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diff --git a/30103-0.txt b/30103-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..aa29a44 --- /dev/null +++ b/30103-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1417 @@ +*** 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. 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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 *** |