first publication of "Birds."
+  Please enter my name as a regular subscriber. It is one of the most
+  beautiful and interesting publications yet attempted in this direction.
+  It has other attractions in addition to its beauty, and it must win its
+  way to popular favor.
+
+  Wishing the handsome little magazine abundant prosperity,
+  I remain
+
+                   Yours very respectfully,
+                   [signature]
+                                State Superintendent.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+ _"The KING can do no wrong"_
+
+ [Illustration]
+                      MONARCH
+                       BICYCLES
+                       ARE
+                       FAULTLESS
+
+                      MONARCH
+                   CYCLE MF'G CO.
+                 CHICAGO, NEW YORK,
+                      LONDON.
+
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to advertisers.
+
+
+
+
+                 +----------------------------+
+                 |  #A. REED & SONS PIANOS.#  |
+                 +----------------------------+
+
+ Manufactured under patents granted by the governments of the
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+         Awarded at Columbian World's Exposition, 1893
+
+  Only American Piano receiving mention in the Official Report
+                   to the German Government
+
+                       #A. REED & SONS#
+                No. 5 Adams Street ... CHICAGO
+
+  Illustrated Catalogues ...
+  containing full explanation Mailed Free.
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to advertisers.
+
+
+
+
+   #Every Teacher#
+
+       finds daily in her work
+       some new and perplexing
+       problem to solve.
+
+   With
+
+   The Teacher's
+        Practical Library
+
+     at hand for consultation the
+     answer may always be found.
+
+ It will cost you nothing
+
+     to have this library placed
+     upon your table for inspection.
+
+     Send postal-card for particulars,
+     mentioning this paper.
+
+                       #AGENTS WANTED#
+
+ #D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers#
+      NEW YORK--CHICAGO.
+ CHICAGO OFFICE--243 Wabash Ave.
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+ Mathematics, Shorthand, Typewriting, English, Penmanship, Bookkeeping,
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+ in any desired study. Steam engineering a specialty. Call or address,
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+
+             What would #George Washington#
+                        think of
+                       Mark Hanna?
+
+                     [Illustration]
+
+               If you want to know, read
+                  #"SPIRITS OF '76,"#
+
+               By FREDERICK UPHAM ADAMS,
+                   in last number of
+
+                    #New Occasions#
+
+       A magazine of Reform; 96 pages; $1.00
+       a year; 10 cents a copy. No free samples,
+       but to any one sending us 6 2-cent
+       stamps we will mail a sample copy with
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+       in all. Agents wanted.
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+        Charles H. Kerr & Company, Publishers,
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+      THE FINEST BLACKBOARD MADE.
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+
+ #Price $3.50#                   Agents Wanted.
+                            Send for Agents Prices.
+
+ THE VAN-BENSON COMPANY,
+       84 Adams Street, CHICAGO, U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+               The "OLD Reliable" House of
+                       #"ANDREWS"#
+                        FURNISHES
+                   Everything
+                           for Schools
+
+      Rugby School Desks, Teachers' Desks and Chairs,
+      Blackboards, Erasers, Dustless Crayons, Globes,
+      Maps, Charts, Apparatus, etc., etc.
+
+      #The Jones Model of the Earth# shows the
+      reliefs of the land surface and ocean bed, 20
+      inches diameter. Used by the Royal Geographical
+      Society, Cornell University. Normal, and other
+      schools of various forms and grades.
+
+      #The Deep Sea Globe.# This new 12 in. globe
+      shows all that is seen on the common globe, but
+      in addition the varying depths of the ocean bed,
+      by color shading, also 500 soundings by figures.
+
+                 #The A. H. Andrews Co.#
+                        CHICAGO.
+
+        (Next Auditorium)         300 WABASH AVE.
+
+          Also Manufactures Office, Church and
+                    Bank Furniture.
+
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to Advertisers.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+LITTLE BOY BLUE.
+
+
+Boys and girls, don't you think that is a pretty name? I came from the
+warm south, where I went last winter, to tell you that Springtime is
+nearly here.
+
+When I sing, the buds and flowers and grass all begin to whisper to one
+another, "Springtime is coming for we heard the Bluebird say so," and
+then they peep out to see the warm sunshine. I perch beside them and
+tell them of my long journey from the south and how I knew just when
+to tell them to come out of their warm winter cradles. I am of the same
+blue color as the violet that shows her pretty face when I sing, "Summer
+is coming, and Springtime is here."
+
+I do not like the cities for they are black and noisy and full of those
+troublesome birds called English Sparrows. I take my pretty mate and
+out in the beautiful country we find a home. We build a nest of twigs,
+grass and hair, in a box that the farmer puts up for us near his barn.
+
+Sometimes we build in a hole in some old tree and soon there are tiny
+eggs in the nest. I sing to my mate and to the good people who own
+the barn. I heard the farmer say one day, "Isn't it nice to hear the
+Bluebird sing? He must be very happy." And I am, too, for by this time
+there are four or five little ones in the nest.
+
+Little Bluebirds are like little boys--they are always hungry. We work
+hard to find enough for them to eat. We feed them nice fat worms and
+bugs, and when their little wings are strong enough, we teach them how
+to fly. Soon they are large enough to hunt their own food, and can take
+care of themselves.
+
+The summer passes, and when we feel the breath of winter we go south
+again, for we do not like the cold.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+THE BLUE BIRD.
+
+    I know the song that the Bluebird is singing
+    Out in the apple tree, where he is swinging.
+    Brave little fellow! the skies may be dreary,
+    Nothing cares he while his heart is so cheery.
+    Hark! how the music leaps out from his throat,
+    Hark! was there ever so merry a note?
+
+              Listen a while, and you'll hear what he's saying,
+              Up in the apple tree swinging and swaying.
+              "Dear little blossoms down under the snow,
+              You must be weary of winter, I know;
+              Hark! while I sing you a message of cheer,
+              Summer is coming, and springtime is here!"
+
+    "Dear little snow-drop! I pray you arise;
+    Bright yellow crocus! come open your eyes;
+    Sweet little violets, hid from the cold,
+    Put on our mantles of purple and gold;
+    Daffodils! daffodils! say, do you hear,
+    Summer is coming! and springtime is here!"
+
+[Illustration: BLUE BIRD.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BLUE BIRD.
+
+
+    Winged lute that we call a blue bird,
+        You blend in a silver strain
+    The sound of the laughing waters,
+        The patter of spring's sweet rain,
+    The voice of the wind, the sunshine,
+        And fragrance of blossoming things,
+    Ah! you are a poem of April
+        That God endowed with wings.      E. E. R.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+Like a bit of sky this little harbinger of spring appears, as we see
+him and his mate househunting in early March. Oftentimes he makes his
+appearance as early as the middle of February, when his attractive note
+is heard long before he himself is seen. He is one of the last to leave
+us, and although the month of November is usually chosen by him as the
+fitting time for departure to a milder clime, his plaintive note is
+quite commonly heard on pleasant days throughout the winter season,
+and a few of the braver and hardier ones never entirely desert us. The
+Robin and the Blue Bird are tenderly associated in the memories of most
+persons whose childhood was passed on a farm or in the country village.
+Before the advent of the English Sparrow, the Blue Bird was sure to
+be the first to occupy and the last to defend the little box prepared
+for his return, appearing in his blue jacket somewhat in advance of
+the plainly habited female, who on her arrival quite often found a
+habitation selected and ready for her acceptance, should he find favor
+in her sight. And then he becomes a most devoted husband and father,
+sitting by the nest and warbling with earnest affection his exquisite
+tune, and occasionally flying away in search of food for his mate and
+nestlings.
+
+The Blue Bird rears two broods in the season, and, should the weather
+be mild, even three. His nest contains three eggs.
+
+In the spring and summer when he is happy and gay, his song is
+extremely soft and agreeable, while it grows very mournful and
+plaintive as cold weather approaches. He is mild of temper, and a
+peaceable and harmless neighbor, setting a fine example of amiability
+to his feathered friends. In the early spring, however, he wages war
+against robins, wrens, swallows, and other birds whose habitations are
+of a kind to take his fancy. A celebrated naturalist says: "This bird
+seems incapable of uttering a harsh note, or of doing a spiteful,
+ill-tempered thing."
+
+Nearly everybody has his anecdote to tell of the Blue Bird's courage,
+but the author of "Wake Robin" tells his exquisitely thus: "A few years
+ago I put up a little bird house in the back end of my garden for the
+accommodation of the wrens, and every season a pair have taken up their
+abode there. One spring a pair of Blue Birds looked into the tenement,
+and lingered about several days, leading me to hope that they would
+conclude to occupy it. But they finally went away. Late in the season
+the wrens appeared, and after a little coquetting, were regularly
+installed in their old quarters, and were as happy as only wrens can
+be. But before their honeymoon was over, the Blue Birds returned. I
+knew something was wrong before I was up in the morning. Instead of that
+voluble and gushing song outside the window, I heard the wrens scolding
+and crying out at a fearful rate, and on going out saw the Blue Birds in
+possession of the box. The poor wrens were in despair and were forced to
+look for other quarters."
+
+
+
+
+THE SWALLOW.
+
+
+    "Come, summer visitant, attach
+      To my reedroof thy nest of clay,
+    And let my ear thy music catch,
+    Low twitting underneath the thatch,
+      At the gray dawn of day."
+
+Sure harbingers of spring are the Swallows. They are very common birds,
+and frequent, as a rule, the cultivated lands in the neighborhood of
+water, showing a decided preference for the habitations of man. "How
+gracefully the swallows fly! See them coursing over the daisy-bespangled
+grass fields; now they skim just over the blades of grass, and then with
+a rapid stroke of their long wings mount into the air and come hovering
+above your head, displaying their rich white and chestnut plumage to
+perfection. Now they chase each other for very joyfulness, uttering
+their sharp twittering notes; then they hover with expanded wings
+like miniature Kestrels, or dart downwards with the velocity of
+the sparrowhawk; anon they flit rapidly over the neighboring pool,
+occasionally dipping themselves in its calm and placid waters, and
+leaving a long train of rings marking their varied course. How easily
+they turn, or glide over the surrounding hedges, never resting, never
+weary, and defying the eye to trace them in the infinite turnings and
+twistings of their rapid shooting flight. You frequently see them glide
+rapidly near the ground, and then with a sidelong motion mount aloft, to
+dart downwards like an animated meteor, their plumage glowing in the
+light with metallic splendor, and the row of white spots on the tail
+contrasting beautifully with the darker plumage."
+
+The Swallow is considered a life-paired species, and returns to its
+nesting site of the previous season, building a new nest close to the
+old one. His nest is found in barns and outhouses, upon the beams of
+wood which support the roof, or in any place which assures protection to
+the young birds. It is cup-shaped and artfully moulded of bits of mud.
+Grass and feathers are used for the lining. "The nest completed, five or
+six eggs are deposited. They are of a pure white color, with deep rich
+brown blotches and spots, notably at the larger end, round which they
+often form a zone or belt." The sitting bird is fed by her mate.
+
+The young Swallow is distinguished from the mature birds by the absence
+of the elongated tail feathers, which are a mark of maturity alone. His
+food is composed entirely of insects. Swallows are on the wing fully
+sixteen hours, and the greater part of the time making terrible havoc
+amongst the millions of insects which infest the air. It is said that
+when the Swallow is seen flying high in the heavens, it is a never
+failing indication of fine weather.
+
+A pair of Swallows on arriving at their nesting place of the preceding
+Summer found their nest occupied by a Sparrow, who kept the poor birds
+at a distance by pecking at them with his strong beak whenever they
+attempted to dislodge him. Wearied and hopeless of regaining possession
+of their property, they at last hit upon a plan which effectually
+punished the intruder. One morning they appeared with a few more
+Swallows--their mouths filled with a supply of tempered clay--and, by
+their joint efforts in a short time actually plastered up the entrance
+to the hole, thus barring the Sparrow from the home which he had stolen
+from the Swallows.
+
+[Illustration: BARN SWALLOW.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BROWN THRUSH.
+
+
+    "However the world goes ill,
+      The Thrushes still sing in it."
+
+The Mocking-bird of the North, as the Brown Thrush has been called,
+arrives in the Eastern and Middle States about the 10th of May, at which
+season he may be seen, perched on the highest twig of a hedge, or on the
+topmost branch of a tree, singing his loud and welcome song, that may be
+heard a distance of half a mile. The favorite haunt of the Brown Thrush,
+however, is amongst the bright and glossy foliage of the evergreens.
+"There they delight to hide, although not so shy and retiring as the
+Blackbird; there they build their nests in greatest numbers, amongst the
+perennial foliage, and there they draw at nightfall to repose in warmth
+and safety." The Brown Thrasher sings chiefly just after sunrise and
+before sunset, but may be heard singing at intervals during the day. His
+food consists of wild fruits, such as blackberries and raspberries,
+snails, worms, slugs and grubs. He also obtains much of his food
+amongst the withered leaves and marshy places of the woods and
+shrubberies which he frequents. Few birds possess a more varied melody.
+His notes are almost endless in variety, each note seemingly uttered at
+the caprice of the bird, without any perceptible approach to order.
+
+The site of the Thrush's nest is a varied one, in the hedgerows, under a
+fallen tree or fence-rail; far up in the branches of stately trees, or
+amongst the ivy growing up their trunks. The nest is composed of the
+small dead twigs of trees, lined with the fine fibers of roots. From
+three to five eggs are deposited, and are hatched in about twelve days.
+They have a greenish background, thickly spotted with light brown,
+giving the whole egg a brownish appearance.
+
+The Brown Thrush leaves the Eastern and Middle States, on his migration
+South, late in September, remaining until the following May.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+THE THRUSH'S NEST.
+
+    "Within a thick and spreading hawthorn bush
+      That overhung a molehill, large and round,
+    I heard from morn to morn a merry thrush
+      Sing hymns of rapture while I drank the sound
+    With joy--and oft an unintruding guest,
+      I watched her secret toils from day to day;
+    How true she warped the moss to form her nest,
+      And modeled it within with wood and clay.
+    And by and by, with heath-bells gilt with dew,
+      There lay her shining eggs as bright as flowers,
+    Ink-spotted over, shells of green and blue:
+      And there I witnessed, in the summer hours,
+    A brood of nature's minstrels chirp and fly,
+      Glad as the sunshine and the laughing sky."
+
+
+
+
+THE BROWN THRUSH.
+
+
+Dear Readers:
+
+My cousin Robin Redbreast told me that he wrote you a letter last month
+and sent it with his picture. How did you like it? He is a pretty
+bird--Cousin Robin--and everybody likes him. But I must tell you
+something of myself.
+
+Folks call me by different names--some of them nicknames, too.
+
+The cutest one of all is Brown Thrasher. I wonder if you know why they
+call me Thrasher. If you don't, ask some one. It is really funny.
+
+Some people think Cousin Robin is the sweetest singer of our family, but
+a great many like my song just as well.
+
+Early in the morning I sing among the bushes, but later in the day you
+will always find me in the very top of a tree and it is then I sing my
+best.
+
+Do you know what I say in my song? Well, if I am near a farmer while he
+is planting, I say: "Drop it, drop it--cover it up, cover it up--pull it
+up, pull it up, pull it up."
+
+One thing I very seldom do and that is, sing when near my nest. Maybe
+you can tell why. I'm not very far from my nest now. I just came down to
+the stream to get a drink and am watching that boy on the other side of
+the stream. Do you see him?
+
+One dear lady who loves birds has said some very nice things about me in
+a book called "Bird Ways." Another lady has written a beautiful poem
+about my singing. Ask your mamma or teacher the names of these ladies.
+Here is the poem:
+
+    There's a merry brown thrush sitting up in a tree.
+    He is singing to me! He is singing to me!
+    And what does he say--little girl, little boy?
+    "Oh, the world's running over with joy!
+        Hush! Look! In my tree,
+        I am as happy as happy can be."
+
+    And the brown thrush keeps singing, "A nest, do you see,
+    And five eggs, hid by me in the big cherry tree?
+    Don't meddle, don't touch--little girl, little boy--
+    Or the world will lose some of its joy!
+        Now I am glad! now I am free!
+        And I always shall be,
+        If you never bring sorrow to me."
+
+    So the merry brown thrush sings away in the tree
+    To you and to me--to you and to me;
+    And he sings all the day--little girl, little boy--
+    "Oh, the world's running over with joy!
+        But long it won't be,
+        Don't you know? don't you see?
+        Unless we're good as good can be."
+
+[Illustration: BROWN THRASHER.]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: JAPAN PHEASANT.]
+
+THE JAPAN PHEASANT.
+
+
+Originally the Pheasant was an inhabitant of Asia Minor but has been
+by degrees introduced into many countries, where its beauty of form,
+plumage, and the delicacy of its flesh made it a welcome visitor. The
+Japan Pheasant is a very beautiful species, about which little is known
+in its wild state, but in captivity it is pugnacious. It requires much
+shelter and plenty of food, and the breed is to some degree artificially
+kept up by the hatching of eggs under domestic hens and feeding them in
+the coop like ordinary chickens, until they are old and strong enough to
+get their own living.
+
+The food of this bird is extremely varied. When young it is generally
+fed on ants' eggs, maggots, grits, and similar food, but when it is full
+grown it is possessed of an accommodating appetite and will eat many
+kinds of seeds, roots, and leaves. It will also eat beans, peas, acorns,
+berries, and has even been known to eat the ivy leaf, as well as the
+berry.
+
+This Pheasant loves the ground, runs with great speed, and always
+prefers to trust to its legs rather than to its wings. It is crafty, and
+when alarmed it slips quickly out of sight behind a bush or through a
+hedge, and then runs away with astonishing rapidity, always remaining
+under cover until it reaches some spot where it deems itself safe. The
+male is not domestic, passing an independent life during a part of the
+year and associating with others of its own sex during the rest of the
+season.
+
+The nest is very rude, being merely a heap of leaves and grass on the
+ground, with a very slight depression. The eggs are numerous, about
+eleven or twelve, and olive brown in color. In total length, though they
+vary considerably, the full grown male is about three feet. The female
+is smaller in size than her mate, and her length a foot less.
+
+The Japan Pheasant is not a particularly interesting bird aside from his
+beauty, which is indeed brilliant, there being few of the species more
+attractive.
+
+
+
+
+THE FLICKER.
+
+
+A great variety of names does this bird possess. It is commonly known
+as the Golden Winged Woodpecker, Yellow-shafted Flicker, Yellow Hammer,
+and less often as High-hole or High-holer, Wake-up, etc. In suitable
+localities throughout the United States and the southern parts of
+Canada, the Flicker is a very common bird, and few species are more
+generally known. "It is one of the most sociable of our Woodpeckers,
+and is apparently always on good terms with its neighbors. It usually
+arrives in April, occasionally even in March, the males preceding the
+females a few days, and as soon as the latter appear one can hear their
+voices in all directions."
+
+The Flicker is an ardent wooer. It is an exceedingly interesting and
+amusing sight to see a couple of males paying their addresses to a coy
+and coquettish female; the apparent shyness of the suitors as they sidle
+up to her and as quickly retreat again, the shy glances given as one
+peeps from behind a limb watching the other--playing bo-peep--seem
+very human, and "I have seen," says an observer, "few more amusing
+performances than the courtship of a pair of these birds." The defeated
+suitor takes his rejection quite philosophically, and retreats in a
+dignified manner, probably to make other trials elsewhere. Few birds
+deserve our good will more than the Flicker. He is exceedingly useful,
+destroying multitudes of grubs, larvć, and worms. He loves berries and
+fruit but the damage he does to cultivated fruit is very trifling.
+
+The Flicker begins to build its nest about two weeks after the bird
+arrives from the south. It prefers open country, interspersed with
+groves and orchards, to nest in. Any old stump, or partly decayed limb
+of a tree, along the banks of a creek, beside a country road, or in
+an old orchard, will answer the purpose. Soft wood trees seem to be
+preferred, however. In the prairie states it occasionally selects
+strange nesting sites. It has been known to chisel through the weather
+boarding of a dwelling house, barns, and other buildings, and to nest
+in the hollow space between this and the cross beams; its nests have
+also been found in gate posts, in church towers, and in burrows of
+Kingfishers and bank swallows, in perpendicular banks of streams. One
+of the most peculiar sites of his selection is described by William A.
+Bryant as follows: "On a small hill, a quarter of a mile distant from
+any home, stood a hay stack which had been placed there two years
+previously. The owner, during the winter of 1889-90, had cut the stack
+through the middle and hauled away one portion, leaving the other
+standing, with the end smoothly trimmed. The following spring I noticed
+a pair of flickers about the stack showing signs of wanting to make it
+a fixed habitation. One morning a few days later I was amused at the
+efforts of one of the pair. It was clinging to the perpendicular end of
+the stack and throwing out clipped hay at a rate to defy competition.
+This work continued for a week, and in that time the pair had excavated
+a cavity twenty inches in depth. They remained in the vicinity until
+autumn. During the winter the remainder of the stack was removed. They
+returned the following spring, and, after a brief sojourn, departed for
+parts unknown."
+
+From five to nine eggs are generally laid. They are glossy white in
+color, and when fresh appear as if enameled.
+
+The young are able to leave the nest in about sixteen days; they crawl
+about on the limbs of the tree for a couple of days before they venture
+to fly, and return to the nest at night.
+
+[Illustration: FLICKER.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BOBOLINK.
+
+
+    "When Nature had made all her birds,
+    And had no cares to think on,
+    She gave a rippling laugh,
+    And out there flew a Bobolinkon."
+
+No American ornithologist omits mention of the Bobolink, and naturalists
+generally have described him under one of the many names by which he is
+known. In some States he is called the Rice Bird, in others Reed Bird,
+the Rice or Reed Bunting, while his more familiar title, throughout the
+greater part of America, is Bobolink, or Bobolinkum. In Jamaica, where
+he gets very fat during his winter stay, he is called the Butter Bird.
+His title of Rice Troopial is earned by the depredations which he
+annually makes upon the rice crops, though his food "is by no means
+restricted to that seed, but consists in a large degree of insects,
+grubs, and various wild grasses." A migratory bird, residing during the
+winter in the southern parts of America, he returns in vast multitudes
+northward in the early Spring. According to Wilson, their course of
+migration is as follows: "In April, or very early in May, the Rice
+Buntings, male and female, arrive within the southern boundaries of
+the United States, and are seen around the town of Savannah, Georgia,
+sometimes in separate parties of males and females, but more generally
+promiscuously. They remain there but a short time, and about the middle
+of May make their appearance in the lower part of Pennsylvania. While
+here the males are extremely gay and full of song, frequenting meadows,
+newly plowed fields, sides of creeks, rivers, and watery places, feeding
+on May flies and caterpillars, of which they destroy great quantities.
+In their passage, however, through Virginia at this season, they do
+great damage to the early wheat and barley while in their milky state.
+About the 20th of May they disappear on their way to the North. Nearly
+at the same time they arrive in the State of New York, spread over the
+whole of the New England States, as far as the river St. Lawrence, and
+from Lake Ontario to the sea. In all of these places they remain during
+the Summer, building their nests and rearing their young."
+
+The Bobolink's song is a peculiar one, varying greatly with the
+occasion. As he flys southward, his cry is a kind of clinking note; but
+the love song addressed to his mate is voluble and fervent. It has been
+said that if you should strike the keys of a pianoforte haphazard, the
+higher and the lower singly very quickly, you might have some idea of
+the Bobolink's notes. In the month of June he gradually changes his
+pretty, attractive dress and puts on one very like the females, which is
+of a plain rusty brown, and is not reassumed until the next season of
+nesting. The two parent birds in the plate represent the change from the
+dark plumage in which the bird is commonly known in the North as the
+Bobolink, to the dress of yellowish brown by which it is known
+throughout the South as the Rice or Reed Bird.
+
+His nest, small and a plain one, too, is built on the ground by his
+industrious little wife. The inside is warmly lined with soft fibers of
+whatever may be nearest at hand. Five pretty white eggs, spotted all
+over with brown are laid, and as soon
+
+    "As the little ones chip the shell
+    And five wide mouths are ready for food,
+    'Robert of Lincoln' bestirs him well,
+    Gathering seeds for this hungry brood."
+
+
+
+
+BOBOLINK.
+
+
+Other birds may like to travel alone, but when jolly Mr. Bobolink and
+his quiet little wife come from the South, where they have spent the
+winter, they come with a large party of friends. When South, they eat so
+much rice that the people call them Rice Birds. When they come North,
+they enjoy eating wheat, barley, oats and insects.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Bobolink build their simple little nest of grasses in some
+field. It is hard to find on the ground, for it looks just like dry
+grass. Mrs. Bobolink wears a dull dress, so she cannot be seen when she
+is sitting on the precious eggs. She does not sing a note while caring
+for the eggs. Why do you think that is?
+
+Mr. Bob-Linkum does not wear a sober dress, as you can see by his
+picture. He does not need to be hidden. He is just as jolly as he
+looks. Shall I tell you how he amuses his mate while she is sitting?
+He springs from the dew-wet grass with a sound like peals of merry
+laughter. He frolics from reed to post, singing as if his little heart
+would burst with joy.
+
+Don't you think Mr. and Mrs. Bobolink look happy in the picture? They
+have raised their family of five. Four of their children have gone to
+look for food; one of them--he must surely be the baby--would rather
+stay with his mamma and papa. Which one does he look like?
+
+Many birds are quiet at noon and in the afternoon. A flock of Bobolinks
+can be heard singing almost all day long. The song is full of high notes
+and low, soft notes and loud, all sung rapidly. It is as gay and bright
+as the birds themselves, who flit about playfully as they sing. You will
+feel like laughing as merrily as they sing when you hear it some day.
+
+[Illustration: BOBOLINKS.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BLUE BIRD.
+
+
+    "Drifting down the first warm wind
+      That thrills the earliest days of spring,
+    The Bluebird seeks our maple groves
+      And charms them into tasselling."
+
+    "He sings, and his is Nature's voice--
+      A gush of melody sincere
+    From that great fount of harmony
+      Which thaws and runs when Spring is here."
+
+    "Short is his song, but strangely sweet
+      To ears aweary of the low
+    Dull tramps of Winter's sullen feet,
+      Sandalled in ice and muffled in snow."
+
+       *       *       *
+
+    "Think, every morning, when the sun peeps through
+       The dim, leaf-latticed windows of the grove,
+     How jubilant the happy birds renew
+       Their old, melodious madrigals of love!
+     And when you think of this, remember, too,
+       'Tis always morning somewhere, and above
+     The awakening continents, from shore to shore,
+     Somewhere the birds are singing evermore.
+
+    "Think of your woods and orchards without birds!
+       Of empty nests that cling to boughs and beams
+     As in an idiot's brain remembered words
+       Hang empty 'mid the cobwebs of his dreams!
+     Will bleat of flocks or bellowing of herds
+       Make up for the lost music, when your teams
+     Drag home the stingy harvest, and no more
+     The feathered gleaners follow to your door?"
+                    FROM "THE BIRDS OF KILLINGSWORTH."
+
+
+
+
+THE CROW.
+
+
+Caw! Caw! Caw! little boys and girls. Caw! Caw! Caw! Just look at my
+coat of feathers. See how black and glossy it is. Do you wonder I am
+proud of it?
+
+Perhaps you think I look very solemn and wise, and not at all as if I
+cared to play games. I do, though; and one of the games I like best is
+hide-and-seek. I play it with the farmer in the spring. He hides, in the
+rich, brown earth, golden kernels of corn. Surely he does it because he
+knows I like it, for sometimes he puts up a stick all dressed like a man
+to show where the corn is hidden. Sometimes I push my bill down into the
+earth to find the corn, and at other times I wait until tiny green
+leaves begin to show above the ground, and then I get my breakfast
+without much trouble. I wonder if the farmer enjoys this game as much
+as I do. I help him, too, by eating worms and insects.
+
+During the spring and summer I live in my nest on the top of a very
+high tree. It is built of sticks and grasses and straw and string and
+anything else I can pick up. But in the fall, I and all my relations and
+friends live together in great roosts or rookeries. What good times we
+do have--hunting all day for food and talking all night. Wouldn't you
+like to be with us?
+
+The farmer who lives in the house over there went to the mill to-day
+with a load of corn.
+
+One of the ears dropped out of the wagon and it didn't take me long to
+find it. I have eaten all I can possibly hold and am wondering now what
+is the best thing to do. If you were in my place would you leave it here
+and not tell anybody and come back to-morrow and finish it? Or would you
+fly off and get Mrs. Crow and some of the children to come and finish
+it? I believe I'll fly and get them. Good-bye.
+
+Caw! Caw! Caw!
+
+[Illustration: COMMON CROW.]
+
+
+
+
+THE COMMON CROW.
+
+
+    "The crow doth sing as merry as the lark,
+     When neither is attended."
+
+Few birds have more interesting characteristics than the Common Crow,
+being, in many of his actions, very like the Raven, especially in his
+love for carrion. Like the Raven, he has been known to attack game,
+although his inferior size forces him to call to his assistance the aid
+of his fellows to cope with larger creatures. Rabbits and hares are
+frequently the prey of this bird which pounces on them as they steal
+abroad to feed. His food consists of reptiles, frogs, and lizards; he
+is a plunderer of other birds' nests. On the seashore he finds crabs,
+shrimps and inhabited shells, which he ingeniously cracks by flying with
+them to a great height and letting them fall upon a convenient rock.
+
+The crow is seen in single pairs or in little bands of four or five.
+In the autumn evenings, however, they assemble in considerable flocks
+before going to roost and make a wonderful chattering, as if comparing
+notes of the events of the day.
+
+The nest of the Crow is placed in some tree remote from habitations of
+other birds. Although large and very conspicuous at a distance, it is
+fixed upon one of the topmost branches quite out of reach of the hand of
+the adventurous urchin who longs to secure its contents. It is loosely
+made and saucer shaped. Sticks and softer substances are used to
+construct it, and it is lined with hair and fibrous roots. Very recently
+a thrifty and intelligent Crow built for itself a summer residence in an
+airy tree near Bombay, the material used being gold, silver, and steel
+spectacle frames, which the bird had stolen from an optician of that
+city. Eighty-four frames had been used for this purpose, and they were
+so ingeniously woven together that the nest was quite a work of art.
+The eggs are variable, or rather individual, in their markings, and
+even in their size. The Crow rarely uses the same nest twice, although
+he frequently repairs to the same locality from year to year. He is
+remarkable for his attachment to his mate and young, surpassing the
+Fawn and Turtle Dove in conjugal courtesy.
+
+The Somali Arabs bear a deadly hatred toward the Crow. The origin of
+their detestation is the superstition that during the flight of Mohammed
+from his enemies, he hid himself in a cave, where he was perceived by
+the Crow, at that time a bird of light plumage, who, when he saw the
+pursuers approaching the spot, perched above Mohammed's hiding place,
+and screamed, "Ghar! Ghar!" (cave! cave!) so as to indicate the place
+of concealment. His enemies, however, did not understand the bird, and
+passed on, and Mohammed, when he came out of the cave, clothed the Crow
+in perpetual black, and commanded him to cry "Ghar" as long as Crows
+should live.
+
+And he lives to a good old age. Instances are not rare where he has
+attained to half a century, without great loss of activity or failure of
+sight.
+
+At Red Bank, a few miles northeast of Cincinnati, on the Little Miami
+River, in the bottoms, large flocks of Crows congregate the year around.
+A few miles away, high upon Walnut Hills, is a Crow roost, and in the
+late afternoons the Crows, singly, in pairs, and in flocks, are seen on
+the wing, flying heavily, with full crops, on the way to the roost, from
+which they descend in the early morning, crying "Caw! Caw!" to the
+fields of the newly planted, growing, or matured corn, or corn stacks,
+as the season may provide.
+
+
+
+
+THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS.
+
+
+     "Everywhere the blue sky belongs to them and is their appointed
+     rest, and their native country, and their own natural home
+     which they enter unannounced as lords that are certainly
+     expected, and yet there is a silent joy at their arrival."
+
+The return of the birds to their real home in the North, where they
+build their nests and rear their young, is regarded by all genuine
+lovers of earth's messengers of gladness and gayety as one of the most
+interesting and poetical of annual occurrences. The naturalist, who
+notes the very day of each arrival, in order that he may verify former
+observation or add to his material gathered for a new work, does not
+necessarily anticipate with greater pleasure this event than do many
+whose lives are brightened by the coming of the friends of their youth,
+who alone of early companions do not change. First of all--and ever the
+same delightful warbler--the Bluebird, who, in 1895, did not appear at
+all in many localities, though here in considerable numbers last year,
+betrays himself. "Did he come down out of the heaven on that bright
+March morning when he told us so softly and plaintively that, if we
+pleased, spring had come?" Sometimes he is here a little earlier, and
+must keep his courage up until the cold snap is over and the snow is
+gone. Not long after the Bluebird, comes the Robin, sometimes in March,
+but in most of the northern states April is the month of his arrival.
+With his first utterance the spell of winter is broken, and the
+remembrance of it afar off. Then appears the Woodpecker in great
+variety, the Flicker usually arriving first. He is always somebody's old
+favorite, "announcing his arrival by a long, loud call, repeated from
+the dry branch of some tree, or a stake in the fence--a thoroughly
+melodious April sound."
+
+Few perhaps reflect upon the difficulties encountered by the birds
+themselves in their returning migrations. A voyager sometimes meets
+with many of our common birds far out at sea. Such wanderers, it is
+said, when suddenly overtaken by a fog, completely lose their sense of
+direction and become hopelessly lost. Humming birds, those delicately
+organized, glittering gems, are among the most common of the land
+species seen at sea.
+
+The present season has been quite favorable to the protection of birds.
+A very competent observer says that not all of the birds migrated this
+winter. He recently visited a farm less than an hour's ride from
+Chicago, where he found the old place, as he relates it, "chucked full
+of Robins, Blackbirds, and Woodpeckers," and others unknown to him.
+From this he inferred they would have been in Florida had indications
+predicted a severe winter. The trees of the south parks of Chicago,
+and those in suburban places, have had, darting through their branches
+during the months of December and January, nearly as many members of the
+Woodpecker tribe as were found there during the mating season in May
+last.
+
+Alas, that the Robin will visit us in diminished numbers in the
+approaching spring. He has not been so common for a year or two as
+he was formerly, for the reason that the Robins died by thousands of
+starvation, owing to the freezing of their food supply in Tennessee
+during the protracted cold weather in the winter of 1895. It is indeed
+sad that this good Samaritan among birds should be defenseless against
+the severity of Nature, the common mother of us all. Nevertheless the
+return of the birds, in myriads or in single pairs, will be welcomed
+more and more, year by year, as intelligent love and appreciation of
+them shall possess the popular mind.
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: BLACK TERN.
+ Mother and Young with Eggs.]
+
+THE BLACK TERN.
+
+
+"The Tern," says Mr. F. M. Woodruff, of the Chicago Academy of Sciences,
+"is the only representative of the long-winged swimmers which commonly
+nests with us on our inland fresh water marshes, arriving early in May
+in its brooding plumage of sooty black. The color changes in the autumn
+to white, and a number of the adult birds may be found, in the latter
+part of July, dotted and streaked here and there with white. On the
+first of June, 1891, I found a large colony of Black Terns nesting on
+Hyde Lake, Cook County, Illinois. As I approached the marsh a few birds
+were seen flying high in the air, and, as I neared the nesting site, the
+flying birds gave notes of alarm, and presently the air was filled with
+the graceful forms of this beautiful little bird. They circled about me,
+darting down to within a few feet of my head, constantly uttering a
+harsh, screaming cry. As the eggs are laid upon the bare ground, which
+the brownish and blackish markings so closely resemble, I was at first
+unable to find the nests, and discovered that the only way to locate
+them was to stand quietly and watch the birds. When the Tern is passing
+over the nest it checks its flight, and poises for a moment on quivering
+wings. By keeping my eyes on this spot I found the nest with very little
+trouble. The complement of eggs, when the bird has not been disturbed,
+is usually three. These are laid in a saucer shaped structure of dead
+vegetation, which is scraped together, from the surface of the wet,
+boggy ground. The bird figured in the plate had placed its nest on the
+edge of an old muskrat house, and my attention was attracted to it by
+the fact that upon the edge of the rat house, where it had climbed to
+rest itself, was the body of a young dabchick, or piedbilled grebe,
+scarcely two and one-half inches long, and not twenty-four hours out of
+the egg, a beautiful little ball of blackish down, striped with brown
+and white. From the latter part of July to the middle of August large
+flocks of Black Terns may be seen on the shores of our larger lakes on
+their annual migration southward."
+
+The Rev. P. B. Peabody, in alluding to his observation of the nests
+of the Tern, says: "Amid this floating sea of aquatic nests I saw an
+unusual number of well constructed homes of the Tern. Among these was
+one that I count a perfect nest. It rested on the perfectly flat
+foundation of a small decayed rat house, which was about fourteen
+inches in diameter. The nest, in form, is a truncated cone (barring
+the cavity), was about eight inches high and ten inches in diameter.
+The hollow--quite shallow--was about seven inches across, being thus
+unusually large. The whole was built up of bits of rushes, carried to
+the spot, these being quite uniform in length--about four inches." After
+daily observation of the Tern, during which time he added much to his
+knowledge of the bird, he pertinently asks: "Who shall say how many
+traits and habits yet unknown may be discovered through patient watching
+of community-breeding birds, by men enjoying more of leisure for such
+delightful studies than often falls to the lot of most of us who have
+bread and butter to earn and a tiny part of the world's work to
+finish?"
+
+
+
+
+THE MEADOW LARK.
+
+
+        "Not an inch of his body is free from delight.
+    Can he keep himself still if he would? Oh, not he!
+        The music stirs in him like wind through a tree."
+
+The well known Meadow or Old Field Lark is a constant resident south
+of latitude 39, and many winter farther north in favorite localities.
+Its geographical range is eastern North America, Canada to south Nova
+Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario to eastern Manitoba; west to Minnesota,
+Iowa, Missouri, eastern Kansas, the Indian Territory, and Texas; south
+to Florida and the Gulf coast, in all of which localities, except in the
+extreme north, it usually rears two or three broods in a season. In the
+Northern States it is only a summer resident, arriving in April and
+remaining until the latter part of October and occasionally November.
+Excepting during the breeding season, small flocks may often be seen
+roving about in search of good feeding grounds. Major Bendire says
+this is especially true in the fall of the year. At this time several
+families unite, and as many as two dozen may occasionally be flushed in
+a field, over which they scatter, roaming about independently of each
+other. When one takes wing all the others in the vicinity follow. It
+is a shy bird in the East, while in the middle states it is quite the
+reverse. Its flight is rather laborious, at least in starting, and is
+continued by a series of rapid movements of the wings, alternating with
+short distances of sailing, and is rarely protracted. On alighting,
+which is accompanied with a twitching of its tail, it usually settles on
+some fence rail, post, boulder, weedstock, or on a hillock in a meadow
+from which it can get a good view of the surroundings, and but rarely
+on a limb of a tree. Its favorite resorts are meadows, fallow fields,
+pastures, and clearings, but in some sections, as in northern Florida,
+for instance, it also frequents the low, open pine woods and nests
+there.
+
+The song of the Meadow Lark is not much varied, but its clear, whistling
+notes, so frequently heard in the early spring, are melodious and
+pleasing to the ear. It is decidedly the farmers' friend, feeding, as
+it does, on noxious insects, caterpillars, moths, grasshoppers, spiders,
+worms and the like, and eating but little grain. The lark spends the
+greater part of its time on the ground, procuring all its food there.
+It is seldom found alone, and it is said remains paired for life.
+
+Nesting begins in the early part of May and lasts through June. Both
+sexes assist in building the nest, which is always placed on the ground,
+either in a natural depression, or in a little hollow scratched out by
+the birds, alongside a bunch of grass or weeds. The nest itself is lined
+with dry grass, stubble, and sometimes pine needles. Most nests are
+placed in level meadows. The eggs and young are frequently destroyed by
+vermin, for the meadow lark has many enemies. The eggs vary from three
+to seven, five being the most common, and both sexes assist in the
+hatching, which requires about fifteen or sixteen days. The young leave
+the nest before they are able to fly--hiding at the slightest sign of
+danger. The Meadow Lark does not migrate beyond the United States. It is
+a native bird, and is only accidental in England. The eggs are spotted,
+blotched, and speckled with shades of brown, purple and lavender. A
+curious incident is told of a Meadow Lark trying to alight on the top
+mast of a schooner several miles at sea. It was evidently very tired but
+would not venture near the deck.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: MEADOW LARK.]
+
+THE MEADOW LARK.
+
+
+I told the man who wanted my picture that he could take it if he would
+show my nest and eggs. Do you blame me for saying so? Don't you think it
+makes a better picture than if I stood alone?
+
+Mr. Lark is away getting me some breakfast, or he could be in the
+picture, too. After a few days I shall have some little baby birds, and
+then won't we be happy.
+
+Boys and girls who live in the country know us pretty well. When they
+drive the cows out to pasture, or when they go out to gather wild
+flowers, we sit on the fences by the roadside and make them glad with
+our merry song.
+
+Those of you who live in the city cannot see us unless you come out into
+the country.
+
+It isn't very often that we can find such a pretty place for a nest as
+we have here. Most of the time we build our nest under the grass and
+cover it over, and build a little tunnel leading to it. This year we
+made up our minds not to be afraid.
+
+The people living in the houses over there do not bother us at all and
+we are so happy.
+
+You never saw baby larks, did you? Well, they are queer little fellows,
+with hardly any feathers on them.
+
+Last summer we had five little birdies to feed, and it kept us busy from
+morning till night. This year we only expect three, and Mr. Lark says he
+will do all the work. He knows a field that is being plowed, where he
+can get nice, large worms.
+
+Hark! that is he singing. He will be surprised when he comes back and
+finds me off the nest. He is so afraid that I will let the eggs get
+cold, but I won't. There he comes, now.
+
+
+
+
+THE LONG-EARED OWL.
+
+
+The name of the Long-Eared Owl is derived from the great length of his
+"ears" or feather-tufts, which are placed upon the head, and erect
+themselves whenever the bird is interested or excited. It is the "black
+sheep" of the owl family, the majority of owls being genuine friends of
+the agriculturist, catching for his larder so many of the small animals
+that prey upon his crops. In America he is called the Great Horned
+Owl--in Europe the Golden Owl.
+
+Nesting time with the owl begins in February, and continues through
+March and April. The clown-like antics of both sexes of this bird while
+under the tender influence of the nesting season tend somewhat to impair
+their reputation for dignity and wise demeanor. They usually have a
+simple nest in a hollow tree, but which seems seldom to be built by the
+bird itself, as it prefers to take the deserted nest of some other bird,
+and to fit up the premises for its own use. They repair slightly from
+year to year the same nest. The eggs are white, and generally four or
+five in number. While the young are still in the nest, the parent birds
+display a singular diligence in collecting food for them.
+
+If you should happen to know of an owl's nest, stand near it some
+evening when the old birds are rearing their young. Keep quiet and
+motionless, and notice how frequently the old birds feed them. Every ten
+minutes or so the soft flap, flap of their wings will be heard, the male
+and female alternately, and you will obtain a brief glimpse of them
+through the gloom as they enter the nesting place. They remain inside
+but a short time, sharing the food equally amongst their brood, and
+then are off again to hunt for more. All night, were you to have the
+inclination to observe them, you would find they pass to and fro with
+food, only ceasing their labors at dawn. The young, as soon as they
+reach maturity, are abandoned by their parents; they quit the nest and
+seek out haunts elsewhere, while the old birds rear another, and not
+infrequently two more broods, during the remainder of the season.
+
+The habits of the Long-Eared Owl are nocturnal. He is seldom seen in the
+light of day, and is greatly disturbed if he chance to issue from his
+concealment while the sun is above the horizon. The facial disk is very
+conspicuous in this species. It is said that the use of this circle is
+to collect the rays of light, and throw them upon the eye. The flight
+of the owl is softened by means of especially shaped, recurved
+feather-tips, so that he may noiselessly steal upon his prey, and
+the ear is also so shaped as to gather sounds from below.
+
+The Long-Eared Owl is hardly tameable. The writer of this paragraph, when
+a boy, was the possessor, for more than a year, of a very fine specimen.
+We called him Judge. He was a monster, and of perfect plumage. Although
+he seemed to have some attachment to the children of the family who fed
+him, he would not permit himself to be handled by them or by any one in
+the slightest. Most of his time he spent in his cage, an immense affair,
+in which he was very comfortable. Occasionally he had a day in the barn
+with the rats and mice.
+
+The owl is of great usefulness to gardener, agriculturist, and landowner
+alike, for there is not another bird of prey which is so great a
+destroyer of the enemies of vegetation.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: GREAT HORNED OWL.]
+
+THE OWL.
+
+
+              We know not alway
+              Who are kings by day,
+    But the king of the night is the bold brown owl!
+
+I wonder why the folks put my picture last in the book. It can't be
+because they don't like me, for I'm sure I never bother them. I don't
+eat the farmer's corn like the crow, and no one ever saw me quarrel with
+other birds.
+
+Maybe it is because I can't sing. Well, there are lots of good people
+that can't sing, and so there are lots of good birds that can't sing.
+
+Did you ever see any other bird sit up as straight as I do? I couldn't
+sit up so straight if I hadn't such long, sharp claws to hold on with.
+
+My home is in the woods. Here we owls build our nests--most always in
+hollow trees.
+
+During the day I stay in the nest or sit on a limb. I don't like day
+time for the light hurts my eyes, but when it begins to grow dark then
+I like to stir around. All night long I am wide awake and fly about
+getting food for my little hungry ones. They sleep most of the day and
+it keeps me busy nearly all night to find them enough to eat.
+
+I just finished my night's work when the man came to take my picture. It
+was getting light and I told him to go to a large stump on the edge of
+the woods and I would sit for my picture. So here I am. Don't you think
+I look wise? How do you like my large eyes? If I could smile at you I
+would, but my face always looks sober. I have a great many cousins and
+if you really like my picture, I'll have some of them talk to you next
+month. I don't think any of them have such pretty feathers though. Just
+see if they have when they come.
+
+Well, I must fly back to my perch in the old elm tree. Good-bye.
+
+
+
+
+THE OWL.
+
+
+    In the hollow tree, in the old gray tower,
+      The spectral owl doth dwell;
+    Dull, hated, despised in the sunshine hour,
+      But at dusk he's abroad and well!
+    Not a bird of the forest e'er mates with him;
+      All mock him outright by day;
+    But at night, when the woods grow still and dim,
+      The boldest will shrink away!
+
+          O! when the night falls, and roosts the fowl,
+          Then, then, is the reign of the Horned Owl!
+
+    And the owl hath a bride, who is fond and bold,
+      And loveth the wood's deep gloom;
+    And, with eyes like the shine of the moonstone cold,
+      She awaiteth her ghastly groom.
+    Not a feather she moves, not a carol she sings,
+      As she waits in her tree so still,
+    But when her heart heareth his flapping wings,
+      She hoots out her welcome shrill!
+
+          O! when the moon shines, and dogs do howl,
+          Then, then, is the joy of the Horned Owl!
+
+    Mourn not for the owl, nor his gloomy plight!
+      The owl hath his share of good--
+    If a prisoner he be in the broad daylight,
+      He is lord in the dark greenwood!
+    Nor lonely the bird, nor his ghastly mate,
+      They are each unto each a pride;
+    Thrice fonder, perhaps, since a strange, dark fate
+      Hath rent them from all beside!
+
+          So, when the night falls, and dogs do howl,
+          Sing, Ho! for the reign of the Horned Owl!
+              We know not alway
+              Who are kings by day,
+    But the King of the Night is the bold Brown Owl!
+
+                     BRYAN W. PROCTER
+                           (Barry Cornwall.)
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+    THE
+     Racycle
+        NARROW TREAD
+
+    THE VERDICT IS IN
+
+     [Illustration]
+
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to advertisers.
+
+
+
+
+TESTIMONIALS.
+
+
+                           FRANKFORT, KY., February 3, 1897.
+ W. J. BLACK, Vice-President,
+                     Chicago, Ill.
+
+Dear Sir: I have a copy of your magazine entitled "Birds," and beg to
+say that I consider it one of the finest things on the subject that I
+have ever seen, and shall be pleased to recommend it to county and city
+superintendents of the state.
+
+                            Very respectfully,
+                                    W. J. DAVIDSON,
+                   State Superintendent Public Instruction.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                      SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., January 27, 1897.
+ W. J. BLACK, ESQ.,
+           Chicago, Ill.
+
+Dear Sir: I am very much obliged for the copy of "Birds" that has just
+come to hand. It should be in the hands of every primary and grammar
+teacher. I send herewith copy of "List of San Francisco Teachers."
+
+                            Very respectfully,
+                                       M. BABCOCK.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                            LINCOLN, NEB., February 9, 1897.
+ W. J. BLACK,
+     Chicago, Ill.
+
+Dear Sir: The first number of your magazine, "Birds," is upon my
+desk. I am highly pleased with it. It will prove a very serviceable
+publication--one that strikes out along the right lines. For the purpose
+intended, it has, in my opinion, no equal. It is clear, concise, and
+admirably illustrated.
+
+                            Very respectfully,
+                                      W. R. JACKSON,
+                   State Superintendent Public Instruction.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                         NORTH LIMA, OHIO, February 1, 1897.
+ MR. W. E. WATT,
+
+Dear Sir: Sample copy of "Birds" received. All of the family delighted
+with it. We wish it unbounded success. It will be an excellent
+supplement to "In Birdland" in the Ohio Teachers' Reading Circle, and I
+venture Ohio will be to the front with a good subscription list. I
+enclose list of teachers.
+
+                            Very truly,
+                               C. M. L. ALTDOERFFER,
+                                  Township Superintendent.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                                MILWAUKEE, January 30, 1897.
+ NATURE STUDY PUBLISHING COMPANY,
+             227 Dearborn Street, Chicago.
+
+Gentlemen: I acknowledge with pleasure the receipt of your publication,
+"Birds," with accompanying circulars. I consider it the best on the
+subject in existence. I have submitted the circulars and publication to
+my teachers, who have nothing to say but praise in behalf of the
+monthly.
+
+                            JULIUS TORNEY,
+             Principal 2nd Dist. Primary School, Milwaukee, Wis.
+
+
+
+
+OUR PREMIUM
+
+
+ A picture of wonderful beauty of the
+ Golden Pheasant almost life size in
+ a natural scene, plate 12x18 inches,
+ on card 19x25 inches, is given as a
+ premium to yearly subscribers. Our
+ price on this picture in Art Stores
+ is $3.50.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds Illustrated by Color Photograph
+[March 1897], by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS ILLUSTRATED [MARCH 1897] ***
+
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+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Birds Illustrated by Color Photography Vol. One, No. 3, March 1897 by Birds (Periodical).
+    </title>
+
+    <style type="text/css">
+
+/*<![CDATA[*/
+
+    p {  margin-top: .75em;
+         text-align: justify;
+         margin-bottom: .75em;
+         }
+
+    h2 {
+         text-align: center; /* all headings centered */
+         clear: both;
+         }
+
+
+    hr { width: 33%;
+	 margin-top: 2em;
+	 margin-bottom: 2em;
+         margin-left: auto;
+         margin-right: auto;
+         clear: both;
+       }
+
+    body{margin-left: 10%;
+         margin-right: 10%;
+        }
+
+    .box { width: 700px;
+           margin: 0 auto;
+           text-align: center;
+           padding: 1em;
+           border-style: none; }
+
+    .pagenum  { visibility: hidden;
+                position: absolute;
+                left: 92%;
+                font-size: smaller;
+                text-align: right;
+              } /* page numbers */
+
+    .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;}
+
+    .center   {text-align: center;}
+    .smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
+     a        {text-decoration: none; }
+
+    .caption  {font-weight: bold; font-variant: small-caps;}
+
+    .figcenter   {margin: auto; text-align: center;}
+
+    .figleft     {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top:
+                 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;}
+
+    .figright    {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;
+                 margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;}
+
+  /*]]>*/
+
+    </style>
+  </head>
+<body>
+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30103 ***</div>
+
+<div class="box">
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 362px;">
+<img src="images/img_cover.jpg" width="362" height="600" alt="cover" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img1a.png" width="600" height="248" alt="intro" title="" />
+</div>
+<p style="margin-left: 5em;">W. E. Watt, President &amp;c.,</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 12em;">Fisher Building,</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">277 Dearborn St., Chicago, Ill.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 5em;">My dear Sir:</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 5em; margin-right: 2em; line-height: 1.5em;">Please accept my thanks for a copy of the first
+publication of &ldquo;Birds.&rdquo; Please enter my name as a regular
+subscriber. It is one of the most beautiful and interesting
+publications yet attempted in this direction. It has other
+attractions in addition to its beauty, and it must win its
+way to popular favor.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 5em; margin-right: 2em;">Wishing the handsome little magazine abundant prosperity,
+I remain</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 18em;">Yours very respectfully,</p>
+<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/img1b.png" width="400" height="132" alt="signature" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 370px;">
+<img src="images/img_002.jpg" width="370" height="600" alt="advertisement" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="center">Please mention &ldquo;BIRDS&rdquo; when you write to advertisers.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 436px;">
+<img src="images/img3.png" width="436" height="650" alt="advertisement" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 383px;">
+<img src="images/img_4.jpg" width="383" height="600" alt="advertisement" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p>
+<h2>LITTLE BOY BLUE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Boys and girls, don&#8217;t you think
+that is a pretty name? I came
+from the warm south, where I
+went last winter, to tell you that
+Springtime is nearly here.</p>
+
+<p>When I sing, the buds and
+flowers and grass all begin to
+whisper to one another, &ldquo;Springtime
+is coming for we heard the
+Bluebird say so,&rdquo; and then they
+peep out to see the warm sunshine.
+I perch beside them and
+tell them of my long journey
+from the south and how I knew
+just when to tell them to come
+out of their warm winter cradles.
+I am of the same blue color as
+the violet that shows her pretty
+face when I sing, &ldquo;Summer is
+coming, and Springtime is here.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I do not like the cities for
+they are black and noisy and
+full of those troublesome birds
+called English Sparrows. I
+take my pretty mate and out in
+the beautiful country we find a
+home. We build a nest of
+twigs, grass and hair, in a box
+that the farmer puts up for us
+near his barn.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes we build in a hole
+in some old tree and soon there
+are tiny eggs in the nest. I
+sing to my mate and to the good
+people who own the barn. I
+heard the farmer say one day,
+&ldquo;Isn&#8217;t it nice to hear the Bluebird
+sing? He must be very
+happy.&rdquo; And I am, too, for by
+this time there are four or five
+little ones in the nest.</p>
+
+<p>Little Bluebirds are like little
+boys&mdash;they are always hungry.
+We work hard to find enough
+for them to eat. We feed them
+nice fat worms and bugs, and
+when their little wings are
+strong enough, we teach them
+how to fly. Soon they are large
+enough to hunt their own food,
+and can take care of themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The summer passes, and when
+we feel the breath of winter we
+go south again, for we do not
+like the cold.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 15%;' />
+
+<p class="center"><strong>THE BLUE BIRD.</strong></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+I know the song that the Bluebird is singing<br />
+Out in the apple tree, where he is swinging.<br />
+Brave little fellow! the skies may be dreary,<br />
+Nothing cares he while his heart is so cheery.<br />
+Hark! how the music leaps out from his throat,<br />
+Hark! was there ever so merry a note?</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+Listen a while, and you&#8217;ll hear what he&#8217;s saying,<br />
+Up in the apple tree swinging and swaying.<br />
+&ldquo;Dear little blossoms down under the snow,<br />
+You must be weary of winter, I know;<br />
+Hark! while I sing you a message of cheer,<br />
+Summer is coming, and springtime is here!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+&ldquo;Dear little snow-drop! I pray you arise;<br />
+Bright yellow crocus! come open your eyes;<br />
+Sweet little violets, hid from the cold,<br />
+Put on our mantles of purple and gold;<br />
+Daffodils! daffodils! say, do you hear,<br />
+Summer is coming! and springtime is here!&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 436px;">
+<img src="images/img_019.jpg" width="436" height="600" alt="Blue Bird" title="" />
+<span class="caption">blue bird.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE BLUE BIRD.</h2>
+
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">
+Winged lute that we call a blue bird,<br />
+You blend in a silver strain<br />
+The sound of the laughing waters,<br />
+The patter of spring&#8217;s sweet rain,<br />
+The voice of the wind, the sunshine,<br />
+And fragrance of blossoming things,<br />
+Ah! you are a poem of April<br />
+That God endowed with wings.<span style="margin-left: 2em;">E. E. R.</span>
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 15%;' />
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;">
+<img src="images/imgl.png" width="100" height="80" alt="L" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>IKE a bit of sky this little
+harbinger of spring appears,
+as we see him and his mate
+househunting in early
+March. Oftentimes he
+makes his appearance as early as the
+middle of February, when his attractive
+note is heard long before he himself
+is seen. He is one of the last to
+leave us, and although the month of
+November is usually chosen by him as
+the fitting time for departure to a
+milder clime, his plaintive note is
+quite commonly heard on pleasant
+days throughout the winter season,
+and a few of the braver and hardier
+ones never entirely desert us. The
+Robin and the Blue Bird are tenderly
+associated in the memories of most
+persons whose childhood was passed
+on a farm or in the country village.
+Before the advent of the English
+Sparrow, the Blue Bird was sure to be
+the first to occupy and the last to defend
+the little box prepared for his return,
+appearing in his blue jacket
+somewhat in advance of the plainly
+habited female, who on her arrival
+quite often found a habitation selected
+and ready for her acceptance, should
+he find favor in her sight. And then
+he becomes a most devoted husband
+and father, sitting by the nest
+and warbling with earnest affection
+his exquisite tune, and occasionally flying
+away in search of food for his mate
+and nestlings.</p>
+
+<p>The Blue Bird rears two broods in
+the season, and, should the weather be
+mild, even three. His nest contains
+three eggs.</p>
+
+<p>In the spring and summer when he
+is happy and gay, his song is extremely
+soft and agreeable, while it
+grows very mournful and plaintive as
+cold weather approaches. He is mild
+of temper, and a peaceable and harmless
+neighbor, setting a fine example
+of amiability to his feathered friends.
+In the early spring, however, he wages
+war against robins, wrens, swallows,
+and other birds whose habitations are
+of a kind to take his fancy. A celebrated
+naturalist says: &ldquo;This bird
+seems incapable of uttering a harsh
+note, or of doing a spiteful, ill-tempered
+thing.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Nearly everybody has his anecdote
+to tell of the Blue Bird&#8217;s courage, but
+the author of &ldquo;Wake Robin&rdquo; tells
+his exquisitely thus: &ldquo;A few years
+ago I put up a little bird house in the
+back end of my garden for the accommodation
+of the wrens, and every
+season a pair have taken up their
+abode there. One spring a pair of
+Blue Birds looked into the tenement,
+and lingered about several days, leading
+me to hope that they would conclude
+to occupy it. But they finally
+went away. Late in the season the
+wrens appeared, and after a little coquetting,
+were regularly installed in
+their old quarters, and were as happy
+as only wrens can be. But before
+their honeymoon was over, the Blue
+Birds returned. I knew something
+was wrong before I was up in the
+morning. Instead of that voluble and
+gushing song outside the window, I
+heard the wrens scolding and crying
+out at a fearful rate, and on going out
+saw the Blue Birds in possession of
+the box. The poor wrens were in
+despair and were forced to look for
+other quarters.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE SWALLOW.</h2>
+
+
+<p style="margin-left: 16em;">
+&ldquo;Come, summer visitant, attach<br />
+  <span style="margin-left: 1em;">To my reedroof thy nest of clay,</span><br />
+And let my ear thy music catch,<br />
+Low twitting underneath the thatch,<br />
+  <span style="margin-left: 1em;">At the gray dawn of day.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 82px;">
+<img src="images/imgs.png" width="82" height="80" alt="S" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>URE harbingers of spring
+are the Swallows. They
+are very common birds,
+and frequent, as a rule,
+the cultivated lands in the
+neighborhood of water, showing a decided
+preference for the habitations of
+man. &ldquo;How gracefully the swallows
+fly! See them coursing over the
+daisy-bespangled grass fields; now
+they skim just over the blades of grass,
+and then with a rapid stroke of their
+long wings mount into the air and
+come hovering above your head, displaying
+their rich white and chestnut
+plumage to perfection. Now they
+chase each other for very joyfulness,
+uttering their sharp twittering notes;
+then they hover with expanded wings
+like miniature Kestrels, or dart downwards
+with the velocity of the sparrowhawk;
+anon they flit rapidly over
+the neighboring pool, occasionally
+dipping themselves in its calm and
+placid waters, and leaving a long train
+of rings marking their varied course.
+How easily they turn, or glide over
+the surrounding hedges, never resting,
+never weary, and defying the eye to
+trace them in the infinite turnings and
+twistings of their rapid shooting flight.
+You frequently see them glide rapidly
+near the ground, and then with a sidelong
+motion mount aloft, to dart
+downwards like an animated meteor,
+their plumage glowing in the light
+with metallic splendor, and the row of
+white spots on the tail contrasting
+beautifully with the darker plumage.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Swallow is considered a life-paired
+species, and returns to its nesting
+site of the previous season, building
+a new nest close to the old one.
+His nest is found in barns and outhouses,
+upon the beams of wood
+which support the roof, or in any
+place which assures protection to the
+young birds. It is cup-shaped and
+artfully moulded of bits of mud.
+Grass and feathers are used for the
+lining. &ldquo;The nest completed, five or
+six eggs are deposited. They are of a
+pure white color, with deep rich
+brown blotches and spots, notably at
+the larger end, round which they
+often form a zone or belt.&rdquo; The sitting
+bird is fed by her mate.</p>
+
+<p>The young Swallow is distinguished
+from the mature birds by the
+absence of the elongated tail feathers,
+which are a mark of maturity alone.
+His food is composed entirely of insects.
+Swallows are on the wing fully
+sixteen hours, and the greater part of
+the time making terrible havoc
+amongst the millions of insects which
+infest the air. It is said that when
+the Swallow is seen flying high in the
+heavens, it is a never failing indication
+of fine weather.</p>
+
+<p>A pair of Swallows on arriving at
+their nesting place of the preceding
+Summer found their nest occupied by
+a Sparrow, who kept the poor birds at
+a distance by pecking at them with
+his strong beak whenever they attempted
+to dislodge him. Wearied
+and hopeless of regaining possession
+of their property, they at last hit upon
+a plan which effectually punished the
+intruder. One morning they appeared
+with a few more Swallows&mdash;their
+mouths filled with a supply of tempered
+clay&mdash;and, by their joint efforts
+in a short time actually plastered up
+the entrance to the hole, thus barring
+the Sparrow from the home which he
+had stolen from the Swallows.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img_017.jpg" width="600" height="444" alt="barn swallow" title="" />
+<span class="caption">barn swallow.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE BROWN THRUSH.</h2>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 17em;">
+&ldquo;However the world goes ill,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Thrushes still sing in it.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 86px;">
+<img src="images/imgt.png" width="86" height="80" alt="T" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>HE Mocking-bird of the North,
+as the Brown Thrush has
+been called, arrives in the
+Eastern and Middle States
+about the 10th of May, at which
+season he may be seen, perched on the
+highest twig of a hedge, or on the
+topmost branch of a tree, singing his
+loud and welcome song, that may be
+heard a distance of half a mile. The
+favorite haunt of the Brown Thrush,
+however, is amongst the bright and
+glossy foliage of the evergreens.
+&ldquo;There they delight to hide, although
+not so shy and retiring as the Blackbird;
+there they build their nests in
+greatest numbers, amongst the perennial
+foliage, and there they draw at
+nightfall to repose in warmth and
+safety.&rdquo; The Brown Thrasher sings
+chiefly just after sunrise and before
+sunset, but may be heard singing at
+intervals during the day. His food
+consists of wild fruits, such as blackberries
+and raspberries, snails, worms,
+slugs and grubs. He also obtains
+much of his food amongst the withered
+leaves and marshy places of the
+woods and shrubberies which he
+frequents. Few birds possess a more
+varied melody. His notes are almost
+endless in variety, each note seemingly
+uttered at the caprice of the bird,
+without any perceptible approach to
+order.</p>
+
+<p>The site of the Thrush&#8217;s nest is a
+varied one, in the hedgerows, under a
+fallen tree or fence-rail; far up in the
+branches of stately trees, or amongst
+the ivy growing up their trunks. The
+nest is composed of the small dead
+twigs of trees, lined with the fine
+fibers of roots. From three to five
+eggs are deposited, and are hatched
+in about twelve days. They have a
+greenish background, thickly spotted
+with light brown, giving the whole
+egg a brownish appearance.</p>
+
+<p>The Brown Thrush leaves the Eastern
+and Middle States, on his migration
+South, late in September, remaining
+until the following May.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 15%;' />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><strong>THE THRUSH&#8217;S NEST.</strong></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 13em;">
+&ldquo;Within a thick and spreading hawthorn bush<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">That overhung a molehill, large and round,</span><br />
+I heard from morn to morn a merry thrush<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Sing hymns of rapture while I drank the sound</span><br />
+With joy&mdash;and oft an unintruding guest,<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">I watched her secret toils from day to day;</span><br />
+How true she warped the moss to form her nest,<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">And modeled it within with wood and clay.</span><br />
+And by and by, with heath-bells gilt with dew,<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">There lay her shining eggs as bright as flowers,</span><br />
+Ink-spotted over, shells of green and blue:<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">And there I witnessed, in the summer hours,</span><br />
+A brood of nature&#8217;s minstrels chirp and fly,<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Glad as the sunshine and the laughing sky.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>THE BROWN THRUSH.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Dear Readers:</p>
+
+<p>My cousin Robin Redbreast
+told me that he wrote you a
+letter last month and sent it
+with his picture. How did you
+like it? He is a pretty bird&mdash;Cousin
+Robin&mdash;and everybody
+likes him. But I must tell you
+something of myself.</p>
+
+<p>Folks call me by different
+names&mdash;some of them nicknames,
+too.</p>
+
+<p>The cutest one of all is Brown
+Thrasher. I wonder if you
+know why they call me Thrasher.
+If you don&#8217;t, ask some one. It
+is really funny.</p>
+
+<p>Some people think Cousin
+Robin is the sweetest singer of
+our family, but a great many
+like my song just as well.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the morning I sing
+among the bushes, but later in
+the day you will always find me
+in the very top of a tree and it
+is then I sing my best.</p>
+
+<p>Do you know what I say in
+my song? Well, if I am near a
+farmer while he is planting, I
+say: &ldquo;Drop it, drop it&mdash;cover it
+up, cover it up&mdash;pull it up, pull
+it up, pull it up.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>One thing I very seldom do
+and that is, sing when near my
+nest. Maybe you can tell why.
+I&#8217;m not very far from my nest
+now. I just came down to the
+stream to get a drink and am
+watching that boy on the other
+side of the stream. Do you see
+him?</p>
+
+<p>One dear lady who loves birds
+has said some very nice things
+about me in a book called &ldquo;Bird
+Ways.&rdquo; Another lady has
+written a beautiful poem about
+my singing. Ask your mamma or
+teacher the names of these
+ladies. Here is the poem:</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 12em;">
+There&#8217;s a merry brown thrush sitting up in a tree.<br />
+He is singing to me! He is singing to me!<br />
+And what does he say&mdash;little girl, little boy?<br />
+&ldquo;Oh, the world&#8217;s running over with joy!<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hush! Look! In my tree,</span><br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">I am as happy as happy can be.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 12em;">
+And the brown thrush keeps singing, &ldquo;A nest, do you see,<br />
+And five eggs, hid by me in the big cherry tree?<br />
+Don&#8217;t meddle, don&#8217;t touch&mdash;little girl, little boy&mdash;<br />
+Or the world will lose some of its joy!<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Now I am glad! now I am free!</span><br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">And I always shall be,</span><br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">If you never bring sorrow to me.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 12em;">
+So the merry brown thrush sings away in the tree<br />
+To you and to me&mdash;to you and to me;<br />
+And he sings all the day&mdash;little girl, little boy&mdash;<br />
+&ldquo;Oh, the world&#8217;s running over with joy!<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">But long it won&#8217;t be,</span><br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Don&#8217;t you know? don&#8217;t you see?</span><br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Unless we&#8217;re good as good can be.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img_025.jpg" width="600" height="443" alt="brown thrasher" title="" />
+<span class="caption">brown thrasher.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img_027.jpg" width="600" height="445" alt="japan pheasant" title="" />
+<span class="caption">japan pheasant.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE JAPAN PHEASANT.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 64px;">
+<img src="images/imgo.png" width="64" height="80" alt="O" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>RIGINALLY the Pheasant
+was an inhabitant of Asia
+Minor but has been by degrees
+introduced into many
+countries, where its beauty
+of form, plumage, and the delicacy of
+its flesh made it a welcome visitor.
+The Japan Pheasant is a very beautiful
+species, about which little is
+known in its wild state, but in captivity
+it is pugnacious. It requires
+much shelter and plenty of food, and
+the breed is to some degree artificially
+kept up by the hatching of eggs under
+domestic hens and feeding them
+in the coop like ordinary chickens,
+until they are old and strong enough
+to get their own living.</p>
+
+<p>The food of this bird is extremely
+varied. When young it is generally
+fed on ants&#8217; eggs, maggots,
+grits, and similar food, but when it is
+full grown it is possessed of an accommodating
+appetite and will eat many
+kinds of seeds, roots, and leaves. It
+will also eat beans, peas, acorns, berries,
+and has even been known to eat
+the ivy leaf, as well as the berry.</p>
+
+<p>This Pheasant loves the ground,
+runs with great speed, and always prefers
+to trust to its legs rather than to its
+wings. It is crafty, and when alarmed
+it slips quickly out of sight behind a
+bush or through a hedge, and then
+runs away with astonishing rapidity,
+always remaining under cover until it
+reaches some spot where it deems itself
+safe. The male is not domestic,
+passing an independent life during
+a part of the year and associating
+with others of its own sex during the
+rest of the season.</p>
+
+<p>The nest is very rude, being merely
+a heap of leaves and grass on the
+ground, with a very slight depression.
+The eggs are numerous, about eleven
+or twelve, and olive brown in color. In
+total length, though they vary considerably,
+the full grown male is about
+three feet. The female is smaller in
+size than her mate, and her length
+a foot less.</p>
+
+<p>The Japan Pheasant is not a particularly
+interesting bird aside from his
+beauty, which is indeed brilliant, there
+being few of the species more attractive.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE FLICKER.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 93px;">
+<img src="images/imga1.png" width="93" height="80" alt="A" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>GREAT variety of names
+does this bird possess. It
+is commonly known as the
+Golden Winged Woodpecker,
+Yellow-shafted Flicker, Yellow
+Hammer, and less often as High-hole
+or High-holer, Wake-up, etc. In suitable
+localities throughout the United
+States and the southern parts of Canada,
+the Flicker is a very common
+bird, and few species are more generally
+known. &ldquo;It is one of the most
+sociable of our Woodpeckers, and is
+apparently always on good terms with
+its neighbors. It usually arrives in
+April, occasionally even in March, the
+males preceding the females a few
+days, and as soon as the latter appear
+one can hear their voices in all directions.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Flicker is an ardent wooer. It
+is an exceedingly interesting and
+amusing sight to see a couple of males
+paying their addresses to a coy and
+coquettish female; the apparent shyness
+of the suitors as they sidle up to
+her and as quickly retreat again, the
+shy glances given as one peeps from
+behind a limb watching the other&mdash;playing
+bo-peep&mdash;seem very human,
+and &ldquo;I have seen,&rdquo; says an observer,
+&ldquo;few more amusing performances than
+the courtship of a pair of these birds.&rdquo;
+The defeated suitor takes his rejection
+quite philosophically, and retreats in a
+dignified manner, probably to make
+other trials elsewhere. Few birds
+deserve our good will more than the
+Flicker. He is exceedingly useful,
+destroying multitudes of grubs, larv&aelig;,
+and worms. He loves berries and
+fruit but the damage he does to cultivated
+fruit is very trifling.</p>
+
+<p>The Flicker begins to build its nest
+about two weeks after the bird arrives
+from the south. It prefers open country,
+interspersed with groves and orchards,
+to nest in. Any old stump, or
+partly decayed limb of a tree, along
+the banks of a creek, beside a country
+road, or in an old orchard, will answer
+the purpose. Soft wood trees seem to
+be preferred, however. In the prairie
+states it occasionally selects strange
+nesting sites. It has been known to
+chisel through the weather boarding of
+a dwelling house, barns, and other buildings,
+and to nest in the hollow space
+between this and the cross beams; its
+nests have also been found in gate
+posts, in church towers, and in burrows
+of Kingfishers and bank swallows, in
+perpendicular banks of streams. One
+of the most peculiar sites of his selection
+is described by William A. Bryant
+as follows: &ldquo;On a small hill, a
+quarter of a mile distant from any
+home, stood a hay stack which had
+been placed there two years previously.
+The owner, during the winter of
+1889-90, had cut the stack through the
+middle and hauled away one portion,
+leaving the other standing, with the
+end smoothly trimmed. The following
+spring I noticed a pair of flickers about
+the stack showing signs of wanting to
+make it a fixed habitation. One morning
+a few days later I was amused at
+the efforts of one of the pair. It was
+clinging to the perpendicular end of
+the stack and throwing out clipped
+hay at a rate to defy competition.
+This work continued for a week, and
+in that time the pair had excavated a
+cavity twenty inches in depth. They
+remained in the vicinity until autumn.
+During the winter the remainder of
+the stack was removed. They returned
+the following spring, and, after
+a brief sojourn, departed for parts unknown.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>From five to nine eggs are generally
+laid. They are glossy white in color,
+and when fresh appear as if enameled.</p>
+
+<p>The young are able to leave the
+nest in about sixteen days; they crawl
+about on the limbs of the tree for a
+couple of days before they venture to
+fly, and return to the nest at night.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img_033.jpg" width="600" height="428" alt="flicker" title="" />
+<span class="caption">flicker.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE BOBOLINK.</h2>
+
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">
+&ldquo;When Nature had made all her birds,<br />
+And had no cares to think on,<br />
+She gave a rippling laugh,<br />
+And out there flew a Bobolinkon.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 112px;">
+<img src="images/imgn.png" width="112" height="80" alt="N" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>O American ornithologist
+omits mention of the Bobolink,
+and naturalists generally
+have described
+him under one of the
+many names by which he is known.
+In some States he is called the Rice
+Bird, in others Reed Bird, the Rice or
+Reed Bunting, while his more familiar
+title, throughout the greater part of
+America, is Bobolink, or Bobolinkum.
+In Jamaica, where he gets very fat
+during his winter stay, he is called the
+Butter Bird. His title of Rice
+Troopial is earned by the depredations
+which he annually makes upon the
+rice crops, though his food &ldquo;is by no
+means restricted to that seed, but consists
+in a large degree of insects, grubs,
+and various wild grasses.&rdquo; A migratory
+bird, residing during the winter
+in the southern parts of America, he
+returns in vast multitudes northward
+in the early Spring. According to
+Wilson, their course of migration is as
+follows: &ldquo;In April, or very early in
+May, the Rice Buntings, male and
+female, arrive within the southern
+boundaries of the United States, and
+are seen around the town of Savannah,
+Georgia, sometimes in separate
+parties of males and females, but
+more generally promiscuously. They
+remain there but a short time, and
+about the middle of May make their
+appearance in the lower part of
+Pennsylvania. While here the males
+are extremely gay and full of song,
+frequenting meadows, newly plowed
+fields, sides of creeks, rivers, and
+watery places, feeding on May flies
+and caterpillars, of which they destroy
+great quantities. In their passage,
+however, through Virginia at this season,
+they do great damage to the early
+wheat and barley while in their milky
+state. About the 20th of May they
+disappear on their way to the North.
+Nearly at the same time they arrive in
+the State of New York, spread over
+the whole of the New England
+States, as far as the river St. Lawrence,
+and from Lake Ontario to the
+sea. In all of these places they remain
+during the Summer, building
+their nests and rearing their young.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Bobolink&#8217;s song is a peculiar
+one, varying greatly with the occasion.
+As he flys southward, his cry is
+a kind of clinking note; but the love
+song addressed to his mate is voluble
+and fervent. It has been said that if
+you should strike the keys of a pianoforte
+haphazard, the higher and the
+lower singly very quickly, you might
+have some idea of the Bobolink&#8217;s
+notes. In the month of June he
+gradually changes his pretty, attractive
+dress and puts on one very like
+the females, which is of a plain rusty
+brown, and is not reassumed until the
+next season of nesting. The two parent
+birds in the plate represent the
+change from the dark plumage in
+which the bird is commonly known
+in the North as the Bobolink, to the
+dress of yellowish brown by which it
+is known throughout the South as the
+Rice or Reed Bird.</p>
+
+<p>His nest, small and a plain one, too,
+is built on the ground by his industrious
+little wife. The inside is warmly
+lined with soft fibers of whatever may
+be nearest at hand. Five pretty white
+eggs, spotted all over with brown are
+laid, and as soon</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">
+&ldquo;As the little ones chip the shell<br />
+And five wide mouths are ready for food,<br />
+&lsquo;Robert of Lincoln&rsquo; bestirs him well,<br />
+Gathering seeds for this hungry brood.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p>
+<h2>BOBOLINK.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Other birds may like to travel
+alone, but when jolly Mr. Bobolink
+and his quiet little wife
+come from the South, where they
+have spent the winter, they
+come with a large party of
+friends. When South, they eat
+so much rice that the people call
+them Rice Birds. When they
+come North, they enjoy eating
+wheat, barley, oats and insects.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. and Mrs. Bobolink build
+their simple little nest of grasses
+in some field. It is hard to find
+on the ground, for it looks just
+like dry grass. Mrs. Bobolink
+wears a dull dress, so she cannot
+be seen when she is sitting on
+the precious eggs. She does
+not sing a note while caring
+for the eggs. Why do you
+think that is?</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Bob-Linkum does not
+wear a sober dress, as you can
+see by his picture. He does not
+need to be hidden. He is just
+as jolly as he looks. Shall I
+tell you how he amuses his mate
+while she is sitting? He springs
+from the dew-wet grass with a
+sound like peals of merry laughter.
+He frolics from reed to
+post, singing as if his little
+heart would burst with joy.</p>
+
+<p>Don&#8217;t you think Mr. and Mrs.
+Bobolink look happy in the
+picture? They have raised
+their family of five. Four of
+their children have gone to look
+for food; one of them&mdash;he must
+surely be the baby&mdash;would
+rather stay with his mamma and
+papa. Which one does he look
+like?</p>
+
+<p>Many birds are quiet at noon
+and in the afternoon. A flock
+of Bobolinks can be heard singing
+almost all day long. The
+song is full of high notes and
+low, soft notes and loud, all
+sung rapidly. It is as gay and
+bright as the birds themselves,
+who flit about playfully as they
+sing. You will feel like laughing
+as merrily as they sing when
+you hear it some day.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img_039.jpg" width="600" height="431" alt="bobolinks" title="" />
+<span class="caption">bobolinks.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE BLUE BIRD.</h2>
+
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">
+&ldquo;Drifting down the first warm wind<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That thrills the earliest days of spring,</span><br />
+The Bluebird seeks our maple groves<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And charms them into tasselling.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">
+&ldquo;He sings, and his is Nature&#8217;s voice&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A gush of melody sincere</span><br />
+From that great fount of harmony<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which thaws and runs when Spring is here.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">
+&ldquo;Short is his song, but strangely sweet<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To ears aweary of the low</span><br />
+Dull tramps of Winter&#8217;s sullen feet,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sandalled in ice and muffled in snow.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+
+<hr style='width: 15%;' />
+
+<p style="margin-left: 13em;">
+<span style="margin-left: -.3em;">&ldquo;Think, every morning, when the sun peeps through</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The dim, leaf-latticed windows of the grove,</span><br />
+How jubilant the happy birds renew<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their old, melodious madrigals of love!</span><br />
+And when you think of this, remember, too,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">&#8217;Tis always morning somewhere, and above</span><br />
+The awakening continents, from shore to shore,<br />
+Somewhere the birds are singing evermore.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 13em;">
+<span style="margin-left: -.3em;">&ldquo;Think of your woods and orchards without birds!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of empty nests that cling to boughs and beams</span><br />
+As in an idiot&#8217;s brain remembered words<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hang empty &#8217;mid the cobwebs of his dreams!</span><br />
+Will bleat of flocks or bellowing of herds<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Make up for the lost music, when your teams</span><br />
+Drag home the stingy harvest, and no more<br />
+The feathered gleaners follow to your door?&rdquo;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 7em;" class="smcap">From &ldquo;The Birds of Killingsworth.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE CROW.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Caw! Caw! Caw! little boys
+and girls. Caw! Caw! Caw!
+Just look at my coat of feathers.
+See how black and glossy it is.
+Do you wonder I am proud of it?</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps you think I look very
+solemn and wise, and not at all
+as if I cared to play games. I
+do, though; and one of the
+games I like best is hide-and-seek.
+I play it with the farmer
+in the spring. He hides, in the
+rich, brown earth, golden kernels
+of corn. Surely he does it because
+he knows I like it, for
+sometimes he puts up a stick all
+dressed like a man to show
+where the corn is hidden. Sometimes
+I push my bill down into
+the earth to find the corn, and at
+other times I wait until tiny
+green leaves begin to show above
+the ground, and then I get my
+breakfast without much trouble.
+I wonder if the farmer enjoys
+this game as much as I do. I
+help him, too, by eating worms
+and insects.</p>
+
+<p>During the spring and summer
+I live in my nest on the top
+of a very high tree. It is built
+of sticks and grasses and straw
+and string and anything else I
+can pick up. But in the fall, I
+and all my relations and friends
+live together in great roosts or
+rookeries. What good times
+we do have&mdash;hunting all day
+for food and talking all night.
+Wouldn&#8217;t you like to be with us?</p>
+
+<p>The farmer who lives in the
+house over there went to the mill
+to-day with a load of corn.</p>
+
+<p>One of the ears dropped out
+of the wagon and it didn&#8217;t take
+me long to find it. I have eaten
+all I can possibly hold and am
+wondering now what is the best
+thing to do. If you were in my
+place would you leave it here
+and not tell anybody and come
+back to-morrow and finish it? Or
+would you fly off and get Mrs.
+Crow and some of the children
+to come and finish it? I believe
+I&#8217;ll fly and get them. Good-bye.</p>
+
+<p>Caw! Caw! Caw!</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img_044.jpg" width="600" height="432" alt="common crow" title="" />
+<span class="caption">common crow.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE COMMON CROW.</h2>
+
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+&ldquo;The crow doth sing as merry as the lark,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: .7em;">When neither is attended.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 91px;">
+<img src="images/imgf.png" width="91" height="80" alt="F" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>EW birds have more interesting
+characteristics than the Common
+Crow, being, in many of
+his actions, very like the
+Raven, especially in his love for
+carrion. Like the Raven, he has been
+known to attack game, although his
+inferior size forces him to call to his
+assistance the aid of his fellows to cope
+with larger creatures. Rabbits and
+hares are frequently the prey of this
+bird which pounces on them as
+they steal abroad to feed. His
+food consists of reptiles, frogs, and
+lizards; he is a plunderer of other
+birds&#8217; nests. On the seashore he finds
+crabs, shrimps and inhabited shells,
+which he ingeniously cracks by flying
+with them to a great height and
+letting them fall upon a convenient
+rock.</p>
+
+<p>The crow is seen in single pairs or
+in little bands of four or five. In the
+autumn evenings, however, they
+assemble in considerable flocks before
+going to roost and make a wonderful
+chattering, as if comparing notes of
+the events of the day.</p>
+
+<p>The nest of the Crow is placed in
+some tree remote from habitations of
+other birds. Although large and
+very conspicuous at a distance, it is
+fixed upon one of the topmost branches
+quite out of reach of the hand of the
+adventurous urchin who longs to
+secure its contents. It is loosely made
+and saucer shaped. Sticks and softer
+substances are used to construct it,
+and it is lined with hair and fibrous
+roots. Very recently a thrifty and
+intelligent Crow built for itself a
+summer residence in an airy tree near
+Bombay, the material used being gold,
+silver, and steel spectacle frames,
+which the bird had stolen from an
+optician of that city. Eighty-four
+frames had been used for this purpose,
+and they were so ingeniously woven
+together that the nest was quite a
+work of art. The eggs are variable,
+or rather individual, in their markings,
+and even in their size. The Crow
+rarely uses the same nest twice,
+although he frequently repairs to the
+same locality from year to year. He
+is remarkable for his attachment to
+his mate and young, surpassing the
+Fawn and Turtle Dove in conjugal
+courtesy.</p>
+
+<p>The Somali Arabs bear a deadly
+hatred toward the Crow. The origin
+of their detestation is the superstition
+that during the flight of Mohammed
+from his enemies, he hid himself in a
+cave, where he was perceived by the
+Crow, at that time a bird of light
+plumage, who, when he saw the pursuers
+approaching the spot, perched
+above Mohammed&#8217;s hiding place, and
+screamed, &ldquo;Ghar! Ghar!&rdquo; (cave! cave!)
+so as to indicate the place of concealment.
+His enemies, however, did not
+understand the bird, and passed on,
+and Mohammed, when he came out of
+the cave, clothed the Crow in perpetual
+black, and commanded him to
+cry &ldquo;Ghar&rdquo; as long as Crows should
+live.</p>
+
+<p>And he lives to a good old age.
+Instances are not rare where he has
+attained to half a century, without
+great loss of activity or failure of sight.</p>
+
+<p>At Red Bank, a few miles northeast
+of Cincinnati, on the Little Miami
+River, in the bottoms, large flocks of
+Crows congregate the year around. A
+few miles away, high upon Walnut
+Hills, is a Crow roost, and in the
+late afternoons the Crows, singly, in
+pairs, and in flocks, are seen on the
+wing, flying heavily, with full crops,
+on the way to the roost, from which
+they descend in the early morning,
+crying &ldquo;Caw! Caw!&rdquo; to the fields of
+the newly planted, growing, or
+matured corn, or corn stacks, as the
+season may provide.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&ldquo;Everywhere the blue sky belongs to them and is their appointed rest,
+and their native country, and their own natural home which they enter
+unannounced as lords that are certainly expected, and yet there is a
+silent joy at their arrival.&rdquo;</p></div>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 86px;">
+<img src="images/imgt.png" width="86" height="80" alt="T" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>HE return of the birds to their
+real home in the North, where
+they build their nests and
+rear their young, is regarded
+by all genuine lovers of earth&#8217;s messengers
+of gladness and gayety as one
+of the most interesting and poetical of
+annual occurrences. The naturalist,
+who notes the very day of each arrival,
+in order that he may verify former
+observation or add to his material
+gathered for a new work, does not
+necessarily anticipate with greater
+pleasure this event than do many
+whose lives are brightened by the
+coming of the friends of their youth,
+who alone of early companions do not
+change. First of all&mdash;and ever the
+same delightful warbler&mdash;the Bluebird,
+who, in 1895, did not appear at
+all in many localities, though here in
+considerable numbers last year, betrays
+himself. &ldquo;Did he come down out
+of the heaven on that bright March
+morning when he told us so softly and
+plaintively that, if we pleased, spring
+had come?&rdquo; Sometimes he is here
+a little earlier, and must keep his
+courage up until the cold snap is over
+and the snow is gone. Not long after
+the Bluebird, comes the Robin, sometimes
+in March, but in most of the
+northern states April is the month of
+his arrival. With his first utterance
+the spell of winter is broken, and the
+remembrance of it afar off. Then
+appears the Woodpecker in great
+variety, the Flicker usually arriving
+first. He is always somebody&#8217;s old
+favorite, &ldquo;announcing his arrival by a
+long, loud call, repeated from the dry
+branch of some tree, or a stake in the
+fence&mdash;a thoroughly melodious April
+sound.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Few perhaps reflect upon the difficulties
+encountered by the birds themselves
+in their returning migrations.
+A voyager sometimes meets with
+many of our common birds far out at
+sea. Such wanderers, it is said, when
+suddenly overtaken by a fog, completely
+lose their sense of direction
+and become hopelessly lost. Humming
+birds, those delicately organized,
+glittering gems, are among the most
+common of the land species seen at sea.</p>
+
+<p>The present season has been quite
+favorable to the protection of birds.
+A very competent observer says that
+not all of the birds migrated this
+winter. He recently visited a farm
+less than an hour&#8217;s ride from Chicago,
+where he found the old place, as he
+relates it, &ldquo;chucked full of Robins,
+Blackbirds, and Woodpeckers,&rdquo; and
+others unknown to him. From this
+he inferred they would have been in
+Florida had indications predicted a
+severe winter. The trees of the south
+parks of Chicago, and those in
+suburban places, have had, darting
+through their branches during the
+months of December and January,
+nearly as many members of the Woodpecker
+tribe as were found there
+during the mating season in May last.</p>
+
+<p>Alas, that the Robin will visit us in
+diminished numbers in the approaching
+spring. He has not been so common
+for a year or two as he was
+formerly, for the reason that the
+Robins died by thousands of starvation,
+owing to the freezing of their food
+supply in Tennessee during the protracted
+cold weather in the winter of
+1895. It is indeed sad that this good
+Samaritan among birds should be
+defenseless against the severity of
+Nature, the common mother of us all.
+Nevertheless the return of the birds,
+in myriads or in single pairs, will
+be welcomed more and more, year by
+year, as intelligent love and appreciation
+of them shall possess the popular
+mind.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img_052.jpg" width="600" height="444" alt="black tern" title="" />
+<span class="caption">black tern.</span><br />
+<strong>Mother and Young with Eggs.</strong>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE BLACK TERN.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 86px;">
+<img src="images/imgt.png" width="86" height="80" alt="T" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>HE TERN,&rdquo; says Mr. F. M.
+Woodruff, of the Chicago
+Academy of Sciences, &ldquo;is
+the only representative of
+the long-winged swimmers which
+commonly nests with us on our
+inland fresh water marshes, arriving
+early in May in its brooding plumage
+of sooty black. The color changes
+in the autumn to white, and a number
+of the adult birds may be found, in
+the latter part of July, dotted and
+streaked here and there with white.
+On the first of June, 1891, I found a
+large colony of Black Terns nesting
+on Hyde Lake, Cook County, Illinois.
+As I approached the marsh a few
+birds were seen flying high in the air,
+and, as I neared the nesting site, the
+flying birds gave notes of alarm, and
+presently the air was filled with the
+graceful forms of this beautiful little
+bird. They circled about me, darting
+down to within a few feet of my head,
+constantly uttering a harsh, screaming
+cry. As the eggs are laid upon the
+bare ground, which the brownish and
+blackish markings so closely resemble,
+I was at first unable to find the nests,
+and discovered that the only way to
+locate them was to stand quietly and
+watch the birds. When the Tern is
+passing over the nest it checks its
+flight, and poises for a moment on
+quivering wings. By keeping my
+eyes on this spot I found the nest
+with very little trouble. The complement
+of eggs, when the bird has not
+been disturbed, is usually three.
+These are laid in a saucer shaped
+structure of dead vegetation, which is
+scraped together, from the surface of
+the wet, boggy ground. The bird
+figured in the plate had placed its
+nest on the edge of an old muskrat
+house, and my attention was attracted
+to it by the fact that upon the edge of
+the rat house, where it had climbed to
+rest itself, was the body of a young
+dabchick, or piedbilled grebe, scarcely
+two and one-half inches long, and not
+twenty-four hours out of the egg, a
+beautiful little ball of blackish down,
+striped with brown and white. From
+the latter part of July to the middle of
+August large flocks of Black Terns
+may be seen on the shores of our
+larger lakes on their annual migration
+southward.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Rev. P. B. Peabody, in alluding to
+his observation of the nests of the
+Tern, says: &ldquo;Amid this floating sea
+of aquatic nests I saw an unusual
+number of well constructed homes of
+the Tern. Among these was one that
+I count a perfect nest. It rested on
+the perfectly flat foundation of a small
+decayed rat house, which was about
+fourteen inches in diameter. The nest,
+in form, is a truncated cone (barring the
+cavity), was about eight inches high
+and ten inches in diameter. The
+hollow&mdash;quite shallow&mdash;was about
+seven inches across, being thus unusually
+large. The whole was built
+up of bits of rushes, carried to the spot,
+these being quite uniform in length&mdash;about
+four inches.&rdquo; After daily
+observation of the Tern, during which
+time he added much to his knowledge
+of the bird, he pertinently asks: &ldquo;Who
+shall say how many traits and habits
+yet unknown may be discovered
+through patient watching of community-breeding
+birds, by men enjoying
+more of leisure for such delightful
+studies than often falls to the lot of
+most of us who have bread and butter
+to earn and a tiny part of the world&#8217;s
+work to finish?&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE MEADOW LARK.</h2>
+
+
+<p style="margin-left: 13em;">
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">&ldquo;Not an inch of his body is free from delight.</span><br />
+Can he keep himself still if he would? Oh, not he!<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The music stirs in him like wind through a tree.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 86px;">
+<img src="images/imgt.png" width="86" height="80" alt="T" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>HE well known Meadow or
+Old Field Lark is a constant
+resident south of latitude
+39, and many winter
+farther north in favorite localities.
+Its geographical range is eastern
+North America, Canada to south Nova
+Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario to eastern
+Manitoba; west to Minnesota, Iowa,
+Missouri, eastern Kansas, the Indian
+Territory, and Texas; south to Florida
+and the Gulf coast, in all of which
+localities, except in the extreme north,
+it usually rears two or three broods in
+a season. In the Northern States it
+is only a summer resident, arriving in
+April and remaining until the latter
+part of October and occasionally
+November. Excepting during the
+breeding season, small flocks may
+often be seen roving about in search
+of good feeding grounds. Major Bendire
+says this is especially true in the
+fall of the year. At this time several
+families unite, and as many as two
+dozen may occasionally be flushed in
+a field, over which they scatter, roaming
+about independently of each other.
+When one takes wing all the others
+in the vicinity follow. It is a shy
+bird in the East, while in the middle
+states it is quite the reverse. Its flight
+is rather laborious, at least in starting,
+and is continued by a series of rapid
+movements of the wings, alternating
+with short distances of sailing, and is
+rarely protracted. On alighting, which
+is accompanied with a twitching of its
+tail, it usually settles on some fence
+rail, post, boulder, weedstock, or on
+a hillock in a meadow from which it
+can get a good view of the surroundings,
+and but rarely on a limb of a
+tree. Its favorite resorts are meadows,
+fallow fields, pastures, and clearings,
+but in some sections, as in northern
+Florida, for instance, it also frequents the
+low, open pine woods and nests there.</p>
+
+<p>The song of the Meadow Lark is
+not much varied, but its clear, whistling
+notes, so frequently heard in the
+early spring, are melodious and pleasing
+to the ear. It is decidedly the
+farmers&#8217; friend, feeding, as it does, on
+noxious insects, caterpillars, moths,
+grasshoppers, spiders, worms and the
+like, and eating but little grain. The
+lark spends the greater part of its
+time on the ground, procuring all its
+food there. It is seldom found alone,
+and it is said remains paired for life.</p>
+
+<p>Nesting begins in the early part of
+May and lasts through June. Both
+sexes assist in building the nest, which
+is always placed on the ground, either
+in a natural depression, or in a little
+hollow scratched out by the birds,
+alongside a bunch of grass or weeds.
+The nest itself is lined with dry grass,
+stubble, and sometimes pine needles.
+Most nests are placed in level meadows.
+The eggs and young are frequently
+destroyed by vermin, for the meadow
+lark has many enemies. The eggs
+vary from three to seven, five being
+the most common, and both sexes assist
+in the hatching, which requires
+about fifteen or sixteen days. The
+young leave the nest before they are
+able to fly&mdash;hiding at the slightest
+sign of danger. The Meadow Lark
+does not migrate beyond the United
+States. It is a native bird, and is only
+accidental in England. The eggs
+are spotted, blotched, and speckled
+with shades of brown, purple and
+lavender. A curious incident is told
+of a Meadow Lark trying to alight on
+the top mast of a schooner several
+miles at sea. It was evidently very tired
+but would not venture near the deck.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img_057.jpg" width="600" height="436" alt="meadow lark" title="" />
+<span class="caption">meadow lark.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE MEADOW LARK.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I told the man who wanted
+my picture that he could take it
+if he would show my nest and
+eggs. Do you blame me for
+saying so? Don&#8217;t you think it
+makes a better picture than if I
+stood alone?</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lark is away getting me
+some breakfast, or he could be
+in the picture, too. After a few
+days I shall have some little
+baby birds, and then won&#8217;t we
+be happy.</p>
+
+<p>Boys and girls who live in the
+country know us pretty well.
+When they drive the cows out
+to pasture, or when they go out
+to gather wild flowers, we sit on
+the fences by the roadside and
+make them glad with our merry
+song.</p>
+
+<p>Those of you who live in the
+city cannot see us unless you
+come out into the country.</p>
+
+<p>It isn&#8217;t very often that we can
+find such a pretty place for a
+nest as we have here. Most of
+the time we build our nest under
+the grass and cover it over, and
+build a little tunnel leading to
+it. This year we made up our
+minds not to be afraid.</p>
+
+<p>The people living in the houses
+over there do not bother us at all
+and we are so happy.</p>
+
+<p>You never saw baby larks,
+did you? Well, they are queer
+little fellows, with hardly any
+feathers on them.</p>
+
+<p>Last summer we had five little
+birdies to feed, and it kept us
+busy from morning till night.
+This year we only expect three,
+and Mr. Lark says he will do all
+the work. He knows a field
+that is being plowed, where he
+can get nice, large worms.</p>
+
+<p>Hark! that is he singing.
+He will be surprised when he
+comes back and finds me off the
+nest. He is so afraid that I will
+let the eggs get cold, but I
+won&#8217;t. There he comes, now.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE LONG-EARED OWL.</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 86px;">
+<img src="images/imgt.png" width="86" height="80" alt="T" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>HE name of the Long-Eared
+Owl is derived from the great
+length of his &ldquo;ears&rdquo; or feather-tufts,
+which are placed upon
+the head, and erect themselves whenever
+the bird is interested or excited.
+It is the &ldquo;black sheep&rdquo; of the owl
+family, the majority of owls being
+genuine friends of the agriculturist,
+catching for his larder so many of
+the small animals that prey upon
+his crops. In America he is called
+the Great Horned Owl&mdash;in Europe
+the Golden Owl.</p>
+
+<p>Nesting time with the owl begins
+in February, and continues through
+March and April. The clown-like
+antics of both sexes of this bird while
+under the tender influence of the
+nesting season tend somewhat to impair
+their reputation for dignity and
+wise demeanor. They usually have a
+simple nest in a hollow tree, but
+which seems seldom to be built by the
+bird itself, as it prefers to take the
+deserted nest of some other bird, and
+to fit up the premises for its own use.
+They repair slightly from year to year
+the same nest. The eggs are white,
+and generally four or five in number.
+While the young are still in the nest,
+the parent birds display a singular
+diligence in collecting food for them.</p>
+
+<p>If you should happen to know of an
+owl&#8217;s nest, stand near it some evening
+when the old birds are rearing their
+young. Keep quiet and motionless,
+and notice how frequently the old
+birds feed them. Every ten minutes
+or so the soft flap, flap of their wings
+will be heard, the male and female
+alternately, and you will obtain a brief
+glimpse of them through the gloom as
+they enter the nesting place. They
+remain inside but a short time, sharing
+the food equally amongst their brood,
+and then are off again to hunt for
+more. All night, were you to have
+the inclination to observe them, you
+would find they pass to and fro with
+food, only ceasing their labors at dawn.
+The young, as soon as they reach
+maturity, are abandoned by their
+parents; they quit the nest and seek
+out haunts elsewhere, while the old
+birds rear another, and not infrequently
+two more broods, during the remainder
+of the season.</p>
+
+<p>The habits of the Long-Eared Owl
+are nocturnal. He is seldom seen
+in the light of day, and is greatly disturbed
+if he chance to issue from
+his concealment while the sun is
+above the horizon. The facial disk is
+very conspicuous in this species. It is
+said that the use of this circle is to
+collect the rays of light, and throw
+them upon the eye. The flight of the
+owl is softened by means of especially
+shaped, recurved feather-tips, so that
+he may noiselessly steal upon his
+prey, and the ear is also so shaped as
+to gather sounds from below.</p>
+
+<p>The Long-Eared Owl is hardly
+tameable. The writer of this paragraph,
+when a boy, was the possessor,
+for more than a year, of a very fine
+specimen. We called him Judge. He
+was a monster, and of perfect plumage.
+Although he seemed to have some
+attachment to the children of the
+family who fed him, he would not
+permit himself to be handled by them
+or by any one in the slightest. Most
+of his time he spent in his cage, an
+immense affair, in which he was very
+comfortable. Occasionally he had
+a day in the barn with the rats and
+mice.</p>
+
+<p>The owl is of great usefulness to
+gardener, agriculturist, and landowner
+alike, for there is not another bird of
+prey which is so great a destroyer of
+the enemies of vegetation.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 422px;">
+<img src="images/img_064.jpg" width="422" height="600" alt="great horned owl" title="" />
+<span class="caption">great horned owl.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE OWL.</h2>
+
+
+<p class="center">
+We know not alway<br />
+Who are kings by day,<br />
+But the king of the night is the bold brown owl!</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+<p>I wonder why the folks put
+my picture last in the book. It
+can&#8217;t be because they don&#8217;t like
+me, for I&#8217;m sure I never bother
+them. I don&#8217;t eat the farmer&#8217;s
+corn like the crow, and no one
+ever saw me quarrel with other
+birds.</p>
+
+<p>Maybe it is because I can&#8217;t
+sing. Well, there are lots of
+good people that can&#8217;t sing, and
+so there are lots of good birds
+that can&#8217;t sing.</p>
+
+<p>Did you ever see any other
+bird sit up as straight as I do?
+I couldn&#8217;t sit up so straight if I
+hadn&#8217;t such long, sharp claws to
+hold on with.</p>
+
+<p>My home is in the woods.
+Here we owls build our nests&mdash;most
+always in hollow trees.</p>
+
+<p>During the day I stay in the
+nest or sit on a limb. I don&#8217;t
+like day time for the light hurts
+my eyes, but when it begins to
+grow dark then I like to stir
+around. All night long I am
+wide awake and fly about getting
+food for my little hungry ones.
+They sleep most of the day
+and it keeps me busy nearly
+all night to find them enough to
+eat.</p>
+
+<p>I just finished my night&#8217;s work
+when the man came to take my
+picture. It was getting light
+and I told him to go to a large
+stump on the edge of the woods
+and I would sit for my picture.
+So here I am. Don&#8217;t you think
+I look wise? How do you like
+my large eyes? If I could smile
+at you I would, but my face
+always looks sober. I have a
+great many cousins and if you
+really like my picture, I&#8217;ll have
+some of them talk to you next
+month. I don&#8217;t think any of
+them have such pretty feathers
+though. Just see if they have
+when they come.</p>
+
+<p>Well, I must fly back to my
+perch in the old elm tree. Good-bye.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>THE OWL.</h2>
+
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+In the hollow tree, in the old gray tower,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The spectral owl doth dwell;</span><br />
+Dull, hated, despised in the sunshine hour,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But at dusk he&#8217;s abroad and well!</span><br />
+Not a bird of the forest e&#8217;er mates with him;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All mock him outright by day;</span><br />
+But at night, when the woods grow still and dim,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The boldest will shrink away!</span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">O! when the night falls, and roosts the fowl,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Then, then, is the reign of the Horned Owl!</span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+And the owl hath a bride, who is fond and bold,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And loveth the wood&#8217;s deep gloom;</span><br />
+And, with eyes like the shine of the moonstone cold,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She awaiteth her ghastly groom.</span><br />
+Not a feather she moves, not a carol she sings,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As she waits in her tree so still,</span><br />
+But when her heart heareth his flapping wings,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She hoots out her welcome shrill!</span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 17em;">
+O! when the moon shines, and dogs do howl,<br />
+Then, then, is the joy of the Horned Owl!</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+Mourn not for the owl, nor his gloomy plight!<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The owl hath his share of good&mdash;</span><br />
+If a prisoner he be in the broad daylight,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He is lord in the dark greenwood!</span><br />
+Nor lonely the bird, nor his ghastly mate,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They are each unto each a pride;</span><br />
+Thrice fonder, perhaps, since a strange, dark fate<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hath rent them from all beside!</span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">So, when the night falls, and dogs do howl,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Sing, Ho! for the reign of the Horned Owl!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">We know not alway</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Who are kings by day,</span><br />
+But the King of the Night is the bold Brown Owl!</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 25em;">
+<span class="smcap">Bryan W. Procter</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">(Barry Cornwall.)</span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 413px;">
+<img src="images/img44.jpg" width="413" height="600" alt="advertisement" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>TESTIMONIALS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;" class="smcap">Frankfort, Ky.</span>, February 3, 1897.<br />
+<span class="smcap">W. J. Black</span>, Vice-President,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 9em;">Chicago, Ill.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Dear Sir: I have a copy of your magazine entitled &ldquo;Birds,&rdquo; and beg to
+say that I consider it one of the finest things on the subject that I
+have ever seen, and shall be pleased to recommend it to county and city
+superintendents of the state.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;">Very respectfully,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 27em;" class="smcap">W. J. Davidson</span>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 22em;">State Superintendent Public Instruction.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;" class="smcap">San Francisco, Cal.</span>, January 27, 1897.<br />
+<span class="smcap">W. J. Black, Esq.</span>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Chicago, Ill.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Dear Sir: I am very much obliged for the copy of &ldquo;Birds&rdquo; that has just
+come to hand. It should be in the hands of every primary and grammar
+teacher. I send herewith copy of &ldquo;List of San Francisco Teachers.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;">Very respectfully,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 30em;" class="smcap">M. Babcock</span>.<br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;" class="smcap">Lincoln, Neb.</span>, February 9, 1897.<br />
+<span class="smcap">W. J. Black</span>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Chicago, Ill.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Dear Sir: The first number of your magazine, &ldquo;Birds,&rdquo; is upon my desk.
+I am highly pleased with it. It will prove a very serviceable
+publication&mdash;one that strikes out along the right lines. For the purpose
+intended, it has, in my opinion, no equal. It is clear, concise, and
+admirably illustrated.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;">Very respectfully,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 27em;" class="smcap">W. R. Jackson</span>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 22em;">State Superintendent Public Instruction.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;" class="smcap">North Lima, Ohio</span>, February 1, 1897.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Mr. W. E. Watt</span>,<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Dear Sir: Sample copy of &ldquo;Birds&rdquo; received. All of the family delighted
+with it. We wish it unbounded success. It will be an excellent supplement
+to &ldquo;In Birdland&rdquo; in the Ohio Teachers&#8217; Reading Circle, and I venture Ohio
+will be to the front with a good subscription list. I enclose list of
+teachers.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 24em;">Very truly,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 26em;" class="smcap">C. M. L. Altdoerffer</span>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 29em;">Township Superintendent.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;" class="smcap">Milwaukee</span>, January 30, 1897.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Nature Study Publishing Company</span>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">227 Dearborn Street, Chicago.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Gentlemen: I acknowledge with pleasure the receipt of your publication,
+&ldquo;Birds,&rdquo; with accompanying circulars. I consider it the best on the subject
+in existence. I have submitted the circulars and publication to my teachers,
+who have nothing to say but praise in behalf of the monthly.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;" class="smcap">Julius Torney</span>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 19em;">Principal 2nd Dist. Primary School, Milwaukee, Wis.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 392px;">
+<img src="images/img46.png" width="392" height="600" alt="advertisement" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+</div>
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 30103 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,1810 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds Illustrated by Color Photograph
+[March 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 Photograph [March 1897]
+       A Monthly Serial designed to Promote Knowledge of Bird-Life
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: September 26, 2009 [EBook #30103]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS ILLUSTRATED [MARCH 1897] ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper and Anne Storer,
+some images courtesy of The Internet Archive and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note: Title added.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+              BIRDS ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY
+
+              Vol. One       MARCH, 1897       No. 3
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+    FROM: THE PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.
+
+                       _STATE OF NEW YORK_
+               _Department of Public Instruction_
+                    _SUPERINTENDENT'S OFFICE_
+
+                                _Albany_ December 26, 1896.
+
+  [Illustration: (seal)]
+  _Stenographic Letter_
+  Dictated by __________
+
+
+  W. E. Watt, President &c.,
+                   Fisher Building,
+                       277 Dearborn St., Chicago, Ill.
+
+  My dear Sir:
+
+  Please accept my thanks for a copy of the first publication of "Birds."
+  Please enter my name as a regular subscriber. It is one of the most
+  beautiful and interesting publications yet attempted in this direction.
+  It has other attractions in addition to its beauty, and it must win its
+  way to popular favor.
+
+  Wishing the handsome little magazine abundant prosperity,
+  I remain
+
+                   Yours very respectfully,
+                   [signature]
+                                State Superintendent.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+ _"The KING can do no wrong"_
+
+ [Illustration]
+                      MONARCH
+                       BICYCLES
+                       ARE
+                       FAULTLESS
+
+                      MONARCH
+                   CYCLE MF'G CO.
+                 CHICAGO, NEW YORK,
+                      LONDON.
+
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to advertisers.
+
+
+
+
+                 +----------------------------+
+                 |  #A. REED & SONS PIANOS.#  |
+                 +----------------------------+
+
+ Manufactured under patents granted by the governments of the
+      United States, England, Germany, France and Canada.
+
+                     #A New and Scientific
+                      Method of Piano
+                      Construction#
+
+          FREE SOUNDING BOARD, VIBRATION BAR, STRINGS
+           RESTING ON ALUMINUM WHEELS, ANTI-MOISTURE
+                      PIN BLOCK, LATERAL
+                            PEDALS
+
+              #Grand Diploma and Medal of Honor#
+         Awarded at Columbian World's Exposition, 1893
+
+  Only American Piano receiving mention in the Official Report
+                   to the German Government
+
+                       #A. REED & SONS#
+                No. 5 Adams Street ... CHICAGO
+
+  Illustrated Catalogues ...
+  containing full explanation Mailed Free.
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to advertisers.
+
+
+
+
+   #Every Teacher#
+
+       finds daily in her work
+       some new and perplexing
+       problem to solve.
+
+   With
+
+   The Teacher's
+        Practical Library
+
+     at hand for consultation the
+     answer may always be found.
+
+ It will cost you nothing
+
+     to have this library placed
+     upon your table for inspection.
+
+     Send postal-card for particulars,
+     mentioning this paper.
+
+                       #AGENTS WANTED#
+
+ #D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers#
+      NEW YORK--CHICAGO.
+ CHICAGO OFFICE--243 Wabash Ave.
+
+
+
+
+            #PREPARE FOR A GOOD POSITION#
+
+ #By studying Architecture, Engineering, Electricity, Drafting,
+ Mathematics, Shorthand, Typewriting, English, Penmanship, Bookkeeping,
+ Business, Telegraphy, Plumbing.# Best teachers. Thorough individual
+ instruction. Rates lower than any other school. Instruction also by mail
+ in any desired study. Steam engineering a specialty. Call or address,
+                          INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,
+                                 151 Throop St., Chicago.
+
+
+
+
+             What would #George Washington#
+                        think of
+                       Mark Hanna?
+
+                     [Illustration]
+
+               If you want to know, read
+                  #"SPIRITS OF '76,"#
+
+               By FREDERICK UPHAM ADAMS,
+                   in last number of
+
+                    #New Occasions#
+
+       A magazine of Reform; 96 pages; $1.00
+       a year; 10 cents a copy. No free samples,
+       but to any one sending us 6 2-cent
+       stamps we will mail a sample copy with
+       several reform books; over 300 pages
+       in all. Agents wanted.
+
+        Charles H. Kerr & Company, Publishers,
+               56 Fifth Ave., Chicago.
+
+
+
+
+ Buy Only the Best Presents for Children.
+      THE FINEST BLACKBOARD MADE.
+
+ IMPROVED
+           [Illustration]
+
+ Indispensable as an element for the general
+ education of the children. This is not a toy,
+ but an Educator for the home. Contains Sixteen
+ Lessons on heavy cardboard, Writing, Drawing,
+ Marking-letters, Music, Animal Forms, etc.
+ Frame made of oak, 4 feet high and 2 feet wide.
+ The Board is reversible and can be used on both
+ sides. Has a desk attachment for writing. Weighs
+ 10 pounds, packed for shipment.
+
+ #Price $3.50#                   Agents Wanted.
+                            Send for Agents Prices.
+
+ THE VAN-BENSON COMPANY,
+       84 Adams Street, CHICAGO, U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+               The "OLD Reliable" House of
+                       #"ANDREWS"#
+                        FURNISHES
+                   Everything
+                           for Schools
+
+      Rugby School Desks, Teachers' Desks and Chairs,
+      Blackboards, Erasers, Dustless Crayons, Globes,
+      Maps, Charts, Apparatus, etc., etc.
+
+      #The Jones Model of the Earth# shows the
+      reliefs of the land surface and ocean bed, 20
+      inches diameter. Used by the Royal Geographical
+      Society, Cornell University. Normal, and other
+      schools of various forms and grades.
+
+      #The Deep Sea Globe.# This new 12 in. globe
+      shows all that is seen on the common globe, but
+      in addition the varying depths of the ocean bed,
+      by color shading, also 500 soundings by figures.
+
+                 #The A. H. Andrews Co.#
+                        CHICAGO.
+
+        (Next Auditorium)         300 WABASH AVE.
+
+          Also Manufactures Office, Church and
+                    Bank Furniture.
+
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to Advertisers.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+LITTLE BOY BLUE.
+
+
+Boys and girls, don't you think that is a pretty name? I came from the
+warm south, where I went last winter, to tell you that Springtime is
+nearly here.
+
+When I sing, the buds and flowers and grass all begin to whisper to one
+another, "Springtime is coming for we heard the Bluebird say so," and
+then they peep out to see the warm sunshine. I perch beside them and
+tell them of my long journey from the south and how I knew just when
+to tell them to come out of their warm winter cradles. I am of the same
+blue color as the violet that shows her pretty face when I sing, "Summer
+is coming, and Springtime is here."
+
+I do not like the cities for they are black and noisy and full of those
+troublesome birds called English Sparrows. I take my pretty mate and
+out in the beautiful country we find a home. We build a nest of twigs,
+grass and hair, in a box that the farmer puts up for us near his barn.
+
+Sometimes we build in a hole in some old tree and soon there are tiny
+eggs in the nest. I sing to my mate and to the good people who own
+the barn. I heard the farmer say one day, "Isn't it nice to hear the
+Bluebird sing? He must be very happy." And I am, too, for by this time
+there are four or five little ones in the nest.
+
+Little Bluebirds are like little boys--they are always hungry. We work
+hard to find enough for them to eat. We feed them nice fat worms and
+bugs, and when their little wings are strong enough, we teach them how
+to fly. Soon they are large enough to hunt their own food, and can take
+care of themselves.
+
+The summer passes, and when we feel the breath of winter we go south
+again, for we do not like the cold.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+THE BLUE BIRD.
+
+    I know the song that the Bluebird is singing
+    Out in the apple tree, where he is swinging.
+    Brave little fellow! the skies may be dreary,
+    Nothing cares he while his heart is so cheery.
+    Hark! how the music leaps out from his throat,
+    Hark! was there ever so merry a note?
+
+              Listen a while, and you'll hear what he's saying,
+              Up in the apple tree swinging and swaying.
+              "Dear little blossoms down under the snow,
+              You must be weary of winter, I know;
+              Hark! while I sing you a message of cheer,
+              Summer is coming, and springtime is here!"
+
+    "Dear little snow-drop! I pray you arise;
+    Bright yellow crocus! come open your eyes;
+    Sweet little violets, hid from the cold,
+    Put on our mantles of purple and gold;
+    Daffodils! daffodils! say, do you hear,
+    Summer is coming! and springtime is here!"
+
+[Illustration: BLUE BIRD.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BLUE BIRD.
+
+
+    Winged lute that we call a blue bird,
+        You blend in a silver strain
+    The sound of the laughing waters,
+        The patter of spring's sweet rain,
+    The voice of the wind, the sunshine,
+        And fragrance of blossoming things,
+    Ah! you are a poem of April
+        That God endowed with wings.      E. E. R.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+Like a bit of sky this little harbinger of spring appears, as we see
+him and his mate househunting in early March. Oftentimes he makes his
+appearance as early as the middle of February, when his attractive note
+is heard long before he himself is seen. He is one of the last to leave
+us, and although the month of November is usually chosen by him as the
+fitting time for departure to a milder clime, his plaintive note is
+quite commonly heard on pleasant days throughout the winter season,
+and a few of the braver and hardier ones never entirely desert us. The
+Robin and the Blue Bird are tenderly associated in the memories of most
+persons whose childhood was passed on a farm or in the country village.
+Before the advent of the English Sparrow, the Blue Bird was sure to
+be the first to occupy and the last to defend the little box prepared
+for his return, appearing in his blue jacket somewhat in advance of
+the plainly habited female, who on her arrival quite often found a
+habitation selected and ready for her acceptance, should he find favor
+in her sight. And then he becomes a most devoted husband and father,
+sitting by the nest and warbling with earnest affection his exquisite
+tune, and occasionally flying away in search of food for his mate and
+nestlings.
+
+The Blue Bird rears two broods in the season, and, should the weather
+be mild, even three. His nest contains three eggs.
+
+In the spring and summer when he is happy and gay, his song is
+extremely soft and agreeable, while it grows very mournful and
+plaintive as cold weather approaches. He is mild of temper, and a
+peaceable and harmless neighbor, setting a fine example of amiability
+to his feathered friends. In the early spring, however, he wages war
+against robins, wrens, swallows, and other birds whose habitations are
+of a kind to take his fancy. A celebrated naturalist says: "This bird
+seems incapable of uttering a harsh note, or of doing a spiteful,
+ill-tempered thing."
+
+Nearly everybody has his anecdote to tell of the Blue Bird's courage,
+but the author of "Wake Robin" tells his exquisitely thus: "A few years
+ago I put up a little bird house in the back end of my garden for the
+accommodation of the wrens, and every season a pair have taken up their
+abode there. One spring a pair of Blue Birds looked into the tenement,
+and lingered about several days, leading me to hope that they would
+conclude to occupy it. But they finally went away. Late in the season
+the wrens appeared, and after a little coquetting, were regularly
+installed in their old quarters, and were as happy as only wrens can
+be. But before their honeymoon was over, the Blue Birds returned. I
+knew something was wrong before I was up in the morning. Instead of that
+voluble and gushing song outside the window, I heard the wrens scolding
+and crying out at a fearful rate, and on going out saw the Blue Birds in
+possession of the box. The poor wrens were in despair and were forced to
+look for other quarters."
+
+
+
+
+THE SWALLOW.
+
+
+    "Come, summer visitant, attach
+      To my reedroof thy nest of clay,
+    And let my ear thy music catch,
+    Low twitting underneath the thatch,
+      At the gray dawn of day."
+
+Sure harbingers of spring are the Swallows. They are very common birds,
+and frequent, as a rule, the cultivated lands in the neighborhood of
+water, showing a decided preference for the habitations of man. "How
+gracefully the swallows fly! See them coursing over the daisy-bespangled
+grass fields; now they skim just over the blades of grass, and then with
+a rapid stroke of their long wings mount into the air and come hovering
+above your head, displaying their rich white and chestnut plumage to
+perfection. Now they chase each other for very joyfulness, uttering
+their sharp twittering notes; then they hover with expanded wings
+like miniature Kestrels, or dart downwards with the velocity of
+the sparrowhawk; anon they flit rapidly over the neighboring pool,
+occasionally dipping themselves in its calm and placid waters, and
+leaving a long train of rings marking their varied course. How easily
+they turn, or glide over the surrounding hedges, never resting, never
+weary, and defying the eye to trace them in the infinite turnings and
+twistings of their rapid shooting flight. You frequently see them glide
+rapidly near the ground, and then with a sidelong motion mount aloft, to
+dart downwards like an animated meteor, their plumage glowing in the
+light with metallic splendor, and the row of white spots on the tail
+contrasting beautifully with the darker plumage."
+
+The Swallow is considered a life-paired species, and returns to its
+nesting site of the previous season, building a new nest close to the
+old one. His nest is found in barns and outhouses, upon the beams of
+wood which support the roof, or in any place which assures protection to
+the young birds. It is cup-shaped and artfully moulded of bits of mud.
+Grass and feathers are used for the lining. "The nest completed, five or
+six eggs are deposited. They are of a pure white color, with deep rich
+brown blotches and spots, notably at the larger end, round which they
+often form a zone or belt." The sitting bird is fed by her mate.
+
+The young Swallow is distinguished from the mature birds by the absence
+of the elongated tail feathers, which are a mark of maturity alone. His
+food is composed entirely of insects. Swallows are on the wing fully
+sixteen hours, and the greater part of the time making terrible havoc
+amongst the millions of insects which infest the air. It is said that
+when the Swallow is seen flying high in the heavens, it is a never
+failing indication of fine weather.
+
+A pair of Swallows on arriving at their nesting place of the preceding
+Summer found their nest occupied by a Sparrow, who kept the poor birds
+at a distance by pecking at them with his strong beak whenever they
+attempted to dislodge him. Wearied and hopeless of regaining possession
+of their property, they at last hit upon a plan which effectually
+punished the intruder. One morning they appeared with a few more
+Swallows--their mouths filled with a supply of tempered clay--and, by
+their joint efforts in a short time actually plastered up the entrance
+to the hole, thus barring the Sparrow from the home which he had stolen
+from the Swallows.
+
+[Illustration: BARN SWALLOW.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BROWN THRUSH.
+
+
+    "However the world goes ill,
+      The Thrushes still sing in it."
+
+The Mocking-bird of the North, as the Brown Thrush has been called,
+arrives in the Eastern and Middle States about the 10th of May, at which
+season he may be seen, perched on the highest twig of a hedge, or on the
+topmost branch of a tree, singing his loud and welcome song, that may be
+heard a distance of half a mile. The favorite haunt of the Brown Thrush,
+however, is amongst the bright and glossy foliage of the evergreens.
+"There they delight to hide, although not so shy and retiring as the
+Blackbird; there they build their nests in greatest numbers, amongst the
+perennial foliage, and there they draw at nightfall to repose in warmth
+and safety." The Brown Thrasher sings chiefly just after sunrise and
+before sunset, but may be heard singing at intervals during the day. His
+food consists of wild fruits, such as blackberries and raspberries,
+snails, worms, slugs and grubs. He also obtains much of his food
+amongst the withered leaves and marshy places of the woods and
+shrubberies which he frequents. Few birds possess a more varied melody.
+His notes are almost endless in variety, each note seemingly uttered at
+the caprice of the bird, without any perceptible approach to order.
+
+The site of the Thrush's nest is a varied one, in the hedgerows, under a
+fallen tree or fence-rail; far up in the branches of stately trees, or
+amongst the ivy growing up their trunks. The nest is composed of the
+small dead twigs of trees, lined with the fine fibers of roots. From
+three to five eggs are deposited, and are hatched in about twelve days.
+They have a greenish background, thickly spotted with light brown,
+giving the whole egg a brownish appearance.
+
+The Brown Thrush leaves the Eastern and Middle States, on his migration
+South, late in September, remaining until the following May.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+THE THRUSH'S NEST.
+
+    "Within a thick and spreading hawthorn bush
+      That overhung a molehill, large and round,
+    I heard from morn to morn a merry thrush
+      Sing hymns of rapture while I drank the sound
+    With joy--and oft an unintruding guest,
+      I watched her secret toils from day to day;
+    How true she warped the moss to form her nest,
+      And modeled it within with wood and clay.
+    And by and by, with heath-bells gilt with dew,
+      There lay her shining eggs as bright as flowers,
+    Ink-spotted over, shells of green and blue:
+      And there I witnessed, in the summer hours,
+    A brood of nature's minstrels chirp and fly,
+      Glad as the sunshine and the laughing sky."
+
+
+
+
+THE BROWN THRUSH.
+
+
+Dear Readers:
+
+My cousin Robin Redbreast told me that he wrote you a letter last month
+and sent it with his picture. How did you like it? He is a pretty
+bird--Cousin Robin--and everybody likes him. But I must tell you
+something of myself.
+
+Folks call me by different names--some of them nicknames, too.
+
+The cutest one of all is Brown Thrasher. I wonder if you know why they
+call me Thrasher. If you don't, ask some one. It is really funny.
+
+Some people think Cousin Robin is the sweetest singer of our family, but
+a great many like my song just as well.
+
+Early in the morning I sing among the bushes, but later in the day you
+will always find me in the very top of a tree and it is then I sing my
+best.
+
+Do you know what I say in my song? Well, if I am near a farmer while he
+is planting, I say: "Drop it, drop it--cover it up, cover it up--pull it
+up, pull it up, pull it up."
+
+One thing I very seldom do and that is, sing when near my nest. Maybe
+you can tell why. I'm not very far from my nest now. I just came down to
+the stream to get a drink and am watching that boy on the other side of
+the stream. Do you see him?
+
+One dear lady who loves birds has said some very nice things about me in
+a book called "Bird Ways." Another lady has written a beautiful poem
+about my singing. Ask your mamma or teacher the names of these ladies.
+Here is the poem:
+
+    There's a merry brown thrush sitting up in a tree.
+    He is singing to me! He is singing to me!
+    And what does he say--little girl, little boy?
+    "Oh, the world's running over with joy!
+        Hush! Look! In my tree,
+        I am as happy as happy can be."
+
+    And the brown thrush keeps singing, "A nest, do you see,
+    And five eggs, hid by me in the big cherry tree?
+    Don't meddle, don't touch--little girl, little boy--
+    Or the world will lose some of its joy!
+        Now I am glad! now I am free!
+        And I always shall be,
+        If you never bring sorrow to me."
+
+    So the merry brown thrush sings away in the tree
+    To you and to me--to you and to me;
+    And he sings all the day--little girl, little boy--
+    "Oh, the world's running over with joy!
+        But long it won't be,
+        Don't you know? don't you see?
+        Unless we're good as good can be."
+
+[Illustration: BROWN THRASHER.]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: JAPAN PHEASANT.]
+
+THE JAPAN PHEASANT.
+
+
+Originally the Pheasant was an inhabitant of Asia Minor but has been
+by degrees introduced into many countries, where its beauty of form,
+plumage, and the delicacy of its flesh made it a welcome visitor. The
+Japan Pheasant is a very beautiful species, about which little is known
+in its wild state, but in captivity it is pugnacious. It requires much
+shelter and plenty of food, and the breed is to some degree artificially
+kept up by the hatching of eggs under domestic hens and feeding them in
+the coop like ordinary chickens, until they are old and strong enough to
+get their own living.
+
+The food of this bird is extremely varied. When young it is generally
+fed on ants' eggs, maggots, grits, and similar food, but when it is full
+grown it is possessed of an accommodating appetite and will eat many
+kinds of seeds, roots, and leaves. It will also eat beans, peas, acorns,
+berries, and has even been known to eat the ivy leaf, as well as the
+berry.
+
+This Pheasant loves the ground, runs with great speed, and always
+prefers to trust to its legs rather than to its wings. It is crafty, and
+when alarmed it slips quickly out of sight behind a bush or through a
+hedge, and then runs away with astonishing rapidity, always remaining
+under cover until it reaches some spot where it deems itself safe. The
+male is not domestic, passing an independent life during a part of the
+year and associating with others of its own sex during the rest of the
+season.
+
+The nest is very rude, being merely a heap of leaves and grass on the
+ground, with a very slight depression. The eggs are numerous, about
+eleven or twelve, and olive brown in color. In total length, though they
+vary considerably, the full grown male is about three feet. The female
+is smaller in size than her mate, and her length a foot less.
+
+The Japan Pheasant is not a particularly interesting bird aside from his
+beauty, which is indeed brilliant, there being few of the species more
+attractive.
+
+
+
+
+THE FLICKER.
+
+
+A great variety of names does this bird possess. It is commonly known
+as the Golden Winged Woodpecker, Yellow-shafted Flicker, Yellow Hammer,
+and less often as High-hole or High-holer, Wake-up, etc. In suitable
+localities throughout the United States and the southern parts of
+Canada, the Flicker is a very common bird, and few species are more
+generally known. "It is one of the most sociable of our Woodpeckers,
+and is apparently always on good terms with its neighbors. It usually
+arrives in April, occasionally even in March, the males preceding the
+females a few days, and as soon as the latter appear one can hear their
+voices in all directions."
+
+The Flicker is an ardent wooer. It is an exceedingly interesting and
+amusing sight to see a couple of males paying their addresses to a coy
+and coquettish female; the apparent shyness of the suitors as they sidle
+up to her and as quickly retreat again, the shy glances given as one
+peeps from behind a limb watching the other--playing bo-peep--seem
+very human, and "I have seen," says an observer, "few more amusing
+performances than the courtship of a pair of these birds." The defeated
+suitor takes his rejection quite philosophically, and retreats in a
+dignified manner, probably to make other trials elsewhere. Few birds
+deserve our good will more than the Flicker. He is exceedingly useful,
+destroying multitudes of grubs, larvae, and worms. He loves berries and
+fruit but the damage he does to cultivated fruit is very trifling.
+
+The Flicker begins to build its nest about two weeks after the bird
+arrives from the south. It prefers open country, interspersed with
+groves and orchards, to nest in. Any old stump, or partly decayed limb
+of a tree, along the banks of a creek, beside a country road, or in
+an old orchard, will answer the purpose. Soft wood trees seem to be
+preferred, however. In the prairie states it occasionally selects
+strange nesting sites. It has been known to chisel through the weather
+boarding of a dwelling house, barns, and other buildings, and to nest
+in the hollow space between this and the cross beams; its nests have
+also been found in gate posts, in church towers, and in burrows of
+Kingfishers and bank swallows, in perpendicular banks of streams. One
+of the most peculiar sites of his selection is described by William A.
+Bryant as follows: "On a small hill, a quarter of a mile distant from
+any home, stood a hay stack which had been placed there two years
+previously. The owner, during the winter of 1889-90, had cut the stack
+through the middle and hauled away one portion, leaving the other
+standing, with the end smoothly trimmed. The following spring I noticed
+a pair of flickers about the stack showing signs of wanting to make it
+a fixed habitation. One morning a few days later I was amused at the
+efforts of one of the pair. It was clinging to the perpendicular end of
+the stack and throwing out clipped hay at a rate to defy competition.
+This work continued for a week, and in that time the pair had excavated
+a cavity twenty inches in depth. They remained in the vicinity until
+autumn. During the winter the remainder of the stack was removed. They
+returned the following spring, and, after a brief sojourn, departed for
+parts unknown."
+
+From five to nine eggs are generally laid. They are glossy white in
+color, and when fresh appear as if enameled.
+
+The young are able to leave the nest in about sixteen days; they crawl
+about on the limbs of the tree for a couple of days before they venture
+to fly, and return to the nest at night.
+
+[Illustration: FLICKER.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BOBOLINK.
+
+
+    "When Nature had made all her birds,
+    And had no cares to think on,
+    She gave a rippling laugh,
+    And out there flew a Bobolinkon."
+
+No American ornithologist omits mention of the Bobolink, and naturalists
+generally have described him under one of the many names by which he is
+known. In some States he is called the Rice Bird, in others Reed Bird,
+the Rice or Reed Bunting, while his more familiar title, throughout the
+greater part of America, is Bobolink, or Bobolinkum. In Jamaica, where
+he gets very fat during his winter stay, he is called the Butter Bird.
+His title of Rice Troopial is earned by the depredations which he
+annually makes upon the rice crops, though his food "is by no means
+restricted to that seed, but consists in a large degree of insects,
+grubs, and various wild grasses." A migratory bird, residing during the
+winter in the southern parts of America, he returns in vast multitudes
+northward in the early Spring. According to Wilson, their course of
+migration is as follows: "In April, or very early in May, the Rice
+Buntings, male and female, arrive within the southern boundaries of
+the United States, and are seen around the town of Savannah, Georgia,
+sometimes in separate parties of males and females, but more generally
+promiscuously. They remain there but a short time, and about the middle
+of May make their appearance in the lower part of Pennsylvania. While
+here the males are extremely gay and full of song, frequenting meadows,
+newly plowed fields, sides of creeks, rivers, and watery places, feeding
+on May flies and caterpillars, of which they destroy great quantities.
+In their passage, however, through Virginia at this season, they do
+great damage to the early wheat and barley while in their milky state.
+About the 20th of May they disappear on their way to the North. Nearly
+at the same time they arrive in the State of New York, spread over the
+whole of the New England States, as far as the river St. Lawrence, and
+from Lake Ontario to the sea. In all of these places they remain during
+the Summer, building their nests and rearing their young."
+
+The Bobolink's song is a peculiar one, varying greatly with the
+occasion. As he flys southward, his cry is a kind of clinking note; but
+the love song addressed to his mate is voluble and fervent. It has been
+said that if you should strike the keys of a pianoforte haphazard, the
+higher and the lower singly very quickly, you might have some idea of
+the Bobolink's notes. In the month of June he gradually changes his
+pretty, attractive dress and puts on one very like the females, which is
+of a plain rusty brown, and is not reassumed until the next season of
+nesting. The two parent birds in the plate represent the change from the
+dark plumage in which the bird is commonly known in the North as the
+Bobolink, to the dress of yellowish brown by which it is known
+throughout the South as the Rice or Reed Bird.
+
+His nest, small and a plain one, too, is built on the ground by his
+industrious little wife. The inside is warmly lined with soft fibers of
+whatever may be nearest at hand. Five pretty white eggs, spotted all
+over with brown are laid, and as soon
+
+    "As the little ones chip the shell
+    And five wide mouths are ready for food,
+    'Robert of Lincoln' bestirs him well,
+    Gathering seeds for this hungry brood."
+
+
+
+
+BOBOLINK.
+
+
+Other birds may like to travel alone, but when jolly Mr. Bobolink and
+his quiet little wife come from the South, where they have spent the
+winter, they come with a large party of friends. When South, they eat so
+much rice that the people call them Rice Birds. When they come North,
+they enjoy eating wheat, barley, oats and insects.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Bobolink build their simple little nest of grasses in some
+field. It is hard to find on the ground, for it looks just like dry
+grass. Mrs. Bobolink wears a dull dress, so she cannot be seen when she
+is sitting on the precious eggs. She does not sing a note while caring
+for the eggs. Why do you think that is?
+
+Mr. Bob-Linkum does not wear a sober dress, as you can see by his
+picture. He does not need to be hidden. He is just as jolly as he
+looks. Shall I tell you how he amuses his mate while she is sitting?
+He springs from the dew-wet grass with a sound like peals of merry
+laughter. He frolics from reed to post, singing as if his little heart
+would burst with joy.
+
+Don't you think Mr. and Mrs. Bobolink look happy in the picture? They
+have raised their family of five. Four of their children have gone to
+look for food; one of them--he must surely be the baby--would rather
+stay with his mamma and papa. Which one does he look like?
+
+Many birds are quiet at noon and in the afternoon. A flock of Bobolinks
+can be heard singing almost all day long. The song is full of high notes
+and low, soft notes and loud, all sung rapidly. It is as gay and bright
+as the birds themselves, who flit about playfully as they sing. You will
+feel like laughing as merrily as they sing when you hear it some day.
+
+[Illustration: BOBOLINKS.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BLUE BIRD.
+
+
+    "Drifting down the first warm wind
+      That thrills the earliest days of spring,
+    The Bluebird seeks our maple groves
+      And charms them into tasselling."
+
+    "He sings, and his is Nature's voice--
+      A gush of melody sincere
+    From that great fount of harmony
+      Which thaws and runs when Spring is here."
+
+    "Short is his song, but strangely sweet
+      To ears aweary of the low
+    Dull tramps of Winter's sullen feet,
+      Sandalled in ice and muffled in snow."
+
+       *       *       *
+
+    "Think, every morning, when the sun peeps through
+       The dim, leaf-latticed windows of the grove,
+     How jubilant the happy birds renew
+       Their old, melodious madrigals of love!
+     And when you think of this, remember, too,
+       'Tis always morning somewhere, and above
+     The awakening continents, from shore to shore,
+     Somewhere the birds are singing evermore.
+
+    "Think of your woods and orchards without birds!
+       Of empty nests that cling to boughs and beams
+     As in an idiot's brain remembered words
+       Hang empty 'mid the cobwebs of his dreams!
+     Will bleat of flocks or bellowing of herds
+       Make up for the lost music, when your teams
+     Drag home the stingy harvest, and no more
+     The feathered gleaners follow to your door?"
+                    FROM "THE BIRDS OF KILLINGSWORTH."
+
+
+
+
+THE CROW.
+
+
+Caw! Caw! Caw! little boys and girls. Caw! Caw! Caw! Just look at my
+coat of feathers. See how black and glossy it is. Do you wonder I am
+proud of it?
+
+Perhaps you think I look very solemn and wise, and not at all as if I
+cared to play games. I do, though; and one of the games I like best is
+hide-and-seek. I play it with the farmer in the spring. He hides, in the
+rich, brown earth, golden kernels of corn. Surely he does it because he
+knows I like it, for sometimes he puts up a stick all dressed like a man
+to show where the corn is hidden. Sometimes I push my bill down into the
+earth to find the corn, and at other times I wait until tiny green
+leaves begin to show above the ground, and then I get my breakfast
+without much trouble. I wonder if the farmer enjoys this game as much
+as I do. I help him, too, by eating worms and insects.
+
+During the spring and summer I live in my nest on the top of a very
+high tree. It is built of sticks and grasses and straw and string and
+anything else I can pick up. But in the fall, I and all my relations and
+friends live together in great roosts or rookeries. What good times we
+do have--hunting all day for food and talking all night. Wouldn't you
+like to be with us?
+
+The farmer who lives in the house over there went to the mill to-day
+with a load of corn.
+
+One of the ears dropped out of the wagon and it didn't take me long to
+find it. I have eaten all I can possibly hold and am wondering now what
+is the best thing to do. If you were in my place would you leave it here
+and not tell anybody and come back to-morrow and finish it? Or would you
+fly off and get Mrs. Crow and some of the children to come and finish
+it? I believe I'll fly and get them. Good-bye.
+
+Caw! Caw! Caw!
+
+[Illustration: COMMON CROW.]
+
+
+
+
+THE COMMON CROW.
+
+
+    "The crow doth sing as merry as the lark,
+     When neither is attended."
+
+Few birds have more interesting characteristics than the Common Crow,
+being, in many of his actions, very like the Raven, especially in his
+love for carrion. Like the Raven, he has been known to attack game,
+although his inferior size forces him to call to his assistance the aid
+of his fellows to cope with larger creatures. Rabbits and hares are
+frequently the prey of this bird which pounces on them as they steal
+abroad to feed. His food consists of reptiles, frogs, and lizards; he
+is a plunderer of other birds' nests. On the seashore he finds crabs,
+shrimps and inhabited shells, which he ingeniously cracks by flying with
+them to a great height and letting them fall upon a convenient rock.
+
+The crow is seen in single pairs or in little bands of four or five.
+In the autumn evenings, however, they assemble in considerable flocks
+before going to roost and make a wonderful chattering, as if comparing
+notes of the events of the day.
+
+The nest of the Crow is placed in some tree remote from habitations of
+other birds. Although large and very conspicuous at a distance, it is
+fixed upon one of the topmost branches quite out of reach of the hand of
+the adventurous urchin who longs to secure its contents. It is loosely
+made and saucer shaped. Sticks and softer substances are used to
+construct it, and it is lined with hair and fibrous roots. Very recently
+a thrifty and intelligent Crow built for itself a summer residence in an
+airy tree near Bombay, the material used being gold, silver, and steel
+spectacle frames, which the bird had stolen from an optician of that
+city. Eighty-four frames had been used for this purpose, and they were
+so ingeniously woven together that the nest was quite a work of art.
+The eggs are variable, or rather individual, in their markings, and
+even in their size. The Crow rarely uses the same nest twice, although
+he frequently repairs to the same locality from year to year. He is
+remarkable for his attachment to his mate and young, surpassing the
+Fawn and Turtle Dove in conjugal courtesy.
+
+The Somali Arabs bear a deadly hatred toward the Crow. The origin of
+their detestation is the superstition that during the flight of Mohammed
+from his enemies, he hid himself in a cave, where he was perceived by
+the Crow, at that time a bird of light plumage, who, when he saw the
+pursuers approaching the spot, perched above Mohammed's hiding place,
+and screamed, "Ghar! Ghar!" (cave! cave!) so as to indicate the place
+of concealment. His enemies, however, did not understand the bird, and
+passed on, and Mohammed, when he came out of the cave, clothed the Crow
+in perpetual black, and commanded him to cry "Ghar" as long as Crows
+should live.
+
+And he lives to a good old age. Instances are not rare where he has
+attained to half a century, without great loss of activity or failure of
+sight.
+
+At Red Bank, a few miles northeast of Cincinnati, on the Little Miami
+River, in the bottoms, large flocks of Crows congregate the year around.
+A few miles away, high upon Walnut Hills, is a Crow roost, and in the
+late afternoons the Crows, singly, in pairs, and in flocks, are seen on
+the wing, flying heavily, with full crops, on the way to the roost, from
+which they descend in the early morning, crying "Caw! Caw!" to the
+fields of the newly planted, growing, or matured corn, or corn stacks,
+as the season may provide.
+
+
+
+
+THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS.
+
+
+     "Everywhere the blue sky belongs to them and is their appointed
+     rest, and their native country, and their own natural home
+     which they enter unannounced as lords that are certainly
+     expected, and yet there is a silent joy at their arrival."
+
+The return of the birds to their real home in the North, where they
+build their nests and rear their young, is regarded by all genuine
+lovers of earth's messengers of gladness and gayety as one of the most
+interesting and poetical of annual occurrences. The naturalist, who
+notes the very day of each arrival, in order that he may verify former
+observation or add to his material gathered for a new work, does not
+necessarily anticipate with greater pleasure this event than do many
+whose lives are brightened by the coming of the friends of their youth,
+who alone of early companions do not change. First of all--and ever the
+same delightful warbler--the Bluebird, who, in 1895, did not appear at
+all in many localities, though here in considerable numbers last year,
+betrays himself. "Did he come down out of the heaven on that bright
+March morning when he told us so softly and plaintively that, if we
+pleased, spring had come?" Sometimes he is here a little earlier, and
+must keep his courage up until the cold snap is over and the snow is
+gone. Not long after the Bluebird, comes the Robin, sometimes in March,
+but in most of the northern states April is the month of his arrival.
+With his first utterance the spell of winter is broken, and the
+remembrance of it afar off. Then appears the Woodpecker in great
+variety, the Flicker usually arriving first. He is always somebody's old
+favorite, "announcing his arrival by a long, loud call, repeated from
+the dry branch of some tree, or a stake in the fence--a thoroughly
+melodious April sound."
+
+Few perhaps reflect upon the difficulties encountered by the birds
+themselves in their returning migrations. A voyager sometimes meets
+with many of our common birds far out at sea. Such wanderers, it is
+said, when suddenly overtaken by a fog, completely lose their sense of
+direction and become hopelessly lost. Humming birds, those delicately
+organized, glittering gems, are among the most common of the land
+species seen at sea.
+
+The present season has been quite favorable to the protection of birds.
+A very competent observer says that not all of the birds migrated this
+winter. He recently visited a farm less than an hour's ride from
+Chicago, where he found the old place, as he relates it, "chucked full
+of Robins, Blackbirds, and Woodpeckers," and others unknown to him.
+From this he inferred they would have been in Florida had indications
+predicted a severe winter. The trees of the south parks of Chicago,
+and those in suburban places, have had, darting through their branches
+during the months of December and January, nearly as many members of the
+Woodpecker tribe as were found there during the mating season in May
+last.
+
+Alas, that the Robin will visit us in diminished numbers in the
+approaching spring. He has not been so common for a year or two as
+he was formerly, for the reason that the Robins died by thousands of
+starvation, owing to the freezing of their food supply in Tennessee
+during the protracted cold weather in the winter of 1895. It is indeed
+sad that this good Samaritan among birds should be defenseless against
+the severity of Nature, the common mother of us all. Nevertheless the
+return of the birds, in myriads or in single pairs, will be welcomed
+more and more, year by year, as intelligent love and appreciation of
+them shall possess the popular mind.
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: BLACK TERN.
+ Mother and Young with Eggs.]
+
+THE BLACK TERN.
+
+
+"The Tern," says Mr. F. M. Woodruff, of the Chicago Academy of Sciences,
+"is the only representative of the long-winged swimmers which commonly
+nests with us on our inland fresh water marshes, arriving early in May
+in its brooding plumage of sooty black. The color changes in the autumn
+to white, and a number of the adult birds may be found, in the latter
+part of July, dotted and streaked here and there with white. On the
+first of June, 1891, I found a large colony of Black Terns nesting on
+Hyde Lake, Cook County, Illinois. As I approached the marsh a few birds
+were seen flying high in the air, and, as I neared the nesting site, the
+flying birds gave notes of alarm, and presently the air was filled with
+the graceful forms of this beautiful little bird. They circled about me,
+darting down to within a few feet of my head, constantly uttering a
+harsh, screaming cry. As the eggs are laid upon the bare ground, which
+the brownish and blackish markings so closely resemble, I was at first
+unable to find the nests, and discovered that the only way to locate
+them was to stand quietly and watch the birds. When the Tern is passing
+over the nest it checks its flight, and poises for a moment on quivering
+wings. By keeping my eyes on this spot I found the nest with very little
+trouble. The complement of eggs, when the bird has not been disturbed,
+is usually three. These are laid in a saucer shaped structure of dead
+vegetation, which is scraped together, from the surface of the wet,
+boggy ground. The bird figured in the plate had placed its nest on the
+edge of an old muskrat house, and my attention was attracted to it by
+the fact that upon the edge of the rat house, where it had climbed to
+rest itself, was the body of a young dabchick, or piedbilled grebe,
+scarcely two and one-half inches long, and not twenty-four hours out of
+the egg, a beautiful little ball of blackish down, striped with brown
+and white. From the latter part of July to the middle of August large
+flocks of Black Terns may be seen on the shores of our larger lakes on
+their annual migration southward."
+
+The Rev. P. B. Peabody, in alluding to his observation of the nests
+of the Tern, says: "Amid this floating sea of aquatic nests I saw an
+unusual number of well constructed homes of the Tern. Among these was
+one that I count a perfect nest. It rested on the perfectly flat
+foundation of a small decayed rat house, which was about fourteen
+inches in diameter. The nest, in form, is a truncated cone (barring
+the cavity), was about eight inches high and ten inches in diameter.
+The hollow--quite shallow--was about seven inches across, being thus
+unusually large. The whole was built up of bits of rushes, carried to
+the spot, these being quite uniform in length--about four inches." After
+daily observation of the Tern, during which time he added much to his
+knowledge of the bird, he pertinently asks: "Who shall say how many
+traits and habits yet unknown may be discovered through patient watching
+of community-breeding birds, by men enjoying more of leisure for such
+delightful studies than often falls to the lot of most of us who have
+bread and butter to earn and a tiny part of the world's work to
+finish?"
+
+
+
+
+THE MEADOW LARK.
+
+
+        "Not an inch of his body is free from delight.
+    Can he keep himself still if he would? Oh, not he!
+        The music stirs in him like wind through a tree."
+
+The well known Meadow or Old Field Lark is a constant resident south
+of latitude 39, and many winter farther north in favorite localities.
+Its geographical range is eastern North America, Canada to south Nova
+Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario to eastern Manitoba; west to Minnesota,
+Iowa, Missouri, eastern Kansas, the Indian Territory, and Texas; south
+to Florida and the Gulf coast, in all of which localities, except in the
+extreme north, it usually rears two or three broods in a season. In the
+Northern States it is only a summer resident, arriving in April and
+remaining until the latter part of October and occasionally November.
+Excepting during the breeding season, small flocks may often be seen
+roving about in search of good feeding grounds. Major Bendire says
+this is especially true in the fall of the year. At this time several
+families unite, and as many as two dozen may occasionally be flushed in
+a field, over which they scatter, roaming about independently of each
+other. When one takes wing all the others in the vicinity follow. It
+is a shy bird in the East, while in the middle states it is quite the
+reverse. Its flight is rather laborious, at least in starting, and is
+continued by a series of rapid movements of the wings, alternating with
+short distances of sailing, and is rarely protracted. On alighting,
+which is accompanied with a twitching of its tail, it usually settles on
+some fence rail, post, boulder, weedstock, or on a hillock in a meadow
+from which it can get a good view of the surroundings, and but rarely
+on a limb of a tree. Its favorite resorts are meadows, fallow fields,
+pastures, and clearings, but in some sections, as in northern Florida,
+for instance, it also frequents the low, open pine woods and nests
+there.
+
+The song of the Meadow Lark is not much varied, but its clear, whistling
+notes, so frequently heard in the early spring, are melodious and
+pleasing to the ear. It is decidedly the farmers' friend, feeding, as
+it does, on noxious insects, caterpillars, moths, grasshoppers, spiders,
+worms and the like, and eating but little grain. The lark spends the
+greater part of its time on the ground, procuring all its food there.
+It is seldom found alone, and it is said remains paired for life.
+
+Nesting begins in the early part of May and lasts through June. Both
+sexes assist in building the nest, which is always placed on the ground,
+either in a natural depression, or in a little hollow scratched out by
+the birds, alongside a bunch of grass or weeds. The nest itself is lined
+with dry grass, stubble, and sometimes pine needles. Most nests are
+placed in level meadows. The eggs and young are frequently destroyed by
+vermin, for the meadow lark has many enemies. The eggs vary from three
+to seven, five being the most common, and both sexes assist in the
+hatching, which requires about fifteen or sixteen days. The young leave
+the nest before they are able to fly--hiding at the slightest sign of
+danger. The Meadow Lark does not migrate beyond the United States. It is
+a native bird, and is only accidental in England. The eggs are spotted,
+blotched, and speckled with shades of brown, purple and lavender. A
+curious incident is told of a Meadow Lark trying to alight on the top
+mast of a schooner several miles at sea. It was evidently very tired but
+would not venture near the deck.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: MEADOW LARK.]
+
+THE MEADOW LARK.
+
+
+I told the man who wanted my picture that he could take it if he would
+show my nest and eggs. Do you blame me for saying so? Don't you think it
+makes a better picture than if I stood alone?
+
+Mr. Lark is away getting me some breakfast, or he could be in the
+picture, too. After a few days I shall have some little baby birds, and
+then won't we be happy.
+
+Boys and girls who live in the country know us pretty well. When they
+drive the cows out to pasture, or when they go out to gather wild
+flowers, we sit on the fences by the roadside and make them glad with
+our merry song.
+
+Those of you who live in the city cannot see us unless you come out into
+the country.
+
+It isn't very often that we can find such a pretty place for a nest as
+we have here. Most of the time we build our nest under the grass and
+cover it over, and build a little tunnel leading to it. This year we
+made up our minds not to be afraid.
+
+The people living in the houses over there do not bother us at all and
+we are so happy.
+
+You never saw baby larks, did you? Well, they are queer little fellows,
+with hardly any feathers on them.
+
+Last summer we had five little birdies to feed, and it kept us busy from
+morning till night. This year we only expect three, and Mr. Lark says he
+will do all the work. He knows a field that is being plowed, where he
+can get nice, large worms.
+
+Hark! that is he singing. He will be surprised when he comes back and
+finds me off the nest. He is so afraid that I will let the eggs get
+cold, but I won't. There he comes, now.
+
+
+
+
+THE LONG-EARED OWL.
+
+
+The name of the Long-Eared Owl is derived from the great length of his
+"ears" or feather-tufts, which are placed upon the head, and erect
+themselves whenever the bird is interested or excited. It is the "black
+sheep" of the owl family, the majority of owls being genuine friends of
+the agriculturist, catching for his larder so many of the small animals
+that prey upon his crops. In America he is called the Great Horned
+Owl--in Europe the Golden Owl.
+
+Nesting time with the owl begins in February, and continues through
+March and April. The clown-like antics of both sexes of this bird while
+under the tender influence of the nesting season tend somewhat to impair
+their reputation for dignity and wise demeanor. They usually have a
+simple nest in a hollow tree, but which seems seldom to be built by the
+bird itself, as it prefers to take the deserted nest of some other bird,
+and to fit up the premises for its own use. They repair slightly from
+year to year the same nest. The eggs are white, and generally four or
+five in number. While the young are still in the nest, the parent birds
+display a singular diligence in collecting food for them.
+
+If you should happen to know of an owl's nest, stand near it some
+evening when the old birds are rearing their young. Keep quiet and
+motionless, and notice how frequently the old birds feed them. Every ten
+minutes or so the soft flap, flap of their wings will be heard, the male
+and female alternately, and you will obtain a brief glimpse of them
+through the gloom as they enter the nesting place. They remain inside
+but a short time, sharing the food equally amongst their brood, and
+then are off again to hunt for more. All night, were you to have the
+inclination to observe them, you would find they pass to and fro with
+food, only ceasing their labors at dawn. The young, as soon as they
+reach maturity, are abandoned by their parents; they quit the nest and
+seek out haunts elsewhere, while the old birds rear another, and not
+infrequently two more broods, during the remainder of the season.
+
+The habits of the Long-Eared Owl are nocturnal. He is seldom seen in the
+light of day, and is greatly disturbed if he chance to issue from his
+concealment while the sun is above the horizon. The facial disk is very
+conspicuous in this species. It is said that the use of this circle is
+to collect the rays of light, and throw them upon the eye. The flight
+of the owl is softened by means of especially shaped, recurved
+feather-tips, so that he may noiselessly steal upon his prey, and
+the ear is also so shaped as to gather sounds from below.
+
+The Long-Eared Owl is hardly tameable. The writer of this paragraph, when
+a boy, was the possessor, for more than a year, of a very fine specimen.
+We called him Judge. He was a monster, and of perfect plumage. Although
+he seemed to have some attachment to the children of the family who fed
+him, he would not permit himself to be handled by them or by any one in
+the slightest. Most of his time he spent in his cage, an immense affair,
+in which he was very comfortable. Occasionally he had a day in the barn
+with the rats and mice.
+
+The owl is of great usefulness to gardener, agriculturist, and landowner
+alike, for there is not another bird of prey which is so great a
+destroyer of the enemies of vegetation.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: GREAT HORNED OWL.]
+
+THE OWL.
+
+
+              We know not alway
+              Who are kings by day,
+    But the king of the night is the bold brown owl!
+
+I wonder why the folks put my picture last in the book. It can't be
+because they don't like me, for I'm sure I never bother them. I don't
+eat the farmer's corn like the crow, and no one ever saw me quarrel with
+other birds.
+
+Maybe it is because I can't sing. Well, there are lots of good people
+that can't sing, and so there are lots of good birds that can't sing.
+
+Did you ever see any other bird sit up as straight as I do? I couldn't
+sit up so straight if I hadn't such long, sharp claws to hold on with.
+
+My home is in the woods. Here we owls build our nests--most always in
+hollow trees.
+
+During the day I stay in the nest or sit on a limb. I don't like day
+time for the light hurts my eyes, but when it begins to grow dark then
+I like to stir around. All night long I am wide awake and fly about
+getting food for my little hungry ones. They sleep most of the day and
+it keeps me busy nearly all night to find them enough to eat.
+
+I just finished my night's work when the man came to take my picture. It
+was getting light and I told him to go to a large stump on the edge of
+the woods and I would sit for my picture. So here I am. Don't you think
+I look wise? How do you like my large eyes? If I could smile at you I
+would, but my face always looks sober. I have a great many cousins and
+if you really like my picture, I'll have some of them talk to you next
+month. I don't think any of them have such pretty feathers though. Just
+see if they have when they come.
+
+Well, I must fly back to my perch in the old elm tree. Good-bye.
+
+
+
+
+THE OWL.
+
+
+    In the hollow tree, in the old gray tower,
+      The spectral owl doth dwell;
+    Dull, hated, despised in the sunshine hour,
+      But at dusk he's abroad and well!
+    Not a bird of the forest e'er mates with him;
+      All mock him outright by day;
+    But at night, when the woods grow still and dim,
+      The boldest will shrink away!
+
+          O! when the night falls, and roosts the fowl,
+          Then, then, is the reign of the Horned Owl!
+
+    And the owl hath a bride, who is fond and bold,
+      And loveth the wood's deep gloom;
+    And, with eyes like the shine of the moonstone cold,
+      She awaiteth her ghastly groom.
+    Not a feather she moves, not a carol she sings,
+      As she waits in her tree so still,
+    But when her heart heareth his flapping wings,
+      She hoots out her welcome shrill!
+
+          O! when the moon shines, and dogs do howl,
+          Then, then, is the joy of the Horned Owl!
+
+    Mourn not for the owl, nor his gloomy plight!
+      The owl hath his share of good--
+    If a prisoner he be in the broad daylight,
+      He is lord in the dark greenwood!
+    Nor lonely the bird, nor his ghastly mate,
+      They are each unto each a pride;
+    Thrice fonder, perhaps, since a strange, dark fate
+      Hath rent them from all beside!
+
+          So, when the night falls, and dogs do howl,
+          Sing, Ho! for the reign of the Horned Owl!
+              We know not alway
+              Who are kings by day,
+    But the King of the Night is the bold Brown Owl!
+
+                     BRYAN W. PROCTER
+                           (Barry Cornwall.)
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+    THE
+     Racycle
+        NARROW TREAD
+
+    THE VERDICT IS IN
+
+     [Illustration]
+
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to advertisers.
+
+
+
+
+TESTIMONIALS.
+
+
+                           FRANKFORT, KY., February 3, 1897.
+ W. J. BLACK, Vice-President,
+                     Chicago, Ill.
+
+Dear Sir: I have a copy of your magazine entitled "Birds," and beg to
+say that I consider it one of the finest things on the subject that I
+have ever seen, and shall be pleased to recommend it to county and city
+superintendents of the state.
+
+                            Very respectfully,
+                                    W. J. DAVIDSON,
+                   State Superintendent Public Instruction.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                      SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., January 27, 1897.
+ W. J. BLACK, ESQ.,
+           Chicago, Ill.
+
+Dear Sir: I am very much obliged for the copy of "Birds" that has just
+come to hand. It should be in the hands of every primary and grammar
+teacher. I send herewith copy of "List of San Francisco Teachers."
+
+                            Very respectfully,
+                                       M. BABCOCK.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                            LINCOLN, NEB., February 9, 1897.
+ W. J. BLACK,
+     Chicago, Ill.
+
+Dear Sir: The first number of your magazine, "Birds," is upon my
+desk. I am highly pleased with it. It will prove a very serviceable
+publication--one that strikes out along the right lines. For the purpose
+intended, it has, in my opinion, no equal. It is clear, concise, and
+admirably illustrated.
+
+                            Very respectfully,
+                                      W. R. JACKSON,
+                   State Superintendent Public Instruction.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                         NORTH LIMA, OHIO, February 1, 1897.
+ MR. W. E. WATT,
+
+Dear Sir: Sample copy of "Birds" received. All of the family delighted
+with it. We wish it unbounded success. It will be an excellent
+supplement to "In Birdland" in the Ohio Teachers' Reading Circle, and I
+venture Ohio will be to the front with a good subscription list. I
+enclose list of teachers.
+
+                            Very truly,
+                               C. M. L. ALTDOERFFER,
+                                  Township Superintendent.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                                MILWAUKEE, January 30, 1897.
+ NATURE STUDY PUBLISHING COMPANY,
+             227 Dearborn Street, Chicago.
+
+Gentlemen: I acknowledge with pleasure the receipt of your publication,
+"Birds," with accompanying circulars. I consider it the best on the
+subject in existence. I have submitted the circulars and publication to
+my teachers, who have nothing to say but praise in behalf of the
+monthly.
+
+                            JULIUS TORNEY,
+             Principal 2nd Dist. Primary School, Milwaukee, Wis.
+
+
+
+
+OUR PREMIUM
+
+
+ A picture of wonderful beauty of the
+ Golden Pheasant almost life size in
+ a natural scene, plate 12x18 inches,
+ on card 19x25 inches, is given as a
+ premium to yearly subscribers. Our
+ price on this picture in Art Stores
+ is $3.50.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds Illustrated by Color Photograph
+[March 1897], by Various
+
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diff --git a/30103.zip b/30103.zip
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #30103 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30103)
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds Illustrated by Color Photograph
+[March 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 Photograph [March 1897]
+       A Monthly Serial designed to Promote Knowledge of Bird-Life
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: September 26, 2009 [EBook #30103]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS ILLUSTRATED [MARCH 1897] ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper and Anne Storer,
+some images courtesy of The Internet Archive and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note: Title added.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+              BIRDS ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY
+
+              Vol. One       MARCH, 1897       No. 3
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+    FROM: THE PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.
+
+                       _STATE OF NEW YORK_
+               _Department of Public Instruction_
+                    _SUPERINTENDENT'S OFFICE_
+
+                                _Albany_ December 26, 1896.
+
+  [Illustration: (seal)]
+  _Stenographic Letter_
+  Dictated by __________
+
+
+  W. E. Watt, President &c.,
+                   Fisher Building,
+                       277 Dearborn St., Chicago, Ill.
+
+  My dear Sir:
+
+  Please accept my thanks for a copy of the first publication of "Birds."
+  Please enter my name as a regular subscriber. It is one of the most
+  beautiful and interesting publications yet attempted in this direction.
+  It has other attractions in addition to its beauty, and it must win its
+  way to popular favor.
+
+  Wishing the handsome little magazine abundant prosperity,
+  I remain
+
+                   Yours very respectfully,
+                   [signature]
+                                State Superintendent.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+ _"The KING can do no wrong"_
+
+ [Illustration]
+                      MONARCH
+                       BICYCLES
+                       ARE
+                       FAULTLESS
+
+                      MONARCH
+                   CYCLE MF'G CO.
+                 CHICAGO, NEW YORK,
+                      LONDON.
+
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to advertisers.
+
+
+
+
+                 +----------------------------+
+                 |  #A. REED & SONS PIANOS.#  |
+                 +----------------------------+
+
+ Manufactured under patents granted by the governments of the
+      United States, England, Germany, France and Canada.
+
+                     #A New and Scientific
+                      Method of Piano
+                      Construction#
+
+          FREE SOUNDING BOARD, VIBRATION BAR, STRINGS
+           RESTING ON ALUMINUM WHEELS, ANTI-MOISTURE
+                      PIN BLOCK, LATERAL
+                            PEDALS
+
+              #Grand Diploma and Medal of Honor#
+         Awarded at Columbian World's Exposition, 1893
+
+  Only American Piano receiving mention in the Official Report
+                   to the German Government
+
+                       #A. REED & SONS#
+                No. 5 Adams Street ... CHICAGO
+
+  Illustrated Catalogues ...
+  containing full explanation Mailed Free.
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to advertisers.
+
+
+
+
+   #Every Teacher#
+
+       finds daily in her work
+       some new and perplexing
+       problem to solve.
+
+   With
+
+   The Teacher's
+        Practical Library
+
+     at hand for consultation the
+     answer may always be found.
+
+ It will cost you nothing
+
+     to have this library placed
+     upon your table for inspection.
+
+     Send postal-card for particulars,
+     mentioning this paper.
+
+                       #AGENTS WANTED#
+
+ #D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers#
+      NEW YORK--CHICAGO.
+ CHICAGO OFFICE--243 Wabash Ave.
+
+
+
+
+            #PREPARE FOR A GOOD POSITION#
+
+ #By studying Architecture, Engineering, Electricity, Drafting,
+ Mathematics, Shorthand, Typewriting, English, Penmanship, Bookkeeping,
+ Business, Telegraphy, Plumbing.# Best teachers. Thorough individual
+ instruction. Rates lower than any other school. Instruction also by mail
+ in any desired study. Steam engineering a specialty. Call or address,
+                          INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,
+                                 151 Throop St., Chicago.
+
+
+
+
+             What would #George Washington#
+                        think of
+                       Mark Hanna?
+
+                     [Illustration]
+
+               If you want to know, read
+                  #"SPIRITS OF '76,"#
+
+               By FREDERICK UPHAM ADAMS,
+                   in last number of
+
+                    #New Occasions#
+
+       A magazine of Reform; 96 pages; $1.00
+       a year; 10 cents a copy. No free samples,
+       but to any one sending us 6 2-cent
+       stamps we will mail a sample copy with
+       several reform books; over 300 pages
+       in all. Agents wanted.
+
+        Charles H. Kerr & Company, Publishers,
+               56 Fifth Ave., Chicago.
+
+
+
+
+ Buy Only the Best Presents for Children.
+      THE FINEST BLACKBOARD MADE.
+
+ IMPROVED
+           [Illustration]
+
+ Indispensable as an element for the general
+ education of the children. This is not a toy,
+ but an Educator for the home. Contains Sixteen
+ Lessons on heavy cardboard, Writing, Drawing,
+ Marking-letters, Music, Animal Forms, etc.
+ Frame made of oak, 4 feet high and 2 feet wide.
+ The Board is reversible and can be used on both
+ sides. Has a desk attachment for writing. Weighs
+ 10 pounds, packed for shipment.
+
+ #Price $3.50#                   Agents Wanted.
+                            Send for Agents Prices.
+
+ THE VAN-BENSON COMPANY,
+       84 Adams Street, CHICAGO, U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+               The "OLD Reliable" House of
+                       #"ANDREWS"#
+                        FURNISHES
+                   Everything
+                           for Schools
+
+      Rugby School Desks, Teachers' Desks and Chairs,
+      Blackboards, Erasers, Dustless Crayons, Globes,
+      Maps, Charts, Apparatus, etc., etc.
+
+      #The Jones Model of the Earth# shows the
+      reliefs of the land surface and ocean bed, 20
+      inches diameter. Used by the Royal Geographical
+      Society, Cornell University. Normal, and other
+      schools of various forms and grades.
+
+      #The Deep Sea Globe.# This new 12 in. globe
+      shows all that is seen on the common globe, but
+      in addition the varying depths of the ocean bed,
+      by color shading, also 500 soundings by figures.
+
+                 #The A. H. Andrews Co.#
+                        CHICAGO.
+
+        (Next Auditorium)         300 WABASH AVE.
+
+          Also Manufactures Office, Church and
+                    Bank Furniture.
+
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to Advertisers.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+LITTLE BOY BLUE.
+
+
+Boys and girls, don't you think that is a pretty name? I came from the
+warm south, where I went last winter, to tell you that Springtime is
+nearly here.
+
+When I sing, the buds and flowers and grass all begin to whisper to one
+another, "Springtime is coming for we heard the Bluebird say so," and
+then they peep out to see the warm sunshine. I perch beside them and
+tell them of my long journey from the south and how I knew just when
+to tell them to come out of their warm winter cradles. I am of the same
+blue color as the violet that shows her pretty face when I sing, "Summer
+is coming, and Springtime is here."
+
+I do not like the cities for they are black and noisy and full of those
+troublesome birds called English Sparrows. I take my pretty mate and
+out in the beautiful country we find a home. We build a nest of twigs,
+grass and hair, in a box that the farmer puts up for us near his barn.
+
+Sometimes we build in a hole in some old tree and soon there are tiny
+eggs in the nest. I sing to my mate and to the good people who own
+the barn. I heard the farmer say one day, "Isn't it nice to hear the
+Bluebird sing? He must be very happy." And I am, too, for by this time
+there are four or five little ones in the nest.
+
+Little Bluebirds are like little boys--they are always hungry. We work
+hard to find enough for them to eat. We feed them nice fat worms and
+bugs, and when their little wings are strong enough, we teach them how
+to fly. Soon they are large enough to hunt their own food, and can take
+care of themselves.
+
+The summer passes, and when we feel the breath of winter we go south
+again, for we do not like the cold.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+THE BLUE BIRD.
+
+    I know the song that the Bluebird is singing
+    Out in the apple tree, where he is swinging.
+    Brave little fellow! the skies may be dreary,
+    Nothing cares he while his heart is so cheery.
+    Hark! how the music leaps out from his throat,
+    Hark! was there ever so merry a note?
+
+              Listen a while, and you'll hear what he's saying,
+              Up in the apple tree swinging and swaying.
+              "Dear little blossoms down under the snow,
+              You must be weary of winter, I know;
+              Hark! while I sing you a message of cheer,
+              Summer is coming, and springtime is here!"
+
+    "Dear little snow-drop! I pray you arise;
+    Bright yellow crocus! come open your eyes;
+    Sweet little violets, hid from the cold,
+    Put on our mantles of purple and gold;
+    Daffodils! daffodils! say, do you hear,
+    Summer is coming! and springtime is here!"
+
+[Illustration: BLUE BIRD.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BLUE BIRD.
+
+
+    Winged lute that we call a blue bird,
+        You blend in a silver strain
+    The sound of the laughing waters,
+        The patter of spring's sweet rain,
+    The voice of the wind, the sunshine,
+        And fragrance of blossoming things,
+    Ah! you are a poem of April
+        That God endowed with wings.      E. E. R.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+Like a bit of sky this little harbinger of spring appears, as we see
+him and his mate househunting in early March. Oftentimes he makes his
+appearance as early as the middle of February, when his attractive note
+is heard long before he himself is seen. He is one of the last to leave
+us, and although the month of November is usually chosen by him as the
+fitting time for departure to a milder clime, his plaintive note is
+quite commonly heard on pleasant days throughout the winter season,
+and a few of the braver and hardier ones never entirely desert us. The
+Robin and the Blue Bird are tenderly associated in the memories of most
+persons whose childhood was passed on a farm or in the country village.
+Before the advent of the English Sparrow, the Blue Bird was sure to
+be the first to occupy and the last to defend the little box prepared
+for his return, appearing in his blue jacket somewhat in advance of
+the plainly habited female, who on her arrival quite often found a
+habitation selected and ready for her acceptance, should he find favor
+in her sight. And then he becomes a most devoted husband and father,
+sitting by the nest and warbling with earnest affection his exquisite
+tune, and occasionally flying away in search of food for his mate and
+nestlings.
+
+The Blue Bird rears two broods in the season, and, should the weather
+be mild, even three. His nest contains three eggs.
+
+In the spring and summer when he is happy and gay, his song is
+extremely soft and agreeable, while it grows very mournful and
+plaintive as cold weather approaches. He is mild of temper, and a
+peaceable and harmless neighbor, setting a fine example of amiability
+to his feathered friends. In the early spring, however, he wages war
+against robins, wrens, swallows, and other birds whose habitations are
+of a kind to take his fancy. A celebrated naturalist says: "This bird
+seems incapable of uttering a harsh note, or of doing a spiteful,
+ill-tempered thing."
+
+Nearly everybody has his anecdote to tell of the Blue Bird's courage,
+but the author of "Wake Robin" tells his exquisitely thus: "A few years
+ago I put up a little bird house in the back end of my garden for the
+accommodation of the wrens, and every season a pair have taken up their
+abode there. One spring a pair of Blue Birds looked into the tenement,
+and lingered about several days, leading me to hope that they would
+conclude to occupy it. But they finally went away. Late in the season
+the wrens appeared, and after a little coquetting, were regularly
+installed in their old quarters, and were as happy as only wrens can
+be. But before their honeymoon was over, the Blue Birds returned. I
+knew something was wrong before I was up in the morning. Instead of that
+voluble and gushing song outside the window, I heard the wrens scolding
+and crying out at a fearful rate, and on going out saw the Blue Birds in
+possession of the box. The poor wrens were in despair and were forced to
+look for other quarters."
+
+
+
+
+THE SWALLOW.
+
+
+    "Come, summer visitant, attach
+      To my reedroof thy nest of clay,
+    And let my ear thy music catch,
+    Low twitting underneath the thatch,
+      At the gray dawn of day."
+
+Sure harbingers of spring are the Swallows. They are very common birds,
+and frequent, as a rule, the cultivated lands in the neighborhood of
+water, showing a decided preference for the habitations of man. "How
+gracefully the swallows fly! See them coursing over the daisy-bespangled
+grass fields; now they skim just over the blades of grass, and then with
+a rapid stroke of their long wings mount into the air and come hovering
+above your head, displaying their rich white and chestnut plumage to
+perfection. Now they chase each other for very joyfulness, uttering
+their sharp twittering notes; then they hover with expanded wings
+like miniature Kestrels, or dart downwards with the velocity of
+the sparrowhawk; anon they flit rapidly over the neighboring pool,
+occasionally dipping themselves in its calm and placid waters, and
+leaving a long train of rings marking their varied course. How easily
+they turn, or glide over the surrounding hedges, never resting, never
+weary, and defying the eye to trace them in the infinite turnings and
+twistings of their rapid shooting flight. You frequently see them glide
+rapidly near the ground, and then with a sidelong motion mount aloft, to
+dart downwards like an animated meteor, their plumage glowing in the
+light with metallic splendor, and the row of white spots on the tail
+contrasting beautifully with the darker plumage."
+
+The Swallow is considered a life-paired species, and returns to its
+nesting site of the previous season, building a new nest close to the
+old one. His nest is found in barns and outhouses, upon the beams of
+wood which support the roof, or in any place which assures protection to
+the young birds. It is cup-shaped and artfully moulded of bits of mud.
+Grass and feathers are used for the lining. "The nest completed, five or
+six eggs are deposited. They are of a pure white color, with deep rich
+brown blotches and spots, notably at the larger end, round which they
+often form a zone or belt." The sitting bird is fed by her mate.
+
+The young Swallow is distinguished from the mature birds by the absence
+of the elongated tail feathers, which are a mark of maturity alone. His
+food is composed entirely of insects. Swallows are on the wing fully
+sixteen hours, and the greater part of the time making terrible havoc
+amongst the millions of insects which infest the air. It is said that
+when the Swallow is seen flying high in the heavens, it is a never
+failing indication of fine weather.
+
+A pair of Swallows on arriving at their nesting place of the preceding
+Summer found their nest occupied by a Sparrow, who kept the poor birds
+at a distance by pecking at them with his strong beak whenever they
+attempted to dislodge him. Wearied and hopeless of regaining possession
+of their property, they at last hit upon a plan which effectually
+punished the intruder. One morning they appeared with a few more
+Swallows--their mouths filled with a supply of tempered clay--and, by
+their joint efforts in a short time actually plastered up the entrance
+to the hole, thus barring the Sparrow from the home which he had stolen
+from the Swallows.
+
+[Illustration: BARN SWALLOW.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BROWN THRUSH.
+
+
+    "However the world goes ill,
+      The Thrushes still sing in it."
+
+The Mocking-bird of the North, as the Brown Thrush has been called,
+arrives in the Eastern and Middle States about the 10th of May, at which
+season he may be seen, perched on the highest twig of a hedge, or on the
+topmost branch of a tree, singing his loud and welcome song, that may be
+heard a distance of half a mile. The favorite haunt of the Brown Thrush,
+however, is amongst the bright and glossy foliage of the evergreens.
+"There they delight to hide, although not so shy and retiring as the
+Blackbird; there they build their nests in greatest numbers, amongst the
+perennial foliage, and there they draw at nightfall to repose in warmth
+and safety." The Brown Thrasher sings chiefly just after sunrise and
+before sunset, but may be heard singing at intervals during the day. His
+food consists of wild fruits, such as blackberries and raspberries,
+snails, worms, slugs and grubs. He also obtains much of his food
+amongst the withered leaves and marshy places of the woods and
+shrubberies which he frequents. Few birds possess a more varied melody.
+His notes are almost endless in variety, each note seemingly uttered at
+the caprice of the bird, without any perceptible approach to order.
+
+The site of the Thrush's nest is a varied one, in the hedgerows, under a
+fallen tree or fence-rail; far up in the branches of stately trees, or
+amongst the ivy growing up their trunks. The nest is composed of the
+small dead twigs of trees, lined with the fine fibers of roots. From
+three to five eggs are deposited, and are hatched in about twelve days.
+They have a greenish background, thickly spotted with light brown,
+giving the whole egg a brownish appearance.
+
+The Brown Thrush leaves the Eastern and Middle States, on his migration
+South, late in September, remaining until the following May.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+THE THRUSH'S NEST.
+
+    "Within a thick and spreading hawthorn bush
+      That overhung a molehill, large and round,
+    I heard from morn to morn a merry thrush
+      Sing hymns of rapture while I drank the sound
+    With joy--and oft an unintruding guest,
+      I watched her secret toils from day to day;
+    How true she warped the moss to form her nest,
+      And modeled it within with wood and clay.
+    And by and by, with heath-bells gilt with dew,
+      There lay her shining eggs as bright as flowers,
+    Ink-spotted over, shells of green and blue:
+      And there I witnessed, in the summer hours,
+    A brood of nature's minstrels chirp and fly,
+      Glad as the sunshine and the laughing sky."
+
+
+
+
+THE BROWN THRUSH.
+
+
+Dear Readers:
+
+My cousin Robin Redbreast told me that he wrote you a letter last month
+and sent it with his picture. How did you like it? He is a pretty
+bird--Cousin Robin--and everybody likes him. But I must tell you
+something of myself.
+
+Folks call me by different names--some of them nicknames, too.
+
+The cutest one of all is Brown Thrasher. I wonder if you know why they
+call me Thrasher. If you don't, ask some one. It is really funny.
+
+Some people think Cousin Robin is the sweetest singer of our family, but
+a great many like my song just as well.
+
+Early in the morning I sing among the bushes, but later in the day you
+will always find me in the very top of a tree and it is then I sing my
+best.
+
+Do you know what I say in my song? Well, if I am near a farmer while he
+is planting, I say: "Drop it, drop it--cover it up, cover it up--pull it
+up, pull it up, pull it up."
+
+One thing I very seldom do and that is, sing when near my nest. Maybe
+you can tell why. I'm not very far from my nest now. I just came down to
+the stream to get a drink and am watching that boy on the other side of
+the stream. Do you see him?
+
+One dear lady who loves birds has said some very nice things about me in
+a book called "Bird Ways." Another lady has written a beautiful poem
+about my singing. Ask your mamma or teacher the names of these ladies.
+Here is the poem:
+
+    There's a merry brown thrush sitting up in a tree.
+    He is singing to me! He is singing to me!
+    And what does he say--little girl, little boy?
+    "Oh, the world's running over with joy!
+        Hush! Look! In my tree,
+        I am as happy as happy can be."
+
+    And the brown thrush keeps singing, "A nest, do you see,
+    And five eggs, hid by me in the big cherry tree?
+    Don't meddle, don't touch--little girl, little boy--
+    Or the world will lose some of its joy!
+        Now I am glad! now I am free!
+        And I always shall be,
+        If you never bring sorrow to me."
+
+    So the merry brown thrush sings away in the tree
+    To you and to me--to you and to me;
+    And he sings all the day--little girl, little boy--
+    "Oh, the world's running over with joy!
+        But long it won't be,
+        Don't you know? don't you see?
+        Unless we're good as good can be."
+
+[Illustration: BROWN THRASHER.]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: JAPAN PHEASANT.]
+
+THE JAPAN PHEASANT.
+
+
+Originally the Pheasant was an inhabitant of Asia Minor but has been
+by degrees introduced into many countries, where its beauty of form,
+plumage, and the delicacy of its flesh made it a welcome visitor. The
+Japan Pheasant is a very beautiful species, about which little is known
+in its wild state, but in captivity it is pugnacious. It requires much
+shelter and plenty of food, and the breed is to some degree artificially
+kept up by the hatching of eggs under domestic hens and feeding them in
+the coop like ordinary chickens, until they are old and strong enough to
+get their own living.
+
+The food of this bird is extremely varied. When young it is generally
+fed on ants' eggs, maggots, grits, and similar food, but when it is full
+grown it is possessed of an accommodating appetite and will eat many
+kinds of seeds, roots, and leaves. It will also eat beans, peas, acorns,
+berries, and has even been known to eat the ivy leaf, as well as the
+berry.
+
+This Pheasant loves the ground, runs with great speed, and always
+prefers to trust to its legs rather than to its wings. It is crafty, and
+when alarmed it slips quickly out of sight behind a bush or through a
+hedge, and then runs away with astonishing rapidity, always remaining
+under cover until it reaches some spot where it deems itself safe. The
+male is not domestic, passing an independent life during a part of the
+year and associating with others of its own sex during the rest of the
+season.
+
+The nest is very rude, being merely a heap of leaves and grass on the
+ground, with a very slight depression. The eggs are numerous, about
+eleven or twelve, and olive brown in color. In total length, though they
+vary considerably, the full grown male is about three feet. The female
+is smaller in size than her mate, and her length a foot less.
+
+The Japan Pheasant is not a particularly interesting bird aside from his
+beauty, which is indeed brilliant, there being few of the species more
+attractive.
+
+
+
+
+THE FLICKER.
+
+
+A great variety of names does this bird possess. It is commonly known
+as the Golden Winged Woodpecker, Yellow-shafted Flicker, Yellow Hammer,
+and less often as High-hole or High-holer, Wake-up, etc. In suitable
+localities throughout the United States and the southern parts of
+Canada, the Flicker is a very common bird, and few species are more
+generally known. "It is one of the most sociable of our Woodpeckers,
+and is apparently always on good terms with its neighbors. It usually
+arrives in April, occasionally even in March, the males preceding the
+females a few days, and as soon as the latter appear one can hear their
+voices in all directions."
+
+The Flicker is an ardent wooer. It is an exceedingly interesting and
+amusing sight to see a couple of males paying their addresses to a coy
+and coquettish female; the apparent shyness of the suitors as they sidle
+up to her and as quickly retreat again, the shy glances given as one
+peeps from behind a limb watching the other--playing bo-peep--seem
+very human, and "I have seen," says an observer, "few more amusing
+performances than the courtship of a pair of these birds." The defeated
+suitor takes his rejection quite philosophically, and retreats in a
+dignified manner, probably to make other trials elsewhere. Few birds
+deserve our good will more than the Flicker. He is exceedingly useful,
+destroying multitudes of grubs, larvć, and worms. He loves berries and
+fruit but the damage he does to cultivated fruit is very trifling.
+
+The Flicker begins to build its nest about two weeks after the bird
+arrives from the south. It prefers open country, interspersed with
+groves and orchards, to nest in. Any old stump, or partly decayed limb
+of a tree, along the banks of a creek, beside a country road, or in
+an old orchard, will answer the purpose. Soft wood trees seem to be
+preferred, however. In the prairie states it occasionally selects
+strange nesting sites. It has been known to chisel through the weather
+boarding of a dwelling house, barns, and other buildings, and to nest
+in the hollow space between this and the cross beams; its nests have
+also been found in gate posts, in church towers, and in burrows of
+Kingfishers and bank swallows, in perpendicular banks of streams. One
+of the most peculiar sites of his selection is described by William A.
+Bryant as follows: "On a small hill, a quarter of a mile distant from
+any home, stood a hay stack which had been placed there two years
+previously. The owner, during the winter of 1889-90, had cut the stack
+through the middle and hauled away one portion, leaving the other
+standing, with the end smoothly trimmed. The following spring I noticed
+a pair of flickers about the stack showing signs of wanting to make it
+a fixed habitation. One morning a few days later I was amused at the
+efforts of one of the pair. It was clinging to the perpendicular end of
+the stack and throwing out clipped hay at a rate to defy competition.
+This work continued for a week, and in that time the pair had excavated
+a cavity twenty inches in depth. They remained in the vicinity until
+autumn. During the winter the remainder of the stack was removed. They
+returned the following spring, and, after a brief sojourn, departed for
+parts unknown."
+
+From five to nine eggs are generally laid. They are glossy white in
+color, and when fresh appear as if enameled.
+
+The young are able to leave the nest in about sixteen days; they crawl
+about on the limbs of the tree for a couple of days before they venture
+to fly, and return to the nest at night.
+
+[Illustration: FLICKER.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BOBOLINK.
+
+
+    "When Nature had made all her birds,
+    And had no cares to think on,
+    She gave a rippling laugh,
+    And out there flew a Bobolinkon."
+
+No American ornithologist omits mention of the Bobolink, and naturalists
+generally have described him under one of the many names by which he is
+known. In some States he is called the Rice Bird, in others Reed Bird,
+the Rice or Reed Bunting, while his more familiar title, throughout the
+greater part of America, is Bobolink, or Bobolinkum. In Jamaica, where
+he gets very fat during his winter stay, he is called the Butter Bird.
+His title of Rice Troopial is earned by the depredations which he
+annually makes upon the rice crops, though his food "is by no means
+restricted to that seed, but consists in a large degree of insects,
+grubs, and various wild grasses." A migratory bird, residing during the
+winter in the southern parts of America, he returns in vast multitudes
+northward in the early Spring. According to Wilson, their course of
+migration is as follows: "In April, or very early in May, the Rice
+Buntings, male and female, arrive within the southern boundaries of
+the United States, and are seen around the town of Savannah, Georgia,
+sometimes in separate parties of males and females, but more generally
+promiscuously. They remain there but a short time, and about the middle
+of May make their appearance in the lower part of Pennsylvania. While
+here the males are extremely gay and full of song, frequenting meadows,
+newly plowed fields, sides of creeks, rivers, and watery places, feeding
+on May flies and caterpillars, of which they destroy great quantities.
+In their passage, however, through Virginia at this season, they do
+great damage to the early wheat and barley while in their milky state.
+About the 20th of May they disappear on their way to the North. Nearly
+at the same time they arrive in the State of New York, spread over the
+whole of the New England States, as far as the river St. Lawrence, and
+from Lake Ontario to the sea. In all of these places they remain during
+the Summer, building their nests and rearing their young."
+
+The Bobolink's song is a peculiar one, varying greatly with the
+occasion. As he flys southward, his cry is a kind of clinking note; but
+the love song addressed to his mate is voluble and fervent. It has been
+said that if you should strike the keys of a pianoforte haphazard, the
+higher and the lower singly very quickly, you might have some idea of
+the Bobolink's notes. In the month of June he gradually changes his
+pretty, attractive dress and puts on one very like the females, which is
+of a plain rusty brown, and is not reassumed until the next season of
+nesting. The two parent birds in the plate represent the change from the
+dark plumage in which the bird is commonly known in the North as the
+Bobolink, to the dress of yellowish brown by which it is known
+throughout the South as the Rice or Reed Bird.
+
+His nest, small and a plain one, too, is built on the ground by his
+industrious little wife. The inside is warmly lined with soft fibers of
+whatever may be nearest at hand. Five pretty white eggs, spotted all
+over with brown are laid, and as soon
+
+    "As the little ones chip the shell
+    And five wide mouths are ready for food,
+    'Robert of Lincoln' bestirs him well,
+    Gathering seeds for this hungry brood."
+
+
+
+
+BOBOLINK.
+
+
+Other birds may like to travel alone, but when jolly Mr. Bobolink and
+his quiet little wife come from the South, where they have spent the
+winter, they come with a large party of friends. When South, they eat so
+much rice that the people call them Rice Birds. When they come North,
+they enjoy eating wheat, barley, oats and insects.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Bobolink build their simple little nest of grasses in some
+field. It is hard to find on the ground, for it looks just like dry
+grass. Mrs. Bobolink wears a dull dress, so she cannot be seen when she
+is sitting on the precious eggs. She does not sing a note while caring
+for the eggs. Why do you think that is?
+
+Mr. Bob-Linkum does not wear a sober dress, as you can see by his
+picture. He does not need to be hidden. He is just as jolly as he
+looks. Shall I tell you how he amuses his mate while she is sitting?
+He springs from the dew-wet grass with a sound like peals of merry
+laughter. He frolics from reed to post, singing as if his little heart
+would burst with joy.
+
+Don't you think Mr. and Mrs. Bobolink look happy in the picture? They
+have raised their family of five. Four of their children have gone to
+look for food; one of them--he must surely be the baby--would rather
+stay with his mamma and papa. Which one does he look like?
+
+Many birds are quiet at noon and in the afternoon. A flock of Bobolinks
+can be heard singing almost all day long. The song is full of high notes
+and low, soft notes and loud, all sung rapidly. It is as gay and bright
+as the birds themselves, who flit about playfully as they sing. You will
+feel like laughing as merrily as they sing when you hear it some day.
+
+[Illustration: BOBOLINKS.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BLUE BIRD.
+
+
+    "Drifting down the first warm wind
+      That thrills the earliest days of spring,
+    The Bluebird seeks our maple groves
+      And charms them into tasselling."
+
+    "He sings, and his is Nature's voice--
+      A gush of melody sincere
+    From that great fount of harmony
+      Which thaws and runs when Spring is here."
+
+    "Short is his song, but strangely sweet
+      To ears aweary of the low
+    Dull tramps of Winter's sullen feet,
+      Sandalled in ice and muffled in snow."
+
+       *       *       *
+
+    "Think, every morning, when the sun peeps through
+       The dim, leaf-latticed windows of the grove,
+     How jubilant the happy birds renew
+       Their old, melodious madrigals of love!
+     And when you think of this, remember, too,
+       'Tis always morning somewhere, and above
+     The awakening continents, from shore to shore,
+     Somewhere the birds are singing evermore.
+
+    "Think of your woods and orchards without birds!
+       Of empty nests that cling to boughs and beams
+     As in an idiot's brain remembered words
+       Hang empty 'mid the cobwebs of his dreams!
+     Will bleat of flocks or bellowing of herds
+       Make up for the lost music, when your teams
+     Drag home the stingy harvest, and no more
+     The feathered gleaners follow to your door?"
+                    FROM "THE BIRDS OF KILLINGSWORTH."
+
+
+
+
+THE CROW.
+
+
+Caw! Caw! Caw! little boys and girls. Caw! Caw! Caw! Just look at my
+coat of feathers. See how black and glossy it is. Do you wonder I am
+proud of it?
+
+Perhaps you think I look very solemn and wise, and not at all as if I
+cared to play games. I do, though; and one of the games I like best is
+hide-and-seek. I play it with the farmer in the spring. He hides, in the
+rich, brown earth, golden kernels of corn. Surely he does it because he
+knows I like it, for sometimes he puts up a stick all dressed like a man
+to show where the corn is hidden. Sometimes I push my bill down into the
+earth to find the corn, and at other times I wait until tiny green
+leaves begin to show above the ground, and then I get my breakfast
+without much trouble. I wonder if the farmer enjoys this game as much
+as I do. I help him, too, by eating worms and insects.
+
+During the spring and summer I live in my nest on the top of a very
+high tree. It is built of sticks and grasses and straw and string and
+anything else I can pick up. But in the fall, I and all my relations and
+friends live together in great roosts or rookeries. What good times we
+do have--hunting all day for food and talking all night. Wouldn't you
+like to be with us?
+
+The farmer who lives in the house over there went to the mill to-day
+with a load of corn.
+
+One of the ears dropped out of the wagon and it didn't take me long to
+find it. I have eaten all I can possibly hold and am wondering now what
+is the best thing to do. If you were in my place would you leave it here
+and not tell anybody and come back to-morrow and finish it? Or would you
+fly off and get Mrs. Crow and some of the children to come and finish
+it? I believe I'll fly and get them. Good-bye.
+
+Caw! Caw! Caw!
+
+[Illustration: COMMON CROW.]
+
+
+
+
+THE COMMON CROW.
+
+
+    "The crow doth sing as merry as the lark,
+     When neither is attended."
+
+Few birds have more interesting characteristics than the Common Crow,
+being, in many of his actions, very like the Raven, especially in his
+love for carrion. Like the Raven, he has been known to attack game,
+although his inferior size forces him to call to his assistance the aid
+of his fellows to cope with larger creatures. Rabbits and hares are
+frequently the prey of this bird which pounces on them as they steal
+abroad to feed. His food consists of reptiles, frogs, and lizards; he
+is a plunderer of other birds' nests. On the seashore he finds crabs,
+shrimps and inhabited shells, which he ingeniously cracks by flying with
+them to a great height and letting them fall upon a convenient rock.
+
+The crow is seen in single pairs or in little bands of four or five.
+In the autumn evenings, however, they assemble in considerable flocks
+before going to roost and make a wonderful chattering, as if comparing
+notes of the events of the day.
+
+The nest of the Crow is placed in some tree remote from habitations of
+other birds. Although large and very conspicuous at a distance, it is
+fixed upon one of the topmost branches quite out of reach of the hand of
+the adventurous urchin who longs to secure its contents. It is loosely
+made and saucer shaped. Sticks and softer substances are used to
+construct it, and it is lined with hair and fibrous roots. Very recently
+a thrifty and intelligent Crow built for itself a summer residence in an
+airy tree near Bombay, the material used being gold, silver, and steel
+spectacle frames, which the bird had stolen from an optician of that
+city. Eighty-four frames had been used for this purpose, and they were
+so ingeniously woven together that the nest was quite a work of art.
+The eggs are variable, or rather individual, in their markings, and
+even in their size. The Crow rarely uses the same nest twice, although
+he frequently repairs to the same locality from year to year. He is
+remarkable for his attachment to his mate and young, surpassing the
+Fawn and Turtle Dove in conjugal courtesy.
+
+The Somali Arabs bear a deadly hatred toward the Crow. The origin of
+their detestation is the superstition that during the flight of Mohammed
+from his enemies, he hid himself in a cave, where he was perceived by
+the Crow, at that time a bird of light plumage, who, when he saw the
+pursuers approaching the spot, perched above Mohammed's hiding place,
+and screamed, "Ghar! Ghar!" (cave! cave!) so as to indicate the place
+of concealment. His enemies, however, did not understand the bird, and
+passed on, and Mohammed, when he came out of the cave, clothed the Crow
+in perpetual black, and commanded him to cry "Ghar" as long as Crows
+should live.
+
+And he lives to a good old age. Instances are not rare where he has
+attained to half a century, without great loss of activity or failure of
+sight.
+
+At Red Bank, a few miles northeast of Cincinnati, on the Little Miami
+River, in the bottoms, large flocks of Crows congregate the year around.
+A few miles away, high upon Walnut Hills, is a Crow roost, and in the
+late afternoons the Crows, singly, in pairs, and in flocks, are seen on
+the wing, flying heavily, with full crops, on the way to the roost, from
+which they descend in the early morning, crying "Caw! Caw!" to the
+fields of the newly planted, growing, or matured corn, or corn stacks,
+as the season may provide.
+
+
+
+
+THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS.
+
+
+     "Everywhere the blue sky belongs to them and is their appointed
+     rest, and their native country, and their own natural home
+     which they enter unannounced as lords that are certainly
+     expected, and yet there is a silent joy at their arrival."
+
+The return of the birds to their real home in the North, where they
+build their nests and rear their young, is regarded by all genuine
+lovers of earth's messengers of gladness and gayety as one of the most
+interesting and poetical of annual occurrences. The naturalist, who
+notes the very day of each arrival, in order that he may verify former
+observation or add to his material gathered for a new work, does not
+necessarily anticipate with greater pleasure this event than do many
+whose lives are brightened by the coming of the friends of their youth,
+who alone of early companions do not change. First of all--and ever the
+same delightful warbler--the Bluebird, who, in 1895, did not appear at
+all in many localities, though here in considerable numbers last year,
+betrays himself. "Did he come down out of the heaven on that bright
+March morning when he told us so softly and plaintively that, if we
+pleased, spring had come?" Sometimes he is here a little earlier, and
+must keep his courage up until the cold snap is over and the snow is
+gone. Not long after the Bluebird, comes the Robin, sometimes in March,
+but in most of the northern states April is the month of his arrival.
+With his first utterance the spell of winter is broken, and the
+remembrance of it afar off. Then appears the Woodpecker in great
+variety, the Flicker usually arriving first. He is always somebody's old
+favorite, "announcing his arrival by a long, loud call, repeated from
+the dry branch of some tree, or a stake in the fence--a thoroughly
+melodious April sound."
+
+Few perhaps reflect upon the difficulties encountered by the birds
+themselves in their returning migrations. A voyager sometimes meets
+with many of our common birds far out at sea. Such wanderers, it is
+said, when suddenly overtaken by a fog, completely lose their sense of
+direction and become hopelessly lost. Humming birds, those delicately
+organized, glittering gems, are among the most common of the land
+species seen at sea.
+
+The present season has been quite favorable to the protection of birds.
+A very competent observer says that not all of the birds migrated this
+winter. He recently visited a farm less than an hour's ride from
+Chicago, where he found the old place, as he relates it, "chucked full
+of Robins, Blackbirds, and Woodpeckers," and others unknown to him.
+From this he inferred they would have been in Florida had indications
+predicted a severe winter. The trees of the south parks of Chicago,
+and those in suburban places, have had, darting through their branches
+during the months of December and January, nearly as many members of the
+Woodpecker tribe as were found there during the mating season in May
+last.
+
+Alas, that the Robin will visit us in diminished numbers in the
+approaching spring. He has not been so common for a year or two as
+he was formerly, for the reason that the Robins died by thousands of
+starvation, owing to the freezing of their food supply in Tennessee
+during the protracted cold weather in the winter of 1895. It is indeed
+sad that this good Samaritan among birds should be defenseless against
+the severity of Nature, the common mother of us all. Nevertheless the
+return of the birds, in myriads or in single pairs, will be welcomed
+more and more, year by year, as intelligent love and appreciation of
+them shall possess the popular mind.
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: BLACK TERN.
+ Mother and Young with Eggs.]
+
+THE BLACK TERN.
+
+
+"The Tern," says Mr. F. M. Woodruff, of the Chicago Academy of Sciences,
+"is the only representative of the long-winged swimmers which commonly
+nests with us on our inland fresh water marshes, arriving early in May
+in its brooding plumage of sooty black. The color changes in the autumn
+to white, and a number of the adult birds may be found, in the latter
+part of July, dotted and streaked here and there with white. On the
+first of June, 1891, I found a large colony of Black Terns nesting on
+Hyde Lake, Cook County, Illinois. As I approached the marsh a few birds
+were seen flying high in the air, and, as I neared the nesting site, the
+flying birds gave notes of alarm, and presently the air was filled with
+the graceful forms of this beautiful little bird. They circled about me,
+darting down to within a few feet of my head, constantly uttering a
+harsh, screaming cry. As the eggs are laid upon the bare ground, which
+the brownish and blackish markings so closely resemble, I was at first
+unable to find the nests, and discovered that the only way to locate
+them was to stand quietly and watch the birds. When the Tern is passing
+over the nest it checks its flight, and poises for a moment on quivering
+wings. By keeping my eyes on this spot I found the nest with very little
+trouble. The complement of eggs, when the bird has not been disturbed,
+is usually three. These are laid in a saucer shaped structure of dead
+vegetation, which is scraped together, from the surface of the wet,
+boggy ground. The bird figured in the plate had placed its nest on the
+edge of an old muskrat house, and my attention was attracted to it by
+the fact that upon the edge of the rat house, where it had climbed to
+rest itself, was the body of a young dabchick, or piedbilled grebe,
+scarcely two and one-half inches long, and not twenty-four hours out of
+the egg, a beautiful little ball of blackish down, striped with brown
+and white. From the latter part of July to the middle of August large
+flocks of Black Terns may be seen on the shores of our larger lakes on
+their annual migration southward."
+
+The Rev. P. B. Peabody, in alluding to his observation of the nests
+of the Tern, says: "Amid this floating sea of aquatic nests I saw an
+unusual number of well constructed homes of the Tern. Among these was
+one that I count a perfect nest. It rested on the perfectly flat
+foundation of a small decayed rat house, which was about fourteen
+inches in diameter. The nest, in form, is a truncated cone (barring
+the cavity), was about eight inches high and ten inches in diameter.
+The hollow--quite shallow--was about seven inches across, being thus
+unusually large. The whole was built up of bits of rushes, carried to
+the spot, these being quite uniform in length--about four inches." After
+daily observation of the Tern, during which time he added much to his
+knowledge of the bird, he pertinently asks: "Who shall say how many
+traits and habits yet unknown may be discovered through patient watching
+of community-breeding birds, by men enjoying more of leisure for such
+delightful studies than often falls to the lot of most of us who have
+bread and butter to earn and a tiny part of the world's work to
+finish?"
+
+
+
+
+THE MEADOW LARK.
+
+
+        "Not an inch of his body is free from delight.
+    Can he keep himself still if he would? Oh, not he!
+        The music stirs in him like wind through a tree."
+
+The well known Meadow or Old Field Lark is a constant resident south
+of latitude 39, and many winter farther north in favorite localities.
+Its geographical range is eastern North America, Canada to south Nova
+Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario to eastern Manitoba; west to Minnesota,
+Iowa, Missouri, eastern Kansas, the Indian Territory, and Texas; south
+to Florida and the Gulf coast, in all of which localities, except in the
+extreme north, it usually rears two or three broods in a season. In the
+Northern States it is only a summer resident, arriving in April and
+remaining until the latter part of October and occasionally November.
+Excepting during the breeding season, small flocks may often be seen
+roving about in search of good feeding grounds. Major Bendire says
+this is especially true in the fall of the year. At this time several
+families unite, and as many as two dozen may occasionally be flushed in
+a field, over which they scatter, roaming about independently of each
+other. When one takes wing all the others in the vicinity follow. It
+is a shy bird in the East, while in the middle states it is quite the
+reverse. Its flight is rather laborious, at least in starting, and is
+continued by a series of rapid movements of the wings, alternating with
+short distances of sailing, and is rarely protracted. On alighting,
+which is accompanied with a twitching of its tail, it usually settles on
+some fence rail, post, boulder, weedstock, or on a hillock in a meadow
+from which it can get a good view of the surroundings, and but rarely
+on a limb of a tree. Its favorite resorts are meadows, fallow fields,
+pastures, and clearings, but in some sections, as in northern Florida,
+for instance, it also frequents the low, open pine woods and nests
+there.
+
+The song of the Meadow Lark is not much varied, but its clear, whistling
+notes, so frequently heard in the early spring, are melodious and
+pleasing to the ear. It is decidedly the farmers' friend, feeding, as
+it does, on noxious insects, caterpillars, moths, grasshoppers, spiders,
+worms and the like, and eating but little grain. The lark spends the
+greater part of its time on the ground, procuring all its food there.
+It is seldom found alone, and it is said remains paired for life.
+
+Nesting begins in the early part of May and lasts through June. Both
+sexes assist in building the nest, which is always placed on the ground,
+either in a natural depression, or in a little hollow scratched out by
+the birds, alongside a bunch of grass or weeds. The nest itself is lined
+with dry grass, stubble, and sometimes pine needles. Most nests are
+placed in level meadows. The eggs and young are frequently destroyed by
+vermin, for the meadow lark has many enemies. The eggs vary from three
+to seven, five being the most common, and both sexes assist in the
+hatching, which requires about fifteen or sixteen days. The young leave
+the nest before they are able to fly--hiding at the slightest sign of
+danger. The Meadow Lark does not migrate beyond the United States. It is
+a native bird, and is only accidental in England. The eggs are spotted,
+blotched, and speckled with shades of brown, purple and lavender. A
+curious incident is told of a Meadow Lark trying to alight on the top
+mast of a schooner several miles at sea. It was evidently very tired but
+would not venture near the deck.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: MEADOW LARK.]
+
+THE MEADOW LARK.
+
+
+I told the man who wanted my picture that he could take it if he would
+show my nest and eggs. Do you blame me for saying so? Don't you think it
+makes a better picture than if I stood alone?
+
+Mr. Lark is away getting me some breakfast, or he could be in the
+picture, too. After a few days I shall have some little baby birds, and
+then won't we be happy.
+
+Boys and girls who live in the country know us pretty well. When they
+drive the cows out to pasture, or when they go out to gather wild
+flowers, we sit on the fences by the roadside and make them glad with
+our merry song.
+
+Those of you who live in the city cannot see us unless you come out into
+the country.
+
+It isn't very often that we can find such a pretty place for a nest as
+we have here. Most of the time we build our nest under the grass and
+cover it over, and build a little tunnel leading to it. This year we
+made up our minds not to be afraid.
+
+The people living in the houses over there do not bother us at all and
+we are so happy.
+
+You never saw baby larks, did you? Well, they are queer little fellows,
+with hardly any feathers on them.
+
+Last summer we had five little birdies to feed, and it kept us busy from
+morning till night. This year we only expect three, and Mr. Lark says he
+will do all the work. He knows a field that is being plowed, where he
+can get nice, large worms.
+
+Hark! that is he singing. He will be surprised when he comes back and
+finds me off the nest. He is so afraid that I will let the eggs get
+cold, but I won't. There he comes, now.
+
+
+
+
+THE LONG-EARED OWL.
+
+
+The name of the Long-Eared Owl is derived from the great length of his
+"ears" or feather-tufts, which are placed upon the head, and erect
+themselves whenever the bird is interested or excited. It is the "black
+sheep" of the owl family, the majority of owls being genuine friends of
+the agriculturist, catching for his larder so many of the small animals
+that prey upon his crops. In America he is called the Great Horned
+Owl--in Europe the Golden Owl.
+
+Nesting time with the owl begins in February, and continues through
+March and April. The clown-like antics of both sexes of this bird while
+under the tender influence of the nesting season tend somewhat to impair
+their reputation for dignity and wise demeanor. They usually have a
+simple nest in a hollow tree, but which seems seldom to be built by the
+bird itself, as it prefers to take the deserted nest of some other bird,
+and to fit up the premises for its own use. They repair slightly from
+year to year the same nest. The eggs are white, and generally four or
+five in number. While the young are still in the nest, the parent birds
+display a singular diligence in collecting food for them.
+
+If you should happen to know of an owl's nest, stand near it some
+evening when the old birds are rearing their young. Keep quiet and
+motionless, and notice how frequently the old birds feed them. Every ten
+minutes or so the soft flap, flap of their wings will be heard, the male
+and female alternately, and you will obtain a brief glimpse of them
+through the gloom as they enter the nesting place. They remain inside
+but a short time, sharing the food equally amongst their brood, and
+then are off again to hunt for more. All night, were you to have the
+inclination to observe them, you would find they pass to and fro with
+food, only ceasing their labors at dawn. The young, as soon as they
+reach maturity, are abandoned by their parents; they quit the nest and
+seek out haunts elsewhere, while the old birds rear another, and not
+infrequently two more broods, during the remainder of the season.
+
+The habits of the Long-Eared Owl are nocturnal. He is seldom seen in the
+light of day, and is greatly disturbed if he chance to issue from his
+concealment while the sun is above the horizon. The facial disk is very
+conspicuous in this species. It is said that the use of this circle is
+to collect the rays of light, and throw them upon the eye. The flight
+of the owl is softened by means of especially shaped, recurved
+feather-tips, so that he may noiselessly steal upon his prey, and
+the ear is also so shaped as to gather sounds from below.
+
+The Long-Eared Owl is hardly tameable. The writer of this paragraph, when
+a boy, was the possessor, for more than a year, of a very fine specimen.
+We called him Judge. He was a monster, and of perfect plumage. Although
+he seemed to have some attachment to the children of the family who fed
+him, he would not permit himself to be handled by them or by any one in
+the slightest. Most of his time he spent in his cage, an immense affair,
+in which he was very comfortable. Occasionally he had a day in the barn
+with the rats and mice.
+
+The owl is of great usefulness to gardener, agriculturist, and landowner
+alike, for there is not another bird of prey which is so great a
+destroyer of the enemies of vegetation.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: GREAT HORNED OWL.]
+
+THE OWL.
+
+
+              We know not alway
+              Who are kings by day,
+    But the king of the night is the bold brown owl!
+
+I wonder why the folks put my picture last in the book. It can't be
+because they don't like me, for I'm sure I never bother them. I don't
+eat the farmer's corn like the crow, and no one ever saw me quarrel with
+other birds.
+
+Maybe it is because I can't sing. Well, there are lots of good people
+that can't sing, and so there are lots of good birds that can't sing.
+
+Did you ever see any other bird sit up as straight as I do? I couldn't
+sit up so straight if I hadn't such long, sharp claws to hold on with.
+
+My home is in the woods. Here we owls build our nests--most always in
+hollow trees.
+
+During the day I stay in the nest or sit on a limb. I don't like day
+time for the light hurts my eyes, but when it begins to grow dark then
+I like to stir around. All night long I am wide awake and fly about
+getting food for my little hungry ones. They sleep most of the day and
+it keeps me busy nearly all night to find them enough to eat.
+
+I just finished my night's work when the man came to take my picture. It
+was getting light and I told him to go to a large stump on the edge of
+the woods and I would sit for my picture. So here I am. Don't you think
+I look wise? How do you like my large eyes? If I could smile at you I
+would, but my face always looks sober. I have a great many cousins and
+if you really like my picture, I'll have some of them talk to you next
+month. I don't think any of them have such pretty feathers though. Just
+see if they have when they come.
+
+Well, I must fly back to my perch in the old elm tree. Good-bye.
+
+
+
+
+THE OWL.
+
+
+    In the hollow tree, in the old gray tower,
+      The spectral owl doth dwell;
+    Dull, hated, despised in the sunshine hour,
+      But at dusk he's abroad and well!
+    Not a bird of the forest e'er mates with him;
+      All mock him outright by day;
+    But at night, when the woods grow still and dim,
+      The boldest will shrink away!
+
+          O! when the night falls, and roosts the fowl,
+          Then, then, is the reign of the Horned Owl!
+
+    And the owl hath a bride, who is fond and bold,
+      And loveth the wood's deep gloom;
+    And, with eyes like the shine of the moonstone cold,
+      She awaiteth her ghastly groom.
+    Not a feather she moves, not a carol she sings,
+      As she waits in her tree so still,
+    But when her heart heareth his flapping wings,
+      She hoots out her welcome shrill!
+
+          O! when the moon shines, and dogs do howl,
+          Then, then, is the joy of the Horned Owl!
+
+    Mourn not for the owl, nor his gloomy plight!
+      The owl hath his share of good--
+    If a prisoner he be in the broad daylight,
+      He is lord in the dark greenwood!
+    Nor lonely the bird, nor his ghastly mate,
+      They are each unto each a pride;
+    Thrice fonder, perhaps, since a strange, dark fate
+      Hath rent them from all beside!
+
+          So, when the night falls, and dogs do howl,
+          Sing, Ho! for the reign of the Horned Owl!
+              We know not alway
+              Who are kings by day,
+    But the King of the Night is the bold Brown Owl!
+
+                     BRYAN W. PROCTER
+                           (Barry Cornwall.)
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+    THE
+     Racycle
+        NARROW TREAD
+
+    THE VERDICT IS IN
+
+     [Illustration]
+
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to advertisers.
+
+
+
+
+TESTIMONIALS.
+
+
+                           FRANKFORT, KY., February 3, 1897.
+ W. J. BLACK, Vice-President,
+                     Chicago, Ill.
+
+Dear Sir: I have a copy of your magazine entitled "Birds," and beg to
+say that I consider it one of the finest things on the subject that I
+have ever seen, and shall be pleased to recommend it to county and city
+superintendents of the state.
+
+                            Very respectfully,
+                                    W. J. DAVIDSON,
+                   State Superintendent Public Instruction.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                      SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., January 27, 1897.
+ W. J. BLACK, ESQ.,
+           Chicago, Ill.
+
+Dear Sir: I am very much obliged for the copy of "Birds" that has just
+come to hand. It should be in the hands of every primary and grammar
+teacher. I send herewith copy of "List of San Francisco Teachers."
+
+                            Very respectfully,
+                                       M. BABCOCK.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                            LINCOLN, NEB., February 9, 1897.
+ W. J. BLACK,
+     Chicago, Ill.
+
+Dear Sir: The first number of your magazine, "Birds," is upon my
+desk. I am highly pleased with it. It will prove a very serviceable
+publication--one that strikes out along the right lines. For the purpose
+intended, it has, in my opinion, no equal. It is clear, concise, and
+admirably illustrated.
+
+                            Very respectfully,
+                                      W. R. JACKSON,
+                   State Superintendent Public Instruction.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                         NORTH LIMA, OHIO, February 1, 1897.
+ MR. W. E. WATT,
+
+Dear Sir: Sample copy of "Birds" received. All of the family delighted
+with it. We wish it unbounded success. It will be an excellent
+supplement to "In Birdland" in the Ohio Teachers' Reading Circle, and I
+venture Ohio will be to the front with a good subscription list. I
+enclose list of teachers.
+
+                            Very truly,
+                               C. M. L. ALTDOERFFER,
+                                  Township Superintendent.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                                MILWAUKEE, January 30, 1897.
+ NATURE STUDY PUBLISHING COMPANY,
+             227 Dearborn Street, Chicago.
+
+Gentlemen: I acknowledge with pleasure the receipt of your publication,
+"Birds," with accompanying circulars. I consider it the best on the
+subject in existence. I have submitted the circulars and publication to
+my teachers, who have nothing to say but praise in behalf of the
+monthly.
+
+                            JULIUS TORNEY,
+             Principal 2nd Dist. Primary School, Milwaukee, Wis.
+
+
+
+
+OUR PREMIUM
+
+
+ A picture of wonderful beauty of the
+ Golden Pheasant almost life size in
+ a natural scene, plate 12x18 inches,
+ on card 19x25 inches, is given as a
+ premium to yearly subscribers. Our
+ price on this picture in Art Stores
+ is $3.50.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds Illustrated by Color Photograph
+[March 1897], by Various
+
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+<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
+    "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
+
+<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
+  <head>
+    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" />
+    <title>
+      The Project Gutenberg eBook of Birds Illustrated by Color Photography Vol. One, No. 3, March 1897 by Birds (Periodical).
+    </title>
+
+    <style type="text/css">
+
+/*<![CDATA[*/
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+         clear: both;
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+
+
+    hr { width: 33%;
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+         margin-right: auto;
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+       }
+
+    body{margin-left: 10%;
+         margin-right: 10%;
+        }
+
+    .box { width: 700px;
+           margin: 0 auto;
+           text-align: center;
+           padding: 1em;
+           border-style: none; }
+
+    .pagenum  { visibility: hidden;
+                position: absolute;
+                left: 92%;
+                font-size: smaller;
+                text-align: right;
+              } /* page numbers */
+
+    .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;}
+
+    .center   {text-align: center;}
+    .smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
+     a        {text-decoration: none; }
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+    .caption  {font-weight: bold; font-variant: small-caps;}
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+<body>
+
+
+<pre>
+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds Illustrated by Color Photograph
+[March 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 Photograph [March 1897]
+       A Monthly Serial designed to Promote Knowledge of Bird-Life
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: September 26, 2009 [EBook #30103]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS ILLUSTRATED [MARCH 1897] ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper and Anne Storer,
+some images courtesy of The Internet Archive and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="box">
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 362px;">
+<img src="images/img_cover.jpg" width="362" height="600" alt="cover" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img1a.png" width="600" height="248" alt="intro" title="" />
+</div>
+<p style="margin-left: 5em;">W. E. Watt, President &amp;c.,</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 12em;">Fisher Building,</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">277 Dearborn St., Chicago, Ill.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 5em;">My dear Sir:</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 5em; margin-right: 2em; line-height: 1.5em;">Please accept my thanks for a copy of the first
+publication of &ldquo;Birds.&rdquo; Please enter my name as a regular
+subscriber. It is one of the most beautiful and interesting
+publications yet attempted in this direction. It has other
+attractions in addition to its beauty, and it must win its
+way to popular favor.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 5em; margin-right: 2em;">Wishing the handsome little magazine abundant prosperity,
+I remain</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 18em;">Yours very respectfully,</p>
+<div class="figright" style="width: 400px;">
+<img src="images/img1b.png" width="400" height="132" alt="signature" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 370px;">
+<img src="images/img_002.jpg" width="370" height="600" alt="advertisement" title="" />
+</div>
+
+<p class="center">Please mention &ldquo;BIRDS&rdquo; when you write to advertisers.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 436px;">
+<img src="images/img3.png" width="436" height="650" alt="advertisement" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 383px;">
+<img src="images/img_4.jpg" width="383" height="600" alt="advertisement" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span></p>
+<h2>LITTLE BOY BLUE.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Boys and girls, don&#8217;t you think
+that is a pretty name? I came
+from the warm south, where I
+went last winter, to tell you that
+Springtime is nearly here.</p>
+
+<p>When I sing, the buds and
+flowers and grass all begin to
+whisper to one another, &ldquo;Springtime
+is coming for we heard the
+Bluebird say so,&rdquo; and then they
+peep out to see the warm sunshine.
+I perch beside them and
+tell them of my long journey
+from the south and how I knew
+just when to tell them to come
+out of their warm winter cradles.
+I am of the same blue color as
+the violet that shows her pretty
+face when I sing, &ldquo;Summer is
+coming, and Springtime is here.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>I do not like the cities for
+they are black and noisy and
+full of those troublesome birds
+called English Sparrows. I
+take my pretty mate and out in
+the beautiful country we find a
+home. We build a nest of
+twigs, grass and hair, in a box
+that the farmer puts up for us
+near his barn.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes we build in a hole
+in some old tree and soon there
+are tiny eggs in the nest. I
+sing to my mate and to the good
+people who own the barn. I
+heard the farmer say one day,
+&ldquo;Isn&#8217;t it nice to hear the Bluebird
+sing? He must be very
+happy.&rdquo; And I am, too, for by
+this time there are four or five
+little ones in the nest.</p>
+
+<p>Little Bluebirds are like little
+boys&mdash;they are always hungry.
+We work hard to find enough
+for them to eat. We feed them
+nice fat worms and bugs, and
+when their little wings are
+strong enough, we teach them
+how to fly. Soon they are large
+enough to hunt their own food,
+and can take care of themselves.</p>
+
+<p>The summer passes, and when
+we feel the breath of winter we
+go south again, for we do not
+like the cold.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 15%;' />
+
+<p class="center"><strong>THE BLUE BIRD.</strong></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+I know the song that the Bluebird is singing<br />
+Out in the apple tree, where he is swinging.<br />
+Brave little fellow! the skies may be dreary,<br />
+Nothing cares he while his heart is so cheery.<br />
+Hark! how the music leaps out from his throat,<br />
+Hark! was there ever so merry a note?</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+Listen a while, and you&#8217;ll hear what he&#8217;s saying,<br />
+Up in the apple tree swinging and swaying.<br />
+&ldquo;Dear little blossoms down under the snow,<br />
+You must be weary of winter, I know;<br />
+Hark! while I sing you a message of cheer,<br />
+Summer is coming, and springtime is here!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+&ldquo;Dear little snow-drop! I pray you arise;<br />
+Bright yellow crocus! come open your eyes;<br />
+Sweet little violets, hid from the cold,<br />
+Put on our mantles of purple and gold;<br />
+Daffodils! daffodils! say, do you hear,<br />
+Summer is coming! and springtime is here!&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 436px;">
+<img src="images/img_019.jpg" width="436" height="600" alt="Blue Bird" title="" />
+<span class="caption">blue bird.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE BLUE BIRD.</h2>
+
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">
+Winged lute that we call a blue bird,<br />
+You blend in a silver strain<br />
+The sound of the laughing waters,<br />
+The patter of spring&#8217;s sweet rain,<br />
+The voice of the wind, the sunshine,<br />
+And fragrance of blossoming things,<br />
+Ah! you are a poem of April<br />
+That God endowed with wings.<span style="margin-left: 2em;">E. E. R.</span>
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 15%;' />
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 100px;">
+<img src="images/imgl.png" width="100" height="80" alt="L" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>IKE a bit of sky this little
+harbinger of spring appears,
+as we see him and his mate
+househunting in early
+March. Oftentimes he
+makes his appearance as early as the
+middle of February, when his attractive
+note is heard long before he himself
+is seen. He is one of the last to
+leave us, and although the month of
+November is usually chosen by him as
+the fitting time for departure to a
+milder clime, his plaintive note is
+quite commonly heard on pleasant
+days throughout the winter season,
+and a few of the braver and hardier
+ones never entirely desert us. The
+Robin and the Blue Bird are tenderly
+associated in the memories of most
+persons whose childhood was passed
+on a farm or in the country village.
+Before the advent of the English
+Sparrow, the Blue Bird was sure to be
+the first to occupy and the last to defend
+the little box prepared for his return,
+appearing in his blue jacket
+somewhat in advance of the plainly
+habited female, who on her arrival
+quite often found a habitation selected
+and ready for her acceptance, should
+he find favor in her sight. And then
+he becomes a most devoted husband
+and father, sitting by the nest
+and warbling with earnest affection
+his exquisite tune, and occasionally flying
+away in search of food for his mate
+and nestlings.</p>
+
+<p>The Blue Bird rears two broods in
+the season, and, should the weather be
+mild, even three. His nest contains
+three eggs.</p>
+
+<p>In the spring and summer when he
+is happy and gay, his song is extremely
+soft and agreeable, while it
+grows very mournful and plaintive as
+cold weather approaches. He is mild
+of temper, and a peaceable and harmless
+neighbor, setting a fine example
+of amiability to his feathered friends.
+In the early spring, however, he wages
+war against robins, wrens, swallows,
+and other birds whose habitations are
+of a kind to take his fancy. A celebrated
+naturalist says: &ldquo;This bird
+seems incapable of uttering a harsh
+note, or of doing a spiteful, ill-tempered
+thing.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Nearly everybody has his anecdote
+to tell of the Blue Bird&#8217;s courage, but
+the author of &ldquo;Wake Robin&rdquo; tells
+his exquisitely thus: &ldquo;A few years
+ago I put up a little bird house in the
+back end of my garden for the accommodation
+of the wrens, and every
+season a pair have taken up their
+abode there. One spring a pair of
+Blue Birds looked into the tenement,
+and lingered about several days, leading
+me to hope that they would conclude
+to occupy it. But they finally
+went away. Late in the season the
+wrens appeared, and after a little coquetting,
+were regularly installed in
+their old quarters, and were as happy
+as only wrens can be. But before
+their honeymoon was over, the Blue
+Birds returned. I knew something
+was wrong before I was up in the
+morning. Instead of that voluble and
+gushing song outside the window, I
+heard the wrens scolding and crying
+out at a fearful rate, and on going out
+saw the Blue Birds in possession of
+the box. The poor wrens were in
+despair and were forced to look for
+other quarters.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE SWALLOW.</h2>
+
+
+<p style="margin-left: 16em;">
+&ldquo;Come, summer visitant, attach<br />
+  <span style="margin-left: 1em;">To my reedroof thy nest of clay,</span><br />
+And let my ear thy music catch,<br />
+Low twitting underneath the thatch,<br />
+  <span style="margin-left: 1em;">At the gray dawn of day.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 82px;">
+<img src="images/imgs.png" width="82" height="80" alt="S" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>URE harbingers of spring
+are the Swallows. They
+are very common birds,
+and frequent, as a rule,
+the cultivated lands in the
+neighborhood of water, showing a decided
+preference for the habitations of
+man. &ldquo;How gracefully the swallows
+fly! See them coursing over the
+daisy-bespangled grass fields; now
+they skim just over the blades of grass,
+and then with a rapid stroke of their
+long wings mount into the air and
+come hovering above your head, displaying
+their rich white and chestnut
+plumage to perfection. Now they
+chase each other for very joyfulness,
+uttering their sharp twittering notes;
+then they hover with expanded wings
+like miniature Kestrels, or dart downwards
+with the velocity of the sparrowhawk;
+anon they flit rapidly over
+the neighboring pool, occasionally
+dipping themselves in its calm and
+placid waters, and leaving a long train
+of rings marking their varied course.
+How easily they turn, or glide over
+the surrounding hedges, never resting,
+never weary, and defying the eye to
+trace them in the infinite turnings and
+twistings of their rapid shooting flight.
+You frequently see them glide rapidly
+near the ground, and then with a sidelong
+motion mount aloft, to dart
+downwards like an animated meteor,
+their plumage glowing in the light
+with metallic splendor, and the row of
+white spots on the tail contrasting
+beautifully with the darker plumage.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Swallow is considered a life-paired
+species, and returns to its nesting
+site of the previous season, building
+a new nest close to the old one.
+His nest is found in barns and outhouses,
+upon the beams of wood
+which support the roof, or in any
+place which assures protection to the
+young birds. It is cup-shaped and
+artfully moulded of bits of mud.
+Grass and feathers are used for the
+lining. &ldquo;The nest completed, five or
+six eggs are deposited. They are of a
+pure white color, with deep rich
+brown blotches and spots, notably at
+the larger end, round which they
+often form a zone or belt.&rdquo; The sitting
+bird is fed by her mate.</p>
+
+<p>The young Swallow is distinguished
+from the mature birds by the
+absence of the elongated tail feathers,
+which are a mark of maturity alone.
+His food is composed entirely of insects.
+Swallows are on the wing fully
+sixteen hours, and the greater part of
+the time making terrible havoc
+amongst the millions of insects which
+infest the air. It is said that when
+the Swallow is seen flying high in the
+heavens, it is a never failing indication
+of fine weather.</p>
+
+<p>A pair of Swallows on arriving at
+their nesting place of the preceding
+Summer found their nest occupied by
+a Sparrow, who kept the poor birds at
+a distance by pecking at them with
+his strong beak whenever they attempted
+to dislodge him. Wearied
+and hopeless of regaining possession
+of their property, they at last hit upon
+a plan which effectually punished the
+intruder. One morning they appeared
+with a few more Swallows&mdash;their
+mouths filled with a supply of tempered
+clay&mdash;and, by their joint efforts
+in a short time actually plastered up
+the entrance to the hole, thus barring
+the Sparrow from the home which he
+had stolen from the Swallows.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img_017.jpg" width="600" height="444" alt="barn swallow" title="" />
+<span class="caption">barn swallow.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE BROWN THRUSH.</h2>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 17em;">
+&ldquo;However the world goes ill,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The Thrushes still sing in it.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 86px;">
+<img src="images/imgt.png" width="86" height="80" alt="T" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>HE Mocking-bird of the North,
+as the Brown Thrush has
+been called, arrives in the
+Eastern and Middle States
+about the 10th of May, at which
+season he may be seen, perched on the
+highest twig of a hedge, or on the
+topmost branch of a tree, singing his
+loud and welcome song, that may be
+heard a distance of half a mile. The
+favorite haunt of the Brown Thrush,
+however, is amongst the bright and
+glossy foliage of the evergreens.
+&ldquo;There they delight to hide, although
+not so shy and retiring as the Blackbird;
+there they build their nests in
+greatest numbers, amongst the perennial
+foliage, and there they draw at
+nightfall to repose in warmth and
+safety.&rdquo; The Brown Thrasher sings
+chiefly just after sunrise and before
+sunset, but may be heard singing at
+intervals during the day. His food
+consists of wild fruits, such as blackberries
+and raspberries, snails, worms,
+slugs and grubs. He also obtains
+much of his food amongst the withered
+leaves and marshy places of the
+woods and shrubberies which he
+frequents. Few birds possess a more
+varied melody. His notes are almost
+endless in variety, each note seemingly
+uttered at the caprice of the bird,
+without any perceptible approach to
+order.</p>
+
+<p>The site of the Thrush&#8217;s nest is a
+varied one, in the hedgerows, under a
+fallen tree or fence-rail; far up in the
+branches of stately trees, or amongst
+the ivy growing up their trunks. The
+nest is composed of the small dead
+twigs of trees, lined with the fine
+fibers of roots. From three to five
+eggs are deposited, and are hatched
+in about twelve days. They have a
+greenish background, thickly spotted
+with light brown, giving the whole
+egg a brownish appearance.</p>
+
+<p>The Brown Thrush leaves the Eastern
+and Middle States, on his migration
+South, late in September, remaining
+until the following May.</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 15%;' />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p>
+<p class="center"><strong>THE THRUSH&#8217;S NEST.</strong></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 13em;">
+&ldquo;Within a thick and spreading hawthorn bush<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">That overhung a molehill, large and round,</span><br />
+I heard from morn to morn a merry thrush<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Sing hymns of rapture while I drank the sound</span><br />
+With joy&mdash;and oft an unintruding guest,<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">I watched her secret toils from day to day;</span><br />
+How true she warped the moss to form her nest,<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">And modeled it within with wood and clay.</span><br />
+And by and by, with heath-bells gilt with dew,<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">There lay her shining eggs as bright as flowers,</span><br />
+Ink-spotted over, shells of green and blue:<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">And there I witnessed, in the summer hours,</span><br />
+A brood of nature&#8217;s minstrels chirp and fly,<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Glad as the sunshine and the laughing sky.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>THE BROWN THRUSH.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Dear Readers:</p>
+
+<p>My cousin Robin Redbreast
+told me that he wrote you a
+letter last month and sent it
+with his picture. How did you
+like it? He is a pretty bird&mdash;Cousin
+Robin&mdash;and everybody
+likes him. But I must tell you
+something of myself.</p>
+
+<p>Folks call me by different
+names&mdash;some of them nicknames,
+too.</p>
+
+<p>The cutest one of all is Brown
+Thrasher. I wonder if you
+know why they call me Thrasher.
+If you don&#8217;t, ask some one. It
+is really funny.</p>
+
+<p>Some people think Cousin
+Robin is the sweetest singer of
+our family, but a great many
+like my song just as well.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the morning I sing
+among the bushes, but later in
+the day you will always find me
+in the very top of a tree and it
+is then I sing my best.</p>
+
+<p>Do you know what I say in
+my song? Well, if I am near a
+farmer while he is planting, I
+say: &ldquo;Drop it, drop it&mdash;cover it
+up, cover it up&mdash;pull it up, pull
+it up, pull it up.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>One thing I very seldom do
+and that is, sing when near my
+nest. Maybe you can tell why.
+I&#8217;m not very far from my nest
+now. I just came down to the
+stream to get a drink and am
+watching that boy on the other
+side of the stream. Do you see
+him?</p>
+
+<p>One dear lady who loves birds
+has said some very nice things
+about me in a book called &ldquo;Bird
+Ways.&rdquo; Another lady has
+written a beautiful poem about
+my singing. Ask your mamma or
+teacher the names of these
+ladies. Here is the poem:</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 12em;">
+There&#8217;s a merry brown thrush sitting up in a tree.<br />
+He is singing to me! He is singing to me!<br />
+And what does he say&mdash;little girl, little boy?<br />
+&ldquo;Oh, the world&#8217;s running over with joy!<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Hush! Look! In my tree,</span><br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">I am as happy as happy can be.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 12em;">
+And the brown thrush keeps singing, &ldquo;A nest, do you see,<br />
+And five eggs, hid by me in the big cherry tree?<br />
+Don&#8217;t meddle, don&#8217;t touch&mdash;little girl, little boy&mdash;<br />
+Or the world will lose some of its joy!<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Now I am glad! now I am free!</span><br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">And I always shall be,</span><br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">If you never bring sorrow to me.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 12em;">
+So the merry brown thrush sings away in the tree<br />
+To you and to me&mdash;to you and to me;<br />
+And he sings all the day&mdash;little girl, little boy&mdash;<br />
+&ldquo;Oh, the world&#8217;s running over with joy!<br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">But long it won&#8217;t be,</span><br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Don&#8217;t you know? don&#8217;t you see?</span><br />
+    <span style="margin-left: 2em;">Unless we&#8217;re good as good can be.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img_025.jpg" width="600" height="443" alt="brown thrasher" title="" />
+<span class="caption">brown thrasher.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img_027.jpg" width="600" height="445" alt="japan pheasant" title="" />
+<span class="caption">japan pheasant.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE JAPAN PHEASANT.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 64px;">
+<img src="images/imgo.png" width="64" height="80" alt="O" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>RIGINALLY the Pheasant
+was an inhabitant of Asia
+Minor but has been by degrees
+introduced into many
+countries, where its beauty
+of form, plumage, and the delicacy of
+its flesh made it a welcome visitor.
+The Japan Pheasant is a very beautiful
+species, about which little is
+known in its wild state, but in captivity
+it is pugnacious. It requires
+much shelter and plenty of food, and
+the breed is to some degree artificially
+kept up by the hatching of eggs under
+domestic hens and feeding them
+in the coop like ordinary chickens,
+until they are old and strong enough
+to get their own living.</p>
+
+<p>The food of this bird is extremely
+varied. When young it is generally
+fed on ants&#8217; eggs, maggots,
+grits, and similar food, but when it is
+full grown it is possessed of an accommodating
+appetite and will eat many
+kinds of seeds, roots, and leaves. It
+will also eat beans, peas, acorns, berries,
+and has even been known to eat
+the ivy leaf, as well as the berry.</p>
+
+<p>This Pheasant loves the ground,
+runs with great speed, and always prefers
+to trust to its legs rather than to its
+wings. It is crafty, and when alarmed
+it slips quickly out of sight behind a
+bush or through a hedge, and then
+runs away with astonishing rapidity,
+always remaining under cover until it
+reaches some spot where it deems itself
+safe. The male is not domestic,
+passing an independent life during
+a part of the year and associating
+with others of its own sex during the
+rest of the season.</p>
+
+<p>The nest is very rude, being merely
+a heap of leaves and grass on the
+ground, with a very slight depression.
+The eggs are numerous, about eleven
+or twelve, and olive brown in color. In
+total length, though they vary considerably,
+the full grown male is about
+three feet. The female is smaller in
+size than her mate, and her length
+a foot less.</p>
+
+<p>The Japan Pheasant is not a particularly
+interesting bird aside from his
+beauty, which is indeed brilliant, there
+being few of the species more attractive.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE FLICKER.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 93px;">
+<img src="images/imga1.png" width="93" height="80" alt="A" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>GREAT variety of names
+does this bird possess. It
+is commonly known as the
+Golden Winged Woodpecker,
+Yellow-shafted Flicker, Yellow
+Hammer, and less often as High-hole
+or High-holer, Wake-up, etc. In suitable
+localities throughout the United
+States and the southern parts of Canada,
+the Flicker is a very common
+bird, and few species are more generally
+known. &ldquo;It is one of the most
+sociable of our Woodpeckers, and is
+apparently always on good terms with
+its neighbors. It usually arrives in
+April, occasionally even in March, the
+males preceding the females a few
+days, and as soon as the latter appear
+one can hear their voices in all directions.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Flicker is an ardent wooer. It
+is an exceedingly interesting and
+amusing sight to see a couple of males
+paying their addresses to a coy and
+coquettish female; the apparent shyness
+of the suitors as they sidle up to
+her and as quickly retreat again, the
+shy glances given as one peeps from
+behind a limb watching the other&mdash;playing
+bo-peep&mdash;seem very human,
+and &ldquo;I have seen,&rdquo; says an observer,
+&ldquo;few more amusing performances than
+the courtship of a pair of these birds.&rdquo;
+The defeated suitor takes his rejection
+quite philosophically, and retreats in a
+dignified manner, probably to make
+other trials elsewhere. Few birds
+deserve our good will more than the
+Flicker. He is exceedingly useful,
+destroying multitudes of grubs, larv&aelig;,
+and worms. He loves berries and
+fruit but the damage he does to cultivated
+fruit is very trifling.</p>
+
+<p>The Flicker begins to build its nest
+about two weeks after the bird arrives
+from the south. It prefers open country,
+interspersed with groves and orchards,
+to nest in. Any old stump, or
+partly decayed limb of a tree, along
+the banks of a creek, beside a country
+road, or in an old orchard, will answer
+the purpose. Soft wood trees seem to
+be preferred, however. In the prairie
+states it occasionally selects strange
+nesting sites. It has been known to
+chisel through the weather boarding of
+a dwelling house, barns, and other buildings,
+and to nest in the hollow space
+between this and the cross beams; its
+nests have also been found in gate
+posts, in church towers, and in burrows
+of Kingfishers and bank swallows, in
+perpendicular banks of streams. One
+of the most peculiar sites of his selection
+is described by William A. Bryant
+as follows: &ldquo;On a small hill, a
+quarter of a mile distant from any
+home, stood a hay stack which had
+been placed there two years previously.
+The owner, during the winter of
+1889-90, had cut the stack through the
+middle and hauled away one portion,
+leaving the other standing, with the
+end smoothly trimmed. The following
+spring I noticed a pair of flickers about
+the stack showing signs of wanting to
+make it a fixed habitation. One morning
+a few days later I was amused at
+the efforts of one of the pair. It was
+clinging to the perpendicular end of
+the stack and throwing out clipped
+hay at a rate to defy competition.
+This work continued for a week, and
+in that time the pair had excavated a
+cavity twenty inches in depth. They
+remained in the vicinity until autumn.
+During the winter the remainder of
+the stack was removed. They returned
+the following spring, and, after
+a brief sojourn, departed for parts unknown.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>From five to nine eggs are generally
+laid. They are glossy white in color,
+and when fresh appear as if enameled.</p>
+
+<p>The young are able to leave the
+nest in about sixteen days; they crawl
+about on the limbs of the tree for a
+couple of days before they venture to
+fly, and return to the nest at night.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img_033.jpg" width="600" height="428" alt="flicker" title="" />
+<span class="caption">flicker.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE BOBOLINK.</h2>
+
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">
+&ldquo;When Nature had made all her birds,<br />
+And had no cares to think on,<br />
+She gave a rippling laugh,<br />
+And out there flew a Bobolinkon.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 112px;">
+<img src="images/imgn.png" width="112" height="80" alt="N" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>O American ornithologist
+omits mention of the Bobolink,
+and naturalists generally
+have described
+him under one of the
+many names by which he is known.
+In some States he is called the Rice
+Bird, in others Reed Bird, the Rice or
+Reed Bunting, while his more familiar
+title, throughout the greater part of
+America, is Bobolink, or Bobolinkum.
+In Jamaica, where he gets very fat
+during his winter stay, he is called the
+Butter Bird. His title of Rice
+Troopial is earned by the depredations
+which he annually makes upon the
+rice crops, though his food &ldquo;is by no
+means restricted to that seed, but consists
+in a large degree of insects, grubs,
+and various wild grasses.&rdquo; A migratory
+bird, residing during the winter
+in the southern parts of America, he
+returns in vast multitudes northward
+in the early Spring. According to
+Wilson, their course of migration is as
+follows: &ldquo;In April, or very early in
+May, the Rice Buntings, male and
+female, arrive within the southern
+boundaries of the United States, and
+are seen around the town of Savannah,
+Georgia, sometimes in separate
+parties of males and females, but
+more generally promiscuously. They
+remain there but a short time, and
+about the middle of May make their
+appearance in the lower part of
+Pennsylvania. While here the males
+are extremely gay and full of song,
+frequenting meadows, newly plowed
+fields, sides of creeks, rivers, and
+watery places, feeding on May flies
+and caterpillars, of which they destroy
+great quantities. In their passage,
+however, through Virginia at this season,
+they do great damage to the early
+wheat and barley while in their milky
+state. About the 20th of May they
+disappear on their way to the North.
+Nearly at the same time they arrive in
+the State of New York, spread over
+the whole of the New England
+States, as far as the river St. Lawrence,
+and from Lake Ontario to the
+sea. In all of these places they remain
+during the Summer, building
+their nests and rearing their young.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Bobolink&#8217;s song is a peculiar
+one, varying greatly with the occasion.
+As he flys southward, his cry is
+a kind of clinking note; but the love
+song addressed to his mate is voluble
+and fervent. It has been said that if
+you should strike the keys of a pianoforte
+haphazard, the higher and the
+lower singly very quickly, you might
+have some idea of the Bobolink&#8217;s
+notes. In the month of June he
+gradually changes his pretty, attractive
+dress and puts on one very like
+the females, which is of a plain rusty
+brown, and is not reassumed until the
+next season of nesting. The two parent
+birds in the plate represent the
+change from the dark plumage in
+which the bird is commonly known
+in the North as the Bobolink, to the
+dress of yellowish brown by which it
+is known throughout the South as the
+Rice or Reed Bird.</p>
+
+<p>His nest, small and a plain one, too,
+is built on the ground by his industrious
+little wife. The inside is warmly
+lined with soft fibers of whatever may
+be nearest at hand. Five pretty white
+eggs, spotted all over with brown are
+laid, and as soon</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">
+&ldquo;As the little ones chip the shell<br />
+And five wide mouths are ready for food,<br />
+&lsquo;Robert of Lincoln&rsquo; bestirs him well,<br />
+Gathering seeds for this hungry brood.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span></p>
+<h2>BOBOLINK.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Other birds may like to travel
+alone, but when jolly Mr. Bobolink
+and his quiet little wife
+come from the South, where they
+have spent the winter, they
+come with a large party of
+friends. When South, they eat
+so much rice that the people call
+them Rice Birds. When they
+come North, they enjoy eating
+wheat, barley, oats and insects.</p>
+
+<p>Mr. and Mrs. Bobolink build
+their simple little nest of grasses
+in some field. It is hard to find
+on the ground, for it looks just
+like dry grass. Mrs. Bobolink
+wears a dull dress, so she cannot
+be seen when she is sitting on
+the precious eggs. She does
+not sing a note while caring
+for the eggs. Why do you
+think that is?</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Bob-Linkum does not
+wear a sober dress, as you can
+see by his picture. He does not
+need to be hidden. He is just
+as jolly as he looks. Shall I
+tell you how he amuses his mate
+while she is sitting? He springs
+from the dew-wet grass with a
+sound like peals of merry laughter.
+He frolics from reed to
+post, singing as if his little
+heart would burst with joy.</p>
+
+<p>Don&#8217;t you think Mr. and Mrs.
+Bobolink look happy in the
+picture? They have raised
+their family of five. Four of
+their children have gone to look
+for food; one of them&mdash;he must
+surely be the baby&mdash;would
+rather stay with his mamma and
+papa. Which one does he look
+like?</p>
+
+<p>Many birds are quiet at noon
+and in the afternoon. A flock
+of Bobolinks can be heard singing
+almost all day long. The
+song is full of high notes and
+low, soft notes and loud, all
+sung rapidly. It is as gay and
+bright as the birds themselves,
+who flit about playfully as they
+sing. You will feel like laughing
+as merrily as they sing when
+you hear it some day.</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img_039.jpg" width="600" height="431" alt="bobolinks" title="" />
+<span class="caption">bobolinks.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE BLUE BIRD.</h2>
+
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">
+&ldquo;Drifting down the first warm wind<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">That thrills the earliest days of spring,</span><br />
+The Bluebird seeks our maple groves<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And charms them into tasselling.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">
+&ldquo;He sings, and his is Nature&#8217;s voice&mdash;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">A gush of melody sincere</span><br />
+From that great fount of harmony<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Which thaws and runs when Spring is here.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 15em;">
+&ldquo;Short is his song, but strangely sweet<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">To ears aweary of the low</span><br />
+Dull tramps of Winter&#8217;s sullen feet,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sandalled in ice and muffled in snow.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+
+<hr style='width: 15%;' />
+
+<p style="margin-left: 13em;">
+<span style="margin-left: -.3em;">&ldquo;Think, every morning, when the sun peeps through</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The dim, leaf-latticed windows of the grove,</span><br />
+How jubilant the happy birds renew<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Their old, melodious madrigals of love!</span><br />
+And when you think of this, remember, too,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">&#8217;Tis always morning somewhere, and above</span><br />
+The awakening continents, from shore to shore,<br />
+Somewhere the birds are singing evermore.</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 13em;">
+<span style="margin-left: -.3em;">&ldquo;Think of your woods and orchards without birds!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Of empty nests that cling to boughs and beams</span><br />
+As in an idiot&#8217;s brain remembered words<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hang empty &#8217;mid the cobwebs of his dreams!</span><br />
+Will bleat of flocks or bellowing of herds<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Make up for the lost music, when your teams</span><br />
+Drag home the stingy harvest, and no more<br />
+The feathered gleaners follow to your door?&rdquo;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 7em;" class="smcap">From &ldquo;The Birds of Killingsworth.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE CROW.</h2>
+
+
+<p>Caw! Caw! Caw! little boys
+and girls. Caw! Caw! Caw!
+Just look at my coat of feathers.
+See how black and glossy it is.
+Do you wonder I am proud of it?</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps you think I look very
+solemn and wise, and not at all
+as if I cared to play games. I
+do, though; and one of the
+games I like best is hide-and-seek.
+I play it with the farmer
+in the spring. He hides, in the
+rich, brown earth, golden kernels
+of corn. Surely he does it because
+he knows I like it, for
+sometimes he puts up a stick all
+dressed like a man to show
+where the corn is hidden. Sometimes
+I push my bill down into
+the earth to find the corn, and at
+other times I wait until tiny
+green leaves begin to show above
+the ground, and then I get my
+breakfast without much trouble.
+I wonder if the farmer enjoys
+this game as much as I do. I
+help him, too, by eating worms
+and insects.</p>
+
+<p>During the spring and summer
+I live in my nest on the top
+of a very high tree. It is built
+of sticks and grasses and straw
+and string and anything else I
+can pick up. But in the fall, I
+and all my relations and friends
+live together in great roosts or
+rookeries. What good times
+we do have&mdash;hunting all day
+for food and talking all night.
+Wouldn&#8217;t you like to be with us?</p>
+
+<p>The farmer who lives in the
+house over there went to the mill
+to-day with a load of corn.</p>
+
+<p>One of the ears dropped out
+of the wagon and it didn&#8217;t take
+me long to find it. I have eaten
+all I can possibly hold and am
+wondering now what is the best
+thing to do. If you were in my
+place would you leave it here
+and not tell anybody and come
+back to-morrow and finish it? Or
+would you fly off and get Mrs.
+Crow and some of the children
+to come and finish it? I believe
+I&#8217;ll fly and get them. Good-bye.</p>
+
+<p>Caw! Caw! Caw!</p>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img_044.jpg" width="600" height="432" alt="common crow" title="" />
+<span class="caption">common crow.</span>
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE COMMON CROW.</h2>
+
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+&ldquo;The crow doth sing as merry as the lark,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: .7em;">When neither is attended.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 91px;">
+<img src="images/imgf.png" width="91" height="80" alt="F" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>EW birds have more interesting
+characteristics than the Common
+Crow, being, in many of
+his actions, very like the
+Raven, especially in his love for
+carrion. Like the Raven, he has been
+known to attack game, although his
+inferior size forces him to call to his
+assistance the aid of his fellows to cope
+with larger creatures. Rabbits and
+hares are frequently the prey of this
+bird which pounces on them as
+they steal abroad to feed. His
+food consists of reptiles, frogs, and
+lizards; he is a plunderer of other
+birds&#8217; nests. On the seashore he finds
+crabs, shrimps and inhabited shells,
+which he ingeniously cracks by flying
+with them to a great height and
+letting them fall upon a convenient
+rock.</p>
+
+<p>The crow is seen in single pairs or
+in little bands of four or five. In the
+autumn evenings, however, they
+assemble in considerable flocks before
+going to roost and make a wonderful
+chattering, as if comparing notes of
+the events of the day.</p>
+
+<p>The nest of the Crow is placed in
+some tree remote from habitations of
+other birds. Although large and
+very conspicuous at a distance, it is
+fixed upon one of the topmost branches
+quite out of reach of the hand of the
+adventurous urchin who longs to
+secure its contents. It is loosely made
+and saucer shaped. Sticks and softer
+substances are used to construct it,
+and it is lined with hair and fibrous
+roots. Very recently a thrifty and
+intelligent Crow built for itself a
+summer residence in an airy tree near
+Bombay, the material used being gold,
+silver, and steel spectacle frames,
+which the bird had stolen from an
+optician of that city. Eighty-four
+frames had been used for this purpose,
+and they were so ingeniously woven
+together that the nest was quite a
+work of art. The eggs are variable,
+or rather individual, in their markings,
+and even in their size. The Crow
+rarely uses the same nest twice,
+although he frequently repairs to the
+same locality from year to year. He
+is remarkable for his attachment to
+his mate and young, surpassing the
+Fawn and Turtle Dove in conjugal
+courtesy.</p>
+
+<p>The Somali Arabs bear a deadly
+hatred toward the Crow. The origin
+of their detestation is the superstition
+that during the flight of Mohammed
+from his enemies, he hid himself in a
+cave, where he was perceived by the
+Crow, at that time a bird of light
+plumage, who, when he saw the pursuers
+approaching the spot, perched
+above Mohammed&#8217;s hiding place, and
+screamed, &ldquo;Ghar! Ghar!&rdquo; (cave! cave!)
+so as to indicate the place of concealment.
+His enemies, however, did not
+understand the bird, and passed on,
+and Mohammed, when he came out of
+the cave, clothed the Crow in perpetual
+black, and commanded him to
+cry &ldquo;Ghar&rdquo; as long as Crows should
+live.</p>
+
+<p>And he lives to a good old age.
+Instances are not rare where he has
+attained to half a century, without
+great loss of activity or failure of sight.</p>
+
+<p>At Red Bank, a few miles northeast
+of Cincinnati, on the Little Miami
+River, in the bottoms, large flocks of
+Crows congregate the year around. A
+few miles away, high upon Walnut
+Hills, is a Crow roost, and in the
+late afternoons the Crows, singly, in
+pairs, and in flocks, are seen on the
+wing, flying heavily, with full crops,
+on the way to the roost, from which
+they descend in the early morning,
+crying &ldquo;Caw! Caw!&rdquo; to the fields of
+the newly planted, growing, or
+matured corn, or corn stacks, as the
+season may provide.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&ldquo;Everywhere the blue sky belongs to them and is their appointed rest,
+and their native country, and their own natural home which they enter
+unannounced as lords that are certainly expected, and yet there is a
+silent joy at their arrival.&rdquo;</p></div>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 86px;">
+<img src="images/imgt.png" width="86" height="80" alt="T" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>HE return of the birds to their
+real home in the North, where
+they build their nests and
+rear their young, is regarded
+by all genuine lovers of earth&#8217;s messengers
+of gladness and gayety as one
+of the most interesting and poetical of
+annual occurrences. The naturalist,
+who notes the very day of each arrival,
+in order that he may verify former
+observation or add to his material
+gathered for a new work, does not
+necessarily anticipate with greater
+pleasure this event than do many
+whose lives are brightened by the
+coming of the friends of their youth,
+who alone of early companions do not
+change. First of all&mdash;and ever the
+same delightful warbler&mdash;the Bluebird,
+who, in 1895, did not appear at
+all in many localities, though here in
+considerable numbers last year, betrays
+himself. &ldquo;Did he come down out
+of the heaven on that bright March
+morning when he told us so softly and
+plaintively that, if we pleased, spring
+had come?&rdquo; Sometimes he is here
+a little earlier, and must keep his
+courage up until the cold snap is over
+and the snow is gone. Not long after
+the Bluebird, comes the Robin, sometimes
+in March, but in most of the
+northern states April is the month of
+his arrival. With his first utterance
+the spell of winter is broken, and the
+remembrance of it afar off. Then
+appears the Woodpecker in great
+variety, the Flicker usually arriving
+first. He is always somebody&#8217;s old
+favorite, &ldquo;announcing his arrival by a
+long, loud call, repeated from the dry
+branch of some tree, or a stake in the
+fence&mdash;a thoroughly melodious April
+sound.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Few perhaps reflect upon the difficulties
+encountered by the birds themselves
+in their returning migrations.
+A voyager sometimes meets with
+many of our common birds far out at
+sea. Such wanderers, it is said, when
+suddenly overtaken by a fog, completely
+lose their sense of direction
+and become hopelessly lost. Humming
+birds, those delicately organized,
+glittering gems, are among the most
+common of the land species seen at sea.</p>
+
+<p>The present season has been quite
+favorable to the protection of birds.
+A very competent observer says that
+not all of the birds migrated this
+winter. He recently visited a farm
+less than an hour&#8217;s ride from Chicago,
+where he found the old place, as he
+relates it, &ldquo;chucked full of Robins,
+Blackbirds, and Woodpeckers,&rdquo; and
+others unknown to him. From this
+he inferred they would have been in
+Florida had indications predicted a
+severe winter. The trees of the south
+parks of Chicago, and those in
+suburban places, have had, darting
+through their branches during the
+months of December and January,
+nearly as many members of the Woodpecker
+tribe as were found there
+during the mating season in May last.</p>
+
+<p>Alas, that the Robin will visit us in
+diminished numbers in the approaching
+spring. He has not been so common
+for a year or two as he was
+formerly, for the reason that the
+Robins died by thousands of starvation,
+owing to the freezing of their food
+supply in Tennessee during the protracted
+cold weather in the winter of
+1895. It is indeed sad that this good
+Samaritan among birds should be
+defenseless against the severity of
+Nature, the common mother of us all.
+Nevertheless the return of the birds,
+in myriads or in single pairs, will
+be welcomed more and more, year by
+year, as intelligent love and appreciation
+of them shall possess the popular
+mind.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img_052.jpg" width="600" height="444" alt="black tern" title="" />
+<span class="caption">black tern.</span><br />
+<strong>Mother and Young with Eggs.</strong>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE BLACK TERN.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 86px;">
+<img src="images/imgt.png" width="86" height="80" alt="T" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>HE TERN,&rdquo; says Mr. F. M.
+Woodruff, of the Chicago
+Academy of Sciences, &ldquo;is
+the only representative of
+the long-winged swimmers which
+commonly nests with us on our
+inland fresh water marshes, arriving
+early in May in its brooding plumage
+of sooty black. The color changes
+in the autumn to white, and a number
+of the adult birds may be found, in
+the latter part of July, dotted and
+streaked here and there with white.
+On the first of June, 1891, I found a
+large colony of Black Terns nesting
+on Hyde Lake, Cook County, Illinois.
+As I approached the marsh a few
+birds were seen flying high in the air,
+and, as I neared the nesting site, the
+flying birds gave notes of alarm, and
+presently the air was filled with the
+graceful forms of this beautiful little
+bird. They circled about me, darting
+down to within a few feet of my head,
+constantly uttering a harsh, screaming
+cry. As the eggs are laid upon the
+bare ground, which the brownish and
+blackish markings so closely resemble,
+I was at first unable to find the nests,
+and discovered that the only way to
+locate them was to stand quietly and
+watch the birds. When the Tern is
+passing over the nest it checks its
+flight, and poises for a moment on
+quivering wings. By keeping my
+eyes on this spot I found the nest
+with very little trouble. The complement
+of eggs, when the bird has not
+been disturbed, is usually three.
+These are laid in a saucer shaped
+structure of dead vegetation, which is
+scraped together, from the surface of
+the wet, boggy ground. The bird
+figured in the plate had placed its
+nest on the edge of an old muskrat
+house, and my attention was attracted
+to it by the fact that upon the edge of
+the rat house, where it had climbed to
+rest itself, was the body of a young
+dabchick, or piedbilled grebe, scarcely
+two and one-half inches long, and not
+twenty-four hours out of the egg, a
+beautiful little ball of blackish down,
+striped with brown and white. From
+the latter part of July to the middle of
+August large flocks of Black Terns
+may be seen on the shores of our
+larger lakes on their annual migration
+southward.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The Rev. P. B. Peabody, in alluding to
+his observation of the nests of the
+Tern, says: &ldquo;Amid this floating sea
+of aquatic nests I saw an unusual
+number of well constructed homes of
+the Tern. Among these was one that
+I count a perfect nest. It rested on
+the perfectly flat foundation of a small
+decayed rat house, which was about
+fourteen inches in diameter. The nest,
+in form, is a truncated cone (barring the
+cavity), was about eight inches high
+and ten inches in diameter. The
+hollow&mdash;quite shallow&mdash;was about
+seven inches across, being thus unusually
+large. The whole was built
+up of bits of rushes, carried to the spot,
+these being quite uniform in length&mdash;about
+four inches.&rdquo; After daily
+observation of the Tern, during which
+time he added much to his knowledge
+of the bird, he pertinently asks: &ldquo;Who
+shall say how many traits and habits
+yet unknown may be discovered
+through patient watching of community-breeding
+birds, by men enjoying
+more of leisure for such delightful
+studies than often falls to the lot of
+most of us who have bread and butter
+to earn and a tiny part of the world&#8217;s
+work to finish?&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE MEADOW LARK.</h2>
+
+
+<p style="margin-left: 13em;">
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">&ldquo;Not an inch of his body is free from delight.</span><br />
+Can he keep himself still if he would? Oh, not he!<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The music stirs in him like wind through a tree.&rdquo;</span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 86px;">
+<img src="images/imgt.png" width="86" height="80" alt="T" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>HE well known Meadow or
+Old Field Lark is a constant
+resident south of latitude
+39, and many winter
+farther north in favorite localities.
+Its geographical range is eastern
+North America, Canada to south Nova
+Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario to eastern
+Manitoba; west to Minnesota, Iowa,
+Missouri, eastern Kansas, the Indian
+Territory, and Texas; south to Florida
+and the Gulf coast, in all of which
+localities, except in the extreme north,
+it usually rears two or three broods in
+a season. In the Northern States it
+is only a summer resident, arriving in
+April and remaining until the latter
+part of October and occasionally
+November. Excepting during the
+breeding season, small flocks may
+often be seen roving about in search
+of good feeding grounds. Major Bendire
+says this is especially true in the
+fall of the year. At this time several
+families unite, and as many as two
+dozen may occasionally be flushed in
+a field, over which they scatter, roaming
+about independently of each other.
+When one takes wing all the others
+in the vicinity follow. It is a shy
+bird in the East, while in the middle
+states it is quite the reverse. Its flight
+is rather laborious, at least in starting,
+and is continued by a series of rapid
+movements of the wings, alternating
+with short distances of sailing, and is
+rarely protracted. On alighting, which
+is accompanied with a twitching of its
+tail, it usually settles on some fence
+rail, post, boulder, weedstock, or on
+a hillock in a meadow from which it
+can get a good view of the surroundings,
+and but rarely on a limb of a
+tree. Its favorite resorts are meadows,
+fallow fields, pastures, and clearings,
+but in some sections, as in northern
+Florida, for instance, it also frequents the
+low, open pine woods and nests there.</p>
+
+<p>The song of the Meadow Lark is
+not much varied, but its clear, whistling
+notes, so frequently heard in the
+early spring, are melodious and pleasing
+to the ear. It is decidedly the
+farmers&#8217; friend, feeding, as it does, on
+noxious insects, caterpillars, moths,
+grasshoppers, spiders, worms and the
+like, and eating but little grain. The
+lark spends the greater part of its
+time on the ground, procuring all its
+food there. It is seldom found alone,
+and it is said remains paired for life.</p>
+
+<p>Nesting begins in the early part of
+May and lasts through June. Both
+sexes assist in building the nest, which
+is always placed on the ground, either
+in a natural depression, or in a little
+hollow scratched out by the birds,
+alongside a bunch of grass or weeds.
+The nest itself is lined with dry grass,
+stubble, and sometimes pine needles.
+Most nests are placed in level meadows.
+The eggs and young are frequently
+destroyed by vermin, for the meadow
+lark has many enemies. The eggs
+vary from three to seven, five being
+the most common, and both sexes assist
+in the hatching, which requires
+about fifteen or sixteen days. The
+young leave the nest before they are
+able to fly&mdash;hiding at the slightest
+sign of danger. The Meadow Lark
+does not migrate beyond the United
+States. It is a native bird, and is only
+accidental in England. The eggs
+are spotted, blotched, and speckled
+with shades of brown, purple and
+lavender. A curious incident is told
+of a Meadow Lark trying to alight on
+the top mast of a schooner several
+miles at sea. It was evidently very tired
+but would not venture near the deck.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
+<img src="images/img_057.jpg" width="600" height="436" alt="meadow lark" title="" />
+<span class="caption">meadow lark.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE MEADOW LARK.</h2>
+
+
+<p>I told the man who wanted
+my picture that he could take it
+if he would show my nest and
+eggs. Do you blame me for
+saying so? Don&#8217;t you think it
+makes a better picture than if I
+stood alone?</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Lark is away getting me
+some breakfast, or he could be
+in the picture, too. After a few
+days I shall have some little
+baby birds, and then won&#8217;t we
+be happy.</p>
+
+<p>Boys and girls who live in the
+country know us pretty well.
+When they drive the cows out
+to pasture, or when they go out
+to gather wild flowers, we sit on
+the fences by the roadside and
+make them glad with our merry
+song.</p>
+
+<p>Those of you who live in the
+city cannot see us unless you
+come out into the country.</p>
+
+<p>It isn&#8217;t very often that we can
+find such a pretty place for a
+nest as we have here. Most of
+the time we build our nest under
+the grass and cover it over, and
+build a little tunnel leading to
+it. This year we made up our
+minds not to be afraid.</p>
+
+<p>The people living in the houses
+over there do not bother us at all
+and we are so happy.</p>
+
+<p>You never saw baby larks,
+did you? Well, they are queer
+little fellows, with hardly any
+feathers on them.</p>
+
+<p>Last summer we had five little
+birdies to feed, and it kept us
+busy from morning till night.
+This year we only expect three,
+and Mr. Lark says he will do all
+the work. He knows a field
+that is being plowed, where he
+can get nice, large worms.</p>
+
+<p>Hark! that is he singing.
+He will be surprised when he
+comes back and finds me off the
+nest. He is so afraid that I will
+let the eggs get cold, but I
+won&#8217;t. There he comes, now.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE LONG-EARED OWL.</h2>
+
+<div class="figleft" style="width: 86px;">
+<img src="images/imgt.png" width="86" height="80" alt="T" title="" />
+</div>
+<p>HE name of the Long-Eared
+Owl is derived from the great
+length of his &ldquo;ears&rdquo; or feather-tufts,
+which are placed upon
+the head, and erect themselves whenever
+the bird is interested or excited.
+It is the &ldquo;black sheep&rdquo; of the owl
+family, the majority of owls being
+genuine friends of the agriculturist,
+catching for his larder so many of
+the small animals that prey upon
+his crops. In America he is called
+the Great Horned Owl&mdash;in Europe
+the Golden Owl.</p>
+
+<p>Nesting time with the owl begins
+in February, and continues through
+March and April. The clown-like
+antics of both sexes of this bird while
+under the tender influence of the
+nesting season tend somewhat to impair
+their reputation for dignity and
+wise demeanor. They usually have a
+simple nest in a hollow tree, but
+which seems seldom to be built by the
+bird itself, as it prefers to take the
+deserted nest of some other bird, and
+to fit up the premises for its own use.
+They repair slightly from year to year
+the same nest. The eggs are white,
+and generally four or five in number.
+While the young are still in the nest,
+the parent birds display a singular
+diligence in collecting food for them.</p>
+
+<p>If you should happen to know of an
+owl&#8217;s nest, stand near it some evening
+when the old birds are rearing their
+young. Keep quiet and motionless,
+and notice how frequently the old
+birds feed them. Every ten minutes
+or so the soft flap, flap of their wings
+will be heard, the male and female
+alternately, and you will obtain a brief
+glimpse of them through the gloom as
+they enter the nesting place. They
+remain inside but a short time, sharing
+the food equally amongst their brood,
+and then are off again to hunt for
+more. All night, were you to have
+the inclination to observe them, you
+would find they pass to and fro with
+food, only ceasing their labors at dawn.
+The young, as soon as they reach
+maturity, are abandoned by their
+parents; they quit the nest and seek
+out haunts elsewhere, while the old
+birds rear another, and not infrequently
+two more broods, during the remainder
+of the season.</p>
+
+<p>The habits of the Long-Eared Owl
+are nocturnal. He is seldom seen
+in the light of day, and is greatly disturbed
+if he chance to issue from
+his concealment while the sun is
+above the horizon. The facial disk is
+very conspicuous in this species. It is
+said that the use of this circle is to
+collect the rays of light, and throw
+them upon the eye. The flight of the
+owl is softened by means of especially
+shaped, recurved feather-tips, so that
+he may noiselessly steal upon his
+prey, and the ear is also so shaped as
+to gather sounds from below.</p>
+
+<p>The Long-Eared Owl is hardly
+tameable. The writer of this paragraph,
+when a boy, was the possessor,
+for more than a year, of a very fine
+specimen. We called him Judge. He
+was a monster, and of perfect plumage.
+Although he seemed to have some
+attachment to the children of the
+family who fed him, he would not
+permit himself to be handled by them
+or by any one in the slightest. Most
+of his time he spent in his cage, an
+immense affair, in which he was very
+comfortable. Occasionally he had
+a day in the barn with the rats and
+mice.</p>
+
+<p>The owl is of great usefulness to
+gardener, agriculturist, and landowner
+alike, for there is not another bird of
+prey which is so great a destroyer of
+the enemies of vegetation.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span></p>
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 422px;">
+<img src="images/img_064.jpg" width="422" height="600" alt="great horned owl" title="" />
+<span class="caption">great horned owl.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span></p>
+<h2>THE OWL.</h2>
+
+
+<p class="center">
+We know not alway<br />
+Who are kings by day,<br />
+But the king of the night is the bold brown owl!</p>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+<p>I wonder why the folks put
+my picture last in the book. It
+can&#8217;t be because they don&#8217;t like
+me, for I&#8217;m sure I never bother
+them. I don&#8217;t eat the farmer&#8217;s
+corn like the crow, and no one
+ever saw me quarrel with other
+birds.</p>
+
+<p>Maybe it is because I can&#8217;t
+sing. Well, there are lots of
+good people that can&#8217;t sing, and
+so there are lots of good birds
+that can&#8217;t sing.</p>
+
+<p>Did you ever see any other
+bird sit up as straight as I do?
+I couldn&#8217;t sit up so straight if I
+hadn&#8217;t such long, sharp claws to
+hold on with.</p>
+
+<p>My home is in the woods.
+Here we owls build our nests&mdash;most
+always in hollow trees.</p>
+
+<p>During the day I stay in the
+nest or sit on a limb. I don&#8217;t
+like day time for the light hurts
+my eyes, but when it begins to
+grow dark then I like to stir
+around. All night long I am
+wide awake and fly about getting
+food for my little hungry ones.
+They sleep most of the day
+and it keeps me busy nearly
+all night to find them enough to
+eat.</p>
+
+<p>I just finished my night&#8217;s work
+when the man came to take my
+picture. It was getting light
+and I told him to go to a large
+stump on the edge of the woods
+and I would sit for my picture.
+So here I am. Don&#8217;t you think
+I look wise? How do you like
+my large eyes? If I could smile
+at you I would, but my face
+always looks sober. I have a
+great many cousins and if you
+really like my picture, I&#8217;ll have
+some of them talk to you next
+month. I don&#8217;t think any of
+them have such pretty feathers
+though. Just see if they have
+when they come.</p>
+
+<p>Well, I must fly back to my
+perch in the old elm tree. Good-bye.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>THE OWL.</h2>
+
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+In the hollow tree, in the old gray tower,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The spectral owl doth dwell;</span><br />
+Dull, hated, despised in the sunshine hour,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">But at dusk he&#8217;s abroad and well!</span><br />
+Not a bird of the forest e&#8217;er mates with him;<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">All mock him outright by day;</span><br />
+But at night, when the woods grow still and dim,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The boldest will shrink away!</span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">O! when the night falls, and roosts the fowl,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Then, then, is the reign of the Horned Owl!</span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+And the owl hath a bride, who is fond and bold,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">And loveth the wood&#8217;s deep gloom;</span><br />
+And, with eyes like the shine of the moonstone cold,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She awaiteth her ghastly groom.</span><br />
+Not a feather she moves, not a carol she sings,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">As she waits in her tree so still,</span><br />
+But when her heart heareth his flapping wings,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">She hoots out her welcome shrill!</span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 17em;">
+O! when the moon shines, and dogs do howl,<br />
+Then, then, is the joy of the Horned Owl!</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+Mourn not for the owl, nor his gloomy plight!<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">The owl hath his share of good&mdash;</span><br />
+If a prisoner he be in the broad daylight,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">He is lord in the dark greenwood!</span><br />
+Nor lonely the bird, nor his ghastly mate,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">They are each unto each a pride;</span><br />
+Thrice fonder, perhaps, since a strange, dark fate<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Hath rent them from all beside!</span></p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 14em;">
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">So, when the night falls, and dogs do howl,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3em;">Sing, Ho! for the reign of the Horned Owl!</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">We know not alway</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">Who are kings by day,</span><br />
+But the King of the Night is the bold Brown Owl!</p>
+
+<p style="margin-left: 25em;">
+<span class="smcap">Bryan W. Procter</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4em;">(Barry Cornwall.)</span></p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 413px;">
+<img src="images/img44.jpg" width="413" height="600" alt="advertisement" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>TESTIMONIALS.</h2>
+
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;" class="smcap">Frankfort, Ky.</span>, February 3, 1897.<br />
+<span class="smcap">W. J. Black</span>, Vice-President,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 9em;">Chicago, Ill.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Dear Sir: I have a copy of your magazine entitled &ldquo;Birds,&rdquo; and beg to
+say that I consider it one of the finest things on the subject that I
+have ever seen, and shall be pleased to recommend it to county and city
+superintendents of the state.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;">Very respectfully,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 27em;" class="smcap">W. J. Davidson</span>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 22em;">State Superintendent Public Instruction.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;" class="smcap">San Francisco, Cal.</span>, January 27, 1897.<br />
+<span class="smcap">W. J. Black, Esq.</span>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 4.5em;">Chicago, Ill.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Dear Sir: I am very much obliged for the copy of &ldquo;Birds&rdquo; that has just
+come to hand. It should be in the hands of every primary and grammar
+teacher. I send herewith copy of &ldquo;List of San Francisco Teachers.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;">Very respectfully,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 30em;" class="smcap">M. Babcock</span>.<br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;" class="smcap">Lincoln, Neb.</span>, February 9, 1897.<br />
+<span class="smcap">W. J. Black</span>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 3.5em;">Chicago, Ill.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Dear Sir: The first number of your magazine, &ldquo;Birds,&rdquo; is upon my desk.
+I am highly pleased with it. It will prove a very serviceable
+publication&mdash;one that strikes out along the right lines. For the purpose
+intended, it has, in my opinion, no equal. It is clear, concise, and
+admirably illustrated.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;">Very respectfully,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 27em;" class="smcap">W. R. Jackson</span>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 22em;">State Superintendent Public Instruction.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;" class="smcap">North Lima, Ohio</span>, February 1, 1897.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Mr. W. E. Watt</span>,<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Dear Sir: Sample copy of &ldquo;Birds&rdquo; received. All of the family delighted
+with it. We wish it unbounded success. It will be an excellent supplement
+to &ldquo;In Birdland&rdquo; in the Ohio Teachers&#8217; Reading Circle, and I venture Ohio
+will be to the front with a good subscription list. I enclose list of
+teachers.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 24em;">Very truly,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 26em;" class="smcap">C. M. L. Altdoerffer</span>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 29em;">Township Superintendent.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;" class="smcap">Milwaukee</span>, January 30, 1897.<br />
+<span class="smcap">Nature Study Publishing Company</span>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 5em;">227 Dearborn Street, Chicago.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+<p>Gentlemen: I acknowledge with pleasure the receipt of your publication,
+&ldquo;Birds,&rdquo; with accompanying circulars. I consider it the best on the subject
+in existence. I have submitted the circulars and publication to my teachers,
+who have nothing to say but praise in behalf of the monthly.</p>
+
+<p>
+<span style="margin-left: 25em;" class="smcap">Julius Torney</span>,<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 19em;">Principal 2nd Dist. Primary School, Milwaukee, Wis.</span><br />
+</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 392px;">
+<img src="images/img46.png" width="392" height="600" alt="advertisement" title="" />
+</div>
+
+
+</div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds Illustrated by Color Photograph
+[March 1897], by Various
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS ILLUSTRATED [MARCH 1897] ***
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+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,1810 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds Illustrated by Color Photograph
+[March 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 Photograph [March 1897]
+       A Monthly Serial designed to Promote Knowledge of Bird-Life
+
+Author: Various
+
+Release Date: September 26, 2009 [EBook #30103]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRDS ILLUSTRATED [MARCH 1897] ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper and Anne Storer,
+some images courtesy of The Internet Archive and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note: Title added.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+              BIRDS ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY
+
+              Vol. One       MARCH, 1897       No. 3
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+    FROM: THE PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL TEACHERS' ASSOCIATION.
+
+                       _STATE OF NEW YORK_
+               _Department of Public Instruction_
+                    _SUPERINTENDENT'S OFFICE_
+
+                                _Albany_ December 26, 1896.
+
+  [Illustration: (seal)]
+  _Stenographic Letter_
+  Dictated by __________
+
+
+  W. E. Watt, President &c.,
+                   Fisher Building,
+                       277 Dearborn St., Chicago, Ill.
+
+  My dear Sir:
+
+  Please accept my thanks for a copy of the first publication of "Birds."
+  Please enter my name as a regular subscriber. It is one of the most
+  beautiful and interesting publications yet attempted in this direction.
+  It has other attractions in addition to its beauty, and it must win its
+  way to popular favor.
+
+  Wishing the handsome little magazine abundant prosperity,
+  I remain
+
+                   Yours very respectfully,
+                   [signature]
+                                State Superintendent.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+ _"The KING can do no wrong"_
+
+ [Illustration]
+                      MONARCH
+                       BICYCLES
+                       ARE
+                       FAULTLESS
+
+                      MONARCH
+                   CYCLE MF'G CO.
+                 CHICAGO, NEW YORK,
+                      LONDON.
+
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to advertisers.
+
+
+
+
+                 +----------------------------+
+                 |  #A. REED & SONS PIANOS.#  |
+                 +----------------------------+
+
+ Manufactured under patents granted by the governments of the
+      United States, England, Germany, France and Canada.
+
+                     #A New and Scientific
+                      Method of Piano
+                      Construction#
+
+          FREE SOUNDING BOARD, VIBRATION BAR, STRINGS
+           RESTING ON ALUMINUM WHEELS, ANTI-MOISTURE
+                      PIN BLOCK, LATERAL
+                            PEDALS
+
+              #Grand Diploma and Medal of Honor#
+         Awarded at Columbian World's Exposition, 1893
+
+  Only American Piano receiving mention in the Official Report
+                   to the German Government
+
+                       #A. REED & SONS#
+                No. 5 Adams Street ... CHICAGO
+
+  Illustrated Catalogues ...
+  containing full explanation Mailed Free.
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to advertisers.
+
+
+
+
+   #Every Teacher#
+
+       finds daily in her work
+       some new and perplexing
+       problem to solve.
+
+   With
+
+   The Teacher's
+        Practical Library
+
+     at hand for consultation the
+     answer may always be found.
+
+ It will cost you nothing
+
+     to have this library placed
+     upon your table for inspection.
+
+     Send postal-card for particulars,
+     mentioning this paper.
+
+                       #AGENTS WANTED#
+
+ #D. APPLETON & CO., Publishers#
+      NEW YORK--CHICAGO.
+ CHICAGO OFFICE--243 Wabash Ave.
+
+
+
+
+            #PREPARE FOR A GOOD POSITION#
+
+ #By studying Architecture, Engineering, Electricity, Drafting,
+ Mathematics, Shorthand, Typewriting, English, Penmanship, Bookkeeping,
+ Business, Telegraphy, Plumbing.# Best teachers. Thorough individual
+ instruction. Rates lower than any other school. Instruction also by mail
+ in any desired study. Steam engineering a specialty. Call or address,
+                          INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY,
+                                 151 Throop St., Chicago.
+
+
+
+
+             What would #George Washington#
+                        think of
+                       Mark Hanna?
+
+                     [Illustration]
+
+               If you want to know, read
+                  #"SPIRITS OF '76,"#
+
+               By FREDERICK UPHAM ADAMS,
+                   in last number of
+
+                    #New Occasions#
+
+       A magazine of Reform; 96 pages; $1.00
+       a year; 10 cents a copy. No free samples,
+       but to any one sending us 6 2-cent
+       stamps we will mail a sample copy with
+       several reform books; over 300 pages
+       in all. Agents wanted.
+
+        Charles H. Kerr & Company, Publishers,
+               56 Fifth Ave., Chicago.
+
+
+
+
+ Buy Only the Best Presents for Children.
+      THE FINEST BLACKBOARD MADE.
+
+ IMPROVED
+           [Illustration]
+
+ Indispensable as an element for the general
+ education of the children. This is not a toy,
+ but an Educator for the home. Contains Sixteen
+ Lessons on heavy cardboard, Writing, Drawing,
+ Marking-letters, Music, Animal Forms, etc.
+ Frame made of oak, 4 feet high and 2 feet wide.
+ The Board is reversible and can be used on both
+ sides. Has a desk attachment for writing. Weighs
+ 10 pounds, packed for shipment.
+
+ #Price $3.50#                   Agents Wanted.
+                            Send for Agents Prices.
+
+ THE VAN-BENSON COMPANY,
+       84 Adams Street, CHICAGO, U.S.A.
+
+
+
+
+               The "OLD Reliable" House of
+                       #"ANDREWS"#
+                        FURNISHES
+                   Everything
+                           for Schools
+
+      Rugby School Desks, Teachers' Desks and Chairs,
+      Blackboards, Erasers, Dustless Crayons, Globes,
+      Maps, Charts, Apparatus, etc., etc.
+
+      #The Jones Model of the Earth# shows the
+      reliefs of the land surface and ocean bed, 20
+      inches diameter. Used by the Royal Geographical
+      Society, Cornell University. Normal, and other
+      schools of various forms and grades.
+
+      #The Deep Sea Globe.# This new 12 in. globe
+      shows all that is seen on the common globe, but
+      in addition the varying depths of the ocean bed,
+      by color shading, also 500 soundings by figures.
+
+                 #The A. H. Andrews Co.#
+                        CHICAGO.
+
+        (Next Auditorium)         300 WABASH AVE.
+
+          Also Manufactures Office, Church and
+                    Bank Furniture.
+
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to Advertisers.
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+LITTLE BOY BLUE.
+
+
+Boys and girls, don't you think that is a pretty name? I came from the
+warm south, where I went last winter, to tell you that Springtime is
+nearly here.
+
+When I sing, the buds and flowers and grass all begin to whisper to one
+another, "Springtime is coming for we heard the Bluebird say so," and
+then they peep out to see the warm sunshine. I perch beside them and
+tell them of my long journey from the south and how I knew just when
+to tell them to come out of their warm winter cradles. I am of the same
+blue color as the violet that shows her pretty face when I sing, "Summer
+is coming, and Springtime is here."
+
+I do not like the cities for they are black and noisy and full of those
+troublesome birds called English Sparrows. I take my pretty mate and
+out in the beautiful country we find a home. We build a nest of twigs,
+grass and hair, in a box that the farmer puts up for us near his barn.
+
+Sometimes we build in a hole in some old tree and soon there are tiny
+eggs in the nest. I sing to my mate and to the good people who own
+the barn. I heard the farmer say one day, "Isn't it nice to hear the
+Bluebird sing? He must be very happy." And I am, too, for by this time
+there are four or five little ones in the nest.
+
+Little Bluebirds are like little boys--they are always hungry. We work
+hard to find enough for them to eat. We feed them nice fat worms and
+bugs, and when their little wings are strong enough, we teach them how
+to fly. Soon they are large enough to hunt their own food, and can take
+care of themselves.
+
+The summer passes, and when we feel the breath of winter we go south
+again, for we do not like the cold.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+THE BLUE BIRD.
+
+    I know the song that the Bluebird is singing
+    Out in the apple tree, where he is swinging.
+    Brave little fellow! the skies may be dreary,
+    Nothing cares he while his heart is so cheery.
+    Hark! how the music leaps out from his throat,
+    Hark! was there ever so merry a note?
+
+              Listen a while, and you'll hear what he's saying,
+              Up in the apple tree swinging and swaying.
+              "Dear little blossoms down under the snow,
+              You must be weary of winter, I know;
+              Hark! while I sing you a message of cheer,
+              Summer is coming, and springtime is here!"
+
+    "Dear little snow-drop! I pray you arise;
+    Bright yellow crocus! come open your eyes;
+    Sweet little violets, hid from the cold,
+    Put on our mantles of purple and gold;
+    Daffodils! daffodils! say, do you hear,
+    Summer is coming! and springtime is here!"
+
+[Illustration: BLUE BIRD.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BLUE BIRD.
+
+
+    Winged lute that we call a blue bird,
+        You blend in a silver strain
+    The sound of the laughing waters,
+        The patter of spring's sweet rain,
+    The voice of the wind, the sunshine,
+        And fragrance of blossoming things,
+    Ah! you are a poem of April
+        That God endowed with wings.      E. E. R.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+Like a bit of sky this little harbinger of spring appears, as we see
+him and his mate househunting in early March. Oftentimes he makes his
+appearance as early as the middle of February, when his attractive note
+is heard long before he himself is seen. He is one of the last to leave
+us, and although the month of November is usually chosen by him as the
+fitting time for departure to a milder clime, his plaintive note is
+quite commonly heard on pleasant days throughout the winter season,
+and a few of the braver and hardier ones never entirely desert us. The
+Robin and the Blue Bird are tenderly associated in the memories of most
+persons whose childhood was passed on a farm or in the country village.
+Before the advent of the English Sparrow, the Blue Bird was sure to
+be the first to occupy and the last to defend the little box prepared
+for his return, appearing in his blue jacket somewhat in advance of
+the plainly habited female, who on her arrival quite often found a
+habitation selected and ready for her acceptance, should he find favor
+in her sight. And then he becomes a most devoted husband and father,
+sitting by the nest and warbling with earnest affection his exquisite
+tune, and occasionally flying away in search of food for his mate and
+nestlings.
+
+The Blue Bird rears two broods in the season, and, should the weather
+be mild, even three. His nest contains three eggs.
+
+In the spring and summer when he is happy and gay, his song is
+extremely soft and agreeable, while it grows very mournful and
+plaintive as cold weather approaches. He is mild of temper, and a
+peaceable and harmless neighbor, setting a fine example of amiability
+to his feathered friends. In the early spring, however, he wages war
+against robins, wrens, swallows, and other birds whose habitations are
+of a kind to take his fancy. A celebrated naturalist says: "This bird
+seems incapable of uttering a harsh note, or of doing a spiteful,
+ill-tempered thing."
+
+Nearly everybody has his anecdote to tell of the Blue Bird's courage,
+but the author of "Wake Robin" tells his exquisitely thus: "A few years
+ago I put up a little bird house in the back end of my garden for the
+accommodation of the wrens, and every season a pair have taken up their
+abode there. One spring a pair of Blue Birds looked into the tenement,
+and lingered about several days, leading me to hope that they would
+conclude to occupy it. But they finally went away. Late in the season
+the wrens appeared, and after a little coquetting, were regularly
+installed in their old quarters, and were as happy as only wrens can
+be. But before their honeymoon was over, the Blue Birds returned. I
+knew something was wrong before I was up in the morning. Instead of that
+voluble and gushing song outside the window, I heard the wrens scolding
+and crying out at a fearful rate, and on going out saw the Blue Birds in
+possession of the box. The poor wrens were in despair and were forced to
+look for other quarters."
+
+
+
+
+THE SWALLOW.
+
+
+    "Come, summer visitant, attach
+      To my reedroof thy nest of clay,
+    And let my ear thy music catch,
+    Low twitting underneath the thatch,
+      At the gray dawn of day."
+
+Sure harbingers of spring are the Swallows. They are very common birds,
+and frequent, as a rule, the cultivated lands in the neighborhood of
+water, showing a decided preference for the habitations of man. "How
+gracefully the swallows fly! See them coursing over the daisy-bespangled
+grass fields; now they skim just over the blades of grass, and then with
+a rapid stroke of their long wings mount into the air and come hovering
+above your head, displaying their rich white and chestnut plumage to
+perfection. Now they chase each other for very joyfulness, uttering
+their sharp twittering notes; then they hover with expanded wings
+like miniature Kestrels, or dart downwards with the velocity of
+the sparrowhawk; anon they flit rapidly over the neighboring pool,
+occasionally dipping themselves in its calm and placid waters, and
+leaving a long train of rings marking their varied course. How easily
+they turn, or glide over the surrounding hedges, never resting, never
+weary, and defying the eye to trace them in the infinite turnings and
+twistings of their rapid shooting flight. You frequently see them glide
+rapidly near the ground, and then with a sidelong motion mount aloft, to
+dart downwards like an animated meteor, their plumage glowing in the
+light with metallic splendor, and the row of white spots on the tail
+contrasting beautifully with the darker plumage."
+
+The Swallow is considered a life-paired species, and returns to its
+nesting site of the previous season, building a new nest close to the
+old one. His nest is found in barns and outhouses, upon the beams of
+wood which support the roof, or in any place which assures protection to
+the young birds. It is cup-shaped and artfully moulded of bits of mud.
+Grass and feathers are used for the lining. "The nest completed, five or
+six eggs are deposited. They are of a pure white color, with deep rich
+brown blotches and spots, notably at the larger end, round which they
+often form a zone or belt." The sitting bird is fed by her mate.
+
+The young Swallow is distinguished from the mature birds by the absence
+of the elongated tail feathers, which are a mark of maturity alone. His
+food is composed entirely of insects. Swallows are on the wing fully
+sixteen hours, and the greater part of the time making terrible havoc
+amongst the millions of insects which infest the air. It is said that
+when the Swallow is seen flying high in the heavens, it is a never
+failing indication of fine weather.
+
+A pair of Swallows on arriving at their nesting place of the preceding
+Summer found their nest occupied by a Sparrow, who kept the poor birds
+at a distance by pecking at them with his strong beak whenever they
+attempted to dislodge him. Wearied and hopeless of regaining possession
+of their property, they at last hit upon a plan which effectually
+punished the intruder. One morning they appeared with a few more
+Swallows--their mouths filled with a supply of tempered clay--and, by
+their joint efforts in a short time actually plastered up the entrance
+to the hole, thus barring the Sparrow from the home which he had stolen
+from the Swallows.
+
+[Illustration: BARN SWALLOW.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BROWN THRUSH.
+
+
+    "However the world goes ill,
+      The Thrushes still sing in it."
+
+The Mocking-bird of the North, as the Brown Thrush has been called,
+arrives in the Eastern and Middle States about the 10th of May, at which
+season he may be seen, perched on the highest twig of a hedge, or on the
+topmost branch of a tree, singing his loud and welcome song, that may be
+heard a distance of half a mile. The favorite haunt of the Brown Thrush,
+however, is amongst the bright and glossy foliage of the evergreens.
+"There they delight to hide, although not so shy and retiring as the
+Blackbird; there they build their nests in greatest numbers, amongst the
+perennial foliage, and there they draw at nightfall to repose in warmth
+and safety." The Brown Thrasher sings chiefly just after sunrise and
+before sunset, but may be heard singing at intervals during the day. His
+food consists of wild fruits, such as blackberries and raspberries,
+snails, worms, slugs and grubs. He also obtains much of his food
+amongst the withered leaves and marshy places of the woods and
+shrubberies which he frequents. Few birds possess a more varied melody.
+His notes are almost endless in variety, each note seemingly uttered at
+the caprice of the bird, without any perceptible approach to order.
+
+The site of the Thrush's nest is a varied one, in the hedgerows, under a
+fallen tree or fence-rail; far up in the branches of stately trees, or
+amongst the ivy growing up their trunks. The nest is composed of the
+small dead twigs of trees, lined with the fine fibers of roots. From
+three to five eggs are deposited, and are hatched in about twelve days.
+They have a greenish background, thickly spotted with light brown,
+giving the whole egg a brownish appearance.
+
+The Brown Thrush leaves the Eastern and Middle States, on his migration
+South, late in September, remaining until the following May.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+THE THRUSH'S NEST.
+
+    "Within a thick and spreading hawthorn bush
+      That overhung a molehill, large and round,
+    I heard from morn to morn a merry thrush
+      Sing hymns of rapture while I drank the sound
+    With joy--and oft an unintruding guest,
+      I watched her secret toils from day to day;
+    How true she warped the moss to form her nest,
+      And modeled it within with wood and clay.
+    And by and by, with heath-bells gilt with dew,
+      There lay her shining eggs as bright as flowers,
+    Ink-spotted over, shells of green and blue:
+      And there I witnessed, in the summer hours,
+    A brood of nature's minstrels chirp and fly,
+      Glad as the sunshine and the laughing sky."
+
+
+
+
+THE BROWN THRUSH.
+
+
+Dear Readers:
+
+My cousin Robin Redbreast told me that he wrote you a letter last month
+and sent it with his picture. How did you like it? He is a pretty
+bird--Cousin Robin--and everybody likes him. But I must tell you
+something of myself.
+
+Folks call me by different names--some of them nicknames, too.
+
+The cutest one of all is Brown Thrasher. I wonder if you know why they
+call me Thrasher. If you don't, ask some one. It is really funny.
+
+Some people think Cousin Robin is the sweetest singer of our family, but
+a great many like my song just as well.
+
+Early in the morning I sing among the bushes, but later in the day you
+will always find me in the very top of a tree and it is then I sing my
+best.
+
+Do you know what I say in my song? Well, if I am near a farmer while he
+is planting, I say: "Drop it, drop it--cover it up, cover it up--pull it
+up, pull it up, pull it up."
+
+One thing I very seldom do and that is, sing when near my nest. Maybe
+you can tell why. I'm not very far from my nest now. I just came down to
+the stream to get a drink and am watching that boy on the other side of
+the stream. Do you see him?
+
+One dear lady who loves birds has said some very nice things about me in
+a book called "Bird Ways." Another lady has written a beautiful poem
+about my singing. Ask your mamma or teacher the names of these ladies.
+Here is the poem:
+
+    There's a merry brown thrush sitting up in a tree.
+    He is singing to me! He is singing to me!
+    And what does he say--little girl, little boy?
+    "Oh, the world's running over with joy!
+        Hush! Look! In my tree,
+        I am as happy as happy can be."
+
+    And the brown thrush keeps singing, "A nest, do you see,
+    And five eggs, hid by me in the big cherry tree?
+    Don't meddle, don't touch--little girl, little boy--
+    Or the world will lose some of its joy!
+        Now I am glad! now I am free!
+        And I always shall be,
+        If you never bring sorrow to me."
+
+    So the merry brown thrush sings away in the tree
+    To you and to me--to you and to me;
+    And he sings all the day--little girl, little boy--
+    "Oh, the world's running over with joy!
+        But long it won't be,
+        Don't you know? don't you see?
+        Unless we're good as good can be."
+
+[Illustration: BROWN THRASHER.]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: JAPAN PHEASANT.]
+
+THE JAPAN PHEASANT.
+
+
+Originally the Pheasant was an inhabitant of Asia Minor but has been
+by degrees introduced into many countries, where its beauty of form,
+plumage, and the delicacy of its flesh made it a welcome visitor. The
+Japan Pheasant is a very beautiful species, about which little is known
+in its wild state, but in captivity it is pugnacious. It requires much
+shelter and plenty of food, and the breed is to some degree artificially
+kept up by the hatching of eggs under domestic hens and feeding them in
+the coop like ordinary chickens, until they are old and strong enough to
+get their own living.
+
+The food of this bird is extremely varied. When young it is generally
+fed on ants' eggs, maggots, grits, and similar food, but when it is full
+grown it is possessed of an accommodating appetite and will eat many
+kinds of seeds, roots, and leaves. It will also eat beans, peas, acorns,
+berries, and has even been known to eat the ivy leaf, as well as the
+berry.
+
+This Pheasant loves the ground, runs with great speed, and always
+prefers to trust to its legs rather than to its wings. It is crafty, and
+when alarmed it slips quickly out of sight behind a bush or through a
+hedge, and then runs away with astonishing rapidity, always remaining
+under cover until it reaches some spot where it deems itself safe. The
+male is not domestic, passing an independent life during a part of the
+year and associating with others of its own sex during the rest of the
+season.
+
+The nest is very rude, being merely a heap of leaves and grass on the
+ground, with a very slight depression. The eggs are numerous, about
+eleven or twelve, and olive brown in color. In total length, though they
+vary considerably, the full grown male is about three feet. The female
+is smaller in size than her mate, and her length a foot less.
+
+The Japan Pheasant is not a particularly interesting bird aside from his
+beauty, which is indeed brilliant, there being few of the species more
+attractive.
+
+
+
+
+THE FLICKER.
+
+
+A great variety of names does this bird possess. It is commonly known
+as the Golden Winged Woodpecker, Yellow-shafted Flicker, Yellow Hammer,
+and less often as High-hole or High-holer, Wake-up, etc. In suitable
+localities throughout the United States and the southern parts of
+Canada, the Flicker is a very common bird, and few species are more
+generally known. "It is one of the most sociable of our Woodpeckers,
+and is apparently always on good terms with its neighbors. It usually
+arrives in April, occasionally even in March, the males preceding the
+females a few days, and as soon as the latter appear one can hear their
+voices in all directions."
+
+The Flicker is an ardent wooer. It is an exceedingly interesting and
+amusing sight to see a couple of males paying their addresses to a coy
+and coquettish female; the apparent shyness of the suitors as they sidle
+up to her and as quickly retreat again, the shy glances given as one
+peeps from behind a limb watching the other--playing bo-peep--seem
+very human, and "I have seen," says an observer, "few more amusing
+performances than the courtship of a pair of these birds." The defeated
+suitor takes his rejection quite philosophically, and retreats in a
+dignified manner, probably to make other trials elsewhere. Few birds
+deserve our good will more than the Flicker. He is exceedingly useful,
+destroying multitudes of grubs, larvae, and worms. He loves berries and
+fruit but the damage he does to cultivated fruit is very trifling.
+
+The Flicker begins to build its nest about two weeks after the bird
+arrives from the south. It prefers open country, interspersed with
+groves and orchards, to nest in. Any old stump, or partly decayed limb
+of a tree, along the banks of a creek, beside a country road, or in
+an old orchard, will answer the purpose. Soft wood trees seem to be
+preferred, however. In the prairie states it occasionally selects
+strange nesting sites. It has been known to chisel through the weather
+boarding of a dwelling house, barns, and other buildings, and to nest
+in the hollow space between this and the cross beams; its nests have
+also been found in gate posts, in church towers, and in burrows of
+Kingfishers and bank swallows, in perpendicular banks of streams. One
+of the most peculiar sites of his selection is described by William A.
+Bryant as follows: "On a small hill, a quarter of a mile distant from
+any home, stood a hay stack which had been placed there two years
+previously. The owner, during the winter of 1889-90, had cut the stack
+through the middle and hauled away one portion, leaving the other
+standing, with the end smoothly trimmed. The following spring I noticed
+a pair of flickers about the stack showing signs of wanting to make it
+a fixed habitation. One morning a few days later I was amused at the
+efforts of one of the pair. It was clinging to the perpendicular end of
+the stack and throwing out clipped hay at a rate to defy competition.
+This work continued for a week, and in that time the pair had excavated
+a cavity twenty inches in depth. They remained in the vicinity until
+autumn. During the winter the remainder of the stack was removed. They
+returned the following spring, and, after a brief sojourn, departed for
+parts unknown."
+
+From five to nine eggs are generally laid. They are glossy white in
+color, and when fresh appear as if enameled.
+
+The young are able to leave the nest in about sixteen days; they crawl
+about on the limbs of the tree for a couple of days before they venture
+to fly, and return to the nest at night.
+
+[Illustration: FLICKER.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BOBOLINK.
+
+
+    "When Nature had made all her birds,
+    And had no cares to think on,
+    She gave a rippling laugh,
+    And out there flew a Bobolinkon."
+
+No American ornithologist omits mention of the Bobolink, and naturalists
+generally have described him under one of the many names by which he is
+known. In some States he is called the Rice Bird, in others Reed Bird,
+the Rice or Reed Bunting, while his more familiar title, throughout the
+greater part of America, is Bobolink, or Bobolinkum. In Jamaica, where
+he gets very fat during his winter stay, he is called the Butter Bird.
+His title of Rice Troopial is earned by the depredations which he
+annually makes upon the rice crops, though his food "is by no means
+restricted to that seed, but consists in a large degree of insects,
+grubs, and various wild grasses." A migratory bird, residing during the
+winter in the southern parts of America, he returns in vast multitudes
+northward in the early Spring. According to Wilson, their course of
+migration is as follows: "In April, or very early in May, the Rice
+Buntings, male and female, arrive within the southern boundaries of
+the United States, and are seen around the town of Savannah, Georgia,
+sometimes in separate parties of males and females, but more generally
+promiscuously. They remain there but a short time, and about the middle
+of May make their appearance in the lower part of Pennsylvania. While
+here the males are extremely gay and full of song, frequenting meadows,
+newly plowed fields, sides of creeks, rivers, and watery places, feeding
+on May flies and caterpillars, of which they destroy great quantities.
+In their passage, however, through Virginia at this season, they do
+great damage to the early wheat and barley while in their milky state.
+About the 20th of May they disappear on their way to the North. Nearly
+at the same time they arrive in the State of New York, spread over the
+whole of the New England States, as far as the river St. Lawrence, and
+from Lake Ontario to the sea. In all of these places they remain during
+the Summer, building their nests and rearing their young."
+
+The Bobolink's song is a peculiar one, varying greatly with the
+occasion. As he flys southward, his cry is a kind of clinking note; but
+the love song addressed to his mate is voluble and fervent. It has been
+said that if you should strike the keys of a pianoforte haphazard, the
+higher and the lower singly very quickly, you might have some idea of
+the Bobolink's notes. In the month of June he gradually changes his
+pretty, attractive dress and puts on one very like the females, which is
+of a plain rusty brown, and is not reassumed until the next season of
+nesting. The two parent birds in the plate represent the change from the
+dark plumage in which the bird is commonly known in the North as the
+Bobolink, to the dress of yellowish brown by which it is known
+throughout the South as the Rice or Reed Bird.
+
+His nest, small and a plain one, too, is built on the ground by his
+industrious little wife. The inside is warmly lined with soft fibers of
+whatever may be nearest at hand. Five pretty white eggs, spotted all
+over with brown are laid, and as soon
+
+    "As the little ones chip the shell
+    And five wide mouths are ready for food,
+    'Robert of Lincoln' bestirs him well,
+    Gathering seeds for this hungry brood."
+
+
+
+
+BOBOLINK.
+
+
+Other birds may like to travel alone, but when jolly Mr. Bobolink and
+his quiet little wife come from the South, where they have spent the
+winter, they come with a large party of friends. When South, they eat so
+much rice that the people call them Rice Birds. When they come North,
+they enjoy eating wheat, barley, oats and insects.
+
+Mr. and Mrs. Bobolink build their simple little nest of grasses in some
+field. It is hard to find on the ground, for it looks just like dry
+grass. Mrs. Bobolink wears a dull dress, so she cannot be seen when she
+is sitting on the precious eggs. She does not sing a note while caring
+for the eggs. Why do you think that is?
+
+Mr. Bob-Linkum does not wear a sober dress, as you can see by his
+picture. He does not need to be hidden. He is just as jolly as he
+looks. Shall I tell you how he amuses his mate while she is sitting?
+He springs from the dew-wet grass with a sound like peals of merry
+laughter. He frolics from reed to post, singing as if his little heart
+would burst with joy.
+
+Don't you think Mr. and Mrs. Bobolink look happy in the picture? They
+have raised their family of five. Four of their children have gone to
+look for food; one of them--he must surely be the baby--would rather
+stay with his mamma and papa. Which one does he look like?
+
+Many birds are quiet at noon and in the afternoon. A flock of Bobolinks
+can be heard singing almost all day long. The song is full of high notes
+and low, soft notes and loud, all sung rapidly. It is as gay and bright
+as the birds themselves, who flit about playfully as they sing. You will
+feel like laughing as merrily as they sing when you hear it some day.
+
+[Illustration: BOBOLINKS.]
+
+
+
+
+THE BLUE BIRD.
+
+
+    "Drifting down the first warm wind
+      That thrills the earliest days of spring,
+    The Bluebird seeks our maple groves
+      And charms them into tasselling."
+
+    "He sings, and his is Nature's voice--
+      A gush of melody sincere
+    From that great fount of harmony
+      Which thaws and runs when Spring is here."
+
+    "Short is his song, but strangely sweet
+      To ears aweary of the low
+    Dull tramps of Winter's sullen feet,
+      Sandalled in ice and muffled in snow."
+
+       *       *       *
+
+    "Think, every morning, when the sun peeps through
+       The dim, leaf-latticed windows of the grove,
+     How jubilant the happy birds renew
+       Their old, melodious madrigals of love!
+     And when you think of this, remember, too,
+       'Tis always morning somewhere, and above
+     The awakening continents, from shore to shore,
+     Somewhere the birds are singing evermore.
+
+    "Think of your woods and orchards without birds!
+       Of empty nests that cling to boughs and beams
+     As in an idiot's brain remembered words
+       Hang empty 'mid the cobwebs of his dreams!
+     Will bleat of flocks or bellowing of herds
+       Make up for the lost music, when your teams
+     Drag home the stingy harvest, and no more
+     The feathered gleaners follow to your door?"
+                    FROM "THE BIRDS OF KILLINGSWORTH."
+
+
+
+
+THE CROW.
+
+
+Caw! Caw! Caw! little boys and girls. Caw! Caw! Caw! Just look at my
+coat of feathers. See how black and glossy it is. Do you wonder I am
+proud of it?
+
+Perhaps you think I look very solemn and wise, and not at all as if I
+cared to play games. I do, though; and one of the games I like best is
+hide-and-seek. I play it with the farmer in the spring. He hides, in the
+rich, brown earth, golden kernels of corn. Surely he does it because he
+knows I like it, for sometimes he puts up a stick all dressed like a man
+to show where the corn is hidden. Sometimes I push my bill down into the
+earth to find the corn, and at other times I wait until tiny green
+leaves begin to show above the ground, and then I get my breakfast
+without much trouble. I wonder if the farmer enjoys this game as much
+as I do. I help him, too, by eating worms and insects.
+
+During the spring and summer I live in my nest on the top of a very
+high tree. It is built of sticks and grasses and straw and string and
+anything else I can pick up. But in the fall, I and all my relations and
+friends live together in great roosts or rookeries. What good times we
+do have--hunting all day for food and talking all night. Wouldn't you
+like to be with us?
+
+The farmer who lives in the house over there went to the mill to-day
+with a load of corn.
+
+One of the ears dropped out of the wagon and it didn't take me long to
+find it. I have eaten all I can possibly hold and am wondering now what
+is the best thing to do. If you were in my place would you leave it here
+and not tell anybody and come back to-morrow and finish it? Or would you
+fly off and get Mrs. Crow and some of the children to come and finish
+it? I believe I'll fly and get them. Good-bye.
+
+Caw! Caw! Caw!
+
+[Illustration: COMMON CROW.]
+
+
+
+
+THE COMMON CROW.
+
+
+    "The crow doth sing as merry as the lark,
+     When neither is attended."
+
+Few birds have more interesting characteristics than the Common Crow,
+being, in many of his actions, very like the Raven, especially in his
+love for carrion. Like the Raven, he has been known to attack game,
+although his inferior size forces him to call to his assistance the aid
+of his fellows to cope with larger creatures. Rabbits and hares are
+frequently the prey of this bird which pounces on them as they steal
+abroad to feed. His food consists of reptiles, frogs, and lizards; he
+is a plunderer of other birds' nests. On the seashore he finds crabs,
+shrimps and inhabited shells, which he ingeniously cracks by flying with
+them to a great height and letting them fall upon a convenient rock.
+
+The crow is seen in single pairs or in little bands of four or five.
+In the autumn evenings, however, they assemble in considerable flocks
+before going to roost and make a wonderful chattering, as if comparing
+notes of the events of the day.
+
+The nest of the Crow is placed in some tree remote from habitations of
+other birds. Although large and very conspicuous at a distance, it is
+fixed upon one of the topmost branches quite out of reach of the hand of
+the adventurous urchin who longs to secure its contents. It is loosely
+made and saucer shaped. Sticks and softer substances are used to
+construct it, and it is lined with hair and fibrous roots. Very recently
+a thrifty and intelligent Crow built for itself a summer residence in an
+airy tree near Bombay, the material used being gold, silver, and steel
+spectacle frames, which the bird had stolen from an optician of that
+city. Eighty-four frames had been used for this purpose, and they were
+so ingeniously woven together that the nest was quite a work of art.
+The eggs are variable, or rather individual, in their markings, and
+even in their size. The Crow rarely uses the same nest twice, although
+he frequently repairs to the same locality from year to year. He is
+remarkable for his attachment to his mate and young, surpassing the
+Fawn and Turtle Dove in conjugal courtesy.
+
+The Somali Arabs bear a deadly hatred toward the Crow. The origin of
+their detestation is the superstition that during the flight of Mohammed
+from his enemies, he hid himself in a cave, where he was perceived by
+the Crow, at that time a bird of light plumage, who, when he saw the
+pursuers approaching the spot, perched above Mohammed's hiding place,
+and screamed, "Ghar! Ghar!" (cave! cave!) so as to indicate the place
+of concealment. His enemies, however, did not understand the bird, and
+passed on, and Mohammed, when he came out of the cave, clothed the Crow
+in perpetual black, and commanded him to cry "Ghar" as long as Crows
+should live.
+
+And he lives to a good old age. Instances are not rare where he has
+attained to half a century, without great loss of activity or failure of
+sight.
+
+At Red Bank, a few miles northeast of Cincinnati, on the Little Miami
+River, in the bottoms, large flocks of Crows congregate the year around.
+A few miles away, high upon Walnut Hills, is a Crow roost, and in the
+late afternoons the Crows, singly, in pairs, and in flocks, are seen on
+the wing, flying heavily, with full crops, on the way to the roost, from
+which they descend in the early morning, crying "Caw! Caw!" to the
+fields of the newly planted, growing, or matured corn, or corn stacks,
+as the season may provide.
+
+
+
+
+THE RETURN OF THE BIRDS.
+
+
+     "Everywhere the blue sky belongs to them and is their appointed
+     rest, and their native country, and their own natural home
+     which they enter unannounced as lords that are certainly
+     expected, and yet there is a silent joy at their arrival."
+
+The return of the birds to their real home in the North, where they
+build their nests and rear their young, is regarded by all genuine
+lovers of earth's messengers of gladness and gayety as one of the most
+interesting and poetical of annual occurrences. The naturalist, who
+notes the very day of each arrival, in order that he may verify former
+observation or add to his material gathered for a new work, does not
+necessarily anticipate with greater pleasure this event than do many
+whose lives are brightened by the coming of the friends of their youth,
+who alone of early companions do not change. First of all--and ever the
+same delightful warbler--the Bluebird, who, in 1895, did not appear at
+all in many localities, though here in considerable numbers last year,
+betrays himself. "Did he come down out of the heaven on that bright
+March morning when he told us so softly and plaintively that, if we
+pleased, spring had come?" Sometimes he is here a little earlier, and
+must keep his courage up until the cold snap is over and the snow is
+gone. Not long after the Bluebird, comes the Robin, sometimes in March,
+but in most of the northern states April is the month of his arrival.
+With his first utterance the spell of winter is broken, and the
+remembrance of it afar off. Then appears the Woodpecker in great
+variety, the Flicker usually arriving first. He is always somebody's old
+favorite, "announcing his arrival by a long, loud call, repeated from
+the dry branch of some tree, or a stake in the fence--a thoroughly
+melodious April sound."
+
+Few perhaps reflect upon the difficulties encountered by the birds
+themselves in their returning migrations. A voyager sometimes meets
+with many of our common birds far out at sea. Such wanderers, it is
+said, when suddenly overtaken by a fog, completely lose their sense of
+direction and become hopelessly lost. Humming birds, those delicately
+organized, glittering gems, are among the most common of the land
+species seen at sea.
+
+The present season has been quite favorable to the protection of birds.
+A very competent observer says that not all of the birds migrated this
+winter. He recently visited a farm less than an hour's ride from
+Chicago, where he found the old place, as he relates it, "chucked full
+of Robins, Blackbirds, and Woodpeckers," and others unknown to him.
+From this he inferred they would have been in Florida had indications
+predicted a severe winter. The trees of the south parks of Chicago,
+and those in suburban places, have had, darting through their branches
+during the months of December and January, nearly as many members of the
+Woodpecker tribe as were found there during the mating season in May
+last.
+
+Alas, that the Robin will visit us in diminished numbers in the
+approaching spring. He has not been so common for a year or two as
+he was formerly, for the reason that the Robins died by thousands of
+starvation, owing to the freezing of their food supply in Tennessee
+during the protracted cold weather in the winter of 1895. It is indeed
+sad that this good Samaritan among birds should be defenseless against
+the severity of Nature, the common mother of us all. Nevertheless the
+return of the birds, in myriads or in single pairs, will be welcomed
+more and more, year by year, as intelligent love and appreciation of
+them shall possess the popular mind.
+
+
+
+
+ [Illustration: BLACK TERN.
+ Mother and Young with Eggs.]
+
+THE BLACK TERN.
+
+
+"The Tern," says Mr. F. M. Woodruff, of the Chicago Academy of Sciences,
+"is the only representative of the long-winged swimmers which commonly
+nests with us on our inland fresh water marshes, arriving early in May
+in its brooding plumage of sooty black. The color changes in the autumn
+to white, and a number of the adult birds may be found, in the latter
+part of July, dotted and streaked here and there with white. On the
+first of June, 1891, I found a large colony of Black Terns nesting on
+Hyde Lake, Cook County, Illinois. As I approached the marsh a few birds
+were seen flying high in the air, and, as I neared the nesting site, the
+flying birds gave notes of alarm, and presently the air was filled with
+the graceful forms of this beautiful little bird. They circled about me,
+darting down to within a few feet of my head, constantly uttering a
+harsh, screaming cry. As the eggs are laid upon the bare ground, which
+the brownish and blackish markings so closely resemble, I was at first
+unable to find the nests, and discovered that the only way to locate
+them was to stand quietly and watch the birds. When the Tern is passing
+over the nest it checks its flight, and poises for a moment on quivering
+wings. By keeping my eyes on this spot I found the nest with very little
+trouble. The complement of eggs, when the bird has not been disturbed,
+is usually three. These are laid in a saucer shaped structure of dead
+vegetation, which is scraped together, from the surface of the wet,
+boggy ground. The bird figured in the plate had placed its nest on the
+edge of an old muskrat house, and my attention was attracted to it by
+the fact that upon the edge of the rat house, where it had climbed to
+rest itself, was the body of a young dabchick, or piedbilled grebe,
+scarcely two and one-half inches long, and not twenty-four hours out of
+the egg, a beautiful little ball of blackish down, striped with brown
+and white. From the latter part of July to the middle of August large
+flocks of Black Terns may be seen on the shores of our larger lakes on
+their annual migration southward."
+
+The Rev. P. B. Peabody, in alluding to his observation of the nests
+of the Tern, says: "Amid this floating sea of aquatic nests I saw an
+unusual number of well constructed homes of the Tern. Among these was
+one that I count a perfect nest. It rested on the perfectly flat
+foundation of a small decayed rat house, which was about fourteen
+inches in diameter. The nest, in form, is a truncated cone (barring
+the cavity), was about eight inches high and ten inches in diameter.
+The hollow--quite shallow--was about seven inches across, being thus
+unusually large. The whole was built up of bits of rushes, carried to
+the spot, these being quite uniform in length--about four inches." After
+daily observation of the Tern, during which time he added much to his
+knowledge of the bird, he pertinently asks: "Who shall say how many
+traits and habits yet unknown may be discovered through patient watching
+of community-breeding birds, by men enjoying more of leisure for such
+delightful studies than often falls to the lot of most of us who have
+bread and butter to earn and a tiny part of the world's work to
+finish?"
+
+
+
+
+THE MEADOW LARK.
+
+
+        "Not an inch of his body is free from delight.
+    Can he keep himself still if he would? Oh, not he!
+        The music stirs in him like wind through a tree."
+
+The well known Meadow or Old Field Lark is a constant resident south
+of latitude 39, and many winter farther north in favorite localities.
+Its geographical range is eastern North America, Canada to south Nova
+Scotia, Quebec, and Ontario to eastern Manitoba; west to Minnesota,
+Iowa, Missouri, eastern Kansas, the Indian Territory, and Texas; south
+to Florida and the Gulf coast, in all of which localities, except in the
+extreme north, it usually rears two or three broods in a season. In the
+Northern States it is only a summer resident, arriving in April and
+remaining until the latter part of October and occasionally November.
+Excepting during the breeding season, small flocks may often be seen
+roving about in search of good feeding grounds. Major Bendire says
+this is especially true in the fall of the year. At this time several
+families unite, and as many as two dozen may occasionally be flushed in
+a field, over which they scatter, roaming about independently of each
+other. When one takes wing all the others in the vicinity follow. It
+is a shy bird in the East, while in the middle states it is quite the
+reverse. Its flight is rather laborious, at least in starting, and is
+continued by a series of rapid movements of the wings, alternating with
+short distances of sailing, and is rarely protracted. On alighting,
+which is accompanied with a twitching of its tail, it usually settles on
+some fence rail, post, boulder, weedstock, or on a hillock in a meadow
+from which it can get a good view of the surroundings, and but rarely
+on a limb of a tree. Its favorite resorts are meadows, fallow fields,
+pastures, and clearings, but in some sections, as in northern Florida,
+for instance, it also frequents the low, open pine woods and nests
+there.
+
+The song of the Meadow Lark is not much varied, but its clear, whistling
+notes, so frequently heard in the early spring, are melodious and
+pleasing to the ear. It is decidedly the farmers' friend, feeding, as
+it does, on noxious insects, caterpillars, moths, grasshoppers, spiders,
+worms and the like, and eating but little grain. The lark spends the
+greater part of its time on the ground, procuring all its food there.
+It is seldom found alone, and it is said remains paired for life.
+
+Nesting begins in the early part of May and lasts through June. Both
+sexes assist in building the nest, which is always placed on the ground,
+either in a natural depression, or in a little hollow scratched out by
+the birds, alongside a bunch of grass or weeds. The nest itself is lined
+with dry grass, stubble, and sometimes pine needles. Most nests are
+placed in level meadows. The eggs and young are frequently destroyed by
+vermin, for the meadow lark has many enemies. The eggs vary from three
+to seven, five being the most common, and both sexes assist in the
+hatching, which requires about fifteen or sixteen days. The young leave
+the nest before they are able to fly--hiding at the slightest sign of
+danger. The Meadow Lark does not migrate beyond the United States. It is
+a native bird, and is only accidental in England. The eggs are spotted,
+blotched, and speckled with shades of brown, purple and lavender. A
+curious incident is told of a Meadow Lark trying to alight on the top
+mast of a schooner several miles at sea. It was evidently very tired but
+would not venture near the deck.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: MEADOW LARK.]
+
+THE MEADOW LARK.
+
+
+I told the man who wanted my picture that he could take it if he would
+show my nest and eggs. Do you blame me for saying so? Don't you think it
+makes a better picture than if I stood alone?
+
+Mr. Lark is away getting me some breakfast, or he could be in the
+picture, too. After a few days I shall have some little baby birds, and
+then won't we be happy.
+
+Boys and girls who live in the country know us pretty well. When they
+drive the cows out to pasture, or when they go out to gather wild
+flowers, we sit on the fences by the roadside and make them glad with
+our merry song.
+
+Those of you who live in the city cannot see us unless you come out into
+the country.
+
+It isn't very often that we can find such a pretty place for a nest as
+we have here. Most of the time we build our nest under the grass and
+cover it over, and build a little tunnel leading to it. This year we
+made up our minds not to be afraid.
+
+The people living in the houses over there do not bother us at all and
+we are so happy.
+
+You never saw baby larks, did you? Well, they are queer little fellows,
+with hardly any feathers on them.
+
+Last summer we had five little birdies to feed, and it kept us busy from
+morning till night. This year we only expect three, and Mr. Lark says he
+will do all the work. He knows a field that is being plowed, where he
+can get nice, large worms.
+
+Hark! that is he singing. He will be surprised when he comes back and
+finds me off the nest. He is so afraid that I will let the eggs get
+cold, but I won't. There he comes, now.
+
+
+
+
+THE LONG-EARED OWL.
+
+
+The name of the Long-Eared Owl is derived from the great length of his
+"ears" or feather-tufts, which are placed upon the head, and erect
+themselves whenever the bird is interested or excited. It is the "black
+sheep" of the owl family, the majority of owls being genuine friends of
+the agriculturist, catching for his larder so many of the small animals
+that prey upon his crops. In America he is called the Great Horned
+Owl--in Europe the Golden Owl.
+
+Nesting time with the owl begins in February, and continues through
+March and April. The clown-like antics of both sexes of this bird while
+under the tender influence of the nesting season tend somewhat to impair
+their reputation for dignity and wise demeanor. They usually have a
+simple nest in a hollow tree, but which seems seldom to be built by the
+bird itself, as it prefers to take the deserted nest of some other bird,
+and to fit up the premises for its own use. They repair slightly from
+year to year the same nest. The eggs are white, and generally four or
+five in number. While the young are still in the nest, the parent birds
+display a singular diligence in collecting food for them.
+
+If you should happen to know of an owl's nest, stand near it some
+evening when the old birds are rearing their young. Keep quiet and
+motionless, and notice how frequently the old birds feed them. Every ten
+minutes or so the soft flap, flap of their wings will be heard, the male
+and female alternately, and you will obtain a brief glimpse of them
+through the gloom as they enter the nesting place. They remain inside
+but a short time, sharing the food equally amongst their brood, and
+then are off again to hunt for more. All night, were you to have the
+inclination to observe them, you would find they pass to and fro with
+food, only ceasing their labors at dawn. The young, as soon as they
+reach maturity, are abandoned by their parents; they quit the nest and
+seek out haunts elsewhere, while the old birds rear another, and not
+infrequently two more broods, during the remainder of the season.
+
+The habits of the Long-Eared Owl are nocturnal. He is seldom seen in the
+light of day, and is greatly disturbed if he chance to issue from his
+concealment while the sun is above the horizon. The facial disk is very
+conspicuous in this species. It is said that the use of this circle is
+to collect the rays of light, and throw them upon the eye. The flight
+of the owl is softened by means of especially shaped, recurved
+feather-tips, so that he may noiselessly steal upon his prey, and
+the ear is also so shaped as to gather sounds from below.
+
+The Long-Eared Owl is hardly tameable. The writer of this paragraph, when
+a boy, was the possessor, for more than a year, of a very fine specimen.
+We called him Judge. He was a monster, and of perfect plumage. Although
+he seemed to have some attachment to the children of the family who fed
+him, he would not permit himself to be handled by them or by any one in
+the slightest. Most of his time he spent in his cage, an immense affair,
+in which he was very comfortable. Occasionally he had a day in the barn
+with the rats and mice.
+
+The owl is of great usefulness to gardener, agriculturist, and landowner
+alike, for there is not another bird of prey which is so great a
+destroyer of the enemies of vegetation.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: GREAT HORNED OWL.]
+
+THE OWL.
+
+
+              We know not alway
+              Who are kings by day,
+    But the king of the night is the bold brown owl!
+
+I wonder why the folks put my picture last in the book. It can't be
+because they don't like me, for I'm sure I never bother them. I don't
+eat the farmer's corn like the crow, and no one ever saw me quarrel with
+other birds.
+
+Maybe it is because I can't sing. Well, there are lots of good people
+that can't sing, and so there are lots of good birds that can't sing.
+
+Did you ever see any other bird sit up as straight as I do? I couldn't
+sit up so straight if I hadn't such long, sharp claws to hold on with.
+
+My home is in the woods. Here we owls build our nests--most always in
+hollow trees.
+
+During the day I stay in the nest or sit on a limb. I don't like day
+time for the light hurts my eyes, but when it begins to grow dark then
+I like to stir around. All night long I am wide awake and fly about
+getting food for my little hungry ones. They sleep most of the day and
+it keeps me busy nearly all night to find them enough to eat.
+
+I just finished my night's work when the man came to take my picture. It
+was getting light and I told him to go to a large stump on the edge of
+the woods and I would sit for my picture. So here I am. Don't you think
+I look wise? How do you like my large eyes? If I could smile at you I
+would, but my face always looks sober. I have a great many cousins and
+if you really like my picture, I'll have some of them talk to you next
+month. I don't think any of them have such pretty feathers though. Just
+see if they have when they come.
+
+Well, I must fly back to my perch in the old elm tree. Good-bye.
+
+
+
+
+THE OWL.
+
+
+    In the hollow tree, in the old gray tower,
+      The spectral owl doth dwell;
+    Dull, hated, despised in the sunshine hour,
+      But at dusk he's abroad and well!
+    Not a bird of the forest e'er mates with him;
+      All mock him outright by day;
+    But at night, when the woods grow still and dim,
+      The boldest will shrink away!
+
+          O! when the night falls, and roosts the fowl,
+          Then, then, is the reign of the Horned Owl!
+
+    And the owl hath a bride, who is fond and bold,
+      And loveth the wood's deep gloom;
+    And, with eyes like the shine of the moonstone cold,
+      She awaiteth her ghastly groom.
+    Not a feather she moves, not a carol she sings,
+      As she waits in her tree so still,
+    But when her heart heareth his flapping wings,
+      She hoots out her welcome shrill!
+
+          O! when the moon shines, and dogs do howl,
+          Then, then, is the joy of the Horned Owl!
+
+    Mourn not for the owl, nor his gloomy plight!
+      The owl hath his share of good--
+    If a prisoner he be in the broad daylight,
+      He is lord in the dark greenwood!
+    Nor lonely the bird, nor his ghastly mate,
+      They are each unto each a pride;
+    Thrice fonder, perhaps, since a strange, dark fate
+      Hath rent them from all beside!
+
+          So, when the night falls, and dogs do howl,
+          Sing, Ho! for the reign of the Horned Owl!
+              We know not alway
+              Who are kings by day,
+    But the King of the Night is the bold Brown Owl!
+
+                     BRYAN W. PROCTER
+                           (Barry Cornwall.)
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+    THE
+     Racycle
+        NARROW TREAD
+
+    THE VERDICT IS IN
+
+     [Illustration]
+
+
+      Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to advertisers.
+
+
+
+
+TESTIMONIALS.
+
+
+                           FRANKFORT, KY., February 3, 1897.
+ W. J. BLACK, Vice-President,
+                     Chicago, Ill.
+
+Dear Sir: I have a copy of your magazine entitled "Birds," and beg to
+say that I consider it one of the finest things on the subject that I
+have ever seen, and shall be pleased to recommend it to county and city
+superintendents of the state.
+
+                            Very respectfully,
+                                    W. J. DAVIDSON,
+                   State Superintendent Public Instruction.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                      SAN FRANCISCO, CAL., January 27, 1897.
+ W. J. BLACK, ESQ.,
+           Chicago, Ill.
+
+Dear Sir: I am very much obliged for the copy of "Birds" that has just
+come to hand. It should be in the hands of every primary and grammar
+teacher. I send herewith copy of "List of San Francisco Teachers."
+
+                            Very respectfully,
+                                       M. BABCOCK.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                            LINCOLN, NEB., February 9, 1897.
+ W. J. BLACK,
+     Chicago, Ill.
+
+Dear Sir: The first number of your magazine, "Birds," is upon my
+desk. I am highly pleased with it. It will prove a very serviceable
+publication--one that strikes out along the right lines. For the purpose
+intended, it has, in my opinion, no equal. It is clear, concise, and
+admirably illustrated.
+
+                            Very respectfully,
+                                      W. R. JACKSON,
+                   State Superintendent Public Instruction.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                         NORTH LIMA, OHIO, February 1, 1897.
+ MR. W. E. WATT,
+
+Dear Sir: Sample copy of "Birds" received. All of the family delighted
+with it. We wish it unbounded success. It will be an excellent
+supplement to "In Birdland" in the Ohio Teachers' Reading Circle, and I
+venture Ohio will be to the front with a good subscription list. I
+enclose list of teachers.
+
+                            Very truly,
+                               C. M. L. ALTDOERFFER,
+                                  Township Superintendent.
+
+       *       *       *
+
+                                MILWAUKEE, January 30, 1897.
+ NATURE STUDY PUBLISHING COMPANY,
+             227 Dearborn Street, Chicago.
+
+Gentlemen: I acknowledge with pleasure the receipt of your publication,
+"Birds," with accompanying circulars. I consider it the best on the
+subject in existence. I have submitted the circulars and publication to
+my teachers, who have nothing to say but praise in behalf of the
+monthly.
+
+                            JULIUS TORNEY,
+             Principal 2nd Dist. Primary School, Milwaukee, Wis.
+
+
+
+
+OUR PREMIUM
+
+
+ A picture of wonderful beauty of the
+ Golden Pheasant almost life size in
+ a natural scene, plate 12x18 inches,
+ on card 19x25 inches, is given as a
+ premium to yearly subscribers. Our
+ price on this picture in Art Stores
+ is $3.50.
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds Illustrated by Color Photograph
+[March 1897], by Various
+
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