NormalizeHEADmain

58 files changed, 17 insertions, 32236 deletions

diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7b82bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+*.txt text eol=lf
+*.htm text eol=lf
+*.html text eol=lf
+*.md text eol=lf
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..32ff7ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #62793 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/62793)
diff --git a/old/62793-0.txt b/old/62793-0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 0c0b74f..0000000
--- a/old/62793-0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,14260 +0,0 @@
-Project Gutenberg's Gray Lady and the Birds, by Mabel Osgood Wright
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world 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.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Gray Lady and the Birds
-       Stories of the Bird Year for Home and School
-
-Author: Mabel Osgood Wright
-
-Illustrator: Allan Brooks
-             Louis Agassiz Fuertes
-             Joseph Michael Gleeson
-             Robert Bruce Horsfall
-
-Release Date: July 31, 2020 [EBook #62793]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed
-Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net
-
-
-
-
-
-                        GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS
-[Illustration]
-
-                         THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
-                      NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO
-                        ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO
-
-                        MACMILLAN & CO., Limited
-                       LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA
-                               MELBOURNE
-
-                   THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd.
-                                TORONTO
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: BALTIMORE ORIOLE
-
-(Upper Figure, Male; Lower Figure, Female)]
-
-                  Order—Passeres      Family—Icteridæ
-                   Genus—Icterus      Species—Galbula
-
-
-
-
-                        GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS
-
-                        STORIES OF THE BIRD YEAR
-                          FOR HOME AND SCHOOL
-
-
-
-                                   BY
-                          MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT
-
-            PRESIDENT AUDUBON SOCIETY, STATE OF CONNECTICUT
-              AUTHOR OF “CITIZEN BIRD,” “TOMMY ANNE,” ETC.
-
-
-           _TWELVE COLOURED PLATES AND THIRTY-SIX FULL-PAGE_
-                      _ILLUSTRATIONS IN HALF-TONE_
-
-
-                                New York
-                         THE MACMILLAN COMPANY
-                                  1914
-
-                         _All rights reserved_
-
-
-
-
-                            Copyright, 1907,
-                       By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.
-
-      Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1907. Reprinted
-                 March, 1909; April, 1910; April, 1914.
-
-
-                             Norwood Press
-                 J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick & Smith Co.
-                         Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.
-
-
-
-
-                                   To
-
-                            WILLIAM DUTCHER
-
-                 PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
-
-                          OF AUDUBON SOCIETIES
-
-                IN RECOGNITION OF HIS UNSELFISH DEVOTION
-
-                            TO THE CAUSE OF
-
-                        AMERICAN BIRD PROTECTION
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: FEEDING THE ORPHANS]
-
-
-
-
-                            TO THE CHILDREN
-
-                               Greeting!
-
-    Oh, sweet is the whitethroat’s lay,
-      As the banners of dawn unfold!
-    The lovable, quarrelsome wrens all day
-      Peep and prattle and scold:
-    Skulks a blue jay hiding his grain;
-    Blinks an owl with the crows in train—
-    Courtship merry and combat vain
-      The eyes of the wise behold.
-
-            *     *     *     *     *     *
-
-    And Nature spreads wide her book,
-      In a temple fair and free,—
-    To all who may listen she cries, “Come, look!
-      Come and learn at my knee.
-    Watch the change of the finch’s vest,
-    Note how the highhole carves his nest,—
-    Come with light foot and loving breast,
-      And bury your ills with me!”
-
-    —Dora Read Goodale.
-
-
-
-
-                      BE SURE THAT YOU SEE ARIGHT!
-
-
-The preservation of the useful and beautiful animal and bird-life of the
-country depends largely upon creating in the young an interest in the
-life of the woods and fields.
-
-If the child mind is fed with stories that are false to nature, the
-children will go to the haunts of the animal only to meet
-disappointment. The result will be disbelief, and the death of interest.
-The men who misinterpret nature and replace fact with fiction, undo the
-work of those who in the love of nature interpret it aright.
-
-                                                  —Theodore Roosevelt.
-
-
-
-
-                              RECOGNITION
-
-
-The author desires to thank Mr. William Dutcher for permission to
-reproduce the Drawings of Birds prepared under his supervision for the
-Educational Leaflets of the National Association of Audubon Societies;
-Mr. Frank M. Chapman for the quotation of material that has appeared in
-_Bird-Lore_, also for photographs from his negatives; the American
-Museum of Natural History of New York City for photographs of its groups
-representing Bird-Life at Cobbs Island, Virginia, and Birds of the St.
-Joaquin Valley; to Dr. T. S. Roberts, Dr. C. F. Hodge, R. H. Beebe, and
-E. van Alterna, for use of valuable photographs; Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
-for their courtesy in allowing quotations from the poems of Celia
-Thaxter, Maurice Thompson, Frank Bolles, Lowell, and others; Charles
-Scribner’s Sons for like permission to use the poems of G. P. Lathrop
-and Henry van Dyke.
-
-Also to Dr. Henry van Dyke, Edmund C. Stedman, Edith M. Thomas, Oliver
-Herford, Dora Reed Goodale, George Parsons Lathrop, Dr. Garrett Newkirk,
-Faith C. Lee, Ella Gilbert Ives, Florence A. Van Zant, Lynn Tew Sprague,
-Richard Burton, W. B. Blake, and others for the use of their poems, etc.
-
-
-
-
-                      TO THE GROWN-UP—LEND A HAND!
-
-
-The training of the eye to correct seeing is one of the great advantages
-of bird study to the average child, quite aside from the value of the
-information gained, for this accurate gauge of the eye will always be a
-benefit in whatever calling may be followed, adding alike to the
-pleasure and profit of life.
-
-In every town or country village there is some one who takes more than
-passing interest in the life outdoors, who has a keener eye and more
-responsive ear than his neighbour, coupled with a heart that has a bit
-of Eden still lodged in it, so that it keeps tender and yearning toward
-the simple, direct affections of life, as expressed in childhood and the
-lives of the timid wild brotherhood, whether of foot or wing. Are you
-one of these? If so, do you not realize that from your very make-up you
-draw more freely from nature’s bounty than do your neighbours, and are
-you not bound to share your pleasure with them? Not alone because it is
-pleasure, but that through the knowledge that comes with all real joy,
-the wild bird or beast may be more fully understood, and therefore
-protected. All the more is this just and right, because we ourselves in
-our advancement are the main cause of their need of this protection, for
-as man increases, possesses, builds, and overflows the earth, so do
-these “kindred of the wild” dwindle and silently disappear.
-
-The lesser beasts keep more aloof than do the birds. These still gather
-freely in our gardens, fields, and woods if we permit, and if we offer
-food and shelter, many quickly become responsive.
-
-Will not you who enjoy this friendship share it with others to whom it
-is perhaps entirely unknown and unguessed, and to whom even the names of
-birds, beyond a familiar few such as Hawk, Owl, Robin, and Sparrow, are
-an unknown language?
-
-The bird lectures are many, but there are those who cannot reach them.
-The bird protective societies are tireless, but the ground must be
-prepared for the message they send forth, and there is no better way for
-doing this than by the influence of a personality working quietly and
-unconsciously that infects all with whom it comes in contact with its
-wholesome enthusiasm.
-
-If you are a parent or teacher, well and good; your field is ready at
-hand. If not, you may still become the equivalent of both in your
-community even though you lack some of Gray Lady’s attributes and
-resources.
-
-If you have the right faculty and books at hand, you do not need my aid;
-but if the work of holding youth is as yet an untried experiment, tuck
-this little volume into the corner of your school desk, the magazine
-rack, or your work-basket at home, for rainy days or the between times
-when lack of occupation breeds mischief.
-
-Much that is told in the following pages was thought out, in another
-form, especially for the use of teachers of the rural schools of
-Connecticut, but it is applicable to the needs of children in any of the
-eastern states, and whether the knowledge passes from the school to the
-home or the home to the school, the process is the same. The walk
-between the rural school and home along bushy lanes and tree-bordered
-highways, however, is an important link in the chain.
-
-For children so placed the birds and every possible motive for wanting
-to know them lie at hand, but for this very reason the public library
-wherein the books to answer questions may be found is perhaps many miles
-away and it is not possible for every school or home to own the
-necessary bird books or charts.
-
-It must not for a moment be thought that any attempt is made to say
-anything new or add to the information given in the many excellent and
-complete books now in circulation, but merely to condense in a simple
-form things that have been said. Not detailed descriptions and tabulated
-facts—for these repel the beginner and seem but the spelling-book or
-multiplication table in a new form—but to record the doings of some
-children who were eager to know; together with a few hints upon the
-migrations, winter feeding, and protection of some of our common birds,
-and the stories of their lives, that may lead both teacher and pupil to
-more detailed study when opportunity offers.
-
-When a strange child comes to school, the first desire of his mates is
-to know his name and nationality, from whence he came, where he lives,
-whether he is merely a visitor or to be a permanent resident in the
-community. All this must be weighed and well considered before the
-newcomer is admitted to the friendship of his mates, and it may be that
-there will be some prejudices against him that the teacher must either
-remove by explanation or overcome by reason and example.
-
-It is very much the same with a bird. After being attracted to him and
-fixing upon his name as an individual his identity should be still
-further established by finding to what family he belongs and then later
-on placing this family in one of the great orders of the bird world.
-These two last should not be dwelt upon, however, until the identity as
-an individual is established, but in the end it will help to keep the
-name in the memory to know the kinship of families as well.
-
-There are many little points of comparison, of scientific but not
-general value that cannot be seen unless the dead bird is held in the
-hand, and then only a wise man, perhaps, would be able to point them
-out. It is with the living bird, on the wing or in its nest in the
-bushes, that we are concerned; not with the poor little dead thing with
-its limp neck and bloody, rumpled feathers.
-
-We should not learn enough from such a bird to in any way make up for
-taking its life; it would be both wasteful and against the law. So we
-must be content to believe what the Wise Men say, who must study the
-dead birds in order to preserve the scientific knowledge of their
-structure and keep them in public museums, that they may teach the world
-how wonderful a thing bird-life is, and show us that we must do all we
-can to protect it. For the Wise Men know very well that—
-
-    You cannot with a scalpel find the poet’s soul,
-    Nor yet the wild bird’s song!
-
-                                                              M. O. W.
-
-
-
-
-                           TABLE OF CONTENTS
-
-
-                                    I
-            Gray Lady Appears                                1
-
-                                    II
-            A Rainy Day—The school at Foxes Corners at       9
-              the beginning of the fall term.
-
-                                   III
-            Gray Lady at School—The bird. What is it? To    18
-              whom does it belong? The bird year—The
-              migrations, the moulting, etc.
-
-                                    IV
-            The Orchard Party—The children’s luncheon and   38
-              the bird’s lunch-counter. Gray Lady makes a
-              plan.
-
-                                    V
-            Reasons Why—Why birds need protection. The      51
-              uses of birds. What they do for us and what
-              we should do for them—housing, feeding,
-              etc.
-
-                                    VI
-            Feathers and Hats—Egrets and Ostrich            67
-              plumes—The wrong and the right of it.
-
-                                   VII
-            The Kind Hearts’ Club—The work that kept the    81
-              Fingers busy so that the Ears might listen.
-
-                                   VIII
-            The Procession Passes—The fall journey—Five     89
-              Swallows and a changeling.
-
-                                    IX
-            Two Birds that came Back—The Tame Crow and     102
-              the English Starling.
-
-                                    X
-            Some Mischief-Makers—The American Crow, Blue   114
-              Jay, and Purple Grackle.
-
-                                    XI
-            The Flight of the Bird—The wonders of flight.  136
-              Some new facts about the migrations of
-              birds.
-
-                                   XII
-            Some Suspicious Characters—Hawks and Owls—Two  154
-              sides of the question.
-
-                                   XIII
-            Tree-trunk Birds—The Woodpeckers—Sapsucker,    175
-              Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, etc.
-
-                                   XIV
-            Four Notables—Game-birds at home—The Ruffed    197
-              Grouse, Bob-white, Woodcock, and the Wood
-              Duck.
-
-                                    XV
-            Game-Birds?—The plea of the Meadowlark,        217
-              Mourning Dove, Sandpiper, Plovers, and
-              Bobolink, the Masquerader. “Spare us,
-              please! We are too small for food.”
-
-                                   XVI
-            Treasure-trove at the Shore—The Herring or     229
-              Harbour Gull.
-
-                                   XVII
-            The Birds’ Christmas Tree—The preparation and  242
-              a surprise. The Winter Wren, Tree-sparrow,
-              Golden-crowned Kinglet, and Crossbills.
-
-                                  XVIII
-            How they spent their Money—The result of the   254
-              Xmas sale and the Letter Carrier’s horse.
-
-                                   XIX
-            Behind the Bars—American birds that have been  270
-              prisoners.—The Mockingbird, Cardinal,
-              Nonpareil, and Indigo-bird.
-
-                                    XX
-            Midwinter Birds—Cedar-Bird, Redpoll, Junco,    293
-              Shrike, Whitethroat, Chickadee, etc.
-
-                                   XXI
-            Jacob Hughes’ Opinion of Cats—The trail in     303
-              the snow and the bandits that lived in the
-              barn.
-
-                                   XXII
-            February, “The Long-Short Month”—Stories and   310
-              poems of the Bluebird, Song Sparrow, and
-              Robin.
-
-                                  XXIII
-            March—Red-wing, Kingfisher, and Phœbe.         333
-
-                                   XXIV
-            The Tide has Turned—Wild Geese,                355
-              Nest-Building, Vesper-Sparrow, Purple
-              Finch, Chippy, Whip-poor-will, Towhee,
-              Ovenbird, House Wren, Thrasher, Catbird,
-              Wood Thrush, Veery, Nighthawk, Chimney
-              Swift, etc.
-
-                                   XXV
-            Bird and Arbour Day at Foxes Corners—In doors  385
-              and out—Working and talking.
-
-                                   XXVI
-            Some Birds that come in May—In apple-blossom   403
-              time look for the brightly coloured
-              birds—Oriole, Tanager, Rose-breasted
-              Grosbeak, Indigo-bird, Yellowthroat, Chat,
-              Humming-bird, Redstart, etc.
-
-                                  XXVII
-            Flag Day—Gray Lady receives and gives a        431
-              surprise.
-
-
-
-
-                         LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
-
-
-                             COLOURED PLATES
-
-           Baltimore Oriole                      _Frontispiece_
-                                                    FACING PAGE
-           Scarlet Tanager                                   34
-           Blue Jay                                         129
-           Wood Duck                                        214
-           Killdeer                                         224
-           Indigo Bunting                                   280
-           Cardinal                                         286
-           Bluebird                                         314
-           Red-winged Blackbird                             334
-           Belted Kingfisher                                340
-           American Goldfinch                               422
-           Rose-breasted Grosbeak                           426
-
-                           FULL-PAGE HALF-TONES
-
-           Feeding the Orphans                               vi
-           Chickadee                                         26
-           Snowy Heron                                       66
-           Clipping Ostrich Plumes                           74
-           Purple Martin                                     96
-           Bird-houses and Nesting-boxes                    106
-           Terns and Skimmers on the Wing                   142
-           Golden Plover                                    148
-           The Wings in Flight                              152
-           Red-shouldered Hawk                              154
-           Screech Owl                                      158
-           Barn Owl                                         166
-           Short-eared Owl                                  168
-           Marsh Hawk                                       170
-           Sparrow Hawk                                     174
-           White-breasted Nuthatch                          178
-           Flicker                                          190
-           Downy Woodpecker                                 194
-           Ruffed Grouse                                    198
-           Just Out                                         200
-           Domesticated Bob-white Calling                   202
-           Grouse showing Ruff and Tail                     206
-           Woodcock on Nest                                 212
-           Meadowlark                                       218
-           Mourning Doves                                   220
-           Spotted Sandpiper                                222
-           Least Sandpiper                                  224
-           Herring Gulls                                    232
-           Tree-Sparrow                                     248
-           Shelter for Bird Food                            250
-           Robin                                            326
-           Nighthawks                                       370
-           Chimney Swift Resting                            374
-           Wood Thrush and Nest                             378
-           Catbird on Nest                                  384
-           Yellow-billed Cuckoo                             404
-           Red-eyed Vireo on Nest                           406
-
-
-
-
-                        GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS
-
-
-
-
-                                   I
-                           GRAY LADY APPEARS
-
-
-Sarah Barnes hurried up the hill road so fast that by the time she
-reached the short bit of lane that turned in at her own gate she was
-quite out of breath, and oh, so warm! Fanning vigorously with her
-sun-hat did not help her much, for its wide rim had a rent in it, made
-by Jack, the family puppy, so that when she reached the steps of the
-porch, she sank down in a heap, only having breath enough to exclaim,
-“Oh, grandma, what _do_ you think?”
-
-Old lady Barnes with a sigh dropped the checked shirt that she was
-patching into the big work-basket that rested on the bench beside her.
-This basket was already overflowing with other garments for both boys
-and girls, that needed everything in the way of repair from a button to
-a knee patch, or even to a whole sleeve, for with a slim purse and six
-children to keep covered neither Grandma Barnes’ work-basket nor her
-fingers knew many empty moments.
-
-Taking off her spectacles and rubbing her eyes, as if to see the news as
-well as to hear it, she said: “Don’t tell me Tommy has got hurt in that
-reaping-machine, down at Weatherby’s. I told your pa he was too young to
-handle such a job!”
-
-“No, Tommy’s all right—they were gathering in the last stack as I came
-by.”
-
-“Lammy _hasn’t_ gone in swimming again down to the crick with the Connor
-boys?”
-
-“Nope, he’s stopped behind at the Centre to tend store for Mr. Sims,
-’cause his horse got loose in Deacon Mason’s orchard and ate himself
-into the colic!”
-
-“Billy hasn’t fell off the fish-market roof, has he? Your pa took him
-there this mornin’ to help hand up shingles, though ’twas against my
-wishes.”
-
-“No, grandma, Billy’s all right, too,” said Sarah, who had recovered her
-breath by this time and was beginning to laugh. “What makes you always
-think worry? Pa is all right, and Mary and Ruth are helping the
-minister’s wife get the hall ready for the cake sale, and I’m here, so
-you see there’s nothing the matter with _us_.”
-
-“Think worry!” exclaimed grandma, now settling her glasses again and
-preparing to hear the news comfortably so long as neither her son nor
-his children, to whom she was both grandmother and mother, were in
-danger, “wait until your only son’s wife dies and leaves you to keep
-track of six children, with as mixed tempers and complexions as ducks,
-chickens, and turkeys all in one brood, and I guess you’ll think worry
-too. But why don’t you fetch out your news?—Not but what you are all
-good and promising enough in your way,” she added hastily, lest she
-should be found belittling her own flesh and blood, which she considered
-next to breaking the whole ten commandments.
-
-“Well, granny,” began Sarah, bringing out her words slowly, and
-satisfied that the old lady’s expectations were sufficiently raised and
-that she would have an attentive listener, “the General Wentworth place
-is open and they’re putting new fences all around the back of it, and a
-lovely Gray Lady and a little girl with golden hair have come to live
-there. They have been there since spring too, and I didn’t know it. The
-girl is as old as me, but she’s smaller, for she isn’t strong and sits
-in a wheel-chair, and they’ve asked me to come in again.”
-
-Off came the glasses, and the old hands that folded them away in their
-case trembled with excitement. “The General Wentworth place open after
-all these years, since his only daughter Elizabeth married her cousin
-John, whom we all expected to die a bachelor, and then he fell into poor
-health! You don’t remember him, Sarah Barnes, ’cause you wasn’t born,
-but he was a mighty strange fellow, handsome and likely; he wouldn’t be
-a soldier as his uncle wished, but he was great for readin’ books, and
-he used to wander all over the country here watching birds and things
-and drawin’ pictures of them. I heard John died a couple of years ago
-away in foreign parts,—it can’t be Elizabeth that’s come back,—she
-wouldn’t be a gray-haired old woman, as you say. I knew her when she was
-a girl. She was full of life and rode a pony everywhere; her father used
-to bring her over to our mill, and many a ginger cooky of my baking has
-she ate. No, it can’t be little Miss Elizabeth,—it’s more likely some
-one that has hired or bought the place and goin’ to upset and change it
-all.”
-
-“I didn’t say the lady was old, grandma; she has lots of soft, silvery,
-wavy hair with big gray eyes to match, and such a pretty colour in her
-cheeks, and her dress was soft and fluffy too and the colour as if
-purple and white violets and silver popple leaves were all mixed
-together,” said Sarah, moving her hands before her, a little way she had
-when talking, as if in describing what she had seen she was touching the
-real object, for Sarah, though only a little girl from a bare hillside
-farm and taught at the school below at Foxes Corners, had a keen eye for
-colour and loved beautiful things, so that ugliness or unkindness of any
-sort really hurt her if she could have explained her feelings.
-
-“My Gray Lady’s first name is Elizabeth, though, and she knows you and
-your molasses cakes,” continued Sarah, after a moment’s pause, “for she
-said, ‘When you go home say to your grandmother that Elizabeth who rode
-the black pony sends her love, and that she will go to see her soon, and
-that she hopes that she will give the little Elizabeth some of the
-cookies of which she has often heard.’ Elizabeth is the little girl, but
-I’m going to call her Goldilocks, because the name matches her hair and
-she looks as if she was meant to—
-
-    “‘Sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam
-    And feast upon strawberries, sugar, and cream.’”
-
-“Elizabeth Wentworth and her daughter back here and I never knew it!”
-cried Grandma Barnes, rising as if to take immediate action. “Your Aunt
-Jane might well say, as she did on her last visit, that this hill farm
-is as far out o’ the world as livin’ in a lighthouse that had no stairs
-or boat to it, and the only way to get anywhere was to take a dive and
-swim. But see here, Sarah Barnes, how did you come to meet the General’s
-folks? It’s near a mile from the road up from the Centre to their front
-gate; mebbe you ran across them in the village, and if so, how came you
-to speak?”
-
-Sarah opened her lips to answer and then stammered and grew red under
-her grandmother’s keen gaze. “I didn’t pass their gate and I didn’t meet
-them in the village. I was—I was just taking a bunch of field flowers,
-that I got along the road, up to the cemetery to mother, and then when I
-go there, I usually take some to the General’s mound too, ’cause nobody
-took anything, except a little flag Memorial Day, and it’s usually all
-faded by now. This year, though, the lot was planted with flowers, and I
-was wondering why. I was sittin’ there watching a gray squirrel that
-lives in one of the old cannons that stand at the plot corners. You see
-the squirrel knows me because I’ve taken him nuts two winters whenever
-we’ve gone to Pine Hill coasting, and he comes up real close. To-day
-when he came up, I only had some cracker crumbs in my pocket, but he
-acted real pleased to see me, and I was so busy talking to him that I
-didn’t hear anybody coming up until somebody said, ‘Who is this little
-girl that brings flowers to an old soldier’s grave, and has a squirrel
-for a friend?’”
-
-“A nice way of wasting your time, I must say, of a week-day afternoon,
-and so much to be done at home,” broke in Mrs. Barnes, rather crossly.
-
-But Sarah, not minding the interruption, continued: “Then I jumped up,
-and there was Gray Lady and Goldilocks sitting in a nice big straw
-chair, like those on Judge Jones’ porch, only it had wheels and a handle
-behind like a baby wagon, and a fattish woman with a pleasant face was
-pushing it.”
-
-“Well, what happened next?” asked grandma. “I wonder she didn’t tell you
-not to trespass and feed animals in a cemetery!”
-
-“Oh, no, she liked it, and we got acquainted right away. She asked me
-what put it in my head to bring the flowers, and told her that it was
-because nobody else did and that I loved the General because my mother
-told me that though he lived through a lot of battles, he got the wound
-that made him die long after, in trying to get back a little black child
-that had been sold away from its mother, for it’s an awful thing to take
-children away from their mothers, and only God should do it, and I know
-He must be always sorry when He has to. And I said I knew how it hurt
-because He took my mother away from me.
-
-“Goldilocks said she wished that she had a tame squirrel down in her
-garden, and I said there were plenty of squirrels there, and she could
-begin to tame ’em as soon as food gets scarce. Then she asked how I
-knew, and then it all came out that Dave and Tommy Todd, Mary, and I
-often take a cross-cut through the General’s orchard, when we go over to
-Aunt Jane’s. Then they asked me to walk down home with them.
-
-“There was a new high fence all round the orchard, with a gate by the
-old house in the corner that has the big stone chimney, where the
-Swallows live, so we can’t cut across any more, and before I thought, I
-said so; but Gray Lady said, ‘I think, Sarah, it will be quite as
-pleasant for you to come in at the front gate, and go out at the back,
-as to crawl through a hole in the brush like a fox or a woodchuck,’ and
-I guess it will, for she doesn’t want us to stop coming.
-
-“Then I asked her if the house had lovely pictures in it and birds with
-real eyes sitting on perches, and more books than the Sunday-school
-library, and she laughed and asked who told me that, and I said it was
-Jake Gorham that went up there to set new glass in the roof light after
-the hail-storm last summer.”
-
-“Sarah Barnes! such gall as to make free and talk to General Wentworth’s
-daughter like that! I just wonder what she thinks of you!”
-
-“She didn’t tell me, grandma; but, oh, what do you suppose, she said
-that if I came down some afternoon, she’d show me all the pictures and
-then I could tell Goldilocks how to begin to make friends with the
-squirrels, and that she would show me their tree with a lunch-counter on
-it for birds, where there is something for every kind to eat. Do you
-suppose she will ask me for this Saturday, grandma, and may I wear my
-pink lawn, if it stays warm? My Sunday dress for fall shows where the
-hem was let down.”
-
-“She may and then again mayhap ’twill be the last you’ll ever hear of
-it. Come to think of it, in those days my ginger cookies were mixed with
-butter instead of lard, and they had currants in them. I guess I’ll risk
-it to make a batch to-morrow, lest Mrs. John should come up—that is if
-I finish all this mending, for there is only one more Saturday and Labor
-Day, and then school opens, and all you girls and boys will be making
-excuses for shirking your chores. Five o’clock already! Sarah Barnes, do
-you go straight out and feed the chickens and then rinse those
-milk-pans,—that comes first before all the fine talk of seein’ pictures
-and making pies and cakes for birds.”
-
-Sarah went slowly toward the barnyard and fed the greedy fowls in an
-absent-minded sort of way, all the while looking across the field where
-the birds were beginning to gather in flocks, wishing she knew them all
-by name and thinking of Gray Lady and Goldilocks. Would they remember
-the invitation or would she never perhaps see them again? School would
-soon begin, and that meant no spare time until after four, and it is so
-often rainy on Saturday.
-
-Rain did not wait for Saturday this time, for a heavy drizzle set in
-that night, and Sarah went to sleep wondering exactly what a bird
-lunch-counter was and what became of it when it rained.
-
-Then school began, and her new friend made no sign, and Sarah began to
-wonder if her meeting with Gray Lady had been one of the dreams she so
-often had when she sat on the orchard fence in June watching the
-bobolinks fly over the clover and waiting for things to happen.
-
-
-
-
-                                   II
-                              A RAINY DAY
-
-
-It was the first Friday of the fall term and there were only fifteen
-scholars at the weather-beaten shingled schoolhouse at Foxes Corners.
-The usual number in winter was twenty-five, but some of the older pupils
-did not return until late in October, for these boys and girls helped
-their fathers and mothers either about the farm work or in the house,
-and as this school district was located in pretty rolling hill country,
-with woods and a river close by, city people came to board at the
-farm-houses and often did not go away until they had seen the leaves
-redden and fall.
-
-Miss Wilde, the teacher, was very glad to begin with only fifteen
-scholars. She was not very strong; the children were always restless
-during the first month after their vacation. Then, too, it is more
-difficult for a teacher to interest scholars that range from five to
-fifteen than where she has children all of an age.
-
-Miss Wilde was very patient, for she loved outdoors and liberty herself,
-and she knew just how hard it was in these first shut-in days for the
-children to look out the open windows and see the broad fields
-stretching out to the woods, and hear the water rushing over the dam at
-Hull’s Mill, and then take any interest in bounding the Philippine
-Islands and remembering why they are of special value to the United
-States.
-
-Tommy Todd was what is usually called the “bad boy” of the school. He
-was thirteen, keen-witted and restless. He learned his lessons quickly,
-and then when Miss Wilde was hearing the little ones drone out their
-“twice one is two,” “twice two is four,” he often sat idle in his seat
-devising mischief that he sometimes put in motion before school was
-over.
-
-Then there were some days when it seemed as if Tommy would leave his
-desk and fly out of the window in spite of himself. Poor Miss Wilde had
-been obliged to make him change desks twice already. From his first
-place he could look at a pasture, where a family of woodchucks had their
-burrows, and he had caused several stampedes, not only among the boys,
-but girls also, by calling out: “Hi! there goes a buster! I bet its
-hide’s worth more’n a quarter! Now Jones’ yaller dog is after him! Hi!
-there! good work! he’s headin’ of it off! Gee, Hog’s reared and give him
-a bite! There they go round the hill! If the hole back t’other side I
-stuffed Saturday’s got loosed out, I bet on the hog!” (Ground-hog being
-the familiar name for the woodchuck in this region.)
-
-Order being restored, Tommy was moved to the east side of the room. Here
-the view was downhill over the lowlands, ending at a great corn-field
-that belonged to Tommy’s grandfather. The corn was yellow in the ear,
-but still standing. A flock of crows that had a roost in the swampy
-millwoods knew all about this corn-field and considered it as their own
-property, for had they not superintended its planting, helped thin out
-the seed lest it should grow too thick, and croaked and quavered
-directions to old man Todd and his horses every time they ploughed and
-hoed? Now, guided by a careful old leader who sat on a dead sycamore top
-and gave warning (for all crow flocks have such a chief), they were
-beginning to attack the ripened ears, the scarecrows placed at intervals
-that had been of some use in the early season having now lost the little
-influence they possessed and fallen into limp heaps, like unfortunate
-tramps asleep by the wayside.
-
-So every time the crows came over, Tommy would stretch up in his seat
-and finally slip out of it entirely and, hanging half out of the window,
-shake his fist at them, all the time uttering dire threats of what he
-would do if he only had his father’s shot-gun.
-
-For these reasons, Friday morning saw him seated in the middle of the
-room with the older girls and sharing the double desk with Sarah Barnes.
-Now Sarah thought that Tommy was the cleverest boy she had ever seen,
-and Sarah had visited in Centre Village in Hattertown, and Bridgeton,
-been twice to the Oldtown County Fair, and would have gone to New York
-once with her Aunt Jane if measles had not prevented; so that her
-friends thought, for thirteen, she was quite a travelled lady.
-
-Tommy also considered her favourably and had been heard to say that she
-was not bad for a girl; yet, to be put in the middle seats with the
-girls he considered an insult to his years, and he was sulky and brooded
-mischief all the morning.
-
-In reality Tommy was not a bad boy in any way. What he wanted was plenty
-of occupation for his mind and body to work at. Miss Wilde knew this and
-tried to give him as many little things to do as possible. It was Tommy
-who had charge of the new cage rat-trap of shiny copper wire, in which
-it was hoped the field rats might be caught, that, as soon as cool
-weather came, gnawed their way in through the loose floor boards and
-sometimes destroyed the books, and, as Sarah Barnes declared (whose duty
-it was to keep the wells filled), drank the ink. Tommy also kept the
-water-pail full and tended the big wood-stove in winter; but none of
-these tasks seemed to touch the restless spot and he could think out
-more puzzling questions in a day than the whole school board could have
-answered in a week, and then, as Sarah Barnes once said, “Tommy Todd’s
-questions never seem to stay answered.”
-
-Miss Wilde had taught, at first, in the school of a large town where
-there were plenty of pictures and maps on the walls, and charts of
-different kinds and reference books for the children to use, and where
-people who loved children would often drop in and tell them about birds
-and flowers or their journeys to interesting places. She had taken the
-country school because the doctor thought it would be better for her
-health, and oh, how she wished that she could have brought some of the
-pictures and books with her, or that some of the summer boarders who
-stayed until almost winter would come in and talk to her pupils. She
-told the children stories or read to them on Friday afternoons. She also
-knew that there were some travelling libraries of books that she might
-borrow that the children could have themselves, but reading is a habit;
-the children needed to be interested first. So it came about that, when
-the second year of her school life on the hillside began, Miss Wilde
-felt rather discouraged.
-
-On this particular rainy Friday she was feeling worried about her
-mother, who boarded at the Centre Village and with whom she spent every
-week-end, going down with the mail-carrier on his return trip Friday
-evening and usually walking back on Sunday afternoon if no one chanced
-to be driving that way. Mrs. Wilde had been ill the Sunday before and
-Miss Wilde had not heard a word all the week. Everything had gone awry
-that morning, and when the last child had filed out for the dinner-hour
-and gone splish-splashing up the muddy road, before straightening out
-the room as usual, Miss Wilde sat down at the desk, her head in her
-hands, and two big tears splashed down on the inky blotting-paper before
-her. Presently she wiped her eyes, opened all the windows that the rain
-did not enter, took her box of luncheon from her desk, and walked slowly
-down the side aisle to the little porch, which also acted as the
-cloak-room, the place where she usually ate her luncheon when it was too
-cool or wet to go outdoors.
-
-As she passed Tommy Todd’s desk she thought she heard a noise, and
-glanced sideways, half expecting to see him crouching under it, bent
-upon some prank. No one was there, and still there was a scratching
-sound in that vicinity. Opening the desk lid, Miss Wilde gave a scream,
-for inside was the new trap and inside the trap two wicked-looking old
-rats whose whiskers had evidently grown gray with experience.
-
-“I wonder what he would have done with them if I had not found him out?”
-she said to herself, as she lifted the cage, by hooking the crook of her
-umbrella into the handle on the top, and carrying it with the greatest
-care, put it into the empty wood-box in the porch. Then she seated
-herself on the bench by the outer door and unstrapped her box. But it
-evidently was not intended that the poor teacher should lunch that day,
-for suddenly the door flew open and the weather-beaten face of Joel
-Hanks, the carrier who had the forenoon mail-route, peered anxiously in.
-
-“You here, Miss Wilde?” he called anxiously. “I’m glad yer hain’t gone
-up to the house for your nooning, cause I clean fergot when I come by
-up, but yer Ma’s feelin’ extra poorly and uneasy, and she thought mebbe
-you could come back along with me instead of waiting till night. I’m
-goin’ to eat over to Todd’s and I can stop back for you close to one if
-you can arrange to go.”
-
-“Oh, I wish I had known it before the children went to dinner,” she
-cried, clasping her hands together nervously and dropping the box, out
-of which her lunch rolled to the floor, amid the damp that had been made
-by wet coats, overshoes, and dripping umbrellas. “As it is, when the
-children come back, I cannot send them right home again, for some have a
-long walk. If it wasn’t for Tommy Todd, I could leave Sarah Barnes for
-monitor; but there are those rats, and the school board does not like me
-to shorten hours so soon after vacation. It’s too late for me to go over
-for Mrs. Bradford, or I know that she would help me by coming as she did
-several times last spring.”
-
-“Sorry I couldn’t stop this morning, but I come by the lower road. Wall,
-mebbe you’ll think out some way and I’ll stop back a bit a’ter one,”
-Joel said cheerfully, going back to his covered cart and chirping to his
-wise old horse, who, though he was gaunt and had only one good eye, knew
-every letter-box on the route and solemnly zig-zagged across the road
-from one to the other on his way up to Foxes Corners, but as surely
-passed them by without notice on the return trip.
-
-Miss Wilde had barely swept away the scattered lunch through the open
-door when again she heard wheels, and looking up saw that which made her
-stand stock-still in surprise, broom in hand,—a trim, glass-windowed
-depot wagon, such as she had seldom seen out of Bridgeton, drawn by a
-handsome pair of gray horses, whose long, flowing tails were neatly
-braided and fastened up from the mud with leather bands, instead of
-being cruelly docked short as sometimes happens. The driver, a
-pleasant-looking, rosy-cheeked man, was well protected by coat and boot
-of rubber; but before Miss Wilde could more than glance at the outfit
-the door opened and a lady stepped lightly out, reaching the school
-porch so quickly that she had no need of an umbrella.
-
-Spying Miss Wilde, she said in a voice clear as a bell, and yet so well
-modulated and sweet that no one who heard her speak ever forgot its
-sound—“Are you the teacher here?”
-
-“Yes.”
-
-“And your name?”
-
-“Rosamond Wilde,” replied the astonished girl, hastily hanging up the
-broom, unconsciously leading the way into the stuffy schoolroom and
-placing the best chair by the side of her desk, as she did when the
-minister, Dr. Gibbs, from Centre Village, who was president of the
-school board, came to hold a spelling-match.
-
-“Thank you,” said the silvery voice, as its owner took the proffered
-seat, turning so that she could look out of the window.
-
-“I have heard from Dr. Gibbs that you sometimes use part of Friday
-afternoon for telling the children stories, or reading something that
-may amuse as well as teach them, and I thought that perhaps, as the
-board does not object, you might sometimes be willing to have me come in
-and talk to them. I am very fond of children, and have one little girl
-of my own, so that I know very well what they enjoy. I’ve travelled for
-several years, and I have a great many interesting pictures I could show
-them. Then, too, I have always loved birds and flowers, and with my
-father I used to tramp about and learned to know all those of this
-neighbourhood. I well remember that when I was a child and studied at
-home, rainy Friday afternoons were always pleasant, because mother, my
-cousins, and I had fancy-work or some other sewing and stories; so I
-thought to-day perhaps would be a good time for a beginning.”
-
-If the sky had opened and an angel come directly to her aid, Miss Wilde
-could not have been more overcome. She pulled herself together and began
-to frame a polite answer, when looking at the guest, who had thrown off
-her light raincoat, she caught the sympathetic glance that shot from a
-lovely pair of gray eyes with black lashes, and saw that the fluffy gray
-hair belonged to a really young woman, but a little older than herself.
-Forgetting that a teacher is supposed never to lose control of herself,
-before she realized that she had said a word she had told this friend in
-need about her school, Tommy Todd, her mother’s sickness, and all.
-
-In less time than it takes to tell of it, the coachman had been told to
-go down to the blacksmith’s shop and wait under cover until three
-o’clock, and Miss Wilde was helped to make her preparation for leaving.
-
-When the children came trooping back, they found the door between
-cloak-room and schoolroom closed, and teacher waiting for them in the
-outer room with very rosy cheeks and a happier expression than her face
-usually wore.
-
-Tommy Todd looked relieved, for, he reasoned, if teacher knew there were
-two rats in his desk, she would not have looked pleased. In a few words
-Miss Wilde explained the happenings, cautioned them to be very good, and
-saying, “Right, left, right, left,” was about to open the door for the
-children to march in, when Sarah Barnes asked, “Teacher, what is her
-name, so we can call her by it?” Then teacher realized that she didn’t
-know. But as the door opened Sarah said, in a very loud whisper, as
-whispers are apt to sound louder than the natural voice, “Why, it’s my
-Gray Lady!” and so in truth it was.
-
-Teacher watched them until they took their seats, and then gently closed
-the door behind her. For a moment no one spoke. Tommy Todd peeped
-cautiously into his desk to be sure the rats were safe, and found to his
-dismay that they were gone. Inwardly he hoped they wouldn’t get loose,
-for Gray Lady didn’t look as if she would like rats, which showed that
-after only one glance he wished to please her, while at the same time
-the name by which they first knew her became fixed in the mind of every
-child.
-
-
-
-
-                                  III
-                          GRAY LADY AT SCHOOL
-
-
-The silence inside the school continued a full minute, that seemed like
-an hour, and the dripping of the rain from the gutter was so plain that
-Sarah found herself counting the drops—“One—two—three—four—splash!”
-
-Fifteen pairs of eyes were fastened upon the newcomer, and, as she
-caught the various questions in them, the colour in her cheeks deepened.
-Suddenly she recognized her little friend whom she had met on the
-hillside the week before. “Sarah Barnes,” said Gray Lady, “will you not
-tell me the names of your schoolmates and introduce me to them? It is
-always so much more pleasant when we are looking at people, places, or
-things to know what they are called.”
-
-Then Sarah, delighted at being remembered when she had begun to be quite
-sure that all her hopes were in vain, guided by an inborn instinct of
-politeness that told her it would not be civil to stand at her desk and
-call out the various names, marched solemnly up to the teacher’s desk
-and, beginning in the front row with her own little sister Mary,
-repeated the fifteen names in full, with the greatest care and
-distinctness, and each child, not knowing what else to do, bobbed up and
-answered, “Present,” the same as if teacher had been calling the roll.
-When Sarah had finished, she was quite out of breath, for some of the
-names were very long; the last, that of the one little Slav in the
-school, Zella Francesca Mowralski, being also hard to pronounce.
-
-“Thank you,” said Gray Lady; “I think that I can remember the first
-names at least. But now that you have presented your friends to me,
-won’t you kindly present me to them? You know who I am and where I live,
-do you not?”
-
-“Of course I do!” cried Sarah, glad to be in smooth water again. “You
-are Goldilocks’ mother, Gray Lady, and you are our General’s daughter
-and you live in his house!” Then, realizing that she had given play to
-her own fancy rather than stated the facts expected, she fled to her
-desk and hid her face behind its lid.
-
-No reproof followed her as she expected, but instead the pleasant voice
-again said: “Thank you, Sarah; I like the name you have given me better
-than my very own, and if you all know where to find the General’s house,
-you know where to find me,” and when Sarah, gaining courage, looked up
-again, she saw, what the others did not notice, that the gray eyes were
-brimming, though there was a smile on her lips.
-
-“Now, children, what would you like to hear about this afternoon? Miss
-Wilde told me that she had intended giving you a spelling review and
-writing exercise of some kind, but that we might finish the day as we
-choose. Shall I read you a story, or would you like to ask questions and
-talk best?—one at a time, of course!”
-
-“Talk—you talk,” shouted a vigorous chorus.
-
-“By the way, Tommy Todd,” said Gray Lady, “why do you sit in the middle
-with the girls instead of on the outer row with the boys, where there is
-more room?”
-
-Tommy, placed between Sarah Barnes and his own sister, started half up
-in his seat and looked all round the room as if seeking a way of escape,
-and finding none, dropped his gaze to his desk and sat mute with a very
-red face.
-
-The question was repeated—still no answer. A hand flew up. “I know,”
-piped the voice of one of the little ones in front; “it’s ’cause Tommy
-can’t keep his eyes inside the winder if he’s by it; he’s always spying
-out at ground-hogs and crows and askin’ teacher questions about the
-birds setting on the wires, so he don’t mind his books and teacher don’t
-know the answers to all he asks, an’ it gives her the headache!”
-
-“Well, Tommy,” said Gray Lady, who had learned that at least one of the
-children before her cared for out-of-doors, which was precisely what she
-wanted to know, “as long as this is a sort of holiday, suppose you take
-that empty seat by the east window and tell us what you see. You may
-open the window and the others on that side also, for I think the rain
-is over; yes, the clouds are breaking away.”
-
-How fresh and sweet the air was that rushed into the close room! Tommy
-stuck his head out and took a great breath as he looked down over the
-corn-fields,—his enemies the crows were not there.
-
-“There isn’t much to see now, it’s too wet yet,” he said; “but pretty
-soon there will be, for most birds and things get hungry right after a
-rain!”
-
-“Olit—olit—olit—che-wiss-ch-wiss-war,” sang a little bird in a low
-bush by the roadside.
-
-“What bird is that,” asked Gray Lady; “do any of you know?”
-
-“It’s just the usually little brown bird that stays around here most all
-the time, but I love the tune it sings,” said Sarah Barnes. “Teacher
-says it’s some kind of a sparrow.”
-
-“It is a Song Sparrow,” said Gray Lady, “and you are right in saying it
-stays with us almost all the year.”
-
-“Now,” called Tommy, “the birds are beginning to come out; some Barn
-Swallows are flying over the low meadow and there’s a lot of ’em, and
-another kind strung along the wires on the turnpike. They always sit
-close and act that way all this month and some fly away, and ’long the
-first part of next month, when the corn’s all husked, they’ll be gone!
-Please, ma’am, why do some birds never go away, and some do, and what
-makes ’em come back?” Then Tommy began one of the volley of questions
-that Miss Wilde so dreaded.
-
-“Yes, an’ please, ma’am,” asked Dave, “why are some birds that mate
-together such different colours?” “An’ what becomes of Bobolinks after
-Fourth of July?” asked another. “An’ what makes birds have so many kind
-of feet?” queried a third.
-
-Then questions flew so thick and fast that Gray Lady could not even hear
-herself think, and presently, when every one had laughed at the
-confusion, order was restored.
-
-“I asked you a moment ago what you would like to hear about. I think I
-know. You would like to hear about birds! Are there any other boys here
-besides Tommy and Dave who care about birds?” asked Gray Lady, who
-wished to have each child feel that he or she had a part in what was
-going on.
-
-“I know about birds’ eggs!” cried Bobby Bates, a boy who, from being
-undersized, looked much younger than he really was; “I’ve got a pint
-fruit-jar of robins’ eggs.”
-
-“But I’ve got a quart jar of mixed eggs,” said Dave, “and they’re mostly
-little ones, Wrens and Chippy birds and such like, so’s I’ve really got
-more’n Bobby!” he added boastfully.
-
-Gray Lady opened her lips to speak sharply and her eyes flashed, for
-nest-robbing was one of the things she most detested. Then she
-remembered that perhaps these children had not only never even dreamed
-that there was any harm in it, but had never heard of the laws that wise
-people had made to protect the eggs of wild birds, as well as the birds
-themselves, from harm. So she hesitated a moment while she thought how
-she might best make the matter understood.
-
-“Why do you like to collect eggs?” she asked. “Because they are pretty?”
-
-“Yes’m, partly,” drawled Dave, “and then to see how many I can get in a
-spring.”
-
-“But do you never think how you worry the mother birds by stealing their
-eggs, and how many more birds there would be if you let the eggs hatch
-out? What the rhyme says is true,—
-
-    “‘The blue eggs in the Robin’s nest
-    Will soon have beak and wings and breast,
-        And flutter and fly away!’
-
-Only think, if all those robins’ eggs of yours, Bobby, and all your
-little eggs, Dave, should suddenly turn into birds and fly about the
-room, how many there would be! But now they will never have wings and
-swell their throats to sing to us and use their beaks to eat up insects
-that make the apples wormy and curl up the leaves of the great shade
-trees.”
-
-“Robins don’t do any good; they just spoil our berries and grapes; dad
-says so, and he shoots ’em whenever he can, and he likes me to take the
-eggs,” said Dave, stubbornly, while Sarah Barnes exclaimed, “Yes, an’
-_my_ father says he ought to be ashamed of himself!” almost out loud.
-
-“I know that Robins sometimes eat fruit,” said Gray Lady, firmly, “but
-they do so much more good by destroying bugs that the Wise Men say that
-neither they nor their eggs shall be taken or destroyed, and what they
-say is now a law. So that it is not for any one to do as he pleases in
-the matter. To kill song-birds or destroy their eggs is as much breaking
-the law as if you stole a man’s horse or cow, for these birds are not
-yours; they belong to the state in which you live.”
-
-Bobby and Dave looked surprised, but Tommy and Sarah nodded to one
-another, as much as to say, “We knew that, didn’t we?”
-
-“Some day, if you are clever with your lessons so that Miss Wilde can
-spare the time for it, I will tell you all about the reasons for these
-laws, and what the wild birds do for us, and what we should do for them.
-But first you must learn to know the names of some of the birds that
-live and visit hereabout, as I am now learning yours, and make friends
-of some of them as I hope to make friends of you.”
-
-“Yes, yes, oh, yes!”
-
-“You can’t make friends of birds; they won’t let you,” said Dave Drake,
-who was a sickly, lanky boy of fourteen with a whining voice; “they
-always fly away. That is, I mean tree birds, not chickens nor pigeons.”
-
-“Chickens aren’t birds, they’re only young hens,” put in Eliza Clausen,
-with an expression of withering contempt. She was one of the big
-fourteen-year-old girls, and not being a good scholar was apt to use
-opposition in the place of information.
-
-“We can make friends of at least some birds,” said Gray Lady, “if we are
-kind to them. When we have human visitors come to stay with us, what do
-we do for them?”
-
-“We let them sleep in the best bedroom, and we get out the best china
-and have awful good things to eat, and give ’em a good time,” said Ruth
-Barnes, all in one breath.
-
-“Yes, and we should do much the same with our bird friends. They do not
-need to have a bedroom prepared; they can generally find that for
-themselves, though even this is sometimes necessary in bad weather; but
-they often need food, and in order that they should have what Ruth calls
-‘a good time,’ we must let them alone and not interfere with their
-comings and goings.
-
-“Go softly to the west window and look out,” continued Gray Lady,
-raising a finger to caution silence, for from her seat on the little
-platform she could see over the children’s heads and out both door and
-windows, “and see the hungry visitors that a little food has brought to
-the very door.”
-
-The children tiptoed to one side of the room, and there, lo and behold,
-was a great Blue Jay, a Robin, a Downy Woodpecker with his clean
-black-and-white-striped coat and red neck bow, and a saucy Chickadee,
-with his jaunty black cap and white tie, all feasting on the broken bits
-of Miss Wilde’s ham sandwich, while a pair of Robins were industriously
-picking the fruit from a remnant of huckleberry pie. Unfortunately,
-before the children had taken more than a good look, the door banged to
-and the birds flew away, the Woodpecker giving his wild sort of laugh,
-the Robins crying, “Quick! quick!” in great alarm, while the Jay and
-Chickadee told their own names plainly as they flew.
-
-“As we have agreed to talk and ask questions, I will ask the first one,”
-said Gray Lady, as they all settled down, feeling very good-natured and
-eager to listen.
-
-“Eliza said a few minutes ago that a chicken isn’t a bird. Now a chicken
-is a bird, though of course all birds are not chickens.
-
-
-                               _The Bird_
-
-“Who can tell me exactly what a bird is? You all may think you know, but
-can you put it in words?”
-
-“A bird isn’t a plant; it is an animal,” said Tommy Todd.
-
-“Yes, but a cat is an animal, and a snake, and a horse; and we are
-animals ourselves.”
-
-“A bird is a flying animal,” returned Sarah.
-
-“Very true, but so is a bat, and, as you know, a bat has fur and looks
-very like a mouse, and a bird does not.
-
-“Ah, you give it up. Very well, listen and remember. _A bird is the only
-animal which has feathers!_ With his hollow bones filled with buoyant,
-warm air, and covered with these strong pinions, he rows through the
-air, as we row a boat through the water with the oars, balancing himself
-with these wings, also steering himself with them and with his tail made
-of stiff feathers and shaped to his particular need, while with small
-feathers laid close, overlapping each other like shingles, and bedded on
-an under-coat of down, he is clothed and protected from heat, cold, and
-wet.
-
-“The eye of the bird is different from ours, for it magnifies and makes
-objects appear much larger to it than they do to us. Also, while with
-other animals each group has practically the same kind of feet or beaks,
-birds have these two features built on widely different plans, so that
-when you have learned to know the common birds by name and are really
-studying bird-life, you will find that you must be guided to the orders
-in which they belong often by their beaks and feet.
-
-“Barnyard Ducks, as you know, have webbed toes for swimming, and flat
-bills to aid them in shovelling their natural food from the mud.
-
-“Birds of prey, like the Hawks and Owls, have strong hooked beaks and
-powerful talons or claws, for seizing and tearing the small animals upon
-which they feed.
-
-“The Woodpeckers (all but one) have two front and two hind toes; these
-help them grasp the tree bark firmly as they rest, while they have
-strong-cutting, chisel-like beaks, which they also use for tapping or
-drumming their rolling love-songs.
-
-[Illustration: CHICKADEE]
-
-“While the insect-eating song-birds have more or less slender bills and
-four toes, three in front and one behind, for perching crosswise on
-small branches, the seed-eating songsters, such as Sparrows, have
-similar feet, but short, stout, cone-shaped bills for cracking seeds and
-small nuts.
-
-“By this you can see that in spite of the fact that all birds wear
-feathers, and have wings, a tail, beak, and a pair of legs, they may
-still be very different from each other.
-
-“A Turkey Gobbler doesn’t look much like a Robin, nor a Goose like a
-Swallow, yet they are all four birds! They all four bring forth their
-young from eggs; but the little Turkeys and Goslings are covered with
-feathers when they peep out of the shell and are able to walk, while the
-young Robins and Swallows are at first blind, naked, and helpless; so
-here again you can see that there is something special to be learned
-about every bird that flies or swims.”
-
-“Chickadee-dee-dee! Can’t you tell them something about me?” said this
-dear little bird, flitting about one of the open windows and clinging
-upside down to the blind slats that were bare of paint, like either a
-Woodpecker, or, as Tommy Todd remarked, “the man in the circus.”
-
-“The little bird peeping in the window and calling his name reminds me
-of a pretty poem about him,” said Gray Lady. “I will repeat it to you
-and write it on the board so that you can copy it in your books, and
-then some of you may like to learn it to surprise Miss Wilde on another
-rainy Friday.”
-
-
-                           A LITTLE MINISTER
-
-    I know a little minister who has a big degree;
-    Just like a long-tailed kite he flies his D.D.D.D.D.
-    His pulpit is old-fashioned, though made out of growing pine;
-    His great-grandfather preached in it, in days of Auld lang syne.
-
-    Sometimes this little minister forgets his parson’s airs:
-    I saw him turn a somersault right on the pulpit stairs;
-    And once, in his old meeting-house, he flew into the steeple,
-    And rang a merry chime of bells, to call the feathered people.
-
-    He has a tiny helpmeet, too, who wears a gown and cap,
-    And is so very wide-awake, she seldom takes a nap.
-    She preaches, also, sermonettes, with headlets one, two, three,
-    In singing monosyllables beginning each with D.
-
-    But O her little minister, she does almost adore:
-    I’ve heard her call her sweet D.D. full twenty times or more.
-    And his pet polysyllable—why, did you hear it never?
-    He calls her Phe-be B, so dear, I’d listen on forever.
-
-    Now if there is a Bright Eyes small who’d like to go with me,
-    And on his cautious tiptoes ten, creep softly to a tree,
-    I’ll coax this little minister to quit his leafy perch,
-    And show this little boy or girl the way to go to church;
-
-    And where his cosy parsonage is hidden in the trees,
-    And how in summer it is full of little D.D.D.’s.
-    And if Bright Eyes will prick his ears, he’ll hear the titmice say,
-    “Good morning,” which, in Chickadese is always “Day, day, day.”
-
-    —Ella Gilbert Ives.
-
-“Now that I have answered my own question, there was another that one of
-you asked, or rather a pair of questions. Why do some birds go away in
-autumn, and why do they come back? It is very important to know the
-answers to these, if we want to really understand about the lives of
-birds and the trials and dangers they undergo.
-
-
-                   _The Bird Year and the Migration_
-
-“People who think of birds at all know that they are not equally
-plentiful at all times of the year, but that they have their seasons of
-coming and disappearing, as the flowers have, though not for exactly the
-same reason.
-
-“We are accustomed to see the plants send up shoots through the bare
-ground every spring, unfold their leaves and blossoms, and, finally,
-after perfecting seed, wither away again at the touch of frost.
-
-“Of these plants, as well as some large trees, a few are more hardy than
-others, like the ground-pine, laurel, and wintergreen, and are able to
-hold their leaves through very cold weather, and we call them
-evergreens.
-
-“You notice that the birds appear in spring even before the
-pussy-willows bud out, and that every morning when you wake, the music
-outside the window and down among the alders on the meadow border is
-growing louder, until by the time the apple trees are in bloom there
-seems to be a bird for every tree, bush, and tuft of sedgegrass.
-
-“By the time the timothy is cut and rye harvested, you do not hear so
-great a variety of song. The Robin, Song Sparrow, House Wren, and
-Meadowlark are still in good voice, and an occasional Catbird, but the
-Bobolink has dropped out, and the Brown Thrasher no longer tells the
-farmer how to plant his corn: ‘Drop it, drop it, cover it up, hoe it,
-hoe it;’ and very wise he is, too, for the corn is all planted.
-
-“Later still, when the stacked cornstalks fill the fields with their
-wigwams, like Indian encampments, the pumpkins are gathered in golden
-heaps, and the smoke of burning leaves and brush pervades the air, you
-hear very few bird songs, for many birds have either dropped silently
-out of sight or collected in huge flocks, like the Swallow, swept by,
-and disappeared in the clouds, while others, like the Purple Grackle or
-Common Crow-Blackbird,—walk over the stubble and cover the trees,
-making such a creaking, crackling noise that one would surely think that
-their wings as well as voices were rusty and needed oiling.
-
-“What has become of the birds? Where do they go when they disappear?
-
-“Being warm-blooded animals they cannot dive into the mud and hide, like
-fishes, or crawl into cracks of tree bark and wrap themselves up in
-cocoons, like insects. Neither do they drop their feathers and die away
-as tender plants drop their leaves and disappear.
-
-“People once believed that Swallows dived through the water into the
-mud, where they rolled themselves into balls and slept all winter. They
-thought this because Swallows are seen in early autumn in flocks about
-ponds and marshes, where they feed upon the insects that abound in such
-places. People thought that as Swallows were last seen in these places
-before they disappeared they must have gone under the water; but this
-was merely guessing, which is a very dangerous thing to do when trying
-to find out the plans that Nature makes for her great family.
-
-“Later yet, when the snow begins to fall, there is little or no bird
-music, only the hoot of an Owl, the shrill cry of the Hawks, the ‘quank,
-quank’ of the Nuthatch, that runs up and down the tree-trunks like a
-mouse in gray-and-white feathers, the jeer of the Jay, and the soft
-voice of the Chickadee that, as you have just heard, tells you his name
-so prettily as he peers at you from beneath his little black cap.
-
-“But the Catbird, Wren, Bobolink, Oriole, the Cuckoo that helped clear
-the tent caterpillars from the orchard, the Chat that puzzled the dogs
-by whistling like their master, the beautiful Barn Swallow, with the
-swift wings, that had his plaster nest in the hayloft, the Phœbe that
-built in the cowshed, and the dainty Humming-bird that haunted the
-honeysuckle on the porch and hummed an ancient spinning-song to us with
-his wings,—where are they all?
-
-“And why is it that while those have disappeared, some few birds still
-remain with us in spite of cold and snow?”
-
-            THE FLIGHT OF THE BIRDS
-
-            Whither away, Robin,
-            Whither away?
-    Is it through envy of the maple leaf,
-        Whose blushes mock the crimson of thy breast,
-            Thou wilt not stay?
-    The summer days were long, yet all too brief
-        The happy season thou hast been our guest.
-            Whither away?
-
-            Wither away, Bluebird,
-            Whither away?
-    The blast is chill, yet in the upper sky
-        Thou still canst find the colour of thy wing,
-            The hue of May.
-    Warbler, why speed thy southern flight? Ah, why,
-        Thou, too, whose song first told us of the spring,
-            Whither away?
-
-            Whither away, Swallow,
-            Whither away?
-    Canst thou no longer tarry in the North,
-        Here where our roof so well hath screened thy nest?
-            Not one short day?
-    Wilt thou—as if thou human wert—go forth
-        And wander far from them who love thee best?
-            Whither away?
-
-    —Edmund Clarence Stedman.
-
-
-                          _The Fall Migration_
-
-“If you watch the birds, you will soon notice that some eat only animal
-food, in the shape of various bugs, worms, and lice, while others eat
-seeds of various weeds, and grasses, and also berries. There are many
-birds that, like ourselves, eat a little of everything, both animal and
-vegetable.
-
-“For instance, the Swallows live on insects of the air, except sometimes
-in the autumn flocking they feed for a short time on bayberries. The
-Phœbe is an insect eater; also the Catbird, though he is fond of
-strawberries and cherries for dessert. You saw just now that the
-Chickadee, Woodpecker, and Jay preferred the meat from the sandwich and
-the Robins the berries from the pie, though the Jay also likes nuts and
-seeds.
-
-“You know that when frost comes, the air-flying insects are killed, and
-the gnats, mosquitoes, and flies that have worried the horses and cattle
-disappear. For this reason the birds that depend upon these bugs must
-follow their food supply, and move off farther southward where frost has
-not yet come.
-
-“This is the reason why so many birds who feed on winged insects leave
-us in early autumn, before it is cold enough to make them uncomfortable;
-they must follow their food.
-
-“There are other birds that, when they no longer have nestlings to feed,
-can pick up a living from berries and seeds, like the Robin, or live the
-greater part of the season upon seeds, like the Sparrows. These birds
-are not driven away by the first frost, but many stay about until the
-weather is uncomfortably cold, and some few remain all winter, like the
-Meadowlarks, Nuthatches, Jays, and Woodpeckers, who, having stout beaks,
-can dig out grubs and insects from among the roots of grass and from
-tough tree bark; but these too must move on if ice coats the trees or
-snow buries their ground feeding-places.
-
-“As a great many birds spend the nesting season north of New England,
-they pass by on their way southward, and, if the feeding is good, stay
-with us sometimes several weeks, so that the flocks of Robins seen here
-in October are likely to be those that nested in the north, while our
-own birds are gradually drifting down to the extreme south, where they
-winter.
-
-“This great southward journey of the birds, that begins as early as
-August and lasts at some seasons, if the winter is open, almost until
-Christmas, is called the fall migration, and when it is over, the birds
-remaining with us are classed as Winter Residents.
-
-“There is another thing to be seen at this time of year, and if you have
-not already noticed it, watch and you will see that many of the birds
-that wore bright feathers in May and June have changed their gay coats
-for duller feathers.
-
-
-                             _The Moulting_
-
-“After the nesting season is over, and a pair of birds have raised one,
-two, and, as with the Wrens, sometimes three broods, the feathers of the
-parents become worn and broken, and not fit for winter covering, nor are
-the wing quills strong enough for the fall flight.
-
-“At this time, when the young birds are able to care for themselves, the
-pairs no longer keep alone together, but, leaving their nesting-haunts,
-travel about either in a family party or in larger friendly flocks, and,
-although some birds, like the Song Sparrow and Meadowlark, sing
-throughout the season, the general morning chorus and the nesting season
-end together, in early or middle July.
-
-“It is quite difficult to name the birds when young and old travel in
-flocks, for when a male is bright-coloured and the female dull, the
-first coat of the young is often such a mixture of both that it is
-easily mistaken for a wholly different and strange bird.
-
-“In August or September almost all of our birds change their spring
-feathers. This is called moulting. And the brightly coloured birds often
-drop their wedding finery for dull-coloured travelling cloaks, so that
-they may not be seen when they fly southward through the falling leaves.
-
-“After this season Father Tanager, of the scarlet wedding coat with
-black sleeves, appears in yellowish-green, like his wife, and the little
-Tanagers sometimes have mixed green, yellow, and red garments, for all
-the world like patchwork bedquilts pieced without regard to pattern.
-
-[Illustration: SCARLET TANAGER
-1. Adult Male., 2. Adult Male, Changing to Winter Plumage., 3. Adult
-  Female.]
-
-                  Order—Passeres      Family—Tanagridæ
-                Genus—Firanga      Species—Erythromelas
-
-“The jolly Bobolink, also, who in May was the prize singer of the
-meadows, and disported in a coat of black, white, and buff, now wears
-dull brown stripes, and, having forgotten his song, he mixes with the
-young of the year and becomes merely the Reed Bird of the gunners. But
-in early spring he will change again, and, before the nesting time,
-reappear among us with every black feather polished free from rusty
-edges and glistening as of old.
-
-“When Father Tanager comes back, he is brave and red again, though it
-takes little Tommy Tanager two moultings to grow an equally red coat.
-
-“Even with the more quietly marked birds their colours are less distinct
-after the summer moult, so that what is known as the bird’s perfect or
-typical plumage is in many species that of the nesting season alone.”
-
-“I didn’t think that there was so much to know about birds; they seem to
-have ways of doing things just like people. I’d love to know all about
-them every Friday, but I suppose that’s too nice to happen,” said Sarah
-Barnes, as Gray Lady paused and moved her chair back from the bright
-light that was now shining through the door directly in her face, for
-the clouds had rolled away down behind the hills, leaving one of the
-clear, bright, early September afternoons when the sun lends its colour
-to the field of early goldenrod, until sunset seems to reach to one’s
-very feet.
-
-“No, it isn’t _too_ nice to happen,” said Gray Lady, laughing; “but it
-would certainly be very pleasant for me, also, if Miss Wilde could give
-you to me for an hour or so every other Friday, then perhaps some other
-day you could come to the General’s house and return my call, and see
-all the birds and pictures and books that belonged to my Goldilocks’
-father. How would you like that?”
-
-“Bully!” cried Tommy Todd, “and there’s more kinds of birds in the
-General’s old orchard than anywhere else hereabout. I haven’t ever taken
-any eggs from there,” he added hastily, “only jest peeked and watched,
-an’ once I got a three-story nest from there, along late in the fall
-when the birds were done with it. If I brought it along, ma’am, could
-you tell me what sort of a bird it belongs to? I can’t find out!” he
-added eagerly.
-
-“Yes, I think I can tell you,” Gray Lady answered, “and I’m very glad if
-you know about my orchard and its tenants, because very likely you may
-be able to introduce me to some that I do not know.
-
-“Now, children, before next week is over I will see Miss Wilde and tell
-her my plans, but one thing I will tell you now—I have a little
-daughter Elizabeth, whom Sarah Barnes calls Goldilocks. She is twelve
-years old, but because of an accident her back is not strong, and
-instead of running about as you do she has had to be wheeled about in a
-chair. I have taken her to the best doctors, and they say that she is
-getting well slowly, and that now all that she needs is to live
-out-of-doors and be with children of her own age, who will be kind and
-gentle to her, yet treat her as one of themselves. She cannot bear to
-hear of anything being killed or hurt, and she has been loved so well
-all her life that she loves everything in return.
-
-“Will you come to the General’s house and help Goldilocks to grow strong
-and forget all the pain she has suffered?”
-
-“Yes, _ma’am_,” came the reply as with one voice.
-
-Sarah Barnes had the honour of taking Gray Lady’s hand as she went to
-the carriage, and Tommy Todd closed the door without any one giving him
-a hint.
-
-Then, before closing the schoolhouse for the night, his special duty, he
-began a hunt for the rat-trap, which he soon found in the wood-box, but
-instead of taking the rats home as usual for Mike, his father’s terrier,
-to “have fun” with, he drowned them as quickly as possible in the brook
-that ran below the hill, for he thought to himself as they were things
-that must be killed Goldilocks would think this the kindest way.
-
-
-
-
-                                   IV
-                           THE ORCHARD PARTY
-
-
-Not only did Miss Wilde hear every detail of Gray Lady’s visit from her
-scholars, but the middle of the following week she received a letter
-from Gray Lady herself as well as one from the president of the school
-board.
-
-Gray Lady wrote that if she could succeed in interesting the children of
-the school at Foxes Corners in the birds and little animals about, then
-she meant to arrange another season so that the other four schools in
-the scattered district might have the same opportunity. For this reason
-she had asked and obtained leave of the school committee to have two
-Friday afternoons of each month given to the purpose. She also promised
-to send some bird books and pictures to the school and a large wall map
-of North America, so that after the children had learned to know a bird
-by sight and name they might trace its journeys the year through, and
-thus realize to what perils it is exposed.
-
-Then followed the most interesting part of the letter to Miss Wilde and
-her children, and this is what it said:—
-
-    “It is all very well to show children pictures and read them
-    stories about the birds and tell them that it is their duty to
-    be kind to them, but I wish them also to see and judge for
-    themselves and learn to love their bird neighbours because they
-    can’t help themselves. This is best done outdoors and under the
-    trees, and there is no such charming place to meet the birds and
-    be introduced to them as in an old apple orchard such as ours.
-
-    “Of course at this season birds are growing fewer every day, but
-    this makes it all the easier to name those that remain, with
-    less chance of confusion than in spring.
-
-    “I propose to have an Orchard Party next Saturday, and I should
-    be happy to have you bring as many of your pupils as possible to
-    spend the day here. We will have luncheon in the orchard and the
-    children will find there many bird-homes that the tenants have
-    left, that will show them that man is not the only housebuilder
-    and thoughtful parent.
-
-    “If there are any children who do not care to come, pray do not
-    force them in any way, but if possible let me know by Friday
-    morning how many I may expect.”
-
-It was Wednesday when Miss Wilde told the children of the invitation,
-just before she rang the bell for noon recess. Then she asked all those
-who wished to go to the Orchard Party to stand up, and instantly
-thirteen of the fifteen present were on their feet, the two exceptions
-being Eliza and Dave.
-
-Miss Wilde of course noticed this. However, she said nothing about it,
-knowing that with these two discontented ones the reason would be told
-before long and that very plainly. But when they returned from dinner
-she gave each one a sheet of clean paper and told them to write answers
-either of acceptance or regret, as they felt inclined, to Gray Lady,
-first writing a short note upon the blackboard herself so that they
-might see how to begin and end, and where to put the date, because some
-children who can spell separate words do not know how to put them
-together so as to express clearly and concisely what they wish to say in
-a note.
-
-Soon thirteen pens were scratching away industriously, while Eliza and
-Dave fingered theirs, fidgeted with the paper, and wriggled in their
-seats as if uncertain what to say or whether they would write at all.
-
-Finally the teacher said, “If any one of you is needed at home on
-Saturday or cannot for any other reason go to the party, you may write
-that, but each child must send a reply; and be very careful, for I shall
-send the notes as they are written without corrections.”
-
-Sarah Barnes was deputed to collect the papers, and after school was
-dismissed Miss Wilde glanced over the notes before enclosing them in one
-large envelope. Eliza’s read:—
-
-    “I would like to go to the party but my ma says to look at birds
-    is silly and that when folks looks much at birds they get afraid
-    to trim their hats with them, and my ma and me has birds on our
-    Sunday hats and they look tastie, and we don’t want to get
-    afraid so there’s no use in my going to the party ’xcept to eat
-    the lunch, which wouldn’t be fare.”
-
-Miss Wilde’s first impulse was to leave out this curiously worded and
-badly spelled letter; then, as she read it a second time she smiled and
-said to herself, “Who knows but what this note will give Gray Lady a
-good idea of the other side of the question and of the objections she
-will meet?”
-
-Dave’s note was no more agreeable, though expressed rather more
-clearly:—
-
-    “I’d like to go up to your house, but when I told father bout
-    the other day and you wanting us not to get birds’ eggs, he says
-    he knows what some people want, and next thing will be to get me
-    to sign that I won’t go trappin or shootin nothin, and spoiling
-    my fun, and birds are only knuisances, except the kinds we can
-    eat.”
-
-This note also went with the others, but by Friday morning the two
-children, who had heard nothing talked of for two days but the party,
-began to wish that they were going, Eliza especially, for her mother
-said that morning, “You weren’t smart to refuse; you could have had a
-peep inside the General’s house, maybe, and I don’t believe she’d dassed
-said a word about birds on hats, with one of the company wearing ’em!”
-
-On Friday afternoon, when Miss Wilde asked the children to meet her at
-the hedge half a mile above the schoolhouse at ten o’clock the following
-morning, so that they might take a short cut across the fields, she
-noticed that Eliza and Dave hung behind the others, who as usual raced
-off in different directions toward home, and then Eliza, who was walking
-beside her, mumbled something about “wishing she hadn’t refused and
-supposing that it was too late now,” etc.
-
-“Of course, it is not very polite to change one’s mind about an
-invitation,” said the teacher, “but Gray Lady wrote me last night that
-if you and Dave should feel differently about wishing to come, I might
-bring you, but that after to-morrow it would be too late.”
-
-At ten o’clock this bright September morning Gray Lady came out on the
-porch of the big white house, with the row of columns in front, that was
-known the country-side over as “the General’s.” There was a wide lawn in
-front of the house and on either side, arched by old elms, the leaves of
-which were now turning yellow, but there had been no frost and the
-flowers in the buds were still bright.
-
-Back of the house was a flower garden, with grape and rose arbours on
-either side, under which chairs and little tables were placed
-invitingly. Beyond this garden was a maze of fruit bushes and the young
-orchard, and beyond this the old orchard, now running half wild,
-stretched downhill toward the river woods.
-
-A lovelier place could not have been planned for either children or
-birds, or the people who love both, nor a more perfect place for all
-three to live together in peace and comfort.
-
-Goldilocks was already out, and her faithful Ann Hughes was pushing her
-chair to and fro, for when one is eager and impatient it is very hard to
-have to sit still. Goldilocks was growing stronger every day and could
-walk a few yards all alone, but it tired her, and her mother thought the
-excitement of seeing so many children would be enough for one day.
-
-Presently a head, with a cap on it, bobbed up over the last hump in the
-road below the house, and then another with a ribbon-trimmed hat upon
-it, the pair belonging to Tommy Todd and Sarah Barnes, who led the
-procession; and in a few minutes more the entire group had reached the
-porch and Sarah Barnes was repeating their names to Goldilocks. The five
-boys rather hung back, but that was to be expected of them.
-
-As a little later Gray Lady led the way down to the garden, she turned
-to Ann and gave her some directions for the house and was going to push
-the chair herself when Tommy Todd came forward and seized the handle,
-saying earnestly, “I can do that first-rate. When dad fell out of the
-haymow and broke his leg, I used to tote him all round the farm, and
-never bumped him a bit,—only in ploughed land and off roads you’ve got
-to go jest so easy.” And to illustrate he raised the front wheels of the
-chair and bearing on the handles lowered them again as they left the
-garden path for the rough grass-grown track that led to the orchard.
-Goldilocks looked up and smiled at him, and then at Sarah and Miss
-Wilde, who walked one on each side, neither of the four dreaming at that
-moment how much happier their lives would be because they had met.
-
-“Why, the bars are gone and there is a brand new gate!” exclaimed Sarah
-Barnes, as they reached the opening in the stone fence that had been
-spanned by rough-hewn bars ever since she could remember. There, between
-strong cedar posts, hung a rustic gate, and above it was a double arch
-of the same material, into which the word BIRDLAND was interwoven in
-small sticks of the same wood.
-
-“That is a surprise that Jacob Hughes made for to-day, for this is my
-birthday party, you see, and some day mother is going to have a flagpole
-for Birdland with an eagle on top. Jacob is Ann’s brother,” she
-continued by way of explanation. “He used to be a sailor once, but now
-he’s come to live with us always. He is a carpenter, too, and he can
-whittle almost anything with his knife, and he makes the most beautiful
-bird-houses. I should really like to live in one myself—that is, of
-course, if I were a bird!”
-
-“If you were a bird you’d be a bluebird, I guess,” said Sarah Barnes, as
-she glanced at the deep blue sailor suit, with the crimson shield in
-front, that Goldilocks wore.
-
-“I’d rather be a big owl,” said Tommy Todd, “and sit up in a tree in the
-woods and call out ‘Woo-oo-oo’ when people go by in the dark and scare
-’em.” And he gave such a good imitation of an owl’s hoot that Bruce, the
-Collie dog, who always either walked or sat beside Goldilocks’ chair,
-began to bark and circle wildly about, nose in air.
-
-“I’m very sure I shouldn’t care to be an owl, for then I should have to
-eat meadow-mice and moles, and swallow them, fur and all, and that would
-taste so mussy,” said Goldilocks.
-
-So it came about that all the children were in very good humour when
-they entered Birdland on Goldilocks’ birthday, and Gray Lady smiled
-happily as she looked at the group with her precious daughter in the
-midst and thought that her experiment had begun with a happy omen.
-
-Though many of the apples that grew on the trees of the old orchard
-would not have taken prizes at the country fair, they looked very
-tempting to the youngsters,—Baldwins, Spitzenburghs, and russets of two
-sorts, the green and the golden, were still on the trees, but there were
-great heaps of earlier varieties on the ground, and Jacob and another
-man were busy sorting them over.
-
-Reading in the children’s eager faces what they would like to do, Gray
-Lady said, “You may run off now and have all the apples you want, and an
-hour for playing ‘hide-and-seek,’ ‘red lion,’ or ‘Indians,’ in all the
-orchard and meadows and woodland yonder, and then when you hear a horn
-blow come back and you will find us over in the corner where the table
-and seats are placed.” Then, seeing that some of the girls had brought
-wraps or jackets with them, and also that the Sunday-best hats that they
-wore would be in the way of romping, Gray Lady told them to hang them on
-the tree nearest where she and Miss Wilde were seated.
-
-At first Sarah and Tommy were not going with the others, but Goldilocks
-insisted that they should leave her in a gap where the rows of trees
-formed a long lane through which she could see across the meadows to the
-woods.
-
-These two children were quite at home in this neighbourhood, for had
-there not been a particular gap in the old fence through which they had
-taken a “short cut” down to the village ever since they could remember?
-
-“I wonder if Goldilocks knows that Quail nest in this brush and scratch
-around here like chickens,” said Tommy, as they left the orchard for the
-meadow.
-
-“Yes, and you got that three-story nest of yours last fall in the
-bough-apple tree,” said Sarah.
-
-Eliza and Dave soon forgot all about their reasons for having at first
-refused to go to the party, and when they heard the horn tooting it
-seemed so soon that they could hardly believe that it was noon and
-luncheon time. And such a luncheon as it was! Around the trunk of the
-largest tree in the orchard, four tables were so placed that when
-covered they looked like one big table, with the tree growing through
-the centre.
-
-The white cloth was bordered with russet and gold beech leaves, bleached
-ferns, and the deep red leaves of maples and oaks; grapes and oranges
-were piled high in baskets made of hollowed-out watermelons. Hard-boiled
-eggs were arranged in nests built of narrow, dainty sandwiches, little
-iced cakes rested upon plates of braided corn-husks, and Goldilocks’
-birthday cake, with its twelve candles, was ornamented with little doves
-made of white sugar. When, last and best of all, the ice-cream appeared,
-without which no party is complete, it was in the form of a large white
-hen with a very red comb, while from beneath her peeped ice-cream eggs
-of many colours, chocolate-brown, pistachio-green, lemon-yellow, and
-strawberry-red, the nest being woven of spun sugar that so closely
-resembled fine straw that it was not until the children had tasted it
-that they were convinced that it really was candy.
-
-Country children are usually very silent when on their good behaviour,
-but such ice-cream had never been heard of either at Foxes Corners, the
-Centre, or the near-by manufacturing town, and muffled “ohs” and “ahs”
-of satisfaction would break out until, Miss Wilde having given no
-rebuking glance, a perfect babble of enthusiasm arose that lasted until
-the meal was ended.
-
-“Why, what _is_ that?” asked Ruth Banks, glancing as she spoke toward a
-very old tree that, having partly blown over, was resting on four of its
-branches that served as legs and made it appear like some strange goblin
-animal. On the upper side of this fallen tree, built around an upright
-branch, was a platform made of old wood with the bark on, and on the
-different sections of this were peanuts, shelled corn, pounded up dog
-crackers and buckwheat, while on a series of blunt spikes driven into
-the branch, were some lumps of suet and bits of bacon rind. As Ruth
-spoke a little black-and-white bird, with short tail and legs, was
-picking vigorously at the suet, using his stout bill with the quick
-sharp blows of a hammer.
-
-“That? Oh—” said Goldilocks, “that is another birthday surprise that
-mother and Jake made for me. That is, mother planned it, and Jake did
-the work. It is a birds’ lunch-counter, and this winter we are going to
-keep all the different kinds of food on it that the birds like, so that
-they need never leave us because they are hungry.”
-
-“There’s lots of things all around now that they can eat,” said Tommy
-Todd.
-
-“Yes, of course, but we want them to become accustomed to the table, to
-know where the food is before they need it and think about going away,
-and wild birds are always suspicious of new things,” said Gray Lady.
-
-There was one more feature of the luncheon, but, as it was something
-that could not be put upon the table, it was hung in the tree overhead.
-This thing looked like a great bunch of gayly coloured autumn leaves
-tied tight together, and from it hung a number of red strings, as many
-in fact as there were people at the party.
-
-Gray Lady explained that each child in turn was to pull a string and, as
-they held back as if in doubt as to the result, she herself pulled the
-first cord and out dropped from the ball a long motto in yellow-fringed
-paper that, on being unrolled, contained beside the snapper a little
-paper roll on which was printed, “I am Mazulm, the Night Owl,” and when
-Gray Lady carefully unfolded the paper it proved to be a cap with
-strings, shaped like an owl’s head, which seemed to the children to wink
-its yellow tinsel eyes as Gray Lady placed it upon her fluffy hair.
-
-Then everybody pulled a string, and soon there hopped about a startling
-array of birds with human legs and arms, for every one entered fully
-into the fun of the thing, even quiet Miss Wilde wearing her Blue Jay
-cap and calling the bird’s note with good effect.
-
-“Now run about and see all that you can before playtime is over, and we
-go into the study for our first bird lesson,” said Gray Lady.
-
-“I wish we could have a lunch-counter for birds at our school,” said
-Sarah, “but we haven’t any near-by tree.”
-
-“Perhaps you may be able to have one—a tree is not always necessary. I
-have several ideas for lunch-counters in my scrap-book,” said Gray Lady.
-
-As the children walked along, some swung their hats by the elastics in
-rhythm with their steps. The elastic of Eliza Clausen’s hat was new and
-strong and all of a sudden it gave a snap, and the hat flew into
-Goldilocks’ lap. She had stretched out her hand to return it to its
-owner when she glanced at the hat, and her whole face changed and the
-smile faded from her lips. “Oh, Eliza!” she exclaimed appealingly, “you
-don’t know that those feathers on your hat are wings of dear, lovely
-Barn Swallows, or you wouldn’t wear it, would you?”
-
-“’Course I do,” said Eliza, taken off her guard and at heart now
-provoked and ashamed at having her hat seen, “and I’ve got lots more
-kinds at home. Ma’s got feathers on her hat, too—tasty feathers. Miss
-Barker from New York that boarded with us gave ’em to her; they cost a
-lot and stick right up in a nice stiff long bunch. They’re called
-regrets, and they don’t grow round here, but they’re ever so stylish.”
-And Eliza held her nose in the air with a sniff of scorn, a vulgar
-travesty that the pounding of her heart belied.
-
-“I don’t think those stiff regret feathers in your mother’s hat are
-stylish,” said Sarah Barnes, quickly taking up the cudgels; “I think
-they look like fish bones!” Then Eliza began to cry, and both Goldilocks
-and Sarah looked distressed.
-
-Gray Lady hesitated a moment and then said, “Eliza, dear, I’m sorry that
-this has happened just now. It is not generally a good plan for us to
-criticise one another’s clothing or habits, but there are times when it
-is necessary. Sooner or later I should have told you the reasons why
-people who stop to think and have kind hearts are no longer willing to
-wear the feathers of wild birds, and I’m sure that presently, when you
-stop and think, you will see that it is so.”
-
-Then they all walked very quietly up to the library that had belonged to
-Goldilocks’ father, and when they were seated and had time to look about
-they saw that the walls above the book-cases were covered by pictures of
-birds in their natural colours.
-
-On the table at one end of the room were piled some books, and by this
-Gray Lady seated herself, her scrap-book by her elbow,—a book, by the
-way, with which, before another season, they were to become as well
-acquainted as with their friend herself.
-
-Tommy Todd could not take his eyes from a picture of a tall white bird,
-with long neck and legs and a graceful sweep of slender feathers that
-drooped from its back over the tail. Holding up his hand, which at
-school always means that you wish to ask a question, Tommy said,
-“Please, what is that bird’s name? There’s a big, dark, gray one, shaped
-something like it, that I’ve seen by the mill-pond, but it’s not half so
-pretty. I’ve never seen one like this, here.”
-
-“That bird,” said Gray Lady, “is the Snowy Heron, Egret, or _Re_gret
-Bird, as Eliza called it a few minutes ago, and I think that you will
-agree that the name is a very suitable one when I tell you the bird’s
-story.”
-
-
-
-
-                                   V
-                              REASONS WHY
-
-
-When the children had satisfied their curiosity by looking about the
-room at the pictures and stuffed birds in cases as much as they wished
-and were comfortably seated, Gray Lady drew a chair into the midst of
-the group and began to talk, not a bit like a teacher in school, but as
-if she had dropped in among them to have a little chat.
-
-“When one has looked at something from one side all one’s life it is
-hard to realize that there is another,” she said, smiling brightly at
-Eliza and Dave, who chanced to be sitting together and who looked not
-only unhappy but very sullen.
-
-“I have always happened to be with people who love everything that lives
-and grows. They have always been kind to birds because it never occurred
-to them to be otherwise. In watching them and learning their ways, they
-also learned that these winged beings had another value beside that of
-beauty of colour and song, that by fulfilling their destiny and eating
-many destructive bugs and animals they not only earn their own
-livelihood but help keep us all alive by protecting the farmers’ crops.
-
-“Thus, when I went down to the school at Foxes Corners, I took it too
-much for granted that you all cared for birds and would naturally wish
-to protect them. I thought that all I had to do was to try to tell you
-interesting stories that would help you to remember the names and habits
-of the various birds. But Eliza’s hat, and a little note that I received
-from one of the boys which showed that he and his family considered all
-birds that are not good to eat as worse than useless, show me that some
-of you look at birds from another side. Those that do certainly have a
-right to, as a lawyer would say, have the case argued before them so
-that they may see for themselves why they are on the wrong side of the
-tree.
-
-“The birds were on the earth before man came, and in those far-back
-times they were able to look after and protect themselves, because the
-warfare they waged was only with animals often less intelligent than
-themselves. Do you remember the beautiful allegory of the creation of
-this earth written in Genesis which is also written and proven in the
-records the geologists find buried in the earth, and quarry from the
-rocks themselves?
-
-“When man came, in order that he might live comfortably and safely, many
-of his improvements brought death to his feathered friends. Take, for
-example, two objects that you all know,—the lighthouse at the end of
-the bar by the harbour head, and the telegraph and telephone wires that
-follow the highway near your schoolhouse. Men have need of both these
-things, and yet, in their travels on dark nights, thousands of birds, by
-flying toward the bright tower light that seems to promise them safety,
-or coming against the innumerable wires, are dashed to death.
-
-“Of all the mounted birds that you see in the cases there, not one was
-deliberately killed by my husband, but they were picked up and sent to
-him by various lighthouse keepers along the coast who knew his interest
-and that he would gladly pay them for their trouble. By and by, when we
-come to the stories of the flight of some of those birds, you will be
-amazed to see what frail little things have ventured miles away in their
-travels; even tiny Humming-birds came to my husband in this way. This
-danger grows greater every day because of the many tall buildings in the
-cities that are almost always located by rivers, for to follow these
-waterways seems to be the birds’ favourite way of travelling.
-
-
-                           THE USES OF BIRDS
-
-                       _What the Birds do for us_
-
-“Perhaps even those of you who love birds have never thought very much
-about their ways of life. You are so accustomed to seeing them fly
-about, and to hearing them sing, that you do not realize what a strange,
-unnatural, silent thing springtime would be if the birds should all
-suddenly disappear.
-
-“Yes, indeed, the world would be sad and lonely without these beautiful
-winged voices. But something even more dreadful would happen should they
-leave us: the people of the world would be in danger of starving,
-because the birds would not be here to feed on the myriad worms and
-insects that eat the wheat and corn and fruits upon which we, together
-with other animals, depend for food.
-
-“The insects gnawing at the roots of the pasture grasses would destroy
-both the summer grazing for the cattle and the hay for winter fodder; if
-worms destroyed the forests, there would be no trees for firewood, and
-also the lack of shade would make the sources of our rivers dry up and
-we should soon suffer for water.
-
-“Girls and boys might never think of this, but the Wise Men who live in
-Washington, and form the association known as the Biological Survey, as
-well as those of the Departments of Agriculture in each state, thought
-of this long ago.
-
-“They have worked hard and proved the truth of this whole matter, and
-now know exactly upon what each kind of bird feeds; and laws are
-everywhere being made to protect the useful birds from people who are
-either so stupid or so vicious that they think a bird is something to be
-shot or stoned, and that the robbing of nests of eggs is a clever thing
-to do.
-
-“Any child who stops to think must realize one thing: As almost all
-birds live on animal food during the nesting season, and feed their
-young with it, and many kinds eat it all the year, it follows that the
-more birds we have the fewer bugs there will be.
-
-“Also those birds who feed on seeds and wild fruits destroy in the
-winter season quantities of weed seeds that would spring up and choke
-the crops, while they sow the seeds of wild fruits and berries, because
-the pits in these seeds, being hard, are dropped undigested.
-
-“‘But,’ says some one, ‘the Robins and Catbirds came in our garden and
-bit the ripe side of the strawberries and cherries that father was
-growing for market, and we had to shoot them to make them stay away.’
-
-“This is all true: some birds will steal a few berries, but for this
-mischief they do good all the rest of the long season; so pray ask your
-father to put only powder, a ‘blank cartridge,’ as it is called, in the
-gun, that it may give the birds warning to keep off, but not kill them;
-and let him save all the bullets and shot for the Coward Crow, himself a
-nest robber, the Great Horned Owl, the Hen and Chicken Hawks, and the
-English Sparrow.
-
-“In the short stories that I am going to read or tell you of the birds,
-I will try to speak of the chief food of each, so that you may put a
-good mark beside its name in your memory, and try to realize that these
-birds, beautiful as many are, still have a deeper claim upon you. I wish
-you to see that they, as well as you, are citizens of this great
-Republic and do their part for the public good, which, next to the care
-and love of home, should be the chief ambition of us all, men or women.
-
-“The wise men know this and they have made laws to protect the birds and
-other animals from cruelty and destruction, just as they have made laws
-to protect all other citizens. Listen to what your state forbids you to
-do,—to the laws that if you break you must and should be punished:—
-
-
-       WARNING! WHAT THE LAW OF YOUR STATE SAYS ABOUT SONG-BIRDS
-
-“_No person shall kill_, catch, or have in possession, living or dead,
-at any time, any wild bird other than a game-bird, nor any part thereof,
-except the English Sparrow, Crow, Great Horned Owl, or the Hawks, other
-than the Osprey or Fish Hawk. No person shall take, destroy, or disturb,
-or have in possession the nest or eggs of any wild bird, and the sale of
-these birds or shipment out of the state is forbidden.
-
-_Hunting or shooting on Sunday is forbidden._
-
-“It is _unlawful_ to kill Fish Hawks, Eagles, Gulls, Terns, Loons,
-Divers, Grebes, Doves, Wild Pigeons, Yellowhammers, Meadowlarks, or
-Herons at any time. (These are not game-birds in the reading of the
-law.)
-
-“We are living in the state of Connecticut, but this is the substance of
-the law concerning the taking of eggs or birds other than game-birds
-(except when the Wise Men need them for Museums and have special
-permission) in the greater number of states.
-
-“Tommy Todd, will you kindly go to the coloured map hanging on the door
-yonder and point out as I read, those few states that allow the killing
-of song-birds. This will be much easier than for you to learn the names
-of those wise states that, like our own, give citizen birds full
-protection.
-
-“The east and middle west stand solid for protection, so you must begin
-on the Canadian boundary with North Dakota, then follow Nebraska,
-Kansas, Oklahoma, and Indian Territory, a bad blot in the centre of the
-map, but perhaps some day soon, if all the school children there learn
-about the birds, they will beg their fathers and uncles who go to the
-legislature to make laws to protect their birds also. For if they wait
-until they themselves grow up, some kinds of birds may have gone forever
-and it will be too late.
-
-“Fortunately, you see, there are states next that form a sort of bird
-bridge of refuge; and then comes New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada,
-Idaho, and Montana, without good laws; but fortunately for the coast
-birds, Washington, Oregon, and California are on our side, and it is the
-duty of every boy and girl as well as every man and woman to learn the
-laws of the state where they live, and keep them.
-
-
-                        CRUELTY TO WILD ANIMALS
-
-“There are many children of foreign birth who perhaps would not break
-the laws of this country if they knew of them, but do so innocently
-because they either do not know, or do not speak English well enough to
-understand them fully, and think that in this country, where they have
-so much liberty, they are free to do as they like about everything.
-
-“There are also Americans, I am sorry to say, as well as foreign-born,
-who have a heartless streak in them, and first show it by cruelty to
-helpless, harmless animals. This should be stopped, as much for their
-good as future citizens as for the welfare of the wild animals
-themselves, for the child who will kill or torture a dumb beast has the
-germs of murder in him that may later, in a fit of passion, break out
-toward a fellow-being.
-
-“What do you think of boys—yes, and girls, for I saw one last
-spring—who would spend an afternoon in stoning the hanging nest of an
-Oriole until the nestlings, dying, stopped their pitiful cries and fell
-to the ground in the rags of their wonderful home, while their parents
-circled about in agony? Sad to say, these were American-born children,
-too, who live not far from Foxes Corners, who very well knew right from
-wrong.
-
-“When children have this evil mind, the laws of the state must be used
-to cleanse,—just as the law may enter the house and do away with
-contagious disease. Cruelty is often as infectious as sickness; and it
-is, in fact, a sickness of the mind. It is quite as necessary sometimes
-that the heart should go to school and be taught kindness as that we
-should learn to read.
-
-
-                        HOW WE CAN PROTECT BIRDS
-
-“We can help birds simply by not hurting them and leaving them as free
-as possible to live out their joyous lives; but we can do much more if
-we will leave some little bushy nooks about the farm or garden, where
-they may nest in private, place food in convenient places during the
-long, cold winter months for those birds that remain with us, and _make
-it a rule never to raise more kittens than we need_ to keep barn and
-house free of rats or than we can feed and care for.
-
-“Silly people, who shirk responsibility, often say, ‘Oh, I couldn’t
-think of drowning a kitten,’ and yet they will let dozens of them grow
-up unfed and uncared for, or leave a litter by the roadside, until in
-many places a breed of gaunt, half-wild cats roam about destroying the
-eggs and young of song-birds, game-birds, and domestic fowls alike.
-
-“A nice, comfortable house or barn cat is one thing, but the savage
-outcast is quite another, and should no more be let live than a weasel
-or a skunk.
-
-
-                          HOUSING AND FEEDING
-
-“When places become thickly settled, and villages grow into towns and
-towns into cities, one of the first things that troubles the father and
-mother of a family is to find house-room, a suitable place to live, that
-shall be healthful for the children, and yet not be too far from the
-father’s work, and many and many a family have had to move to
-inconvenient places because such a home could not be found near by.
-
-“Strange as it may at first seem, our little fellow-citizens, the birds,
-have this same trouble.
-
-“In an open, half-wooded farming country there are plenty of nesting
-haunts, and running brooks and ponds for the birds who need water by
-their homestead. But presently perhaps a railway comes by; the land is
-bought up and the woods cut down for railway ties, the brush is cleared
-from old pastures and they are turned into house-lots. Old orchards,
-like ours here, are done away with, and everything is ‘cleaned up.’
-
-“This is as it should be, and a sign of progress; but where are the
-birds that Nature has told to nest in tree hollows, like the Bluebird,
-Chickadee, the Tree Swallow, Downy and Hairy Woodpecker, and the jolly
-Yellowhammer, to find homes?
-
-“You will often hear people say, ‘It is too bad the Bluebirds are dying
-out;’ but if somewhere about the place you will fasten a hollow log or a
-square bird-box with a single round opening in it to a high fence-post
-or to a pole set up on purpose, you will soon see that the Bluebirds
-have not died out, but that they have been discouraged in their
-house-hunting.
-
-“It is a mistake to make bird-houses too large, or to have many rooms in
-them, unless you are hoping to attract Purple Martins, who like to live
-in colonies. Birds like a whole building to themselves quite as well as
-people, and they do not like people to come too close and peep in at
-their windows and doors, either.
-
-“Autumn and winter are the best seasons for making and placing
-bird-boxes; it gives time for them to become ‘weathered’ before nesting
-time, and birds are apt to be suspicious of anything that looks too new
-and fine, and I have a plan that I think you will like by which you boys
-can not only make bird-houses for your own yards and farms, but make
-them to sell to others as well.
-
-“It is also a kind act for those who live on farms to leave a few stacks
-of cornstalks or a sheaf of rye standing in a fence corner as a shelter
-for the game-birds, who are often driven by cold to burrow in the snow
-for cover, and, frequently, when the crust freezes above them, die of
-starvation.
-
-“Doing this is wise as well as kind, for it helps to keep alive and
-increase these valuable food-birds, and makes better sport for the
-farmers in the time when the law says they may go a-hunting.
-
-“Of course, in every country school even, there are children who do not
-live on farms, but these can club together and do what they can to feed
-and shelter the birds that come about the schoolhouse. You have all seen
-Goldilocks’ lunch-table for feeding the winter birds, and though Sarah
-Barnes would like to have such a one down at the school, others perhaps
-may think it foolish.
-
-“As you already know, some birds eat insects and others seed foods, or,
-to put it another way, some birds prefer meat and some bread; so if you
-wish to suit all kinds you must feed them with sandwiches, made of both
-bread and meat.
-
-“‘Sandwiches for birds!—how foolish!’ I hear some one say. Stop and
-think a moment, and you will see that it is merely a way of expression,
-a figure of speech, as it is called.
-
-“Give the birds the material, crumbs, cracked corn, hayloft sweepings,
-bits of fat bacon, suet, or bones that have some rags of meat attached,
-and they will make their own sandwiches, each one to its taste.
-
-“If this food is merely scattered upon the ground, it will attract mice,
-rats, and other rodents, but if a regular lunch-counter is prepared for
-the food you will find that the birds will appreciate the courtesy,
-become liberal customers, and run up a long bill; this, however, they
-will pay with music when spring comes.
-
-
-                   A SUGGESTION FOR THE LUNCH-COUNTER
-
-“Almost every school has a flagpole, and, while some are fastened to the
-building itself, like the one at Foxes Corners, many stand free and are
-planted in the yard. However, there is one old tree at your school and I
-will ask Jacob to build you a lunch-counter, if you will promise to see
-that it is kept well filled with provisions.
-
-“This is the way it should be made: Around the pole a square or circular
-shelf about eight inches wide can be fastened, four feet from the
-ground, and edged with a strip of beading, barrel hoops, or the like. A
-dozen tenpenny nails should be driven on the outside edge at intervals,
-like the spokes to a wheel, and the whole neatly painted to match the
-pole.
-
-“Then each week we will ask Miss Wilde to appoint a child as _Bird
-Steward_, his or her duties being to collect the scraps after the noon
-dinner-hour and place them neatly on the counter, the crusts and crumbs
-on the shelf and the meat to be hung on the spikes.
-
-“Nothing will come amiss—pine cones, beechnuts, the shells of
-hard-boiled eggs broken fine, apple cores, half-cleaned nuts; and if the
-children will tell their parents of the counter, they will often put an
-extra scrap or so in the dinner pail to help the feast. Or the fortunate
-children whose fathers keep the market, the grocery store, or the mill,
-may be able to obtain enough of the wastage to leave an extra supply on
-Friday, so that the pensioners need not go hungry over Sunday.
-
-“All the while the flag will wave gayly above little Citizen Bird, as
-under its protection he feeds upon his human brothers’ bounty.
-
-“Here is the story of one of these lunch-counters that proved a success.
-It was written to encourage others, and I will read it so that you may
-know that bird lunch-counters belong to real and not to fairy-tales.”
-
-
-                      AN ADIRONDACK LUNCH-COUNTER
-
-In the Adirondacks in March, 1900, the snow fell over four feet deep,
-and wild birds were driven from the deep woods to seek for food near the
-habitation of man. It occurred to me that a lunch-counter with “meals at
-all hours” might suit the convenience of some of the visitors to my
-orchard, so I fixed a plank out in front of the house, nailed pieces of
-raw and cooked meat to it, sprinkled bread-crumbs and seeds around, and
-awaited results.
-
-The first caller was a Chickadee. He tasted the meat, seemed to enjoy
-it, and went off for his mate. They did not seem in the least afraid
-when I stood on the veranda and watched them, and after a time paid but
-little attention to the noises in the house; but only one would eat at a
-time. The other one seemed to keep watch. I set my camera and secured a
-picture of one alone. While focussing for the meat one Chickadee came
-and commenced eating in front of the camera, and a second later its mate
-perched on my hand as I turned the focussing screw.
-
-I saw the Chickadees tear off pieces of meat and suet and hide them in
-the woodpile. This they did repeatedly, and later in the day would come
-back and eat them if the lunch-counter was empty.
-
-My observation in this respect is confirmed by a lumber-man, who noticed
-that when eating his lunch, back in the woods, the Chickadees were very
-friendly and would carry off scraps of meat and hide them, coming back
-for more, time and time again.
-
-The next day another pair of Chickadees and a pair of White-breasted
-Nuthatches came. The Nuthatches had a presumptuous way of taking
-possession, and came first one and then both together. The Chickadees
-flew back and forth in an impatient manner, but every time they went
-near the meat the Nuthatches would fly or hop toward them, uttering what
-sounded to me like a nasal, French _no, no, no_, and the Chickadees
-would retire to await their turn when the Nuthatches were away.
-
-The news of the free lunch must have travelled as rapidly in the bird
-world as gossip in a country town usually does, for before long a
-beautiful male Hairy Woodpecker made his appearance, and came regularly
-night and morning for a number of days. Hunger made him bold, and he
-would allow me to walk to within a few feet of him when changing plates
-in the camera. It was interesting to note his position on the plank.
-When he was eating, his tail was braced to steady his body. He did not
-stand on his feet, except when I attracted his attention by tapping on
-the window, but when eating put his feet out in front of him in a most
-peculiar manner. This position enabled him to draw his head far back and
-gave more power to the stroke of his bill, and shows that Woodpeckers
-are not adapted for board-walking.
-
-Of course, the smaller Downy Woodpeckers were around; they always are in
-the orchard toward spring. I also had a flock of Redpolls come a number
-of times after a little bare spot of ground began to show, but, although
-they ate seeds I put on the ground, they would not come up on the
-lunch-counter and did not stay very long. Beautiful Pine Grosbeaks came,
-too, but they preferred picking up the seeds they found under the maple
-trees. The American Goldfinches, in their Quaker winter dresses, called,
-but the seeds on some weeds in the garden just peeping above the snow
-pleased them better than a more elaborate lunch, and saying
-“per-chic-o-ree” they would leave.—F. A. Van Sant, Jay, N.Y., in _Bird
-Lore_.
-
-“Now, while you move about and rest yourselves a few moments, I will ask
-Dave and Tommy to bring that picture of the great white bird from the
-easel and place it by the table here, while I look in this portfolio for
-another to put with it. See—here is a bird that is much taller than the
-men beside it and wears bunches of plumes on tail and wings. These two
-birds represent the wrong and right side of feather wearing!
-
-“What are their real names? The Snowy Heron and the Ostrich, both birds
-of warm climate. I’m always glad when children wish to know the _real_
-names of birds and try to remember them. No one can become actually a
-friend of a person or an animal whose name is merely general. Has Miss
-Wilde ever read you a little poem there is about the pleasure of
-learning _real_ names? No? I will repeat it and perhaps she will let you
-learn it next Friday.”
-
-
-                              MATILDA ANN
-
-    I knew a charming little girl,
-    Who’d say, “Oh, see that flower!”
-    Whenever in the garden
-    Or woods she spent an hour.
-    And sometimes she would listen,
-    And say, “Oh, hear that bird!”
-    Whenever in the forest
-    Its clear, sweet note was heard.
-
-    But then I knew another—
-    Much wiser, don’t you think?
-    Who never called a bird a “bird”;
-    But said “the bobolink”
-    Or “oriole” or “robin”
-    Or “wren,” as it might be;
-    She called them all by their first names,
-    So intimate was she.
-
-    And in the woods or garden
-    She never picked a “flower”;
-    But “anemones,” “hepaticas,”
-    Or “pansies,” by the hour.
-    Both little girls loved birds and flowers,
-    But one love was the best:
-    I need not point the moral;
-    I’m sure you see the rest.
-
-    For would it not be very queer,
-    If when, perhaps, you came,
-    Your parents had not thought worth while
-    To give you any name?
-    I think you would be quite upset,
-    And feel your brain a-whirl,
-    If you were not “Matilda Ann,”
-    But just “a little girl”!
-
-    —Alice W. Rollins, in the _Independent_.
-
-[Illustration: SNOWY HERON]
-
-
-
-
-                                   VI
-                           FEATHERS AND HATS
-
-
-                           _The White Heron_
-
-“Perhaps the boys may not be interested in hearing about feathers and
-hats,” said Gray Lady, “but the two birds whose pictures you see here
-are very interesting in themselves; and it is well that both boys and
-girls should realize all the different reasons why some kinds of birds
-have been growing fewer and fewer, until it is necessary to take active
-measures for their protection.
-
-“Boys have robbed nests and thoughtless men have shot and caged
-song-birds, and have often killed many more food-birds than they could
-eat, merely for what they call the ‘sport’ of killing.
-
-“Girls who seldom rob nests, unless they are following the examples of
-their brothers, and women who would shrink from touching firearms or
-killing a bird, will still, as far as the law allows and sometimes
-further, wear birds’ feathers on their hats.
-
-“Not many years ago we often saw whole birds, such as Humming-birds,
-Swallows,—like those on Eliza’s hat,—Bluebirds, and many of the pretty
-little warblers used as hat trimming. To-day, this is against the law in
-all of the really civilized of the United States, and any one offering
-the feathers of these birds for sale may be arrested and fined.”
-
-“Please, is it any harm to wear roosters’ feathers or Guinea hens’ and
-ducks’ wings?” asked Ruth Banks. “’Cause I’ve got two real nice duck
-wings and a lovely spangled rooster tail—home-made ducks, you know,
-that we hatch under hens,” she added.
-
-“No, it is no harm to use the feathers of domestic fowls, or other
-food-birds,” said Gray Lady; “only, unless we have raised the fowls from
-which they come ourselves, it is not easy to be sure about the matter,
-unless the feathers are left in their natural colours. They may tell you
-in a shop that the wing or breast you see is made of dyed chicken or
-pigeon feathers. You must take their word that this is so, and many
-times they may have been misled in the matter themselves.
-
-“Birds’ feathers, it cannot be denied, are very beautiful and
-ornamental, but to my mind it is very bad taste to wear anything dead
-merely for ornament,—furs, of course, keep the wearer warm as
-well,—but I myself do not care for any hat trimming that can only be
-had by taking life.
-
-“There is one kind of feather,—the Heron or Egret plume,—that I am not
-only sorry, but ashamed, to say is still in use, because it comes from
-birds that live in other countries, and these birds we cannot yet
-protect. Not only must these birds be killed to obtain the coveted
-plumes, but the killing is done in a brutal way, and at a time of
-year—the nesting season—when, according to the wise law of nature,
-every bird should be cherished and its privacy respected.
-
-“Look at this great White Heron in the picture beside me here. He
-measures two feet from the tip of his bill up over his head to his tail,
-though you cannot really see the tail as he is pictured on account of
-the beautiful sweeping cloak of fine feathers that cover it. This bird
-has yellow eyes and feet, beak and legs partly yellow and partly black,
-but is everywhere else white of an almost dazzling brilliancy.
-
-“Many birds wear more beautiful and highly coloured feathers in the
-nesting season than at any other. These Herons, both male and female,
-are pure white all the year through, but as the nesting season
-approaches a change comes,—a number of slender plumes grow out from
-between the shoulders and curve gracefully over the tail, forming a
-complete mantle, and it is these feathers that are sought by the
-professional plume hunters to be made into the feathery tufts sold as
-egrets, though the word Eliza used by a slip of the tongue, _re_grets, I
-think much more suitable, for surely any one with a warm woman’s heart
-would _regret_ ever having worn them if she realized how they are
-obtained.”
-
-“Miss Barker gave my mother hers,” put in Eliza, “’cause she’d just
-found out where they came from and dassn’t wear it to church ’cause her
-minister belongs to a society that wouldn’t like it. She didn’t tell us
-why, though; she only said regrets was counted stylish in N’ York.”
-
-“Yes,” said Gray Lady, “that is all the idea some people, who think
-themselves very clever, have of honour. To give away a feather that one
-cannot wear, for fear of what some one will say, is like giving stolen
-goods to some one who does not know that they are stolen.
-
-“Not many years ago this Snowy Heron and his cousin, the American Egret,
-almost twice his size, might be found everywhere in the swampy groves of
-temperate and tropical America, from New Jersey across to Minnesota and
-Oregon, and as far south as Patagonia in South America. Within a few
-years I have seen one or two in autumn in the marshes back of our bay
-below, for like many birds they wander about after the nesting season.
-Their food consists of small fish,—shrimps, water-beetles, etc.,—so
-that they never make their homes far from moist places. Now, in this
-country at least, the race is nearly gone, and it will be only by the
-strictest laws and most complete protection that it will be possible for
-the tribe to increase. To regain its old footing cannot be hoped for.
-
-“The beginning of the tragedy came by woman’s love of finery, and only
-by her resolutely giving it up can the trouble be ended.
-
-“Through some happening it was discovered that this mantle of feathers
-could be made into ornaments for hats and hair that were not only widely
-sought, but brought a high price. This was enough; bands of hunters were
-organized to search the swamps for the Herons and obtain the plumes
-_when they were in the best condition_. How it was to be done did not
-matter, and indeed it has taken the world many years to realize the
-horror of it all.
-
-“These Herons breed in colonies. The nest, a stoutly built, slightly
-hollowed platform of small sticks, reeds, etc., is placed either in a
-tree or tall bush, care being always taken to keep it safely above the
-water-line. As the birds are very sociable, a single bush or tree would
-often contain many nests.
-
-“When the nesting season was well under way and the feather cloaks in
-their first perfection, through the lagoons and sluggish waterways came
-noiseless flat-bottomed boats, low on the water, and poled by the
-guiding Indian or half-breed. Astern sat the plume hunters, guns at rest
-and eyes eagerly scanning the foliage above their heads. ‘Ah! here is a
-rookery at last!’ (rookery being the name given to colonies of many
-birds beside the Rook). The parent birds are sailing gracefully to and
-fro, their long legs trailing behind, while they feed the newly hatched
-nestlings. For with the most crafty calculation the plume hunters wait
-for the time when the birds are hatched because they know that the
-parents are then less likely to take alarm and fly beyond reach.
-
-“The boat is stopped by the guide, who grasps an overhanging branch
-close to where an opening in the under-brush gives a good view of the
-colony.
-
-“Bang! bang! Bodies crashing through the branches and pitiful cries of
-alarm mingle for several minutes, as the confused birds rise, remember
-their young, and return to die! When the smoke has lifted, the hunters
-clear the ground of the dead and dying and piling them in the boat begin
-to tear off that portion of the back, the ‘scalp,’ that holds the
-precious plumes. If all the birds were dead, the horror would be less,
-but time is precious; there are other rookeries to be visited that day,
-and so the still breathing and fluttering birds are also torn and
-mutilated.
-
-“Then the boat glides on, leaving death behind. Yes, but not the silence
-that usually goes with death, for there in a hundred nests are the
-clamouring hungry broods that will die slowly of hunger, or be victims
-of snakes or birds of prey,—the happier ending of the two.
-
-“After a day’s work the plume hunters find ground dry enough for a camp,
-where they pass the night, and at dawn they again glide forth on their
-ghastly errand.
-
-“Sometimes storm, pestilence, and famine may nearly exterminate a
-species of bird or beast, but Nature in some way, if she still needs the
-type, always manages to restore and undo her own mischief; but, as a
-lover of these birds has said, ‘When man comes, slaughters, and
-exterminates, Nature does not restore!’ It is only the men and women who
-have done the evil that may be allowed to undo it, and sometimes it is
-too late.
-
-“Now you see why no one should wear egret plumes, the feathers of the
-bird that has been called ‘The Bonnet Martyr.’ Girls and boys, whoever
-you may be, who hear or read this story of the vanishing Snowy Heron, be
-courageous, and wherever or whenever you see one of these regret plumes
-ask the wearer if she knows how it was obtained and tell her its story,
-for whether the bird who bore it lived in this or another country the
-manner of taking is the same.
-
-“There have been foolish stories told of raising these birds in
-captivity and gathering the plumes after they are shed. This is not
-true. They would, when shed naturally, be worn and useless, and the
-egret will always be what one of the Wise Men has called it, the ‘White
-Badge of Cruelty.’”
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-“Now, Tommy Todd,” said Gray Lady, “you may take down the Heron and put
-the other picture in its place. The bird in it is not graceful and
-beautiful like the Heron; in fact, it looks more like some sort of a
-camel than a bird, but its story is much more cheerful. Its feathers may
-be worn by every one, for it is not necessary to kill or hurt the bird
-in order to get them. Some of you have guessed its name already, I am
-sure.
-
-
-                             _The Ostrich_
-
-“Ostriches live in warm countries as well as Herons, but here the
-comparison begins and ends, for the Ostrich loves the open sandy desert
-and was originally found wild in Africa, Arabia, and also in Persia. The
-Ostrich, the largest bird now alive, is most peculiar both in appearance
-and habits. Standing sometimes eight feet in height, it has a long,
-almost bare neck, and small stupid-looking head; its wings are so small
-that it cannot fly, but its strong legs, ending in two-toed feet, give
-it the power of running as fast as a horse, and it can kick like a horse
-also, with this difference,—an Ostrich kicks forward so if you wish to
-be perfectly safe you must stand _behind_ it! At the base of the wings
-and tail grow tufts of long and substantial feathers, the wing tufts
-being the longer and best. In truth, but for the fact of the feathers
-that cover its body, no one would guess that it was a bird, and even
-with these it looks like some strange beast that has put on a borrowed
-coat to go, perhaps, to the great Elephant Dance that little Toomai saw
-once upon a time in the Jungle, about which Rudyard Kipling tells so
-well that sometimes we wake up in the morning and really believe that we
-ourselves have ridden to the dance upon the great Elephant instead of
-Toomai.
-
-“In wild life birds have always been hunted for their plumage as well as
-for food. It is thought that the savage at first killed solely for food,
-and then used the hides of beasts and feathers of birds for clothing and
-decoration as an afterthought, some of the royal garments of kings and
-chiefs of tribes being woven of countless rare feathers.
-
-“When man as we know him, white or civilized man as he is called,
-explored wild countries, he introduced two things that wrought great
-harm to wild creatures and savages alike,—the money-trading instinct
-and strong drink. In order to buy this drink, which always proved his
-ruin, the savage looked about for something to offer in exchange, and
-what was there for him but to kill beast or bird and offer some part of
-it in trade?
-
-“In this way the elephants’ tusks, of which ivory is made, rare furs,
-alligator hides, and Ostrich eggs and plumes, as well as rough uncut
-gems, became known to the people of Europe.
-
-“The savages hunted the wild Ostrich with bow and arrows that were
-sometimes poisoned, and the bird being killed, of course, yielded but
-one crop of feathers.
-
-“As the Ostrich cannot fly and is a very stupid bird, living in open
-deserts where there were few places to hide, it was very easily
-destroyed—its only means of escape being to outrun its pursuers, who
-were on foot. But presently when firearms were used to hunt him, the
-Ostrich seemed as utterly doomed as the White Heron.
-
-[Illustration: CLIPPING OSTRICH PLUMES]
-
-“But the day came when men who realized the great demand there was for
-these feathers and the profit to be made by selling them, tried the
-experiment of raising the birds in captivity, just as we do our barnyard
-fowl, treating them kindly, and feeding them well, so that they might
-yield not only one but many crops of plumes, because they knew that the
-Ostrich is not only long-lived but, like the smaller birds, changes its
-feathers every year.
-
-“The Ostrich was a difficult bird to catch and tame when full grown, for
-at that time they weigh several hundred pounds and their habit of
-kicking has to be remembered, the same as with a wild horse. So the plan
-was tried of collecting the eggs and hatching them out, and even this
-was not as easy as it seems.
-
-“Though Ostriches are so foolish that, when chased, they will often
-stand still and hide their heads in the sand, evidently thinking that if
-they cannot see their pursuers, they themselves cannot be seen, they
-make devoted parents. And this plan was so successful that Ostriches are
-now raised like domestic fowls, not only in Africa but in this country,
-where the birds were introduced in 1882, and there are now many
-successful Ostrich farms in Arizona, California, and Florida, where
-alfalfa can be raised all the year, for this is the best food for them.
-
-“The breeding habits of the Ostrich in captivity are different from
-those of the wild birds of the desert who live half a dozen hens to a
-family like our barnyard fowls. The nest is merely a hollow in the sand
-a foot or so deep, and several broad, made by the pressure of the great
-breast-bone and sides. Eggs are laid, one every other day, until a
-‘clutch’ of a dozen or more has accumulated, and these must be kept warm
-for nearly a month and a half before the chicks will be hatched.
-
-“When you realize that one of these eggs would make an omelet as large
-as two dozen and a half hens’ eggs, and weighs three or four pounds, so
-that the omelet would feed an entire family, you will understand that it
-takes both patience on the part of the parents and a great deal of heat
-to hatch these eggs. Sometimes the owners prefer to hatch the eggs in an
-incubator.
-
-“You have some of you seen a Robin stand up in the nest and shuffle her
-feet; when she does this she is turning her eggs, and the great Ostrich
-eggs are also turned every day. When domesticated, the mother Ostrich
-tends the eggs during the daylight hours, but the father takes her place
-in the later afternoon and remains until morning. This is evidently the
-result of the instinct for colour protection. The gray female shows the
-least plainly in daylight on the sand, while the black-and-white male
-can scarcely be seen at night. In fact, the domesticated bird is a
-creature of such regular habits that, according to reliable accounts,
-the male takes his place on the nest promptly at 5 P.M. and does not
-move until 9 A.M. This account does not say whether Mrs. O. lets her
-husband have an evening out once in a while to go to his club or lodge,
-but perhaps, as he has the rest of the year to himself, he does not
-expect a vacation in the important nesting season. But one thing is
-known to be true, that Ostriches are very devoted to each other and that
-the pairs when once mated remain together for life, an attribute of many
-birds, especially the very long-lived species. It is said that the wild
-Ostrich lives to be 100 years old. This may be true, for Ostriches who
-have been captives 40 years are still alive and healthy. In the deserts
-Ostriches are supposed to be able to go without water for days at a
-time, but in captivity they drink freely every day. This either proves
-that the habits alter very much, or else, that those who reported their
-wild life did not see correctly.
-
-“When the young Ostriches are hatched, they are about the size of a
-Plymouth Rock hen and are mottled and fuzzy. They grow very rapidly, so
-that at nine months old the bird will be nearly six feet tall, and after
-this the plumes are plucked at intervals of nine months; the feathers do
-not reach perfection, however, until the third year, and the birds do
-not reach maturity and mate until they are four years old,—and a fine
-male Ostrich of six or seven years of age is worth $1000 and will yield
-from $50 to $80 worth of feathers yearly.
-
-“When a little over a year old, the mottled plumage that the young birds
-wear slowly changes, the female becomes a dusky gray, and the male
-glossy black, though they both grow long white wing-plumes. By this you
-may learn that all the gayly coloured plumes that you see are dyed, and
-even those that remain black or white go through many processes of
-cleansing and curling before they are sold in the shops.”
-
-“How do they get the feathers off?” asked Sarah Barnes; “do they wait
-until they moult or pull ’em like they do geese?—only that hurts some
-’cause the geese squawk something dreadful.”
-
-“I’m glad that you asked that question,” said Gray Lady, “because it is
-one of the special points about Ostrich feathers that should be made
-known to every one. If they waited for the feathers to be shed, they
-would be worn and broken. You all know how very shabby the long
-tail-feathers of a rooster become before the summer moulting time. When
-Ostriches were first raised in confinement, their owners used to pluck
-out the plumes. But they soon found that not only was this troublesome,
-for the pain of it made the birds struggle, but the next crop of
-feathers suffered in consequence. Nature has reasons for everything she
-plans and there is evidently some substance in the butt of the old quill
-that, by keeping the skin soft and open, prepares the way for the new
-one that is to follow and causes it to be of better quality.
-
-“Now the plumes are clipped off, and later on the stubs, which are then
-dry, come out easily. The feathers of these birds are much fuller and
-finer than those that came from the wild Ostriches.
-
-“The picture shows an Ostrich in the little three-cornered pen with the
-men holding up the tufts and preparing to snip off the feathers. The pen
-is made in this shape so that there will be standing-room for the men,
-but not room enough for the Ostrich to turn round and kick forward. A
-hood shaped like a stocking is drawn over his head, and he is perfectly
-quiet, for he feels no pain and no blood is drawn.
-
-“Now you can judge for yourselves that Ostrich feathers may be safely
-worn by every one who likes beautiful things, for certainly there are no
-feathers so graceful as a sweeping Ostrich plume with the ends slightly
-curled.
-
-“In addition to the fact that the growing and taking of these feathers
-is perfectly humane, their use encourages a large industry which gives
-employment to many people here in _our own country_.”
-
-“I wish my ma had an Ostrich plume in her Sunday hat instead of that
-mean egret,” sighed Eliza Clausen, half to herself. “I can take the
-smaller wings out of mine and leave the ribbon, but the feather’s the
-whole topknot of ma’s.”
-
-Softly as Eliza had spoken, her words could be heard in the silence that
-came when the reader closed her scrap-book.
-
-“Bravo! bravo! little girl,” said Gray Lady, smiling so brightly that
-Eliza forgot to be embarrassed. “You see that your mother was right when
-she said, ‘When people get to hearing about birds they stop caring to
-wear them in their hats,’ even though she did not mean it quite in this
-way. Very few people would wear the cruel kind of feathers if they only
-understood. I will give you a pretty little Ostrich tuft to take to your
-mother in exchange for the egret, when you explain to her about it, and
-I’m sure Anne can find something among Goldilocks’ boxes to replace your
-Swallow’s wings.”
-
-Eliza’s eyes sparkled, and all signs of resentment left her face.
-
-“But,” asked Gray Lady, “what will you do with the poor little wings and
-the egret? You surely will not give them to any one else.”
-
-“No, ma’am, I’ll have a funeral, and bury them down in the meadow, where
-my kitten is that fell in the water barrel and sister’s canary!”
-
-Then all the children laughed, including Eliza herself, and Gray Lady
-joined.
-
-“School is over for this afternoon,” said Gray Lady, “but before you go
-we must arrange for our next meeting. I, myself, belong to the Humane
-Society. How would you like to organize a little school society of your
-own to help one another remember to be kind to everything that lives,
-and also to see and learn all you can about our little brothers of the
-air, whose life and happiness depends as much upon our mercy as our food
-and shade, beautiful flowers, and luscious fruit depend upon their
-industry?
-
-“Let us call it ‘The Kind Hearts’ Club.’ Who will join it? Goldilocks
-and Jacob Hughes are the first two members—how many more are there
-here? Oh! Tommy Todd! one hand is enough to raise, unless you expect to
-work for two people!”
-
-
-
-
-                                  VII
-                         THE KIND HEARTS’ CLUB
-
-
-“While you were playing hide-and-seek in the orchard this morning, Miss
-Wilde and I had a long talk about the Friday afternoons at school,” said
-Gray Lady, “and what do you suppose? She has given every other Friday
-afternoon to us, to you and to me, not only that we may all learn about
-birds and animals and how to be kind to them, but other things as well.”
-
-“That will be lovely!” exclaimed Sarah Barnes, but suddenly her face
-clouded and she added; “that will only be twice a month, though, and if,
-when it comes winter, it’s such bad weather that school has to be closed
-up of a Friday, then it would be once a month, and that would be _very_
-long to wait!”
-
-“Ah! but you have not heard all of the plan yet,” said Gray Lady. “Two
-Fridays of each month I will go to your school, and two Saturday
-mornings in every month you are to come to my house, that is, if you
-wish to,—of course you are not _obliged_ to come. And it will only be a
-very bad snow-storm, deeper than horses’ legs are long, that will keep
-me away from Foxes Corners, for did not you and I become friends on a
-very dreary, rainy afternoon?
-
-“On the Friday afternoon at school I will either tell or read you
-stories of the birds of the particular season, and I shall give you
-every chance to ask questions and tell anything that you have noticed
-about birds or such little wild beasts as we have hereabouts, for you
-know it is a very one-sided sort of meeting where one person does all
-the talking.
-
-“I may be a sober-minded Gray Lady, but I very well know how tiresome it
-is to sit still for a couple of hours, even if one is listening to
-something interesting. I think that one can hear so very much better if
-the fingers are busy. So, with Ann Hughes’ help, I am going to give the
-girls some plain, useful sewing to do, patchwork, gingham
-cooking-aprons, and the like. This plain sewing will be Friday work. On
-the Saturday mornings that you come to me you shall have something more
-interesting to work upon,—that is, as many of you as prove that they
-know a little about handling a needle. You shall learn to dress dolls
-and make any number of pretty things besides.”
-
-“I haven’t got any thimble,” said little Clara Hinks, called “Clary” for
-short, in a quavering voice. “Grandma is going to give me a real silver
-one when I’m eight, but that won’t be until next spring, and now I have
-to borrow my big sister Livvie’s when I sew my patchwork, and it’s too
-big, and it wiggles, and the needle often goes sideways into my finger.
-Besides, she wouldn’t let me bring it to school, ’cause it’s got her
-’nitials inside a heart on one side of it, and George Parsons gave it to
-her, an’ anyways she’s using it all the time, ’cause she’s sewing her
-weddin’ things terrible fast.”
-
-Gray Lady had great difficulty to keep from laughing outright at this
-burst of confidence, but she never hurt any one’s feelings, and her lips
-merely curved into a quizzical smile, as she said, “What Clara says
-about her thimble reminds me to tell you that Ann has a large work-box
-with plain thimbles of all sizes, scissors, needles, and thread. This I
-used last winter in the city in teaching some little girls to sew, who
-were about your ages. I will lend you these things, and then later on,
-if you do well, you will have a chance to earn work-boxes of your own.”
-
-“Have we boys got to sew, too?” asked Tommy Todd, with a very
-mischievous expression on his freckled face; “’cause I know how to sew
-buttons on my overalls, and I can do it tighter’n ma can, so’s they
-don’t yank off for ever so long!”
-
-“No, I had thought of something quite different for you boys, though it
-would not be amiss for you all to know how to take a few stitches for
-yourselves, for you are all liable at some time in your lives to travel
-in far-away places, and even when you go down to the shore and camp out
-in summer, buttons will come off and stitches rip.
-
-“It seemed to me that hammers and saws and chisels and nails and
-jack-knives would be more interesting to you boys than dolls and
-patchwork!” As Gray Lady pronounced the names of the tools slowly, so
-that she might watch the effect of her words, she saw five pairs of eyes
-sparkle, and when the magic word “jack-knives” was reached, they were
-leaning forward so eagerly that Dave slipped quite off his chair and for
-a moment knelt on the floor at Gray Lady’s feet.
-
-“But what could we do with all those carpenters’ tools down at school?”
-asked Dave, when he had regained his chair and the laugh at his downfall
-had subsided. “Dad says it’s a wonder Foxes Corners’ schoolhouse don’t
-fall down every time teacher bangs on the desk to call ’tention,—we
-couldn’t hammer things up there.”
-
-“No, that is very true,” said Gray Lady, “but the tools are to be used
-at the ‘General’s house’ on Saturdays, and the jack-knives at school on
-Fridays! I see that you cannot guess this part of the plan, so I will
-not tease you by making you wait as I had first intended.
-
-“As you may remember, Goldilocks told you this morning that Jacob
-Hughes, who now lives with us since he has left the sea, and keeps
-everything in repair about the place, besides being a good carpenter can
-whittle almost anything that can be made from wood with a knife.
-
-“In the attic of this house are two large rooms. One of these Jacob is
-fitting up for a playroom for my little daughter, now that she will soon
-be able to enjoy it. The other room was the workroom where her father
-had his tools and workbench when he was a lad like you, for the General
-had him taught the use of all the tools and he used to make bird-houses
-and boats and garden seats and even chairs and such things for the
-house. He grew to be so skilful that he learned to carve them
-beautifully.
-
-“Since he went away to his father and mother in heaven no one has used
-the room; but it is not right to let things be useless when others need
-them, and now Jacob is putting that room in order also. Then for half of
-the time on Saturday morning he will take you up there, teach you the
-use of the tools, and show you how to make bird-houses and many other
-things, while on the Friday afternoons, when the girls are sewing, he
-will bring some pieces of soft wood to school, and something that he has
-carved as a model, and each boy must strive to make the best copy that
-he can!”
-
-“That’ll be bully!” cried Tommy Todd, adding, “and I think it is just
-fine of you to let us use those tools that belonged to—to—” And here
-Tommy faltered for the right word.
-
-“To my husband,” said Gray Lady, very gently, and the children saw the
-little mist that veiled her eyes, and understood better than words could
-tell them why gray hair framed the face that was still young and why
-there were no gay colours in her dress,—in short, it came to them why
-their Gray Lady earned her name, and yet was never sad nor wished to
-sadden others.
-
-“S’pose we haven’t all got jack-knives—that is, ones that’ll cut?”
-piped little Jared Hill, blushing red at having dared to speak. He was
-the smallest boy in the school and lived with his grandparents, who,
-though well-to-do, evidently believed it sinful to spend money for
-anything but food and clothing, for the only Christmas presents Jared
-ever had were those from the Sunday-school tree, and though he was seven
-years old he had never owned a knife.
-
-“If I lend the girls thimbles and scissors, I must, of course, lend the
-boys jack-knives, and give them an equal chance of earning them for
-their very own!” And from that moment Jared Hill firmly believed that
-angels and good fairies had fluffy gray hair and wore shimmering gray
-garments that smelled of fresh violets, like Gray Lady.
-
-“Let me see,” said she, glancing at a little calendar in a silver frame
-that stood upon her desk, “two weeks from to-day will be the 27th; then
-you come here again. I should like every boy who can, to bring some bits
-of old weathered wood with him. Either a few mossy shingles, the hollow
-branch of a tree, a bundle of bark,—anything, in short, that will make
-the bird-houses that you build look natural to the birds, who dislike
-new boards and fresh paint so much that they will not use such houses
-until they are old and weathered.”
-
-Again Gray Lady consulted her calendar. “There will be eight Saturday
-meetings before the Christmas holidays, and we must all be very
-industrious so as to be ready for our fair.”
-
-“Where? what?” cried Sarah Barnes and three or four other girls
-together, for to these children on this remote hillside the word “fair”
-meant visions of the County Agricultural Fair, and this stood for the
-very gayest of times that they knew.
-
-“A little fair of our own to be held in Goldilocks’ playroom and the
-workroom where the ‘Kind Hearts’ Club’ will offer its friends
-bird-houses, dolls, button-bags, cooking-aprons, and home-made cake and
-candy. Then, with the money thus earned, the Club will have a little
-fund for its winter work, and each member will, of course, have a vote
-as to how the money is to be spent.”
-
-Gray Lady opened a small drawer in her desk, and took from it two
-packages of picture cards. The picture on the cards of the first pack
-was of a little boy releasing a rabbit that had been caught in a trap.
-The picture of the other cards was of a little girl standing in a
-doorway, and scattering grain sweepings to the hungry birds on the
-snow-covered ground.
-
-“Now, who wishes to join the ‘Kind Hearts’ Club’? We must have some
-members before we can elect our officers and begin. The promise you make
-is very simple.” On the cards they read only these words: “I promise to
-be kind to every living thing.” Under this was a place to write the name
-of the member.
-
-“How can we always tell what it is kind to do? Some folks think
-different ways,” asked Eliza Clausen, the hat feathers still fresh in
-her mind.
-
-“Our hearts must tell us that, Eliza,” said Gray Lady, very gently. “We
-cannot carry rules about with us, but, if we have kind hearts always in
-our breasts, we shall not make mistakes. And even if our hearts do not
-feel for others in the beginning, they may be taught by example, just as
-our heads may learn from books. That is what I wish our Kind Hearts’
-Club to stand for—to be a reminder that there is nothing better to work
-for in this world than that our hearts may be kind and true to
-ourselves, each other, and to God’s dumb animals that he has given for
-our service and has trusted to our mercy, for this is true worship and
-doing His will.”
-
-Each one of the children present signed silently and Gray Lady copied
-the names in a book, but let the children keep the cards, both as a
-reminder and to show their parents.
-
-Miss Wilde came forward at this moment and she and their hostess
-explained the manner of electing officers. Before they trooped out on to
-the lawn, even then reluctant to go, Goldilocks had been made president,
-Miss Wilde, vice-president, Sarah Barnes, treasurer, and Tommy Todd, who
-wrote a very clear, round hand, secretary, Dave, Jared Hill, and the two
-Shelton boys, a committee to collect old wood, and Eliza Clausen, Ruth
-Banks, and Mary Barnes, a committee to collect odd patterns for
-patchwork, something in which the older country folks showed great
-ingenuity and took no little pride.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-“Oh my, do look at the Swallows—there’s hundreds of them on the wires,”
-said Tommy, as Goldilocks was wheeled out on to the front walk to tell
-the party “Good-by,” her mother following.
-
-“I wish I knew what really truly becomes of them,” said Sarah Barnes;
-“father says nobody knows, though some people say that they go down in
-pond mud and bury themselves all winter like frogs, and though you see
-them last right by water, I don’t believe it’s likely, do you, Gray
-Lady? Though at the end they disappear all of a sudden.”
-
-“It is not only unlikely, but impossible. I think next Friday we will
-begin our real lessons with these fleet-winged birds of passage that are
-passing now every day and night.”
-
-After the good-bys were said again and again, the children scattered
-down the road, talking all together, very much like a twittering flock
-of Swallows themselves, and like the birds they were neither still nor
-silent until darkness fell. Miss Wilde followed, smiling and happy, for
-she had found a friend who not only did not belittle her work in the
-hillside school, but showed her undreamed-of possibilities in it.
-
-
-
-
-                                  VIII
-                         THE PROCESSION PASSES
-
-
-Time—September 20th. Place—The School at Foxes Corners.
-
-These are the stories that Gray Lady told or read from her scrap-book
-between September and Flag Day. She allowed them to be copied at Miss
-Wilde’s request for the pleasure of the other children in the township.
-
-
-                              THE SWALLOWS
-
-                    _Five Swallows and a Changeling_
-
-“I wonder if there is a child living in the real country who does not
-know a Swallow by sight the moment its eyes rest upon the bird? I think
-not, and a great many people who are only in the country at midsummer
-and in early autumn also know the Swallows, even though they cannot tell
-the different kinds apart, for during the nesting time, as well as the
-flocking period that follows, Swallows are conspicuous birds of the air
-and leaders of the birds that might be grouped as “The Fleetwings.” For
-not only do Swallows get their food while on the wing, now pursuing it
-through the upper air if the day is fair, now sweeping low over meadow,
-pond, and river if the clouds hang heavy and insect life keeps near to
-the ground, but during the flocking season, when the separate families
-join in the community life that they live through the winter, the
-Swallows are constantly on the wing.
-
-“The day that we had the orchard party you all noticed the Swallows
-flying over the pond between the orchard and river woods, sometimes
-alighting so close together on the bushes as to be as thick as the
-leaves, and then again stringing along the telegraph wires, above the
-highway, some heading one way and some another until, evidently at a
-signal, they flew off again and disappeared in the distance, until they
-seemed but a cloud of smoke.
-
-“We agreed, I think, some time ago, that it is much better to learn the
-real names of people, animals, and flowers than to simply give general
-names. It is more definite to say, “I saw a Swallow” flying over the
-moor or meadow, than to say, “I saw a bird” flying over the meadow; but
-it would be more interesting still if we tell the name of the particular
-kind of Swallow that was seen, for among the many kinds that exist at
-least five are quite common, according to the part of the United States
-in which one lives.
-
-“Can any of you tell me the names of these Swallows, how they differ in
-plumage, and where they live? I can see by Dave’s face that he knows
-something about them and I think Sarah Barnes does also, while as for
-Tommy Todd, both hands are up in spite of jack-knife and the windmill he
-is making and he can hardly wait for me to stop.
-
-“Now, Tommy, how many kinds of Swallows do you know?”
-
-“Three!” he replied promptly. “Barn Swallows, and Chimney Swallows, and
-Dirt Swallows!”
-
-“I have heard of Barn and Chimney Swallows, but never of a Dirt Swallow.
-Please describe it to me,” said Gray Lady, looking interested.
-
-Tommy hesitated for a minute, for it is one thing to know a bird by
-sight, but quite another to carry a correct picture of it in your mind’s
-eye and then put it into words.
-
-“A Dirt Swallow is pretty small and a kind of a dirty colour on top and
-a stripe across his chest, the rest white, and his tail hasn’t sharp
-points, and he isn’t blue and shiny like a Barn Swallow. He doesn’t
-build a nice nest like the others, but bores a hole right into a dirt
-bank, ever so far in, like a Kingfisher does, just like he was a
-ground-hog, and puts feathers in at the end for a nest. That’s why we
-call ’em Dirt Swallows. There’s a bank above Uncle Hill’s gravel-pit
-that’s full of the holes, and another bank full right at Farm’s End
-above the sand beach where we camped a week last summer. The way I found
-out about the holes was by diggin’ down a piece back of the edge of the
-bank, for sometimes they bore as much as four feet. The eggs are real
-white, not spotted like Barn Swallows’, ’cause we found a couple of bad
-ones, that hadn’t hatched, among the feathers.” Here Tommy paused for
-breath, his face all aglow with eagerness.
-
-“That,” said Gray Lady, “is a very good and clear description of the
-Bank Swallow, which is the English name that the Wise Men have given the
-little bird that you call the Dirt Swallow. As the bird always burrows
-its nesting-hole in a bank and never in field earth or the flat ground
-as a woodchuck does, Bank Swallow is decidedly the better name.”
-
-Meanwhile Tommy had glanced hastily out of the window to where birds
-were constantly leaving and settling on the long-distance telephone
-wires that strung together the long poles that walked by the door, and
-up the hillside, striding across lots where they chose, regardless of
-the road. Slipping from his seat to the window, he took a second look
-and then said in a harsh whisper, as if afraid that the birds would hear
-him and take fright, “Gray Lady, there’s Bank Swallows mixed in with the
-Barn Swallows on the wires, and I’m sure there’s another kind besides,
-with a shiny back and all white in the breast. Wouldn’t you please come
-out and look? If we go around the schoolhouse, they won’t notice us from
-the other side, but we can see them.”
-
-Gray Lady gave a signal and the girls and boys dropped the sewing and
-whittling quickly on their desks and, following her lead, stole out on
-tiptoe, one after the other, like the little pickaninnies when they
-sing, “The bogey man’ll ketch yer if yer doant watch out!”
-
-There, to be sure, were the Swallows, hundreds of them, all twittering
-cheerfully and none of them sitting still even though they were
-perching, but pluming themselves, and stretching their wings, the
-feathers of which they seemed to comb with a peculiar backward movement
-of one claw.
-
-As Gray Lady scanned the rows she saw brilliant Barn Swallows in little
-groups alternating with the sober-cloaked Bank Swallows, and then half a
-dozen each of two other species that were not so familiar.
-
-“Bring me the opera-glasses from the little bag that is with my hat and
-gloves,” she said softly to Sarah Barnes. Then, motioning the children
-to keep still, she crossed the road to a point where, the sunlight
-falling behind her, she could look up at the wires without becoming
-dazzled, but as she did so the entire flock left the wires, and wheeling
-went down over the corn-field toward the reeds and low woods that
-bordered the mill-pond.
-
-“You were quite right, Tommy,” said Gray Lady, as they still stood
-looking at the wires in the hope that the birds might return; “there
-were not only three but four kinds of Swallows in that flock. The birds
-with the slightly forked tails, beautiful shining steel-blue and green
-cloaks, and satiny white underparts are Tree Swallows that do not nest
-near here, but stop with us on their spring and fall journeys, and the
-others that you did not notice, because in the distance they look
-somewhat like Barn Swallows, except that they lack the forked tail, are
-Cliff or Eaves Swallows, as they are called in this part of the country,
-where they are rather uncommon.
-
-“Now we will go in and I will ask Tommy Todd, who writes very clearly,
-to put on the board the names of these four Swallows, and the particular
-thing about them that will help you to tell them apart.
-
-“No, I am afraid that they are not coming back,” said Gray Lady, after
-they had waited a couple of minutes more, “and they may all leave us
-suddenly any day now, though the Barn Swallow often stays into October
-and the White-Breasted almost to November.”
-
-A wagon loaded with rye straw and drawn by a yoke of oxen came creaking
-up the hill and paused on the level place in front of the school. The
-teamster was Jared Hill’s grandfather,—the man who did not believe in
-play or playthings. As his far-sight was rather poor, he did not notice
-that the lady with the children was not Miss Wilde.
-
-“Wal, teacher,” he called, as he leaned against his load, and tried in
-vain to discover the object at which the group was gazing, “what’s up
-thet there pole, a possum or a runaway hand-orgin monkey, or mebbe it’s
-the balloon got loose from Newbury Fair grounds?”
-
-“No, nothing so unusual as that; we have been watching the flocking of
-the Swallows,” said Gray Lady, her silvery voice sounding clearly even
-in these deaf ears.
-
-“Swallers!—out er school watchin’ Swallers?” exclaimed old Mr. Hill,
-taking the long straw that he was chewing from between his teeth in
-questioning amazement. “Shucks! what’s Swallers good fer, anyhow?
-Gee—haw, Cain! Shish, Abel! We’d best move on; I reckon this isn’t any
-place fer folks with something to do!” And thus addressing his oxen, the
-load went slowly on.
-
-With the mischievous twinkle still lingering in her eyes, Gray Lady
-asked Tommy Todd to go to the blackboard as soon as the children settled
-down to their work again, and this is what he wrote at Gray Lady’s
-dictation:—
-
-    Barn Swallow. You will know it by its glistening steel-blue and
-    chestnut feathers and _forked tail_. Builds mud nests in barns
-    and outbuildings. Comes in middle April; leaves in September and
-    early October. Nests all through North America up to Arctic
-    regions. Winters in tropics as far south as Brazil.
-
-    Tree Swallow. Glistening cloak—_pure white breast_. Nests in
-    hollow trees or, lacking these, in bird-boxes. Comes in April;
-    leaves in October. Nests in places up to Alaska and Labrador and
-    winters in our southern states south to the tropics.
-
-    Bank Swallow. _Dull brown cloak with band across chest._ Nests
-    in deep horizontal holes in banks. Comes in April; leaves in
-    September and October. Nests like White Breast up to Alaska and
-    Labrador. Winters in the tropics. The smallest Swallow.
-
-    Cliff or Eaves Swallow. _Pure white band on forehead._ Otherwise
-    brightly coloured with steel-blue, chestnut, gray, rusty, and
-    white. Where there are no rocky cliffs for its nesting colonies,
-    they build under the eaves of barns, etc. Nests in North America
-    to Arctic regions. Winters in the tropics.
-
-“Here you have a short description of four Swallows we have seen this
-afternoon,” said Gray Lady, as Tommy came to the end of the board and
-only finished by squeezing up the letters. “There is another Swallow,
-the big cousin of these, called the Purple Martin, with shiny bluish
-black cloak and light underparts. This beautiful Martin has a soft,
-musical voice, and is very sociable and affectionate, and even in
-spring, when the birds have mated, they still like to live in colonies
-and are very good neighbours among themselves. They were once plentiful
-and nested in tree holes or houses made purposely for them, but, since
-the English Sparrow has come, it has pushed its way into their homes and
-turned them out, so now they are rare, and perhaps you children may
-never have seen one.
-
-“There was always a high post with a Martin box holding a couple of
-dozen families up at ‘the General’s’ as far back as I first remember,
-but during our absence no one watched to keep the Sparrows out, the
-Martins left, and the house went to decay. Jacob has made a new house,
-and we will not set it up until next Saturday, so that you can see how
-it is divided—a room for each family and too high from the ground for
-cats to reach. We shall keep the house covered with a cloth all winter,
-so that the Sparrows cannot move in before the Martins return, and in
-this way we may coax them to come back again and live with us. Then, who
-knows, perhaps some one of the Kind Hearts’ Club may have patience and
-take the trouble to build a house and then Purple Martins may become
-plentiful in Fair Meadow township.
-
-“You heard what Farmer Hill asked a few minutes ago,—‘What’s Swallers
-good fer, anyhow?’ I want you all to be able to answer this question
-whenever you hear it asked.
-
-“In the first place Swallows do no manner of harm; they neither eat
-fruits nor useful berries, nor do they disturb the nests and eggs of
-other birds. They are beautiful objects in the air, and their laughing
-twitter when on the wing is a sound that we should miss as much as many
-real bird songs.
-
-“‘These are pleasant qualities,’ some may say, ‘but not exactly useful.’
-Listen! As these Swallows are Fleetwings and always birds of the air, so
-they are sky sweepers, living upon flying insects that few other birds
-may take, and the large amount of these that they consume is almost
-beyond belief; so watch when they come back next spring on their return
-as they fly over the cattle in the pasture, or over the pond surface
-teeming with insect life. If they do nothing else, they earn their
-living one and all by _mosquito-killing_, and the Wise Men of to-day
-know that the sting of one sort of mosquito is not merely an annoyance,
-but that it pushes the germ of malaria and other bad diseases straight
-into the blood.
-
-[Illustration: THE PURPLE MARTIN]
-
-“Not only are Swallows harmless and useful in the places where they
-nest, but are equally useful in all their journeyings through the south.
-Some birds, like the Bobolink, are both useful and harmless where they
-nest, but do harm as they travel, for when the Bobolink leaves for the
-south he goes into the rice-fields, eating the rice grains in late
-summer and plucking up the young rice in the spring. This, of course,
-gives him a bad name in the rice-growing regions through which he
-passes.
-
-“But the Swallow only destroys the evil insects as it journeys through
-the south, and yet in spite of this, cruel, or at best thoughtless,
-people kill them for the mere sport of killing, for no white man could
-pretend to eat Swallow pie, and the great flocks are tempting marks for
-‘sportsmen’ of this class. Then, too, the noise made at the places where
-these birds roost, especially the Martins, has served as an excuse for
-shooting them in numbers.
-
-“If the people in the southern states would only fully understand that
-Swallows destroy the boll-weevil that damages the cotton in the pod,
-they surely would not allow a feather of these little workers to be
-injured.
-
-“How I wish we could have a Kind Hearts’ Club in every district school
-in the south, so that the children there might help us to protect the
-birds during the time that they are beyond our reach.”
-
-Gray Lady paused and turned the leaves of her scrap-book, as if she was
-searching for something. “Ah! here it is!” she said at last, half to
-herself. “The Wise Men at Washington who find out for us all the facts
-about the useful birds have been writing about these Swallows, and say
-that everything should be done not only to protect them but in every way
-to aid their increase by providing homes for them. Let us hear what more
-they say about these five that I have just described to you.”
-
-    Tree Swallow. The Tree Swallow, as is well known, has been
-    persecuted by the English Sparrow until it has entirely
-    abandoned many districts where formerly it abounded. An
-    energetic war on the English Sparrow, and the careful protection
-    of the Swallow domiciles, in a few years would result in a
-    complete change of the situation, so far as this, one of the
-    most beneficial of the Swallow tribe, is concerned.
-
-    Barn Swallow. The Barn Swallow formerly was abundant throughout
-    the northern states, especially in New England. The tightly
-    built modern barn, however, no longer invites the presence of
-    the Barn Swallow by affording it friendly shelter, and the birds
-    are becoming scarcer and scarcer. To provide openings in modern
-    barns, and to encourage the presence in them of colonies by
-    providing convenient nesting sites are easy and effective
-    methods by which this beautiful species may be greatly increased
-    in numbers. This bird also requires protection from the English
-    Sparrow, which in one foray has been known to kill the young and
-    destroy the eggs of a large colony.
-
-    Bank Swallow. The well known Bank Swallow, as its name implies,
-    nests in sand-banks in holes of its own digging. Some farmers in
-    the northern states take special pains to protect their colonies
-    of Bank Swallows from the marauding of the prowling cat. Some
-    even take pains to excavate suitable banks on their farms and
-    devote them to the exclusive use of the Swallows. Gravel and
-    sand-banks are so numerous throughout the north, especially in
-    New England, that at trifling expense the number of colonies of
-    Bank Swallows may be vastly increased, to the advantage of every
-    farmer north and south, and to that of every nature lover as
-    well.
-
-    Cliff Swallow. The curious pouch-shaped mud structures of the
-    Cliff Swallow, attached under eaves or to the face of cliffs,
-    are a sight familiar enough in the northern and western states,
-    but in the cotton states, save Texas alone, they are wanting,
-    the bird that makes them being exclusively a migrant. The
-    English Sparrow persecutes also the Cliff Swallow; hence, in the
-    north, the bird is much less common than formerly. In Germany
-    the presence of Swallows around houses is so much desired that
-    artificial nests made of clay or other material are put up in
-    order to attract birds by saving them the labour of constructing
-    their own domiciles. No doubt our own Cliff Swallows would be
-    quick to respond to a similar offer of ready-made dwellings,
-    rent free, and in this way the range of this extremely useful
-    species might be materially increased. The Cliff Swallow is one
-    of the most indefatigable insect destroyers extant, and every
-    motive of patriotism and humanity should prompt communities
-    among which they live to protect and foster them in every
-    possible way.
-
-    Purple Martin. This, the largest and in many respects the most
-    beautiful of all our Swallow tribe, is the most local and the
-    least numerous. In New England and, perhaps, in most of the
-    northern states generally, this fine bird is steadily
-    diminishing in numbers. The English Sparrow often takes
-    possession of its boxes, ruthlessly kills the young Martins or
-    throws out the eggs, and usually succeeds in routing the colony
-    and appropriating the boxes. When measures are not taken to
-    abate the Sparrow nuisance in the immediate vicinity of Martin
-    colonies, the usual result is that the Martins are forced to
-    abandon their houses. The habit of putting up houses for the
-    accommodation of Martin colonies is not as common in the north
-    as it formerly was, and to this indifference to the Martins’
-    presence, to persecution by the Sparrow, and to losses due to
-    the prevalence of cold storms during the nesting season, no
-    doubt, is due the present scarcity of the bird.
-
-    From the standpoint of the farmer and the fruit grower, perhaps,
-    no birds more useful than the Swallows exist. They have been
-    described as the light cavalry of the avian army. Specially
-    adapted for flight and unexcelled in aërial evolutions, they
-    have few rivals in the art of capturing insects in mid-air. They
-    eat nothing of value to man except a few predaceous wasps and
-    bugs, and, in return for their services in destroying vast
-    numbers of noxious insects, ask only for harbourage and
-    protection. It is to the fact that they capture their prey on
-    the wing that their peculiar value to the cotton grower is due.
-    Orioles do royal service in catching weevils on the bolls; and
-    Blackbirds, Wrens, Flycatchers, and others contribute to the
-    good work; but when Swallows are migrating over the
-    cotton-fields they find the weevils flying in the open and wage
-    active war against them.
-
-    —H. W. Henshaw, B.B.S., in _Value of Swallows as Insect
-    Destroyers_.
-
-“That Wise Man didn’t say anything about Chimney Swallows, and, please,
-Gray Lady, you left them out, too,” said Sarah Barnes, the moment the
-scrap-book closed, “and I know they catch lots of flying bugs.”
-
-“Ah, Sarah!” exclaimed Gray Lady, laughing, “I did not precisely forget,
-but I was waiting for some one of you to ask the question. The bird that
-is called the Chimney Swallow even exceeds the others in being forever
-on the wing and never perching or ‘sitting down,’ as Sarah calls it, and
-it is a brave insect destroyer. In fact, it never perches even for one
-moment, but when it does rest makes a sort of bracket of its sharply
-pointed tail-feathers and rests against a tree or inside the chimney,
-somewhat as a Woodpecker does when resting on an upright tree-trunk. The
-Woodpeckers, however, have very strong feet, and the feet of the Chimney
-Swallow are very weak. But here comes the funny part—this chimney bird
-isn’t a Swallow, and the Swallows would call him a changeling. He is a
-Swift, first cousin to the tiny Humming-bird and the mysterious Night
-Hawk and Whip-poor-Will, so we must leave his story until we come to
-that of the family where he belongs, for after we have learned the names
-of individual birds, it is well to know their family and kin. You cannot
-always tell by the plumage of birds if they are related. Louise Stone,
-Fannie White, and Esther Gray here are cousins, and all live in one
-house, but as their last names are different, and they do not look
-alike, a stranger would have to be told, for he could not guess that
-they belong to one household.
-
-“It is three o’clock already, and I see that Tommy and Dave have quite
-finished their windmills and Ruth’s apron is waiting for the pocket, so
-in spite of Farmer Hill’s remarks about ‘not working,’ every one has
-something to show for this Friday afternoon.
-
-“Before we go, let me see if you can tell the ‘_Things to remember_’
-about the five swallows.
-
-“Sarah—the Barn Swallow?”
-
-“Shiny, steel-blue back and forked tail.”
-
-“Dave—the Bank Swallow?”
-
-“Dusty cloak fastened across the front.”
-
-“Ruth—the Tree Swallow?”
-
-“White satin breast.”
-
-“Roger—the Eaves Swallow?”
-
-“White on its forehead and all over mixed colours.”
-
-“And the Purple Martin? Who knows it?”
-
-“It’s the biggest of all and doesn’t fly quite so sudden. I’ve seen ’em
-up at Grandpa Miles’s in New York State,” said little Clary Hinks, and
-then blushing because she had dared to speak.
-
-“Next week in the playroom!” said Gray Lady, smiling over her shoulder
-at them as they filed out the door to the time beaten by Tommy’s drum.
-
-
-
-
-                                   IX
-                        TWO BIRDS THAT CAME BACK
-
-
-                                           (Birdland, September 27th.)
-
-The rain had poured steadily all Thursday and Friday, until Friday
-evening, and the wind blew so hard that many a little window-pane in the
-older farm-houses fell in with a crash and the owner, jumping up quickly
-to snatch the lamp out of the draught, would exclaim, “I do declare, we
-haven’t hed sech a genuine old-fashioned line-storm for years!”
-
-The “line” being the short for equinox, the imaginary line crossing the
-sun’s path over which, on March 21st, old Sol is supposed to step from
-winter into spring. Again, on September 21st, he steps from summer into
-autumn, takes off his summer hat, with its crown of burning rays, and
-tells his wife to ask North Star for the key to the iceberg, where his
-winter flannels are kept in cold storage, so that they may be ready for
-any emergency. The fact that these storms seldom come upon the days when
-they are due, simply proves that the solar system prefers to measure
-time to suit itself.
-
-A little before dawn, on Saturday morning, the rain stopped; the heavy
-clouds in the east broke up into bars of blue steel, through which the
-sun peered cautiously, as if uncertain whether or not to break them
-away. Then, suddenly deciding that it would, it signalled to the clear,
-cool, northwest wind to blow and chase away the vapours that made the
-clouds too heavy.
-
-By the time Tommy Todd’s father came in, carrying two milk-pails, Tommy
-following with a third, there was promise of a fine crisp autumn day,
-and Grandpa Todd, who had decided a week before, on his eightieth
-birthday, that he would give up milking, at least for the winter, came
-into the well-porch, and scanning the sky carefully, with an air of
-authority, said: “To-night we’ll have hard frost if the wind drops. We’d
-better get in those cheese pumpkins jest as soon’s they’re dried off.
-Robins and Blackbirds flockin’ powerful strong, and old Chief Crow has
-brung his flock clear down to the ten-acre lot already.”
-
-Old Chief was the name that Grandpa Todd had given to a particularly
-wise bird, whom he insisted was twenty-five years old at the least, who
-was master of the roost in the cedar woods and, by his wise guidance,
-kept his flock the largest in the township, in spite of all the efforts
-of the farmers, hired men, and boys in the vicinity to drive them out.
-
-There, also, on the slope south of the house, were fully half a hundred
-Robins pluming themselves, shaking their feathers out to dry, and acting
-in every way like travellers pausing on a journey, rather than residents
-going out for a stroll.
-
-Tommy had paused to look at them, balancing the pail carefully as he did
-so, and then the sight of the birds reminded him that it was the day to
-go up to “the General’s,” and he hurried in to eat his breakfast and
-finish the Saturday morning “chores” that he always did for his mother.
-Then he went to the shed to look over the collection of bits of old wood
-that he had both begged and gathered far and near for the making of
-bird-houses.
-
-A neighbour, who was re-covering his cowshed roof with galvanized iron,
-had let Tommy pick up as many mossy shingles as he could carry, and some
-of these were really beautiful with tufts of gray lichens, some with
-bright red tips, blending with mosses of many soft shades of green.
-
-Tommy selected from the assortment as large a bundle as he could carry,
-and, after cording it securely, went to the house to tidy up, for Gray
-Lady had asked the children of the Kind Hearts’ Club to come at nine
-o’clock this first Saturday, for it would take them some time to look at
-the play and work rooms before settling down to doll-dressing and
-bird-house making. As he crossed the kitchen, his mother, who was
-kneading bread, pointed a floury finger toward a garment that hung over
-the back of a chair. Tommy picked it up, and then his usual boyish
-indifference, which he kept up at home even when he was pleased, broke
-down and he gave an exclamation of delight, for there was a new
-carpenter’s apron with a pocket for nails in front, the whole being made
-of substantial blue jean, precisely like the one worn by Jacob Hughes
-himself.
-
-Gray Lady had asked as many of the boys as owned overalls to bring them.
-Tommy’s were very old and had many patches, besides being smeared with
-paint, and he hated to have dainty Goldilocks see them, so it seemed to
-the boy that his mother must have seen straight into his mind (as
-mothers have a way of doing) and read what he most needed.
-
-Slipping his head through the yoke and fastening the waist-band in
-place, Tommy suddenly grabbed his mother, flour, bread, and all, in a
-rough embrace, and then clattered up the backstairs, laughing at the two
-white hand-marks that she had printed on his shoulder in her surprise.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-Up at “the General’s” house Gray Lady, Goldilocks, Ann, and Jacob Hughes
-were as busy as possible making preparations for the first regular
-meeting of the Club. To the children, the whole performance in
-anticipation seemed like the most delightful sort of play, but every one
-who thinks will realize how much pains Gray Lady was taking to have
-everything in order for the children’s first view of the place. After
-this, like the wise friend that she was, she had planned that the
-children themselves would in turn take out the work, put it away, and
-clear up threads or shavings as the case might be.
-
-The playroom was on the southeast corner of the attic, and had three
-dormer-windows with wide seats underneath. Being an attic, the windows
-were set rather high in the slanting room, but, if one stood on the
-wooden seats, there was a beautiful view toward the river valley on the
-south, while the east window looked down over the orchard, and it seemed
-as if one might almost step out and walk upon the tree-tops.
-
-On the chimney side was a small-sized cooking-stove, and between this
-and the chimney-corner ran shelves with a cupboard beneath, whereon and
-in a set of blue-and-white dishes and various pots and pans were ranged.
-At either end of the room was a stout table surrounded by chairs, one
-being a kitchen table with a drawer, and the other a plain dining table
-with a polished top, suitable for playing games, or holding books or
-work. It was upon this table that the work-boxes and dolls were ranged,
-twelve in all, and by each a little pile of clothes, all cut and
-ready-basted, the whole being covered by a cloth. Gray Lady and Ann had
-agreed between themselves that lessons in sewing had better come first
-and garment-cutting follow later on.
-
-All the garments were to be made to put on and take off like real
-clothes, and though they were very simple, each doll when dressed would
-personate a different character, for there was clothing for a baby doll,
-a schoolgirl, a young lady, a trained nurse, little Red Riding-Hood, and
-so on.
-
-The workshop faced north and east, and was on the opposite side of the
-stairs. This was of the same shape as the playroom, but a small
-wood-stove, that could be used for heating glue-pots, and to keep the
-room from freezing in winter, took the place of the cooking-stove, and
-there was a long workbench, with vise, lathe, and mitre-box attachment
-under two of the windows where the best light fell. Across one side of
-the room, various tools were hung in racks, while at the end opposite
-the windows was tacked a great sheet of paper upon which many styles of
-bird homes were pictured. Below this was a space painted black like a
-school blackboard, and upon this Jacob had redrawn in rough chalk
-several of the pictures to a working-scale.
-
-Gray Lady and Goldilocks were already upstairs when the party arrived,
-for though Goldilocks could walk very nicely when on a level, going up
-and down stairs was a matter that took time.
-
-[Illustration]
-
-    BIRD-HOUSES AND NESTING-BOXES. Fig. 1. hollow-limb
-    nesting-box; Fig. 2, birch-bark bird-house; Fig. 3, slab
-    bird-box; Fig. 4, cat-proof box; Fig. 5, old-shingle box; Fig.
-    6, chestnut-bark nesting-box; Figs. 7 and 9, boxes with slide
-    fronts; Fig. 8, house for Tree Swallow.
-
-        From _Useful Birds and their Protection_ by G. H. Forbush.
-
-Tramp, tramp, came the feet up the stairs to the second hall, with the
-rhythm of a marching regiment. Then there was a pause and evidently some
-discussion, for, as Gray Lady went forward and opened the door at the
-head of the attic stairs, she heard Sarah Barnes’ voice say, “Why, it’s
-a big Crow and a little one; but how did they come in here? Don’t touch
-him, Tommy, he’ll bite you. Crows bite like everything when they get
-mad.”
-
-Then Tommy’s voice said, “The big one’s a Crow, sure enough, but the
-little one couldn’t be any more’n mice’s little rats. It’s one of those
-queer new birds that had nests down in the Methodist Church steeple last
-spring; I went up with Eb Holcomb one day when he was fixing the
-bell-rope and I saw them, but nobody ’round here knows what they’re
-called—unless Gray Lady may.”
-
-Looking down, Gray Lady saw the odd pair in question and said to
-Goldilocks, “Your two pets have managed to get in and are trapped
-between the top and bottom of the stairs. Whistle for them, dearie, for
-the children are waiting to come up.”
-
-Goldilocks gave two very good imitations of the quavering call of a
-Crow, and then, using a little oddly shaped silver whistle that hung
-about her neck on a ribbon, gave a series of melodious whistles, when,
-to the surprise and delight of the children below, Crow and Starling
-(for this was the name of the smaller bird) immediately turned about and
-went upstairs, the Crow hopping and flopping, for one of its wings was
-deformed, and the Starling, as soon as it had room enough for a start,
-flying straight and true. When the children followed, they found the
-Crow perched on the back of Goldilocks’ chair and the Starling flitting
-about the open rafters until he found a perch that suited him upon a
-hook that had once held a hammock, where he seemed quite at home. The
-Crow, however, was anxious and uneasy when he saw the children trooping
-up, and flopping from the chair-bar with a sidewise motion, he scuttled
-across to the stove, under which he disappeared, occasionally peering
-out with his head on one side like a very inquisitive human being.
-
-“I don’t wonder that you look astonished,” said Gray Lady, “at seeing
-birds in this house that are apparently captive, but the truth is that
-they will not go away, and come back through every open window. So, as
-we have not the heart to drive them away, we let them live here in the
-playroom and about the barns, where they find plenty to eat, and at any
-moment they wish to go, freedom is close at hand for the taking.”
-
-“But what made them come to begin with?” asked Dave. “Crows are mostly
-the scariest things going.”
-
-“Jacob found the Crow up in the cedar woods in May,” said Goldilocks.
-“All the others were able to fly and take care of themselves, but this
-one stayed in the low bushes and its parents were feeding it. One
-morning, when Jacob was up there cutting cedar posts for the gate he
-made to Birdland, he heard a great commotion; the old Crows and the
-young ones were cawing and screaming and flying about in distress, while
-crouching in the bushes, and just ready to spring upon the Crow, was a
-big half-wild cat. It used to belong to the people up at the lumber
-camp, but when they went away they left it, and all last winter and
-spring it has lived by hunting.”
-
-“I know about that cat,” said Tommy. “The Selectmen have offered five
-dollars’ reward for it, and it kills more chickens, even big roosters,
-than all the Hawks this side of Bald Hill.”
-
-“After Jacob had driven the cat away,” continued Goldilocks, “he picked
-up the young Crow to try to find out why it had not flown away like its
-brothers. At first it was afraid and fought and pecked his fingers, but
-by and by it let him handle it, and he found that one wing was twisted,
-so that it was of no use. The point where the long quill feathers grow
-was turned under, Jake said, just the way it is in a roast chicken, and
-it must have happened when the bird was little and had no feathers,
-because those on that point of the wing were stunted and twisted where
-they had tried to grow after it was hurt. Jake straightened the wing as
-well as he could, and clipped the feathers on the other one so that he
-shouldn’t be so lopsided. The wing is stiff and doesn’t work rightly
-yet, but Jake thinks that after next summer’s moult the feathers may
-come in better; meanwhile I’ve called him Jim, because that is the usual
-name for tame crows.
-
-“Jim likes to live about here and he does such a lot of funny things.
-Why, the other day, out in the arbour, he dropped the little
-afternoon-tea sugar-tongs into the cream jug and took all the lumps of
-sugar in the bowl and hid them in the empty robin’s nest overhead, and
-we should never have dreamed that he had done it if Anne hadn’t come in
-with fresh cakes and startled him so that he dropped the last lump. He
-moves very quickly, for he can fly a little and he uses his wings and
-beak to help him climb, something like a parrot. Jacob has put him over
-in the woods by the Crow’s roost, time and time again, but he always
-comes hopping back.”
-
-Sarah Barnes was going to ask what else the Crow had done, when the
-Starling flew across the room and out through one of the windows that
-was opened from the top.
-
-“He’s gone!” she cried; “I’m dreadfully sorry, ’cause I wanted to look
-at him so’s I’d know Starlings if I see them again. Please, how did you
-get him? His wings seem very strong, and he flew as straight as
-anything.”
-
-“Larry has only gone out for a little fly,” laughed Goldilocks; “he will
-be back before long, and if the window should happen to be closed, he
-will rap on the glass with his beak. No, his wings are well and strong,
-and he is perfectly able to go away to his friends in the church tower,
-for it was from one of those nests, that Tommy saw up between the slats,
-that he fell.
-
-“Eben brought him up for mother to see, because a good many people down
-at the Centre Village had been watching these strange birds, and wanted
-to know their name and where they came from. He was too little to be
-turned out all alone, and Eben said that the nest had been upset and the
-others that fell out were dead, so, as he ate soaked dog-biscuit
-(because you know that there’s meat in it that makes up for bugs to
-young birds), I thought I would bring him up and then let him go; but
-you see the joke is that he won’t go, and he acts as much afraid of
-being out-of-doors after dark as a usual wild bird would if you put him
-in a cage.”
-
-“Who brought Starlings here, and do they belong to the same family as
-Blackbirds? They look a lot like them, only they’ve got shorter tails,”
-said Tommy Todd.
-
-“I think I have a description of the bird, as well as the date of his
-coming, in the scrap-book,” said Gray Lady, “for he is an English bird
-and the only one of its family in this country, so you can see why they
-may be lonely, and like to flock in company with the Blackbirds.
-
-                 The Common Starling: _Sturnus magnus_.
-
-    _Length_: 8.5 inches.
-
-    _Male and Female_: Black plumage shot with metallic green and
-    blue lights. In full plumage upper feathers edged with buff,
-    giving a speckled appearance, which disappears as the feathers
-    are worn down, leaving the winter plumage plain and dull. Yellow
-    bill in summer; in winter, brown.
-
-    _Note_: A sharp flock-call and a clear, rather musical,
-    two-syllable, falling whistle.
-
-    _Nest_: Behind blinds in unoccupied buildings, in vine-covered
-    nooks in church towers; also in bushes.
-
-    _Eggs_: 4-7, greenish blue.
-
-    This bird is a foreigner, imported to New York City some
-    fourteen years ago, some people are beginning to fear not too
-    wisely, for the birds are rather quarrelsome, and, being larger
-    than the English Sparrow, though not so hardy, are able to wage
-    war upon birds like Robins, and seize the nesting-places of
-    natives.
-
-    The first birds, less than a hundred in number, were set free in
-    Central Park, New York City. Now these have increased to
-    numerous flocks that in Connecticut have gone as far east as New
-    Haven, and here in Fairfield and several villages near by are
-    acclimated and quite at home, though the bitter and lasting cold
-    of the winter of 1903-1904 thinned them out considerably.
-
-    Whether they prove a nuisance or not, they are very noticeable
-    birds, looking to the first sight, as they walk sedately across
-    a field, like Grackles with rumpled plumage. A second glance
-    will show that this is but the effect of the buff specks that
-    tip all the upper feathers, while the distinct yellow bill at
-    once spells Starling!
-
-    In England they may be seen on the great open plains following
-    the sheep as they feed, very much as the Cowbird follows our
-    cattle, and in that country are very beneficial as insect
-    destroyers.
-
-“They are birds that will feed at the lunch-counter in winter, for their
-food supply is cut off by snow, and, as strangers, they have not yet the
-resources of the Crows and Jays, neither are they as hardy.
-
-“Boys, Jacob is ready for you in the workroom, and he may keep you till
-quarter-past ten. I do not think that you will really accomplish much
-to-day, except to choose the kind of house you wish to make, and plan
-out your work. Then you may all take a fifteen-minutes’ recess in the
-orchard before you come up for the bird lesson.”
-
-“What birds are you going to tell about to-day? I hope that they won’t
-be hat birds and Martyrs,” said Eliza Clausen, with a sigh.
-
-“No, not ‘hat birds’ this morning, although there are plenty more of
-them, and always will be so long as people insist upon wearing the
-feathers in their hats. I had not quite decided what birds to take up
-next, but the recess in the orchard gives me a new idea. Instead of
-taking the birds in any set order, when you come in you shall tell me
-what birds you have noticed this morning. By this means we shall be able
-to take the birds as they come with the seasons, and they will never
-grow tiresome. Then, too, if, between times, you see any birds that you
-cannot name, or about which you wish to know, remember to tell me, and
-we will try to learn something about the bird while it is fresh in your
-memory.
-
-“Now,” as the boys went to the workroom, “the girl members of the Kind
-Hearts’ Club will please thread needles and begin. If any one of you has
-sticky fingers, Ann will show you where to wash them, because the very
-beginning of good sewing lies in clean hands, for they mean nice white
-thread and bright, shining needles.”
-
-When the cover was lifted from the table, and the girls saw the dolls,
-and the little stack of clothes, they exclaimed in delight,—even those
-like Katie Lee, who really did not belong at school, for she had stopped
-playing with dolls and was ready for the eighth grade. Only,
-unfortunately, there was no eighth grade class at Foxes Corners, and as
-it was too far for them to walk to the Centre every day, they stayed on
-at school, and Miss Wilde helped them as far as her time allowed so that
-they might make up the required lessons at home.
-
-
-                            ENGLISH STARLING
-
-    Here’s to the stranger, so lately a ranger,
-        Who came from far over seas;—
-    Whatever the weather, still in high feather,
-        At top of the windy trees!
-
-    Here’s to the darling,—brave English Starling,
-        Stays the long winter through;
-    He would not leave us, would not bereave us,—
-        Not he, though our own birds do!
-
-    Cold weather pinches—flown are the finches,
-        Thrushes and warblers too!
-    Here’s to the darling, here’s to the Starling,—
-        English Starling true!
-
-    —Edith M. Thomas, in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-
-
-
-                                   X
-                          SOME MISCHIEF-MAKERS
-
-
-                _Crows and Jays, Starlings and Grackles_
-
-The children came back very promptly after the mid-morning recess,
-considering the attraction offered outside. Though cheeks and all
-available pockets fairly bulged with apples, they had sufficient
-appetite to enjoy the crisp cookies, plates of which were set at
-intervals on the plain-topped table in the playroom, together with
-pitchers of milk or a delicious drink of Ann’s invention compounded of
-oranges and lemons and sweetened with honey.
-
-Gray Lady breakfasted at eight, but she knew very well that most of the
-folk of the Hill Country had their first meal at six, except perhaps in
-the dead of winter, so that a bit of luncheon between that time and noon
-was what Goldilocks called “a comfy necessity.”
-
-“Now tell me what birds you saw this morning, and what they were doing,”
-said Gray Lady, as soon as the children had settled down. “Sarah Barnes,
-you may begin.”
-
-“We didn’t see anything new, that is nothing much; but, oh, such a lot
-of common birds in flocks, Crows and Blue Jays and Blackbirds; why,
-there were enough Blackbirds to make it dark for a minute when they
-picked up and flew over the tumble-down old house over there in the
-corner. Of course, those birds aren’t very interesting, ’cause we all
-know about them, and I guess even Zella, who hasn’t lived here long, can
-tell a Crow or a Jay and Blackbird when she sees one.”
-
-“Yes, ma’am, Lady, I know him Crow,” cried Zella, in delight at having
-some information to impart, “for my papa he plant corn seed in the lot.
-Crows they come push it out vit de nose and eat him. Then my papa and my
-brudder shoot bang! bang! but they not get him, ’cause him too wise. My
-Grossmutter say von time Crows was people, bad thief people, and they
-was made in birds to shame dem, but dey made bad thief birds, too, and
-dey kept wise like dey was people yet, so dey is hard catching. Den papa
-he made of ole clothes a man, and sat him the fence on, and the Crows
-dey comes on trees near away, and dey looks so at the mans and dey
-laughs together, but dey not come no more very near yet.”
-
-“Yes; I see that Zella knows and sees the Crow as almost every one who
-owns a bit of land sees and knows him, but there are sides to these
-birds that are so common hereabouts that perhaps you do not know, for I
-did not at your age, and it is only of late years that the wise men have
-been trying to find good points in some birds that have been always
-called bad. What they have discovered goes to prove what an unfortunate
-thing it is for any one, bird or person, to get a bad name.”
-
-“My Grandma says a bad name sticks just like fly-paper,” said Ruth
-Barnes, eagerly, “’cause even if you can peel it off you, it always
-somehow feels as if it was there.”
-
-At this every one laughed, because almost every child at one time or
-another had been through some sort of an experience with sticky
-fly-paper, and little Bobbie chuckled so long that Gray Lady asked him
-what he knew about fly-paper, and thus drew forth the explanation that
-his father had sat on a sheet of fly-paper in the dark best parlor one
-Sunday morning when he was waiting for the family to get ready to drive
-to church, and nobody noticed until he, being a deacon, got up _to pass
-the plate_!
-
-“What were the Crows and Jays and Blackbirds in the orchard doing,
-Tommy; did you notice?” asked Gray Lady, as she arranged some papers
-between the leaves of her scrap-book.
-
-“The Jays were hanging around your lunch-counter in the old apple tree,
-that is, most of them; some seemed to be bringing acorns or some sort of
-big seeds from the river-woods way, and taking them into the attic of
-the old Swallow Chimney house. I never saw so many Jays at once; I
-counted sixteen of them,” said Tommy.
-
-“The Crows and Grackles were walking on the ground, some in the grass
-meadow, and some in the open ploughed field, and they were all searching
-about as if they had lost something, and they kept picking and eating
-all the time.”
-
-“Were they eating corn that had dropped, or rye?” asked Gray Lady.
-
-“Oh, no, there wasn’t any corn there, and the rye isn’t sown yet. They
-were eating bugs and things like that, I guess,” said Tommy, to whom a
-new idea had come as he spoke.
-
-“That is precisely what I hoped that one of you would see for
-yourself—the fact that both of these birds eat many things besides corn
-and grain.
-
-“By the way, what kind of Blackbirds were they?—for we have three sorts
-that are very common here. The Red-winged, those with red shoulders that
-come in such numbers about the swampy meadows early in spring. The
-Cowbird of the pastures who is smaller than the Red-wing, with a brown
-head, neck, and breast, the rest of him being gloomy black, with what
-Goldilocks calls all the ‘soap-bubble colours’ glistening over it,
-though the Wise Men call this ‘iridescence.’
-
-“Then there is the Crow-Blackbird or Purple Grackle, the largest of the
-three, who is quite a foot in length from tail-tip to point of beak.
-This Blackbird has glistening jet feathers, with all the beautiful
-rainbow colours on his back and wings, that almost form bars of metallic
-hue, and he is a really beautiful bird that we should certainly
-appreciate better if it were not so common. Now, of course, it is one
-step on the way to bird knowledge if you can say surely this is a
-Blackbird, but it is necessary to go on then and say _which_ Blackbird.”
-
-“They were the Purple Grackle kind,” said Tommy, immediately, “for they
-were bigger than Cowbirds, and they had handsome shiny feathers, and
-they did just creak and grackle like everything while they walked
-around.”
-
-“Very good,” said Gray Lady; “now I think that there are several things
-that you do not know about these birds, whom it is perfectly safe to
-call ‘mischief-makers’ and undesirable garden friends, though our best
-knowledge will not allow us to condemn them altogether as criminals, as
-was once the custom.”
-
-At this moment Jim Crow, who had been on an excursion first to the room,
-then, by way of the branches of an overhanging sugar-maple, quite down
-to the orchard lunch-counter and back, had crept in at the window
-unobserved, walked across the floor to the work-table, about which the
-girls sat, and, going under it, was concealed by the cloth. At this
-moment Eliza Clausen dropped her thimble. It rolled under the table, and
-as she stooped to get it she was just in time to see Jim seize it in his
-beak and half fly, half scramble to the back of Goldilocks’ chair, with
-his prize held fast.
-
-“Oh, my thimble! Jim’ll swallow it!” she wailed, and the boys, with one
-impulse, started in pursuit. They could not have done a worse thing,
-for, seeing himself cornered, Jim’s hiding instinct came to his aid, and
-sidling along to the unceiled side of the attic, he quickly dropped the
-thimble between the studs, and you could hear it rattle down to the next
-story. Then he took refuge behind his mistress’ chair, from which he
-peeped inquisitively, with the sidewise look peculiar to Crows, so that
-it was impossible not to laugh at his quizzical expression.
-
-“Do not worry about the thimble, Eliza,” said Gray Lady, “for those you
-are wearing for the sewing lessons are not prize thimbles, but merely
-penny affairs. This gives you a chance to see some of the little bits of
-mischief that a tame young Crow can do in his first season, so that you
-can imagine what a wild, old, wise, leader Crow can plot and plan in
-other ways. You all know the Crow, or rather, to be exact, the American
-Crow, for there is the Fish Crow and a southern relation, the Florida
-Crow, and in all there are twenty-five different kinds in North America
-alone. This Common Crow is very plentiful here, as he is in almost all
-parts of the United States, where he makes his home from the Mexican
-border up to the fur countries.
-
-“But do you know that this Crow is cousin to the Blue Jay?”
-
-“How funny! What makes them cousins?—for they don’t look a bit alike,
-and they’re not the same colour or anything,” said Sarah, Tommy, and
-Dave, almost together.
-
-“Yes, that is true, but colour and feathers have nothing to do with bird
-relationship any more than coloured hair has to do with human families,
-and you can see that here among yourselves. The Baltimore Oriole,
-Meadowlark, Bobolink, and Purple Grackle all belong in one family, and
-yet how unlike they seem. It is the construction of the bird’s body and
-its habits and traits that serve the Wise Men as guides to their
-grouping, and in these traits the two are much alike, for Mr. Chapman,
-who knows all about these birds, whether as museum specimens, where he
-can study their bones, or as wild birds in the trees, where he watches
-them day in and day out, says, ‘Our Crows and Jays inhabit wooded
-regions, and, although they shift about to a limited extent, they are
-resident throughout the year, except at the northern limits of their
-range. They are omnivorous feeders, taking fruits, seeds, insects, eggs,
-nestlings, etc. Crows and Jays exhibit marked traits of character and
-are possessed of unusual intelligence. Some scientists place them at the
-top of the tree of bird-life, and if their mental development be taken
-into consideration they have undoubted claim to high rank.’
-
-“You see, also, that here is a Wise Man who believes that birds have
-intelligence that implies thinking, and this is different from the mere
-inherited instinct that teaches animals how to obtain food,
-self-protection, etc. There are people who believe that they are the
-only wise animals, and deny that birds and beasts can think; while there
-are others who try to make these birds and beasts think on the same
-lines as ourselves rather than in their own way. Both these are wrong;
-both are like blind men that lead others into a ditch and leave them
-there. The only way for you and me to do is to watch out for ourselves,
-look carefully, and be very sure that we see what is, and not merely
-what we would like to see.
-
-“Now I will tell you what I, myself, have seen and know, and what
-others, whose word is guaranteed by the Wise Men, have seen concerning
-Crows and Jays. When I was a child, twenty-five years ago, riding my
-pony, I wandered all over the country-side with my father, and I knew
-every Crow roost and Hawk’s nest for miles, and for many years after I
-watched their comings and goings. Late last winter, when I came back to
-the dear home to live, I went out to the nearest of the old Crow roosts
-in the cedar woods yonder across the river (you can see the tree-tops
-plainly from this window), and, in spite of time and changes, a flock of
-Crows was still there.
-
-“To be sure, the flock was smaller, and there were fewer Cedars, many
-having been turned into fence and gate posts. But the Crows, big, black,
-solemn things as they are, seemed to give me a welcome.
-
-“The life of the Crow is dull if judged, perhaps, from the standpoint of
-the birds that make long journeys, such as the Swallows, Humming-birds,
-and the Night Hawk (that isn’t a Hawk at all), who nest in the far North
-and go back to spend the winter in Central or South America.
-
-“Yet all we stay-at-home people know how much can happen even here in
-Fair Meadows township, and, if we extend our territory from salt water,
-or the southeast, to the hickory woods beyond the Grist-Mill on the
-northwest, there is room enough for happenings that would make an
-exciting life for any pair of Crows. For in considering Crows, we must
-take the life of a pair, one of their good traits being their personal
-and race fidelity, and when they mate, it is usually for life.
-
-“It is middle autumn now; what are the Crows doing? All through August
-and early fall they have been feeding good on grasshoppers,
-caterpillars, locusts, and cutworms. This flock that roost in the cedar
-woods are doing that which occupies most of a bird’s time in season and
-out, working for a living, and in doing this they are searching the
-grass meadows and ploughed fields for insects of every sort and
-description.
-
-“Their time of mischief is over for the year. The corn is cut and
-stacked; they may if they please tear the husks from the cobs and then
-reach the corn, but they are not fond of tough, dry corn, though, of
-course, they eat it when really hungry. But just now there is plenty to
-be gleaned from the field, and when the winter hungry time comes, the
-good corn will be stored safe in the granaries.
-
-“Every night, before sunset, the Crows of the flock leave the various
-feeding-places in twos and threes, and flap across country in a
-leisurely fashion toward the roost, where they spend their nights all
-the year except during the nesting season. They return thus in little
-parties, if there is no cause for fear, but should a man with a gun, a
-large Owl, or other suspicious object appear, either the Crow on the
-watch, for there is always one of these who guards the destiny of the
-flock, gives a signal by a sharp quavering Ca-ca-w or, if this seems too
-rash, the leader will simply take to wing and slip away silently, and,
-no matter how quietly the leader slips away, the rest of the flock know
-it and rise at once. How do they know this?”
-
-“Maybe they smell, just as our rabbit hounds do when they start out
-after things that no one else sees or knows about,” said Tommy Todd.
-
-“No, birds are not guided by scent as animals are,” said Gray Lady;
-“scent is held to the ground by moisture; it would be difficult to
-follow when it is blown about by air. Birds are led by their sight,
-which is many times keener than that of man or the lower animals. Then,
-too, they have another sense more fully developed than other animals,
-and that is what is called the ‘sense of direction.’ Knowing the spot to
-which they would go, they are able to reach it in the quickest, most
-direct manner, so that ‘as the Crow flies’ has come to mean the most
-direct way of reaching a place.
-
-“When morning comes they leave the roost, and, breaking up into parties,
-begin the search for food again. As the supply near home gives out, they
-go farther and farther afield, sometimes going down to the shore, where
-they pick up clams, mussels, and any scraps of sea-food that they can
-find.
-
-“After the corn has been taken in, they find scattered kernels of that
-and other grain left in the field, but at the first snowfall hard times
-set in for the Crow. He cannot search the bark crevices for insects like
-the small tree-trunk birds with slender bills; people do not welcome him
-to their farm-yards and scatter grain for him, or leave him free to
-glean, as they do the other winter birds. It is at this time, when the
-hand of man is turned against him, that the Crow really works in man’s
-interest by catching meadow-mice and many other small destructive
-animals.
-
-“At this time, the Crow eats frozen apples, poison-ivy berries, acorns,
-beech and chestnuts, and the like. But now he grows poor and thin and
-his voice is querulous, and from November to March the Crow is put to it
-for a living. ‘Poor as a Crow’ is an apt saying.
-
-
-                                THE CROW
-
-    Then it is a distant cawing,
-    Growing louder—coming nearer,
-    Tells of crows returning inland
-    From their winter on the marshes.
-
-    Iridescent is their plumage,
-    Loud their voices, bold their clamour.
-    In the pools and shallows wading,
-    Or in overflowing meadows
-    Searching for the waste of winter—
-    Scraps and berries freed by thawing.
-    Weird their notes and hoarse their croaking
-    Silent only when the night comes.
-
-    —Frank Bolles.
-
-“With the thawing out of the ground in spring, the Crow begins to view
-the world differently. The search for insects still continues, and the
-corn now gleaned is more palatable, for it has been well soaked, and
-though a corn-eater by nature, the Crow does not like his too hard and
-dry.
-
-“The flock life of the roost now ends. Every Jack chooses his Jill, and
-mingled with the harsh warning cries of the older birds are sounds that
-sometimes have a suggestion that their makers are trying to sing. The
-funniest thing in birdland is to see a Crow or a Purple Grackle making
-love, standing on tiptoe on a branch, raising their wings by jerks, like
-pump-handles that are stiff, while the sounds they make stick in the
-throat in a manner that suggests Crow croup.
-
-“Once in a long time, however, I have heard a Crow begin with a high
-Caw, and then followed a series of soft, almost musical, notes, though
-without tune or finish, but this is the exception. But what, in his
-courting days, a Crow lacks in song, he makes up by wonderful feats of
-flight. For his size, the Crow is always a graceful bird on the wing.
-When he flaps slowly up against the wind, there is nothing laboured in
-his motions, but in the spring, in company with a desired mate, his
-swift dives into the air, wheels to right and left, circlings often
-finished by a series of somersaults across the sky, are really
-marvellous.
-
-“Now the pair of Crows that we will call Jack and Jill, to save time,
-leave the cedar woods and begin hunting for a nesting-site. At first
-they looked through the hickory woods for an old Hawk’s nest for a
-foundation upon which to build, but this year there were two Red-tailed
-Hawks already in possession, and so they hurried away as quickly as
-possible, for Hawks do not like Crows, and tell them so very plainly.
-
-“Next day they spied the great white pine back of Farmer Boardman’s
-barn. They liked the looks of the tree, for it had a bunch of closely
-knit branches near the top, and the neighbourhood in all respects
-promised good feeding, but before they had carried more than a few
-coarse sticks and put them in place, the farmer’s man saw them, and not
-only fired his gun at them to drive them away, but climbed the tree and
-threw the sticks away in order to be sure that they should not rest
-there.
-
-“What did Jack and Jill do next? They came flying over here. The place
-was attractive, and it was easy to slip from the pine woods to the
-hickories, then across to the orchard, and up to the spruce trees
-outside the window here. Goldilocks was too ill to come up into the
-playroom then, and so the windows on this side of the attic were shut.
-
-“The nest-building began in earnest, both birds working at it. First, a
-foundation of stout sticks, some of them being half-dead twigs from
-these same spruces; then, old weed stalks and vine tendrils, mixed with
-corn husks, until a heap was collected that would fill a half-bushel
-basket.
-
-“This was the outside of the house; the nursery itself was hollowed in
-the centre of the moss and was about a foot across and quite deep. This
-hollow was well lined and soft; it had in it moss, soft grasses, and
-some horsehair. In due time the nest was finished and held six very
-handsome eggs, dull green with purplish brown markings, two being more
-thickly spattered with them than the other four. At this time I began to
-take an interest in the household affairs of Jack and Jill Crow.”
-
-“How could you?—can you climb trees?” asked Eliza Clausen, evidently
-much surprised.
-
-“No, I couldn’t climb as far as this Crow’s nest, Eliza, though I could
-have once,” laughed Gray Lady. “Stand up on that seat by the corner
-window and look straight down into the spruce with a crooked top and
-tell me what you see.”
-
-Eliza jumped up on the seat, and, after gazing a minute, cried, “Why,
-it’s a big ’normous nest, and I can see every stick as plain as print.”
-
-“Take this opera-glass, hold it to your eyes and move the screw to and
-fro until everything is very clear, and then tell me what you see,” said
-Gray Lady.
-
-It took Eliza some time to manage the glass, but when she at last
-succeeded she cried, “Oh, I can see the moss and the grass and the hair;
-it comes as near as if I could touch it.” And one after another the
-children learned to adjust the focus and look, and it was the first, but
-not the last, time that glasses would open a new world to them.
-
-“It was a little less than three weeks that the birds sat upon the eggs,
-sharing the work between them, before the little birds were hatched.
-Such ugly, queer little things as they were, both blind and featherless.
-In three weeks more they were well grown and able to fly, but their
-tails were still shorter than their parents’, and they were inclined to
-return to the nest on the slightest alarm.
-
-“About this time Jacob Hughes told me that either Crows or Hawks were
-taking little chickens early every morning, for they could not get them
-during the daytime without being seen.
-
-“I looked at the runs for the little chicks and saw that they stood in
-the open, not close to woods where Crows and Hawks could spy them out
-and sneak up or dash down according to their habits.
-
-“I well knew the bad name that Crows and Hawks have among
-poultry-raisers, so Jacob roofed the chicken-runs with wire, for, even
-if he had seen Crows there, I would not allow shooting on the place
-during the nesting season.
-
-“Still the chickens disappeared, and for several nights Jacob sat up and
-watched, and what do you suppose—cats and weasels were the guilty ones,
-not the Hawks and Crows!
-
-“But late in May the Crows prepared to raise their second brood, mending
-their old nest, and Jacob said, ‘Something is robbing the nests in the
-orchard; I think surely it is the Crows and Jays, for when they come
-around all the song-birds chase them and say right out as plain as
-possible, “They’re thieves—they’re thieves!”’ So I watched from behind
-the blinds yonder, and in every spot where I could see into the
-tree-tops and be unobserved—and then I knew it was true that the Crows
-and Jays were detestable cannibals.
-
-“One single morning I saw the Crow take three robin’s eggs and bring a
-tiny little robin squab to his mate on the nest, and one day, as a Crow
-flew high over my head, I thought I saw something strange in its beak,
-and clapped my hands sharply, when—what do you think? A poor little
-half-dead Wood Thrush, big enough to have its eyes open and some
-feathers, dropped almost on my upturned face, and thus the Crow was
-caught in the very act of killing. So, then, I said to myself, we can
-put tar on the seed-corn and protect our young chickens with wire, but
-we cannot make up for the death of young nestlings and the loss of eggs.
-I will not have the Crows shot, because they do good in the far meadows
-and hayfields, but the lonely woods, where few small birds nest, is the
-place for them. I shall see that they never again build in my garden
-orchard or woods, and if every one will do this, the danger to
-song-birds will be less, and in the winter, when they come about, there
-are no nestlings to be eaten.
-
-“It was not long after that, owing to the evidence of my own eyes, I was
-obliged to say the same thing to the Blue Jay.
-
-“The Wise Men say that, take it all in all, the Crow should have a
-chance, and that part of his faults come from our own shiftlessness.
-This is true, but if he feeds upon song-birds the Crow must go.
-
-
-                             _The Blue Jay_
-
-“That the Blue Jay is a handsome fellow goes without saying, as well as
-that he has plenty of assurance and is somewhat of a bully. We may
-imagine that he knows that his uniform of blue, gray, and white, with
-black bands and markings, is very becoming, and if any one of you should
-tell me that he had seen a Jay admiring his reflection in a pond or
-little pool, I should be ready to believe him. Certain it is that not
-one of our birds, not even the glowing Scarlet Tanager, presents a more
-neat and military appearance.
-
-[Illustration: BLUE JAY]
-
-                   Order—Passeres      Family—Corvidæ
-                 Genus—Cyanocitta      Species—Cristata
-
-“The only awkward thing about the Blue Jay is his flight. Although alert
-and agile in slipping through the trees, when he takes to wing his
-progress seems laboured, as if either his body was too heavy for his
-wings, or that the wings were stiff.
-
-“Like the Crow, his cousin, this Jay belongs to all north-eastern
-America, making its home from Florida to Newfoundland, and, like the
-Crow, we have some members of its family with us in New England all the
-winter, when it is certainly a pleasure to see them flying through the
-bare trees or gathering food on the pure white snow.
-
-“The Jay does not annoy the farmer by pulling corn, nor trouble the
-chicken yard; for eight or nine months he earns an honest living,
-largely of vegetable food and harmful insects, snails, tree frogs, mice,
-small fish, and lizards, but in the breeding season, alas! he is a nest
-robber, and here in my own garden and orchard I have seen him this
-summer dodging and trying to avoid the angry birds that were pursuing
-him.
-
-“Twice I heard nestling Robins twittering as they do when their parents
-come with food, but, like the wolf disguised as Red Riding-Hood’s
-Grandmother, it was a Jay who came to the nest and seized a squab, as my
-eyes saw and the cries of the parent birds told.
-
-“Then I said to Jacob, ‘We will not let the Jays build in Birdland; they
-must be outcasts and go out and live in the far-away woods with the
-Crows, where there are few small birds.’
-
-“How can we keep them out, you ask? It does take a little time and
-patience, to be sure, but if we watch when they begin to build and take
-away the sticks, you may be very sure that they will take the hint and
-go elsewhere, for they are quick-witted birds. So, perhaps, in time they
-would learn, at least in some regions, to inhabit places where mice and
-other harmful rodents and bugs are more plentiful than song-birds.
-
-“Then in the winter we of the Kind Hearts’ Club can make up for this
-seeming unkindness, and pay them for the real good they do by feeding
-them through the hungry time, when nuts, berries, and even frozen apples
-are not to be found.”
-
-“What is a Blue Jay’s nest like? I don’t think I’ve ever seen one,”
-asked Tommy Todd.
-
-“It is not very easy to find, for they usually build rather high up, in
-a place where the limb is crotched and has many small branches. The nest
-itself is well made of fibres and roots, and is usually quite cleverly
-hidden, and the eggs are dull green, very thickly spotted.
-
-“Aside from the Jay’s unaccountable cannibal habit of egg and squab
-hunting, he has many good qualities, both as a parent and a friend to
-those of his own kind, and though his call is harsh, and, like the
-creaking of the Grackles, a reminder of coming frosts and bare trees, in
-spring he has some pretty melodious notes and another call totally
-different from the harsh jay, jay. This cry is like the resonant
-striking of two bits of metal, a clink without exactly the ring that a
-bell has,—yet I call it the ‘bell note,’ though perhaps the double
-sound produced by hammer and anvil is a better comparison.
-
-“In the fall, however, the Jay’s voice is certainly harsh, and not only
-lacks anything like musical quality, but is so harsh that when there are
-many about the noise is really annoying. The poet Lathrop describes the
-change so well that I will read it to you.
-
-
-                                 O JAY!
-
-    O Jay!
-    Blue Jay!
-    What are you trying to say?
-    I remember, in the spring
-    You pretended you could sing;
-    But your voice is now still queerer,
-    And as yet you’ve come no nearer
-    To a song.
-    In fact, to sum the matter,
-    I never heard a flatter
-    Failure than your doleful clatter.
-    Don’t you think it’s wrong?
-    It was sweet to hear your note,
-    I’ll not deny,
-    When April set pale clouds afloat
-    O’er the blue tides of sky.
-    And ’mid the wind’s triumphant drums
-    You in your white and azure coat,
-    A herald proud, came forth to cry,
-    “The royal summer comes!”
-
-            *     *     *     *     *     *
-
-    Sometimes your piping is delicious,
-    And then again it’s simply vicious;
-    Though on the whole the varying jangle
-    Weaves round me an entrancing tangle
-    Of memories grave or joyous:
-    Things to weep or laugh at;
-    Love that lived at a hint, or
-    Days so sweet they’d cloy us.
-    Nights I have spent with friends:—
-    Glistening groves of winter,
-    And the sound of vanished feet
-    That walked by the ripening wheat:
-
-            *     *     *     *     *     *
-
-    Such mixed-up things your voice recalls,
-    With its peculiar quirks and falls.
-          Well, I’ll admit
-    There’s merit in a voice that’s truthful;
-    Yours is not honey sweet nor youthful,
-    But querulously fit.
-    And if we cannot sing, we’ll say
-    Something to the purpose, Jay!
-
-    —George Parsons Lathrop.
-
-“The Blue Jay makes as good a forest watchman as the Crow. Steal along
-ever so quietly, and if he chances to spy you, good-by to seclusion; his
-cry of alarm rouses every bird within ear-shot. But it is in their
-family life the Jays show to the best advantage, for they will stay by
-the nest and fight to the death, if necessary, while big cousin Crow,
-though he makes a precious racket, takes good care to keep himself well
-out of harm’s way.
-
-“One trait belongs to this bird that I have never seen recorded of any
-other, though, of course, it may be common to all, and that is the care
-of the aged.
-
-“To care for the young, even among people, is an instinct as strong as
-self-protection. To care for the aged implies a good heart and a certain
-amount of unselfishness. This story is written down by Major Bendire, in
-his book on the _Life Histories of American Birds_. He lived much with
-the birds, and saw so truly that the Wise Men believe what he records.
-
-    _Mr. Firth to Major Bendire_,—
-
-    I made some observations last summer on the habits of the Blue
-    Jay, which certainly show a degree of sympathy and kindness
-    worthy of imitation of animals of a higher order. Last August
-    (1887), on an old farm in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, my
-    attention was attracted by the notes of a Blue Jay, not the
-    ordinary cry, but a series of regular calls, followed by answers
-    from a neighbouring tree. There was something so peculiarly like
-    a communication of thought about the sound that I went to the
-    place, and saw an old Blue Jay perched on a fence some distance
-    from the tree where there were others.
-
-    On my nearing the bird, the calls from the others became more
-    frequent and loud, changing from a low, pleasant communicative
-    tone to shrill alarm. Thinking that he was injured in some way,
-    I went up to him and found that at least he was partially blind.
-    The eyes were blurred and dim, the beautiful blue feathers were
-    faded; in fact, the general appearance of the bird was so
-    different as to be seen at a glance; the claws were worn, the
-    bill dulled, and the wings and tail ragged. Every feature
-    suggested old age and feebleness. Yet he was watched and cared
-    for as tenderly as ever a growing bird in the nest.
-
-    No sooner had I caught him than there were at least a dozen Jays
-    close at hand whose sympathy and interest were manifest as
-    clearly as could be with words.
-
-    After a thorough examination I let him go, when he flew in the
-    direction of the sound of the others, but did not succeed in
-    alighting among the smaller branches of the tree, and finally
-    settled on a large limb near the ground. I saw him, after that,
-    every day for a week, and never did his companions desert him,
-    some one of them being always near and warning him of danger,
-    when he would fly toward the sound of their voices.
-
-    They guided him regularly to a spring near by, where I saw him
-    bathe daily, always, however, with some of his companions close
-    by.
-
-    They not only watched and guided him, but they fed him. I had
-    noticed, some days before, Jays carrying food and thought it
-    strange at that season, as there were no young to feed, but
-    found afterwards, to my surprise and pleasure, that the poor,
-    blind bird was being fed by those he could no longer see.
-
-“So you see the Jay, with all his bad tricks and nest-robbing, has his
-good points, and we will not shoot him, but hint very strongly, if
-necessary, that he had better nest away from the temptation that garden
-and orchards offer in the shape of eggs and fresh meat.”
-
-As Gray Lady ended, a great commotion arose in the neighbourhood of the
-orchard. Jays screamed and Crows cawed, as if, Goldilocks said, they
-knew that they were being talked about, and didn’t like it.
-
-Gray Lady opened one of the windows and looked out. Below stood Jacob,
-waving his hat to attract attention, saying through his hands, “There
-are some Screech Owls on a branch of the old willow back of the orchard,
-and the other birds have found it out. The Crows are mixing in and
-there’s a great how-de-do. I thought maybe you would all like to see
-them, only I couldn’t go up for fear they might shift away.”
-
-Of course they wished to see, and it was quite remarkable how fifteen
-usually noisy children managed to tiptoe through the orchard and avoid
-sticks and dry leaves.
-
-
-                           THE WISE OLD CROW
-
-    Not all the people know
-    The wisdom of the Crow:
-    As they see him come and go,
-        With verdict brief,
-        They say, “You thief!”
-    And wish him only woe.
-
-    That he’s selfish we admit,
-    But he has a lot of grit,
-    And on favour not a bit
-        Does he depend;
-        Without a friend,
-    He must live by mother-wit.
-
-    The Crow is rather shy,
-    With a very watchful eye
-    For danger coming nigh,
-        And any one
-        Who bears a gun
-    He’s pretty sure to spy.
-
-    The clever farmer’s plan
-    Is to make a sort of ban,
-    By stuffing clothes with bran,
-        Topped with a tile
-        Of ancient style,
-    —A funny old scarecrow man.
-
-    The Crow looks on with scorn,
-    And early in the morn
-    Pulls up the farmer’s corn:
-        He laughs at that,
-        The queer old hat,
-    Of the scarecrow man forlorn.
-
-    —Garrett Newkirk, in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-
-
-
-                                   XI
-                         THE FLIGHT OF THE BIRD
-
-
-                   _How do Birds find their Way?_[1]
-
-                     (Told at Foxes Corners School)
-
-“I was telling Grand’ther about how far away the birds go in the winter,
-and how they fly against the lighthouses and get killed,” said Tommy
-Todd, “and he said I couldn’t tell him anything about their going away
-and coming back, ’cause he’d seen that going on, boy and man, these
-seventy years. Grand’ther knows how the same kind of birds come back to
-the place every spring, ’cause he says there were Phœbe Birds had a nest
-on the end beam of the cowshed over where the last cow stands,—way back
-when he was learning to milk. Then when that old shed blew down, and
-they built a new one like it, back the birds came, and they are coming
-yet; first nest over Black Bess, and second nest way out over the
-box-pen where the little calves live.
-
-“What Grand’ther wants to know is how they find the way to go so far,
-and how they know where to stop and find something to eat, and if they
-get hungry, ’cause he says nobody seems to know just what they do
-between times, and what people do tell seems like Jack-and-the-Beanstalk
-fairy-stories, and he said maybe you had some book that told about it
-so’s you could explain.”
-
-Gray Lady smiled in a half-puzzled way, as Tommy spoke, for the
-questions that the children asked often gave her as much cause for study
-and wonder as the stories that she told them. She was finding out that
-there were three or four members of the Kind Hearts’ Club who had been
-seeing correctly and trying to think out things for themselves before
-they had a chance to ask questions, or had any books to consult.
-
-“Your grandfather’s question cannot be answered in a few words,” she
-said, “neither is there any one book that tells everything about these
-wonderful journeys, because, as yet, not the very wisest of the Wise Men
-know it all, though they wait and watch, and every spring and fall many
-of them are scattered through the country upon the course of the flying
-birds to watch them as they pass.
-
-“All the information that they collect is printed and kept as evidence
-of what is known, a little here and a little there, until we hope some
-day that the history will be complete, when it will be one of the most
-wonderful stories in the world, for even the little we know sounds like
-a fairy-tale.
-
-“Of course,” continued Gray Lady, “I know very little from my own sight,
-but I will tell you what I have learned of the Wise Men, who believe it
-to be the truth. I had intended telling you about Owls and Hawks to-day,
-as I promised you last week, when we saw the Screech Owl up in the
-orchard, but that story can wait until the next time you visit Birdland,
-for the Owls are still about; there are pictures of them in the library,
-and others that are stuffed and mounted in the glass case in the hall.
-
-“All that we need, or that can help us with the story of the bird on its
-travels, is that large map of North and South America, for this will be
-a geography, as well as a bird, lesson.
-
-(A fine map of the western hemisphere having been the first thing that
-Gray Lady had given Miss Wilde for the use of the school at Foxes
-Corners, the little old one being out of date and indistinct.)
-
-“Clary, you may take charge of the pointer to-day and sit here by me,
-for this will be a rather long lesson, and you will need help with the
-binding of your iron-holder, for I’m afraid if you draw the stitches so
-very tight it will pucker and not lie flat and smooth like the model
-that Ann Hughes made.
-
-“And what work has Jacob given you boys for your penknives to do?”
-
-“Wooden spoons out of white wood,” answered Dave, “big strong ones such
-as’ll beat up cake and apple-sauce, and, when they’re shaped, we are to
-smooth them down fine with sandpaper. I’m going to give mine to my
-mother; she broke hers yesterday, the handle snapped right in two. She
-says the bought spoons are sawn out crossgrain, any which way. There was
-an old man who used to come down from the charcoal camp with wooden
-spoons and butter-scoops and hickory baskets, and he sold lots of ’em
-all through the town, but he died last winter.”
-
-“Then surely wooden spoons and butter-scoops will be very good things
-for the Kind Hearts’ Club to make for its Christmas sale, and we shall
-be interfering with nobody, for that is one of the things that we must
-remember when we are working for charity, not to make articles for sale
-that shall interfere with others who make them to get an honest living,
-for that sort of thing is a species of robbery in disguise.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-
-                         _The Travels of Birds_
-
-“What becomes of the birds that are with us in summer? Where and how do
-they spend the winter? By what roadways do they travel to their winter
-haunts? Do they prefer to journey by land or by water, and how do they
-find the way?
-
-“We need not think that we, or anybody else of our day, are the first to
-ask these questions, for it is many hundreds of years since they first
-began to puzzle thinking people. At first, lacking any real knowledge of
-the simplest facts of nature, and not having as yet trained the eye to
-correct seeing, the people did as the ignorant do to this day,—they
-imagined fabulous reasons. The more impossible and wonderful or
-unnatural, the better, for it takes a trained mind oftentimes to realize
-that the most natural way is the best, and that the simplest way is the
-most natural.
-
-“It was in these far-back times that the foolish idea was started that
-the Swallows dived into the mud and there spent the winter, like the
-frogs.
-
-“Another stranger idea was that small birds crossed large bodies of
-water as passengers on the backs of large birds, such as Cranes, Ducks,
-and Geese, for people did not know enough of the structure of birds to
-realize that the machinery of the tiny Humming-bird is as fit for flying
-long distances as that of the biggest birds that grow. Ideas like this
-have been believed until a comparatively short time ago, and it is only
-within the last fifty years that there has been much real progress
-toward the truth of it all. And this is the way it has been brought
-about. In our country the band of Wise Men at Washington, forming the
-United States Biological Survey, have for twenty years been gathering
-facts about the migration of birds. This body has sent out naturalists
-to travel through the North American continent from Guatemala to the
-Arctic Circle, to meet with other scientific men on their way, and keep
-careful notes of what they see, so that reports are had in the spring
-and fall each year from hundreds of observers.
-
-“These reports give the date upon which each particular kind (or
-species, as they call it) of bird is seen, when it becomes plenty, and
-when it moves on again. The lighthouse keepers also give much
-information by noting the times at which they find the birds that are
-dashed to death against the lanterns in the tower. In short, the Wise
-Men have more material at hand than ever before from which to shape the
-story that day by day increases in wonder.
-
-
-                       _Causes of the Migrations_
-
-“It is more than two thousand years since the wonders of bird travel
-have been noted; and while the distances and routes of travel are better
-known, we cannot yet give a positive answer to the question, ‘Why do
-birds migrate?’”
-
-“Please, Gray Lady,” said Sarah Barnes, “I thought you said it was
-because in fall the insect food begins to freeze and give out, and they
-go south after it and in spring they want to go back home.”
-
-“Yes, Sarah, that is one of the reasons, and yet birds start off
-oftentimes when food is still plenty, and every naturalist knows of the
-rush of the water-fowl northward so early every spring that they are
-often turned back by storms and have to retrace their flight, and they
-have all seen that Robins, Bluebirds, and Swallows, following too
-closely in the wake of the water-fowl, sometimes lose hundreds out of
-their flocks by cold and starvation.
-
-“If the fall journey is caused by lack of food, why does it begin when
-food is most plenty? At some of the Florida lighthouses the Wise Men
-have seen that the southward trip with some birds begins between the
-first and middle of July, at the time when the crop of insects and ripe
-seeds and berries is at its height. So the best answer that can be made
-is that ages ago, when the migrations began, they were connected with a
-food supply that changed more suddenly than at the present time, and
-that, even when the direct motive is lost, the habit remains fixed.”
-
-“That’s it; that’s a bully reason!” cried Tommy Todd, excitedly.
-“They’ve got the notion that they’re going travelling just so often and
-they can’t calculate the time right and so they get ready too soon;
-likely they haven’t got very good heads for planning. That’s the reason,
-Pop says, that every fall, when Ma and Aunt Hannah go up to Kent to
-visit Grandma Tuck, they are all ready on the stoop by half-past seven,
-when there’s never been a train from here to there before ’leven. If
-they were birds, they’d probably fly off as soon as it was light, and
-get to Grandma’s for breakfast, when they’d written on a picture postal,
-with tea-cups and a cat on it, that she might expect them for supper.”
-
-When the laugh at Tommy’s comparison had subsided, Gray Lady said, “Your
-idea is by no means a foolish one, and it may be that a boy like you,
-who watches and thinks, will some day piece the facts together that will
-finally settle the question.”
-
-
-                     _How do Birds find their Way?_
-
-“How do the birds find their way over the hundreds or thousands of miles
-between the winter and summer homes? Sight is probably the chief guide
-of those who fly by day, and it is known that these day travellers
-seldom make the long single flights that are so common with the birds
-that journey at night. Sight, undoubtedly, also guides them, to a large
-extent, in the night journeys, when the moon is bright. Migrating birds
-fly high, so that one can hardly hear their faint twittering. But if the
-sky is obscured and the clouds hang low, the flocks keep nearer to the
-earth, and their calls are more distinctly heard; while on very dark
-nights, the vibration of their wings can be heard close overhead.
-
-[Illustration: TERNS AND SKIMMERS ON THE WING
-(Summer Bird-Life, Cobbs Island, Va. Am. Museum Nat. Hist., N.Y.)]
-
-“Notwithstanding this, something besides sight guides these travellers
-in the upper air. (Here is a route for you to trace on the map.) In
-Alaska, a few years ago, members of the Biological Survey on the
-Harriman expedition went by steamer from the island of Unalaska to
-Bogoslof Island, a distance of about sixty miles. A dense fog had shut
-out every object beyond a hundred yards. When the steamer was halfway
-across, flocks of Murres, returning to Bogoslof after long quests for
-food, began to break through the fog wall astern, fly side by side with
-the vessels, and disappear in the mists ahead. By chart and compass, the
-ship was heading straight for the island; but its course was no more
-exact than that taken by the birds. The power which carried them
-unerringly home over the ocean wastes, whatever its nature, may be
-called ‘a sense of direction.’ We recognize in ourselves the possession
-of some such sense, though imperfect and easily at fault. Doubtless a
-similar, but vastly more acute, sense enabled the Murres, flying from
-home and circling wide over the water, to keep in mind the direction of
-their nests and return to them without the aid of sight. It is probable
-that this faculty is exercised during migration.
-
-“Reports from lighthouses in southern Florida show that birds leave Cuba
-on cloudy nights when they cannot possibly see the Florida shores, and
-safely reach their destination, provided no change occurs in the
-weather. But if meantime the wind changes or a storm arises to throw
-them out of their reckoning, they become bewildered, lose their way, and
-fly toward the lighthouse beacon. Unless killed by striking the lantern,
-they hover near or alight on the balcony, to continue their flight when
-morning breaks, or, the storm ceasing, a clear sky allows them once more
-to determine the proper course.
-
-“Birds flying over the Gulf of Mexico to Louisiana, even if they
-ascended to the height of five miles, would still be unable to see a
-third of the way across. Nevertheless this trip is successfully made
-twice each year by countless thousands of the warblers of the
-Mississippi Valley.
-
-“Probably there are many short zigzags from one favoured feeding-spot to
-another, but the general course between the summer and winter homes is
-as straight as the birds can find without missing the usual
-stopping-places.
-
-
-                      _Accidents during Migration_
-
-“Migration is a season full of peril for myriads of winged travellers,
-especially for those that cross large bodies of water. Some of the
-shore-birds, such as Plover and Curlew, which take long ocean voyages,
-can rest on the waves if overtaken by storms, but woe to the luckless
-warbler whose feathers once became water-soaked,—a grave in the ocean
-or a burial in the sand of the beach is the inevitable result. Nor are
-such accidents infrequent. A few years ago on Lake Michigan a storm
-during spring migration piled many birds along the shore.
-
-“If such a disaster could occur on a lake less than a hundred miles
-wide, how much greater might it not be during a flight across the Gulf
-of Mexico. Such a catastrophe was once witnessed from the deck of a
-vessel, thirty miles off the mouth of the Mississippi River. Large
-numbers of migrating birds, mostly warblers, had accomplished
-nine-tenths of their long flight, and were nearing land, when they were
-caught by a ‘norther’ with which most of them were unable to contend,
-and, falling into the Gulf, were drowned by hundreds.
-
-“Then, as I have told you before, birds are peculiarly liable to
-destruction by striking high objects. A new tower in a city kills many
-before the survivors learn to avoid it. The Washington Monument has
-caused the death of many little migrants; and though the number of its
-victims has decreased of late years, yet on a single morning in the
-spring of 1902 nearly 150 lifeless bodies were strewn around its base.
-
-“Bright lights attract birds from great distances. While the torch in
-the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor was kept lighted, the
-sacrifice of life it caused was enormous, even reaching a maximum of 700
-birds in a month. A flashing light frightens birds away, and a red light
-is avoided by them as if it were a danger signal, but a steady white
-light looming out of mist or darkness seems to act like a magnet and
-draws the wanderers to destruction. Coming from any direction, they veer
-around to the leeward side, and then, flying against the wind, dash
-themselves against the pitiless glass.
-
-
-                        _Distance of Migration_
-
-“The length of the migration journey varies enormously. Some birds do
-not migrate at all. Many a Cardinal, Carolina Wren, and Bob-white rounds
-out its whole contented life within ten miles of its birthplace. Other
-birds, for instance, the Pine Warbler and the Black-headed Grosbeak, do
-not venture in winter south of the breeding range, so that with them
-fall migration is only a withdrawal from the northern and a
-concentration in the southern part of the summer home—the Warbler in
-about a fourth and the Grosbeak in less than an eighth of the summer
-area.
-
-“The next variation is illustrated by the Robin, which occurs as a
-species in the middle districts of the United States throughout the
-year, in Canada only in summer, and along the Gulf of Mexico only in
-winter. Probably no individual Robin is a continuous resident in any
-section; but the Robin that nests, let us say, in southern Missouri will
-spend the winter near the Gulf, while his hardy Canada-bred cousin will
-be the winter tenant of the abandoned summer home of the southern bird.
-
-“Most migrants entirely change their abode twice a year, and some of
-them travel immense distances. Of the land-birds, the common eastern
-Night Hawk seems to deserve the first place among those whose winter
-homes are widely distant from their breeding-grounds. Alaska and
-Patagonia, separated by 115 degrees of latitude, are the extremes of the
-summer and winter homes of the bird, and each spring many a Night Hawk
-travels the 5000 miles that lie between. But some of the shore-birds are
-still more inveterate voyagers. These cover from 6000 to 8000 miles each
-way, and appear to make travelling their chief occupation.
-
-
-                         _Routes of Migration_
-
-“Birds often seem eccentric in choice of route, and many land-birds do
-not take the shortest line. The fifty species from New England that
-winter in South America, instead of making the direct trip over the
-Atlantic, involving a flight of 2000 miles, take a slightly longer route
-which follows the coast of Florida, and passes thence, by island or
-mainland, to South America. What would seem, at first sight, to be a
-natural and convenient migratory highway extends from Florida through
-the Bahamas or Cuba to Haiti, Porto Rico, and the Lesser Antilles, and
-thence to South America.
-
-
-                          _The Bobolink Route_
-
-“Chief among these dauntless voyagers is the Bobolink, fresh from
-despoiling the Carolina rice-fields, waxed fat from his gormandizing,
-and so surcharged with energy that the 500-mile flight to South America
-on the way to the waving pampas of southern Brazil seems a small
-hardship. Indeed, many Bobolinks appear to scorn the Jamaican
-resting-point and to compass in a single flight the 700 miles from Cuba
-to South America. With the Bobolink is an incongruous company of
-travelling companions—a Vireo, a King Bird, and a Night Hawk that
-summer in Florida; the queer Chuck-will’s-widow of the Gulf States; the
-two New England Cuckoos; the trim Alice’s Thrush from Quebec; the
-cosmopolitan Bank Swallow from frozen Labrador, and the Black-poll
-Warbler from far-off Alaska. But the Bobolinks so far outnumber all the
-rest of the motley crew that the passage across the Caribbean Sea from
-Cuba to South America may with propriety be called the ‘Bobolink route.’
-Occasionally a mellow-voiced Wood Thrush joins the assemblage, or a
-green-gold Tanager, which will prepare in its winter home its next
-summer livery of flaming scarlet. But the ‘Bobolink route,’ as a whole,
-is not popular with other birds, and the many that traverse it are but a
-fraction of the thousands of North American birds that spend the winter
-holiday in South America.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-“Have you patience to follow the history of the flight of one bird? The
-longest migration route is taken by some of the wading-birds, especially
-the American Golden Plover, the Eskimo Curlew, and the Turnstone. The
-journey of the Plover, in itself like a fable, is wonderful enough to be
-told in detail.
-
-“In the first week of June, they arrive at their breeding-grounds in the
-bleak, wind-swept ‘barren grounds’ above the Arctic Circle, far beyond
-the tree line. Some even venture 1000 miles farther north (Greely found
-them at latitude 81 degrees). While the lakes are still ice-bound, they
-hurriedly fashion shabby little nests in the moss only a few inches
-above the frozen ground. By August, they have hastened to Labrador,
-where, in company with Curlews and Turnstones, they enjoy a feast.
-Growing over the rocks and treeless slopes of this inhospitable coast is
-a kind of heather, the crowberry, bearing in profusion a juicy black
-fruit. The extravagant fondness shown for the berry by the birds, among
-which the Curlew, owing to its greater numbers, is most conspicuous,
-causes it to be known to the natives as the ‘curlewberry.’ The whole
-body of the Curlew becomes so saturated with the dark-purple juice that
-birds whose flesh was still stained with the colour have been shot 1000
-miles south of Labrador.
-
-[Illustration: GOLDEN PLOVER]
-
-“After a few weeks of such feasting, the Plovers become excessively fat,
-and ready for their great flight. They have reared their young under the
-midnight sun, and now they seek the southern hemisphere. After gaining
-the coast of Nova Scotia, they strike straight out to sea, and take a
-direct course for the easternmost islands of the West Indies. Eighteen
-hundred miles of ocean waste lie between the last land of Nova Scotia
-and the first of the Antilles, and yet 600 more to the eastern mainland
-of South America, their objective point. The only land along the route
-is the Bermuda Islands, 800 miles from Nova Scotia. In fair weather, the
-birds fly past the Bermudas without stopping; indeed, they are often
-seen by vessels 400 miles or more east of these islands.
-
-“When they sight the first land of the Antilles, the flocks often do not
-pause, but keep on to the larger islands and sometimes even to the
-mainland of South America. Sometimes a storm drives them off the main
-track, when they seek the nearest land, appearing not infrequently at
-Cape Cod and Long Island.
-
-“A few short stops may be made in the main flight, for the Plover swims
-lightly, and easily, and has been seen resting on the surface of the
-ocean; and shore-birds have been found busily feeding 500 miles south of
-Bermuda and 1000 miles east of Florida, in the Atlantic, in that area
-known as the Sargasso Sea, where thousands of square miles of seaweed
-teem with marine life.
-
-“Though feathered balls of fat when they leave Labrador and still plump
-when they pass the Bermudas, the Plovers alight lean and hungry in the
-Antilles. Only the first, though the hardest, half of the journey is
-over. How many days it has occupied may never be known. Most migrants
-either fly at night and rest in the day or vice versa, but the Plover
-flies both night and day.
-
-“After a short stop of three or four weeks in the Antilles and on the
-north-eastern coast of South America, the flocks disappear, and later
-their arrival is noted at the same time in southern Brazil and the whole
-prairie region of Argentina and Patagonia. Here they remain from
-September to March (the summer of the southern hemisphere), free from
-the responsibilities of the northern summer they have left. The native
-birds of Argentina are at the time engrossed in family cares; but,
-_remember this well, no wayfarer from the north nests in the south; he
-has a second summer free from care!_
-
-“After a six months’ vacation the Plovers resume the serious affairs of
-life and start back toward the Arctic zone, but not by the same course.
-Their full northward route is a problem still unsolved. They disappear
-from Argentina and shun the whole Atlantic coast from Brazil to
-Labrador. In March they appear in Guatemala and Texas; April finds their
-long lines trailing across the prairies of the Mississippi valleys; the
-first of May sees them crossing our northern boundary; and by the first
-week in June they reappear at their breeding-grounds in the frozen
-North. What a journey! Eight thousand miles of latitude separates the
-extremes of their course, and 3000 miles of longitude constitutes the
-shorter diameter, and all for the sake of spending ten weeks on an
-Arctic coast! Do you realize this endurance when you see birds passing
-that window?
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-“As to the fatigue of the bird from travel, this is now thought to be
-very slight, as bird flocks that have crossed great bodies of water do
-not stop to rest, but usually continue many miles inland. It is,
-undoubtedly, accident or illness that sometimes causes birds to stop for
-rest on the rigging of vessels or offshore islands.
-
-
-                             _The Unknown_
-
-“Interest in bird migration goes back to a far distant period.
-Marvellous tales of the spring and fall movements of birds were spun by
-early observers, yet hardly less incredible are the ascertained facts.
-Much remains to be learned, and it may be of interest to note a few of
-the mysteries which still occupy attention. Even the daily flight of a
-bird is a wonderful thing apart from the endurance required in the long
-migrations. Though the wings of birds are built on very much the same
-plan, few species use them in precisely the same manner; while on a
-windy day the wings assume a dozen different positions in as many
-seconds, and to watch the flight of a sea-bird, as it rises and trims
-itself to the wind and then shapes its course, is to be awe-struck by
-this mysterious power of flight.
-
-“Snap shot pictures of birds on the wing will show you this better than
-many words. Some birds, like the Hawks and Eagles, can sustain
-themselves in the air for hours, sailing against the wind without any
-visible motion of the wings. Others fly both by swift beating and
-sailing, like the Terns in one of these pictures.
-
-“In short, the differences are so great that the Wise Men can often
-identify a bird by the sharp outline of its shadow in flight.
-
-“This power of flight has been a subject of wonder for many thousand
-years; we think and we speculate, but no one has yet learned the secret
-in its fulness.
-
-“‘The way of an eagle in the air! This is too wonderful for me!’ is an
-expression of this feeling of mystery, recorded in the book of Proverbs.
-One thing seems quite certain, however—if man ever succeeds in
-conquering the air and sailing through it, it will not be by the power
-of any invention of his own, but because he has at least in some degree
-mastered the knowledge of the flight of the bird and adapted it to his
-own use.
-
-“The Chimney Swift, that you all know as the Chimney Swallow, is one of
-the most abundant and best-known birds of the eastern part of the United
-States. With troops of fledglings, catching their winged prey as they
-go, and lodging by night in some tall chimney, the flocks drift slowly
-south, joining with other bands until, on the northern coast of the Gulf
-of Mexico, they become an innumerable host. Then they disappear. Did
-they drop into the water and hibernate in the mud, as was believed of
-old, their obliteration could not be more complete. In the last week in
-March a joyful twittering far overhead announces their return to the
-Gulf coast, but the intervening five months is still the Swifts’ secret.
-
-[Illustration: THE WINGS IN FLIGHT
-(Birds of the San Joaquin Valley, Cal. Am. Museum Nat. Hist., N.Y.)]
-
-“The mouse-coloured Bank Swallows, that we saw here in flocks a few
-weeks ago, are almost cosmopolitan, and enliven even the shores of the
-Arctic Ocean with their graceful aerial evolutions. Those that nest in
-Labrador allow a scant two months for building a nest and raising a
-brood, and by the first of August are headed southward. Six weeks later
-they are swarming in the vicinity of Chesapeake Bay, and then they, too,
-pass out of the range of our knowledge. In April they appear in northern
-South America, moving north, but not a hint do they give of how they
-came there. The rest of the species, those that nest to the south or
-west, may be traced farther south, but they, too, fail to give any clew
-as to where they spend the five winter months.
-
-“Which one of the Wise Men can tell us? No one. Look out the window now;
-there are two Night Hawks, first flying high and then dropping suddenly
-through the air. Is it not hard to realize that, while you are going to
-and fro every day between your homes and school, and by and by having to
-dig paths through the snow in order to get there, those two slender
-birds will have flown 5000 miles to find a new summer, and will be
-having a vacation absolutely free from family cares?”
-
------
-
-[1] Condensed and adapted from _Some New Facts about the Migration of
-Birds_, by Wells W. Cooke, United States Biological Survey.
-
-
-
-
-                                  XII
-                       SOME SUSPICIOUS CHARACTERS
-
-
-                            _Owls and Hawks_
-
-Frost had come. Real frost, with black, nipping fingers. White frost, at
-its first appearance, is a decorator who casts a silver spell upon the
-meadows, turning them into shimmering lakes and touching the ripe leaves
-until each one becomes a banner of scarlet, gold, or russet.
-
-Chrysanthemums and tufts of self-sown pansies, huddling in warm nooks,
-were the only flowers left about the farm-houses or in Gray Lady’s
-garden, and both of these would hold their own until Thanksgiving Day
-gave praise for the year’s growth and bade growing things sleep the long
-sleep of winter.
-
-Birdland showed the change less than either the hickory or the river
-woods, for the old orchard held its leaves as apple trees usually do,
-and the belt of spruces and pines, that ran from the north side of it
-quite up to the house, made a cheerful green barrier and wind-break as
-well; but the Swallows and Night Hawks were no longer skimming the air,
-and high above, a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks were sailing
-majestically, occasionally giving their cry Kee-o—Kee-o!
-
-[Illustration: RED-SHOULDERED HAWK]
-
-Jacob had finished the Martin house the week previous, and a stout
-smooth pole like a flagstaff had been planted, not in Birdland itself
-but on a slight rise in the ground that overlooked both the barns and
-the orchard. The setting up of the house itself had been reserved for
-this special Saturday, so that the children might take part in the
-ceremony.
-
-The top of the pole, on which there were fastened crosspieces to make a
-foundation for the house, was thirty feet above the ground. In this pole
-stout spikes were driven at intervals. This not only would prevent cats
-from climbing up to the house, but made a sort of ladder by which a man
-or boy could go up and pull out the nesting material of English sparrows
-if they tried to take possession. For, if we are to keep the useful
-insect-eating birds about our houses, we must try our best to keep this
-Sparrow from living amongst us.
-
-Hard as it seems, he must be classed with animals that the kindest heart
-knows must be destroyed. But no one wishes to hurt nestlings, so the
-best way to do is to prevent the old birds from building in the haunts
-of the useful song-birds, and then in winter, when the old Sparrows
-gather in flocks about the barnyard, have some grown man, with good
-judgment and aim, shoot them. Children should never be let do this for
-amusement, for it is not well to allow a painful necessity to become a
-sport.
-
-Tommy Todd was quite late on this Saturday morning, so that it was
-thought that he was not coming, and when he did arrive he found the
-others gathered about the pole,—Dave, who had a steady head for
-climbing, having been allowed to go up with Jacob, after the house had
-been raised with a block and falls, to hold hammer and nails while it
-was securely fastened to the braces.
-
-They were all so busy that it was not until Jacob and Dave had come
-down, that Gray Lady noticed the box that Tommy had brought and which
-stood beside him, the slats on top telling that it contained some live
-thing.
-
-As she turned to ask Tommy what he had brought, Goldilocks came down the
-path in her chair, for though she could walk quite well by this time,
-she was obliged to be very careful, and Ann would not allow her to be on
-her feet for more than an hour or two each day.
-
-“The little Owls are back again and all sitting in a row on a branch of
-the old russet beyond the lunch-counter. There is a hollow in the trunk
-of the tree that I never noticed before, and do you know, mother, I
-shouldn’t be surprised if the nest had been in there, so, perhaps, if we
-have something that they like on the lunch-counter, they’ll come back
-next year.”
-
-“Come back? Aren’t you going to shoot them before they get away?” asked
-Dave. “Because they might not come back.”
-
-“We don’t want them to come back to be shot, but to make more nests and
-live here,” said Goldilocks.
-
-“Live! why, folks _always_ shoot Owls and Hawks! They are very bad
-things, though I guess Hawks are the worst; anyhow, there’s more of ’em.
-Just look at those big Hen-hawks flying up yonder now; maybe you’d like
-them to come and live in the orchard. If they did, they’d eat the lunch
-off’n your counter, other birds and all.”
-
-Gray Lady, seeing by the expression of Dave’s face that he could not
-quite understand any other view of the matter, said: “Yes, Dave, you are
-right; people usually shoot Hawks and Owls on sight—and have been doing
-so for years. In fact, my own husband used to shoot them as a matter of
-course, and he was one who never killed a song-bird and who greatly
-preferred to hear the Grouse drumming in the forest, the Woodcock
-singing and dancing in the spring woods (yes, they both dance and sing
-and I will tell you of them some day), and Bob-white telling his name
-from the fence-rail, than to have them come on the table ever so
-deliciously cooked.
-
-“But within the last ten or fifteen years the Wise Men have found out a
-great deal more about these Owls and Hawks—or Birds of Prey, as they
-are called, and they know exactly what the work of these birds is in the
-great plan of nature. Many of the facts they tell us of we can see for
-ourselves if we have the patience to watch. Before the country was
-settled by white men, and became what we call ‘civilized,’ all of these
-birds of prey had their place, but even now many of them are not only
-not hurtful to us, but of distinct benefit. The difficulty is that we do
-not stop to sift the facts and separate the good from the bad. To the
-farmer, and particularly the poultry-raiser, the cry of Hawk brings him
-out, quick as a flash, shot-gun in hand.
-
-“But if he will only realize that for every chicken or pigeon one of
-these Hawks destroys, it in all probability takes fifty rats,
-field-mice, short-tailed meadow-mice, weasels, and red squirrels, he
-will see that he owes the Hawk a debt of gratitude; for it is easier by
-far to protect a poultry-yard from conspicuous things that fly
-above—like Hawks and Owls—than to keep out the things that crawl and
-creep.
-
-“Now, before we go down to the orchard to see Goldilocks’ little Screech
-Owls, let us see what Tommy Todd has in this box.”
-
-“It’s only a Screech Owl that I found up in the pigeon-coop this
-morning, but it’s such a different colour from the gray ones we have
-here, that I brought it up for you to see if it was a rare kind. I
-daren’t take it out because it claws and bites so.” And Tommy took away
-the cloth that partly covered the box, and there sat the bird with open,
-yellow-rimmed eyes, with which he seemed to see with difficulty.
-
-The Owl was no taller than a Robin, but his large, round head and
-thickset body made him appear to be a much larger bird. He had two ear
-tufts (or horns) of feathers, a strong, curved beak, and powerful toes,
-lightly feathered, ending in the hooked talons that mark the birds of
-prey, that is, birds that prey, or feed, upon forms of animal life other
-than defenceless insects, worms, etc. Its feathers were a bright rusty
-red colour, streaked with black; its underparts being more or less
-white, mixed with red and black.
-
-“The Owls in the orchard are like this one, only they are all gray and
-black,” said Goldilocks, after taking a long look.
-
-“Perhaps this is the father bird; you told us that if one bird is a
-gayer colour than the other, it is generally the father,” said Sarah
-Barnes.
-
-“Yes, that is often the case, as I am glad to find that you remember,
-but not with the Screech Owl, the most common of American Owls, and one
-that is known under many names—Mottled Owl, Gray Owl, and Red Owl.
-
-[Illustration: SCREECH OWL]
-
-“There may be some gray birds and some red ones in the same brood, but
-this does not depend upon sex, season, or age. The strange difference is
-called by a long name, ‘dichromatism’ or two-colour phase, and this is
-one of the things for which the Wise Men can give no positive reason; so
-it is another question like those about the flight and travels of the
-birds for one of you to find out in future.
-
-“Bring the box up to the orchard, Tommy, and, after we have seen the
-gray Screech Owls, you can open the door and put the box in the tree and
-see what will happen.”
-
-Before they reached the gate of Birdland, they heard a commotion inside;
-Jays were screaming in a great state of rage and alarm, and, as they
-drew nearer, another sound blended with the screaming, a hissing sound
-like “shay—shay—shay,” and the snapping of beaks.
-
-“The Jays have found the Owls out, and they’re hopping mad,” said Jacob,
-who was standing in the shelter of a tree-trunk, enjoying the scene.
-“The Jays daren’t really touch the Owls, only jeer, and the Owls only
-snap their beaks and hiss in return because they don’t like to fly out
-in bright light; all you get back by the fence and watch out.”
-
-The children did as Jacob suggested and Tommy put his box on top of the
-wall and, at a signal from Gray Lady, unfastened the slats. At first the
-little Red Owl stretched his neck and snapped his beak; then, as he
-heard the voices of the Jays, he backed into the corner of the box and
-drew himself up thin and long, so that he did not look like the same
-bird that had been so plump and fluffy a few seconds before.
-
-“That’s just the way he did this morning when I found him in the
-pigeon-house,” said Tommy; “in the dark he didn’t look a bit like a
-bird, but more like a corn-cob on end.
-
-“There! look there, Gray Lady.” And Tommy pointed at a tree behind that
-in which the five Owls were roosting. “There is another Owl all by
-itself that the Jays haven’t found out, and it’s all drawn up thin just
-like my red one.” And, following the direction of his finger, the Owl
-was plainly to be seen, but so rigid and motionless that it might have
-been a moss-covered branch stump.
-
-“We would better go in now,” said Gray Lady, after they had watched for
-a few moments. “The Owls are beginning to notice us, and I do not wish
-them to be driven away until I have had a chance to photograph them.
-Leave the box there, Tommy; with all this noise your Owl cannot be
-expected to come out before night.”
-
-“But if they are good birds, what was the red one doing in Tommy’s
-pigeon-house?” asked Dave.
-
-“Probably looking for mice or other vermin, or perhaps shelter,” said
-Gray Lady, “for though they sometimes eat large game, mice or smaller
-animals are easier food for a tribe of Owls that sometimes grow only six
-inches high and never to a foot in length. I will tell you a way to
-convince yourselves and make sure of what Owls feed upon without killing
-the Owls,” said Gray Lady, as, on their way up to the play and work
-rooms, they went into the library to look at some of the mounted birds
-in one of the cases.
-
-“As Owls usually swallow their food whole, they take in bones, fur,
-feathers, etc., that they cannot digest; these portions are made up into
-little pellets called ‘Owl balls,’ and these are spit up before the real
-process of digestion is begun, and if you search under the trees where
-owls roost, you may often find these pellets for yourselves.”
-
-“Maybe that is what these things are that I’ve found, for ever so many
-days, below the porch of the pigeon-house,” said Tommy, pulling a bunch
-of paper from his pocket; “I guess the Red Owl meant to live there this
-winter.” He spread out the paper before Gray Lady, who was now sitting
-at the table turning over the pages of a large book in red covers. It
-was a reference book, in two volumes, that she often used to look up
-stories of the birds about which the children asked. The name of the
-book was _Life Histories of North American Birds_, and they were written
-and collected by Major Bendire, who was both one of the Wise Men and an
-officer in our army. Putting in a mark at the page where Screech Owl
-began, she closed the book and looked at the contents of the paper.
-
-“Yes, Tommy,” she said presently, “these are not only Owl balls, but
-there is the fur and bones of a mouse in each.” And deftly separating
-the wads with the point of a pair of scissors and taking out a tiny
-skull, she motioned the children to look at it through a reading-glass,
-each one in turn.
-
-“Does the Screech Owl live everywhere in the United States?” asked Dave,
-after he and Tommy had picked out enough of the tiny bones from the fur
-to piece out the entire skeleton of a mouse.
-
-“This same species of Screech Owl that we have here is found all through
-the eastern part of North America, but there is a Screech Owl, of some
-sort, to be found in the other parts of the country; thus, there is a
-Florida Screech Owl; one for California; another for the Rocky
-Mountains; one for Mexico, and one for Puget Sound, besides several
-others, and, of them all, the Rocky Mountain Owl is said to be the
-handsomest.
-
-“We have several other owls that live hereabouts and do good work by
-killing rats, mice, snakes, lizards, etc. Of course, they also eat some
-birds, but they are so valuable to the farmer that he can ill spare
-them, and if he cannot, neither can we. Do you realize that it is really
-the farmer that holds the life of the country in his hand? What good
-would money and houses and clothes do us if we had no food?—and it is
-the farmer who, by carrying out the workings of nature, makes food
-possible.
-
-“These birds of prey divide time between them, the Hawk works by day and
-the Owls at night and in the early dawn; thus, ‘Nature, in her wisdom,
-puts a continuous check upon the four-footed vermin of the ground.’
-
-“Our little Screech Owls love old orchards and the hollow trees to be
-found there, and they are well suited to be guardians of the fruit
-trees. In hard winters, mice and rabbits will often eat the bark of
-young peach, pear, plum, and apple trees in such a way as to ruin them.
-Who can keep a constant watch upon them by day and night so well as the
-Hawks and Owls?—and if they do take an occasional chicken or pigeon,
-these are more easily replaced than fruit trees.
-
-“Then, too, our little Screech Owl is a destroyer of cutworms, those
-dreadful worms that do their work by night. For this alone, should the
-farmer call this Owl his friend, and let him nest in any little hollow
-under the barn eaves, or in the old willow or sycamore, as he chooses.
-That is, if the few sticks and feathers that line the hollow can be
-called a nest.
-
-“The courtship of the Owl begins late in March, for Owls, living, as
-they do, permanently in their homes, nest early; the Great Horned Owl,
-of deservedly savage reputation, beginning in February, and the
-round-faced Barred Owl in March. I have only seen the young Owls on
-their first coming from the nest—queer, fuzzy little balls, awkward in
-flight and noisy, who perch on a branch like a row of clothes-pins all
-day, and then spend their nights being fed, and in awkward attempts at
-learning to fly. Once, in my girlhood, I kept an Owl with a sprained
-wing in an outdoor cage for a couple of months, and he grew quite tame
-and was very clever and clean apparently, from the evidence of spilled
-water, taking a bath in his pan every night and keeping his feathers in
-good condition.
-
-“Major Bendire tells of the courtship of these songless birds in a way
-that proves that where voice is lacking, gesture takes the place of
-speech, as with Grackles and Crows. ‘The female was perched in a dark,
-leafy tree, apparently oblivious of the presence of her mate, who made
-frantic efforts to attract her attention through a series of bowings,
-wing-raisings, and snapping of the beak. These antics were continued for
-some time, varied by hops from branch to branch near her, accompanied by
-that forlorn, almost despairing, wink peculiar to this bird. Once or
-twice I thought that I detected sounds of inward groanings as he, beside
-himself at lack of success, sat in utter dejection. At last the lady
-lowered her haughty head, looked at and approached him.’
-
-“The young Owls when first hatched are blind and featherless, and are so
-ravenous that not only do their parents feed them at night but also put
-away enough food in the nest to last through the day as well, so you can
-easily see how useful a family of these Owls would be the neighbourhood
-of any farm.
-
-
-                      THE SCREECH OWL’S VALENTINE
-
-    A Screech Owl once set out to find
-          A comely mate of his own kind;
-    Through wooded haunts and shadows dense
-          He pressed his search with diligence;
-                  As a reward
-                  He soon espied
-                  A feathered figure,
-                  Golden-eyed.
-
-    “Good-night! my lady owl,” said he;
-          “Will you accept my company?”
-    He bowed and snapped, and hopped about,
-          He wildly screamed, then looked devout.
-                  But no word came,
-                  His heart to cheer,
-                  From lady owl,
-                  That perched so near.
-
-    The suitor thought her hearing dull,
-          And for her felt quite sorrowful.
-    Again by frantic efforts he
-          Did try to woo her from her tree;
-                  “Pray, loveliest owl,
-                  The forest’s pride,
-                  Descend and be
-                  My beauteous bride.
-
-    “A wedding feast of mice we’ll keep,
-          When cats and gunners are asleep;
-    We’ll sail like shadows cast at noon,
-          Each night will be a honeymoon.”
-                  To this she answered
-                  Not one breath;
-                  But sat unmoved
-                  And still as death.
-
-    Said he, “I guess that she’s the kind
-          That people in museums find;
-    Some taxidermist by his skill
-          Has stuffed the bird, she sits so still.
-                  Ah me! that eyes
-                  Once made to see
-                  Should naught
-                  But ghostly spectres be.”
-
-    At this she dropped her haughty head
-          And cried, “I’m neither stuffed nor dead.
-    Oh! weird and melancholy owl,
-          Thou rival of the wolf’s dread howl,
-                  Since fate so planned,
-                  I’ll not decline
-                  To be for life
-                  Your valentine.”
-
-    —Florence A. Van Sant, in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-“Are any of these other Owls here useful?” asked Sarah, who had been
-looking at the birds in the glass case while Gray Lady talked. “This
-great big one with feather horns looks as if he could eat a little lamb
-or a big rooster if he tried.”
-
-“That is the Great Horned Owl,” said Gray Lady, “and fortunately he is
-very uncommon here in New England, for he is a cruel and wasteful bird,
-unsociable and sulky, killing chickens, and even turkeys and geese, and
-often merely eating the head of its victim and then killing again; it is
-the worst of all the birds of prey, and no excuse can be found for its
-behaviour.
-
-“The Barred Owl on the shelf beside the Great Horned, though having a
-smooth head, is sometimes mistaken for the fierce Owl and shot for its
-sins. Aside from sometimes killing birds, it is a useful Owl, eating
-mice, rabbits, red squirrels, etc. This is a remote, lonely sort of an
-Owl, with a dismal hoot, as one man described it:
-‘Hoo-ooo-ooo-ho-ho-ho-too-too-to-to!’ sometimes interspersed by a laugh
-and then a wail. I disturbed a young bird once, causing one of its
-parents great uneasiness. It is impossible to describe all the notes
-uttered by it at this time; they were rendered in a subdued muttering
-and complaining strain, parts of which sounded exactly like ‘old-fool,
-old-fool, don’t do it, don’t do it!’
-
-“There are two other owls that are very useful; one is found all through
-the United States, and the other is a more southern species, found
-usually south of New England. The first is the Short-eared or Marsh Owl,
-and the other is the Barn Owl.
-
-“All Owls, in a way, look very much alike, in spite of difference in
-colour and size. They have round, feathered heads, which they are
-obliged to turn around when they wish to look, as their eyes are so
-fixed in their sockets that they cannot roll them as other birds and
-animals do; some have feather horns and some do not. They all have
-talons, either covered by scales or feathers, with which they seize
-their food, which they swallow whole. But between the Barn Owl and his
-kin, the Horned, Hoot, and Screech Owls, there is a striking contrast.
-
-[Illustration: BARN OWL]
-
-“Look at those two in the case; they have round faces and circles of
-feathers about the eyes. The Barn Owl has a heart-shaped face-disk,
-about which the head-feathers cluster, making the bird look like a funny
-old lady in a cap. This is the Owl that is usually described in
-poetry—the Church Tower Owl, the Monkey-faced Owl, etc.
-
-“While you look at this bird listen to some of the things that the Wise
-Men say of it.
-
-“The Barn Owl, strictly speaking, makes no nest. If occupying a natural
-cavity of a tree, the eggs are placed on the rubbish that may have
-accumulated at the bottom; if in a bank, they are laid on the bare
-ground and among the pellets of fur and small bones ejected by the
-parents. Frequently, quite a lot of such material is found in their
-burrows, the eggs lying on, and among, the refuse. Incubation usually
-commences with the first egg laid, and lasts about three weeks. The eggs
-are almost invariably found in different stages of development, and
-downy young may be found in the same nest with fresh eggs. Both sexes
-assist in incubation. One of the best methods of studying the food
-habits of Owls is to gather the pellets which they disgorge. These
-consist of the undigested refuse of their food, hair, bones, feathers,
-etc. Sometimes enormous quantities of this refuse are found in the
-nesting-place of the Barn Owl, one recorded instance being two or three
-cubic feet. When the tired farmer is buried deep in slumber, and nature
-is repairing the waste of wearied muscles, this night-flying bird
-commences its beneficial work, which ceases only at the rising of the
-sun. All that has been written regarding the food of the Barn Owl shows
-it to be of inestimable value to agriculture. Major Bendire says:
-‘Looked at from an economic standpoint, it would be difficult to point
-out a more useful bird than this Owl, and it deserves the fullest
-protection; but, as is too often the case, man, who should be its best
-friend, is generally the worst enemy it has to contend with, and it is
-ruthlessly destroyed by him, partly on account of its odd appearance and
-finely coloured plumage, but oftener from the erroneous belief that it
-destroys the farmer’s poultry.’
-
-“In the West, the food of the Barn Owl consists very largely of pouched
-gophers, a specially destructive mammal, also ground-squirrels, rabbits,
-and insects. In the southern states large numbers of cotton rats are
-destroyed, a fact which should be appreciated by every planter.
-
-“So you see, children, that those farmers who live within the range of
-the Barn Owl can not only safely let it nest under their roofs, but give
-the barn mice into its keeping, for it will do more good and less harm
-than the usual prowling cat.
-
-“The Short-eared Owl is unlike his brethren in that his nest, lined with
-a few feathers or grass, is in a hollow in the ground or in a bunch of
-tall weeds or grasses. He is also what is called a cosmopolitan Owl,
-which means that he is equally at home in all parts of the country, and,
-during the migrations and in the winter, these Owls sometimes live in
-flocks of one hundred or more, which, considering the usual solitary
-habits of Owls, is something to remember particularly.
-
-[Illustration: SHORT-EARED OWL]
-
-“As its nest is in moist, grassy meadows, so also does it spend much of
-its time in the open, shunning the deep woods beloved of other Owls,
-while it flies freely by day, except in the brightest weather. On cloudy
-days it flies low over the meadows, in which it searches carefully for
-its food. On the wing, it is easy and graceful, its flight being more
-like that of a Hawk than the heavy swoop of the Owl. Its wings are long
-in proportion to its body, which makes it appear very large when in
-flight.
-
-“The Short-eared Owls delight in carrying their food to a hayrick or
-some such object, where they eat it at leisure. This same food of the
-Short-eared Owl, in itself, is a letter of recommendation,—for it
-consists of meadow-mice, gophers, and shrews (that are such a nuisance
-in the West), grasshoppers, insects, and occasionally a bird,—so that,
-like the Barn Owl and the Long-eared or Cat Owl, his brother, this bird
-deserves full protection.
-
-“Another cause has done many an owl to death,—not his ‘fatal gift of
-beauty,’ that has made so many birds become bonnet martyrs, but the fact
-that the Owl looks so wise that he was supposed to be the favourite bird
-of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom. For this reason, people like to have
-stuffed Owls in their libraries to sit and look wise on a bookcase top.
-
-“Thus many of the birds that have escaped the farmers have been shot by
-collectors for the taxidermists or bird-store folk. Now the Wise Men are
-making laws which will, we hope, protect the useful birds of prey from
-this fate as they do the beautiful songsters; but it is not enough to
-make laws, it is the business of each one of us to see that they are
-carried out.
-
-“I have a very amusing poem about an Owl in my scrap-book. When you have
-read it, you may guess, if you can, to which Owl the author refers.”
-
-
-                             THE EARLY OWL
-
-    An Owl once lived in a hollow tree,
-    And he was as wise as wise could be.
-    The branch of learning he didn’t know
-    Could scarce on the tree of knowledge grow;
-    He knew the tree from branch to root,
-    And an Owl like that can afford to hoot.
-
-    And he hooted until, alas! one day
-    He chanced to hear in a casual way
-    An insignificant little bird
-    Make use of a term he had never heard.
-    He was flying to bed in the dawning light,
-    When he heard her singing with all her might:
-    “Hurray! hurray! for the early worm!”
-    “Dear me,” said the Owl, “what a singular term!
-    I would look it up if it weren’t so late.
-    I must rise at dusk to investigate.
-    Early to bed and early to rise
-    Makes an Owl healthy, and stealthy, and wise!”
-
-    So he slept like an honest Owl all day,
-    And rose in the early twilight gray,
-    And went to work in the dusky light
-    To look for the early worm at night.
-    He searched the country for miles around,
-    But the early worm was not to be found;
-    So he went to bed in the dawning light
-    And looked for the “worm” again next night.
-    And again and again, and again and again,
-    He sought and he sought, but all in vain,
-    Till he must have looked for a year and a day
-    For the early worm in the twilight gray.
-
-    At last in despair he gave up the search,
-    And was heard to remark as he sat on his perch,
-    By the side of his nest in the hollow tree:
-    “The thing is as plain as the night to me—
-    Nothing can shake my conviction firm;
-    There’s no such thing as the early worm.”
-
-    —Oliver Herford.
-
-[Illustration: MARSH HAWK]
-
-“I can’t tell exactly which it was,” said Tommy Todd, when he was
-through laughing; “but I know which it wasn’t—it wasn’t the Short-eared
-Owl, for he doesn’t get up to breakfast at night, and so if he had
-looked for the early worm he would have found him.”
-
-
-                           THREE USEFUL HAWKS
-
-                 _The Marsh Hawk, Harrier, Blue Hawk._
-
-    _Length_: 17-19 inches; female averaging two inches longer.
-
-    _Male_: Above, bluish gray; below, white mottled with brown;
-    wings brownish, long, and pointed; tail long; upper tail-coverts
-    white.
-
-The Marsh Hawk is the most harmless and beneficial of its family; it
-feeds upon reptiles, locusts, grasshoppers, and small mammals, and never
-disturbs domestic poultry.
-
-In this locality it is more plentiful in the bogs near fresh ponds, and
-in the vicinity of rivers, than in the salt-marshes.
-
-It is the summer-day Hawk, and the species most frequently seen in the
-warmest months. It flies by night as well as day, however, and is often
-a companion of the Screech Owl in its nocturnal rambles.
-
-                       _The Red-shouldered Hawk_
-
-    _Length_: 18-19 inches. Also miscalled “Hen-hawk.” The
-    Sharp-shinned Hawk and Cooper’s Hawk are the real “Hen-hawks.”
-
-    _Male_: Grayish brown above; feathers edged with rusty brown;
-    wings barred black and white; “shoulder” rusty red; tail black,
-    and barred and tipped with slate; black streaks on throat;
-    underparts buff.
-
-One of the large Hawks; to be distinguished by a rust-red shoulder
-patch; is the most common of the long, broad-winged Buzzard Hawks that
-are seen flying in circles in the days of autumn and early spring. It
-kills field-mice and other gnawers.
-
-                      _The American Sparrow Hawk_
-
-    _Length_: 10 inches.
-
-    _Male_: Reddish back barred with black; reddish tail, with black
-    band and white tip; head with reddish spot on crown, slaty blue,
-    as are also wings, the latter having white bars; a black mark
-    back and front of ear; underparts varying from cream to buff.
-
-A very handsome bird, though somewhat of a cannibal; the Wise Men wish
-him protected for the following reasons:—
-
-“When in doubt regarding the identity of a small Hawk, give the benefit
-of the doubt to the Hawk, and refrain from killing it, for you may thus
-spare a valuable bird, belonging to a species that during every twelve
-months renders service to the agricultural industry of the country that
-is far beyond computation, but if measured in dollars and cents would
-reach to very high figures.
-
-“This appeal for protection of the Sparrow Hawks, and the statements as
-to their value, would be worthless if they could not be supported by
-_facts_.
-
-“Dr. Fisher summarizes as follows: ‘The subject of this Hawk is one of
-great interest, and, considered in its economic bearings, is one that
-should be carefully studied. The Sparrow Hawk is almost exclusively
-insectivorous, except when insect food is difficult to obtain. In
-localities where grasshoppers and crickets are abundant, these Hawks
-congregate, often in moderate-sized flocks, and gorge themselves
-continuously. Rarely do they touch any other form of food until, either
-by advancing season or other natural causes, the grasshopper crop is so
-lessened that their hunger cannot be appeased without undue exertion.
-Then other kinds of insects and other forms of life contribute to their
-fare, and beetles, spiders, mice, shrews, small snakes, lizards, or even
-birds may be required to bring up the balance.
-
-“‘In some places in the West and South, telegraph poles pass for miles
-through treeless plains and savannas. For lack of better perches, the
-Sparrow Hawks often use these poles for resting-places, from which they
-make short trips to pick up a grasshopper or mouse, which they carry
-back to their perch. At times, when grasshoppers are abundant, such a
-line of poles is pretty well occupied by these Hawks. In the vicinity of
-Washington, D.C., remarkable as it may appear to those who have not
-interested themselves specially in the matter, it is the exception not
-to find grasshoppers or crickets in the stomachs of the Sparrow hawks,
-even when killed during the months of January and February, unless the
-ground is covered with snow. It is wonderful how the birds can discover
-the half-concealed, semi-dormant insects, which in colour so closely
-resemble the ground or dry grass. Whether they are attracted by a slight
-movement, or distinguish the form of their prey as it sits motionless,
-is difficult to prove, but, in any case, the acuteness of their vision
-is of a character which we are unable to appreciate.
-
-“‘In the spring, when new ground or meadow is broken by the plough, they
-often become very tame if not molested. They fly down, even alighting
-under the very horses, for an instant, in their endeavour to capture an
-unearthed mouse or insect.’”
-
-“Aren’t there any _bad_ Hawks, then?” asked little Bobby, incredulously,
-for to him the cry of “Hawk!” and the sight of the hired man with the
-gun came together.
-
-“Yes, Bobby, plenty of them, even hereabouts; the Sharp-shinned and the
-Chicken or Cooper’s Hawk, both of them flash out of the sky and pounce
-cruelly on both game- and song-birds. And, let me tell you all
-something, though I do not wish to kill any birds needlessly, yet I
-would not let any of these Hawks, useful or otherwise, nest or feed near
-Birdland, and I should have Jacob frighten them away with blank
-cartridges, because the very sight of them terrifies the beautiful
-song-birds that we love, and that trust us and confide in our
-protection.
-
-“The little Screech Owls may play about if they will, but neither Crows,
-Jays, Hawks, nor English Sparrows can ever be welcome garden guests.”
-
-Something to remember about Hawks and Owls.—_The female is always
-larger than the male!_
-
-[Illustration: SPARROW HAWK]
-
-
-
-
-                                  XIII
-                            TREE-TRUNK BIRDS
-
-
-_Woodpeckers—Nuthatches and the Brown Creepers_
-
-By the time November came in but few birds were to be seen about the
-schoolhouse at Foxes Corners. For until Gray Lady came, no one had taken
-an interest either in the appearance of the schoolbuilding itself or the
-ragged bit of ground upon which it stood. Now four sugar-maples had been
-transplanted from the near-by woods, and set where they would shade the
-windows in the warm days of early summer and fall and yet not interfere
-with winter sunshine; and Gray Lady had promised that by spring there
-should be some benches along the north fence, where there was shade from
-the white birches in the wood-lot beyond. That is, she had promised the
-wood for the benches and Jacob’s aid in their planning; for the rest,
-the boys were to do the work themselves, for after Thanksgiving four or
-five large boys would come to school,—Tommy Todd’s brother Everett, who
-was sixteen, and the two Judds, his cousins,—Walter, also sixteen, and
-Irving, fourteen,—being among them.
-
-All of these boys knew something about the handling of tools, and, if
-they chose to join the Kind Hearts’ Club, would be valuable allies.
-Sometimes, however, big boys, even though they are not cruel, laugh at
-such societies, and so Gray Lady had made up her mind to let them ask to
-come to the class in the workroom as if it was a privilege they desired
-rather than as a favour to herself.
-
-One bit of carpentry she asked Jacob to undertake, that no time should
-be lost, and that was the bird lunch-counter for the school grounds. As
-the flagpole was fastened to the schoolhouse, Jacob had utilized the
-gnarled stump of a half-dead wild-apple tree, the bark of which was
-seamed and scarred by the initials cut on it by many generations of
-scholars. Above the platform, to hold the crumbs and grain, he had
-fastened, between the two remaining branches, a slanting roof made of
-some old mossy shingles, and at the edge of this he had stuck half a
-dozen crooked spikes to hold bacon rind or suet or anything, like
-chicken bones, that might be left from the dinner-pails, as many of the
-children, owing to distance from home, always brought their lunch to
-school during the winter and spring terms.
-
-This lunch-counter was in place when Gray Lady went to the school the
-first Friday afternoon in November, and she brought an additional
-surprise with her,—two pictures or charts that could be unrolled and
-hung on the wall like the great map.[2] Each of these charts held the
-pictures of some twenty-five birds done in colours and of natural size,
-and with each there was a little book telling about the birds.
-
-The charts were to be lent to the five other schools in the township in
-turn, but the children at Foxes Corners were so delighted with them that
-they resolved that the first money that the Kind Hearts’ Club earned
-should go to buy other pairs of the charts, so that they could not only
-have some for their very own, but that the other schools, who had no
-Gray Lady for their fairy god-mother, could have them also.
-
-After the first few weeks, Gray Lady found that it would be best, on the
-Fridays when she visited the school, simply to read to the children
-stories of the birds that they had either seen at Birdland or that they
-already knew by sight, from various books and magazines; as she had at
-her house so many books, pictures of birds, and the mounted birds
-themselves, that it was much easier for them to name unknown birds there
-than at school.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-“The singing-birds have all gone,” said Sarah Barnes, the second
-Saturday of November, as she went to work upon the last piece of her
-doll’s outfit—the cloak for the Red Riding-Hood that she was dressing.
-
-“We still have a Song Sparrow down in the meadow,” said Goldilocks, “and
-there are plenty of Bluebirds and Robins about, and Grackles and
-Cowbirds, but the Song Sparrow is the only one that pretends to sing a
-nice little song.”
-
-“I guess we’ll have to go ahead to the spring birds or there won’t be
-anything to learn about until they come back,” chimed in Eliza Clausen,
-who was at work on a doll baby, and as her fingers were long and
-slender, she succeeded in hemming the fine lawn, of which the dress was
-made, very nicely.
-
-“No birds?” said Gray Lady, raising her eyebrows. “Open the window
-nearest you, Sarah, and do both you and Eliza look out and listen.”
-
-“I don’t see anything, and I only hear different kinds of squeaks,” said
-Eliza.
-
-“I hear the squeaks,” said Sarah, “but I see a gray bird out here on the
-roof, with black on top of his head and white underneath, and he’s got a
-long beak and a short tail. Why, he’s just stuffed something that he had
-in his beak in between the shingles. Now he’s crying ‘quank-quank’ and
-flying toward the orchard.”
-
-“That,” said Gray Lady, “is the White-breasted Nuthatch, one of our best
-winter friends, for though he summers with us, like the Chickadee and
-the Woodpeckers, it is not until the other birds have gone, and the
-trees are bare of leaves, that we really seem to see and appreciate him.
-
-“This Nuthatch is one of the tree-trunk birds that you will learn to
-know so well, before winter is over, that you will never forget them;
-for, though they have no song to speak of, their cleverness and the good
-they do when other birds have gone more than make up for lack of music.”
-
-“What do you mean by tree-trunk birds?” asked Clary; “I thought that
-birds liked leafy branches the best.”
-
-“Most birds do prefer the leafy branches,” said Gray Lady; “that is why
-I call this little group, who do not, ‘tree-trunk birds,’ for all their
-little lives are spent so close to the heart of the wood that they seem
-almost to be parts of the tree.
-
-[Illustration: R. H. Beebe, Photo. WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH]
-
-“These birds not only make their nests in the wood itself by hollowing
-out partly decayed places in branch and trunk, but they gain the greater
-part of their food by searching the cracks in the tree bark for insects
-that live there, and which other birds, that spend their lives among the
-leafy twigs, cannot find.
-
-“This quarrying food from the bark makes it possible for them to stay
-about the vicinity of their nesting-haunts all winter; for many forms of
-insect life winter in the bark crevices of forest as well as fruit trees
-where the eggs hatch out, and the larvae undergo transformation early in
-the season and begin to do mischief before the migrant birds return.
-
-“If it were not for sleet storms, that cover the tree with a coating of
-ice for days at a time, these hardy, sociable little birds would be sure
-of a good living in a neighbourhood like this, with many orchards and
-strips of woodland. But when ice puts a lock on the pantry doors, what
-can the poor birds do?
-
-“Owing to their frail structure and warm blood, they require more
-constant fuel to keep the life-fire alive than the four-footed animals,
-so that when hunger and cold travel hand in hand, they have to make a
-brave fight for life. For generations this freezing up has happened to
-them, and so, by experience, they have learned when food is plenty to
-try and save it up.
-
-“The Nuthatch, that Sarah has just seen stowing something away under the
-shingles, is living very well at present. In spite of hard frost, wild
-food is plentiful; then, too, the lunch-counter is amply supplied with
-suet. The birds do not really need help as yet, but we put the food
-there so that they may know where to find it when hard times come.”
-
-“I should think the lunch-counter, with lots of easy food, would make
-the birds lazy so’s they wouldn’t work for a living,” said Dave. “Pop
-says, feeding tramps everywhere only makes more folks turn tramp, so now
-he can’t get anybody to work at haying or wood-cutting for food and fair
-pay.”
-
-“Ah, but that shows the difference between wild birds and what is called
-‘civilized’ man,” said Gray Lady. “The Nuthatches do not sit still and
-gorge themselves, but are busy providing for the future. Yesterday, I
-saw one of these same birds packing away little bits of suet in a
-crevice under the roof of the side porch, and another using the thatch
-on the summer-house for a larder. So it would seem that they distribute
-the food in different places. If one cupboard is frozen up, one of the
-others may be in the sun.
-
-“A pair of Nuthatches found that the cornice of the main roof, under the
-tin gutter, was in poor shape, and kindly called my attention to it by
-boring into the wood and nesting in the space within. Five little birds
-were hatched, and I believe that the party of seven, that are so tame
-and come about the house so freely, are the birds hatched in the cornice
-and their parents.”
-
-“I shouldn’t think that you would like them to make holes in the house,”
-said Tommy, “for the water might get in and do lots of harm, just the
-same as Woodpeckers that make holes in the trees and spoil them.”
-
-“That is where people make a mistake about these tree-trunk birds that
-bore holes, and think that they are mischievous and destructive, whereas
-they never pierce bark unless an insect lurks beneath, and when they
-bore a nest-hole in a tree, it is the same as saying to its owner, ‘See,
-this wood is dead; I am making use of what is otherwise useless to you
-and I will pay you rent by protecting your other trees from harm. If you
-watch well, you will see how many hairy caterpillars, birch-lice, and
-wood-boring beetles I will kill in the year.’”
-
-“The gutter is all mended and painted now, so the Nuthatches can’t nest
-there next season, and I guess they will be very sorry,” said Clary, who
-had taken her turn at looking out the window.
-
-“Yes, the cornice has been mended, but Jacob has hollowed out a bit of
-hickory branch with the bark on it, and has fastened it firmly under the
-cornice with screws, so that when the birds look up their home in
-spring, they will find a new one so close to the old place that I hope
-they will move into it. In fact, those pictures in the workroom, of
-bird-homes made of hollowed-out logs, were designed especially to
-attract these tree-trunk birds and their little companions, the
-Chickadees, who, though they search the twigs for food, love the trunk
-also, and nest in a wood hollow like the Woodpeckers, themselves.”
-
-“He’s come back again, but he hasn’t brought suet this time; it’s some
-kind of a big seed that won’t stay in the shingle crack, so he’s
-pounding it in,” said Sarah, looking over Clary’s shoulder and dropping
-her sewing, so interested was she in the movements of the bird. “There,
-he’s going away and walking down the roof head first; I don’t see why he
-doesn’t slip and fall, the same as I did once when I tried to walk down
-the back stairs on my hands and knees head first, ’cause brother dared
-me.”
-
-Gray Lady hurried to the window in time to see the Nuthatch give a final
-pound to the object that was wedged between the shingles. With her
-opera-glasses, she discovered that it was the empty shell of a beechnut.
-
-“This little bird has been kind enough to write the meaning of its
-singular name here on the roof, evidently for the benefit of the Kind
-Hearts’ Club, for I have been expecting that some of you would ask from
-what the term ‘Nuthatch’ came.”
-
-“I thought it was a funny name, but then lots of birds’ names seem
-queer, until you hear about them,” said Eliza Clausen.
-
-“This bird is very fond of nuts,” continued Gray Lady, “not the very
-hard ones like butternuts, but the smaller acorns, chestnuts, and
-especially the little three-cornered beechnuts, with the sweet meat.
-Having no teeth to crack them like a squirrel, and not being able to use
-his beak for a nutcracker, he wedges the nut fast and then uses his
-sharp, strong bill for a hatchet and hatches the nut open; by this he
-has earned his name, ‘Nuthatch.’
-
-“There is another name that Goldilocks once gave him that is quite as
-good, and that would remind you of him wherever you hear it,—the
-‘Upside-down’ bird!—for what other bird that you know can climb about
-as he does?”
-
-“Woodpeckers do,” cried Tommy and Dave, together.
-
-“Yes, and there’s another bird, little and brown and striped, that’s
-only here in winter and goes up and down all over the tree-trunks. I saw
-one this morning when I was coming up,” said Sarah, “and I guess
-Chickadees can go upside down, too, for I saw one hanging on to a fir
-cone yesterday, and it was head down.”
-
-Gray Lady laughed. “You all doubtless _think_ that all these other birds
-climb like the Nuthatch, but this is a case of wrong seeing, which is
-simply another form of not really paying attention; for not one of them
-walks upside down in the same way. Hear what one of our poets says of
-this:—
-
-
-                             TO A NUTHATCH
-
-    Shrewd little hunter of woods all gray,
-    Whom I meet on my walk of a winter day,
-    You’re busy inspecting each cranny and hole
-    In the ragged bark of yon hickory bole;
-    You, intent on your task, and I, on the law
-    Of your wonderful head and gymnastic claw!
-
-    The Woodpecker well may despair of this feat—
-    Only the fly with you can compete.
-    So much is clear; but I fain would know
-    How you can so reckless and fearless go,
-    Head upward, head downward, all one to you,
-    Zenith and nadir the same to your view.
-
-    —Edith M. Thomas, in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-    Even the woodpeckers, supplied, as they are, with a reversed toe
-    and a stiff, supporting tail, cannot compete with the Nuthatches
-    in descending head first. The Woodpecker, in going down the
-    trunk, finds itself in the same predicament as the bear,—its
-    climbing tools work only one way. It is dependent on its stiff
-    tail for support, and so must needs hop down backwards. The
-    Creeper is still more hidebound in its habits, and its motto
-    seems to be “Excelsior.” It begins at the foot of its ladder,
-    and climbs ever upwards. But the climbing ability of the
-    Nuthatch is unlimited. It circles round the branches, or moves
-    up, down, and around the trunks, apparently oblivious to the law
-    of gravitation. Its readiness in descending topsyturvy is due,
-    in part, to the fact that, as the quills of its tail are not
-    stiff enough to afford support, it is obliged to depend upon its
-    legs and feet. As it has on each foot three toes in front and
-    only one behind, it reverses the position of one foot in going
-    head downward, throwing it out sidewise and backward, so that
-    the three long claws on the three front toes grip the bark and
-    keep the bird from falling forward. The other foot is thrown
-    forward, and thus, with feet far apart, the “little gymnast has
-    a wide base beneath him.” The Nuthatch not only straddles in
-    going down the tree, but spreads its legs widely in going around
-    the trunk, but bird artists generally seem to have overlooked
-    this habit. The slightly upturned bill of the Nuthatch, and its
-    habit of hanging upside down, give it an advantage when in the
-    act of prying off scales of bark, under which many noxious
-    insects are secreted.
-
-                                                   —E. H. Forbush.
-
-“The little, brown-striped bird that Sarah saw this morning, that
-somewhat resembles a Wren, is the Brown Creeper, for it creeps like a
-veritable feathered mouse. Though it is a true tree-trunk bird, in that
-it lives and nests as close to the heart of wood as possible, it has a
-slender needle-like bill for picking out insects; but it cannot bore
-wood with it, so it has to be content to make its home between the wood
-and the bark.
-
-“This bird comes to us in middle New England only as a winter visitor,
-and well does it pay its way by eating grubs and insect eggs. It does
-not seem very shy, hereabouts, but in the nesting time it loves deep,
-silent forests and the cedar swamps of the North, and it is only in
-these places that its strange, sweet song may be heard, which is
-something that I have never heard successfully imitated or put into
-syllables, but Mr. Brewster, who is one of the Wise Men who knows, says
-it is like the soft sigh of the wind among the pine boughs.
-
-“It is in these deep woods, also, that it nests. Discovering a tree
-where the bark is loose and yet does not strip off too easily, this
-little Creeper finds a nook of the right size, which he lines with soft
-bark, moss, or bits of wood so thoroughly decayed that it is like
-sponge, and in this bed are laid six or eight pretty little lavender
-eggs with brown spots wreathed about the larger end.
-
-“When the Creeper comes to us, he has evidently forgotten home and
-family cares as well as his beautiful song, for he only favours us with
-a very scratchy squeak, as if a file at work on a wire and a couple of
-crossed tree branches were striving to see which could sing the better.
-But he is as busy as busy can be, and acts as if he were practising for
-a race in climbing the stairs of a lighthouse tower.
-
-“At the bottom of the tree, he starts and goes up and around without a
-pause until he is two-thirds of the way up and the more frequent
-branches bother him. Then he stops a moment to rest, bracketing himself
-against the tree by the sharp point of his tail-feathers, which
-arrangement he possesses in common with the Chimney Swift and the
-Woodpeckers. Next, without warning, he flits with a backward tilt either
-to the base of another tree, or to the same one, and again begins to
-climb; so for him the Stair-climber would be a good name.
-
-“He, also, when the trees are ice-plated, will come gladly to the
-lunch-counter, I know, for as a girl, long before I left home, this
-Creeper used to feed upon the scraps that I put upon my window-ledge;
-for, though people here have been feeding birds in winter this long
-while, it has only been since the Wise Men have told us of the
-particular needs of each bird family that we have been able to do it
-intelligently, and to the best advantage.
-
-“There are some verses in my scrap-book about this tree-trunk bird,
-also, and it seems as if our poets were very fond of these songless
-birds who inspire them as much by their friendliness as the others do by
-melody. I hope that a couple of you will learn this to recite at
-Christmas. As there are four verses, each can learn two, and then
-alternate in repeating them.
-
-
-                        THE LITTLE BROWN CREEPER
-
-    “Although I’m a bird, I give you my word
-        That seldom you’ll know me to fly;
-    For I have a notion about locomotion,
-        The little Brown Creeper am I,
-        Dear little Brown Creeper am I.
-
-    “Beginning below, I search as I go
-        The trunk and the limbs of a tree,
-    For a fly or a slug, a beetle or bug;
-        They’re better than candy for me,
-        Far better than candy for me.
-
-    “When people are nigh I’m apt to be shy,
-        And say to myself, ‘I will hide,’
-    Continue my creeping, but carefully keeping
-        Away on the opposite side,
-        Well around on the opposite side.
-
-    “Yet sometimes I peek while I play hide-and-seek
-        If you’re nice I shall wish to see you;
-    I’ll make a faint sound and come quite around
-        And creep like a mouse in full view,
-        Very much like a mouse to your view.”
-
-    —Garrett Newkirk, in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-“I guess I know what the other tree-trunk birds are, Gray Lady; they’re
-Woodpeckers,” said little Bobby, who seemed to have grown taller and
-broader ever since the day that Jacob had put a jack-knife in his hand
-and taught him to carve a wooden spoon, and he felt himself to be a
-full-fledged boy.
-
-“Some Woodpeckers are pretty bad, though, ’cause grandpa caught a whole
-bunch of ’em early last spring sucking the juice out of the apple trees
-in the young orchard, and Uncle Bill, over the mountain, said they did
-the same to his sugar-maples. I saw what they did, myself, and you can
-see, too, if you stop up at our house some time when you are passing,
-for the marks are there,—little round holes, all in rows so as they
-make squares like the peppery holey plasters grandma wears for a lame
-back. They were awfully pretty birds, too—all red on the head and neck,
-and black and white speckled on top, and yellow underneath, and black
-across the front. I had a good chance to see it, ’cause grandpop was
-hoppin’ mad and tried to shoot them, and he did get one of the prettiest
-of them all. Some of them that were on the apple tree didn’t have so
-many colours in their feathers.”
-
-“Perhaps those were females,” said Sarah Barnes.
-
-“Yes, the paler ones are the females and lack the red throat and
-sometimes the red head-feathers, also,” said Gray Lady, “for this bird
-is called the Sapsucker, Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, because it has, as
-Bobby has told us, the bad habit of not only boring into trees for
-insects, but sucking the sap as well, and when a number of them are
-found together, of course, they are likely to do harm. Still, to my
-mind, the very worst that they do is to give a bad name to the family of
-the most industrious insect-eating birds that we have.
-
-“Even though this Sapsucker takes enough sap to have earned his title,
-he keeps up the family record as an insect eater, for he has a form of
-the pointed tongue with hooked bristles on the end, like all
-Woodpeckers, and this weapon acts both as a spear and trap to catch
-insects. Then, too, the Sapsucker is not a permanent resident, like many
-of his family, but nests early in the most northerly states and travels
-about during a great part of the year. As he can only suck sap during
-the growing season, and eats insects the year around, besides many wild
-berries—such as those of poison ivy, dogwood, etc.—that are of no use
-to us, I think he should be forgiven his sip of fresh spring sap, except
-where, as in the case of Bobby’s grandfather, he is caught in the act of
-hurting valuable trees.
-
-
-                             THE SAPSUCKER
-
-    A bacchant for sweets is the Sapsucker free!
-    “The spring is here, and I’m thirsty!” quoth he:
-    “There’s good drink, and plenty stored up in this cave;
-    ’Tis ready to broach!” quoth the Sapsucker brave.
-
-    A bacchant for sweets! “’Tis nectar I seek!”
-    And he raps on the tree with his sharp-whetted beak;
-    And he drinks, in the wild March wind and the sun,
-    The coveted drops, as they start and run.
-
-    He girdles the maple round and round—
-    ’Tis heart-blood he drinks at each sweet wound;
-    And his bacchanal song is the tap-tap-tap,
-    That brings from the bark the clear-flowing sap.
-
-    —Edith M. Thomas, in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-“How many kinds of Woodpeckers are there around here?” asked Eliza
-Clausen. “I didn’t know there was but one, the great big one, thick like
-a Pigeon, all speckled black and brown on top, with a red spot on his
-head and a big white spot over his tail. We had two down at our farm
-this summer, and they lived in a hole in the old wild cherry, and they
-laid real nice white eggs, just as white as our Leghorns.”
-
-“How’d you know they had white eggs?” asked Clary. “You can’t see into a
-Woodpecker’s hole.”
-
-“No; I could reach in, though. I didn’t keep the egg, and only looked at
-it, and one of the old birds bit me something fierce. They’re real
-plucky birds, anyway, whatever they are called, for nobody seems to give
-them the same name. Mother says they are Pigeon Woodpeckers, and Dad
-calls them Yallerhammers, and both names fit pretty well.”
-
-“There are half a dozen Woodpeckers to be found here, but the one that
-Eliza has described and the little black-and-white streaked Downy
-Woodpecker are the most familiar as well as the most useful of them all.
-As to Eliza’s Pigeon Woodpecker or Yellowhammer, the poor bird is
-weighed down by over thirty popular names,—Northern Flicker,
-Golden-winged Woodpecker, Wake-up, Gaffer, and Partridge Woodpecker
-being among them, though the Wise Men who settle these things for us
-have decided to call him merely ‘the Flicker.’
-
-“In spite of the fact that, owing to his size and plumpness, the Flicker
-has been until recently allowed to be shot as a game-bird, he is our
-commonest Woodpecker, and spring would not be the same in this woodland
-region if we did not hear the roll of the drum, as he beats on a branch,
-that announces the coming of the feathered procession of migrants.
-
-“Then, too, it is such a jolly bird, it calls out ‘wick, wick, wick,’ as
-soon as the ponds are free of ice, and this call he changes to
-‘wicker-wicker’ as soon as the courting begins; at this time the birds
-show to the best advantage. The rival birds are perfectly friendly, but
-‘they play curious antics, each trying to outdo the other in the display
-of his golden beauty, that he may thus attract and hold the attention of
-the female. There is no fighting, but, in its place, an exhibition of
-all the airs and graces that rival dandies can muster. Their
-extravagant, comical gestures, rapidly changing attitudes, and exuberant
-cries, all seem laughable to the onlooker, but evidently give pleasure
-to the birds.’—Forbush.
-
-[Illustration: FLICKER]
-
-“The Flicker spends more time on the ground, itself, than the others of
-its family; and it has a slightly curved beak, but its tongue is very
-long, and the fine points on the end are set backward like the barbs of
-a fish-hook. Its most valuable work is as an ant-eater, and as one of
-the Wise Men says: ‘This bird is more of an ant-eater than a Woodpecker.
-It may be seen in fields and open spaces, in woods and orchards, where
-it strikes its long bill into ant-hills, and then thrusts out its still
-longer tongue coated with sticky saliva and licks up the out-rushing
-ants by the dozen. Many kinds of ants are decidedly harmful, as they
-attend, protect, and help to spread plant-root, or bark-lice, which are
-among the greatest enemies of garden plants, also shrubs and trees.
-These lice the ants keep as cows to nourish their young with green,
-sappy milk. Ants also infest houses and destroy timber.’
-
-“Some people complain that the Flicker bores holes in the attics of
-houses, and also under eaves when searching for nesting-places, and also
-for winter shelter. This is true, doubtless, but as the Nuthatch told me
-that my cornice was decayed and needed mending, so the working of a
-Flicker about any building should be a warning to the owner to look and
-see if repairs are not needed.
-
-“Our neighbour, Mr. Burwood, the florist, on the next hill, who, in
-spite of the fact that he must keep his eyes indoors on the splendid
-carnations and roses he grows, still has a glance or two to spare for
-the birds, told me, not long ago, this story of a Flicker. It was in
-early spring, and he was thinking of turning the water into a great
-covered tank, mounted on high trestles, that supplies water for the
-houses, that had been empty all winter; in fact, he had given the men
-orders so to do. Early in the morning he heard a vigorous tapping high
-up in the air, and tried in vain to locate it. The next morning, the
-same sound came, when he traced it to a Flicker, hammering away at one
-of the stout oaken staves of which the tank was made.
-
-“Thinking that the bird was trying an impossible task, he continued
-about his work, but, after the hammering had continued for several days,
-his suspicions were aroused, the tank was examined, and two holes were
-found, drilled entirely through the stave, which, in spite of
-appearances, was unsound and would, probably, have given out without
-warning at some inconvenient season when repairs would have cut off the
-water supply.
-
-“Always deal kindly with the Flicker, and never make the mistake of
-confusing it with the Sapsucker; look for the _white spot on the rump_
-and the _yellow wing-linings_, and you will know it, and, though the
-young of the year lack these marks at first, they have no yellow upon
-their breasts that can excuse you for making a mistake.
-
-
-                      MR. FLICKER WRITES A LETTER
-
-      _People_:
-
-                Tell me where you scare up
-    Names for me like “Flicker,” “Yarup,”
-    “High-hole,” “Yucker,” “Yellowhammer”—
-    None of these are in my grammar—
-    “Piquebois jaune” (Woodpick yellow),
-    So the Creoles name a fellow.
-    Others call me “Golden-wings,”
-    “Clape,” and twenty other things
-    That I never half remember,
-    Any summer till September.
-
-    Many names and frequent mention
-    Show that I receive attention,
-    And the honour that is due me;
-    But if you would interview me
-    Call me any name you please,
-    I’m “at home” among the trees.
-    Yet I never cease my labours
-    To receive my nearest neighbours,
-    And ’twill be your best enjoyment
-    Just to view me at employment.
-
-    I’m the friend of every sower,
-    Useful to the orchard grower,
-    Helping many a plant and tree
-    From its enemies to free—
-    They are always food for me.
-    And I like dessert in reason,
-    Just a bit of fruit in season,
-    But my _delicacy_ is _ants_,
-    Stump or hill inhabitants;
-    Thrusting in my sticky tongue,
-    So I take them, old and young.
-
-    Surely, we have found the best
-    Place wherein to make our nest
-    Tunnel bored within a tree,
-    Smooth and clean as it can be,
-    Smallest at the door,
-    Curving wider toward the floor,
-    Every year we make a new one,
-    Freshly bore another true one;
-    Other birds, you understand,
-    Use our old ones, second-hand—
-    Occupying free of rent,
-    They are very well content.
-
-    To my wife I quite defer,
-    I am most polite to her,
-    Bowing while I say, “kee-cher.”
-    Eggs we number five to nine,
-    Pearly white with finish fine.
-    On our nest we sit by turns,
-    So each one a living earns;
-    Though I think I sit the better,
-    When she wishes to, I let ’er!
-                      Flicker.
-
-    —Garrett Newkirk, in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-“Then, last and least in size, but chief in importance among the
-tree-trunk birds, come the little Downy Woodpeckers, only as big as the
-Tree-sparrow or Winter Chippy, as it is called, plump, all neatly
-patterned in black and white, a scarlet band on the back of the neck,
-while Mrs. Downy and the children lack even this bit of colour. You
-cannot mistake this Woodpecker for any other, for his big brother the
-Hairy Woodpecker, who has somewhat similar markings, is almost as big as
-a Robin, besides being a more timid bird of the woods that does not come
-about houses like the confiding and cheerful Downy. The Hairy Woodpecker
-has a more harsh and screaming call-note than the clear, sharp cry of
-the Downy. In watching birds, you should remember to keep the ears open
-and trained to hearing as well as the eye to seeing, as a bird that
-keeps too far away for the sight may oftentimes be recognized by its
-note.
-
-[Illustration: F. M. Chapman, Photo. DOWNY WOODPECKER]
-
-“The Downy’s life is spent in the tree-trunks and hollow limbs, where he
-merely chisels his doorway large enough, but with not a bit to spare,
-and the hole within is nicely finished with a few soft chips by way of a
-bed for the eggs; nice white eggs like all the Woodpeckers, and this
-would seem to prove that thrifty Nature, knowing that the eggs would be
-hidden in the dark nesting-hole, did not think it necessary to decorate
-them for their better protection as she does the eggs laid in open
-nests.
-
-“To name the injurious insects, moths, and caterpillars our little Downy
-eats would require a long list, but, as he is a lover of orchards in
-spring and summer, we may mention the apple-tree borer as one against
-whom he wages war, and here, by his delicate sense of touch, he locates
-the larvæ of the codling-moth. ‘Every stroke with which he knocks at the
-door of an insect’s retreat sounds the crack of doom. He pierces the
-bark with his beak, then with his barbed tongue drags forth an insect,
-and moves on to tap a last summons on the door of the next in line.’
-
-“Boring beetles, bark beetles, weevils, caterpillars, ants, and
-plant-lice, the imagoes of night-moths, as well as the eggs of many
-insects, are also on his bill of fare. Sometimes he has been accused of
-boring holes for sap-sucking, but this is disproven; where a hole exists
-it is because insect prey, in one of its many forms, hide beneath.
-
-“Fortunately, we have many families of the little Downy in the old
-orchard, and the fact that they are good patrons of Goldilocks’
-lunch-counter does not seem to make them relax their vigilance about the
-apple trees, so that I wonder if it may not be their care, together with
-the other tree-trunk birds, to which we owe the keeping of the trees,
-during the ten long years they have been neglected by man. For, though
-the trees in Birdland are old, gnarled, and vine-draped, yet they are
-neither worm-eaten nor unsightly, but merely picturesque, and from the
-birds’ point of view cosy and homelike.
-
-“Now, boys, back into the workroom, and if any one of you has not made a
-house for a tree-trunk bird, I am sure that he will begin one to-day.”
-
------
-
-[2] These fine charts may be purchased from the Audubon Society, State
-of Massachusetts.
-
-
-
-
-                                  XIV
-                             FOUR NOTABLES
-
-
-              _Grouse, Quail, Woodcock, and the Wood Duck_
-
-The Saturday before Thanksgiving Tommy Todd came trudging up the road
-toward “the General’s,” with an extremely contented expression on a face
-that was usually more than cheerful, while he kept turning his head to
-admire something that he carried in his right hand, twisting and
-swinging it as he walked. The something was a beautiful male Ruffed
-Grouse, or Partridge, as it is commonly called, in all the bravery of
-its glossy neck-ruff and tail that when spread looks like that of a
-miniature Wild Turkey.
-
-Together with the Grouse was a pair of Quail in rich, brown autumn coats
-and snowy throats that excel those of the White-throated Sparrow itself.
-Tommy’s father and his elder brother Joe, the Fair Meadows blacksmith,
-had taken two “days off,” and gone a-hunting up to the upland
-brush-country beyond the river woods, and these birds, a part of the
-result, were a gift for Gray Lady and Goldilocks. Not only were the
-birds in fine condition, but they were nicely tied together with some
-sprays of trailing ground-pine and a little tuft of pungent wintergreen
-with its coral berries.
-
-Gray Lady took the birds, and as she thanked Tommy for them, glanced
-toward Goldilocks, who sat in the library window watching for the
-children to come. When the young girl saw the birds, she gave an
-exclamation, half of pleasure at their plumage, half of sorrow that they
-were dead, for to keep everything alive and as happy as possible was her
-inherent nature. But she knew that these were game- or “chicken-birds,”
-as she had once called them when a mere baby, whose fate was to be
-eaten, and that Tommy’s father had only followed a legitimate desire for
-outdoor life and its sports when he had tramped more than thirty miles
-for the hunting. So she merely said, as she smoothed the beautifully
-shaded feathers, “I wish the Kind Hearts’ Club could do something to
-make game-birds have a _very_ comfortable, good time, the part of the
-year when they are not hunted; do you think we could, mother? For I
-don’t think that this shy kind of bird will come to the lunch-counter,
-and I’ve been wondering lately what they find to eat in such cold
-winters as the last. Miss Wilde has told me that for weeks last winter
-the snow was so deep that in going, from where she lived, a mile to
-school, she never even saw a fence top, so if game-birds ‘feed chiefly
-on the ground after the manner of barnyard fowls, roosting in low trees
-and bushes,’ as one of my books says, I do not see why they do not
-freeze and starve.”
-
-“That’s what Pop and Grand’ther and Joe were talking about last night,”
-said Tommy; “they said that they travelled over miles of stubble-fields
-and brush-lots where there used to be lots of birds, and now, in spite
-of the laws in our place that are down on pot-hunters and won’t let game
-be sold or carried away, and our having a keen county warden, the birds
-seem to be melting away just the same.”
-
-[Illustration: Dr. C. K. Hodge, Photo. RUFFED GROUSE]
-
-“What did your father think was the reason?” asked Gray Lady, for she
-remembered as a young girl that the General used to say, “Get a farmer
-interested in a subject enough to make him really think, and you cannot
-get better advice.”
-
-“Pop said all these new stiff-edged stone roads that are pushing out the
-dirt and grass lanes may be mighty fine for automobiles and all the
-other dust-raisers, but they’re poor trash for horses’ feet and
-game-birds, ’cause the brush along the old roads both sides of the
-fences made good cover and kept the snow, when it drifted, sort of
-loose, so that the birds could get in and out to look for food. But when
-everything is trimmed smooth, the snow lies flat and hard and crusty,
-and the birds can’t get under to grub for food, and if they’re under and
-it freezes on top of ’em, they can’t get out.
-
-“Grand’ther said that was so, but he reckoned there wasn’t so much for
-the game-birds to eat, anyhow, because folks that used to raise just so
-many acres of rye and wheat and oats and buckwheat had mostly given it
-up and put their land down to meadows for hay, because that is the only
-crop that there is a sure market for everywhere. Then Grand’ther said
-that, between freezing and starving, and what was left being shot down
-close, it’s a wonder there’s any Grouse left, or Bob-whites either.”
-
-“There, Goldilocks, you have your answer as to what the Kind Hearts’
-Club can do to make these food-birds comfortable during the ten months
-of the year (in this state, Connecticut), when they may roam without
-fear of hunting by honest sportsmen. The dishonest hunters and
-pot-hunters, who do not care for law and order, we must watch and bring
-to justice, just as we do any other class of criminals.
-
-“Some very good people are extremely careless about this, and would
-arrest a hungry man for stealing a bottle of milk from a doorstep, and
-yet even buy game from poachers whom they knew had taken it against the
-law; doing this is a far more serious offence, for one of our Wise Men
-has said that wild birds are not the property of the individual, but of
-the Commonwealth.”
-
-“I wish these birds need never be shot; don’t you?” said Sarah Barnes.
-“They are much prettier than some song-birds, and I’m sure that
-Bob-white’s call is just as pleasant to hear as a song.”
-
-“Yes, Sarah, I should like to protect the game-birds also, unless in
-cases where people, living away from places where other food can be had,
-are really hungry. But there are two sides to this question, and the
-Kind Hearts’ Club must always try to look at both, so as to be sure that
-in being just to one, the other may not be misjudged. All over the
-country there are hundreds of men who, for nearly all the year, are tied
-to desks in offices, and their heads are weary and their bodies cramped.
-The love of hunting is born in man, probably an inheritance from his
-ancestors, who hunted for their living, just as the bird inherits the
-instincts of migration from its parents and performs the journeys even
-when there is no need.
-
-“This love of hunting leads the men out into the woods for a few weeks,
-or even days, each year, and, besides the hunting, they meet Nature face
-to face, and, whether they know it or not, come back better able to take
-up the work of life, which is a harder struggle as the world gets older
-and older.
-
-[Illustration: Dr. C. K. Hodge, Photo. JUST OUT
-(Chicks of Domesticated Ruffed Grouse)]
-
-“Some people may not agree with me, but I had a good warm-hearted
-father, who gave his life in the cause of humanity; yet he loved fair
-hunting, and Goldilocks’ father did, also. So I think that the Kind
-Hearts’ Club will not only be doing the game-bird a service, but man
-also, if it can make and carry out a plan to feed and shelter these
-birds, even in the space of Fair Meadows township.
-
-“I have been talking this over with some men who know the haunts of
-these birds, and next month, if the big boys join us, I will tell you my
-plan; for it will need sturdy fellows to carry it out, though you can
-all help.”
-
-“Where do the Grouse nest, in bushes or on the ground?” asked Dave;
-“I’ve never seen one, though I’ve found a Woodcock’s nest, and touched
-the bird on it, she was so tame.”
-
-“They make their nest on the ground, Dave,” said Gray Lady; “not much of
-a nest, merely a few leaves scratched together in a tree hollow. Now we
-have these real birds here (for later I know that Tommy will let me
-share them with Miss Wilde’s mother, who has been so ill, and her
-appetite needs tempting), let us spend the morning with the game-birds;
-Dave shall tell us of his Woodcock’s nest, and I have many little bits
-in the scrap-book about the others, besides remembrances of my own.
-
-“Children, can you realize that when I was a girl of twelve, I could
-stand of a May morn, by the old orchard bars, where the Birdland gate is
-now, and hear twenty or thirty Bob-whites calling all the way across the
-fields and brush-lots, until the Ridge shut off the sound?
-
-
-                               BOB-WHITE
-
-    “I own the country hereabout,” says Bob-white;
-    “At early morn I gayly shout, ‘I’m Bob-white!’
-    From stubble-field and stake-rail fence
-    You hear me call without offence,
-    ‘I’m Bob-white! Bob-white!’
-    Sometimes I think I’ll nevermore say Bob-white;
-    It often gives me quite away, does Bob-white;
-    And mate and I, and our young brood,
-    When separate, wandering through the wood,
-    Are killed by sportsmen I invite
-    By my clear voice—‘Bob-white! Bob-white!’
-    Still, don’t you find I’m out of sight
-    While I am saying ‘Bob-white, Bob-white’?”
-
-    —Charles C. Marble.
-
-“They rested in the orchard bushes and the edge of brush-lots, so that I
-was as sure of seeing broods of little Quail as of our own little
-barnyard chicks. In the autumn they seemed to know about the hunting as
-soon as a gun was fired in the distance; then they grew shy, but by
-Christmas the survivors, and they were many, would come about the
-hay-barns for food as familiarly as the tree-trunk birds come to the
-lunch-counter, and I have seen them eating cracked corn with the fowls
-in the barnyard.
-
-[Illustration: Dr. C. K. Hodge, Photo. DOMESTICATED BOB-WHITE CALLING]
-
-“Not only is Bob-white a beautiful object in the landscape, when he sits
-on a fence top overlooking the fields, but his voice is a delight to the
-ear, when he either tells his own name, or gives the beseeching ‘covey
-call,’ in autumn, to gather his scattered flock for the night. Then, on
-the more useful or material side of the question, not only is his flesh
-good for food, but, all through the year, he is one of the farmer’s good
-friends, gleaning, day in and day out, besides the waste grain that he
-loves, weed seeds, harmful beetles, such as the cucumber beetle, potato
-and squash bugs, leaf beetles, the dreaded weevils, and the click
-beetles, that are wire worms in a further stage of their development.
-
-“Ah me, but poor Bob-white, as he calls himself (bringing out the words
-with peculiar jerks of the head), works for his living, and when you
-think of the dangers he braves from foxes and snakes, rats and weasels,
-birds of prey with wings, and the two-legged birds of prey,—the
-poachers,—does it not seem that where his tribe is growing swiftly
-less, he should not only be fed and sheltered, but, for a term of years,
-there should be no open season, until this fertile and vigorous bird
-should again increase and be able to hold its own against even fair
-hunting? If the Quail needs this protection, doubly so does the Ruffed
-Grouse, who is larger and can with greater difficulty conceal himself.
-
-
-                               PARTRIDGES
-                            (Ruffed Grouse)
-
-    Under the alders, along the brooks,
-    Under the hemlocks, along the hill,
-    Spreading their plumage with furtive looks,
-    Daintily pecking the leaves at will;
-    Whir! and they float from the startled sight—
-    And the forest is silent, the air is still.
-
-    Crushing the leaves ’neath our careless feet,
-    Snapping the twigs with a heavy tread,
-    Dreamy October is late and sweet,
-    And stooping we gather a blossom dead;
-    Boom! and our heart has a thunderous beat
-    As the gray apparition flits overhead.
-
-    —Alonzo Teall Worden.
-
-“I will read you his story, written by a Wise Man of Massachusetts who
-knows the game-birds from all sides.”
-
-    “The Ruffed Grouse, the ‘King of American game-birds,’ was
-    abundant in all our woods, and was often seen in fields and
-    orchards, until its numbers were decimated by the gunner and the
-    survivors driven to the cover of the pines. The characteristic
-    startling roar of its wings, with which it starts away when
-    flushed from the ground, and its habit of drumming on a log,
-    have been often described. The speed with which the wings are
-    beaten in drumming makes it impossible for the human eye to
-    follow them and make sure whether they strike anything or not.
-    Naturalists, after long discussion, had come to believe that the
-    so-called ‘drumming,’ of the Ruffed Grouse was caused by the
-    bird beating the air with its wings, as described by Mr. William
-    Brewster; but now comes Dr. C. F. Hodge and reopens the
-    controversy by exhibiting a series of photographs, which seem to
-    show that the bird, in drumming, strikes the contour feathers of
-    the body. Strange as it may seem, there are many people who
-    often take outings in the country, yet have never heard the
-    drumming of this bird. This tattoo is most common in late winter
-    and early spring, but may be heard occasionally in summer and
-    not uncommonly in fall. While sounded oftenest during the day,
-    it may fall on the ear at any hour of the night. In making it,
-    the bird usually stands very erect on a hollow log or stump,
-    with head held high and ruffs erected and spread, and, raising
-    its wings, strikes downward and forward. The sound produced is a
-    muffled boom or thump. It begins with a few slow beats, growing
-    gradually quicker, and ends in a rolling, accelerated tattoo. It
-    has a ventriloquial property. Sometimes, when one is very close
-    to the bird, the drumming seems almost soundless; at other times
-    it sounds much louder at a distance, as if, through some
-    principle of acoustics, it were most distinctly audible at a
-    certain radius from the bird. It is the bird’s best expression
-    of its abounding vigour and virility, and signifies that the
-    drummer is ready for love or war.
-
-    “The female alone understands the task of incubation and the
-    care of the young. Once, however, when I came upon a young
-    brood, the agonized cry of the distressed mother attracted a
-    fine cock bird. He raised all his feathers and, with ruffs and
-    tail spread, strutted up to within a rod of my position,
-    seemingly almost as much concerned as the female, but not coming
-    quite so near. The hen sometimes struts forward toward the
-    intruder in a similar manner, when surprised while with her
-    young. She can raise her ruffs and strut exactly like the cock.
-
-    “The Grouse has so many enemies that it seems remarkable how it
-    can escape them, nesting as it does on the ground. Instances are
-    on record, however, where birds, that probably have been much
-    persecuted, have learned to deposit their eggs in old nests of
-    Hawks or Crows, in tall trees. Whenever the mother bird leaves
-    the nest, the eggs are easily seen, and, while she sits, it
-    would seem impossible for her whereabouts to remain a secret to
-    the keen-scented prowlers of the woods. But her colours blend so
-    perfectly with those of the dead leaves on the forest floor, and
-    she sits so closely, and remains so motionless among the
-    shadows, that she escapes the sharp-eyed Hawk. She gives out so
-    little scent that the dog, skunk, or fox passes quite near,
-    unnoticing.
-
-    “The Grouse does not naturally fear man; more than once, in the
-    wilderness of the northwest, a single bird has walked up to
-    within a few feet of me. They will sit on limbs just above one’s
-    head, almost within reach, and regard one curiously, but without
-    much alarm. Usually, in Massachusetts, when a human being comes
-    near the nest, the mother bird whirs loudly away. She has well
-    learned the fear of man; but, in a place where no shooting was
-    permitted, a large gang of men were cutting under-brush, while a
-    Partridge, sitting there, remained quietly on her nest as the
-    men worked noisily all about her. Another bird, that nested
-    beside a woods road, along which I walked daily, at first would
-    fly before I had come within a rod of her; but later she became
-    confiding enough to sit on her nest while six persons passed
-    close beside her. Evidently the bird’s facility in concealing
-    her nest consists in sitting close and keeping her eggs well
-    covered. Her apparent faith in her invisibility is overcome only
-    by her fear of man or her dread of the fox. When the fox is seen
-    approaching directly toward her, she bristles up and flies at
-    him, in the attempt to frighten him with the sudden roar of her
-    wings and the impetuosity of her attack; but Reynard, although
-    at first taken aback, cannot always be deceived by such tricks;
-    and the poor bird, in her anxiety to defend her nest, only
-    betrays its whereabouts. Probably, however, the fox rarely finds
-    her nest, unless he happens to blunder directly into it.
-
-[Illustration: Dr. C. K. Hodge, Photo. GROUSE, SHOWING RUFF AND TAIL]
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-    “During the fall the Grouse keep together in small flocks.
-    Sometimes a dozen birds may be found around some favourite
-    grape-vine or apple tree, but they are usually so harried and
-    scattered by gunners that toward winter the old birds may
-    sometimes be found alone.
-
-    “As winter approaches, this hardy bird puts on its ‘snow-shoes,’
-    which consist of a fringe of horny processes or pectinations
-    that grow out along each toe, and help to distribute the weight
-    of the bird over a larger surface, and so allow it to walk over
-    snows into which a bird not so provided would sink deeply. Its
-    digestion must resemble that of the famous Ostrich, as broken
-    twigs and dry leaves are ground up in its mill. It is a hard
-    winter that will starve the Grouse. A pair spent many winter
-    nights in a little cave in the rocky walls of an old quarry.
-    Sumacs grew there and many rank weeds. The birds lived well on
-    sumac berries, weed seeds, and buds.
-
-    “Sometimes, but perhaps rarely, these birds are imprisoned under
-    the snow by the icy crust which forms in cold weather following
-    a rain, but usually they are vigorous enough to find a way out,
-    somewhere. The Grouse is perfectly at home beneath the snow; it
-    will dive into it to escape a Hawk, and can move rapidly about
-    beneath the surface and burst out again in rapid flight at some
-    unexpected place.
-
-    “The Ruffed Grouse is a bird of the woodland, and though useful
-    in the woods, it sometimes does some injury in the orchard, by
-    removing too many buds from a single tree. In winter and early
-    spring, when other food is buried by the snow, and hard to
-    obtain, the Grouse lives largely on the buds and green twigs of
-    trees; but, as spring advances, insects form a considerable part
-    of the food. The young feed very largely on insects, including
-    many very destructive species.”
-
-           —E. H. Forbush, in _Useful Birds and Their Protection_.
-
-
-                           THE RUFFED GROUSE
-
-    When the pallid sun has vanished
-    Under Osceola’s ledges,
-    When the lengthening shadows mingle
-    In a sombre sea of twilight,
-    From the hemlocks in the hollow
-    Swift emerging comes the Partridge;
-    Not a sound betrays her starting,
-    Not a sound betrays her lighting
-    In the birches by the wayside,
-    In her favoured place for budding.
-    When the twilight turns to darkness,
-    When the fox’s bark is sounding,
-    From her buds the Partridge hastens,
-    Seeks the soft snow by the hazels,
-    Burrows in its sheltering masses,
-    Burrows where no Owl can find her.
-
-    —Frank Bolles.
-
-“You all know the path that runs by the grist-mill and up through the
-river woods. In spring, I could almost count upon seeing a Grouse or two
-when I took that walk, and very early, of September and October
-mornings, I have seen the Woodcock probing, with their long, sensitive,
-pointed bills, with which they can feel like fingers, in the muddy
-ground back of the river woods for the worms, and such like, upon which
-they feed. It was my father, himself, who took me one evening, even
-though it was bedtime, to these same woods to hear the Woodcock’s
-courting dance and song.”
-
-“I didn’t know any game-birds could sing,” said Tommy.
-
-“They are not classed with song-birds, and yet in courting time, most
-birds have some sort of musical speech in addition to their call-notes;
-you know that even Crows sometimes succeed in singing. But this
-love-song varies with the individual bird more than it does with the
-birds that are real vocalists.
-
-“The Woodcock feed chiefly at dawn and twilight, and it is easy to tell
-where they have been by the little holes in the mud left by the bill.
-This spring night father took me to the wood edge, and drew me to him,
-to keep me still while we waited—for what? I was soon to know.
-
-“Presently a half-musical cry came out of the gathering darkness, and
-was repeated and echoed by several others. Then a rush, as if a bird had
-flung himself into the air and opened his wings at the same time; next,
-a whirring sound as the bird circled skyward and vanished, his notes
-falling behind him, but before I realized what was going on, the bird
-dropped straight as a Hawk, balanced on his toes, gave a low, musical
-cry, and began again; for thus it is that the Woodcock tries to please
-and win his mate.
-
-
-                         THE WOODCOCK’S WOOING
-
-    Peent, -peent, -peent, -peent,
-      From the thick grass on the hill;
-    Peent, -peent, -peent, -peent,
-      At eve when the world is still.
-
-    Then a sudden whistle of whirring wings,—
-      A rush to the upper air,—
-    And a rain of maddening music falls
-      From the whole sky,—everywhere!
-
-    —Winifred Ballard Blake in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-“Dave, please tell us about the bird that you saw on the nest,” said
-Gray Lady, “and how you came to find it.”
-
-“Half a dozen of us went out to hunt for May-flowers (Trailing Arbutus)
-one Wednesday along the first part of April last year. Miss Wilde
-thought Zella had measles, and school was closed two days, but doctor
-found it was only a cold and eating too much sausage meat and sweet
-pickles, and so they broke out, and he gave her rhubarb.” (Dave, having
-been asked to tell all about it, was bound to omit no detail.)
-
-“The others of our crowd stayed along by the path that runs through the
-wood, where you saw the birds dance, because there are black snakes
-through the brush there that begin to crawl out to sun in April, and the
-girls were scared of them.
-
-“I went on ahead a little piece, and turned up a side hill where there
-was an old rail fence that divides our woods from the Cobbs’ piece.
-Right in front of me I found a bully patch of May-flowers, and I sat
-down and began cutting them with my knife (’cause they have wiry sort of
-stems) and made them in a nice even bunch, when something ahead sort of
-made me keep my eyes glued to it. It was under the slant of the lowest
-fence rail. I thought it was a striped snake curled up round, at first,
-because I felt eyes were looking at me, though it was too dark to see
-them, at first. Did you ever have that feeling, Gray Lady?”
-
-“Yes, I have had it, Dave, and I know what a strange sensation it is.
-The last time I had it I felt no better when I saw the eyes; in fact,
-little cold shivers went all over, for I was far away from here, and the
-eyes were those of a rattlesnake that was coiled up, amid the stones of
-a ledge, where I was gathering some rare wild flowers.”
-
-“Oh, what _did_ you do?” cried all the children, together.
-
-“I backed away as fast as I could, keeping my eyes upon the snake, until
-I was at a safe distance, where he could not spring at me, and then I
-very foolishly ran! What did you do, Dave?”
-
-“I crept up nearer until I got a good look, and then I saw that it was a
-bird. It was sitting ever so still, with its head well down on its
-shoulders and its long beak close to its breast. It had queer, big eyes
-set up on top of its head, and round like a frog’s, not like any other
-bird that I know of.”
-
-“The eyes of the Woodcock and its cousins, the Snipe, are set in this
-way, so that, when they are boring in the  mud for food, they can keep
-watch behind them as well as in front,” said Gray Lady.
-
-“First, I thought the bird was dead, it kept so still,” continued Dave,
-“but I could see its breast raised a little with its breathing.”
-
-“If it had been dead, its eyes would have been closed,” said Gray Lady.
-“It is one of the many mysterious and unaccountable facts about a bird,
-that it is the only animal that closes its own eyes when death touches
-it.”
-
-“It wasn’t afraid, so I thought that I would just smooth its feathers,”
-said Dave. “I did, and it didn’t fly, only just puffed up a little, so I
-thought I would lift it very carefully to see if there were any eggs
-under it, and there were four nice, sort of round, light, brown eggs,
-the colour that our Plymouth Rocks lay, only mottled. But the bird
-didn’t like to be lifted, and she sort of growled inside, the way a hen
-does, so I set her down and went away.”
-
-“That was a very pleasant experience of yours, Dave, and shows how tame
-game-birds will become if they are kindly treated. This Woodcock has an
-advantage over the Grouse and Bob-white, his cousin, because it travels
-South in winter and constantly shifts its feeding-places, but it suffers
-from other dangers: it is hunted in all the states through which it
-passes, and the eggs are large enough to be very attractive, not only to
-foxes and all the gnawing creatures of the woods, but to people as well.
-If that nest and eggs had been seen by one of those foreign-born
-poachers who come here thinking that everything they find out-of-doors,
-and they can pocket, belongs to them, the poor Woodcock would have lost
-her entire brood and perhaps her own life as well.
-
-[Illustration: E. Van Alterna, Photo. WOODCOCK ON NEST]
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-“These three land-birds, together with a number of wild ducks, that live
-some on fresh and some near salt water, travelling North and South
-according to season, are the legitimate game-birds of the country. Of
-the wild ducks, the most of these breed in the far North, and are hunted
-in their migrations. If this hunting is done fairly, as the law
-prescribes, and the birds are not chased and shot at from moving boats,
-or with repeating guns, or when startled from their sleep with flashing
-lights, they seem able to hold their own. Humanity, however, demands
-that they should not be hunted on their spring journeys on the way to
-their nesting-haunts and when they may have already chosen mates.
-
-“One Duck there is, however, of exquisite plumage, gentle disposition,
-and quiet, domestic habits, nesting about inland ponds and streams, in
-the inhabited parts of the United States, from Florida up to Hudson Bay,
-that is in danger of swift extinction if the protection given song-birds
-is not extended to it. This is the Wood Duck, called in Latin ‘_Aix
-Sponsa_’—‘Bridal Duck’—from the fact that the beauty of his plumage
-was fit for a bridal garment.
-
-“Look at that bird, mounted on a mossy stump, in that case by the
-window. When I was a girl, I have seen a half-dozen pairs in the pond
-above the grist-mill, and I knew as surely where I could always find a
-pair nesting as where I could find a Robin or Song Sparrow, but now it
-is fast becoming a bird of the past, only to be seen in pictures. Why is
-this? The reasons are many, and some, such as the settlement of the
-country, and the draining of ponds and waterways, and the cutting down
-of river brush, cannot be helped.
-
-“The Wood Duck nests in a tree hole, and, when the young are able to
-leave the nest, the parents hold them in their bills and carry them to
-the ground in somewhat the way in which cats remove their kittens from
-place to place. Consequently, if the lumber is cleared, and no suitable
-trees are left, what is this Duck to do? He cannot take to the chimneys
-as the Swifts have. Still, this Duck, whose beauty alone is a sufficient
-and patriotic reason for saving him to his country, might adapt his
-nesting to other conditions if it could be protected as the Grouse,
-Quail, and Woodcock are in New England, or, better yet, not be hunted in
-any way for a number of years, so that the Wood Ducks, wherever located,
-should have, a chance to increase once more and reëstablish themselves.
-
-[Illustration: National Association of Audubon Societies WOOD DUCK]
-
-                   Order—Anseres      Family—Anatidæ
-                     Genus—Aix      Species—Sponsa
-
-“For, when we come to look closely at the matter, there is really no
-fair hunting, for the killing inventions of man—the magazine guns,
-etc.,—are on the increase, while the power of poor game-birds to
-protect themselves lessens both on land and water. Think of it, in some
-states there are no laws to protect this bird, even in summer, and, as
-Wood Ducks are fond of their nesting-places, and are very unsuspicious
-birds, it often happens that an entire family is killed the moment the
-young are large enough to furnish the pitiful thing, in this case, that
-is called ‘sport.’
-
-“As it happens, the woods on this side of the river from above the pond
-to the sawmill belong to the General’s farm, and, Tommy and Dave, the
-water right on the other side belongs to your fathers.
-
-“Will you not ask them if they will help me to protect their birds, if I
-can get half a dozen pairs from one of the Wise Men who is trying to
-reëstablish them in their old haunts?
-
-“The Grouse and Quail are growing friendly again under protection, and I
-am in hopes that we may have a drummer, as well as a fifer and his
-family, in the orchard and near-by woods next spring.
-
-“There are many hollow willows near the upper pond like the ones in
-which the Wood Ducks used to nest. If these are left, the ducks will
-soon become attached to them, and, if they escape peril elsewhere, for
-this Duck’s greatest danger is in the vicinity of home, then we shall
-all have a chance, possibly, some day to see a sight that ever the Wise
-Men argue about,—the parent Duck bringing her young from the tree hole
-to take their first swim!”
-
-The boys promised to ask the question, and Tommy reported at the
-schoolhouse, the next Friday, that “grandpa thinks it would be just
-bully to have Wood Ducks again, and he’ll sit round the pond, with a
-shot-gun, all he’s able, to keep folks away. He says he’s seen the old
-ones yank the young, one by one, right out of the nest by the wing, and
-set ’em on the ground, and when they were all down, lead ’em to the
-water. And once, when the tree was close over the pond, the old bird
-flew down and set ’em right on the water. He says weasels and water-rats
-and snakes and snapping-turtles help kill off the ducklings, because
-until they get big enough to fly they’ve got no way of lighting-out.”
-All of which goes to prove that Tommy Todd had inherited some of his
-keenness of eye in “watching out” for the doings of wild things.
-
-“There are others that are classed with game-birds that will surely
-everywhere be stricken from the list some day, and put with those birds
-that we wish to cherish at all seasons, and for whom there should be no
-hunting, either fair or foul.
-
-“These birds, even though a couple of them are cousins to the Woodcock,
-are so small of body (their long wing in flight giving a deceptive idea
-of their size) that their flesh is of no account, save to either the
-starving, who are bound by no laws, or the glutton seeking for an
-article of food to whet a jaded palate, like the old emperors of Rome
-who ate nightingale’s tongues, forsooth! We do not wish to breed or
-encourage such barbarians in our America. At the same time, these birds
-have great value in their insect-eating capacity.”
-
-“Pop says they always used to shoot Meadowlarks when he was a boy, and
-up to not very long ago,” said Tommy, “and Yellowhammers and Pigeons and
-Doves and Robins, too, but now nobody dares, except on the sly. Anyway,
-the Wild Pigeons grandfather tells of are all gone, and I’ve only seen a
-couple of Doves this year.”
-
-“The birds you speak of are now protected by law, here in Connecticut,”
-said Gray Lady, “though in some states they are not, but the game-birds
-I mean are the little Killdeer Plover, and the Upland and other small
-Plovers, together with the Sandpipers, both of fresh and salt water.”
-
-
-
-
-                                   XV
-                              GAME-BIRDS?
-
-
-  _The plea of the Meadowlark, Mourning Dove, Sandpiper, Plovers, and
-                       Bobolink, the Masquerader_
-
-             “Spare us, please! We are too small for food.”
-
-“You, children, who live with green fields about you, all know the
-Meadowlark by sight and sound, even if you never have had the curiosity
-to learn its name. It is the bird seen walking in old fields and
-lowlands. In size it is a little larger than a Robin, with a rather flat
-head and long, stout bill, its back speckled and streaked with brown and
-black, and a beautiful yellow throat and breast crossed by a crescent of
-black. When the bird is on the ground, if you came behind it, at a
-distance, you might think it a Flicker, but the moment it takes to the
-air with a whirring flight, the white feathers at the outside of the
-tail show plainly, and name it Meadowlark, just as the white rump names
-the Flicker.
-
-“Then, you know its voice, that sometimes drops from a tree, sometimes
-rises from the grass, that Mr. Burroughs says calls, ‘Spring o’ the
-year—Spring o’ the year.’ The notes are clear as a flute, and,
-beautiful as our Meadowlark’s song is, that of his brother, the Prairie
-Lark, is still more melodious, and I shall never forget the first spring
-morning that I heard it from the border of one of those endless
-grain-fields that roll on to meet the sky like a glistening green sea
-with its waters stirred by the breeze.
-
-“The Meadowlark is certainly a thing of beauty, but, at the same time,
-its greater service to man is its usefulness; not as a bit of meat, no
-matter how plump it may grow, but as the untiring guardian of the
-fields, where it spends its life and makes its nest home in a grass
-tussock. For this bird, of the eastern United States, is with us here in
-Southern New England, and southward, all the year, and those flocks that
-migrate do not leave until late fall, and are back again by the middle
-of March, while the Prairie Lark covers the western part of the country,
-as permanent warden of the meadow and hayfields. All the year they keep
-at work; from March to December insect food is the chief part of the
-diet; insects that are the farmer’s bane,—grasshoppers, cutworms,
-sow-bugs, ticks, weevils, plant-lice, and the click-beetle (the grown-up
-wire worm) being but a few of them. The remaining months, December,
-January, and February, insects failing, waste grain is eaten, and weed
-seeds, as pigeon grass, rag and smart weed, and black mustard.
-
-[Illustration: MEADOWLARK]
-
-“Happily for us, this beautiful bird is protected in all the New England
-and Middle States, but, if we have friends who live in Florida, North
-Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee, Missouri and Idaho,
-where the Larks are only considered as food, let us beg them to tell
-every one of this and the Prairie Lark’s merits, so that they may be
-placed on the list of the protected. And when you hear any one say that
-the Meadowlark is by rights a game-bird, say as politely as may be, but
-very firmly, ‘No; it is _not_! At least, not in staunch, common-sensed
-New England!’
-
-
-                          _The Mourning Dove_
-
-“Soft of plumage, gentle, and almost sad of voice is the Mourning Dove,
-the grayish brown bird with metallic lustres, whose name is taken from
-its plaintive accents. Its comings and goings are silent, and, in spite
-of its size, for it is as large as the Meadowlark, if it was not for its
-cooing, heard early in the morning, we should seldom know of its
-presence, for its flight is noiseless, and it chooses trees in secluded
-places for the little loose bunch of sticks that forms its nest.
-
-“Formerly, this Dove, together with its cousin, the Passenger Pigeon,
-were everywhere to be found, while the Passenger Pigeon, a bird of fine
-flesh, was so plentiful as to be almost a staple article of food, and
-wagons loaded with birds were peddled through city streets. With the
-wastefulness of a people coming to a new and liberal country, the birds
-were often shot down in their roosts, from pure wantonness, and left to
-decay upon the ground, so that now the Passenger Pigeon and the wild
-buffalo have gone to the happy animal-country, where there is no
-hunting, together,—two valuable animals practically extinct,—and North
-America is the poorer for its thoughtlessness.
-
-“With this warning before us, the Kind Hearts’, of which there are
-plenty everywhere, whether they are banded into clubs or not, should
-strive to have this gentle, harmless life protected.
-
-“‘Why?’ says the farmer, in the states that refuse protection. ‘Maybe it
-doesn’t do any harm, but what good can it do that can make up to me for
-not eating it?’ To such a man say this: The Mourning Dove is a consumer
-of evil weeds, and its presence in flocks will lessen his labour and
-give his hoe arm a rest; that the crop of a dove, examined by the
-Department of Agriculture in Washington, was found to hold 9200 seeds of
-noxious weeds! _Not to have these weeds grow_ would give the farmer, or
-his boy, time for a half holiday, wherein to go clamming or berry
-picking!
-
-[Illustration: MOURNING DOVES]
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-“Now we have some little birds whose names are still on the list of
-food- or game-birds, and I should like to see them wiped from it
-forever, or, at least, until they are once more plentiful in their
-haunts. These are the two cousins of the Woodcock,—Sandpipers, the
-Spotted and the Least, and two Plovers, also water-loving birds, the
-Killdeer and the Upland Plover.
-
-“Most of you children, at some part of the season, go down to the shore
-of the bay yonder, perhaps it may be when your fathers gather seaweed in
-the spring and fall, in late summer for the snapper fishing, or all
-through the autumn and early winter for long-necked clams. Some of you,
-I know, like Tommy and Dave, have camped out there for several weeks.
-Have you not noticed the little prints of birds’ feet just above the
-edge of tide-water? Or have you not seen the little birds themselves, no
-bigger than Sparrows, with streaked, brown-gray backs and soft white
-feathers underneath, running to and fro, balancing when they feed, as if
-making a courtesy, all the while whispering softly among themselves?
-
-“Or, again, others slightly larger, with ash and brown backs, and
-underparts spotted with round, black marks like a thrush, white spotted
-wings, and the outer tail-feathers white barred, showing in flight?
-
-“These two gracious, confiding little birds are the Least and the
-Spotted Sandpiper. Their small size should keep them off the food list,
-for what are their dead bodies but a single mouthful? And what are they
-alive? Things of joy and mystery combined. For what is a more perfect
-picture of grace and happiness than these birds with a background of
-sand, seaweed, and shells, and all the sparkling water before?
-
-“Of a gray day, their pleasant prattle is shut down by the fog, and
-sounds strange and mysterious, and when they spread their pointed wings,
-and vanish into the mist, that seems to pick them up as it rolls in, the
-picture is complete.
-
-“The Least Sandpiper, the smallest of his tribe, is found in greater
-numbers on our beach than the Spotted. He comes to us in the migrations,
-as he nests only in the far North. I can remember, when as a girl I was
-fond of swiming in the bay until late in autumn, that a flock of these
-little birds flew over me so close that I could feel the beating of
-their wings. His use is to give interest to the landscape, and his plea
-for life his harmless littleness, his confidence, and his obedience in
-filling the place in nature which the great Plan has given him. Perhaps
-you may have heard the poem that he inspired in the heart of one woman,
-who lived on a sea-girt island, and, oftentimes, had only the birds for
-company; even if you have heard it, the verses are among those of which
-we never tire.
-
-
-                             THE SANDPIPER
-
-    Across the narrow beach we flit,
-    One little Sandpiper and I;
-    And fast I gather, bit by bit,
-    The scattered driftwood, bleached and dry.
-    The wild waves reach their hands for it,
-    The wild wind raves, the tide runs high,
-    As up and down the beach we flit,—
-    One little Sandpiper and I.
-
-    Above our heads the sullen clouds
-    Scud black and swift across the sky;
-    Like silent ghosts in misty shrouds
-    Stand out the white lighthouses high.
-    Almost as far as eye can reach
-    I see the close-reefed vessels fly,
-    As fast we flit along the beach,—
-    One little Sandpiper and I.
-
-    I watch him as he skims along,
-    Uttering his sweet and mournful cry;
-    He starts not at my fitful song,
-    Or flash of fluttering drapery.
-    He has no thought of any wrong;
-    He scans me with a fearless eye.
-    Staunch friends are we, well tried and strong,
-    The little Sandpiper and I.
-
-    Comrade, where wilt thou be to-night,
-    When the loosed storm breaks furiously?
-    My driftwood fire will burn so bright!
-    To what warm shelter canst thou fly?
-    I do not fear for thee, though wroth
-    The tempest rushes through the sky;
-    For are we not God’s children both,
-    Thou, little Sandpiper, and I?
-
-    —Celia Thaxter.
-
-[Illustration: SPOTTED SANDPIPER]
-
-[Illustration: LEAST SANDPIPER]
-
-“The spotted Sandpiper, in my girlhood, was here, with us, a familiar
-bird of moist meadows and pond edges, and every season I used to see
-them stepping about the stones in the little brook that flows through
-the river woods, across the meadow above the orchard. They frequently
-nested there, also, and I have often seen the buff, chocolate, spotted
-eggs. I have seen the birds wading in the stream quite up to their
-bodies, sometimes dragging their legs after them as children do in play;
-they can also swim, when they wish to cross a stream without taking to
-wing, and it is said, when hard pressed or wounded, can dive deep and
-swim, or rather, fly under water very swiftly, for they use the wings as
-the Loon does. Teeter and Tip-up are two of its common names, because it
-seems to be always balancing in order not to tumble over. If you startle
-it, it gives a frightened cry like ‘peet-weet-weet,’ as it rises, but
-soon drops again.
-
-“This bird has a list of good deeds as an insect eater to plead for its
-removal from the list of game-birds. Birds consume the most insects in
-the nesting season when the quick-growing young require constant
-feeding, and, as it breeds all over North America as far as Hudson Bay,
-you can see that the Spotted Sandpiper’s field of usefulness is very
-wide, and wherever he goes, following the sun as he does throughout the
-seasons, his value, aside from his dainty beauty, does not lie in the
-morsel of food he would make for those short sighted enough to shoot
-him, but in the insects of all sorts, including grasshoppers and
-locusts, he kills in the simple process of getting a living.
-
-“Another bird of the moist meadows of rivers and salt creeks is the
-Killdeer or Little Ring-necked Plover. It is about the size of the
-Spotted Sandpiper, equally beautiful, and with a certain dignity all its
-own. We always used to have them in the river meadows, but, since my
-return this year, I have not seen a single one.
-
-“I have found the curious, creamy, pear-shaped eggs, with brown spots,
-in a grassy hollow, with no other bed than the turf itself. Strange eggs
-they are, seemingly so much too large for their owners, and an
-apparently careless arrangement to leave them with no protecting nest.
-But the shape of the egg prevents accident, for, if disturbed, they
-simply turn round and round on the pointed end, but do not roll away.
-
-[Illustration: National Association of Audubon Societies KILLDEER]
-
-                 Order—Limicolæ      Family—Charadriidæ
-                 Genus—Ægialitis      Species—Vocifera
-
-“The young chicks are the prettiest little creatures; even when first
-hatched, they are well covered with down, and have strong, useful legs,
-with which they can follow their parents all day long until their
-pinions have developed to let them fly. It is a peculiarity of the
-game-bird that, like our domestic poultry, the chick comes from the egg
-open-eyed, well covered, and able, in a measure, to care for itself from
-the moment that it is hatched. The song-birds, birds of prey, and others
-are hatched blind and naked, and require several weeks’ time before they
-are fit for independent life.
-
-“No prettier scene of young bird-life can be drawn than that of Mother
-Killdeer, walking through the dewy meadows, with stately gait, followed
-by her four chicks, now brooding them with a warning cry, if the shadow
-of a hawk appears; now turning over leaves and bits of dead wood in
-search of their insect food. When danger is near, the young squat, and
-the blending of their colours with those of the ground gives them the
-benefit of what is known as ‘colour protection,’ a wise plan of Heart of
-Nature for the benefit of the weaker species. If threatened danger does
-not pass by, then the old birds become aggressive, and sometimes fly at
-the intruder, be he man or animal. The peculiar call of the bird,
-‘Killdee-Killde-e-e-Killdeer,’ has given it its name, though it has
-several other cries when brooding and protecting its young.
-
-“The desire to protect this charming bird, that the National Association
-of the Audubon Societies is endeavouring to have made a law, state by
-state, is, after all, nothing new. Listen to what Audubon himself wrote
-about the Killdeer, beginning with the nesting time: ‘At this period the
-parents, who sit alternately on the eggs, never leaving them to the heat
-of the sun, are extremely clamorous at the sight of an enemy. The female
-droops her wings, emits her plaintive notes, and endeavours, by every
-means she can devise, to draw you from her nest or young. The male
-dashes over you in the air and vociferates all the remonstrances of an
-angry parent whose family is endangered. If you cannot find pity for the
-poor birds at such a time, you may take up their eggs and see their
-distress, but if you be at all so tender hearted as I would wish you to
-be, it will be quite unnecessary for me to recommend mercy.’
-
-“So, children of the Kind Hearts’ Club, ask all those you meet to help
-put the little Killdeer upon the protected list; say that it is too
-small to be counted as food, and, in addition, whisper to every farmer
-you meet (and farmers north, south, east, and west should be interested,
-for the bird inhabits the whole of temperate North America), ‘The
-Killdeer is an insect eater, taking grasshoppers, crickets, beetles,
-boll weevils, and the dreaded Rocky Mountain locust.’ If this is not
-enough, add that the Kind Hearts wish to protect all these gentle little
-birds, that are out of place on the list of food-birds, and we all know
-that when a kind heart _wishes_ to do a thing, it usually finds the
-way!”
-
-“Somebody told Dad at the last Farmers’ Institute that the Reed birds,
-that the big boys go gunning for down in the marsh meadows along in
-August, are changed Bobolinks,” said Tommy, “and that we mustn’t shoot
-them any more, because Bobolinks are singing-birds, and I just guess
-they are. My! can’t they sing, and fly right up at the same time, as if
-going so fast shook the song out of them, and they couldn’t help it!”
-
-Gray Lady laughed at Tommy’s description, which was certainly very true,
-and expressed in vigorous boy language.
-
-“Yes, Tommy, the black-white-and-buff Bobolink of May, after the
-midsummer moult, becomes a dull, brown-striped bird like his wife, and,
-shedding his lovely voice and glowing feathers together, he keeps only a
-call note. In this masquerade he leads a double, and somewhat vagabond,
-life, travelling by slow degrees toward his winter home and then back
-again in the spring, all the while eating many things which the owners
-do not wish him to have, one being rice,—rice in the ear and the
-sprouting rice in spring.
-
-“Let others do as they must, but we, who have no rice to be hurt, insist
-that this bit of ardent, flying melody shall receive the treatment that
-his music deserves, and be taken forever off the list of semigame-birds.
-What if this singer of the opera does choose to don a sober travelling
-cloak and journey silently? The musician is only waiting for the pink
-blossoms to come on the apple trees, and the grass to grow long enough
-to sway to the wind, to again let his music float from the one and give
-his nest to the care of the other, where no human eye, at least, may spy
-it. If we destroy Robert of Lincoln, called Bobolink for short, we kill
-not one but many qualities and songs. Did you never hear the rhyme of
-his merry family?”
-
-
-                          THE O’LINCOLN FAMILY
-
-    A flock of merry singing-birds were sporting in a grove;
-    Some were warbling cheerily and some were making love.
-    There were Bobolincon, Wadolincon, Winterseeble, Conquedle,—
-    A livelier set were never led by tabor, pipe, or fiddle:—
-    Crying “Whew, shew, Wadolincon; see, see, Bobolincon
-    Down among the tickle tops, hiding in the buttercups;
-    I know the saucy chap; I see his shining cap
-    Bobbing there in the clover,—see, see, see!”
-
-    Up flies Bobolincon perching on an apple tree;
-    Startled by his rival’s song, quickened by his raillery.
-    Soon he spies the rogue afloat, curvetting in the air,
-    And merrily he turns about and warns him to beware!
-    “’Tis you that would a-wooing go, down among the rushes O!
-    Wait a week, till flowers are cheery; wait a week ere you marry,
-    Be sure of a house wherein to tarry;
-    Wadolink, Whiskodink, Tom Denny, wait, wait, wait!”
-
-    Every one’s a funny fellow; every one’s a little mellow;
-    Follow, follow, follow, follow, o’er the hill and in the hollow.
-    Merrily, merrily, there they hie; now they rise and now they fly;
-    They cross and turn, and in and out, down the middle, and wheel about,
-    With a “Phew, shew, Wadolincon; listen to me, Bobolincon!
-    Happy’s the wooing that’s speedily doing, that’s speedily doing,
-    That’s merry and over with the bloom of the clover;
-    Bobolincon, Wadolincon, Winterseeble, follow, follow me!”
-
-    O what a happy life they lead, over hill and in the mead!
-    How they sing and how they play! See, that fly away, away!
-    Now they gambol o’er the clearing—off again, and then appearing;
-    Poised aloft on quivering wing, now they soar and now they sing,
-    “We must all be merry and moving, we all must be happy and loving;
-    For when the midsummer has come and the grain has ripened its ear,
-    The haymakers scatter our young and we mourn for the rest of the year;
-    Then, Bobolincon, Wadolincon, Winterseeble, haste, haste away!”
-
-    —Wilson Flagg, in _Birds and Seasons in New England_.
-
-
-
-
-                                  XVI
-                      TREASURE-TROVE AT THE SHORE
-
-
-                     _The Herring or Harbour Gull_
-
-The autumn had been clear and fine, and the hillside farmers of Fair
-Meadows township had their out-of-door work well in hand by
-Thanksgiving. The fall-sown rye was well up, and the fields that were to
-lie fallow and be sweetened by the frost were ploughed and in good
-shape. Ice-cutting, on the chain of large ponds that lay in the valley
-between the hills north of the river woods, was an important industry of
-the region, so that every one was anxious to have the ice form clear and
-firm before snowfall. As yet, however, there had been no signs of
-either, except the thin ice with which Black Frost always covers the
-roof, gutters, water-pails, and shallow pools when he prowls round in
-the early morning, as if merely to let the good folks know of his
-presence, and to prepare them for his gentler mediating brother, Snow.
-
-The day after Thanksgiving the wind began to blow, not in mere passing
-gusts, but steadily and systematically. Then, too, it came from a
-strange quarter for that season—the extreme southeast. This was the
-wind to drive the sea into the bay and force the water high on shore.
-Such winds, at this season, piled the elastic brown seaweed in long
-lines high above tide-water, and many a farmer, and market-gardener, as
-he ate his supper, laid plans to drive down to the beach next morning,
-with a double team, and secure a full load of the weed for covering his
-strawberry or asparagus beds.
-
-Before morning, however, a driving rain set in that lasted for two days
-and kept everybody house-bound. The roadways ran water like rivers, and,
-by the time the storm lessened at sunset Sunday evening, there was
-barely a leaf left on the apple trees of the Birdland orchard, and
-Goldilocks was well-nigh heartbroken over the state of the
-lunch-counter, for, in spite of the protecting roof, the broken biscuits
-turned to paste, the suet hung in rags, and as for the kernels of
-cracked corn and the buckwheat, they had swelled as if they thought it
-was a spring rain and it was their duty to grow. So that Goldilocks was
-worried lest some Juncos and Goldfinches that made a hearty meal upon
-the grains, in spite of the rain, should suffer from a fit of
-indigestion.
-
-Early Monday morning, when he returned to milk, the hired man at Tommy
-Todd’s, who had been spending the night with his brother at one of the
-little huts four miles below on the shore road, brought word that the
-great storm had, as he expressed it, “heaved” the deep-water oyster-beds
-that extended out through the bay and that in addition to the seaweed,
-the beach was completely covered with fine large oysters, bushels and
-bushels of them.
-
-How the news spread, nobody knew, but by half-past eight every available
-team within a mile of Foxes Corners school was “hooked up” and entire
-families were hurrying toward the beach in every sort of vehicle, to
-gather up this unexpected treasure-trove of the sea.
-
-The parents seemed to have entirely forgotten that school began at nine,
-and it was not to be expected that the children should remind them. And,
-truth be told, when Jared Barnes gathered his flock, grandma included,
-into the hay wagon, Sarah and Ruth, conscientious as they usually were
-about their lessons, entirely forgot the day of the week, so eager were
-they for the fray; for the prospect, not only of oysters to roast and
-stew, but of oysters to pickle and keep, was too great a temptation to
-resist.
-
-Miss Wilde, who arrived at the schoolhouse rather earlier than usual,
-found the door locked, and no fire in the stove. It was Dave’s week to
-tend the fire, and, as Miss Wilde stood in the open doorway pondering on
-the matter, one of the most exacting of the school committee men came
-bumping along in a lumber cart. Pulling up his horses so suddenly that a
-neighbour who was with him tipped backward off the seat, he called to
-the astonished teacher: “You had best close up and go home; you won’t
-have any pupils to-day. Or else come down, and hold school on the shore!
-The rest of the committee will probably meet together in a few minutes,
-and we’ll vote to extend Thanksgiving holidays over to-day.” So saying,
-he cracked his whip and rattled downhill, leaving Miss Wilde to wonder
-if he was losing his mind, or the world was turning topsyturvy, or if
-she was still asleep, for it was beginning to be hard to wake up as the
-mornings shortened.
-
-Miss Wilde locked the door and started to walk toward Eliza Clausen’s
-house, that being the nearest place where she could possibly find out
-what was happening. As she reached the cross-road that met the turnpike
-a little above the school, she heard the sharp trot of hoofs, and,
-turning in that direction, saw Jacob Hughes driving the depot rockaway,
-Goldilocks being beside him and Gray Lady seated behind. Goldilocks
-waved her hand on seeing Miss Wilde, and in another minute “teacher” was
-seated beside Gray Lady, and not only knew of the avalanche of oysters,
-but was herself on the way to the shore with her friends, who were
-going, not for the sake of the oysters, but to enjoy what was sure to be
-a picturesque scene, with the shell-strewn beach, the sharp bluff on the
-left, and the long sand-bar, with its lighthouse on the right, for a
-setting. Nor were they disappointed.
-
-For once tell-tale news did not exaggerate, and, though there were many
-cut and scratched fingers from the sharp shells, before noon there was
-no one who had not gathered all the oysters he could carry. The more
-thrifty among the men also began to gather the seaweed into heaps safe
-from the incoming tide, so that they might be sure of finding it the
-next day, while the women and children gathered driftwood and, making
-fireplaces of a few stones, heated the coffee they had brought. For,
-though the sun was now shining clear, and the wind had dropped to a
-little breeze that scarcely moved the surface of the tide pools, there
-was a growing keenness in the air that named the month “December,” and
-promised the wind would be in the northwest by night.
-
-[Illustration: HERRING GULLS]
-
-In spite of the unusual human picture before them, that which interested
-Gray Lady, Miss Wilde, and Goldilocks the most were the Gulls that
-covered the bare sand-bar, waded in the shallow pools, and clambered
-among the stones in search of food, which they picked out with their
-stout, hooked bills, then flew swiftly overhead toward the creek, across
-the salt meadows, with a shrill cry, such as the creaking windlass of a
-well gives when the rope plays out quickly and the bucket
-drops—“quake-wake-wake.”
-
-Further out, in the arm of the bar, where there was no current, and the
-water was deep and smooth, many Gulls were resting motionless as white
-skiffs at anchor, or flying and diving for food in the wake of some
-boats that were evidently grappling to discover the extent of the damage
-to the oyster-beds.
-
-“How many kinds of Gulls are there?” asked Goldilocks. “Three, I should
-think, unless the males and the females were different.”
-
-“The Gulls here are all Herring, or, as the Wise Men now wish them
-called, ‘Harbour Gulls.’ The old birds have the pure white breasts and
-pearly gray, or what is sometimes called ‘Gull-blue,’ upper parts and
-the black-and-white wing-markings. The mixed and streaked ash, buff, and
-brown birds are the young of the year, while the black-and-white patched
-birds are not Gulls, but Old Squaw Ducks. These have spent the winter
-about the bay and bar ever since I can remember, and, strangely enough,
-both Gulls and Ducks seem to be no less in number than they were twenty
-years ago. That is probably because the Gulls are protected, and the
-Ducks’ flesh is so tough that even a hungry dog could hardly tear it
-apart. I hope your children are noticing these birds while they are
-gathering driftwood for the fires,” Gray Lady said to Miss Wilde. “It is
-very seldom that they come to the shore as late as this, or see the
-Gulls in such numbers. It seems to-day as though the storm must have
-driven all that belong to many miles of coast to take shelter in this
-bay.”
-
-“Yes, they are looking,” said Goldilocks, “for Sarah and Tommy and Dave
-and Clary, who are all together by the nearest fire, are watching and
-pointing to the Gulls that are over by the boats, and I think that Bobby
-has found a dead Gull tangled in seaweed and he is showing it to the
-others.”
-
-“Then I foresee that the Harbour Gull will be the bird of next Friday
-afternoon,” said Gray Lady, as they turned homeward, taking Miss Wilde
-with them for lunch, so that Gray Lady might talk over a new plan
-concerning the old farm-house in the corner of the orchard, with its
-great stone chimney where the Swifts loved to build.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-As Gray Lady had expected, the next Friday afternoon, when she went to
-Foxes Corners schoolhouse, she was greeted by many enthusiastic accounts
-of the stolen holiday at the shore, but a perfect chorus of questions
-arose about the “big birds that fly and swim and yet aren’t quite like
-Ducks”; while Bobby proudly produced his treasured Gull, wrapped in a
-newspaper, at the same time assuring Gray Lady, as became a member of
-the Kind Hearts’ Club, that he hadn’t thrown a stone at it, or anything,
-and that it was “drowned dead in the seaweed.” All of which she already
-knew to be true.
-
-“Why aren’t the Gulls there in the summer when we go down camping and
-clamming?” asked Tommy.
-
-“Because,” said Gray Lady, “they do not like very warm weather, and
-nowadays at least, though they live all through North America, they do
-not nest on the Atlantic coast south of Maine. For this reason, we
-seldom see them between May and October, and that is the very time that
-you children and people in general visit the shore.”
-
-“It must take a pretty big tree to hold a Gull’s nest,” said Dave,
-picking up the bird and weighing it in his hand; “it’s lots bigger than
-a Crow.”
-
-“Yes; a Gull measures two feet in length (that is, from the tip of its
-beak over its back to the tail, which is the way the length of a bird is
-reckoned), and is quite three feet across the spread of its open wings,
-while the body of the Crow is five inches shorter and the wings only
-spread a little over two feet.
-
-“You probably noticed, the other day, what very long, pointed wings the
-Gulls have. But though these Gulls do sometimes nest in fairly high
-trees and in bushes, it is not common, and their favourite place is on
-the gray shingle, and among the stones of rocky beaches well above
-tide-water, or else between tussocks of beach grass or sheltering pieces
-of driftwood.
-
-“As a Gull’s chief food is gleaned from the sea, it must nest as close
-as possible to its source of supply. You can easily see that so large a
-bird could never be free from annoyance on our bathing beaches or
-offshore islands that are used as summer resorts; so, as people flocked
-to the shore, more and more, the places where Gulls might nest in
-comfort grew fewer and fewer, and they were driven to the remote islands
-like those off the Maine coast, Great Duck Island, No Man’s Land, and
-others, and it is at Great Duck Island that is to be found the largest
-colony of Gulls within the United States.
-
-“But even here and on many lesser islands, with only lighthouses and
-their keepers for company, where there were no summer cottages or
-pleasure-seekers, until a few years ago, the Gulls were not safe, for
-they, like the White Herons of the South, were bonnet martyrs.”
-
-“Bonnet martyrs!” exclaimed Eliza Clausen, jumping as if some one had
-stuck a pin in her. “I don’t think they would look one bit nice on hats;
-why, they are so big that there wouldn’t be any hat, but all bird.”
-
-“You are quite right,” said Gray Lady, “but the whole Gull was not used.
-These beautiful white breast-feathers were made into turbans. Perhaps,
-on one side of these, a smaller cousin of the Gull, the Tern, or Sea
-Swallow, with its coral-red beak, would be perched by way of finish. Or
-else, soft bands made of the breast, and some of the handsomest wing
-quills were used for trimming.
-
-“Not only were these feathers sold wholesale to the plume merchants and
-milliners, but people who went to the coast resorts would buy them of
-the sailors simply because they were pretty, without giving a thought to
-the lives they cost, or of how desolate and lonely the shores would be
-when there were no more Gulls.
-
-“There are comparatively few people, I earnestly believe, who would wear
-feathers for ornament if they realized the waste of life that the habit
-causes. It is largely because people do not stop to think, and they do
-not associate the happy living bird with the lifeless feathers in the
-milliner’s window. But now that the Wise Men—yes, and wise women,
-too—have explained the matter, the protection of these beautiful
-sea-birds is an established fact.
-
-“This bird was called ‘Herring Gull,’ because by hovering over the
-schools of Herring where they swam, and diving to get them for food,
-they told the fishermen, who spend their lives upon the ocean on the
-lookout, where the fish were to be found. Now, though the Gulls still do
-this, they do better work, also, for they spend the time that they are
-away from their nesting-homes about the harbours of the large cities,
-making daily trips up the rivers and cleansing the water of refuse, upon
-which they feed. For this reason, ‘Harbour Gull’ seems to be a better
-name for them.
-
-“They are very sociable birds at all times of the year, keeping in
-colonies even in the breeding season, a time when song- and other
-land-birds pair, and prefer to be alone. The nests, when on the ground
-or upon flat rocks, are built of grass, mosses, seaweed, and bits of
-soft driftwood formed into a shallow bowl. If the edges of this crumble
-or flatten while the birds are sitting, they use bunches of fresh grass
-or seaweed to keep it in repair, with the result that the nest is not
-only a very tasteful object, but it blends perfectly with its
-surroundings.
-
-“The eggs are very interesting because no two seem to be of the same
-colour, being of every shade of blue and gray, from the colour of summer
-sky and sand to the tint of the many-coloured, water-soaked rocks
-themselves. The markings vary also in shape and size, and are in every
-shade of brown, through lilac and purple, to black. The parents are very
-devoted to their nests, and take turns in sitting, though the eggs are
-often left to the care of the sun on days when it is sufficiently warm.
-When the young are first hatched, though covered with down, they are
-very weak in the neck and helpless; but in the course of a few hours the
-little Gulls are strong enough to walk, and the instinct to hide at the
-approach of anything strange comes to them very suddenly, so that a Gull
-only three or four hours old will slip out of the nest and either hide
-beneath a few grass blades or flatten itself in the sand, where, owing
-to its spotted, colour-protective down, it is almost invisible, so well
-does Nature care for her children—provided that man does not interfere.
-When a Gull nests in a tree, however, the little birds, not feeling the
-same necessity for hiding, do not try to leave the nest until the growth
-of their wings will let them fly.
-
-“On the sea beaches squids and marine refuse are fed to the young Gulls,
-but where they have nested near fresh, instead of salt, water many
-insects gleaned from the fields are eaten.
-
-“It was in the Gulls’ nesting season that the plunderers chose to go to
-their island haunts, steal the eggs, and kill the parent birds, whose
-devotion, like that of the White Heron, left the birds at the mercy of
-the plume hunters.
-
-“At the end of summer the young, wearing their speckled suits, are able
-to join the old in flocks, and it is then that they scatter along the
-coast, some going from the northern borders down to the Great Lakes. In
-and about New York City they are one of the features of the winter
-scenery; they fly to and fro under the arches of the great bridge, and
-follow the ships the entire length of the harbour and out to sea. At
-night they bed down so close together that in places they make a
-continuous coverlid of feathers on the waters of the reservoirs and in
-the sheltered coves of the Hudson. From the banks of Riverside Park, any
-autumn or winter afternoon, so long as the channel is free from ice,
-they may be seen flying about as fearless as a flock of domestic
-Pigeons.”
-
-“Here on our beach they are scary enough,” said Tommy. “Why, the other
-day I tried every way to creep up close to some of them, but I never
-could; they were always up and off, sometimes without saying a word, and
-sometimes screeching, ‘Yuka-yuka-yuka,’ enough to frighten any one. Pop
-says that, way back when he was a boy, and there weren’t any laws to
-prevent shooting anything except the game-birds out of season, that
-these birds were just as scary, so that the best shots used to go down
-on the bar and try to hit a Gull, not to eat, but for the sake of being
-called a good shot, because Gulls were harder to get than old leader
-Crows.”
-
-“That is the very reason why Gulls alongshore are afraid now. For so
-many years they have served as targets for Duck hunters, and people who
-did not realize what they were destroying, that fear has become an
-instinct. Now in the nesting-haunts, where they are protected, they are
-gradually becoming more and more tame. About the harbours of cities and
-parks, where shooting has never been allowed for other reasons than bird
-protection, they fly about unconcernedly and exhibit little alarm.”
-
-“Are Gulls any real use, except that they are nice to look at and watch
-fly?” asked Dave, presently, as Bobbie’s bird was being passed from desk
-to desk.
-
-“Yes, the Harbour Gulls are useful in many ways, and would be more so if
-man would protect them fully everywhere, as they do in some countries
-and in some of the western parts of our own country; but, in general,
-they have been so persistently hunted that they shun the land-bound
-fresh water, where they would help the farmers by feeding on large
-insects, and prefer the freedom of the open water.”
-
-    “The true Gull of the sea, the spirit of the salt, is a sort of
-    feathered bell-buoy, and thus is of use to the sailors, as there
-    is ample testimony to prove.
-
-    “In summer, in thick weather, the appearance of Gulls and Terns
-    in numbers, or the sound of their clamorous voices, gives
-    warning to the mariner that he is near the rocks on which they
-    breed. Shore fishermen, enshrouded in fog, can tell the
-    direction of the islands on which the birds live by watching
-    their undeviating flight homeward with food for their young. The
-    keen senses of sea-birds enable them to head direct for their
-    nests, even in dense mist.
-
-    “Navigators approaching their home ports during the seasons of
-    bird migration welcome the appearance of familiar birds from the
-    land. . . .
-
-    “Sea-birds must be reckoned among the chief agencies which have
-    made many rocky or sandy islands fit for human habitation. The
-    service performed by birds in fertilizing, soil-building, and
-    seed-sowing on many barren islands entitles our feathered
-    friends to the gratitude of many a shipwrecked sailor, who must
-    else have lost his life on barren, storm-beaten shores.”
-
-                                                   —E. H. Forbush.
-
-“Is mine a good grown-up Gull?” asked Bobbie, who had been waiting
-anxiously for its safe return to his hands, “because grandpa says if it
-is, he’ll take it over to town, and get it stuffed, and fixed up on a
-perch, to remember Oyster Day by; but I’ll bury it if you’d rather I
-would.”
-
-“It is a fully grown bird, Bobbie,” said Gray Lady, “and it is wearing
-its winter dress. In summer the head and neck that are now streaked with
-gray would be a dazzling white, and as accident killed it, and wind and
-tide gave it to you, there is no reason why you may not keep it with a
-clear conscience.”
-
-
-
-
-                                  XVII
-                       THE BIRDS’ CHRISTMAS TREE
-
-
-                             _Preparation_
-
-The Christmas sale was over. It had been held in the play and work rooms
-the Saturday before Christmas, and was a great success. The dressed
-dolls, iron-holders, aprons, bird-houses, wooden spoons, racks for
-clothes, and little knickknacks had been ranged on the work-table and
-carpenter’s bench, and all the people of the neighbouring towns, as well
-as from Fair Meadows village itself, had been asked to come and see.
-When they came and saw, they stayed to buy.
-
-The bird-houses proved the greatest novelty, and Tommy Todd and Dave,
-their cheeks red with excitement, were kept busy taking orders for more,
-to be finished by May or June, one customer said. She, however, was very
-much amused when Tommy told her that if she expected to have birds in
-the house (it was a box for Tree Swallows) the first season, she must
-have the house in place before April, so that it might “be weathered a
-little, and the birds find it when they first came, and not think it was
-a trap put up to catch them.”
-
-Gray Lady donated some delicious cake of Ann’s make, and hot chocolate,
-and while the visitors enjoyed it, they asked many questions about the
-bird class, the school at Foxes Corners, and the motives of the Kind
-Hearts’ Club itself; for this name had been printed on the posters
-advertising the sale.
-
-The result that concerned the public good was that other men and women
-resolved, even if they could not do it as thoroughly as Gray Lady, to
-supply the teachers in their various districts with charts and books,
-and before night settled down, Sarah Barnes, the treasurer of the Club,
-was hugging tight in her arms a small iron box, with a lock and key,
-wherein were fifty precious dollars, while orders that meant an equal
-sum before the close of the school year were being copied from a rather
-mussy paper into a blank-book, by Tommy Todd, the secretary, whose
-usually clear upright letters were made crooked by his excitement.
-
-The next question was, How should the money be spent? Each child was
-asked to write his or her idea on a slip of paper and bring it to the
-birds’ Christmas festival that was to be held, as seemed fitting, in
-Birdland, the afternoon before Christmas, from two o’clock until four.
-
-“Supposin’ it’s cold and snowy?—that’s a long time to be outdoors,”
-said Eliza Clausen, as she walked home between Sarah and Ruth Barnes.
-
-“It may not be out-of-doors,” said Sarah, looking very wise.
-
-“Then it can’t be in Birdland, as Gray Lady said,” persisted Eliza, who,
-though she was less critical since she had come under the older woman’s
-influence, could not resist once in a while, “hoping for the worst,” as
-Gray Lady called borrowing trouble.
-
-“Yes; the party can be indoors, and yet in Birdland,” answered Sarah.
-
-“Oh, you’re trying to catch me with a riddle or something.”
-
-“If I am, I’ll tell you the answer at the birds’ Christmas tree next
-Tuesday,” called Sarah, as she turned in at her own gate.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-A two-inch fall of soft, clinging snow fell during the night before
-Christmas eve, so that the next morning “everything looked as pretty as
-the pictures on a calendar,” as Sarah Barnes said, when she arrived at
-Gray Lady’s door, bright and early, to help decorate the birds’ tree.
-
-Sarah did not enter the door, however, for she was joined on the porch
-by Goldilocks and Ann, and together they walked through the garden to
-Birdland.
-
-Jacob Hughes had swept paths from the house in and out among the trees
-through the garden. In Birdland he had used the single-horse snow-plough
-to scrape a track running from the bird lunch-counter, about the edge of
-the orchard, and then through the centre down to the old farm-house of
-the Swallow Chimney, that stood in the lower corner facing on what had
-been a cross-road, but was now a pretty grass-grown lane, with the snow
-wreathing the bushes of black alder, with its red, glistening berries,
-giving out a real Christmas feeling.
-
-What had happened to the old house of the Swallow Chimney, where the
-General’s father had lived, but which had now remained closed for so
-many years, merely a storage-place for old furniture?
-
-Smoke was coming from the great stone chimney, new shingles stained to
-look old replaced the broken ones, new paint glistened on the
-window-sashes, and the quaint old panes of glass, bearing the rainbow
-tints of years, shone like mirrors. The front door was painted dark
-green, and the spread-eagle knocker of brass was as bright as polishing
-could make it; while around the deep front porch was a little fence of
-cedar bushes in boxes, all garlanded with vines of coral, bittersweet
-berries.
-
-Goldilocks and Sarah went to the front door of the old house, while Ann
-disappeared in the woodshed that joined the side porch and well-house.
-
-The girls had not touched the knocker when the door flew open, and who
-should stand there but Miss Rose Wilde, while beyond her, sitting by the
-blazing log-fire in the long, low living-room, that had once been the
-kitchen, was her mother, looking better and younger than she had for at
-least ten years!
-
-This was the secret. Gray Lady had repaired the old house and
-established the faithful little teacher and her mother in it, so that
-instead of mother and daughter only meeting once a week, or less often
-in winter, and each having a good bit of heartache between, they had a
-real home once more. What was also a bit of good luck, Mrs. Wilde’s
-furniture, that had been stored away, was of the kind that seemed as if
-it had been made for the old homestead and had never been anywhere else.
-
-Once inside, Rose Wilde led them into the kitchen, where everything was
-as neat as wax, and there, spread upon tables and half-covering the
-floor, were the decorations for the birds’ Christmas tree.
-
-Where was the tree itself? Where trees are the best and healthiest,
-out-of-doors back of the house, a stout, young spruce, some twenty odd
-feet high, growing in the orchard corner where no one had planted it,
-the child of one of the spruces near the great house,—a half-wild tree,
-sprung from the seed of a cone dropped by a Crossbill, perhaps, or left
-by a squirrel who was making a winter store-house in the attic of the
-farm-house.
-
-The dainties for the tree were selected to suit all the various needs
-and appetites of the winter birds likely to come to the orchard.
-
-Gray Lady, Goldilocks, Rose Wilde, and Ann had strung quantities of
-popcorn upon the chance of the Jays and Crows liking it. They had used
-strong thread, but had only strung the corn by the very edge, so that it
-would detach easily. There were lumps of suet, and marrow-bones,
-securely bound with wire, ears of red and yellow corn, bunches of
-unthreshed rye, wheat, and oats, little open boxes filled with
-beechnuts, and various wild berries. Last of all, something that
-Goldilocks had suggested, the heads of a couple of dozen sunflowers,
-filled with the ripe, nutritious seeds, for she had noticed that all the
-autumn the Goldfinches and various Sparrows had stayed about the beds
-where the composite flowers like asters, marigolds, cornflowers,
-zinnias, and sunflowers grew, and that also the wild sunflowers and
-black-eyed Susans of waste fields were always surrounded by birds.
-
-Jacob Hughes had his ladders all ready, but it was no small task to keep
-him supplied with material, and there were many mishaps before all the
-articles were in place, but to Goldilocks’ great joy, before Jacob had
-fairly finished and taken the ladder away, a Chickadee and a Goldfinch
-were both clinging to the same sunflower head, and a little Downy
-Woodpecker had discovered one of the bones fastened to a branch and was
-revelling, “up to his neck,” as Sarah expressed it, in the marrow.
-
-Underneath the tree a place had been cleared for the gifts Gray Lady had
-in store for what she called “the featherless two-legged birds of the
-Kind Hearts’ Club.”
-
-After they had rested a few minutes, and were thoroughly warmed, Gray
-Lady, Rose Wilde, Goldilocks, and Sarah Barnes set out for a stroll
-through the orchard, and the lane that ran back of it, up to the
-farm-barns, to see what feathered guests were in the neighbourhood, the
-walk taking them past a great pile of unhewn wood and a tent-shaped
-brush-heap at the end of the lane.
-
-Gray Lady used her opera-glasses, but the others trusted to their eyes
-alone. These are the birds they saw and named easily: A flock of
-Goldfinches in their dull winter coats feeding on weed seeds in the
-lane; their old friends the Chickadees, three Blue Jays, two Flickers,
-and several Downy Woodpeckers; Gray Lady thought possibly from their
-markings, a whole Downy family,—Mr., Mrs., and four children.
-
-As they neared the woodpile Goldilocks stopped, her hand on Gray Lady’s
-sleeve and a finger raised in caution. “I do believe there is a Jenny
-Wren that has not gone away or is lost, it is such a little bit of a
-thing.”
-
-As they stood looking, the little, neat, brown bird, about four inches
-long, ran up and down among the logs like a mouse, then flew with a
-little short flapping of the wings to the bush, where it clung to a
-spray, bobbing to and fro, its comical bit of a tail pointing as close
-to its head as possible. Then it appeared to pick something very
-deliberately from the twigs and flew back again to the woodpile with a
-sharp, warning note.
-
-“That is not a belated House Wren,” said Gray Lady, “but the Winter
-Wren, his cousin, who nests from the northern boundaries of the states
-northward, but comes down in winter to visit us in southern New England
-and travels as far south as Florida. A brave little fellow he is to
-weather storms and cold here, and one of our three smallest birds, the
-Golden-crowned Kinglet and the Humming-bird being the other two. In his
-nesting-haunts he has a beautiful song; I have never heard it, but one
-of his admirers who has says that it is ‘full of trills, runs, and grace
-notes, a tinkling, rippling roundelay.’”
-
-A few minutes later it was Sarah’s turn to exclaim, as she pointed to a
-small, sparrow-like bird, perched on a giant stalk of seeded ragweed at
-the side of the lane. “It’s a Chippy or else a Song Sparrow,” she said,
-hesitatingly. “It’s bigger than a Chippy, and it’s got a spot on its
-breast like the Song Sparrow, only it isn’t as big. O dear me! I don’t
-think that I shall ever be sure of telling Sparrows apart,” she sighed.
-
-“To be sure a bird _is_ a Sparrow is a step in the right direction,”
-said Gray Lady. “I have known some one older than you call me to see a
-big Sparrow which turned out to be a Wood Thrush. If you will remember
-one thing, it will help you in placing the smaller birds. Look at a
-bird’s beak; if it is thick, short, and cone-shaped, the bird is most
-likely to be a Sparrow, for this family are all seed-eaters except in
-the nesting season, while insect-eating birds, of all families, have
-longer and more slender bills.
-
-[Illustration: TREE-SPARROW]
-
-“As for this little fellow, it is another of our winter visitors, the
-_Tree-sparrow_ or _Winter Chippy_, and there is probably quite a flock
-of his kin at this moment distributed over the wild fields below, doing
-the work of seed-destroying that the farmers have neglected; for, aside
-from the cheerful companionship of all these winter birds, the Sparrow
-tribe is working for us all winter as Weed Warriors,[3] just as the
-tree-trunk birds are Tree Trappers, the birds who take insects while on
-the wing, Sky Sweepers, and the silent birds of prey, who sit in wait
-for the field-mice and other vermin, Wise Watchers.
-
-“Ah, it is my turn now to make discoveries,” said Gray Lady, as they
-turned into the orchard at the end opposite the lunch-counter tree.
-“Keep very quiet, and look at the mossy branch of that half-dead tree to
-which some frozen apples still hang; what do you see, Goldilocks? Take
-my glasses and look carefully before you answer.”
-
-“Where?” said Goldilocks; “yes; I see. One is a little, fluffy, greenish
-gray bird with a dirty white breast. Oh! he has a red stripe edged with
-yellow on top of his head! He moves so quickly that I can’t seem to see
-the whole of him with one look, though he is small. The other bird is a
-little bigger, and not so fat; he has a yellow spot on his head, and a
-brighter one over the tail, and a yellow spot on each side; he is
-striped gray and black all over, except some white on his wings and
-underneath. How he flits about, just like that bird that looked like a
-red-and-black butterfly that we saw last summer that you said was a
-Redstart.”
-
-“You have very sharp eyes,” said her mother, “for you saw at once the
-identifying marks of two birds that were new to you. The merry fellow of
-the flaming crown is the Golden-crowned Kinglet, another sturdy winter
-visitor, who breeds in the North, and finds our climate quite warm
-enough for him if the food holds out; for he is a tree trapper, giving
-his attention, like the Chickadee, to the smaller branches and twigs too
-slender to bear the weight of the heavier tree-trunk birds.
-
-“His companion is the Myrtle or Yellow-rumped Warbler, a hardy cousin of
-the Redstart and Summer Yellowbird that Sarah, perhaps, does not yet
-know by name, though she has doubtless seen them. When you have once
-seen the male bird, you will never forget him, because of the four
-yellow spots. These warblers are great insect eaters, but lacking these,
-they will eat berries, the bayberries being their favourite, and I
-believe that we have to thank the bayberry bushes, in the rocky hill
-pastures hereabouts, for the numbers of the Myrtle Warblers that stay
-all winter, myrtle being a common title for the bay, giving them their
-name.”
-
-[Illustration: F. M. Chapman, Photo. SHELTER FOR BIRD FOOD]
-
-At the garden end of Birdland, just inside the rustic gate, a flock of
-Juncoes or Gray Snowbirds were feeding, plump, cheerful, and contented,
-and giving vent to their satisfaction in their pleasant “tchip, tchip,
-tchip” call. Those who only know one winter bird know the Junco, for he
-belongs to city parks, village yards, and remote farms alike, anywhere
-that a frugal meal of grain or weed seeds may be found, with a piazza
-vine or brush-heap or haystack to creep into for shelter. His flesh-pink
-bill, slate-coloured coat, and neat white vest, together with the _two
-conspicuous white tail-feathers_, tell his name to any one who wishes to
-know it.
-
-The Junco is an autumn and winter visitor only, being away from May
-until late September, as he nests northward from New York and
-Connecticut. When the flocks first return, you will be puzzled by many
-birds of the shape and build of Juncoes, but who are wearing more or
-less striped clothes; these are the young of the year.
-
-“Five new birds in one morning! I wish Tommy had been here,” said Sarah;
-“but perhaps he knows them already; Tommy knows a lot you can’t see
-because it’s down so deep.”
-
-“You must find us a new bird, too, before we go in to lunch, Miss
-Wilde,” said Goldilocks.
-
-“I have been looking at, not one, but a dozen, while you have been
-watching the Kinglet and Myrtle Warbler. Look over the gate-arch across
-toward the house. Do you see something moving among the bunches of ripe
-spruce cones?”
-
-“I see birds moving, but I want to go nearer.” So the party managed, by
-walking quietly, to reach the trees where the birds were feeding without
-disturbing them in the least.
-
-“There are two kinds of birds up there,” said Sarah, presently, for it
-was her turn to use the opera-glasses. “They are both rather red. One is
-darker than the other and has no white on him. The other is lighter red
-and has some white on the wings and tail. Why, Gray Lady! their beaks
-are out of joint at the end and don’t shut tight. I wonder what can have
-happened to the poor things. I thought at first they might be wild
-parrots.”
-
-Gray Lady and Miss Wilde both laughed, Sarah’s concern for the birds was
-so real.
-
-“You are right about the bills not closing at the tip, but it is not
-owing to an accident. Nature developed this bill so that the bird, who
-is a lover of evergreen forests, might be able to wrench open the cones,
-the only winter food that is oftentimes to be found.
-
-“The bird belongs to the Finch and Sparrow family, though you would
-never guess it, and is called the ‘Crossbill.’ The plain red one is the
-Red-winged Crossbill, and the lighter-coloured one, with white markings,
-the White-winged Crossbill. Both birds nest north of New England, but
-travel about the country in little flocks, sometimes going as far south
-as Virginia and the Gulf States.”
-
-“Listen, I think I can hear the crackling as they tear the scales from
-the cones,” said Goldilocks.
-
-“Yes, and you can see those that they have dropped lying on the fresh
-snow under the trees,” added Sarah.
-
-At that moment an old-fashioned dinner-bell sounded from the direction
-of the farm-house in the orchard. It was Mrs. Wilde letting them know
-that luncheon was ready, for Gray Lady, Goldilocks, and Sarah were to
-lunch at “Swallow Chimney,” as Goldilocks had christened the restored
-home, by way of a house-warming.
-
-As they left, the Crossbills, who had been climbing up and down, with
-all the adroitness of the Chickadees or the Upside-down birds
-themselves, suddenly took to wing, giving short, metallic-sounding
-cries, flew rapidly over the orchard, to alight—where do you suppose?
-On the birds’ Christmas tree. Here, after some inspection, they began to
-tear at the popcorn, their twisted beaks doing the work so well that
-they seemed fashioned for that purpose alone.
-
-“Well,” said Goldilocks, her hands clasped in amazement, as they reached
-the farm-house, and saw what had happened, “I never knew anything _quite
-so quick_ to happen outside of a story-book!”
-
------
-
-[3] See _Citizen Bird_.
-
-
-
-
-                                 XVIII
-                       HOW THEY SPENT THEIR MONEY
-
-
-At two o’clock a procession of the pupils of Foxes Corners school filed
-through the hall at “the General’s,” wondering what new surprise was in
-store. The big boys, who would not begin school until the mid-winter
-term, had come under the strong persuasion of Tommy and Dave. They
-looked rather uneasy, however, as if they were not quite sure whether
-the performances that the younger boys considered “bully” might not be
-undignified for men of their age.
-
-As the children went through the garden, Jim Crow lurched out of a bush
-and walked along after them with an air of great importance, as if he
-were the master of ceremonies. Larry, the Starling, was not particularly
-fond of cold weather, and kept inside the shelter of the south porch,
-making little excursions here and there, prompted by curiosity, and the
-desire to use his wings, which were now quite strong, as food was to be
-had from the dish that he and Jim shared, merely for the eating.
-
-The lunch-counter was well patronized that afternoon, for, in addition
-to the birds that had been in the vicinity during the morning, several
-Bluebirds came, together with three Robins, who simply gorged themselves
-upon some dried currants that Goldilocks had put out as an extra dainty.
-Gray Lady was trying experiments with all sorts of odds and ends at the
-lunch-counter, that she might see exactly what sort of food was the most
-acceptable, and she was very much surprised to find that though wild
-birds, like human beings, can adapt themselves to circumstances, a great
-number have such a craving for animal food that it explained why Crows,
-Jays, and some others become nest-robbers in the midst of summer plenty.
-
-After they had called upon Miss Wilde at Swallow Chimney, where Eliza
-Clausen discovered the meaning of Sarah Barnes’ mysterious remarks about
-the party being held in the orchard, and yet being indoors, they went to
-see the birds’ Christmas tree.
-
-Since morning many things had been added to it that were not intended
-for birds. Bundles, strange of shape, wrapped in green tissue-paper tied
-up with red ribbon and little sprigs of southern holly, hung to the
-lower branches, while Jacob, dressed as Father Christmas, stood by armed
-with a hooked stick, with which he loosened the bundles and dropped them
-into the waiting hands.
-
-As it was impossible to tell from the shape of the parcels what they
-contained, there was a good deal of pinching and squeezing done, but
-beyond the feeling of sharp corners that might belong to either books or
-boxes, nothing could be discovered.
-
-“It is too cold for you to stand out here to open your parcels,” said
-Gray Lady. “Suppose you take them in the living-room at the cottage, and
-while the girls open theirs you boys come for a little walk with me, for
-I have some work planned particularly for the boys of the Kind Hearts’
-Club.
-
-“Oh, do not look worried, I shall not keep you more than half an hour,”
-she said, as she saw the boys were quite as curious about untying their
-parcels as the girls.
-
-So, following her lead, they trudged off up the lane, past the barn and
-woodpile, to where the brush on either side narrowed it to a mere path.
-Then, where another lane crossed it, the way grew broader again, and
-while one side was screened by woods, from the other you could look out
-upon a stretch of waste meadows and fallow fields.
-
-There was only enough snow to crunch underfoot, and as Gray Lady walked
-ahead, a sprig of holly fastened at the neck of her gray chinchilla
-collar, and another in the close fitting hat of the same fur, her arms
-buried to the elbows in a great muff, her eyes sparkling with pleasure,
-and a rosy spot on each cheek made by the keen air, the boys cast many
-glances of genuine admiration at her. The big boys, especially, felt
-that she understood the situation exactly, by taking them to walk
-without the girls, giving them her confidence, and planning something
-for them to do that would be different from girls’ work, or, at least,
-apart from it.
-
-“Perhaps some of the others have told you,” Gray Lady said to the big
-boys as they walked, “that I am very anxious not only to feed the small
-tree birds, that they may stay with us in winter, but to try and help
-the Grouse and Quail, so that, instead of those that have escaped the
-dangers of the hunting season being driven out by hunger and cold, they
-shall live on and increase, and become again the friends to the farmers
-that they were in the old days.
-
-“You big boys all know how much complaint there is of all kinds of new
-bugs and worms and blights that discourage the farmers and leave but
-little profit in their crops? As you learn to watch wild birds and their
-habits, and realize the way in which they work for their living the year
-round, you will see that it is largely the lack of these old residents,
-these birds who were here before man came, that allows all the
-new-fangled bugs to gain such headway.
-
-“Now, while it is quite easy for all of us to have some sort of a
-lunch-counter, either on a window-ledge, tree-trunk, or shed
-roof,—anywhere, in short, where cats will not venture,—feeding the
-larger game-birds is not such a simple matter, for until they thoroughly
-understand our motives, they will not come to us; we must take food to
-them.
-
-“Birds that are hunted everywhere, for at least two months in a year,
-cannot be expected the day after the season closes to come boldly to our
-houses for food, as if they could consult a calendar, and say to one
-another, ‘To-day is December first, we may go and take a walk in the
-open road in safety.’
-
-“Neither would they be safe, for there are always, I am sorry to say,
-cowards in every township who will set snares, and get by stealth what
-they dare not take openly. And, of the two, I think the snare a greater
-danger to the poor birds than the gun.”
-
-“The trouble with feeding game-birds away from houses would be that,
-even if you knew their runs, and I think I know some pretty well, the
-feed would most likely blow away or be snowed under unless they ate it
-right away,” said Jack Todd, Tommy’s second eldest brother.
-
-“Yes, that is one of the difficulties, but I think an idea that I have
-borrowed, and am trying now for myself, may partly solve the trouble.
-Look ahead of you, close to the rail fence. What do you see? No; don’t
-rush to the fence and trample the snow; keep on the lane side.”
-
-“It’s some sort of a tent,” said Tommy; “I thought at first it was just
-a corn-stack with snow on it.”
-
-“No; it isn’t a tent,” said Everett Judd, going closer; “it’s only bean
-poles stacked with the vines left hanging, two rows of them, so’s the
-snow won’t all drift in at one spot.”
-
-“And what else?” asked Gray Lady. “Don’t you see cracked corn and mill
-sweepings scattered in between the poles? This is a feeding-station for
-our friends, the game-birds, if we can only make them understand that it
-is not a form of trap and does not hold a snare in disguise.”
-
-Jack Todd, who had gone close to the tepee on one side, stepping on
-stones that he might avoid tracking the snow, and was examining the
-ground intently, suddenly cried out, “There _have_ been mill sweepings
-here, because I can see some dust, but the grain is all gone, and I
-guess—no; I’m _sure_—there have been Grouse about, and they have fed
-here since snow fell, for there are tracks coming out from under the
-fence and going back the same way!”
-
-“But how can you tell that they belong to Grouse?” asked Gray Lady,
-coming close to look at the prints and thinking in her excitement they
-might have been made by chickens.
-
-“No, they are real Grouse tracks, for they’ve got their spiked
-snow-shoes on, and here’s the marks of the prickers!” And Jack pointed
-to the footprints of the brushed claws in triumph.
-
-“This proves two points,” said Gray Lady, “that there are Grouse in the
-neighbourhood, and that they will take food if it is offered to them in
-the right way. I should like to put up a dozen of these
-feeding-stations, if you boys will help; you know the woods and
-brush-lots better than I do now, and you can select the places that will
-be suitable for these shelters and find what material there is close at
-hand of which they can be built.
-
-“When this is done, I shall again have to depend upon you for keeping
-them supplied with food. If we find that the grain is eaten, I think
-that it should be renewed three times a week, so if six of you boys will
-volunteer for the service, two can go together, and it will only make
-one trip a week for each pair. If the snow is deep, you might possibly
-arrange to fit some boxes to your sleds to hold food, or, if the
-shelters are in rough ground, a bag fastened to the shoulders like a
-pedler’s pack might work well; for, in doing this work on a large scale,
-merely a pocketful of food will not suffice.”
-
-“I will help,” said Jack Todd, after thinking a moment. “Me, too,” said
-Everett, and Irving Todd, together; then of course the others followed,
-Dave and Tommy anxious lest they should be left out, while Bobby and
-little Jared Hill, though too small to undertake to care for a station
-alone, were acceptable as companions for the big boys.
-
-“We have the rest of this week, and all of next for a holiday,” said
-Jack Todd, “so suppose we take a tramp about the hill country on each
-side of the river valley to Centreville, that’s about five miles, and
-fetch axes with us. I know most of the people on the way, and, if we put
-the shelters somewhere near houses, we could distribute the food along,
-and they would let us keep it in one of the outbuildings, so that it
-would be handy in stormy weather. I’m pretty sure we can collect stuff
-enough as we go for the shelters. My uncle, who lives at Hilltop Farm,
-would give me corn-stacks for three or four. There’s a heap of
-slab-sides (the outside strip, with the bark, when a log is to be sawn
-into boards) left to go to pieces up by where the sawmill was last year;
-they will make fine wigwams, and there are plenty of cedars and birches,
-with brushy tops, for the rest. Then perhaps the folks along the line
-might be interested and rig a few up on their own account.”
-
-“Thank you, Jack,” said Gray Lady, warmly; “you have caught the spirit
-of the idea and improved it already, for if we are to do the game-birds
-any real good, and establish the feeding plan permanently, the people
-all ‘along the line,’ as you call it, must be interested until not only
-Fair Meadows township, and the county, but all the counties in the
-state, are linked together in the work of restoration.
-
-“Meanwhile, though, of course, everything that is done regularly is
-work, I really envy you boys some of the fun you will have in your
-winter tramps; sometimes you will be able to skate nearly all the way
-upon the river, and sometimes, if the snow is as deep as people are
-predicting, you may be able to go on snow-shoes.”
-
-“Only I don’t think any of the fellows hereabouts own a pair of
-snow-shoes,” said Everett.
-
-“Then they are the very things for Jacob to help you make if you come to
-any of our Saturday meetings,” said Gray Lady. “Jacob was born in
-Canada, and worked with fur trappers for several years, and though,
-perhaps, he may not be able to make them as well as when he was a young
-man, they would surely be better than nothing, and who knows but what
-one of the many things that the Kind Hearts will organize may be a
-Snow-shoe Club.”
-
-Thus the big boys of Foxes Corner school found themselves interested and
-pledged in Gray Lady’s work without a suspicion of the “playing baby” of
-which they had such dread.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-By the time Gray Lady and the boys returned to Swallow Chimney, the
-girls had opened their bundles, and besides little work-boxes, each with
-a silver thimble of the right size for the owner, and a pair of scissors
-that would “cut clean and not haggle,” as Eliza Clausen expressed it,
-there were books for all. Some were about birds, and others about
-flowers, trees, butterflies, and the real life out-of-doors that is more
-wonderful than any fairy-tale. Having disposed of their own presents,
-with many little shrieks of delight, the girls stood by, waiting for the
-boys to open their bundles. These were all long and flat, with a bunch
-in the centre, as if two objects of different shapes were fastened
-together.
-
-Tommy succeeded in untying his first, skeining up the string so that he
-might have it for the re-wrapping. A strong, well-made knife, with two
-blades fell out, and under it was a hammer, a chisel, a half-inch auger,
-and a medium-sized cross-cut saw. Seeing Tommy’s gifts made the others
-pull open their packages hastily, with less regard for string and paper,
-to find that they also had the coveted tools.
-
-“Now,” said Gray Lady, “you boys will be independent of your fathers’
-tools when you take a bird-house home to finish, or wish to do a little
-bit of work for yourselves, as the girls will also be independent of
-their mothers’ work-boxes and thimbles; because, if the grown-up people
-are always having their tools borrowed or mislaid, they are apt to have
-a sort of grudge against both the work and the workers.”
-
-Some of the boys looked at each other rather sheepishly, and wondered
-how Gray Lady knew that their fathers had said that “since the boys took
-to carpentering there hadn’t been a hammer or nail to be found nor a saw
-with the sign of an edge left on it.”
-
-“By and by,” continued Gray Lady, “if you have the desire, you will all
-have a chance to earn other tools, and also make boxes in which to keep
-them.
-
-“You may wonder why the Christmas tree bore no candy by way of fruit;
-that was because part of the fun for this afternoon will be making
-candy,—caramels, chocolate creams, nut taffy, and old-fashioned pulled
-molasses rope-candy,—so that, besides the making and tasting, you will
-all have something that you have made yourselves to give the people at
-home to-morrow, or put in their stockings if they are hung up. See! here
-are the boxes that Goldilocks has made to hold the candy!” There upon a
-tray were two dozen square boxes covered with green-and-white paper, and
-a row of red-paper hearts pasted across the top of each, with the words,
-“The Kind Hearts wish you a Merry Christmas,” printed in red.
-
-“Did you make all those boxes yourself, Goldilocks?” asked Sarah Barnes,
-in amazement; “I don’t see how you could turn the corners so nice.”
-
-“Not the boxes; you can buy them for very little at the factory. I
-covered them and put the hearts on, but Mother did the printing. It is
-easy enough if you take time. You see the two years that my feet
-wouldn’t go, I learned to make my fingers work for both.”
-
-“The fire and pans, sugar, molasses, and nuts are all ready, but, before
-we become Miss Wilde’s guests and begin, for the candy-making and supper
-belong to her party, we must hold a short business meeting of the Kind
-Hearts’ Club, that we may decide how the Christmas money is to be
-spent.”
-
-Gray Lady then sat down at the end of the room with Mrs. Wilde, while
-Goldilocks, the president, took her place at the head of the long table,
-with the vice-president, Miss Wilde, close at hand to prompt. Sarah, the
-treasurer, and Tommy, the secretary, were on opposite sides of the table
-facing each other, and all the others sat up very straight, wearing
-various expressions of importance that were quite amusing.
-
-Goldilocks rapped on the table with her pencil, and said in a rather
-shaky voice, blushing rosy red as she spoke, “The meeting will please
-come to order and listen to the reading of the minutes of the last
-meeting.”
-
-There had been but one previous meeting, that to arrange for the
-Christmas sale, and it had been informal, so that this was really the
-president’s first appearance in the chair, and, as she spoke, she kept
-her eyes fastened to the paper upon which Miss Wilde had written the
-order to be followed.
-
-“Secretary will please read the minutes of the last meeting,” she said,
-after a pause.
-
-The secretary looked around in a hunted sort of way, as if to find an
-open door through which he could escape, and, seeing none, got rather
-unsteadily upon his feet, opened the square blank-book that Gray Lady
-had given him for his records, fumbled with the pages, and then said,
-rather than read,—“We were all there. We all agreed to sell the things
-we’ve been making so as to get some money to feed birds, and buy things;
-and Gray Lady said we could do it in her house; the Saturday before
-Christmas was duly appointed, and Dave was to get the bills, to tell
-folks it was going to be printed down at the Chronicle Office, because
-it is his uncle runs it, and Gray Lady promised to give cakes and
-chocolate, in case folks were hungry.
-
-                                        “Respectfully submitted,
-                                    “Thomas Todd, Jr., Secretary, Amen!”
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-Gray Lady did not dare look at Miss Wilde during the reading of this
-report, but the children took it in perfect earnestness, and Goldilocks,
-having put the report to vote, as she had been told, proceeded to the
-next item before her and called, “Report of the secretary.”
-
-Again Tommy fumbled, and, after looking in every page of the book but
-the ones that were written upon, suddenly burst forth,—“We had it, and
-we sold everything, besides some things we haven’t made yet. The people
-ate all there was, and took the other things home. It was a big cinch!
-Sarah Barnes has got the money in a box, and her father’s put it in the
-clock-case, except some of it that’s in dimes and nickels, and they’re
-in a bag in the dresser with the rye meal so’s no one’ll know. Gray Lady
-said that to-day we must each bring a paper, with written on it the way
-we wanted the money spent. We have. It was hard to write because some
-things we would like to have wouldn’t be nice to everybody all around,
-and that’s what it means to have a Kind Heart, grandma says.
-
-                                                       “Yours truly,
-                                                            “T. Todd.”
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-Action having been taken upon this, and the report accepted without a
-dissenting voice, the treasurer was called upon, and Sarah arose.
-
-“The result of the sale of the Kind Hearts’ Club, which was held in the
-spacious residence of Mrs. Gray Lady Wentworth on Saturday, December
-18th, was very gratifying to all concerned, and the proceeds, fifty
-dollars, are now in the hands of the treasurer awaiting the orders of
-this august body.
-
-                                           “Respectfully reported by
-                                                       “Sarah Barnes.”
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-“How did you get yours together so slick and short, and full of nice
-words?” whispered Tommy to Sarah, across the table, his usual admiration
-for her now tinged with new respect.
-
-“I didn’t,” she signalled back, not speaking audibly, but making the
-words with her lips. “I just told grandma how much money we had, and she
-worded it; they always talked reports that way at the missionary
-meetings and sewing societies when she was a girl, and she thinks folks
-are getting to be real slack talkers now.”
-
-“A dis—cussion is now in order as to the spending of the money. Will
-Mr. Todd collect the papers and the vice-president kindly read them?”
-said Goldilocks, after looking at her paper again. And as Tommy passed a
-little box for the slips, Gray Lady came from the corner, so eager was
-she to hear what the children had in view.
-
-Rose Wilde opened the papers, and the ideas on the first few, though
-good, presented nothing original: food for birds; books for the school;
-bird charts for the Bridgeton Hospital. Sarah’s paper suggested
-sleigh-rides and charts for the children in the Bridgeton Orphan Asylum,
-“because they don’t know any birds but English Sparrows.”
-
-Tommy’s paper read:—“To fix the spring that used to come down Sugar
-Loaf Hill into a trough, before Bill Evans got mad with the Selectmen,
-and blocked it from coming through his pasture. There’s no water for
-drivers along the road above the Centre until you get to Beaver Brook,
-and that’s four miles, unless they get it from our well, which isn’t
-handy. My father could fix a big stone trough, ’cause he’s a mason, and
-birds and dogs and horses could drink. Birds need water to mix mud for
-their nests, too, especially Robins and Wood Thrushes. What is wanting,
-is to pipe the spring across Evans’ field,—his widow’d be pleased to
-have us; it’s her land. It’s two hundred feet, father says.”
-
-“That is a very good, practical idea, Tommy,” said Gray Lady, earnestly;
-“we must consider this.”
-
-Rose Wilde had now come to the last paper without discovering anything
-else of special novelty; this was written in little Clary’s stiff
-letters, and filled a whole sheet of paper.
-
-“It isn’t for birds, it’s a blanket for Joel Hanks, the mail-man’s
-horse. It’s blind in one eye, and it’s a kind horse, and knows where all
-the boxes are. It’s got a cough now. Mr. Hanks was going to buy a new
-one (a blanket), and get shingles on that end of the barn where the
-horse stands, so’s the snow won’t drift in, but his wife got sick last
-summer, and had doctors and nurses, and that costs more money than a new
-horse, and a whole barn, my mother says. Mother says it isn’t Joel’s
-fault he’s poor; he isn’t slack, only some folks are marked for trouble.
-Last summer, lightning struck his haystack, and burned it and only his
-cornstalks were left. His horse is thin, too. Cornstalks aren’t filling
-for uphill work, my father says, and the mail-route is all either up or
-down, and in winter downhill is slippery, and just as bad. A horse is a
-lovely animal, and useful; I would like us to help this horse. He isn’t
-a bird, to be sure, but birds have feathers, and don’t have to drag a
-wagon uphill, against the wind, with bent axles. It will take three
-bundles of shingles for that barn-end and three lights of window-glass.”
-
-There was silence for a moment, and Miss Wilde, looking at Gray Lady,
-while she waited for her to speak, saw tears in her eyes.
-
-“Tommy’s idea about the fountain is excellent, and I think we can build
-it before spring, but the blind old horse and his patient master cannot
-wait, and they both serve us, each and all, in fair weather and foul.
-
-“How is it, children? Shall we set aside ten dollars for the bird food
-for the winter, and then buy Mr. Hanks a ton of good hay, a
-horse-blanket, the three bundles of shingles, and the window-glass? And
-do you think that you big boys could put on the shingles if Jacob Hughes
-helped you?”
-
-“You can just bet we will!” cried Jack Todd, and the others nodded
-approval.
-
-This matter also was put to vote, and then a committee appointed,
-consisting of Miss Wilde and Jack Todd, to purchase blanket, hay, etc.,
-while to Clary fell the inexpressible bliss of stopping at Mr. Hanks’ on
-her way home, telling him the news, and taking a blanket, warm but not
-new, that Gray Lady loaned until the new one could be had.
-
-“Now for the candy!” shouted Tommy, whose spirits could keep in no
-longer.
-
-“The meeting isn’t adjourned, yet,” said Goldilocks, reprovingly,
-clutching her paper and pounding on the table. “A motion is in order.”
-
-“I move that we adjourn,” said Miss Wilde.
-
-“Now somebody say, ‘I second it,’” insisted Goldilocks.
-
-“I second it,” came a chorus. And any further remarks were lost in a
-shout that arose at the sight of Jim Crow, climbing along a shelf of the
-kitchen dresser, with one of the new pairs of scissors in his beak, that
-he had managed to take unobserved from nobody-knew-whose work-basket.
-
-
-
-
-                                  XIX
-                            BEHIND THE BARS
-
-
-          _Mockingbird, Cardinal, Indigo-bird, and Nonpareil_
-
-One gray Saturday in January, when the wind rushed through the trees,
-making the frozen branches clash with the sound of metal rather than
-wood, and it was too cold to snow, Tommy Todd came to the kitchen door
-at “the General’s” carrying a large and unwieldy bundle carefully wrapt
-in an old quilt.
-
-The door was opened by Matilda, the old coloured woman, who had been
-“the General’s” cook in her youth, staying on as caretaker during the
-years when the house had been closed. “What you got dere, sonny? Sumpin’
-live, ’cause I kin hear hit scratchin’. Don’t say yer bringin’ in a trap
-o’ rats, ’cause if dere’s anythink I mislike ’ticular, it is dem.”
-
-“No, mammy; it isn’t rats, it’s a bird,” said Tommy, beginning to unwind
-the quilt which covered a long cage made of wood and stout wires. When
-he had succeeded in freeing it from the cover, which, being ragged,
-caught on the wires, he lifted the cage to the kitchen table, where the
-light came full upon it. There, hopping nervously to and fro between the
-perches, was a gray bird about the size of a Robin. Its wings and tail
-had a browner wash than the rest of its back, while some of its
-tail-feathers and its underparts were white, though now soiled and
-rather ragged from chafing against the bars. As it moved about, it
-whisked its tail to and fro, in very much the same way as our Catbirds
-and Brown Thrashers.
-
-Matilda adjusted her big spectacles, grumbling as she did so, “Doan you
-know, chile, dat Missy doan like birds to be shet up in cages, and be
-prisoners, and sole away from home no mor’n de General would ’low folks
-to be shet from liberty an’ traded away? I ’spect she’ll be powerful mad
-when she sees dis yere. Whar yeh done git hit?” Then, as she drew near
-the cage and saw the bird plainly, which for a moment stopped its
-fluttering, she cried, “For de love ob Heaven, honey! it’s a Mocker, and
-my ole eyes ain’t seen one since de ole cabin hit burn down, and we was
-all scattered out’en, and left Lou’siana for to git Norf!
-
-“My! but what birds dem Mockers were. I kin just year ’em now.” And
-Matilda seated herself by the table, pushed back her glasses, and closed
-her eyes.
-
-“Winter wa’n’t well ober ’fore dey began to sing up, and come peepin’
-around de cabins and in de road bushes lookin’ fer a nest-place.
-Sometimes dey put it in de thick bush ober top de swamp, but more times
-dey put it close in de rose vines, like as if dey t’ought snakes
-wouldn’t likely git ’em dere, ’cause snakes is as set to git Mockers as
-de ole one in de garden ob Eden was bound ter git Ebe.
-
-“Dat nest, hit was kinder throwed together ob sticks, but de beddin’ in
-hit was good an soft, for de Mockers knew mighty well whar ter find ole
-cotton fluff to make a linin’. An’, while all this was doin’, how dey
-did sing! Day wasn’t long ’nough fer him, ’cause ’long towards noon his
-froat hit git dry and he’d go way down de orange grove an’ rest him jest
-a li’l bit, and den come out again an’ git nearer and nearer to de
-cabin, an’ when de sun hit role away to bed an’ de moon-up come, he’d
-git from de rose vine to de roof, an’ den up to de chimley edge an’ sing
-straight down at yer. Laws, honey, yer couldn’t never tell in daylight
-what birds was singin’, de real ones or him a-mockin’ ob dem. De Red
-Bird with de topknot, de Blue Jay, de li’l Wren wif de sassy tail, de
-Hangnest (Oriole), or de Blue Sparrow might all be singin’, for all I
-know’d, or hit might be only he a-mockin’ of ’em better than dey knew
-how demselves.
-
-“But when hit come night, and eb’ry one was home at de quarters, an’
-some was singin’, an’ some playin’ de banjo, an’ de smell from de orange
-groves risin’ up powerful on de wind, and sun-down t’ree four hours
-gone, den when we heard all dem birds a-singin’, we knew it was de
-Mocker, an’ sometimes he wouldn’t stop all the night until de light hit
-slip right from silber to gold, an’ den copper, an’ ’twas sun-up again;
-an’ in dose days most eb’ry one had a Mocker in a cage. But here I be
-runnin’ on ’bout de times when de Lord he let folks an’ wild birds both
-be bought an’ sold. Tell me, honey, whar ye done git him? Shore he neber
-was flyin’ round about up yere in de cold an’ snow—him what lubs de
-sun-up ’way down Lou’siana way.”
-
-“I didn’t put him in a cage, Aunt Tilda,” said Tommy, earnestly; “it is
-this way. He belonged to old Ned that works of summers for my Uncle Eph
-over at Bridgeton, and then goes home every year down South at
-Christmas, to spend the cold weather. This year he has hurt his leg, and
-is sick and can’t go, and has to stay in Bridgeton Hospital. So, as he
-used to know ‘the General,’ and he’s heard that Gray Lady loves birds,
-he told me to bring his Mocker over here, and ask her if she’d keep it
-safe and feed it until real warm spring weather, and then hang the cage
-outside, and open the door, and let it fly away if it would. ’Cause he
-thinks somehow it would find the way home if it wants to.
-
-“He fed it well, and cared for it, and never thought about its being
-unhappy in a cage until he had to go to the hospital, and be shut in,
-and couldn’t go home South, perhaps, any more. Then I guess he knew how
-his Mocker might feel, too. I think Gray Lady will keep him, even though
-it says on the Bird Law posters that _you mustn’t keep a wild bird dead
-or alive or have its nest or eggs_. Because if Sheriff Blake arrested
-her, he knows old Ned and Gray Lady could explain it all so’s she
-wouldn’t be fined.”
-
-“What is it that Gray Lady can explain so that she need not be fined?”
-said a voice from the store-room on the other side of the entry way, and
-“sheself” walked in; “sheself” being Matilda’s name for her mistress
-when she wished to use a term that she considered more dignified than
-the homely one of “Missy.”
-
-Then Tommy repeated his explanation, while Matilda stood looking at the
-Mockingbird and muttering to herself of the many happenings of her slave
-days, happy as well as sad, that the sight of him recalled.
-
-“Of course I will keep the Mockingbird until spring,” said Gray Lady,
-“and then I will hang the cage in the porch, open the door, but still
-keep it well supplied with food, so that he may come and go, and if his
-heart leads him back towards his southern birthplace, be sure that he
-will join the flock of some of his northern kindred and in their company
-reach home.”
-
-“Do we have any kind of Mockingbird up here?” asked Tommy, his eyes
-opening in wonder.
-
-“Not real brothers of the Mockingbird, though he has half a dozen in the
-southwestern part of the country, but two first cousins, and half a
-dozen second cousins. Let us take the Mocker up to the playroom and hang
-his cage in the warm window by the chimney, where the sun will shine on
-him whenever the clouds let it peep through. Then I will tell you all
-who his cousins are, and about three other American birds that for many
-years were caught and kept prisoners in cages and sold out of their
-native land.”
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-The children were all gathered upstairs by the time Gray Lady arrived,
-followed by Tommy, carrying the cage.
-
-“I had a Robin in a cage, once, and a Catbird, and grandma and Aunt Mary
-always have Canaries. Why is it against the law to keep wild birds in
-cages? That Mockingbird doesn’t seem to mind it a bit; now that he’s
-smoothed down his feathers, and has begun to eat, he acts real happy,”
-said Eliza Clausen, after they had looked at the newcomer and heard the
-story of his being sent to Gray Lady.
-
-“There are two reasons why wild birds should never be kept in cages
-except for really scientific study, or to help them when they are
-exposed to cold, or are ill and maimed in some way. The first reason is
-that when Nature placed birds in certain localities provided with the
-best sorts of beaks, feet, etc., to make them able to earn their living,
-it was done because there was work there for them to do that they could
-perform better than anything else. They were a part of the Great Plan
-for preventing insect life (which also has its uses) from increasing too
-much and doing damage. This is the practical way of considering birds
-for what the Wise Men call their ‘economic value.’ These birds may be
-able to hold their own against the birds of prey, that in the beginning
-were doubtless made to keep the smaller birds from becoming too numerous
-and upsetting the balance of the Plan, but when man came in, and not
-only destroyed them for some fancied damage to his crops, but took the
-young from the nest, or trapped the old birds, and sold them into
-captivity where they could no longer follow the creative law, to
-‘increase and multiply,’ the danger became grave.
-
-“The second reason, however, is one that our own kind hearts can
-understand the best, and that is the misery of the bird born wild when
-he feels himself a captive. If he outlives the first misery, and seems
-to become resigned, he may become content in a way, but he can never
-forget the liberty he has lost, nor can we, in any way, make up to him,
-by mere food and creature-comforts, the ecstasy of the wild life. The
-very fact that the healthful joy of flight and choice in mating is
-denied him is enough.
-
-“I did not realize this when I was a girl, and I also kept cage birds
-like every one else; it was not because I was cruel, simply that I had
-never thought of the matter any more than my friends, until one day,
-being ill and shut in my room, like poor old Ned in the hospital, I
-watched the fluttering of a Painted Bunting or Nonpareil that my father
-had bought me.
-
-“This bird is one of the southern Sparrows, in size no larger than a
-Chippy. Its plumage is tropical in its beauty, deep blue head and neck,
-red underparts, glistening green back, green-and-red wings, with a
-reddish tail; in short, a glittering opal copied in feathers. Its cage
-was roomy, and it had the best of food, and fresh water for bathing and
-drinking, while the shelf in the window, on which it stood, was filled
-with flowering plants, up through the branches of which it could look.
-But, oh, the expression of that bird’s body! I watched its every motion;
-the head thrown backward, searching in vain for a loophole of escape
-between the bars, the quivering of its wings as the impulse for freedom,
-and the company of its kind, swept over it! Sometimes, late in the
-night, when I awoke and looked toward it, I could see that it was awake
-and its wings trembling with the thought of dawn that it could not fly
-to meet. Then I knew, even if it became cowed, and forgot its natural
-instincts so far as to be dumbly content as a prisoner, that the real
-life of the bird would be as dead as if a bullet had ended it, and
-though it was late winter, February, I felt that I must give it liberty.
-
-“I told my father, and he sympathized with me as usual, listened to my
-story, and then, packing the cage safely, had it sent by special express
-to a family friend, who was wintering in Florida, with the request that
-she liberate the prisoner. For, as we could not get it to its winter
-haunt in the tropics, this seemed next best, and it would soon meet the
-flocks of its kin on the return trip.
-
-“So the bird was freed, and once more felt the joy of being lifted on
-his wings whither he would go, and whatever loneliness he may have
-suffered after that, he had gained liberty, which is the right of the
-least of God’s creatures.
-
-“Of the four American birds that were most commonly caged, the
-Mockingbird and Cardinal have always been the most popular, and this is
-what some of the writers have said about taking them into captivity.
-
-
-                           _The Mockingbird_
-
-    “The Mockingbird ranges from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and
-    from middle Illinois, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, southward to
-    the Gulf of Mexico. Usually the bird-hunters take the young from
-    the nest as soon as they open their beaks for food. These are
-    sold in Southern cities by negro boys for from fifteen to
-    twenty-five cents apiece. . . . Thousands of Mockingbirds find
-    their way across the Atlantic.”—Henry Nehrling.
-
-
-                             _The Cardinal_
-
-    “This is one of our most common cage-birds and is very generally
-    known, not only in North America, but even in Europe, numbers of
-    them having been carried over both to France and England, in
-    which last country they are called ‘Virginia
-    Nightingales.’”—Alexander Wilson.
-
-
-                           _The Indigo-bird_
-
-    “The combination of musical ability, lovely plumage, and its
-    seed-eating qualities long since has made the Indigo Bunting in
-    danger of extermination, through the fact of its being
-    universally captured throughout the South and sold as a
-    cage-bird, both for home use and for export.”
-
-
-                     _Painted Bunting or Nonpareil_
-
-    “This splendid, gay, and docile bird, known to Americans as the
-    Nonpareil (the unequalled), and to the French Louisianans as _le
-    pape_, inhabits the woods of the low countries of the Southern
-    states.
-
-    “For the sake of their song as well as beauty of plumage they
-    are commonly domesticated in the houses of the French
-    inhabitants of New Orleans and its vicinity. . . .
-
-    “They are commonly caught in trap-cages, to which they are
-    sometimes allured by a stuffed bird, which they descend to
-    attack; and they have been known to live in captivity for
-    upwards of ten years.”—Thomas Nuttall.
-
-“The Mockingbird, as you see, has sombre gray plumage like his cousin,
-the Catbird, that we all know so well that I think he should drop a name
-that belies his wonderful musical ability, and be called the ‘Northern
-Mockingbird.’ Even though the Mocker is caged, you can see the
-resemblance, in the way in which he twitches his tail, and first throws
-back his beak and then looks sideways, to our merry singer of the garden
-who often makes us think that half a dozen birds are perching in the
-drying-yard when he sits upon the top of a clothes-pole and lets his
-imagination float away with his voice.
-
-“The Brown Thrasher, too, with the long, curved beak, brown back, and
-speckled breast, is also a first cousin and has the Mockingbird habit of
-mounting high up when he sings and looking straight up at the sky; while
-the Wrens, one and all, belong to this famous family group and come in,
-we may say, as second cousins, and like the Mockingbird, aside from the
-beauty of song, are very valuable insect eaters. The other three birds
-have the conical beak that stamps them as members of the family of
-Finches and Sparrows.
-
-“Rich colour is the chief attribute that sets the Indigo Bunting apart
-from its kin of the tribe of Sparrows and Finches.
-
-“Blue that is decided in tone, and not a bluish gray, is one of the
-rarest hues among the birds of temperate zones; for one may count the
-really blue birds of the eastern United States upon the fingers of one
-hand.
-
-“This Bunting belongs to the tree-loving and tree-nesting part of his
-tribe, in company with the Grosbeaks, and the brilliant yellow American
-Goldfinch, whose black cap, wings, and tail-feathers only enhance his
-beauty. The Sparrows, of sober stripes, nest on or near the ground, and
-their plumage blends with brown grass, twigs, and the general
-earth-colouring, illustrating very directly the theory of colour
-protection, while the birds of brilliant plumage invariably keep more
-closely to the trees.
-
-“In size the Indigo Bunting ranks with the small Sparrows, coming in
-grade between the Field- and the Song Sparrows, and being only slightly
-larger than the Chippy. The female wears a modification of the Sparrow
-garb, the upper parts being ashy brown without stripes, the underparts
-grayish white, washed and very faintly streaked with dull brown, the
-wings and tail-feathers having some darker edges and markings.
-
-“When it comes to painting the plumage of the male in words, the task
-becomes difficult; for to use simply the term indigo-blue is as
-inadequate as to say that a bit of water that looks blue while in
-shadow, is of the same colour when it ripples out into full sunlight and
-catches a dozen reflections from foliage and sky. A merely technical
-description would read: Front of head and chin rich indigo-blue, growing
-lighter and greener on back and underparts; wings dusky brown, with blue
-edges to coverts; tail-feathers also blue edged; bill and feet dark;
-general shape rounded and canary-like, resembling the Goldfinch.
-
-“The last of May one of these Buntings came to a low bush, outside my
-window, and, after resting awhile, for the night before had been stormy,
-dropped to the closely cut turf to feed upon the crumbs left where the
-hounds had been munching their biscuits. I have never seen a more
-beautiful specimen, and the contrast with the vivid grass seemed to
-develop the colour of malachite that ran along one edge of the feathers,
-shifting as the bird moved like the sheen of changeable silk.
-
-“The nest, in no wise typical, is a loose and rather careless structure
-of grass, twigs, horsehairs, roots, or bits of bark placed in a low,
-scrubby tree or bush at no great distance from the ground, and the eggs
-are a very pale blue or bluish white, and only three or four in number.
-
-[Illustration: National Association of Audubon Societies INDIGO BUNTING
-(Upper figure, Male; Lower figure, Female)]
-
-                 Order—Passeres      Family—Fringillidæ
-                  Genus—Passerina      Species—Cyanea
-
-“Being a seed-eater, it is undoubtedly this Bunting’s love of warmth
-that gives him so short a season with us: for he does not come to the
-New England states until the first week in May, and, after the August
-moult, when he dons the sober clothing of his mate, he begins to work
-southward by the middle of September,—those from the most northerly
-portions of the breeding range, which extends northward to Minnesota and
-Nova Scotia, having passed by the tenth of October. He winters in
-Central America and southward.
-
-“Although of the insect-eating fraternity of the conical beak, the
-Indigo Bunting consumes many noxious insects in the nesting season, when
-the rapid growth of the young demands animal food, no matter to what
-race they belong. Being an inhabitant of the overgrown edges of old
-pastures, or the brushy fences of clearings and pent roads, he is in a
-position where he can do a great deal of good. Mr. Forbush, in his
-valuable book on _Useful Birds and Their Protection_, credits the Indigo
-Bunting with being a consumer of the larvæ of the mischievous brown-tail
-moth; but whatever service it may do as an insect destroyer, its service
-the year through as a consumer of weed seeds, in common with the rest of
-its tribe, is beyond dispute.
-
-“The voice of the Indigo Bunting is pretty rather than impressive, and
-varies much in individuals. It consists of a series of hurried,
-canary-like notes repeated constantly and rising in key, but, to my
-mind, never reaching the dignity of being called impressive song.
-
-“Nuttall, one of the early American Wise Men, writes that, though
-usually shy, the Indigo-bird, during the season, is more frequently seen
-near habitations than in remote thickets: ‘Their favourite resort is the
-garden, where, from the topmost branch of some tall tree that commands
-the whole wide landscape, the male regularly pours out his lively chant
-and continues it for a considerable length of time. Nor is this song
-confined to the cool and animating dawn of morning, but it is renewed,
-and still more vigorous, during the noonday heat of summer. This lively
-strain is composed of a repetition of short notes, which, commencing
-loud and rapid, and then slowly falling, descend almost to a whisper,
-succeeded by a silence of almost half a minute, when the song is again
-continued as before.
-
-“‘In the village of Cambridge (Massachusetts), I have seen one of these
-azure, almost celestial musicians, regularly chant to the inmates of a
-tall dwelling-house from the summit of the chimney or the tall fork of
-the lightning-rod. I have also heard a Canary repeat and imitate the low
-lisping trill of the Indigo-bird, whose warble, indeed, often resembles
-that of this species.’
-
-“This combination of musical ability, lovely plumage, and its
-seed-eating qualities long since has made the Indigo Bunting in danger
-of extermination, through the fact of its being universally, throughout
-the South, captured and sold as a cage-bird, both for home use and for
-export. In that section the bird is called the ‘blue pop,’ a corruption
-of ‘bleu pape,’ or ‘pope,’ of the French.
-
-“The Cardinal, called ‘Grosbeak’ from the thickness and size of its
-bill, is of course a very conspicuous bird wherever seen, and therefore
-has always been a mark for the ‘arrow of death,’ as Mr. Allen, who knows
-this bird in its native haunts, and its every mood, puts it. Some day
-when you are older you will read his story of it as it lives in the deep
-recesses of the evergreen woods, called _The Kentucky Cardinal_. For
-though this bird is found nesting as far north as Central Park, New
-York, and it has once or twice come to my garden here, and gone into
-Massachusetts even, in the fall roving-time, we must always associate
-him with a long outdoor season and sunny skies, as we do the
-Mockingbird.
-
-“If the Mocker suffered for his voice, the Cardinal was made a prisoner
-for his song and gorgeous colour combined, and though, as is bird law in
-such cases, the female is dull in colour, she has a very attractive song
-also, even in confinement. But I hope that these prison days are over.
-Whoever now confines the Cardinal is a law-breaker as well as a
-heart-breaker, and yet, but ten years ago, every bird-store window was
-aglow with the colour of the Cardinal’s mantle. I have here in the
-scrap-book a charming story that you will like to hear, of a Cardinal in
-Boston, made a temporary captive for its own preservation, and of its
-release when the right time came.”
-
-
-                        THE CARDINAL AT THE HUB
-
-His range being southern, Cardinal Grosbeak seldom travels through New
-England; and, to my knowledge, has never established a home and reared a
-family north of Connecticut until in the instance here recorded.
-Kentuckians claim him, and with some show of right, since James Lane
-Allen built his monument in imperishable prose. But, soon or late, all
-notables come to Boston, and among them may now be registered the
-“Kentucky Cardinal.”
-
-Shy by nature, conspicuous in plumage, he shuns publicity; and avoiding
-the main lines of travel, he puts up at a quiet country house in a
-Boston suburb—Brookline.
-
-Here, one October day in 1897, among the migrants stopping at this
-halfway house, appeared a distinguished guest, clad in red, with a black
-mask, a light red bill, and a striking crest; with him a bird so like
-him that they might have been called the two Dromios. After a few days
-the double passed on, and left our hero the only red-coat in the field.
-A White-throated Sparrow now arrived from the mountains, and a
-Damon-and-Pythias friendship sprang up between the birds. Having decided
-to winter at the North, they took lodgings in a spruce tree, and came
-regularly to the _table d’hôte_ on the porch. My lord Cardinal, being
-the more distinguished guest, met with particular favour, and soon
-became welcome at the homes of the neighbourhood. With truly catholic
-taste, he refused creature-comforts from none, but showed preference for
-his first abode.
-
-It was March 5, 1898, when we kept our first appointment with the
-Cardinal. A light snow had fallen during the night, and the air was
-keen, without premonition of spring. It was a day for home-keeping
-birds, the earth larder being closed. The most delicate tact was
-required in presenting strangers. A loud, clear summons—the Cardinal’s
-own whistle echoed by human lips—soon brought a response. Into the
-syringa bush near the porch flew, with a whir and a sharp _tsip_, a
-bird. How gorgeous he looked in the snow-laden shrub! For an instant the
-syringa blossoms loaded the air with fragrance as a dream of summer
-floated by. Then a call to the porch was met by several sallies and
-quick retreats, while the wary bird studied the newcomers. Reassuring
-tones from his gentle hostess, accompanied by the rattle of nuts and
-seeds, at last prevailed, and the Cardinal flew to the railing, and
-looked us over with keen, inquiring eye. Convinced that no hostilities
-were intended, he gave a long, trustful look into the face of his
-benefactress and flew to her feet.
-
-A gray squirrel, frisking by, stopped at the lunch-counter and seized an
-“Educator” cracker.
-
-The novel sensation of an uncaged bird within touch, where one might
-notice the lovely shading of his plumage as one notes a flower, was
-memorable; but a sweeter surprise was in store. As we left the house,
-having made obeisance to his eminence, the Cardinal, the bird flew into
-a spruce tree and saluted us with a melodious “Mizpah.” Then, as if
-reading the longing of our hearts, he opened his bright bill, and a song
-came forth such as never before enraptured the air of a New England
-March,—a song so copious, so free, so full of heavenly hope, that it
-seemed as if forever obliterated were the “tragic memories of his race.”
-
-As March advanced, several changes in the Cardinal were noted by his
-ever-watchful friends. He made longer trips abroad, returning tired and
-hungry. The restlessness of the unsatisfied heart was plainly his. His
-long, sweet, interpolating whistle, variously rendering “Peace . . .
-peace . . . peace!” “Three cheers, three cheers,” etc., to these
-sympathetic northern ears became “Louise, Louise, Louise!” Thenceforth
-he was Louis, the Cardinal, calling for his mate.
-
-On March 26, a kind friend took pity on the lonely bachelor, and a caged
-bird, “Louise,” was introduced to him. In the lovely dove-coloured bird,
-with faint washings of red, and the family mask and crest, the Cardinal
-at once recognized his kind. His joy was unbounded, and the acquaintance
-progressed rapidly, a mutual understanding being plainly reached during
-the seventeen days of cage courtship. Louis brought food to Louise, and
-they had all things in common, except liberty.
-
-April 12, in the early morning, the cage was taken out-of-doors, and
-Louise was set free. She was quick to embrace her chance, and flew into
-the neighbouring shrubbery. For six days she revelled in her new-found
-freedom, Louis, meanwhile, coming and going as of old, and often
-carrying away seeds from the house to share with his mate.
-
-April 16, he lured her into the house, and after that they came often
-for food, flying fearlessly in at the window, and delighting their
-friends with their songs and charming ways. Louis invariably gave the
-choicest morsels to his mate, and the course of true love seemed to
-cross the adage; but, alas! Death was already adjusting an arrow for
-that shining mark.
-
-April 25, Louise stayed in the house all day, going out at nightfall.
-Again the following day she remained indoors, Louis feeding her; but her
-excellent appetite disarmed suspicion, and it was thought that she had
-taken refuge from the cold and rain, especially as she spent the night
-within. The third morning, April 27, she died. An examination of her
-body showed three dreadful wounds.
-
-Louis came twittering to the window, but was not let in until a day or
-two later, when a new bird, “Louisa,” had been put in the cage. When he
-saw the familiar form, he evidently thought his lost love restored, for
-he burst into glorious song; but, soon discovering his mistake, he
-stopped short in his hallelujahs, and walked around the cage inspecting
-the occupant.
-
-[Illustration: National Association of Audubon Societies CARDINAL
-Upper Figure, Female; Lower Figure, Male.]
-
-Louisa’s admiration for the Cardinal was marked; but for some days he
-took little notice of her, and his friends began to fear that their
-second attempt at match-making would prove a failure. April 30, however,
-some responsive interest was shown, and the next day Louis brought to
-the cage a brown bug, half an inch long, and gave Louisa his first
-meat-offering.
-
-The second wooing progressed rapidly, and May 7, when Louisa was set
-free, the pair flew away together with unrestrained delight. After three
-days of liberty, Louisa flew back to the house with her mate, and
-thenceforth was a frequent visitor.
-
-May 21, Louisa was seen carrying straws, and on June 6 her nest was
-discovered low down in a dense evergreen thorn. Four speckled eggs lay
-in the nest. These were hatched June 9, the parent birds, meantime and
-afterward, going regularly to market, and keeping up social relations
-with their friends.
-
-In nine days after their exit from the shell, the little Cardinals left
-the nest and faced life’s sterner realities. A black cat was their worst
-foe, and more than once, during their youth, Louis flew to his devoted
-commissary and made known his anxiety. Each time, on following him to
-the nest, she found the black prowler, or one of his kind, watching for
-prey. On June 28, the black cat outwitted the allied forces, Señor
-Cardinal and his friends, and a little one was slain. The other three
-grew up, and enjoyed all the privileges of their parents, flying in at
-the window, and frequenting the bountiful porch.
-
-July 25, Louisa disappeared from the scene, presumably on a southern
-trip, leaving the Cardinal sole protector, provider, and peacemaker for
-their lively and quarrelsome triplet. A fight is apparently as needful
-for the development of a young Cardinal as of an English schoolboy,
-possibly due in both cases to a meat diet.
-
-Overfeeding was but temporary with our birds. On the 8th of August the
-migratory instinct prevailed over ease, indulgence, friendship, and the
-Cardinal with his brood left the house, where he had been so well
-entertained, to return no more. No more? Who shall say of any novel that
-it can have no sequel? Massachusetts may yet become the permanent home
-of the Kentucky Cardinal, the descendant to the third and fourth
-generation of Louis and his mate.
-
-                                   —Ella Gilbert Ives, in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-As Gray Lady read the story of the Cardinal, the children, between
-listening to it and being intent on their work, forgot the Mockingbird
-in the window, upon whom the rays of the sun, that had gradually managed
-to pierce the clouds, were resting.
-
-As her mother finished and paused, Goldilocks, with a very slight
-gesture, directed their glance toward the window, where the Mockingbird,
-having completed his toilet and meal, perched, wings slightly raised and
-quivering, with half-closed eyes, murmuring a few broken snatches of
-song, half to himself and half as if in a dream, his head thrown back
-and, oh, such a human expression of longing in his attitude, that Gray
-Lady, without speaking, turned the leaves of her scrap-book slowly until
-she came to a place where the long line of prose shortened to verse, and
-then in a low but distinct voice she read:—
-
-
-                              IN CAPTIVITY
-
-          You ask me why
-          I long to fly
-    Out from your palace to the dreamy woods,
-    And the summer solitude,
-          Why I pine
-          In this cage of mine;
-          Why I fret,
-          Why I set
-    All manner of querulous echoes fluttering forth
-          From the cold North
-    And wandering southward with beseeching pain
-          In every strain.
-          Ask me not,
-          Task me not
-    With such vain questions, but fling wide the door
-    And hinder me no more;
-          Give back my wings to me,
-    And the wild current of my liberty.
-
-            *     *     *     *     *     *
-
-          Oh if you please
-          Give me release!
-          Open the gate
-          Of this cage of Fate
-    And let me mount the South wind and go down
-          To Bay St. Louis town,
-          Where the brown bees hum
-    In amber mists of pollen and perfume;
-          And the roses gush a-bloom!
-
-            *     *     *     *     *     *
-
-          Fainter, fainter—so
-          My life-stream sinks—runs low.
-                  Ah!
-                  Oh!
-          Open the cage and let me go.
-    Floating, dreaming, revelling, dying, down
-          To my mate, my queen, my love
-          In the fragrant drowsy grove
-    Beyond the flowery closes of Bay St. Louis town.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-It was very still for a moment, and something fell on Sarah Barnes’ work
-that was bright, but it wasn’t a needle! Then, looking across at the
-cage, but addressing Gray Lady, she said, “We’ve paid for the shingles,
-and the hay, and the horse-blanket, and a chest-protector, besides, for
-the horse to wear all the time, to keep the uphill wind off his lungs.
-We’ve bought the bags of sweepings for the feeding-places, and there’s
-three dollars and eighty-five cents left.
-
-“Couldn’t the Kind Hearts’ Club have a meeting _right away_, and vote to
-send Old Ned’s Mocker back down South by express, _now_, before he,
-maybe, dies, so’s he’d be there to meet spring, even if old Ned can’t?
-Then he’d have time to look up a mate in case his old one has got tired
-of waiting for him,” she added in a more cheerful tone.
-
-Gray Lady said that, as all the members were present, a special meeting
-would be in order; and two days later the Mockingbird started for the
-southern home of one of Gray Lady’s school friends, with a “special” tag
-on his well-wrapped cage and a bottle of extra food fastened outside.
-
-Oh, the untold misery and waste of this caging and selling of free-born
-birds! It is only one grade less direct a slaughter than killing them to
-trim a bonnet. While the sufferings of the bonnet-bird end at once, with
-its life, those of the caged bird have only begun as the door closes
-behind him.
-
-A few exceptional cases, where birds in care of those who are both able
-and willing to make their surroundings endurable, count as nothing
-against the general condemnation of the practice of caging birds born
-wild.
-
-Those of us who have known, by experience, in caring for wounded or sick
-birds, exactly what incessant watchfulness is necessary to keep them
-alive, realize how impossible it is that this care should be given them
-by the average purchaser.
-
-Birds born and reared in captivity, like the Canary, are the only ones
-that real humanity should keep behind bars. There is no more condemnable
-habit than taking nestlings of any kind, and trying to rear them, unless
-disaster overtakes the parents.
-
-Nominally, the traffic in caged wild birds has ceased; actually, it has
-not; nor will it until every bird-lover feels himself responsible for
-staying the hand that would rob the nest, whether it is that of the
-ignorant little pickaninny of the South, who climbs up the vine outside
-the window where you are wintering, and sees, in the four young Mockers,
-in the nest just under the sill, a prospective dollar; the child at
-home, who likes to experiment for a few days with pets, and then forgets
-them; or the wily dealer, who sells secretly what he dares not exhibit.
-No quarter to any class who make prisoners of the wild, outside of the
-zoölogical gardens or the few private outdoor aviaries, where the proper
-conditions exist.
-
-Any free citizen prefers death to loss of liberty, and even the most
-material mind will, at least, allow this human quality to Citizen Bird,
-while it proves that he or she who either cages or buys the captive
-wholly lacks the spiritual quality.
-
-Should we make prisoners of
-
-    “The ballad-singers and the Troubadours,
-      The street musicians of the heavenly city,
-    The birds, who make sweet music for us all
-      In our dark hours, as David did for Saul”?
-
-
-
-
-                                   XX
-                            MIDWINTER BIRDS
-
-
-                            WINTER COMRADES
-
-    Plume and go, ye summer folk
-    Fly from Winter’s killing stroke,
-    Bluebird, Sparrow, Thrush, and Swallow,
-    Wild Geese from the marshes follow,
-    Wood-dove from the lonesome hollow
-    Rise and follow South—all follow!
-
-    Now I greet ye, hardy tribes,
-    Snowy Owl, and night-black Crow,
-    Starling with your wild halloo;
-    Blue Jay screaming like the wind,
-    In the tree-tops gaunt and thinned;
-    You in summer called “Bob-white”
-    (Voice of far-off fields’ delight).
-    Now among the barnyard brood
-    Fearless, searching for your food;
-    Nuthatch, Snowbird, Chickadee,
-    Downy tapper on the tree;
-    And you twittering Goldfinch drove
-    (Masked in gray) that blithely rove
-    Where the herby pastures show
-    Tables set above the snow:
-    And ye other flocks that ramble,
-    Where the red hop trims the bramble,
-    Or the rowan-berry bright
-    And the scarlet haw invite—
-    Winter comrades, well betide ye,
-    Friendly trunk and hollow hide ye,
-    Hemlock branches interlace,
-    When the Northern Blast gives chase.
-
-    —Edith M. Thomas.
-
-These were the hard days for birds and people both, days of sleet and
-ice, when the snow seemed to chill and bind the trees down, instead of
-winding lovely draperies about them as it did at first.
-
-Toward the end of January the cedar-berries gave out, and the juicy
-blackberries of the honeysuckle, that clings to everything that will
-hold the vines, became watery and poor; most of the seed-stalks of weeds
-were beaten down, and it was “mighty poor picking for birds,” as Sarah
-Barnes expressed the matter.
-
-The lunch-counter in Birdland received a fresh supply of food every
-morning, and yet, sometimes before dark, every grain had been eaten, and
-the generous lumps of suet picked to shreds. The feeding-stations for
-the game-birds all had visitors, and the boys, who kept them supplied,
-saw, in their walks, many winter birds that they never before knew came
-so near to the cultivated farmland.
-
-Acting on the general idea of feeding and sheltering birds that now
-seemed to pervade the air of Fair Meadows township, many people
-scattered food on the roofs of their sheds, and made openings in their
-corn-stacks, or left a window of the hay-barn ajar, where birds might
-seek a shelter.
-
-All through the month the resident winter birds were seen at intervals.
-Of course, there would be many days when no birds would appear, and it
-would seem as if they had all gone, but let the sun shine, and the least
-breath of wind blow from the southeast, and they would come out of the
-near-by shelter where they had been hiding.
-
-The orchard lunch-counter was the one place where, at least, a single
-bird was always to be found, and, at times, as many as half a dozen
-different kinds would be seen feeding peaceably together.
-
-Gray Lady kept a list of all the birds that the children reported, and
-sometimes it was quite a puzzle for her to name a bird, unknown to the
-discoverer, from the description that was brought of it. For to see the
-chief points of a bird at a glance is difficult enough in itself, but to
-put them into exact words seemed sometimes impossible.
-
-When Dave, on his return from a sleigh-ride to the shore, said that he’d
-seen a “big round-headed Owl sitting on a stump in the salt meadows, and
-it looked as if it had sat out all night in a snow-squall,” Gray Lady
-knew at once that he had seen one of the Arctic or Snowy Owls that
-occasionally drift down from the North on a short visit, and that it was
-on the lookout for a meal of meadow-mice or other little gnawers.
-
-But when Bobbie, who went to the same location, reported that he had
-seen “a flock of birds that were sort of Sparrows with a yellow breast,
-and a black mark on it, and long ears,” it took a little time and many
-questions before she found that the birds were visiting Horned Larks,
-with pinkish brown backs, a black crescent on the breast, and a black
-bar across the forehead, that, extending around the sides of the head,
-forms two little tufts, or feather horns. For the rest, the throat and
-neck were dull yellow, and the underparts white streaked with black.
-These birds were little known. They only made flying visits, and gave
-merely a call-note, keeping their beautiful song, during which they soar
-in the air like the Sky-lark, for their nesting-haunts in the far North.
-
-Gray Lady’s ingenuity was taxed to its utmost, however, when one
-Saturday morning little Clary came to the playroom, her face aglow, and
-said that she had seen “a brown Blue Jay with a yellow tail and red
-wings; not just one, but a whole family.”
-
-For a moment Gray Lady was quite at a loss how to proceed; yellow tail
-and red wings were surely startling; then she saw that there must be
-some point about the bird that reminded the child of a Jay other than
-its colour.
-
-“How did this bird look like a Jay, Clary?” she asked.
-
-“In the head,” came the prompt reply; “it had feathers on top that moved
-up and down, the way a Jay’s does, and it was dark in the nose.”
-
-On thinking over the winter birds that had a crest of feathers that
-could be raised or lowered, she realized that the Cedar-bird had such a
-one, also a black beak, and a black eye-stripe that made it look “dark
-in the nose,” but yellow tail and red wings it certainly did not have,
-merely a narrow yellow band on the tail and small, waxen, coral-red tips
-to some of the wing quills. However, taking half a dozen coloured
-pictures from one of the portfolios that she kept at hand to settle
-disputed points, she spread them in front of the little girl, who,
-without a moment’s hesitation, picked out the Cedar-bird, or Cedar
-Waxwing, as it is properly called from its coral wings-tips.
-
-These are the resident birds on the list that Gray Lady kept of those
-the children saw during that winter:—
-
-Bob-white
-Ruffed Grouse
-Red-shouldered Hawk
-Meadowlark
-Long-eared Owl
-Screech Owl
-Downy Woodpecker
-Robin
-Bluebird
-Song Sparrow
-White-breasted Nuthatch
-Red-tailed Hawk
-Sharp-shinned Hawk
-Barred Owl
-Cedar Waxwing
-Hairy Woodpecker
-Flicker
-Blue Jay
-Crow
-American Goldfinch
-Chickadee
-Herring Gull
-
-This is a list of the visiting birds, that nest in the far North and
-drift southward, either in search of food or driven on the course of the
-storm clouds; and before February came, with its longer afternoons, the
-children could name them all, either from sight or from the pictures in
-Gray Lady’s portfolio.
-
-    _Horned Lark._ (See above.)
-
-    _Snowflake._ A bird of the Sparrow tribe, winter plumage soft
-    brown and white, colour of dead leaves and snow, black feet and
-    bill. Comes in flocks to feed on weed seeds, especially of snowy
-    winters.
-
-    _Redpoll._ Of the Sparrow tribe and the size of the Chippy.
-    Dusky gray and brown, with long, pointed wings and short, forked
-    tail. _Head, neck, and rump washed with crimson!_ A canary-like
-    call-note.
-
-    _The Two Crossbills._ (See page 252.)
-
-    _Snowy Owl._ (See page 295.)
-
-    _Tree-sparrow._ (See page 249.)
-
-    _White-throated Sparrow._ The most beautiful of all our
-    Sparrows; a plump handsome bird. _White throat and crown
-    stripes._ Back striped with black, bay, and whitish. Rump light
-    olive-brown. Bay edgings to wings, and two white cross-bars;
-    underparts gray. _Yellow spot before eye._ Female, crown brown,
-    markings less distinct. Song, sweet and plaintive
-    “Pee-a-peabody, peabody, peabody!”
-
-    Abundant migrant; also a winter resident from September to May.
-
-    _Junco._ (See page 250.)
-
-    _Myrtle Warbler._ (See page 250.)
-
-    _Winter Wren._ (See page 247.)
-
-    _Golden-crowned Kinglet._ (See page 249.)
-
-    _Brown Creeper._ (See page 184.)
-
-    _Northern Shrike._ A roving winter resident with Hawklike
-    habits, Hawklike in flight: called “Butcher-bird,” from its
-    meat-eating habits.
-
-        Length: 9-10.50 inches.
-
-        Male and Female: Powerful head, neck, and blackish beak
-        with hooked point. Above bluish ash, lighter on the rump
-        and shoulders. Wide black bar on each side of the head
-        from the eye backward. Below, light gray with a brownish
-        cast, broken on breast and sides by waved lines of
-        darker gray. Wings and tail black, edged and tipped with
-        white. Large white spot on wings, white tips and edges
-        to outer quills of tail. Legs bluish black.
-
-        A call-note, and in its breeding-haunts a sweet,
-        warbling song.
-
-In common with all winter birds, its movements are guided by the food
-supply, and if severe cold and heavy snows drive away the small birds,
-and bury the mice upon which it feeds, the Shrike must necessarily rove.
-
-Grasshoppers, beetles, other large insects, and field-mice are staple
-articles of its food in seasons when they are obtainable; in fact, next
-to insects, mice constitute the staple article of its diet; and
-protection should be accorded it on this account, even though we know
-the Shrike chiefly as the killer of small birds. The victims are caught
-by two methods: sneaking,—after the fashion of Crows,—and dropping
-upon them suddenly from a height, like the small Hawks. In the former
-case the Shrikes frequent clumps of bushes, either in open meadows or
-gardens, lure the little birds by imitating their call-notes, and then
-seize them as soon as they come within range. They often kill many more
-birds than they can possibly eat at a meal, and hang them on the spikes
-of a thorn or on the hooks of a cat-brier in some convenient spot, until
-they are needed, in the same manner as a butcher hangs his meat; and
-from this trait the name “Butcher-bird” was given them.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-During some of these wintry days of meeting, questions and answers about
-the birds seen filled the time, and then Gray Lady read to them from
-some of her many books what people living in other places had said and
-thought of these same familiar birds. Besides the stories, she told them
-many things about the building of a bird, its bones, its feathers, the
-reasons why of the various kinds of feet and bills, the grouping of
-race, tribe, and family that both divide the bird world and at the same
-time bind it together; for she very well knew that when spring came with
-its procession of songsters, the children would be so eager to listen,
-see, follow, and learn the names of the living birds that they would not
-have patience to listen to the dry details.
-
-
-                              THE SNOWBIRD
-
-    When the leaves are shed
-        And the branches bare,
-        When the snows are deep
-        And the flowers asleep,
-    And the autumn dead;
-    And the skies are o’er us bent
-    Gray and gloomy since she went,
-    And the sifting snow is drifting
-        Through the air;
-
-    Then mid snowdrifts white,
-        Though the trees are bare,
-        Comes the Snowbird bold
-        In the winter’s cold.
-    Quick and round and bright,
-    Light he steps across the snow.
-    Cares he not for winds that blow,
-    Though the sifting snow be drifting
-        Through the air.
-
-    —Dora R. Goodale.
-
-
-                ON HEARING A WINTER WREN SING IN WINTER
-
-    When wintry winds through woodlands blow
-    And naked tree-tops shake and shiver;
-    While all the paths were bound in snow,
-    And thick ice chains the merry river,
-
-        One little feathered denizen,
-        A plump and nut-brown winter wren,
-        Sings of springtime even there—
-        “Tsip-twis-ch-e-e-e cheerily-cheerily-dare”—
-        Who could listen and despair?
-
-    Charmed with the sweetness of his strain,
-    My heart found cheer in winter’s bluster;
-    The leafless wood was fair again,
-    Its ice-gems sparkled with new lustre.
-        The tiny, trembling, tinkling throat
-        Poured forth despair’s sure antidote,
-        No leafy June hears sweeter note—
-        “Tsip-twis-ch-e-e-e cheerily-cheerily-dare”—
-        The essence of unspoken prayer.
-
-    —Lynn Tew Sprague, in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-
-                             THE CHICKADEE
-
-    When piped a tiny voice hard by,
-    Gay and polite, a cheerful cry,
-    Chic-chickadee-dee! saucy note
-    Out of sound heart and merry throat,
-    As if it said, “Good day, good sir!
-    Fine afternoon, old passenger!
-    Happy to meet you in these places
-    Where January brings few faces.”
-
-    —R. W. Emerson.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-These are a few of the many bits of verse and poems that Gray Lady read
-or recited to the children in these days, some of which they learned by
-heart. Once learned, she knew they would never be forgotten, but that
-years afterward, when they saw the birds that the lines described, the
-words and the days in the schoolhouse and playroom, and the faces of
-their companions, would all come back to them.
-
-
-                          BIRD SONGS OF MEMORY
-
-    Oh, surpassing all expression by the rhythmic use of words,
-    Are the memories that gather of the singing of the birds:
-    When as a child I listened to the Whip-poor-will at dark,
-    And with the dawn awakened to the music of the Lark.
-
-    Then what a chorus wonderful when morning had begun,—
-    The very leaves, it seemed to me, were singing to the sun,
-    And calling on the world asleep to waken and behold
-    The king in glory coming forth along his path of gold.
-
-    The crimson-fronted Linnet sang above the river’s edge,
-    The Finches in the evergreens, the Thrasher in the hedge;
-    Each one as if a dozen songs were chorused in his own,
-    And all the world were listening to him and him alone.
-
-    In gladness sang the Bobolink upon ascending wing,
-    With cheery voice the bird of blue, the pioneer of spring,
-    The Oriole upon the elm, with martial note and clear,
-    While Martins twittered gayly by the cottage window near.
-
-    Among the orchard trees were heard the Robin and the Wren,
-    And the army of the Blackbirds along the marshy fen;
-    The songster in the meadow and the Quail upon the wheat,
-    And the warbler’s minor music made the symphony complete.
-
-    Beyond the tow’ring chimney’d walls that daily meet my eyes,
-    I hold a vision beautiful beneath the summer skies;
-    Within the city’s grim confines, above the roaring street,
-    The Happy Birds of Memory are singing clear and sweet.
-
-    —Garrett Newkirk.
-
-
-
-
-                                  XXI
-                     JACOB HUGHES’ OPINION OF CATS
-
-
-One morning after a light snow-storm, followed by sparkling sunshine,
-Gray Lady took the younger children out for a walk through Birdland and
-the lane. Not but what even the younger children knew the way! But often
-as they had trodden it, there were many things that they noticed for the
-first time: the wonderful shapes of the snow crystals, the snow flowers
-that blossomed on the old weed stalks, the snow filling that brought
-many hidden nests into view, and all the other wonders that are so often
-wrought in the winter night, while we sleep soundly.
-
-Tommy and Dave, who had walked on ahead, halted suddenly and picked up a
-handful of feathers from the snow and stood looking at them as Gray Lady
-came up.
-
-“A bad Hawk or a Crow or Owl or something big has been here,” said Dave,
-with a quaver in his voice, “and it’s killed a banty rooster that looks
-just like mine, that is, this bunch of feathers does; but then,
-Goldilocks has banties, too, so perhaps it is one of hers,” and he held
-the feathers up.
-
-Gray Lady took them; yes, they were banty feathers, and from a bird that
-had not been long dead, for the quill ends were still moist. Then she
-looked at the ground: “Something that did not fly has killed the bantam,
-and dragged its body along the ground, and it had feet with padded
-claws, look!” she said, and there was a blood-stained trail that skirted
-the bushes and then ran across the lane toward a hay-barn that now held
-only bedding and cornstalks.
-
-“You children amuse yourselves here while Tommy, Dave, and I follow this
-up.”
-
-Nothing could have been more simple than this following, as the
-footprints of the large cat, for that is what it was, showed plainly in
-the new snow, and, here and there, a few drops of blood also marked the
-way. Straight to the barn ran the trail, and then through a small door
-that had been left open at Gray Lady’s request, that birds might take
-shelter inside.
-
-So they had, poor things, and so had the cat also. On the floor were
-other feathers of many kinds, among which Gray Lady recognized the
-white-spotted tail-feathers of a Robin, the pointed shafts of the
-Flicker, and gray-and-white down that might have come from a Junco’s
-breast; while half hidden by loose cornstalks was the foot of a Grouse,
-also yellow legs that had belonged to a good-sized chicken.
-
-The boys stood still in amazement, and Dave said, “I knew foxes and dogs
-carried things home or buried them, but I didn’t know cats did unless
-they have kittens hidden. I wonder if there are kittens in the
-cornstalks, and if this cat stole all the chickens we’ve been losing
-every day almost along since fall? Because it couldn’t be any kind of
-birds that stole them, they couldn’t get in; and father said it lay
-between cats, rats, and weasels.”
-
-“We will soon find out,” said Gray Lady. “Will you boys go down to the
-stable and ask Jacob to come up? I will watch here.” As soon as they had
-gone, Gray Lady went into a corner and seated herself upon a box.
-Presently she heard a rustle among the cornstalks and out stalked a
-great tiger-striped cat, licking her whiskers. After snuffing the
-footsteps of the boys, she began to lash her tail to and fro, which in a
-cat means anger, and quite the reverse of the dog’s sociable, “I’m glad
-to see you” tail-wag. Then, looking back at the hole in the corn stack
-through which she had come, she made a strange sound, half purr, half
-growl, that Gray Lady thought was evidently intended as a note of
-warning, and then the cat slunk off through the snow, keeping as close
-to the fence as possible and dropping her body low as she hurried away.
-
-When Jacob came, he took a hayfork and began to shift the cornstalks
-from the corner to the empty floor opposite. The feathers, he said, had
-all been gathered during the two past weeks, for when he had last taken
-the wood-sled from the barn, no feathers were to be seen.
-
-“Here they are!” he exclaimed, as the last stack was reached, but even
-as he spoke, six half-grown kittens, brindled like their parent, sprang
-in different directions, some going up on the beams and others diving
-into the hay, only one remaining, with arched back and flashing eyes, to
-hiss a protest at the disturbing of their comfortable home.
-
-“What’s the use of making bird laws and feeding birds and all that, and
-letting wild beasts like these multiply about the country?” said Jacob,
-resting on the handle of the fork. “_No, ma’am_, if I had my way, I’d
-get up a Kind Heart Club of men to help the birds and rid the township
-of homeless cats, red squirrels, and English Sparrows—yes, I would,
-ma’am!
-
-“I have eyes and I use them, and I know cats are worse enemies to birds,
-counting wild birds and poultry together, than everything else that
-walks or flies humped together. Tame house cats are bad enough, for
-they’ll kill for pleasure when they’re not hungry. My sister over at
-Hill’s farm says she’s taken over fifty dead or half-dead birds away
-from her pet cat this summer, until it sickened her of the idea of
-keeping cats.
-
-“But when it comes to the half-breeds that some folks let grow up
-because they’re too slack to kill ’em, it’s just a crime! Look at this
-piece of work here; the cat that has done all this is one of the
-outcasts of the lot down at the grist-mill. Cats are only half tamed at
-best; let them get a taste of hunting and back they go and are savages.
-
-“They don’t belong to this country; we folks brought ’em, like we did
-English Sparrows, and we made a mistake, and we ought to undo it when we
-can. Transplanted animals, like pauper foreigners, always get the upper
-hand. Traps can catch up the rats and mice, only we’re too lazy to set
-them. Cats are no good, even for pets, for they’re tricky, and they
-aren’t healthy for children to have because they carry skin diseases and
-such in their fur. They claim that Jessie Lyons that died in Bridgeton
-’long in the fall got the diphtheria from her cat’s trampin’ all over
-creation, and then her huggin’ it.
-
-“If it’s right and proper to license dogs, and if one kills fowls or
-sheep, for the town to pay damages, then, say I, the least we can do is
-to license cats and hold the owners for their mischief.
-
-“Next to cats I’m most put out with red squirrels and English Sparrows.
-The first are sneaks; they take eggs, little birds, and all. They make
-free with young gray squirrels, too, and don’t spare their next-door
-neighbours even, while Sparrows hustle and do much likewise, taking the
-nesting-places of Swallows and Bluebirds and Jenny Wrens, and fighting
-and wrastling with anything smaller than themselves, breaking up nests
-and pitching out young ones until I just can’t stand it! Now it’s woe to
-any of these three that comes across my path. Maybe some folks will say
-I’m cruel. Will those folks let mice and rats eat their groceries and
-not kill them? and by themselves rats and mice are decent, clean
-animals.
-
-“Not they; and to us that love our tree birds, cats and red squirrels
-and English Sparrows are hateful as are rats and mice, and I warrant
-you’ll not think I’m going too far when I say it, ma’am!”
-
-“No, Jacob, you are right, though I’m sorry to say so,” answered Gray
-Lady, still looking at the feathers. “The cat tribe is by nature cruel.
-All animals kill for food, but the cat tortures before she kills. I used
-to defend the keeping of pet cats until one that I had trusted bit me
-through the hand at a moment when I was petting her, without the
-slightest provocation. I never knew a dog to bite his master
-unprovoked—unless he was ill—and even if we love our cats, we should
-be unselfish, for birds are of value to the country at large and cats
-are not. Only, I insist upon this, that the killing, even of vermin, is
-a matter for the grown-up, and some one with authority should be
-appointed to do it. It should not be left to the young and
-irresponsible, just as the punishing of human criminals is not a matter
-for the people in general to decide and put in execution.
-
-“Yes, boys,” Gray Lady continued, “I wish every one would feel
-responsible in this matter. No farmer will raise more poultry or calves
-or colts than he can feed and then turn them loose to either starve or
-prey upon his neighbours. Why, then, should he allow his cats to
-straggle about and kill the song-birds that even much money cannot buy
-or replace? But come, we must go on; the others will be wondering where
-we are.
-
-“I want you all to look at something at the lane end,—that great beech
-tree with the gray streaked trunk. Do you see the sunbeams playing
-checkers on the bark, this side? Do you know what this means? I will
-tell you. It means that the tide of winter is turning toward spring,
-that February is here. We should not know it unless we looked at the day
-in the calendar. It is quite as cold as it has been all through the
-winter, but the days are growing longer, and now, once more, the sun
-slips by the barn in the morning and lies upon the beech trunk that has
-been in shadow all winter long.
-
-“My father showed me this when I was a child; and whenever I grew tired
-of winter, the earth seemed dead, and it seemed as if spring would never
-come back, he would say, ‘Go up the lane and see if the sun’s message is
-written on the beech tree.’ So, while it is still winter here, down in
-the South the flocks of Robins and Song Sparrows and Bluebirds are
-reading the sun’s message, and, far away as spring seems, they are
-planning their return. Meanwhile we have the brave winter birds to keep
-us cheerful. See the flock of Juncoes alighting yonder. They are as
-plump and freshly plumed as new arrivals in spring dress. This Snowbird
-is no sloven, he always wears a trim dress-suit.”
-
-    Better far, ah yes! than no bird
-    Is the ever-present snowbird;
-    Gayly tripping, dainty creature,
-    When the snow hides every feature;
-    Covers fences, field, and tree,
-    Clothes in white all things but thee.
-    Restless, twittering, trusty snowbird
-    Lighter heart than thine hath no bird.
-
-    —C. C. Abbott, _Snowbird_.
-
-
-
-
-                                  XXII
-                    FEBRUARY, “THE LONG-SHORT MONTH”
-
-
-                    _Bluebird, Song Sparrow, Robin_
-
-“I wonder why February is so long, when it is the very shortest month in
-the year?” said Goldilocks one Saturday, as she and Miss Wilde were
-walking from Swallow Chimney, up through Birdland, to the big house for
-the bird class.
-
-“I have often thought the same thing myself,” answered Rose Wilde, “and
-I think it must be because, knowing that it is a short month, we think
-spring is hurrying to us because we are trying to hurry toward it.
-Spring, however, never hurries to return to New England, even when
-nature faces her this way she seems to take pleasure in walking
-backward!”
-
-Miss Wilde and Goldilocks had become fast friends since the little
-teacher had come to live on the hill. With the interest Gray Lady had
-shown in the children and school, the dreary, lonely days had passed
-away, and she no longer looked pale and nervous, but was bright-eyed,
-with a lovely soft colour in her cheeks, so that, as Goldilocks told her
-one day, her name could be written in two ways, Rose Wilde, and Wild
-Rose, which, of course, made her blush with pleasure, and look all the
-more like that radiant June flower.
-
-Goldilocks would have liked to go to school at Foxes Corners with the
-others, but the doctor shook his head and said something to her mother
-about “unwholesome stove heat, fresh air but not draughts,” but Gray
-Lady smiled at Goldilocks with a mysterious sort of glance that always
-hid a surprise and said, “Be content to grow strong this winter and wait
-and see what will happen.”
-
-“Yes, but Miss Wilde may go to a better school next year, if she is
-well, for you know that Sarah Barnes’ grandmother heard that she had two
-chances, one at the Bridgeton High School and one to teach the eighth
-grade at the Centre. Besides, the children I like best—Sarah, and
-Tommy, and Dave, and Eliza—won’t be at Foxes Corners next year. If
-their parents can take turns in lending them a horse, they will have to
-go to the Centre School for the eighth grade, because no one can go from
-Foxes Corners straight into the High School, and they do _so_ want to
-learn.”
-
-“Of course it is quite possible that Rose Wilde may go to another
-school, and we would not wish to keep her back, I’m sure, little
-daughter.” Something in Gray Lady’s voice made Goldilocks look at her
-quickly.
-
-“I can’t guess what it is, motherkin, but I simply _know_ that you have
-a secret and a plan in your head that I may not know until summer.” Then
-Goldilocks smiled to herself, as she remembered that she also had, or
-rather was a part of, a secret of Miss Wilde’s that her mother could not
-know until summer; and this secret had many things in it,—girls and
-boys, needles and thread and bits of coloured cloth, long walks into the
-far-away hemlock woods, axes, and many other things!
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-It was now the last week in February. Every one was on the lookout for
-the first spring migrants, and the children were beginning to bring news
-of birds that they had seen imperfectly and yet were sure were new
-arrivals from the South. It was impossible that most of these birds
-should have been in the vicinity, but the pictures on the charts, mixed
-with equal portions of imagination and hope, caused the children to
-_think_ they saw the bird that they wished to be the first to report,
-rather than the one that was actually there.
-
-Aside from the birds that are represented by a few individuals all the
-year the only newcomers to hope for are a few adventurous Blackbirds,
-the Purple Grackle, and the Red-wing, and they are not usually seen in
-any numbers before the beginning of March. There are three birds,
-however, that, unless the month is very stormy, may be expected at any
-time to show their fresh plumage and bring the latest news of travel to
-their stay-at-home brothers who have remained behind. These are the
-Bluebird, the Song Sparrow, and the Robin.
-
-“We all know those. Even little brother Ebby knows _those_ birds,” said
-Clary, when Gray Lady proposed to spend the morning in the company of
-the most homelike and familiar birds of New England. “That is, Ebby
-knows the Bluebird and Robin, and the Song Sparrow if it is singing; but
-I do think Sparrows are dreadful hard to tell by sight. If a Song
-Sparrow doesn’t sing, and turns his back so’s I can’t see the big spot
-and the little one on his breast, I don’t always know him myself.”
-
-“I hope that we all know these three birds,” said Gray Lady, “but, like
-old friends, we are even more glad to see them when they come than if
-they were the most brilliant of strangers. Old friends also may bring
-news, and as for birds, no one can ever be sure that there is nothing
-new to learn of them. And as for what we do know, it becomes fresh and
-new each spring with his return. One thing about this bird is worthy of
-notice, and that is the wonderful way in which Nature uses colour, both
-as an ornament and a protection to her children. The majority of the
-brightly coloured birds do not arrive until there are at least a few
-leaves to screen them; the Oriole, Tanager, Rose-breast, and Indigo-bird
-perching on leafless branches. Yet the Bluebird and the Blue Jay, both
-of brilliant and striking plumage, are with us when the trees are
-entirely bare, and when evergreens are lacking they have only sky or
-earth for a background.
-
-“What does this mean? Look out of the window, Sarah, as you are the
-nearest to it, and perhaps you will discover. Do you see two Bluebirds
-in the branches of the old Bell pear tree in the garden? No? Look again;
-they are in the top, where the blue sky shows through the smaller
-limbs.”
-
-“No, ma’am; that is, I see something moving, but I can’t see any colour.
-Oh, yes! now I do; it was because the blue of their backs came right
-against the sky and matched it.”
-
-“Yes,” said Gray Lady, “and the light underparts match the snow and the
-ruddy breast the fresh earth, so that the Bluebird’s beauty is his
-protection also; for as our dear old friend John Burroughs says, ‘When
-Nature made the Bluebird, she wished to gain for him the protection of
-both earth and sky, so she gave him the colour of one on his back and
-the other on his breast; yes, and we might also add a touch beneath of
-the snow that falls from sky to earth.’
-
-“For the rest, who dares write of the Bluebird, thinking to add a
-fresher tint to his plumage, a new tone to his melodious voice, or a
-word of praise to his gentle life, that is as much a part of our human
-heritage and blended with our memories as any other attribute of home?
-
-“Not I, surely, for I know him too well, and each year feel myself more
-spellbound and mute by memories he awakens. Yet I would repeat his brief
-biography, lest there be any who, being absorbed by living inward, have
-not yet looked outward and upward to this poet of the sky and the earth
-and the fulness and goodness thereof.
-
-“For the Bluebird was the first of all poets,—even before man had
-blazed a trail in the wilderness or set up the sign of his habitation
-and tamed his thoughts to wear harness and travel to measure. And so he
-came to inherit the earth before man, and this, our country, is all the
-Bluebird’s country, for at some time of the year he roves about it from
-the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from Mexico to Nova Scotia, though
-westward, after he passes the range of the Rocky Mountains, he wears a
-different dress and bears other longer names.
-
-“In spite of the fact that our eastern Bluebird is a home-body, loving
-his nesting-haunt and returning to it year after year, he is an
-adventurous traveller. Ranging all over the eastern United States at
-some time in the season, this bird has its nesting-haunts at the very
-edge of the Gulf States and upward, as far north as Manitoba and Nova
-Scotia.
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: National Association of Audubon Societies]
-
-                 Upper Figures—CHESTNUT-BACKED BLUEBIRD
-                   Order—Passeres      Family—Turdidæ
-                   Genus—Sialia      Species—Mexicana
-                           Subspecies—Bairdi
-
-                        Lower Figures—BLUEBIRDS
-                   Order—Passeres      Family—Turdidæ
-                    Genus—Sialia      Species—Sialis
-
-“When the breeding season is over, the birds travel sometimes in family
-groups and sometimes in large flocks, moving southward little by little,
-according to season and food supply, some journeying as far as Mexico,
-others lingering through the middle and southern states. The Bluebirds
-that live in our orchards in summer are very unlikely to be those that
-we see in the same place in winter days. Next to breeding impulse, the
-migrating instinct seems to be the strongest factor in bird-life. When
-the life of the home is over, Nature whispers, ‘To wing, up and on!’ So
-a few of the Bluebirds who have nested in Massachusetts may be those who
-linger in New Jersey, while those whose breeding-haunts were in Nova
-Scotia drift downward to fill their places in Massachusetts. But the
-great mass of even those birds we call winter residents go to the more
-southern parts of their range every winter; those who do not being but a
-handful in comparison.
-
-“Before more than the first notes of the spring have sounded in the
-distance, Bluebirds are to be seen by twos and threes about the edge of
-old orchards along open roads, where the skirting trees have crumbled or
-decaying knot-holes have left tempting nooks for the tree-trunk birds,
-with which the Bluebird may be classed. For, though he takes kindly to a
-bird-box, or a convenient hole in fence-post, telegraph pole, or
-outbuilding, a tree hole must have been his first home, and consequently
-he has a strong feeling in its favour.
-
-“As with many other species of migrant birds, the male is the first to
-arrive; and he does not seem to be particularly interested in
-house-hunting until the arrival of the female, when the courtship begins
-without delay, and the delicate purling song, with the refrain, ‘Dear,
-dear, think of it, think of it,’ and the low two-syllabled answer of the
-female is heard in every orchard. The building of the nest is not an
-important function,—merely the gathering of a few wisps and straws,
-with some chance feathers for lining. It seems to be shared by both
-parents, as are the duties of hatching, and feeding the young. The eggs
-vary in number, six being the maximum, and they are not especially
-attractive, being of so pale a blue that it is better to call them
-bluish white. Two broods are usually raised each year, though three are
-said to be not uncommon; for Bluebirds are active during a long season,
-and, while the first nest is made before the middle of April, last year
-a brood left the box over my rose arbour September 12, though I do not
-know whether this was a belated or a prolonged family arrangement.
-
-“As parents the Bluebirds are tireless, both in supplying the nest with
-insect food and attending to its sanitation; the wastage being taken
-away and dropped at a distance from the nest at almost unbelievably
-short intervals, proving the wonderful rapidity of digestion and the
-immense amount of labour required to supply the mill inside the little
-speckled throats with grist.
-
-“The young Bluebirds are spotted thickly on throat and back, after the
-manner of the throat of their cousin, the Robin; or rather, the back
-feathers are spotted, the breast-feathers having dusky edges, giving a
-speckled effect.
-
-“The study of the graduations of plumage of almost any brightly coloured
-male bird, from its first clothing until the perfectly matured feather
-of its breeding season, is in itself a science and a subject about which
-there are many theories and differences of opinion by equally
-distinguished men.
-
-“The food of the nestling Bluebird is insectivorous, or, rather, to be
-more exact, I should say animal; but the adult birds vary their diet at
-all seasons by eating berries and small fruits. In autumn and early
-winter cedar and honeysuckle berries, the grapelike cluster of fruit of
-the poison ivy, bittersweet and cat-brier berries, are all consumed
-according to their needs.
-
-“Professor Beal, of the Department of Agriculture, writes, after a
-prolonged study, that 76 per cent of the Bluebird’s food ‘consists of
-insects and their allies, while the other 24 per cent is made up of
-various vegetable substances, found mostly in stomachs taken in winter.
-Beetles constitute 28 per cent of the whole food, grasshoppers 22 per
-cent, caterpillars 11 per cent, and various insects, including quite a
-number of spiders, comprise the remainder of the insect diet. All these
-are more or less harmful, except a few predaceous beetles, which amount
-to 8 per cent, but in view of the large consumption of grasshoppers and
-caterpillars, we can at least condone this offence, if such it may be
-called. The destruction of grasshoppers is very noticeable in the months
-of August and September, when these insects form more than 60 per cent
-of the diet.’
-
-“It is not easy to tempt Bluebirds to an artificial feeding-place, such
-as I keep supplied with food for Juncoes, Chickadees, Woodpeckers,
-Nuthatches, Jays, etc.; yet it has been done, and they have been coaxed
-to nest close to houses and feed on window-sills like the Chickadees. In
-winter they will eat dried currants, and make their own selection from
-mill sweepings if scattered about the trees of their haunts. For, above
-all things, the Bluebird, though friendly, and seeking the borderland
-between the wild and the tame, never becomes familiar, and never does he
-lose the half-remote individuality that is one of his great charms.
-Though he lives with us, and gives no sign of pride of birth or race, he
-is not one of us, as the Song Sparrow, Chippy, or even the easily
-alarmed Robin. The poet’s mantle envelops him as the apple blossoms
-throw a rosy mist about his doorway, and it is best so.
-
-
-                          BLUEBIRDS’ GREETING
-
-    Over the mossy walls,
-      Above the slumbering fields,
-      Where yet the ground no vintage yields,
-    Save as the sunlight falls
-      In dreams of harvest yellow,
-    What voice remembered calls—
-      So bubbling fresh, so soft and mellow?
-
-    A darting, azure-feathered arrow
-      From some lithe sapling’s low curve fleet
-    The Bluebird, springing light and narrow,
-      Sings in flight, with gurglings sweet.
-
-    —George P. Lathrop.
-
-“We become attached to some birds for one reason, and to others for
-totally different qualities. We admire the Oriole and Tanager first
-through the eye, because of their rich colouring. The Robin we like
-because he is always with us, and he was probably the very first bird
-that we knew by name and we could watch from the moment the nest was
-built until the young left it; so he awakens the general interest first,
-and then the ear is won by his cheerful and sometimes remarkable song.
-
-“The Catbird stirs one’s curiosity. We wonder what he will say and do
-next; and when he throws back his head to sing, we never can tell
-whether a dreamy melody or a series of jeers will be the result. But the
-Song Sparrow we love for himself alone, from the very beginning of our
-acquaintance.
-
-“In personal appearance he bears nearly all the markings of his
-characteristic family, but the few exceptions, if remembered, will tell
-you his name: his brown crown-feathers have a gray parting-line, _his
-wings have no white bars or yellow markings_, while the breast and sides
-are streaked; one large spot in the centre, with sometimes a smaller one
-close to it, tell the Song Sparrow’s identity.
-
-“He is seldom seen feeding on the ground like the Chippy, but loves the
-shelter of low bushes, from which he gives his warning cry of
-‘Dick-Dick!’ and then flies out with a jerking motion of the tail and,
-never going high into the air, perches on another bush. If he wishes to
-sing, he climbs from the dense lower branches to a spray well above the
-others, as if he needed plenty of air and light for the effort, and
-bubbles into song.
-
-“As to the nest, well made of roots and bedded soft with fine grass and
-hairs, the Song Sparrow uses his own taste, as all birds do, and though
-the favourite place is within the crown of a small bush not far above
-the ground, or even in a grass tuft close to the earth itself, yet I
-have found them in very different places.
-
-“Down in the garden a Song Sparrow once insisted on building, not only
-in a flower-bed, but among the stalks of perishable plants that would
-wither long before the young left the nest. To prevent disaster, we
-drove stakes on each side of the nest, fastened a fruit-box underneath,
-and a shelter overhead, so that, when the overhanging blossoms faded,
-the sun might not make broiled squabs of the little ones. This brood was
-raised successfully, but to our surprise the Sparrows began a second
-nest directly opposite the first in the brush of the line of sweet-peas.
-The location was chosen with more judgment, but in picking the pea
-blossoms I passed within a foot of the nest every morning during the
-whole time of building, hatching, and feeding of the young.
-
-“This did not trouble the parents in the least; they seemed to know that
-I would neither hurt them nor intrude upon their privacy, by watching
-their movements too closely, and the father of the family repaid me by
-such music as I never before believed could come from the throat of even
-a Song Sparrow.
-
-“At first I wondered why they should have chosen a garden border, when
-there were so many near-by bushes about the orchard edge, and tufted
-grasses and scrubs in a waste meadow over the way. For, familiar as the
-Song Sparrow is, and fearless, too, yet he is a reserved bird even among
-his kin, not even travelling in great flocks, and does not care, even
-when in the full spring ecstasy of song, to be very near another singer.
-
-“Presently I discovered the reason. Song Sparrows love water, both for
-drinking and bathing: and, possibly from close association with it,
-these bubblings of the little wayside brooks have had an influence upon
-their song. This particular year was a time of severe drought; the
-near-by streams were dried up early in June, and the ‘birds’ bath,’ made
-of a hollowed-out log, and put in the shelter of some vines at the far
-end of the garden, was the nearest available water within half a mile.
-This trough was filled every night, and as the hollow sloped gently at
-one end, small birds could either walk in it to bathe, or perch on the
-edge to drink; and it was the sight of the first brood all bathing
-there, a few days after they left the nest, that made me sure that it
-was this little watering trough to which I owed their presence.
-
-“Many other birds besides the Sparrows came as well, and Robins and Wood
-Thrushes, who use wet clay in the shaping of their nests, found it
-particularly useful. Now I have a stone basin for the water, because the
-old wooden one was decayed on our return, but I’m sure the birds liked
-the mossy log the best, and Jacob Hughes is on the lookout for another.”
-
-Gray Lady paused and looked up quickly, as though a new idea had come to
-her; then, glancing at the older boys who had that morning been working
-on a large Martin house which had been ordered, and which made it
-certain that the wayside drinking-fountain would be built as soon as
-frost left the ground, she said, “This suggests something more to be
-made for the spring sale. I saw some fine oak and beech logs with the
-bark still on at the lumber camp last week. If you are willing to
-undertake hollowing them out, it will be a good investment for the Kind
-Hearts’ Club to buy a half a dozen of them. When sawn into lengths of
-three feet, and the ends covered with bark securely nailed, as all the
-bark covering must be, to prevent splitting, the logs will be attractive
-both as drinking-troughs for the birds and as features of the gardens
-where they are placed, and I am sure that we shall have no difficulty in
-selling them. Many people would establish drinking-places for the birds
-if they had something suitable to hold the water, but tin pans glisten,
-heat quickly, and even earthenware dishes are slippery, while the hollow
-log, that soon mosses over, must seem to the wild bird like a natural
-bit of the woods. Only one thing must be remembered: the log must not be
-allowed to become dry at any season, or it will warp and split.
-
-“It would be worth the trouble of keeping such a fountain filled, I am
-sure, if only to lure a single pair of Song Sparrows about the garden or
-yard. For this Sparrow is the only bird whose song I have heard in every
-month of the year. Not the full spring song, of course, though I have
-heard a very perfect melody in December; but in dreary winter, when the
-scatter-brained Robin has forgotten his alarm cry of
-‘Quick-Quick-Quick!’ the dear little bird will find a warm spot in which
-to sun himself after a hard-earned meal of gleaned weed seeds,—for like
-all of his tribe he is a valiant Weed Warrior, working in the
-home-fields when other birds have followed the sun for richer
-fare,—and, after swelling his throat vainly for a few moments, begin to
-whisper a song, as if in a dream, that finally grows strong and clear.
-
-“Yes, neither winter nor the darkness of night dishearten the Song
-Sparrow. Last season, in the darkest of summer nights, when some slight
-sound had awakened the feathered sleepers, I have heard a few subdued
-bars of his song from almost under my window, and I have thought, ‘Yes,
-there you are, dear little companion, cheerful by day and night, in
-summer and in winter; how much we, who are called the “higher animals,”
-have yet to learn from you.’
-
-“Another thing of interest about the Song Sparrow: like the Bluebird, he
-belongs not alone to us of the East, but to the whole United States as
-well. To be sure, he changes his size, dress, and name slightly
-according to location, as does the Bluebird; another proof of the
-adaptability of the bird to circumstances.
-
-
-                            THE SONG SPARROW
-
-    By the road in early spring
-    Always hopefully you sing;
-    It may rain or it may snow,
-    Sun may shine or wind may blow,
-    Still your dainty strain we hear—
-          “Cheer—Cheer—
-          Never, never fear,
-          May will soon be here.”
-    Darling little prophet that you are!
-
-    When at last the leaves are out
-    And wild flowers all about,
-    Songs of other birds are fraught
-    With the spirit that you taught.
-    Still you sing on, sweet and clear—
-          “Hear—Hear—
-          Happy, happy cheer,
-          Singing all the year.”
-    Jocund little brother of the air.
-
-    —Lynn Tew Sprague.
-
-“Many birds that inhabit parts of the country having different climates
-vary thus in colour. In the hot, dry desert regions the bird will be
-found smaller and paler; in the cool, well-watered North, larger and of
-deeper hue.
-
-“Bob-white comes under this law, and our birds in New England are larger
-and of more brilliant hue than their southern brothers.
-
-“Now is a chance for you to look at the map. The Song Sparrow as we know
-him lives east of the Rockies. Start at the extreme northern portion of
-Alaska. Here is found the largest of the race, the Aleutian Song
-Sparrow. Next come down to the coast of British Columbia and Southern
-Alaska, where the rainfall is one hundred and twenty-five inches in a
-year, and you see the home of the Sooty Song Sparrow, the darkest in
-colour of all.
-
-“If you then travel farther to the desert regions of Nevada and Arizona,
-where the rainfall is only six inches, you will find the palest of all,
-the Desert Song Sparrow; and, finally, on the border between Mexico and
-Central America, lives the Mexican Song Sparrow, the smallest of the
-tribe.[4]
-
-“So, wherever we wander our country over, we find this bird to be a
-reminder of home, which, after all, is the best thing that can happen to
-us, wherever we go or whatever we see; for the proof that journeys are
-healthful for body and mind lies in the joy with which, like the bird
-wanderers, we turn homeward at the end.
-
-“You children may not think of this now. You may think, possibly, that
-home is dull and full of work, that the birds and flowers of other
-places are better. Wait a few years and see. Wait until you have been so
-far away that you could not get home, or have been filled with dread
-that a day was near when there would be no home there. Then return, and
-stand under the sky at evening, and listen to the voice of the Song
-Sparrow down in the alders, and you will not only know that God is very
-near, but that He is very good, and a part of your home itself.
-
-
-                            THE SONG SPARROW
-
-    There is a bird I know so well,
-      It seems as if he must have sung
-      Beside my crib when I was young;
-    Before I knew the way to spell
-      The name of even the smallest bird,
-      His gentle, joyful song I heard.
-    Now see if you can tell, my dear,
-    What bird it is that every year,
-    Sings “Sweet-sweet-sweet, very merry cheer.”
-
-    He comes in March when winds are strong,
-      And snow returns to hide the earth;
-      But still he warms his heart with mirth,
-    And waits for May. He lingers long
-      While flowers fade; and every day
-      Repeats his small contented lay,
-    As if to say, we need not fear
-    The season’s change, if love is here,
-    With “Sweet-sweet-sweet, very merry cheer.”
-
-    He does not wear a Joseph’s coat
-      Of many colours, smart and gay:
-      His suit is Quaker brown and gray,
-    With darker patches at his throat.
-      And yet of all the well-dressed throng
-      Not one can sing so brave a song.
-    It makes the pride of looks appear
-    A vain and foolish thing, to hear
-    His “Sweet-sweet-sweet, very merry cheer.”
-
-    —Henry Van Dyke, from _The Builders and Other Poems_.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-
-                             ROBIN REJOICE
-
-    Among the first of the spring,
-    The notes of the Robin ring;
-        With flute-like voice,
-        He calls, “Rejoice,
-    For I am coming to sing!”
-
-    To any one gloomy or sad,
-    He says, “Be glad! be glad!
-        Look on the bright side,
-        ’Tis aye the right side;
-    The world is good, not bad.”
-
-    At daybreak in June we hear
-    His melody, strong and clear:
-        “Cheer up, be merry,
-        I’ve found a cherry;
-    ’Tis a glorious time of the year!”
-
-    —Garrett Newkirk, in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-[Illustration: ROBIN]
-
-“Our Robin is a big-bodied Thrush, whereas the Robin-redbreast, the Cock
-Robin of story, is more nearly akin in size and build to our Bluebird.
-If you want to see the family marks that yoke the Robin to his Thrush
-cousin, look carefully at the youngsters as they are leaving the nest,
-and you will see that instead of wearing plain brick-coloured breasts
-like the parents, they are striped like the Thrushes; this marking
-disappears after their first moult. As for Robin himself, you know him
-well, but can any of you tell exactly the colour of his clothing?”
-
-Sarah and Tommy raised their hands at the same time, but as ladies come
-first, Sarah began: “He is gray on top, and red underneath, and he’s got
-white spots outside of his wings.”
-
-“Very good, indeed,” said Gray Lady; “but can you add anything to that,
-Tommy?”
-
-“Yes, ma’am; he’s black on top of his head, and he’s got a white chin
-and eye spot and a yellow beak.”
-
-“Why, Tommy, that is really very good; I didn’t know that any of you
-children had learned to look so carefully and remember.”
-
-“I saw all that yesterday,” said Tommy, in a state of glee. “There came
-a flock of bran’-new fresh birds, and sat in the cedar bushes back of
-the barn, but they didn’t find many berries, because the winter birds
-have eaten them. Ma gave me some old cake to crumble up, and I put some
-on the top of the stone fence, and some right on the shed, and this
-morning when I first looked out, a couple of them were out there eating
-it, and I got a good square look at them. They liked that cake because
-it had currants in it.”
-
-“So Tommy is the first to report a ‘bran’-new’ Robin flock,” said Gray
-Lady. “Now that they have really come, will any of the others tell me
-what they know about Robins? Begin at Sarah’s end of the table.”
-
-“Robins build mud nests before there are any leaves to hide them, and
-cats often get them when they are sitting,” said Sarah; “and then by and
-by, when they build another nest, maybe they’ll put it out on a branch
-that’s weak, and when it storms and the nest gets wet and heavy, it
-falls down all of a lump. They seem to get along best when they come
-under the porch or get in a high up crotch.”
-
-“I like Robins,” said Eliza, who sat next, “because they stay around and
-let you look at them; but I think that they aren’t very clever birds,
-for instead of keeping quiet when anything comes near the nest, they
-holler like everything, so that you can tell just where it is. We had a
-nest in the grape-vine outside the kitchen window, and you couldn’t
-believe what those little birds ate in one day. I had the mumps and had
-to stay inside, so I watched them. They ate all the time, that is, in
-turn, for the old birds seemed to know just which one had food last.
-Sometimes, if they had a little worm or a bug, they gave it all to one,
-but if it was one of those long, rubberneck earthworms, they would twist
-it and bite pieces off and ram one down each throat.
-
-“My Ma said it made her dreadful tired to see how much those four little
-birds ate, and that if children were as hungry as that, nobody would
-have the patience to cook food and raise any. When they grew too big for
-the nest, they sort of fell out into the vine and stayed in that for a
-few days, and their father and mother fed them just the same. They
-couldn’t fly well at first, because their tails were so short that they
-upset.”
-
-“You watched them quite carefully,” said Gray Lady, “but can you tell me
-what happened after they were able to fly?”
-
-“Yes, ma’am, they acted real mean. They went right down in the cedar
-trees beyond the garden to sleep, and every morning before father or my
-brothers were up they went into the strawberry bed, and even before any
-were ripe, they bit the red side of the green ones and spoiled them.
-Father was pretty mad, because our land has run out for onions and we’ve
-got to raise berries for a few years—all kinds, raspberries, currants,
-blackberries—to even up.
-
-“Father dassent shoot the Robins, ’cause of the law, and besides, we
-like ’em real well after berry time, so brother John he made a plan, and
-it worked splendid. He fixed up a nice little house like a chicken-coop
-and put it on a stump in the middle of the bed, and then he put our cat
-in the house. She was comfortable and had good eating and plenty of air,
-but of course she couldn’t get out, so she just sat there and growled
-and switched her tail at the birds, and they stayed away.”
-
-Gray Lady laughed heartily at this scheme, which certainly was very
-ingenious.
-
-“That was truly a new sort of scarecrow, and much better than firing off
-blank cartridges in the nesting season, when other birds might be
-frightened. However, it proves one thing without a doubt, that cats are
-the worst enemies that wild birds have to fear, and shows us how careful
-we should be about turning them out at large, outside of the cities
-where there are no birds, or keeping more than one under any
-circumstances.
-
-“What I meant to ask was, do you know what the young Robins do after
-they leave the nest and the mother bird is perhaps busy with some
-younger brothers and sisters?
-
-“The father birds choose some tall trees with plenty of leaves, or if
-evergreens are at hand, they prefer them, and go there in parties of
-from half a dozen to a hundred every night, leaving the mother birds to
-tend the nest. When the first brood is able to fly, they go with papa to
-this roost, where his warning ‘Quick! Quick!’ tells them of dangers they
-do not yet understand.
-
-“Then, when the nesting is over, all the Robins unite in a flock, but
-wherever they go, or however far they range in the day, night sees them
-collected at some favourite roosting-place. I know about this habit very
-well, because ever since I can remember these spruces outside the window
-have been used as roosts by many generations of Robins all through the
-season, except in the dead of winter, when they prefer to nestle into
-the heart of the young cedars.
-
-“Of course it is not to be denied that Robin likes berries and eats them
-without asking leave or waiting for sugar and cream, but we must think
-of this: the farmers are of more importance than any other class of
-people, for they give the world food. Therefore, the bird laws are made
-for their benefit, even when at first it might seem otherwise.
-
-“The Robin only troubles berries in June, July, and August, and grapes
-in September, while all the rest of the year he does valiant work as a
-gleaner of insects that cannot easily be destroyed by man,—many beetles
-that destroy foliage and their white grubs that eat the roots of hay,
-grass, and strawberry plants, grasshoppers, crickets, ants, moths,
-army-worms, and the larvæ of the owlet moths, better known as
-army-worms.
-
-“So you can see that if the Robin helps the farmers in this way, the
-fruit grower should be willing to protect his crops in other ways than
-by shooting his friend and his children’s friend, the Robin.
-
-“One other reason there is, also, why we of the North should protect the
-Robin at home; in many southern states he is a legal mark for all who
-wish to kill him. Not only is the Robin to be found in the markets, but
-shooting him merely for competition, to see who can bag the most, is a
-common form of—sport, I was going to say, but game of chance is better.
-
-“Let the Kind Hearts of the North be kind to dear blundering brother
-Robin, that by the very force of example the hearts of others may be
-warmed to show mercy and their heads be given the intelligence to see
-that, in shooting the migrant Robins by the hundreds, the loss is to
-their country and themselves.”
-
-“Look! Oh, look, Gray Lady!” cried little Clary, climbing to the
-window-seat; “here are some bright, fresh Robins lighting on the
-spruces. Let’s play they are some that roosted there last summer; or
-maybe were hatched right in the orchard, and that they are real glad to
-get home again.”
-
-
-                              ROBIN’S MATE
-
-    Everybody praises Robin,
-      Singing early, singing late;
-    But who ever thinks of saying
-      A good word for Robin’s mate?
-
-    Yet she’s everything to Robin,
-      Silent partner though she be;
-    Source and theme and inspiration
-      Of each madrigal and glee.
-
-    For as she, with mute devotion,
-      Shapes and curves the plastic nest,
-    Fashioning a tiny cradle
-      With the pressure of her breast,
-
-    So the love in that soft bosom
-      Moulds his being as ’twere clay,
-    Prints upon his breast the music
-      Of his most impassioned lay.
-
-    And when next you praise the Robin,
-      Flinging wide with tuneful gate
-    To his eager brood of love-notes,
-      Don’t forget the Robin’s mate.
-
-    —Eliza Gilbert Ives.
-
------
-
-[4] See _Climatic Variations in Colour and Size of Song Sparrow_, F. M.
-Chapman.
-
-
-
-
-                                 XXIII
-                                 MARCH
-
-
-                     _Red-wings and Pussy-willows_
-
-
-                                 MARCH
-
-    March! March! March! They are coming
-      In troops to the tune of the wind;
-    Red-headed Woodpeckers drumming,
-      Gold-crested Thrushes behind.
-    Sparrows in brown jackets hopping
-      Past every gateway and door.
-    Finches with crimson caps stopping
-      Just where they stopped years before.
-
-    —Lucy Larcom.
-
-“How do the birds know when spring has come? How can they tell the
-difference between a warm day in December and a warm day in March when
-the ground is still snow covered? We ourselves might be puzzled to tell
-the difference if we had not kept record of the days and weeks by the
-almanac.
-
-“But the birds know. The Red-wings, Grackles, and Cowbirds will not
-return for the warmest December sun, but let the sun of early March but
-blink, and they are up and away, oftentimes stealing a march on shy
-Pussy-willow herself.
-
-“Unless the season is very stormy, as we have seen for ourselves this
-year, a few Robins, Bluebirds, and Blackbirds are added to the winter
-residents in February. These, however, belong to a sort of roving
-advance-guard; the real procession comes in March, the exact time
-depending upon the weather, for the insect-eating birds cannot stay if
-their larder of field and air is ice locked.
-
-“So we may look for larger flocks of the birds that drifted along in
-February, and in addition to these the Woodcock, the Great Fox Sparrow
-as big as the Hermit Thrush, Phœbe, Kingfisher, Mourning Dove, and Field
-Sparrow of the flesh-pink bill, rusty head and back, and buff breast,
-who sings his little strain, ‘cherwee-cher-wee-cherwee-iddle-iddle-iddle
-ee,’ as the sun goes down.
-
-“The three birds that are the most noticeable in the latter part of
-March, that has made up its mind to go out like a lamb and let
-Pussy-willow wave in peace in moist pasture and the delicate
-blue-and-white hepaticas star the edges of dry woods, are the Red-winged
-Blackbirds, the Kingfishers, and the cheerful little Phœbe. All love the
-vicinity of water, but the Red-wing locates often in merely marshy
-ground, while the bird who is a fisherman by trade locates near a pond
-or stream of considerable size and the Phœbe comes to house or woodshed.
-
-“‘Among all the birds that return to us in late March or April, which is
-the most striking and most compels attention?’ asked a bird-lover of a
-group of kindred spirits.
-
-“‘The Fox Sparrow,’ said one, who lived on the edge of a village where
-sheltered wild fields stretched uphill to the woodlands. ‘Every morning
-when I open my window I can hear them almost without listening.’
-
-[Illustration: RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD
-(Upper Figure, Male; Lower Figure, Female)]
-
-                  Order—Passeres      Family—Icteridæ
-                 Genus—Agelaius      Species—Phœniceus
-
-“‘The Phœbe,’ said another, who was the owner of a pretty home, where
-many rambling sheds broke the way from cow-barn to pasture.
-
-“‘The Whip-poor-will, but that does not come until late in the month,’
-answered a third, a dweller in a remote colony of artists in a
-picturesque spot of cleared woodland, where the ground dropped quickly
-to a stream.
-
-“‘No, the Woodcock,’ said her nearest neighbour, a man whose cottage was
-upon the upper edge of these same woods, where they were margined by
-moist meadows and soft bottom-lands,—a man who spent much time
-out-of-doors at dawn and twilight studying sky effects.
-
-“‘And I think it’s Red-winged Blackbirds,’ cried the ten-year-old son of
-the latter; ‘for when I go out up back of the trout brook by the little
-path along the alders near the squashy place where the cat-tails grow in
-summer, you’ve just got to hear them. You can’t listen to them as you do
-to real singing-birds, for they make too much noise, and when you listen
-for a bird it’s got to be still, at least in the beginning. Sometimes
-they go it all together down in the bushes out of sight, then a few will
-walk out up to the dry Meadowlark’s field with Cowbirds, or maybe it’s
-their wives, and then one or two will lift up and shoot over the marsh
-back again, calling out just like juicy sky-rockets. Ah, they’re in it
-before the leaves come out to hide them even the least bit.’ And, in
-spite of difference of viewpoint, the group finally acknowledged that
-the boy was right.
-
-“In point of colouring, the Red-wing is faultlessly plumed,—glossy
-black with epaulets of scarlet edged with gold, the uniform of a
-soldier,—and this, coupled with the three martial notes that serve him
-as a song, would make one expect to find in him all the manly and
-military virtues. But aside from the superficial matter of personal
-appearance, the Red-wing is lacking in many of the qualities that endear
-the feathered tribe to us and make us judge them, perhaps, too much by
-human standards.
-
-“When Red-wings live in colonies it is often difficult to estimate the
-exact relationship existing between the members, though it is apparent
-that the sober brown-striped females outnumber the males; but in places
-where the birds are uncommon and only one or two male birds can be
-found, it is easily seen that the household of the male consists of from
-three to five nests, each presided over by a watchful female, and when
-danger arises, this feathered Mormon shows equal anxiety for each nest,
-and circles screaming about the general location. In colony life the
-males ofttimes act in concert as a general guard, being diverted
-oftentimes from the main issue, it must be confessed, to indulge in
-duels and pitched battles among themselves.
-
-“The Red-wing belongs to a notable family,—that of the Blackbirds and
-Orioles,—and in spite of the structural semblances that group them
-together, the differences of plumage, voice, and breeding habits are
-very great.
-
-“The Cowbird, the Red-wing’s next of kin, even lacks the rich liquid
-call-note of the latter, and the lack of marital fidelity, on the part
-of the male, is met in a truly progressive spirit by the female, who,
-shirking all domestic responsibility, drops her eggs craftily in the
-nests of other and usually smaller birds, who cannot easily resent the
-imposition; though a strong proof of the unconscious affinity of race
-lies in the fact that these young foundling Cowbirds invariably join the
-parent flocks in autumn instead of continuing with their foster-mothers.
-
-“The Meadowlark, with the true spring song, who hides his nest in the
-dry grass of old fields, is also kin to the Red-wing, and the Bobolink,
-too, the vocal harlequin of the meadows and hillside pastures. The
-Orchard and Baltimore Orioles, also next of kin, are skilled musicians
-and model husbands.
-
-“Still another plane is to be found in the Red-wing’s dismal cousins,
-the Grackles,—Purple, Rusty, Bronzed, and Boat-tailed,—all harsh of
-voice and furtive in action, as if a Crow fairy had been present at
-their creating and, endowing them with ready wits, had, at the same
-time, deprived them of all sense of humour and cast a shadow upon their
-happiness. For a Grackle is gloomy even during the absurd gyrations of
-his courtship, and when, in autumn, the great flocks settle on lawns and
-fields, and solemnly walk about, as they forage they seem like a party
-of feathered mutes waiting to attend the funeral of the year; and this
-trait somewhat tinctures the disposition of the Red-wing before and
-after the breeding season.
-
-“The Red-wing in one of his many subspecific forms, and masquerading
-under many names,—Red-shouldered Blackbird, American Starling, and
-Swamp Blackbird,—lives in North America from Nova Scotia and the Great
-Slave Lake southward to Costa Rica. The Red-wing, as known to us of
-middle and eastern North America, breeds in all parts of its United
-States and Canadian range, though it is more numerous by far in the
-great prairies of the upper Mississippi Valley, with their countless
-back-water sloughs, than anywhere else. It is in regions of this sort
-that the great flocks turn both to the fall-sown grain, as well as that
-of the crop in the ear, causing the farmers the loss that puts a black
-mark against the Red-wings. Yet those that dwell east of this area,
-owing to the draining and ditching of their swampy haunts being in much
-reduced numbers, are comparatively harmless.
-
-“During the winter months the Red-wings are distributed throughout the
-South, though stragglers may be occasionally seen in many parts of their
-summer range. Exactly why they begin the southward migration in
-September and end it with the falling of the leaves in late October, it
-is not easy to guess; for the food supply is not at an end, and they do
-not dread moderate cold, else why should they be in the front rank of
-spring migrants?
-
-“The last of February will bring a few individuals of the advance-guard
-of males. In early March their calls are heard often before the ice has
-melted and the hylas found voice; yet in spite of this hurried return,
-the nesting season does not begin until the middle of May; and so for
-two months and more the flock life continues, and foraging, fighting,
-and general courting serve to kill time until the remote marshes show
-enough green drapery to hide the nests.
-
-“As a nest-builder the Red-wing shows much of the weaver’s skill of its
-Oriole cousins, though the material they work with is of coarser
-texture, being fastened firmly to low bushes or reeds and woven of grass
-and the split leaves of reeds and flags, all nicely lined with soft
-grasses and various vegetable fibres. Often, like that of the Marsh
-Wren, the nest will be suspended between three or four reeds, and so
-firmly knit that it resembles one of the four-legged work-baskets that
-belonged to the ‘mother’s room’ of our youth. The pale blue eggs of the
-Red-wing are particularly noticeable from the character of the markings
-that thickly cover the larger end, for they seem the work of a sharp
-scratching pen dipped in purplish black ink and held by an aimless human
-hand, rather than the distribution of natural pigment.
-
-“An eater of grain though the Red-wing is, and a menace to the farmer in
-certain regions, Professor Beal concedes to him a liberal diet of weed
-seeds and animal food, itself injurious to vegetation. Dr. B. H. Warren,
-who has made a wide study of the food habits of this Blackbird, says:
-‘The Red-wing destroys large numbers of cutworms. I have taken from the
-stomach of a single Swamp Blackbird as many as twenty-eight cutworms. In
-addition to the insects, etc., mentioned above, these birds also, during
-their residence with us, feed on earthworms, grasshoppers, crickets,
-plant-lice, and various larvæ, so destructive at times in field and
-garden. During the summer season fruits of the blackberry, raspberry,
-wild strawberry, and wild cherry are eaten to a more or less extent. The
-young, while under parental care, are fed exclusively on an insect
-diet.’
-
-“Mr. Forbush also tells us that Kalm states in his _Travels in America_,
-that in 1749, ‘after a great destruction among the Crows and Blackbirds
-for a legal reward of three pence per dozen, the northern states
-experienced a complete loss of their grass and grain crops. The
-colonists were obliged to import hay from England to feed their cattle.
-The greatest losses from the ravages of the Rocky Mountain Locust were
-coincident with, or followed soon after, the destruction by the people
-of countless thousands of Blackbirds, Prairie Chickens, Quail, Upland
-Plover, Curlew, and other birds. This coincidence seems significant, at
-least. A farmer from Wisconsin informed me that, the Blackbirds in his
-vicinity having been killed off, the white grubs increased in number and
-destroyed the grass roots, so that he lost four hundred dollars from
-this cause.’
-
-“These facts should make us of the East welcome rather than discourage
-the Red-wing; for this is one of the species of familiar birds that must
-become extinct in many localities, owing to the circumstance, so
-desirable in itself, of reducing the waste marshlands, and though, later
-in the year, other birds replace him acceptably, March and April would
-seem lonely without the Red-wing, for then, as the child said, ‘you’ve
-just got to look at him.’
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-“The Kingfisher is certainly one of the most dashing birds that we have;
-without having the cruel and ferocious expression of some of the smaller
-Hawks, he has the swagger and dash of a feathered brigand.
-
-[Illustration: National Association of Audubon Societies BELTED KINGFISHER
-(Upper Figure, Female; Lower Figure, Male)]
-
-                 Order—Coccyges      Family—Alcedinidæ
-                    Genus—Ceryle      Species—Alcyon
-
-“His plumage is beautiful in texture and soft in colour; bluish gray
-that sometimes looks quite blue in the bright light; wings and
-tail-feathers spotted with white, a white collar deep in front and
-narrow at the back, and a broad belt of the gray crossing the white
-breast and seeming to keep the gray mantle from slipping from his
-shoulders. The long head-feathers, also of the bluish gray, form a crest
-that the bird can raise at will and thus put on an expression of
-combined alertness and defiance.
-
-“The Kingfisher’s plumage is more perfect than his form, his head, with
-its beak two inches in length, being out of proportion to his short
-tail, and his small, weak feet seeming too small to support a body more
-than a foot long.
-
-“In disposition the Kingfisher seems to be rather remote and unfriendly;
-they never seem to travel in flocks, and even in the nesting season, the
-only time in which they associate in pairs, they seem to be quarrelling
-and wrangling, so very harsh are their notes. Hereabouts we have very
-few Kingfishers. Last summer a pair tunnelled a hole in the loamy bank
-of the river fifty feet below the grist-mill; for the Kingfisher does
-not build a tree nest, or, in fact, any nest, but, like the Bank
-Swallow, burrows sidewise into a bank of sufficiently stiff soil not to
-cave in for the depth of anywhere from three to fifteen feet. This
-burrow may be only a few feet below the surface, or if the bluff rises
-above the stream, the hole may be twenty feet from the top and close to
-high-water mark.
-
-“Sometimes the hole runs straight, and then again it may have several
-turns before the nesting-chamber is reached, the turns probably being
-made to avoid stones or tough roots; though one[5] careful observer,
-whose account of this bird is so novel and charming (I will read it to
-you from the scrap-book), thought for a time that these turns might be
-for the purpose of keeping light from the nesting-chamber.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-“A hole in a bank seems a strange place in which to build a nest, but
-although one may know it to be the home of a Kingfisher, he little
-imagines the singular course of the passage leading to the room at the
-other end, and is hardly aware of the six long weeks of faithful care
-bestowed by the parent birds upon their eggs and family.
-
-“Early in April we may hear the Kingfisher’s voice, sounding like a
-policeman’s rattle, as he patrols the stream, and we often see him
-leaving a favourite limb, where he has been keeping watch for some
-innocent minnow in the water below. Off he goes in his slaty blue coat,
-shaking his rattle and showing his top-heavy crest, his abnormal bill,
-and pure white collar.
-
-“The mother bird, as usual with the sex, does most of the work at home.
-The hole is generally located high upon the bank, is somewhat less than
-four inches in diameter, and varies from at least five to eight feet in
-length. It slightly ascends to the dark, mysterious den at the other
-end,—dark because the passage generally bends once or twice, thereby
-entirely excluding the light. The roof of the passage is vaulted from
-end to end, merging into a domed ceiling almost as shapely as that of
-the Pantheon. Such a home is built to stay, and if undisturbed would
-endure for years. Two little tracks are worn by the female’s feet the
-full length of the tunnel as she passes in and out.
-
-“The Kingfisher’s knowledge of construction, her ingenious manner of
-hiding her eggs from molestation, and her constancy to her young arouse
-our interest and admiration. We must also appreciate the difficulty with
-which the digging is attended, the meeting of frequent stones to block
-the work, which, by the way, may be the cause of the change in direction
-of the hole, but which I was inclined to believe intentional until I
-found a perfectly straight passage, in which a brood was successfully
-raised.
-
-“To get photographs of a series of the eggs and young was almost as
-difficult a task, I believe, as the Kingfisher had in making the hole.
-It was necessary to walk at least four miles and dig down to the back of
-the nest, through the bank above, and fill it in again four times,
-without deranging the nest or frightening away the parent birds. But we
-were well repaid for the trouble, for the pictures accurately record
-what could not be described.
-
-“A photograph of the seven eggs was taken before they had even been
-touched, and numerous disgorgements of fish bones and scales show about
-the roomy apartment. The shapely domed ceiling, as well as the arch of
-the passage, is constructionally necessary for the safety of the
-occupants, the former being even more perfect than the pictures show.
-What is generally called instinct in birds has long since been to me a
-term used to explain what in reality is intelligence.
-
-“Some writer has mentioned that as soon as the young Kingfishers are
-able, they wander about their little homes until they are able to fly,
-but evidently his experience was limited. My four pictures of the young
-birds were taken by lifting them out of their nests and placing them in
-a proper place to be photographed in the light, but the first two
-pictures were taken in the positions in which they were naturally found
-in the nest. The first, when they were about two days old, was obtained
-on the 21st of May, 1899, and the young were not only found wrapped
-together in the nest, but the moment they were put on the ground, one at
-a time, though their eyes were still sealed, they immediately covered
-one another with their wings and wide bills, making such a tight ball
-that when any one shifted a leg, the whole mass would move like a single
-bird. This is a most sensible method of keeping warm, since the mother
-bird’s legs are so short that she could not stand over them, but, as
-they are protected from the wind and weather, they have no need of her.
-Their appearance is comical in the extreme, and all out of proportion.
-This clinging to one another is apparently kept up for at least ten
-days, for a week later, when nine days old, they were found in exactly a
-similar position.
-
-“When the young were first observed, they were absolutely naked, without
-the suggestion of a feather, and, unlike most young birds, showed no
-plumage of any kind until the regular final feathering, which was the
-same as that of the adult, began to appear. The growth of the birds was
-remarkably slow, and even when nine days old the feathers were just
-beginning to push through their tiny sheaths, but so distinctly showed
-their markings that I was able to distinguish the sexes by the colouring
-of the bands on the chest. They did not open their mouths in the usual
-manner for food, but tried to pick up small objects from the ground, and
-one got another by his foot, as the picture shows. I took two other
-photographs the same day, showing several birds searching on the ground
-with their bills, as if they were already used to this manner of
-feeding.
-
-“When the birds were sixteen days old, they had begun to look like
-formidable Kingfishers, with more shapely bills and crests, but as yet
-they evidently knew no use for their wings. They showed little temper,
-though they appeared to be somewhat surprised at being disturbed.
-
-“My next visit to the hole in the bank was when the birds were
-twenty-three days old, and, to ascertain whether they were still at
-home, I poked into the entrance of the hole a long, thin twig, which was
-quickly accepted by quite a strong bite. Taking the precaution to stop
-the hole with a good-sized stone, I proceeded to my digging for the last
-time on the top of the bank. This time I found the chamber had been
-moved, and I had some difficulty in locating it about a foot higher up
-and about the same distance to one side. The old birds had evidently
-discovered my imperfectly closed back door, and either mistrusted its
-security, or else a heavy rain had soaked down into the loosened earth
-and caused them to make alterations. They had completely closed up the
-old chamber and packed it tightly with earth and disgorged fish bones.
-
-“The skill with which they met this emergency was of unusual interest,
-showing again the ingenuity and general intelligence which so often
-surprises us in the study of birds. Their home was kept perfectly clean
-by its constant caretaker. One of the full-grown birds, with every
-feather, as far as I could see, entirely developed, sat just long enough
-for me to photograph him, and then flew from the branch where I had
-placed him, down the stream, and out of sight, loudly chattering like an
-old bird. One more bird performed the same feat, but before I was able
-to get him on my plate. The rest I left in the nest, and no doubt they
-were all in the open air that warm, sunny day, before nightfall.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-“It happens that but few of us may look into a Kingfisher’s home as Mr.
-Baily did, but it is very pleasant to know where this dashing bird goes
-when, on securing a fish, instead of swallowing it, he seems to dive,
-drop into the water, and disappear, when in reality he is taking his
-prey home to the nest.
-
-“We must be content to enjoy the Kingfisher as a feature in the
-landscape, as the centre of a picture of woods, pond, or river, to which
-he gives the needful touch of life. The river scenery of March is
-lifeless and dreary, for, if the snow has melted and the ice broken up,
-the bushes alongshore are beaten down by the storms of winter or partly
-submerged by the spring freshets. Here and there, in sunny spots on the
-low shore, we may see the purple-pointed hood and bright green leaves of
-the skunk-cabbage, but if a Kingfisher is perching on a dead branch
-overhanging the water, crest erect, gazing into the water and on the
-alert for a fish to pass, the scene at once becomes full of interest. Of
-course the Kingfisher, as his name implies, is above all a fisherman,
-and complaints come sometimes from those who are stocking ponds and
-rivers with fish, and who object to his taking his tithe, but when
-pressed by hunger through the sudden skimming of their hunting ponds
-with ice in early winter, he has been known to eat berries of many
-kinds, and in time of drought when streams run low or dry up entirely,
-the Kingfisher will feed upon beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, frogs,
-lizards, etc. But here in the East, at any rate, the bird is not
-plentiful enough to be a danger to the fishing industry.”
-
-“I’ve seen a Kingfisher fishing in the salt-water creek that goes into
-the bay. We camped right there on the point last summer,” said Tommy.
-“He must have lived up the river somewhere, for he used to come down
-early in the morning, and stay about all day, and I suppose he must have
-got through feeding his children, for it was along in August. I never
-saw but one,—the male, I guess, because it didn’t have any brown on its
-breast like what there is in the picture of the female.
-
-“It was great fun to watch him. One day the rest all went off fishing to
-Middle Ground Light, and I stayed at home because I’d cut my finger with
-a fish-hook, and it hurt a lot, and the Doctor made me keep it soaking
-in medicine, so I just lay in the sand under the shady side of the tent,
-only moving enough to keep out of the sun, and watched out.
-
-“When the Kingfisher first came, the tide was just turned and beginning
-to rush out of the creek like everything. Mr. Fisherman sat on a tall
-post that we tie the boats up to at night. It was close to the water,
-not where the strong current was, but a little to one side, where it was
-more still. He did pretty well for a while; the fish looked small, and
-he swallowed ’em without wriggling his throat so very much.
-
-“One thing he did was very funny; he didn’t dive right down from the
-post after the fish, but he took a little fly up first and then folded
-his wings to his sides and dropped right in beak first, same as we
-fellows do when we jump off the spring board dad rigged to a raft and
-then dive. I couldn’t make out whether he always did it, or if it was
-because the post was too near the water.
-
-“After a little, the water went down so that the post wasn’t near enough
-to the water; then what did he do but shift over to the bowsprit of an
-old oyster boat that was wrecked and half buried in the sand, right in
-the bank just inside the creek; this gave him a fine perch right over
-the channel. When he saw that there was no one about, he sort of settled
-down, and looking at him so long made me lazy, and I guess I fell asleep
-and didn’t see him dive, because the next thing I knew, there was the
-Kingfisher back on the perch, but he had an eel in his beak instead of a
-fish.
-
-“Say, Gray Lady, did you ever try to hold an eel in your fingers,
-without rubbing wet sand on them first? Well, you should have seen that
-bird twist and flop about. It was only a little eel, not any bigger than
-a pencil, but, oh my!” And Tommy laughed heartily at the very memory of
-the fray.
-
-“Kingfisher couldn’t stick to the perch, so he dropped right on to a
-piece of the deck of the boat that wasn’t buried, and began to beat the
-eel on the wood and dance about. The eel squirmed so, it didn’t hit
-often, and it acted as if it had legs and was dancing too. When the fun
-began, the bird had the eel about in the middle, but it pulled away
-until one end was longer than the other, and that made it harder to
-hold.”
-
-“Which was the head end, the one that hung down?” asked Eliza, who
-always insisted on precise details.
-
-“I didn’t know then,” said Tommy; “I couldn’t see, and it didn’t keep
-still long enough for me to ask!
-
-“At last Kingfisher gave the eel a good bang, and it didn’t squirm so
-much (then I knew the head must have been on the long piece because it
-wouldn’t have hurt its tail), and the bird began to swallow and work his
-throat, just like when a snake begins to work a toad down. Once or twice
-he stopped, and I thought that he was going to choke and keel over. He
-didn’t, though, but after it was all down, he looked real sorry and
-uncomfortable and his feathers laid down almost flat to his head, and he
-crouched there on the boat quite a while before he flew up creek and
-didn’t fish any more that day.
-
-“Maybe he’d never caught a salt-water eel before, and didn’t know how
-lively they are; you can’t measure them by mud eels out of still water
-any more’n you can match snakes with ground-worms.”
-
-
-                             THE KINGFISHER
-
-    He laughs by the summer stream
-    Where the lilies nod and dream,
-    As through the sheen of water cool and clear
-    He sees the chub and sunfish cutting shear.
-
-    His are resplendent eyes;
-    His mien is kingliwise;
-    And down the March wind rides he like a king
-    With more than royal purple on his wing.
-
-    His palace is the brake
-    Where the rushes shine and shake;
-    His music is the murmur of the stream,
-    And the leaf-rustle where the lilies dream.
-
-    Such life as his would be
-    A more than heaven to me;
-    All sun, all bloom, all happy weather,
-    All joys bound in a sheaf together.
-
-    No wonder he laughs so loud!
-    No wonder he looks so proud!
-    There are great kings would give their royalty
-    To have one day of his felicity!
-
-    —Maurice Thompson.
-
-“The very name of Phœbe calls us from the Red-wing in the marsh meadows
-and the Kingfisher by the waterways and brings us home again. Not only
-within the home acres, but close to the house, barns, and woodshed, for
-has she not been living in and about them quite as long as we have, or
-even longer? There was a Phœbe who always built her first nest on the
-deep sill of the dormer-window of the store-closet, and her second in
-the bracket that supports the hood of the north window in the
-guest-room.
-
-“She was not very tidy about her work of nest-building (it seems more
-natural to call the Phœbe _she_ than _he_), but then, it must be very
-difficult to make a nest with a high foundation of crumbling moss and
-mud, with hairs and grass for a lining, without spilling some of the
-nesting material. My mother used to grumble about having the store-room
-window-sill remain in such a litter for so long, but she never disturbed
-the nest, even by brushing away the loose moss, and almost every day she
-would look through the window to see how the eggs or young were faring,
-and I thought it a great privilege to be allowed to go to the store-room
-and sit quite still inside the closed window and watch the Phœbe’s
-housekeeping.
-
-“It was in this way that I first learned how the bird stands up in the
-nest and turns the white eggs over with its feet so that they may be
-evenly warmed through; how the young are fed and the droppings removed
-from the nest so that it need not become foul.
-
-“In spite of great care and constant bathing, for Phœbe is very fond of
-a bath and was always a great patron of the log water-trough, the
-puddles that gathered in the gutter after rain, and upon occasion would
-dash into the bucket that always stood under the well-spout, the poor
-bird suffers greatly from insect parasites. The reason for this I cannot
-tell, unless it is that the foundation of the nest is so light and
-spongy on account of the moss, that the air does not pass through and
-the lice breed freely. One thing I remember, however, is that as soon as
-the birds had flown, mother always removed the empty nest and had its
-resting-place thoroughly cleansed.
-
-“This is not so apt to happen when the bird chooses a fresh location and
-makes a new nest for a second brood, but upon the only occasion that the
-window-sill nest was used twice in a season, the lice crawled through
-the window-frame into the house, and of the second brood, only one lived
-to fly, and he was a miserable, emaciated little thing, so badly did the
-lice beset the young birds. After that, mother always gave them a hint
-that a new nest was best by making it impossible for them to use the old
-one.”
-
-“I should think the Phœbes might have got mad and gone away for good,”
-said Sarah Barnes.
-
-“No; they either understood that mother’s intentions were good, or else
-they appreciated the comfort and cleanliness of the new nest, for their
-children and grandchildren have occupied the two sites ever since, and
-this summer when I stood inside the store-room window showing the nest
-to Goldilocks, bird and nest were just the same as when my mother stood
-there by me.
-
-“That is why the everyday birds that live about our homes are so
-precious and should be so carefully guarded. We never see them grow old,
-and so they help us to keep young in heart.
-
-“Phœbe belongs to a very important family, that of the Flycatchers,
-songless birds with call-notes that are distinctive; these take their
-food upon the wing, diving from a perch into the air for it as the
-Kingfisher dives into the water for his. In this way the flycatchers are
-among the most valuable of the Sky Sweepers.
-
-“Among Phœbe’s cousins you will find the _Kingbird_, who wears a
-slate-coloured coat and white vest, a crest on his head, and a white
-band on the end of his tail by which you may know him, as he sits on a
-fence rail, stump, or even on a tall mullen stalk and sallies out into
-the air, crying a shrill ‘Kyrie-Kyrie!’ The Great Crested Flycatcher,
-with an olive-brown coat, gray throat, and yellow belly, who builds in a
-tree hole well above the ground, and uses dried snake skins among his
-materials when he can get them, is another relative, and the largest of
-the family; while a third is the little Wood-pewee, of the dark
-olive-brown coat and two whitish wing-bars, who saddles his
-lichen-covered nest, as dainty as that of a Humming-bird high up on a
-limb, and calls his plaintive note, Pee-wee-pee-a-wee peer,’ through the
-aisles of the deep woods, as constantly as Phœbe lets her name be known
-in a more shrill and rasping voice to the barnyard flock.
-
-“These and several other flycatchers do not come to us until May, but
-the Phœbe of all his tribes trusts his livelihood to the care of gusty
-March. Perhaps it is the early return that makes the Phœbe so friendly
-and causes it to choose either a site by the water or near a house.
-Insect life awakes much more quickly in gardens and about the
-farm-yards, or near open running water, than in the remote woods; for
-certain it is that no other member of the family is so easily
-domesticated.
-
-“The Phœbe not only eats the earliest insects that appear, but it has
-peculiarly constructed eyes, like the Whip-poor-will and Night Hawk; it
-can catch its food until the end of twilight, so that it kills many bugs
-that hide all day. Among the hurtful insects that it catches are the
-click-beetle, brown-tail moth, canker-worm moth, and the elm beetle. As
-a berry-eater no one can find fault with it, as when late in a dry
-season it takes a little fruit, wild berries supply the need.
-
-“All this should be a hint to us to leave a few nooks about the place
-for a pair of Phœbes to appropriate for a homestead; a little shelf
-under suitable shelter is all they ask, or, better yet, nail a few wide
-braces under the roof of a wagon, cattle, or wood shed, even if it does
-not need supporting. Then, before the first Robin or Chipping-sparrow
-awakens, when the first flush of light penetrates the darkness of night,
-you will have a home sentinel at hand to cry, ‘Phœbe! I see, all’s
-well!’ to the morning, and at evening she will blend her voice with the
-Whip-poor-will’s in wishing you good night, for though Phœbe is early to
-come in the spring and early to rise in the morning, she goes late to
-bed and meets the bats in the sky during her evening excursions.”
-
-“Maybe Phœbes don’t really sing, but they think they do,” said Tommy, as
-Gray Lady looked in vain in her scrap-book for a poem that should do the
-bird justice and be catching in rhythm.
-
-“Sometimes in May they get up on the roof or the telephone wire or
-something like that, and tumble somersaults into the air and cry
-‘phœbe-phœbe-phœbe-phœbe,’ on and on and on and over again, like the
-Katydids and Katydidn’ts in the maples at night, only the Phœbe is so
-worked up she can only think of her own name.”
-
-“Then this verse of Lowell’s at least is true,” said Gray Lady, closing
-the scrap-book.
-
-        “Phœbe is all it has to say
-        In plaintive cadence o’er and o’er,
-        Like children that have lost their way
-        And know their names, but nothing more.”
-
------
-
-[5] _The Kingfishers’ Home Life_, W. L. Baily in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-
-
-
-                                  XXIV
-                          THE TIDE HAS TURNED
-
-
-                       THE MASQUERADING CHICKADEE
-
-    I came to the woods in the dead of the year,
-      I saw the wing’d sprite thro’ the green-brier peeping:
-    “Darling of Winter, you’ve nothing to fear,
-      Though the branches are bare and the cold earth is sleeping!”
-
-    With a _dee, dee, dee_! the sprite seemed to say,
-      “I’m friends with the Maytime as well as December,
-    And I’ll meet you here on a fair-weather day;
-      Here, in the green-brier thicket,—remember!”
-
-            *     *     *     *     *     *
-
-    I came to the woods in the spring of the year,
-      And I followed a voice that was most entreating:
-    _Phebe! Phebe!_ (and yet more near),
-      _Phebe! Phebe!_ it kept repeating!
-
-    I gave up the search, when, not far away,
-      I saw the wing’d sprite thro’ the green-brier peeping,
-    With a _Phebe! Phebe!_ that seemed to say,
-      “I told you so! and my promise I’m keeping.”
-
-    “You’ll know me again, when you meet me here,
-      Whether you come in December or Maytime:
-    I’ve a _dee, dee, dee!_ for the Winter’s ear,
-      And a _Phebe! Phebe!_ for Spring and Playtime!”
-
-    —Edith M. Thomas.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-“When the Chickadee, who has persistently told us his name all winter,
-and has assured us also in the darkest weather that it was
-‘day-day-day,’ changes his call for the flute-like spring song of
-‘Phewe-Phe-wee,’ clear as the wind blowing through a reed, we know that
-at last the springtide has really turned. Chickadee occasionally gives
-this note in autumn as if in anticipation, but it is really a love-song
-of tender accent.
-
-“Another spring sign comes to us in April, a sign to be seen. It comes
-out of a clear sky and has all the mystery about it that still shrouds
-the bird migrations. Spring and fall I see it, but it always fills me
-with awe. This morning I stood out in the open meadow below the orchard,
-looking at the sky to see if the clouds were going to break away, or if
-it was to be a day of April showers. To the southwest a curious fine
-black bar appeared high up against the clouds. Quickly it drew nearer,
-and I saw what seemed to be a great letter that moved rapidly and yet
-kept its shape printed on the sky,—a letter V coming toward me, point
-on. In another minute the line proved to be made of separate marks, then
-each mark developed a long neck and rapidly moving wings.”
-
-Tommy Todd could stand it no longer; without giving the usual school
-“hand up” warning he cried out, “The V was Wild Geese, with the wise old
-gander that leads them for the point, and maybe if he wanted them to
-shift and change their way, he gave a big honk, honk, like the
-automobiles when they turn the sharp corner at the foot of our hill.
-
-“We saw Wild Geese yesterday, grandpa and I; they were flying so low
-over the mill-pond that grandpa said maybe they had been resting
-somewhere. They do stop in fall sometimes, but in spring they generally
-go right over in a big hurry. This time I could see their feathers
-pretty well, black, gray, and light underneath, and a white mark around
-the neck as if it was tied up for a sore throat. Grandpa says he shot
-one once that was a yard long, but their necks looked all of that. How
-far away do they have to go before they can stop to nest, please, Gray
-Lady?”
-
-“They nest only in our most northern states, and from there up through
-British America; but as the country is settled they have to shift their
-haunts very often, for you can well imagine that a colony, even in the
-nesting season, would have but little peace if hunters could reach it
-easily. These great birds on their journeys are one of the most
-thrilling sights that everyday people can see, for they travel the
-thousands of miles that separate their summer and winter homes, straight
-through the night as well as the day, without chart or compass, but with
-the same lack of fear and unfailing directness as a train would follow
-the rails upon the road-bed.
-
-“We hear and read stories of Nature that are inventions, and could not
-have happened because they are not according to the plan of
-creation,—so the people who tell these instead of being clever are
-really very stupid,—but not one of these is as wonderful as the simple
-truth, or as awe-inspiring as the flight of Wild Geese that goes on
-before our sight year after year in the April sky, or that we know by
-their cries and the rush of wings is passing overhead in the gloom of a
-wild and stormy night.
-
-
-                               WILD GEESE
-
-    A far, strange sound through the night,
-        A dauntless and resolute cry,
-    Clear in the tempest’s despite,
-        Ringing so wild and so high.
-
-    Darkness and tumult and dread,
-        Rain and the battling of gales,
-    Yet cleaving the storm overhead,
-        The wedge of the Wild Geese sails.
-
-    Pushing their perilous way,
-        Buffeted, beaten, and vexed;
-    Steadfast by night and by day,
-        Weary, but never perplexed;
-
-    Sure that the land of their hope
-        Waits beyond tempest and dread,
-    Sure that the dark where they grope
-        Shall glow with the morning red!
-
-    O birds in the wild, wild sky!
-        Would I could so follow God’s way
-    Through darkness, unquestioning why,
-        With only one thought to obey!
-
-    —Celia Thaxter.
-
-
-                             Nest-Building
-
-“Though a few of our common birds, like the Robin, Bluebird, Woodcock,
-Crow, Grackle, and some of the Hawks and Owls, begin to nest in April,
-May and June are the real nesting months.
-
-“When the spring migration is over, we call those birds who have decided
-to stay with us and build their homes Summer Residents, and it is from
-these that we must learn of the home life of birds.
-
-“The visitors who stop awhile on their way to other places we may learn
-to call by name, but we can never really know them any more than we can
-a chance visitor who boards a few weeks in our vicinity.
-
-“The nesting habits of birds and the manner in which they build their
-homes vary according to the necessity and skill of the species. (See
-_Citizen Bird_.)
-
-“In their house-building you will find that the birds know almost as
-many trades as human beings, for among them are weavers, basket-makers,
-masons, and carpenters, as well as workers in felt, hair, and feathers.
-
-“Many water-birds merely make a hollow in the sand or gather a few bits
-of grass together for a nest.
-
-“The Grouse, Quail, and Woodcock scratch up a few leaves in a ground
-hollow or between stumps, for, like domestic fowl, they always nest on
-the ground and their colour, being dull, blends with it, and you may
-almost step on one of these birds when it is on its nest and never know
-it.
-
-“The dull brown Sparrows build nests of grasses set in a low bush or
-between its roots, but the flaming Oriole weaves himself a snug hammock
-high out on a swaying elm bough, and the Scarlet Tanager builds high in
-an oak. The Blue Jay weaves small roots into a firm nest set well above
-reach, while the Bluebird lines a hollow in a tree or takes an abandoned
-Woodpecker’s hole for his house. The Woodpeckers chisel out homes in
-tree-trunks, and Robins and Cliff and Barn Swallows use more or less
-mud, and plaster the inside of their homes. If you watch carefully now
-when the birds are building, and associate the various nests with the
-birds that build them, in autumn, when the young have flown, you can
-collect many of these nests and study their beautiful workmanship. But
-pray keep your hands off them while they are in use, for it is not being
-either kind or polite to meddle.
-
-“How do you think your mother would feel if somebody climbed in at the
-window and tumbled up your baby brother’s crib, perhaps spilling him out
-on the floor, or at least frightening him badly, in order to find out if
-he slept on a mattress or a feather bed, or if the crib itself was made
-of wood or metal?
-
-“At the time of the spring migration the birds that have been living in
-flocks all winter put on fresh feathers, and court and separate into
-pairs just as people do when they marry and begin housekeeping.
-Naturally they feel very happy, and have a great deal to say to each
-other, and this is what makes birds break into song when the spring
-comes to give them new life.
-
-“Though some few females can sing, it is the males who make the
-beautiful music that we hear in the spring mornings. The female is too
-busy with her housekeeping to do more than answer, but her husband’s
-song cheers her while she is brooding, and he probably tells her how
-pretty her new feathers are, and how much he loves her, too.
-
-“Among our gayly coloured birds, unlike people, it is the male who wears
-the brightest clothes. You have heard of this all through our fall and
-winter lessons, and you have seen the difference in pictures; now that
-the birds themselves have come, you will have a chance to see how well
-you remember, and if you can name the birds as they fly. The Scarlet
-Tanager and the Goldfinch both have plain greenish olive-coloured wives.
-The female Blue Jay is of a less bright hue than her mate, and the mate
-of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak wears a buff, brownish streaked vest.
-
-“Why? Because, as the mother bird spends more time about the nest than
-the father, if she wore bright clothes she would attract too much
-attention, and cruel Hawks, squirrels, and thieving people would find it
-too easily; and Nature’s first thought is always of the care and
-protection of young life, whether of plant, bird, or beast.
-
-“Almost all of our birds feed the young nestlings with animal food, even
-if they themselves are seed-eaters; for little birds must grow quickly,
-and you would hardly believe the number of worms and flying things it
-takes to turn one little Robin from the queer, helpless, featherless
-thing that it is when it hatches from the egg, into the clumsy,
-clamouring ball of feathers, with awkward wings and hardly a bit of tail
-to balance it, that it is when it leaves the nest.
-
-“No human father and mother work harder to feed their children than do
-these feathered parents, who toil ceaselessly from sunrise until sunset
-to bring food, and share by turns the protection of the nest.
-
-
-                                THE NEST
-
-    When oaken woods with buds are pink,
-      And new-come birds each morning sing,
-    When fickle May on summer’s brink
-      Pauses, and knows not which to fling,
-    Whether fresh bud and bloom again,
-    Or hoar-frost silvering hill and plain,
-
-    Then from the honeysuckle gray
-      The Oriole with experienced quest
-    Twitches the fibrous bark away,
-      The cordage of his hammock-nest,
-    Cheering his labour with a note
-      Rich as the orange of his throat.
-
-    High o’er the loud and dusty road
-      The soft gray cup in safety swings,
-    To brim ere August with its load
-      Of downy breasts and throbbing wings,
-    O’er which the friendly elm tree heaves
-      An emerald roof with sculptured eaves.
-
-    Below, the noisy world drags by
-      In the old way, because it must;
-    The bride with heartbreak in her eye,
-      The mourner following hated dust;
-    Thy duty, winged flame of spring,
-      Is but to love, and fly, and sing.
-
-    O happy life, to soar and sway
-      Above the life by mortals led,
-    Singing the merry months away,
-      Master, not slave of daily bread,
-    And, when the autumn comes, to flee
-      Wherever sunshine beckons thee!
-
-    —James Russell Lowell.
-
-
-                            OUT OF THE SOUTH
-
-          A migrant song-bird I,
-    Out of the blue, between the sea and the sky,
-    Landward blown on bright, untiring wings;
-          Out of the South I fly,
-    Urged by some vague, strange force of destiny,
-    To where the young wheat springs,
-
-          And the maize begins to grow,
-          And the clover fields to blow.
-          I have sought
-    In far wild groves below the tropic line
-    To lose old memories of this land of mine;
-          I have fought
-    This vague, mysterious power that flings me forth
-          Into the North;
-    But all in vain. When flutes of April blow,
-    The immemorial longing lures me, and I go.
-
-    —Maurice Thompson.
-
-
-                             WHAT TO EXPECT
-
-“In April we may look for the coming of a score or more of different
-birds. How quickly they come and in what numbers depends upon the
-season. If it is mild, they come gradually; if stormy, by fits and
-starts, and sometimes in strangely mixed flocks.
-
-“These belong to the first half of the month:—
-
-_The Great Blue Heron._ Cousin to the white Egret; we always used to
-have a pair of them by the upper mill-pond.
-
-_The Purple Finch._ A large sparrow with a beautiful voice; the fully
-grown male having a rosy flush to his feathers as if, it has been said,
-the juice of crimson berries had been squeezed over him.
-
-_The Vesper-sparrow._ The wayside Sparrow of our afternoon walk that we
-have known as long as the Song Sparrow and Bluebird; famous for his
-clear, ringing song at twilight and dawn. Rather light in color, with
-_rust-red wing-markings and white outside tail-feathers_ that show
-conspicuously as he flits along and tells his name.
-
-
-                           THE VESPER-SPARROW
-
-    It comes from childhood land,
-      Where summer days are long
-    And summer eves are bland—
-      A lulling good-night song.
-
-    Upon a pasture stone,
-      Against the fading west,
-    A small bird sings alone,
-      Then dives and finds its nest.
-
-    The evening star has heard
-      And flutters into sight.
-    Oh, childhood’s vesper bird,
-      My heart calls back good night.
-
-    —Edith M. Thomas.
-
-_The Chipping-sparrow._ Our least Sparrow, who wears a little chestnut
-velvet cap, gray back, and black bill, and has a mild, innocent
-expression in keeping with his friendly ways. He puts his dainty
-hair-lined nest (from which he is sometimes called Hair-bird) in a
-near-by shrub or rose-bush in the garden, and then hops about the door,
-picking up almost invisible bits of food, calling “chip-chip-chip.” His
-courting song is a long trill that begins at dawn almost with the Phœbe,
-and the dear little bird often sings as he sits on the ground.
-
-_The Tree Swallow._ This we saw last fall in the migration, and we may
-hope that it will take lodging in some of the new bird-boxes.
-
-“In the second half of the month:—
-
-_The Barn Swallow._
-
-_Spotted Sandpiper._
-
-_Bank Swallow._
-
-_Purple Martin._
-
-_Whip-poor-will._ One of the birds of the air that, together with its
-brother the Nighthawk and its cousins the Chimney Swift and
-Humming-bird, may well be called winged mysteries.
-
-_Towhee-Chewink, or Ground-robin_, of the tribe of Sparrows and Finches,
-but, like the Cardinal, without stripes, and having a stout beak. Head,
-throat, back, and breast black; white belly and rust-red sides. Black
-tail with white outer feathers. A handsome, vigorous bird and a lover of
-bushes and thickets, where he scratches among the leaves. Call-note,
-“Tow-hee-tow-hee.”
-
-_Black-and-white Warbler._ This you will at first take to be a small
-Woodpecker from its black-and-white stripes and tree-creeping habits
-that remind one of the Brown Creeper of winter, but its slender bill
-names it a warbler; one of the “lispers,” who, though they have musical
-names, whisper or lisp a few notes as if to themselves.
-
-_Ovenbird._ Also a warbler, but, though it sings high among the trees,
-nests on the ground among the leaves, the nest being closed at the top
-and open on the sides like an oven. A shy bird with a _golden brown
-crown edged by a black line_. Plain olive above, white beneath, with
-thrush-like black streaks on breast and sides.
-
-_House Wren._ Dear little Jenny Wren, of several nests and a large
-family, who lives in our bird-boxes, outbuildings, and garden trellises.
-Gowned in reddish brown, with fine black bars and a pert little tail
-that she jerks nervously as she flies. Johnny Wren is the singing
-partner, for Jenny has no voice left of a morning after she has
-spluttered and scolded her bird neighbours and attended to her
-housekeeping.
-
-_Brown Thrasher._
-
-_Catbird._
-
-_Wood Thrush._
-
-_Veery._—No matter how familiar with them we may be, we must always
-pause to look and listen when we meet one of this wonderful quartette of
-vocalists, whose voices belong with the gorgeously apparelled singers of
-the opera; but the quiet plumage and demeanour of three of the four mark
-them for peaceful home life and seclusion.
-
-
-                            WINGED MYSTERIES
-
-“Four birds there are that live under one roof, so to speak, for they
-belong to one order divided into three different families. They are
-perfectly familiar to most of us who have lived in the real country, and
-yet they awaken our curiosity anew every season when they return. These
-birds are the Whip-poor-will, Chimney Swift, Nighthawk, and
-Humming-bird. The two first return to New England late in April; the two
-last during the first part of May, but it is better for us to take them
-all together now in April so as to be ready to recognize the first one
-that comes.
-
-“The _Whip-poor-will_ comes first. It is a bird of the woods; in size a
-little less than the Robin, but of a build peculiar to its own family,
-long and low, a contrast heightened by its short legs and its habit of
-sitting length-wise on a limb and close to it. In short, it does not
-perch, it ‘squats.’ Its general colour is black, white, and buff, much
-streaked and mottled. Its tail is _round_, half of the three outer
-feathers white, giving the effect of a white spot.
-
-“All of you children of this wooded hill country know this bird that
-flies about the house and across the fields to the woods before dawn or
-soon after dark, making no more noise than the bats, until, stopping to
-rest, he mechanically jerks out his name,
-‘Whip-poor-will-Whip-poor-will-Chuck!’ So lonely and mournful does the
-cry sound in the distance that many weird stories have been told about
-the bird. But when the call comes close at hand, it is more cheerful,
-though always startling.
-
-“This bird builds no nest, but lays its pair of dull white eggs, so
-marked that they blend with the earth like lichens and mosses, on the
-bare ground, or at best among a few leaves. But rash as this seems, the
-protective colour that nature has given to the parents, eggs, and young
-serves to keep them as safe as many another bird in a well-woven tree
-nest.
-
-“Then, too, aside from its picturesque qualities, the Whip-poor-will, as
-Mr. Forbush says of it, ‘is an animated insect trap. Its enormous mouth
-is surrounded by long bristles which form a wide fringe about a yawning
-cavity, and the bird flies rather low among the trees and over the
-undergrowth, snapping up nocturnal insects in flight. It is, perhaps,
-the greatest enemy of night-moths, but is quite as destructive to May
-beetles and other leaf-eating beetles.’
-
-
-                 THE WOOD THRUSH AND THE WHIP-POOR-WILL
-
-    When the faintest flush of morning
-      Overtints the distant hill,
-          _If you waken, if you listen_,
-      You may hear the Whip-poor-will.
-    Like an echo from the darkness,
-      Strangely wild across the glen,
-    Sound the notes of his finale,
-      And the woods are still again.
-
-    Soon upon the dreamy silence
-      There will come a gentle trill,
-    Like the whisper of an organ,
-      Or the murmur of a rill,
-    And then a burst of music,
-      Swelling forth upon the air,
-    Till the melody of morning
-      Seems to come from everywhere.
-    A Thrush, as if awakened by
-      The parting voice of night,
-    Gives forth a joyous welcome to
-      The coming of the light.
-
-    In early evening twilight
-      Again the Wood Thrush sings,
-    Like a voice of inspiration
-      With the melody of strings;
-    A song of joy ecstatic,
-      And a vesper hymn of praise,
-    For the glory of the summer
-      And the promise of the days.
-
-            *     *     *     *     *     *
-
-    And when his song is ended,
-      And all the world grows still,
-    As if but just awakened,
-      Calls again the Whip-poor-will.
-
-    —Garrett Newkirk, in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-“_The Nighthawk_, when perching, bears a general resemblance to the
-Whip-poor-will. The white band on its throat is wider, the tail is _not_
-round, and it has white band near the end. There is a white bar across
-the quills of the wings that in flight looks like a round white spot or
-a hole.
-
-“These four white patches, throat, wings, and tail tell you his name
-plainly, so when he is on the wing the Nighthawk should never be
-mistaken for a Whip-poor-will. Then, too, their habits are unlike. The
-Nighthawk does not belong to the night, neither is he a Hawk, which is a
-Bird of Prey with talons and a hooked beak. Early morning and late
-afternoon are his favourite times for hunting the sky for insects, for
-he also is one of our most valuable sky sweepers.
-
-“Having no song, the cry of Skirk-skirk! given when on the wing, has a
-wild and eerie sound which is often followed by a booming noise of the
-quality that can be imitated by placing tissue-paper over a long, coarse
-comb and then blowing rapidly across it from one end to the other. This
-noise is made by the rush of the wind through the wing quills as the
-bird drops through the air after its winged food.
-
-“The Nighthawk builds no nest, but lays its eggs on a bare rock in a
-field, amid the stones of rocky ground, on roofs even of city houses.
-Again does colour protection aid a bird, for the arrangements of its
-markings blend the Nighthawk with granite as perfectly as those of the
-Whip-poor-will conceal it in the woods.
-
-“The Nighthawk, whose erratic flight makes it a target that piques the
-skill of a certain class of sportsmen, has frequently been shot at for
-prowess, the excuse being that it ‘wasn’t any good, anyway.’ Aside from
-the list of insects harmful to agriculture and domestic animals that it
-destroys, let us remember its crowning virtue, and cry ‘Hands off!’ It
-kills mosquitoes, and has thus earned the local name of Mosquito-hawk.
-
-“It is hard to believe that any one should insist that the Nighthawk and
-the Whip-poor-will are one and the same bird, but such has been the
-case, and among intelligent people also, though the mistake has been
-definitely settled by one of the Wise Men.
-
-
-                          A NIGHTHAWK INCIDENT
-
-A discussion of the specific distinctness of the Whip-poor-will and
-Nighthawk, following an address to Connecticut agriculturists some years
-ago, led to my receipt, in July, 1900, of an invitation from a gentleman
-who was present, to come and see a bird then nesting on his farm that he
-believed combined the characters of both the Whip-poor-will and
-Nighthawk; in short, was the bird to which both these names applied.
-
-[Illustration: NIGHTHAWKS]
-
-Here was an opportunity to secure a much-desired photograph, and armed
-with the needed apparatus, as well as specimens of both the Nighthawk
-and Whip-poor-will, I boarded an early train for Stevenson, Connecticut,
-prepared to gain my point with bird as well as with man.
-
-The latter accepted the specimens as incontrovertible facts, and
-readjusted his views as to the status of the birds they represented, and
-we may therefore at once turn our attention to the Nighthawk, who was
-waiting so patiently on a bit of granite out in the hayfields. The sun
-was setting when we reached the flat rock on which her eggs had been
-laid and young hatched, and where she had last been seen; but a fragment
-of egg-shell was the only evidence that the bare-looking spot had once
-been a bird’s home. The grass had lately been mowed, and there was no
-immediately surrounding cover in which the bird might have hidden. It is
-eloquent testimony of the value of her protective colouring, therefore,
-that we should almost have stepped on the bird, who had moved to a
-near-by flat rock as we approached the place in which we had expected to
-find her.
-
-Far more convincing, however, was her faith in her own invisibility.
-Even the presence of a dog did not tempt her to flight, and when the
-camera was erected on its tripod within three feet of her body,
-squatting so closely to its rocky background, her only movement was
-occasioned by her rapid breathing.
-
-There was other cause, however, besides the belief in her own
-inconspicuousness to hold her to the rock: one little downy chick
-nestled at her side, and with instinctive obedience was as motionless as
-its parent.
-
-So they sat while picture after picture was made from various points of
-view, and still no movement, until the parent was lightly touched, when,
-starting quickly, she spread her long wings and sailed out over the
-fields. Perhaps she was startled, and deserted her young on the impulse
-of sudden fear. But in a few seconds she recovered herself, and
-circling, returned and spread herself out on the grass at my feet. Then
-followed the evolutions common to so many birds but wonderful in all.
-With surprising skill in mimicry, the bird fluttered painfully along,
-ever just beyond my reach, until it had led me a hundred feet or more
-from its young, and then, the feat evidently successful, it sailed away
-again, to perch first on a fence and later on a limb in characteristic
-(length-wise) Nighthawk attitude.
-
-How are we to account for the development in so many birds of what is
-now a common habit? Ducks, Snipe, Grouse, Doves, some ground-nesting
-Sparrows and Warblers, and many other species also feign lameness, with
-the object of drawing a supposed enemy from the vicinity of their nest
-or young. Are we to believe that each individual who in this most
-reasonable manner opposes strategy to force, does so intelligently? Or
-are we to believe that the habit has been acquired through the agency of
-natural selection, and is now purely instinctive? Probably neither
-question can be answered until we know beyond question whether this
-mimetic or deceptive power is inherited.—Frank M. Chapman, in
-_Bird-Lore_.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-“Now comes the _Chimney Swift_, universally called the Chimney Swallow;
-with small, compact body, only a little larger than a Bank Swallow, and
-long, strong wings, it dominates the air in which it lives and feeds,
-and so little does it use its feet that it does not perch on them, but
-brackets itself against post, wall, or chimney, Woodpecker fashion, the
-sharp, pointed quills of its short tail acting as a brace.
-
-“In colour the Chimney Swift is sooty gray, and as it darts about the
-sky it looks like a winged spruce cone, the wings being held further
-forward in flight than those of the average bird.
-
-“Like their cousins the Nighthawks, they feed chiefly in early morning
-and late afternoon, though in the nesting season this work continues all
-day. In the old wild days, like many another bird, this Swift built its
-basket nest of twigs and bird glue on the inside wall of hollow trees,
-but when man came, hollow trees went, and so, with the happy
-adaptability of Heart of Nature himself, the bird moved to the hollow
-chimneys of man’s own invention, and so, unwittingly, descended from his
-sky parlour and became the one real fireside bird that we have. And for
-this companionship he is willing to brave the risk of being smoked out
-and having sparks scorch his nest.
-
-“Now that wide-mouthed stone chimneys are also disappearing, what
-remains for this Swift? We do not know, unless he changes his home to
-the open air and builds his bracket nests on outside walls.
-
-“The Swift folds his wings and dives down the chimney to his nest
-silently as a bird cleaves the water, but when he rises, a roar of
-rapidly whirring wings marks the ascent, so that sometimes it annoys the
-people in whose rooms the chimney opens. Last summer, in the old
-orchard-house where Miss Wilde lives, we used to sit before the wide
-fireplace and listen to the Swifts twittering and whirling in and out of
-the chimney, and by looking up on a bright day their nests could be seen
-plainly. Once in a while an accident would happen, and Goldilocks will
-show you a beautiful bracket nest and five white eggs that became
-loosened after a storm and fell out on to the hearth.”
-
-“But now that there is a fire all the time and a coal stove at Swallow
-Chimney, won’t the birds choke if they live there?” asked Sarah Barnes.
-“Grandma says they can stand wood smoke, but that coal-gas ‘spixiates’
-’em; ’cause we’ve never had any at our house since we’ve been burning
-coal.”
-
-“I believe that your grandmother is right,” said Gray Lady, “and for
-this reason I have planned to have a new outside chimney for the cooking
-stove, so that the real ‘Swallow Chimney’ may be only used for the wood
-hearth fires, and so continue to be their home for as long as I live or
-the birds wish to rent it.
-
-[Illustration: R. H. Beebe, Photo. CHIMNEY SWIFT RESTING]
-
-
-                           TO A CHIMNEY SWIFT
-
-    Uncumbered neighbour of our race!
-        Thou only of thy clan
-    Hast made thy haunt and dwelling-place
-        Within the walls of man.
-
-    Thy haughty wing, which rides the storm,
-        Hath stooped to Earth’s desires,
-    And round thy eery rises warm
-        The smoke of human fires.
-
-    Still didst thou come from lands afar
-        In childhood days as now,—
-    Yet alien as the planets are,
-        And elfin-strange art thou.
-
-    Thy little realm of quick delights,
-        Fierce instincts, untaught powers—
-    What unimagined days and nights
-        Cut off that realm from ours!
-
-    Thy soul is of the dawn of Earth,
-        And thine the secrets be
-    Of sentient being’s far-off birth
-        And round-eyed infancy.
-
-    With thee, beneath our sheltering roof,
-        The starry Sphinx doth dwell,
-    Untamed, eternally aloof
-        And inaccessible!
-
-    —Dora Read Goodale.
-
-
-                     THE RUBY-THROATED HUMMING-BIRD
-
-“The last and least of the four-winged mysteries is also the smallest of
-our birds, lacking a quarter of being four inches long. But it does not
-need size to proclaim its beauty any more than a glowing ruby or
-emerald; and indeed it wears both of these gems, the one on its throat
-and the other on its back. Its world is the garden where everything is
-brightest, its food nectar, and such little aphis as gather in it, and
-its home lashed by cobwebs to a slender branch, a fairy nest of plant,
-wool, and lichens, soft as feather down, wherein lie two eggs, white and
-opaque and glistening like some fresh-water pearls.
-
-“When on the wing it either darts about like a ray of feathered light,
-or else, poised before a deep-throated flower, remains apparently
-motionless, though its wings vibrate with the mechanical hum of a
-fly-wheel of perfect workmanship.
-
-“In spite of the fact that Father Humming-bird takes himself to parts
-unknown and leaves his mate to tend both eggs and birds, the mother is
-neither put out nor discouraged, and makes a model parent, who gathers
-and swallows the food for her tiny offspring and then, by a pumping
-process called regurgitation, brings it up and, taking no chances of
-spilling a drop, literally rams it into the little throat! This bird is
-to me the greatest mystery of all. It comes and it goes, but how does it
-endure the stress of weather and travel? Many a moth outspans it in
-breadth of wings. If the flight of the Wild Goose is wonderful in its
-courage, what of the Humming-bird? Is Puck of Pook’s Hill still alive,
-and has he feathered playfellows?
-
-
-                            THE HUMMING-BIRD
-
-    Is it a monster bee,
-      Or is it a midget bird,
-    Or yet an air-born mystery
-      That now yon marigold has stirred,
-    And now on vocal wing
-      To a neighbour bloom has whirred
-    In an aëry ecstasy, in a passion of pilfering?
-
-    Ah! ’tis the Humming-bird,
-      Rich-coated one,
-      Ruby-throated one,
-    That is not chosen for song,
-
-    But throws its whole rapt sprite
-      Into the secrets of flowers
-    The summer days along,
-      Into most odorous hours
-    It’s a murmurous sound of wings too swift for sight.
-
-    —Richard Burton.
-
-
-                            THE WOOD THRUSH
-
-    He has a coat of cinnamon brown,
-    The brightest on his head and crown,
-    A very low-cut vest of white
-    That shines like satin in the light,
-    And on his breast a hundred spots,
-    As if he wore a veil with dots;
-    With movement quick and full of grace,
-    The highbred manner of his race;
-    A very prince of birds is he
-    Whose form it is a joy to see.
-
-    And _music_—was there ever heard
-    A sweeter song from any bird?
-    Now clarion-like, so loud and clear,
-    Now like a whisper low and near,
-    And now, again, with rhythmic swells
-    And tinkling harmony of bells,
-    He seems to play accompaniment
-    Upon some harp-like instrument.
-
-    —Garrett Newkirk, in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-
-                          MOCKERS AND THRUSHES
-
-“How many of you know the _Wood Thrush_, or, if you do not know his
-name, can recognize him by aid of these verses?”
-
-“I know it,” answered little Clary; “I know his colour and the way his
-song tinkles, but up at our house we call him Song Thrush. Why, Gray
-Lady, he doesn’t live in the woods; we haven’t any woods. He stays right
-around the garden and orchard, and last summer they made a nest in the
-crotch of a sugar-maple so low that I could see into it by standing on
-the fence. It looked just like Robin’s nest, and it had some rags woven
-into it, and the eggs are like the Robin’s, too.
-
-“Mother said that I mustn’t watch too long, or they might not come back
-next year, but that if we didn’t bother them, they might come back, and
-the children, too, and bring their wives.
-
-“This pair seemed real tame; they used to hop all round on the grass
-where the clothes dry, and they drank out of Roy’s dish. He’s a Collie
-dog, you know, and they don’t bother birds at all the way bird-dogs will
-sometimes.
-
-“The Thrushes did eat some strawberries and currants, but mother said to
-credit those to company, for they pleasured her when she sat sewing on
-the porch of afternoons more than all the company she ever had to tea,
-for they had to have sugar and cream on their berries, and left plates
-and spoons to wash up, and the Thrushes cleared up after themselves and
-gave a concert every night.
-
-“You know, Gray Lady, it isn’t nice to have company and not give them
-any lunch, so mother says if you have nice garden birds, why should you
-expect more of them than of folks?”
-
-[Illustration: E. Van Alterna, Photo. WOOD THRUSH AND NEST]
-
-“Why, indeed,” said Gray Lady. “I will go and see your mother and ask
-her to come to Birdland. A mother in a community who thinks as she does
-is better than half a dozen bird wardens.”
-
-“I know that bird, too,” said Dave, “but on the hill where I live he
-stays in the river woods and only comes out to the lane edge to get wild
-cherries and blackcaps and shadberries. We call it Wood Robin, ’cause
-it’s shaped like a Robin and runs on the ground like one, only it’s
-different in colour. Do you suppose they are the same bird? Or are there
-two that seem alike, like the Nighthawk and Whip-poor-will?”
-
-“Wood Thrush, Song Thrush, Wood Robin, are all one; the shy bird of
-river woods or the lovely musician of gardens and home grounds, where
-they are protected and dogs reign instead of cats. This place is vocal
-with them all through May, June, and well into July. Not only Birdland
-and the orchard, but the garden and trees on the lawn.
-
-“One afternoon last June, when Goldilocks lay in her hammock under the
-spruces, four were singing where I could see all at once,—and oh, that
-song! As the bird sits in a tree-top with head thrown back and pours it
-forth,
-
-    ‘the song of the Wood Thrush is one of the finest specimens of
-    bird music that America can produce. Among all the bird songs I
-    have ever heard, it is second only in quality to that of the
-    Hermit Thrush. Its tones are solemn and serene. They seem to
-    harmonize with the sounds of the forest, the whispering breeze,
-    the purling water, or the falling of raindrops in the summer
-    woods.’
-
-                                                   —E. H. Forbush.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-“This Thrush has a sharp alarm note, ‘Pit! Pit!’ and a sort of whistle
-that he seems to use as a signal. Fruit he does eat at times, but he has
-as long a list of evil insects to his credit as the Robin himself.
-Unfortunately, owing to his size and plumpness, southern vandals shoot
-him in the fall and winter. Fancy silencing his heavenly voice for a
-pitiful mouthful of meat.
-
-“There is another Thrush that lives in your river woods, Dave, smaller
-than the Wood Thrushes, tawny of back, and a buffy breast with faint
-arrow-shaped spots upon it, the Wilson’s Thrush, or Veery. It has not so
-long and varied a song as either the Wood Thrush or the more northern
-Hermit Thrush, is really but an echo song, wonderfully pure and
-spiritual in quality. One of the Wise Men gives in syllables this
-‘Ta-weel-ah-ta-weel-ah,’ pronounced in whispering head tones, and then
-repeated a third lower, ending with the twang of a stringed instrument.
-
-“At evening and until quite late into the night these birds echo
-themselves and each other. It is not a song to hear amid laughter and
-talking, but for the heart that is alone, even if not lonely. To at
-least one of our poets, he who best interprets the song-life of birds,
-it rivals the famous English Nightingale.
-
-“Aside from its musical value, the Veery, feeding as it does almost
-altogether on insects, has a practical side as a neighbour. It also has
-a most penetrating call-note, a ‘Whew! Whew!’ heard after the song is
-over, that is at once resentful, critical, and challenging, as if
-questioning your right to be in its woodland retreat in the nesting
-time, and condemning your persistence. Many people, who do not know the
-bird by sight, know both its echo song and its note of alarm and
-challenge.
-
-
-                         THE INCREDULOUS VEERY
-
-    Two hunters chanced one day to meet
-      Near by a thicket wood;
-    They paused each other there to greet,
-      Both in a playful mood.
-    Said one, “I had to wade a stream,
-      Now, this you must not doubt,
-    And when I reached the other shore
-      My boots were full of trout.”
-
-    _Whew!_ cried a Veery perched in view
-    To hear if what they said were true. _Whew!_
-
-    The other’s wit was now well whet.
-      Said he, “Let me narrate:
-    I bought three hundred traps and set
-      For fur both small and great;
-    Now, when next morning came, behold,
-      Each trap contained a skin;
-    And other disappointed game
-      Stood waiting to get in.”
-
-    The astonished Veery whistled, _Whew!_
-    I hardly think that story true. _Whew!!!_
-
-    —Florence A. Van Sant, in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-
-                           THE BROWN THRASHER
-
-“Also called _Brown Thrush_, _Red Mavis_, _Planting Bird_. Brown of
-back, with his white throat and belly speckled with black arrow marks, a
-long, curved bill, and long, restless tail, whose thrashing gives the
-bird his name, this bird combines the markings of the Thrush with the
-general build of a true Mockingbird, while in varied and rich song it
-rivals the Catbird, its shorter song season, however, leaving its
-gray-backed neighbour in the lead.
-
-“This spring Brown Thrasher came to the bushy end of the orchard the
-last of April, and scratched about in the leaves like a Grouse. In a few
-days I saw him in the back of the garden, where Jacob had a great pile
-of pea-brush. This the bird looked at favourably. Birds know how to get
-in and out of pea-brush, but cats are afraid of the sharp twigs.
-
-“For a couple of weeks or more I heard him singing every day in the
-tree-tops, and I wondered where he would locate.
-
-“Jacob, one morning, told me that he wished to use the pea-brush, but
-that a ‘pair of great brown birds that beat their tails and “sassed” him
-when he came near’ had built a nest of twigs in the back of the heap.
-‘My friends, the Thrashers,’ said I, ‘will need that brush for a couple
-of months. Have you no more in the lot?’ Jacob had plenty with only the
-trouble of carting.
-
-“Now hardy vines have grown over the brush and tangled into what
-Goldilocks calls a lovely ‘Thrashery’ that will last for several years.”
-
-“I know them,” said Jack Todd; “they are mockers and jeerers for
-certain; when Dad and I plant the big south field with corn every
-spring, they come in the berry-bushes by the fence and tell us how to do
-it, and that if we’re smart and take their advice, we won’t cut the
-fence brush until they are done with nesting.
-
-“But can’t they pick cherries to beat the band? Last summer I was up in
-the ox-heart tree and they came in the top and picked ’em off, just as
-they grew in pairs, and flew away with them as pleased and satisfied as
-if they were picking them for market and were a week ahead of the
-season. Dad was awfully down on them once, but one morning about two
-years ago he got up at daylight to try and get the cutworms that were
-spoiling his early cauliflowers, and there were Thrashers and Catbirds
-doing the work for him, watching out for the worms to move ground just
-as clever as a man could.
-
-“As for the _Catbird_ or _New England Mockingbird_, trim of shape, and
-shrewd of eye, what should we do without him? He is a graphophone in
-feathers, that gives us selections from all the popular bird songs of
-the day, with this addition—there is no mechanical twang to mar the
-melody, and when the repertoire is ended he improvises by the hour.
-
-“Ah, the merry, mischievous Mocker, all dressed in a parson’s suit of
-gray, with a solemn black cap on his head that is as full of tricks as
-his throat is of music.
-
-“You say, ‘Yes, I know that he is a jolly musician, but my father says
-that he bites the best strawberries and cherries, and always on the
-ripest cheek!’
-
-“Well, so he does _sometimes_; but his ancestors lived on that spot
-where your garden stands before yours did, and you have more ways of
-earning a living than he has. Give him something else to eat. Plant a
-little wild fruit along your fences.
-
-“Some people think that he likes to live in seclusion, but he doesn’t;
-he likes to be near people and perch on a clothes-pole to plume and
-sing. Yes, indeed, and he shall nest in the syringa nearest my garden,
-where he gets his fresh fruit for breakfast, and be the only thing with
-anything catlike about it on my premises!”
-
-
-                              THE CATBIRD
-
-    He sits on a branch of yon blossoming bush,
-    This madcap cousin of Robin and Thrush,
-    And sings without ceasing the whole morning long
-    Now wild, now tender, the wayward song
-    That flows from his soft, gray, fluttering throat.
-    But often he stops in his sweetest note,
-    And, shaking a flower from the blossoming bough,
-    Drawls out, “Mi-ew, mi-ou!”
-
-[Illustration: Dr. T. S. Roberts, Photo. CATBIRD ON NEST]
-
-
-
-
-                                  XXV
-                  BIRD AND ARBOUR DAY AT FOXES CORNERS
-
-
-It was the first Friday of May, the day that was set apart for Arbour
-and Bird Day in the schools. Gray Lady and Miss Wilde had thought of
-having the celebration in Birdland, but for a good reason decided to
-hold it in the schoolhouse.
-
-The reason was this: One day after the schoolhouse had been put in
-order,—for Gray Lady had persuaded the town fathers to have the walls
-painted, and had then given a band of soft green burlap that covered the
-wall just above the chair board, and made a fine background against
-which pictures might be pinned and then changed at will,—little Clary
-said with a sigh, “I wish we could have a bird party here in school some
-day, so’s mother could _see_ how we learn about the birds; it would be
-much realer than my telling her about it.”
-
-So a very simple programme was arranged for the forenoon, and the
-parents invited. It is a great mistake to hold celebrations that are too
-long when it is spring, and the weather is so bright and the bird music
-so fine that people can learn much more by being out-of-doors than in
-poring over books.
-
-The first part of the programme was under the charge of Jacob Hughes and
-the older boys. It consisted in the planting of some strong young
-sugar-maples to complete the row between the schoolhouse and the highway
-that had been begun last autumn. The holes had been dug the day
-previous, and Mr. Todd brought the trees from his grove in the hay-cart,
-with plenty of earth about their roots, and after they were set straight
-and true, the boys filled in the holes and tramped the earth down
-firmly. After this the little boys brought water, four pails being
-considered a sufficient drink for each tree.
-
-Next, a dozen shrubs were planted in the eastern corner of the bit of
-ground where it rolled up toward the brush-lot and the earth was deep
-and good. They were varieties that would flower in May and June, before
-the closing of school. Syringa, Weigela, Yellow Forsythia, Purple and
-White Lilac, Snowballs, Spireas, Scarlet Flowering Quince, Strawberry
-Shrub, and Deutzia. Between this shrubbery a little strip along the
-north fence had been made into a long bed of about thirty feet, and the
-girls had been asked to collect enough hardy plants from about the farm
-gardens to fill it; for there is little use in planting bedding or
-annual flowers in school yards, for these are later in starting and are
-killed by early frost.
-
-The girls had been very successful in their task, and a goodly
-assortment of old-fashioned, hardy plants, that many a gardener would
-envy, was the result: Iris of several shades, Peonies, Sweet Williams,
-Larkspur, Foxgloves, Honesty, May Pinks, Lemon Lilies, Johnny-jumpers,
-and several good roots of Cinnamon and Damask Roses were among the
-collection, while Sarah Barnes’ grandmother sent a basket of the roots
-of hardy button Chrysanthemums—pink, white, crimson, yellow, and
-tawny—that she said would hold out from October to Thanksgiving if they
-had “bushes between them and the north.” It was quite eleven o’clock
-when, the planting over and the benches that the boys had made during
-the winter set in place, the children, whose hands were washed under
-very difficult conditions, gathered in the school.
-
-But those parents who cared to come had meanwhile had a chance to go
-into the little building, see the pictures, charts, and books on the
-shelf behind the desk, and chat with Miss Wilde in a friendly, informal
-way that was helpful to all concerned.
-
-Goldilocks had been there all the morning, but when Gray Lady arrived
-she brought with her a friend of “the General’s,” who was also a _Wise
-Man_ in one of the chief agricultural colleges of the country, who had
-promised to talk to the children. Gray Lady herself was to read them
-some bird poetry, and Miss Wilde a little story of her own invention,
-while as a finale the children themselves were to recite some verses
-where ten familiar birds were represented each by a child who wore a cap
-and shoulder cape, cleverly made of crêpe paper, that would give a clew,
-at least, to the bird he or she represented.
-
-These costumes had been made at the last Saturday meeting of the Kind
-Hearts’ Club, in the playroom at “the General’s,” and had caused no
-little fun, the idea of them having come from the caps in the mottoes at
-that orchard party, in September, eight months before, when the children
-first entered Birdland.
-
-This is the poem that Gray Lady read. She had a voice that sang even in
-speaking, and as Goldilocks often said, “When mother reads bird poetry
-you don’t hear the words, but the birds themselves.”
-
-
-                            BIRDS IN SPRING
-
-    What time the rose of dawn is laid across the lips of night,
-    And all the drowsy little stars have fallen asleep in light,
-    ’Tis then a wandering wind awakes, and runs from tree to tree,
-    And borrows words from all the birds to sound the reveille.
-
-            This is the carol the Robin throws
-                Over the edge of the valley;
-            Listen how boldly it flows,
-                Sally on sally:
-
-                    _Tirra-lirra, down the river,_
-                    _Laughing water all a-quiver._
-                    _Day is near, clear, clear._
-                        _Fish are breaking,_
-                        _Time for waking._
-                        _Tup, tup, tup!_
-                    _Do you hear? All clear._
-                        _Wake up!_
-
-    The phantom flood of dreams has ebbed and vanished with the dark,
-    And like a dove the heart forsakes the prison of the ark;
-    Now forth she fares through friendly woods and diamond-fields of dew,
-    While every voice cries out “Rejoice!” as if the world were new.
-
-            This is the ballad the Bluebird sings,
-                Unto his mate replying,
-            Shaking the tune from his wings
-                While he is flying:
-
-                    _Surely, surely, surely,_
-                        _Life is dear_
-                        _Even here._
-                        _Blue above,_
-                        _You to love,_
-                    _Purely, purely, purely._
-
-    There’s wild azalea on the hill, and roses down the dell,
-    And just a spray of lilac still a-bloom beside the well;
-    The columbine adorns the rocks, the laurel buds grow pink,
-    Along the stream white arums gleam, and violets bend to drink.
-
-            This is the song of the Yellowthroat,
-                Fluttering gayly beside you;
-            Hear how each voluble note
-                Offers to guide you:
-
-                        _Which way, sir?_
-                        _I say, sir,_
-                        _Let me teach you,_
-                        _I beseech you!_
-                        _Are you wishing_
-                        _Jolly fishing?_
-                        _This way, sir!_
-                        _Let me teach you._
-
-    Oh come, forget your foes and fears, and leave your cares behind,
-    And wander forth to try your luck, with cheerful, quiet mind;
-    For be your fortune great or small, you’ll take what God may give,
-    And all the day your heart will say, “’Tis luck enough to live.”
-
-            This is the song the Brown Thrush flings
-                Out of his thicket of roses;
-            Hark how it warbles and rings,
-                Mark how it closes:
-
-                        _Luck, luck,_
-                        _What luck?_
-                        _Good enough for me!_
-                        _I’m alive, you see._
-                        _Sun shining, no repining;_
-                        _Never borrow idle sorrow;_
-                        _Drop it! Cover it up!_
-                        _Hold your cup!_
-                        _Joy will fill it,_
-                        _Don’t spill it!_
-                        _Steady, be ready,_
-                        _Love your luck!_
-
-    —Henry van Dyke, in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-“I do declare!” exclaimed Tommy Todd’s grandfather, speaking out loud,
-much to the boy’s embarrassment. “I reckon I’ll get out a pole and go
-a-trout-fishing to-morrow dawn. I haven’t thought of a yallerthroat, not
-since I used to go casting in the brook that ran through Ogden’s meadows
-among the bush willows, and them birds kept hollerin’ on ahead.”
-
-This is what the Wise Man told the children, standing in front of Miss
-Wilde’s desk and speaking as if he knew them all by name.
-
-
-                            THE BIRDS AND I
-
-The springtime belongs to the birds and me. We own it. We know when the
-May-flowers and the buttercups bloom. We know when the first frogs peep.
-We watch the awakening of the woods. We are wet by the warm April
-showers. We go where we will, and we are companions. Every tree and
-brook and blade of grass is ours; and our hearts are full of song.
-
-There are boys who kill the birds, and girls who want to catch them and
-put them in cages; and there are others who steal their eggs. The birds
-are not partners with them; they are only servants. Birds, like people,
-sing for their friends, not for their masters. I am sure that one cannot
-think much of the springtime and the flowers if his heart is always set
-upon killing or catching something. We are happy when we are free; and
-so are the birds.
-
-The birds and I get acquainted all over again every spring. They have
-seen strange lands in the winter, and all the brooks and woods have been
-covered with snow. So we run and romp together, and find all the nooks
-and crannies which we had half forgotten since October. The birds
-remember the old places. The Wrens pull the sticks from the old hollow
-rail and seem to be wild with joy to see the place again. They must be
-the same Wrens that were here last year and the year before, for
-strangers could not make so much fuss over an old rail. The Bluebirds
-and Wrens look into every crack and corner for a place in which to
-build, and the Robins and Chipping-sparrows explore every tree in the
-old orchard.
-
-If the birds want to live with us, we should encourage them. The first
-thing to do is to let them alone. Let them be as free from danger and
-fear as you or I. Take the hammer off the old gun, give pussy so much to
-eat that she will not care to hunt for birds, and keep away the boys who
-steal eggs and who carry sling-shots and throw stones. Plant trees and
-bushes about the borders of the place, and let some of them, at least,
-grow into tangles; then, even in the back yard, the wary Catbird may
-make its home.
-
-For some kinds of birds we can build houses. You have been doing this
-all through the winter, I hear. Some of the many forms which can be used
-are shown in the pictures, but any ingenious boy can suggest a dozen
-other patterns. Although birds may not appreciate architecture, it is
-well to make the houses neat and tasty by taking pains to have the
-proportions right. The floor space in each compartment should be not
-less than five by six inches, and six by six or six by eight may be
-better. By cutting the boards in multiples of these numbers, one can
-easily make a house with several compartments; for there are some birds,
-as Martins, Tree Swallows, and Pigeons that like to live in families or
-colonies. The size of the doorway is important. It should be just large
-enough to admit the bird. A larger opening not only looks bad, but it
-exposes the inhabitants to dangers of cats and other enemies. Birds
-which build in houses, aside from Doves and Pigeons, are Bluebirds,
-Wrens, Tree Swallows, Martins, and sometimes the Chickadee. For the Wren
-and Chickadee the opening should be an inch-and-a-half augur-hole, and
-for the others it should be two inches. Only one opening should be
-provided for each house or compartment. A perch or doorstep should be
-provided just below each door. It is here that the birds often stop to
-arrange their toilets; and when the mistress is busy with domestic
-affairs indoors, the male bird often sits outside and entertains her
-with the latest neighbourhood gossip. These houses should be placed on
-poles or on buildings in somewhat secluded places. Martins and Tree
-Swallows like to build their nests twenty-five feet or more above the
-ground, but the other birds usually prefer an elevation less than twelve
-feet. Newly made houses, and particularly newly painted ones, do not
-often attract the birds.
-
-But if the birds and I are companions, I must know them more intimately.
-Merely building houses for them is not enough. I want to know live and
-happy birds, not dead ones. We are not to know them, then, by catching
-them, nor stuffing them, nor collecting their eggs. Persons who make a
-business of studying birds may shoot birds now and then, and collect
-their eggs. But these persons are scientists and they are grown-up
-people. They are trying to add to the sum of human knowledge, but we
-want to know birds just because we want to. But even scientists do not
-take specimens recklessly. They do not rob nests. They do not kill
-brooding birds. They do not make collections merely for the sake of
-making them; and even their collections are less valuable than a
-knowledge of the bird as it lives and flies and sings.
-
-Boys and girls should not make collections of eggs, for these
-collections are mere curiosities, as collections of spools and marbles
-are. They may afford some entertainment, to be sure, but one can find
-amusement in harmless ways. Some people think that making collections
-makes one a naturalist, but it does not. The naturalist cares more for
-things as they really are in their own homes than for museum specimens.
-One does not love the birds when he steals their eggs and breaks up
-their homes; and he is depriving the farmer of one of his best friends,
-for birds keep insects in check!
-
-Stuffed birds do not sing and empty eggs do not hatch. Then let us go to
-the fields and watch the birds. Sit down on the soft grass and try to
-make out what the Robin is doing on yonder fence or why the Wren is
-bursting with song in the thicket. An opera-glass or spy-glass will
-bring them close to you. Try to find out not only what the colours and
-shapes and sizes are, but what their habits are. What does the bird eat?
-How much does it eat? Where is its nest? How many eggs does it lay? What
-colour are they? How long does the mother bird sit? Does the father bird
-care for her when she is sitting? For how long do the young birds remain
-in the nest? Who feeds them? What are they fed? Is there more than one
-brood in the season? Where do the birds go after breeding? Do they
-change their plumage? Are the mother birds and father birds unlike in
-size or colour? How many kinds of birds do you know?
-
-These are some of the things which every boy or girl wants to know; and
-we can find out by watching the birds! There is no harm in visiting the
-nests, if one does it in the right way. I have visited hundreds of them
-and have kept many records of the number of eggs and the dates when they
-were laid, how long before they hatched, and when the birds flew away;
-and the birds took no offence at my inquisitiveness. These are some of
-the cautions to be observed: Watch only those nests which can be seen
-without climbing, for if you have to climb the tree, the birds will
-resent it. Make the visit when the birds are absent if possible; at
-least, never scare the bird from the nest. Do not touch the eggs or the
-nest. Make your visit very short. Make up your mind just what you want
-to see, then look in quickly and pass on. Do not go too often, once or
-twice a day will be sufficient. Do not take the other children with you,
-for you are then apt to stay too long and to offend the birds.
-
-Now let us see how intimately you can become acquainted with some bird
-this summer.
-
-                                                       —L. H. Bailey.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-This is the little story that Miss Wilde read them, and they were very
-anxious as to what schoolhouse and children she really meant, but she
-said that was a secret.
-
-
-                        THE BIRDS AND THE TREES
-
-It was May Day. Half a dozen birds had collected in an old apple tree,
-which stood in a pasture close by the road that passed the schoolhouse;
-some of them had not met for many months, consequently a wave of
-conversation rippled through the branches.
-
-“You were in a great hurry, the last time I saw you,” said the little
-black-and-white Downy Woodpecker to the Brown Thrasher, who was pluming
-his long tail, exclaiming now and then because the feathers would not
-lie straight.
-
-“Indeed! When? I do not remember. What was I doing?”
-
-“It was the last of October; a cold storm was blowing up, and you were
-starting on your southern trip in such a haste that you did not hear me
-call ‘good-by’ from this same tree, where I was picking insect eggs that
-expected to hide safely in the bark all winter, only to hatch into all
-kinds of mischief in the spring. But I was too quick for them; my keen
-eyes spied them and my beak chiselled them out. Winter and summer I’m
-always at work, yet some house-people do not understand that I work for
-my living. They seem to think that a bird who does not sing is good for
-nothing but a target for them to shoot at.”
-
-“That is true,” said the dust-coloured Phœbe, dashing out to swallow a
-May beetle, which stuck in her throat, causing her to choke and cough.
-“I can only call, yet I worked with the best for the farmer where I
-lodged last year. I made a nest on his cowshed rafters and laid two sets
-of lovely white eggs, but his boys stole them and that was all my thanks
-for a season’s toil.”
-
-“Singing birds do not fare much better,” said the Thrasher. “I may say
-frankly that I have a fine voice and I can sing as many tunes as any
-wild bird, but children rob my nest, when they can find it, and
-house-people drive me from their gardens, thinking I’m stealing
-berries.”
-
-“They treat me even worse,” said the Robin, bolting a cutworm he had
-brought from a piece of ploughed land. “In spring, when I lead the Bird
-Chorus night and morning, they rob my nest. In summer they drive me from
-the gardens, where I work peacefully, and in autumn, when I linger
-through the gloomy days, long after your travelling brothers have
-disappeared, they shoot me for pot-pie!”
-
-“It is a shame!” blustered Jennie Wren. “Not that I suffer much myself,
-for I’m not good to eat, and I’m a most ticklish mark to shoot at.
-Though I lose some eggs, I usually give a piece of my mind to any one
-who disturbs me, and immediately go and lay another nest full. Yet I say
-it is a shame, the way we poor birds are treated, more like tramps than
-citizens, though we are citizens, every one of us who pays rent and
-works for the family.”
-
-“Hear, hear!” croaked the Cuckoo, with the yellow bill. He is always
-hoarse, probably because he eats so many caterpillars that his throat is
-rough with their hairs. “Something ought to be done, but can Jennie Wren
-tell us what it shall be?”
-
-“I’ve noticed that most of the boys and girls who rob our nests and
-whose parents drive us from their gardens go every day to that square
-house down the road yonder,” said Mrs. Wren. “Now if some bird with a
-fine voice that would _make_ them listen could only fly in the window
-and sing a song, telling them how useful even the songless bird brothers
-are, they might treat us better and tell their parents about us when
-they go home.”
-
-“Well spoken,” said the Robin; “but who would venture into that house
-with all those boys? There is one boy in there who, last year, killed my
-mate with a stone in a bean-shooter, and also shot my cousin, a
-Bluebird. Then the boy’s sister cut off the wings of these dead brothers
-and wore them in her hat. I think it would be dangerous to go in that
-schoolhouse.”
-
-“The windows are open,” said the Song Sparrow, who had listened in
-silence. “I hear the children singing, so they must be happy. I will go
-down and speak to them, for though I have no grand voice, they all know
-me and perhaps they will understand my homely wayside song.”
-
-So the Sparrow flew down the road, but as he paused in the lilac hedge
-before going in the window, he heard that the voices were singing about
-birds, telling of their music, beauty, and good deeds. While he
-hesitated in great wonder at the sounds, the children trooped out, the
-girls carrying pots of geraniums which they began to plant in some beds
-by the walk. Then two boys brought a fine young maple tree to set in the
-place of an old tree that had died. A woman with a bright, pleasant face
-came to the door to watch the children at their planting, saying to the
-boys, “This is Arbour Day, the day of planting trees, but pray remember
-that it is Bird Day also. You may dig a deep hole for your tree and
-water it well; but if you wish it to grow and flourish, beg the birds to
-help you. The old tree died because insects gnawed it, for you were
-rough and cruel, driving all the birds away from hereabouts and robbing
-their nests.”
-
-“Please, ma’am,” said a little girl, “our orchard was full of spinning
-caterpillars last season and we had no apples. Then father read in a
-book the government sent him that Cuckoos would eat the caterpillars all
-up, so he let the Cuckoos stay, and this year the trees are nice and
-clean and all set full of buds!”
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-The Song Sparrow did not wait to hear any more, but flew back to his
-companions with the news.
-
-“I shall put my nest under the lilac hedge to show the children that I
-trust them,” said he, after the birds had recovered from their surprise.
-
-“I will lodge in the bushes near the old apple tree,” said the Cuckoo;
-“it needs me sadly.”
-
-“I will build over the schoolhouse door,” said the Phoebe; “there is a
-peafield near by that will need me to keep the weevils away.”
-
-“I think I will take the nice little nook under the gable,” said Jennie
-Wren, “though I need not build for two weeks yet, and I have not even
-chosen my mate.”
-
-“I shall go to the sill of that upper window where the blind is half
-closed,” said the Robin. “They have planted early cauliflowers in the
-great field and I must help the farmer catch the cutworms.”
-
-“I will stay by also,” said the Woodpecker. “I know of a charming hole
-in an old telegraph pole and I can see to the bark of all the trees that
-shade the schoolhouse.”
-
-Just then a gust of wind blew through the branches, reminding the birds
-that they must go to work, and May passed by whispering with Heart of
-Nature, her companion, about the work that must be done before June
-should come,—June, with her gown all embroidered with roses and a
-circle of young birds fluttering about her head for a hat.
-
-“Dear Master,” May said, “why am I always hurried and always working? I
-do more than all other months. July basks in the sun and August sits
-with her hands folded while the people gather in her crops. Each year
-March quarrels with Winter and does no work; then April cries her eyes
-out over her task, leaving it dim and colourless. Even the willow wears
-only pale yellow wands until I touch them. The leaf buds only half
-unfold, and the birds hold aloof from the undraped trees; see, nothing
-thrives without me.” And May shook the branches of a cherry tree and it
-was powdered with white blossoms.
-
-“Nothing grows by or for itself,” said Heart of Nature, tenderly. “The
-tree is for bird and the bird for the tree, while both working together
-are for the house-people if they will only understand me and use them
-wisely. Never complain of work, sweet daughter May. Be thankful that you
-have the quickening touch, for to work in my garden is to be happy.”
-
-Then the Song Sparrow caught up the words and wove them in his song and
-carolled it in May’s ear as she swept up the hillside to set the
-red-bells chiming for a holiday.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-These are the verses that the children recited. Goldilocks asked the
-question in the first line of each verse, and the child who represented
-the bird answered. Little Clary was the first,—the Chippy,—and as she
-said the words she raised her arms and flapped them like wings; the
-parents all applauded with delight.
-
-
-                        THE BIRDS AND THE HOURS
-
-                   4 A.M.
-    Who is the bird of the early dawn?
-        The brown-capped Chippy, who from the lawn
-    Raises his wings and with rapture thrills,
-        While his simple ditty he softly trills.
-
-                   5 A.M.
-    Who is the bird of the risen sun?
-        The Robin’s chorus is well-nigh done
-    When Bobolink swings from the clover high,
-        And scatters his love-notes across the sky.
-
-                   9 A.M.
-    Who is the bird of the calm forenoon?
-        The Catbird gay with his jeering tune,
-    Who scolds and mimics and waves his wings
-        And jerks his tail as he wildly sings.
-
-                   Noon
-    Who is the bird of the middle day?
-        The green-winged, red-eyed Vireo gay,
-    Who talks and preaches, yet keeps an eye
-        On every stranger who passes by.
-
-                   5 P.M.
-    Who is the bird of the afternoon?
-        The Wood Thrush shy, with his silvery tune
-    Of flute and zither and flageolet;
-        His rippling song you will never forget.
-
-                   7 P.M.
-    Who is the bird of the coming night?
-        The tawny Veery, who out of sight
-    In cool dim green o’er the waterway
-        The lullaby echoes of sleeping day.
-
-                   9 P.M.
-    Who is the bird that when all is still
-        Like a banshee calls? The Whip-poor-will;
-    Who greets the Nighthawk in upper air
-        Where they take their supper of insect fare.
-
-                  Midnight
-    Who are the birds that at midnight’s stroke
-        Play hide-and-seek in the half-dead oak?
-    And laugh and scream ’till the watch-dog howls?
-        The wise-looking, mouse-hunting young Screech Owls.
-
-                All in chorus
-        Good Night! Good Day!
-    Be kind to the birds and help repay
-    The songs they sing you the livelong day,
-    The bugs they gobble and put to flight—
-    Without birds, orchards would perish quite!
-        Good Day! Good Night!
-
-    —M. O. W.
-
-Tommy and Dave, who represented the Screech Owls, followed up the last
-“good night” by a very realistic imitation of the mewing call-note and
-the cry of the little Screech Owl, that not only brought down the house,
-but caused the guests to go home in a state of laughing good humour.
-
-
-
-
-                                  XXVI
-                      SOME BIRDS THAT COME IN MAY
-
-
- _In Apple-blossom Time look for Orioles and All the Brightly Coloured
-                                Birds._
-
-“In May you must get up early and keep both eyes and ears wide open if
-you would name this month’s share of the birds. All that have not come
-must do so now or never, though sick and crippled birds may straggle
-along at any time.
-
-“These are the birds you may expect during the month. Some you already
-know from both pictures and stories, and these will seem like old
-friends:—
-
-Yellow-billed Cuckoo
-Nighthawk
-Humming-bird
-Kingbird
-Baltimore Oriole
-Bobolink
-Indigo-bird
-Scarlet Tanager
-Red-eyed Vireo
-Yellow Warbler
-Maryland Yellowthroat
-Yellow-breasted Chat
-Redstart
-Veery
-Rose-breasted Grosbeak
-
-“Some cloudy morning early in the month, you will hear a new call. At
-first it may suggest the coo-oo-oo of the Mourning Dove, then the
-drumming of the Flicker, but after waiting for a moment you realize that
-it is neither. The first sound is like that made by clicking the tongue
-rapidly against the roof of the mouth; the second sounds like
-cow-cow-cow-cow-cow repeated in quick succession. By this you will know
-that the _Yellow-billed Cuckoo_ has come.
-
-“You will be disappointed when first you see the bird itself, for it
-does not in the least resemble the bird of the English poets, who lives
-in Cuckoo clocks and bobs out to tell the hours. Neither is it a lazy
-bird who refuses to build a nest and leaves its eggs to the care of
-others like the Cowbird.
-
-“This Yellow-billed Cuckoo is a slender bird cloaked in brownish gray,
-of a soft hue and with a light belly. The tail-feathers are tipped with
-white, so that, as you look at the bird from below, it shows large white
-spots. This Cuckoo takes its name because the lower part of its bill is
-yellow, but you will scarcely notice this when he is in the trees, where
-he spends the greater part of his time in searching for insects and
-caterpillars, which are his favourite food.
-
-[Illustration: YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO]
-
-“The nest is a shallow, rather shiftless sort of an affair, and very
-often has so little lining that if the vine or bush in which it is
-placed tips a little, the pale blue eggs are in danger of rolling out.
-What the Cuckoos lack in housekeeping thrift they make up as destroyers
-of harmful insects, and here it has helped to keep the old orchard alive
-by tearing apart the nests of the tent-caterpillar and eating the
-inhabitants. These mischievous caterpillars used to be content to live
-in the wild cherry trees that line the roads and old pastures. People
-cut these down in consequence, so after a time the caterpillar found
-that apple trees were quite as much to his taste and seized upon the
-orchards. Then comes Master Cuckoo, and wherever the tent worms are,
-there we find him also. So many has he been known to devour that one of
-the Wise Men, upon examining the stomach of a Cuckoo that had been
-killed, found it lined with a sort of felt made from the hairs of the
-caterpillars.
-
-“So, if you hear the harsh call near by, be very glad; the sound may not
-please the ear, but the bird is a pleasure to the sight as he slips away
-silently through the trees to do work for us that we cannot do as well.
-
-“The _Red-eyed Vireo_, excepting the Catbird, is the most talkative bird
-that we have; in fact, so fond is he of the sound of his own voice that
-he is rarely silent during the daylight hours. Then, too, his eloquence
-has a questioning and arguing quality that made Wilson Flagg give him
-the nickname of ‘The Preacher,’ by which he will always be known. ‘You
-see it—you know it—do you hear me? Do you believe it?’ he hears this
-voice say, and if you keep these words in your mind, you will recognize
-the bird the first time that you hear his song. You may hear the Vireo’s
-words twenty times for every peep that you may get of his person; not
-that he is at all shy, but he is restlessness in feathers, while unlike
-many talkers he both talks and works at the same time. Now he is at the
-end of a branch close to you, then on the opposite side of the tree,
-from whence he works his way to the very top, clearing the small limbs
-and twigs of insects as he goes.
-
-“After trying in vain to see him, one day when you are not thinking of
-this or any other bird, you will pass a familiar tree, one of the
-apples, perhaps, whose branches nearly sweep the ground. Your eye in
-going idly over the leaves halts at an object that is partly suspended
-between the forked twigs of a branch almost under your eye. You look
-again; it is a nest, pocket-shaped, and fastened between the twigs as
-the heel of a stocking is held between knitting needles. The nest itself
-is finely woven of plant-down, soft bark, and perhaps a few shreds of
-paper.
-
-“You step nearer; a little head with a long, curved beak rises slightly
-above the nest,—Madam is at home. An eye holds your own,—a red eye
-with a long, clear, white mark over it by way of an eyebrow. Then you
-notice the head wears a gray cap bordered with black. The bird perhaps
-breathes a little faster, and the prettily shaded olive-green back
-heaves and the wings twitch as if to make ready to fly, otherwise the
-bird does not budge, but simply sits and waits for you to go; this, if
-you are really one of the Kind Hearts, you will do very soon.
-
-“True, you may come back the next day and the next, and from a
-comfortable distance watch the Vireo’s housekeeping and the progress of
-her brood, only please do not touch either the nest or its contents.
-After she has done with it and autumn comes, you may have it for your
-own and see for yourself how wonderfully it is made.
-
-“All sorts of amusing bits of printing from newspapers have been found
-woven into these nests, and there is one in Goldilocks’ cabinet, that I
-will show you later, that says upon the shred of paper,—‘an eight-room
-flat,—electric light and —— —— improvements,’ the missing words
-being concealed where the paper was woven under the plant fibres.
-
-[Illustration: F. M. Chapman, Photo. RED-EYED VIREO ON NEST]
-
-“There are several other Vireos with richer, more melodious voices that
-you will learn to name after you have made your first bowing and
-speaking acquaintances in Birdland. The Red-eyed, however, is the
-largest and most easily named of them all if you remember his love of
-preaching, his white eyebrow, and gray, black-edged cap. He will be with
-us all summer, leaving in early October with the last flocks of Barn
-Swallows.
-
-
-                             RED-EYED VIREO
-
-    When overhead you hear a bird
-      Who talks, or rather, chatters,
-    Of all the latest woodland news,
-      And other trivial matters,
-    Who is so kind, so very kind,
-      She never can say no,
-    And so the nasty Cowbird
-      Drops an egg among her row
-    Of neat white eggs. Behold her then,
-      The Red-eyed Vireo!
-
-    —Faith C. Lee, in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-
-                   THREE LISPERS AND A VENTRILOQUIST
-
-“When the trees are putting on their best and greenest leaves, many new
-sounds mingle with the hum of insects among the branches. You pause and
-look up in the confusing mass of fluttering green and sunbeams to find,
-if possible, the origin of these sounds.
-
-“Many feathered shapes are fluttering about, some flying after the
-manner of birds, while others flit and move in the irregular fashion of
-butterflies, while the notes they utter, instead of being full-throated,
-have a sort of childish lisp.
-
-“These birds belong to the tribe of _Warblers_; a few do really warble,
-but for the majority the _Lispers_ would be a more appropriate title.
-Listen! there comes a little call now, as if the bird had kept his beak
-half closed, ‘Sweet-sweetie-sweazy!’ and a bird of light build and no
-larger than a Chippy flits backward from the twig where he was perching
-and alights on one below, following in his flight one of the insects of
-which he is a valiant destroyer, as he belongs really to both the order
-of Tree Trappers and Sky Sweepers.
-
-“Now is your chance; he is at rest for a moment; look at him,—black of
-back, head, and breast, some salmon-red feathers on wings and tail, and
-the sides of breast rich, pure salmon, and the belly white. What a brave
-little uniform, almost the Oriole colours. One of the Wise Men who has
-met the Redstart in his winter home in Cuba says that there he is called
-‘_Candelita_, the little torch that flashes in the gloomy depth of
-tropical forests.’
-
-“There is nothing secluded about him, however, except the depths of
-shade where he feeds and weaves his nest, in texture much like the
-Vireo’s. His mate is also a very dainty bird, but his flame colour and
-black is replaced by pale yellow and gray.
-
-“The Redstart is a bird to know in May and June, though it does not
-leave until early in October.
-
-
-                        _The Summer Yellowbird_
-
-“From the apple trees or shrubs near the house comes a cheerful lisping
-song that constantly declares that life up among the leaves is
-‘Sweet-sweet-sweet-sweet-sweeter,’ ending this remark by a warble full
-of melody. Then a little bird smaller than a Chippy flits out with a bit
-of green worm hanging from his beak and disappears in another tree.
-Brief as the glimpse is, you see that the bird is rich olive-yellow,
-with cinnamon streaks on the breast. If he pauses a moment, you will
-notice that the underparts are almost the colour of gold. This is the
-_Yellow Warbler_ of many names,—_Wild Canary_, _Summer Yellowbird_, or
-simply _Yellowbird_; though this name is also commonly given to the
-seed-eating Goldfinch of the Sparrow tribe who wears a jaunty black cap,
-and stays with us all the year, while the Yellow Warbler goes southward
-before leaf-fall in September.
-
-“The Yellow Warbler’s nest is one of the most beautiful and interesting
-bird-homes, and shares the fame of that of the Baltimore Oriole, Wood
-Pewee, Humming-bird, and Vireo. It is cup-shaped and deep, woven of
-fibres and plant-down, and is placed in the fork of a bush or in a fruit
-tree, where it is as firmly lashed by cords of vegetable fibre and
-cobwebs. The female is the builder and a very rapid workwoman. This nest
-is often used by the Cowbird, but little Mrs. Yellow Warbler is more
-clever than many other small birds and refuses to be imposed upon. She
-is evidently afraid to push out the alien egg, so she swiftly walls it
-in by building a second nest on top of the first. If this does not check
-the Cowbird, a third nest is sometimes added, like the one that Tommy
-brought me last fall, and there is a two-story nest in Goldilocks’
-cabinet.
-
-“This Warbler is not only beautiful to look at and pleasant to hear, but
-he is a very valuable tree trapper, for he eats the spinning cankerworms
-and also tent-caterpillars, pulling apart webs of the latter and using
-them ‘for cordage’ to bind the nest. He is also a destroyer of
-plant-lice and something of a flycatcher as well.
-
-
-                        _Maryland Yellowthroat_
-
-“Here is a merry bird that you cannot miss seeing or fail to name if you
-have eyes and ears. Olive on head and back, this bird certainly has a
-yellow throat, also much yellow on tail, wings, and underparts, but if I
-had the naming of it I should call him the ‘Yellow, Black-masked
-Warbler,’ for he wears a narrow mask of black across his face, through
-which his keen eyes peer provokingly as he flits ahead calling for you
-to follow, ‘Follow me—follow me—follow!’ When you see the bird, of two
-points you may be sure at once; it is yellow, and it wears a black mask,
-but whether it is yellowest on back, throat, or breast will require a
-second look.
-
-“This bird is here about the garden and lane from May to September, and
-last June we found its long, bulky nest, partly covered like an Indian
-cradle, in the bushes between the garden and orchard, but it usually is
-so clever at going into the bushes and then darting along close to the
-ground to its nest, that we had known of this nest for several days
-before we discovered that it belonged to Black Mask, for his wife, who
-kept the nearest to the nest, wears no mask, and we thought her some
-other kind of Warbler.
-
-
-                       THE MARYLAND YELLOWTHROAT
-
-    While May bedecks the naked trees
-    With tassels and embroideries,
-    And many blue-eyed violets beam
-    Along the edges of the stream,
-
-    I hear a voice that seems to say,
-    Now near at hand, now far away,
-    “Witchery-witchery-witchery!”
-
-            *     *     *     *     *     *
-
-    An incantation so serene,
-    So innocent, befits the scene;
-    There’s magic in that small bird’s note.
-    See! there he flits—the Yellowthroat;
-    A living sunbeam, tipped with wings,
-    A spark of light that shines and sings,
-    “Witchery-witchery-witchery!”
-
-    —Henry van Dyke, in _The Builders and Other Poems_.
-
-“A whistle comes out of the bushes that line the wood lane perhaps when
-you are gathering the pink Wild Azalea. If you have a dog with you, he
-will get up and sniff about. The whistle is repeated, and you yourself
-think it is one of your companions who has rounded the turn calling you.
-No; then it is merely a Catbird mocking half a dozen other songsters and
-then jeering at them.
-
-“By mere chance, glancing at a tree close above, you see a bird of good
-size with brilliant yellow throat, breast, and wing-linings, and a
-strong curved beak that appears almost hooked. Perching there is a
-Yellow-breasted Chat. He it is who is doing the mocking and jeering, but
-throws his voice in such a way that it seems to come from the opposite
-bushes. It is this power that gives him the name of ‘Ventriloquist.’
-Being observed, he slips quickly out of sight, and then you notice the
-olive-green colour on his back. He has a song of his own as well as the
-power of imitating others and in the nesting season floats out upon the
-air, with spread wings and legs trailing behind, in a wild ecstasy of
-singing, looking to us humans very foolish, but is doubtless very
-fascinating to his mate on her nest hidden amid briers and bushes and
-thoroughly protected by vines.
-
-
-                          _Singers in Costume_
-
-“Among the birds many of the best vocalists are choir singers, as it
-were. We hear their voices first, and from hearing them desire to know
-and name the singers. The Thrushes belong to the first group. Others
-there are who come on the stage in brilliant costume; we see them first,
-then desire to hear them sing, and afterward remember them as pleasing
-both to eye and ear. These are the gentlemen of the Opera, and four of
-them made the garden and orchard their music-hall last summer and I do
-not doubt will do so again. In fact the Goldfinches have never left, but
-a flock in sober winter suits have fed at the lunch-counter on the
-sunflower heads and fluttered over the weed seeds in the fields all
-winter.
-
-“The _Baltimore Oriole_ is the first of the quartet to settle down to
-family life late in May. The _Rose-breast_ follows him closely. But the
-_Tanager_ waits for the heavy leafage of June to cover his brilliant
-colours while, for some reason not yet understood, the _American
-Goldfinch_ keeps his bachelor freedom longer than any bird except the
-Cedar Waxwing. And though he wears his handsome yellow wedding-clothes
-from late April, he waits until he has feasted well on dandelion-down
-and the best grass seeds before he ceases to rove and takes to a bush,
-high maple, or other tree, to locate his soft nest made of moss and
-grasses and lined with thistle-down.
-
-
-                          THE BALTIMORE ORIOLE
-
-    How falls it, Oriole, thou hast come to fly
-    In tropic splendour through our northern sky?
-
-    At some glad moment was it Nature’s choice
-    To dower a scrap of sunset with a voice?
-
-    Or did an orange tulip flaked with black,
-    In some forgotten ages back,
-
-    Yearning toward Heaven until its wish was heard,
-    Desire unspeakably to be a bird?
-
-    —Edgar Fawcett.
-
-“The Baltimore Oriole should be first mentioned, for his voice is that
-of the bugler that heralds actual spring, the long-expected,
-long-delayed mellow period, distinct from the almanac spring, that, when
-it once comes to us of the middle and north country, is quickly absorbed
-by the ardour of summer herself. Also is this Oriole the gloriously
-illuminated initial letter wrought in ruddy gold and black pigments
-heading the chapter that records the season; and when we see him high in
-a tree against a light tracery of fresh foliage, we know in very truth
-that not only is winter over, that the treacherous snow-squalls of April
-are past, but that May is working day and night to complete the task
-allotted.
-
-“For as the Indian waited for the blooming of the dogwood, _Cornus
-florida_, before planting his maize, so does the prudent gardener wait
-for the first call of the Oriole before she trusts her cellar-wintered
-geraniums and lemon balms once more to the care of Mother Earth.
-
-“This Oriole has history blended with his name; for it is said that
-George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, tired and discouraged by many
-of the troubles of his Newfoundland colony, in visiting the Virginia
-settlement in 1628, explored the waters of the Chesapeake, where he
-found the shores and woods alive with birds, and conspicuous among them,
-vast flocks of Orioles. These so pleased him that he took their colours
-for his own and they ever afterward bore his name—a fair exchange.
-
-“The _Baltimore Oriole_ comes of a party-coloured American
-family—_Icteridæ_—that to the eye of the uninitiated at least would
-appear to be a hybrid clan drawn from all quarters of the bird world.
-Yet it is typically American, even in this variety; for what other race
-would have the temerity to harbour the Bobolink, Orchard and Baltimore
-Orioles, Red-wing, Meadowlark, various Grackles, together with the
-vagrant Cowbird, in the branches of the same family tree?
-
-“One of the many welcome facts concerning the Oriole is the ease with
-which he is identified; and I say _he_ advisedly, for his more
-industrious half, who is the expert weaver of the pair, is much the more
-sombre of hue. In early May, or even as late as the middle of the month
-in backward seasons, you will hear a half-militant, half-complaining
-note from the high tree branches. As you go out to find its origin, it
-will be repeated, and then a flash of flame and black will shoot across
-the range of vision toward another tree, and the bird, chiding and
-complaining, begins a minute search along the smaller twigs for insects.
-This is the Oriole, _Icterus galbula_, as he first appears in full
-spring array,—his head, throat, and top of back and wings black, except
-a few margins and quills that are white edged. The breast and
-underparts, lower part of back, and lesser wing-coverts are orange
-flame, while his tail is partly black and partly orange.
-
-“Two other tree-top birds that arrive at about the same time, one to
-remain and one to pass on, wear somewhat the same combination of red and
-black,—the Redstart and the Blackburnian Warbler. But, besides being
-much smaller birds, they both belong to the pretty tribe of Warblers
-that, with a few notable exceptions, such as the Chat and
-Water-thrushes, should be more properly called ‘lispers’ and not be
-confused with the clear-toned Oriole.
-
-“Once the female Oriole arrives, usually several days after the male,
-his complaining call, ‘Will you? Will you really, truly?’ gradually
-lessens: and after a few weeks, when nest-building begins, it quite
-disappears, or rather, is appropriated by the songless female, who,
-while she weaves the nest, is encouraged by the clarion song of her
-mate. The plumage of the female is brown and gray blended with orange
-above, the head, back, and throat being mottled with black, while the
-underparts are a dull orange, with little of the flaming tints of the
-male.
-
-“Though the Oriole exposes himself more freely to view than most of our
-highly coloured birds and in fact seems to regard his gift of beauty
-anything but seriously, he takes no chances, however, in the locating of
-his nest, which is not only from twenty feet above the ground upward,
-but is suspended from a forked branch that is at once tough yet so
-slender that no marauding cat would dare venture to it. This pensile
-nest is diligently woven of grasses, twine, vegetable fibres, horsehair,
-bits of worsted, or anything manageable and varies much in size and
-shape, as if the matter of individual taste entered somewhat into the
-matter. It has been fairly well proven that location enters largely into
-this matter, and that nests in wild regions, where birds of prey, etc.,
-abound, are smaller at the top and have a more decided neck than those
-in the trees of home lawns and orchard. Of the many nests that I have
-found and handled or else observed closely with a glass, the majority
-have been quite open at the top like the one pictured, and the only one
-with a narrow and funnel-like opening came from a wayside elm on the
-edge of a dense wood.
-
-“The female seems to be weaver-in-chief, using both claw and bill,
-though I have seen the male carry her material. It is asserted that
-Orioles will weave gayly coloured worsteds into their nests. This I very
-much doubt, or if they do, I believe it is for lack of something more
-suitable. I have repeatedly fastened varicoloured bunches of soft linen
-twine, carpet-thread, flosses, and the like under the bark of trees
-frequented by Orioles, and with one exception, it has been the more
-sombre tints that were selected, though I am told that nests are found
-made of very bright colours.
-
-“In the exceptional case a long thread of scarlet linen floss was taken
-and woven into the nest for about half its length, the remainder hanging
-down; but on resuming my watch the next day, I found that the weaver had
-left the half-finished task and crossed the lawn to another tree.
-Whether it was owing to the presence of red squirrels close by, or that
-the red thread had been a subject for domestic criticism and dissension,
-we may not know.
-
-“Be this as it may, in spite of the bright hues of the parent birds and
-the hanging shape of the nest that is never concealed by a branch upon
-which it is saddled, like the home of so many birds, an Oriole’s nest is
-exceedingly difficult to locate unless one has noticed the trips to and
-fro in the building process; but once the half-dozen white, darkly
-etched and spotted eggs it contains hatch out, the vociferous youngsters
-at once call attention to the spot and make their whereabouts known, in
-spite of sky cradle and carefully adjusted leaf umbrellas.
-
-“If their parents bring them food, they squeal (yes, that is the only
-word for it); if they are left alone, they do likewise. Their baby
-voices can be heard above the wind, and it is only either at night or
-during a heavy shower, when a parent would naturally be supposed to be
-upon the nest, that they are silent.
-
-“As an adult, the Oriole lives on rather mixed diet and has a great love
-of honey; but of course as a parent he is, with his sharp beak, a great
-provider of animal food for his home, and to his credit must be placed a
-vast number of injurious tree-top insects that escape the notice of less
-agile birds.
-
-“Complaints are frequently heard of his propensity for opening pods and
-eating young peas, piercing the throats of trumpet-shaped flowers for
-the honey, and in the autumn, before the southward migration, siphoning
-grape and plum juice by means of this same slender, pointed bill.
-
-“Personally, I have never lost peas through his appetite for green
-vegetables, though I have had the entire floral output of an old
-trumpet-vine riddled bud and blossom; and I have often stood and scolded
-them from under the boughs of a Spitzenburgh apple tree, amid the
-blossoms of which they were rummaging,—perhaps for insects, but also
-scattering the rosy blossoms right and left with torn and bruised
-petals. Powell, in _The Independent_, writes feelingly of this trait of
-the Oriole, thus:—
-
-“‘An Oriole is like a golden shuttle in the foliage of the trees, but he
-is the incarnation of mischief. That is just the word for it. If there
-is anything possible to be destroyed, the Oriole likes to tear it up.
-
-“‘He wastes a lot of string in building his nest. He is pulling off
-apple blossoms now, possibly eating a few petals. By and by he will pick
-holes in bushels of grapes, and in plum season he will let the wasps and
-hornets into the heart of every Golden Abundance plum on your favourite
-tree. . . . Yet the saucy scamp is so beautiful that he is
-tolerated—and he does kill an enormous lot of insects. There is a
-swinging nest just over there above the blackberry bushes. It is
-wonderfully woven and is a cradle as well as a house. I should like to
-have been brought up in such a homestead.’
-
-“It seems as if the Oriole must be a descendant of one of the brilliant
-birds that inhabited North America in by-gone days of tropic heat and
-that has stayed on from a matter of hereditary association; for in the
-nesting season it is to be found from Florida and Texas up to New
-Brunswick and the Saskatchewan country and westward to the Rockies,
-beyond which this type is replaced by Bullock’s Oriole, of much similar
-colouring save that it has more orange on the sides of the head, and the
-white wing-patch is larger.
-
-“But however much the Baltimore Oriole loves his native land, the
-climate and the exigencies of travel make his stay in it brief; for he
-does not appear until there is some protection of foliage and he starts
-southward toward his winter home in Central and South America often
-before a single leaf has fallen.
-
-
-                          THE BALTIMORE ORIOLE
-
-    O Golden Robin! pipe again
-    That happy, hopeful, cheering strain!
-
-    A prisoner in my chamber, I
-    See neither grass, nor bough, nor sky;
-    Yet to my mind thy warblings bring,
-    In troops, all images of spring;
-    And every sense is satisfied
-    But what thy magic has supplied.
-    As by enchantment, now I see
-    On every bush and forest tree
-    The tender, downy leaf appear.—
-    The loveliest robe they wear.
-
-    The tulip and the hyacinth grace
-    The garden bed; each grassy place
-    With dandelions glowing bright,
-    Or king-cups, childhood’s pure delight,
-    Invite the passer-by to tread
-    Upon the soft, elastic bed,
-    And pluck again the simple flowers
-    Which charmed so oft his younger hours.
-    The apple orchards all in bloom—
-    I seem to smell their rare perfume.
-    And thou, gay whistler! to whose song
-    These powers of magic art belong,
-    On top of lofty elm I see
-    Thy black and orange livery;
-    Forgive that word! a freeman bold,
-    Of choice thou wearest jet and gold,
-    And no man’s livery dost bear,
-    Thou flying tulip! free as air!
-
-    Come, Golden Robin! once again
-    That magic, joy-inspiring strain!
-
-    —Thomas Hill.
-
-“Of all our North American birds, the Tanager is the most gorgeous and
-suggestive of the tropics. I do not understand how any one can fail to
-name him. He is unlike any other. Entire body rich scarlet, wings and
-tail black; that is all that there is to remember about him in spring
-dress. In autumn he moults to a greenish yellow like his mate, but still
-keeps his black wings and tail.
-
-“This bird is commonly thought to be rare, but that is because he loves
-groves of oaks, chestnuts, and beeches, and Nature has taught him to
-keep in high deep shade, that his colour, far richer than the Cardinals,
-may not make him a target for enemies, both feathered and human. But in
-the migrations he is often to be seen. Half a dozen were feeding at one
-time in the garden and about the lunch-counter this spring, and in May,
-whenever I drove about or went to Fair Meadows village, some one was
-sure to either ask me the name of the beautiful red birds that they had
-seen about the yard, or, if they knew the bird, tell how plentiful
-Tanagers had been this year.
-
-“Protection has certainly helped this bird, and in some places it is
-said to be increasing; and as it is distinctly a bird of high trees,
-where its nest of loosely built sticks is placed, it is not so much
-affected by the modern plague of cats as either Robin, Song Sparrow, or
-the Thrushes. ‘The song resembles somewhat that of the Robin, but is
-shorter and less varied, with a little apparent hoarseness or harshness
-in the tone. Chi-chi-chi-char-ee, char-ee-chi represents it fairly
-well.’ It also has a sharp ‘Chip-churr!’ alarm note.
-
-“The Robin, Grosbeak, and Tanager all have certain notes in common, so
-that when they all sing at once, it is often difficult to distinguish
-the individual songs.
-
-“The Tanager is the guardian of the forest trees and their insect pests.
-As a caterpillar hunter, it is said ‘he has but few superiors.’ He finds
-the leaf-rolling caterpillar in its snug retreat and destroys myriads of
-weevils, click-beetles, and crane-flies. The Tanager also visits
-orchards, and in early spring, during the migrations, he braves danger
-and feeds in the furrows of ploughed land in the same way as the
-Grackles and Robins.
-
-“The Tanagers are unique little specimens when they first leave the
-nest, for the male birds undergo as many changes of colour as Harlequin
-in the pantomime. After the down of nestlings, they wear the dull colour
-of the mother, and before they put on the full spring plumage, they go
-through a stage of patchwork such as you see in this picture in my
-portfolio. Then after being bright red all summer, they again go through
-the patchwork state before leaving in fall.
-
-“The coming of cold weather evidently warns this Tanager to go, for
-being provided with a dull travelling cloak, he need no more fear being
-seen in the leafless trees than the Thrushes or Sparrows.
-
-“_Thistle-bird_, _Lettuce-bird_, and _Yellowbird_ are all names given to
-this friendly little Sparrow of the stout bill, black cap, tail, wings,
-and bright gamboge-yellow plumage, who lives with us all the year and is
-almost always seen in flocks. In spring we find these birds and their
-more sober wives feeding on dandelion seeds. In early summer they glean
-grass seeds in the hayfields. In late summer and early autumn they
-flutter about the seeding thistle in company with the rich red
-butterflies, and after this, the male and female, garbed alike, then
-live wherever the wild composite flowers like asters, sunflowers, or
-garden marigolds and zinnias have gone to seed and in the great waste
-fields of weeds.
-
-“At all times its flight is noticeable for its dip, followed by an
-upward jerk, and as they fly, they call ‘per-chic-o-ree-per-chic-o-ree’
-(Chapman) in a jolly, gleeful manner.
-
-“In May, June, and July they sing in a varied and canary-like manner
-from tree-tops and as they swing on stalks of grass, having quite
-powerful voices for their size, which is under five inches.
-
-“A lover and close observer of these Goldfinches has written the summer
-life of a pair of these birds in so interesting a fashion that I will
-read it to you. Either the pair that she describes were very late in
-nesting, or it was their second brood.
-
-[Illustration: GOLDFINCH]
-
-                 Order—Passeres      Family—Fringillidæ
-                Genus—Astragalinus      Species—Tristis
-
-
-                            A GOLDFINCH IDYL
-
-Do you know of any far-away pasture where, in blueberry time, Sparrows
-play hide-and-seek in the bushes, and Finches are like little golden
-balls tossed on the breeze? It was in such a field that my Goldfinch
-found the thistle-down for her soft couch—_her_ couch, observe, for it
-was the dull mate in greenish olive that made the bed.
-
-I was there when the maple twig was chosen for the nest—as good luck
-would have it—close by our cottage door and in plain sight from my
-window. The choice was announced by a shower of golden notes from the
-male bird and a responsive twitter from his mate. She began building at
-once, quickly outlining the nest with grasses and bark. Her approach was
-always heralded by a burst of song from her mate, who hovered near while
-she deftly wove the pretty fabric and then flew away with him to the
-base of supply.
-
-It was August 2 when the nest began. I quote from my note-book:—
-
-“August 3. I observed the work closely for an hour. The working partner
-made eighteen trips, the first eleven in twenty-two minutes, grass and
-thistle-down being brought; the last nine trips only down, more time
-being taken to weave it into the walls. The male warbled near by and
-twice flew into the tree and cheered his industrious mate with song.
-
-“August 5. The home growing. The female tarries much longer at the nest,
-fashioning the lining.
-
-“August 6. Both birds sing while flying to and from the nest.
-
-“August 7. Nest completed. The mother bird has a little ‘song of the
-nest’—a very happy song. Think an egg was laid to-day.
-
-“August 11. The male Goldfinch feeds his mate on the nest. Flies to her
-with a jubilant twitter, his mouth full of seeds. She eagerly takes from
-twelve to twenty morsels. They always meet and part with song. Once the
-brooding mate grew impatient, flew to the next tree to meet her
-provider, took eight or ten morsels, then flew with him to the nest and
-took twelve more. A generous commissary!
-
-“August 17. Breakfast on the nest; twenty-three morsels from one
-mouthful. How is it possible for song to escape from that bill before
-the unloading? Yet it never fails.”
-
-Here the record comes to an untimely stop, the reporter being suddenly
-called home. But the following year Nature’s serial opened at the same
-leaf.
-
-Toward the last of July, a steady increase in Goldfinch music, and a
-subtle change in its meaning marked the approach of nesting time. Again
-I quote from my journal:—
-
-“August 8. My careful search was rewarded by the discovery of a
-Goldfinch’s nest, barely outlined, in the rock maple near the former
-site, but on the road side of the tree. That my bird friends had
-returned to the old treestead I could not doubt, as they bore my
-scrutiny with unconcern. In six days the nest was completed. The builder
-flew to the brook and drank with her mate, but rarely stayed away long
-enough for food supply; that was carried to her and received on the
-nest.
-
-“August 18. An episode: a rival male flew to the home tree with the male
-Goldfinch, both singing delightfully and circling about the nest. The
-mate, much excited, several times flew from the nest and joined in the
-discussion. Two bouts between the males ended in the discomfiture of
-number two and the return of my Goldfinch with a victor’s song.
-
-“August 20. The course of true love now ran smooth, and Goldfinch, sure
-of his intrenched affection, sang less volubly. The female, delicately
-sensitive of ear, apparently recognizes the voice of her mate and never
-fails to respond. Other Goldfinches flew by in song, calling and
-singing, but only one appealed to her.
-
-“August 25 was a red-letter day in Goldfinch annals; then, and only
-then, I saw the male on the nest fed by his mate. The male then shares
-incubation? He certainly gave it a trial, but so far as my observation
-goes, found it too confining to be repeated.
-
-“August 29. ‘Out to-day,’ as the newsboy cries—the female’s elevation
-on the nest determined that. Her eagerness now overcame caution, and she
-flew straight to the nest instead of in a roundabout course. Both
-parents fed the young.
-
-“August 30. In a single trip the male Goldfinch brought forty morsels to
-the family, his mate eager to get her ‘thirds,’ but as soon as he had
-gone she slipped off the nest and fed the young. This method was pursued
-for three days.
-
-“Sept. 1. The female very active at the nest, making toilets of young,
-reassuring them with tender syllables when a red squirrel ran up the
-tree with alarming sounds. I saw three open mouths. The brooding bird
-went for food and returned stealthily to the nest. The male came once,
-but brought nothing, and henceforth was an idle partner.
-
-“Sept. 6. Young birds, having found their voices, announced meal time
-with joyous twitter. They were fed, on an average, once in forty-five
-minutes and were now forming cleanly habits, like young Swallows,
-voiding excrement over the rim of the nest.
-
-“Sept. 8. The old bird no longer perching at the nest to feed her young,
-but on the branch, to lure them from their cradle. They shook their
-wings vigorously and preened their tiny feathers.
-
-“Sept. 11. Young Finches ventured to the edge of the nest and peered
-curiously into the unknown.
-
-“Sept. 11. An empty nest.”
-
-                                   —Ella Gilbert Ives, in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-“In spite of the rosy wing-linings and shield set above his white
-breast, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak is the least conspicuous of the
-Singers in Costume. The reason for this is, that unless you are either
-directly under or before him, the richly coloured breast may escape
-notice and only the dark back appear. Yet to one who knows birds, even
-the back will serve to name him, for no other familiar songster has so
-much black and white about him—black head and back, a white rump,
-black-and-white wings, and black-and-white tail.
-
-[Illustration: National Association of Audubon Societies ROSE-BREASTED
-  GROSBEAK
-(Upper Figure, Male; Lower Figure, Female)]
-
-                 Order—Passeres      Family—Fringillidæ
-                Genus—Zamelodia      Species—Ludoviciana
-
-“This Grosbeak delights in young woodlands where the trees are small and
-well branched, and the big, rather loosely woven nest of weeds, twigs,
-and various wood fibres is seldom placed as high as even the Robin’s or
-Tanager’s, and yet, in spite of the fact that female birds are supposed
-to have dull feathers because they will be less seen when on the nest, I
-have seen a gorgeous male brooding the eggs in bright daylight, the nest
-being on a low sapling in a rather thickly wooded brush-lot.
-
-“The Rose-breast is very useful as a killer of large beetles and
-insects, and from his prowess with the striped potato-beetle has been
-called locally the ‘Potato Bird’; but it is for its song that we love
-and prize him as one of the birds that to miss from the garden, means
-that one of the best features of the season has been lost.
-
-“Listen to what Audubon said of this song, that great pioneer
-naturalist, whose pure nature and spiritual kinship with the birds never
-forsook him in hours of adversity.
-
-“‘One year, in the month of August, I was trudging along the shores of
-the Mohawk River, when night overtook me. Being little acquainted with
-that part of the country, I resolved to camp where I was. The evening
-was calm and beautiful, the sky sparkled with stars, which were
-reflected by the smooth waters, and the deep shade of the rocks and
-trees of the opposite shore fell on the bosom of the stream, while
-gently from afar came on the ear the muttering sound of the cataract. My
-little fire was soon lighted under a rock, and, spreading out my scanty
-stock of provisions, I reclined on my grassy couch. As I looked around
-on the fading features of the beautiful landscape, my heart turned
-toward my distant home, where my friends were doubtless wishing me, as I
-wished them, a happy night and peaceful slumbers. Then were heard the
-barkings of the watch-dog and I tapped my faithful companion to prevent
-his answering them. The thoughts of my worldly mission then came over my
-mind, and having thanked the Creator of all for His never-failing mercy,
-I closed my eyes and was passing away into the world of dreaming
-existence, when suddenly there burst on my soul the serenade of the
-Rose-breasted Bird, so rich, so mellow, so loud in the stillness of the
-night, that sleep fled from my eyelids. Never did I enjoy music more: it
-thrilled through my heart and surrounded me with an atmosphere of bliss.
-One might easily have imagined that even the Owl, charmed by such
-delightful music, remained reverently silent. Long after the sounds
-ceased did I enjoy them, and when all had again become still, I
-stretched out my wearied limbs and gave myself up to the luxury of
-repose.’
-
-“As a near-by garden neighbour, the Rose-breast, though shy by nature,
-may become as intimate as the Wood Thrush, and if you are near his
-feeding-haunts you will notice, aside from his song, he has a way of
-talking when he feeds and that, with a little imagination, you can
-translate his words to suit yourself. I had once thought this an idea of
-my own, but this clipping in my scrap-book proves the contrary, and that
-others have made his notes into words.”
-
-
-                   A TALKING ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK.
-
-Early last summer, while standing on my back steps, I heard a cheerful
-voice say, “You’re a pretty bird. Where are you?” I supposed it to be
-the voice of a Parrot, but wondered how any Parrot could talk loud
-enough to be heard at that distance, for the houses on the street back
-of us are quite a way off.
-
-Almost before I had done laughing, the voice came again, clear, musical,
-and strong—“You’re a pretty bird. Where are you?”
-
-For several days I endured the suspense of waiting for time to
-investigate. Then I chased him up. There he was in the top of a walnut
-tree, his gorgeous attire telling me immediately that he was a
-Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
-
-At the end of a week he varied his compliment to, “Pretty, pretty bird,
-where are you? Where are you?” with a kind of impatient jerk on the last
-“you.”
-
-He and his mate stayed near us all last summer, and though I heard him
-talk a hundred times, yet he always brought a feeling of gladness and a
-laugh.
-
-Our friend has come back again this spring. About May 1st I heard the
-same endearing compliment as before.
-
-Several of my friends whom I have told about him have asked, “Does he
-say the words plainly? Do you mean that he really talks?” My reply is,
-“He says them just as plainly as a bird ever says anything, so plainly,
-that even now I laugh whenever I hear him.”
-
-He is not very easily frightened, and sometimes talks quite a while when
-I am standing under the tree where he is.
-
-                   —Emily B. Pellet, Worcester, Mass., in _Bird-Lore_.
-
-
-                  A SONG OF THE ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK
-
-          Hark! Hark!
-    From the elm tree’s topmost spray,
-      As the sun’s first spark
-      O’erleaps the dark
-
-      He sings to the dawning day.
-    Over and over and over, the thrilling strain:
-        Never more clear
-        On love-tuned ear
-    Burst forth love’s charmed refrain.
-
-      Hark, hark, listen and hear!
-    The robin’s whistle, the oriole’s note,
-        Both are drowned
-        In the golden sound
-    That pours from the perfect throat.
-
-        Sing, spirit of might,
-      Bird of beauty and tune,—
-    Sable-winged as a summer’s night,
-    With the red-rose breast as soft, as bright
-      As a rose-red dawn in June!
-
-    Sing, sing to the rippling light,
-      Sing to the paling moon!
-        Sing, sing, sing
-      Of a joy beyond our ken,
-    Till the burdens of manhood loose their hold,
-    And the heart grows young, and the Age of Gold
-      Rolls back on the souls of men.
-
-    —Dora Read Goodale, in _Youth’s Companion_.
-
-
-
-
-                                 XXVII
-                                FLAG DAY
-
-
-The Spring Sale of the work of the Kind Hearts’ Club was held the
-Saturday after Arbour and Bird Day. People who had seen the bird-houses
-that their friends had bought at Christmas drove over from towns many
-miles away, while those who had been before came again and seemed
-perfectly fascinated by the birds’ baths and drinking-troughs made from
-the hollowed logs.
-
-The money thus being secure, the wayside drinking-fountain for man,
-beast, and bird was begun at once and before Memorial Day was completed
-and the water turned on, to Tommy’s great pride.
-
-Nor were the children obliged to spend all their pennies upon the work,
-for besides the actual money, they had earned something of more
-value—the confidence and co-operation of their own parents and of the
-neighbourhood.
-
-At first the work that Gray Lady had begun at Foxes Corners school was
-thought to be merely a passing fancy or a matter of sentiment only, but
-day by day many of those who were not only indifferent, but perhaps
-aggressive, saw that common sense went hand in hand with the common
-humanity that the Kind Hearts’ Club expressed.
-
-Flag Day, that year falling upon a Friday, was to be the last regular
-bird lesson for the Foxes Corners school. Now that the planting season
-had come, and the summer vacation was near, the Friday afternoons were
-needed for making up back work on the part of those who had been absent
-and in preparing for examinations.
-
-In some way it seemed to be an understood fact that Rose Wilde would go
-to Bridgeton to teach in the High School, and it was a subject about
-which her pupils were very unhappy.
-
-There were to be some patriotic exercises at the school in the morning
-as usual; then Miss Wilde asked Gray Lady, who had been away for several
-days, if the children might not have their afternoon talk at Swallow
-Chimney instead of at the school, as the air in the low room was quite
-heavy and uncomfortable in the warm June afternoons.
-
-Luncheon was hardly over on that day before Goldilocks began to show
-unusual signs of hurry. In answer to her mother’s question as to what
-made her so restless, she replied, “I’m so afraid we may be late. I
-promised Miss Wilde we would be over by half-past one,” and then stopped
-and looked confused.
-
-“I do not see how we can be late when the class cannot begin by itself,”
-said Gray Lady, smiling, for she was well aware that there was something
-unusual in the air, but exactly what, she had purposely kept herself
-from guessing.
-
-However, she did not aggravate Goldilocks by any unnecessary delay, and
-half-past one saw mother and daughter going through the garden toward
-the gate of Birdland. Goldilocks, for some mysterious reason, kept her
-eyes upon the ground, while it seemed to her as if her mother stopped an
-endlessly long time to admire every shrub and to gather a bunch of
-delicately pencilled pansies of lilac, mauve, and royal purple to fasten
-in the belt of her soft gray muslin gown.
-
-As the pair came out from the shadow of the overhanging vines of the
-garden walk, a low murmur and the distinct words “here she comes” made
-Gray Lady pause and look toward the rustic gate of Birdland. As she did
-so, the gate opened, and inside she saw the school children drawn up in
-line on either side of the grass path that formed a natural aisle to the
-middle of the orchard, where several of the old trees had crumbled away,
-leaving an open space.
-
-“We must walk right on,” whispered Goldilocks, clutching her mother’s
-hand and almost pulling her along. So, wishing every one good day right
-and left as she went, Gray Lady allowed herself to be led, the children
-closing in and following.
-
-At first the bright light in the open space blinded Gray Lady, and then
-she saw that a tall flagpole was planted in the centre of the open,—a
-slender pole, flawless from bottom to top, polished and smooth as glass.
-On the top was perched a gilded eagle with wings wide-spread; in the
-halyards on the pole a loosely folded bundle was caught, and the end of
-the line was in the hands of Jack Todd.
-
-Gray Lady stood quite still looking from one to the other, her breath
-coming fast. Then Jack jerked the line, and out of the bundle, fold on
-fold, fell a large flag; slowly it rose to the top of the pole and
-floated in the breeze, while at the little click of Miss Wilde’s
-tuning-fork twenty-five fresh young voices broke into song.
-
-
-                            HYMN OF THE FLAG
-
-    (Dedicated to the Army and Navy)
-
-    North, South, East, and West
-    Rise and join your hands.
-    Native born and Brothers drawn
-    From many Fatherlands.
-        Rise ye Nation of the morn,
-        Land where Liberty was born;
-        Ye who fear no ruler’s nod,
-        Ye who only kneel to God—
-        Rise—Salute your Flag!
-
-    Stars upon its azure throng,
-    Stars for states that stride along,
-    Stars of hope that make men strong.
-        Blood-red bars for battle done,
-        Steel-white stars for peace well won.
-        Rise—Salute this Flag!
-
-    North, South, East, and West
-    Bring your tribute then.
-    Gold ye have and grain enough
-    To feed earth’s starving men.
-        Ye who tent on distant shores,
-        Ye whose name the ocean roars,
-        Ye who toil in mine and field,
-        Ye who pluck the cotton’s yield,
-        Rise—Salute your flag!
-
-    North, South, East, and West
-    Rise and join your hands;
-    Native born and brothers drawn
-    From many Fatherlands.
-        One ye stand in common cause,
-        One to break oppression’s laws,
-        One to open Freedom’s gate,
-        One! Ye re-United States!
-        Rise—Salute your Flag!
-
-    Stars upon its azure throng,
-    Stars for states that stride along,
-    Stars of hope that make men strong.
-        Blood-red bars for battles done,
-        Steel-white stars for peace well won.
-        Rise—Salute this Flag!
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-The singing ceased, and Gray Lady stood with bent head, a smile upon her
-lips and tears in her eyes, for often when one is happiest, the two go
-together.
-
-The words of the hymn had been written by a dear friend on one of the
-anniversaries of the day that the General gave his life for his flag’s
-honour, and forgetting that Goldilocks knew, Gray Lady had thought that
-no one remembered the verses but herself.
-
-Tommy and Sarah, to whom it had fallen to explain the occasion in a
-little speech of Miss Wilde’s wording, stepped forward, then looked at
-each other and seemed struck dumb. Sarah found her tongue first and also
-her own wording for the speech; clasping her hands nervously, she began:
-“Last fall when we had the orchard party, you said ‘some day Birdland
-must have a flagpole of its own,’ so we thought we would all do it and
-Miss Wilde said, ‘yes.’ The big boys cut the pole in Haines’ woods (he
-let them), and they shaped it out and polished it all themselves, and
-Jacob helped set it yesterday. We were awfully afraid you wouldn’t go to
-New York so’s they could do it without being seen.
-
-“Miss Wilde fitted the music to the words, and Mrs. Wilde cut out the
-flag, and the rest of us all sewed on it, the little boys too. The
-stripes were easy, but some of the stars wiggled in the points, because
-it’s hard turning sharp corners.
-
-“We all bought the eagle, not in a store,—they cost too much,—but of
-the junk pedler, and it’s been done over. It’s a good strong one, better
-than they make nowadays, grandma says.” Then, as Sarah realized that she
-had forgotten all the expressions of thanks for the happiness that had
-come to them at “the General’s” which Miss Wilde had so carefully worded
-and drilled them to pronounce correctly, she gave a despairing look at
-their friend and, seeing something in her face that invited her, cast
-herself into Gray Lady’s arms.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-After the flag had been lowered, duly examined, and praised, and the
-crooked stars declared to be quite natural, because, as Goldilocks
-truthfully remarked, “real stars twinkle and always look crooked, you
-know,” Gray Lady said: “Now that I know the beautiful surprise you had
-for me, I will tell you a little secret of my own. It is true, as rumour
-says, that Miss Wilde is going to leave Foxes Corners school at the term
-end, but _not_ to go to Bridgeton.
-
-“She is going to have a little school all of her own in the big room at
-Swallow Chimney, with Goldilocks and as many of you for pupils as wish
-to go to the High School by and by and are ready for the eighth grade.
-Yes, I have arranged it with the school committee, and it is perfectly
-satisfactory to them. Oh! children, do not smother me!”
-
-Then Tommy Todd suddenly realized that he had not only thought of
-following Sarah’s example and hugging Gray Lady, but that he had
-actually done so!
-
-
-                                THE END
-
-
-
-
-                                 INDEX
-
-
-Birds, Travels of, 136-153.
-Blackbird, Red-winged, 333-340.
-Bluebird, 313-317.
-Bobolink, 21, 34, 147, 226-228, 403.
-Bob-white (Quail), 145, 199-202.
-
-Cardinal, 145, 277, 282-288.
-Catbird, 32, 366, 382, 383.
-Chat, Yellow-breasted, 403, 411.
-Chickadee, 25-27, 181, 246, 355-356.
-Chippy, Winter, see Tree-Sparrow.
-Cowbird, 333, 336.
-Creeper, Brown, 184-186.
-Crossbill, Red-winged, 252.
-Crossbill, White-winged, 252.
-Crow, 10-11, 107-109, 114-128.
-Cuckoo, Yellow-billed, 403, 404.
-Curlew, Eskimo, 148.
-
-Dove, Mourning, 219-220.
-Duck, Wood, 213-215.
-
-Finch, Purple, 363.
-Flicker, 189-194.
-
-Goldfinch, American, 247, 422-426.
-Goose, Wild, 356-358.
-Grackle, Purple, 117, 337.
-Grackle, Rusty, 337.
-Grosbeak, Rose-breasted, 403, 426-430.
-Grouse, Ruffed (Partridge), 197-199, 203-208.
-Gull, Herring or Harbour, 229, 232-241.
-
-Hawks, 157, etc.
-Hawk, American Sparrow, 172-174.
-Hawk, Harrier, 171.
-Hawk, Marsh, 171.
-Hawk, Red-shouldered, 154, 171.
-Heron, Great Blue, 363.
-Heron, Snowy Egret, 50, 65-72.
-Humming-bird, Ruby-throated, 366, 375-376, 403.
-
-Indigo-bird, 279-281, 403.
-
-Jay, Blue, 25, 116, 128-135.
-Junco, 250, 308.
-
-Killdeer, 220, 223-225.
-Kingbird, 403.
-Kingfisher, 340-350.
-Kinglet, Golden-crowned, 250, 251.
-
-Lark, Horned, 297.
-
-Martin, Purple, 95, 96, 99, 101, 365.
-Meadowlark, 217-218, 337.
-Migration of Birds, 136-153.
-Mockingbird, 271-274, 277, 289, 290.
-Murres, 143.
-
-Nest-Building, 358.
-Nighthawk, 147-153, 366, 369-372, 403.
-Nonpareil, 276, 278.
-Nuthatch, White-breasted, 178-180, 183.
-
-Oriole, Baltimore, 403, 412-420.
-Ostrich, 65, 73-79.
-Ovenbird, 365.
-Owls, 157, etc.
-Owl, Barn, 166-167.
-Owl, Barred, 163, 166.
-Owl, Great Horned, 163, 165.
-Owl, Gray, see Screech Owl.
-Owl, Mottled, see Screech Owl.
-Owl, Red, see Screech Owl.
-Owl, Screech, 158-162.
-Owl, Short-eared, 166-169.
-Owl, Snowy, 295.
-
-Partridge, see Ruffed Grouse.
-Phœbe, 32, 335, 350-354.
-Plover, Upland, 220.
-Plover, Golden, 148-150.
-
-Quail, see Bob-White.
-
-Redpoll, 297.
-Redstart, 249, 403, 408.
-Robin, 23, 322, 326-332.
-
-Sandpiper, Least, 220-222.
-Sandpiper, Spotted, 220-223, 365.
-Sapsucker, Yellow-bellied, 188-189.
-Shrike, Northern, 298-299.
-Snowbird, Gray, see Junco.
-Sparrow, Chipping, 364.
-Sparrow, Fox, 334.
-Sparrow, Song, 21, 318-325.
-Sparrow, Tree, 249.
-Sparrow, Vesper, 363.
-Sparrow, White-throated, 298.
-Starling, English, 110-113.
-Swallows, 89.
-Swallow, Bank, 91-95, 98, 101, 365.
-Swallow, Barn, 21, 91-94, 98, 101, 365.
-Swallow, Chimney, see Chimney Swift.
-Swallow, Cliff, or Eave, 93, 95, 98-99.
-Swallow, Tree, 94, 98, 101, 364.
-Swallow, White-breasted, 93.
-Swift, Chimney, 90, 152, 366, 372-375.
-
-Tanager, Scarlet, 34, 403, 420-422.
-Thistle-bird, see Goldfinch.
-Thrasher, Brown, 366, 381-383.
-Thrush, Golden-crowned, see Ovenbird.
-Thrush, Wood, 366, 377-379.
-Thrush, Brown, see Thrasher.
-Turnstone, 148.
-
-Veery, 366, 380-381, 403.
-Vireo, Red-eyed, 403, 405-407.
-
-Wake-up, see Flicker.
-Warbler, Black-and-white, 365.
-Warbler, Myrtle, 250, 251.
-Warbler, Yellow, 403.
-Warbler, Yellow-rumped, see Myrtle Warbler.
-
-Whip-poor-will, 335, 365-367.
-Wilson’s Thrush, see Veery.
-Woodcock, 201, 209-212.
-Woodpeckers, 187.
-Woodpecker, Downy, 194-196.
-Woodpecker, Golden-winged, see Flicker.
-Woodpecker, Partridge, see Flicker.
-Woodpecker, Pigeon, see Flicker.
-Wren, House, 366.
-Wren, Winter, 248.
-
-
-Yellowbird, Summer, 408-409.
-Yellowhammer, see Flicker.
-Yellowthroat, Maryland, 403, 410.
-
-
-
-
-                      OUT-DOOR BOOKS BY “BARBARA”
-                        (_MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT_)
-                                                       _Each_, $1.50
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-The Garden of a Commuter’s Wife
-
-_Recorded by the Gardener, with eight photogravure illustrations_
-
-    “‘The Garden of a Commuter’s Wife’ is a legend which gives no
-    hint of the wit and wisdom and graceful phrase within its
-    covers. The Commuter’s charming woman writes of her suburban
-    garden, her original servants, and various other incidents which
-    come in the course of living in a thoroughly human way. She
-    reminds one of Elizabeth of ‘German Garden’ fame in more ways
-    than one, but being American she is broader, more versatile and
-    humorous, if not also more poetic. It breathes an air of cheery
-    companionship, of flowers, birds, all nature, and the warm
-    affection of human friendship. Its philosophy is wholesome,
-    unselfish, and kindly, and the Commuter’s Wife, who writes her
-    own memoirs, is one we would be glad to number among our
-    friends.”—_The Evening Post_, Chicago.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-People of the Whirlpool
-
-_From the Experience Book of a Commuter’s Wife_
-
-_With eight illustrations_
-
-    “They who have read ‘The Garden of a Commuter’s Wife’ know what
-    to expect in this, ‘The Experience Book’ of the same delightful
-    Barbara; but to the uninitiated, who light upon the book without
-    preconceived ‘notions’ of what it is, it will come with a double
-    note of delight.”—_New York Times’ Saturday Review_.
-
-    “The whole book is delicious, with wise and kindly humor, its
-    just perspectives of the true values of things, its clever pen
-    pictures of people and customs, and its healthy optimism for the
-    great world in general.”—_The Evening Telegraph_, Philadelphia.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-The Garden, You and I
-
-_With a Frontispiece in Colors and Other Illustrations_
-
-    “The garden and its flowers are the dominant interest, of
-    course, but it is so managed that they shall serve as a setting
-    for the human activities that engage a good share of the
-    reader’s attention. There runs through the book that strong and
-    hearty nature which is characteristic of all this author’s work.
-    Before everything else, it is an outdoor book. It tells for the
-    most part the tale of the open-air seasons.”—_Brooklyn Eagle_.
-
-                 *        *        *        *        *
-
-Transcriber’s Notes:
-
-A few obvious typesetting errors have been corrected without note. Some
-illustrations have been moved slightly to keep paragraphs intact.
-
-
-[End of _Gray Lady and the Birds_ by Mabel Osgood Wright]
-
-
-
-
-
-End of Project Gutenberg's Gray Lady and the Birds, by Mabel Osgood Wright
-
-*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS ***
-
-***** This file should be named 62793-0.txt or 62793-0.zip *****
-This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
-        http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/7/9/62793/
-
-Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed
-Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net
-
-Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will
-be renamed.
-
-Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
-law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
-so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
-States without permission and without paying copyright
-royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
-of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
-concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
-and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive
-specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this
-eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook
-for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports,
-performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given
-away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks
-not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the
-trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.
-
-START: FULL LICENSE
-
-THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
-PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
-
-To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
-distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
-(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
-Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
-Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
-www.gutenberg.org/license.
-
-Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-
-1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
-and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
-(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
-the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
-destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your
-possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
-Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
-by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
-person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph
-1.E.8.
-
-1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
-used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
-agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
-things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
-paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this
-agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
-
-1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the
-Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
-of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual
-works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
-States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
-United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
-claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
-displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
-all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
-that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting
-free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm
-works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
-Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily
-comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
-same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when
-you share it without charge with others.
-
-1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
-what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
-in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
-check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
-agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
-distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
-other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no
-representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
-country outside the United States.
-
-1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
-
-1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
-immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear
-prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work
-on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the
-phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,
-performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
-
-  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-  most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the
-  United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you
-  are located before using this ebook.
-
-1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is
-derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
-contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
-copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
-the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
-redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project
-Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
-either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
-obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm
-trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
-
-1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
-with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
-must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
-additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
-will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works
-posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
-beginning of this work.
-
-1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
-License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
-work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
-
-1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
-electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
-prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
-active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm License.
-
-1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
-compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
-any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
-to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format
-other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official
-version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site
-(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
-to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
-of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain
-Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the
-full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
-
-1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
-performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
-unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
-
-1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
-access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-provided that
-
-* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
-  the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
-  you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
-  to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has
-  agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
-  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
-  within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
-  legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
-  payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
-  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
-  Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
-  Literary Archive Foundation."
-
-* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
-  you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
-  does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
-  License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
-  copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
-  all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm
-  works.
-
-* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
-  any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
-  electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
-  receipt of the work.
-
-* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
-  distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
-
-1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than
-are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
-from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The
-Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm
-trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
-
-1.F.
-
-1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
-effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
-works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
-Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
-contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
-or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
-intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
-other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
-cannot be read by your equipment.
-
-1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
-of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
-liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
-fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
-LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
-PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
-TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
-LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
-INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
-DAMAGE.
-
-1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
-defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
-receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
-written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
-received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
-with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
-with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
-lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
-or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
-opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
-the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
-without further opportunities to fix the problem.
-
-1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
-in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO
-OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
-LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
-
-1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
-warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
-damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
-violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
-agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
-limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
-unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
-remaining provisions.
-
-1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
-trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
-providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in
-accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
-production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
-including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
-the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
-or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or
-additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any
-Defect you cause.
-
-Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
-electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
-computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
-exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
-from people in all walks of life.
-
-Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
-assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
-goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
-remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
-and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future
-generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
-Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
-www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-
-Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
-
-The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
-501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
-state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
-Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
-number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
-U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
-
-The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the
-mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its
-volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous
-locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt
-Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to
-date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and
-official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
-
-For additional contact information:
-
-    Dr. Gregory B. Newby
-    Chief Executive and Director
-    gbnewby@pglaf.org
-
-Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
-Literary Archive Foundation
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
-spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
-increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
-freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
-array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
-($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
-status with the IRS.
-
-The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
-charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
-States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
-considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
-with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
-where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
-DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
-state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
-
-While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
-have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
-against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
-approach us with offers to donate.
-
-International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
-any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
-outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
-
-Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
-methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
-ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
-donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
-
-Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works.
-
-Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be
-freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
-distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of
-volunteer support.
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
-editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
-the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
-necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
-edition.
-
-Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search
-facility: www.gutenberg.org
-
-This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
-including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
-subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
-
diff --git a/old/62793-0.zip b/old/62793-0.zip
deleted file mode 100644
index 498aedf..0000000
--- a/old/62793-0.zip
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h.zip b/old/62793-h.zip
deleted file mode 100644
index 49c9aee..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h.zip
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/62793-h.htm b/old/62793-h/62793-h.htm
deleted file mode 100644
index 26774a3..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/62793-h.htm
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17976 +0,0 @@
-<!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" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
-  <head>
-    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
-    <title>Gray Lady and the Birds</title>
-    <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg"/>
-    <meta name="cover" content="images/cover.jpg" />
-    <meta name="DC.Title" content="Gray Lady and the Birds"/>
-    <meta name="DC.Creator" content="Mabel Osgood Wright"/>
-    <meta name="DC.Language" content="en"/>
-    <meta name="DC.Created" content="1907"/>
-    <meta name="Pubdate" content="1907"/>
-    <meta name="DC.Subject" content="birds, nature, juvenile"/>
-    <meta name="Tags" content="birds, nature, juvenile"/>
-    <meta name="generator" content="fpgen 4.62"/>
-    <style type="text/css">
-      body { margin-left:8%;margin-right:10%; }
-      .pageno  { right: 1%; font-size: x-small; background-color: inherit; color: silver;
-               text-indent: 0em; text-align: right; position: absolute;
-               border:1px solid silver; padding:1px 3px; font-style:normal;
-               font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration:none; }
-      .pageno:after { color: gray; content: attr(title); }
-      .it { font-style:italic; }
-      .bold { font-weight:bold; }
-      .sc { font-variant:small-caps; }
-      p { text-indent:0; margin-top:0.5em; margin-bottom:0.5em;
-          text-align: justify; }
-      div.lgc { }
-      div.lgl { }
-      div.lgc p { text-align:center; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; }
-      div.lgl p { text-indent: -17px; margin-left:17px; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; }
-      div.lgp { }
-
-      div.lgp p {
-        text-align:left; text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0;
-      }
-
-      .poetry-container {
-        display:block; text-align:left; margin-left:2em;
-      }
-
-      .stanza-inner {
-        display:inline-block;
-      }
-
-      .stanza-outer {
-        page-break-inside: avoid;
-      }
-
-      .stanza-inner .line0 {
-        display:inline-block;
-      }
-      .stanza-outer .line0 {
-        display:block;
-      }
-
-          h1 {
-            text-align:center;
-            font-weight:normal;
-            page-break-before: always;
-            font-size:1.2em; margin:2em auto 1em auto
-          }
-
-      .sub-head { font-size: smaller; }
-          h2 {
-            text-align:center;
-            font-weight:normal;
-            font-size:1.1em;
-            margin:1em auto 0.5em auto;
-          }
-
-          h3 {
-            text-align:center;
-            font-weight:normal;
-            font-size:1.0em;
-            margin:1em auto 0.5em auto;
-            page-break-after:avoid;
-          }
-
-      hr.tbk100{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid white; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk101{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid white; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk102{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid white; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk103{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk104{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk105{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk106{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk107{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk108{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk109{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid white; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk110{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk111{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk112{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk113{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid white; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk114{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid white; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk115{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid white; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk116{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk117{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid white; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk118{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid white; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk119{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk120{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk121{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk122{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk123{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk124{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid white; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk125{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk126{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid white; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk127{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk128{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid white; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk129{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid white; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk130{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk131{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk132{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk133{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk134{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk135{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk136{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk137{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk138{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid black; width:30%; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; text-align:center; margin-left:35%; margin-right:35% }
-      hr.tbk139{ border:none; border-bottom:1px solid silver; width:90%; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:2em; text-align:center; margin-left:5%; margin-right:5% }
-      hr.pbk { border:none; border-bottom:1px solid silver; width:100%; margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:2em }
-      hr.footnotemark {
-                  border:none;
-                  border-bottom:1px solid silver;
-                  width:10%;
-                  margin:1em auto 1em 0;
-                  page-break-after: avoid;
-                }
-      .figcenter {
-        text-align:center;
-        margin:1em auto;
-        page-break-inside: avoid;
-      }
-
-      div.blockquote { margin:1em 2em; text-align:justify; }
-      div.blockquote0r9 { margin:1em 2em; }
-          p.caption { text-align:center; margin:0 auto; width:100%; }
-          p.credit { text-align:right; margin:0 auto; width: 100%; }
-
-      div.blockquote0r9 p { font-size: 0.9em }
-      .footnote td p.pindent:first-child { text-indent: 0; }
-      .footnote { margin:0 4em 0 0; }
-      .footnoteid { width: 3em; }
-      .nobreak { page-break-before: avoid; }
-      p.line { text-indent:0; margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; }
-      div.lgp p.line0 { text-indent:-3em; margin:0 auto 0 3em; }
-      table { page-break-inside: avoid; }
-      table.center { margin:0.5em auto; border-collapse: collapse; padding:3px; }
-      table.flushleft { margin:0.5em 0em; border-collapse: collapse; padding:3px; }
-      table.left { margin:0.5em 1.2em; border-collapse: collapse; padding:3px; }
-      .tab1c1 { }
-      .tab1c2 { }
-      .tab2c1 { }
-      .tab2c2 { }
-      .tab1c1-col2 { border-right: 0px solid black; }
-      .tab2c1-col2 { border-right: 0px solid black; }
-      .tdStyle0 {
-      padding: 2px 5px; text-align:center; vertical-align:top;
-      }
-      .tdStyle1 {
-      padding: 2px 5px; text-align:left; vertical-align:top;padding-left:29px; text-indent:-24px;
-      }
-      .tdStyle2 {
-      padding: 2px 5px; text-align:right; vertical-align:top;
-      }
-      .tdStyle3 {
-      padding: 2px 5px; text-align:left; vertical-align:top;
-      }
-      .pindent { margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-indent:1.5em; }
-      .noindent { margin-top:0; margin-bottom:0; text-indent:0; }
-      .hang { padding-left:1.5em; text-indent:-1.5em; }
-    </style>
-   <style type="text/css">
-       h1 { font-size: 1.5em; font-weight: bold;}
-       .sub-head { font-size: 0.8em;font-weight: normal; }
-       .poetry-container { margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em }
-       .dropcap { font-size: 250%; margin:0em 0.1em 0 0; line-height:.8em; }
-       p.credit {
-           font-size: x-small;
-           margin-bottom: .4em;
-        }
-   </style>
-  </head>
-  <body>
-
-
-<pre>
-
-Project Gutenberg's Gray Lady and the Birds, by Mabel Osgood Wright
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world 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.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Gray Lady and the Birds
-       Stories of the Bird Year for Home and School
-
-Author: Mabel Osgood Wright
-
-Illustrator: Allan Brooks
-             Louis Agassiz Fuertes
-             Joseph Michael Gleeson
-             Robert Bruce Horsfall
-
-Release Date: July 31, 2020 [EBook #62793]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed
-Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/cover.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0000' style='width:80%;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<p class='line0' style='text-align:center;font-size:2em;font-weight:bold;'>GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i002.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0001' style='width:15%;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0' style='font-size:1.2em;'>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</p>
-<p class='line0'>NEW YORK • BOSTON • CHICAGO</p>
-<p class='line0'>ATLANTA • SAN FRANCISCO</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0' style='font-size:1.2em;'>MACMILLAN &amp; CO., <span class='sc'>Limited</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA</p>
-<p class='line0'>MELBOURNE</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0' style='font-size:1.2em;'>THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, <span class='sc'>Ltd.</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>TORONTO</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='front'></a></p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i004.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0002' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'>BALTIMORE ORIOLE<br/></p> <br/>(<span class='sc'>Upper Figure, Male; Lower Figure, Female</span>)
-</div>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line0'>Order—<span class='sc'>Passeres</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Family—<span class='sc'>Icteridæ</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>Genus—<span class='sc'>Icterus</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Species—<span class='sc'>Galbula</span></p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0' style='font-size:2em;font-weight:bold;'>GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0' style='font-size:1.2em;'>STORIES OF THE BIRD YEAR</p>
-<p class='line0' style='font-size:1.2em;'>FOR HOME AND SCHOOL</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0' style='margin-bottom:0.5em;'>BY</p>
-<p class='line0' style='font-size:1.5em;font-weight:bold;'>MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0'>PRESIDENT AUDUBON SOCIETY, STATE OF CONNECTICUT</p>
-<p class='line0'>AUTHOR OF “CITIZEN BIRD,” “TOMMY ANNE,” ETC.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0'><span class='it'>TWELVE COLOURED PLATES AND THIRTY-SIX FULL-PAGE</span></p>
-<p class='line0'><span class='it'>ILLUSTRATIONS IN HALF-TONE</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0'>New York</p>
-<p class='line0' style='font-size:1.2em;'>THE MACMILLAN COMPANY</p>
-<p class='line0' style='font-size:1.2em;'>1914</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0' style='font-size:1.2em;'><span class='it'>All rights reserved</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0'><span class='sc'><span style='font-size:larger'>Copyright, 1907,</span></span></p>
-<p class='line0'><span class='sc'><span style='font-size:larger'>By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY.</span></span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1907. Reprinted</p>
-<p class='line0'>March, 1909; April, 1910; April, 1914.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Norwood Press</p>
-<p class='line0'>J. S. Cushing Co.—Berwick &amp; Smith Co.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Norwood, Mass., U.S.A.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0'>To</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0'><span style='font-size:larger'>WILLIAM DUTCHER</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0'>PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0'>OF AUDUBON SOCIETIES</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0'>IN RECOGNITION OF HIS UNSELFISH DEVOTION</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0'>TO THE CAUSE OF</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line0'>AMERICAN BIRD PROTECTION</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='feeding'></a></p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i009.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0003' style='width:100%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>FEEDING THE ORPHANS</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>TO THE CHILDREN</h2>
-
-<p class='line0' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'><span class='sc'>Greeting!</span></p>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Oh, sweet is the whitethroat’s lay,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;As the banners of dawn unfold!</p>
-<p class='line0'>The lovable, quarrelsome wrens all day</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Peep and prattle and scold:</p>
-<p class='line0'>Skulks a blue jay hiding his grain;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Blinks an owl with the crows in train—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Courtship merry and combat vain</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The eyes of the wise behold.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And Nature spreads wide her book,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;In a temple fair and free,—</p>
-<p class='line0'>To all who may listen she cries, “Come, look!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Come and learn at my knee.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Watch the change of the finch’s vest,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Note how the highhole carves his nest,—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Come with light foot and loving breast,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And bury your ills with me!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'><span style='font-size:smaller'>Dora Read Goodale.</span></span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div><h1>BE SURE THAT YOU SEE ARIGHT!</h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The preservation of the useful and beautiful animal and
-bird-life of the country depends largely upon creating in
-the young an interest in the life of the woods and fields.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>If the child mind is fed with stories that are false to
-nature, the children will go to the haunts of the animal
-only to meet disappointment. The result will be disbelief,
-and the death of interest. The men who misinterpret
-nature and replace fact with fiction, undo the work of those
-who in the love of nature interpret it aright.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;margin-top:0.5em;'>—<span class='sc'>Theodore Roosevelt.</span></p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div><h1>RECOGNITION</h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The author desires to thank Mr. William Dutcher for
-permission to reproduce the Drawings of Birds prepared
-under his supervision for the Educational Leaflets of the
-National Association of Audubon Societies; Mr. Frank M.
-Chapman for the quotation of material that has appeared
-in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>, also for photographs from his negatives;
-the American Museum of Natural History of New York
-City for photographs of its groups representing Bird-Life
-at Cobbs Island, Virginia, and Birds of the St. Joaquin
-Valley; to Dr. T. S. Roberts, Dr. C. F. Hodge, R. H.
-Beebe, and E. van Alterna, for use of valuable photographs;
-Houghton, Mifflin &amp; Co. for their courtesy in allowing quotations
-from the poems of Celia Thaxter, Maurice Thompson,
-Frank Bolles, Lowell, and others; Charles Scribner’s Sons
-for like permission to use the poems of G. P. Lathrop and
-Henry van Dyke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Also to Dr. Henry van Dyke, Edmund C. Stedman,
-Edith M. Thomas, Oliver Herford, Dora Reed Goodale,
-George Parsons Lathrop, Dr. Garrett Newkirk, Faith C.
-Lee, Ella Gilbert Ives, Florence A. Van Zant, Lynn Tew
-Sprague, Richard Burton, W. B. Blake, and others for the
-use of their poems, etc.</p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div><h1>TO THE GROWN-UP—LEND A HAND!</h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The training of the eye to correct seeing is one of the
-great advantages of bird study to the average child,
-quite aside from the value of the information gained, for
-this accurate gauge of the eye will always be a benefit in
-whatever calling may be followed, adding alike to the
-pleasure and profit of life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In every town or country village there is some one who
-takes more than passing interest in the life outdoors,
-who has a keener eye and more responsive ear than his
-neighbour, coupled with a heart that has a bit of Eden still
-lodged in it, so that it keeps tender and yearning toward
-the simple, direct affections of life, as expressed in childhood
-and the lives of the timid wild brotherhood, whether
-of foot or wing. Are you one of these? If so, do you
-not realize that from your very make-up you draw more
-freely from nature’s bounty than do your neighbours,
-and are you not bound to share your pleasure with them?
-Not alone because it is pleasure, but that through the
-knowledge that comes with all real joy, the wild bird or
-beast may be more fully understood, and therefore protected.
-All the more is this just and right, because we
-ourselves in our advancement are the main cause of
-their need of this protection, for as man increases, possesses,
-builds, and overflows the earth, so do these “kindred
-of the wild” dwindle and silently disappear.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The lesser beasts keep more aloof than do the birds.
-These still gather freely in our gardens, fields, and woods
-if we permit, and if we offer food and shelter, many quickly
-become responsive.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Will not you who enjoy this friendship share it with
-others to whom it is perhaps entirely unknown and unguessed,
-and to whom even the names of birds, beyond a
-familiar few such as Hawk, Owl, Robin, and Sparrow,
-are an unknown language?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The bird lectures are many, but there are those who
-cannot reach them. The bird protective societies are
-tireless, but the ground must be prepared for the message
-they send forth, and there is no better way for doing this
-than by the influence of a personality working quietly
-and unconsciously that infects all with whom it comes in
-contact with its wholesome enthusiasm.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>If you are a parent or teacher, well and good; your
-field is ready at hand. If not, you may still become the
-equivalent of both in your community even though
-you lack some of Gray Lady’s attributes and resources.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>If you have the right faculty and books at hand, you
-do not need my aid; but if the work of holding youth is as
-yet an untried experiment, tuck this little volume into
-the corner of your school desk, the magazine rack, or your
-work-basket at home, for rainy days or the between times
-when lack of occupation breeds mischief.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Much that is told in the following pages was thought
-out, in another form, especially for the use of teachers of
-the rural schools of Connecticut, but it is applicable to
-the needs of children in any of the eastern states, and
-whether the knowledge passes from the school to the home
-or the home to the school, the process is the same. The
-walk between the rural school and home along bushy lanes
-and tree-bordered highways, however, is an important
-link in the chain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For children so placed the birds and every possible
-motive for wanting to know them lie at hand, but for this
-very reason the public library wherein the books to answer
-questions may be found is perhaps many miles away and
-it is not possible for every school or home to own the
-necessary bird books or charts.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It must not for a moment be thought that any attempt
-is made to say anything new or add to the information
-given in the many excellent and complete
-books now in circulation, but merely to condense in a
-simple form things that have been said. Not detailed
-descriptions and tabulated facts—for these repel the
-beginner and seem but the spelling-book or multiplication
-table in a new form—but to record the doings of some
-children who were eager to know; together with a few hints
-upon the migrations, winter feeding, and protection of
-some of our common birds, and the stories of their lives,
-that may lead both teacher and pupil to more detailed
-study when opportunity offers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When a strange child comes to school, the first desire of
-his mates is to know his name and nationality, from
-whence he came, where he lives, whether he is merely a
-visitor or to be a permanent resident in the community.
-All this must be weighed and well considered before the
-newcomer is admitted to the friendship of his mates, and
-it may be that there will be some prejudices against him
-that the teacher must either remove by explanation or
-overcome by reason and example.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It is very much the same with a bird. After being
-attracted to him and fixing upon his name as an individual
-his identity should be still further established by finding
-to what family he belongs and then later on placing this
-family in one of the great orders of the bird world. These
-two last should not be dwelt upon, however, until the identity
-as an individual is established, but in the end it will
-help to keep the name in the memory to know the kinship
-of families as well.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There are many little points of comparison, of scientific
-but not general value that cannot be seen unless the dead
-bird is held in the hand, and then only a wise man, perhaps,
-would be able to point them out. It is with the
-living bird, on the wing or in its nest in the bushes, that
-we are concerned; not with the poor little dead thing with
-its limp neck and bloody, rumpled feathers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>We should not learn enough from such a bird to in any
-way make up for taking its life; it would be both wasteful
-and against the law. So we must be content to believe
-what the Wise Men say, who must study the dead birds in
-order to preserve the scientific knowledge of their structure
-and keep them in public museums, that they may teach the
-world how wonderful a thing bird-life is, and show us that
-we must do all we can to protect it. For the Wise Men
-know very well that—</p>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>You cannot with a scalpel find the poet’s soul,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Nor yet the wild bird’s song!</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;margin-top:0.5em;'>M. O. W.</p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div><h1>TABLE OF CONTENTS</h1></div>
-
-<table id='tab1' summary='' class='center'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' style='width: 22.5em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 2em;'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>I</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Gray Lady Appears</span></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_1'>1</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>II</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>A Rainy Day</span>—The school at Foxes Corners at the beginning of the fall term.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_9'>9</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>III</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Gray Lady at School</span>—The bird. What is it? To whom does it belong? The bird year—The migrations, the moulting, etc.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_18'>18</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>IV</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>The Orchard Party</span>—The children’s luncheon and the bird’s lunch-counter. Gray Lady makes a plan.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_38'>38</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>V</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Reasons Why</span>—Why birds need protection. The uses of birds. What they do for us and what we should do for them—housing, feeding, etc.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_51'>51</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>VI</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Feathers and Hats</span>—Egrets and Ostrich plumes—The wrong and the right of it.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_67'>67</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>VII</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>The Kind Hearts’ Club</span>—The work that kept the Fingers busy so that the Ears might listen.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_81'>81</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>VIII</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>The Procession Passes</span>—The fall journey—Five Swallows and a changeling.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_89'>89</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>IX</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Two Birds that came Back</span>—The Tame Crow and the English Starling.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_102'>102</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>X</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Some Mischief-Makers</span>—The American Crow, Blue Jay, and Purple Grackle.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_114'>114</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>XI</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>The Flight of the Bird</span>—The wonders of flight. Some new facts about the migrations of birds.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_136'>136</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>XII</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Some Suspicious Characters</span>—Hawks and Owls—Two sides of the question.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_154'>154</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>XIII</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Tree-trunk Birds</span>—The Woodpeckers—Sapsucker, Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, etc.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_175'>175</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>XIV</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Four Notables</span>—Game-birds at home—The Ruffed Grouse, Bob-white, Woodcock, and the Wood Duck.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_197'>197</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>XV</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Game-Birds?</span>—The plea of the Meadowlark, Mourning Dove, Sandpiper, Plovers, and Bobolink, the Masquerader. “<span class='sc'>Spare us, please! We are too small for food.</span>”</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_217'>217</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>XVI</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Treasure-trove at the Shore</span>—The Herring or Harbour Gull.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_229'>229</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>XVII</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>The Birds’ Christmas Tree</span>—The preparation and a surprise. The Winter Wren, Tree-sparrow, Golden-crowned Kinglet, and Crossbills.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_242'>242</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>XVIII</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>How they spent their Money</span>—The result of the Xmas sale and the Letter Carrier’s horse.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_254'>254</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>XIX</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Behind the Bars</span>—American birds that have been prisoners.—The Mockingbird, Cardinal, Nonpareil, and Indigo-bird.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_270'>270</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>XX</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Midwinter Birds</span>—Cedar-Bird, Redpoll, Junco, Shrike, Whitethroat, Chickadee, etc.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_293'>293</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>XXI</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Jacob Hughes’ Opinion of Cats</span>—The trail in the snow and the bandits that lived in the barn.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_303'>303</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>XXII</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>February, “The Long-Short Month”</span>—Stories and poems of the Bluebird, Song Sparrow, and Robin.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_310'>310</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>XXIII</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>March</span>—Red-wing, Kingfisher, and Phœbe.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_333'>333</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>XXIV</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>The Tide has Turned</span>—Wild Geese, Nest-Building, Vesper-Sparrow, Purple Finch, Chippy, Whip-poor-will, Towhee, Ovenbird, House Wren, Thrasher, Catbird, Wood Thrush, Veery, Nighthawk, Chimney Swift, etc.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_355'>355</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>XXV</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Bird and Arbour Day at Foxes Corners</span>—In doors and out—Working and talking.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_385'>385</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>XXVI</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Some Birds that come in May</span>—In apple-blossom time look for the brightly coloured birds—Oriole, Tanager, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Indigo-bird, Yellowthroat, Chat, Humming-bird, Redstart, etc.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_403'>403</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'></td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tab1c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>XXVII</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab1c1 tdStyle1'><span class='sc'>Flag Day</span>—Gray Lady receives and gives a surprise.</td><td class='tab1c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_431'>431</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div><h1>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h1></div>
-
-<table id='tab2' summary='' class='center'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' style='width: 18.5em;'/>
-<col span='1' style='width: 7em;'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tab2c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>COLOURED PLATES</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Baltimore Oriole</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#front'><span class='it'>Frontispiece</span></a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><span style='font-size:smaller'>FACING PAGE</span></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Scarlet Tanager</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_34'>34</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Blue Jay</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_129'>129</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Wood Duck</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_214'>214</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Killdeer</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_224'>224</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Indigo Bunting</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_280'>280</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Cardinal</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_286'>286</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Bluebird</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_314'>314</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Red-winged Blackbird</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_334'>334</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Belted Kingfisher</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_340'>340</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>American Goldfinch</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_422'>422</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Rose-breasted Grosbeak</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_426'>426</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tab2c1-col2 tdStyle0'  colspan='2'>FULL-PAGE HALF-TONES</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'>&nbsp;</td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Feeding the Orphans</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#feeding'>vi</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Chickadee</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_26'>26</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Snowy Heron</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_66'>66</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Clipping Ostrich Plumes</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_74'>74</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Purple Martin</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_96'>96</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Bird-houses and Nesting-boxes</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_106'>106</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Terns and Skimmers on the Wing</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_142'>142</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Golden Plover</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_148'>148</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>The Wings in Flight</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_152'>152</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Red-shouldered Hawk</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_154'>154</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Screech Owl</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_158'>158</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Barn Owl</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_166'>166</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Short-eared Owl</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_168'>168</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Marsh Hawk</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_170'>170</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Sparrow Hawk</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_174'>174</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>White-breasted Nuthatch</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_178'>178</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Flicker</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_190'>190</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Downy Woodpecker</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_194'>194</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Ruffed Grouse</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_198'>198</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Just Out</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_200'>200</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Domesticated Bob-white Calling</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_202'>202</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Grouse showing Ruff and Tail</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_206'>206</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Woodcock on Nest</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_212'>212</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Meadowlark</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_218'>218</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Mourning Doves</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_220'>220</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Spotted Sandpiper</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_222'>222</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Least Sandpiper</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#B224'>224</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Herring Gulls</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_232'>232</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Tree-Sparrow</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_248'>248</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Shelter for Bird Food</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_250'>250</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Robin</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_326'>326</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Nighthawks</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_370'>370</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Chimney Swift Resting</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_374'>374</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Wood Thrush and Nest</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_378'>378</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Catbird on Nest</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_384'>384</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Yellow-billed Cuckoo</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_404'>404</a></td></tr>
-<tr><td class='tab2c1 tdStyle3'><span class='sc'>Red-eyed Vireo on Nest</span></td><td class='tab2c2 tdStyle2'><a href='#Page_406'>406</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.2em;font-size:2em;font-weight:bold;'>GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='1' id='Page_1'></span><h1 class='nobreak'>I<br/> <span class='sub-head'>GRAY LADY APPEARS</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sarah Barnes hurried up the hill road so fast that by
-the time she reached the short bit of lane that turned in at
-her own gate she was quite out of breath, and oh, so
-warm! Fanning vigorously with her sun-hat did not help
-her much, for its wide rim had a rent in it, made by Jack,
-the family puppy, so that when she reached the steps of
-the porch, she sank down in a heap, only having breath
-enough to exclaim, “Oh, grandma, what <span class='it'>do</span> you think?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Old lady Barnes with a sigh dropped the checked shirt
-that she was patching into the big work-basket that
-rested on the bench beside her. This basket was already
-overflowing with other garments for both boys and girls,
-that needed everything in the way of repair from a button
-to a knee patch, or even to a whole sleeve, for with a slim
-purse and six children to keep covered neither Grandma
-Barnes’ work-basket nor her fingers knew many empty
-moments.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Taking off her spectacles and rubbing her eyes, as if to
-see the news as well as to hear it, she said: “Don’t tell
-me Tommy has got hurt in that reaping-machine, down at
-Weatherby’s. I told your pa he was too young to handle
-such a job!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='2' id='Page_2'></span>
-“No, Tommy’s all right—they were gathering in the
-last stack as I came by.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Lammy <span class='it'>hasn’t</span> gone in swimming again down to the
-crick with the Connor boys?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Nope, he’s stopped behind at the Centre to tend store
-for Mr. Sims, ’cause his horse got loose in Deacon Mason’s
-orchard and ate himself into the colic!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Billy hasn’t fell off the fish-market roof, has he?
-Your pa took him there this mornin’ to help hand up
-shingles, though ’twas against my wishes.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, grandma, Billy’s all right, too,” said Sarah, who
-had recovered her breath by this time and was beginning
-to laugh. “What makes you always think worry? Pa is
-all right, and Mary and Ruth are helping the minister’s
-wife get the hall ready for the cake sale, and I’m here, so
-you see there’s nothing the matter with <span class='it'>us</span>.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Think worry!” exclaimed grandma, now settling her
-glasses again and preparing to hear the news comfortably
-so long as neither her son nor his children, to whom she
-was both grandmother and mother, were in danger, “wait
-until your only son’s wife dies and leaves you to keep track
-of six children, with as mixed tempers and complexions as
-ducks, chickens, and turkeys all in one brood, and I guess
-you’ll think worry too. But why don’t you fetch out your
-news?—Not but what you are all good and promising
-enough in your way,” she added hastily, lest she should be
-found belittling her own flesh and blood, which she considered
-next to breaking the whole ten commandments.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, granny,” began Sarah, bringing out her words
-slowly, and satisfied that the old lady’s expectations were
-sufficiently raised and that she would have an attentive
-<span class='pageno' title='3' id='Page_3'></span>
-listener, “the General Wentworth place is open and they’re
-putting new fences all around the back of it, and a lovely
-Gray Lady and a little girl with golden hair have come to
-live there. They have been there since spring too, and I
-didn’t know it. The girl is as old as me, but she’s smaller,
-for she isn’t strong and sits in a wheel-chair, and they’ve
-asked me to come in again.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Off came the glasses, and the old hands that folded them
-away in their case trembled with excitement. “The
-General Wentworth place open after all these years, since
-his only daughter Elizabeth married her cousin John,
-whom we all expected to die a bachelor, and then he fell
-into poor health! You don’t remember him, Sarah
-Barnes, ’cause you wasn’t born, but he was a mighty
-strange fellow, handsome and likely; he wouldn’t be a
-soldier as his uncle wished, but he was great for readin’
-books, and he used to wander all over the country here
-watching birds and things and drawin’ pictures of them.
-I heard John died a couple of years ago away in foreign
-parts,—it can’t be Elizabeth that’s come back,—she
-wouldn’t be a gray-haired old woman, as you say. I knew
-her when she was a girl. She was full of life and rode a
-pony everywhere; her father used to bring her over
-to our mill, and many a ginger cooky of my baking has
-she ate. No, it can’t be little Miss Elizabeth,—it’s more
-likely some one that has hired or bought the place and
-goin’ to upset and change it all.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t say the lady was old, grandma; she has lots of
-soft, silvery, wavy hair with big gray eyes to match, and
-such a pretty colour in her cheeks, and her dress was soft
-and fluffy too and the colour as if purple and white violets
-<span class='pageno' title='4' id='Page_4'></span>
-and silver popple leaves were all mixed together,” said
-Sarah, moving her hands before her, a little way she had
-when talking, as if in describing what she had seen she
-was touching the real object, for Sarah, though only a little
-girl from a bare hillside farm and taught at the school below
-at Foxes Corners, had a keen eye for colour and loved
-beautiful things, so that ugliness or unkindness of any
-sort really hurt her if she could have explained her feelings.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My Gray Lady’s first name is Elizabeth, though, and
-she knows you and your molasses cakes,” continued Sarah,
-after a moment’s pause, “for she said, ‘When you go home
-say to your grandmother that Elizabeth who rode the black
-pony sends her love, and that she will go to see her soon,
-and that she hopes that she will give the little Elizabeth
-some of the cookies of which she has often heard.’ Elizabeth
-is the little girl, but I’m going to call her Goldilocks,
-because the name matches her hair and she looks as if she
-was meant to—</p>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“ ‘Sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam</p>
-<p class='line0'>And feast upon strawberries, sugar, and cream.’ ”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Elizabeth Wentworth and her daughter back here
-and I never knew it!” cried Grandma Barnes, rising
-as if to take immediate action. “Your Aunt Jane might
-well say, as she did on her last visit, that this hill farm is
-as far out o’ the world as livin’ in a lighthouse that had no
-stairs or boat to it, and the only way to get anywhere was
-to take a dive and swim. But see here, Sarah Barnes,
-how did you come to meet the General’s folks? It’s near a
-mile from the road up from the Centre to their front gate;
-<span class='pageno' title='5' id='Page_5'></span>
-mebbe you ran across them in the village, and if so, how
-came you to speak?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sarah opened her lips to answer and then stammered
-and grew red under her grandmother’s keen gaze. “I
-didn’t pass their gate and I didn’t meet them in the village.
-I was—I was just taking a bunch of field flowers, that I
-got along the road, up to the cemetery to mother, and
-then when I go there, I usually take some to the General’s
-mound too, ’cause nobody took anything, except a little
-flag Memorial Day, and it’s usually all faded by now.
-This year, though, the lot was planted with flowers, and I
-was wondering why. I was sittin’ there watching a
-gray squirrel that lives in one of the old cannons that
-stand at the plot corners. You see the squirrel knows
-me because I’ve taken him nuts two winters whenever
-we’ve gone to Pine Hill coasting, and he comes up real
-close. To-day when he came up, I only had some cracker
-crumbs in my pocket, but he acted real pleased to see me,
-and I was so busy talking to him that I didn’t hear anybody
-coming up until somebody said, ‘Who is this little
-girl that brings flowers to an old soldier’s grave, and has
-a squirrel for a friend?’ ”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A nice way of wasting your time, I must say, of a week-day
-afternoon, and so much to be done at home,” broke
-in Mrs. Barnes, rather crossly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But Sarah, not minding the interruption, continued:
-“Then I jumped up, and there was Gray Lady and Goldilocks
-sitting in a nice big straw chair, like those on Judge
-Jones’ porch, only it had wheels and a handle behind like
-a baby wagon, and a fattish woman with a pleasant face
-was pushing it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='6' id='Page_6'></span>
-“Well, what happened next?” asked grandma. “I
-wonder she didn’t tell you not to trespass and feed animals
-in a cemetery!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no, she liked it, and we got acquainted right away.
-She asked me what put it in my head to bring the flowers,
-and told her that it was because nobody else did and
-that I loved the General because my mother told me that
-though he lived through a lot of battles, he got
-the wound that made him die long after, in trying to get
-back a little black child that had been sold away from its
-mother, for it’s an awful thing to take children away from
-their mothers, and only God should do it, and I know He
-must be always sorry when He has to. And I said I knew
-how it hurt because He took my mother away from me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Goldilocks said she wished that she had a tame squirrel
-down in her garden, and I said there were plenty of squirrels
-there, and she could begin to tame ’em as soon as food
-gets scarce. Then she asked how I knew, and then it all
-came out that Dave and Tommy Todd, Mary, and I often
-take a cross-cut through the General’s orchard, when we
-go over to Aunt Jane’s. Then they asked me to walk
-down home with them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There was a new high fence all round the orchard,
-with a gate by the old house in the corner that has the
-big stone chimney, where the Swallows live, so we can’t
-cut across any more, and before I thought, I said so; but
-Gray Lady said, ‘I think, Sarah, it will be quite as pleasant
-for you to come in at the front gate, and go out at the
-back, as to crawl through a hole in the brush like a fox
-or a woodchuck,’ and I guess it will, for she doesn’t want
-us to stop coming.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='7' id='Page_7'></span>
-“Then I asked her if the house had lovely pictures in
-it and birds with real eyes sitting on perches, and more
-books than the Sunday-school library, and she laughed
-and asked who told me that, and I said it was Jake
-Gorham that went up there to set new glass in the roof
-light after the hail-storm last summer.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sarah Barnes! such gall as to make free and talk to
-General Wentworth’s daughter like that! I just wonder
-what she thinks of you!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She didn’t tell me, grandma; but, oh, what do you
-suppose, she said that if I came down some afternoon,
-she’d show me all the pictures and then I could tell Goldilocks
-how to begin to make friends with the squirrels,
-and that she would show me their tree with a lunch-counter
-on it for birds, where there is something for every kind to
-eat. Do you suppose she will ask me for this Saturday,
-grandma, and may I wear my pink lawn, if it stays warm?
-My Sunday dress for fall shows where the hem was let
-down.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She may and then again mayhap ’twill be the last
-you’ll ever hear of it. Come to think of it, in those days
-my ginger cookies were mixed with butter instead of lard,
-and they had currants in them. I guess I’ll risk it to
-make a batch to-morrow, lest Mrs. John should come up—that
-is if I finish all this mending, for there is only one
-more Saturday and Labor Day, and then school opens, and
-all you girls and boys will be making excuses for shirking
-your chores. Five o’clock already! Sarah Barnes, do
-you go straight out and feed the chickens and then rinse
-those milk-pans,—that comes first before all the fine talk
-of seein’ pictures and making pies and cakes for birds.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='8' id='Page_8'></span>
-Sarah went slowly toward the barnyard and fed the
-greedy fowls in an absent-minded sort of way, all the
-while looking across the field where the birds were beginning
-to gather in flocks, wishing she knew them all
-by name and thinking of Gray Lady and Goldilocks.
-Would they remember the invitation or would she never
-perhaps see them again? School would soon begin, and
-that meant no spare time until after four, and it is so often
-rainy on Saturday.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Rain did not wait for Saturday this time, for a heavy
-drizzle set in that night, and Sarah went to sleep wondering
-exactly what a bird lunch-counter was and what became
-of it when it rained.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then school began, and her new friend made no sign,
-and Sarah began to wonder if her meeting with Gray
-Lady had been one of the dreams she so often had when
-she sat on the orchard fence in June watching the
-bobolinks fly over the clover and waiting for things to
-happen.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='9' id='Page_9'></span><h1>II<br/> <span class='sub-head'>A RAINY DAY</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was the first Friday of the fall term and there were
-only fifteen scholars at the weather-beaten shingled schoolhouse
-at Foxes Corners. The usual number in winter
-was twenty-five, but some of the older pupils did not
-return until late in October, for these boys and girls helped
-their fathers and mothers either about the farm work or
-in the house, and as this school district was located in
-pretty rolling hill country, with woods and a river close by,
-city people came to board at the farm-houses and often
-did not go away until they had seen the leaves redden and
-fall.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Miss Wilde, the teacher, was very glad to begin with
-only fifteen scholars. She was not very strong; the
-children were always restless during the first month after
-their vacation. Then, too, it is more difficult for a teacher
-to interest scholars that range from five to fifteen than
-where she has children all of an age.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Miss Wilde was very patient, for she loved outdoors and
-liberty herself, and she knew just how hard it was in these
-first shut-in days for the children to look out the open
-windows and see the broad fields stretching out to the
-woods, and hear the water rushing over the dam at Hull’s
-Mill, and then take any interest in bounding the Philippine
-Islands and remembering why they are of special
-value to the United States.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='10' id='Page_10'></span>
-Tommy Todd was what is usually called the “bad
-boy” of the school. He was thirteen, keen-witted and
-restless. He learned his lessons quickly, and then when
-Miss Wilde was hearing the little ones drone out their
-“twice one is two,” “twice two is four,” he often sat idle
-in his seat devising mischief that he sometimes put in
-motion before school was over.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then there were some days when it seemed as if Tommy
-would leave his desk and fly out of the window in spite of
-himself. Poor Miss Wilde had been obliged to make
-him change desks twice already. From his first place he
-could look at a pasture, where a family of woodchucks
-had their burrows, and he had caused several stampedes,
-not only among the boys, but girls also, by calling out:
-“Hi! there goes a buster! I bet its hide’s worth more’n
-a quarter! Now Jones’ yaller dog is after him! Hi!
-there! good work! he’s headin’ of it off! Gee, Hog’s
-reared and give him a bite! There they go round the
-hill! If the hole back t’other side I stuffed Saturday’s
-got loosed out, I bet on the hog!” (Ground-hog being
-the familiar name for the woodchuck in this region.)</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Order being restored, Tommy was moved to the east
-side of the room. Here the view was downhill over the
-lowlands, ending at a great corn-field that belonged to
-Tommy’s grandfather. The corn was yellow in the ear,
-but still standing. <a id='crow1'></a>A flock of crows that had a roost in
-the swampy millwoods knew all about this corn-field and
-considered it as their own property, for had they not superintended
-its planting, helped thin out the seed lest it
-should grow too thick, and croaked and quavered directions
-to old man Todd and his horses every time they ploughed
-<span class='pageno' title='11' id='Page_11'></span>
-and hoed? Now, guided by a careful old leader who sat
-on a dead sycamore top and gave warning (for all crow
-flocks have such a chief), they were beginning to attack
-the ripened ears, the scarecrows placed at intervals
-that had been of some use in the early season having
-now lost the little influence they possessed and fallen into
-limp heaps, like unfortunate tramps asleep by the wayside.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So every time the crows came over, Tommy would
-stretch up in his seat and finally slip out of it entirely and,
-hanging half out of the window, shake his fist at them,
-all the time uttering dire threats of what he would do if
-he only had his father’s shot-gun.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For these reasons, Friday morning saw him seated in the
-middle of the room with the older girls and sharing the
-double desk with Sarah Barnes. Now Sarah thought that
-Tommy was the cleverest boy she had ever seen, and
-Sarah had visited in Centre Village in Hattertown, and
-Bridgeton, been twice to the Oldtown County Fair, and
-would have gone to New York once with her Aunt Jane if
-measles had not prevented; so that her friends thought,
-for thirteen, she was quite a travelled lady.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Tommy also considered her favourably and had been
-heard to say that she was not bad for a girl; yet, to be put
-in the middle seats with the girls he considered an insult
-to his years, and he was sulky and brooded mischief all
-the morning.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In reality Tommy was not a bad boy in any way.
-What he wanted was plenty of occupation for his mind
-and body to work at. Miss Wilde knew this and tried to
-give him as many little things to do as possible. It was
-Tommy who had charge of the new cage rat-trap of shiny
-<span class='pageno' title='12' id='Page_12'></span>
-copper wire, in which it was hoped the field rats might be
-caught, that, as soon as cool weather came, gnawed their
-way in through the loose floor boards and sometimes
-destroyed the books, and, as Sarah Barnes declared (whose
-duty it was to keep the wells filled), drank the ink.
-Tommy also kept the water-pail full and tended the big
-wood-stove in winter; but none of these tasks seemed to
-touch the restless spot and he could think out more puzzling
-questions in a day than the whole school board could have
-answered in a week, and then, as Sarah Barnes once said,
-“Tommy Todd’s questions never seem to stay answered.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Miss Wilde had taught, at first, in the school of a large
-town where there were plenty of pictures and maps on the
-walls, and charts of different kinds and reference books
-for the children to use, and where people who loved
-children would often drop in and tell them about birds
-and flowers or their journeys to interesting places. She
-had taken the country school because the doctor thought
-it would be better for her health, and oh, how she wished
-that she could have brought some of the pictures and books
-with her, or that some of the summer boarders who stayed
-until almost winter would come in and talk to her pupils.
-She told the children stories or read to them on Friday
-afternoons. She also knew that there were some travelling
-libraries of books that she might borrow that the
-children could have themselves, but reading is a habit;
-the children needed to be interested first. So it came
-about that, when the second year of her school life on the
-hillside began, Miss Wilde felt rather discouraged.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On this particular rainy Friday she was feeling worried
-about her mother, who boarded at the Centre Village
-<span class='pageno' title='13' id='Page_13'></span>
-and with whom she spent every week-end, going down with
-the mail-carrier on his return trip Friday evening and
-usually walking back on Sunday afternoon if no one
-chanced to be driving that way. Mrs. Wilde had been ill
-the Sunday before and Miss Wilde had not heard a word
-all the week. Everything had gone awry that morning,
-and when the last child had filed out for the dinner-hour
-and gone splish-splashing up the muddy road, before
-straightening out the room as usual, Miss Wilde sat down
-at the desk, her head in her hands, and two big tears splashed
-down on the inky blotting-paper before her. Presently she
-wiped her eyes, opened all the windows that the rain did
-not enter, took her box of luncheon from her desk, and
-walked slowly down the side aisle to the little porch,
-which also acted as the cloak-room, the place where she
-usually ate her luncheon when it was too cool or wet to go
-outdoors.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As she passed Tommy Todd’s desk she thought she heard
-a noise, and glanced sideways, half expecting to see him
-crouching under it, bent upon some prank. No one was
-there, and still there was a scratching sound in that
-vicinity. Opening the desk lid, Miss Wilde gave a scream,
-for inside was the new trap and inside the trap two wicked-looking
-old rats whose whiskers had evidently grown gray
-with experience.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I wonder what he would have done with them if I
-had not found him out?” she said to herself, as she lifted
-the cage, by hooking the crook of her umbrella into the
-handle on the top, and carrying it with the greatest care,
-put it into the empty wood-box in the porch. Then she
-seated herself on the bench by the outer door and unstrapped
-<span class='pageno' title='14' id='Page_14'></span>
-her box. But it evidently was not intended that
-the poor teacher should lunch that day, for suddenly the door
-flew open and the weather-beaten face of Joel Hanks, the
-carrier who had the forenoon mail-route, peered anxiously
-in.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You here, Miss Wilde?” he called anxiously. “I’m
-glad yer hain’t gone up to the house for your nooning, cause
-I clean fergot when I come by up, but yer Ma’s feelin’
-extra poorly and uneasy, and she thought mebbe you
-could come back along with me instead of waiting till
-night. I’m goin’ to eat over to Todd’s and I can stop
-back for you close to one if you can arrange to go.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, I wish I had known it before the children went to
-dinner,” she cried, clasping her hands together nervously
-and dropping the box, out of which her lunch rolled to the
-floor, amid the damp that had been made by wet coats,
-overshoes, and dripping umbrellas. “As it is, when the
-children come back, I cannot send them right home again,
-for some have a long walk. If it wasn’t for Tommy
-Todd, I could leave Sarah Barnes for monitor; but there
-are those rats, and the school board does not like me to
-shorten hours so soon after vacation. It’s too late for me
-to go over for Mrs. Bradford, or I know that she would
-help me by coming as she did several times last spring.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sorry I couldn’t stop this morning, but I come by the
-lower road. Wall, mebbe you’ll think out some way and
-I’ll stop back a bit a’ter one,” Joel said cheerfully, going
-back to his covered cart and chirping to his wise old horse,
-who, though he was gaunt and had only one good eye,
-knew every letter-box on the route and solemnly zig-zagged
-across the road from one to the other on his way up
-<span class='pageno' title='15' id='Page_15'></span>
-to Foxes Corners, but as surely passed them by without
-notice on the return trip.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Miss Wilde had barely swept away the scattered lunch
-through the open door when again she heard wheels,
-and looking up saw that which made her stand stock-still
-in surprise, broom in hand,—a trim, glass-windowed depot
-wagon, such as she had seldom seen out of Bridgeton,
-drawn by a handsome pair of gray horses, whose long,
-flowing tails were neatly braided and fastened up from
-the mud with leather bands, instead of being cruelly
-docked short as sometimes happens. The driver, a
-pleasant-looking, rosy-cheeked man, was well protected
-by coat and boot of rubber; but before Miss Wilde
-could more than glance at the outfit the door opened and
-a lady stepped lightly out, reaching the school porch
-so quickly that she had no need of an umbrella.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Spying Miss Wilde, she said in a voice clear as a bell,
-and yet so well modulated and sweet that no one who
-heard her speak ever forgot its sound—“Are you the
-teacher here?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And your name?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Rosamond Wilde,” replied the astonished girl, hastily
-hanging up the broom, unconsciously leading the way
-into the stuffy schoolroom and placing the best chair by
-the side of her desk, as she did when the minister, Dr.
-Gibbs, from Centre Village, who was president of the
-school board, came to hold a spelling-match.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thank you,” said the silvery voice, as its owner took
-the proffered seat, turning so that she could look out of
-the window.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='16' id='Page_16'></span>
-“I have heard from Dr. Gibbs that you sometimes use
-part of Friday afternoon for telling the children stories,
-or reading something that may amuse as well as teach
-them, and I thought that perhaps, as the board does not
-object, you might sometimes be willing to have me come
-in and talk to them. I am very fond of children, and
-have one little girl of my own, so that I know very well
-what they enjoy. I’ve travelled for several years, and
-I have a great many interesting pictures I could show
-them. Then, too, I have always loved birds and flowers,
-and with my father I used to tramp about and learned
-to know all those of this neighbourhood. I well remember
-that when I was a child and studied at home, rainy Friday
-afternoons were always pleasant, because mother, my
-cousins, and I had fancy-work or some other sewing
-and stories; so I thought to-day perhaps would be a good
-time for a beginning.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>If the sky had opened and an angel come directly to
-her aid, Miss Wilde could not have been more overcome.
-She pulled herself together and began to frame a polite
-answer, when looking at the guest, who had thrown off
-her light raincoat, she caught the sympathetic glance that
-shot from a lovely pair of gray eyes with black lashes, and
-saw that the fluffy gray hair belonged to a really young
-woman, but a little older than herself. Forgetting that
-a teacher is supposed never to lose control of herself,
-before she realized that she had said a word she had told
-this friend in need about her school, Tommy Todd, her
-mother’s sickness, and all.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In less time than it takes to tell of it, the coachman
-had been told to go down to the blacksmith’s shop and
-<span class='pageno' title='17' id='Page_17'></span>
-wait under cover until three o’clock, and Miss Wilde was
-helped to make her preparation for leaving.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When the children came trooping back, they found the
-door between cloak-room and schoolroom closed, and teacher
-waiting for them in the outer room with very rosy cheeks
-and a happier expression than her face usually wore.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Tommy Todd looked relieved, for, he reasoned, if
-teacher knew there were two rats in his desk, she would
-not have looked pleased. In a few words Miss Wilde
-explained the happenings, cautioned them to be very good,
-and saying, “Right, left, right, left,” was about to open
-the door for the children to march in, when Sarah Barnes
-asked, “Teacher, what is her name, so we can call her by
-it?” Then teacher realized that she didn’t know. But
-as the door opened Sarah said, in a very loud whisper,
-as whispers are apt to sound louder than the natural voice,
-“Why, it’s my Gray Lady!” and so in truth it was.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Teacher watched them until they took their seats, and
-then gently closed the door behind her. For a moment
-no one spoke. Tommy Todd peeped cautiously into his
-desk to be sure the rats were safe, and found to his dismay
-that they were gone. Inwardly he hoped they wouldn’t
-get loose, for Gray Lady didn’t look as if she would like
-rats, which showed that after only one glance he wished to
-please her, while at the same time the name by which they
-first knew her became fixed in the mind of every child.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='18' id='Page_18'></span><h1>III<br/> <span class='sub-head'>GRAY LADY AT SCHOOL</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The silence inside the school continued a full minute,
-that seemed like an hour, and the dripping of the rain
-from the gutter was so plain that Sarah found herself
-counting the drops—“One—two—three—four—splash!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Fifteen pairs of eyes were fastened upon the newcomer,
-and, as she caught the various questions in them, the
-colour in her cheeks deepened. Suddenly she recognized
-her little friend whom she had met on the hillside the
-week before. “Sarah Barnes,” said Gray Lady, “will
-you not tell me the names of your schoolmates and introduce
-me to them? It is always so much more pleasant
-when we are looking at people, places, or things to know
-what they are called.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then Sarah, delighted at being remembered when
-she had begun to be quite sure that all her hopes
-were in vain, guided by an inborn instinct of politeness
-that told her it would not be civil to stand at her desk
-and call out the various names, marched solemnly up
-to the teacher’s desk and, beginning in the front row
-with her own little sister Mary, repeated the fifteen
-names in full, with the greatest care and distinctness,
-and each child, not knowing what else to do, bobbed up
-and answered, “Present,” the same as if teacher had been
-<span class='pageno' title='19' id='Page_19'></span>
-calling the roll. When Sarah had finished, she was quite
-out of breath, for some of the names were very long;
-the last, that of the one little Slav in the school, Zella
-Francesca Mowralski, being also hard to pronounce.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thank you,” said Gray Lady; “I think that I can remember
-the first names at least. But now that you have
-presented your friends to me, won’t you kindly present
-me to them? You know who I am and where I live, do
-you not?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of course I do!” cried Sarah, glad to be in smooth
-water again. “You are Goldilocks’ mother, Gray Lady,
-and you are our General’s daughter and you live in his
-house!” Then, realizing that she had given play to her
-own fancy rather than stated the facts expected, she fled
-to her desk and hid her face behind its lid.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>No reproof followed her as she expected, but instead the
-pleasant voice again said: “Thank you, Sarah; I like the
-name you have given me better than my very own, and if
-you all know where to find the General’s house, you know
-where to find me,” and when Sarah, gaining courage,
-looked up again, she saw, what the others did not notice,
-that the gray eyes were brimming, though there was a
-smile on her lips.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now, children, what would you like to hear about
-this afternoon? Miss Wilde told me that she had
-intended giving you a spelling review and writing
-exercise of some kind, but that we might finish the day
-as we choose. Shall I read you a story, or would you like
-to ask questions and talk best?—one at a time, of course!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Talk—you talk,” shouted a vigorous chorus.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“By the way, Tommy Todd,” said Gray Lady, “why
-<span class='pageno' title='20' id='Page_20'></span>
-do you sit in the middle with the girls instead of on the
-outer row with the boys, where there is more room?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Tommy, placed between Sarah Barnes and his own
-sister, started half up in his seat and looked all round the
-room as if seeking a way of escape, and finding none, dropped
-his gaze to his desk and sat mute with a very red face.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The question was repeated—still no answer. A hand
-flew up. “I know,” piped the voice of one of the little
-ones in front; “it’s ’cause Tommy can’t keep his eyes inside
-the winder if he’s by it; he’s always spying out at ground-hogs
-and crows and askin’ teacher questions about the
-birds setting on the wires, so he don’t mind his books and
-teacher don’t know the answers to all he asks, an’ it gives
-her the headache!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, Tommy,” said Gray Lady, who had learned that
-at least one of the children before her cared for out-of-doors,
-which was precisely what she wanted to know,
-“as long as this is a sort of holiday, suppose you take
-that empty seat by the east window and tell us what you
-see. You may open the window and the others on that
-side also, for I think the rain is over; yes, the clouds are
-breaking away.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>How fresh and sweet the air was that rushed into the
-close room! Tommy stuck his head out and took a great
-breath as he looked down over the corn-fields,—his enemies
-the crows were not there.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There isn’t much to see now, it’s too wet yet,” he
-said; “but pretty soon there will be, for most birds and
-things get hungry right after a rain!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Olit—olit—olit—che-wiss-ch-wiss-war,” sang a
-little bird in a low bush by the roadside.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='21' id='Page_21'></span>
-“What bird is that,” asked Gray Lady; “do any of you
-know?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It’s just the usually little brown bird that stays around
-here most all the time, but I love the tune it sings,” said
-Sarah Barnes. “Teacher says it’s some kind of a sparrow.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='song1'></a>It is a Song Sparrow,” said Gray Lady, “and you
-are right in saying it stays with us almost all the year.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now,” called Tommy, “the birds are beginning to
-come out; some <a id='barnsw1'></a>Barn Swallows are flying over the low
-meadow and there’s a lot of ’em, and another kind strung
-along the wires on the turnpike. They always sit close
-and act that way all this month and some fly away, and
-’long the first part of next month, when the corn’s all
-husked, they’ll be gone! Please, ma’am, why do some
-birds never go away, and some do, and what makes ’em
-come back?” Then Tommy began one of the volley of
-questions that Miss Wilde so dreaded.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, an’ please, ma’am,” asked Dave, “why are some
-birds that mate together such different colours?” “An’
-what becomes of <a id='bobo1'></a>Bobolinks after Fourth of July?” asked
-another. “An’ what makes birds have so many kind
-of feet?” queried a third.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then questions flew so thick and fast that Gray Lady
-could not even hear herself think, and presently, when every
-one had laughed at the confusion, order was restored.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I asked you a moment ago what you would like to
-hear about. I think I know. You would like to hear
-about birds! Are there any other boys here besides
-Tommy and Dave who care about birds?” asked Gray
-Lady, who wished to have each child feel that he or she
-had a part in what was going on.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='22' id='Page_22'></span>
-“I know about birds’ eggs!” cried Bobby Bates, a boy
-who, from being undersized, looked much younger than
-he really was; “I’ve got a pint fruit-jar of robins’ eggs.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But I’ve got a quart jar of mixed eggs,” said Dave, “and
-they’re mostly little ones, Wrens and Chippy birds and
-such like, so’s I’ve really got more’n Bobby!” he added
-boastfully.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady opened her lips to speak sharply and her
-eyes flashed, for nest-robbing was one of the things she
-most detested. Then she remembered that perhaps these
-children had not only never even dreamed that there was
-any harm in it, but had never heard of the laws that wise
-people had made to protect the eggs of wild birds, as well
-as the birds themselves, from harm. So she hesitated a
-moment while she thought how she might best make the
-matter understood.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why do you like to collect eggs?” she asked. “Because
-they are pretty?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes’m, partly,” drawled Dave, “and then to see how
-many I can get in a spring.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But do you never think how you worry the mother
-birds by stealing their eggs, and how many more birds
-there would be if you let the eggs hatch out? What the
-rhyme says is true,—</p>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“ ‘The blue eggs in the Robin’s nest</p>
-<p class='line0'>Will soon have beak and wings and breast,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And flutter and fly away!’</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='noindent'>Only think, if all those robins’ eggs of yours, Bobby, and
-all your little eggs, Dave, should suddenly turn into birds
-and fly about the room, how many there would be! But
-<span class='pageno' title='23' id='Page_23'></span>
-now they will never have wings and swell their throats
-to sing to us and use their beaks to eat up insects
-that make the apples wormy and curl up the leaves of the
-great shade trees.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='rob1'></a>Robins don’t do any good; they just spoil our berries
-and grapes; dad says so, and he shoots ’em whenever he
-can, and he likes me to take the eggs,” said Dave, stubbornly,
-while Sarah Barnes exclaimed, “Yes, an’ <span class='it'>my</span>
-father says he ought to be ashamed of himself!” almost
-out loud.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I know that Robins sometimes eat fruit,” said Gray
-Lady, firmly, “but they do so much more good by destroying
-bugs that the Wise Men say that neither they nor their
-eggs shall be taken or destroyed, and what they say is
-now a law. So that it is not for any one to do as he pleases
-in the matter. To kill song-birds or destroy their eggs
-is as much breaking the law as if you stole a man’s horse
-or cow, for these birds are not yours; they belong to the
-state in which you live.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Bobby and Dave looked surprised, but Tommy and
-Sarah nodded to one another, as much as to say, “We knew
-that, didn’t we?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Some day, if you are clever with your lessons so that
-Miss Wilde can spare the time for it, I will tell you all
-about the reasons for these laws, and what the wild birds
-do for us, and what we should do for them. But first you
-must learn to know the names of some of the birds that
-live and visit hereabout, as I am now learning yours, and
-make friends of some of them as I hope to make friends
-of you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, yes, oh, yes!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='24' id='Page_24'></span>
-“You can’t make friends of birds; they won’t let you,”
-said Dave Drake, who was a sickly, lanky boy of fourteen
-with a whining voice; “they always fly away. That is, I
-mean tree birds, not chickens nor pigeons.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Chickens aren’t birds, they’re only young hens,” put
-in Eliza Clausen, with an expression of withering contempt.
-She was one of the big fourteen-year-old girls, and not
-being a good scholar was apt to use opposition in the place
-of information.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We can make friends of at least some birds,” said
-Gray Lady, “if we are kind to them. When we have
-human visitors come to stay with us, what do we do for
-them?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We let them sleep in the best bedroom, and we get
-out the best china and have awful good things to eat,
-and give ’em a good time,” said Ruth Barnes, all in one
-breath.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and we should do much the same with our bird
-friends. They do not need to have a bedroom prepared;
-they can generally find that for themselves, though even
-this is sometimes necessary in bad weather; but they
-often need food, and in order that they should have what
-Ruth calls ‘a good time,’ we must let them alone and
-not interfere with their comings and goings.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Go softly to the west window and look out,” continued
-Gray Lady, raising a finger to caution silence, for from
-her seat on the little platform she could see over the children’s
-heads and out both door and windows, “and see
-the hungry visitors that a little food has brought to the
-very door.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The children tiptoed to one side of the room, and there,
-<span class='pageno' title='25' id='Page_25'></span>
-lo and behold, was a great <a id='jay1'></a>Blue Jay, a Robin, a Downy
-Woodpecker with his clean black-and-white-striped coat
-and red neck bow, and a saucy Chickadee, with his jaunty
-black cap and white tie, all feasting on the broken bits of
-Miss Wilde’s ham sandwich, while a pair of Robins were
-industriously picking the fruit from a remnant of huckleberry
-pie. Unfortunately, before the children had taken
-more than a good look, the door banged to and the birds
-flew away, the Woodpecker giving his wild sort of laugh,
-the Robins crying, “Quick! quick!” in great alarm,
-while the Jay and Chickadee told their own names plainly
-as they flew.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As we have agreed to talk and ask questions, I will
-ask the first one,” said Gray Lady, as they all settled
-down, feeling very good-natured and eager to listen.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Eliza said a few minutes ago that a chicken isn’t a
-bird. Now a chicken is a bird, though of course all birds
-are not chickens.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>The Bird</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Who can tell me exactly what a bird is? You all may
-think you know, but can you put it in words?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A bird isn’t a plant; it is an animal,” said Tommy
-Todd.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but a cat is an animal, and a snake, and a horse;
-and we are animals ourselves.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A bird is a flying animal,” returned Sarah.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Very true, but so is a bat, and, as you know, a bat
-has fur and looks very like a mouse, and a bird does not.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah, you give it up. Very well, listen and remember.
-<span class='it'>A bird is the only animal which has feathers!</span> With his
-<span class='pageno' title='26' id='Page_26'></span>
-hollow bones filled with buoyant, warm air, and covered
-with these strong pinions, he rows through the air, as we
-row a boat through the water with the oars, balancing
-himself with these wings, also steering himself with them
-and with his tail made of stiff feathers and shaped to his
-particular need, while with small feathers laid close, overlapping
-each other like shingles, and bedded on an under-coat
-of down, he is clothed and protected from heat, cold,
-and wet.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The eye of the bird is different from ours, for it
-magnifies and makes objects appear much larger to it
-than they do to us. Also, while with other animals each
-group has practically the same kind of feet or beaks,
-birds have these two features built on widely different
-plans, so that when you have learned to know the common
-birds by name and are really studying bird-life, you
-will find that you must be guided to the orders in which
-they belong often by their beaks and feet.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Barnyard Ducks, as you know, have webbed toes for
-swimming, and flat bills to aid them in shovelling their
-natural food from the mud.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Birds of prey, like the Hawks and Owls, have strong
-hooked beaks and powerful talons or claws, for seizing
-and tearing the small animals upon which they feed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Woodpeckers (all but one) have two front and
-two hind toes; these help them grasp the tree bark firmly
-as they rest, while they have strong-cutting, chisel-like
-beaks, which they also use for tapping or drumming their
-rolling love-songs.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i053.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0004' style='width:70%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>CHICKADEE</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“While the insect-eating song-birds have more or less
-slender bills and four toes, three in front and one behind,
-<span class='pageno' title='27' id='Page_27'></span>
-for perching crosswise on small branches, the seed-eating
-songsters, such as Sparrows, have similar feet, but short,
-stout, cone-shaped bills for cracking seeds and small nuts.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“By this you can see that in spite of the fact that all
-birds wear feathers, and have wings, a tail, beak, and a
-pair of legs, they may still be very different from each other.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A Turkey Gobbler doesn’t look much like a Robin, nor
-a Goose like a Swallow, yet they are all four birds! They
-all four bring forth their young from eggs; but the little
-Turkeys and Goslings are covered with feathers when they
-peep out of the shell and are able to walk, while the young
-Robins and Swallows are at first blind, naked, and helpless;
-so here again you can see that there is something
-special to be learned about every bird that flies or swims.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Chickadee-dee-dee!<a id='cdee1'></a> Can’t you tell them something
-about me?” said this dear little bird, flitting about one
-of the open windows and clinging upside down to the blind
-slats that were bare of paint, like either a Woodpecker,
-or, as Tommy Todd remarked, “the man in the circus.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The little bird peeping in the window and calling his
-name reminds me of a pretty poem about him,” said Gray
-Lady. “I will repeat it to you and write it on the board
-so that you can copy it in your books, and then some of
-you may like to learn it to surprise Miss Wilde on another
-rainy Friday.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='28' id='Page_28'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>A LITTLE MINISTER</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>I know a little minister who has a big degree;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Just like a long-tailed kite he flies his D.D.D.D.D.</p>
-<p class='line0'>His pulpit is old-fashioned, though made out of growing pine;</p>
-<p class='line0'>His great-grandfather preached in it, in days of Auld lang syne.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Sometimes this little minister forgets his parson’s airs:</p>
-<p class='line0'>I saw him turn a somersault right on the pulpit stairs;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And once, in his old meeting-house, he flew into the steeple,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And rang a merry chime of bells, to call the feathered people.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>He has a tiny helpmeet, too, who wears a gown and cap,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And is so very wide-awake, she seldom takes a nap.</p>
-<p class='line0'>She preaches, also, sermonettes, with headlets one, two, three,</p>
-<p class='line0'>In singing monosyllables beginning each with D.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>But O her little minister, she does almost adore:</p>
-<p class='line0'>I’ve heard her call her sweet D.D. full twenty times or more.</p>
-<p class='line0'>And his pet polysyllable—why, did you hear it never?</p>
-<p class='line0'>He calls her Phe-be B, so dear, I’d listen on forever.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Now if there is a Bright Eyes small who’d like to go with me,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And on his cautious tiptoes ten, creep softly to a tree,</p>
-<p class='line0'>I’ll coax this little minister to quit his leafy perch,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And show this little boy or girl the way to go to church;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And where his cosy parsonage is hidden in the trees,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And how in summer it is full of little D.D.D.’s.</p>
-<p class='line0'>And if Bright Eyes will prick his ears, he’ll hear the titmice say,</p>
-<p class='line0'>“Good morning,” which, in Chickadese is always “Day, day, day.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span style='font-size:smaller'><span class='sc'>Ella Gilbert Ives.</span></span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now that I have answered my own question, there
-was another that one of you asked, or rather a pair of
-questions. Why do some birds go away in autumn, and
-why do they come back? It is very important to know
-the answers to these, if we want to really understand
-about the lives of birds and the trials and dangers they
-undergo.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='pageno' title='29' id='Page_29'></span><span class='it'>The Bird Year and the Migration</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“People who think of birds at all know that they are
-not equally plentiful at all times of the year, but that
-they have their seasons of coming and disappearing, as
-the flowers have, though not for exactly the same reason.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We are accustomed to see the plants send up shoots
-through the bare ground every spring, unfold their leaves
-and blossoms, and, finally, after perfecting seed, wither
-away again at the touch of frost.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of these plants, as well as some large trees, a few are
-more hardy than others, like the ground-pine, laurel, and
-wintergreen, and are able to hold their leaves through very
-cold weather, and we call them evergreens.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You notice that the birds appear in spring even before
-the pussy-willows bud out, and that every morning when
-you wake, the music outside the window and down among
-the alders on the meadow border is growing louder, until
-by the time the apple trees are in bloom there seems to be
-a bird for every tree, bush, and tuft of sedgegrass.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“By the time the timothy is cut and rye harvested, you
-do not hear so great a variety of song. The Robin, Song
-Sparrow, House Wren, and Meadowlark are still in good
-voice, and an occasional Catbird, but the Bobolink has
-dropped out, and the Brown Thrasher no longer tells the
-farmer how to plant his corn: ‘Drop it, drop it, cover it
-up, hoe it, hoe it;’ and very wise he is, too, for the corn
-is all planted.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Later still, when the stacked cornstalks fill the fields
-with their wigwams, like Indian encampments, the pumpkins
-are gathered in golden heaps, and the smoke of
-<span class='pageno' title='30' id='Page_30'></span>
-burning leaves and brush pervades the air, you hear very
-few bird songs, for many birds have either dropped
-silently out of sight or collected in huge flocks, like the
-Swallow, swept by, and disappeared in the clouds, while
-others, like the Purple Grackle or Common Crow-Blackbird,—walk
-over the stubble and cover the trees, making
-such a creaking, crackling noise that one would surely
-think that their wings as well as voices were rusty and
-needed oiling.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What has become of the birds? Where do they go
-when they disappear?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Being warm-blooded animals they cannot dive into the
-mud and hide, like fishes, or crawl into cracks of tree
-bark and wrap themselves up in cocoons, like insects.
-Neither do they drop their feathers and die away as tender
-plants drop their leaves and disappear.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“People once believed that Swallows dived through the
-water into the mud, where they rolled themselves into
-balls and slept all winter. They thought this because
-Swallows are seen in early autumn in flocks about ponds
-and marshes, where they feed upon the insects that
-abound in such places. People thought that as Swallows
-were last seen in these places before they disappeared they
-must have gone under the water; but this was merely
-guessing, which is a very dangerous thing to do when
-trying to find out the plans that Nature makes for her
-great family.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Later yet, when the snow begins to fall, there is little or
-no bird music, only the hoot of an Owl, the shrill cry of the
-Hawks, the ‘quank, quank’ of the Nuthatch, that runs up
-and down the tree-trunks like a mouse in gray-and-white
-<span class='pageno' title='31' id='Page_31'></span>
-feathers, the jeer of the Jay, and the soft voice of the
-Chickadee that, as you have just heard, tells you his
-name so prettily as he peers at you from beneath his
-little black cap.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But the Catbird, Wren, Bobolink, Oriole, the Cuckoo
-that helped clear the tent caterpillars from the orchard,
-the Chat that puzzled the dogs by whistling like their
-master, the beautiful Barn Swallow, with the swift wings,
-that had his plaster nest in the hayloft, the Phœbe that
-built in the cowshed, and the dainty Humming-bird that
-haunted the honeysuckle on the porch and hummed an
-ancient spinning-song to us with his wings,—where are
-they all?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And why is it that while those have disappeared, some
-few birds still remain with us in spite of cold and snow?”</p>
-
-<h3 style='visibility:hidden; margin:0; font-size:0;'  class='nobreak'>THE FLIGHT OF THE BIRDS</h3>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;THE FLIGHT OF THE BIRDS</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Whither away, Robin,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Whither away?</p>
-<p class='line0'>Is it through envy of the maple leaf,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Whose blushes mock the crimson of thy breast,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Thou wilt not stay?</p>
-<p class='line0'>The summer days were long, yet all too brief</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The happy season thou hast been our guest.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Whither away?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Wither away, Bluebird,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Whither away?</p>
-<p class='line0'>The blast is chill, yet in the upper sky</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Thou still canst find the colour of thy wing,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The hue of May.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Warbler, why speed thy southern flight? Ah, why,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Thou, too, whose song first told us of the spring,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Whither away?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Whither away, Swallow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Whither away?</p>
-<p class='line0'>Canst thou no longer tarry in the North,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Here where our roof so well hath screened thy nest?</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Not one short day?</p>
-<p class='line0'>Wilt thou—as if thou human wert—go forth</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And wander far from them who love thee best?</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Whither away?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Edmund Clarence Stedman.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>The Fall Migration</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='32' id='Page_32'></span>
-“If you watch the birds, you will soon notice that some
-eat only animal food, in the shape of various bugs, worms,
-and lice, while others eat seeds of various weeds, and
-grasses, and also berries. There are many birds that, like
-ourselves, eat a little of everything, both animal and
-vegetable.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“For instance, the Swallows live on insects of the air,
-except sometimes in the autumn flocking they feed for a
-short time on bayberries. The <a id='phe1'></a>Phœbe is an insect eater;
-also the <a id='cat1'></a>Catbird, though he is fond of strawberries and
-cherries for dessert. You saw just now that the Chickadee,
-Woodpecker, and Jay preferred the meat from the sandwich
-and the Robins the berries from the pie, though the
-Jay also likes nuts and seeds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You know that when frost comes, the air-flying insects
-are killed, and the gnats, mosquitoes, and flies that have
-worried the horses and cattle disappear. For this reason
-the birds that depend upon these bugs must follow their
-food supply, and move off farther southward where frost
-has not yet come.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='33' id='Page_33'></span>
-“This is the reason why so many birds who feed on
-winged insects leave us in early autumn, before it is cold
-enough to make them uncomfortable; they must follow
-their food.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There are other birds that, when they no longer have
-nestlings to feed, can pick up a living from berries and
-seeds, like the Robin, or live the greater part of the season
-upon seeds, like the Sparrows. These birds are not driven
-away by the first frost, but many stay about until the
-weather is uncomfortably cold, and some few remain all
-winter, like the Meadowlarks, Nuthatches, Jays, and
-Woodpeckers, who, having stout beaks, can dig out grubs
-and insects from among the roots of grass and from tough
-tree bark; but these too must move on if ice coats the
-trees or snow buries their ground feeding-places.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As a great many birds spend the nesting season north
-of New England, they pass by on their way southward,
-and, if the feeding is good, stay with us sometimes several
-weeks, so that the flocks of Robins seen here in October
-are likely to be those that nested in the north, while our
-own birds are gradually drifting down to the extreme south,
-where they winter.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This great southward journey of the birds, that begins
-as early as August and lasts at some seasons, if the winter
-is open, almost until Christmas, is called the fall migration,
-and when it is over, the birds remaining with us are classed
-as Winter Residents.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is another thing to be seen at this time of year,
-and if you have not already noticed it, watch and you will see
-that many of the birds that wore bright feathers in May
-and June have changed their gay coats for duller feathers.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>The Moulting</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='34' id='Page_34'></span>
-“After the nesting season is over, and a pair of birds have
-raised one, two, and, as with the Wrens, sometimes three
-broods, the feathers of the parents become worn and
-broken, and not fit for winter covering, nor are the wing
-quills strong enough for the fall flight.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At this time, when the young birds are able to care for
-themselves, the pairs no longer keep alone together, but,
-leaving their nesting-haunts, travel about either in a
-family party or in larger friendly flocks, and, although
-some birds, like the Song Sparrow and Meadowlark, sing
-throughout the season, the general morning chorus and
-the nesting season end together, in early or middle July.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is quite difficult to name the birds when young and
-old travel in flocks, for when a male is bright-coloured
-and the female dull, the first coat of the young is often
-such a mixture of both that it is easily mistaken for a
-wholly different and strange bird.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In August or September almost all of our birds change
-their spring feathers. This is called moulting. And the
-brightly coloured birds often drop their wedding finery
-for dull-coloured travelling cloaks, so that they may not
-be seen when they fly southward through the falling
-leaves.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“After this season <a id='tan1'></a>Father Tanager, of the scarlet wedding
-coat with black sleeves, appears in yellowish-green, like
-his wife, and the little Tanagers sometimes have mixed
-green, yellow, and red garments, for all the world like
-patchwork bedquilts pieced without regard to pattern.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i062.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0005' style='width:65%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>SCARLET TANAGER</span><br/><span style='font-size:smaller'>1. <span class='sc'>Adult Male.</span>, 2. <span class='sc'>Adult Male, Changing to Winter Plumage.</span>, 3. <span class='sc'>Adult Female.</span></span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>Order—<span class='sc'>Passeres</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Family—<span class='sc'>Tanagridæ</span></p>
-<p class='line'>Genus—<span class='sc'>Firanga</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Species—<span class='sc'>Erythromelas</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The jolly <a id='bobo2'></a>Bobolink, also, who in May was the prize
-<span class='pageno' title='35' id='Page_35'></span>
-singer of the meadows, and disported in a coat of black,
-white, and buff, now wears dull brown stripes, and, having
-forgotten his song, he mixes with the young of the
-year and becomes merely the Reed Bird of the gunners.
-But in early spring he will change again, and, before the
-nesting time, reappear among us with every black feather
-polished free from rusty edges and glistening as of old.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When Father Tanager comes back, he is brave and red
-again, though it takes little Tommy Tanager two moultings
-to grow an equally red coat.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Even with the more quietly marked birds their colours
-are less distinct after the summer moult, so that what
-is known as the bird’s perfect or typical plumage is in
-many species that of the nesting season alone.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t think that there was so much to know about
-birds; they seem to have ways of doing things just like
-people. I’d love to know all about them every Friday,
-but I suppose that’s too nice to happen,” said Sarah
-Barnes, as Gray Lady paused and moved her chair
-back from the bright light that was now shining through
-the door directly in her face, for the clouds had rolled
-away down behind the hills, leaving one of the clear, bright,
-early September afternoons when the sun lends its colour
-to the field of early goldenrod, until sunset seems to reach
-to one’s very feet.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, it isn’t <span class='it'>too</span> nice to happen,” said Gray Lady,
-laughing; “but it would certainly be very pleasant for
-me, also, if Miss Wilde could give you to me for an hour
-or so every other Friday, then perhaps some other day
-you could come to the General’s house and return my
-call, and see all the birds and pictures and books that
-<span class='pageno' title='36' id='Page_36'></span>
-belonged to my Goldilocks’ father. How would you like
-that?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Bully!” cried Tommy Todd, “and there’s more kinds
-of birds in the General’s old orchard than anywhere else
-hereabout. I haven’t ever taken any eggs from there,”
-he added hastily, “only jest peeked and watched, an’
-once I got a three-story nest from there, along late in the
-fall when the birds were done with it. If I brought it
-along, ma’am, could you tell me what sort of a bird it
-belongs to? I can’t find out!” he added eagerly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I think I can tell you,” Gray Lady answered,
-“and I’m very glad if you know about my orchard and
-its tenants, because very likely you may be able to introduce
-me to some that I do not know.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now, children, before next week is over I will see
-Miss Wilde and tell her my plans, but one thing I will tell
-you now—I have a little daughter Elizabeth, whom
-Sarah Barnes calls Goldilocks. She is twelve years old,
-but because of an accident her back is not strong, and
-instead of running about as you do she has had to be
-wheeled about in a chair. I have taken her to the best
-doctors, and they say that she is getting well slowly, and
-that now all that she needs is to live out-of-doors and be
-with children of her own age, who will be kind and gentle
-to her, yet treat her as one of themselves. She cannot
-bear to hear of anything being killed or hurt, and she has
-been loved so well all her life that she loves everything in
-return.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Will you come to the General’s house and help Goldilocks
-to grow strong and forget all the pain she has
-suffered?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='37' id='Page_37'></span>
-“Yes, <span class='it'>ma’am</span>,” came the reply as with one voice.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sarah Barnes had the honour of taking Gray Lady’s
-hand as she went to the carriage, and Tommy Todd closed
-the door without any one giving him a hint.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then, before closing the schoolhouse for the night, his
-special duty, he began a hunt for the rat-trap, which he
-soon found in the wood-box, but instead of taking the
-rats home as usual for Mike, his father’s terrier, to “have
-fun” with, he drowned them as quickly as possible in the
-brook that ran below the hill, for he thought to himself
-as they were things that must be killed Goldilocks would
-think this the kindest way.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='38' id='Page_38'></span><h1>IV<br/> <span class='sub-head'>THE ORCHARD PARTY</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Not only did Miss Wilde hear every detail of Gray
-Lady’s visit from her scholars, but the middle of the
-following week she received a letter from Gray Lady
-herself as well as one from the president of the school
-board.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady wrote that if she could succeed in interesting
-the children of the school at Foxes Corners in the birds
-and little animals about, then she meant to arrange
-another season so that the other four schools in the scattered
-district might have the same opportunity. For
-this reason she had asked and obtained leave of the school
-committee to have two Friday afternoons of each month
-given to the purpose. She also promised to send some
-bird books and pictures to the school and a large wall
-map of North America, so that after the children had
-learned to know a bird by sight and name they might
-trace its journeys the year through, and thus realize to
-what perils it is exposed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then followed the most interesting part of the letter to
-Miss Wilde and her children, and this is what it said:—</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is all very well to show children pictures and read them
-stories about the birds and tell them that it is their duty to be
-kind to them, but I wish them also to see and judge for themselves
-and learn to love their bird neighbours because they can’t
-<span class='pageno' title='39' id='Page_39'></span>
-help themselves. This is best done outdoors and under the
-trees, and there is no such charming place to meet the birds and
-be introduced to them as in an old apple orchard such as ours.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of course at this season birds are growing fewer every day,
-but this makes it all the easier to name those that remain, with
-less chance of confusion than in spring.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I propose to have an Orchard Party next Saturday, and I
-should be happy to have you bring as many of your pupils as
-possible to spend the day here. We will have luncheon in the
-orchard and the children will find there many bird-homes that
-the tenants have left, that will show them that man is not the
-only housebuilder and thoughtful parent.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If there are any children who do not care to come, pray do
-not force them in any way, but if possible let me know by Friday
-morning how many I may expect.”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was Wednesday when Miss Wilde told the children
-of the invitation, just before she rang the bell for noon
-recess. Then she asked all those who wished to go to
-the Orchard Party to stand up, and instantly thirteen of
-the fifteen present were on their feet, the two exceptions
-being Eliza and Dave.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Miss Wilde of course noticed this. However, she said
-nothing about it, knowing that with these two discontented
-ones the reason would be told before long and that
-very plainly. But when they returned from dinner she
-gave each one a sheet of clean paper and told them to
-write answers either of acceptance or regret, as they felt
-inclined, to Gray Lady, first writing a short note upon the
-blackboard herself so that they might see how to begin
-and end, and where to put the date, because some children
-who can spell separate words do not know how to put
-them together so as to express clearly and concisely what
-they wish to say in a note.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='40' id='Page_40'></span>
-Soon thirteen pens were scratching away industriously,
-while Eliza and Dave fingered theirs, fidgeted with the
-paper, and wriggled in their seats as if uncertain what to
-say or whether they would write at all.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Finally the teacher said, “If any one of you is needed
-at home on Saturday or cannot for any other reason go
-to the party, you may write that, but each child must
-send a reply; and be very careful, for I shall send the notes
-as they are written without corrections.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sarah Barnes was deputed to collect the papers, and
-after school was dismissed Miss Wilde glanced over the
-notes before enclosing them in one large envelope. Eliza’s
-read:—</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I would like to go to the party but my ma says to look at
-birds is silly and that when folks looks much at birds they get
-afraid to trim their hats with them, and my ma and me has
-birds on our Sunday hats and they look tastie, and we don’t
-want to get afraid so there’s no use in my going to the party
-’xcept to eat the lunch, which wouldn’t be fare.”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Miss Wilde’s first impulse was to leave out this curiously
-worded and badly spelled letter; then, as she read
-it a second time she smiled and said to herself, “Who
-knows but what this note will give Gray Lady a good
-idea of the other side of the question and of the objections
-she will meet?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Dave’s note was no more agreeable, though expressed
-rather more clearly:—</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I’d like to go up to your house, but when I told father bout
-the other day and you wanting us not to get birds’ eggs, he says
-he knows what some people want, and next thing will be to
-<span class='pageno' title='41' id='Page_41'></span>
-get me to sign that I won’t go trappin or shootin nothin, and
-spoiling my fun, and birds are only knuisances, except the kinds
-we can eat.”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This note also went with the others, but by Friday
-morning the two children, who had heard nothing talked
-of for two days but the party, began to wish that they
-were going, Eliza especially, for her mother said that
-morning, “You weren’t smart to refuse; you could have
-had a peep inside the General’s house, maybe, and I don’t
-believe she’d dassed said a word about birds on hats,
-with one of the company wearing ’em!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On Friday afternoon, when Miss Wilde asked the children
-to meet her at the hedge half a mile above the schoolhouse
-at ten o’clock the following morning, so that they might
-take a short cut across the fields, she noticed that Eliza
-and Dave hung behind the others, who as usual raced off
-in different directions toward home, and then Eliza, who
-was walking beside her, mumbled something about “wishing
-she hadn’t refused and supposing that it was too
-late now,” etc.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of course, it is not very polite to change one’s mind
-about an invitation,” said the teacher, “but Gray Lady
-wrote me last night that if you and Dave should feel
-differently about wishing to come, I might bring you,
-but that after to-morrow it would be too late.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At ten o’clock this bright September morning Gray
-Lady came out on the porch of the big white house, with
-the row of columns in front, that was known the country-side
-over as “the General’s.” There was a wide lawn
-in front of the house and on either side, arched by old elms,
-the leaves of which were now turning yellow, but there had
-<span class='pageno' title='42' id='Page_42'></span>
-been no frost and the flowers in the buds were still
-bright.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Back of the house was a flower garden, with grape and
-rose arbours on either side, under which chairs and little
-tables were placed invitingly. Beyond this garden was a
-maze of fruit bushes and the young orchard, and beyond
-this the old orchard, now running half wild, stretched downhill
-toward the river woods.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A lovelier place could not have been planned for either
-children or birds, or the people who love both, nor a more
-perfect place for all three to live together in peace and
-comfort.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Goldilocks was already out, and her faithful Ann Hughes
-was pushing her chair to and fro, for when one is eager
-and impatient it is very hard to have to sit still. Goldilocks
-was growing stronger every day and could walk a
-few yards all alone, but it tired her, and her mother
-thought the excitement of seeing so many children would
-be enough for one day.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Presently a head, with a cap on it, bobbed up over the
-last hump in the road below the house, and then another
-with a ribbon-trimmed hat upon it, the pair belonging to
-Tommy Todd and Sarah Barnes, who led the procession;
-and in a few minutes more the entire group had reached
-the porch and Sarah Barnes was repeating their names
-to Goldilocks. The five boys rather hung back, but
-that was to be expected of them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As a little later Gray Lady led the way down to the
-garden, she turned to Ann and gave her some directions
-for the house and was going to push the chair herself
-when Tommy Todd came forward and seized the handle,
-<span class='pageno' title='43' id='Page_43'></span>
-saying earnestly, “I can do that first-rate. When dad
-fell out of the haymow and broke his leg, I used to tote
-him all round the farm, and never bumped him a bit,—only
-in ploughed land and off roads you’ve got to go jest
-so easy.” And to illustrate he raised the front wheels of
-the chair and bearing on the handles lowered them again
-as they left the garden path for the rough grass-grown
-track that led to the orchard. Goldilocks looked up and
-smiled at him, and then at Sarah and Miss Wilde, who
-walked one on each side, neither of the four dreaming
-at that moment how much happier their lives would be
-because they had met.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why, the bars are gone and there is a brand new gate!”
-exclaimed Sarah Barnes, as they reached the opening in
-the stone fence that had been spanned by rough-hewn
-bars ever since she could remember. There, between
-strong cedar posts, hung a rustic gate, and above it was a
-double arch of the same material, into which the word
-BIRDLAND was interwoven in small sticks of the same
-wood.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That is a surprise that Jacob Hughes made for to-day,
-for this is my birthday party, you see, and some day mother
-is going to have a flagpole for Birdland with an eagle on
-top. Jacob is Ann’s brother,” she continued by way of
-explanation. “He used to be a sailor once, but now he’s
-come to live with us always. He is a carpenter, too, and
-he can whittle almost anything with his knife, and he
-makes the most beautiful bird-houses. I should really
-like to live in one myself—that is, of course, if I were a
-bird!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If you were a bird you’d be a bluebird, I guess,” said
-<span class='pageno' title='44' id='Page_44'></span>
-Sarah Barnes, as she glanced at the deep blue sailor suit,
-with the crimson shield in front, that Goldilocks wore.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I’d rather be a big owl,” said Tommy Todd, “and sit
-up in a tree in the woods and call out ‘Woo-oo-oo’ when
-people go by in the dark and scare ’em.” And he gave
-such a good imitation of an owl’s hoot that Bruce, the
-Collie dog, who always either walked or sat beside Goldilocks’
-chair, began to bark and circle wildly about, nose
-in air.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I’m very sure I shouldn’t care to be an owl, for then
-I should have to eat meadow-mice and moles, and swallow
-them, fur and all, and that would taste so mussy,” said
-Goldilocks.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So it came about that all the children were in very good
-humour when they entered Birdland on Goldilocks’ birthday,
-and Gray Lady smiled happily as she looked at the
-group with her precious daughter in the midst and thought
-that her experiment had begun with a happy omen.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Though many of the apples that grew on the trees of
-the old orchard would not have taken prizes at the
-country fair, they looked very tempting to the youngsters,—Baldwins,
-Spitzenburghs, and russets of two sorts, the
-green and the golden, were still on the trees, but there
-were great heaps of earlier varieties on the ground, and
-Jacob and another man were busy sorting them over.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Reading in the children’s eager faces what they would
-like to do, Gray Lady said, “You may run off now and
-have all the apples you want, and an hour for playing
-‘hide-and-seek,’ ‘red lion,’ or ‘Indians,’ in all the orchard
-and meadows and woodland yonder, and then when you
-hear a horn blow come back and you will find us over in
-<span class='pageno' title='45' id='Page_45'></span>
-the corner where the table and seats are placed.” Then,
-seeing that some of the girls had brought wraps or jackets
-with them, and also that the Sunday-best hats that they
-wore would be in the way of romping, Gray Lady told
-them to hang them on the tree nearest where she and
-Miss Wilde were seated.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At first Sarah and Tommy were not going with the
-others, but Goldilocks insisted that they should leave her
-in a gap where the rows of trees formed a long lane through
-which she could see across the meadows to the woods.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>These two children were quite at home in this neighbourhood,
-for had there not been a particular gap in the
-old fence through which they had taken a “short cut”
-down to the village ever since they could remember?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I wonder if Goldilocks knows that Quail nest in this
-brush and scratch around here like chickens,” said
-Tommy, as they left the orchard for the meadow.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and you got that three-story nest of yours last
-fall in the bough-apple tree,” said Sarah.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Eliza and Dave soon forgot all about their reasons for
-having at first refused to go to the party, and when they
-heard the horn tooting it seemed so soon that they could
-hardly believe that it was noon and luncheon time. And
-such a luncheon as it was! Around the trunk of the
-largest tree in the orchard, four tables were so placed that
-when covered they looked like one big table, with the tree
-growing through the centre.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The white cloth was bordered with russet and gold beech
-leaves, bleached ferns, and the deep red leaves of maples
-and oaks; grapes and oranges were piled high in baskets
-made of hollowed-out watermelons. Hard-boiled eggs
-<span class='pageno' title='46' id='Page_46'></span>
-were arranged in nests built of narrow, dainty sandwiches,
-little iced cakes rested upon plates of braided corn-husks,
-and Goldilocks’ birthday cake, with its twelve candles, was
-ornamented with little doves made of white sugar. When,
-last and best of all, the ice-cream appeared, without which
-no party is complete, it was in the form of a large white
-hen with a very red comb, while from beneath her peeped
-ice-cream eggs of many colours, chocolate-brown, pistachio-green,
-lemon-yellow, and strawberry-red, the nest being
-woven of spun sugar that so closely resembled fine straw
-that it was not until the children had tasted it that they
-were convinced that it really was candy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Country children are usually very silent when on their
-good behaviour, but such ice-cream had never been heard
-of either at Foxes Corners, the Centre, or the near-by
-manufacturing town, and muffled “ohs” and “ahs” of
-satisfaction would break out until, Miss Wilde having given
-no rebuking glance, a perfect babble of enthusiasm arose
-that lasted until the meal was ended.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why, what <span class='it'>is</span> that?” asked Ruth Banks, glancing as
-she spoke toward a very old tree that, having partly
-blown over, was resting on four of its branches that served
-as legs and made it appear like some strange goblin animal.
-On the upper side of this fallen tree, built around
-an upright branch, was a platform made of old wood with
-the bark on, and on the different sections of this were
-peanuts, shelled corn, pounded up dog crackers and
-buckwheat, while on a series of blunt spikes driven into
-the branch, were some lumps of suet and bits of bacon
-rind. As Ruth spoke a little black-and-white bird, with
-short tail and legs, was picking vigorously at the suet,
-<span class='pageno' title='47' id='Page_47'></span>
-using his stout bill with the quick sharp blows of a
-hammer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That? Oh—” said Goldilocks, “that is another
-birthday surprise that mother and Jake made for me.
-That is, mother planned it, and Jake did the work. It is
-a birds’ lunch-counter, and this winter we are going to
-keep all the different kinds of food on it that the birds
-like, so that they need never leave us because they are
-hungry.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There’s lots of things all around now that they can
-eat,” said Tommy Todd.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, of course, but we want them to become accustomed
-to the table, to know where the food is before they
-need it and think about going away, and wild birds are
-always suspicious of new things,” said Gray Lady.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was one more feature of the luncheon, but, as it
-was something that could not be put upon the table, it
-was hung in the tree overhead. This thing looked like
-a great bunch of gayly coloured autumn leaves tied tight
-together, and from it hung a number of red strings, as
-many in fact as there were people at the party.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady explained that each child in turn was to pull
-a string and, as they held back as if in doubt as to the
-result, she herself pulled the first cord and out dropped
-from the ball a long motto in yellow-fringed paper that,
-on being unrolled, contained beside the snapper a little
-paper roll on which was printed, “I am Mazulm, the
-Night Owl,” and when Gray Lady carefully unfolded the
-paper it proved to be a cap with strings, shaped like an
-owl’s head, which seemed to the children to wink its yellow
-tinsel eyes as Gray Lady placed it upon her fluffy hair.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='48' id='Page_48'></span>
-Then everybody pulled a string, and soon there hopped
-about a startling array of birds with human legs and arms,
-for every one entered fully into the fun of the thing, even
-quiet Miss Wilde wearing her Blue Jay cap and calling
-the bird’s note with good effect.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now run about and see all that you can before playtime
-is over, and we go into the study for our first bird
-lesson,” said Gray Lady.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I wish we could have a lunch-counter for birds at our
-school,” said Sarah, “but we haven’t any near-by tree.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps you may be able to have one—a tree is not
-always necessary. I have several ideas for lunch-counters
-in my scrap-book,” said Gray Lady.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As the children walked along, some swung their hats
-by the elastics in rhythm with their steps. The elastic
-of Eliza Clausen’s hat was new and strong and all of a
-sudden it gave a snap, and the hat flew into Goldilocks’
-lap. She had stretched out her hand to return it to its
-owner when she glanced at the hat, and her whole face
-changed and the smile faded from her lips. “Oh, Eliza!”
-she exclaimed appealingly, “you don’t know that those
-feathers on your hat are wings of dear, lovely Barn Swallows,
-or you wouldn’t wear it, would you?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ’Course I do,” said Eliza, taken off her guard and at
-heart now provoked and ashamed at having her hat seen,
-“and I’ve got lots more kinds at home. Ma’s got feathers
-on her hat, too—tasty feathers. Miss Barker from New
-York that boarded with us gave ’em to her; they cost a
-lot and stick right up in a nice stiff long bunch. They’re
-called regrets, and they don’t grow round here, but they’re
-ever so stylish.” And Eliza held her nose in the air with a
-<span class='pageno' title='49' id='Page_49'></span>
-sniff of scorn, a vulgar travesty that the pounding of her
-heart belied.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t think those stiff regret feathers in your mother’s
-hat are stylish,” said Sarah Barnes, quickly taking up the
-cudgels; “I think they look like fish bones!” Then
-Eliza began to cry, and both Goldilocks and Sarah looked
-distressed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady hesitated a moment and then said, “Eliza,
-dear, I’m sorry that this has happened just now. It is
-not generally a good plan for us to criticise one another’s
-clothing or habits, but there are times when it is necessary.
-Sooner or later I should have told you the reasons why
-people who stop to think and have kind hearts are no
-longer willing to wear the feathers of wild birds, and I’m
-sure that presently, when you stop and think, you will see
-that it is so.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then they all walked very quietly up to the library
-that had belonged to Goldilocks’ father, and when they
-were seated and had time to look about they saw that the
-walls above the book-cases were covered by pictures of
-birds in their natural colours.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On the table at one end of the room were piled some
-books, and by this Gray Lady seated herself, her scrap-book
-by her elbow,—a book, by the way, with which, before another
-season, they were to become as well acquainted as
-with their friend herself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Tommy Todd could not take his eyes from a picture
-of a tall white bird, with long neck and legs and a graceful
-sweep of slender feathers that drooped from its back over
-the tail. Holding up his hand, which at school always
-means that you wish to ask a question, Tommy said,
-<span class='pageno' title='50' id='Page_50'></span>
-“Please, what is that bird’s name? There’s a big, dark,
-gray one, shaped something like it, that I’ve seen by the
-mill-pond, but it’s not half so pretty. I’ve never seen one
-like this, here.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='egret1'></a>That bird,” said Gray Lady, “is the Snowy Heron,
-Egret, or <span class='it'>Re</span>gret Bird, as Eliza called it a few minutes
-ago, and I think that you will agree that the name is a
-very suitable one when I tell you the bird’s story.”</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='51' id='Page_51'></span><h1>V<br/> <span class='sub-head'>REASONS WHY</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When the children had satisfied their curiosity by
-looking about the room at the pictures and stuffed birds
-in cases as much as they wished and were comfortably
-seated, Gray Lady drew a chair into the midst of the
-group and began to talk, not a bit like a teacher in school,
-but as if she had dropped in among them to have a little
-chat.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When one has looked at something from one side all
-one’s life it is hard to realize that there is another,” she
-said, smiling brightly at Eliza and Dave, who chanced to
-be sitting together and who looked not only unhappy but
-very sullen.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have always happened to be with people who love
-everything that lives and grows. They have always
-been kind to birds because it never occurred to them to
-be otherwise. In watching them and learning their ways,
-they also learned that these winged beings had another
-value beside that of beauty of colour and song, that by
-fulfilling their destiny and eating many destructive bugs
-and animals they not only earn their own livelihood but
-help keep us all alive by protecting the farmers’ crops.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thus, when I went down to the school at Foxes Corners,
-I took it too much for granted that you all cared for
-birds and would naturally wish to protect them. I thought
-<span class='pageno' title='52' id='Page_52'></span>
-that all I had to do was to try to tell you interesting stories
-that would help you to remember the names and habits of
-the various birds. But Eliza’s hat, and a little note that
-I received from one of the boys which showed that he and
-his family considered all birds that are not good to eat
-as worse than useless, show me that some of you look at
-birds from another side. Those that do certainly have
-a right to, as a lawyer would say, have the case argued
-before them so that they may see for themselves why
-they are on the wrong side of the tree.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The birds were on the earth before man came, and in
-those far-back times they were able to look after and
-protect themselves, because the warfare they waged was
-only with animals often less intelligent than themselves.
-Do you remember the beautiful allegory of the creation
-of this earth written in Genesis which is also written
-and proven in the records the geologists find buried in the
-earth, and quarry from the rocks themselves?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When man came, in order that he might live comfortably
-and safely, many of his improvements brought death
-to his feathered friends. Take, for example, two objects
-that you all know,—the lighthouse at the end of the bar
-by the harbour head, and the telegraph and telephone
-wires that follow the highway near your schoolhouse.
-Men have need of both these things, and yet, in their travels
-on dark nights, thousands of birds, by flying toward the
-bright tower light that seems to promise them safety,
-or coming against the innumerable wires, are dashed to
-death.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of all the mounted birds that you see in the cases there,
-not one was deliberately killed by my husband, but they
-<span class='pageno' title='53' id='Page_53'></span>
-were picked up and sent to him by various lighthouse
-keepers along the coast who knew his interest and that he
-would gladly pay them for their trouble. By and by, when
-we come to the stories of the flight of some of those birds,
-you will be amazed to see what frail little things have
-ventured miles away in their travels; even tiny Humming-birds
-came to my husband in this way. This danger
-grows greater every day because of the many tall buildings
-in the cities that are almost always located by rivers,
-for to follow these waterways seems to be the birds’
-favourite way of travelling.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE USES OF BIRDS</h2>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:0.5em;'><span class='it'>What the Birds do for us</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps even those of you who love birds have never
-thought very much about their ways of life. You are so
-accustomed to seeing them fly about, and to hearing them
-sing, that you do not realize what a strange, unnatural,
-silent thing springtime would be if the birds should all
-suddenly disappear.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, indeed, the world would be sad and lonely without
-these beautiful winged voices. But something even more
-dreadful would happen should they leave us: the people
-of the world would be in danger of starving, because the
-birds would not be here to feed on the myriad worms and
-insects that eat the wheat and corn and fruits upon which
-we, together with other animals, depend for food.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The insects gnawing at the roots of the pasture grasses
-would destroy both the summer grazing for the cattle
-and the hay for winter fodder; if worms destroyed the
-<span class='pageno' title='54' id='Page_54'></span>
-forests, there would be no trees for firewood, and also the
-lack of shade would make the sources of our rivers dry up
-and we should soon suffer for water.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Girls and boys might never think of this, but the Wise
-Men who live in Washington, and form the association
-known as the Biological Survey, as well as those of the
-Departments of Agriculture in each state, thought of this
-long ago.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They have worked hard and proved the truth of this
-whole matter, and now know exactly upon what each
-kind of bird feeds; and laws are everywhere being made
-to protect the useful birds from people who are either so
-stupid or so vicious that they think a bird is something
-to be shot or stoned, and that the robbing of nests of eggs
-is a clever thing to do.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Any child who stops to think must realize one thing:
-As almost all birds live on animal food during the nesting
-season, and feed their young with it, and many kinds eat
-it all the year, it follows that the more birds we have the
-fewer bugs there will be.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Also those birds who feed on seeds and wild fruits
-destroy in the winter season quantities of weed seeds that
-would spring up and choke the crops, while they sow the
-seeds of wild fruits and berries, because the pits in these
-seeds, being hard, are dropped undigested.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘But,’ says some one, ‘the Robins and Catbirds came
-in our garden and bit the ripe side of the strawberries
-and cherries that father was growing for market, and we
-had to shoot them to make them stay away.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This is all true: some birds will steal a few berries,
-but for this mischief they do good all the rest of the long
-<span class='pageno' title='55' id='Page_55'></span>
-season; so pray ask your father to put only powder, a
-‘blank cartridge,’ as it is called, in the gun, that it may
-give the birds warning to keep off, but not kill them; and
-let him save all the bullets and shot for the Coward
-Crow, himself a nest robber, the Great Horned Owl, the
-Hen and Chicken Hawks, and the English Sparrow.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In the short stories that I am going to read or tell you
-of the birds, I will try to speak of the chief food of each,
-so that you may put a good mark beside its name in your
-memory, and try to realize that these birds, beautiful as
-many are, still have a deeper claim upon you. I wish you
-to see that they, as well as you, are citizens of this great
-Republic and do their part for the public good, which,
-next to the care and love of home, should be the chief
-ambition of us all, men or women.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The wise men know this and they have made laws to
-protect the birds and other animals from cruelty and
-destruction, just as they have made laws to protect all
-other citizens. Listen to what your state forbids you to
-do,—to the laws that if you break you must and should
-be punished:—</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>WARNING! WHAT THE LAW OF YOUR STATE SAYS ABOUT SONG-BIRDS</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<span class='it'>No person shall kill</span>, catch, or have in possession, living
-or dead, at any time, any wild bird other than a game-bird,
-nor any part thereof, except the English Sparrow,
-Crow, Great Horned Owl, or the Hawks, other than the
-Osprey or Fish Hawk. No person shall take, destroy,
-or disturb, or have in possession the nest or eggs of any
-<span class='pageno' title='56' id='Page_56'></span>
-wild bird, and the sale of these birds or shipment out of the
-state is forbidden.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>Hunting or shooting on Sunday is forbidden.</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is <span class='it'>unlawful</span> to kill Fish Hawks, Eagles, Gulls, Terns,
-Loons, Divers, Grebes, Doves, Wild Pigeons, Yellowhammers,
-Meadowlarks, or Herons at any time. (These
-are not game-birds in the reading of the law.)</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We are living in the state of Connecticut, but this is
-the substance of the law concerning the taking of eggs or
-birds other than game-birds (except when the Wise Men
-need them for Museums and have special permission) in
-the greater number of states.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Tommy Todd, will you kindly go to the coloured map
-hanging on the door yonder and point out as I read, those
-few states that allow the killing of song-birds. This will
-be much easier than for you to learn the names of those
-wise states that, like our own, give citizen birds full protection.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The east and middle west stand solid for protection,
-so you must begin on the Canadian boundary with North
-Dakota, then follow Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and
-Indian Territory, a bad blot in the centre of the map, but
-perhaps some day soon, if all the school children there
-learn about the birds, they will beg their fathers and
-uncles who go to the legislature to make laws to protect
-their birds also. For if they wait until they themselves
-grow up, some kinds of birds may have gone forever and
-it will be too late.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Fortunately, you see, there are states next that form
-<span class='pageno' title='57' id='Page_57'></span>
-a sort of bird bridge of refuge; and then comes New Mexico,
-Arizona, Utah, Nevada, Idaho, and Montana, without
-good laws; but fortunately for the coast birds, Washington,
-Oregon, and California are on our side, and it is the duty
-of every boy and girl as well as every man and woman
-to learn the laws of the state where they live, and keep
-them.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>CRUELTY TO WILD ANIMALS</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There are many children of foreign birth who perhaps
-would not break the laws of this country if they knew of
-them, but do so innocently because they either do not
-know, or do not speak English well enough to understand
-them fully, and think that in this country, where they
-have so much liberty, they are free to do as they like about
-everything.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There are also Americans, I am sorry to say, as well as
-foreign-born, who have a heartless streak in them, and
-first show it by cruelty to helpless, harmless animals.
-This should be stopped, as much for their good as future
-citizens as for the welfare of the wild animals themselves,
-for the child who will kill or torture a dumb beast has the
-germs of murder in him that may later, in a fit of passion,
-break out toward a fellow-being.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What do you think of boys—yes, and girls, for I saw
-one last spring—who would spend an afternoon in stoning
-the hanging nest of an Oriole until the nestlings, dying,
-stopped their pitiful cries and fell to the ground in the rags
-of their wonderful home, while their parents circled about
-in agony? Sad to say, these were American-born children,
-<span class='pageno' title='58' id='Page_58'></span>
-too, who live not far from Foxes Corners, who very well
-knew right from wrong.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When children have this evil mind, the laws of the state
-must be used to cleanse,—just as the law may enter the
-house and do away with contagious disease. Cruelty is
-often as infectious as sickness; and it is, in fact, a sickness
-of the mind. It is quite as necessary sometimes that the
-heart should go to school and be taught kindness as that
-we should learn to read.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>HOW WE CAN PROTECT BIRDS</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We can help birds simply by not hurting them and leaving
-them as free as possible to live out their joyous lives;
-but we can do much more if we will leave some little bushy
-nooks about the farm or garden, where they may nest in
-private, place food in convenient places during the long,
-cold winter months for those birds that remain with us,
-and <span class='it'>make it a rule never to raise more kittens than we need</span>
-to keep barn and house free of rats or than we can feed and
-care for.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Silly people, who shirk responsibility, often say, ‘Oh,
-I couldn’t think of drowning a kitten,’ and yet they will
-let dozens of them grow up unfed and uncared for, or
-leave a litter by the roadside, until in many places a breed
-of gaunt, half-wild cats roam about destroying the eggs
-and young of song-birds, game-birds, and domestic fowls
-alike.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A nice, comfortable house or barn cat is one thing, but
-the savage outcast is quite another, and should no more
-be let live than a weasel or a skunk.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='pageno' title='59' id='Page_59'></span>HOUSING AND FEEDING</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When places become thickly settled, and villages
-grow into towns and towns into cities, one of the first
-things that troubles the father and mother of a family
-is to find house-room, a suitable place to live, that shall be
-healthful for the children, and yet not be too far from the
-father’s work, and many and many a family have had to
-move to inconvenient places because such a home could
-not be found near by.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Strange as it may at first seem, our little fellow-citizens,
-the birds, have this same trouble.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In an open, half-wooded farming country there are
-plenty of nesting haunts, and running brooks and ponds
-for the birds who need water by their homestead. But
-presently perhaps a railway comes by; the land is bought
-up and the woods cut down for railway ties, the brush is
-cleared from old pastures and they are turned into house-lots.
-Old orchards, like ours here, are done away with,
-and everything is ‘cleaned up.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This is as it should be, and a sign of progress; but where
-are the birds that Nature has told to nest in tree hollows,
-like the Bluebird, Chickadee, the Tree Swallow, Downy
-and Hairy Woodpecker, and the jolly Yellowhammer,
-to find homes?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You will often hear people say, ‘It is too bad the Bluebirds
-are dying out;’ but if somewhere about the place you
-will fasten a hollow log or a square bird-box with a single
-round opening in it to a high fence-post or to a pole set up
-on purpose, you will soon see that the Bluebirds have not
-died out, but that they have been discouraged in their
-house-hunting.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='60' id='Page_60'></span>
-“It is a mistake to make bird-houses too large, or to have
-many rooms in them, unless you are hoping to attract
-Purple Martins, who like to live in colonies. Birds like
-a whole building to themselves quite as well as people,
-and they do not like people to come too close and peep in
-at their windows and doors, either.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Autumn and winter are the best seasons for making
-and placing bird-boxes; it gives time for them to become
-‘weathered’ before nesting time, and birds are apt to be
-suspicious of anything that looks too new and fine, and
-I have a plan that I think you will like by which you boys
-can not only make bird-houses for your own yards and
-farms, but make them to sell to others as well.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is also a kind act for those who live on farms to leave
-a few stacks of cornstalks or a sheaf of rye standing in a
-fence corner as a shelter for the game-birds, who are often
-driven by cold to burrow in the snow for cover, and, frequently,
-when the crust freezes above them, die of starvation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Doing this is wise as well as kind, for it helps to keep
-alive and increase these valuable food-birds, and makes
-better sport for the farmers in the time when the law
-says they may go a-hunting.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of course, in every country school even, there are children
-who do not live on farms, but these can club together
-and do what they can to feed and shelter the birds that
-come about the schoolhouse. You have all seen Goldilocks’
-lunch-table for feeding the winter birds, and though Sarah
-Barnes would like to have such a one down at the school,
-others perhaps may think it foolish.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As you already know, some birds eat insects and others
-<span class='pageno' title='61' id='Page_61'></span>
-seed foods, or, to put it another way, some birds prefer
-meat and some bread; so if you wish to suit all kinds you
-must feed them with sandwiches, made of both bread and
-meat.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Sandwiches for birds!—how foolish!’ I hear some
-one say. Stop and think a moment, and you will see that
-it is merely a way of expression, a figure of speech, as
-it is called.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Give the birds the material, crumbs, cracked corn,
-hayloft sweepings, bits of fat bacon, suet, or bones that
-have some rags of meat attached, and they will make
-their own sandwiches, each one to its taste.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If this food is merely scattered upon the ground, it will
-attract mice, rats, and other rodents, but if a regular
-lunch-counter is prepared for the food you will find that
-the birds will appreciate the courtesy, become liberal
-customers, and run up a long bill; this, however, they will
-pay with music when spring comes.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>A SUGGESTION FOR THE LUNCH-COUNTER</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Almost every school has a flagpole, and, while some are
-fastened to the building itself, like the one at Foxes
-Corners, many stand free and are planted in the yard.
-However, there is one old tree at your school and I will
-ask Jacob to build you a lunch-counter, if you will promise
-to see that it is kept well filled with provisions.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This is the way it should be made: Around the pole a
-square or circular shelf about eight inches wide can be
-fastened, four feet from the ground, and edged with a
-strip of beading, barrel hoops, or the like. A dozen
-<span class='pageno' title='62' id='Page_62'></span>
-tenpenny nails should be driven on the outside edge at
-intervals, like the spokes to a wheel, and the whole neatly
-painted to match the pole.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then each week we will ask Miss Wilde to appoint a
-child as <span class='it'>Bird Steward</span>, his or her duties being to collect
-the scraps after the noon dinner-hour and place them
-neatly on the counter, the crusts and crumbs on the shelf
-and the meat to be hung on the spikes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Nothing will come amiss—pine cones, beechnuts,
-the shells of hard-boiled eggs broken fine, apple cores,
-half-cleaned nuts; and if the children will tell their parents
-of the counter, they will often put an extra scrap or so in
-the dinner pail to help the feast. Or the fortunate children
-whose fathers keep the market, the grocery store,
-or the mill, may be able to obtain enough of the wastage
-to leave an extra supply on Friday, so that the pensioners
-need not go hungry over Sunday.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“All the while the flag will wave gayly above little Citizen
-Bird, as under its protection he feeds upon his human
-brothers’ bounty.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Here is the story of one of these lunch-counters that
-proved a success. It was written to encourage others,
-and I will read it so that you may know that bird lunch-counters
-belong to real and not to fairy-tales.”</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>AN ADIRONDACK LUNCH-COUNTER</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In the Adirondacks in March, 1900, the snow fell over
-four feet deep, and wild birds were driven from the deep
-woods to seek for food near the habitation of man. It
-occurred to me that a lunch-counter with “meals at all
-<span class='pageno' title='63' id='Page_63'></span>
-hours” might suit the convenience of some of the visitors
-to my orchard, so I fixed a plank out in front of the house,
-nailed pieces of raw and cooked meat to it, sprinkled bread-crumbs
-and seeds around, and awaited results.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The first caller was a Chickadee. He tasted the meat,
-seemed to enjoy it, and went off for his mate. They did
-not seem in the least afraid when I stood on the veranda
-and watched them, and after a time paid but little attention
-to the noises in the house; but only one would eat at
-a time. The other one seemed to keep watch. I set
-my camera and secured a picture of one alone. While
-focussing for the meat one Chickadee came and commenced
-eating in front of the camera, and a second later
-its mate perched on my hand as I turned the focussing
-screw.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I saw the Chickadees tear off pieces of meat and suet
-and hide them in the woodpile. This they did repeatedly,
-and later in the day would come back and eat them if the
-lunch-counter was empty.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>My observation in this respect is confirmed by a lumber-man,
-who noticed that when eating his lunch, back in the
-woods, the Chickadees were very friendly and would carry
-off scraps of meat and hide them, coming back for more,
-time and time again.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The next day another pair of Chickadees and a pair of
-White-breasted Nuthatches came. The Nuthatches had
-a presumptuous way of taking possession, and came first
-one and then both together. The Chickadees flew back
-and forth in an impatient manner, but every time they
-went near the meat the Nuthatches would fly or hop
-toward them, uttering what sounded to me like a nasal,
-<span class='pageno' title='64' id='Page_64'></span>
-French <span class='it'>no, no, no</span>, and the Chickadees would retire to
-await their turn when the Nuthatches were away.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The news of the free lunch must have travelled as rapidly
-in the bird world as gossip in a country town usually
-does, for before long a beautiful male Hairy Woodpecker
-made his appearance, and came regularly night and morning
-for a number of days. Hunger made him bold, and
-he would allow me to walk to within a few feet of him
-when changing plates in the camera. It was interesting
-to note his position on the plank. When he was eating,
-his tail was braced to steady his body. He did not stand
-on his feet, except when I attracted his attention by
-tapping on the window, but when eating put his feet out
-in front of him in a most peculiar manner. This position
-enabled him to draw his head far back and gave more
-power to the stroke of his bill, and shows that Woodpeckers
-are not adapted for board-walking.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Of course, the smaller Downy Woodpeckers were
-around; they always are in the orchard toward spring.
-I also had a flock of Redpolls come a number of times
-after a little bare spot of ground began to show, but,
-although they ate seeds I put on the ground, they would
-not come up on the lunch-counter and did not stay very
-long. Beautiful Pine Grosbeaks came, too, but they
-preferred picking up the seeds they found under the
-maple trees. The American Goldfinches, in their Quaker
-winter dresses, called, but the seeds on some weeds in
-the garden just peeping above the snow pleased them better
-than a more elaborate lunch, and saying “per-chic-o-ree”
-they would leave.—<span class='sc'>F. A. Van Sant</span>, Jay, N.Y., in <span class='it'>Bird
-Lore</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='65' id='Page_65'></span>
-“Now, while you move about and rest yourselves a few
-moments, <a id='egret2'></a>I will ask Dave and Tommy to bring that picture
-of the great white bird from the easel and place it by the
-table here, while I look in this portfolio for another to
-put with it. See—here is a bird that is much taller
-than the men beside it and wears bunches of plumes on
-tail and wings. These two birds represent the wrong
-and right side of feather wearing!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What are their real names? The Snowy Heron and
-the <a id='ost1'></a>Ostrich, both birds of warm climate. I’m always
-glad when children wish to know the <span class='it'>real</span> names of birds
-and try to remember them. No one can become actually
-a friend of a person or an animal whose name is merely
-general. Has Miss Wilde ever read you a little poem there
-is about the pleasure of learning <span class='it'>real</span> names? No? I
-will repeat it and perhaps she will let you learn it next
-Friday.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='66' id='Page_66'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>MATILDA ANN</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>I knew a charming little girl,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Who’d say, “Oh, see that flower!”</p>
-<p class='line0'>Whenever in the garden</p>
-<p class='line0'>Or woods she spent an hour.</p>
-<p class='line0'>And sometimes she would listen,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And say, “Oh, hear that bird!”</p>
-<p class='line0'>Whenever in the forest</p>
-<p class='line0'>Its clear, sweet note was heard.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>But then I knew another—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Much wiser, don’t you think?</p>
-<p class='line0'>Who never called a bird a “bird”;</p>
-<p class='line0'>But said “the bobolink”</p>
-<p class='line0'>Or “oriole” or “robin”</p>
-<p class='line0'>Or “wren,” as it might be;</p>
-<p class='line0'>She called them all by their first names,</p>
-<p class='line0'>So intimate was she.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And in the woods or garden</p>
-<p class='line0'>She never picked a “flower”;</p>
-<p class='line0'>But “anemones,” “hepaticas,”</p>
-<p class='line0'>Or “pansies,” by the hour.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Both little girls loved birds and flowers,</p>
-<p class='line0'>But one love was the best:</p>
-<p class='line0'>I need not point the moral;</p>
-<p class='line0'>I’m sure you see the rest.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>For would it not be very queer,</p>
-<p class='line0'>If when, perhaps, you came,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Your parents had not thought worth while</p>
-<p class='line0'>To give you any name?</p>
-<p class='line0'>I think you would be quite upset,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And feel your brain a-whirl,</p>
-<p class='line0'>If you were not “Matilda Ann,”</p>
-<p class='line0'>But just “a little girl”!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'><span style='font-size:smaller'>—<span class='sc'>Alice W. Rollins</span>, in the <span class='it'>Independent</span>.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i095.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0006' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>SNOWY HERON</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='67' id='Page_67'></span><h1>VI<br/> <span class='sub-head'>FEATHERS AND HATS</span></h1></div>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>The White Heron</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps the boys may not be interested in hearing
-about feathers and hats,” said Gray Lady, “but the two
-birds whose pictures you see here are very interesting in
-themselves; and it is well that both boys and girls should
-realize all the different reasons why some kinds of birds
-have been growing fewer and fewer, until it is necessary
-to take active measures for their protection.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Boys have robbed nests and thoughtless men have
-shot and caged song-birds, and have often killed many
-more food-birds than they could eat, merely for what they
-call the ‘sport’ of killing.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Girls who seldom rob nests, unless they are following
-the examples of their brothers, and women who would
-shrink from touching firearms or killing a bird, will still,
-as far as the law allows and sometimes further, wear
-birds’ feathers on their hats.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not many years ago we often saw whole birds, such as
-Humming-birds, Swallows,—like those on Eliza’s hat,—Bluebirds,
-and many of the pretty little warblers used
-as hat trimming. To-day, this is against the law in all
-of the really civilized of the United States, and any
-one offering the feathers of these birds for sale may
-be arrested and fined.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='68' id='Page_68'></span>
-“Please, is it any harm to wear roosters’ feathers or
-Guinea hens’ and ducks’ wings?” asked Ruth Banks.
-“ ’Cause I’ve got two real nice duck wings and a lovely
-spangled rooster tail—home-made ducks, you know, that
-we hatch under hens,” she added.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, it is no harm to use the feathers of domestic
-fowls, or other food-birds,” said Gray Lady; “only, unless
-we have raised the fowls from which they come ourselves,
-it is not easy to be sure about the matter, unless the
-feathers are left in their natural colours. They may tell
-you in a shop that the wing or breast you see is made of
-dyed chicken or pigeon feathers. You must take their
-word that this is so, and many times they may have
-been misled in the matter themselves.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Birds’ feathers, it cannot be denied, are very beautiful
-and ornamental, but to my mind it is very bad taste to
-wear anything dead merely for ornament,—furs, of
-course, keep the wearer warm as well,—but I myself do
-not care for any hat trimming that can only be had by
-taking life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is one kind of feather,—the Heron or Egret
-plume,—that I am not only sorry, but ashamed, to say is
-still in use, because it comes from birds that live in other
-countries, and these birds we cannot yet protect. Not
-only must these birds be killed to obtain the coveted
-plumes, but the killing is done in a brutal way, and at a
-time of year—the nesting season—when, according to
-the wise law of nature, every bird should be cherished
-and its privacy respected.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Look at this great White Heron in the picture beside
-me here. He measures two feet from the tip of his bill
-<span class='pageno' title='69' id='Page_69'></span>
-up over his head to his tail, though you cannot really see
-the tail as he is pictured on account of the beautiful
-sweeping cloak of fine feathers that cover it. This bird
-has yellow eyes and feet, beak and legs partly yellow and
-partly black, but is everywhere else white of an almost
-dazzling brilliancy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Many birds wear more beautiful and highly coloured
-feathers in the nesting season than at any other. These
-Herons, both male and female, are pure white all the year
-through, but as the nesting season approaches a change
-comes,—a number of slender plumes grow out from
-between the shoulders and curve gracefully over the tail,
-forming a complete mantle, and it is these feathers that
-are sought by the professional plume hunters to be made
-into the feathery tufts sold as egrets, though the word
-Eliza used by a slip of the tongue, <span class='it'>re</span>grets, I think much
-more suitable, for surely any one with a warm woman’s
-heart would <span class='it'>regret</span> ever having worn them if she realized
-how they are obtained.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Miss Barker gave my mother hers,” put in Eliza,
-“ ’cause she’d just found out where they came from and
-dassn’t wear it to church ’cause her minister belongs to a
-society that wouldn’t like it. She didn’t tell us why,
-though; she only said regrets was counted stylish in
-N’ York.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said Gray Lady, “that is all the idea some people,
-who think themselves very clever, have of honour. To
-give away a feather that one cannot wear, for fear of what
-some one will say, is like giving stolen goods to some one
-who does not know that they are stolen.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not many years ago this Snowy Heron and his cousin,
-<span class='pageno' title='70' id='Page_70'></span>
-the American Egret, almost twice his size, might be found
-everywhere in the swampy groves of temperate and
-tropical America, from New Jersey across to Minnesota
-and Oregon, and as far south as Patagonia in South
-America. Within a few years I have seen one or two in
-autumn in the marshes back of our bay below, for like
-many birds they wander about after the nesting season.
-Their food consists of small fish,—shrimps, water-beetles,
-etc.,—so that they never make their homes far from moist
-places. Now, in this country at least, the race is nearly
-gone, and it will be only by the strictest laws and most
-complete protection that it will be possible for the tribe to
-increase. To regain its old footing cannot be hoped for.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The beginning of the tragedy came by woman’s love
-of finery, and only by her resolutely giving it up can the
-trouble be ended.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Through some happening it was discovered that this
-mantle of feathers could be made into ornaments for hats
-and hair that were not only widely sought, but brought
-a high price. This was enough; bands of hunters were
-organized to search the swamps for the Herons and obtain
-the plumes <span class='it'>when they were in the best condition</span>. How it
-was to be done did not matter, and indeed it has taken the
-world many years to realize the horror of it all.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“These Herons breed in colonies. The nest, a stoutly
-built, slightly hollowed platform of small sticks, reeds,
-etc., is placed either in a tree or tall bush, care being
-always taken to keep it safely above the water-line. As
-the birds are very sociable, a single bush or tree would
-often contain many nests.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When the nesting season was well under way and the
-<span class='pageno' title='71' id='Page_71'></span>
-feather cloaks in their first perfection, through the lagoons
-and sluggish waterways came noiseless flat-bottomed
-boats, low on the water, and poled by the guiding Indian
-or half-breed. Astern sat the plume hunters, guns at
-rest and eyes eagerly scanning the foliage above their
-heads. ‘Ah! here is a rookery at last!’ (rookery being
-the name given to colonies of many birds beside the
-Rook). The parent birds are sailing gracefully to and
-fro, their long legs trailing behind, while they feed the
-newly hatched nestlings. For with the most crafty
-calculation the plume hunters wait for the time when the
-birds are hatched because they know that the parents are
-then less likely to take alarm and fly beyond reach.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The boat is stopped by the guide, who grasps an overhanging
-branch close to where an opening in the under-brush
-gives a good view of the colony.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Bang! bang! Bodies crashing through the branches
-and pitiful cries of alarm mingle for several minutes, as
-the confused birds rise, remember their young, and return
-to die! When the smoke has lifted, the hunters clear the
-ground of the dead and dying and piling them in the boat
-begin to tear off that portion of the back, the ‘scalp,’
-that holds the precious plumes. If all the birds were dead,
-the horror would be less, but time is precious; there are
-other rookeries to be visited that day, and so the still
-breathing and fluttering birds are also torn and mutilated.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then the boat glides on, leaving death behind. Yes,
-but not the silence that usually goes with death, for there
-in a hundred nests are the clamouring hungry broods that
-will die slowly of hunger, or be victims of snakes or birds
-of prey,—the happier ending of the two.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='72' id='Page_72'></span>
-“After a day’s work the plume hunters find ground dry
-enough for a camp, where they pass the night, and at dawn
-they again glide forth on their ghastly errand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sometimes storm, pestilence, and famine may nearly
-exterminate a species of bird or beast, but Nature in some
-way, if she still needs the type, always manages to restore
-and undo her own mischief; but, as a lover of these birds
-has said, ‘When man comes, slaughters, and exterminates,
-Nature does not restore!’ It is only the men and women
-who have done the evil that may be allowed to undo it,
-and sometimes it is too late.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now you see why no one should wear egret plumes,
-the feathers of the bird that has been called ‘The Bonnet
-Martyr.’ Girls and boys, whoever you may be, who hear
-or read this story of the vanishing Snowy Heron, be
-courageous, and wherever or whenever you see one of
-these regret plumes ask the wearer if she knows how it was
-obtained and tell her its story, for whether the bird who
-bore it lived in this or another country the manner of
-taking is the same.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There have been foolish stories told of raising these
-birds in captivity and gathering the plumes after they are
-shed. This is not true. They would, when shed naturally,
-be worn and useless, and the egret will always be what one
-of the Wise Men has called it, the ‘White Badge of Cruelty.’”</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk100'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now, Tommy Todd,” said Gray Lady, “you may take
-down the Heron and put the other picture in its place.
-The bird in it is not graceful and beautiful like the Heron;
-in fact, it looks more like some sort of a camel than a bird,
-<span class='pageno' title='73' id='Page_73'></span>
-but its story is much more cheerful. Its feathers may
-be worn by every one, for it is not necessary to kill or hurt
-the bird in order to get them. Some of you have guessed
-its name already, I am sure.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><a id='ost2'></a><span class='it'>The Ostrich</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ostriches live in warm countries as well as Herons, but
-here the comparison begins and ends, for the Ostrich loves
-the open sandy desert and was originally found wild in
-Africa, Arabia, and also in Persia. The Ostrich, the largest
-bird now alive, is most peculiar both in appearance and
-habits. Standing sometimes eight feet in height, it has a
-long, almost bare neck, and small stupid-looking head;
-its wings are so small that it cannot fly, but its strong legs,
-ending in two-toed feet, give it the power of running as
-fast as a horse, and it can kick like a horse also, with this
-difference,—an Ostrich kicks forward so if you wish to be
-perfectly safe you must stand <span class='it'>behind</span> it! At the base of the
-wings and tail grow tufts of long and substantial feathers,
-the wing tufts being the longer and best. In truth, but for
-the fact of the feathers that cover its body, no one would
-guess that it was a bird, and even with these it looks
-like some strange beast that has put on a borrowed coat
-to go, perhaps, to the great Elephant Dance that little
-Toomai saw once upon a time in the Jungle, about which
-Rudyard Kipling tells so well that sometimes we wake
-up in the morning and really believe that we ourselves
-have ridden to the dance upon the great Elephant instead
-of Toomai.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In wild life birds have always been hunted for their
-<span class='pageno' title='74' id='Page_74'></span>
-plumage as well as for food. It is thought that the savage
-at first killed solely for food, and then used the hides of
-beasts and feathers of birds for clothing and decoration
-as an afterthought, some of the royal garments of kings
-and chiefs of tribes being woven of countless rare feathers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When man as we know him, white or civilized man as
-he is called, explored wild countries, he introduced two
-things that wrought great harm to wild creatures and
-savages alike,—the money-trading instinct and strong
-drink. In order to buy this drink, which always proved
-his ruin, the savage looked about for something to offer
-in exchange, and what was there for him but to kill beast
-or bird and offer some part of it in trade?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In this way the elephants’ tusks, of which ivory is
-made, rare furs, alligator hides, and Ostrich eggs and
-plumes, as well as rough uncut gems, became known to
-the people of Europe.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The savages hunted the wild Ostrich with bow and
-arrows that were sometimes poisoned, and the bird being
-killed, of course, yielded but one crop of feathers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As the Ostrich cannot fly and is a very stupid bird,
-living in open deserts where there were few places to hide,
-it was very easily destroyed—its only means of escape
-being to outrun its pursuers, who were on foot. But
-presently when firearms were used to hunt him, the Ostrich
-seemed as utterly doomed as the White Heron.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i104.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0007' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>CLIPPING OSTRICH PLUMES</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But the day came when men who realized the great
-demand there was for these feathers and the profit to be
-made by selling them, tried the experiment of raising the
-birds in captivity, just as we do our barnyard fowl, treating
-them kindly, and feeding them well, so that they might
-<span class='pageno' title='75' id='Page_75'></span>
-yield not only one but many crops of plumes, because they
-knew that the Ostrich is not only long-lived but, like the
-smaller birds, changes its feathers every year.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Ostrich was a difficult bird to catch and tame
-when full grown, for at that time they weigh several
-hundred pounds and their habit of kicking has to be
-remembered, the same as with a wild horse. So the plan
-was tried of collecting the eggs and hatching them out,
-and even this was not as easy as it seems.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Though Ostriches are so foolish that, when chased, they
-will often stand still and hide their heads in the sand,
-evidently thinking that if they cannot see their pursuers,
-they themselves cannot be seen, they make devoted
-parents. And this plan was so successful that Ostriches
-are now raised like domestic fowls, not only in Africa but
-in this country, where the birds were introduced in 1882,
-and there are now many successful Ostrich farms in Arizona,
-California, and Florida, where alfalfa can be raised
-all the year, for this is the best food for them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The breeding habits of the Ostrich in captivity are
-different from those of the wild birds of the desert who live
-half a dozen hens to a family like our barnyard fowls.
-The nest is merely a hollow in the sand a foot or so deep,
-and several broad, made by the pressure of the great
-breast-bone and sides. Eggs are laid, one every other
-day, until a ‘clutch’ of a dozen or more has accumulated,
-and these must be kept warm for nearly a month and a
-half before the chicks will be hatched.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When you realize that one of these eggs would make
-an omelet as large as two dozen and a half hens’ eggs,
-and weighs three or four pounds, so that the omelet
-<span class='pageno' title='76' id='Page_76'></span>
-would feed an entire family, you will understand that it
-takes both patience on the part of the parents and a great
-deal of heat to hatch these eggs. Sometimes the owners
-prefer to hatch the eggs in an incubator.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You have some of you seen a Robin stand up in the nest
-and shuffle her feet; when she does this she is turning
-her eggs, and the great Ostrich eggs are also turned every
-day. When domesticated, the mother Ostrich tends the
-eggs during the daylight hours, but the father takes her
-place in the later afternoon and remains until morning.
-This is evidently the result of the instinct for colour protection.
-The gray female shows the least plainly in daylight
-on the sand, while the black-and-white male can
-scarcely be seen at night. In fact, the domesticated
-bird is a creature of such regular habits that, according
-to reliable accounts, the male takes his place on the
-nest promptly at 5 <span style='font-size:smaller'>P.M.</span> and does not move until 9 <span style='font-size:smaller'>A.M.</span>
-This account does not say whether Mrs. O. lets her
-husband have an evening out once in a while to go to his
-club or lodge, but perhaps, as he has the rest of the year
-to himself, he does not expect a vacation in the important
-nesting season. But one thing is known to be true,
-that Ostriches are very devoted to each other and that
-the pairs when once mated remain together for life, an
-attribute of many birds, especially the very long-lived
-species. It is said that the wild Ostrich lives to be 100
-years old. This may be true, for Ostriches who have been
-captives 40 years are still alive and healthy. In the
-deserts Ostriches are supposed to be able to go without
-water for days at a time, but in captivity they drink
-freely every day. This either proves that the habits alter
-<span class='pageno' title='77' id='Page_77'></span>
-very much, or else, that those who reported their wild
-life did not see correctly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When the young Ostriches are hatched, they are about
-the size of a Plymouth Rock hen and are mottled and
-fuzzy. They grow very rapidly, so that at nine months
-old the bird will be nearly six feet tall, and after this the
-plumes are plucked at intervals of nine months; the
-feathers do not reach perfection, however, until the third
-year, and the birds do not reach maturity and mate until
-they are four years old,—and a fine male Ostrich of six
-or seven years of age is worth $1000 and will yield from
-$50 to $80 worth of feathers yearly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When a little over a year old, the mottled plumage that
-the young birds wear slowly changes, the female becomes
-a dusky gray, and the male glossy black, though they
-both grow long white wing-plumes. By this you may learn
-that all the gayly coloured plumes that you see are dyed,
-and even those that remain black or white go through
-many processes of cleansing and curling before they are
-sold in the shops.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How do they get the feathers off?” asked Sarah
-Barnes; “do they wait until they moult or pull ’em like
-they do geese?—only that hurts some ’cause the geese
-squawk something dreadful.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I’m glad that you asked that question,” said Gray
-Lady, “because it is one of the special points about
-Ostrich feathers that should be made known to every one.
-If they waited for the feathers to be shed, they would be
-worn and broken. You all know how very shabby the
-long tail-feathers of a rooster become before the summer
-moulting time. When Ostriches were first raised in confinement,
-<span class='pageno' title='78' id='Page_78'></span>
-their owners used to pluck out the plumes.
-But they soon found that not only was this troublesome,
-for the pain of it made the birds struggle, but the next
-crop of feathers suffered in consequence. Nature has
-reasons for everything she plans and there is evidently
-some substance in the butt of the old quill that, by keeping
-the skin soft and open, prepares the way for the new
-one that is to follow and causes it to be of better quality.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now the plumes are clipped off, and later on the stubs,
-which are then dry, come out easily. The feathers of
-these birds are much fuller and finer than those that came
-from the wild Ostriches.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The picture shows an Ostrich in the little three-cornered
-pen with the men holding up the tufts and preparing
-to snip off the feathers. The pen is made in this
-shape so that there will be standing-room for the men,
-but not room enough for the Ostrich to turn round and
-kick forward. A hood shaped like a stocking is drawn
-over his head, and he is perfectly quiet, for he feels no
-pain and no blood is drawn.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now you can judge for yourselves that Ostrich feathers
-may be safely worn by every one who likes beautiful
-things, for certainly there are no feathers so graceful as
-a sweeping Ostrich plume with the ends slightly curled.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In addition to the fact that the growing and taking of
-these feathers is perfectly humane, their use encourages
-a large industry which gives employment to many people
-here in <span class='it'>our own country</span>.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I wish my ma had an Ostrich plume in her Sunday
-hat instead of that mean egret,” sighed Eliza Clausen,
-half to herself. “I can take the smaller wings out of mine
-<span class='pageno' title='79' id='Page_79'></span>
-and leave the ribbon, but the feather’s the whole topknot
-of ma’s.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Softly as Eliza had spoken, her words could be heard in
-the silence that came when the reader closed her scrap-book.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Bravo! bravo! little girl,” said Gray Lady, smiling
-so brightly that Eliza forgot to be embarrassed. “You
-see that your mother was right when she said, ‘When
-people get to hearing about birds they stop caring to wear
-them in their hats,’ even though she did not mean it quite
-in this way. Very few people would wear the cruel
-kind of feathers if they only understood. I will give you
-a pretty little Ostrich tuft to take to your mother in
-exchange for the egret, when you explain to her about it,
-and I’m sure Anne can find something among Goldilocks’
-boxes to replace your Swallow’s wings.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Eliza’s eyes sparkled, and all signs of resentment left
-her face.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But,” asked Gray Lady, “what will you do with the
-poor little wings and the egret? You surely will not give
-them to any one else.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, ma’am, I’ll have a funeral, and bury them down
-in the meadow, where my kitten is that fell in the water
-barrel and sister’s canary!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then all the children laughed, including Eliza herself,
-and Gray Lady joined.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“School is over for this afternoon,” said Gray Lady,
-“but before you go we must arrange for our next meeting.
-I, myself, belong to the Humane Society. How would
-you like to organize a little school society of your own to
-help one another remember to be kind to everything that
-<span class='pageno' title='80' id='Page_80'></span>
-lives, and also to see and learn all you can about our
-little brothers of the air, whose life and happiness depends
-as much upon our mercy as our food and shade, beautiful
-flowers, and luscious fruit depend upon their industry?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Let us call it ‘The Kind Hearts’ Club.’ Who will join
-it? Goldilocks and Jacob Hughes are the first two members—how
-many more are there here? Oh! Tommy
-Todd! one hand is enough to raise, unless you expect to
-work for two people!”</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='81' id='Page_81'></span><h1>VII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>THE KIND HEARTS’ CLUB</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“While you were playing hide-and-seek in the orchard
-this morning, Miss Wilde and I had a long talk about the
-Friday afternoons at school,” said Gray Lady, “and what
-do you suppose? She has given every other Friday afternoon
-to us, to you and to me, not only that we may all
-learn about birds and animals and how to be kind to them,
-but other things as well.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That will be lovely!” exclaimed Sarah Barnes, but
-suddenly her face clouded and she added; “that will only
-be twice a month, though, and if, when it comes winter,
-it’s such bad weather that school has to be closed up of a
-Friday, then it would be once a month, and that would be
-<span class='it'>very</span> long to wait!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah! but you have not heard all of the plan yet,”
-said Gray Lady. “Two Fridays of each month I will
-go to your school, and two Saturday mornings in every
-month you are to come to my house, that is, if you wish to,—of
-course you are not <span class='it'>obliged</span> to come. And it will only
-be a very bad snow-storm, deeper than horses’ legs are
-long, that will keep me away from Foxes Corners, for did
-not you and I become friends on a very dreary, rainy
-afternoon?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“On the Friday afternoon at school I will either tell or
-read you stories of the birds of the particular season, and
-<span class='pageno' title='82' id='Page_82'></span>
-I shall give you every chance to ask questions and tell
-anything that you have noticed about birds or such little
-wild beasts as we have hereabouts, for you know it is a
-very one-sided sort of meeting where one person does all
-the talking.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I may be a sober-minded Gray Lady, but I very well
-know how tiresome it is to sit still for a couple of hours,
-even if one is listening to something interesting. I think
-that one can hear so very much better if the fingers are
-busy. So, with Ann Hughes’ help, I am going to give the
-girls some plain, useful sewing to do, patchwork, gingham
-cooking-aprons, and the like. This plain sewing will be
-Friday work. On the Saturday mornings that you come
-to me you shall have something more interesting to work
-upon,—that is, as many of you as prove that they know
-a little about handling a needle. You shall learn to dress
-dolls and make any number of pretty things besides.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I haven’t got any thimble,” said little Clara Hinks,
-called “Clary” for short, in a quavering voice. “Grandma
-is going to give me a real silver one when I’m eight, but
-that won’t be until next spring, and now I have to borrow
-my big sister Livvie’s when I sew my patchwork, and it’s
-too big, and it wiggles, and the needle often goes sideways
-into my finger. Besides, she wouldn’t let me bring it to
-school, ’cause it’s got her ’nitials inside a heart on one side
-of it, and George Parsons gave it to her, an’ anyways she’s
-using it all the time, ’cause she’s sewing her weddin’ things
-terrible fast.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady had great difficulty to keep from laughing
-outright at this burst of confidence, but she never hurt
-any one’s feelings, and her lips merely curved into a quizzical
-<span class='pageno' title='83' id='Page_83'></span>
-smile, as she said, “What Clara says about her
-thimble reminds me to tell you that Ann has a large
-work-box with plain thimbles of all sizes, scissors, needles,
-and thread. This I used last winter in the city in teaching
-some little girls to sew, who were about your ages. I will
-lend you these things, and then later on, if you do well,
-you will have a chance to earn work-boxes of your own.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Have we boys got to sew, too?” asked Tommy Todd,
-with a very mischievous expression on his freckled face;
-“ ’cause I know how to sew buttons on my overalls, and
-I can do it tighter’n ma can, so’s they don’t yank off for
-ever so long!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, I had thought of something quite different for you
-boys, though it would not be amiss for you all to know
-how to take a few stitches for yourselves, for you are all
-liable at some time in your lives to travel in far-away
-places, and even when you go down to the shore and camp
-out in summer, buttons will come off and stitches rip.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It seemed to me that hammers and saws and chisels
-and nails and jack-knives would be more interesting
-to you boys than dolls and patchwork!” As Gray Lady
-pronounced the names of the tools slowly, so that she
-might watch the effect of her words, she saw five
-pairs of eyes sparkle, and when the magic word “jack-knives”
-was reached, they were leaning forward so eagerly
-that Dave slipped quite off his chair and for a moment
-knelt on the floor at Gray Lady’s feet.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But what could we do with all those carpenters’ tools
-down at school?” asked Dave, when he had regained his
-chair and the laugh at his downfall had subsided. “Dad
-says it’s a wonder Foxes Corners’ schoolhouse don’t fall
-<span class='pageno' title='84' id='Page_84'></span>
-down every time teacher bangs on the desk to call ’tention,—we
-couldn’t hammer things up there.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, that is very true,” said Gray Lady, “but the tools
-are to be used at the ‘General’s house’ on Saturdays,
-and the jack-knives at school on Fridays! I see that you
-cannot guess this part of the plan, so I will not tease you
-by making you wait as I had first intended.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As you may remember, Goldilocks told you this morning
-that Jacob Hughes, who now lives with us since he
-has left the sea, and keeps everything in repair about
-the place, besides being a good carpenter can whittle
-almost anything that can be made from wood with a
-knife.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In the attic of this house are two large rooms. One of
-these Jacob is fitting up for a playroom for my little daughter,
-now that she will soon be able to enjoy it. The other
-room was the workroom where her father had his tools
-and workbench when he was a lad like you, for the General
-had him taught the use of all the tools and he used to make
-bird-houses and boats and garden seats and even chairs
-and such things for the house. He grew to be so skilful
-that he learned to carve them beautifully.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Since he went away to his father and mother in heaven
-no one has used the room; but it is not right to let things
-be useless when others need them, and now Jacob is putting
-that room in order also. Then for half of the time on
-Saturday morning he will take you up there, teach you
-the use of the tools, and show you how to make bird-houses
-and many other things, while on the Friday afternoons,
-when the girls are sewing, he will bring some pieces of
-soft wood to school, and something that he has carved as
-<span class='pageno' title='85' id='Page_85'></span>
-a model, and each boy must strive to make the best copy
-that he can!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That’ll be bully!” cried Tommy Todd, adding, “and
-I think it is just fine of you to let us use those tools that
-belonged to—to—” And here Tommy faltered for the
-right word.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To my husband,” said Gray Lady, very gently, and
-the children saw the little mist that veiled her eyes, and
-understood better than words could tell them why gray
-hair framed the face that was still young and why there
-were no gay colours in her dress,—in short, it came to
-them why their Gray Lady earned her name, and yet was
-never sad nor wished to sadden others.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“S’pose we haven’t all got jack-knives—that is, ones
-that’ll cut?” piped little Jared Hill, blushing red at having
-dared to speak. He was the smallest boy in the school
-and lived with his grandparents, who, though well-to-do,
-evidently believed it sinful to spend money for anything
-but food and clothing, for the only Christmas presents
-Jared ever had were those from the Sunday-school tree,
-and though he was seven years old he had never owned a
-knife.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If I lend the girls thimbles and scissors, I must, of
-course, lend the boys jack-knives, and give them an equal
-chance of earning them for their very own!” And from
-that moment Jared Hill firmly believed that angels and
-good fairies had fluffy gray hair and wore shimmering
-gray garments that smelled of fresh violets, like Gray
-Lady.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Let me see,” said she, glancing at a little calendar in a
-silver frame that stood upon her desk, “two weeks from
-<span class='pageno' title='86' id='Page_86'></span>
-to-day will be the 27th; then you come here again. I
-should like every boy who can, to bring some bits of old
-weathered wood with him. Either a few mossy shingles,
-the hollow branch of a tree, a bundle of bark,—anything,
-in short, that will make the bird-houses that you build look
-natural to the birds, who dislike new boards and fresh
-paint so much that they will not use such houses until
-they are old and weathered.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Again Gray Lady consulted her calendar. “There
-will be eight Saturday meetings before the Christmas
-holidays, and we must all be very industrious so as to be
-ready for our fair.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Where? what?” cried Sarah Barnes and three or
-four other girls together, for to these children on this
-remote hillside the word “fair” meant visions of the
-County Agricultural Fair, and this stood for the very
-gayest of times that they knew.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A little fair of our own to be held in Goldilocks’ playroom
-and the workroom where the ‘Kind Hearts’ Club’
-will offer its friends bird-houses, dolls, button-bags,
-cooking-aprons, and home-made cake and candy. Then,
-with the money thus earned, the Club will have a little
-fund for its winter work, and each member will, of course,
-have a vote as to how the money is to be spent.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady opened a small drawer in her desk, and
-took from it two packages of picture cards. The picture
-on the cards of the first pack was of a little boy releasing
-a rabbit that had been caught in a trap. The picture of
-the other cards was of a little girl standing in a doorway,
-and scattering grain sweepings to the hungry birds on
-the snow-covered ground.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='87' id='Page_87'></span>
-“Now, who wishes to join the ‘Kind Hearts’ Club’?
-We must have some members before we can elect our
-officers and begin. The promise you make is very simple.”
-On the cards they read only these words: “I promise to
-be kind to every living thing.” Under this was a place
-to write the name of the member.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How can we always tell what it is kind to do? Some
-folks think different ways,” asked Eliza Clausen, the hat
-feathers still fresh in her mind.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Our hearts must tell us that, Eliza,” said Gray Lady,
-very gently. “We cannot carry rules about with us, but,
-if we have kind hearts always in our breasts, we shall not
-make mistakes. And even if our hearts do not feel for
-others in the beginning, they may be taught by example,
-just as our heads may learn from books. That is what I
-wish our Kind Hearts’ Club to stand for—to be a reminder
-that there is nothing better to work for in this world than
-that our hearts may be kind and true to ourselves, each
-other, and to God’s dumb animals that he has given for
-our service and has trusted to our mercy, for this is true
-worship and doing His will.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Each one of the children present signed silently and
-Gray Lady copied the names in a book, but let the children
-keep the cards, both as a reminder and to show their
-parents.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Miss Wilde came forward at this moment and she and
-their hostess explained the manner of electing officers.
-Before they trooped out on to the lawn, even then reluctant
-to go, Goldilocks had been made president, Miss
-Wilde, vice-president, Sarah Barnes, treasurer, and
-Tommy Todd, who wrote a very clear, round hand,
-<span class='pageno' title='88' id='Page_88'></span>
-secretary, Dave, Jared Hill, and the two Shelton boys,
-a committee to collect old wood, and Eliza Clausen, Ruth
-Banks, and Mary Barnes, a committee to collect odd
-patterns for patchwork, something in which the older
-country folks showed great ingenuity and took no little
-pride.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk101'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh my, do look at the Swallows—there’s hundreds of
-them on the wires,” said Tommy, as Goldilocks was
-wheeled out on to the front walk to tell the party
-“Good-by,” her mother following.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I wish I knew what really truly becomes of them,”
-said Sarah Barnes; “father says nobody knows, though
-some people say that they go down in pond mud and bury
-themselves all winter like frogs, and though you see them
-last right by water, I don’t believe it’s likely, do you, Gray
-Lady? Though at the end they disappear all of a sudden.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is not only unlikely, but impossible. I think next
-Friday we will begin our real lessons with these fleet-winged
-birds of passage that are passing now every day
-and night.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After the good-bys were said again and again, the
-children scattered down the road, talking all together,
-very much like a twittering flock of Swallows themselves,
-and like the birds they were neither still nor silent until
-darkness fell. Miss Wilde followed, smiling and happy,
-for she had found a friend who not only did not belittle
-her work in the hillside school, but showed her undreamed-of
-possibilities in it.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='89' id='Page_89'></span><h1>VIII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>THE PROCESSION PASSES</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Time—September 20th. Place—The School at Foxes
-Corners.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>These are the stories that Gray Lady told or read from
-her scrap-book between September and Flag Day. She
-allowed them to be copied at Miss Wilde’s request for the
-pleasure of the other children in the township.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><a id='swal1'></a>THE SWALLOWS</h2>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:0.5em;'><span class='it'>Five Swallows and a Changeling</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I wonder if there is a child living in the real country
-who does not know a Swallow by sight the moment its
-eyes rest upon the bird? I think not, and a great many
-people who are only in the country at midsummer and in
-early autumn also know the Swallows, even though they
-cannot tell the different kinds apart, for during the nesting
-time, as well as the flocking period that follows, Swallows
-are conspicuous birds of the air and leaders of the
-birds that might be grouped as “The Fleetwings.” For
-not only do Swallows get their food while on the wing, now
-pursuing it through the upper air if the day is fair, now
-sweeping low over meadow, pond, and river if the clouds
-hang heavy and insect life keeps near to the ground, but
-during the flocking season, when the separate families
-<span class='pageno' title='90' id='Page_90'></span>
-join in the community life that they live through the
-winter, the Swallows are constantly on the wing.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The day that we had the orchard party you all noticed
-the Swallows flying over the pond between the orchard
-and river woods, sometimes alighting so close together on
-the bushes as to be as thick as the leaves, and then again
-stringing along the telegraph wires, above the highway,
-some heading one way and some another until, evidently
-at a signal, they flew off again and disappeared in the
-distance, until they seemed but a cloud of smoke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We agreed, I think, some time ago, that it is much better
-to learn the real names of people, animals, and flowers than
-to simply give general names. It is more definite to say,
-“I saw a Swallow” flying over the moor or meadow, than
-to say, “I saw a bird” flying over the meadow; but it would
-be more interesting still if we tell the name of the particular
-kind of Swallow that was seen, for among the many
-kinds that exist at least five are quite common, according
-to the part of the United States in which one lives.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Can any of you tell me the names of these Swallows,
-how they differ in plumage, and where they live? I can
-see by Dave’s face that he knows something about them
-and I think Sarah Barnes does also, while as for Tommy
-Todd, both hands are up in spite of jack-knife and the
-windmill he is making and he can hardly wait for me to
-stop.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now, Tommy, how many kinds of Swallows do you
-know?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Three!” he replied promptly. “Barn Swallows, and
-<a id='swift1'></a>Chimney Swallows, and Dirt Swallows!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have heard of Barn and Chimney Swallows, but
-<span class='pageno' title='91' id='Page_91'></span>
-never of a Dirt Swallow. Please describe it to me,”
-said Gray Lady, looking interested.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Tommy hesitated for a minute, for it is one thing to
-know a bird by sight, but quite another to carry a correct
-picture of it in your mind’s eye and then put it into
-words.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='swalb1'></a>A Dirt Swallow is pretty small and a kind of a dirty
-colour on top and a stripe across his chest, the rest white,
-and his tail hasn’t sharp points, and he isn’t blue and
-shiny like a <a id='barnsw2'></a>Barn Swallow. He doesn’t build a nice nest
-like the others, but bores a hole right into a dirt bank,
-ever so far in, like a Kingfisher does, just like he was a
-ground-hog, and puts feathers in at the end for a nest.
-That’s why we call ’em Dirt Swallows. There’s a bank
-above Uncle Hill’s gravel-pit that’s full of the holes, and
-another bank full right at Farm’s End above the sand
-beach where we camped a week last summer. The way
-I found out about the holes was by diggin’ down a piece
-back of the edge of the bank, for sometimes they bore
-as much as four feet. The eggs are real white, not
-spotted like Barn Swallows’, ’cause we found a couple of
-bad ones, that hadn’t hatched, among the feathers.”
-Here Tommy paused for breath, his face all aglow
-with eagerness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That,” said Gray Lady, “is a very good and clear
-description of the Bank Swallow, which is the English
-name that the Wise Men have given the little bird that you
-call the Dirt Swallow. As the bird always burrows its
-nesting-hole in a bank and never in field earth or the flat
-ground as a woodchuck does, Bank Swallow is decidedly
-the better name.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='92' id='Page_92'></span>
-Meanwhile Tommy had glanced hastily out of the
-window to where birds were constantly leaving and settling
-on the long-distance telephone wires that strung together
-the long poles that walked by the door, and up the hillside,
-striding across lots where they chose, regardless of
-the road. Slipping from his seat to the window, he took a
-second look and then said in a harsh whisper, as if afraid
-that the birds would hear him and take fright, “Gray
-Lady, there’s Bank Swallows mixed in with the Barn
-Swallows on the wires, and I’m sure there’s another kind
-besides, with a shiny back and all white in the breast.
-Wouldn’t you please come out and look? If we go around
-the schoolhouse, they won’t notice us from the other side,
-but we can see them.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady gave a signal and the girls and boys dropped
-the sewing and whittling quickly on their desks and,
-following her lead, stole out on tiptoe, one after the other,
-like the little pickaninnies when they sing, “The bogey
-man’ll ketch yer if yer doant watch out!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There, to be sure, were the Swallows, hundreds of them,
-all twittering cheerfully and none of them sitting still
-even though they were perching, but pluming themselves,
-and stretching their wings, the feathers of which they
-seemed to comb with a peculiar backward movement of
-one claw.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As Gray Lady scanned the rows she saw brilliant Barn
-Swallows in little groups alternating with the sober-cloaked
-Bank Swallows, and then half a dozen each of two other
-species that were not so familiar.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Bring me the opera-glasses from the little bag that is
-with my hat and gloves,” she said softly to Sarah Barnes.
-<span class='pageno' title='93' id='Page_93'></span>
-Then, motioning the children to keep still, she crossed the
-road to a point where, the sunlight falling behind her, she
-could look up at the wires without becoming dazzled, but
-as she did so the entire flock left the wires, and wheeling
-went down over the corn-field toward the reeds and low
-woods that bordered the mill-pond.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You were quite right, Tommy,” said Gray Lady, as
-they still stood looking at the wires in the hope that the
-birds might return; “there were not only three but four
-kinds of Swallows in that flock. The birds with the
-slightly forked tails, beautiful shining steel-blue and
-green cloaks, and satiny white underparts are Tree Swallows
-that do not nest near here, but stop with us on their
-spring and fall journeys, and the others that you did not
-notice, because in the distance they look somewhat like
-Barn Swallows, except that they lack the forked tail,
-are <a id='cliff1'></a>Cliff or Eaves Swallows, as they are called in this part
-of the country, where they are rather uncommon.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now we will go in and I will ask Tommy Todd, who
-writes very clearly, to put on the board the names of these
-four Swallows, and the particular thing about them that
-will help you to tell them apart.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, I am afraid that they are not coming back,” said
-Gray Lady, after they had waited a couple of minutes
-more, “and they may all leave us suddenly any day now,
-though the Barn Swallow often stays into October and the
-<a id='whiteb'></a>White-Breasted almost to November.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A wagon loaded with rye straw and drawn by a yoke of
-oxen came creaking up the hill and paused on the level
-place in front of the school. The teamster was Jared
-Hill’s grandfather,—the man who did not believe in play
-<span class='pageno' title='94' id='Page_94'></span>
-or playthings. As his far-sight was rather poor, he did not
-notice that the lady with the children was not Miss Wilde.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Wal, teacher,” he called, as he leaned against his load,
-and tried in vain to discover the object at which the
-group was gazing, “what’s up thet there pole, a possum
-or a runaway hand-orgin monkey, or mebbe it’s the balloon
-got loose from Newbury Fair grounds?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, nothing so unusual as that; we have been watching
-the flocking of the Swallows,” said Gray Lady, her silvery
-voice sounding clearly even in these deaf ears.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Swallers!—out er school watchin’ Swallers?” exclaimed
-old Mr. Hill, taking the long straw that he was
-chewing from between his teeth in questioning amazement.
-“Shucks! what’s Swallers good fer, anyhow? Gee—haw,
-Cain! Shish, Abel! We’d best move on; I reckon this
-isn’t any place fer folks with something to do!” And thus
-addressing his oxen, the load went slowly on.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>With the mischievous twinkle still lingering in her
-eyes, Gray Lady asked Tommy Todd to go to the blackboard
-as soon as the children settled down to their work
-again, and this is what he wrote at Gray Lady’s dictation:—</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Barn Swallow.</span> You will know it by its glistening steel-blue
-and chestnut feathers and <span class='it'>forked tail</span>. Builds mud nests in
-barns and outbuildings. Comes in middle April; leaves in September
-and early October. Nests all through North America
-up to Arctic regions. Winters in tropics as far south as
-Brazil.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='tree1'></a><span class='sc'>Tree Swallow.</span> Glistening cloak—<span class='it'>pure white breast</span>. Nests
-in hollow trees or, lacking these, in bird-boxes. Comes in April;
-leaves in October. Nests in places up to Alaska and Labrador
-and winters in our southern states south to the tropics.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='95' id='Page_95'></span>
-<span class='sc'>Bank Swallow.</span> <span class='it'>Dull brown cloak with band across chest.</span>
-Nests in deep horizontal holes in banks. Comes in April; leaves
-in September and October. Nests like White Breast up to Alaska
-and Labrador. Winters in the tropics. The smallest Swallow.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='cliff2'></a><span class='sc'>Cliff or Eaves Swallow.</span> <span class='it'>Pure white band on forehead.</span>
-Otherwise brightly coloured with steel-blue, chestnut, gray, rusty,
-and white. Where there are no rocky cliffs for its nesting
-colonies, they build under the eaves of barns, etc. Nests in
-North America to Arctic regions. Winters in the tropics.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Here you have a short description of four Swallows we
-have seen this afternoon,” said Gray Lady, as Tommy came
-to the end of the board and only finished by squeezing up
-the letters. <a id='mart1'></a>“There is another Swallow, the big cousin of
-these, called the Purple Martin, with shiny bluish black
-cloak and light underparts. This beautiful Martin has a
-soft, musical voice, and is very sociable and affectionate,
-and even in spring, when the birds have mated, they still
-like to live in colonies and are very good neighbours among
-themselves. They were once plentiful and nested in tree
-holes or houses made purposely for them, but, since the
-English Sparrow has come, it has pushed its way into their
-homes and turned them out, so now they are rare, and
-perhaps you children may never have seen one.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There was always a high post with a Martin box holding
-a couple of dozen families up at ‘the General’s’ as far
-back as I first remember, but during our absence no one
-watched to keep the Sparrows out, the Martins left, and
-the house went to decay. Jacob has made a new house,
-and we will not set it up until next Saturday, so that you
-can see how it is divided—a room for each family and too
-high from the ground for cats to reach. We shall keep the
-<span class='pageno' title='96' id='Page_96'></span>
-house covered with a cloth all winter, so that the Sparrows
-cannot move in before the Martins return, and in this way
-we may coax them to come back again and live with us.
-Then, who knows, perhaps some one of the Kind Hearts’
-Club may have patience and take the trouble to build a
-house and then <a id='mart2'></a>Purple Martins may become plentiful
-in Fair Meadow township.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You heard what Farmer Hill asked a few minutes ago,—‘What’s
-Swallers good fer, anyhow?’ I want you all
-to be able to answer this question whenever you hear it
-asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In the first place Swallows do no manner of harm;
-they neither eat fruits nor useful berries, nor do they
-disturb the nests and eggs of other birds. They are
-beautiful objects in the air, and their laughing twitter
-when on the wing is a sound that we should miss as much
-as many real bird songs.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘These are pleasant qualities,’ some may say, ‘but
-not exactly useful.’ Listen! As these Swallows are
-Fleetwings and always birds of the air, so they are sky sweepers,
-living upon flying insects that few other birds
-may take, and the large amount of these that they consume
-is almost beyond belief; so watch when they come
-back next spring on their return as they fly over the cattle
-in the pasture, or over the pond surface teeming with
-insect life. If they do nothing else, they earn their living
-one and all by <span class='it'>mosquito-killing</span>, and the Wise Men of to-day
-know that the sting of one sort of mosquito is not merely
-an annoyance, but that it pushes the germ of malaria and
-other bad diseases straight into the blood.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i127.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0008' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>THE PURPLE MARTIN</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not only are Swallows harmless and useful in the
-<span class='pageno' title='97' id='Page_97'></span>
-places where they nest, but are equally useful in all
-their journeyings through the south. Some birds, like
-the Bobolink, are both useful and harmless where they
-nest, but do harm as they travel, for when the Bobolink
-leaves for the south he goes into the rice-fields, eating the
-rice grains in late summer and plucking up the young
-rice in the spring. This, of course, gives him a bad name in
-the rice-growing regions through which he passes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But the Swallow only destroys the evil insects as it
-journeys through the south, and yet in spite of this, cruel,
-or at best thoughtless, people kill them for the mere sport
-of killing, for no white man could pretend to eat Swallow
-pie, and the great flocks are tempting marks for ‘sportsmen’
-of this class. Then, too, the noise made at the places
-where these birds roost, especially the Martins, has served
-as an excuse for shooting them in numbers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If the people in the southern states would only fully
-understand that Swallows destroy the boll-weevil that
-damages the cotton in the pod, they surely would not allow
-a feather of these little workers to be injured.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How I wish we could have a Kind Hearts’ Club in every
-district school in the south, so that the children there
-might help us to protect the birds during the time that they
-are beyond our reach.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady paused and turned the leaves of her scrap-book,
-as if she was searching for something. “Ah!
-here it is!” she said at last, half to herself. “The Wise
-Men at Washington who find out for us all the facts
-about the useful birds have been writing about these
-Swallows, and say that everything should be done not only
-to protect them but in every way to aid their increase by
-<span class='pageno' title='98' id='Page_98'></span>
-providing homes for them. Let us hear what more they
-say about these five that I have just described to you.”</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='tree2'></a><span class='sc'>Tree Swallow.</span> The Tree Swallow, as is well known, has been
-persecuted by the English Sparrow until it has entirely abandoned
-many districts where formerly it abounded. An energetic war
-on the English Sparrow, and the careful protection of the Swallow
-domiciles, in a few years would result in a complete change of
-the situation, so far as this, one of the most beneficial of the
-Swallow tribe, is concerned.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='barnsw3'></a><span class='sc'>Barn Swallow.</span> The Barn Swallow formerly was abundant
-throughout the northern states, especially in New England.
-The tightly built modern barn, however, no longer invites the
-presence of the Barn Swallow by affording it friendly shelter,
-and the birds are becoming scarcer and scarcer. To provide
-openings in modern barns, and to encourage the presence in them
-of colonies by providing convenient nesting sites are easy and
-effective methods by which this beautiful species may be greatly
-increased in numbers. This bird also requires protection from
-the English Sparrow, which in one foray has been known to kill
-the young and destroy the eggs of a large colony.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='swalb2'></a><span class='sc'>Bank Swallow.</span> The well known Bank Swallow, as its name
-implies, nests in sand-banks in holes of its own digging. Some
-farmers in the northern states take special pains to protect their
-colonies of Bank Swallows from the marauding of the prowling
-cat. Some even take pains to excavate suitable banks on their
-farms and devote them to the exclusive use of the Swallows.
-Gravel and sand-banks are so numerous throughout the north,
-especially in New England, that at trifling expense the number
-of colonies of Bank Swallows may be vastly increased, to the
-advantage of every farmer north and south, and to that of every
-nature lover as well.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='cliff3'></a><span class='sc'>Cliff Swallow.</span> The curious pouch-shaped mud structures
-of the Cliff Swallow, attached under eaves or to the face of cliffs,
-are a sight familiar enough in the northern and western states,
-but in the cotton states, save Texas alone, they are wanting,
-<span class='pageno' title='99' id='Page_99'></span>
-the bird that makes them being exclusively a migrant. The
-English Sparrow persecutes also the Cliff Swallow; hence, in the
-north, the bird is much less common than formerly. In Germany
-the presence of Swallows around houses is so much desired that
-artificial nests made of clay or other material are put up in
-order to attract birds by saving them the labour of constructing
-their own domiciles. No doubt our own Cliff Swallows would
-be quick to respond to a similar offer of ready-made dwellings,
-rent free, and in this way the range of this extremely useful
-species might be materially increased. The Cliff Swallow is one
-of the most indefatigable insect destroyers extant, and every
-motive of patriotism and humanity should prompt communities
-among which they live to protect and foster them in every possible
-way.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='sc'>Purple Martin.</span> <a id='mart3'></a>This, the largest and in many respects the
-most beautiful of all our Swallow tribe, is the most local and the
-least numerous. In New England and, perhaps, in most of the
-northern states generally, this fine bird is steadily diminishing
-in numbers. The English Sparrow often takes possession of its
-boxes, ruthlessly kills the young Martins or throws out the eggs,
-and usually succeeds in routing the colony and appropriating the
-boxes. When measures are not taken to abate the Sparrow
-nuisance in the immediate vicinity of Martin colonies, the usual
-result is that the Martins are forced to abandon their houses.
-The habit of putting up houses for the accommodation of Martin
-colonies is not as common in the north as it formerly was, and
-to this indifference to the Martins’ presence, to persecution by
-the Sparrow, and to losses due to the prevalence of cold storms
-during the nesting season, no doubt, is due the present scarcity
-of the bird.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>From the standpoint of the farmer and the fruit grower, perhaps,
-no birds more useful than the Swallows exist. They have
-been described as the light cavalry of the avian army. Specially
-adapted for flight and unexcelled in aërial evolutions, they have
-few rivals in the art of capturing insects in mid-air. They eat
-nothing of value to man except a few predaceous wasps and
-<span class='pageno' title='100' id='Page_100'></span>
-bugs, and, in return for their services in destroying vast numbers
-of noxious insects, ask only for harbourage and protection. It is
-to the fact that they capture their prey on the wing that their
-peculiar value to the cotton grower is due. Orioles do royal
-service in catching weevils on the bolls; and Blackbirds, Wrens,
-Flycatchers, and others contribute to the good work; but when
-Swallows are migrating over the cotton-fields they find the
-weevils flying in the open and wage active war against them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>—<span class='sc'>H. W. Henshaw</span>, B.B.S., in <span class='it'>Value of Swallows as Insect Destroyers</span>.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That Wise Man didn’t say anything about Chimney
-Swallows, and, please, Gray Lady, you left them out, too,”
-said Sarah Barnes, the moment the scrap-book closed,
-“and I know they catch lots of flying bugs.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah, Sarah!” exclaimed Gray Lady, laughing, “I did
-not precisely forget, but I was waiting for some one of you
-to ask the question. The bird that is called the Chimney
-Swallow even exceeds the others in being forever on the
-wing and never perching or ‘sitting down,’ as Sarah calls
-it, and it is a brave insect destroyer. In fact, it never
-perches even for one moment, but when it does rest makes
-a sort of bracket of its sharply pointed tail-feathers and
-rests against a tree or inside the chimney, somewhat as a
-Woodpecker does when resting on an upright tree-trunk.
-The Woodpeckers, however, have very strong feet, and the
-feet of the Chimney Swallow are very weak. But here
-comes the funny part—this chimney bird isn’t a Swallow,
-and the Swallows would call him a changeling. He is a
-Swift, first cousin to the tiny Humming-bird and the
-mysterious Night Hawk and Whip-poor-Will, so we must
-leave his story until we come to that of the family where
-he belongs, for after we have learned the names of individual
-<span class='pageno' title='101' id='Page_101'></span>
-birds, it is well to know their family and kin. You
-cannot always tell by the plumage of birds if they are
-related. Louise Stone, Fannie White, and Esther Gray
-here are cousins, and all live in one house, but as their last
-names are different, and they do not look alike, a stranger
-would have to be told, for he could not guess that they
-belong to one household.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is three o’clock already, and I see that Tommy and
-Dave have quite finished their windmills and Ruth’s
-apron is waiting for the pocket, so in spite of Farmer
-Hill’s remarks about ‘not working,’ every one has
-something to show for this Friday afternoon.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Before we go, let me see if you can tell the ‘<span class='it'>Things
-to remember</span>’ about the five swallows.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sarah—the <a id='barnsw4'></a>Barn Swallow?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Shiny, steel-blue back and forked tail.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dave—the <a id='swalb3'></a>Bank Swallow?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dusty cloak fastened across the front.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ruth—the <a id='tree3'></a>Tree Swallow?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“White satin breast.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Roger—the Eaves Swallow?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“White on its forehead and all over mixed colours.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='mart4'></a>And the Purple Martin? Who knows it?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It’s the biggest of all and doesn’t fly quite so sudden.
-I’ve seen ’em up at Grandpa Miles’s in New York State,”
-said little Clary Hinks, and then blushing because she had
-dared to speak.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Next week in the playroom!” said Gray Lady, smiling
-over her shoulder at them as they filed out the door to the
-time beaten by Tommy’s drum.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='102' id='Page_102'></span><h1>IX<br/> <span class='sub-head'>TWO BIRDS THAT CAME BACK</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;'>(<span class='sc'>Birdland</span>, September 27th.)</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The rain had poured steadily all Thursday and Friday,
-until Friday evening, and the wind blew so hard that
-many a little window-pane in the older farm-houses fell
-in with a crash and the owner, jumping up quickly to
-snatch the lamp out of the draught, would exclaim,
-“I do declare, we haven’t hed sech a genuine old-fashioned
-line-storm for years!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The “line” being the short for equinox, the imaginary
-line crossing the sun’s path over which, on March 21st,
-old Sol is supposed to step from winter into spring.
-Again, on September 21st, he steps from summer into
-autumn, takes off his summer hat, with its crown of burning
-rays, and tells his wife to ask North Star for the key to
-the iceberg, where his winter flannels are kept in cold
-storage, so that they may be ready for any emergency.
-The fact that these storms seldom come upon the days
-when they are due, simply proves that the solar system
-prefers to measure time to suit itself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A little before dawn, on Saturday morning, the rain
-stopped; the heavy clouds in the east broke up into bars
-of blue steel, through which the sun peered cautiously,
-as if uncertain whether or not to break them away. Then,
-<span class='pageno' title='103' id='Page_103'></span>
-suddenly deciding that it would, it signalled to the clear,
-cool, northwest wind to blow and chase away the vapours
-that made the clouds too heavy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>By the time Tommy Todd’s father came in, carrying
-two milk-pails, Tommy following with a third, there was
-promise of a fine crisp autumn day, and Grandpa Todd,
-who had decided a week before, on his eightieth birthday,
-that he would give up milking, at least for the winter,
-came into the well-porch, and scanning the sky carefully,
-with an air of authority, said: “To-night we’ll have hard
-frost if the wind drops. We’d better get in those cheese
-pumpkins jest as soon’s they’re dried off. Robins and
-Blackbirds flockin’ powerful strong, and old Chief Crow
-has brung his flock clear down to the ten-acre lot already.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Old Chief was the name that Grandpa Todd had given
-to a particularly wise bird, whom he insisted was twenty-five
-years old at the least, who was master of the roost in
-the cedar woods and, by his wise guidance, kept his flock
-the largest in the township, in spite of all the efforts of
-the farmers, hired men, and boys in the vicinity to drive
-them out.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There, also, on the slope south of the house, were fully
-half a hundred Robins pluming themselves, shaking their
-feathers out to dry, and acting in every way like travellers
-pausing on a journey, rather than residents going out for a
-stroll.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Tommy had paused to look at them, balancing the pail
-carefully as he did so, and then the sight of the birds reminded
-him that it was the day to go up to “the General’s,”
-and he hurried in to eat his breakfast and finish the
-Saturday morning “chores” that he always did for his
-<span class='pageno' title='104' id='Page_104'></span>
-mother. Then he went to the shed to look over the collection
-of bits of old wood that he had both begged and
-gathered far and near for the making of bird-houses.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A neighbour, who was re-covering his cowshed roof with
-galvanized iron, had let Tommy pick up as many mossy
-shingles as he could carry, and some of these were really
-beautiful with tufts of gray lichens, some with bright red
-tips, blending with mosses of many soft shades of green.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Tommy selected from the assortment as large a bundle
-as he could carry, and, after cording it securely, went to
-the house to tidy up, for Gray Lady had asked the children
-of the Kind Hearts’ Club to come at nine o’clock this
-first Saturday, for it would take them some time to look
-at the play and work rooms before settling down to doll-dressing
-and bird-house making. As he crossed the
-kitchen, his mother, who was kneading bread, pointed a
-floury finger toward a garment that hung over the back
-of a chair. Tommy picked it up, and then his usual boyish
-indifference, which he kept up at home even when he
-was pleased, broke down and he gave an exclamation of
-delight, for there was a new carpenter’s apron with a
-pocket for nails in front, the whole being made of substantial
-blue jean, precisely like the one worn by Jacob
-Hughes himself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady had asked as many of the boys as owned
-overalls to bring them. Tommy’s were very old and had
-many patches, besides being smeared with paint, and he
-hated to have dainty Goldilocks see them, so it seemed to
-the boy that his mother must have seen straight into his
-mind (as mothers have a way of doing) and read what
-he most needed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='105' id='Page_105'></span>
-Slipping his head through the yoke and fastening the
-waist-band in place, Tommy suddenly grabbed his mother,
-flour, bread, and all, in a rough embrace, and then clattered
-up the backstairs, laughing at the two white hand-marks
-that she had printed on his shoulder in her surprise.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk102'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Up at “the General’s” house Gray Lady, Goldilocks,
-Ann, and Jacob Hughes were as busy as possible making
-preparations for the first regular meeting of the Club.
-To the children, the whole performance in anticipation
-seemed like the most delightful sort of play, but every
-one who thinks will realize how much pains Gray Lady
-was taking to have everything in order for the children’s
-first view of the place. After this, like the wise friend
-that she was, she had planned that the children themselves
-would in turn take out the work, put it away, and
-clear up threads or shavings as the case might be.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The playroom was on the southeast corner of the attic,
-and had three dormer-windows with wide seats underneath.
-Being an attic, the windows were set rather high
-in the slanting room, but, if one stood on the wooden seats,
-there was a beautiful view toward the river valley on the
-south, while the east window looked down over the orchard,
-and it seemed as if one might almost step out and
-walk upon the tree-tops.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On the chimney side was a small-sized cooking-stove,
-and between this and the chimney-corner ran shelves with a
-cupboard beneath, whereon and in a set of blue-and-white
-dishes and various pots and pans were ranged. At either
-end of the room was a stout table surrounded by chairs, one
-being a kitchen table with a drawer, and the other a plain
-<span class='pageno' title='106' id='Page_106'></span>
-dining table with a polished top, suitable for playing
-games, or holding books or work. It was upon this table
-that the work-boxes and dolls were ranged, twelve in all,
-and by each a little pile of clothes, all cut and ready-basted,
-the whole being covered by a cloth. Gray Lady and
-Ann had agreed between themselves that lessons in sewing
-had better come first and garment-cutting follow later on.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>All the garments were to be made to put on and take
-off like real clothes, and though they were very simple,
-each doll when dressed would personate a different character,
-for there was clothing for a baby doll, a schoolgirl,
-a young lady, a trained nurse, little Red Riding-Hood, and
-so on.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The workshop faced north and east, and was on the
-opposite side of the stairs. This was of the same shape
-as the playroom, but a small wood-stove, that could be
-used for heating glue-pots, and to keep the room from
-freezing in winter, took the place of the cooking-stove,
-and there was a long workbench, with vise, lathe, and
-mitre-box attachment under two of the windows where
-the best light fell. Across one side of the room, various
-tools were hung in racks, while at the end opposite the
-windows was tacked a great sheet of paper upon which
-many styles of bird homes were pictured. Below this
-was a space painted black like a school blackboard, and
-upon this Jacob had redrawn in rough chalk several
-of the pictures to a working-scale.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady and Goldilocks were already upstairs when
-the party arrived, for though Goldilocks could walk very
-nicely when on a level, going up and down stairs was a
-matter that took time.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i138.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0009' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote0r9'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='bold'>BIRD-HOUSES AND NESTING-BOXES.</span> Fig. 1. hollow-limb nesting-box;
-Fig. 2, birch-bark bird-house; Fig. 3, slab bird-box; Fig. 4, cat-proof box;
-Fig. 5, old-shingle box; Fig. 6, chestnut-bark nesting-box; Figs. 7 and 9, boxes
-with slide fronts; Fig. 8, house for Tree Swallow.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;'>From <span class='it'>Useful Birds and their Protection</span> by <span class='sc'>G. H. Forbush</span>.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='107' id='Page_107'></span>
-Tramp, tramp, came the feet up the stairs to the second
-hall, with the rhythm of a marching regiment. Then
-there was a pause and evidently some discussion, for, as
-Gray Lady went forward and opened the door at the
-head of the attic stairs, she heard Sarah Barnes’ voice
-say, “Why, it’s a big Crow and a little one; but how
-did they come in here? Don’t touch him, Tommy, he’ll
-bite you. Crows bite like everything when they get
-mad.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then Tommy’s voice said, <a id='crow3'></a>“The big one’s a Crow, sure
-enough, but the little one couldn’t be any more’n mice’s
-little rats. It’s one of those queer new birds that had
-nests down in the Methodist Church steeple last spring;
-I went up with Eb Holcomb one day when he was fixing
-the bell-rope and I saw them, but nobody ’round here
-knows what they’re called—unless Gray Lady may.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Looking down, Gray Lady saw the odd pair in question
-and said to Goldilocks, “Your two pets have managed to
-get in and are trapped between the top and bottom of
-the stairs. Whistle for them, dearie, for the children are
-waiting to come up.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Goldilocks gave two very good imitations of the quavering
-call of a Crow, and then, using a little oddly shaped
-silver whistle that hung about her neck on a ribbon, gave
-a series of melodious whistles, when, to the surprise and
-delight of the children below, Crow and Starling (for this
-was the name of the smaller bird) immediately turned
-about and went upstairs, the Crow hopping and flopping,
-for one of its wings was deformed, and the Starling, as
-soon as it had room enough for a start, flying straight and
-true. When the children followed, they found the Crow
-<span class='pageno' title='108' id='Page_108'></span>
-perched on the back of Goldilocks’ chair and the Starling
-flitting about the open rafters until he found a perch that
-suited him upon a hook that had once held a hammock,
-where he seemed quite at home. The Crow, however,
-was anxious and uneasy when he saw the children trooping
-up, and flopping from the chair-bar with a sidewise motion,
-he scuttled across to the stove, under which he disappeared,
-occasionally peering out with his head on one side
-like a very inquisitive human being.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t wonder that you look astonished,” said Gray
-Lady, “at seeing birds in this house that are apparently
-captive, but the truth is that they will not go away, and
-come back through every open window. So, as we have
-not the heart to drive them away, we let them live here
-in the playroom and about the barns, where they find
-plenty to eat, and at any moment they wish to go, freedom
-is close at hand for the taking.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But what made them come to begin with?” asked
-Dave. “Crows are mostly the scariest things going.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Jacob found the Crow up in the cedar woods in May,”
-said Goldilocks. “All the others were able to fly and take
-care of themselves, but this one stayed in the low bushes
-and its parents were feeding it. One morning, when
-Jacob was up there cutting cedar posts for the gate he
-made to Birdland, he heard a great commotion; the old
-Crows and the young ones were cawing and screaming and
-flying about in distress, while crouching in the bushes,
-and just ready to spring upon the Crow, was a big half-wild
-cat. It used to belong to the people up at the lumber
-camp, but when they went away they left it, and all last
-winter and spring it has lived by hunting.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='109' id='Page_109'></span>
-“I know about that cat,” said Tommy. “The Selectmen
-have offered five dollars’ reward for it, and it kills
-more chickens, even big roosters, than all the Hawks
-this side of Bald Hill.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“After Jacob had driven the cat away,” continued
-Goldilocks, “he picked up the young Crow to try to find
-out why it had not flown away like its brothers. At first
-it was afraid and fought and pecked his fingers, but by
-and by it let him handle it, and he found that one wing
-was twisted, so that it was of no use. The point where
-the long quill feathers grow was turned under, Jake said,
-just the way it is in a roast chicken, and it must have
-happened when the bird was little and had no feathers,
-because those on that point of the wing were stunted and
-twisted where they had tried to grow after it was hurt.
-Jake straightened the wing as well as he could, and
-clipped the feathers on the other one so that he shouldn’t
-be so lopsided. The wing is stiff and doesn’t work rightly
-yet, but Jake thinks that after next summer’s moult the
-feathers may come in better; meanwhile I’ve called him
-Jim, because that is the usual name for tame crows.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Jim likes to live about here and he does such a lot of
-funny things. Why, the other day, out in the arbour,
-he dropped the little afternoon-tea sugar-tongs into the
-cream jug and took all the lumps of sugar in the bowl and
-hid them in the empty robin’s nest overhead, and we
-should never have dreamed that he had done it if Anne
-hadn’t come in with fresh cakes and startled him so that
-he dropped the last lump. He moves very quickly, for
-he can fly a little and he uses his wings and beak to help
-him climb, something like a parrot. Jacob has put him
-<span class='pageno' title='110' id='Page_110'></span>
-over in the woods by the Crow’s roost, time and time
-again, but he always comes hopping back.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sarah Barnes was going to ask what else the Crow had
-done, when the <a id='star'></a>Starling flew across the room and out
-through one of the windows that was opened from the top.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He’s gone!” she cried; “I’m dreadfully sorry, ’cause I
-wanted to look at him so’s I’d know Starlings if I see them
-again. Please, how did you get him? His wings seem
-very strong, and he flew as straight as anything.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Larry has only gone out for a little fly,” laughed
-Goldilocks; “he will be back before long, and if the window
-should happen to be closed, he will rap on the glass
-with his beak. No, his wings are well and strong, and
-he is perfectly able to go away to his friends in the
-church tower, for it was from one of those nests, that
-Tommy saw up between the slats, that he fell.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Eben brought him up for mother to see, because a good
-many people down at the Centre Village had been watching
-these strange birds, and wanted to know their name and
-where they came from. He was too little to be turned out
-all alone, and Eben said that the nest had been upset and
-the others that fell out were dead, so, as he ate soaked dog-biscuit
-(because you know that there’s meat in it that
-makes up for bugs to young birds), I thought I would bring
-him up and then let him go; but you see the joke is that he
-won’t go, and he acts as much afraid of being out-of-doors
-after dark as a usual wild bird would if you put him in a
-cage.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Who brought Starlings here, and do they belong to
-the same family as Blackbirds? They look a lot like them,
-only they’ve got shorter tails,” said Tommy Todd.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='111' id='Page_111'></span>
-“I think I have a description of the bird, as well as the
-date of his coming, in the scrap-book,” said Gray Lady,
-“for he is an English bird and the only one of its family
-in this country, so you can see why they may be lonely,
-and like to flock in company with the Blackbirds.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:0.5em;'><span class='sc'>The Common Starling</span>: <span class='it'>Sturnus magnus</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Length</span>: 8.5 inches.</p>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Male and Female</span>: Black plumage shot with metallic green and
-blue lights. In full plumage upper feathers edged with
-buff, giving a speckled appearance, which disappears as
-the feathers are worn down, leaving the winter plumage
-plain and dull. Yellow bill in summer; in winter, brown.</p>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Note</span>: A sharp flock-call and a clear, rather musical, two-syllable,
-falling whistle.</p>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Nest</span>: Behind blinds in unoccupied buildings, in vine-covered
-nooks in church towers; also in bushes.</p>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Eggs</span>: 4-7, greenish blue.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This bird is a foreigner, imported to New York City some fourteen
-years ago, some people are beginning to fear not too wisely,
-for the birds are rather quarrelsome, and, being larger than
-the English Sparrow, though not so hardy, are able to wage war
-upon birds like Robins, and seize the nesting-places of natives.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The first birds, less than a hundred in number, were set free
-in Central Park, New York City. Now these have increased to
-numerous flocks that in Connecticut have gone as far east as
-New Haven, and here in Fairfield and several villages near by
-are acclimated and quite at home, though the bitter and lasting
-cold of the winter of 1903-1904 thinned them out considerably.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Whether they prove a nuisance or not, they are very noticeable
-birds, looking to the first sight, as they walk sedately across a
-field, like Grackles with rumpled plumage. A second glance will
-show that this is but the effect of the buff specks that tip all the
-upper feathers, while the distinct yellow bill at once spells
-Starling!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='112' id='Page_112'></span>
-In England they may be seen on the great open plains following
-the sheep as they feed, very much as the Cowbird follows our
-cattle, and in that country are very beneficial as insect destroyers.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They are birds that will feed at the lunch-counter in
-winter, for their food supply is cut off by snow, and, as
-strangers, they have not yet the resources of the Crows
-and Jays, neither are they as hardy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Boys, Jacob is ready for you in the workroom, and
-he may keep you till quarter-past ten. I do not think
-that you will really accomplish much to-day, except to
-choose the kind of house you wish to make, and plan out
-your work. Then you may all take a fifteen-minutes’
-recess in the orchard before you come up for the bird
-lesson.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What birds are you going to tell about to-day? I
-hope that they won’t be hat birds and Martyrs,” said
-Eliza Clausen, with a sigh.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, not ‘hat birds’ this morning, although there are
-plenty more of them, and always will be so long as people
-insist upon wearing the feathers in their hats. I had
-not quite decided what birds to take up next, but the recess
-in the orchard gives me a new idea. Instead of
-taking the birds in any set order, when you come in you
-shall tell me what birds you have noticed this morning.
-By this means we shall be able to take the birds as they
-come with the seasons, and they will never grow tiresome.
-Then, too, if, between times, you see any birds that you
-cannot name, or about which you wish to know, remember
-to tell me, and we will try to learn something about the
-bird while it is fresh in your memory.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now,” as the boys went to the workroom, “the girl
-<span class='pageno' title='113' id='Page_113'></span>
-members of the Kind Hearts’ Club will please thread
-needles and begin. If any one of you has sticky fingers,
-Ann will show you where to wash them, because the very
-beginning of good sewing lies in clean hands, for they mean
-nice white thread and bright, shining needles.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When the cover was lifted from the table, and the girls
-saw the dolls, and the little stack of clothes, they exclaimed
-in delight,—even those like Katie Lee, who really
-did not belong at school, for she had stopped playing
-with dolls and was ready for the eighth grade. Only,
-unfortunately, there was no eighth grade class at Foxes
-Corners, and as it was too far for them to walk to the Centre
-every day, they stayed on at school, and Miss Wilde
-helped them as far as her time allowed so that they might
-make up the required lessons at home.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>ENGLISH STARLING</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Here’s to the stranger, so lately a ranger,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Who came from far over seas;—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Whatever the weather, still in high feather,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;At top of the windy trees!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Here’s to the darling,—brave English Starling,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Stays the long winter through;</p>
-<p class='line0'>He would not leave us, would not bereave us,—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Not he, though our own birds do!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Cold weather pinches—flown are the finches,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Thrushes and warblers too!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Here’s to the darling, here’s to the Starling,—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;English Starling true!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Edith M. Thomas</span>, in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='114' id='Page_114'></span><h1>X<br/> <span class='sub-head'>SOME MISCHIEF-MAKERS</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1em;'><span class='it'>Crows and Jays, Starlings and Grackles</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The children came back very promptly after the mid-morning
-recess, considering the attraction offered outside.
-Though cheeks and all available pockets fairly bulged with
-apples, they had sufficient appetite to enjoy the crisp
-cookies, plates of which were set at intervals on the plain-topped
-table in the playroom, together with pitchers of
-milk or a delicious drink of Ann’s invention compounded
-of oranges and lemons and sweetened with honey.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady breakfasted at eight, but she knew very
-well that most of the folk of the Hill Country had their
-first meal at six, except perhaps in the dead of winter, so
-that a bit of luncheon between that time and noon was
-what Goldilocks called “a comfy necessity.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now tell me what birds you saw this morning, and
-what they were doing,” said Gray Lady, as soon as the
-children had settled down. “Sarah Barnes, you may
-begin.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We didn’t see anything new, that is nothing much;
-but, oh, such a lot of common birds in flocks, <a id='crow4'></a>Crows and
-Blue Jays and Blackbirds; why, there were enough Blackbirds
-to make it dark for a minute when they picked up
-<span class='pageno' title='115' id='Page_115'></span>
-and flew over the tumble-down old house over there in
-the corner. Of course, those birds aren’t very interesting,
-’cause we all know about them, and I guess even Zella,
-who hasn’t lived here long, can tell a Crow or a Jay and
-Blackbird when she sees one.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, ma’am, Lady, I know him Crow,” cried Zella, in
-delight at having some information to impart, “for my
-papa he plant corn seed in the lot. Crows they come push
-it out vit de nose and eat him. Then my papa and my
-brudder shoot bang! bang! but they not get him, ’cause
-him too wise. My Grossmutter say von time Crows was
-people, bad thief people, and they was made in birds to
-shame dem, but dey made bad thief birds, too, and dey
-kept wise like dey was people yet, so dey is hard catching.
-Den papa he made of ole clothes a man, and sat him the
-fence on, and the Crows dey comes on trees near away,
-and dey looks so at the mans and dey laughs together, but
-dey not come no more very near yet.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes; I see that Zella knows and sees the Crow as almost
-every one who owns a bit of land sees and knows him, but
-there are sides to these birds that are so common hereabouts
-that perhaps you do not know, for I did not at your
-age, and it is only of late years that the wise men have
-been trying to find good points in some birds that have
-been always called bad. What they have discovered goes
-to prove what an unfortunate thing it is for any one, bird
-or person, to get a bad name.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My Grandma says a bad name sticks just like fly-paper,”
-said Ruth Barnes, eagerly, “ ’cause even if you can
-peel it off you, it always somehow feels as if it was there.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At this every one laughed, because almost every child at
-<span class='pageno' title='116' id='Page_116'></span>
-one time or another had been through some sort of an
-experience with sticky fly-paper, and little Bobbie chuckled
-so long that Gray Lady asked him what he knew about fly-paper,
-and thus drew forth the explanation that his
-father had sat on a sheet of fly-paper in the dark best
-parlor one Sunday morning when he was waiting for the
-family to get ready to drive to church, and nobody noticed
-until he, being a deacon, got up <span class='it'>to pass the plate</span>!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What were the Crows and Jays and Blackbirds in
-the orchard doing, Tommy; did you notice?” asked Gray
-Lady, as she arranged some papers between the leaves of
-her scrap-book.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='jay2'></a>The Jays were hanging around your lunch-counter in
-the old apple tree, that is, most of them; some seemed to be
-bringing acorns or some sort of big seeds from the river-woods
-way, and taking them into the attic of the old
-Swallow Chimney house. I never saw so many Jays at
-once; I counted sixteen of them,” said Tommy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Crows and Grackles were walking on the ground,
-some in the grass meadow, and some in the open ploughed
-field, and they were all searching about as if they had lost
-something, and they kept picking and eating all the time.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Were they eating corn that had dropped, or rye?”
-asked Gray Lady.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, no, there wasn’t any corn there, and the rye isn’t
-sown yet. They were eating bugs and things like that,
-I guess,” said Tommy, to whom a new idea had come as he
-spoke.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That is precisely what I hoped that one of you would
-see for yourself—the fact that both of these birds eat
-many things besides corn and grain.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='117' id='Page_117'></span>
-“By the way, what kind of Blackbirds were they?—for
-we have three sorts that are very common here. The Red-winged,
-those with red shoulders that come in such numbers
-about the swampy meadows early in spring. The
-Cowbird of the pastures who is smaller than the Red-wing,
-with a brown head, neck, and breast, the rest of him being
-gloomy black, with what Goldilocks calls all the ‘soap-bubble
-colours’ glistening over it, though the Wise Men
-call this ‘iridescence.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='grack1'></a>Then there is the Crow-Blackbird or Purple Grackle,
-the largest of the three, who is quite a foot in length from
-tail-tip to point of beak. This Blackbird has glistening
-jet feathers, with all the beautiful rainbow colours on his
-back and wings, that almost form bars of metallic hue,
-and he is a really beautiful bird that we should certainly
-appreciate better if it were not so common. Now, of
-course, it is one step on the way to bird knowledge if you
-can say surely this is a Blackbird, but it is necessary to go
-on then and say <span class='it'>which</span> Blackbird.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They were the Purple Grackle kind,” said Tommy,
-immediately, “for they were bigger than Cowbirds, and
-they had handsome shiny feathers, and they did just creak
-and grackle like everything while they walked around.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Very good,” said Gray Lady; “now I think that there
-are several things that you do not know about these birds,
-whom it is perfectly safe to call ‘mischief-makers’ and
-undesirable garden friends, though our best knowledge
-will not allow us to condemn them altogether as criminals,
-as was once the custom.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At this moment Jim Crow, who had been on an excursion
-first to the room, then, by way of the branches of an
-<span class='pageno' title='118' id='Page_118'></span>
-overhanging sugar-maple, quite down to the orchard lunch-counter
-and back, had crept in at the window unobserved,
-walked across the floor to the work-table, about which the
-girls sat, and, going under it, was concealed by the cloth.
-At this moment Eliza Clausen dropped her thimble. It
-rolled under the table, and as she stooped to get it she
-was just in time to see Jim seize it in his beak and half fly,
-half scramble to the back of Goldilocks’ chair, with his
-prize held fast.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, my thimble! Jim’ll swallow it!” she wailed, and
-the boys, with one impulse, started in pursuit. They could
-not have done a worse thing, for, seeing himself cornered,
-Jim’s hiding instinct came to his aid, and sidling along to
-the unceiled side of the attic, he quickly dropped the
-thimble between the studs, and you could hear it rattle
-down to the next story. Then he took refuge behind his
-mistress’ chair, from which he peeped inquisitively, with
-the sidewise look peculiar to Crows, so that it was impossible
-not to laugh at his quizzical expression.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do not worry about the thimble, Eliza,” said Gray
-Lady, “for those you are wearing for the sewing lessons
-are not prize thimbles, but merely penny affairs. This
-gives you a chance to see some of the little bits of mischief
-that a tame young Crow can do in his first season, so that
-you can imagine what a wild, old, wise, leader Crow
-can plot and plan in other ways. You all know the Crow,
-or rather, to be exact, the American Crow, for there is
-the Fish Crow and a southern relation, the Florida Crow,
-and in all there are twenty-five different kinds in North
-America alone. This Common Crow is very plentiful here,
-as he is in almost all parts of the United States, where
-<span class='pageno' title='119' id='Page_119'></span>
-he makes his home from the Mexican border up to the fur
-countries.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But do you know that this Crow is cousin to the Blue
-Jay?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How funny! What makes them cousins?—for they
-don’t look a bit alike, and they’re not the same colour or
-anything,” said Sarah, Tommy, and Dave, almost together.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, that is true, but colour and feathers have nothing
-to do with bird relationship any more than coloured
-hair has to do with human families, and you can see that
-here among yourselves. The Baltimore Oriole, Meadowlark,
-Bobolink, and Purple Grackle all belong in one
-family, and yet how unlike they seem. It is the construction
-of the bird’s body and its habits and traits that serve
-the Wise Men as guides to their grouping, and in these
-traits the two are much alike, for Mr. Chapman, who knows
-all about these birds, whether as museum specimens, where
-he can study their bones, or as wild birds in the trees,
-where he watches them day in and day out, says, ‘Our
-Crows and Jays inhabit wooded regions, and, although
-they shift about to a limited extent, they are resident
-throughout the year, except at the northern limits of
-their range. They are omnivorous feeders, taking fruits,
-seeds, insects, eggs, nestlings, etc. Crows and Jays exhibit
-marked traits of character and are possessed of
-unusual intelligence. Some scientists place them at the
-top of the tree of bird-life, and if their mental development
-be taken into consideration they have undoubted
-claim to high rank.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You see, also, that here is a Wise Man who believes
-that birds have intelligence that implies thinking, and
-<span class='pageno' title='120' id='Page_120'></span>
-this is different from the mere inherited instinct that
-teaches animals how to obtain food, self-protection, etc.
-There are people who believe that they are the only wise
-animals, and deny that birds and beasts can think; while
-there are others who try to make these birds and beasts
-think on the same lines as ourselves rather than in their
-own way. Both these are wrong; both are like blind men
-that lead others into a ditch and leave them there. The
-only way for you and me to do is to watch out for ourselves,
-look carefully, and be very sure that we see what
-is, and not merely what we would like to see.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now I will tell you what I, myself, have seen and know,
-and what others, whose word is guaranteed by the Wise
-Men, have seen concerning Crows and Jays. When I was
-a child, twenty-five years ago, riding my pony, I wandered
-all over the country-side with my father, and I knew
-every Crow roost and Hawk’s nest for miles, and for many
-years after I watched their comings and goings. Late
-last winter, when I came back to the dear home to live,
-I went out to the nearest of the old Crow roosts in the
-cedar woods yonder across the river (you can see the
-tree-tops plainly from this window), and, in spite of time
-and changes, a flock of Crows was still there.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To be sure, the flock was smaller, and there were
-fewer Cedars, many having been turned into fence and
-gate posts. But the Crows, big, black, solemn things as
-they are, seemed to give me a welcome.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The life of the Crow is dull if judged, perhaps, from
-the standpoint of the birds that make long journeys, such
-as the Swallows, Humming-birds, and the Night Hawk
-(that isn’t a Hawk at all), who nest in the far North and
-<span class='pageno' title='121' id='Page_121'></span>
-go back to spend the winter in Central or South
-America.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yet all we stay-at-home people know how much can
-happen even here in Fair Meadows township, and, if we
-extend our territory from salt water, or the southeast, to
-the hickory woods beyond the Grist-Mill on the northwest,
-there is room enough for happenings that would
-make an exciting life for any pair of Crows. For in considering
-Crows, we must take the life of a pair, one of
-their good traits being their personal and race fidelity,
-and when they mate, it is usually for life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is middle autumn now; what are the Crows doing?
-All through August and early fall they have been feeding
-good on grasshoppers, caterpillars, locusts, and cutworms.
-This flock that roost in the cedar woods are doing that
-which occupies most of a bird’s time in season and out,
-working for a living, and in doing this they are searching
-the grass meadows and ploughed fields for insects of every
-sort and description.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Their time of mischief is over for the year. The corn
-is cut and stacked; they may if they please tear the husks
-from the cobs and then reach the corn, but they are not
-fond of tough, dry corn, though, of course, they eat it when
-really hungry. But just now there is plenty to be gleaned
-from the field, and when the winter hungry time comes,
-the good corn will be stored safe in the granaries.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Every night, before sunset, the Crows of the flock
-leave the various feeding-places in twos and threes, and
-flap across country in a leisurely fashion toward the roost,
-where they spend their nights all the year except during
-the nesting season. They return thus in little parties, if
-<span class='pageno' title='122' id='Page_122'></span>
-there is no cause for fear, but should a man with a gun,
-a large Owl, or other suspicious object appear, either the
-Crow on the watch, for there is always one of these who
-guards the destiny of the flock, gives a signal by a sharp
-quavering Ca-ca-w or, if this seems too rash, the leader
-will simply take to wing and slip away silently, and, no
-matter how quietly the leader slips away, the rest of the
-flock know it and rise at once. How do they know
-this?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Maybe they smell, just as our rabbit hounds do when
-they start out after things that no one else sees or knows
-about,” said Tommy Todd.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, birds are not guided by scent as animals are,”
-said Gray Lady; “scent is held to the ground by moisture;
-it would be difficult to follow when it is blown about by
-air. Birds are led by their sight, which is many times
-keener than that of man or the lower animals. Then, too,
-they have another sense more fully developed than other
-animals, and that is what is called the ‘sense of direction.’
-Knowing the spot to which they would go, they are able
-to reach it in the quickest, most direct manner, so that
-‘as the Crow flies’ has come to mean the most direct
-way of reaching a place.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When morning comes they leave the roost, and, breaking
-up into parties, begin the search for food again. As
-the supply near home gives out, they go farther and farther
-afield, sometimes going down to the shore, where they
-pick up clams, mussels, and any scraps of sea-food that
-they can find.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“After the corn has been taken in, they find scattered
-kernels of that and other grain left in the field, but at the
-<span class='pageno' title='123' id='Page_123'></span>
-first snowfall hard times set in for the Crow. He cannot
-search the bark crevices for insects like the small tree-trunk
-birds with slender bills; people do not welcome him
-to their farm-yards and scatter grain for him, or leave
-him free to glean, as they do the other winter birds. It is
-at this time, when the hand of man is turned against him,
-that the Crow really works in man’s interest by catching
-meadow-mice and many other small destructive animals.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At this time, the Crow eats frozen apples, poison-ivy
-berries, acorns, beech and chestnuts, and the like. But
-now he grows poor and thin and his voice is querulous,
-and from November to March the Crow is put to it for a
-living. ‘Poor as a Crow’ is an apt saying.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE CROW</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Then it is a distant cawing,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Growing louder—coming nearer,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Tells of crows returning inland</p>
-<p class='line0'>From their winter on the marshes.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Iridescent is their plumage,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Loud their voices, bold their clamour.</p>
-<p class='line0'>In the pools and shallows wading,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Or in overflowing meadows</p>
-<p class='line0'>Searching for the waste of winter—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Scraps and berries freed by thawing.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Weird their notes and hoarse their croaking</p>
-<p class='line0'>Silent only when the night comes.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Frank Bolles.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>“With the thawing out of the ground in spring, the
-Crow begins to view the world differently. The search
-for insects still continues, and the corn now gleaned is
-<span class='pageno' title='124' id='Page_124'></span>
-more palatable, for it has been well soaked, and though a
-corn-eater by nature, the Crow does not like his too hard
-and dry.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The flock life of the roost now ends. Every Jack
-chooses his Jill, and mingled with the harsh warning cries
-of the older birds are sounds that sometimes have a suggestion
-that their makers are trying to sing. The funniest
-thing in birdland is to see a Crow or a Purple Grackle
-making love, standing on tiptoe on a branch, raising their
-wings by jerks, like pump-handles that are stiff, while the
-sounds they make stick in the throat in a manner that
-suggests Crow croup.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Once in a long time, however, I have heard a Crow
-begin with a high Caw, and then followed a series of soft,
-almost musical, notes, though without tune or finish, but
-this is the exception. But what, in his courting days, a
-Crow lacks in song, he makes up by wonderful feats of
-flight. For his size, the Crow is always a graceful bird on
-the wing. When he flaps slowly up against the wind,
-there is nothing laboured in his motions, but in the spring,
-in company with a desired mate, his swift dives into the
-air, wheels to right and left, circlings often finished by a
-series of somersaults across the sky, are really marvellous.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now the pair of Crows that we will call Jack and Jill,
-to save time, leave the cedar woods and begin hunting
-for a nesting-site. At first they looked through the
-hickory woods for an old Hawk’s nest for a foundation
-upon which to build, but this year there were two Red-tailed
-Hawks already in possession, and so they hurried
-away as quickly as possible, for Hawks do not like Crows,
-and tell them so very plainly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='125' id='Page_125'></span>
-“Next day they spied the great white pine back of
-Farmer Boardman’s barn. They liked the looks of the
-tree, for it had a bunch of closely knit branches near the
-top, and the neighbourhood in all respects promised good
-feeding, but before they had carried more than a few coarse
-sticks and put them in place, the farmer’s man saw them,
-and not only fired his gun at them to drive them away,
-but climbed the tree and threw the sticks away in order
-to be sure that they should not rest there.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What did Jack and Jill do next? They came flying
-over here. The place was attractive, and it was easy to
-slip from the pine woods to the hickories, then across to
-the orchard, and up to the spruce trees outside the window
-here. Goldilocks was too ill to come up into the playroom
-then, and so the windows on this side of the attic were
-shut.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The nest-building began in earnest, both birds working
-at it. First, a foundation of stout sticks, some of
-them being half-dead twigs from these same spruces; then,
-old weed stalks and vine tendrils, mixed with corn husks,
-until a heap was collected that would fill a half-bushel
-basket.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This was the outside of the house; the nursery itself was
-hollowed in the centre of the moss and was about a foot
-across and quite deep. This hollow was well lined and
-soft; it had in it moss, soft grasses, and some horsehair.
-In due time the nest was finished and held six very
-handsome eggs, dull green with purplish brown markings,
-two being more thickly spattered with them than the
-other four. At this time I began to take an interest in
-the household affairs of Jack and Jill Crow.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='126' id='Page_126'></span>
-“How could you?—can you climb trees?” asked Eliza
-Clausen, evidently much surprised.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, I couldn’t climb as far as this Crow’s nest, Eliza,
-though I could have once,” laughed Gray Lady. “Stand
-up on that seat by the corner window and look straight
-down into the spruce with a crooked top and tell me what
-you see.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Eliza jumped up on the seat, and, after gazing a minute,
-cried, “Why, it’s a big ’normous nest, and I can see every
-stick as plain as print.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Take this opera-glass, hold it to your eyes and move
-the screw to and fro until everything is very clear, and then
-tell me what you see,” said Gray Lady.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It took Eliza some time to manage the glass, but when
-she at last succeeded she cried, “Oh, I can see the moss
-and the grass and the hair; it comes as near as if I could
-touch it.” And one after another the children learned to
-adjust the focus and look, and it was the first, but not the
-last, time that glasses would open a new world to them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was a little less than three weeks that the birds
-sat upon the eggs, sharing the work between them, before
-the little birds were hatched. Such ugly, queer little
-things as they were, both blind and featherless. In three
-weeks more they were well grown and able to fly, but their
-tails were still shorter than their parents’, and they were
-inclined to return to the nest on the slightest alarm.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“About this time Jacob Hughes told me that either
-Crows or Hawks were taking little chickens early every
-morning, for they could not get them during the daytime
-without being seen.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I looked at the runs for the little chicks and saw that
-<span class='pageno' title='127' id='Page_127'></span>
-they stood in the open, not close to woods where Crows
-and Hawks could spy them out and sneak up or dash
-down according to their habits.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I well knew the bad name that Crows and Hawks have
-among poultry-raisers, so Jacob roofed the chicken-runs
-with wire, for, even if he had seen Crows there, I would not
-allow shooting on the place during the nesting season.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Still the chickens disappeared, and for several nights
-Jacob sat up and watched, and what do you suppose—cats
-and weasels were the guilty ones, not the Hawks and
-Crows!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But late in May the Crows prepared to raise their
-second brood, mending their old nest, and Jacob said,
-‘Something is robbing the nests in the orchard; I think
-surely it is the Crows and Jays, for when they come
-around all the song-birds chase them and say right out
-as plain as possible, “They’re thieves—they’re thieves!” ’
-So I watched from behind the blinds yonder, and in every
-spot where I could see into the tree-tops and be unobserved—and
-then I knew it was true that the Crows
-and Jays were detestable cannibals.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“One single morning I saw the Crow take three robin’s
-eggs and bring a tiny little robin squab to his mate on
-the nest, and one day, as a Crow flew high over my head,
-I thought I saw something strange in its beak, and clapped
-my hands sharply, when—what do you think? A poor
-little half-dead Wood Thrush, big enough to have its eyes
-open and some feathers, dropped almost on my upturned
-face, and thus the Crow was caught in the very act of
-killing. So, then, I said to myself, we can put tar on the
-seed-corn and protect our young chickens with wire, but
-<span class='pageno' title='128' id='Page_128'></span>
-we cannot make up for the death of young nestlings and
-the loss of eggs. I will not have the Crows shot, because
-they do good in the far meadows and hayfields, but the
-lonely woods, where few small birds nest, is the place for
-them. I shall see that they never again build in my
-garden orchard or woods, and if every one will do this, the
-danger to song-birds will be less, and in the winter, when
-they come about, there are no nestlings to be eaten.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was not long after that, owing to the evidence of
-my own eyes, I was obliged to say the same thing to the
-Blue Jay.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Wise Men say that, take it all in all, the Crow
-should have a chance, and that part of his faults come
-from our own shiftlessness. This is true, but if he feeds
-upon song-birds the Crow must go.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><a id='jay3'></a><span class='it'>The Blue Jay</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That the Blue Jay is a handsome fellow goes without
-saying, as well as that he has plenty of assurance and is
-somewhat of a bully. We may imagine that he knows
-that his uniform of blue, gray, and white, with black bands
-and markings, is very becoming, and if any one of you
-should tell me that he had seen a Jay admiring his reflection
-in a pond or little pool, I should be ready to believe
-him. Certain it is that not one of our birds, not even the
-glowing Scarlet Tanager, presents a more neat and military
-appearance.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i161.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0010' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>BLUE JAY</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>Order—<span class='sc'>Passeres</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Family—<span class='sc'>Corvidæ</span></p>
-<p class='line'>Genus—<span class='sc'>Cyanocitta</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Species—<span class='sc'>Cristata</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The only awkward thing about the Blue Jay is his
-flight. Although alert and agile in slipping through the
-trees, when he takes to wing his progress seems laboured,
-<span class='pageno' title='129' id='Page_129'></span>
-as if either his body was too heavy for his wings, or that
-the wings were stiff.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Like the Crow, his cousin, this Jay belongs to all
-north-eastern America, making its home from Florida to
-Newfoundland, and, like the Crow, we have some members
-of its family with us in New England all the
-winter, when it is certainly a pleasure to see them flying
-through the bare trees or gathering food on the pure
-white snow.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Jay does not annoy the farmer by pulling corn, nor
-trouble the chicken yard; for eight or nine months he
-earns an honest living, largely of vegetable food and
-harmful insects, snails, tree frogs, mice, small fish, and
-lizards, but in the breeding season, alas! he is a nest
-robber, and here in my own garden and orchard I have
-seen him this summer dodging and trying to avoid the
-angry birds that were pursuing him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Twice I heard nestling Robins twittering as they do
-when their parents come with food, but, like the wolf
-disguised as Red Riding-Hood’s Grandmother, it was a
-Jay who came to the nest and seized a squab, as my
-eyes saw and the cries of the parent birds told.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then I said to Jacob, ‘We will not let the Jays build in
-Birdland; they must be outcasts and go out and live in
-the far-away woods with the Crows, where there are few
-small birds.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How can we keep them out, you ask? It does take
-a little time and patience, to be sure, but if we watch when
-they begin to build and take away the sticks, you may be
-very sure that they will take the hint and go elsewhere,
-for they are quick-witted birds. So, perhaps, in time they
-<span class='pageno' title='130' id='Page_130'></span>
-would learn, at least in some regions, to inhabit places
-where mice and other harmful rodents and bugs are
-more plentiful than song-birds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then in the winter we of the Kind Hearts’ Club can
-make up for this seeming unkindness, and pay them for
-the real good they do by feeding them through the hungry
-time, when nuts, berries, and even frozen apples are not
-to be found.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What is a Blue Jay’s nest like? I don’t think I’ve
-ever seen one,” asked Tommy Todd.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is not very easy to find, for they usually build rather
-high up, in a place where the limb is crotched and has
-many small branches. The nest itself is well made of
-fibres and roots, and is usually quite cleverly hidden, and
-the eggs are dull green, very thickly spotted.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Aside from the Jay’s unaccountable cannibal habit of
-egg and squab hunting, he has many good qualities, both
-as a parent and a friend to those of his own kind, and
-though his call is harsh, and, like the creaking of the
-Grackles, a reminder of coming frosts and bare trees, in
-spring he has some pretty melodious notes and another
-call totally different from the harsh jay, jay. This cry
-is like the resonant striking of two bits of metal, a clink
-without exactly the ring that a bell has,—yet I call it the
-‘bell note,’ though perhaps the double sound produced
-by hammer and anvil is a better comparison.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In the fall, however, the Jay’s voice is certainly harsh,
-and not only lacks anything like musical quality, but is
-so harsh that when there are many about the noise is
-really annoying. The poet Lathrop describes the change
-so well that I will read it to you.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='131' id='Page_131'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>O JAY!</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>O Jay!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Blue Jay!</p>
-<p class='line0'>What are you trying to say?</p>
-<p class='line0'>I remember, in the spring</p>
-<p class='line0'>You pretended you could sing;</p>
-<p class='line0'>But your voice is now still queerer,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And as yet you’ve come no nearer</p>
-<p class='line0'>To a song.</p>
-<p class='line0'>In fact, to sum the matter,</p>
-<p class='line0'>I never heard a flatter</p>
-<p class='line0'>Failure than your doleful clatter.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Don’t you think it’s wrong?</p>
-<p class='line0'>It was sweet to hear your note,</p>
-<p class='line0'>I’ll not deny,</p>
-<p class='line0'>When April set pale clouds afloat</p>
-<p class='line0'>O’er the blue tides of sky.</p>
-<p class='line0'>And ’mid the wind’s triumphant drums</p>
-<p class='line0'>You in your white and azure coat,</p>
-<p class='line0'>A herald proud, came forth to cry,</p>
-<p class='line0'>“The royal summer comes!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Sometimes your piping is delicious,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And then again it’s simply vicious;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Though on the whole the varying jangle</p>
-<p class='line0'>Weaves round me an entrancing tangle</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of memories grave or joyous:</p>
-<p class='line0'>Things to weep or laugh at;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Love that lived at a hint, or</p>
-<p class='line0'>Days so sweet they’d cloy us.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Nights I have spent with friends:—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Glistening groves of winter,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the sound of vanished feet</p>
-<p class='line0'>That walked by the ripening wheat:</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Such mixed-up things your voice recalls,</p>
-<p class='line0'>With its peculiar quirks and falls.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Well, I’ll admit</p>
-<p class='line0'>There’s merit in a voice that’s truthful;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Yours is not honey sweet nor youthful,</p>
-<p class='line0'>But querulously fit.</p>
-<p class='line0'>And if we cannot sing, we’ll say</p>
-<p class='line0'>Something to the purpose, Jay!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>George Parsons Lathrop.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='132' id='Page_132'></span>
-“The Blue Jay makes as good a forest watchman as
-the Crow. Steal along ever so quietly, and if he chances
-to spy you, good-by to seclusion; his cry of alarm rouses
-every bird within ear-shot. But it is in their family life
-the Jays show to the best advantage, for they will stay
-by the nest and fight to the death, if necessary, while big
-cousin Crow, though he makes a precious racket, takes
-good care to keep himself well out of harm’s way.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“One trait belongs to this bird that I have never seen
-recorded of any other, though, of course, it may be common
-to all, and that is the care of the aged.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To care for the young, even among people, is an instinct
-as strong as self-protection. To care for the aged implies
-a good heart and a certain amount of unselfishness. This
-story is written down by Major Bendire, in his book on the
-<span class='it'>Life Histories of American Birds</span>. He lived much with the
-birds, and saw so truly that the Wise Men believe what he
-records.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>Mr. Firth to Major Bendire</span>,—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I made some observations last summer on the habits of the
-Blue Jay, which certainly show a degree of sympathy and
-kindness worthy of imitation of animals of a higher order. Last
-August (1887), on an old farm in Jefferson County, Wisconsin,
-<span class='pageno' title='133' id='Page_133'></span>
-my attention was attracted by the notes of a Blue Jay, not the
-ordinary cry, but a series of regular calls, followed by answers
-from a neighbouring tree. There was something so peculiarly
-like a communication of thought about the sound that I went
-to the place, and saw an old Blue Jay perched on a fence some
-distance from the tree where there were others.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On my nearing the bird, the calls from the others became
-more frequent and loud, changing from a low, pleasant communicative
-tone to shrill alarm. Thinking that he was injured in
-some way, I went up to him and found that at least he was
-partially blind. The eyes were blurred and dim, the beautiful
-blue feathers were faded; in fact, the general appearance of the
-bird was so different as to be seen at a glance; the claws were
-worn, the bill dulled, and the wings and tail ragged. Every
-feature suggested old age and feebleness. Yet he was watched
-and cared for as tenderly as ever a growing bird in the nest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>No sooner had I caught him than there were at least a dozen
-Jays close at hand whose sympathy and interest were manifest
-as clearly as could be with words.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After a thorough examination I let him go, when he flew in
-the direction of the sound of the others, but did not succeed in
-alighting among the smaller branches of the tree, and finally
-settled on a large limb near the ground. I saw him, after that,
-every day for a week, and never did his companions desert him,
-some one of them being always near and warning him of danger,
-when he would fly toward the sound of their voices.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They guided him regularly to a spring near by, where I saw
-him bathe daily, always, however, with some of his companions
-close by.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They not only watched and guided him, but they fed him.
-I had noticed, some days before, Jays carrying food and thought
-it strange at that season, as there were no young to feed, but
-found afterwards, to my surprise and pleasure, that the poor,
-blind bird was being fed by those he could no longer see.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“So you see the Jay, with all his bad tricks and nest-robbing,
-has his good points, and we will not shoot him,
-<span class='pageno' title='134' id='Page_134'></span>
-but hint very strongly, if necessary, that he had better
-nest away from the temptation that garden and orchards
-offer in the shape of eggs and fresh meat.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As Gray Lady ended, a great commotion arose in the
-neighbourhood of the orchard. Jays screamed and Crows
-cawed, as if, Goldilocks said, they knew that they were
-being talked about, and didn’t like it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady opened one of the windows and looked out.
-Below stood Jacob, waving his hat to attract attention,
-saying through his hands, “There are some Screech
-Owls on a branch of the old willow back of the orchard,
-and the other birds have found it out. The Crows are
-mixing in and there’s a great how-de-do. I thought maybe
-you would all like to see them, only I couldn’t go up
-for fear they might shift away.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Of course they wished to see, and it was quite remarkable
-how fifteen usually noisy children managed to tiptoe
-through the orchard and avoid sticks and dry leaves.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='135' id='Page_135'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE WISE OLD CROW</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Not all the people know</p>
-<p class='line0'>The wisdom of the Crow:</p>
-<p class='line0'>As they see him come and go,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;With verdict brief,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;They say, “You thief!”</p>
-<p class='line0'>And wish him only woe.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>That he’s selfish we admit,</p>
-<p class='line0'>But he has a lot of grit,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And on favour not a bit</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Does he depend;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Without a friend,</p>
-<p class='line0'>He must live by mother-wit.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The Crow is rather shy,</p>
-<p class='line0'>With a very watchful eye</p>
-<p class='line0'>For danger coming nigh,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And any one</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Who bears a gun</p>
-<p class='line0'>He’s pretty sure to spy.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The clever farmer’s plan</p>
-<p class='line0'>Is to make a sort of ban,</p>
-<p class='line0'>By stuffing clothes with bran,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Topped with a tile</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Of ancient style,</p>
-<p class='line0'>—A funny old scarecrow man.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The Crow looks on with scorn,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And early in the morn</p>
-<p class='line0'>Pulls up the farmer’s corn:</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;He laughs at that,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The queer old hat,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of the scarecrow man forlorn.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Garrett Newkirk</span>, in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='136' id='Page_136'></span><h1>XI<br/> <span class='sub-head'>THE FLIGHT OF THE BIRD</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'><span class='it'>How do Birds find their Way?</span><a id='r1'/><a href='#f1' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[1]</span></sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'>(Told at Foxes Corners School)</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='mig'></a>I was telling Grand’ther about how far away the birds<a id='travels'></a>
-go in the winter, and how they fly against the lighthouses
-and get killed,” said Tommy Todd, “and he said I couldn’t
-tell him anything about their going away and coming back,
-’cause he’d seen that going on, boy and man, these seventy
-years. Grand’ther knows how the same kind of birds
-come back to the place every spring, ’cause he says there
-were Phœbe Birds had a nest on the end beam of the cowshed
-over where the last cow stands,—way back when he
-was learning to milk. Then when that old shed blew
-down, and they built a new one like it, back the birds came,
-and they are coming yet; first nest over Black Bess, and
-second nest way out over the box-pen where the little
-calves live.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What Grand’ther wants to know is how they find
-the way to go so far, and how they know where to
-stop and find something to eat, and if they get hungry,
-’cause he says nobody seems to know just what they do
-between times, and what people do tell seems like Jack-and-the-Beanstalk
-fairy-stories, and he said maybe you
-had some book that told about it so’s you could explain.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='137' id='Page_137'></span>
-Gray Lady smiled in a half-puzzled way, as Tommy
-spoke, for the questions that the children asked often
-gave her as much cause for study and wonder as the
-stories that she told them. She was finding out that
-there were three or four members of the Kind Hearts’ Club
-who had been seeing correctly and trying to think out
-things for themselves before they had a chance to ask
-questions, or had any books to consult.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Your grandfather’s question cannot be answered in a
-few words,” she said, “neither is there any one book that
-tells everything about these wonderful journeys, because,
-as yet, not the very wisest of the Wise Men know it all,
-though they wait and watch, and every spring and fall
-many of them are scattered through the country upon
-the course of the flying birds to watch them as they
-pass.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“All the information that they collect is printed and
-kept as evidence of what is known, a little here and a
-little there, until we hope some day that the history will
-be complete, when it will be one of the most wonderful
-stories in the world, for even the little we know sounds
-like a fairy-tale.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of course,” continued Gray Lady, “I know very little
-from my own sight, but I will tell you what I have learned
-of the Wise Men, who believe it to be the truth. I had
-intended telling you about Owls and Hawks to-day, as I
-promised you last week, when we saw the Screech Owl
-up in the orchard, but that story can wait until the next
-time you visit Birdland, for the Owls are still about; there
-are pictures of them in the library, and others that are
-stuffed and mounted in the glass case in the hall.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='138' id='Page_138'></span>
-“All that we need, or that can help us with the story of
-the bird on its travels, is that large map of North and
-South America, for this will be a geography, as well as a
-bird, lesson.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>(A fine map of the western hemisphere having been
-the first thing that Gray Lady had given Miss Wilde for
-the use of the school at Foxes Corners, the little old one
-being out of date and indistinct.)</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Clary, you may take charge of the pointer to-day and
-sit here by me, for this will be a rather long lesson, and you
-will need help with the binding of your iron-holder, for
-I’m afraid if you draw the stitches so very tight it will
-pucker and not lie flat and smooth like the model that Ann
-Hughes made.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And what work has Jacob given you boys for your
-penknives to do?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Wooden spoons out of white wood,” answered Dave,
-“big strong ones such as’ll beat up cake and apple-sauce,
-and, when they’re shaped, we are to smooth them down
-fine with sandpaper. I’m going to give mine to my
-mother; she broke hers yesterday, the handle snapped
-right in two. She says the bought spoons are sawn out
-crossgrain, any which way. There was an old man who
-used to come down from the charcoal camp with wooden
-spoons and butter-scoops and hickory baskets, and he
-sold lots of ’em all through the town, but he died last
-winter.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then surely wooden spoons and butter-scoops will be
-very good things for the Kind Hearts’ Club to make for
-its Christmas sale, and we shall be interfering with nobody,
-for that is one of the things that we must remember when
-<span class='pageno' title='139' id='Page_139'></span>
-we are working for charity, not to make articles for sale
-that shall interfere with others who make them to get an
-honest living, for that sort of thing is a species of robbery
-in disguise.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk103'/>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>The Travels of Birds</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What becomes of the birds that are with us in summer?
-Where and how do they spend the winter? By what
-roadways do they travel to their winter haunts? Do they
-prefer to journey by land or by water, and how do they
-find the way?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We need not think that we, or anybody else of our day,
-are the first to ask these questions, for it is many hundreds
-of years since they first began to puzzle thinking
-people. At first, lacking any real knowledge of the simplest
-facts of nature, and not having as yet trained the
-eye to correct seeing, the people did as the ignorant do
-to this day,—they imagined fabulous reasons. The more
-impossible and wonderful or unnatural, the better, for
-it takes a trained mind oftentimes to realize that the
-most natural way is the best, and that the simplest way
-is the most natural.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was in these far-back times that the foolish idea was
-started that the Swallows dived into the mud and there
-spent the winter, like the frogs.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Another stranger idea was that small birds crossed
-large bodies of water as passengers on the backs of large
-birds, such as Cranes, Ducks, and Geese, for people did
-not know enough of the structure of birds to realize that
-the machinery of the tiny Humming-bird is as fit for flying
-<span class='pageno' title='140' id='Page_140'></span>
-long distances as that of the biggest birds that grow.
-Ideas like this have been believed until a comparatively
-short time ago, and it is only within the last fifty years
-that there has been much real progress toward the truth
-of it all. And this is the way it has been brought about.
-In our country the band of Wise Men at Washington,
-forming the United States Biological Survey, have for
-twenty years been gathering facts about the migration
-of birds. This body has sent out naturalists to travel
-through the North American continent from Guatemala
-to the Arctic Circle, to meet with other scientific men on
-their way, and keep careful notes of what they see, so that
-reports are had in the spring and fall each year from
-hundreds of observers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“These reports give the date upon which each particular
-kind (or species, as they call it) of bird is seen, when
-it becomes plenty, and when it moves on again. The
-lighthouse keepers also give much information by noting
-the times at which they find the birds that are dashed to
-death against the lanterns in the tower. In short, the
-Wise Men have more material at hand than ever before
-from which to shape the story that day by day increases
-in wonder.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>Causes of the Migrations</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is more than two thousand years since the wonders
-of bird travel have been noted; and while the distances
-and routes of travel are better known, we cannot yet give a
-positive answer to the question, ‘Why do birds migrate?’ ”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Please, Gray Lady,” said Sarah Barnes, “I thought
-you said it was because in fall the insect food begins to
-<span class='pageno' title='141' id='Page_141'></span>
-freeze and give out, and they go south after it and in
-spring they want to go back home.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, Sarah, that is one of the reasons, and yet birds
-start off oftentimes when food is still plenty, and every
-naturalist knows of the rush of the water-fowl northward
-so early every spring that they are often turned back by
-storms and have to retrace their flight, and they have
-all seen that Robins, Bluebirds, and Swallows, following
-too closely in the wake of the water-fowl, sometimes
-lose hundreds out of their flocks by cold and starvation.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If the fall journey is caused by lack of food, why
-does it begin when food is most plenty? At some of
-the Florida lighthouses the Wise Men have seen that
-the southward trip with some birds begins between the
-first and middle of July, at the time when the crop of
-insects and ripe seeds and berries is at its height. So
-the best answer that can be made is that ages ago, when
-the migrations began, they were connected with a food
-supply that changed more suddenly than at the present
-time, and that, even when the direct motive is lost, the
-habit remains fixed.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That’s it; that’s a bully reason!” cried Tommy
-Todd, excitedly. “They’ve got the notion that they’re
-going travelling just so often and they can’t calculate
-the time right and so they get ready too soon; likely
-they haven’t got very good heads for planning. That’s
-the reason, Pop says, that every fall, when Ma and Aunt
-Hannah go up to Kent to visit Grandma Tuck, they are
-all ready on the stoop by half-past seven, when there’s
-never been a train from here to there before ’leven. If
-they were birds, they’d probably fly off as soon as it was
-<span class='pageno' title='142' id='Page_142'></span>
-light, and get to Grandma’s for breakfast, when they’d
-written on a picture postal, with tea-cups and a cat on
-it, that she might expect them for supper.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When the laugh at Tommy’s comparison had subsided,
-Gray Lady said, “Your idea is by no means a
-foolish one, and it may be that a boy like you, who
-watches and thinks, will some day piece the facts together
-that will finally settle the question.”</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>How do Birds find their Way?</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How do the birds find their way over the hundreds
-or thousands of miles between the winter and summer
-homes? Sight is probably the chief guide of those who
-fly by day, and it is known that these day travellers
-seldom make the long single flights that are so common
-with the birds that journey at night. Sight, undoubtedly,
-also guides them, to a large extent, in the night journeys,
-when the moon is bright. Migrating birds fly high, so
-that one can hardly hear their faint twittering. But
-if the sky is obscured and the clouds hang low, the flocks
-keep nearer to the earth, and their calls are more distinctly
-heard; while on very dark nights, the vibration
-of their wings can be heard close overhead.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i176.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0011' style='width:100%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>TERNS AND SKIMMERS ON THE WING</span><br/><span style='font-size:smaller'>(Summer Bird-Life, Cobbs Island, Va. Am. Museum Nat. Hist., N.Y.)</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Notwithstanding this, something besides sight guides
-these travellers in the upper air. (Here is a route
-for you to trace on the map.) In Alaska, a few years
-ago, members of the Biological Survey on the Harriman
-expedition went by steamer from the island of Unalaska
-to Bogoslof Island, a distance of about sixty miles. A
-dense fog had shut out every object beyond a hundred
-<span class='pageno' title='143' id='Page_143'></span>
-yards. When the steamer was halfway across, flocks
-of <a id='murre'></a>Murres, returning to Bogoslof after long quests for
-food, began to break through the fog wall astern, fly
-side by side with the vessels, and disappear in the mists
-ahead. By chart and compass, the ship was heading
-straight for the island; but its course was no more exact
-than that taken by the birds. The power which carried
-them unerringly home over the ocean wastes, whatever
-its nature, may be called ‘a sense of direction.’ We
-recognize in ourselves the possession of some such sense,
-though imperfect and easily at fault. Doubtless a
-similar, but vastly more acute, sense enabled the Murres,
-flying from home and circling wide over the water, to
-keep in mind the direction of their nests and return to
-them without the aid of sight. It is probable that this
-faculty is exercised during migration.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Reports from lighthouses in southern Florida show
-that birds leave Cuba on cloudy nights when they cannot
-possibly see the Florida shores, and safely reach their
-destination, provided no change occurs in the weather.
-But if meantime the wind changes or a storm arises to
-throw them out of their reckoning, they become bewildered,
-lose their way, and fly toward the lighthouse
-beacon. Unless killed by striking the lantern, they
-hover near or alight on the balcony, to continue their
-flight when morning breaks, or, the storm ceasing, a
-clear sky allows them once more to determine the proper
-course.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Birds flying over the Gulf of Mexico to Louisiana,
-even if they ascended to the height of five miles, would
-still be unable to see a third of the way across. Nevertheless
-<span class='pageno' title='144' id='Page_144'></span>
-this trip is successfully made twice each year by
-countless thousands of the warblers of the Mississippi
-Valley.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Probably there are many short zigzags from one favoured
-feeding-spot to another, but the general course
-between the summer and winter homes is as straight as
-the birds can find without missing the usual stopping-places.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>Accidents during Migration</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Migration is a season full of peril for myriads of winged
-travellers, especially for those that cross large bodies of
-water. Some of the shore-birds, such as Plover and
-Curlew, which take long ocean voyages, can rest on the
-waves if overtaken by storms, but woe to the luckless
-warbler whose feathers once became water-soaked,—a
-grave in the ocean or a burial in the sand of the beach
-is the inevitable result. Nor are such accidents infrequent.
-A few years ago on Lake Michigan a storm
-during spring migration piled many birds along the
-shore.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If such a disaster could occur on a lake less than a
-hundred miles wide, how much greater might it not be
-during a flight across the Gulf of Mexico. Such a catastrophe
-was once witnessed from the deck of a vessel,
-thirty miles off the mouth of the Mississippi River.
-Large numbers of migrating birds, mostly warblers,
-had accomplished nine-tenths of their long flight, and
-were nearing land, when they were caught by a ‘norther’
-with which most of them were unable to contend, and,
-falling into the Gulf, were drowned by hundreds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='145' id='Page_145'></span>
-“Then, as I have told you before, birds are peculiarly
-liable to destruction by striking high objects. A new
-tower in a city kills many before the survivors learn to
-avoid it. The Washington Monument has caused the
-death of many little migrants; and though the number
-of its victims has decreased of late years, yet on a single
-morning in the spring of 1902 nearly 150 lifeless bodies
-were strewn around its base.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Bright lights attract birds from great distances. While
-the torch in the Bartholdi Statue of Liberty in New
-York Harbor was kept lighted, the sacrifice of life it
-caused was enormous, even reaching a maximum of
-700 birds in a month. A flashing light frightens birds
-away, and a red light is avoided by them as if it were
-a danger signal, but a steady white light looming out of
-mist or darkness seems to act like a magnet and draws
-the wanderers to destruction. Coming from any direction,
-they veer around to the leeward side, and then,
-flying against the wind, dash themselves against the
-pitiless glass.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>Distance of Migration</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The length of the migration journey varies enormously.
-Some birds do not migrate at all. <a id='card1'></a>Many a Cardinal,
-Carolina Wren, and <a id='bobW1'></a>Bob-white rounds out its whole
-contented life within ten miles of its birthplace. Other
-birds, for instance, the Pine Warbler and the Black-headed
-Grosbeak, do not venture in winter south of
-the breeding range, so that with them fall migration is
-only a withdrawal from the northern and a concentration
-in the southern part of the summer home—the
-<span class='pageno' title='146' id='Page_146'></span>
-Warbler in about a fourth and the Grosbeak in less than
-an eighth of the summer area.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The next variation is illustrated by the Robin, which
-occurs as a species in the middle districts of the United
-States throughout the year, in Canada only in summer,
-and along the Gulf of Mexico only in winter. Probably
-no individual Robin is a continuous resident in any section;
-but the Robin that nests, let us say, in southern Missouri
-will spend the winter near the Gulf, while his hardy
-Canada-bred cousin will be the winter tenant of the
-abandoned summer home of the southern bird.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Most migrants entirely change their abode twice
-a year, and some of them travel immense distances.
-Of the land-birds, the common eastern Night Hawk seems
-to deserve the first place among those whose winter
-homes are widely distant from their breeding-grounds.
-Alaska and Patagonia, separated by 115 degrees of
-latitude, are the extremes of the summer and winter
-homes of the bird, and each spring many a Night Hawk
-travels the 5000 miles that lie between. But some of
-the shore-birds are still more inveterate voyagers. These
-cover from 6000 to 8000 miles each way, and appear to
-make travelling their chief occupation.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>Routes of Migration</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Birds often seem eccentric in choice of route, and many
-land-birds do not take the shortest line. The fifty
-species from New England that winter in South America,
-instead of making the direct trip over the Atlantic, involving
-a flight of 2000 miles, take a slightly longer route
-<span class='pageno' title='147' id='Page_147'></span>
-which follows the coast of Florida, and passes thence,
-by island or mainland, to South America. What would
-seem, at first sight, to be a natural and convenient migratory
-highway extends from Florida through the Bahamas
-or Cuba to Haiti, Porto Rico, and the Lesser Antilles,
-and thence to South America.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>The Bobolink Route</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Chief among these dauntless voyagers is the <a id='bobo3'></a>Bobolink,
-fresh from despoiling the Carolina rice-fields, waxed
-fat from his gormandizing, and so surcharged with
-energy that the 500-mile flight to South America on
-the way to the waving pampas of southern Brazil seems
-a small hardship. Indeed, many Bobolinks appear to
-scorn the Jamaican resting-point and to compass in
-a single flight the 700 miles from Cuba to South America.
-With the Bobolink is an incongruous company of travelling
-companions—a Vireo, a King Bird, and a <a id='nhawk1'></a>Night
-Hawk that summer in Florida; the queer Chuck-will’s-widow
-of the Gulf States; the two New England Cuckoos;
-the trim Alice’s Thrush from Quebec; the cosmopolitan
-Bank Swallow from frozen Labrador, and the Black-poll
-Warbler from far-off Alaska. But the Bobolinks
-so far outnumber all the rest of the motley crew that
-the passage across the Caribbean Sea from Cuba to
-South America may with propriety be called the ‘Bobolink
-route.’ Occasionally a mellow-voiced Wood Thrush
-joins the assemblage, or a green-gold Tanager, which will
-prepare in its winter home its next summer livery of
-flaming scarlet. But the ‘Bobolink route,’ as a whole,
-is not popular with other birds, and the many that
-<span class='pageno' title='148' id='Page_148'></span>
-traverse it are but a fraction of the thousands of North
-American birds that spend the winter holiday in South
-America.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk104'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Have you patience to follow the history of the flight
-of one bird? The longest migration route is taken by
-some of the wading-birds, especially the <a id='plovg'></a>American Golden
-Plover, <a id='curl'></a>the Eskimo Curlew, and the Turnstone. The
-journey of the Plover, in itself like a fable, is wonderful
-enough to be told in detail.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In the first week of June, they arrive at their breeding-grounds
-in the bleak, wind-swept ‘barren grounds’
-above the Arctic Circle, far beyond the tree line. Some
-even venture 1000 miles farther north (Greely found
-them at latitude 81 degrees). While the lakes are still
-ice-bound, they hurriedly fashion shabby little nests
-in the moss only a few inches above the frozen ground.
-By August, they have hastened to Labrador, where, in
-company with Curlews and <a id='turn'></a>Turnstones, they enjoy a
-feast. Growing over the rocks and treeless slopes of
-this inhospitable coast is a kind of heather, the crowberry,
-bearing in profusion a juicy black fruit. The
-extravagant fondness shown for the berry by the birds,
-among which the Curlew, owing to its greater numbers,
-is most conspicuous, causes it to be known to the natives
-as the ‘curlewberry.’ The whole body of the Curlew
-becomes so saturated with the dark-purple juice that
-birds whose flesh was still stained with the colour have
-been shot 1000 miles south of Labrador.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i183.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0012' style='width:90%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>GOLDEN PLOVER</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“After a few weeks of such feasting, the Plovers become
-<span class='pageno' title='149' id='Page_149'></span>
-excessively fat, and ready for their great flight.
-They have reared their young under the midnight sun,
-and now they seek the southern hemisphere. After
-gaining the coast of Nova Scotia, they strike straight
-out to sea, and take a direct course for the easternmost
-islands of the West Indies. Eighteen hundred miles of
-ocean waste lie between the last land of Nova Scotia
-and the first of the Antilles, and yet 600 more to the
-eastern mainland of South America, their objective
-point. The only land along the route is the Bermuda
-Islands, 800 miles from Nova Scotia. In fair weather,
-the birds fly past the Bermudas without stopping; indeed,
-they are often seen by vessels 400 miles or more east of
-these islands.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When they sight the first land of the Antilles, the flocks
-often do not pause, but keep on to the larger islands
-and sometimes even to the mainland of South America.
-Sometimes a storm drives them off the main track,
-when they seek the nearest land, appearing not infrequently
-at Cape Cod and Long Island.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A few short stops may be made in the main flight, for
-the Plover swims lightly, and easily, and has been seen
-resting on the surface of the ocean; and shore-birds
-have been found busily feeding 500 miles south of Bermuda
-and 1000 miles east of Florida, in the Atlantic,
-in that area known as the Sargasso Sea, where thousands
-of square miles of seaweed teem with marine life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Though feathered balls of fat when they leave Labrador
-and still plump when they pass the Bermudas, the Plovers
-alight lean and hungry in the Antilles. Only the first,
-though the hardest, half of the journey is over. How
-<span class='pageno' title='150' id='Page_150'></span>
-many days it has occupied may never be known. Most
-migrants either fly at night and rest in the day or vice
-versa, but the Plover flies both night and day.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“After a short stop of three or four weeks in the Antilles
-and on the north-eastern coast of South America, the
-flocks disappear, and later their arrival is noted at the
-same time in southern Brazil and the whole prairie region
-of Argentina and Patagonia. Here they remain from
-September to March (the summer of the southern hemisphere),
-free from the responsibilities of the northern
-summer they have left. The native birds of Argentina
-are at the time engrossed in family cares; but, <span class='it'>remember
-this well, no wayfarer from the north nests in the south; he
-has a second summer free from care!</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“After a six months’ vacation the Plovers resume the
-serious affairs of life and start back toward the Arctic
-zone, but not by the same course. Their full northward
-route is a problem still unsolved. They disappear from
-Argentina and shun the whole Atlantic coast from Brazil
-to Labrador. In March they appear in Guatemala and
-Texas; April finds their long lines trailing across the
-prairies of the Mississippi valleys; the first of May sees
-them crossing our northern boundary; and by the first
-week in June they reappear at their breeding-grounds
-in the frozen North. What a journey! Eight thousand
-miles of latitude separates the extremes of their course,
-and 3000 miles of longitude constitutes the shorter
-diameter, and all for the sake of spending ten weeks on
-an Arctic coast! Do you realize this endurance when
-you see birds passing that window?</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk105'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='151' id='Page_151'></span>
-“As to the fatigue of the bird from travel, this is now
-thought to be very slight, as bird flocks that have crossed
-great bodies of water do not stop to rest, but usually
-continue many miles inland. It is, undoubtedly, accident
-or illness that sometimes causes birds to stop for rest on
-the rigging of vessels or offshore islands.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>The Unknown</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Interest in bird migration goes back to a far distant
-period. Marvellous tales of the spring and fall movements
-of birds were spun by early observers, yet hardly less
-incredible are the ascertained facts. Much remains to
-be learned, and it may be of interest to note a few of the
-mysteries which still occupy attention. Even the daily
-flight of a bird is a wonderful thing apart from the endurance
-required in the long migrations. Though the
-wings of birds are built on very much the same plan, few
-species use them in precisely the same manner; while
-on a windy day the wings assume a dozen different
-positions in as many seconds, and to watch the flight of a
-sea-bird, as it rises and trims itself to the wind and then
-shapes its course, is to be awe-struck by this mysterious
-power of flight.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Snap shot pictures of birds on the wing will show you
-this better than many words. Some birds, like the Hawks
-and Eagles, can sustain themselves in the air for hours,
-sailing against the wind without any visible motion of the
-wings. Others fly both by swift beating and sailing,
-like the Terns in one of these pictures.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In short, the differences are so great that the Wise Men
-<span class='pageno' title='152' id='Page_152'></span>
-can often identify a bird by the sharp outline of its shadow
-in flight.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This power of flight has been a subject of wonder for
-many thousand years; we think and we speculate, but no
-one has yet learned the secret in its fulness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘The way of an eagle in the air! This is too wonderful
-for me!’ is an expression of this feeling of mystery, recorded
-in the book of Proverbs. One thing seems quite
-certain, however—if man ever succeeds in conquering the
-air and sailing through it, it will not be by the power of any
-invention of his own, but because he has at least in
-some degree mastered the knowledge of the flight of the
-bird and adapted it to his own use.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='swift2'></a>“The Chimney Swift, that you all know as the Chimney
-Swallow, is one of the most abundant and best-known birds
-of the eastern part of the United States. With troops of
-fledglings, catching their winged prey as they go, and lodging
-by night in some tall chimney, the flocks drift slowly
-south, joining with other bands until, on the northern coast
-of the Gulf of Mexico, they become an innumerable host.
-Then they disappear. Did they drop into the water and
-hibernate in the mud, as was believed of old, their obliteration
-could not be more complete. In the last week in
-March a joyful twittering far overhead announces their
-return to the Gulf coast, but the intervening five months
-is still the Swifts’ secret.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i188.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0013' style='width:100%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>THE WINGS IN FLIGHT</span><br/><span style='font-size:smaller'>(Birds of the San Joaquin Valley, Cal. Am. Museum Nat. Hist., N.Y.)</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The mouse-coloured Bank Swallows, that we saw here
-in flocks a few weeks ago, are almost cosmopolitan, and
-enliven even the shores of the Arctic Ocean with their
-graceful aerial evolutions. Those that nest in Labrador
-allow a scant two months for building a nest and raising
-<span class='pageno' title='153' id='Page_153'></span>
-a brood, and by the first of August are headed southward.
-Six weeks later they are swarming in the vicinity of Chesapeake
-Bay, and then they, too, pass out of the range of our
-knowledge. In April they appear in northern South
-America, moving north, but not a hint do they give of how
-they came there. The rest of the species, those that
-nest to the south or west, may be traced farther south, but
-they, too, fail to give any clew as to where they spend the
-five winter months.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Which one of the Wise Men can tell us? No one.
-Look out the window now; there are two Night Hawks,
-first flying high and then dropping suddenly through
-the air. Is it not hard to realize that, while you are going
-to and fro every day between your homes and school,
-and by and by having to dig paths through the snow in
-order to get there, those two slender birds will have flown
-5000 miles to find a new summer, and will be having a
-vacation absolutely free from family cares?”</p>
-
-<hr class='footnotemark'/>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_1'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f1'><a href='#r1'>[1]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Condensed and adapted from <span class='it'>Some New Facts about the Migration of
-Birds</span>, by Wells W. Cooke, United States Biological Survey.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='154' id='Page_154'></span><h1>XII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>SOME SUSPICIOUS CHARACTERS</span></h1></div>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>Owls and Hawks</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Frost had come. Real frost, with black, nipping fingers.
-White frost, at its first appearance, is a decorator who casts
-a silver spell upon the meadows, turning them into shimmering
-lakes and touching the ripe leaves until each one
-becomes a banner of scarlet, gold, or russet.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Chrysanthemums and tufts of self-sown pansies, huddling
-in warm nooks, were the only flowers left about the
-farm-houses or in Gray Lady’s garden, and both of these
-would hold their own until Thanksgiving Day gave praise
-for the year’s growth and bade growing things sleep the
-long sleep of winter.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Birdland showed the change less than either the hickory
-or the river woods, for the old orchard held its leaves as
-apple trees usually do, and the belt of spruces and pines,
-that ran from the north side of it quite up to the house,
-made a cheerful green barrier and wind-break as well; but
-the Swallows and Night Hawks were no longer skimming
-the air, and high above, <a id='hawk5'></a>a pair of Red-shouldered Hawks
-were sailing majestically, occasionally giving their cry
-Kee-o—Kee-o!</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i191.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0014' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>RED-SHOULDERED HAWK</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Jacob had finished the Martin house the week previous,
-and a stout smooth pole like a flagstaff had been planted,
-not in Birdland itself but on a slight rise in the ground
-<span class='pageno' title='155' id='Page_155'></span>
-that overlooked both the barns and the orchard. The
-setting up of the house itself had been reserved for this
-special Saturday, so that the children might take part
-in the ceremony.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The top of the pole, on which there were fastened crosspieces
-to make a foundation for the house, was thirty feet
-above the ground. In this pole stout spikes were driven
-at intervals. This not only would prevent cats from
-climbing up to the house, but made a sort of ladder by
-which a man or boy could go up and pull out the nesting
-material of English sparrows if they tried to take possession.
-For, if we are to keep the useful insect-eating birds about
-our houses, we must try our best to keep this Sparrow
-from living amongst us.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Hard as it seems, he must be classed with animals that
-the kindest heart knows must be destroyed. But no one
-wishes to hurt nestlings, so the best way to do is to prevent
-the old birds from building in the haunts of the useful
-song-birds, and then in winter, when the old Sparrows
-gather in flocks about the barnyard, have some grown
-man, with good judgment and aim, shoot them. Children
-should never be let do this for amusement, for it is not well
-to allow a painful necessity to become a sport.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Tommy Todd was quite late on this Saturday morning,
-so that it was thought that he was not coming, and when
-he did arrive he found the others gathered about the pole,—Dave,
-who had a steady head for climbing, having been
-allowed to go up with Jacob, after the house had been
-raised with a block and falls, to hold hammer and nails
-while it was securely fastened to the braces.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>They were all so busy that it was not until Jacob and
-<span class='pageno' title='156' id='Page_156'></span>
-Dave had come down, that Gray Lady noticed the box
-that Tommy had brought and which stood beside him,
-the slats on top telling that it contained some live thing.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As she turned to ask Tommy what he had brought,
-Goldilocks came down the path in her chair, for though
-she could walk quite well by this time, she was obliged to
-be very careful, and Ann would not allow her to be on her
-feet for more than an hour or two each day.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The little Owls are back again and all sitting in a row
-on a branch of the old russet beyond the lunch-counter.
-There is a hollow in the trunk of the tree that I never
-noticed before, and do you know, mother, I shouldn’t be
-surprised if the nest had been in there, so, perhaps, if we
-have something that they like on the lunch-counter, they’ll
-come back next year.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Come back? Aren’t you going to shoot them before
-they get away?” asked Dave. “Because they might not
-come back.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We don’t want them to come back to be shot, but to
-make more nests and live here,” said Goldilocks.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Live! why, folks <span class='it'>always</span> shoot Owls and Hawks! They
-are very bad things, though I guess Hawks are the worst;
-anyhow, there’s more of ’em. Just look at those big Hen-hawks
-flying up yonder now; maybe you’d like them to
-come and live in the orchard. If they did, they’d eat the
-lunch off’n your counter, other birds and all.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady, seeing by the expression of Dave’s face that
-he could not quite understand any other view of the matter,
-said: “Yes, Dave, you are right; people usually shoot
-Hawks and Owls on sight—and have been doing so for
-years. In fact, my own husband used to shoot them as a
-<span class='pageno' title='157' id='Page_157'></span>
-matter of course, and he was one who never killed a song-bird
-and who greatly preferred to hear the Grouse drumming
-in the forest, the Woodcock singing and dancing in
-the spring woods (yes, they both dance and sing and I will
-tell you of them some day), and Bob-white telling his name
-from the fence-rail, than to have them come on the table
-ever so deliciously cooked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='hawk1'></a>But within the last ten or fifteen years the Wise Men
-have found out a great deal more about these Owls and
-Hawks—or Birds of Prey, as they are called, and they
-know exactly what the work of these birds is in the great
-plan of nature. Many of the facts they tell us of we can
-see for ourselves if we have the patience to watch. Before
-the country was settled by white men, and became what
-we call ‘civilized,’ all of these birds of prey had their place,
-but even now many of them are not only not hurtful to us,
-but of distinct benefit. The difficulty is that we do not
-stop to sift the facts and separate the good from the bad.
-To the farmer, and particularly the poultry-raiser, the cry of
-Hawk brings him out, quick as a flash, shot-gun in hand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But if he will only realize that for every chicken or
-pigeon one of these Hawks destroys, it in all probability
-takes fifty rats, field-mice, short-tailed meadow-mice,
-weasels, and red squirrels, he will see that he owes the
-Hawk a debt of gratitude; for it is easier by far to protect a
-poultry-yard from conspicuous things that fly above—like
-Hawks and Owls—than to keep out the things that
-crawl and creep.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now, before we go down to the orchard to see Goldilocks’
-little <a id='owl1'></a>Screech Owls, let us see what Tommy Todd
-has in this box.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='158' id='Page_158'></span>
-<a id='screech'></a>“It’s only a Screech Owl that I found up in the pigeon-coop
-this morning, but it’s such a different colour from the
-gray ones we have here, that I brought it up for you to
-see if it was a rare kind. I daren’t take it out because it
-claws and bites so.” And Tommy took away the cloth that
-partly covered the box, and there sat the bird with open,
-yellow-rimmed eyes, with which he seemed to see with
-difficulty.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Owl was no taller than a Robin, but his large, round
-head and thickset body made him appear to be a much
-larger bird. He had two ear tufts (or horns) of feathers,
-a strong, curved beak, and powerful toes, lightly feathered,
-ending in the hooked talons that mark the birds of prey,
-that is, birds that prey, or feed, upon forms of animal life
-other than defenceless insects, worms, etc. Its feathers
-were a bright rusty red colour, streaked with black; its
-underparts being more or less white, mixed with red and
-black.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Owls in the orchard are like this one, only they
-are all gray and black,” said Goldilocks, after taking a
-long look.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps this is the father bird; you told us that if one
-bird is a gayer colour than the other, it is generally the
-father,” said Sarah Barnes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, that is often the case, as I am glad to find that
-you remember, but not with the Screech Owl, the most
-common of American Owls, and one that is known under
-many names—Mottled Owl, Gray Owl, and Red Owl.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i196.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0015' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>SCREECH OWL</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There may be some gray birds and some red ones in the
-same brood, but this does not depend upon sex, season, or
-age. The strange difference is called by a long name,
-<span class='pageno' title='159' id='Page_159'></span>
-‘dichromatism’ or two-colour phase, and this is one of the
-things for which the Wise Men can give no positive reason;
-so it is another question like those about the flight and
-travels of the birds for one of you to find out in future.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Bring the box up to the orchard, Tommy, and, after we
-have seen the gray Screech Owls, you can open the door
-and put the box in the tree and see what will happen.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Before they reached the gate of Birdland, they heard
-a commotion inside; Jays were screaming in a great state
-of rage and alarm, and, as they drew nearer, another sound
-blended with the screaming, a hissing sound like “shay—shay—shay,”
-and the snapping of beaks.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Jays have found the Owls out, and they’re hopping
-mad,” said Jacob, who was standing in the shelter of a
-tree-trunk, enjoying the scene. “The Jays daren’t
-really touch the Owls, only jeer, and the Owls only snap
-their beaks and hiss in return because they don’t like to
-fly out in bright light; all you get back by the fence and
-watch out.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The children did as Jacob suggested and Tommy put
-his box on top of the wall and, at a signal from Gray Lady,
-unfastened the slats. At first the little Red Owl stretched
-his neck and snapped his beak; then, as he heard the voices
-of the Jays, he backed into the corner of the box and drew
-himself up thin and long, so that he did not look like the
-same bird that had been so plump and fluffy a few seconds
-before.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That’s just the way he did this morning when I found
-him in the pigeon-house,” said Tommy; “in the dark he
-didn’t look a bit like a bird, but more like a corn-cob on end.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There! look there, Gray Lady.” And Tommy pointed
-<span class='pageno' title='160' id='Page_160'></span>
-at a tree behind that in which the five Owls were roosting.
-“There is another Owl all by itself that the Jays haven’t
-found out, and it’s all drawn up thin just like my red one.”
-And, following the direction of his finger, the Owl was
-plainly to be seen, but so rigid and motionless that it
-might have been a moss-covered branch stump.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We would better go in now,” said Gray Lady, after
-they had watched for a few moments. “The Owls are
-beginning to notice us, and I do not wish them to be driven
-away until I have had a chance to photograph them.
-Leave the box there, Tommy; with all this noise your
-Owl cannot be expected to come out before night.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But if they are good birds, what was the red one doing
-in Tommy’s pigeon-house?” asked Dave.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Probably looking for mice or other vermin, or perhaps
-shelter,” said Gray Lady, “for though they sometimes
-eat large game, mice or smaller animals are easier food for
-a tribe of Owls that sometimes grow only six inches high
-and never to a foot in length. I will tell you a way to
-convince yourselves and make sure of what Owls feed
-upon without killing the Owls,” said Gray Lady, as, on
-their way up to the play and work rooms, they went into
-the library to look at some of the mounted birds in one
-of the cases.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As Owls usually swallow their food whole, they take in
-bones, fur, feathers, etc., that they cannot digest; these
-portions are made up into little pellets called ‘Owl balls,’
-and these are spit up before the real process of digestion
-is begun, and if you search under the trees where owls
-roost, you may often find these pellets for yourselves.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Maybe that is what these things are that I’ve found, for
-<span class='pageno' title='161' id='Page_161'></span>
-ever so many days, below the porch of the pigeon-house,”
-said Tommy, pulling a bunch of paper from his pocket;
-“I guess the Red Owl meant to live there this winter.”
-He spread out the paper before Gray Lady, who was now
-sitting at the table turning over the pages of a large book
-in red covers. It was a reference book, in two volumes,
-that she often used to look up stories of the birds about
-which the children asked. The name of the book was
-<span class='it'>Life Histories of North American Birds</span>, and they were
-written and collected by Major Bendire, who was both one
-of the Wise Men and an officer in our army. Putting in a
-mark at the page where Screech Owl began, she closed the
-book and looked at the contents of the paper.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, Tommy,” she said presently, “these are not only
-Owl balls, but there is the fur and bones of a mouse in
-each.” And deftly separating the wads with the point of
-a pair of scissors and taking out a tiny skull, she motioned
-the children to look at it through a reading-glass, each one
-in turn.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Does the Screech Owl live everywhere in the United
-States?” asked Dave, after he and Tommy had picked
-out enough of the tiny bones from the fur to piece out the
-entire skeleton of a mouse.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This same species of Screech Owl that we have here is
-found all through the eastern part of North America, but
-there is a Screech Owl, of some sort, to be found in the
-other parts of the country; thus, there is a Florida
-Screech Owl; one for California; another for the Rocky
-Mountains; one for Mexico, and one for Puget Sound,
-besides several others, and, of them all, the Rocky Mountain
-Owl is said to be the handsomest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='162' id='Page_162'></span>
-“We have several other owls that live hereabouts and
-do good work by killing rats, mice, snakes, lizards, etc.
-Of course, they also eat some birds, but they are so valuable
-to the farmer that he can ill spare them, and if he cannot,
-neither can we. Do you realize that it is really the farmer
-that holds the life of the country in his hand? What good
-would money and houses and clothes do us if we had no
-food?—and it is the farmer who, by carrying out the
-workings of nature, makes food possible.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“These birds of prey divide time between them, the
-Hawk works by day and the Owls at night and in the early
-dawn; thus, ‘Nature, in her wisdom, puts a continuous
-check upon the four-footed vermin of the ground.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Our little Screech Owls love old orchards and the
-hollow trees to be found there, and they are well suited
-to be guardians of the fruit trees. In hard winters, mice
-and rabbits will often eat the bark of young peach, pear,
-plum, and apple trees in such a way as to ruin them.
-Who can keep a constant watch upon them by day and
-night so well as the Hawks and Owls?—and if they do
-take an occasional chicken or pigeon, these are more
-easily replaced than fruit trees.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then, too, our little Screech Owl is a destroyer of cutworms,
-those dreadful worms that do their work by night.
-For this alone, should the farmer call this Owl his friend,
-and let him nest in any little hollow under the barn eaves,
-or in the old willow or sycamore, as he chooses. That is,
-if the few sticks and feathers that line the hollow can be
-called a nest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The courtship of the Owl begins late in March, for
-Owls, living, as they do, permanently in their homes,
-<span class='pageno' title='163' id='Page_163'></span>
-nest early; the <a id='horned1'></a>Great Horned Owl, of deservedly savage
-reputation, beginning in February, and the round-faced
-<a id='owlbar1'></a>Barred Owl in March. I have only seen the young Owls
-on their first coming from the nest—queer, fuzzy little
-balls, awkward in flight and noisy, who perch on a branch
-like a row of clothes-pins all day, and then spend their
-nights being fed, and in awkward attempts at learning to
-fly. Once, in my girlhood, I kept an Owl with a sprained
-wing in an outdoor cage for a couple of months, and he
-grew quite tame and was very clever and clean apparently,
-from the evidence of spilled water, taking a bath in his
-pan every night and keeping his feathers in good
-condition.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Major Bendire tells of the courtship of these songless
-birds in a way that proves that where voice is lacking,
-gesture takes the place of speech, as with Grackles and
-Crows. ‘The female was perched in a dark, leafy tree,
-apparently oblivious of the presence of her mate, who
-made frantic efforts to attract her attention through a
-series of bowings, wing-raisings, and snapping of the beak.
-These antics were continued for some time, varied by
-hops from branch to branch near her, accompanied by
-that forlorn, almost despairing, wink peculiar to this bird.
-Once or twice I thought that I detected sounds of inward
-groanings as he, beside himself at lack of success, sat in
-utter dejection. At last the lady lowered her haughty
-head, looked at and approached him.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The young Owls when first hatched are blind and
-featherless, and are so ravenous that not only do their
-parents feed them at night but also put away enough
-food in the nest to last through the day as well, so you can
-<span class='pageno' title='164' id='Page_164'></span>
-easily see how useful a family of these Owls would be
-the neighbourhood of any farm.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE SCREECH OWL’S VALENTINE</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>A Screech Owl once set out to find</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;A comely mate of his own kind;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Through wooded haunts and shadows dense</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;He pressed his search with diligence;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;As a reward</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;He soon espied</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;A feathered figure,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Golden-eyed.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“Good-night! my lady owl,” said he;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;“Will you accept my company?”</p>
-<p class='line0'>He bowed and snapped, and hopped about,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;He wildly screamed, then looked devout.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;But no word came,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;His heart to cheer,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;From lady owl,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;That perched so near.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The suitor thought her hearing dull,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And for her felt quite sorrowful.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Again by frantic efforts he</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Did try to woo her from her tree;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;“Pray, loveliest owl,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The forest’s pride,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Descend and be</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;My beauteous bride.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“A wedding feast of mice we’ll keep,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;When cats and gunners are asleep;</p>
-<p class='line0'>We’ll sail like shadows cast at noon,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Each night will be a honeymoon.”</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;To this she answered</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Not one breath;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;But sat unmoved</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And still as death.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Said he, “I guess that she’s the kind</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;That people in museums find;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Some taxidermist by his skill</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Has stuffed the bird, she sits so still.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Ah me! that eyes</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Once made to see</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Should naught</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;But ghostly spectres be.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>At this she dropped her haughty head</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And cried, “I’m neither stuffed nor dead.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Oh! weird and melancholy owl,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Thou rival of the wolf’s dread howl,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Since fate so planned,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;I’ll not decline</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;To be for life</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Your valentine.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Florence A. Van Sant</span>, in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='165' id='Page_165'></span>
-“Are any of these other Owls here useful?” asked Sarah,
-who had been looking at the birds in the glass case while
-Gray Lady talked. “This great big one with feather
-horns looks as if he could eat a little lamb or a big rooster
-if he tried.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='horned2'></a>That is the Great Horned Owl,” said Gray Lady,
-“and fortunately he is very uncommon here in New England,
-for he is a cruel and wasteful bird, unsociable and
-sulky, killing chickens, and even turkeys and geese, and
-often merely eating the head of its victim and then killing
-<span class='pageno' title='166' id='Page_166'></span>
-again; it is the worst of all the birds of prey, and no excuse
-can be found for its behaviour.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The <a id='owlbar2'></a>Barred Owl on the shelf beside the Great Horned,
-though having a smooth head, is sometimes mistaken for
-the fierce Owl and shot for its sins. Aside from sometimes
-killing birds, it is a useful Owl, eating mice, rabbits, red
-squirrels, etc. This is a remote, lonely sort of an Owl,
-with a dismal hoot, as one man described it: ‘Hoo-ooo-ooo-ho-ho-ho-too-too-to-to!’
-sometimes interspersed by
-a laugh and then a wail. I disturbed a young bird once,
-causing one of its parents great uneasiness. It is impossible
-to describe all the notes uttered by it at this time;
-they were rendered in a subdued muttering and complaining
-strain, parts of which sounded exactly like ‘old-fool,
-old-fool, don’t do it, don’t do it!’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There are two other owls that are very useful; one is
-found all through the United States, and the other is a
-more southern species, found usually south of New
-England. The first is the <a id='short'></a>Short-eared or Marsh Owl, and
-the other is the Barn Owl.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“All Owls, in a way, look very much alike, in spite of
-difference in colour and size. They have round, feathered
-heads, which they are obliged to turn around when they
-wish to look, as their eyes are so fixed in their sockets
-that they cannot roll them as other birds and animals do;
-some have feather horns and some do not. They all have
-talons, either covered by scales or feathers, with which
-they seize their food, which they swallow whole. But
-between the <a id='barn1'></a>Barn Owl and his kin, the Horned, Hoot,
-and Screech Owls, there is a striking contrast.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i205.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0016' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'></span>BARN OWL</p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Look at those two in the case; they have round faces
-<span class='pageno' title='167' id='Page_167'></span>
-and circles of feathers about the eyes. The Barn Owl has
-a heart-shaped face-disk, about which the head-feathers
-cluster, making the bird look like a funny old lady in a
-cap. This is the Owl that is usually described in poetry—the
-Church Tower Owl, the Monkey-faced Owl, etc.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“While you look at this bird listen to some of the things
-that the Wise Men say of it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Barn Owl, strictly speaking, makes no nest. If
-occupying a natural cavity of a tree, the eggs are placed
-on the rubbish that may have accumulated at the bottom;
-if in a bank, they are laid on the bare ground and among
-the pellets of fur and small bones ejected by the parents.
-Frequently, quite a lot of such material is found in their
-burrows, the eggs lying on, and among, the refuse. Incubation
-usually commences with the first egg laid, and
-lasts about three weeks. The eggs are almost invariably
-found in different stages of development, and downy
-young may be found in the same nest with fresh eggs.
-Both sexes assist in incubation. One of the best methods
-of studying the food habits of Owls is to gather the pellets
-which they disgorge. These consist of the undigested
-refuse of their food, hair, bones, feathers, etc. Sometimes
-enormous quantities of this refuse are found in the nesting-place
-of the Barn Owl, one recorded instance being two or
-three cubic feet. When the tired farmer is buried deep
-in slumber, and nature is repairing the waste of wearied
-muscles, this night-flying bird commences its beneficial
-work, which ceases only at the rising of the sun. All that
-has been written regarding the food of the Barn Owl
-shows it to be of inestimable value to agriculture. Major
-Bendire says: ‘Looked at from an economic standpoint,
-<span class='pageno' title='168' id='Page_168'></span>
-it would be difficult to point out a more useful bird than
-this Owl, and it deserves the fullest protection; but, as is
-too often the case, man, who should be its best friend, is
-generally the worst enemy it has to contend with, and it is
-ruthlessly destroyed by him, partly on account of its odd
-appearance and finely coloured plumage, but oftener
-from the erroneous belief that it destroys the farmer’s
-poultry.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In the West, the food of the Barn Owl consists very
-largely of pouched gophers, a specially destructive mammal,
-also ground-squirrels, rabbits, and insects. In
-the southern states large numbers of cotton rats are
-destroyed, a fact which should be appreciated by every
-planter.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“So you see, children, that those farmers who live within
-the range of the Barn Owl can not only safely let it nest
-under their roofs, but give the barn mice into its keeping,
-for it will do more good and less harm than the usual
-prowling cat.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Short-eared Owl is unlike his brethren in that
-his nest, lined with a few feathers or grass, is in a hollow
-in the ground or in a bunch of tall weeds or grasses. He
-is also what is called a cosmopolitan Owl, which means
-that he is equally at home in all parts of the country,
-and, during the migrations and in the winter, these Owls
-sometimes live in flocks of one hundred or more, which,
-considering the usual solitary habits of Owls, is something
-to remember particularly.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i208.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0017' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>SHORT-EARED OWL</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As its nest is in moist, grassy meadows, so also does it
-spend much of its time in the open, shunning the deep
-woods beloved of other Owls, while it flies freely by day,
-<span class='pageno' title='169' id='Page_169'></span>
-except in the brightest weather. On cloudy days it
-flies low over the meadows, in which it searches carefully
-for its food. On the wing, it is easy and graceful, its flight
-being more like that of a Hawk than the heavy swoop of
-the Owl. Its wings are long in proportion to its body,
-which makes it appear very large when in flight.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Short-eared Owls delight in carrying their food to
-a hayrick or some such object, where they eat it at leisure.
-This same food of the Short-eared Owl, in itself, is a letter
-of recommendation,—for it consists of meadow-mice,
-gophers, and shrews (that are such a nuisance in the West),
-grasshoppers, insects, and occasionally a bird,—so that,
-like the Barn Owl and the Long-eared or Cat Owl, his
-brother, this bird deserves full protection.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Another cause has done many an owl to death,—not his
-‘fatal gift of beauty,’ that has made so many birds become
-bonnet martyrs, but the fact that the Owl looks so wise that
-he was supposed to be the favourite bird of Minerva, the
-goddess of wisdom. For this reason, people like to have
-stuffed Owls in their libraries to sit and look wise on a
-bookcase top.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thus many of the birds that have escaped the farmers
-have been shot by collectors for the taxidermists or bird-store
-folk. Now the Wise Men are making laws which will,
-we hope, protect the useful birds of prey from this fate as
-they do the beautiful songsters; but it is not enough to
-make laws, it is the business of each one of us to see that
-they are carried out.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have a very amusing poem about an Owl in my
-scrap-book. When you have read it, you may guess, if
-you can, to which Owl the author refers.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='170' id='Page_170'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE EARLY OWL</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>An Owl once lived in a hollow tree,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And he was as wise as wise could be.</p>
-<p class='line0'>The branch of learning he didn’t know</p>
-<p class='line0'>Could scarce on the tree of knowledge grow;</p>
-<p class='line0'>He knew the tree from branch to root,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And an Owl like that can afford to hoot.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And he hooted until, alas! one day</p>
-<p class='line0'>He chanced to hear in a casual way</p>
-<p class='line0'>An insignificant little bird</p>
-<p class='line0'>Make use of a term he had never heard.</p>
-<p class='line0'>He was flying to bed in the dawning light,</p>
-<p class='line0'>When he heard her singing with all her might:</p>
-<p class='line0'>“Hurray! hurray! for the early worm!”</p>
-<p class='line0'>“Dear me,” said the Owl, “what a singular term!</p>
-<p class='line0'>I would look it up if it weren’t so late.</p>
-<p class='line0'>I must rise at dusk to investigate.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Early to bed and early to rise</p>
-<p class='line0'>Makes an Owl healthy, and stealthy, and wise!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>So he slept like an honest Owl all day,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And rose in the early twilight gray,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And went to work in the dusky light</p>
-<p class='line0'>To look for the early worm at night.</p>
-<p class='line0'>He searched the country for miles around,</p>
-<p class='line0'>But the early worm was not to be found;</p>
-<p class='line0'>So he went to bed in the dawning light</p>
-<p class='line0'>And looked for the “worm” again next night.</p>
-<p class='line0'>And again and again, and again and again,</p>
-<p class='line0'>He sought and he sought, but all in vain,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Till he must have looked for a year and a day</p>
-<p class='line0'>For the early worm in the twilight gray.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>At last in despair he gave up the search,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And was heard to remark as he sat on his perch,</p>
-<p class='line0'>By the side of his nest in the hollow tree:</p>
-<p class='line0'>“The thing is as plain as the night to me—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Nothing can shake my conviction firm;</p>
-<p class='line0'>There’s no such thing as the early worm.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Oliver Herford.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i211.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0018' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>MARSH HAWK</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='171' id='Page_171'></span>
-“I can’t tell exactly which it was,” said Tommy Todd,
-when he was through laughing; “but I know which it
-wasn’t—it wasn’t the Short-eared Owl, for he doesn’t
-get up to breakfast at night, and so if he had looked for the
-early worm he would have found him.”</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THREE USEFUL HAWKS</h2>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'><a id='hawk3'></a><a id='hawk4'></a><span class='it'>The Marsh Hawk, Harrier, Blue Hawk.</span></p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Length</span>: 17-19 inches; female averaging two inches longer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='172' id='Page_172'></span></p>
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Male</span>: Above, bluish gray; below, white mottled with brown;
-wings brownish, long, and pointed; tail long; upper tail-coverts
-white.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Marsh Hawk is the most harmless and beneficial
-of its family; it feeds upon reptiles, locusts, grasshoppers,
-and small mammals, and never disturbs domestic poultry.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In this locality it is more plentiful in the bogs near
-fresh ponds, and in the vicinity of rivers, than in the
-salt-marshes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It is the summer-day Hawk, and the species most
-frequently seen in the warmest months. It flies by night
-as well as day, however, and is often a companion of the
-Screech Owl in its nocturnal rambles.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'><a id='hawk6'></a><span class='it'>The Red-shouldered Hawk</span></p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Length</span>: 18-19 inches. Also miscalled “Hen-hawk.” The
-Sharp-shinned Hawk and Cooper’s Hawk are the real
-“Hen-hawks.”</p>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Male</span>: Grayish brown above; feathers edged with rusty brown;
-wings barred black and white; “shoulder” rusty red; tail
-black, and barred and tipped with slate; black streaks on
-throat; underparts buff.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One of the large Hawks; to be distinguished by a rust-red
-shoulder patch; is the most common of the long,
-broad-winged Buzzard Hawks that are seen flying in
-circles in the days of autumn and early spring. It kills
-field-mice and other gnawers.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;'><a id='hawk2'></a><span class='it'>The American Sparrow Hawk</span></p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Length</span>: 10 inches.</p>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Male</span>: Reddish back barred with black; reddish tail, with black
-band and white tip; head with reddish spot on crown,
-slaty blue, as are also wings, the latter having white bars;
-a black mark back and front of ear; underparts varying
-from cream to buff.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A very handsome bird, though somewhat of a cannibal;
-the Wise Men wish him protected for the following
-reasons:—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When in doubt regarding the identity of a small
-Hawk, give the benefit of the doubt to the Hawk, and
-refrain from killing it, for you may thus spare a valuable
-bird, belonging to a species that during every twelve
-months renders service to the agricultural industry of
-the country that is far beyond computation, but if
-measured in dollars and cents would reach to very high
-figures.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This appeal for protection of the Sparrow Hawks,
-and the statements as to their value, would be worthless
-if they could not be supported by <span class='it'>facts</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='173' id='Page_173'></span>
-“Dr. Fisher summarizes as follows: ‘The subject of
-this Hawk is one of great interest, and, considered in its
-economic bearings, is one that should be carefully studied.
-The Sparrow Hawk is almost exclusively insectivorous,
-except when insect food is difficult to obtain. In localities
-where grasshoppers and crickets are abundant, these
-Hawks congregate, often in moderate-sized flocks, and
-gorge themselves continuously. Rarely do they touch
-any other form of food until, either by advancing season
-or other natural causes, the grasshopper crop is so lessened
-that their hunger cannot be appeased without undue
-exertion. Then other kinds of insects and other forms
-of life contribute to their fare, and beetles, spiders, mice,
-shrews, small snakes, lizards, or even birds may be required
-to bring up the balance.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘In some places in the West and South, telegraph poles
-pass for miles through treeless plains and savannas.
-For lack of better perches, the Sparrow Hawks often use
-these poles for resting-places, from which they make
-short trips to pick up a grasshopper or mouse, which they
-carry back to their perch. At times, when grasshoppers
-are abundant, such a line of poles is pretty well occupied
-by these Hawks. In the vicinity of Washington, D.C.,
-remarkable as it may appear to those who have not
-interested themselves specially in the matter, it is the
-exception not to find grasshoppers or crickets in the
-stomachs of the Sparrow hawks, even when killed during
-the months of January and February, unless the ground
-is covered with snow. It is wonderful how the birds
-can discover the half-concealed, semi-dormant insects,
-which in colour so closely resemble the ground or dry
-<span class='pageno' title='174' id='Page_174'></span>
-grass. Whether they are attracted by a slight movement,
-or distinguish the form of their prey as it sits
-motionless, is difficult to prove, but, in any case, the
-acuteness of their vision is of a character which we are
-unable to appreciate.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘In the spring, when new ground or meadow is broken
-by the plough, they often become very tame if not
-molested. They fly down, even alighting under the very
-horses, for an instant, in their endeavour to capture an
-unearthed mouse or insect.’ ”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Aren’t there any <span class='it'>bad</span> Hawks, then?” asked little
-Bobby, incredulously, for to him the cry of “Hawk!”
-and the sight of the hired man with the gun came together.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, Bobby, plenty of them, even hereabouts; the
-Sharp-shinned and the Chicken or Cooper’s Hawk, both
-of them flash out of the sky and pounce cruelly on both
-game- and song-birds. And, let me tell you all something,
-though I do not wish to kill any birds needlessly, yet
-I would not let any of these Hawks, useful or otherwise,
-nest or feed near Birdland, and I should have Jacob
-frighten them away with blank cartridges, because the
-very sight of them terrifies the beautiful song-birds that
-we love, and that trust us and confide in our protection.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The little Screech Owls may play about if they will,
-but neither Crows, Jays, Hawks, nor English Sparrows can
-ever be welcome garden guests.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Something to remember about Hawks and Owls.—<span class='it'>The
-female is always larger than the male!</span></p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i216.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0019' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>SPARROW HAWK</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='175' id='Page_175'></span><h1>XIII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>TREE-TRUNK BIRDS</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>Woodpeckers—Nuthatches and the Brown Creepers</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>By the time November came in but few birds were to
-be seen about the schoolhouse at Foxes Corners. For
-until Gray Lady came, no one had taken an interest
-either in the appearance of the schoolbuilding itself or
-the ragged bit of ground upon which it stood. Now
-four sugar-maples had been transplanted from the near-by
-woods, and set where they would shade the windows in
-the warm days of early summer and fall and yet not
-interfere with winter sunshine; and Gray Lady had
-promised that by spring there should be some benches
-along the north fence, where there was shade from the
-white birches in the wood-lot beyond. That is, she had
-promised the wood for the benches and Jacob’s aid in
-their planning; for the rest, the boys were to do the work
-themselves, for after Thanksgiving four or five large boys
-would come to school,—Tommy Todd’s brother Everett,
-who was sixteen, and the two Judds, his cousins,—Walter,
-also sixteen, and Irving, fourteen,—being among them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>All of these boys knew something about the handling
-of tools, and, if they chose to join the Kind Hearts’ Club,
-would be valuable allies. Sometimes, however, big
-boys, even though they are not cruel, laugh at such
-<span class='pageno' title='176' id='Page_176'></span>
-societies, and so Gray Lady had made up her mind to let
-them ask to come to the class in the workroom as if it was
-a privilege they desired rather than as a favour to herself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One bit of carpentry she asked Jacob to undertake,
-that no time should be lost, and that was the bird lunch-counter
-for the school grounds. As the flagpole was
-fastened to the schoolhouse, Jacob had utilized the gnarled
-stump of a half-dead wild-apple tree, the bark of which
-was seamed and scarred by the initials cut on it by many
-generations of scholars. Above the platform, to hold
-the crumbs and grain, he had fastened, between the two
-remaining branches, a slanting roof made of some old
-mossy shingles, and at the edge of this he had stuck half
-a dozen crooked spikes to hold bacon rind or suet or
-anything, like chicken bones, that might be left from the
-dinner-pails, as many of the children, owing to distance
-from home, always brought their lunch to school during
-the winter and spring terms.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This lunch-counter was in place when Gray Lady went
-to the school the first Friday afternoon in November,
-and she brought an additional surprise with her,—two
-pictures or charts that could be unrolled and hung on the
-wall like the great map.<a id='r2'/><a href='#f2' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[2]</span></sup></a> Each of these charts held
-the pictures of some twenty-five birds done in colours and
-of natural size, and with each there was a little book
-telling about the birds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The charts were to be lent to the five other schools
-in the township in turn, but the children at Foxes Corners
-were so delighted with them that they resolved that the
-<span class='pageno' title='177' id='Page_177'></span>
-first money that the Kind Hearts’ Club earned should
-go to buy other pairs of the charts, so that they could
-not only have some for their very own, but that the
-other schools, who had no Gray Lady for their fairy god-mother,
-could have them also.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After the first few weeks, Gray Lady found that it
-would be best, on the Fridays when she visited the school,
-simply to read to the children stories of the birds that
-they had either seen at Birdland or that they already
-knew by sight, from various books and magazines; as
-she had at her house so many books, pictures of birds,
-and the mounted birds themselves, that it was much
-easier for them to name unknown birds there than at
-school.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk106'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The singing-birds have all gone,” said Sarah Barnes,
-the second Saturday of November, as she went to work
-upon the last piece of her doll’s outfit—the cloak for
-the Red Riding-Hood that she was dressing.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We still have a Song Sparrow down in the meadow,”
-said Goldilocks, “and there are plenty of Bluebirds
-and Robins about, and Grackles and Cowbirds, but the
-Song Sparrow is the only one that pretends to sing a nice
-little song.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I guess we’ll have to go ahead to the spring birds or
-there won’t be anything to learn about until they come
-back,” chimed in Eliza Clausen, who was at work on
-a doll baby, and as her fingers were long and slender,
-she succeeded in hemming the fine lawn, of which the
-dress was made, very nicely.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='178' id='Page_178'></span>
-“No birds?” said Gray Lady, raising her eyebrows.
-“Open the window nearest you, Sarah, and do both you
-and Eliza look out and listen.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I don’t see anything, and I only hear different kinds
-of squeaks,” said Eliza.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I hear the squeaks,” said Sarah, “but I see a gray bird
-out here on the roof, with black on top of his head and
-white underneath, and he’s got a long beak and a short
-tail. Why, he’s just stuffed something that he had in
-his beak in between the shingles. Now he’s crying
-‘quank-quank’ and flying toward the orchard.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='nut1'></a>“That,” said Gray Lady, “is the White-breasted
-Nuthatch, one of our best winter friends, for though he
-summers with us, like the Chickadee and the Woodpeckers,
-it is not until the other birds have gone, and
-the trees are bare of leaves, that we really seem to see
-and appreciate him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This Nuthatch is one of the tree-trunk birds that you
-will learn to know so well, before winter is over, that
-you will never forget them; for, though they have no
-song to speak of, their cleverness and the good they do
-when other birds have gone more than make up for
-lack of music.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What do you mean by tree-trunk birds?” asked
-Clary; “I thought that birds liked leafy branches the
-best.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Most birds do prefer the leafy branches,” said Gray
-Lady; “that is why I call this little group, who do not,
-‘tree-trunk birds,’ for all their little lives are spent so
-close to the heart of the wood that they seem almost to
-be parts of the tree.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i221.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0020' style='width:100%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>R. H. Beebe, Photo.</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='179' id='Page_179'></span>
-“These birds not only make their nests in the wood
-itself by hollowing out partly decayed places in branch
-and trunk, but they gain the greater part of their food
-by searching the cracks in the tree bark for insects that
-live there, and which other birds, that spend their lives
-among the leafy twigs, cannot find.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This quarrying food from the bark makes it possible
-for them to stay about the vicinity of their nesting-haunts
-all winter; for many forms of insect life winter in the
-bark crevices of forest as well as fruit trees where the
-eggs hatch out, and the larvae undergo transformation
-early in the season and begin to do mischief before the
-migrant birds return.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If it were not for sleet storms, that cover the tree
-with a coating of ice for days at a time, these hardy,
-sociable little birds would be sure of a good living in
-a neighbourhood like this, with many orchards and
-strips of woodland. But when ice puts a lock on the
-pantry doors, what can the poor birds do?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Owing to their frail structure and warm blood, they
-require more constant fuel to keep the life-fire alive than
-the four-footed animals, so that when hunger and cold
-travel hand in hand, they have to make a brave fight
-for life. For generations this freezing up has happened
-to them, and so, by experience, they have learned when
-food is plenty to try and save it up.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Nuthatch, that Sarah has just seen stowing
-something away under the shingles, is living very well
-at present. In spite of hard frost, wild food is plentiful;
-then, too, the lunch-counter is amply supplied with
-suet. The birds do not really need help as yet, but we
-<span class='pageno' title='180' id='Page_180'></span>
-put the food there so that they may know where to find
-it when hard times come.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I should think the lunch-counter, with lots of easy
-food, would make the birds lazy so’s they wouldn’t work
-for a living,” said Dave. “Pop says, feeding tramps
-everywhere only makes more folks turn tramp, so now
-he can’t get anybody to work at haying or wood-cutting
-for food and fair pay.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah, but that shows the difference between wild
-birds and what is called ‘civilized’ man,” said Gray Lady.
-“The Nuthatches do not sit still and gorge themselves,
-but are busy providing for the future. Yesterday, I
-saw one of these same birds packing away little bits of
-suet in a crevice under the roof of the side porch, and
-another using the thatch on the summer-house for a
-larder. So it would seem that they distribute the food
-in different places. If one cupboard is frozen up, one
-of the others may be in the sun.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A pair of Nuthatches found that the cornice of the
-main roof, under the tin gutter, was in poor shape, and
-kindly called my attention to it by boring into the wood
-and nesting in the space within. Five little birds were
-hatched, and I believe that the party of seven, that are
-so tame and come about the house so freely, are the birds
-hatched in the cornice and their parents.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I shouldn’t think that you would like them to
-make holes in the house,” said Tommy, “for the water
-might get in and do lots of harm, just the same as
-Woodpeckers that make holes in the trees and spoil
-them.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That is where people make a mistake about these
-<span class='pageno' title='181' id='Page_181'></span>
-tree-trunk birds that bore holes, and think that they
-are mischievous and destructive, whereas they never
-pierce bark unless an insect lurks beneath, and when
-they bore a nest-hole in a tree, it is the same as saying
-to its owner, ‘See, this wood is dead; I am making use
-of what is otherwise useless to you and I will pay you
-rent by protecting your other trees from harm. If you
-watch well, you will see how many hairy caterpillars,
-birch-lice, and wood-boring beetles I will kill in the
-year.’ ”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The gutter is all mended and painted now, so the
-Nuthatches can’t nest there next season, and I guess
-they will be very sorry,” said Clary, who had taken her
-turn at looking out the window.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, the cornice has been mended, but Jacob has
-hollowed out a bit of hickory branch with the bark on
-it, and has fastened it firmly under the cornice with
-screws, so that when the birds look up their home in
-spring, they will find a new one so close to the old place
-that I hope they will move into it. In fact, those pictures
-in the workroom, of bird-homes made of hollowed-out
-logs, were designed especially to attract these tree-trunk
-birds and their little companions, <a id='cdee2'></a>the Chickadees, who,
-though they search the twigs for food, love the trunk
-also, and nest in a wood hollow like the Woodpeckers,
-themselves.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He’s come back again, but he hasn’t brought suet
-this time; it’s some kind of a big seed that won’t stay
-in the shingle crack, so he’s pounding it in,” said Sarah,
-looking over Clary’s shoulder and dropping her sewing,
-so interested was she in the movements of the bird.
-<span class='pageno' title='182' id='Page_182'></span>
-“There, he’s going away and walking down the roof
-head first; I don’t see why he doesn’t slip and fall, the
-same as I did once when I tried to walk down the back
-stairs on my hands and knees head first, ’cause brother
-dared me.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady hurried to the window in time to see the
-Nuthatch give a final pound to the object that was
-wedged between the shingles. With her opera-glasses,
-she discovered that it was the empty shell of a beechnut.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This little bird has been kind enough to write the
-meaning of its singular name here on the roof, evidently
-for the benefit of the Kind Hearts’ Club, for I have been
-expecting that some of you would ask from what the
-term ‘Nuthatch’ came.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I thought it was a funny name, but then lots of
-birds’ names seem queer, until you hear about them,”
-said Eliza Clausen.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This bird is very fond of nuts,” continued Gray
-Lady, “not the very hard ones like butternuts, but the
-smaller acorns, chestnuts, and especially the little three-cornered
-beechnuts, with the sweet meat. Having no
-teeth to crack them like a squirrel, and not being able
-to use his beak for a nutcracker, he wedges the nut fast
-and then uses his sharp, strong bill for a hatchet and
-hatches the nut open; by this he has earned his name,
-‘Nuthatch.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is another name that Goldilocks once gave
-him that is quite as good, and that would remind you of
-him wherever you hear it,—the ‘Upside-down’ bird!—for
-what other bird that you know can climb about as
-he does?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='183' id='Page_183'></span>
-“Woodpeckers do,” cried Tommy and Dave, together.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and there’s another bird, little and brown and
-striped, that’s only here in winter and goes up and down
-all over the tree-trunks. I saw one this morning when
-I was coming up,” said Sarah, “and I guess Chickadees
-can go upside down, too, for I saw one hanging on to
-a fir cone yesterday, and it was head down.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady laughed. <a id='nut2'></a>“You all doubtless <span class='it'>think</span> that
-all these other birds climb like the Nuthatch, but this
-is a case of wrong seeing, which is simply another form
-of not really paying attention; for not one of them
-walks upside down in the same way. Hear what one of
-our poets says of this:—</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>TO A NUTHATCH</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Shrewd little hunter of woods all gray,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Whom I meet on my walk of a winter day,</p>
-<p class='line0'>You’re busy inspecting each cranny and hole</p>
-<p class='line0'>In the ragged bark of yon hickory bole;</p>
-<p class='line0'>You, intent on your task, and I, on the law</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of your wonderful head and gymnastic claw!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The Woodpecker well may despair of this feat—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Only the fly with you can compete.</p>
-<p class='line0'>So much is clear; but I fain would know</p>
-<p class='line0'>How you can so reckless and fearless go,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Head upward, head downward, all one to you,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Zenith and nadir the same to your view.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Edith M. Thomas</span>, in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Even the woodpeckers, supplied, as they are, with a reversed
-toe and a stiff, supporting tail, cannot compete with the Nuthatches
-in descending head first. The Woodpecker, in going down
-the trunk, finds itself in the same predicament as the bear,—its
-<span class='pageno' title='184' id='Page_184'></span>
-climbing tools work only one way. It is dependent on its
-stiff tail for support, and so must needs hop down backwards.
-The Creeper is still more hidebound in its habits, and its motto
-seems to be “Excelsior.” It begins at the foot of its ladder, and
-climbs ever upwards. But the climbing ability of the Nuthatch
-is unlimited. It circles round the branches, or moves up, down,
-and around the trunks, apparently oblivious to the law of gravitation.
-Its readiness in descending topsyturvy is due, in part,
-to the fact that, as the quills of its tail are not stiff enough to
-afford support, it is obliged to depend upon its legs and feet.
-As it has on each foot three toes in front and only one behind,
-it reverses the position of one foot in going head downward,
-throwing it out sidewise and backward, so that the three long
-claws on the three front toes grip the bark and keep the bird from
-falling forward. The other foot is thrown forward, and thus,
-with feet far apart, the “little gymnast has a wide base beneath
-him.” The Nuthatch not only straddles in going down the tree,
-but spreads its legs widely in going around the trunk, but bird
-artists generally seem to have overlooked this habit. The
-slightly upturned bill of the Nuthatch, and its habit of hanging
-upside down, give it an advantage when in the act of prying
-off scales of bark, under which many noxious insects are secreted.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;margin-top:0.5em;'>—<span class='sc'>E. H. Forbush.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='brown'></a>The little, brown-striped bird that Sarah saw this
-morning, that somewhat resembles a Wren, is the <a id='bcreeper'></a>Brown
-Creeper, for it creeps like a veritable feathered mouse.
-Though it is a true tree-trunk bird, in that it lives and
-nests as close to the heart of wood as possible, it has a
-slender needle-like bill for picking out insects; but it cannot
-bore wood with it, so it has to be content to make
-its home between the wood and the bark.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This bird comes to us in middle New England only
-as a winter visitor, and well does it pay its way by eating
-<span class='pageno' title='185' id='Page_185'></span>
-grubs and insect eggs. It does not seem very shy, hereabouts,
-but in the nesting time it loves deep, silent forests
-and the cedar swamps of the North, and it is only in these
-places that its strange, sweet song may be heard, which
-is something that I have never heard successfully imitated
-or put into syllables, but Mr. Brewster, who is
-one of the Wise Men who knows, says it is like the soft
-sigh of the wind among the pine boughs.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is in these deep woods, also, that it nests. Discovering
-a tree where the bark is loose and yet does not strip
-off too easily, this little Creeper finds a nook of the right
-size, which he lines with soft bark, moss, or bits of wood
-so thoroughly decayed that it is like sponge, and in this
-bed are laid six or eight pretty little lavender eggs with
-brown spots wreathed about the larger end.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When the Creeper comes to us, he has evidently forgotten
-home and family cares as well as his beautiful
-song, for he only favours us with a very scratchy squeak,
-as if a file at work on a wire and a couple of crossed tree
-branches were striving to see which could sing the better.
-But he is as busy as busy can be, and acts as if he were
-practising for a race in climbing the stairs of a lighthouse
-tower.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At the bottom of the tree, he starts and goes up and
-around without a pause until he is two-thirds of the way
-up and the more frequent branches bother him. Then
-he stops a moment to rest, bracketing himself against
-the tree by the sharp point of his tail-feathers, which
-arrangement he possesses in common with the Chimney
-Swift and the Woodpeckers. Next, without warning, he
-flits with a backward tilt either to the base of another
-<span class='pageno' title='186' id='Page_186'></span>
-tree, or to the same one, and again begins to climb; so for
-him the Stair-climber would be a good name.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He, also, when the trees are ice-plated, will come
-gladly to the lunch-counter, I know, for as a girl, long
-before I left home, this Creeper used to feed upon the
-scraps that I put upon my window-ledge; for, though
-people here have been feeding birds in winter this long
-while, it has only been since the Wise Men have told us
-of the particular needs of each bird family that we have
-been able to do it intelligently, and to the best advantage.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There are some verses in my scrap-book about this
-tree-trunk bird, also, and it seems as if our poets were
-very fond of these songless birds who inspire them
-as much by their friendliness as the others do by melody.
-I hope that a couple of you will learn this to
-recite at Christmas. As there are four verses, each can
-learn two, and then alternate in repeating them.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE LITTLE BROWN CREEPER</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“Although I’m a bird, I give you my word</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;That seldom you’ll know me to fly;</p>
-<p class='line0'>For I have a notion about locomotion,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The little Brown Creeper am I,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Dear little Brown Creeper am I.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“Beginning below, I search as I go</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The trunk and the limbs of a tree,</p>
-<p class='line0'>For a fly or a slug, a beetle or bug;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;They’re better than candy for me,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Far better than candy for me.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“When people are nigh I’m apt to be shy,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And say to myself, ‘I will hide,’</p>
-<p class='line0'>Continue my creeping, but carefully keeping</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Away on the opposite side,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Well around on the opposite side.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“Yet sometimes I peek while I play hide-and-seek</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;If you’re nice I shall wish to see you;</p>
-<p class='line0'>I’ll make a faint sound and come quite around</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And creep like a mouse in full view,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Very much like a mouse to your view.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Garrett Newkirk</span>, in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='187' id='Page_187'></span>
-“I guess I know what the other tree-trunk birds are,
-Gray Lady; <a id='woodp'></a>they’re Woodpeckers,” said little Bobby,
-who seemed to have grown taller and broader ever since
-the day that Jacob had put a jack-knife in his hand and
-taught him to carve a wooden spoon, and he felt himself
-to be a full-fledged boy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Some Woodpeckers are pretty bad, though, ’cause
-grandpa caught a whole bunch of ’em early last spring
-sucking the juice out of the apple trees in the young
-orchard, and Uncle Bill, over the mountain, said they did
-the same to his sugar-maples. I saw what they did,
-myself, and you can see, too, if you stop up at our house
-some time when you are passing, for the marks are there,—little
-round holes, all in rows so as they make squares
-like the peppery holey plasters grandma wears for a lame
-back. They were awfully pretty birds, too—all red on
-the head and neck, and black and white speckled on top,
-and yellow underneath, and black across the front.
-I had a good chance to see it, ’cause grandpop was hoppin’
-mad and tried to shoot them, and he did get one of the
-prettiest of them all. Some of them that were on the
-apple tree didn’t have so many colours in their feathers.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='188' id='Page_188'></span>
-“Perhaps those were females,” said Sarah Barnes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, <a id='sap1'></a>the paler ones are the females and lack the red
-throat and sometimes the red head-feathers, also,” said
-Gray Lady, “for this bird is called the Sapsucker, Yellow-bellied
-Sapsucker, because it has, as Bobby has
-told us, the bad habit of not only boring into trees for
-insects, but sucking the sap as well, and when a number
-of them are found together, of course, they are likely to
-do harm. Still, to my mind, the very worst that they
-do is to give a bad name to the family of the most
-industrious insect-eating birds that we have.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Even though this Sapsucker takes enough sap to
-have earned his title, he keeps up the family record as
-an insect eater, for he has a form of the pointed tongue
-with hooked bristles on the end, like all Woodpeckers,
-and this weapon acts both as a spear and trap to catch
-insects. Then, too, the Sapsucker is not a permanent
-resident, like many of his family, but nests early in the
-most northerly states and travels about during a great
-part of the year. As he can only suck sap during the
-growing season, and eats insects the year around, besides
-many wild berries—such as those of poison ivy, dogwood,
-etc.—that are of no use to us, I think he should be forgiven
-his sip of fresh spring sap, except where, as in the
-case of Bobby’s grandfather, he is caught in the act of
-hurting valuable trees.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE SAPSUCKER</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>A bacchant for sweets is the Sapsucker free!</p>
-<p class='line0'>“The spring is here, and I’m thirsty!” quoth he:</p>
-<p class='line0'>“There’s good drink, and plenty stored up in this cave;</p>
-<p class='line0'>’Tis ready to broach!” quoth the Sapsucker brave.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>A bacchant for sweets! “ ’Tis nectar I seek!”</p>
-<p class='line0'>And he raps on the tree with his sharp-whetted beak;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And he drinks, in the wild March wind and the sun,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The coveted drops, as they start and run.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>He girdles the maple round and round—</p>
-<p class='line0'>’Tis heart-blood he drinks at each sweet wound;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And his bacchanal song is the tap-tap-tap,</p>
-<p class='line0'>That brings from the bark the clear-flowing sap.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Edith M. Thomas</span>, in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='189' id='Page_189'></span>
-“How many kinds of Woodpeckers are there around
-here?” asked Eliza Clausen. “I didn’t know there was
-but one, the great big one, thick like a Pigeon, all speckled
-black and brown on top, with a red spot on his head and
-a big white spot over his tail. We had two down at our
-farm this summer, and they lived in a hole in the old
-wild cherry, and they laid real nice white eggs, just as
-white as our Leghorns.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How’d you know they had white eggs?” asked Clary.
-“You can’t see into a Woodpecker’s hole.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No; I could reach in, though. I didn’t keep the egg,
-and only looked at it, and one of the old birds bit me
-something fierce. They’re real plucky birds, anyway,
-whatever they are called, for nobody seems to give them
-the same name. Mother says they are Pigeon Woodpeckers,
-and Dad calls them Yallerhammers, and both
-names fit pretty well.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There are half a dozen Woodpeckers to be found
-here, but the one that Eliza has described and the little
-black-and-white streaked Downy Woodpecker are the
-most familiar as well as the most useful of them all.
-As to Eliza’s <a id='flick'></a>Pigeon Woodpecker or Yellowhammer,
-<span class='pageno' title='190' id='Page_190'></span>
-the poor bird is weighed down by over thirty popular
-names,—Northern Flicker, Golden-winged Woodpecker,
-Wake-up, Gaffer, and Partridge Woodpecker being
-among them, though the Wise Men who settle these
-things for us have decided to call him merely ‘the
-Flicker.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In spite of the fact that, owing to his size and plumpness,
-the Flicker has been until recently allowed to be
-shot as a game-bird, he is our commonest Woodpecker,
-and spring would not be the same in this woodland
-region if we did not hear the roll of the drum, as he beats
-on a branch, that announces the coming of the feathered
-procession of migrants.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then, too, it is such a jolly bird, it calls out ‘wick,
-wick, wick,’ as soon as the ponds are free of ice, and
-this call he changes to ‘wicker-wicker’ as soon as the
-courting begins; at this time the birds show to the best
-advantage. The rival birds are perfectly friendly, but
-‘they play curious antics, each trying to outdo the other
-in the display of his golden beauty, that he may thus
-attract and hold the attention of the female. There is
-no fighting, but, in its place, an exhibition of all the airs
-and graces that rival dandies can muster. Their extravagant,
-comical gestures, rapidly changing attitudes,
-and exuberant cries, all seem laughable to the onlooker,
-but evidently give pleasure to the birds.’—<span class='sc'>Forbush.</span></p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i234.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0021' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>FLICKER</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Flicker spends more time on the ground, itself,
-than the others of its family; and it has a slightly curved
-beak, but its tongue is very long, and the fine points
-on the end are set backward like the barbs of a fish-hook.
-<span class='pageno' title='191' id='Page_191'></span>
-Its most valuable work is as an ant-eater, and as
-one of the Wise Men says: ‘This bird is more of an ant-eater
-than a Woodpecker. It may be seen in fields and
-open spaces, in woods and orchards, where it strikes its
-long bill into ant-hills, and then thrusts out its still longer
-tongue coated with sticky saliva and licks up the out-rushing
-ants by the dozen. Many kinds of ants are
-decidedly harmful, as they attend, protect, and help to
-spread plant-root, or bark-lice, which are among the
-greatest enemies of garden plants, also shrubs and trees.
-These lice the ants keep as cows to nourish their young
-with green, sappy milk. Ants also infest houses and
-destroy timber.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Some people complain that the Flicker bores holes
-in the attics of houses, and also under eaves when searching
-for nesting-places, and also for winter shelter. This
-is true, doubtless, but as the Nuthatch told me that my
-cornice was decayed and needed mending, so the working
-of a Flicker about any building should be a warning
-to the owner to look and see if repairs are not needed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Our neighbour, Mr. Burwood, the florist, on the next
-hill, who, in spite of the fact that he must keep his eyes
-indoors on the splendid carnations and roses he grows,
-still has a glance or two to spare for the birds, told me,
-not long ago, this story of a Flicker. It was in early
-spring, and he was thinking of turning the water into a
-great covered tank, mounted on high trestles, that supplies
-water for the houses, that had been empty all winter;
-in fact, he had given the men orders so to do. Early in
-the morning he heard a vigorous tapping high up in the
-air, and tried in vain to locate it. The next morning, the
-<span class='pageno' title='192' id='Page_192'></span>
-same sound came, when he traced it to a Flicker, hammering
-away at one of the stout oaken staves of which
-the tank was made.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thinking that the bird was trying an impossible task,
-he continued about his work, but, after the hammering
-had continued for several days, his suspicions were aroused,
-the tank was examined, and two holes were found,
-drilled entirely through the stave, which, in spite of
-appearances, was unsound and would, probably, have given
-out without warning at some inconvenient season when
-repairs would have cut off the water supply.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Always deal kindly with the Flicker, and never make
-the mistake of confusing it with the Sapsucker; look for
-the <span class='it'>white spot on the rump</span> and the <span class='it'>yellow wing-linings</span>, and
-you will know it, and, though the young of the year lack
-these marks at first, they have no yellow upon their
-breasts that can excuse you for making a mistake.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='193' id='Page_193'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>MR. FLICKER WRITES A LETTER</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>People</span>:</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Tell me where you scare up</p>
-<p class='line0'>Names for me like “Flicker,” “Yarup,”</p>
-<p class='line0'>“High-hole,” “Yucker,” “Yellowhammer”—</p>
-<p class='line0'>None of these are in my grammar—</p>
-<p class='line0'>“Piquebois jaune” (Woodpick yellow),</p>
-<p class='line0'>So the Creoles name a fellow.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Others call me “Golden-wings,”</p>
-<p class='line0'>“Clape,” and twenty other things</p>
-<p class='line0'>That I never half remember,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Any summer till September.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Many names and frequent mention</p>
-<p class='line0'>Show that I receive attention,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the honour that is due me;</p>
-<p class='line0'>But if you would interview me</p>
-<p class='line0'>Call me any name you please,</p>
-<p class='line0'>I’m “at home” among the trees.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Yet I never cease my labours</p>
-<p class='line0'>To receive my nearest neighbours,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And ’twill be your best enjoyment</p>
-<p class='line0'>Just to view me at employment.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>I’m the friend of every sower,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Useful to the orchard grower,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Helping many a plant and tree</p>
-<p class='line0'>From its enemies to free—</p>
-<p class='line0'>They are always food for me.</p>
-<p class='line0'>And I like dessert in reason,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Just a bit of fruit in season,</p>
-<p class='line0'>But my <span class='it'>delicacy</span> is <span class='it'>ants</span>,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Stump or hill inhabitants;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Thrusting in my sticky tongue,</p>
-<p class='line0'>So I take them, old and young.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Surely, we have found the best</p>
-<p class='line0'>Place wherein to make our nest</p>
-<p class='line0'>Tunnel bored within a tree,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Smooth and clean as it can be,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Smallest at the door,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Curving wider toward the floor,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Every year we make a new one,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Freshly bore another true one;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Other birds, you understand,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Use our old ones, second-hand—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Occupying free of rent,</p>
-<p class='line0'>They are very well content.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>To my wife I quite defer,</p>
-<p class='line0'>I am most polite to her,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Bowing while I say, “kee-cher.”</p>
-<p class='line0'>Eggs we number five to nine,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Pearly white with finish fine.</p>
-<p class='line0'>On our nest we sit by turns,</p>
-<p class='line0'>So each one a living earns;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Though I think I sit the better,</p>
-<p class='line0'>When she wishes to, I let ’er!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='sc'>Flicker.</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Garrett Newkirk</span>, in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='194' id='Page_194'></span>
-“Then, last and least in size, but chief in importance
-among the tree-trunk birds, come the little <a id='downy'></a>Downy Woodpeckers,
-only as big as the Tree-sparrow or Winter Chippy,
-as it is called, plump, all neatly patterned in black and
-white, a scarlet band on the back of the neck, while Mrs.
-Downy and the children lack even this bit of colour.
-You cannot mistake this Woodpecker for any other, for
-his big brother the Hairy Woodpecker, who has somewhat
-similar markings, is almost as big as a Robin, besides being
-a more timid bird of the woods that does not come about
-houses like the confiding and cheerful Downy. The Hairy
-Woodpecker has a more harsh and screaming call-note
-than the clear, sharp cry of the Downy. In watching
-birds, you should remember to keep the ears open and
-trained to hearing as well as the eye to seeing, as a bird that
-keeps too far away for the sight may oftentimes be recognized
-by its note.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i239.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0022' style='width:100%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>F. M. Chapman, Photo.</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>DOWNY WOODPECKER</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Downy’s life is spent in the tree-trunks and
-hollow limbs, where he merely chisels his doorway
-large enough, but with not a bit to spare, and the
-hole within is nicely finished with a few soft chips by
-way of a bed for the eggs; nice white eggs like all the
-Woodpeckers, and this would seem to prove that thrifty
-<span class='pageno' title='195' id='Page_195'></span>
-Nature, knowing that the eggs would be hidden in the
-dark nesting-hole, did not think it necessary to decorate
-them for their better protection as she does the eggs laid
-in open nests.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To name the injurious insects, moths, and caterpillars
-our little Downy eats would require a long list, but, as he
-is a lover of orchards in spring and summer, we may
-mention the apple-tree borer as one against whom he
-wages war, and here, by his delicate sense of touch, he
-locates the larvæ of the codling-moth. ‘Every stroke
-with which he knocks at the door of an insect’s retreat
-sounds the crack of doom. He pierces the bark with his
-beak, then with his barbed tongue drags forth an insect,
-and moves on to tap a last summons on the door of the
-next in line.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Boring beetles, bark beetles, weevils, caterpillars, ants,
-and plant-lice, the imagoes of night-moths, as well as
-the eggs of many insects, are also on his bill of fare.
-Sometimes he has been accused of boring holes for
-sap-sucking, but this is disproven; where a hole exists
-it is because insect prey, in one of its many forms, hide
-beneath.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Fortunately, we have many families of the little Downy
-in the old orchard, and the fact that they are good patrons
-of Goldilocks’ lunch-counter does not seem to make them
-relax their vigilance about the apple trees, so that I
-wonder if it may not be their care, together with the other
-tree-trunk birds, to which we owe the keeping of the trees,
-during the ten long years they have been neglected by
-man. For, though the trees in Birdland are old, gnarled,
-and vine-draped, yet they are neither worm-eaten nor
-<span class='pageno' title='196' id='Page_196'></span>
-unsightly, but merely picturesque, and from the birds’ point
-of view cosy and homelike.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now, boys, back into the workroom, and if any one
-of you has not made a house for a tree-trunk bird, I am
-sure that he will begin one to-day.”</p>
-
-<hr class='footnotemark'/>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_2'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f2'><a href='#r2'>[2]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>These fine charts may be purchased from the Audubon Society,
-State of Massachusetts.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='197' id='Page_197'></span><h1>XIV<br/> <span class='sub-head'>FOUR NOTABLES</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'><span class='it'>Grouse, Quail, Woodcock, and the Wood Duck</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Saturday before Thanksgiving Tommy Todd came
-trudging up the road toward “the General’s,” with an
-extremely contented expression on a face that was usually
-more than cheerful, while he kept turning his head to admire
-something that he carried in his right hand, twisting and
-swinging it as he walked. <a id='ruff1'></a>The something was a beautiful
-male Ruffed Grouse, or Partridge, as it is commonly called,
-in all the bravery of its glossy neck-ruff and tail that when
-spread looks like that of a miniature Wild Turkey.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Together with the Grouse was a pair of Quail in rich,
-brown autumn coats and snowy throats that excel those
-of the White-throated Sparrow itself. Tommy’s father
-and his elder brother Joe, the Fair Meadows blacksmith,
-had taken two “days off,” and gone a-hunting up to the
-upland brush-country beyond the river woods, and these
-birds, a part of the result, were a gift for Gray Lady and
-Goldilocks. Not only were the birds in fine condition,
-but they were nicely tied together with some sprays of
-trailing ground-pine and a little tuft of pungent wintergreen
-with its coral berries.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady took the birds, and as she thanked Tommy
-for them, glanced toward Goldilocks, who sat in the
-library window watching for the children to come. When
-<span class='pageno' title='198' id='Page_198'></span>
-the young girl saw the birds, she gave an exclamation,
-half of pleasure at their plumage, half of sorrow that
-they were dead, for to keep everything alive and as happy
-as possible was her inherent nature. But she knew that
-these were game- or “chicken-birds,” as she had once called
-them when a mere baby, whose fate was to be eaten, and
-that Tommy’s father had only followed a legitimate desire
-for outdoor life and its sports when he had tramped more
-than thirty miles for the hunting. So she merely said, as
-she smoothed the beautifully shaded feathers, “I wish
-the Kind Hearts’ Club could do something to make game-birds
-have a <span class='it'>very</span> comfortable, good time, the part of the
-year when they are not hunted; do you think we could,
-mother? For I don’t think that this shy kind of bird
-will come to the lunch-counter, and I’ve been wondering
-lately what they find to eat in such cold winters as the
-last. Miss Wilde has told me that for weeks last winter
-the snow was so deep that in going, from where she lived,
-a mile to school, she never even saw a fence top, so if
-game-birds ‘feed chiefly on the ground after the manner
-of barnyard fowls, roosting in low trees and bushes,’ as
-one of my books says, I do not see why they do not freeze
-and starve.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That’s what Pop and Grand’ther and Joe were talking
-about last night,” said Tommy; “they said that they
-travelled over miles of stubble-fields and brush-lots where
-there used to be lots of birds, and now, in spite of the laws
-in our place that are down on pot-hunters and won’t let
-game be sold or carried away, and our having a keen
-county warden, the birds seem to be melting away just
-the same.”</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i244.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0023' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>Dr. C. K. Hodge, Photo.</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>RUFFED GROUSE</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='199' id='Page_199'></span>
-“What did your father think was the reason?” asked
-Gray Lady, for she remembered as a young girl that the
-General used to say, “Get a farmer interested in a subject
-enough to make him really think, and you cannot get
-better advice.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Pop said all these new stiff-edged stone roads that are
-pushing out the dirt and grass lanes may be mighty fine
-for automobiles and all the other dust-raisers, but they’re
-poor trash for horses’ feet and game-birds, ’cause the
-brush along the old roads both sides of the fences made
-good cover and kept the snow, when it drifted, sort of
-loose, so that the birds could get in and out to look for
-food. But when everything is trimmed smooth, the snow
-lies flat and hard and crusty, and the birds can’t get under
-to grub for food, and if they’re under and it freezes on top
-of ’em, they can’t get out.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Grand’ther said that was so, but he reckoned there
-wasn’t so much for the game-birds to eat, anyhow, because
-folks that used to raise just so many acres of rye and
-wheat and oats and buckwheat had mostly given it up
-and put their land down to meadows for hay, because that
-is the only crop that there is a sure market for everywhere.
-Then Grand’ther said that, between freezing and
-starving, and what was left being shot down close, it’s a
-wonder there’s any Grouse left, or <a id='bobW2'></a>Bob-whites either.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There, Goldilocks, you have your answer as to what
-the Kind Hearts’ Club can do to make these food-birds
-comfortable during the ten months of the year (in this state,
-Connecticut), when they may roam without fear of hunting
-by honest sportsmen. The dishonest hunters and pot-hunters,
-who do not care for law and order, we must
-<span class='pageno' title='200' id='Page_200'></span>
-watch and bring to justice, just as we do any other class
-of criminals.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Some very good people are extremely careless about
-this, and would arrest a hungry man for stealing a bottle
-of milk from a doorstep, and yet even buy game from
-poachers whom they knew had taken it against the law;
-doing this is a far more serious offence, for one of our Wise
-Men has said that wild birds are not the property of the
-individual, but of the Commonwealth.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I wish these birds need never be shot; don’t you?”
-said Sarah Barnes. “They are much prettier than some
-song-birds, and I’m sure that Bob-white’s call is just as
-pleasant to hear as a song.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, Sarah, I should like to protect the game-birds
-also, unless in cases where people, living away from places
-where other food can be had, are really hungry. But
-there are two sides to this question, and the Kind Hearts’
-Club must always try to look at both, so as to be sure that
-in being just to one, the other may not be misjudged.
-All over the country there are hundreds of men who, for
-nearly all the year, are tied to desks in offices, and their
-heads are weary and their bodies cramped. The love of
-hunting is born in man, probably an inheritance from
-his ancestors, who hunted for their living, just as the
-bird inherits the instincts of migration from its parents
-and performs the journeys even when there is no
-need.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This love of hunting leads the men out into the woods
-for a few weeks, or even days, each year, and, besides the
-hunting, they meet Nature face to face, and, whether they
-know it or not, come back better able to take up the work
-of life, which is a harder struggle as the world gets older
-and older.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i247.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0024' style='width:100%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>Dr. C. K. Hodge, Photo.</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>JUST OUT<br/>(Chicks of Domesticated Ruffed Grouse)</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='201' id='Page_201'></span>
-“Some people may not agree with me, but I had a good
-warm-hearted father, who gave his life in the cause of
-humanity; yet he loved fair hunting, and Goldilocks’ father
-did, also. So I think that the Kind Hearts’ Club will not
-only be doing the game-bird a service, but man also, if it
-can make and carry out a plan to feed and shelter these
-birds, even in the space of Fair Meadows township.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have been talking this over with some men who
-know the haunts of these birds, and next month, if the
-big boys join us, I will tell you my plan; for it will need
-sturdy fellows to carry it out, though you can all help.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Where do the Grouse nest, in bushes or on the ground?”
-asked Dave; “I’ve never seen one, though I’ve found a
-<a id='cock1'></a>Woodcock’s nest, and touched the bird on it, she was so
-tame.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They make their nest on the ground, Dave,” said Gray
-Lady; “not much of a nest, merely a few leaves scratched
-together in a tree hollow. Now we have these real birds
-here (for later I know that Tommy will let me share them
-with Miss Wilde’s mother, who has been so ill, and her
-appetite needs tempting), let us spend the morning with
-the game-birds; Dave shall tell us of his Woodcock’s nest,
-and I have many little bits in the scrap-book about the
-others, besides remembrances of my own.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Children, can you realize that when I was a girl of
-twelve, I could stand of a May morn, by the old orchard
-bars, where the Birdland gate is now, and hear twenty or
-thirty Bob-whites calling all the way across the fields
-and brush-lots, until the Ridge shut off the sound?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='202' id='Page_202'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>BOB-WHITE</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“I own the country hereabout,” says Bob-white;</p>
-<p class='line0'>“At early morn I gayly shout, ‘I’m Bob-white!’</p>
-<p class='line0'>From stubble-field and stake-rail fence</p>
-<p class='line0'>You hear me call without offence,</p>
-<p class='line0'>‘I’m Bob-white! Bob-white!’</p>
-<p class='line0'>Sometimes I think I’ll nevermore say Bob-white;</p>
-<p class='line0'>It often gives me quite away, does Bob-white;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And mate and I, and our young brood,</p>
-<p class='line0'>When separate, wandering through the wood,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Are killed by sportsmen I invite</p>
-<p class='line0'>By my clear voice—‘Bob-white! Bob-white!’</p>
-<p class='line0'>Still, don’t you find I’m out of sight</p>
-<p class='line0'>While I am saying ‘Bob-white, Bob-white’?”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Charles C. Marble.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They rested in the orchard bushes and the edge of
-brush-lots, so that I was as sure of seeing broods of little
-Quail as of our own little barnyard chicks. In the autumn
-they seemed to know about the hunting as soon as a gun
-was fired in the distance; then they grew shy, but by
-Christmas the survivors, and they were many, would
-come about the hay-barns for food as familiarly as the
-tree-trunk birds come to the lunch-counter, and I have
-seen them eating cracked corn with the fowls in the barnyard.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i250.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0025' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>Dr. C. K. Hodge, Photo.</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>DOMESTICATED BOB-WHITE CALLING</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not only is Bob-white a beautiful object in the landscape,
-when he sits on a fence top overlooking the fields, but
-his voice is a delight to the ear, when he either tells his
-own name, or gives the beseeching ‘covey call,’ in autumn,
-to gather his scattered flock for the night. Then, on the
-more useful or material side of the question, not only is
-<span class='pageno' title='203' id='Page_203'></span>
-his flesh good for food, but, all through the year, he is one
-of the farmer’s good friends, gleaning, day in and day out,
-besides the waste grain that he loves, weed seeds, harmful
-beetles, such as the cucumber beetle, potato and squash
-bugs, leaf beetles, the dreaded weevils, and the click
-beetles, that are wire worms in a further stage of their
-development.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah me, but poor Bob-white, as he calls himself (bringing
-out the words with peculiar jerks of the head), works
-for his living, and when you think of the dangers he braves
-from foxes and snakes, rats and weasels, birds of prey with
-wings, and the two-legged birds of prey,—the poachers,—does
-it not seem that where his tribe is growing
-swiftly less, he should not only be fed and sheltered, but,
-for a term of years, there should be no open season, until
-this fertile and vigorous bird should again increase and
-be able to hold its own against even fair hunting? <a id='ruff2'></a>If the
-Quail needs this protection, doubly so does the Ruffed
-Grouse, who is larger and can with greater difficulty
-conceal himself.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>PARTRIDGES<br/>(Ruffed Grouse)</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Under the alders, along the brooks,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Under the hemlocks, along the hill,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Spreading their plumage with furtive looks,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Daintily pecking the leaves at will;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Whir! and they float from the startled sight—</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the forest is silent, the air is still.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Crushing the leaves ’neath our careless feet,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Snapping the twigs with a heavy tread,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Dreamy October is late and sweet,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And stooping we gather a blossom dead;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Boom! and our heart has a thunderous beat</p>
-<p class='line0'>As the gray apparition flits overhead.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Alonzo Teall Worden.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='204' id='Page_204'></span>
-“I will read you his story, written by a Wise Man of
-Massachusetts who knows the game-birds from all sides.”</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Ruffed Grouse, the ‘King of American game-birds,’
-was abundant in all our woods, and was often seen in
-fields and orchards, until its numbers were decimated by
-the gunner and the survivors driven to the cover of the
-pines. The characteristic startling roar of its wings,
-with which it starts away when flushed from the ground,
-and its habit of drumming on a log, have been often
-described. The speed with which the wings are beaten
-in drumming makes it impossible for the human eye to
-follow them and make sure whether they strike anything
-or not. Naturalists, after long discussion, had come to believe
-that the so-called ‘drumming,’ of the Ruffed Grouse
-was caused by the bird beating the air with its wings,
-as described by Mr. William Brewster; but now comes
-Dr. C. F. Hodge and reopens the controversy by exhibiting
-a series of photographs, which seem to show that the
-bird, in drumming, strikes the contour feathers of the body.
-Strange as it may seem, there are many people who often
-take outings in the country, yet have never heard the
-drumming of this bird. This tattoo is most common in
-late winter and early spring, but may be heard occasionally
-in summer and not uncommonly in fall. While
-sounded oftenest during the day, it may fall on the ear at
-any hour of the night. In making it, the bird usually
-<span class='pageno' title='205' id='Page_205'></span>
-stands very erect on a hollow log or stump, with head
-held high and ruffs erected and spread, and, raising its
-wings, strikes downward and forward. The sound produced
-is a muffled boom or thump. It begins with a few
-slow beats, growing gradually quicker, and ends in a
-rolling, accelerated tattoo. It has a ventriloquial property.
-Sometimes, when one is very close to the bird, the drumming
-seems almost soundless; at other times it sounds
-much louder at a distance, as if, through some principle
-of acoustics, it were most distinctly audible at a certain
-radius from the bird. It is the bird’s best expression of
-its abounding vigour and virility, and signifies that the
-drummer is ready for love or war.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The female alone understands the task of incubation
-and the care of the young. Once, however, when I came
-upon a young brood, the agonized cry of the distressed
-mother attracted a fine cock bird. He raised all his
-feathers and, with ruffs and tail spread, strutted up to
-within a rod of my position, seemingly almost as much
-concerned as the female, but not coming quite so near.
-The hen sometimes struts forward toward the intruder in
-a similar manner, when surprised while with her young.
-She can raise her ruffs and strut exactly like the cock.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Grouse has so many enemies that it seems remarkable
-how it can escape them, nesting as it does on the
-ground. Instances are on record, however, where birds,
-that probably have been much persecuted, have learned
-to deposit their eggs in old nests of Hawks or Crows, in
-tall trees. Whenever the mother bird leaves the nest, the
-eggs are easily seen, and, while she sits, it would seem
-impossible for her whereabouts to remain a secret to the
-<span class='pageno' title='206' id='Page_206'></span>
-keen-scented prowlers of the woods. But her colours
-blend so perfectly with those of the dead leaves on the
-forest floor, and she sits so closely, and remains so motionless
-among the shadows, that she escapes the sharp-eyed
-Hawk. She gives out so little scent that the dog, skunk,
-or fox passes quite near, unnoticing.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Grouse does not naturally fear man; more than
-once, in the wilderness of the northwest, a single bird has
-walked up to within a few feet of me. They will sit on
-limbs just above one’s head, almost within reach, and
-regard one curiously, but without much alarm. Usually,
-in Massachusetts, when a human being comes near the
-nest, the mother bird whirs loudly away. She has well
-learned the fear of man; but, in a place where no shooting
-was permitted, a large gang of men were cutting under-brush,
-while a Partridge, sitting there, remained quietly
-on her nest as the men worked noisily all about her.
-Another bird, that nested beside a woods road, along which
-I walked daily, at first would fly before I had come within
-a rod of her; but later she became confiding enough to
-sit on her nest while six persons passed close beside her.
-Evidently the bird’s facility in concealing her nest consists
-in sitting close and keeping her eggs well covered. Her
-apparent faith in her invisibility is overcome only by her
-fear of man or her dread of the fox. When the fox is seen
-approaching directly toward her, she bristles up and flies
-at him, in the attempt to frighten him with the sudden
-roar of her wings and the impetuosity of her attack; but
-Reynard, although at first taken aback, cannot always be
-deceived by such tricks; and the poor bird, in her anxiety
-to defend her nest, only betrays its whereabouts. Probably,
-however, the fox rarely finds her nest, unless he
-happens to blunder directly into it.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i255.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0026' style='width:100%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>Dr. C. K. Hodge, Photo.</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>GROUSE, SHOWING RUFF AND TAIL</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk107'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='207' id='Page_207'></span>
-“During the fall the Grouse keep together in small
-flocks. Sometimes a dozen birds may be found around
-some favourite grape-vine or apple tree, but they are
-usually so harried and scattered by gunners that toward
-winter the old birds may sometimes be found alone.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As winter approaches, this hardy bird puts on its
-‘snow-shoes,’ which consist of a fringe of horny processes
-or pectinations that grow out along each toe, and help
-to distribute the weight of the bird over a larger surface,
-and so allow it to walk over snows into which a bird not
-so provided would sink deeply. Its digestion must resemble
-that of the famous Ostrich, as broken twigs and
-dry leaves are ground up in its mill. It is a hard winter
-that will starve the Grouse. A pair spent many winter
-nights in a little cave in the rocky walls of an old quarry.
-Sumacs grew there and many rank weeds. The birds
-lived well on sumac berries, weed seeds, and buds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sometimes, but perhaps rarely, these birds are imprisoned
-under the snow by the icy crust which forms in cold
-weather following a rain, but usually they are vigorous
-enough to find a way out, somewhere. The Grouse is perfectly
-at home beneath the snow; it will dive into it to
-escape a Hawk, and can move rapidly about beneath the
-surface and burst out again in rapid flight at some unexpected
-place.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Ruffed Grouse is a bird of the woodland, and
-though useful in the woods, it sometimes does some injury
-<span class='pageno' title='208' id='Page_208'></span>
-in the orchard, by removing too many buds from a single
-tree. In winter and early spring, when other food is
-buried by the snow, and hard to obtain, the Grouse lives
-largely on the buds and green twigs of trees; but, as spring
-advances, insects form a considerable part of the food.
-The young feed very largely on insects, including many
-very destructive species.”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;margin-top:0.5em;'>—<span class='sc'>E. H. Forbush</span>, in <span class='it'>Useful Birds and Their Protection</span>.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE RUFFED GROUSE</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>When the pallid sun has vanished</p>
-<p class='line0'>Under Osceola’s ledges,</p>
-<p class='line0'>When the lengthening shadows mingle</p>
-<p class='line0'>In a sombre sea of twilight,</p>
-<p class='line0'>From the hemlocks in the hollow</p>
-<p class='line0'>Swift emerging comes the Partridge;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Not a sound betrays her starting,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Not a sound betrays her lighting</p>
-<p class='line0'>In the birches by the wayside,</p>
-<p class='line0'>In her favoured place for budding.</p>
-<p class='line0'>When the twilight turns to darkness,</p>
-<p class='line0'>When the fox’s bark is sounding,</p>
-<p class='line0'>From her buds the Partridge hastens,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Seeks the soft snow by the hazels,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Burrows in its sheltering masses,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Burrows where no Owl can find her.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Frank Bolles.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You all know the path that runs by the grist-mill
-and up through the river woods. In spring, I could
-almost count upon seeing a Grouse or two when I took
-that walk, and very early, of September and October
-<span class='pageno' title='209' id='Page_209'></span>
-mornings, I have seen the <a id='cock2'></a>Woodcock probing, with their
-long, sensitive, pointed bills, with which they can feel
-like fingers, in the muddy ground back of the river woods
-for the worms, and such like, upon which they feed. It
-was my father, himself, who took me one evening, even
-though it was bedtime, to these same woods to hear the
-Woodcock’s courting dance and song.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t know any game-birds could sing,” said
-Tommy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They are not classed with song-birds, and yet in courting
-time, most birds have some sort of musical speech in
-addition to their call-notes; you know that even Crows
-sometimes succeed in singing. But this love-song varies
-with the individual bird more than it does with the birds
-that are real vocalists.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Woodcock feed chiefly at dawn and twilight,
-and it is easy to tell where they have been by the little
-holes in the mud left by the bill. This spring night
-father took me to the wood edge, and drew me to him, to
-keep me still while we waited—for what? I was soon to
-know.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Presently a half-musical cry came out of the gathering
-darkness, and was repeated and echoed by several
-others. Then a rush, as if a bird had flung himself into
-the air and opened his wings at the same time; next, a
-whirring sound as the bird circled skyward and vanished,
-his notes falling behind him, but before I realized what
-was going on, the bird dropped straight as a Hawk,
-balanced on his toes, gave a low, musical cry, and began
-again; for thus it is that the Woodcock tries to please
-and win his mate.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='210' id='Page_210'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE WOODCOCK’S WOOING</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Peent, -peent, -peent, -peent,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;From the thick grass on the hill;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Peent, -peent, -peent, -peent,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;At eve when the world is still.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Then a sudden whistle of whirring wings,—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;A rush to the upper air,—</p>
-<p class='line0'>And a rain of maddening music falls</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;From the whole sky,—everywhere!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Winifred Ballard Blake</span> in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dave, please tell us about the bird that you saw on
-the nest,” said Gray Lady, “and how you came to find it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Half a dozen of us went out to hunt for May-flowers
-(Trailing Arbutus) one Wednesday along the first part of
-April last year. Miss Wilde thought Zella had measles,
-and school was closed two days, but doctor found it
-was only a cold and eating too much sausage meat and
-sweet pickles, and so they broke out, and he gave her
-rhubarb.” (Dave, having been asked to tell all about it,
-was bound to omit no detail.)</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The others of our crowd stayed along by the path that
-runs through the wood, where you saw the birds dance,
-because there are black snakes through the brush there
-that begin to crawl out to sun in April, and the girls were
-scared of them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I went on ahead a little piece, and turned up a side hill
-where there was an old rail fence that divides our woods
-from the Cobbs’ piece. Right in front of me I found a
-bully patch of May-flowers, and I sat down and began
-cutting them with my knife (’cause they have wiry sort
-<span class='pageno' title='211' id='Page_211'></span>
-of stems) and made them in a nice even bunch, when
-something ahead sort of made me keep my eyes glued to
-it. It was under the slant of the lowest fence rail. I
-thought it was a striped snake curled up round, at first,
-because I felt eyes were looking at me, though it was
-too dark to see them, at first. Did you ever have that
-feeling, Gray Lady?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, I have had it, Dave, and I know what a strange
-sensation it is. The last time I had it I felt no better
-when I saw the eyes; in fact, little cold shivers went all
-over, for I was far away from here, and the eyes were
-those of a rattlesnake that was coiled up, amid the stones
-of a ledge, where I was gathering some rare wild flowers.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, what <span class='it'>did</span> you do?” cried all the children, together.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I backed away as fast as I could, keeping my eyes
-upon the snake, until I was at a safe distance, where he
-could not spring at me, and then I very foolishly ran!
-What did you do, Dave?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I crept up nearer until I got a good look, and then I
-saw that it was a bird. It was sitting ever so still, with
-its head well down on its shoulders and its long beak
-close to its breast. It had queer, big eyes set up on top
-of its head, and round like a frog’s, not like any other
-bird that I know of.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The eyes of the Woodcock and its cousins, the Snipe,
-are set in this way, so that, when they are boring in the
- mud for food, they can keep watch behind them as well
-as in front,” said Gray Lady.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“First, I thought the bird was dead, it kept so still,”
-continued Dave, “but I could see its breast raised a little
-with its breathing.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='212' id='Page_212'></span>
-“If it had been dead, its eyes would have been closed,”
-said Gray Lady. “It is one of the many mysterious and
-unaccountable facts about a bird, that it is the only
-animal that closes its own eyes when death touches it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It wasn’t afraid, so I thought that I would just smooth
-its feathers,” said Dave. “I did, and it didn’t fly, only
-just puffed up a little, so I thought I would lift it very
-carefully to see if there were any eggs under it, and there
-were four nice, sort of round, light, brown eggs, the
-colour that our Plymouth Rocks lay, only mottled. But the
-bird didn’t like to be lifted, and she sort of growled inside,
-the way a hen does, so I set her down and went away.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That was a very pleasant experience of yours, Dave,
-and shows how tame game-birds will become if they are
-kindly treated. This Woodcock has an advantage over
-the Grouse and Bob-white, his cousin, because it travels
-South in winter and constantly shifts its feeding-places,
-but it suffers from other dangers: it is hunted in all the
-states through which it passes, and the eggs are large
-enough to be very attractive, not only to foxes and all
-the gnawing creatures of the woods, but to people as
-well. If that nest and eggs had been seen by one of those
-foreign-born poachers who come here thinking that everything
-they find out-of-doors, and they can pocket, belongs
-to them, the poor Woodcock would have lost her entire
-brood and perhaps her own life as well.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i262.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0027' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>E. Van Alterna, Photo.</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>WOODCOCK ON NEST</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk108'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“These three land-birds, together with a number of
-wild ducks, that live some on fresh and some near salt
-water, travelling North and South according to season,
-<span class='pageno' title='213' id='Page_213'></span>
-are the legitimate game-birds of the country. Of the
-wild ducks, the most of these breed in the far North, and
-are hunted in their migrations. If this hunting is done
-fairly, as the law prescribes, and the birds are not chased
-and shot at from moving boats, or with repeating guns,
-or when startled from their sleep with flashing lights,
-they seem able to hold their own. Humanity, however,
-demands that they should not be hunted on
-their spring journeys on the way to their nesting-haunts
-and when they may have already chosen mates.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='duck'></a>One Duck there is, however, of exquisite plumage,
-gentle disposition, and quiet, domestic habits, nesting
-about inland ponds and streams, in the inhabited parts
-of the United States, from Florida up to Hudson Bay,
-that is in danger of swift extinction if the protection given
-song-birds is not extended to it. This is the Wood Duck,
-called in Latin ‘<span class='it'>Aix Sponsa</span>’—‘Bridal Duck’—from the
-fact that the beauty of his plumage was fit for a bridal
-garment.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Look at that bird, mounted on a mossy stump, in that
-case by the window. When I was a girl, I have seen a
-half-dozen pairs in the pond above the grist-mill, and I
-knew as surely where I could always find a pair nesting
-as where I could find a Robin or Song Sparrow, but now
-it is fast becoming a bird of the past, only to be seen in
-pictures. Why is this? The reasons are many, and some,
-such as the settlement of the country, and the draining
-of ponds and waterways, and the cutting down of river
-brush, cannot be helped.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Wood Duck nests in a tree hole, and, when the
-young are able to leave the nest, the parents hold them in
-<span class='pageno' title='214' id='Page_214'></span>
-their bills and carry them to the ground in somewhat the
-way in which cats remove their kittens from place to place.
-Consequently, if the lumber is cleared, and no suitable
-trees are left, what is this Duck to do? He cannot take to
-the chimneys as the Swifts have. Still, this Duck, whose
-beauty alone is a sufficient and patriotic reason for saving
-him to his country, might adapt his nesting to other conditions
-if it could be protected as the Grouse, Quail, and
-Woodcock are in New England, or, better yet, not be
-hunted in any way for a number of years, so that the
-Wood Ducks, wherever located, should have, a chance to
-increase once more and reëstablish themselves.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i265.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0028' style='width:100%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'> National Association of Audubon Societies</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>WOOD DUCK</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>Order—<span class='sc'>Anseres</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Family—<span class='sc'>Anatidæ</span></p>
-<p class='line'>Genus—<span class='sc'>Aix</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Species—<span class='sc'>Sponsa</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>“For, when we come to look closely at the matter, there is
-really no fair hunting, for the killing inventions of man—the
-magazine guns, etc.,—are on the increase, while the
-power of poor game-birds to protect themselves lessens both
-on land and water. Think of it, in some states there are no
-laws to protect this bird, even in summer, and, as Wood
-Ducks are fond of their nesting-places, and are very
-unsuspicious birds, it often happens that an entire family
-is killed the moment the young are large enough to furnish
-the pitiful thing, in this case, that is called ‘sport.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As it happens, the woods on this side of the river from
-above the pond to the sawmill belong to the General’s
-farm, and, Tommy and Dave, the water right on the other
-side belongs to your fathers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Will you not ask them if they will help me to protect
-their birds, if I can get half a dozen pairs from one of the
-Wise Men who is trying to reëstablish them in their old
-haunts?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Grouse and Quail are growing friendly again under
-<span class='pageno' title='215' id='Page_215'></span>
-protection, and I am in hopes that we may have a drummer,
-as well as a fifer and his family, in the orchard and
-near-by woods next spring.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There are many hollow willows near the upper pond
-like the ones in which the Wood Ducks used to nest.
-If these are left, the ducks will soon become attached to
-them, and, if they escape peril elsewhere, for this Duck’s
-greatest danger is in the vicinity of home, then we shall
-all have a chance, possibly, some day to see a sight that
-ever the Wise Men argue about,—the parent Duck bringing
-her young from the tree hole to take their first swim!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The boys promised to ask the question, and Tommy reported
-at the schoolhouse, the next Friday, that “grandpa
-thinks it would be just bully to have Wood Ducks again,
-and he’ll sit round the pond, with a shot-gun, all he’s
-able, to keep folks away. He says he’s seen the old ones
-yank the young, one by one, right out of the nest by the
-wing, and set ’em on the ground, and when they were all
-down, lead ’em to the water. And once, when the tree was
-close over the pond, the old bird flew down and set ’em
-right on the water. He says weasels and water-rats and
-snakes and snapping-turtles help kill off the ducklings, because
-until they get big enough to fly they’ve got no way
-of lighting-out.” All of which goes to prove that Tommy
-Todd had inherited some of his keenness of eye in “watching
-out” for the doings of wild things.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There are others that are classed with game-birds that
-will surely everywhere be stricken from the list some day,
-and put with those birds that we wish to cherish at all
-seasons, and for whom there should be no hunting, either
-fair or foul.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='216' id='Page_216'></span>
-“These birds, even though a couple of them are cousins
-to the Woodcock, are so small of body (their long wing
-in flight giving a deceptive idea of their size) that their
-flesh is of no account, save to either the starving, who are
-bound by no laws, or the glutton seeking for an article of
-food to whet a jaded palate, like the old emperors of
-Rome who ate nightingale’s tongues, forsooth! We do
-not wish to breed or encourage such barbarians in our
-America. At the same time, these birds have great value
-in their insect-eating capacity.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Pop says they always used to shoot Meadowlarks
-when he was a boy, and up to not very long ago,” said
-Tommy, “and Yellowhammers and Pigeons and Doves
-and Robins, too, but now nobody dares, except on the sly.
-Anyway, the Wild Pigeons grandfather tells of are all gone,
-and I’ve only seen a couple of Doves this year.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The birds you speak of are now protected by law, here
-in Connecticut,” said Gray Lady, “though in some states
-they are not, but the game-birds I mean are the little
-Killdeer Plover, and the Upland and other small Plovers,
-together with the Sandpipers, both of fresh and salt
-water.”</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='217' id='Page_217'></span><h1>XV<br/> <span class='sub-head'>GAME-BIRDS?</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1em;'><span class='it'>The plea of the Meadowlark, Mourning Dove, Sandpiper, Plovers, and Bobolink, the Masquerader</span></p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.2em;'>“<span class='sc'>Spare us, please! We are too small for food.</span>”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You, children, who live with green fields about you, all
-know the <a id='mead1'></a>Meadowlark by sight and sound, even if you
-never have had the curiosity to learn its name. It is the
-bird seen walking in old fields and lowlands. In size
-it is a little larger than a Robin, with a rather flat head
-and long, stout bill, its back speckled and streaked with
-brown and black, and a beautiful yellow throat and
-breast crossed by a crescent of black. When the bird is
-on the ground, if you came behind it, at a distance, you
-might think it a Flicker, but the moment it takes to the
-air with a whirring flight, the white feathers at the outside
-of the tail show plainly, and name it Meadowlark, just as
-the white rump names the Flicker.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then, you know its voice, that sometimes drops from
-a tree, sometimes rises from the grass, that Mr. Burroughs
-says calls, ‘Spring o’ the year—Spring o’ the year.’ The
-notes are clear as a flute, and, beautiful as our Meadowlark’s
-song is, that of his brother, the Prairie Lark, is still
-more melodious, and I shall never forget the first spring
-<span class='pageno' title='218' id='Page_218'></span>
-morning that I heard it from the border of one of those
-endless grain-fields that roll on to meet the sky like a
-glistening green sea with its waters stirred by the breeze.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Meadowlark is certainly a thing of beauty, but,
-at the same time, its greater service to man is its usefulness;
-not as a bit of meat, no matter how plump it may grow,
-but as the untiring guardian of the fields, where it spends
-its life and makes its nest home in a grass tussock. For
-this bird, of the eastern United States, is with us here in
-Southern New England, and southward, all the year, and
-those flocks that migrate do not leave until late fall,
-and are back again by the middle of March, while the
-Prairie Lark covers the western part of the country, as
-permanent warden of the meadow and hayfields. All
-the year they keep at work; from March to December insect
-food is the chief part of the diet; insects that are the
-farmer’s bane,—grasshoppers, cutworms, sow-bugs, ticks,
-weevils, plant-lice, and the click-beetle (the grown-up wire
-worm) being but a few of them. The remaining months,
-December, January, and February, insects failing, waste
-grain is eaten, and weed seeds, as pigeon grass, rag and
-smart weed, and black mustard.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i270.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0029' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>MEADOWLARK</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Happily for us, this beautiful bird is protected in all
-the New England and Middle States, but, if we have
-friends who live in Florida, North Carolina, Georgia,
-Alabama, Louisiana and Tennessee, Missouri and Idaho,
-where the Larks are only considered as food, let us beg them
-to tell every one of this and the Prairie Lark’s merits, so
-that they may be placed on the list of the protected. And
-when you hear any one say that the Meadowlark is by
-rights a game-bird, say as politely as may be, but very
-<span class='pageno' title='219' id='Page_219'></span>
-firmly, ‘No; it is <span class='it'>not</span>! At least, not in staunch, common-sensed
-New England!’</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><a id='dove1'></a><span class='it'>The Mourning Dove</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Soft of plumage, gentle, and almost sad of voice is
-the Mourning Dove, the grayish brown bird with metallic
-lustres, whose name is taken from its plaintive accents.
-Its comings and goings are silent, and, in spite of its size,
-for it is as large as the Meadowlark, if it was not for its
-cooing, heard early in the morning, we should seldom
-know of its presence, for its flight is noiseless, and it chooses
-trees in secluded places for the little loose bunch of sticks
-that forms its nest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Formerly, this Dove, together with its cousin, the
-Passenger Pigeon, were everywhere to be found, while
-the Passenger Pigeon, a bird of fine flesh, was so plentiful
-as to be almost a staple article of food, and wagons
-loaded with birds were peddled through city streets.
-With the wastefulness of a people coming to a new and
-liberal country, the birds were often shot down in their
-roosts, from pure wantonness, and left to decay upon the
-ground, so that now the Passenger Pigeon and the wild
-buffalo have gone to the happy animal-country, where
-there is no hunting, together,—two valuable animals
-practically extinct,—and North America is the poorer
-for its thoughtlessness.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“With this warning before us, the Kind Hearts’, of which
-there are plenty everywhere, whether they are banded
-into clubs or not, should strive to have this gentle, harmless
-life protected.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Why?’ says the farmer, in the states that refuse protection.
-<span class='pageno' title='220' id='Page_220'></span>
-‘Maybe it doesn’t do any harm, but what good
-can it do that can make up to me for not eating it?’ To
-such a man say this: The Mourning Dove is a consumer
-of evil weeds, and its presence in flocks will lessen his
-labour and give his hoe arm a rest; that the crop of a dove,
-examined by the Department of Agriculture in Washington,
-was found to hold 9200 seeds of noxious weeds! <span class='it'>Not
-to have these weeds grow</span> would give the farmer, or his boy,
-time for a half holiday, wherein to go clamming or berry
-picking!</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i273.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0030' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>MOURNING DOVES</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk109'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now we have some little birds whose names are still
-on the list of food- or game-birds, and I should like to see
-them wiped from it forever, or, at least, until they are
-once more plentiful in their haunts. These are the two
-<a id='least'></a><a id='spot1'></a>cousins of the Woodcock,—Sandpipers, the Spotted and
-the Least, and two Plovers, also water-loving birds, the
-<a id='killd1'></a>Killdeer and the <a id='plovup'></a>Upland Plover.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Most of you children, at some part of the season, go
-down to the shore of the bay yonder, perhaps it may be
-when your fathers gather seaweed in the spring and fall,
-in late summer for the snapper fishing, or all through the
-autumn and early winter for long-necked clams. Some
-of you, I know, like Tommy and Dave, have camped out
-there for several weeks. Have you not noticed the little
-prints of birds’ feet just above the edge of tide-water?
-Or have you not seen the little birds themselves, no bigger
-than Sparrows, with streaked, brown-gray backs and
-soft white feathers underneath, running to and fro,
-balancing when they feed, as if making a courtesy, all the
-while whispering softly among themselves?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='221' id='Page_221'></span>
-“Or, again, others slightly larger, with ash and brown
-backs, and underparts spotted with round, black marks
-like a thrush, white spotted wings, and the outer tail-feathers
-white barred, showing in flight?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“These two gracious, confiding little birds are the Least
-and the Spotted Sandpiper. Their small size should
-keep them off the food list, for what are their dead bodies
-but a single mouthful? And what are they alive? Things
-of joy and mystery combined. For what is a more perfect
-picture of grace and happiness than these birds with
-a background of sand, seaweed, and shells, and all the
-sparkling water before?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of a gray day, their pleasant prattle is shut down
-by the fog, and sounds strange and mysterious, and when
-they spread their pointed wings, and vanish into the mist,
-that seems to pick them up as it rolls in, the picture is
-complete.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Least Sandpiper, the smallest of his tribe, is
-found in greater numbers on our beach than the Spotted.
-He comes to us in the migrations, as he nests only in the
-far North. I can remember, when as a girl I was fond
-of swiming in the bay until late in autumn, that a flock
-of these little birds flew over me so close that I could feel
-the beating of their wings. His use is to give interest to the
-landscape, and his plea for life his harmless littleness, his
-confidence, and his obedience in filling the place in nature
-which the great Plan has given him. Perhaps you may
-have heard the poem that he inspired in the heart of one
-woman, who lived on a sea-girt island, and, oftentimes,
-had only the birds for company; even if you have heard
-it, the verses are among those of which we never tire.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='222' id='Page_222'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE SANDPIPER</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Across the narrow beach we flit,</p>
-<p class='line0'>One little Sandpiper and I;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And fast I gather, bit by bit,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The scattered driftwood, bleached and dry.</p>
-<p class='line0'>The wild waves reach their hands for it,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The wild wind raves, the tide runs high,</p>
-<p class='line0'>As up and down the beach we flit,—</p>
-<p class='line0'>One little Sandpiper and I.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Above our heads the sullen clouds</p>
-<p class='line0'>Scud black and swift across the sky;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Like silent ghosts in misty shrouds</p>
-<p class='line0'>Stand out the white lighthouses high.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Almost as far as eye can reach</p>
-<p class='line0'>I see the close-reefed vessels fly,</p>
-<p class='line0'>As fast we flit along the beach,—</p>
-<p class='line0'>One little Sandpiper and I.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>I watch him as he skims along,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Uttering his sweet and mournful cry;</p>
-<p class='line0'>He starts not at my fitful song,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Or flash of fluttering drapery.</p>
-<p class='line0'>He has no thought of any wrong;</p>
-<p class='line0'>He scans me with a fearless eye.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Staunch friends are we, well tried and strong,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The little Sandpiper and I.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Comrade, where wilt thou be to-night,</p>
-<p class='line0'>When the loosed storm breaks furiously?</p>
-<p class='line0'>My driftwood fire will burn so bright!</p>
-<p class='line0'>To what warm shelter canst thou fly?</p>
-<p class='line0'>I do not fear for thee, though wroth</p>
-<p class='line0'>The tempest rushes through the sky;</p>
-<p class='line0'>For are we not God’s children both,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Thou, little Sandpiper, and I?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Celia Thaxter.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i276.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0031' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>SPOTTED SANDPIPER</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='B224'></a></p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i280.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0032' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>LEAST SANDPIPER</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='223' id='Page_223'></span>
-“The spotted Sandpiper, in my girlhood, was here, with
-us, a familiar bird of moist meadows and pond edges, and
-every season I used to see them stepping about the stones
-in the little brook that flows through the river woods,
-across the meadow above the orchard. They frequently
-nested there, also, and I have often seen the buff, chocolate,
-spotted eggs. I have seen the birds wading in the stream
-quite up to their bodies, sometimes dragging their legs
-after them as children do in play; they can also swim,
-when they wish to cross a stream without taking to wing,
-and it is said, when hard pressed or wounded, can dive
-deep and swim, or rather, fly under water very swiftly,
-for they use the wings as the Loon does. Teeter and
-Tip-up are two of its common names, because it seems to be
-always balancing in order not to tumble over. If you
-startle it, it gives a frightened cry like ‘peet-weet-weet,’
-as it rises, but soon drops again.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This bird has a list of good deeds as an insect eater
-to plead for its removal from the list of game-birds. Birds
-consume the most insects in the nesting season when the
-quick-growing young require constant feeding, and, as it
-breeds all over North America as far as Hudson Bay,
-you can see that the Spotted Sandpiper’s field of usefulness
-is very wide, and wherever he goes, following the sun as
-he does throughout the seasons, his value, aside from his
-dainty beauty, does not lie in the morsel of food he would
-make for those short sighted enough to shoot him, but in
-the insects of all sorts, including grasshoppers and locusts,
-he kills in the simple process of getting a living.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='killd2'></a>Another bird of the moist meadows of rivers and salt
-creeks is the Killdeer or Little Ring-necked Plover. It
-<span class='pageno' title='224' id='Page_224'></span>
-is about the size of the Spotted Sandpiper, equally beautiful,
-and with a certain dignity all its own. We always
-used to have them in the river meadows, but, since my
-return this year, I have not seen a single one.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have found the curious, creamy, pear-shaped eggs,
-with brown spots, in a grassy hollow, with no other bed than
-the turf itself. Strange eggs they are, seemingly so much
-too large for their owners, and an apparently careless
-arrangement to leave them with no protecting nest.
-But the shape of the egg prevents accident, for, if disturbed,
-they simply turn round and round on the pointed
-end, but do not roll away.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i279.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0033' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>National Association of Audubon Societies</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>KILLDEER</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>Order—<span class='sc'>Limicolæ</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Family—<span class='sc'>Charadriidæ</span></p>
-<p class='line'>Genus—<span class='sc'>Ægialitis</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Species—<span class='sc'>Vocifera</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The young chicks are the prettiest little creatures;
-even when first hatched, they are well covered with down,
-and have strong, useful legs, with which they can follow
-their parents all day long until their pinions have developed
-to let them fly. It is a peculiarity of the game-bird
-that, like our domestic poultry, the chick comes from
-the egg open-eyed, well covered, and able, in a measure, to
-care for itself from the moment that it is hatched. The
-song-birds, birds of prey, and others are hatched blind
-and naked, and require several weeks’ time before they are
-fit for independent life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No prettier scene of young bird-life can be drawn than
-that of Mother Killdeer, walking through the dewy meadows,
-with stately gait, followed by her four chicks, now
-brooding them with a warning cry, if the shadow of a
-hawk appears; now turning over leaves and bits of dead
-wood in search of their insect food. When danger is
-near, the young squat, and the blending of their colours
-with those of the ground gives them the benefit of what is
-<span class='pageno' title='225' id='Page_225'></span>
-known as ‘colour protection,’ a wise plan of Heart of Nature
-for the benefit of the weaker species. If threatened
-danger does not pass by, then the old birds become
-aggressive, and sometimes fly at the intruder, be he
-man or animal. The peculiar call of the bird, ‘Killdee-Killde-e-e-Killdeer,’
-has given it its name, though it has
-several other cries when brooding and protecting its
-young.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The desire to protect this charming bird, that the
-National Association of the Audubon Societies is endeavouring
-to have made a law, state by state, is, after all, nothing
-new. Listen to what Audubon himself wrote about the
-Killdeer, beginning with the nesting time: ‘At this period
-the parents, who sit alternately on the eggs, never leaving
-them to the heat of the sun, are extremely clamorous at
-the sight of an enemy. The female droops her wings,
-emits her plaintive notes, and endeavours, by every means
-she can devise, to draw you from her nest or young. The
-male dashes over you in the air and vociferates all the
-remonstrances of an angry parent whose family is endangered.
-If you cannot find pity for the poor birds at such a
-time, you may take up their eggs and see their distress,
-but if you be at all so tender hearted as I would wish you
-to be, it will be quite unnecessary for me to recommend
-mercy.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“So, children of the Kind Hearts’ Club, ask all those you
-meet to help put the little Killdeer upon the protected
-list; say that it is too small to be counted as food, and,
-in addition, whisper to every farmer you meet (and
-farmers north, south, east, and west should be interested,
-for the bird inhabits the whole of temperate North America),
-<span class='pageno' title='226' id='Page_226'></span>
-‘The Killdeer is an insect eater, taking grasshoppers,
-crickets, beetles, boll weevils, and the dreaded Rocky
-Mountain locust.’ If this is not enough, add that the Kind
-Hearts wish to protect all these gentle little birds, that are
-out of place on the list of food-birds, and we all know that
-when a kind heart <span class='it'>wishes</span> to do a thing, it usually finds
-the way!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Somebody told Dad at the last Farmers’ Institute
-that the Reed birds, that the big boys go gunning for down
-in the marsh meadows along in August, are changed <a id='bobo4'></a>Bobolinks,”
-said Tommy, “and that we mustn’t shoot them any
-more, because Bobolinks are singing-birds, and I just
-guess they are. My! can’t they sing, and fly right up at
-the same time, as if going so fast shook the song out of
-them, and they couldn’t help it!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady laughed at Tommy’s description, which
-was certainly very true, and expressed in vigorous boy
-language.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, Tommy, the black-white-and-buff Bobolink of
-May, after the midsummer moult, becomes a dull, brown-striped
-bird like his wife, and, shedding his lovely voice
-and glowing feathers together, he keeps only a call note.
-In this masquerade he leads a double, and somewhat
-vagabond, life, travelling by slow degrees toward his winter
-home and then back again in the spring, all the while
-eating many things which the owners do not wish him to
-have, one being rice,—rice in the ear and the sprouting
-rice in spring.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Let others do as they must, but we, who have no rice
-to be hurt, insist that this bit of ardent, flying melody
-shall receive the treatment that his music deserves, and
-<span class='pageno' title='227' id='Page_227'></span>
-be taken forever off the list of semigame-birds. What if
-this singer of the opera does choose to don a sober travelling
-cloak and journey silently? The musician is only
-waiting for the pink blossoms to come on the apple trees,
-and the grass to grow long enough to sway to the wind,
-to again let his music float from the one and give his nest
-to the care of the other, where no human eye, at least,
-may spy it. If we destroy Robert of Lincoln, called
-Bobolink for short, we kill not one but many qualities
-and songs. Did you never hear the rhyme of his merry
-family?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='228' id='Page_228'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE O’LINCOLN FAMILY</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>A flock of merry singing-birds were sporting in a grove;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Some were warbling cheerily and some were making love.</p>
-<p class='line0'>There were Bobolincon, Wadolincon, Winterseeble, Conquedle,—</p>
-<p class='line0'>A livelier set were never led by tabor, pipe, or fiddle:—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Crying “Whew, shew, Wadolincon; see, see, Bobolincon</p>
-<p class='line0'>Down among the tickle tops, hiding in the buttercups;</p>
-<p class='line0'>I know the saucy chap; I see his shining cap</p>
-<p class='line0'>Bobbing there in the clover,—see, see, see!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Up flies Bobolincon perching on an apple tree;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Startled by his rival’s song, quickened by his raillery.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Soon he spies the rogue afloat, curvetting in the air,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And merrily he turns about and warns him to beware!</p>
-<p class='line0'>“ ’Tis you that would a-wooing go, down among the rushes O!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Wait a week, till flowers are cheery; wait a week ere you marry,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Be sure of a house wherein to tarry;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Wadolink, Whiskodink, Tom Denny, wait, wait, wait!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Every one’s a funny fellow; every one’s a little mellow;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Follow, follow, follow, follow, o’er the hill and in the hollow.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Merrily, merrily, there they hie; now they rise and now they fly;</p>
-<p class='line0'>They cross and turn, and in and out, down the middle, and wheel about,</p>
-<p class='line0'>With a “Phew, shew, Wadolincon; listen to me, Bobolincon!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Happy’s the wooing that’s speedily doing, that’s speedily doing,</p>
-<p class='line0'>That’s merry and over with the bloom of the clover;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Bobolincon, Wadolincon, Winterseeble, follow, follow me!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>O what a happy life they lead, over hill and in the mead!</p>
-<p class='line0'>How they sing and how they play! See, that fly away, away!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Now they gambol o’er the clearing—off again, and then appearing;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Poised aloft on quivering wing, now they soar and now they sing,</p>
-<p class='line0'>“We must all be merry and moving, we all must be happy and loving;</p>
-<p class='line0'>For when the midsummer has come and the grain has ripened its ear,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The haymakers scatter our young and we mourn for the rest of the year;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Then, Bobolincon, Wadolincon, Winterseeble, haste, haste away!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Wilson Flagg</span>, in <span class='it'>Birds and Seasons in New England</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='229' id='Page_229'></span><h1>XVI<br/> <span class='sub-head'>TREASURE-TROVE AT THE SHORE</span></h1></div>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><a id='gull1'></a><span class='it'>The Herring or Harbour Gull</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The autumn had been clear and fine, and the hillside
-farmers of Fair Meadows township had their out-of-door
-work well in hand by Thanksgiving. The fall-sown rye
-was well up, and the fields that were to lie fallow and be
-sweetened by the frost were ploughed and in good shape.
-Ice-cutting, on the chain of large ponds that lay in the
-valley between the hills north of the river woods, was an
-important industry of the region, so that every one was
-anxious to have the ice form clear and firm before snowfall.
-As yet, however, there had been no signs of either, except
-the thin ice with which Black Frost always covers the roof,
-gutters, water-pails, and shallow pools when he prowls
-round in the early morning, as if merely to let the good
-folks know of his presence, and to prepare them for his
-gentler mediating brother, Snow.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The day after Thanksgiving the wind began to blow,
-not in mere passing gusts, but steadily and systematically.
-Then, too, it came from a strange quarter for that season—the
-extreme southeast. This was the wind to drive
-the sea into the bay and force the water high on
-shore. Such winds, at this season, piled the elastic brown
-seaweed in long lines high above tide-water, and many a
-farmer, and market-gardener, as he ate his supper, laid
-<span class='pageno' title='230' id='Page_230'></span>
-plans to drive down to the beach next morning, with a
-double team, and secure a full load of the weed for covering
-his strawberry or asparagus beds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Before morning, however, a driving rain set in that
-lasted for two days and kept everybody house-bound.
-The roadways ran water like rivers, and, by the time the
-storm lessened at sunset Sunday evening, there was barely
-a leaf left on the apple trees of the Birdland orchard, and
-Goldilocks was well-nigh heartbroken over the state of
-the lunch-counter, for, in spite of the protecting roof, the
-broken biscuits turned to paste, the suet hung in rags,
-and as for the kernels of cracked corn and the buckwheat,
-they had swelled as if they thought it was a spring
-rain and it was their duty to grow. So that Goldilocks
-was worried lest some Juncos and Goldfinches that made
-a hearty meal upon the grains, in spite of the rain, should
-suffer from a fit of indigestion.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Early Monday morning, when he returned to milk, the
-hired man at Tommy Todd’s, who had been spending the
-night with his brother at one of the little huts four miles
-below on the shore road, brought word that the great
-storm had, as he expressed it, “heaved” the deep-water
-oyster-beds that extended out through the bay and that
-in addition to the seaweed, the beach was completely
-covered with fine large oysters, bushels and bushels of
-them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>How the news spread, nobody knew, but by half-past
-eight every available team within a mile of Foxes Corners
-school was “hooked up” and entire families were hurrying
-toward the beach in every sort of vehicle, to gather up
-this unexpected treasure-trove of the sea.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='231' id='Page_231'></span>
-The parents seemed to have entirely forgotten that
-school began at nine, and it was not to be expected that the
-children should remind them. And, truth be told, when
-Jared Barnes gathered his flock, grandma included, into
-the hay wagon, Sarah and Ruth, conscientious as they
-usually were about their lessons, entirely forgot the day of
-the week, so eager were they for the fray; for the prospect,
-not only of oysters to roast and stew, but of oysters to pickle
-and keep, was too great a temptation to resist.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Miss Wilde, who arrived at the schoolhouse rather
-earlier than usual, found the door locked, and no fire in
-the stove. It was Dave’s week to tend the fire, and, as
-Miss Wilde stood in the open doorway pondering on the
-matter, one of the most exacting of the school committee
-men came bumping along in a lumber cart. Pulling up his
-horses so suddenly that a neighbour who was with him
-tipped backward off the seat, he called to the astonished
-teacher: “You had best close up and go home; you won’t
-have any pupils to-day. Or else come down, and hold
-school on the shore! The rest of the committee will
-probably meet together in a few minutes, and we’ll vote
-to extend Thanksgiving holidays over to-day.” So
-saying, he cracked his whip and rattled downhill, leaving
-Miss Wilde to wonder if he was losing his mind, or the
-world was turning topsyturvy, or if she was still asleep,
-for it was beginning to be hard to wake up as the mornings
-shortened.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Miss Wilde locked the door and started to walk toward
-Eliza Clausen’s house, that being the nearest place where
-she could possibly find out what was happening. As she
-reached the cross-road that met the turnpike a little above
-<span class='pageno' title='232' id='Page_232'></span>
-the school, she heard the sharp trot of hoofs, and, turning
-in that direction, saw Jacob Hughes driving the depot
-rockaway, Goldilocks being beside him and Gray Lady
-seated behind. Goldilocks waved her hand on seeing Miss
-Wilde, and in another minute “teacher” was seated beside
-Gray Lady, and not only knew of the avalanche of oysters,
-but was herself on the way to the shore with her friends,
-who were going, not for the sake of the oysters, but to
-enjoy what was sure to be a picturesque scene, with the
-shell-strewn beach, the sharp bluff on the left, and the
-long sand-bar, with its lighthouse on the right, for a setting.
-Nor were they disappointed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For once tell-tale news did not exaggerate, and, though
-there were many cut and scratched fingers from the sharp
-shells, before noon there was no one who had not gathered
-all the oysters he could carry. The more thrifty among
-the men also began to gather the seaweed into heaps safe
-from the incoming tide, so that they might be sure of finding
-it the next day, while the women and children gathered
-driftwood and, making fireplaces of a few stones, heated
-the coffee they had brought. For, though the sun was
-now shining clear, and the wind had dropped to a little
-breeze that scarcely moved the surface of the tide pools,
-there was a growing keenness in the air that named the
-month “December,” and promised the wind would be in
-the northwest by night.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i289.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0034' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>HERRING GULLS</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='gull2'></a>In spite of the unusual human picture before them,
-that which interested Gray Lady, Miss Wilde, and Goldilocks
-the most were the Gulls that covered the bare sand-bar,
-waded in the shallow pools, and clambered among the
-stones in search of food, which they picked out with their
-<span class='pageno' title='233' id='Page_233'></span>
-stout, hooked bills, then flew swiftly overhead toward the
-creek, across the salt meadows, with a shrill cry, such as
-the creaking windlass of a well gives when the rope plays
-out quickly and the bucket drops—“quake-wake-wake.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Further out, in the arm of the bar, where there was no
-current, and the water was deep and smooth, many Gulls
-were resting motionless as white skiffs at anchor, or
-flying and diving for food in the wake of some boats that
-were evidently grappling to discover the extent of the
-damage to the oyster-beds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How many kinds of Gulls are there?” asked Goldilocks.
-“Three, I should think, unless the males and the females
-were different.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Gulls here are all Herring, or, as the Wise Men
-now wish them called, ‘Harbour Gulls.’ The old birds have
-the pure white breasts and pearly gray, or what is sometimes
-called ‘Gull-blue,’ upper parts and the black-and-white
-wing-markings. The mixed and streaked ash,
-buff, and brown birds are the young of the year, while the
-black-and-white patched birds are not Gulls, but Old
-Squaw Ducks. These have spent the winter about the bay
-and bar ever since I can remember, and, strangely enough,
-both Gulls and Ducks seem to be no less in number than
-they were twenty years ago. That is probably because
-the Gulls are protected, and the Ducks’ flesh is so tough
-that even a hungry dog could hardly tear it apart. I hope
-your children are noticing these birds while they are
-gathering driftwood for the fires,” Gray Lady said to Miss
-Wilde. “It is very seldom that they come to the shore as
-late as this, or see the Gulls in such numbers. It seems
-<span class='pageno' title='234' id='Page_234'></span>
-to-day as though the storm must have driven all that
-belong to many miles of coast to take shelter in this bay.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, they are looking,” said Goldilocks, “for Sarah
-and Tommy and Dave and Clary, who are all together
-by the nearest fire, are watching and pointing to the Gulls
-that are over by the boats, and I think that Bobby has
-found a dead Gull tangled in seaweed and he is showing
-it to the others.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then I foresee that the Harbour Gull will be the bird
-of next Friday afternoon,” said Gray Lady, as they turned
-homeward, taking Miss Wilde with them for lunch, so
-that Gray Lady might talk over a new plan concerning
-the old farm-house in the corner of the orchard, with its
-great stone chimney where the Swifts loved to build.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk110'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As Gray Lady had expected, the next Friday afternoon,
-when she went to Foxes Corners schoolhouse, she was
-greeted by many enthusiastic accounts of the stolen holiday
-at the shore, but a perfect chorus of questions arose
-about the “big birds that fly and swim and yet aren’t
-quite like Ducks”; while Bobby proudly produced his
-treasured Gull, wrapped in a newspaper, at the same time
-assuring Gray Lady, as became a member of the Kind
-Hearts’ Club, that he hadn’t thrown a stone at it, or anything,
-and that it was “drowned dead in the seaweed.”
-All of which she already knew to be true.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why aren’t the Gulls there in the summer when we go
-down camping and clamming?” asked Tommy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Because,” said Gray Lady, “they do not like very
-warm weather, and nowadays at least, though they live
-<span class='pageno' title='235' id='Page_235'></span>
-all through North America, they do not nest on the Atlantic
-coast south of Maine. For this reason, we seldom see
-them between May and October, and that is the very time
-that you children and people in general visit the shore.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It must take a pretty big tree to hold a Gull’s nest,”
-said Dave, picking up the bird and weighing it in his hand;
-“it’s lots bigger than a Crow.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes; a Gull measures two feet in length (that is, from
-the tip of its beak over its back to the tail, which is the
-way the length of a bird is reckoned), and is quite three
-feet across the spread of its open wings, while the body
-of the Crow is five inches shorter and the wings only
-spread a little over two feet.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You probably noticed, the other day, what very long,
-pointed wings the Gulls have. But though these Gulls
-do sometimes nest in fairly high trees and in bushes, it is
-not common, and their favourite place is on the gray
-shingle, and among the stones of rocky beaches well above
-tide-water, or else between tussocks of beach grass or
-sheltering pieces of driftwood.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As a Gull’s chief food is gleaned from the sea, it must
-nest as close as possible to its source of supply. You
-can easily see that so large a bird could never be free from
-annoyance on our bathing beaches or offshore islands that
-are used as summer resorts; so, as people flocked to the
-shore, more and more, the places where Gulls might nest
-in comfort grew fewer and fewer, and they were driven to
-the remote islands like those off the Maine coast, Great
-Duck Island, No Man’s Land, and others, and it is at
-Great Duck Island that is to be found the largest colony
-of Gulls within the United States.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='236' id='Page_236'></span>
-“But even here and on many lesser islands, with only
-lighthouses and their keepers for company, where there
-were no summer cottages or pleasure-seekers, until a few
-years ago, the Gulls were not safe, for they, like the White
-Herons of the South, were bonnet martyrs.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Bonnet martyrs!” exclaimed Eliza Clausen, jumping
-as if some one had stuck a pin in her. “I don’t think they
-would look one bit nice on hats; why, they are so big that
-there wouldn’t be any hat, but all bird.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You are quite right,” said Gray Lady, “but the whole
-Gull was not used. These beautiful white breast-feathers
-were made into turbans. Perhaps, on one side of
-these, a smaller cousin of the Gull, the Tern, or Sea
-Swallow, with its coral-red beak, would be perched by
-way of finish. Or else, soft bands made of the breast,
-and some of the handsomest wing quills were used for
-trimming.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not only were these feathers sold wholesale to the
-plume merchants and milliners, but people who went to
-the coast resorts would buy them of the sailors simply
-because they were pretty, without giving a thought to
-the lives they cost, or of how desolate and lonely the
-shores would be when there were no more Gulls.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There are comparatively few people, I earnestly believe,
-who would wear feathers for ornament if they realized
-the waste of life that the habit causes. It is largely
-because people do not stop to think, and they do not
-associate the happy living bird with the lifeless feathers
-in the milliner’s window. But now that the Wise Men—yes,
-and wise women, too—have explained the matter, the
-protection of these beautiful sea-birds is an established fact.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='237' id='Page_237'></span>
-“This bird was called ‘Herring Gull,’ because by hovering
-over the schools of Herring where they swam, and
-diving to get them for food, they told the fishermen, who
-spend their lives upon the ocean on the lookout, where
-the fish were to be found. Now, though the Gulls still do
-this, they do better work, also, for they spend the time
-that they are away from their nesting-homes about the
-harbours of the large cities, making daily trips up the
-rivers and cleansing the water of refuse, upon which they
-feed. For this reason, ‘Harbour Gull’ seems to be a
-better name for them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They are very sociable birds at all times of the year,
-keeping in colonies even in the breeding season, a time
-when song- and other land-birds pair, and prefer to be alone.
-The nests, when on the ground or upon flat rocks, are built
-of grass, mosses, seaweed, and bits of soft driftwood
-formed into a shallow bowl. If the edges of this crumble
-or flatten while the birds are sitting, they use bunches of
-fresh grass or seaweed to keep it in repair, with the result
-that the nest is not only a very tasteful object, but it
-blends perfectly with its surroundings.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The eggs are very interesting because no two seem to
-be of the same colour, being of every shade of blue and
-gray, from the colour of summer sky and sand to the tint
-of the many-coloured, water-soaked rocks themselves.
-The markings vary also in shape and size, and are in
-every shade of brown, through lilac and purple, to black.
-The parents are very devoted to their nests, and take
-turns in sitting, though the eggs are often left to the care
-of the sun on days when it is sufficiently warm. When
-the young are first hatched, though covered with down,
-<span class='pageno' title='238' id='Page_238'></span>
-they are very weak in the neck and helpless; but in the
-course of a few hours the little Gulls are strong enough to
-walk, and the instinct to hide at the approach of anything
-strange comes to them very suddenly, so that a Gull
-only three or four hours old will slip out of the nest and
-either hide beneath a few grass blades or flatten itself in
-the sand, where, owing to its spotted, colour-protective
-down, it is almost invisible, so well does Nature care for
-her children—provided that man does not interfere.
-When a Gull nests in a tree, however, the little birds, not
-feeling the same necessity for hiding, do not try to leave
-the nest until the growth of their wings will let them fly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“On the sea beaches squids and marine refuse are fed
-to the young Gulls, but where they have nested near fresh,
-instead of salt, water many insects gleaned from the fields
-are eaten.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was in the Gulls’ nesting season that the plunderers
-chose to go to their island haunts, steal the eggs, and kill
-the parent birds, whose devotion, like that of the White
-Heron, left the birds at the mercy of the plume hunters.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At the end of summer the young, wearing their
-speckled suits, are able to join the old in flocks, and it is
-then that they scatter along the coast, some going from
-the northern borders down to the Great Lakes. In and
-about New York City they are one of the features of the
-winter scenery; they fly to and fro under the arches of the
-great bridge, and follow the ships the entire length of the
-harbour and out to sea. At night they bed down so close
-together that in places they make a continuous coverlid of
-feathers on the waters of the reservoirs and in the sheltered
-coves of the Hudson. From the banks of Riverside Park,
-<span class='pageno' title='239' id='Page_239'></span>
-any autumn or winter afternoon, so long as the channel is
-free from ice, they may be seen flying about as fearless
-as a flock of domestic Pigeons.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Here on our beach they are scary enough,” said
-Tommy. “Why, the other day I tried every way to creep
-up close to some of them, but I never could; they were
-always up and off, sometimes without saying a word, and
-sometimes screeching, ‘Yuka-yuka-yuka,’ enough to
-frighten any one. Pop says that, way back when he was
-a boy, and there weren’t any laws to prevent shooting
-anything except the game-birds out of season, that these
-birds were just as scary, so that the best shots used to
-go down on the bar and try to hit a Gull, not to eat, but
-for the sake of being called a good shot, because Gulls
-were harder to get than old leader Crows.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That is the very reason why Gulls alongshore are
-afraid now. For so many years they have served as
-targets for Duck hunters, and people who did not realize
-what they were destroying, that fear has become an instinct.
-Now in the nesting-haunts, where they are protected,
-they are gradually becoming more and more
-tame. About the harbours of cities and parks, where
-shooting has never been allowed for other reasons than
-bird protection, they fly about unconcernedly and exhibit
-little alarm.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Are Gulls any real use, except that they are nice to
-look at and watch fly?” asked Dave, presently, as Bobbie’s
-bird was being passed from desk to desk.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, the Harbour Gulls are useful in many ways, and
-would be more so if man would protect them fully everywhere,
-as they do in some countries and in some of the
-<span class='pageno' title='240' id='Page_240'></span>
-western parts of our own country; but, in general, they have
-been so persistently hunted that they shun the land-bound
-fresh water, where they would help the farmers by feeding
-on large insects, and prefer the freedom of the open water.”</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The true Gull of the sea, the spirit of the salt, is a sort
-of feathered bell-buoy, and thus is of use to the sailors,
-as there is ample testimony to prove.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In summer, in thick weather, the appearance of Gulls
-and Terns in numbers, or the sound of their clamorous
-voices, gives warning to the mariner that he is near the
-rocks on which they breed. Shore fishermen, enshrouded
-in fog, can tell the direction of the islands on which the
-birds live by watching their undeviating flight homeward
-with food for their young. The keen senses of sea-birds
-enable them to head direct for their nests, even in dense
-mist.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Navigators approaching their home ports during the
-seasons of bird migration welcome the appearance of
-familiar birds from the land.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sea-birds must be reckoned among the chief agencies
-which have made many rocky or sandy islands fit for human
-habitation. The service performed by birds in fertilizing,
-soil-building, and seed-sowing on many barren
-islands entitles our feathered friends to the gratitude of
-many a shipwrecked sailor, who must else have lost his
-life on barren, storm-beaten shores.”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;margin-top:0.5em;'>—<span class='sc'>E. H. Forbush.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Is mine a good grown-up Gull?” asked Bobbie, who
-had been waiting anxiously for its safe return to his
-<span class='pageno' title='241' id='Page_241'></span>
-hands, “because grandpa says if it is, he’ll take it over
-to town, and get it stuffed, and fixed up on a perch, to
-remember Oyster Day by; but I’ll bury it if you’d rather
-I would.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is a fully grown bird, Bobbie,” said Gray Lady,
-“and it is wearing its winter dress. In summer the head
-and neck that are now streaked with gray would be a
-dazzling white, and as accident killed it, and wind and
-tide gave it to you, there is no reason why you may not
-keep it with a clear conscience.”</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='242' id='Page_242'></span><h1>XVII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>THE BIRDS’ CHRISTMAS TREE</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1em;margin-bottom:1.2em;'><span class='it'>Preparation</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Christmas sale was over. It had been held in the
-play and work rooms the Saturday before Christmas, and
-was a great success. The dressed dolls, iron-holders,
-aprons, bird-houses, wooden spoons, racks for clothes,
-and little knickknacks had been ranged on the work-table
-and carpenter’s bench, and all the people of the
-neighbouring towns, as well as from Fair Meadows village
-itself, had been asked to come and see. When they came
-and saw, they stayed to buy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The bird-houses proved the greatest novelty, and
-Tommy Todd and Dave, their cheeks red with excitement,
-were kept busy taking orders for more, to be finished
-by May or June, one customer said. She, however,
-was very much amused when Tommy told her that if she
-expected to have birds in the house (it was a box for Tree Swallows)
-the first season, she must have the house in
-place before April, so that it might “be weathered a little,
-and the birds find it when they first came, and not think
-it was a trap put up to catch them.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady donated some delicious cake of Ann’s
-make, and hot chocolate, and while the visitors enjoyed it,
-they asked many questions about the bird class, the school
-at Foxes Corners, and the motives of the Kind Hearts’
-<span class='pageno' title='243' id='Page_243'></span>
-Club itself; for this name had been printed on the posters
-advertising the sale.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The result that concerned the public good was that other
-men and women resolved, even if they could not do it as
-thoroughly as Gray Lady, to supply the teachers in their
-various districts with charts and books, and before night
-settled down, Sarah Barnes, the treasurer of the Club, was
-hugging tight in her arms a small iron box, with a lock
-and key, wherein were fifty precious dollars, while
-orders that meant an equal sum before the close of the
-school year were being copied from a rather mussy paper
-into a blank-book, by Tommy Todd, the secretary, whose
-usually clear upright letters were made crooked by his
-excitement.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The next question was, How should the money be spent?
-Each child was asked to write his or her idea on a slip of
-paper and bring it to the birds’ Christmas festival that
-was to be held, as seemed fitting, in Birdland, the afternoon
-before Christmas, from two o’clock until four.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Supposin’ it’s cold and snowy?—that’s a long time to
-be outdoors,” said Eliza Clausen, as she walked home
-between Sarah and Ruth Barnes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It may not be out-of-doors,” said Sarah, looking very
-wise.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then it can’t be in Birdland, as Gray Lady said,”
-persisted Eliza, who, though she was less critical since
-she had come under the older woman’s influence, could
-not resist once in a while, “hoping for the worst,” as Gray
-Lady called borrowing trouble.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes; the party can be indoors, and yet in Birdland,”
-answered Sarah.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='244' id='Page_244'></span>
-“Oh, you’re trying to catch me with a riddle or something.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If I am, I’ll tell you the answer at the birds’ Christmas
-tree next Tuesday,” called Sarah, as she turned in at her
-own gate.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk111'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A two-inch fall of soft, clinging snow fell during the
-night before Christmas eve, so that the next morning
-“everything looked as pretty as the pictures on a calendar,”
-as Sarah Barnes said, when she arrived at Gray
-Lady’s door, bright and early, to help decorate the birds’
-tree.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sarah did not enter the door, however, for she was
-joined on the porch by Goldilocks and Ann, and together
-they walked through the garden to Birdland.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Jacob Hughes had swept paths from the house in and
-out among the trees through the garden. In Birdland
-he had used the single-horse snow-plough to scrape a
-track running from the bird lunch-counter, about the
-edge of the orchard, and then through the centre down to
-the old farm-house of the Swallow Chimney, that stood in
-the lower corner facing on what had been a cross-road, but
-was now a pretty grass-grown lane, with the snow wreathing
-the bushes of black alder, with its red, glistening
-berries, giving out a real Christmas feeling.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>What had happened to the old house of the Swallow
-Chimney, where the General’s father had lived, but which
-had now remained closed for so many years, merely a
-storage-place for old furniture?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Smoke was coming from the great stone chimney, new
-<span class='pageno' title='245' id='Page_245'></span>
-shingles stained to look old replaced the broken ones,
-new paint glistened on the window-sashes, and the quaint
-old panes of glass, bearing the rainbow tints of years,
-shone like mirrors. The front door was painted dark
-green, and the spread-eagle knocker of brass was as bright
-as polishing could make it; while around the deep front
-porch was a little fence of cedar bushes in boxes, all garlanded
-with vines of coral, bittersweet berries.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Goldilocks and Sarah went to the front door of the old
-house, while Ann disappeared in the woodshed that
-joined the side porch and well-house.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The girls had not touched the knocker when the door
-flew open, and who should stand there but Miss Rose Wilde,
-while beyond her, sitting by the blazing log-fire in the
-long, low living-room, that had once been the kitchen, was
-her mother, looking better and younger than she had for
-at least ten years!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This was the secret. Gray Lady had repaired the old
-house and established the faithful little teacher and her
-mother in it, so that instead of mother and daughter only
-meeting once a week, or less often in winter, and each
-having a good bit of heartache between, they had a real
-home once more. What was also a bit of good luck, Mrs.
-Wilde’s furniture, that had been stored away, was of the
-kind that seemed as if it had been made for the old homestead
-and had never been anywhere else.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Once inside, Rose Wilde led them into the kitchen, where
-everything was as neat as wax, and there, spread upon
-tables and half-covering the floor, were the decorations for
-the birds’ Christmas tree.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Where was the tree itself? Where trees are the best
-<span class='pageno' title='246' id='Page_246'></span>
-and healthiest, out-of-doors back of the house, a stout,
-young spruce, some twenty odd feet high, growing in the
-orchard corner where no one had planted it, the child of
-one of the spruces near the great house,—a half-wild tree,
-sprung from the seed of a cone dropped by a Crossbill,
-perhaps, or left by a squirrel who was making a winter
-store-house in the attic of the farm-house.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The dainties for the tree were selected to suit all the
-various needs and appetites of the winter birds likely to
-come to the orchard.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady, Goldilocks, Rose Wilde, and Ann had
-strung quantities of popcorn upon the chance of the Jays
-and Crows liking it. They had used strong thread, but
-had only strung the corn by the very edge, so that it would
-detach easily. There were lumps of suet, and marrow-bones,
-securely bound with wire, ears of red and yellow
-corn, bunches of unthreshed rye, wheat, and oats, little
-open boxes filled with beechnuts, and various wild berries.
-Last of all, something that Goldilocks had suggested, the
-heads of a couple of dozen sunflowers, filled with the ripe,
-nutritious seeds, for she had noticed that all the autumn
-the Goldfinches and various Sparrows had stayed about
-the beds where the composite flowers like asters, marigolds,
-cornflowers, zinnias, and sunflowers grew, and that
-also the wild sunflowers and black-eyed Susans of waste
-fields were always surrounded by birds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Jacob Hughes had his ladders all ready, but it was no
-small task to keep him supplied with material, and there
-were many mishaps before all the articles were in place,
-but to Goldilocks’ great joy, before Jacob had fairly finished
-and taken the ladder away, <a id='cdee3'></a>a Chickadee and a
-<span class='pageno' title='247' id='Page_247'></span>
-Goldfinch were both clinging to the same sunflower head,
-and a little Downy Woodpecker had discovered one of
-the bones fastened to a branch and was revelling, “up to
-his neck,” as Sarah expressed it, in the marrow.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Underneath the tree a place had been cleared for the
-gifts Gray Lady had in store for what she called “the
-featherless two-legged birds of the Kind Hearts’ Club.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After they had rested a few minutes, and were thoroughly
-warmed, Gray Lady, Rose Wilde, Goldilocks, and Sarah
-Barnes set out for a stroll through the orchard, and the
-lane that ran back of it, up to the farm-barns, to see what
-feathered guests were in the neighbourhood, the walk
-taking them past a great pile of unhewn wood and a tent-shaped
-brush-heap at the end of the lane.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady used her opera-glasses, but the others trusted
-to their eyes alone. These are the birds they saw and named
-easily: <a id='gold1'></a>A flock of Goldfinches in their dull winter coats
-feeding on weed seeds in the lane; their old friends the
-Chickadees, three Blue Jays, two Flickers, and several
-Downy Woodpeckers; Gray Lady thought possibly from
-their markings, a whole Downy family,—Mr., Mrs., and four
-children.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As they neared the woodpile Goldilocks stopped, her
-hand on Gray Lady’s sleeve and a finger raised in caution.
-“I do believe there is a Jenny Wren that has not gone
-away or is lost, it is such a little bit of a thing.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As they stood looking, <a id='wwren'></a>the little, neat, brown bird, about
-four inches long, ran up and down among the logs like a
-mouse, then flew with a little short flapping of the wings
-to the bush, where it clung to a spray, bobbing to and fro,
-its comical bit of a tail pointing as close to its head as
-<span class='pageno' title='248' id='Page_248'></span>
-possible. Then it appeared to pick something very
-deliberately from the twigs and flew back again to the
-woodpile with a sharp, warning note.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That is not a belated House Wren,” said Gray Lady,
-“but the <a id='wrenwin'></a>Winter Wren, his cousin, who nests from the
-northern boundaries of the states northward, but comes
-down in winter to visit us in southern New England and
-travels as far south as Florida. A brave little fellow he
-is to weather storms and cold here, and one of our three
-smallest birds, the Golden-crowned Kinglet and the
-Humming-bird being the other two. In his nesting-haunts
-he has a beautiful song; I have never heard it, but one of
-his admirers who has says that it is ‘full of trills, runs,
-and grace notes, a tinkling, rippling roundelay.’ ”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A few minutes later it was Sarah’s turn to exclaim, as
-she pointed to a small, sparrow-like bird, perched on a
-giant stalk of seeded ragweed at the side of the lane.
-“It’s a Chippy or else a Song Sparrow,” she said, hesitatingly.
-“It’s bigger than a Chippy, and it’s got a spot on
-its breast like the Song Sparrow, only it isn’t as big. O
-dear me! I don’t think that I shall ever be sure of telling
-Sparrows apart,” she sighed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To be sure a bird <span class='it'>is</span> a Sparrow is a step in the right
-direction,” said Gray Lady. “I have known some one
-older than you call me to see a big Sparrow which turned
-out to be a Wood Thrush. If you will remember one thing,
-it will help you in placing the smaller birds. Look at a
-bird’s beak; if it is thick, short, and cone-shaped, the
-bird is most likely to be a Sparrow, for this family are all
-seed-eaters except in the nesting season, while insect-eating
-birds, of all families, have longer and more slender bills.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i306.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0035' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>TREE-SPARROW</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='249' id='Page_249'></span>
-“<a id='tree'></a>As for this little fellow, it is another of our winter
-visitors, the <a id='chippy'></a><span class='it'>Tree-sparrow</span> or <span class='it'>Winter Chippy</span>, and there is
-probably quite a flock of his kin at this moment distributed
-over the wild fields below, doing the work of seed-destroying
-that the farmers have neglected; for, aside from
-the cheerful companionship of all these winter birds, the
-Sparrow tribe is working for us all winter as Weed Warriors,<a id='r3'/><a href='#f3' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[3]</span></sup></a>
-just as the tree-trunk birds are Tree Trappers, the
-birds who take insects while on the wing, Sky Sweepers,
-and the silent birds of prey, who sit in wait for the field-mice
-and other vermin, Wise Watchers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah, it is my turn now to make discoveries,” said
-Gray Lady, as they turned into the orchard at the end
-opposite the lunch-counter tree. “Keep very quiet, and
-look at the mossy branch of that half-dead tree to which
-some frozen apples still hang; what do you see, Goldilocks?
-Take my glasses and look carefully before you
-answer.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Where?” said Goldilocks; “yes; I see. One is a little,
-fluffy, greenish gray bird with a dirty white breast. Oh!
-he has a red stripe edged with yellow on top of his head!
-He moves so quickly that I can’t seem to see the whole
-of him with one look, though he is small. The other bird
-is a little bigger, and not so fat; he has a yellow spot on
-his head, and a brighter one over the tail, and a yellow
-spot on each side; he is striped gray and black all over,
-except some white on his wings and underneath. How
-he flits about, just like that bird that looked like a red-and-black
-butterfly that we saw last summer that you
-said was a <a id='reds1'></a>Redstart.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='250' id='Page_250'></span>
-“You have very sharp eyes,” said her mother, “for you
-saw at once the identifying marks of two birds that were
-new to you. <a id='gking'></a>The merry fellow of the flaming crown is
-the <a id='king1'></a>Golden-crowned Kinglet, another sturdy winter visitor,
-who breeds in the North, and finds our climate quite
-warm enough for him if the food holds out; for he is a tree
-trapper, giving his attention, like the Chickadee, to the
-smaller branches and twigs too slender to bear the weight
-of the heavier tree-trunk birds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“His companion is the <a id='warbmyr1'></a><a id='myrtle'></a>Myrtle or Yellow-rumped
-Warbler, a hardy cousin of the Redstart and Summer
-Yellowbird that Sarah, perhaps, does not yet know by
-name, though she has doubtless seen them. When you
-have once seen the male bird, you will never forget him,
-because of the four yellow spots. These warblers are great
-insect eaters, but lacking these, they will eat berries, the
-bayberries being their favourite, and I believe that we
-have to thank the bayberry bushes, in the rocky hill
-pastures hereabouts, for the numbers of the Myrtle
-Warblers that stay all winter, myrtle being a common
-title for the bay, giving them their name.”</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i309.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0036' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>F. M. Chapman, Photo.</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>SHELTER FOR BIRD FOOD</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At the garden end of Birdland, just inside the rustic
-gate, a flock of <a id='juncobird'></a><a id='junc1'></a>Juncoes or Gray Snowbirds were feeding,
-plump, cheerful, and contented, and giving vent to their
-satisfaction in their pleasant “tchip, tchip, tchip” call.
-Those who only know one winter bird know the Junco,
-for he belongs to city parks, village yards, and remote
-farms alike, anywhere that a frugal meal of grain or weed
-seeds may be found, with a piazza vine or brush-heap or
-haystack to creep into for shelter. His flesh-pink bill,
-slate-coloured coat, and neat white vest, together with the
-<span class='pageno' title='251' id='Page_251'></span>
-<span class='it'>two conspicuous white tail-feathers</span>, tell his name to any one
-who wishes to know it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Junco is an autumn and winter visitor only, being
-away from May until late September, as he nests northward
-from New York and Connecticut. When the flocks
-first return, you will be puzzled by many birds of the shape
-and build of Juncoes, but who are wearing more or less
-striped clothes; these are the young of the year.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Five new birds in one morning! I wish Tommy had
-been here,” said Sarah; “but perhaps he knows them
-already; Tommy knows a lot you can’t see because it’s
-down so deep.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You must find us a new bird, too, before we go in to
-lunch, Miss Wilde,” said Goldilocks.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have been looking at, not one, but a dozen, while you
-have been watching the <a id='king2'></a>Kinglet and <a id='warbmyr2'></a>Myrtle Warbler.
-Look over the gate-arch across toward the house. Do
-you see something moving among the bunches of ripe
-spruce cones?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I see birds moving, but I want to go nearer.” So the
-party managed, by walking quietly, to reach the trees where
-the birds were feeding without disturbing them in the
-least.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There are two kinds of birds up there,” said Sarah,
-presently, for it was her turn to use the opera-glasses.
-“They are both rather red. One is darker than the other
-and has no white on him. The other is lighter red and
-has some white on the wings and tail. Why, Gray Lady!
-their beaks are out of joint at the end and don’t shut tight.
-I wonder what can have happened to the poor things.
-I thought at first they might be wild parrots.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='252' id='Page_252'></span>
-Gray Lady and Miss Wilde both laughed, Sarah’s concern
-for the birds was so real.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You are right about the bills not closing at the tip,
-but it is not owing to an accident. Nature developed this
-bill so that the bird, who is a lover of evergreen forests,
-might be able to wrench open the cones, the only winter
-food that is oftentimes to be found.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The bird belongs to the Finch and Sparrow family,
-though you would never guess it, and is called the ‘Crossbill.’
-<a id='cross1'></a>The <a id='redcross'></a>plain red one is the Red-winged Crossbill, and
-the lighter-coloured one, with white markings, the <a id='cross2'></a>White-winged
-Crossbill. Both birds nest north of New England,
-but travel about the country in little flocks, sometimes
-going as far south as Virginia and the Gulf States.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Listen, I think I can hear the crackling as they tear
-the scales from the cones,” said Goldilocks.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, and you can see those that they have dropped
-lying on the fresh snow under the trees,” added Sarah.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At that moment an old-fashioned dinner-bell sounded
-from the direction of the farm-house in the orchard. It
-was Mrs. Wilde letting them know that luncheon was
-ready, for Gray Lady, Goldilocks, and Sarah were to
-lunch at “Swallow Chimney,” as Goldilocks had christened
-the restored home, by way of a house-warming.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As they left, the Crossbills, who had been climbing up
-and down, with all the adroitness of the Chickadees or the
-Upside-down birds themselves, suddenly took to wing,
-giving short, metallic-sounding cries, flew rapidly over the
-orchard, to alight—where do you suppose? On the birds’
-Christmas tree. Here, after some inspection, they began
-to tear at the popcorn, their twisted beaks doing the work
-<span class='pageno' title='253' id='Page_253'></span>
-so well that they seemed fashioned for that purpose
-alone.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well,” said Goldilocks, her hands clasped in amazement,
-as they reached the farm-house, and saw what had
-happened, “I never knew anything <span class='it'>quite so quick</span> to
-happen outside of a story-book!”</p>
-
-<hr class='footnotemark'/>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_3'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f3'><a href='#r3'>[3]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>See <span class='it'>Citizen Bird</span>.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='254' id='Page_254'></span><h1>XVIII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>HOW THEY SPENT THEIR MONEY</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At two o’clock a procession of the pupils of Foxes
-Corners school filed through the hall at “the General’s,”
-wondering what new surprise was in store. The big boys,
-who would not begin school until the mid-winter term, had
-come under the strong persuasion of Tommy and Dave.
-They looked rather uneasy, however, as if they were not
-quite sure whether the performances that the younger
-boys considered “bully” might not be undignified for men
-of their age.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As the children went through the garden, Jim Crow
-lurched out of a bush and walked along after them with
-an air of great importance, as if he were the master of
-ceremonies. Larry, the Starling, was not particularly
-fond of cold weather, and kept inside the shelter of the
-south porch, making little excursions here and there,
-prompted by curiosity, and the desire to use his wings,
-which were now quite strong, as food was to be had from
-the dish that he and Jim shared, merely for the eating.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The lunch-counter was well patronized that afternoon,
-for, in addition to the birds that had been in the vicinity
-during the morning, several Bluebirds came, together
-with three Robins, who simply gorged themselves upon
-some dried currants that Goldilocks had put out as an
-extra dainty. Gray Lady was trying experiments with
-<span class='pageno' title='255' id='Page_255'></span>
-all sorts of odds and ends at the lunch-counter, that she
-might see exactly what sort of food was the most acceptable,
-and she was very much surprised to find that though
-wild birds, like human beings, can adapt themselves to
-circumstances, a great number have such a craving for
-animal food that it explained why Crows, Jays, and some
-others become nest-robbers in the midst of summer plenty.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After they had called upon Miss Wilde at Swallow
-Chimney, where Eliza Clausen discovered the meaning of
-Sarah Barnes’ mysterious remarks about the party being
-held in the orchard, and yet being indoors, they went to
-see the birds’ Christmas tree.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Since morning many things had been added to it that
-were not intended for birds. Bundles, strange of shape,
-wrapped in green tissue-paper tied up with red ribbon
-and little sprigs of southern holly, hung to the lower
-branches, while Jacob, dressed as Father Christmas, stood
-by armed with a hooked stick, with which he loosened the
-bundles and dropped them into the waiting hands.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As it was impossible to tell from the shape of the
-parcels what they contained, there was a good deal of
-pinching and squeezing done, but beyond the feeling of
-sharp corners that might belong to either books or boxes,
-nothing could be discovered.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is too cold for you to stand out here to open your
-parcels,” said Gray Lady. “Suppose you take them in
-the living-room at the cottage, and while the girls open
-theirs you boys come for a little walk with me, for I have
-some work planned particularly for the boys of the Kind
-Hearts’ Club.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Oh, do not look worried, I shall not keep you more
-<span class='pageno' title='256' id='Page_256'></span>
-than half an hour,” she said, as she saw the boys were
-quite as curious about untying their parcels as the girls.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So, following her lead, they trudged off up the lane, past
-the barn and woodpile, to where the brush on either side
-narrowed it to a mere path. Then, where another lane
-crossed it, the way grew broader again, and while one
-side was screened by woods, from the other you could
-look out upon a stretch of waste meadows and fallow
-fields.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was only enough snow to crunch underfoot, and
-as Gray Lady walked ahead, a sprig of holly fastened at
-the neck of her gray chinchilla collar, and another in the
-close fitting hat of the same fur, her arms buried to the
-elbows in a great muff, her eyes sparkling with pleasure,
-and a rosy spot on each cheek made by the keen air, the
-boys cast many glances of genuine admiration at her.
-The big boys, especially, felt that she understood the situation
-exactly, by taking them to walk without the girls,
-giving them her confidence, and planning something for
-them to do that would be different from girls’ work, or,
-at least, apart from it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Perhaps some of the others have told you,” Gray Lady
-said to the big boys as they walked, “that I am very
-anxious not only to feed the small tree birds, that they
-may stay with us in winter, but to try and help the Grouse
-and Quail, so that, instead of those that have escaped the
-dangers of the hunting season being driven out by hunger
-and cold, they shall live on and increase, and become
-again the friends to the farmers that they were in the old
-days.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You big boys all know how much complaint there is of
-<span class='pageno' title='257' id='Page_257'></span>
-all kinds of new bugs and worms and blights that discourage
-the farmers and leave but little profit in their
-crops? As you learn to watch wild birds and their habits,
-and realize the way in which they work for their living the
-year round, you will see that it is largely the lack of these
-old residents, these birds who were here before man came,
-that allows all the new-fangled bugs to gain such headway.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now, while it is quite easy for all of us to have some
-sort of a lunch-counter, either on a window-ledge, tree-trunk,
-or shed roof,—anywhere, in short, where cats will
-not venture,—feeding the larger game-birds is not such
-a simple matter, for until they thoroughly understand our
-motives, they will not come to us; we must take food to
-them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Birds that are hunted everywhere, for at least two
-months in a year, cannot be expected the day after the
-season closes to come boldly to our houses for food, as if
-they could consult a calendar, and say to one another,
-‘To-day is December first, we may go and take a walk in
-the open road in safety.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Neither would they be safe, for there are always,
-I am sorry to say, cowards in every township who will
-set snares, and get by stealth what they dare not take
-openly. And, of the two, I think the snare a greater
-danger to the poor birds than the gun.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The trouble with feeding game-birds away from
-houses would be that, even if you knew their runs, and
-I think I know some pretty well, the feed would most
-likely blow away or be snowed under unless they ate it
-right away,” said Jack Todd, Tommy’s second eldest
-brother.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='258' id='Page_258'></span>
-“Yes, that is one of the difficulties, but I think an
-idea that I have borrowed, and am trying now for myself,
-may partly solve the trouble. Look ahead of you, close
-to the rail fence. What do you see? No; don’t rush to
-the fence and trample the snow; keep on the lane side.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It’s some sort of a tent,” said Tommy; “I thought
-at first it was just a corn-stack with snow on it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No; it isn’t a tent,” said Everett Judd, going closer;
-“it’s only bean poles stacked with the vines left hanging,
-two rows of them, so’s the snow won’t all drift in at one
-spot.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“And what else?” asked Gray Lady. “Don’t you see
-cracked corn and mill sweepings scattered in between
-the poles? This is a feeding-station for our friends,
-the game-birds, if we can only make them understand
-that it is not a form of trap and does not hold a snare
-in disguise.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Jack Todd, who had gone close to the tepee on one
-side, stepping on stones that he might avoid tracking
-the snow, and was examining the ground intently, suddenly
-cried out, “There <span class='it'>have</span> been mill sweepings here,
-because I can see some dust, but the grain is all gone,
-and I guess—no; I’m <span class='it'>sure</span>—there have been Grouse
-about, and they have fed here since snow fell, for there
-are tracks coming out from under the fence and going
-back the same way!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But how can you tell that they belong to Grouse?”
-asked Gray Lady, coming close to look at the prints and
-thinking in her excitement they might have been made
-by chickens.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, they are real Grouse tracks, for they’ve got their
-<span class='pageno' title='259' id='Page_259'></span>
-spiked snow-shoes on, and here’s the marks of the
-prickers!” And Jack pointed to the footprints of the
-brushed claws in triumph.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This proves two points,” said Gray Lady, “that
-there are Grouse in the neighbourhood, and that they
-will take food if it is offered to them in the right way.
-I should like to put up a dozen of these feeding-stations,
-if you boys will help; you know the woods and brush-lots
-better than I do now, and you can select the places
-that will be suitable for these shelters and find what
-material there is close at hand of which they can be
-built.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When this is done, I shall again have to depend upon
-you for keeping them supplied with food. If we find
-that the grain is eaten, I think that it should be renewed
-three times a week, so if six of you boys will volunteer
-for the service, two can go together, and it will only make
-one trip a week for each pair. If the snow is deep, you
-might possibly arrange to fit some boxes to your sleds
-to hold food, or, if the shelters are in rough ground,
-a bag fastened to the shoulders like a pedler’s pack
-might work well; for, in doing this work on a large scale,
-merely a pocketful of food will not suffice.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I will help,” said Jack Todd, after thinking a moment.
-“Me, too,” said Everett, and Irving Todd, together; then
-of course the others followed, Dave and Tommy anxious
-lest they should be left out, while Bobby and little Jared
-Hill, though too small to undertake to care for a
-station alone, were acceptable as companions for the big
-boys.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We have the rest of this week, and all of next for
-<span class='pageno' title='260' id='Page_260'></span>
-a holiday,” said Jack Todd, “so suppose we take a
-tramp about the hill country on each side of the river
-valley to Centreville, that’s about five miles, and fetch
-axes with us. I know most of the people on the way,
-and, if we put the shelters somewhere near houses, we
-could distribute the food along, and they would let us
-keep it in one of the outbuildings, so that it would be
-handy in stormy weather. I’m pretty sure we can
-collect stuff enough as we go for the shelters. My uncle,
-who lives at Hilltop Farm, would give me corn-stacks
-for three or four. There’s a heap of slab-sides (the
-outside strip, with the bark, when a log is to be sawn into
-boards) left to go to pieces up by where the sawmill
-was last year; they will make fine wigwams, and there
-are plenty of cedars and birches, with brushy tops, for
-the rest. Then perhaps the folks along the line might
-be interested and rig a few up on their own account.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Thank you, Jack,” said Gray Lady, warmly; “you
-have caught the spirit of the idea and improved it already,
-for if we are to do the game-birds any real good, and
-establish the feeding plan permanently, the people all
-‘along the line,’ as you call it, must be interested until
-not only Fair Meadows township, and the county, but all
-the counties in the state, are linked together in the work
-of restoration.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Meanwhile, though, of course, everything that is done
-regularly is work, I really envy you boys some of the
-fun you will have in your winter tramps; sometimes you
-will be able to skate nearly all the way upon the river,
-and sometimes, if the snow is as deep as people are predicting,
-you may be able to go on snow-shoes.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='261' id='Page_261'></span>
-“Only I don’t think any of the fellows hereabouts own
-a pair of snow-shoes,” said Everett.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then they are the very things for Jacob to help you
-make if you come to any of our Saturday meetings,”
-said Gray Lady. “Jacob was born in Canada, and
-worked with fur trappers for several years, and though,
-perhaps, he may not be able to make them as well as
-when he was a young man, they would surely be better
-than nothing, and who knows but what one of the many
-things that the Kind Hearts will organize may be a Snow-shoe
-Club.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Thus the big boys of Foxes Corner school found themselves
-interested and pledged in Gray Lady’s work without
-a suspicion of the “playing baby” of which they
-had such dread.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk112'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>By the time Gray Lady and the boys returned to
-Swallow Chimney, the girls had opened their bundles,
-and besides little work-boxes, each with a silver thimble
-of the right size for the owner, and a pair of scissors that
-would “cut clean and not haggle,” as Eliza Clausen expressed
-it, there were books for all. Some were about
-birds, and others about flowers, trees, butterflies, and
-the real life out-of-doors that is more wonderful than
-any fairy-tale. Having disposed of their own presents,
-with many little shrieks of delight, the girls stood by,
-waiting for the boys to open their bundles. These were
-all long and flat, with a bunch in the centre, as if two
-objects of different shapes were fastened together.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Tommy succeeded in untying his first, skeining up the
-<span class='pageno' title='262' id='Page_262'></span>
-string so that he might have it for the re-wrapping.
-A strong, well-made knife, with two blades fell out, and
-under it was a hammer, a chisel, a half-inch auger, and
-a medium-sized cross-cut saw. Seeing Tommy’s gifts
-made the others pull open their packages hastily, with
-less regard for string and paper, to find that they also
-had the coveted tools.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now,” said Gray Lady, “you boys will be independent
-of your fathers’ tools when you take a bird-house
-home to finish, or wish to do a little bit of work for yourselves,
-as the girls will also be independent of their
-mothers’ work-boxes and thimbles; because, if the grown-up
-people are always having their tools borrowed or
-mislaid, they are apt to have a sort of grudge against
-both the work and the workers.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Some of the boys looked at each other rather sheepishly,
-and wondered how Gray Lady knew that their fathers
-had said that “since the boys took to carpentering there
-hadn’t been a hammer or nail to be found nor a saw with
-the sign of an edge left on it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“By and by,” continued Gray Lady, “if you have
-the desire, you will all have a chance to earn other tools,
-and also make boxes in which to keep them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You may wonder why the Christmas tree bore no
-candy by way of fruit; that was because part of the fun for
-this afternoon will be making candy,—caramels, chocolate
-creams, nut taffy, and old-fashioned pulled molasses rope-candy,—so
-that, besides the making and tasting, you
-will all have something that you have made yourselves
-to give the people at home to-morrow, or put in their
-stockings if they are hung up. See! here are the boxes
-<span class='pageno' title='263' id='Page_263'></span>
-that Goldilocks has made to hold the candy!” There
-upon a tray were two dozen square boxes covered with
-green-and-white paper, and a row of red-paper hearts
-pasted across the top of each, with the words, “The Kind
-Hearts wish you a Merry Christmas,” printed in red.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Did you make all those boxes yourself, Goldilocks?”
-asked Sarah Barnes, in amazement; “I don’t see how
-you could turn the corners so nice.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not the boxes; you can buy them for very little at
-the factory. I covered them and put the hearts on,
-but Mother did the printing. It is easy enough if you
-take time. You see the two years that my feet wouldn’t
-go, I learned to make my fingers work for both.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The fire and pans, sugar, molasses, and nuts are all
-ready, but, before we become Miss Wilde’s guests and
-begin, for the candy-making and supper belong to her
-party, we must hold a short business meeting of the
-Kind Hearts’ Club, that we may decide how the Christmas
-money is to be spent.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady then sat down at the end of the room with
-Mrs. Wilde, while Goldilocks, the president, took her
-place at the head of the long table, with the vice-president,
-Miss Wilde, close at hand to prompt. Sarah, the treasurer,
-and Tommy, the secretary, were on opposite sides of the
-table facing each other, and all the others sat up very
-straight, wearing various expressions of importance that
-were quite amusing.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Goldilocks rapped on the table with her pencil, and
-said in a rather shaky voice, blushing rosy red as she
-spoke, “The meeting will please come to order and
-listen to the reading of the minutes of the last meeting.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='264' id='Page_264'></span>
-There had been but one previous meeting, that to arrange
-for the Christmas sale, and it had been informal,
-so that this was really the president’s first appearance
-in the chair, and, as she spoke, she kept her eyes fastened
-to the paper upon which Miss Wilde had written the
-order to be followed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Secretary will please read the minutes of the last
-meeting,” she said, after a pause.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The secretary looked around in a hunted sort of way,
-as if to find an open door through which he could escape,
-and, seeing none, got rather unsteadily upon his feet,
-opened the square blank-book that Gray Lady had
-given him for his records, fumbled with the pages, and
-then said, rather than read,—“We were all there. We
-all agreed to sell the things we’ve been making so as to
-get some money to feed birds, and buy things; and Gray
-Lady said we could do it in her house; the Saturday before
-Christmas was duly appointed, and Dave was to get the
-bills, to tell folks it was going to be printed down at the
-Chronicle Office, because it is his uncle runs it, and Gray
-Lady promised to give cakes and chocolate, in case folks
-were hungry.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:8em;'>“Respectfully submitted,</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:0em;'>“<span class='sc'>Thomas Todd, Jr.</span>, Secretary, Amen!”</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk113'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady did not dare look at Miss Wilde during
-the reading of this report, but the children took it in
-perfect earnestness, and Goldilocks, having put the
-report to vote, as she had been told, proceeded to the
-next item before her and called, “Report of the secretary.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Again Tommy fumbled, and, after looking in every
-<span class='pageno' title='265' id='Page_265'></span>
-page of the book but the ones that were written upon,
-suddenly burst forth,—“We had it, and we sold everything,
-besides some things we haven’t made yet. The
-people ate all there was, and took the other things home.
-It was a big cinch! Sarah Barnes has got the money
-in a box, and her father’s put it in the clock-case, except
-some of it that’s in dimes and nickels, and they’re in a bag
-in the dresser with the rye meal so’s no one’ll know.
-Gray Lady said that to-day we must each bring a paper,
-with written on it the way we wanted the money spent.
-We have. It was hard to write because some things
-we would like to have wouldn’t be nice to everybody
-all around, and that’s what it means to have a Kind
-Heart, grandma says.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:4em;'>“Yours truly,</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;'>“<span class='sc'>T. Todd</span>.”</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk114'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Action having been taken upon this, and the report
-accepted without a dissenting voice, the treasurer was
-called upon, and Sarah arose.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The result of the sale of the Kind Hearts’ Club, which
-was held in the spacious residence of Mrs. Gray Lady
-Wentworth on Saturday, December 18th, was very gratifying
-to all concerned, and the proceeds, fifty dollars, are
-now in the hands of the treasurer awaiting the orders
-of this august body.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:4em;'>“Respectfully reported by</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;'>“<span class='sc'>Sarah Barnes</span>.”</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk115'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How did you get yours together so slick and short,
-and full of nice words?” whispered Tommy to Sarah,
-<span class='pageno' title='266' id='Page_266'></span>
-across the table, his usual admiration for her now tinged
-with new respect.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t,” she signalled back, not speaking audibly,
-but making the words with her lips. “I just told
-grandma how much money we had, and she worded it;
-they always talked reports that way at the missionary
-meetings and sewing societies when she was a girl, and
-she thinks folks are getting to be real slack talkers now.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A dis—cussion is now in order as to the spending
-of the money. Will Mr. Todd collect the papers and
-the vice-president kindly read them?” said Goldilocks,
-after looking at her paper again. And as Tommy passed
-a little box for the slips, Gray Lady came from the
-corner, so eager was she to hear what the children had
-in view.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Rose Wilde opened the papers, and the ideas on the
-first few, though good, presented nothing original: food
-for birds; books for the school; bird charts for the
-Bridgeton Hospital. Sarah’s paper suggested sleigh-rides
-and charts for the children in the Bridgeton Orphan
-Asylum, “because they don’t know any birds but English
-Sparrows.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Tommy’s paper read:—“To fix the spring that used
-to come down Sugar Loaf Hill into a trough, before Bill
-Evans got mad with the Selectmen, and blocked it from
-coming through his pasture. There’s no water for drivers
-along the road above the Centre until you get to Beaver
-Brook, and that’s four miles, unless they get it from our
-well, which isn’t handy. My father could fix a big
-stone trough, ’cause he’s a mason, and birds and dogs
-and horses could drink. Birds need water to mix mud
-<span class='pageno' title='267' id='Page_267'></span>
-for their nests, too, especially Robins and Wood Thrushes.
-What is wanting, is to pipe the spring across Evans’
-field,—his widow’d be pleased to have us; it’s her land.
-It’s two hundred feet, father says.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That is a very good, practical idea, Tommy,” said
-Gray Lady, earnestly; “we must consider this.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Rose Wilde had now come to the last paper without
-discovering anything else of special novelty; this was
-written in little Clary’s stiff letters, and filled a whole
-sheet of paper.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It isn’t for birds, it’s a blanket for Joel Hanks, the
-mail-man’s horse. It’s blind in one eye, and it’s a kind
-horse, and knows where all the boxes are. It’s got a
-cough now. Mr. Hanks was going to buy a new one (a
-blanket), and get shingles on that end of the barn
-where the horse stands, so’s the snow won’t drift in,
-but his wife got sick last summer, and had doctors and
-nurses, and that costs more money than a new horse, and
-a whole barn, my mother says. Mother says it isn’t
-Joel’s fault he’s poor; he isn’t slack, only some folks
-are marked for trouble. Last summer, lightning struck
-his haystack, and burned it and only his cornstalks
-were left. His horse is thin, too. Cornstalks aren’t
-filling for uphill work, my father says, and the mail-route
-is all either up or down, and in winter downhill
-is slippery, and just as bad. A horse is a lovely animal,
-and useful; I would like us to help this horse.
-He isn’t a bird, to be sure, but birds have feathers,
-and don’t have to drag a wagon uphill, against the wind,
-with bent axles. It will take three bundles of shingles
-for that barn-end and three lights of window-glass.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='268' id='Page_268'></span>
-There was silence for a moment, and Miss Wilde, looking
-at Gray Lady, while she waited for her to speak, saw
-tears in her eyes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Tommy’s idea about the fountain is excellent, and
-I think we can build it before spring, but the blind old
-horse and his patient master cannot wait, and they both
-serve us, each and all, in fair weather and foul.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How is it, children? Shall we set aside ten dollars for
-the bird food for the winter, and then buy Mr. Hanks
-a ton of good hay, a horse-blanket, the three bundles
-of shingles, and the window-glass? And do you think
-that you big boys could put on the shingles if Jacob
-Hughes helped you?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You can just bet we will!” cried Jack Todd, and
-the others nodded approval.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This matter also was put to vote, and then a committee
-appointed, consisting of Miss Wilde and Jack Todd, to
-purchase blanket, hay, etc., while to Clary fell the inexpressible
-bliss of stopping at Mr. Hanks’ on her way home,
-telling him the news, and taking a blanket, warm but
-not new, that Gray Lady loaned until the new one could
-be had.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now for the candy!” shouted Tommy, whose spirits
-could keep in no longer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The meeting isn’t adjourned, yet,” said Goldilocks,
-reprovingly, clutching her paper and pounding on the
-table. “A motion is in order.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I move that we adjourn,” said Miss Wilde.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now somebody say, ‘I second it,’ ” insisted Goldilocks.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I second it,” came a chorus. And any further remarks
-<span class='pageno' title='269' id='Page_269'></span>
-were lost in a shout that arose at the sight of Jim Crow,
-climbing along a shelf of the kitchen dresser, with one of
-the new pairs of scissors in his beak, that he had managed
-to take unobserved from nobody-knew-whose work-basket.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='270' id='Page_270'></span><h1>XIX<br/> <span class='sub-head'>BEHIND THE BARS</span></h1></div>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>Mockingbird, Cardinal, Indigo-bird, and Nonpareil</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One gray Saturday in January, when the wind rushed
-through the trees, making the frozen branches clash
-with the sound of metal rather than wood, and it was
-too cold to snow, Tommy Todd came to the kitchen
-door at “the General’s” carrying a large and unwieldy
-bundle carefully wrapt in an old quilt.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The door was opened by Matilda, the old coloured
-woman, who had been “the General’s” cook in her youth,
-staying on as caretaker during the years when the house
-had been closed. “What you got dere, sonny? Sumpin’
-live, ’cause I kin hear hit scratchin’. Don’t say yer
-bringin’ in a trap o’ rats, ’cause if dere’s anythink I mislike
-’ticular, it is dem.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, mammy; it isn’t rats, it’s a bird,” said Tommy,
-beginning to unwind the quilt which covered a long cage
-made of wood and stout wires. When he had succeeded
-in freeing it from the cover, which, being ragged, caught
-on the wires, he lifted the cage to the kitchen table,
-where the light came full upon it. There, hopping nervously
-to and fro between the perches, was a gray bird
-about the size of a Robin. Its wings and tail had a
-browner wash than the rest of its back, while some of
-its tail-feathers and its underparts were white, though
-<span class='pageno' title='271' id='Page_271'></span>
-now soiled and rather ragged from chafing against the
-bars. As it moved about, it whisked its tail to and fro,
-in very much the same way as our Catbirds and Brown
-Thrashers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Matilda adjusted her big spectacles, grumbling as she
-did so, “Doan you know, chile, dat Missy doan like birds
-to be shet up in cages, and be prisoners, and sole away
-from home no mor’n de General would ’low folks to be
-shet from liberty an’ traded away? I ’spect she’ll be
-powerful mad when she sees dis yere. Whar yeh done
-git hit?” Then, as she drew near the cage and saw the
-bird plainly, which for a moment stopped its fluttering,
-she cried, “For de love ob Heaven, honey! <a id='mock1'></a>it’s a Mocker,
-and my ole eyes ain’t seen one since de ole cabin hit burn
-down, and we was all scattered out’en, and left Lou’siana
-for to git Norf!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My! but what birds dem Mockers were. I kin just
-year ’em now.” And Matilda seated herself by the table,
-pushed back her glasses, and closed her eyes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Winter wa’n’t well ober ’fore dey began to sing up,
-and come peepin’ around de cabins and in de road bushes
-lookin’ fer a nest-place. Sometimes dey put it in de thick
-bush ober top de swamp, but more times dey put it close
-in de rose vines, like as if dey t’ought snakes wouldn’t
-likely git ’em dere, ’cause snakes is as set to git Mockers
-as de ole one in de garden ob Eden was bound ter git Ebe.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dat nest, hit was kinder throwed together ob sticks,
-but de beddin’ in hit was good an soft, for de Mockers
-knew mighty well whar ter find ole cotton fluff to make
-a linin’. An’, while all this was doin’, how dey did sing!
-Day wasn’t long ’nough fer him, ’cause ’long towards
-<span class='pageno' title='272' id='Page_272'></span>
-noon his froat hit git dry and he’d go way down de orange
-grove an’ rest him jest a li’l bit, and den come out again
-an’ git nearer and nearer to de cabin, an’ when de sun
-hit role away to bed an’ de moon-up come, he’d git from
-de rose vine to de roof, an’ den up to de chimley edge
-an’ sing straight down at yer. Laws, honey, yer couldn’t
-never tell in daylight what birds was singin’, de real
-ones or him a-mockin’ ob dem. De Red Bird with de
-topknot, de Blue Jay, de li’l Wren wif de sassy tail,
-de Hangnest (Oriole), or de Blue Sparrow might all
-be singin’, for all I know’d, or hit might be only he
-a-mockin’ of ’em better than dey knew how demselves.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But when hit come night, and eb’ry one was home
-at de quarters, an’ some was singin’, an’ some playin’ de
-banjo, an’ de smell from de orange groves risin’ up powerful
-on de wind, and sun-down t’ree four hours gone, den
-when we heard all dem birds a-singin’, we knew it was de
-Mocker, an’ sometimes he wouldn’t stop all the night
-until de light hit slip right from silber to gold, an’ den
-copper, an’ ’twas sun-up again; an’ in dose days most
-eb’ry one had a Mocker in a cage. But here I be runnin’
-on ’bout de times when de Lord he let folks an’ wild
-birds both be bought an’ sold. Tell me, honey, whar
-ye done git him? Shore he neber was flyin’ round about
-up yere in de cold an’ snow—him what lubs de sun-up
-’way down Lou’siana way.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t put him in a cage, Aunt Tilda,” said Tommy,
-earnestly; “it is this way. He belonged to old Ned that
-works of summers for my Uncle Eph over at Bridgeton,
-and then goes home every year down South at Christmas,
-to spend the cold weather. This year he has hurt his leg,
-<span class='pageno' title='273' id='Page_273'></span>
-and is sick and can’t go, and has to stay in Bridgeton
-Hospital. So, as he used to know ‘the General,’ and
-he’s heard that Gray Lady loves birds, he told me to
-bring his Mocker over here, and ask her if she’d keep it
-safe and feed it until real warm spring weather, and
-then hang the cage outside, and open the door, and let
-it fly away if it would. ’Cause he thinks somehow it
-would find the way home if it wants to.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He fed it well, and cared for it, and never thought about
-its being unhappy in a cage until he had to go to the
-hospital, and be shut in, and couldn’t go home South,
-perhaps, any more. Then I guess he knew how his
-Mocker might feel, too. I think Gray Lady will keep
-him, even though it says on the Bird Law posters that
-<span class='it'>you mustn’t keep a wild bird dead or alive or have its nest
-or eggs</span>. Because if Sheriff Blake arrested her, he knows
-old Ned and Gray Lady could explain it all so’s she
-wouldn’t be fined.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What is it that Gray Lady can explain so that she
-need not be fined?” said a voice from the store-room on
-the other side of the entry way, and “sheself” walked in;
-“sheself” being Matilda’s name for her mistress when
-she wished to use a term that she considered more dignified
-than the homely one of “Missy.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then Tommy repeated his explanation, while Matilda
-stood looking at the Mockingbird and muttering to
-herself of the many happenings of her slave days, happy
-as well as sad, that the sight of him recalled.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of course I will keep the Mockingbird until spring,”
-said Gray Lady, “and then I will hang the cage in the
-porch, open the door, but still keep it well supplied with
-<span class='pageno' title='274' id='Page_274'></span>
-food, so that he may come and go, and if his heart leads
-him back towards his southern birthplace, be sure that
-he will join the flock of some of his northern kindred
-and in their company reach home.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Do we have any kind of Mockingbird up here?”
-asked Tommy, his eyes opening in wonder.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not real brothers of the Mockingbird, though he has
-half a dozen in the southwestern part of the country,
-but two first cousins, and half a dozen second cousins.
-Let us take the Mocker up to the playroom and hang
-his cage in the warm window by the chimney, where
-the sun will shine on him whenever the clouds let it peep
-through. Then I will tell you all who his cousins are,
-and about three other American birds that for many
-years were caught and kept prisoners in cages and sold
-out of their native land.”</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk116'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The children were all gathered upstairs by the time
-Gray Lady arrived, followed by Tommy, carrying the
-cage.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I had a Robin in a cage, once, and a Catbird, and
-grandma and Aunt Mary always have Canaries. Why
-is it against the law to keep wild birds in cages? That
-Mockingbird doesn’t seem to mind it a bit; now that
-he’s smoothed down his feathers, and has begun to eat,
-he acts real happy,” said Eliza Clausen, after they had
-looked at the newcomer and heard the story of his being
-sent to Gray Lady.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There are two reasons why wild birds should never
-be kept in cages except for really scientific study, or
-<span class='pageno' title='275' id='Page_275'></span>
-to help them when they are exposed to cold, or are ill
-and maimed in some way. The first reason is that when
-Nature placed birds in certain localities provided with
-the best sorts of beaks, feet, etc., to make them able to
-earn their living, it was done because there was work
-there for them to do that they could perform better
-than anything else. They were a part of the Great Plan
-for preventing insect life (which also has its uses) from
-increasing too much and doing damage. This is the
-practical way of considering birds for what the Wise
-Men call their ‘economic value.’ These birds may be
-able to hold their own against the birds of prey, that in
-the beginning were doubtless made to keep the smaller
-birds from becoming too numerous and upsetting the
-balance of the Plan, but when man came in, and not only
-destroyed them for some fancied damage to his crops,
-but took the young from the nest, or trapped the old
-birds, and sold them into captivity where they could no
-longer follow the creative law, to ‘increase and multiply,’
-the danger became grave.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The second reason, however, is one that our own kind
-hearts can understand the best, and that is the misery
-of the bird born wild when he feels himself a captive.
-If he outlives the first misery, and seems to become
-resigned, he may become content in a way, but he can
-never forget the liberty he has lost, nor can we, in any
-way, make up to him, by mere food and creature-comforts,
-the ecstasy of the wild life. The very fact that
-the healthful joy of flight and choice in mating is denied
-him is enough.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I did not realize this when I was a girl, and I also
-<span class='pageno' title='276' id='Page_276'></span>
-kept cage birds like every one else; it was not because
-I was cruel, simply that I had never thought of the
-matter any more than my friends, until one day, being
-ill and shut in my room, like poor old Ned in the hospital,
-<a id='non1'></a>I watched the fluttering of a Painted Bunting or Nonpareil
-that my father had bought me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This bird is one of the southern Sparrows, in size no
-larger than a Chippy. Its plumage is tropical in its
-beauty, deep blue head and neck, red underparts, glistening
-green back, green-and-red wings, with a reddish
-tail; in short, a glittering opal copied in feathers. Its
-cage was roomy, and it had the best of food, and fresh
-water for bathing and drinking, while the shelf in the
-window, on which it stood, was filled with flowering plants,
-up through the branches of which it could look. But,
-oh, the expression of that bird’s body! I watched its
-every motion; the head thrown backward, searching in
-vain for a loophole of escape between the bars, the
-quivering of its wings as the impulse for freedom, and
-the company of its kind, swept over it! Sometimes,
-late in the night, when I awoke and looked toward it,
-I could see that it was awake and its wings trembling
-with the thought of dawn that it could not fly to meet.
-Then I knew, even if it became cowed, and forgot its
-natural instincts so far as to be dumbly content as a
-prisoner, that the real life of the bird would be as dead
-as if a bullet had ended it, and though it was late winter,
-February, I felt that I must give it liberty.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I told my father, and he sympathized with me as usual,
-listened to my story, and then, packing the cage safely,
-had it sent by special express to a family friend, who was
-<span class='pageno' title='277' id='Page_277'></span>
-wintering in Florida, with the request that she liberate
-the prisoner. For, as we could not get it to its winter
-haunt in the tropics, this seemed next best, and it would
-soon meet the flocks of its kin on the return trip.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“So the bird was freed, and once more felt the joy of
-being lifted on his wings whither he would go, and whatever
-loneliness he may have suffered after that, he had
-gained liberty, which is the right of the least of God’s
-creatures.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of the four American birds that were most commonly
-caged, the Mockingbird and Cardinal have always
-been the most popular, and this is what some of the
-writers have said about taking them into captivity.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>The Mockingbird</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='mock2'></a>The Mockingbird ranges from the Atlantic to the Pacific,
-and from middle Illinois, Indiana, and Pennsylvania, southward
-to the Gulf of Mexico. Usually the bird-hunters take the young
-from the nest as soon as they open their beaks for food. These
-are sold in Southern cities by negro boys for from fifteen to
-twenty-five cents apiece.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. Thousands of Mockingbirds find
-their way across the Atlantic.”—<span class='sc'>Henry Nehrling</span>.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><a id='card2'></a><span class='it'>The Cardinal</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This is one of our most common cage-birds and is very
-generally known, not only in North America, but even in Europe,
-numbers of them having been carried over both to France and
-England, in which last country they are called ‘Virginia Nightingales.’ ”—<span class='sc'>Alexander
-Wilson</span>.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>The Indigo-bird</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The combination of musical ability, lovely plumage, and its
-seed-eating qualities long since has made the Indigo Bunting in
-<span class='pageno' title='278' id='Page_278'></span>
-danger of extermination, through the fact of its being universally
-captured throughout the South and sold as a cage-bird, both for
-home use and for export.”</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><a id='non2'></a><span class='it'>Painted Bunting or Nonpareil</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This splendid, gay, and docile bird, known to Americans as
-the Nonpareil (the unequalled), and to the French Louisianans as
-<span class='it'>le pape</span>, inhabits the woods of the low countries of the Southern
-states.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“For the sake of their song as well as beauty of plumage they
-are commonly domesticated in the houses of the French inhabitants
-of New Orleans and its vicinity.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They are commonly caught in trap-cages, to which they are
-sometimes allured by a stuffed bird, which they descend to attack;
-and they have been known to live in captivity for upwards
-of ten years.”—<span class='sc'>Thomas Nuttall</span>.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Mockingbird, as you see, has sombre gray
-plumage like his cousin, the Catbird, that we all know so
-well that I think he should drop a name that belies
-his wonderful musical ability, and be called the ‘Northern
-Mockingbird.’ Even though the Mocker is caged, you
-can see the resemblance, in the way in which he twitches
-his tail, and first throws back his beak and then looks
-sideways, to our merry singer of the garden who often
-makes us think that half a dozen birds are perching in
-the drying-yard when he sits upon the top of a clothes-pole
-and lets his imagination float away with his voice.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Brown Thrasher, too, with the long, curved beak,
-brown back, and speckled breast, is also a first cousin
-and has the Mockingbird habit of mounting high up
-when he sings and looking straight up at the sky; while
-the Wrens, one and all, belong to this famous family group
-<span class='pageno' title='279' id='Page_279'></span>
-and come in, we may say, as second cousins, and like
-the Mockingbird, aside from the beauty of song, are
-very valuable insect eaters. The other three birds have
-the conical beak that stamps them as members of the
-family of Finches and Sparrows.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='indigo1'></a>Rich colour is the chief attribute that sets the Indigo
-Bunting apart from its kin of the tribe of
-Sparrows and Finches.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Blue that is decided in tone, and not a bluish gray,
-is one of the rarest hues among the birds of temperate
-zones; for one may count the really blue birds of the
-eastern United States upon the fingers of one hand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This Bunting belongs to the tree-loving and tree-nesting
-part of his tribe, in company with the Grosbeaks,
-and the brilliant yellow American Goldfinch,
-whose black cap, wings, and tail-feathers only enhance
-his beauty. The Sparrows, of sober stripes, nest on or
-near the ground, and their plumage blends with brown
-grass, twigs, and the general earth-colouring, illustrating
-very directly the theory of colour protection, while
-the birds of brilliant plumage invariably keep more
-closely to the trees.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In size the Indigo Bunting ranks with the small Sparrows,
-coming in grade between the Field- and the Song Sparrows,
-and being only slightly larger than the Chippy.
-The female wears a modification of the Sparrow garb,
-the upper parts being ashy brown without stripes, the
-underparts grayish white, washed and very faintly
-streaked with dull brown, the wings and tail-feathers having
-some darker edges and markings.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When it comes to painting the plumage of the male in
-<span class='pageno' title='280' id='Page_280'></span>
-words, the task becomes difficult; for to use simply the
-term indigo-blue is as inadequate as to say that a bit of
-water that looks blue while in shadow, is of the same colour
-when it ripples out into full sunlight and catches a dozen
-reflections from foliage and sky. A merely technical
-description would read: Front of head and chin rich
-indigo-blue, growing lighter and greener on back and underparts;
-wings dusky brown, with blue edges to coverts;
-tail-feathers also blue edged; bill and feet dark; general
-shape rounded and canary-like, resembling the Goldfinch.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The last of May one of these Buntings came to a low
-bush, outside my window, and, after resting awhile, for
-the night before had been stormy, dropped to the closely
-cut turf to feed upon the crumbs left where the hounds
-had been munching their biscuits. I have never seen a
-more beautiful specimen, and the contrast with the vivid
-grass seemed to develop the colour of malachite that ran
-along one edge of the feathers, shifting as the bird moved
-like the sheen of changeable silk.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The nest, in no wise typical, is a loose and rather careless
-structure of grass, twigs, horsehairs, roots, or bits
-of bark placed in a low, scrubby tree or bush at no great
-distance from the ground, and the eggs are a very pale
-blue or bluish white, and only three or four in number.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i340.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0037' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>National Association of Audubon Societies</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>INDIGO BUNTING</span><br/>(<span class='sc'>Upper figure, Male; Lower figure, Female</span>)</p>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>Order—<span class='sc'>Passeres</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Family—<span class='sc'>Fringillidæ</span></p>
-<p class='line'>Genus—<span class='sc'>Passerina</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Species—<span class='sc'>Cyanea</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Being a seed-eater, it is undoubtedly this Bunting’s
-love of warmth that gives him so short a season with us:
-for he does not come to the New England states until the
-first week in May, and, after the August moult, when he
-dons the sober clothing of his mate, he begins to work
-southward by the middle of September,—those from the
-<span class='pageno' title='281' id='Page_281'></span>
-most northerly portions of the breeding range, which
-extends northward to Minnesota and Nova Scotia, having
-passed by the tenth of October. He winters in Central
-America and southward.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Although of the insect-eating fraternity of the conical
-beak, the Indigo Bunting consumes many noxious insects
-in the nesting season, when the rapid growth of the
-young demands animal food, no matter to what race
-they belong. Being an inhabitant of the overgrown
-edges of old pastures, or the brushy fences of clearings
-and pent roads, he is in a position where he can do a
-great deal of good. Mr. Forbush, in his valuable book on
-<span class='it'>Useful Birds and Their Protection</span>, credits the Indigo
-Bunting with being a consumer of the larvæ of the mischievous
-brown-tail moth; but whatever service it may do
-as an insect destroyer, its service the year through as
-a consumer of weed seeds, in common with the rest of its
-tribe, is beyond dispute.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The voice of the Indigo Bunting is pretty rather than
-impressive, and varies much in individuals. It consists
-of a series of hurried, canary-like notes repeated constantly
-and rising in key, but, to my mind, never reaching the
-dignity of being called impressive song.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Nuttall, one of the early American Wise Men, writes
-that, though usually shy, the Indigo-bird, during the season,
-is more frequently seen near habitations than in remote
-thickets: ‘Their favourite resort is the garden, where,
-from the topmost branch of some tall tree that commands
-the whole wide landscape, the male regularly pours out
-his lively chant and continues it for a considerable length
-of time. Nor is this song confined to the cool and animating
-<span class='pageno' title='282' id='Page_282'></span>
-dawn of morning, but it is renewed, and still more
-vigorous, during the noonday heat of summer. This
-lively strain is composed of a repetition of short notes,
-which, commencing loud and rapid, and then slowly
-falling, descend almost to a whisper, succeeded by a silence
-of almost half a minute, when the song is again continued
-as before.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘In the village of Cambridge (Massachusetts), I have
-seen one of these azure, almost celestial musicians, regularly
-chant to the inmates of a tall dwelling-house from
-the summit of the chimney or the tall fork of the lightning-rod.
-I have also heard a Canary repeat and imitate
-the low lisping trill of the Indigo-bird, whose warble,
-indeed, often resembles that of this species.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This combination of musical ability, lovely plumage,
-and its seed-eating qualities long since has made the
-Indigo Bunting in danger of extermination, through the
-fact of its being universally, throughout the South, captured
-and sold as a cage-bird, both for home use and for
-export. In that section the bird is called the ‘blue pop,’
-a corruption of ‘bleu pape,’ or ‘pope,’ of the French.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The <a id='card3'></a>Cardinal, called ‘Grosbeak’ from the thickness and
-size of its bill, is of course a very conspicuous bird wherever
-seen, and therefore has always been a mark for
-the ‘arrow of death,’ as Mr. Allen, who knows
-this bird in its native haunts, and its every mood, puts it.
-Some day when you are older you will read his story of it
-as it lives in the deep recesses of the evergreen woods,
-called <span class='it'>The Kentucky Cardinal</span>. For though this bird is
-found nesting as far north as Central Park, New York,
-and it has once or twice come to my garden here, and
-<span class='pageno' title='283' id='Page_283'></span>
-gone into Massachusetts even, in the fall roving-time, we
-must always associate him with a long outdoor season
-and sunny skies, as we do the Mockingbird.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If the Mocker suffered for his voice, the Cardinal was
-made a prisoner for his song and gorgeous colour combined,
-and though, as is bird law in such cases, the female is dull
-in colour, she has a very attractive song also, even in confinement.
-But I hope that these prison days are over.
-Whoever now confines the Cardinal is a law-breaker as
-well as a heart-breaker, and yet, but ten years ago, every
-bird-store window was aglow with the colour of the Cardinal’s
-mantle. I have here in the scrap-book a charming
-story that you will like to hear, of a Cardinal in Boston,
-made a temporary captive for its own preservation, and of
-its release when the right time came.”</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE CARDINAL AT THE HUB</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>His range being southern, Cardinal Grosbeak seldom
-travels through New England; and, to my knowledge, has
-never established a home and reared a family north of
-Connecticut until in the instance here recorded. Kentuckians
-claim him, and with some show of right, since
-James Lane Allen built his monument in imperishable
-prose. But, soon or late, all notables come to Boston,
-and among them may now be registered the “Kentucky
-Cardinal.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Shy by nature, conspicuous in plumage, he shuns publicity;
-and avoiding the main lines of travel, he puts up
-at a quiet country house in a Boston suburb—Brookline.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Here, one October day in 1897, among the migrants
-stopping at this halfway house, appeared a distinguished
-<span class='pageno' title='284' id='Page_284'></span>
-guest, clad in red, with a black mask, a light red bill, and
-a striking crest; with him a bird so like him that they
-might have been called the two Dromios. After a few
-days the double passed on, and left our hero the only red-coat
-in the field. A White-throated Sparrow now arrived
-from the mountains, and a Damon-and-Pythias friendship
-sprang up between the birds. Having decided to winter
-at the North, they took lodgings in a spruce tree, and
-came regularly to the <span class='it'>table d’hôte</span> on the porch. My lord
-Cardinal, being the more distinguished guest, met with
-particular favour, and soon became welcome at the homes
-of the neighbourhood. With truly catholic taste, he
-refused creature-comforts from none, but showed preference
-for his first abode.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was March 5, 1898, when we kept our first appointment
-with the Cardinal. A light snow had fallen during
-the night, and the air was keen, without premonition of
-spring. It was a day for home-keeping birds, the earth
-larder being closed. The most delicate tact was required
-in presenting strangers. A loud, clear summons—the
-Cardinal’s own whistle echoed by human lips—soon
-brought a response. Into the syringa bush near the porch
-flew, with a whir and a sharp <span class='it'>tsip</span>, a bird. How gorgeous
-he looked in the snow-laden shrub! For an instant the
-syringa blossoms loaded the air with fragrance as a dream
-of summer floated by. Then a call to the porch was met
-by several sallies and quick retreats, while the wary bird
-studied the newcomers. Reassuring tones from his gentle
-hostess, accompanied by the rattle of nuts and seeds,
-at last prevailed, and the Cardinal flew to the railing, and
-looked us over with keen, inquiring eye. Convinced that
-<span class='pageno' title='285' id='Page_285'></span>
-no hostilities were intended, he gave a long, trustful look
-into the face of his benefactress and flew to her feet.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A gray squirrel, frisking by, stopped at the lunch-counter
-and seized an “Educator” cracker.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The novel sensation of an uncaged bird within touch,
-where one might notice the lovely shading of his plumage
-as one notes a flower, was memorable; but a sweeter
-surprise was in store. As we left the house, having made
-obeisance to his eminence, the Cardinal, the bird flew into
-a spruce tree and saluted us with a melodious “Mizpah.”
-Then, as if reading the longing of our hearts, he opened
-his bright bill, and a song came forth such as never before
-enraptured the air of a New England March,—a song so
-copious, so free, so full of heavenly hope, that it seemed
-as if forever obliterated were the “tragic memories of his
-race.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As March advanced, several changes in the Cardinal were
-noted by his ever-watchful friends. He made longer trips
-abroad, returning tired and hungry. The restlessness of
-the unsatisfied heart was plainly his. His long, sweet,
-interpolating whistle, variously rendering “Peace .&nbsp;.&nbsp;.
-peace .&nbsp;.&nbsp;. peace!” “Three cheers, three cheers,” etc.,
-to these sympathetic northern ears became “Louise,
-Louise, Louise!” Thenceforth he was Louis, the Cardinal,
-calling for his mate.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On March 26, a kind friend took pity on the lonely
-bachelor, and a caged bird, “Louise,” was introduced to
-him. In the lovely dove-coloured bird, with faint washings
-of red, and the family mask and crest, the Cardinal at
-once recognized his kind. His joy was unbounded, and
-the acquaintance progressed rapidly, a mutual understanding
-<span class='pageno' title='286' id='Page_286'></span>
-being plainly reached during the seventeen days
-of cage courtship. Louis brought food to Louise, and
-they had all things in common, except liberty.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>April 12, in the early morning, the cage was taken out-of-doors,
-and Louise was set free. She was quick to embrace
-her chance, and flew into the neighbouring shrubbery.
-For six days she revelled in her new-found freedom,
-Louis, meanwhile, coming and going as of old, and often
-carrying away seeds from the house to share with his
-mate.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>April 16, he lured her into the house, and after that
-they came often for food, flying fearlessly in at the window,
-and delighting their friends with their songs and
-charming ways. Louis invariably gave the choicest
-morsels to his mate, and the course of true love seemed to
-cross the adage; but, alas! Death was already adjusting
-an arrow for that shining mark.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>April 25, Louise stayed in the house all day, going out
-at nightfall. Again the following day she remained indoors,
-Louis feeding her; but her excellent appetite disarmed
-suspicion, and it was thought that she had taken
-refuge from the cold and rain, especially as she spent the
-night within. The third morning, April 27, she died. An
-examination of her body showed three dreadful wounds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Louis came twittering to the window, but was not let
-in until a day or two later, when a new bird, “Louisa,”
-had been put in the cage. When he saw the familiar
-form, he evidently thought his lost love restored, for he
-burst into glorious song; but, soon discovering his mistake,
-he stopped short in his hallelujahs, and walked
-around the cage inspecting the occupant.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i347.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0038' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>National Association of Audubon Societies</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>CARDINAL<br/><span class='sc'>Upper Figure, Female; Lower Figure, Male.</span></span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='287' id='Page_287'></span>
-Louisa’s admiration for the Cardinal was marked; but
-for some days he took little notice of her, and his friends
-began to fear that their second attempt at match-making
-would prove a failure. April 30, however, some responsive
-interest was shown, and the next day Louis brought
-to the cage a brown bug, half an inch long, and gave Louisa
-his first meat-offering.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The second wooing progressed rapidly, and May 7, when
-Louisa was set free, the pair flew away together with unrestrained
-delight. After three days of liberty, Louisa
-flew back to the house with her mate, and thenceforth was
-a frequent visitor.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>May 21, Louisa was seen carrying straws, and on June 6
-her nest was discovered low down in a dense evergreen
-thorn. Four speckled eggs lay in the nest. These were
-hatched June 9, the parent birds, meantime and afterward,
-going regularly to market, and keeping up social relations
-with their friends.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In nine days after their exit from the shell, the little
-Cardinals left the nest and faced life’s sterner realities.
-A black cat was their worst foe, and more than once,
-during their youth, Louis flew to his devoted commissary
-and made known his anxiety. Each time, on following
-him to the nest, she found the black prowler, or one of his
-kind, watching for prey. On June 28, the black cat outwitted
-the allied forces, Señor Cardinal and his friends,
-and a little one was slain. The other three grew up, and
-enjoyed all the privileges of their parents, flying in at
-the window, and frequenting the bountiful porch.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>July 25, Louisa disappeared from the scene, presumably
-on a southern trip, leaving the Cardinal sole protector,
-<span class='pageno' title='288' id='Page_288'></span>
-provider, and peacemaker for their lively and quarrelsome
-triplet. A fight is apparently as needful for the
-development of a young Cardinal as of an English schoolboy,
-possibly due in both cases to a meat diet.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Overfeeding was but temporary with our birds. On
-the 8th of August the migratory instinct prevailed over
-ease, indulgence, friendship, and the Cardinal with his
-brood left the house, where he had been so well entertained,
-to return no more. No more? Who shall say of
-any novel that it can have no sequel? Massachusetts may
-yet become the permanent home of the Kentucky Cardinal,
-the descendant to the third and fourth generation of Louis
-and his mate.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;'>—<span class='sc'>Ella Gilbert Ives</span>, in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk117'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As Gray Lady read the story of the Cardinal, the children,
-between listening to it and being intent on their
-work, forgot the Mockingbird in the window, upon whom
-the rays of the sun, that had gradually managed to pierce
-the clouds, were resting.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As her mother finished and paused, Goldilocks, with a
-very slight gesture, directed their glance toward the window,
-where the <a id='mock3'></a>Mockingbird, having completed his toilet and
-meal, perched, wings slightly raised and quivering, with
-half-closed eyes, murmuring a few broken snatches of song,
-half to himself and half as if in a dream, his head thrown
-back and, oh, such a human expression of longing in his
-attitude, that Gray Lady, without speaking, turned the
-leaves of her scrap-book slowly until she came to a place
-where the long line of prose shortened to verse, and then
-in a low but distinct voice she read:—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='289' id='Page_289'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>IN CAPTIVITY</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;You ask me why</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;I long to fly</p>
-<p class='line0'>Out from your palace to the dreamy woods,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the summer solitude,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Why I pine</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;In this cage of mine;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Why I fret,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Why I set</p>
-<p class='line0'>All manner of querulous echoes fluttering forth</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;From the cold North</p>
-<p class='line0'>And wandering southward with beseeching pain</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;In every strain.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Ask me not,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Task me not</p>
-<p class='line0'>With such vain questions, but fling wide the door</p>
-<p class='line0'>And hinder me no more;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Give back my wings to me,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the wild current of my liberty.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Oh if you please</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Give me release!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Open the gate</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Of this cage of Fate</p>
-<p class='line0'>And let me mount the South wind and go down</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;To Bay St. Louis town,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Where the brown bees hum</p>
-<p class='line0'>In amber mists of pollen and perfume;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And the roses gush a-bloom!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Fainter, fainter—so</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;My life-stream sinks—runs low.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Ah!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Oh!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Open the cage and let me go.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Floating, dreaming, revelling, dying, down</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;To my mate, my queen, my love</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;In the fragrant drowsy grove</p>
-<p class='line0'>Beyond the flowery closes of Bay St. Louis town.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk118'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='290' id='Page_290'></span>
-It was very still for a moment, and something fell on
-Sarah Barnes’ work that was bright, but it wasn’t a needle!
-Then, looking across at the cage, but addressing Gray
-Lady, she said, “We’ve paid for the shingles, and the hay,
-and the horse-blanket, and a chest-protector, besides, for
-the horse to wear all the time, to keep the uphill wind off
-his lungs. We’ve bought the bags of sweepings for the
-feeding-places, and there’s three dollars and eighty-five
-cents left.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Couldn’t the Kind Hearts’ Club have a meeting <span class='it'>right
-away</span>, and vote to send Old Ned’s <a id='mock4'></a>Mocker back down South
-by express, <span class='it'>now</span>, before he, maybe, dies, so’s he’d be there
-to meet spring, even if old Ned can’t? Then he’d have
-time to look up a mate in case his old one has got tired of
-waiting for him,” she added in a more cheerful tone.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady said that, as all the members were present,
-a special meeting would be in order; and two days later
-the Mockingbird started for the southern home of one of
-Gray Lady’s school friends, with a “special” tag on his
-well-wrapped cage and a bottle of extra food fastened
-outside.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Oh, the untold misery and waste of this caging and
-selling of free-born birds! It is only one grade less direct
-a slaughter than killing them to trim a bonnet. While
-the sufferings of the bonnet-bird end at once, with its
-<span class='pageno' title='291' id='Page_291'></span>
-life, those of the caged bird have only begun as the door
-closes behind him.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A few exceptional cases, where birds in care of those who
-are both able and willing to make their surroundings
-endurable, count as nothing against the general condemnation
-of the practice of caging birds born wild.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Those of us who have known, by experience, in caring for
-wounded or sick birds, exactly what incessant watchfulness
-is necessary to keep them alive, realize how impossible
-it is that this care should be given them by the
-average purchaser.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Birds born and reared in captivity, like the Canary,
-are the only ones that real humanity should keep behind
-bars. There is no more condemnable habit than taking
-nestlings of any kind, and trying to rear them, unless
-disaster overtakes the parents.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Nominally, the traffic in caged wild birds has ceased;
-actually, it has not; nor will it until every bird-lover
-feels himself responsible for staying the hand that would
-rob the nest, whether it is that of the ignorant little
-pickaninny of the South, who climbs up the vine outside
-the window where you are wintering, and sees, in the four
-young Mockers, in the nest just under the sill, a prospective
-dollar; the child at home, who likes to experiment for a
-few days with pets, and then forgets them; or the wily
-dealer, who sells secretly what he dares not exhibit. No
-quarter to any class who make prisoners of the wild, outside
-of the zoölogical gardens or the few private outdoor
-aviaries, where the proper conditions exist.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Any free citizen prefers death to loss of liberty, and
-even the most material mind will, at least, allow this
-<span class='pageno' title='292' id='Page_292'></span>
-human quality to Citizen Bird, while it proves that he or
-she who either cages or buys the captive wholly lacks
-the spiritual quality.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Should we make prisoners of</p>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“The ballad-singers and the Troubadours,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The street musicians of the heavenly city,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The birds, who make sweet music for us all</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;In our dark hours, as David did for Saul”?</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='293' id='Page_293'></span><h1>XX<br/> <span class='sub-head'>MIDWINTER BIRDS</span></h1></div>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>WINTER COMRADES</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Plume and go, ye summer folk</p>
-<p class='line0'>Fly from Winter’s killing stroke,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Bluebird, Sparrow, Thrush, and Swallow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Wild Geese from the marshes follow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Wood-dove from the lonesome hollow</p>
-<p class='line0'>Rise and follow South—all follow!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Now I greet ye, hardy tribes,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Snowy Owl, and night-black Crow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Starling with your wild halloo;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Blue Jay screaming like the wind,</p>
-<p class='line0'>In the tree-tops gaunt and thinned;</p>
-<p class='line0'>You in summer called “Bob-white”</p>
-<p class='line0'>(Voice of far-off fields’ delight).</p>
-<p class='line0'>Now among the barnyard brood</p>
-<p class='line0'>Fearless, searching for your food;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Nuthatch, Snowbird, Chickadee,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Downy tapper on the tree;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And you twittering Goldfinch drove</p>
-<p class='line0'>(Masked in gray) that blithely rove</p>
-<p class='line0'>Where the herby pastures show</p>
-<p class='line0'>Tables set above the snow:</p>
-<p class='line0'>And ye other flocks that ramble,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Where the red hop trims the bramble,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Or the rowan-berry bright</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the scarlet haw invite—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Winter comrades, well betide ye,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Friendly trunk and hollow hide ye,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Hemlock branches interlace,</p>
-<p class='line0'>When the Northern Blast gives chase.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Edith M. Thomas.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='294' id='Page_294'></span>
-These were the hard days for birds and people both,
-days of sleet and ice, when the snow seemed to chill and
-bind the trees down, instead of winding lovely draperies
-about them as it did at first.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Toward the end of January the cedar-berries gave out,
-and the juicy blackberries of the honeysuckle, that clings
-to everything that will hold the vines, became watery and
-poor; most of the seed-stalks of weeds were beaten down,
-and it was “mighty poor picking for birds,” as Sarah
-Barnes expressed the matter.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The lunch-counter in Birdland received a fresh supply
-of food every morning, and yet, sometimes before dark,
-every grain had been eaten, and the generous lumps of
-suet picked to shreds. The feeding-stations for the game-birds
-all had visitors, and the boys, who kept them supplied,
-saw, in their walks, many winter birds that they
-never before knew came so near to the cultivated farmland.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Acting on the general idea of feeding and sheltering
-birds that now seemed to pervade the air of Fair Meadows
-township, many people scattered food on the roofs of
-their sheds, and made openings in their corn-stacks, or left
-a window of the hay-barn ajar, where birds might seek a
-shelter.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>All through the month the resident winter birds were
-seen at intervals. Of course, there would be many days
-<span class='pageno' title='295' id='Page_295'></span>
-when no birds would appear, and it would seem as if they
-had all gone, but let the sun shine, and the least breath
-of wind blow from the southeast, and they would come out
-of the near-by shelter where they had been hiding.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The orchard lunch-counter was the one place where, at
-least, a single bird was always to be found, and, at times,
-as many as half a dozen different kinds would be seen
-feeding peaceably together.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady kept a list of all the birds that the children
-reported, and sometimes it was quite a puzzle for her to
-name a bird, unknown to the discoverer, from the description
-that was brought of it. For to see the chief points of
-a bird at a glance is difficult enough in itself, but to put
-them into exact words seemed sometimes impossible.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When Dave, on his return from a sleigh-ride to the
-shore, said that he’d seen a “big round-headed Owl
-sitting on a stump in the salt meadows, and it looked as
-if it had sat out all night in a snow-squall,” Gray Lady
-knew at once that he had seen one of the Arctic or <a id='snowyowl'></a><a id='snowy'></a>Snowy
-Owls that occasionally drift down from the North on a
-short visit, and that it was on the lookout for a meal of
-meadow-mice or other little gnawers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But when Bobbie, who went to the same location, reported
-that he had seen “a flock of birds that were sort of
-Sparrows with a yellow breast, and a black mark on it,
-and long ears,” it took a little time and many questions
-before she found that the birds were visiting Horned
-Larks, with pinkish brown backs, a black crescent on the
-breast, and a black bar across the forehead, that, extending
-around the sides of the head, forms two little tufts, or
-feather horns. For the rest, the throat and neck were dull
-<span class='pageno' title='296' id='Page_296'></span>
-yellow, and the underparts white streaked with black.
-These birds were little known. They only made flying
-visits, and gave merely a call-note, keeping their beautiful
-song, during which they soar in the air like the Sky-lark,
-for their nesting-haunts in the far North.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady’s ingenuity was taxed to its utmost, however,
-when one Saturday morning little Clary came to the playroom,
-her face aglow, and said that she had seen “a brown
-Blue Jay with a yellow tail and red wings; not just one,
-but a whole family.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For a moment Gray Lady was quite at a loss how to
-proceed; yellow tail and red wings were surely startling;
-then she saw that there must be some point about the bird
-that reminded the child of a Jay other than its colour.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How did this bird look like a Jay, Clary?” she
-asked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In the head,” came the prompt reply; “it had feathers
-on top that moved up and down, the way a Jay’s does, and
-it was dark in the nose.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>On thinking over the winter birds that had a crest of
-feathers that could be raised or lowered, she realized that
-the Cedar-bird had such a one, also a black beak, and
-a black eye-stripe that made it look “dark in the nose,”
-but yellow tail and red wings it certainly did not have,
-merely a narrow yellow band on the tail and small,
-waxen, coral-red tips to some of the wing quills. However,
-taking half a dozen coloured pictures from one of the
-portfolios that she kept at hand to settle disputed points,
-she spread them in front of the little girl, who, without
-a moment’s hesitation, picked out the Cedar-bird, or Cedar
-Waxwing, as it is properly called from its coral wings-tips.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='297' id='Page_297'></span>
-These are the resident birds on the list that Gray Lady
-kept of those the children saw during that winter:—</p>
-
-<div class='lgl' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Bob-white</p>
-<p class='line'>Ruffed Grouse</p>
-<p class='line'>Red-shouldered Hawk</p>
-<p class='line'>Meadowlark</p>
-<p class='line'>Long-eared Owl</p>
-<p class='line'>Screech Owl</p>
-<p class='line'>Downy Woodpecker</p>
-<p class='line'>Robin</p>
-<p class='line'>Bluebird</p>
-<p class='line'>Song Sparrow</p>
-<p class='line'>White-breasted Nuthatch</p>
-<p class='line'>Red-tailed Hawk</p>
-<p class='line'>Sharp-shinned Hawk</p>
-<p class='line'>Barred Owl</p>
-<p class='line'>Cedar Waxwing</p>
-<p class='line'>Hairy Woodpecker</p>
-<p class='line'>Flicker</p>
-<p class='line'>Blue Jay</p>
-<p class='line'>Crow</p>
-<p class='line'>American Goldfinch</p>
-<p class='line'>Chickadee</p>
-<p class='line'>Herring Gull</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>This is a list of the visiting birds, that nest in the far
-North and drift southward, either in search of food or
-driven on the course of the storm clouds; and before
-February came, with its longer afternoons, the children
-could name them all, either from sight or from the pictures
-in Gray Lady’s portfolio.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Horned Lark.</span><a id='lark'></a> (See above.)</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Snowflake.</span> A bird of the Sparrow tribe, winter plumage
-soft brown and white, colour of dead leaves and snow,
-black feet and bill. Comes in flocks to feed on weed
-seeds, especially of snowy winters.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><a id='redpoll'></a><span class='it'>Redpoll.</span> Of the Sparrow tribe and the size of the Chippy.
-Dusky gray and brown, with long, pointed wings
-and short, forked tail. <span class='it'>Head, neck, and rump washed
-with crimson!</span> A canary-like call-note.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>The Two Crossbills.</span> (See page <a href='#cross1'>252</a>.)</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Snowy Owl.</span> (See page <a href='#snowyowl'>295</a>.)</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='298' id='Page_298'></span></p>
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Tree-sparrow.</span> (See page <a href='#chippy'>249</a>.)</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><a id='sparwh'></a><span class='it'>White-throated Sparrow.</span> The most beautiful of all our
-Sparrows; a plump handsome bird. <span class='it'>White throat
-and crown stripes.</span> Back striped with black, bay,
-and whitish. Rump light olive-brown. Bay edgings
-to wings, and two white cross-bars; underparts
-gray. <span class='it'>Yellow spot before eye.</span> Female, crown
-brown, markings less distinct. Song, sweet and
-plaintive “Pee-a-peabody, peabody, peabody!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Abundant migrant; also a winter resident from
-September to May.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Junco.</span> (See page <a href='#juncobird'>250</a>.)</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Myrtle Warbler.</span> (See page <a href='#myrtle'>250</a>.)</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Winter Wren.</span> (See page <a href='#wwren'>247</a>.)</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Golden-crowned Kinglet.</span> (See page <a href='#gking'>249</a>.)</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Brown Creeper.</span> (See page <a href='#bcreeper'>184</a>.)</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'><a id='shrike'></a><span class='it'>Northern Shrike.</span> A roving winter resident with Hawklike
-habits, Hawklike in flight: called “Butcher-bird,”
-from its meat-eating habits.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'>Length: 9-10.50 inches.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='hang'>Male and Female: Powerful head, neck, and blackish
-beak with hooked point. Above bluish ash, lighter
-on the rump and shoulders. Wide black bar on each
-side of the head from the eye backward. Below, light
-gray with a brownish cast, broken on breast and sides
-by waved lines of darker gray. Wings and tail black,
-edged and tipped with white. Large white spot on
-wings, white tips and edges to outer quills of tail.
-Legs bluish black.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A call-note, and in its breeding-haunts a sweet,
-warbling song.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='299' id='Page_299'></span>
-In common with all winter birds, its movements are
-guided by the food supply, and if severe cold and heavy
-snows drive away the small birds, and bury the mice
-upon which it feeds, the Shrike must necessarily rove.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Grasshoppers, beetles, other large insects, and field-mice
-are staple articles of its food in seasons when they
-are obtainable; in fact, next to insects, mice constitute
-the staple article of its diet; and protection should be
-accorded it on this account, even though we know the
-Shrike chiefly as the killer of small birds. The victims are
-caught by two methods: sneaking,—after the fashion of
-Crows,—and dropping upon them suddenly from a
-height, like the small Hawks. In the former case the
-Shrikes frequent clumps of bushes, either in open meadows
-or gardens, lure the little birds by imitating their call-notes,
-and then seize them as soon as they come within
-range. They often kill many more birds than they can
-possibly eat at a meal, and hang them on the spikes of a
-thorn or on the hooks of a cat-brier in some convenient
-spot, until they are needed, in the same manner as a butcher
-hangs his meat; and from this trait the name “Butcher-bird”
-was given them.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk119'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>During some of these wintry days of meeting, questions
-and answers about the birds seen filled the time, and then
-Gray Lady read to them from some of her many books
-what people living in other places had said and thought of
-these same familiar birds. Besides the stories, she told
-them many things about the building of a bird, its bones,
-its feathers, the reasons why of the various kinds of feet
-<span class='pageno' title='300' id='Page_300'></span>
-and bills, the grouping of race, tribe, and family that both
-divide the bird world and at the same time bind it together;
-for she very well knew that when spring came with its
-procession of songsters, the children would be so eager to
-listen, see, follow, and learn the names of the living birds
-that they would not have patience to listen to the dry
-details.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE SNOWBIRD</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>When the leaves are shed</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And the branches bare,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;When the snows are deep</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And the flowers asleep,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the autumn dead;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the skies are o’er us bent</p>
-<p class='line0'>Gray and gloomy since she went,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the sifting snow is drifting</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Through the air;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Then mid snowdrifts white,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Though the trees are bare,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Comes the Snowbird bold</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;In the winter’s cold.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Quick and round and bright,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Light he steps across the snow.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Cares he not for winds that blow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Though the sifting snow be drifting</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Through the air.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Dora R. Goodale.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='301' id='Page_301'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>ON HEARING A WINTER WREN SING IN WINTER</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>When wintry winds through woodlands blow</p>
-<p class='line0'>And naked tree-tops shake and shiver;</p>
-<p class='line0'>While all the paths were bound in snow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And thick ice chains the merry river,</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;One little feathered denizen,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;A plump and nut-brown winter wren,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Sings of springtime even there—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;“Tsip-twis-ch-e-e-e cheerily-cheerily-dare”—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Who could listen and despair?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Charmed with the sweetness of his strain,</p>
-<p class='line0'>My heart found cheer in winter’s bluster;</p>
-<p class='line0'>The leafless wood was fair again,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Its ice-gems sparkled with new lustre.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The tiny, trembling, tinkling throat</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Poured forth despair’s sure antidote,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;No leafy June hears sweeter note—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;“Tsip-twis-ch-e-e-e cheerily-cheerily-dare”—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The essence of unspoken prayer.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Lynn Tew Sprague</span>, in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE CHICKADEE</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>When piped a tiny voice hard by,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Gay and polite, a cheerful cry,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Chic-chickadee-dee! saucy note</p>
-<p class='line0'>Out of sound heart and merry throat,</p>
-<p class='line0'>As if it said, “Good day, good sir!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Fine afternoon, old passenger!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Happy to meet you in these places</p>
-<p class='line0'>Where January brings few faces.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>R. W. Emerson.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk120'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>These are a few of the many bits of verse and poems
-that Gray Lady read or recited to the children in these
-days, some of which they learned by heart. Once learned,
-she knew they would never be forgotten, but that years
-afterward, when they saw the birds that the lines described,
-the words and the days in the schoolhouse and playroom,
-<span class='pageno' title='302' id='Page_302'></span>
-and the faces of their companions, would all come back to
-them.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>BIRD SONGS OF MEMORY</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Oh, surpassing all expression by the rhythmic use of words,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Are the memories that gather of the singing of the birds:</p>
-<p class='line0'>When as a child I listened to the Whip-poor-will at dark,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And with the dawn awakened to the music of the Lark.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Then what a chorus wonderful when morning had begun,—</p>
-<p class='line0'>The very leaves, it seemed to me, were singing to the sun,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And calling on the world asleep to waken and behold</p>
-<p class='line0'>The king in glory coming forth along his path of gold.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The crimson-fronted Linnet sang above the river’s edge,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The Finches in the evergreens, the Thrasher in the hedge;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Each one as if a dozen songs were chorused in his own,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And all the world were listening to him and him alone.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>In gladness sang the Bobolink upon ascending wing,</p>
-<p class='line0'>With cheery voice the bird of blue, the pioneer of spring,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The Oriole upon the elm, with martial note and clear,</p>
-<p class='line0'>While Martins twittered gayly by the cottage window near.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Among the orchard trees were heard the Robin and the Wren,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the army of the Blackbirds along the marshy fen;</p>
-<p class='line0'>The songster in the meadow and the Quail upon the wheat,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the warbler’s minor music made the symphony complete.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Beyond the tow’ring chimney’d walls that daily meet my eyes,</p>
-<p class='line0'>I hold a vision beautiful beneath the summer skies;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Within the city’s grim confines, above the roaring street,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The Happy Birds of Memory are singing clear and sweet.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Garrett Newkirk.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='303' id='Page_303'></span><h1>XXI<br/> <span class='sub-head'>JACOB HUGHES’ OPINION OF CATS</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>One morning after a light snow-storm, followed by
-sparkling sunshine, Gray Lady took the younger children
-out for a walk through Birdland and the lane. Not but
-what even the younger children knew the way! But often
-as they had trodden it, there were many things that they
-noticed for the first time: the wonderful shapes of the
-snow crystals, the snow flowers that blossomed on the old
-weed stalks, the snow filling that brought many hidden
-nests into view, and all the other wonders that are so often
-wrought in the winter night, while we sleep soundly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Tommy and Dave, who had walked on ahead, halted
-suddenly and picked up a handful of feathers from the
-snow and stood looking at them as Gray Lady came up.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A bad Hawk or a Crow or Owl or something big has
-been here,” said Dave, with a quaver in his voice, “and
-it’s killed a banty rooster that looks just like mine, that
-is, this bunch of feathers does; but then, Goldilocks has
-banties, too, so perhaps it is one of hers,” and he held the
-feathers up.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady took them; yes, they were banty feathers,
-and from a bird that had not been long dead, for the quill
-ends were still moist. Then she looked at the ground:
-“Something that did not fly has killed the bantam, and
-dragged its body along the ground, and it had feet with
-<span class='pageno' title='304' id='Page_304'></span>
-padded claws, look!” she said, and there was a blood-stained
-trail that skirted the bushes and then ran
-across the lane toward a hay-barn that now held only
-bedding and cornstalks.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You children amuse yourselves here while Tommy,
-Dave, and I follow this up.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Nothing could have been more simple than this following,
-as the footprints of the large cat, for that is what it
-was, showed plainly in the new snow, and, here and there,
-a few drops of blood also marked the way. Straight to
-the barn ran the trail, and then through a small door that
-had been left open at Gray Lady’s request, that birds
-might take shelter inside.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So they had, poor things, and so had the cat also. On
-the floor were other feathers of many kinds, among which
-Gray Lady recognized the white-spotted tail-feathers of a
-Robin, the pointed shafts of the Flicker, and gray-and-white
-down that might have come from a Junco’s breast;
-while half hidden by loose cornstalks was the foot of a
-Grouse, also yellow legs that had belonged to a good-sized
-chicken.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The boys stood still in amazement, and Dave said, “I
-knew foxes and dogs carried things home or buried them,
-but I didn’t know cats did unless they have kittens hidden.
-I wonder if there are kittens in the cornstalks, and if this
-cat stole all the chickens we’ve been losing every day
-almost along since fall? Because it couldn’t be any kind
-of birds that stole them, they couldn’t get in; and father
-said it lay between cats, rats, and weasels.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We will soon find out,” said Gray Lady. “Will you
-boys go down to the stable and ask Jacob to come up?
-<span class='pageno' title='305' id='Page_305'></span>
-I will watch here.” As soon as they had gone, Gray Lady
-went into a corner and seated herself upon a box. Presently
-she heard a rustle among the cornstalks and out
-stalked a great tiger-striped cat, licking her whiskers.
-After snuffing the footsteps of the boys, she began to lash
-her tail to and fro, which in a cat means anger, and quite
-the reverse of the dog’s sociable, “I’m glad to see you”
-tail-wag. Then, looking back at the hole in the corn stack
-through which she had come, she made a strange sound,
-half purr, half growl, that Gray Lady thought was evidently
-intended as a note of warning, and then the cat
-slunk off through the snow, keeping as close to the fence
-as possible and dropping her body low as she hurried
-away.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>When Jacob came, he took a hayfork and began to shift
-the cornstalks from the corner to the empty floor opposite.
-The feathers, he said, had all been gathered during the
-two past weeks, for when he had last taken the wood-sled
-from the barn, no feathers were to be seen.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Here they are!” he exclaimed, as the last stack was
-reached, but even as he spoke, six half-grown kittens,
-brindled like their parent, sprang in different directions,
-some going up on the beams and others diving into the
-hay, only one remaining, with arched back and flashing
-eyes, to hiss a protest at the disturbing of their comfortable
-home.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What’s the use of making bird laws and feeding birds
-and all that, and letting wild beasts like these multiply
-about the country?” said Jacob, resting on the handle of
-the fork. “<span class='it'>No, ma’am</span>, if I had my way, I’d get up a
-Kind Heart Club of men to help the birds and rid the
-<span class='pageno' title='306' id='Page_306'></span>
-township of homeless cats, red squirrels, and English
-Sparrows—yes, I would, ma’am!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have eyes and I use them, and I know cats are worse
-enemies to birds, counting wild birds and poultry together,
-than everything else that walks or flies humped together.
-Tame house cats are bad enough, for they’ll kill for pleasure
-when they’re not hungry. My sister over at Hill’s farm
-says she’s taken over fifty dead or half-dead birds away
-from her pet cat this summer, until it sickened her of the
-idea of keeping cats.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But when it comes to the half-breeds that some folks
-let grow up because they’re too slack to kill ’em, it’s just
-a crime! Look at this piece of work here; the cat that
-has done all this is one of the outcasts of the lot down at
-the grist-mill. Cats are only half tamed at best; let them
-get a taste of hunting and back they go and are savages.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They don’t belong to this country; we folks brought
-’em, like we did English Sparrows, and we made a mistake,
-and we ought to undo it when we can. Transplanted
-animals, like pauper foreigners, always get the upper hand.
-Traps can catch up the rats and mice, only we’re too lazy
-to set them. Cats are no good, even for pets, for they’re
-tricky, and they aren’t healthy for children to have
-because they carry skin diseases and such in their fur.
-They claim that Jessie Lyons that died in Bridgeton ’long
-in the fall got the diphtheria from her cat’s trampin’ all
-over creation, and then her huggin’ it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If it’s right and proper to license dogs, and if one kills
-fowls or sheep, for the town to pay damages, then, say
-I, the least we can do is to license cats and hold the owners
-for their mischief.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='307' id='Page_307'></span>
-“Next to cats I’m most put out with red squirrels and
-English Sparrows. The first are sneaks; they take eggs,
-little birds, and all. They make free with young gray
-squirrels, too, and don’t spare their next-door neighbours
-even, while Sparrows hustle and do much likewise, taking
-the nesting-places of Swallows and Bluebirds and Jenny
-Wrens, and fighting and wrastling with anything smaller
-than themselves, breaking up nests and pitching out young
-ones until I just can’t stand it! Now it’s woe to any of
-these three that comes across my path. Maybe some
-folks will say I’m cruel. Will those folks let mice and
-rats eat their groceries and not kill them? and by themselves
-rats and mice are decent, clean animals.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not they; and to us that love our tree birds, cats and
-red squirrels and English Sparrows are hateful as are rats
-and mice, and I warrant you’ll not think I’m going too
-far when I say it, ma’am!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, Jacob, you are right, though I’m sorry to say so,”
-answered Gray Lady, still looking at the feathers. “The
-cat tribe is by nature cruel. All animals kill for food,
-but the cat tortures before she kills. I used to defend the
-keeping of pet cats until one that I had trusted bit me
-through the hand at a moment when I was petting her,
-without the slightest provocation. I never knew a dog to
-bite his master unprovoked—unless he was ill—and
-even if we love our cats, we should be unselfish, for birds
-are of value to the country at large and cats are not.
-Only, I insist upon this, that the killing, even of vermin,
-is a matter for the grown-up, and some one with authority
-should be appointed to do it. It should not be left to the
-young and irresponsible, just as the punishing of human
-<span class='pageno' title='308' id='Page_308'></span>
-criminals is not a matter for the people in general to decide
-and put in execution.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, boys,” Gray Lady continued, “I wish every one
-would feel responsible in this matter. No farmer will
-raise more poultry or calves or colts than he can feed
-and then turn them loose to either starve or prey upon
-his neighbours. Why, then, should he allow his cats to
-straggle about and kill the song-birds that even much
-money cannot buy or replace? But come, we must go
-on; the others will be wondering where we are.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I want you all to look at something at the lane end,—that
-great beech tree with the gray streaked trunk. Do
-you see the sunbeams playing checkers on the bark, this
-side? Do you know what this means? I will tell you.
-It means that the tide of winter is turning toward spring,
-that February is here. We should not know it unless we
-looked at the day in the calendar. It is quite as cold as
-it has been all through the winter, but the days are growing
-longer, and now, once more, the sun slips by the barn in
-the morning and lies upon the beech trunk that has
-been in shadow all winter long.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My father showed me this when I was a child; and
-whenever I grew tired of winter, the earth seemed dead,
-and it seemed as if spring would never come back, he would
-say, ‘Go up the lane and see if the sun’s message is written
-on the beech tree.’ So, while it is still winter here, down
-in the South the flocks of Robins and Song Sparrows and
-Bluebirds are reading the sun’s message, and, far away
-as spring seems, they are planning their return. Meanwhile
-we have the brave winter birds to keep us cheerful.
-<a id='junc2'></a>See the flock of Juncoes alighting yonder. They are as
-<span class='pageno' title='309' id='Page_309'></span>
-plump and freshly plumed as new arrivals in spring dress.
-This Snowbird is no sloven, he always wears a trim dress-suit.”</p>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Better far, ah yes! than no bird</p>
-<p class='line0'>Is the ever-present snowbird;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Gayly tripping, dainty creature,</p>
-<p class='line0'>When the snow hides every feature;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Covers fences, field, and tree,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Clothes in white all things but thee.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Restless, twittering, trusty snowbird</p>
-<p class='line0'>Lighter heart than thine hath no bird.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>C. C. Abbott</span>, <span class='it'>Snowbird</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='310' id='Page_310'></span><h1>XXII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>FEBRUARY, “THE LONG-SHORT MONTH”</span></h1></div>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>Bluebird, <a id='song2'></a>Song Sparrow, Robin</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I wonder why February is so long, when it is the
-very shortest month in the year?” said Goldilocks one
-Saturday, as she and Miss Wilde were walking from
-Swallow Chimney, up through Birdland, to the big house
-for the bird class.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I have often thought the same thing myself,” answered
-Rose Wilde, “and I think it must be because, knowing
-that it is a short month, we think spring is hurrying to us
-because we are trying to hurry toward it. Spring, however,
-never hurries to return to New England, even when
-nature faces her this way she seems to take pleasure in
-walking backward!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Miss Wilde and Goldilocks had become fast friends since
-the little teacher had come to live on the hill. With the
-interest Gray Lady had shown in the children and school,
-the dreary, lonely days had passed away, and she no
-longer looked pale and nervous, but was bright-eyed, with
-a lovely soft colour in her cheeks, so that, as Goldilocks
-told her one day, her name could be written in two ways,
-Rose Wilde, and Wild Rose, which, of course, made her
-blush with pleasure, and look all the more like that
-radiant June flower.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Goldilocks would have liked to go to school at Foxes
-<span class='pageno' title='311' id='Page_311'></span>
-Corners with the others, but the doctor shook his head
-and said something to her mother about “unwholesome
-stove heat, fresh air but not draughts,” but Gray Lady
-smiled at Goldilocks with a mysterious sort of glance that
-always hid a surprise and said, “Be content to grow strong
-this winter and wait and see what will happen.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, but Miss Wilde may go to a better school next
-year, if she is well, for you know that Sarah Barnes’
-grandmother heard that she had two chances, one at the
-Bridgeton High School and one to teach the eighth grade
-at the Centre. Besides, the children I like best—Sarah,
-and Tommy, and Dave, and Eliza—won’t be at Foxes
-Corners next year. If their parents can take turns in lending
-them a horse, they will have to go to the Centre
-School for the eighth grade, because no one can go from
-Foxes Corners straight into the High School, and they do
-<span class='it'>so</span> want to learn.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of course it is quite possible that Rose Wilde may go
-to another school, and we would not wish to keep her back,
-I’m sure, little daughter.” Something in Gray Lady’s
-voice made Goldilocks look at her quickly.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I can’t guess what it is, motherkin, but I simply <span class='it'>know</span>
-that you have a secret and a plan in your head that I may
-not know until summer.” Then Goldilocks smiled to
-herself, as she remembered that she also had, or rather
-was a part of, a secret of Miss Wilde’s that her mother
-could not know until summer; and this secret had many
-things in it,—girls and boys, needles and thread and bits
-of coloured cloth, long walks into the far-away hemlock
-woods, axes, and many other things!</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk121'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='312' id='Page_312'></span>
-It was now the last week in February. Every one was
-on the lookout for the first spring migrants, and the children
-were beginning to bring news of birds that they
-had seen imperfectly and yet were sure were new arrivals
-from the South. It was impossible that most of these
-birds should have been in the vicinity, but the pictures
-on the charts, mixed with equal portions of imagination
-and hope, caused the children to <span class='it'>think</span> they saw the bird
-that they wished to be the first to report, rather than the
-one that was actually there.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Aside from the birds that are represented by a few
-individuals all the year the only newcomers to hope for
-are a few adventurous Blackbirds, the Purple Grackle,
-and the Red-wing, and they are not usually seen in any
-numbers before the beginning of March. There are three
-birds, however, that, unless the month is very stormy, may
-be expected at any time to show their fresh plumage and
-bring the latest news of travel to their stay-at-home
-brothers who have remained behind. These are the Bluebird,
-the Song Sparrow, and the Robin.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We all know those. Even little brother Ebby knows
-<span class='it'>those</span> birds,” said Clary, when Gray Lady proposed to
-spend the morning in the company of the most homelike
-and familiar birds of New England. “That is, Ebby
-knows the Bluebird and Robin, and the Song Sparrow if
-it is singing; but I do think Sparrows are dreadful hard to
-tell by sight. If a Song Sparrow doesn’t sing, and turns
-his back so’s I can’t see the big spot and the little one on
-his breast, I don’t always know him myself.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I hope that we all know these three birds,” said Gray
-Lady, “but, like old friends, we are even more glad to see
-<span class='pageno' title='313' id='Page_313'></span>
-them when they come than if they were the most brilliant
-of strangers. Old friends also may bring news, and as for
-birds, no one can ever be sure that there is nothing new
-to learn of them. And as for what we do know, it becomes
-fresh and new each spring with his return. One thing
-about this bird is worthy of notice, and that is the wonderful
-way in which Nature uses colour, both as an ornament
-and a protection to her children. The majority of the
-brightly coloured birds do not arrive until there are at
-least a few leaves to screen them; the Oriole, Tanager,
-Rose-breast, and Indigo-bird perching on leafless branches.
-Yet the Bluebird and the Blue Jay, both of brilliant and
-striking plumage, are with us when the trees are entirely
-bare, and when evergreens are lacking they have only sky
-or earth for a background.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What does this mean? Look out of the window,
-Sarah, as you are the nearest to it, and perhaps you will
-discover. <a id='bbird'></a>Do you see two Bluebirds in the branches of
-the old Bell pear tree in the garden? No? Look again;
-they are in the top, where the blue sky shows through the
-smaller limbs.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No, ma’am; that is, I see something moving, but I
-can’t see any colour. Oh, yes! now I do; it was because
-the blue of their backs came right against the sky and
-matched it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes,” said Gray Lady, “and the light underparts
-match the snow and the ruddy breast the fresh earth, so
-that the Bluebird’s beauty is his protection also; for as
-our dear old friend John Burroughs says, ‘When Nature
-made the Bluebird, she wished to gain for him the protection
-of both earth and sky, so she gave him the colour
-<span class='pageno' title='314' id='Page_314'></span>
-of one on his back and the other on his breast; yes, and
-we might also add a touch beneath of the snow that falls
-from sky to earth.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“For the rest, who dares write of the Bluebird, thinking
-to add a fresher tint to his plumage, a new tone to his melodious
-voice, or a word of praise to his gentle life,
-that is as much a part of our human heritage and
-blended with our memories as any other attribute of home?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Not I, surely, for I know him too well, and each year
-feel myself more spellbound and mute by memories he
-awakens. Yet I would repeat his brief biography, lest
-there be any who, being absorbed by living inward, have
-not yet looked outward and upward to this poet of the
-sky and the earth and the fulness and goodness thereof.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“For the Bluebird was the first of all poets,—even
-before man had blazed a trail in the wilderness or set up
-the sign of his habitation and tamed his thoughts to wear
-harness and travel to measure. And so he came to inherit
-the earth before man, and this, our country, is all the
-Bluebird’s country, for at some time of the year he roves
-about it from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from
-Mexico to Nova Scotia, though westward, after he
-passes the range of the Rocky Mountains, he wears a different
-dress and bears other longer names.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In spite of the fact that our eastern Bluebird is a
-home-body, loving his nesting-haunt and returning to it
-year after year, he is an adventurous traveller. Ranging
-all over the eastern United States at some time in the
-season, this bird has its nesting-haunts at the very edge of
-the Gulf States and upward, as far north as Manitoba and
-Nova Scotia.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i376.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0039' style='width:69%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>National Association of Audubon Societies</p>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'><span class='sc'>Upper Figures</span>—<span style='font-size:smaller'>CHESTNUT-BACKED BLUEBIRD</span></p>
-<p class='line'>Order—<span class='sc'>Passeres</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Family—<span class='sc'>Turdidæ</span></p>
-<p class='line'>Genus—<span class='sc'>Sialia</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Species—<span class='sc'>Mexicana</span></p>
-<p class='line'><span class='sc'>Subspecies—Bairdi</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'><span class='sc'>Lower Figures</span>—<span style='font-size:smaller'>BLUEBIRDS</span></p>
-<p class='line'>Order—<span class='sc'>Passeres</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Family—<span class='sc'>Turdidæ</span></p>
-<p class='line'>Genus—<span class='sc'>Sialia</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Species—<span class='sc'>Sialis</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='315' id='Page_315'></span>
-“When the breeding season is over, the birds travel
-sometimes in family groups and sometimes in large flocks,
-moving southward little by little, according to season and
-food supply, some journeying as far as Mexico, others
-lingering through the middle and southern states. The
-Bluebirds that live in our orchards in summer are very unlikely
-to be those that we see in the same place in winter
-days. Next to breeding impulse, the migrating instinct
-seems to be the strongest factor in bird-life. When the
-life of the home is over, Nature whispers, ‘To wing, up
-and on!’ So a few of the Bluebirds who have nested in
-Massachusetts may be those who linger in New Jersey,
-while those whose breeding-haunts were in Nova Scotia
-drift downward to fill their places in Massachusetts. But
-the great mass of even those birds we call winter residents
-go to the more southern parts of their range every winter;
-those who do not being but a handful in comparison.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Before more than the first notes of the spring have
-sounded in the distance, Bluebirds are to be seen by twos
-and threes about the edge of old orchards along open roads,
-where the skirting trees have crumbled or decaying knot-holes
-have left tempting nooks for the tree-trunk birds,
-with which the Bluebird may be classed. For, though
-he takes kindly to a bird-box, or a convenient hole
-in fence-post, telegraph pole, or outbuilding, a tree hole
-must have been his first home, and consequently he has a
-strong feeling in its favour.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As with many other species of migrant birds, the male
-is the first to arrive; and he does not seem to be particularly
-interested in house-hunting until the arrival of the
-female, when the courtship begins without delay, and
-<span class='pageno' title='316' id='Page_316'></span>
-the delicate purling song, with the refrain, ‘Dear, dear,
-think of it, think of it,’ and the low two-syllabled answer
-of the female is heard in every orchard. The building of
-the nest is not an important function,—merely the
-gathering of a few wisps and straws, with some chance
-feathers for lining. It seems to be shared by both parents,
-as are the duties of hatching, and feeding the young. The
-eggs vary in number, six being the maximum, and they
-are not especially attractive, being of so pale a blue that
-it is better to call them bluish white. Two broods are
-usually raised each year, though three are said to be not
-uncommon; for Bluebirds are active during a long season,
-and, while the first nest is made before the middle of April,
-last year a brood left the box over my rose arbour September
-12, though I do not know whether this was a belated
-or a prolonged family arrangement.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As parents the Bluebirds are tireless, both in supplying
-the nest with insect food and attending to its sanitation;
-the wastage being taken away and dropped at a
-distance from the nest at almost unbelievably short intervals,
-proving the wonderful rapidity of digestion and the
-immense amount of labour required to supply the mill
-inside the little speckled throats with grist.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The young Bluebirds are spotted thickly on throat
-and back, after the manner of the throat of their cousin,
-the Robin; or rather, the back feathers are spotted, the
-breast-feathers having dusky edges, giving a speckled
-effect.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The study of the graduations of plumage of almost
-any brightly coloured male bird, from its first clothing until
-the perfectly matured feather of its breeding season, is
-<span class='pageno' title='317' id='Page_317'></span>
-in itself a science and a subject about which there are
-many theories and differences of opinion by equally distinguished
-men.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The food of the nestling Bluebird is insectivorous, or,
-rather, to be more exact, I should say animal; but the
-adult birds vary their diet at all seasons by eating berries
-and small fruits. In autumn and early winter cedar and
-honeysuckle berries, the grapelike cluster of fruit of
-the poison ivy, bittersweet and cat-brier berries, are all
-consumed according to their needs.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Professor Beal, of the Department of Agriculture,
-writes, after a prolonged study, that 76 per cent of the
-Bluebird’s food ‘consists of insects and their allies, while
-the other 24 per cent is made up of various vegetable substances,
-found mostly in stomachs taken in winter.
-Beetles constitute 28 per cent of the whole food, grasshoppers
-22 per cent, caterpillars 11 per cent, and various
-insects, including quite a number of spiders, comprise the
-remainder of the insect diet. All these are more or less
-harmful, except a few predaceous beetles, which amount
-to 8 per cent, but in view of the large consumption of
-grasshoppers and caterpillars, we can at least condone
-this offence, if such it may be called. The destruction of
-grasshoppers is very noticeable in the months of August
-and September, when these insects form more than 60 per
-cent of the diet.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is not easy to tempt Bluebirds to an artificial feeding-place,
-such as I keep supplied with food for Juncoes,
-Chickadees, Woodpeckers, Nuthatches, Jays, etc.; yet it
-has been done, and they have been coaxed to nest close
-to houses and feed on window-sills like the Chickadees.
-<span class='pageno' title='318' id='Page_318'></span>
-In winter they will eat dried currants, and make their
-own selection from mill sweepings if scattered about the
-trees of their haunts. For, above all things, the Bluebird,
-though friendly, and seeking the borderland between
-the wild and the tame, never becomes familiar, and never
-does he lose the half-remote individuality that is one of
-his great charms. Though he lives with us, and gives no
-sign of pride of birth or race, he is not one of us, as the
-Song Sparrow, Chippy, or even the easily alarmed Robin.
-The poet’s mantle envelops him as the apple blossoms
-throw a rosy mist about his doorway, and it is best so.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>BLUEBIRDS’ GREETING</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Over the mossy walls,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Above the slumbering fields,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Where yet the ground no vintage yields,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Save as the sunlight falls</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;In dreams of harvest yellow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>What voice remembered calls—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;So bubbling fresh, so soft and mellow?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>A darting, azure-feathered arrow</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;From some lithe sapling’s low curve fleet</p>
-<p class='line0'>The Bluebird, springing light and narrow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Sings in flight, with gurglings sweet.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>George P. Lathrop.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We become attached to some birds for one reason,
-and to others for totally different qualities. We admire
-the Oriole and Tanager first through the eye,
-because of their rich colouring. The Robin we
-like because he is always with us, and he was probably
-the very first bird that we knew by name and we could
-<span class='pageno' title='319' id='Page_319'></span>
-watch from the moment the nest was built until the
-young left it; so he awakens the general interest first,
-and then the ear is won by his cheerful and sometimes
-remarkable song.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Catbird stirs one’s curiosity. We wonder what
-he will say and do next; and when he throws back his
-head to sing, we never can tell whether a dreamy melody
-or a series of jeers will be the result. But the Song Sparrow
-we love for himself alone, from the very beginning
-of our acquaintance.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In personal appearance he bears nearly all the markings
-of his characteristic family, but the few exceptions,
-if remembered, will tell you his name: his brown crown-feathers
-have a gray parting-line, <span class='it'>his wings have no white
-bars or yellow markings</span>, while the breast and sides are
-streaked; one large spot in the centre, with sometimes a
-smaller one close to it, tell the Song Sparrow’s identity.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“He is seldom seen feeding on the ground like the
-Chippy, but loves the shelter of low bushes, from which
-he gives his warning cry of ‘Dick-Dick!’ and then flies
-out with a jerking motion of the tail and, never going
-high into the air, perches on another bush. If he wishes
-to sing, he climbs from the dense lower branches to a
-spray well above the others, as if he needed plenty of air
-and light for the effort, and bubbles into song.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As to the nest, well made of roots and bedded soft
-with fine grass and hairs, the Song Sparrow uses his own
-taste, as all birds do, and though the favourite place is
-within the crown of a small bush not far above the ground,
-or even in a grass tuft close to the earth itself, yet I have
-found them in very different places.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='320' id='Page_320'></span>
-“Down in the garden a Song Sparrow once insisted on
-building, not only in a flower-bed, but among the stalks
-of perishable plants that would wither long before the
-young left the nest. To prevent disaster, we drove
-stakes on each side of the nest, fastened a fruit-box underneath,
-and a shelter overhead, so that, when the overhanging
-blossoms faded, the sun might not make broiled squabs
-of the little ones. This brood was raised successfully, but
-to our surprise the Sparrows began a second nest directly
-opposite the first in the brush of the line of sweet-peas.
-The location was chosen with more judgment, but in
-picking the pea blossoms I passed within a foot of the
-nest every morning during the whole time of building,
-hatching, and feeding of the young.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This did not trouble the parents in the least; they
-seemed to know that I would neither hurt them nor
-intrude upon their privacy, by watching their movements
-too closely, and the father of the family repaid me by such
-music as I never before believed could come from the
-throat of even a Song Sparrow.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At first I wondered why they should have chosen a
-garden border, when there were so many near-by bushes
-about the orchard edge, and tufted grasses and scrubs in
-a waste meadow over the way. For, familiar as the Song
-Sparrow is, and fearless, too, yet he is a reserved bird even
-among his kin, not even travelling in great flocks, and does
-not care, even when in the full spring ecstasy of song, to
-be very near another singer.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Presently I discovered the reason. Song Sparrows
-love water, both for drinking and bathing: and, possibly
-from close association with it, these bubblings of the little
-<span class='pageno' title='321' id='Page_321'></span>
-wayside brooks have had an influence upon their song.
-This particular year was a time of severe drought; the
-near-by streams were dried up early in June, and the
-‘birds’ bath,’ made of a hollowed-out log, and put in the
-shelter of some vines at the far end of the garden, was
-the nearest available water within half a mile. This trough
-was filled every night, and as the hollow sloped gently at
-one end, small birds could either walk in it to bathe, or
-perch on the edge to drink; and it was the sight of the
-first brood all bathing there, a few days after they left the
-nest, that made me sure that it was this little watering
-trough to which I owed their presence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Many other birds besides the Sparrows came as well,
-and Robins and Wood Thrushes, who use wet clay in the
-shaping of their nests, found it particularly useful. Now
-I have a stone basin for the water, because the old wooden
-one was decayed on our return, but I’m sure the birds
-liked the mossy log the best, and Jacob Hughes is on the
-lookout for another.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady paused and looked up quickly, as though a
-new idea had come to her; then, glancing at the older boys
-who had that morning been working on a large Martin
-house which had been ordered, and which made it certain
-that the wayside drinking-fountain would be built as soon
-as frost left the ground, she said, “This suggests something
-more to be made for the spring sale. I saw some
-fine oak and beech logs with the bark still on at the lumber
-camp last week. If you are willing to undertake hollowing
-them out, it will be a good investment for the Kind
-Hearts’ Club to buy a half a dozen of them. When sawn
-into lengths of three feet, and the ends covered with bark
-<span class='pageno' title='322' id='Page_322'></span>
-securely nailed, as all the bark covering must be, to prevent
-splitting, the logs will be attractive both as drinking-troughs
-for the birds and as features of the gardens where
-they are placed, and I am sure that we shall have no difficulty
-in selling them. Many people would establish drinking-places
-for the birds if they had something suitable to
-hold the water, but tin pans glisten, heat quickly, and
-even earthenware dishes are slippery, while the hollow
-log, that soon mosses over, must seem to the wild bird
-like a natural bit of the woods. Only one thing must be
-remembered: the log must not be allowed to become dry
-at any season, or it will warp and split.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It would be worth the trouble of keeping such a fountain
-filled, I am sure, if only to lure a single pair of Song
-Sparrows about the garden or yard. For this Sparrow
-is the only bird whose song I have heard in every month
-of the year. Not the full spring song, of course, though I
-have heard a very perfect melody in December; but in
-dreary winter, when the scatter-brained <a id='rob2'></a>Robin has forgotten
-his alarm cry of ‘Quick-Quick-Quick!’ the dear little
-bird will find a warm spot in which to sun himself after
-a hard-earned meal of gleaned weed seeds,—for like all
-of his tribe he is a valiant Weed Warrior, working in the
-home-fields when other birds have followed the sun for
-richer fare,—and, after swelling his throat vainly for a few
-moments, begin to whisper a song, as if in a dream, that
-finally grows strong and clear.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, neither winter nor the darkness of night dishearten
-the Song Sparrow. Last season, in the darkest
-of summer nights, when some slight sound had awakened
-the feathered sleepers, I have heard a few subdued bars of
-<span class='pageno' title='323' id='Page_323'></span>
-his song from almost under my window, and I have
-thought, ‘Yes, there you are, dear little companion,
-cheerful by day and night, in summer and in winter; how
-much we, who are called the “higher animals,” have yet
-to learn from you.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Another thing of interest about the Song Sparrow:
-like the Bluebird, he belongs not alone to us of the East,
-but to the whole United States as well. To be sure, he
-changes his size, dress, and name slightly according to
-location, as does the Bluebird; another proof of the
-adaptability of the bird to circumstances.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE SONG SPARROW</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>By the road in early spring</p>
-<p class='line0'>Always hopefully you sing;</p>
-<p class='line0'>It may rain or it may snow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Sun may shine or wind may blow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Still your dainty strain we hear—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;“Cheer—Cheer—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Never, never fear,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;May will soon be here.”</p>
-<p class='line0'>Darling little prophet that you are!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>When at last the leaves are out</p>
-<p class='line0'>And wild flowers all about,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Songs of other birds are fraught</p>
-<p class='line0'>With the spirit that you taught.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Still you sing on, sweet and clear—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;“Hear—Hear—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Happy, happy cheer,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Singing all the year.”</p>
-<p class='line0'>Jocund little brother of the air.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Lynn Tew Sprague.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='324' id='Page_324'></span>
-“Many birds that inhabit parts of the country having
-different climates vary thus in colour. In the hot, dry
-desert regions the bird will be found smaller and paler;
-in the cool, well-watered North, larger and of deeper hue.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Bob-white comes under this law, and our birds in
-New England are larger and of more brilliant hue than
-their southern brothers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now is a chance for you to look at the map. The
-Song Sparrow as we know him lives east of the Rockies.
-Start at the extreme northern portion of Alaska. Here
-is found the largest of the race, the Aleutian Song
-Sparrow. Next come down to the coast of British Columbia
-and Southern Alaska, where the rainfall is one hundred
-and twenty-five inches in a year, and you see the
-home of the Sooty Song Sparrow, the darkest in colour
-of all.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If you then travel farther to the desert regions of
-Nevada and Arizona, where the rainfall is only six inches,
-you will find the palest of all, the Desert Song Sparrow; and,
-finally, on the border between Mexico and Central America,
-lives the Mexican Song Sparrow, the smallest of the tribe.<a id='r4'/><a href='#f4' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[4]</span></sup></a></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“So, wherever we wander our country over, we find this
-bird to be a reminder of home, which, after all, is the best
-thing that can happen to us, wherever we go or whatever
-we see; for the proof that journeys are healthful for body
-and mind lies in the joy with which, like the bird wanderers,
-we turn homeward at the end.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You children may not think of this now. You may
-think, possibly, that home is dull and full of work, that
-<span class='pageno' title='325' id='Page_325'></span>
-the birds and flowers of other places are better. Wait
-a few years and see. Wait until you have been so far
-away that you could not get home, or have been filled
-with dread that a day was near when there would be
-no home there. Then return, and stand under the sky
-at evening, and listen to the voice of the Song Sparrow
-down in the alders, and you will not only know that God
-is very near, but that He is very good, and a part of your
-home itself.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE SONG SPARROW</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>There is a bird I know so well,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;It seems as if he must have sung</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Beside my crib when I was young;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Before I knew the way to spell</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The name of even the smallest bird,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;His gentle, joyful song I heard.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Now see if you can tell, my dear,</p>
-<p class='line0'>What bird it is that every year,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Sings “Sweet-sweet-sweet, very merry cheer.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>He comes in March when winds are strong,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And snow returns to hide the earth;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;But still he warms his heart with mirth,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And waits for May. He lingers long</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;While flowers fade; and every day</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Repeats his small contented lay,</p>
-<p class='line0'>As if to say, we need not fear</p>
-<p class='line0'>The season’s change, if love is here,</p>
-<p class='line0'>With “Sweet-sweet-sweet, very merry cheer.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>He does not wear a Joseph’s coat</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Of many colours, smart and gay:</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;His suit is Quaker brown and gray,</p>
-<p class='line0'>With darker patches at his throat.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And yet of all the well-dressed throng</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Not one can sing so brave a song.</p>
-<p class='line0'>It makes the pride of looks appear</p>
-<p class='line0'>A vain and foolish thing, to hear</p>
-<p class='line0'>His “Sweet-sweet-sweet, very merry cheer.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Henry Van Dyke</span>, from <span class='it'>The Builders and Other Poems</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk122'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='326' id='Page_326'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>ROBIN REJOICE</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Among the first of the spring,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The notes of the Robin ring;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;With flute-like voice,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;He calls, “Rejoice,</p>
-<p class='line0'>For I am coming to sing!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>To any one gloomy or sad,</p>
-<p class='line0'>He says, “Be glad! be glad!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Look on the bright side,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;’Tis aye the right side;</p>
-<p class='line0'>The world is good, not bad.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>At daybreak in June we hear</p>
-<p class='line0'>His melody, strong and clear:</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;“Cheer up, be merry,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;I’ve found a cherry;</p>
-<p class='line0'>’Tis a glorious time of the year!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Garrett Newkirk</span>, in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i389.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0040' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>ROBIN</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='rob3'></a>“Our Robin is a big-bodied Thrush, whereas the Robin-redbreast,
-the Cock Robin of story, is more nearly akin
-in size and build to our Bluebird. If you want
-to see the family marks that yoke the Robin
-to his Thrush cousin, look carefully at the youngsters
-as they are leaving the nest, and you will see that instead
-of wearing plain brick-coloured breasts like the parents,
-<span class='pageno' title='327' id='Page_327'></span>
-they are striped like the Thrushes; this marking disappears
-after their first moult. As for Robin himself,
-you know him well, but can any of you tell exactly the
-colour of his clothing?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Sarah and Tommy raised their hands at the same
-time, but as ladies come first, Sarah began: “He is
-gray on top, and red underneath, and he’s got white spots
-outside of his wings.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Very good, indeed,” said Gray Lady; “but can you
-add anything to that, Tommy?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Yes, ma’am; he’s black on top of his head, and he’s
-got a white chin and eye spot and a yellow beak.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why, Tommy, that is really very good; I didn’t know
-that any of you children had learned to look so carefully
-and remember.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I saw all that yesterday,” said Tommy, in a state
-of glee. “There came a flock of bran’-new fresh birds,
-and sat in the cedar bushes back of the barn, but they
-didn’t find many berries, because the winter birds have
-eaten them. Ma gave me some old cake to crumble
-up, and I put some on the top of the stone fence, and
-some right on the shed, and this morning when I first
-looked out, a couple of them were out there eating it, and
-I got a good square look at them. They liked that cake
-because it had currants in it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“So Tommy is the first to report a ‘bran’-new’ Robin
-flock,” said Gray Lady. “Now that they have really
-come, will any of the others tell me what they know
-about Robins? Begin at Sarah’s end of the table.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Robins build mud nests before there are any leaves
-to hide them, and cats often get them when they are
-<span class='pageno' title='328' id='Page_328'></span>
-sitting,” said Sarah; “and then by and by, when they
-build another nest, maybe they’ll put it out on a branch
-that’s weak, and when it storms and the nest gets wet
-and heavy, it falls down all of a lump. They seem to
-get along best when they come under the porch or get
-in a high up crotch.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I like Robins,” said Eliza, who sat next, “because
-they stay around and let you look at them; but I think
-that they aren’t very clever birds, for instead of keeping
-quiet when anything comes near the nest, they holler
-like everything, so that you can tell just where it is.
-We had a nest in the grape-vine outside the kitchen
-window, and you couldn’t believe what those little birds
-ate in one day. I had the mumps and had to stay inside,
-so I watched them. They ate all the time, that is, in
-turn, for the old birds seemed to know just which one
-had food last. Sometimes, if they had a little worm
-or a bug, they gave it all to one, but if it was one of those
-long, rubberneck earthworms, they would twist it and
-bite pieces off and ram one down each throat.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My Ma said it made her dreadful tired to see how
-much those four little birds ate, and that if children were
-as hungry as that, nobody would have the patience to
-cook food and raise any. When they grew too big for
-the nest, they sort of fell out into the vine and stayed
-in that for a few days, and their father and mother fed
-them just the same. They couldn’t fly well at first,
-because their tails were so short that they upset.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You watched them quite carefully,” said Gray
-Lady, “but can you tell me what happened after they
-were able to fly?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='329' id='Page_329'></span>
-“Yes, ma’am, they acted real mean. They went right
-down in the cedar trees beyond the garden to sleep, and
-every morning before father or my brothers were up they
-went into the strawberry bed, and even before any were
-ripe, they bit the red side of the green ones and
-spoiled them. Father was pretty mad, because our
-land has run out for onions and we’ve got to raise berries
-for a few years—all kinds, raspberries, currants, blackberries—to
-even up.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Father dassent shoot the Robins, ’cause of the law,
-and besides, we like ’em real well after berry time, so
-brother John he made a plan, and it worked splendid.
-He fixed up a nice little house like a chicken-coop and
-put it on a stump in the middle of the bed, and then
-he put our cat in the house. She was comfortable and
-had good eating and plenty of air, but of course she
-couldn’t get out, so she just sat there and growled and
-switched her tail at the birds, and they stayed away.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady laughed heartily at this scheme, which certainly
-was very ingenious.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That was truly a new sort of scarecrow, and much
-better than firing off blank cartridges in the nesting
-season, when other birds might be frightened. However,
-it proves one thing without a doubt, that cats are
-the worst enemies that wild birds have to fear, and
-shows us how careful we should be about turning
-them out at large, outside of the cities where there are
-no birds, or keeping more than one under any circumstances.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“What I meant to ask was, do you know what the
-young Robins do after they leave the nest and the
-<span class='pageno' title='330' id='Page_330'></span>
-mother bird is perhaps busy with some younger brothers
-and sisters?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The father birds choose some tall trees with plenty
-of leaves, or if evergreens are at hand, they prefer them,
-and go there in parties of from half a dozen to a hundred
-every night, leaving the mother birds to tend the nest.
-When the first brood is able to fly, they go with papa to
-this roost, where his warning ‘Quick! Quick!’ tells them
-of dangers they do not yet understand.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then, when the nesting is over, all the Robins unite
-in a flock, but wherever they go, or however far they range
-in the day, night sees them collected at some favourite
-roosting-place. I know about this habit very well,
-because ever since I can remember these spruces outside
-the window have been used as roosts by many
-generations of Robins all through the season, except in
-the dead of winter, when they prefer to nestle into the
-heart of the young cedars.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Of course it is not to be denied that Robin likes berries
-and eats them without asking leave or waiting for sugar
-and cream, but we must think of this: the farmers
-are of more importance than any other class of people,
-for they give the world food. Therefore, the bird laws
-are made for their benefit, even when at first it might
-seem otherwise.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Robin only troubles berries in June, July, and
-August, and grapes in September, while all the rest of
-the year he does valiant work as a gleaner of insects
-that cannot easily be destroyed by man,—many beetles
-that destroy foliage and their white grubs that eat the
-roots of hay, grass, and strawberry plants, grasshoppers,
-<span class='pageno' title='331' id='Page_331'></span>
-crickets, ants, moths, army-worms, and the larvæ of the
-owlet moths, better known as army-worms.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“So you can see that if the Robin helps the farmers
-in this way, the fruit grower should be willing to protect
-his crops in other ways than by shooting his friend and
-his children’s friend, the Robin.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“One other reason there is, also, why we of the North
-should protect the Robin at home; in many southern
-states he is a legal mark for all who wish to kill him.
-Not only is the Robin to be found in the markets, but
-shooting him merely for competition, to see who can
-bag the most, is a common form of—sport, I was going
-to say, but game of chance is better.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Let the Kind Hearts of the North be kind to dear
-blundering brother Robin, that by the very force of
-example the hearts of others may be warmed to show
-mercy and their heads be given the intelligence to see
-that, in shooting the migrant Robins by the hundreds,
-the loss is to their country and themselves.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Look! Oh, look, Gray Lady!” cried little Clary,
-climbing to the window-seat; “here are some bright,
-fresh Robins lighting on the spruces. Let’s play they
-are some that roosted there last summer; or maybe were
-hatched right in the orchard, and that they are real glad
-to get home again.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='332' id='Page_332'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>ROBIN’S MATE</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Everybody praises Robin,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Singing early, singing late;</p>
-<p class='line0'>But who ever thinks of saying</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;A good word for Robin’s mate?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Yet she’s everything to Robin,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Silent partner though she be;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Source and theme and inspiration</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Of each madrigal and glee.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>For as she, with mute devotion,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Shapes and curves the plastic nest,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Fashioning a tiny cradle</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With the pressure of her breast,</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>So the love in that soft bosom</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Moulds his being as ’twere clay,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Prints upon his breast the music</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Of his most impassioned lay.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And when next you praise the Robin,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Flinging wide with tuneful gate</p>
-<p class='line0'>To his eager brood of love-notes,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Don’t forget the Robin’s mate.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Eliza Gilbert Ives.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='footnotemark'/>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_4'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f4'><a href='#r4'>[4]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'>See <span class='it'>Climatic Variations in Colour and Size of Song Sparrow</span>, F. M.
-Chapman.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='333' id='Page_333'></span><h1>XXIII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>MARCH</span></h1></div>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>Red-wings and Pussy-willows</span></h2>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>MARCH</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>March! March! March! They are coming</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;In troops to the tune of the wind;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Red-headed Woodpeckers drumming,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Gold-crested Thrushes behind.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Sparrows in brown jackets hopping</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Past every gateway and door.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Finches with crimson caps stopping</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Just where they stopped years before.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Lucy Larcom.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How do the birds know when spring has come?
-How can they tell the difference between a warm day
-in December and a warm day in March when the ground
-is still snow covered? We ourselves might be puzzled
-to tell the difference if we had not kept record of the
-days and weeks by the almanac.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But the birds know. The <a id='rwbird'></a>Red-wings, Grackles, and
-<a id='cow1'></a>Cowbirds will not return for the warmest December
-sun, but let the sun of early March but blink, and they
-are up and away, oftentimes stealing a march on shy
-Pussy-willow herself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Unless the season is very stormy, as we have seen
-for ourselves this year, a few Robins, Bluebirds, and
-<span class='pageno' title='334' id='Page_334'></span>
-Blackbirds are added to the winter residents in February.
-These, however, belong to a sort of roving advance-guard;
-the real procession comes in March, the exact
-time depending upon the weather, for the insect-eating
-birds cannot stay if their larder of field and air is ice
-locked.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“So we may look for larger flocks of the birds that
-drifted along in February, and in addition to these
-the Woodcock, the Great Fox Sparrow as big as the
-Hermit Thrush, Phœbe, Kingfisher, Mourning Dove, and
-Field Sparrow of the flesh-pink bill, rusty head and back,
-and buff breast, who sings his little strain, ‘cherwee-cher-wee-cherwee-iddle-iddle-iddle
-ee,’ as the sun goes down.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The three birds that are the most noticeable in the
-latter part of March, that has made up its mind to go
-out like a lamb and let Pussy-willow wave in peace in
-moist pasture and the delicate blue-and-white hepaticas
-star the edges of dry woods, are the Red-winged Blackbirds,
-the Kingfishers, and the cheerful little Phœbe.
-All love the vicinity of water, but the Red-wing locates often
-in merely marshy ground, while the bird who is a fisherman
-by trade locates near a pond or stream of considerable
-size and the Phœbe comes to house or woodshed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘Among all the birds that return to us in late March
-or April, which is the most striking and most
-compels attention?’ asked a bird-lover of a
-group of kindred spirits.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘<a id='sparfox'></a>The Fox Sparrow,’ said one, who lived on the edge
-of a village where sheltered wild fields stretched uphill
-to the woodlands. ‘Every morning when I open my
-window I can hear them almost without listening.’</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i398.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0041' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD<br/>(<span class='sc'>Upper Figure, Male; Lower Figure, Female</span>)</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>Order—<span class='sc'>Passeres</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Family—<span class='sc'>Icteridæ</span></p>
-<p class='line'>Genus—<span class='sc'>Agelaius</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Species—<span class='sc'>Phœniceus</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='335' id='Page_335'></span>
-“ ‘<a id='phe2'></a>The Phœbe,’ said another, who was the owner of
-a pretty home, where many rambling sheds broke the
-way from cow-barn to pasture.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘The <a id='whip1'></a>Whip-poor-will, but that does not come until
-late in the month,’ answered a third, a dweller in a remote
-colony of artists in a picturesque spot of cleared woodland,
-where the ground dropped quickly to a stream.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘No, the Woodcock,’ said her nearest neighbour,
-a man whose cottage was upon the upper edge of these
-same woods, where they were margined by moist meadows
-and soft bottom-lands,—a man who spent much time
-out-of-doors at dawn and twilight studying sky effects.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘And I think it’s Red-winged Blackbirds,’ cried the
-ten-year-old son of the latter; ‘for when I go out up
-back of the trout brook by the little path along the
-alders near the squashy place where the cat-tails grow
-in summer, you’ve just got to hear them. You can’t
-listen to them as you do to real singing-birds, for they
-make too much noise, and when you listen for a bird it’s
-got to be still, at least in the beginning. Sometimes
-they go it all together down in the bushes out of sight,
-then a few will walk out up to the dry Meadowlark’s
-field with Cowbirds, or maybe it’s their wives, and then
-one or two will lift up and shoot over the marsh back
-again, calling out just like juicy sky-rockets. Ah,
-they’re in it before the leaves come out to hide them
-even the least bit.’ And, in spite of difference of viewpoint,
-the group finally acknowledged that the boy was
-right.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In point of colouring, the Red-wing is faultlessly plumed,—glossy
-black with epaulets of scarlet edged with gold,
-<span class='pageno' title='336' id='Page_336'></span>
-the uniform of a soldier,—and this, coupled with the
-three martial notes that serve him as a song, would
-make one expect to find in him all the manly and
-military virtues. But aside from the superficial matter
-of personal appearance, the Red-wing is lacking in many
-of the qualities that endear the feathered tribe to us
-and make us judge them, perhaps, too much by human
-standards.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When Red-wings live in colonies it is often difficult to
-estimate the exact relationship existing between the
-members, though it is apparent that the sober brown-striped
-females outnumber the males; but in places
-where the birds are uncommon and only one or two
-male birds can be found, it is easily seen that the household
-of the male consists of from three to five nests, each
-presided over by a watchful female, and when danger
-arises, this feathered Mormon shows equal anxiety for
-each nest, and circles screaming about the general location.
-In colony life the males ofttimes act in concert
-as a general guard, being diverted oftentimes from the
-main issue, it must be confessed, to indulge in duels and
-pitched battles among themselves.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Red-wing belongs to a notable family,—that of
-the Blackbirds and Orioles,—and in spite of the structural
-semblances that group them together, the differences
-of plumage, voice, and breeding habits are very
-great.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Cowbird<a id='cow2'></a>, the Red-wing’s next of kin, even lacks
-the rich liquid call-note of the latter, and the lack of
-marital fidelity, on the part of the male, is met in a truly
-progressive spirit by the female, who, shirking all domestic
-<span class='pageno' title='337' id='Page_337'></span>
-responsibility, drops her eggs craftily in the nests of
-other and usually smaller birds, who cannot easily resent
-the imposition; though a strong proof of the unconscious
-affinity of race lies in the fact that these young
-foundling Cowbirds invariably join the parent flocks in
-autumn instead of continuing with their foster-mothers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='mead2'></a>The Meadowlark, with the true spring song, who hides
-his nest in the dry grass of old fields, is also kin to the
-Red-wing, and the Bobolink, too, the vocal harlequin
-of the meadows and hillside pastures. The Orchard
-and Baltimore Orioles, also next of kin, are skilled musicians
-and model husbands.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Still another plane is to be found in the Red-wing’s
-<a id='grack2'></a>dismal cousins, the Grackles,—Purple, <a id='grack3'></a>Rusty, Bronzed,
-and Boat-tailed,—all harsh of voice and furtive in
-action, as if a Crow fairy had been present at their creating
-and, endowing them with ready wits, had, at the
-same time, deprived them of all sense of humour and
-cast a shadow upon their happiness. For a Grackle is
-gloomy even during the absurd gyrations of his courtship,
-and when, in autumn, the great flocks settle on
-lawns and fields, and solemnly walk about, as they forage
-they seem like a party of feathered mutes waiting to
-attend the funeral of the year; and this trait somewhat
-tinctures the disposition of the Red-wing before and
-after the breeding season.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Red-wing in one of his many subspecific forms,
-and masquerading under many names,—Red-shouldered
-Blackbird, American Starling, and Swamp Blackbird,—lives
-in North America from Nova Scotia and the
-Great Slave Lake southward to Costa Rica. The
-<span class='pageno' title='338' id='Page_338'></span>
-Red-wing, as known to us of middle and eastern
-North America, breeds in all parts of its United
-States and Canadian range, though it is more numerous
-by far in the great prairies of the upper Mississippi Valley,
-with their countless back-water sloughs, than anywhere
-else. It is in regions of this sort that the great flocks
-turn both to the fall-sown grain, as well as that of the
-crop in the ear, causing the farmers the loss that puts
-a black mark against the Red-wings. Yet those that
-dwell east of this area, owing to the draining and ditching
-of their swampy haunts being in much reduced
-numbers, are comparatively harmless.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“During the winter months the Red-wings are distributed
-throughout the South, though stragglers may be occasionally
-seen in many parts of their summer range.
-Exactly why they begin the southward migration in
-September and end it with the falling of the leaves
-in late October, it is not easy to guess; for the food
-supply is not at an end, and they do not dread
-moderate cold, else why should they be in the front
-rank of spring migrants?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The last of February will bring a few individuals of
-the advance-guard of males. In early March their calls
-are heard often before the ice has melted and the hylas
-found voice; yet in spite of this hurried return, the
-nesting season does not begin until the middle of May;
-and so for two months and more the flock life continues,
-and foraging, fighting, and general courting serve to kill
-time until the remote marshes show enough green drapery
-to hide the nests.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As a nest-builder the Red-wing shows much of the
-<span class='pageno' title='339' id='Page_339'></span>
-weaver’s skill of its Oriole cousins, though the material
-they work with is of coarser texture, being fastened
-firmly to low bushes or reeds and woven of grass
-and the split leaves of reeds and flags, all nicely lined
-with soft grasses and various vegetable fibres. Often,
-like that of the Marsh Wren, the nest will be suspended
-between three or four reeds, and so firmly
-knit that it resembles one of the four-legged work-baskets
-that belonged to the ‘mother’s room’ of
-our youth. The pale blue eggs of the Red-wing are
-particularly noticeable from the character of the markings
-that thickly cover the larger end, for they seem
-the work of a sharp scratching pen dipped in purplish
-black ink and held by an aimless human hand, rather
-than the distribution of natural pigment.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“An eater of grain though the Red-wing is, and a menace
-to the farmer in certain regions, Professor Beal concedes
-to him a liberal diet of weed seeds and animal food,
-itself injurious to vegetation. Dr. B. H. Warren, who
-has made a wide study of the food habits of this
-Blackbird, says: ‘The Red-wing destroys large numbers
-of cutworms. I have taken from the stomach
-of a single Swamp Blackbird as many as twenty-eight
-cutworms. In addition to the insects, etc., mentioned
-above, these birds also, during their residence
-with us, feed on earthworms, grasshoppers, crickets,
-plant-lice, and various larvæ, so destructive at times
-in field and garden. During the summer season fruits of
-the blackberry, raspberry, wild strawberry, and wild cherry
-are eaten to a more or less extent. The young, while under
-parental care, are fed exclusively on an insect diet.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='340' id='Page_340'></span>
-“Mr. Forbush also tells us that Kalm states in his
-<span class='it'>Travels in America</span>, that in 1749, ‘after a great destruction
-among the Crows and Blackbirds for a legal reward
-of three pence per dozen, the northern states experienced
-a complete loss of their grass and grain crops. The
-colonists were obliged to import hay from England to
-feed their cattle. The greatest losses from the ravages
-of the Rocky Mountain Locust were coincident with,
-or followed soon after, the destruction by the people of
-countless thousands of Blackbirds, Prairie Chickens,
-Quail, Upland Plover, Curlew, and other birds. This
-coincidence seems significant, at least. A farmer from
-Wisconsin informed me that, the Blackbirds in his
-vicinity having been killed off, the white grubs increased
-in number and destroyed the grass roots, so that he lost
-four hundred dollars from this cause.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“These facts should make us of the East welcome rather
-than discourage the Red-wing; for this is one of the
-species of familiar birds that must become extinct in
-many localities, owing to the circumstance, so desirable
-in itself, of reducing the waste marshlands, and though,
-later in the year, other birds replace him acceptably,
-March and April would seem lonely without the Red-wing,
-for then, as the child said, ‘you’ve just got to
-look at him.’</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk123'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='kingf'></a>The Kingfisher is certainly one of the most dashing
-birds that we have; without having the cruel
-and ferocious expression of some of the smaller
-Hawks, he has the swagger and dash of a feathered
-brigand.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i405.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0042' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>National Association of Audubon Societies</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>BELTED KINGFISHER<br/>(<span class='sc'>Upper Figure, Female; Lower Figure, Male</span>)</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>Order—<span class='sc'>Coccyges</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Family—<span class='sc'>Alcedinidæ</span></p>
-<p class='line'>Genus—<span class='sc'>Ceryle</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Species—<span class='sc'>Alcyon</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='341' id='Page_341'></span>
-“His plumage is beautiful in texture and soft in colour;
-bluish gray that sometimes looks quite blue in the bright
-light; wings and tail-feathers spotted with white, a white
-collar deep in front and narrow at the back, and a broad
-belt of the gray crossing the white breast and seeming
-to keep the gray mantle from slipping from his shoulders.
-The long head-feathers, also of the bluish gray, form a
-crest that the bird can raise at will and thus put on an
-expression of combined alertness and defiance.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Kingfisher’s plumage is more perfect than his
-form, his head, with its beak two inches in length, being
-out of proportion to his short tail, and his small, weak
-feet seeming too small to support a body more than
-a foot long.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In disposition the Kingfisher seems to be rather remote
-and unfriendly; they never seem to travel in flocks,
-and even in the nesting season, the only time in which
-they associate in pairs, they seem to be quarrelling and
-wrangling, so very harsh are their notes. Hereabouts
-we have very few Kingfishers. Last summer a pair
-tunnelled a hole in the loamy bank of the river fifty
-feet below the grist-mill; for the Kingfisher does not
-build a tree nest, or, in fact, any nest, but, like the
-Bank Swallow, burrows sidewise into a bank of
-sufficiently stiff soil not to cave in for the depth
-of anywhere from three to fifteen feet. This burrow
-may be only a few feet below the surface, or if the
-bluff rises above the stream, the hole may be twenty
-feet from the top and close to high-water mark.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sometimes the hole runs straight, and then again it
-may have several turns before the nesting-chamber is
-<span class='pageno' title='342' id='Page_342'></span>
-reached, the turns probably being made to avoid stones
-or tough roots; though one<a id='r5'/><a href='#f5' style='text-decoration:none'><sup><span style='font-size:0.9em'>[5]</span></sup></a> careful observer, whose
-account of this bird is so novel and charming (I will
-read it to you from the scrap-book), thought for a time
-that these turns might be for the purpose of keeping
-light from the nesting-chamber.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk124'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A hole in a bank seems a strange place in which to
-build a nest, but although one may know it to be the
-home of a Kingfisher, he little imagines the singular
-course of the passage leading to the room at the other
-end, and is hardly aware of the six long weeks of faithful
-care bestowed by the parent birds upon their eggs
-and family.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Early in April we may hear the Kingfisher’s voice,
-sounding like a policeman’s rattle, as he patrols the
-stream, and we often see him leaving a favourite limb,
-where he has been keeping watch for some innocent
-minnow in the water below. Off he goes in his slaty
-blue coat, shaking his rattle and showing his top-heavy
-crest, his abnormal bill, and pure white collar.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The mother bird, as usual with the sex, does most of
-the work at home. The hole is generally located high
-upon the bank, is somewhat less than four inches in
-diameter, and varies from at least five to eight feet in
-length. It slightly ascends to the dark, mysterious
-den at the other end,—dark because the passage generally
-bends once or twice, thereby entirely excluding
-the light. The roof of the passage is vaulted from end
-to end, merging into a domed ceiling almost as shapely
-<span class='pageno' title='343' id='Page_343'></span>
-as that of the Pantheon. Such a home is built to stay,
-and if undisturbed would endure for years. Two little
-tracks are worn by the female’s feet the full length of
-the tunnel as she passes in and out.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Kingfisher’s knowledge of construction, her
-ingenious manner of hiding her eggs from molestation,
-and her constancy to her young arouse our interest
-and admiration. We must also appreciate the difficulty
-with which the digging is attended, the meeting of frequent
-stones to block the work, which, by the way, may
-be the cause of the change in direction of the hole, but
-which I was inclined to believe intentional until I found
-a perfectly straight passage, in which a brood was successfully
-raised.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“To get photographs of a series of the eggs and young
-was almost as difficult a task, I believe, as the Kingfisher
-had in making the hole. It was necessary to walk
-at least four miles and dig down to the back of the nest,
-through the bank above, and fill it in again four times,
-without deranging the nest or frightening away the parent
-birds. But we were well repaid for the trouble, for the
-pictures accurately record what could not be described.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A photograph of the seven eggs was taken before they
-had even been touched, and numerous disgorgements of
-fish bones and scales show about the roomy apartment.
-The shapely domed ceiling, as well as the arch of the
-passage, is constructionally necessary for the safety of
-the occupants, the former being even more perfect than
-the pictures show. What is generally called instinct in
-birds has long since been to me a term used to explain
-what in reality is intelligence.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='344' id='Page_344'></span>
-“Some writer has mentioned that as soon as the
-young Kingfishers are able, they wander about their
-little homes until they are able to fly, but evidently his
-experience was limited. My four pictures of the young
-birds were taken by lifting them out of their nests and
-placing them in a proper place to be photographed in
-the light, but the first two pictures were taken in the
-positions in which they were naturally found in the nest.
-The first, when they were about two days old, was obtained
-on the 21st of May, 1899, and the young were not
-only found wrapped together in the nest, but the moment
-they were put on the ground, one at a time, though their
-eyes were still sealed, they immediately covered one
-another with their wings and wide bills, making such
-a tight ball that when any one shifted a leg, the whole
-mass would move like a single bird. This is a most
-sensible method of keeping warm, since the mother
-bird’s legs are so short that she could not stand over
-them, but, as they are protected from the wind and
-weather, they have no need of her. Their appearance
-is comical in the extreme, and all out of proportion.
-This clinging to one another is apparently kept up for
-at least ten days, for a week later, when nine days old,
-they were found in exactly a similar position.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When the young were first observed, they were absolutely
-naked, without the suggestion of a feather,
-and, unlike most young birds, showed no plumage of
-any kind until the regular final feathering, which was
-the same as that of the adult, began to appear. The
-growth of the birds was remarkably slow, and even
-when nine days old the feathers were just beginning to
-<span class='pageno' title='345' id='Page_345'></span>
-push through their tiny sheaths, but so distinctly showed
-their markings that I was able to distinguish the sexes
-by the colouring of the bands on the chest. They did
-not open their mouths in the usual manner for food,
-but tried to pick up small objects from the ground, and
-one got another by his foot, as the picture shows. I
-took two other photographs the same day, showing
-several birds searching on the ground with their bills,
-as if they were already used to this manner of feeding.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When the birds were sixteen days old, they had
-begun to look like formidable Kingfishers, with more
-shapely bills and crests, but as yet they evidently knew
-no use for their wings. They showed little temper,
-though they appeared to be somewhat surprised at
-being disturbed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“My next visit to the hole in the bank was when the
-birds were twenty-three days old, and, to ascertain
-whether they were still at home, I poked into the entrance
-of the hole a long, thin twig, which was quickly accepted
-by quite a strong bite. Taking the precaution to stop
-the hole with a good-sized stone, I proceeded to my
-digging for the last time on the top of the bank. This
-time I found the chamber had been moved, and I had
-some difficulty in locating it about a foot higher up and
-about the same distance to one side. The old birds had
-evidently discovered my imperfectly closed back door,
-and either mistrusted its security, or else a heavy rain
-had soaked down into the loosened earth and caused
-them to make alterations. They had completely closed
-up the old chamber and packed it tightly with earth
-and disgorged fish bones.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='346' id='Page_346'></span>
-“The skill with which they met this emergency was
-of unusual interest, showing again the ingenuity and
-general intelligence which so often surprises us in the
-study of birds. Their home was kept perfectly clean
-by its constant caretaker. One of the full-grown birds,
-with every feather, as far as I could see, entirely developed,
-sat just long enough for me to photograph
-him, and then flew from the branch where I had placed
-him, down the stream, and out of sight, loudly chattering
-like an old bird. One more bird performed the same
-feat, but before I was able to get him on my plate. The
-rest I left in the nest, and no doubt they were all in the
-open air that warm, sunny day, before nightfall.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk125'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It happens that but few of us may look into a Kingfisher’s
-home as Mr. Baily did, but it is very pleasant
-to know where this dashing bird goes when, on securing
-a fish, instead of swallowing it, he seems to dive, drop
-into the water, and disappear, when in reality he is taking
-his prey home to the nest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We must be content to enjoy the Kingfisher as a
-feature in the landscape, as the centre of a picture of
-woods, pond, or river, to which he gives the needful
-touch of life. The river scenery of March is lifeless and
-dreary, for, if the snow has melted and the ice broken
-up, the bushes alongshore are beaten down by the storms
-of winter or partly submerged by the spring freshets.
-Here and there, in sunny spots on the low shore, we may
-see the purple-pointed hood and bright green leaves of
-the skunk-cabbage, but if a Kingfisher is perching on
-<span class='pageno' title='347' id='Page_347'></span>
-a dead branch overhanging the water, crest erect, gazing
-into the water and on the alert for a fish to pass, the
-scene at once becomes full of interest. Of course the
-Kingfisher, as his name implies, is above all a fisherman,
-and complaints come sometimes from those who are
-stocking ponds and rivers with fish, and who object to
-his taking his tithe, but when pressed by hunger through
-the sudden skimming of their hunting ponds with ice
-in early winter, he has been known to eat berries of
-many kinds, and in time of drought when streams run
-low or dry up entirely, the Kingfisher will feed upon
-beetles, grasshoppers, crickets, frogs, lizards, etc. But
-here in the East, at any rate, the bird is not plentiful
-enough to be a danger to the fishing industry.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I’ve seen a Kingfisher fishing in the salt-water creek
-that goes into the bay. We camped right there on the
-point last summer,” said Tommy. “He must have
-lived up the river somewhere, for he used to come down
-early in the morning, and stay about all day, and I suppose
-he must have got through feeding his children, for
-it was along in August. I never saw but one,—the male,
-I guess, because it didn’t have any brown on its breast
-like what there is in the picture of the female.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was great fun to watch him. One day the rest
-all went off fishing to Middle Ground Light, and I stayed
-at home because I’d cut my finger with a fish-hook, and it
-hurt a lot, and the Doctor made me keep it soaking in
-medicine, so I just lay in the sand under the shady side
-of the tent, only moving enough to keep out of the sun,
-and watched out.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When the Kingfisher first came, the tide was just
-<span class='pageno' title='348' id='Page_348'></span>
-turned and beginning to rush out of the creek like everything.
-Mr. Fisherman sat on a tall post that we tie the
-boats up to at night. It was close to the water, not
-where the strong current was, but a little to one side,
-where it was more still. He did pretty well for a while;
-the fish looked small, and he swallowed ’em without
-wriggling his throat so very much.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“One thing he did was very funny; he didn’t dive
-right down from the post after the fish, but he took a
-little fly up first and then folded his wings to his sides
-and dropped right in beak first, same as we fellows do
-when we jump off the spring board dad rigged to a raft
-and then dive. I couldn’t make out whether he always
-did it, or if it was because the post was too near the water.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“After a little, the water went down so that the post
-wasn’t near enough to the water; then what did he do
-but shift over to the bowsprit of an old oyster boat that
-was wrecked and half buried in the sand, right in the
-bank just inside the creek; this gave him a fine perch
-right over the channel. When he saw that there was
-no one about, he sort of settled down, and looking
-at him so long made me lazy, and I guess I fell asleep
-and didn’t see him dive, because the next thing I
-knew, there was the Kingfisher back on the perch, but
-he had an eel in his beak instead of a fish.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Say, Gray Lady, did you ever try to hold an eel in
-your fingers, without rubbing wet sand on them first?
-Well, you should have seen that bird twist and flop about.
-It was only a little eel, not any bigger than a pencil, but,
-oh my!” And Tommy laughed heartily at the very memory
-of the fray.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='349' id='Page_349'></span>
-“Kingfisher couldn’t stick to the perch, so he dropped
-right on to a piece of the deck of the boat that wasn’t
-buried, and began to beat the eel on the wood and dance
-about. The eel squirmed so, it didn’t hit often, and it
-acted as if it had legs and was dancing too. When
-the fun began, the bird had the eel about in the middle,
-but it pulled away until one end was longer than the
-other, and that made it harder to hold.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Which was the head end, the one that hung down?”
-asked Eliza, who always insisted on precise details.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I didn’t know then,” said Tommy; “I couldn’t see,
-and it didn’t keep still long enough for me to ask!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At last Kingfisher gave the eel a good bang, and it
-didn’t squirm so much (then I knew the head must have
-been on the long piece because it wouldn’t have hurt
-its tail), and the bird began to swallow and work his
-throat, just like when a snake begins to work a toad
-down. Once or twice he stopped, and I thought that he
-was going to choke and keel over. He didn’t, though,
-but after it was all down, he looked real sorry and uncomfortable
-and his feathers laid down almost flat to
-his head, and he crouched there on the boat quite a while
-before he flew up creek and didn’t fish any more that day.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Maybe he’d never caught a salt-water eel before, and
-didn’t know how lively they are; you can’t measure them
-by mud eels out of still water any more’n you can match
-snakes with ground-worms.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='350' id='Page_350'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE KINGFISHER</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>He laughs by the summer stream</p>
-<p class='line0'>Where the lilies nod and dream,</p>
-<p class='line0'>As through the sheen of water cool and clear</p>
-<p class='line0'>He sees the chub and sunfish cutting shear.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>His are resplendent eyes;</p>
-<p class='line0'>His mien is kingliwise;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And down the March wind rides he like a king</p>
-<p class='line0'>With more than royal purple on his wing.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>His palace is the brake</p>
-<p class='line0'>Where the rushes shine and shake;</p>
-<p class='line0'>His music is the murmur of the stream,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the leaf-rustle where the lilies dream.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Such life as his would be</p>
-<p class='line0'>A more than heaven to me;</p>
-<p class='line0'>All sun, all bloom, all happy weather,</p>
-<p class='line0'>All joys bound in a sheaf together.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>No wonder he laughs so loud!</p>
-<p class='line0'>No wonder he looks so proud!</p>
-<p class='line0'>There are great kings would give their royalty</p>
-<p class='line0'>To have one day of his felicity!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Maurice Thompson.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='phe3'></a>The very name of Phœbe calls us from the Red-wing in
-the marsh meadows and the Kingfisher by the
-waterways and brings us home again. Not only
-within the home acres, but close to the house, barns, and
-woodshed, for has she not been living in and about them
-quite as long as we have, or even longer? There was
-a Phœbe who always built her first nest on the deep
-sill of the dormer-window of the store-closet, and her
-second in the bracket that supports the hood of the
-north window in the guest-room.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She was not very tidy about her work of nest-building
-(it seems more natural to call the Phœbe <span class='it'>she</span> than <span class='it'>he</span>), but
-then, it must be very difficult to make a nest with a high
-<span class='pageno' title='351' id='Page_351'></span>
-foundation of crumbling moss and mud, with hairs and grass
-for a lining, without spilling some of the nesting material.
-My mother used to grumble about having the store-room
-window-sill remain in such a litter for so long, but she
-never disturbed the nest, even by brushing away the
-loose moss, and almost every day she would look through
-the window to see how the eggs or young were faring, and
-I thought it a great privilege to be allowed to go to the
-store-room and sit quite still inside the closed window
-and watch the Phœbe’s housekeeping.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was in this way that I first learned how the bird
-stands up in the nest and turns the white eggs over with its
-feet so that they may be evenly warmed through; how the
-young are fed and the droppings removed from the nest
-so that it need not become foul.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In spite of great care and constant bathing, for
-Phœbe is very fond of a bath and was always a great
-patron of the log water-trough, the puddles that gathered
-in the gutter after rain, and upon occasion would dash into
-the bucket that always stood under the well-spout, the
-poor bird suffers greatly from insect parasites. The
-reason for this I cannot tell, unless it is that the foundation
-of the nest is so light and spongy on account of the moss,
-that the air does not pass through and the lice breed
-freely. One thing I remember, however, is that as
-soon as the birds had flown, mother always removed the
-empty nest and had its resting-place thoroughly cleansed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This is not so apt to happen when the bird chooses a
-fresh location and makes a new nest for a second brood,
-but upon the only occasion that the window-sill nest was
-used twice in a season, the lice crawled through the window-frame
-<span class='pageno' title='352' id='Page_352'></span>
-into the house, and of the second brood, only
-one lived to fly, and he was a miserable, emaciated little
-thing, so badly did the lice beset the young birds. After
-that, mother always gave them a hint that a new nest was
-best by making it impossible for them to use the old one.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I should think the Phœbes might have got mad and
-gone away for good,” said Sarah Barnes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No; they either understood that mother’s intentions
-were good, or else they appreciated the comfort and
-cleanliness of the new nest, for their children and grandchildren
-have occupied the two sites ever since, and this
-summer when I stood inside the store-room window showing
-the nest to Goldilocks, bird and nest were just the
-same as when my mother stood there by me.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That is why the everyday birds that live about our
-homes are so precious and should be so carefully guarded.
-We never see them grow old, and so they help us to keep
-young in heart.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Phœbe belongs to a very important family, that of
-the Flycatchers, songless birds with call-notes that are
-distinctive; these take their food upon the wing, diving
-from a perch into the air for it as the Kingfisher dives
-into the water for his. In this way the flycatchers are
-among the most valuable of the Sky Sweepers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Among Phœbe’s cousins you will find the <span class='it'>Kingbird</span>,
-who wears a slate-coloured coat and white vest, a crest on
-his head, and a white band on the end of his tail by which
-you may know him, as he sits on a fence rail, stump,
-or even on a tall mullen stalk and sallies out into the
-air, crying a shrill ‘Kyrie-Kyrie!’ The Great Crested
-Flycatcher, with an olive-brown coat, gray throat, and yellow
-<span class='pageno' title='353' id='Page_353'></span>
-belly, who builds in a tree hole well above the ground,
-and uses dried snake skins among his materials when he
-can get them, is another relative, and the largest of the
-family; while a third is the little Wood-pewee, of the dark
-olive-brown coat and two whitish wing-bars, who saddles
-his lichen-covered nest, as dainty as that of a Humming-bird
-high up on a limb, and calls his plaintive note, Pee-wee-pee-a-wee
-peer,’ through the aisles of the deep woods,
-as constantly as Phœbe lets her name be known in a more
-shrill and rasping voice to the barnyard flock.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“These and several other flycatchers do not come to us
-until May, but the Phœbe of all his tribes trusts his livelihood
-to the care of gusty March. Perhaps it is the early
-return that makes the Phœbe so friendly and causes
-it to choose either a site by the water or near a house.
-Insect life awakes much more quickly in gardens and about
-the farm-yards, or near open running water, than in the
-remote woods; for certain it is that no other member of
-the family is so easily domesticated.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Phœbe not only eats the earliest insects that
-appear, but it has peculiarly constructed eyes, like the
-Whip-poor-will and Night Hawk; it can catch its food until
-the end of twilight, so that it kills many bugs that hide all
-day. Among the hurtful insects that it catches are the
-click-beetle, brown-tail moth, canker-worm moth, and the
-elm beetle. As a berry-eater no one can find fault with it,
-as when late in a dry season it takes a little fruit, wild
-berries supply the need.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“All this should be a hint to us to leave a few nooks
-about the place for a pair of Phœbes to appropriate for
-a homestead; a little shelf under suitable shelter is all
-<span class='pageno' title='354' id='Page_354'></span>
-they ask, or, better yet, nail a few wide braces under the
-roof of a wagon, cattle, or wood shed, even if it does not
-need supporting. Then, before the first Robin or Chipping-sparrow
-awakens, when the first flush of light penetrates
-the darkness of night, you will have a home sentinel
-at hand to cry, ‘Phœbe! I see, all’s well!’ to the morning,
-and at evening she will blend her voice with the Whip-poor-will’s
-in wishing you good night, for though Phœbe
-is early to come in the spring and early to rise in the morning,
-she goes late to bed and meets the bats in the sky
-during her evening excursions.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Maybe Phœbes don’t really sing, but they think they
-do,” said Tommy, as Gray Lady looked in vain in her
-scrap-book for a poem that should do the bird justice
-and be catching in rhythm.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sometimes in May they get up on the roof or the telephone
-wire or something like that, and tumble somersaults
-into the air and cry ‘phœbe-phœbe-phœbe-phœbe,’
-on and on and on and over again, like the Katydids and
-Katydidn’ts in the maples at night, only the Phœbe is so
-worked up she can only think of her own name.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then this verse of Lowell’s at least is true,” said Gray
-Lady, closing the scrap-book.</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“Phœbe is all it has to say</p>
-<p class='line0'>In plaintive cadence o’er and o’er,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Like children that have lost their way</p>
-<p class='line0'>And know their names, but nothing more.”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class='footnotemark'/>
-
-<div class='footnote'>
-<table summary='footnote_5'>
-<colgroup>
-<col span='1' class='footnoteid'/>
-<col span='1'/>
-</colgroup>
-<tr><td style='vertical-align:top;'>
-<div class='footnote-id' id='f5'><a href='#r5'>[5]</a></div>
-</td><td>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='it'>The Kingfishers’ Home Life</span>, W. L. Baily in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-
-</td></tr>
-</table>
-</div>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='355' id='Page_355'></span><h1>XXIV<br/> <span class='sub-head'>THE TIDE HAS TURNED</span></h1></div>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><a id='cdee4'></a>THE MASQUERADING CHICKADEE</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>I came to the woods in the dead of the year,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;I saw the wing’d sprite thro’ the green-brier peeping:</p>
-<p class='line0'>“Darling of Winter, you’ve nothing to fear,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Though the branches are bare and the cold earth is sleeping!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>With a <span class='it'>dee, dee, dee</span>! the sprite seemed to say,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;“I’m friends with the Maytime as well as December,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And I’ll meet you here on a fair-weather day;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Here, in the green-brier thicket,—remember!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>I came to the woods in the spring of the year,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And I followed a voice that was most entreating:</p>
-<p class='line0'><span class='it'>Phebe! Phebe!</span> (and yet more near),</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Phebe! Phebe!</span> it kept repeating!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>I gave up the search, when, not far away,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;I saw the wing’d sprite thro’ the green-brier peeping,</p>
-<p class='line0'>With a <span class='it'>Phebe! Phebe!</span> that seemed to say,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;“I told you so! and my promise I’m keeping.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>“You’ll know me again, when you meet me here,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Whether you come in December or Maytime:</p>
-<p class='line0'>I’ve a <span class='it'>dee, dee, dee!</span> for the Winter’s ear,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And a <span class='it'>Phebe! Phebe!</span> for Spring and Playtime!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Edith M. Thomas.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk126'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='356' id='Page_356'></span>
-“When the Chickadee, who has persistently told us his
-name all winter, and has assured us also in the darkest
-weather that it was ‘day-day-day,’ changes his call for
-the flute-like spring song of ‘Phewe-Phe-wee,’ clear as the
-wind blowing through a reed, we know that at last the
-springtide has really turned. Chickadee occasionally
-gives this note in autumn as if in anticipation, but it is
-really a love-song of tender accent.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='goose'></a>Another spring sign comes to us in April, a sign to be
-seen. It comes out of a clear sky and has all the mystery
-about it that still shrouds the bird migrations. Spring and
-fall I see it, but it always fills me with awe. This morning
-I stood out in the open meadow below the orchard, looking
-at the sky to see if the clouds were going to break away,
-or if it was to be a day of April showers. To the southwest
-a curious fine black bar appeared high up against the
-clouds. Quickly it drew nearer, and I saw what seemed
-to be a great letter that moved rapidly and yet kept
-its shape printed on the sky,—a letter V coming toward me,
-point on. In another minute the line proved to be made
-of separate marks, then each mark developed a long neck
-and rapidly moving wings.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Tommy Todd could stand it no longer; without giving
-the usual school “hand up” warning he cried out, “The
-V was Wild Geese, with the wise old gander that leads
-them for the point, and maybe if he wanted them to shift
-and change their way, he gave a big honk, honk, like the
-automobiles when they turn the sharp corner at the foot
-of our hill.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We saw Wild Geese yesterday, grandpa and I; they
-were flying so low over the mill-pond that grandpa said
-<span class='pageno' title='357' id='Page_357'></span>
-maybe they had been resting somewhere. They do stop
-in fall sometimes, but in spring they generally go right over
-in a big hurry. This time I could see their feathers pretty
-well, black, gray, and light underneath, and a white mark
-around the neck as if it was tied up for a sore throat.
-Grandpa says he shot one once that was a yard long, but
-their necks looked all of that. How far away do they
-have to go before they can stop to nest, please, Gray
-Lady?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They nest only in our most northern states, and from
-there up through British America; but as the country is
-settled they have to shift their haunts very often, for
-you can well imagine that a colony, even in the nesting
-season, would have but little peace if hunters could reach
-it easily. These great birds on their journeys are one of
-the most thrilling sights that everyday people can see,
-for they travel the thousands of miles that separate their
-summer and winter homes, straight through the night as
-well as the day, without chart or compass, but with the
-same lack of fear and unfailing directness as a train would
-follow the rails upon the road-bed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We hear and read stories of Nature that are inventions,
-and could not have happened because they are not according
-to the plan of creation,—so the people who tell these
-instead of being clever are really very stupid,—but not
-one of these is as wonderful as the simple truth, or
-as awe-inspiring as the flight of Wild Geese that goes
-on before our sight year after year in the April sky,
-or that we know by their cries and the rush of wings
-is passing overhead in the gloom of a wild and stormy
-night.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='358' id='Page_358'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>WILD GEESE</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>A far, strange sound through the night,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;A dauntless and resolute cry,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Clear in the tempest’s despite,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Ringing so wild and so high.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Darkness and tumult and dread,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Rain and the battling of gales,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Yet cleaving the storm overhead,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The wedge of the Wild Geese sails.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Pushing their perilous way,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Buffeted, beaten, and vexed;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Steadfast by night and by day,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Weary, but never perplexed;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Sure that the land of their hope</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Waits beyond tempest and dread,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Sure that the dark where they grope</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Shall glow with the morning red!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>O birds in the wild, wild sky!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Would I could so follow God’s way</p>
-<p class='line0'>Through darkness, unquestioning why,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;With only one thought to obey!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Celia Thaxter</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><a id='nest'></a><span class='sc'>Nest-Building</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Though a few of our common birds, like the Robin,
-Bluebird, Woodcock, Crow, Grackle, and some of the
-Hawks and Owls, begin to nest in April, May and June are
-the real nesting months.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When the spring migration is over, we call those birds
-who have decided to stay with us and build their homes
-<span class='pageno' title='359' id='Page_359'></span>
-Summer Residents, and it is from these that we must learn
-of the home life of birds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The visitors who stop awhile on their way to other
-places we may learn to call by name, but we can never
-really know them any more than we can a chance visitor
-who boards a few weeks in our vicinity.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The nesting habits of birds and the manner in which
-they build their homes vary according to the necessity and
-skill of the species. (See <span class='it'>Citizen Bird</span>.)</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In their house-building you will find that the birds
-know almost as many trades as human beings, for among
-them are weavers, basket-makers, masons, and carpenters,
-as well as workers in felt, hair, and feathers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Many water-birds merely make a hollow in the sand or
-gather a few bits of grass together for a nest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Grouse, Quail, and Woodcock scratch up a few
-leaves in a ground hollow or between stumps, for, like
-domestic fowl, they always nest on the ground and their
-colour, being dull, blends with it, and you may almost
-step on one of these birds when it is on its nest and never
-know it.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The dull brown Sparrows build nests of grasses set in
-a low bush or between its roots, but the flaming Oriole
-weaves himself a snug hammock high out on a swaying elm
-bough, and the Scarlet Tanager builds high in an oak.
-The Blue Jay weaves small roots into a firm nest set well
-above reach, while the Bluebird lines a hollow in a tree
-or takes an abandoned Woodpecker’s hole for his house.
-The Woodpeckers chisel out homes in tree-trunks, and
-Robins and Cliff and Barn Swallows use more or less mud,
-and plaster the inside of their homes. If you watch carefully
-<span class='pageno' title='360' id='Page_360'></span>
-now when the birds are building, and associate the
-various nests with the birds that build them, in autumn,
-when the young have flown, you can collect many of these
-nests and study their beautiful workmanship. But pray
-keep your hands off them while they are in use, for it is
-not being either kind or polite to meddle.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How do you think your mother would feel if somebody
-climbed in at the window and tumbled up your
-baby brother’s crib, perhaps spilling him out on the floor,
-or at least frightening him badly, in order to find out if he
-slept on a mattress or a feather bed, or if the crib itself
-was made of wood or metal?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At the time of the spring migration the birds that
-have been living in flocks all winter put on fresh feathers,
-and court and separate into pairs just as people do when
-they marry and begin housekeeping. Naturally they feel
-very happy, and have a great deal to say to each other,
-and this is what makes birds break into song when the
-spring comes to give them new life.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Though some few females can sing, it is the males who
-make the beautiful music that we hear in the spring
-mornings. The female is too busy with her housekeeping
-to do more than answer, but her husband’s song cheers
-her while she is brooding, and he probably tells her how
-pretty her new feathers are, and how much he loves her, too.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Among our gayly coloured birds, unlike people, it is
-the male who wears the brightest clothes. You have
-heard of this all through our fall and winter lessons, and
-you have seen the difference in pictures; now that the
-birds themselves have come, you will have a chance to
-see how well you remember, and if you can name the birds
-<span class='pageno' title='361' id='Page_361'></span>
-as they fly. The Scarlet Tanager and the Goldfinch both
-have plain greenish olive-coloured wives. The female
-Blue Jay is of a less bright hue than her mate, and the
-mate of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak wears a buff, brownish
-streaked vest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why? Because, as the mother bird spends more time
-about the nest than the father, if she wore bright clothes
-she would attract too much attention, and cruel Hawks,
-squirrels, and thieving people would find it too easily;
-and Nature’s first thought is always of the care and protection
-of young life, whether of plant, bird, or beast.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Almost all of our birds feed the young nestlings with
-animal food, even if they themselves are seed-eaters;
-for little birds must grow quickly, and you would hardly
-believe the number of worms and flying things it takes to
-turn one little Robin from the queer, helpless, featherless
-thing that it is when it hatches from the egg, into the
-clumsy, clamouring ball of feathers, with awkward wings
-and hardly a bit of tail to balance it, that it is when it
-leaves the nest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“No human father and mother work harder to feed their
-children than do these feathered parents, who toil ceaselessly
-from sunrise until sunset to bring food, and share
-by turns the protection of the nest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='362' id='Page_362'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE NEST</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>When oaken woods with buds are pink,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And new-come birds each morning sing,</p>
-<p class='line0'>When fickle May on summer’s brink</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Pauses, and knows not which to fling,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Whether fresh bud and bloom again,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Or hoar-frost silvering hill and plain,</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Then from the honeysuckle gray</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The Oriole with experienced quest</p>
-<p class='line0'>Twitches the fibrous bark away,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The cordage of his hammock-nest,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Cheering his labour with a note</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Rich as the orange of his throat.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>High o’er the loud and dusty road</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The soft gray cup in safety swings,</p>
-<p class='line0'>To brim ere August with its load</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Of downy breasts and throbbing wings,</p>
-<p class='line0'>O’er which the friendly elm tree heaves</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;An emerald roof with sculptured eaves.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Below, the noisy world drags by</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;In the old way, because it must;</p>
-<p class='line0'>The bride with heartbreak in her eye,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The mourner following hated dust;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Thy duty, winged flame of spring,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Is but to love, and fly, and sing.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>O happy life, to soar and sway</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Above the life by mortals led,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Singing the merry months away,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Master, not slave of daily bread,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And, when the autumn comes, to flee</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Wherever sunshine beckons thee!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>James Russell Lowell</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='363' id='Page_363'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>OUT OF THE SOUTH</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;A migrant song-bird I,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Out of the blue, between the sea and the sky,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Landward blown on bright, untiring wings;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Out of the South I fly,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Urged by some vague, strange force of destiny,</p>
-<p class='line0'>To where the young wheat springs,</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And the maize begins to grow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And the clover fields to blow.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;I have sought</p>
-<p class='line0'>In far wild groves below the tropic line</p>
-<p class='line0'>To lose old memories of this land of mine;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;I have fought</p>
-<p class='line0'>This vague, mysterious power that flings me forth</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Into the North;</p>
-<p class='line0'>But all in vain. When flutes of April blow,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The immemorial longing lures me, and I go.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Maurice Thompson.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>WHAT TO EXPECT</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In April we may look for the coming of a score or
-more of different birds. How quickly they come and in
-what numbers depends upon the season. If it is mild,
-they come gradually; if stormy, by fits and starts, and
-sometimes in strangely mixed flocks.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“These belong to the first half of the month:—</p>
-
-<p class='hang'><a id='heron'></a><span class='it'>The Great Blue Heron.</span> Cousin to the white Egret; we
-always used to have a pair of them by the upper
-mill-pond.</p>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>The Purple Finch.</span> <a id='pfinch'></a>A large sparrow with a beautiful
-voice; the fully grown male having a rosy flush to his
-feathers as if, it has been said, the juice of crimson
-berries had been squeezed over him.</p>
-
-<p class='hang'><a id='vesp'></a><span class='it'>The Vesper-sparrow.</span> The wayside Sparrow of our
-afternoon walk that we have known as long as the
-Song Sparrow and Bluebird; famous for his clear,
-ringing song at twilight and dawn. Rather light in
-color, with <span class='it'>rust-red wing-markings and white outside
-<span class='pageno' title='364' id='Page_364'></span>
-tail-feathers</span> that show conspicuously as he flits along
-and tells his name.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE VESPER-SPARROW</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>It comes from childhood land,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Where summer days are long</p>
-<p class='line0'>And summer eves are bland—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;A lulling good-night song.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Upon a pasture stone,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Against the fading west,</p>
-<p class='line0'>A small bird sings alone,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Then dives and finds its nest.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The evening star has heard</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And flutters into sight.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Oh, childhood’s vesper bird,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;My heart calls back good night.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Edith M. Thomas.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='hang'><a id='sparchip'></a><span class='it'>The Chipping-sparrow.</span> Our least Sparrow, who wears
-a little chestnut velvet cap, gray back, and black bill,
-and has a mild, innocent expression in keeping with
-his friendly ways. He puts his dainty hair-lined
-nest (from which he is sometimes called Hair-bird)
-in a near-by shrub or rose-bush in the garden, and
-then hops about the door, picking up almost invisible
-bits of food, calling “chip-chip-chip.” His courting
-song is a long trill that begins at dawn almost with
-the Phœbe, and the dear little bird often sings as he
-sits on the ground.</p>
-
-<p class='hang'><a id='tree4'></a><span class='it'>The Tree Swallow.</span> This we saw last fall in the migration,
-<span class='pageno' title='365' id='Page_365'></span>
-and we may hope that it will take lodging in some
-of the new bird-boxes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In the second half of the month:—</p>
-
-<p class='hang'><a id='barnsw5'></a><span class='it'>The Barn Swallow.</span></p>
-
-<p class='hang'><a id='spot2'></a><span class='it'>Spotted Sandpiper.</span></p>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Bank Swallow.</span><a id='swalb4'></a></p>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Purple Martin.</span><a id='mart5'></a></p>
-
-<p class='hang'><a id='whip2'></a><span class='it'>Whip-poor-will.</span> One of the birds of the air that, together
-with its brother the Nighthawk and its cousins the
-Chimney Swift and Humming-bird, may well be called
-winged mysteries.</p>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Towhee-Chewink, or Ground-robin</span>, of the tribe of Sparrows
-and Finches, but, like the Cardinal, without stripes,
-and having a stout beak. Head, throat, back, and
-breast black; white belly and rust-red sides. Black
-tail with white outer feathers. A handsome, vigorous
-bird and a lover of bushes and thickets, where he
-scratches among the leaves. Call-note, “Tow-hee-tow-hee.”</p>
-
-<p class='hang'><a id='warbbw'></a><span class='it'>Black-and-white Warbler.</span> This you will at first take to
-be a small Woodpecker from its black-and-white
-stripes and tree-creeping habits that remind one of the
-Brown Creeper of winter, but its slender bill names
-it a warbler; one of the “lispers,” who, though
-they have musical names, whisper or lisp a few
-notes as if to themselves.</p>
-
-<p class='hang'><a id='oven'></a><span class='it'>Ovenbird.</span> Also a warbler, but, though it sings high
-among the trees, nests on the ground among the
-leaves, the nest being closed at the top and open on
-the sides like an oven. A shy bird with a <span class='it'>golden
-brown crown edged by a black line</span>. Plain olive above,
-<span class='pageno' title='366' id='Page_366'></span>
-white beneath, with thrush-like black streaks on breast
-and sides.</p>
-
-<p class='hang'><a id='housew'></a><span class='it'>House Wren.</span> Dear little Jenny Wren, of several nests
-and a large family, who lives in our bird-boxes, outbuildings,
-and garden trellises. Gowned in reddish
-brown, with fine black bars and a pert little tail that
-she jerks nervously as she flies. Johnny Wren is
-the singing partner, for Jenny has no voice left of a
-morning after she has spluttered and scolded her
-bird neighbours and attended to her housekeeping.</p>
-
-<p class='hang'><a id='thrash1'></a><span class='it'>Brown Thrasher.</span></p>
-
-<p class='hang'><span class='it'>Catbird.</span><a id='cat2'></a></p>
-
-<p class='hang'><a id='wood1'></a><span class='it'>Wood Thrush.</span></p>
-
-<p class='hang'><a id='veery1'></a><span class='it'>Veery.</span>—No matter how familiar with them we may be,
-we must always pause to look and listen when we
-meet one of this wonderful quartette of vocalists, whose
-voices belong with the gorgeously apparelled singers
-of the opera; but the quiet plumage and demeanour
-of three of the four mark them for peaceful home
-life and seclusion.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>WINGED MYSTERIES</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Four birds there are that live under one roof, so to
-speak, for they belong to one order divided into three different
-families. They are perfectly familiar to most of us who
-have lived in the real country, and yet they awaken our
-curiosity anew every season when they return. These
-birds are the Whip-poor-will, <a id='swift3'></a>Chimney Swift, <a id='nhawk2'></a>Nighthawk,
-and <a id='hum1'></a>Humming-bird. The two first return to New England
-late in April; the two last during the first part of May,
-<span class='pageno' title='367' id='Page_367'></span>
-but it is better for us to take them all together now in
-April so as to be ready to recognize the first one that
-comes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The <span class='it'>Whip-poor-will</span> comes first. It is a bird of the
-woods; in size a little less than the Robin, but of a
-build peculiar to its own family, long and low, a contrast
-heightened by its short legs and its habit of sitting length-wise
-on a limb and close to it. In short, it does not
-perch, it ‘squats.’ Its general colour is black, white, and
-buff, much streaked and mottled. Its tail is <span class='it'>round</span>, half
-of the three outer feathers white, giving the effect of a
-white spot.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“All of you children of this wooded hill country know
-this bird that flies about the house and across the fields
-to the woods before dawn or soon after dark, making no
-more noise than the bats, until, stopping to rest, he mechanically
-jerks out his name, ‘Whip-poor-will-Whip-poor-will-Chuck!’
-So lonely and mournful does the cry sound
-in the distance that many weird stories have been told
-about the bird. But when the call comes close at hand,
-it is more cheerful, though always startling.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This bird builds no nest, but lays its pair of dull white
-eggs, so marked that they blend with the earth like
-lichens and mosses, on the bare ground, or at best among
-a few leaves. But rash as this seems, the protective
-colour that nature has given to the parents, eggs, and
-young serves to keep them as safe as many another bird
-in a well-woven tree nest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Then, too, aside from its picturesque qualities, the
-Whip-poor-will, as Mr. Forbush says of it, ‘is an animated
-insect trap. Its enormous mouth is surrounded by long
-<span class='pageno' title='368' id='Page_368'></span>
-bristles which form a wide fringe about a yawning cavity,
-and the bird flies rather low among the trees and over the
-undergrowth, snapping up nocturnal insects in flight.
-It is, perhaps, the greatest enemy of night-moths, but is
-quite as destructive to May beetles and other leaf-eating
-beetles.’</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE WOOD THRUSH AND THE WHIP-POOR-WILL</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>When the faintest flush of morning</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Overtints the distant hill,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>If you waken, if you listen</span>,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;You may hear the Whip-poor-will.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Like an echo from the darkness,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Strangely wild across the glen,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Sound the notes of his finale,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And the woods are still again.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Soon upon the dreamy silence</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;There will come a gentle trill,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Like the whisper of an organ,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Or the murmur of a rill,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And then a burst of music,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Swelling forth upon the air,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Till the melody of morning</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Seems to come from everywhere.</p>
-<p class='line0'>A Thrush, as if awakened by</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The parting voice of night,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Gives forth a joyous welcome to</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The coming of the light.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>In early evening twilight</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Again the Wood Thrush sings,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Like a voice of inspiration</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;With the melody of strings;</p>
-<p class='line0'>A song of joy ecstatic,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And a vesper hymn of praise,</p>
-<p class='line0'>For the glory of the summer</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And the promise of the days.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And when his song is ended,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And all the world grows still,</p>
-<p class='line0'>As if but just awakened,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Calls again the Whip-poor-will.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Garrett Newkirk</span>, in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='369' id='Page_369'></span>
-“<a id='nhawk3'></a><span class='it'>The Nighthawk</span>, when perching, bears a general resemblance
-to the Whip-poor-will. The white band on its
-throat is wider, the tail is <span class='it'>not</span> round, and it has
-white band near the end. There is a white
-bar across the quills of the wings that in flight looks like
-a round white spot or a hole.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“These four white patches, throat, wings, and tail tell
-you his name plainly, so when he is on the wing the Nighthawk
-should never be mistaken for a Whip-poor-will.
-Then, too, their habits are unlike. The Nighthawk does
-not belong to the night, neither is he a Hawk, which is
-a Bird of Prey with talons and a hooked beak. Early
-morning and late afternoon are his favourite times for
-hunting the sky for insects, for he also is one of our most
-valuable sky sweepers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Having no song, the cry of Skirk-skirk! given when
-on the wing, has a wild and eerie sound which is often
-followed by a booming noise of the quality that can be
-imitated by placing tissue-paper over a long, coarse comb
-and then blowing rapidly across it from one end to the
-other. This noise is made by the rush of the wind through
-<span class='pageno' title='370' id='Page_370'></span>
-the wing quills as the bird drops through the air after its
-winged food.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Nighthawk builds no nest, but lays its eggs on a
-bare rock in a field, amid the stones of rocky ground, on
-roofs even of city houses. Again does colour protection
-aid a bird, for the arrangements of its markings blend
-the Nighthawk with granite as perfectly as those of the
-Whip-poor-will conceal it in the woods.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Nighthawk, whose erratic flight makes it a target
-that piques the skill of a certain class of sportsmen, has
-frequently been shot at for prowess, the excuse being that
-it ‘wasn’t any good, anyway.’ Aside from the list of insects
-harmful to agriculture and domestic animals that
-it destroys, let us remember its crowning virtue, and cry
-‘Hands off!’ It kills mosquitoes, and has thus earned
-the local name of Mosquito-hawk.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is hard to believe that any one should insist that
-the Nighthawk and the Whip-poor-will are one and the
-same bird, but such has been the case, and among intelligent
-people also, though the mistake has been definitely
-settled by one of the Wise Men.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>A NIGHTHAWK INCIDENT</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>A discussion of the specific distinctness of the Whip-poor-will
-and Nighthawk, following an address to Connecticut
-agriculturists some years ago, led to my receipt,
-in July, 1900, of an invitation from a gentleman who was
-present, to come and see a bird then nesting on his farm
-that he believed combined the characters of both the
-Whip-poor-will and Nighthawk; in short, was the bird to
-which both these names applied.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i437.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0043' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>NIGHTHAWKS</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='371' id='Page_371'></span>
-Here was an opportunity to secure a much-desired
-photograph, and armed with the needed apparatus, as
-well as specimens of both the Nighthawk and Whip-poor-will,
-I boarded an early train for Stevenson, Connecticut,
-prepared to gain my point with bird as well as with man.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The latter accepted the specimens as incontrovertible
-facts, and readjusted his views as to the status of the birds
-they represented, and we may therefore at once turn our
-attention to the Nighthawk, who was waiting so patiently
-on a bit of granite out in the hayfields. The sun was
-setting when we reached the flat rock on which her eggs
-had been laid and young hatched, and where she had last
-been seen; but a fragment of egg-shell was the only evidence
-that the bare-looking spot had once been a bird’s
-home. The grass had lately been mowed, and there was
-no immediately surrounding cover in which the bird
-might have hidden. It is eloquent testimony of the value
-of her protective colouring, therefore, that we should almost
-have stepped on the bird, who had moved to a near-by
-flat rock as we approached the place in which we had
-expected to find her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Far more convincing, however, was her faith in her own
-invisibility. Even the presence of a dog did not tempt her
-to flight, and when the camera was erected on its tripod
-within three feet of her body, squatting so closely to its
-rocky background, her only movement was occasioned by
-her rapid breathing.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There was other cause, however, besides the belief in her
-own inconspicuousness to hold her to the rock: one little
-downy chick nestled at her side, and with instinctive
-obedience was as motionless as its parent.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='372' id='Page_372'></span>
-So they sat while picture after picture was made from
-various points of view, and still no movement, until the
-parent was lightly touched, when, starting quickly, she
-spread her long wings and sailed out over the fields.
-Perhaps she was startled, and deserted her young on the
-impulse of sudden fear. But in a few seconds she recovered
-herself, and circling, returned and spread herself
-out on the grass at my feet. Then followed the evolutions
-common to so many birds but wonderful in all. With
-surprising skill in mimicry, the bird fluttered painfully
-along, ever just beyond my reach, until it had led me a
-hundred feet or more from its young, and then, the feat
-evidently successful, it sailed away again, to perch first
-on a fence and later on a limb in characteristic (length-wise)
-Nighthawk attitude.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>How are we to account for the development in so many
-birds of what is now a common habit? Ducks, Snipe,
-Grouse, Doves, some ground-nesting Sparrows and Warblers,
-and many other species also feign lameness, with
-the object of drawing a supposed enemy from the vicinity
-of their nest or young. Are we to believe that each individual
-who in this most reasonable manner opposes strategy
-to force, does so intelligently? Or are we to believe that
-the habit has been acquired through the agency of natural
-selection, and is now purely instinctive? Probably
-neither question can be answered until we know beyond
-question whether this mimetic or deceptive power is
-inherited.—<span class='sc'>Frank M. Chapman</span>, in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk127'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='swift4'></a>Now comes the <span class='it'>Chimney Swift</span>, universally called the
-Chimney Swallow; with small, compact body, only a little
-<span class='pageno' title='373' id='Page_373'></span>
-larger than a Bank Swallow, and long, strong wings, it
-dominates the air in which it lives and feeds, and so
-little does it use its feet that it does not perch
-on them, but brackets itself against post, wall,
-or chimney, Woodpecker fashion, the sharp, pointed quills
-of its short tail acting as a brace.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In colour the Chimney Swift is sooty gray, and as it
-darts about the sky it looks like a winged spruce cone, the
-wings being held further forward in flight than those of
-the average bird.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Like their cousins the Nighthawks, they feed chiefly
-in early morning and late afternoon, though in the nesting
-season this work continues all day. In the old wild days,
-like many another bird, this Swift built its basket nest of
-twigs and bird glue on the inside wall of hollow trees,
-but when man came, hollow trees went, and so, with the
-happy adaptability of Heart of Nature himself, the bird
-moved to the hollow chimneys of man’s own invention,
-and so, unwittingly, descended from his sky parlour and
-became the one real fireside bird that we have. And
-for this companionship he is willing to brave the risk of
-being smoked out and having sparks scorch his nest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now that wide-mouthed stone chimneys are also disappearing,
-what remains for this Swift? We do not
-know, unless he changes his home to the open air and
-builds his bracket nests on outside walls.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Swift folds his wings and dives down the chimney
-to his nest silently as a bird cleaves the water, but when he
-rises, a roar of rapidly whirring wings marks the ascent,
-so that sometimes it annoys the people in whose rooms
-the chimney opens. Last summer, in the old orchard-house
-<span class='pageno' title='374' id='Page_374'></span>
-where Miss Wilde lives, we used to sit before the
-wide fireplace and listen to the Swifts twittering and
-whirling in and out of the chimney, and by looking up on
-a bright day their nests could be seen plainly. Once in
-a while an accident would happen, and Goldilocks will
-show you a beautiful bracket nest and five white eggs that
-became loosened after a storm and fell out on to the
-hearth.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But now that there is a fire all the time and a coal
-stove at Swallow Chimney, won’t the birds choke if they
-live there?” asked Sarah Barnes. “Grandma says they
-can stand wood smoke, but that coal-gas ‘spixiates’ ’em;
-’cause we’ve never had any at our house since we’ve been
-burning coal.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I believe that your grandmother is right,” said Gray
-Lady, “and for this reason I have planned to have a new
-outside chimney for the cooking stove, so that the real
-‘Swallow Chimney’ may be only used for the wood
-hearth fires, and so continue to be their home for as long
-as I live or the birds wish to rent it.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i442.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0044' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>R. H. Beebe, Photo.</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>CHIMNEY SWIFT RESTING</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>TO A CHIMNEY SWIFT</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Uncumbered neighbour of our race!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Thou only of thy clan</p>
-<p class='line0'>Hast made thy haunt and dwelling-place</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Within the walls of man.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Thy haughty wing, which rides the storm,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Hath stooped to Earth’s desires,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And round thy eery rises warm</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The smoke of human fires.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Still didst thou come from lands afar</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;In childhood days as now,—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Yet alien as the planets are,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And elfin-strange art thou.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Thy little realm of quick delights,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Fierce instincts, untaught powers—</p>
-<p class='line0'>What unimagined days and nights</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Cut off that realm from ours!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Thy soul is of the dawn of Earth,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And thine the secrets be</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of sentient being’s far-off birth</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And round-eyed infancy.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>With thee, beneath our sheltering roof,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The starry Sphinx doth dwell,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Untamed, eternally aloof</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And inaccessible!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Dora Read Goodale</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='pageno' title='375' id='Page_375'></span><a id='hum2'></a>THE RUBY-THROATED HUMMING-BIRD</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The last and least of the four-winged mysteries is
-also the smallest of our birds, lacking a quarter of being
-four inches long. But it does not need size to proclaim
-its beauty any more than a glowing ruby or emerald;
-and indeed it wears both of these gems, the one on its
-throat and the other on its back. Its world is the garden
-where everything is brightest, its food nectar, and such
-little aphis as gather in it, and its home lashed by cobwebs
-to a slender branch, a fairy nest of plant, wool, and lichens,
-soft as feather down, wherein lie two eggs, white and
-opaque and glistening like some fresh-water pearls.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='376' id='Page_376'></span>
-“When on the wing it either darts about like a ray of
-feathered light, or else, poised before a deep-throated
-flower, remains apparently motionless, though its wings
-vibrate with the mechanical hum of a fly-wheel of perfect
-workmanship.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In spite of the fact that Father Humming-bird takes
-himself to parts unknown and leaves his mate to tend both
-eggs and birds, the mother is neither put out nor discouraged,
-and makes a model parent, who gathers and
-swallows the food for her tiny offspring and then, by a
-pumping process called regurgitation, brings it up and, taking
-no chances of spilling a drop, literally rams it into
-the little throat! This bird is to me the greatest mystery
-of all. It comes and it goes, but how does it endure the
-stress of weather and travel? Many a moth outspans it
-in breadth of wings. If the flight of the Wild Goose is
-wonderful in its courage, what of the Humming-bird?
-Is Puck of Pook’s Hill still alive, and has he feathered
-playfellows?</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE HUMMING-BIRD</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Is it a monster bee,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Or is it a midget bird,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Or yet an air-born mystery</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;That now yon marigold has stirred,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And now on vocal wing</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;To a neighbour bloom has whirred</p>
-<p class='line0'>In an aëry ecstasy, in a passion of pilfering?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Ah! ’tis the Humming-bird,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Rich-coated one,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Ruby-throated one,</p>
-<p class='line0'>That is not chosen for song,</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>But throws its whole rapt sprite</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Into the secrets of flowers</p>
-<p class='line0'>The summer days along,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Into most odorous hours</p>
-<p class='line0'>It’s a murmurous sound of wings too swift for sight.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Richard Burton.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='377' id='Page_377'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE WOOD THRUSH</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>He has a coat of cinnamon brown,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The brightest on his head and crown,</p>
-<p class='line0'>A very low-cut vest of white</p>
-<p class='line0'>That shines like satin in the light,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And on his breast a hundred spots,</p>
-<p class='line0'>As if he wore a veil with dots;</p>
-<p class='line0'>With movement quick and full of grace,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The highbred manner of his race;</p>
-<p class='line0'>A very prince of birds is he</p>
-<p class='line0'>Whose form it is a joy to see.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>And <span class='it'>music</span>—was there ever heard</p>
-<p class='line0'>A sweeter song from any bird?</p>
-<p class='line0'>Now clarion-like, so loud and clear,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Now like a whisper low and near,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And now, again, with rhythmic swells</p>
-<p class='line0'>And tinkling harmony of bells,</p>
-<p class='line0'>He seems to play accompaniment</p>
-<p class='line0'>Upon some harp-like instrument.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Garrett Newkirk</span>, in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>MOCKERS AND THRUSHES</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“How many of you know the <a id='wood2'></a><span class='it'>Wood Thrush</span>, or, if you do
-not know his name, can recognize him by aid of these
-verses?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='378' id='Page_378'></span>
-“I know it,” answered little Clary; “I know his colour
-and the way his song tinkles, but up at our house we call
-him Song Thrush. Why, Gray Lady, he doesn’t
-live in the woods; we haven’t any woods. He
-stays right around the garden and orchard, and last
-summer they made a nest in the crotch of a sugar-maple
-so low that I could see into it by standing on the fence.
-It looked just like Robin’s nest, and it had some rags
-woven into it, and the eggs are like the Robin’s, too.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Mother said that I mustn’t watch too long, or they
-might not come back next year, but that if we didn’t
-bother them, they might come back, and the children,
-too, and bring their wives.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This pair seemed real tame; they used to hop all
-round on the grass where the clothes dry, and they drank
-out of Roy’s dish. He’s a Collie dog, you know, and they
-don’t bother birds at all the way bird-dogs will sometimes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Thrushes did eat some strawberries and currants,
-but mother said to credit those to company, for they
-pleasured her when she sat sewing on the porch of afternoons
-more than all the company she ever had to tea,
-for they had to have sugar and cream on their berries,
-and left plates and spoons to wash up, and the Thrushes
-cleared up after themselves and gave a concert every
-night.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You know, Gray Lady, it isn’t nice to have company
-and not give them any lunch, so mother says if you have
-nice garden birds, why should you expect more of them
-than of folks?”</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i447.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0045' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>E. Van Alterna, Photo.</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>WOOD THRUSH AND NEST</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Why, indeed,” said Gray Lady. “I will go and see
-your mother and ask her to come to Birdland. A mother
-<span class='pageno' title='379' id='Page_379'></span>
-in a community who thinks as she does is better than half
-a dozen bird wardens.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I know that bird, too,” said Dave, “but on the hill
-where I live he stays in the river woods and only comes
-out to the lane edge to get wild cherries and blackcaps
-and shadberries. We call it Wood Robin, ’cause it’s
-shaped like a Robin and runs on the ground like one, only
-it’s different in colour. Do you suppose they are the
-same bird? Or are there two that seem alike, like the
-Nighthawk and Whip-poor-will?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Wood Thrush, Song Thrush, Wood Robin, are all one;
-the shy bird of river woods or the lovely musician of gardens
-and home grounds, where they are protected and
-dogs reign instead of cats. This place is vocal with them all
-through May, June, and well into July. Not only Birdland
-and the orchard, but the garden and trees on the lawn.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“One afternoon last June, when Goldilocks lay in her
-hammock under the spruces, four were singing where I
-could see all at once,—and oh, that song! As the bird
-sits in a tree-top with head thrown back and pours it
-forth,</p>
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='noindent'>‘the song of the Wood Thrush is one of the finest
-specimens of bird music that America can produce.
-Among all the bird songs I have ever heard, it is second
-only in quality to that of the Hermit Thrush. Its tones
-are solemn and serene. They seem to harmonize with the
-sounds of the forest, the whispering breeze, the purling
-water, or the falling of raindrops in the summer woods.’</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;'>—<span class='sc'>E. H. Forbush.</span></p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk128'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This Thrush has a sharp alarm note, ‘Pit! Pit!’ and
-a sort of whistle that he seems to use as a signal. Fruit
-<span class='pageno' title='380' id='Page_380'></span>
-he does eat at times, but he has as long a list of evil
-insects to his credit as the Robin himself. Unfortunately,
-owing to his size and plumpness, southern vandals shoot
-him in the fall and winter. Fancy silencing his heavenly
-voice for a pitiful mouthful of meat.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is another Thrush that lives in your river woods,
-Dave, smaller than the Wood Thrushes, tawny of back,
-and a buffy breast with faint arrow-shaped spots upon it,
-the Wilson’s Thrush, or Veery. It has not so long and
-varied a song as either the Wood Thrush or the more
-northern Hermit Thrush, is really but an echo song,
-wonderfully pure and spiritual in quality. One of the
-Wise Men gives in syllables this ‘Ta-weel-ah-ta-weel-ah,’
-pronounced in whispering head tones, and then repeated
-a third lower, ending with the twang of a stringed instrument.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At evening and until quite late into the night these
-birds echo themselves and each other. It is not a song
-to hear amid laughter and talking, but for the heart that
-is alone, even if not lonely. To at least one of our poets,
-he who best interprets the song-life of birds, it rivals the
-famous English Nightingale.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='veery2'></a>“Aside from its musical value, the Veery, feeding as it
-does almost altogether on insects, has a practical side as
-a neighbour. It also has a most penetrating call-note, a
-‘Whew! Whew!’ heard after the song is over, that is at
-once resentful, critical, and challenging, as if questioning
-your right to be in its woodland retreat in the nesting
-time, and condemning your persistence. Many people,
-who do not know the bird by sight, know both its echo
-song and its note of alarm and challenge.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='381' id='Page_381'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE INCREDULOUS VEERY</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Two hunters chanced one day to meet</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Near by a thicket wood;</p>
-<p class='line0'>They paused each other there to greet,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Both in a playful mood.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Said one, “I had to wade a stream,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Now, this you must not doubt,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And when I reached the other shore</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;My boots were full of trout.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'><span class='it'>Whew!</span> cried a Veery perched in view</p>
-<p class='line0'>To hear if what they said were true. <span class='it'>Whew!</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The other’s wit was now well whet.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Said he, “Let me narrate:</p>
-<p class='line0'>I bought three hundred traps and set</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;For fur both small and great;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Now, when next morning came, behold,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Each trap contained a skin;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And other disappointed game</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Stood waiting to get in.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The astonished Veery whistled, <span class='it'>Whew!</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>I hardly think that story true. <span class='it'>Whew!!!</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Florence A. Van Sant</span>, in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk129'/>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><a id='thrash2'></a>THE BROWN THRASHER</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Also called <span class='it'>Brown Thrush</span>, <span class='it'>Red Mavis</span>, <span class='it'>Planting Bird</span>.
-Brown of back, with his white throat and belly speckled
-with black arrow marks, a long, curved bill, and long, restless
-tail, whose thrashing gives the bird his name, this
-bird combines the markings of the Thrush with the general
-<span class='pageno' title='382' id='Page_382'></span>
-build of a true Mockingbird, while in varied and rich
-song it rivals the <a id='cat3'></a>Catbird, its shorter song season, however,
-leaving its gray-backed neighbour in the lead.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This spring Brown Thrasher came to the bushy end
-of the orchard the last of April, and scratched about in
-the leaves like a Grouse. In a few days I saw him in
-the back of the garden, where Jacob had a great pile of
-pea-brush. This the bird looked at favourably. Birds
-know how to get in and out of pea-brush, but cats are
-afraid of the sharp twigs.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“For a couple of weeks or more I heard him singing
-every day in the tree-tops, and I wondered where he would
-locate.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Jacob, one morning, told me that he wished to use the
-pea-brush, but that a ‘pair of great brown birds that beat
-their tails and “sassed” him when he came near’ had built
-a nest of twigs in the back of the heap. ‘My friends, the
-Thrashers,’ said I, ‘will need that brush for a couple of
-months. Have you no more in the lot?’ Jacob had
-plenty with only the trouble of carting.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now hardy vines have grown over the brush and
-tangled into what Goldilocks calls a lovely ‘Thrashery’
-that will last for several years.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I know them,” said Jack Todd; “they are mockers
-and jeerers for certain; when Dad and I plant the big
-south field with corn every spring, they come in the berry-bushes
-by the fence and tell us how to do it, and that if
-we’re smart and take their advice, we won’t cut the fence
-brush until they are done with nesting.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But can’t they pick cherries to beat the band? Last
-summer I was up in the ox-heart tree and they came in
-<span class='pageno' title='383' id='Page_383'></span>
-the top and picked ’em off, just as they grew in pairs, and
-flew away with them as pleased and satisfied as if they
-were picking them for market and were a week ahead of
-the season. Dad was awfully down on them once, but
-one morning about two years ago he got up at daylight
-to try and get the cutworms that were spoiling his early
-cauliflowers, and there were Thrashers and Catbirds doing
-the work for him, watching out for the worms to move
-ground just as clever as a man could.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As<a id='cat4'></a> for the <span class='it'>Catbird</span> or <span class='it'>New England Mockingbird</span>, trim
-of shape, and shrewd of eye, what should we do without
-him? He is a graphophone in feathers, that
-gives us selections from all the popular bird songs of
-the day, with this addition—there is no mechanical
-twang to mar the melody, and when the repertoire is
-ended he improvises by the hour.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Ah, the merry, mischievous Mocker, all dressed in a
-parson’s suit of gray, with a solemn black cap on his head
-that is as full of tricks as his throat is of music.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You say, ‘Yes, I know that he is a jolly musician, but
-my father says that he bites the best strawberries and
-cherries, and always on the ripest cheek!’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well, so he does <span class='it'>sometimes</span>; but his ancestors lived
-on that spot where your garden stands before yours did,
-and you have more ways of earning a living than he has.
-Give him something else to eat. Plant a little wild fruit
-along your fences.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Some people think that he likes to live in seclusion,
-but he doesn’t; he likes to be near people and perch on a
-clothes-pole to plume and sing. Yes, indeed, and he
-shall nest in the syringa nearest my garden, where he gets
-<span class='pageno' title='384' id='Page_384'></span>
-his fresh fruit for breakfast, and be the only thing with
-anything catlike about it on my premises!”</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE CATBIRD</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>He sits on a branch of yon blossoming bush,</p>
-<p class='line0'>This madcap cousin of Robin and Thrush,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And sings without ceasing the whole morning long</p>
-<p class='line0'>Now wild, now tender, the wayward song</p>
-<p class='line0'>That flows from his soft, gray, fluttering throat.</p>
-<p class='line0'>But often he stops in his sweetest note,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And, shaking a flower from the blossoming bough,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Drawls out, “Mi-ew, mi-ou!”</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i454.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0046' style='width:100%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>Dr. T. S. Roberts, Photo.</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>CATBIRD ON NEST</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='385' id='Page_385'></span><h1>XXV<br/> <span class='sub-head'>BIRD AND ARBOUR DAY AT FOXES CORNERS</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was the first Friday of May, the day that was set
-apart for Arbour and Bird Day in the schools. Gray Lady
-and Miss Wilde had thought of having the celebration in
-Birdland, but for a good reason decided to hold it in the
-schoolhouse.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The reason was this: One day after the schoolhouse
-had been put in order,—for Gray Lady had persuaded
-the town fathers to have the walls painted, and had then
-given a band of soft green burlap that covered the wall
-just above the chair board, and made a fine background
-against which pictures might be pinned and then changed
-at will,—little Clary said with a sigh, “I wish we could
-have a bird party here in school some day, so’s mother
-could <span class='it'>see</span> how we learn about the birds; it would be much
-realer than my telling her about it.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So a very simple programme was arranged for the forenoon,
-and the parents invited. It is a great mistake to
-hold celebrations that are too long when it is spring, and
-the weather is so bright and the bird music so fine that
-people can learn much more by being out-of-doors than in
-poring over books.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The first part of the programme was under the charge
-of Jacob Hughes and the older boys. It consisted in the
-planting of some strong young sugar-maples to complete
-the row between the schoolhouse and the highway that
-<span class='pageno' title='386' id='Page_386'></span>
-had been begun last autumn. The holes had been dug
-the day previous, and Mr. Todd brought the trees from
-his grove in the hay-cart, with plenty of earth about their
-roots, and after they were set straight and true, the boys
-filled in the holes and tramped the earth down firmly.
-After this the little boys brought water, four pails being
-considered a sufficient drink for each tree.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Next, a dozen shrubs were planted in the eastern corner
-of the bit of ground where it rolled up toward the brush-lot
-and the earth was deep and good. They were varieties
-that would flower in May and June, before the closing of
-school. Syringa, Weigela, Yellow Forsythia, Purple and
-White Lilac, Snowballs, Spireas, Scarlet Flowering Quince,
-Strawberry Shrub, and Deutzia. Between this shrubbery
-a little strip along the north fence had been made into a
-long bed of about thirty feet, and the girls had been asked
-to collect enough hardy plants from about the farm gardens
-to fill it; for there is little use in planting bedding or
-annual flowers in school yards, for these are later in starting
-and are killed by early frost.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The girls had been very successful in their task, and a
-goodly assortment of old-fashioned, hardy plants, that
-many a gardener would envy, was the result: Iris of
-several shades, Peonies, Sweet Williams, Larkspur, Foxgloves,
-Honesty, May Pinks, Lemon Lilies, Johnny-jumpers,
-and several good roots of Cinnamon and Damask
-Roses were among the collection, while Sarah Barnes’
-grandmother sent a basket of the roots of hardy button
-Chrysanthemums—pink, white, crimson, yellow, and
-tawny—that she said would hold out from October to
-Thanksgiving if they had “bushes between them and the
-<span class='pageno' title='387' id='Page_387'></span>
-north.” It was quite eleven o’clock when, the planting
-over and the benches that the boys had made during
-the winter set in place, the children, whose hands were
-washed under very difficult conditions, gathered in the
-school.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But those parents who cared to come had meanwhile had
-a chance to go into the little building, see the pictures,
-charts, and books on the shelf behind the desk, and chat
-with Miss Wilde in a friendly, informal way that was
-helpful to all concerned.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Goldilocks had been there all the morning, but when
-Gray Lady arrived she brought with her a friend of “the
-General’s,” who was also a <span class='it'>Wise Man</span> in one of the chief
-agricultural colleges of the country, who had promised
-to talk to the children. Gray Lady herself was to read
-them some bird poetry, and Miss Wilde a little story of
-her own invention, while as a finale the children themselves
-were to recite some verses where ten familiar birds
-were represented each by a child who wore a cap and
-shoulder cape, cleverly made of crêpe paper, that would
-give a clew, at least, to the bird he or she represented.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>These costumes had been made at the last Saturday
-meeting of the Kind Hearts’ Club, in the playroom at
-“the General’s,” and had caused no little fun, the idea of
-them having come from the caps in the mottoes at that
-orchard party, in September, eight months before, when
-the children first entered Birdland.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This is the poem that Gray Lady read. She had a voice
-that sang even in speaking, and as Goldilocks often said,
-“When mother reads bird poetry you don’t hear the words,
-but the birds themselves.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='388' id='Page_388'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>BIRDS IN SPRING</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>What time the rose of dawn is laid across the lips of night,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And all the drowsy little stars have fallen asleep in light,</p>
-<p class='line0'>’Tis then a wandering wind awakes, and runs from tree to tree,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And borrows words from all the birds to sound the reveille.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;This is the carol the Robin throws</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Over the edge of the valley;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Listen how boldly it flows,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Sally on sally:</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Tirra-lirra, down the river,</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Laughing water all a-quiver.</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Day is near, clear, clear.</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Fish are breaking,</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Time for waking.</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Tup, tup, tup!</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Do you hear? All clear.</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Wake up!</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The phantom flood of dreams has ebbed and vanished with the dark,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And like a dove the heart forsakes the prison of the ark;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Now forth she fares through friendly woods and diamond-fields of dew,</p>
-<p class='line0'>While every voice cries out “Rejoice!” as if the world were new.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;This is the ballad the Bluebird sings,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Unto his mate replying,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Shaking the tune from his wings</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;While he is flying:</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Surely, surely, surely,</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Life is dear</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Even here.</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Blue above,</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>You to love,</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Purely, purely, purely.</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>There’s wild azalea on the hill, and roses down the dell,</p>
-<p class='line0'><span class='pageno' title='389' id='Page_389'></span></p>
-<p class='line0'>And just a spray of lilac still a-bloom beside the well;</p>
-<p class='line0'>The columbine adorns the rocks, the laurel buds grow pink,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Along the stream white arums gleam, and violets bend to drink.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;This is the song of the Yellowthroat,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Fluttering gayly beside you;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Hear how each voluble note</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Offers to guide you:</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Which way, sir?</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>I say, sir,</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Let me teach you,</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>I beseech you!</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Are you wishing</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Jolly fishing?</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>This way, sir!</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Let me teach you.</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Oh come, forget your foes and fears, and leave your cares behind,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And wander forth to try your luck, with cheerful, quiet mind;</p>
-<p class='line0'>For be your fortune great or small, you’ll take what God may give,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And all the day your heart will say, “ ’Tis luck enough to live.”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;This is the song the Brown Thrush flings</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Out of his thicket of roses;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Hark how it warbles and rings,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Mark how it closes:</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Luck, luck,</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>What luck?</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Good enough for me!</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>I’m alive, you see.</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Sun shining, no repining;</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Never borrow idle sorrow;</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Drop it! Cover it up!</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Hold your cup!</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Joy will fill it,</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Don’t spill it!</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Steady, be ready,</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;<span class='it'>Love your luck!</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Henry van Dyke</span>, in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='390' id='Page_390'></span>
-“I do declare!” exclaimed Tommy Todd’s grandfather,
-speaking out loud, much to the boy’s embarrassment.
-“I reckon I’ll get out a pole and go a-trout-fishing to-morrow
-dawn. I haven’t thought of a yallerthroat, not since
-I used to go casting in the brook that ran through Ogden’s
-meadows among the bush willows, and them birds kept
-hollerin’ on ahead.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>This is what the Wise Man told the children, standing
-in front of Miss Wilde’s desk and speaking as if he knew
-them all by name.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE BIRDS AND I</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The springtime belongs to the birds and me. We own
-it. We know when the May-flowers and the buttercups
-bloom. We know when the first frogs peep. We watch
-the awakening of the woods. We are wet by the warm
-April showers. We go where we will, and we are companions.
-Every tree and brook and blade of grass is ours;
-and our hearts are full of song.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There are boys who kill the birds, and girls who want to
-catch them and put them in cages; and there are others
-who steal their eggs. The birds are not partners with
-them; they are only servants. Birds, like people, sing
-for their friends, not for their masters. I am sure that
-one cannot think much of the springtime and the flowers
-if his heart is always set upon killing or catching something.
-<span class='pageno' title='391' id='Page_391'></span>
-We are happy when we are free; and so are the
-birds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The birds and I get acquainted all over again every
-spring. They have seen strange lands in the winter, and
-all the brooks and woods have been covered with snow.
-So we run and romp together, and find all the nooks and
-crannies which we had half forgotten since October. The
-birds remember the old places. The Wrens pull the sticks
-from the old hollow rail and seem to be wild with joy to
-see the place again. They must be the same Wrens that
-were here last year and the year before, for strangers
-could not make so much fuss over an old rail. The Bluebirds
-and Wrens look into every crack and corner for a
-place in which to build, and the Robins and Chipping-sparrows
-explore every tree in the old orchard.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>If the birds want to live with us, we should encourage
-them. The first thing to do is to let them alone. Let
-them be as free from danger and fear as you or I. Take
-the hammer off the old gun, give pussy so much to eat
-that she will not care to hunt for birds, and keep away the
-boys who steal eggs and who carry sling-shots and throw
-stones. Plant trees and bushes about the borders of the
-place, and let some of them, at least, grow into tangles;
-then, even in the back yard, the wary Catbird may make
-its home.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For some kinds of birds we can build houses. You
-have been doing this all through the winter, I hear.
-Some of the many forms which can be used are shown in
-the pictures, but any ingenious boy can suggest a dozen
-other patterns. Although birds may not appreciate
-architecture, it is well to make the houses neat and tasty
-<span class='pageno' title='392' id='Page_392'></span>
-by taking pains to have the proportions right. The floor
-space in each compartment should be not less than five
-by six inches, and six by six or six by eight may be better.
-By cutting the boards in multiples of these numbers, one
-can easily make a house with several compartments; for
-there are some birds, as Martins, Tree Swallows, and
-Pigeons that like to live in families or colonies. The size of
-the doorway is important. It should be just large enough
-to admit the bird. A larger opening not only looks bad,
-but it exposes the inhabitants to dangers of cats and other
-enemies. Birds which build in houses, aside from Doves
-and Pigeons, are Bluebirds, Wrens, Tree Swallows, Martins,
-and sometimes the Chickadee. For the Wren and Chickadee
-the opening should be an inch-and-a-half augur-hole,
-and for the others it should be two inches. Only one
-opening should be provided for each house or compartment.
-A perch or doorstep should be provided just below
-each door. It is here that the birds often stop to arrange
-their toilets; and when the mistress is busy with domestic
-affairs indoors, the male bird often sits outside and entertains
-her with the latest neighbourhood gossip. These
-houses should be placed on poles or on buildings in somewhat
-secluded places. Martins and Tree Swallows like to
-build their nests twenty-five feet or more above the
-ground, but the other birds usually prefer an elevation less
-than twelve feet. Newly made houses, and particularly
-newly painted ones, do not often attract the birds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>But if the birds and I are companions, I must know them
-more intimately. Merely building houses for them is not
-enough. I want to know live and happy birds, not dead
-ones. We are not to know them, then, by catching them,
-<span class='pageno' title='393' id='Page_393'></span>
-nor stuffing them, nor collecting their eggs. Persons who
-make a business of studying birds may shoot birds now
-and then, and collect their eggs. But these persons are
-scientists and they are grown-up people. They are trying
-to add to the sum of human knowledge, but we want to
-know birds just because we want to. But even scientists
-do not take specimens recklessly. They do not rob
-nests. They do not kill brooding birds. They do not
-make collections merely for the sake of making them;
-and even their collections are less valuable than a knowledge
-of the bird as it lives and flies and sings.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Boys and girls should not make collections of eggs, for
-these collections are mere curiosities, as collections of
-spools and marbles are. They may afford some entertainment,
-to be sure, but one can find amusement in
-harmless ways. Some people think that making collections
-makes one a naturalist, but it does not. The
-naturalist cares more for things as they really are in their
-own homes than for museum specimens. One does not
-love the birds when he steals their eggs and breaks up
-their homes; and he is depriving the farmer of one of his
-best friends, for birds keep insects in check!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Stuffed birds do not sing and empty eggs do not hatch.
-Then let us go to the fields and watch the birds. Sit down
-on the soft grass and try to make out what the Robin is
-doing on yonder fence or why the Wren is bursting with
-song in the thicket. An opera-glass or spy-glass will
-bring them close to you. Try to find out not only what
-the colours and shapes and sizes are, but what their habits
-are. What does the bird eat? How much does it eat?
-Where is its nest? How many eggs does it lay? What
-<span class='pageno' title='394' id='Page_394'></span>
-colour are they? How long does the mother bird sit?
-Does the father bird care for her when she is sitting?
-For how long do the young birds remain in the nest?
-Who feeds them? What are they fed? Is there more
-than one brood in the season? Where do the birds go
-after breeding? Do they change their plumage? Are
-the mother birds and father birds unlike in size or colour?
-How many kinds of birds do you know?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>These are some of the things which every boy or girl
-wants to know; and we can find out by watching the
-birds! There is no harm in visiting the nests, if one does
-it in the right way. I have visited hundreds of them
-and have kept many records of the number of eggs and
-the dates when they were laid, how long before they
-hatched, and when the birds flew away; and the birds
-took no offence at my inquisitiveness. These are some
-of the cautions to be observed: Watch only those nests
-which can be seen without climbing, for if you have to
-climb the tree, the birds will resent it. Make the visit
-when the birds are absent if possible; at least, never
-scare the bird from the nest. Do not touch the eggs or
-the nest. Make your visit very short. Make up your
-mind just what you want to see, then look in quickly
-and pass on. Do not go too often, once or twice a day
-will be sufficient. Do not take the other children with
-you, for you are then apt to stay too long and to offend
-the birds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Now let us see how intimately you can become acquainted
-with some bird this summer.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:3em;'>—<span class='sc'>L. H. Bailey.</span></p>
-
-<hr class='tbk130'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='395' id='Page_395'></span>
-This is the little story that Miss Wilde read them, and
-they were very anxious as to what schoolhouse and
-children she really meant, but she said that was a secret.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE BIRDS AND THE TREES</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was May Day. Half a dozen birds had collected in
-an old apple tree, which stood in a pasture close by the
-road that passed the schoolhouse; some of them had not
-met for many months, consequently a wave of conversation
-rippled through the branches.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You were in a great hurry, the last time I saw you,”
-said the little black-and-white Downy Woodpecker to
-the Brown Thrasher, who was pluming his long tail, exclaiming
-now and then because the feathers would not
-lie straight.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Indeed! When? I do not remember. What was I
-doing?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It was the last of October; a cold storm was blowing
-up, and you were starting on your southern trip in such
-a haste that you did not hear me call ‘good-by’ from
-this same tree, where I was picking insect eggs that
-expected to hide safely in the bark all winter, only to
-hatch into all kinds of mischief in the spring. But I was
-too quick for them; my keen eyes spied them and my beak
-chiselled them out. Winter and summer I’m always at
-work, yet some house-people do not understand that I work
-for my living. They seem to think that a bird who does
-not sing is good for nothing but a target for them to
-shoot at.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“That is true,” said the dust-coloured Phœbe, dashing
-<span class='pageno' title='396' id='Page_396'></span>
-out to swallow a May beetle, which stuck in her throat,
-causing her to choke and cough. “I can only call, yet I
-worked with the best for the farmer where I lodged last
-year. I made a nest on his cowshed rafters and laid two
-sets of lovely white eggs, but his boys stole them and that
-was all my thanks for a season’s toil.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Singing birds do not fare much better,” said the
-Thrasher. “I may say frankly that I have a fine voice
-and I can sing as many tunes as any wild bird, but children
-rob my nest, when they can find it, and house-people
-drive me from their gardens, thinking I’m stealing berries.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They treat me even worse,” said the Robin, bolting
-a cutworm he had brought from a piece of ploughed land.
-“In spring, when I lead the Bird Chorus night and morning,
-they rob my nest. In summer they drive me from
-the gardens, where I work peacefully, and in autumn,
-when I linger through the gloomy days, long after your
-travelling brothers have disappeared, they shoot me for
-pot-pie!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It is a shame!” blustered Jennie Wren. “Not that
-I suffer much myself, for I’m not good to eat, and I’m a
-most ticklish mark to shoot at. Though I lose some eggs,
-I usually give a piece of my mind to any one who disturbs
-me, and immediately go and lay another nest full.
-Yet I say it is a shame, the way we poor birds are treated,
-more like tramps than citizens, though we are citizens,
-every one of us who pays rent and works for the family.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Hear, hear!” croaked the Cuckoo, with the yellow
-bill. He is always hoarse, probably because he eats so
-many caterpillars that his throat is rough with their hairs.
-<span class='pageno' title='397' id='Page_397'></span>
-“Something ought to be done, but can Jennie Wren tell
-us what it shall be?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I’ve noticed that most of the boys and girls who rob
-our nests and whose parents drive us from their gardens
-go every day to that square house down the road yonder,”
-said Mrs. Wren. “Now if some bird with a fine voice
-that would <span class='it'>make</span> them listen could only fly in the window
-and sing a song, telling them how useful even the songless
-bird brothers are, they might treat us better and tell their
-parents about us when they go home.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Well spoken,” said the Robin; “but who would venture
-into that house with all those boys? There is one
-boy in there who, last year, killed my mate with a stone
-in a bean-shooter, and also shot my cousin, a Bluebird.
-Then the boy’s sister cut off the wings of these dead
-brothers and wore them in her hat. I think it would be
-dangerous to go in that schoolhouse.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The windows are open,” said the Song Sparrow, who
-had listened in silence. “I hear the children singing, so
-they must be happy. I will go down and speak to them,
-for though I have no grand voice, they all know me and
-perhaps they will understand my homely wayside song.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>So the Sparrow flew down the road, but as he paused
-in the lilac hedge before going in the window, he heard
-that the voices were singing about birds, telling of their
-music, beauty, and good deeds. While he hesitated in
-great wonder at the sounds, the children trooped out, the
-girls carrying pots of geraniums which they began to
-plant in some beds by the walk. Then two boys brought
-a fine young maple tree to set in the place of an old tree
-that had died. A woman with a bright, pleasant face
-<span class='pageno' title='398' id='Page_398'></span>
-came to the door to watch the children at their planting,
-saying to the boys, “This is Arbour Day, the day of planting
-trees, but pray remember that it is Bird Day also.
-You may dig a deep hole for your tree and water it well;
-but if you wish it to grow and flourish, beg the birds to
-help you. The old tree died because insects gnawed it,
-for you were rough and cruel, driving all the birds away
-from hereabouts and robbing their nests.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Please, ma’am,” said a little girl, “our orchard was full
-of spinning caterpillars last season and we had no apples.
-Then father read in a book the government sent him
-that Cuckoos would eat the caterpillars all up, so he let
-the Cuckoos stay, and this year the trees are nice and
-clean and all set full of buds!”</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk131'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Song Sparrow did not wait to hear any more, but
-flew back to his companions with the news.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I shall put my nest under the lilac hedge to show the
-children that I trust them,” said he, after the birds had
-recovered from their surprise.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I will lodge in the bushes near the old apple tree,” said
-the Cuckoo; “it needs me sadly.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I will build over the schoolhouse door,” said the
-Phoebe; “there is a peafield near by that will need me
-to keep the weevils away.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I think I will take the nice little nook under the
-gable,” said Jennie Wren, “though I need not build for
-two weeks yet, and I have not even chosen my mate.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I shall go to the sill of that upper window where the
-blind is half closed,” said the Robin. “They have planted
-<span class='pageno' title='399' id='Page_399'></span>
-early cauliflowers in the great field and I must help the
-farmer catch the cutworms.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I will stay by also,” said the Woodpecker. “I know
-of a charming hole in an old telegraph pole and I can see
-to the bark of all the trees that shade the schoolhouse.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Just then a gust of wind blew through the branches,
-reminding the birds that they must go to work, and May
-passed by whispering with Heart of Nature, her companion,
-about the work that must be done before June
-should come,—June, with her gown all embroidered with
-roses and a circle of young birds fluttering about her
-head for a hat.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Dear Master,” May said, “why am I always hurried
-and always working? I do more than all other months.
-July basks in the sun and August sits with her hands
-folded while the people gather in her crops. Each year
-March quarrels with Winter and does no work; then April
-cries her eyes out over her task, leaving it dim and colourless.
-Even the willow wears only pale yellow wands
-until I touch them. The leaf buds only half unfold, and
-the birds hold aloof from the undraped trees; see, nothing
-thrives without me.” And May shook the branches
-of a cherry tree and it was powdered with white blossoms.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Nothing grows by or for itself,” said Heart of Nature,
-tenderly. “The tree is for bird and the bird for the tree,
-while both working together are for the house-people if
-they will only understand me and use them wisely.
-Never complain of work, sweet daughter May. Be thankful
-that you have the quickening touch, for to work in
-my garden is to be happy.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then the Song Sparrow caught up the words and wove
-<span class='pageno' title='400' id='Page_400'></span>
-them in his song and carolled it in May’s ear as she swept
-up the hillside to set the red-bells chiming for a holiday.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk132'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>These are the verses that the children recited. Goldilocks
-asked the question in the first line of each verse, and
-the child who represented the bird answered. Little
-Clary was the first,—the Chippy,—and as she said the
-words she raised her arms and flapped them like wings;
-the parents all applauded with delight.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE BIRDS AND THE HOURS</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;4 <span style='font-size:smaller'>A.M.</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>Who is the bird of the early dawn?</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The brown-capped Chippy, who from the lawn</p>
-<p class='line0'>Raises his wings and with rapture thrills,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;While his simple ditty he softly trills.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;5 <span style='font-size:smaller'>A.M.</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>Who is the bird of the risen sun?</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The Robin’s chorus is well-nigh done</p>
-<p class='line0'>When Bobolink swings from the clover high,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And scatters his love-notes across the sky.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;9 <span style='font-size:smaller'>A.M.</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>Who is the bird of the calm forenoon?</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The Catbird gay with his jeering tune,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Who scolds and mimics and waves his wings</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;And jerks his tail as he wildly sings.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Noon</p>
-<p class='line0'>Who is the bird of the middle day?</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The green-winged, red-eyed Vireo gay,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Who talks and preaches, yet keeps an eye</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;On every stranger who passes by.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;5 <span style='font-size:smaller'>P.M.</span></p>
-<p class='line0'><span class='pageno' title='401' id='Page_401'></span></p>
-<p class='line0'>Who is the bird of the afternoon?</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The Wood Thrush shy, with his silvery tune</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of flute and zither and flageolet;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;His rippling song you will never forget.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;7 <span style='font-size:smaller'>P.M.</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>Who is the bird of the coming night?</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The tawny Veery, who out of sight</p>
-<p class='line0'>In cool dim green o’er the waterway</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The lullaby echoes of sleeping day.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;9 <span style='font-size:smaller'>P.M.</span></p>
-<p class='line0'>Who is the bird that when all is still</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Like a banshee calls? The Whip-poor-will;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Who greets the Nighthawk in upper air</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Where they take their supper of insect fare.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Midnight</p>
-<p class='line0'>Who are the birds that at midnight’s stroke</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Play hide-and-seek in the half-dead oak?</p>
-<p class='line0'>And laugh and scream ’till the watch-dog howls?</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;The wise-looking, mouse-hunting young Screech Owls.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;All in chorus</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Good Night! Good Day!</p>
-<p class='line0'>Be kind to the birds and help repay</p>
-<p class='line0'>The songs they sing you the livelong day,</p>
-<p class='line0'>The bugs they gobble and put to flight—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Without birds, orchards would perish quite!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Good Day! Good Night!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—M. O. W.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='402' id='Page_402'></span>
-Tommy and Dave, who represented the Screech Owls,
-followed up the last “good night” by a very realistic
-imitation of the mewing call-note and the cry of the little
-Screech Owl, that not only brought down the house, but
-caused the guests to go home in a state of laughing good
-humour.</p>
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='403' id='Page_403'></span><h1>XXVI<br/> <span class='sub-head'>SOME BIRDS THAT COME IN MAY</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-bottom:1.2em;'><span class='it'>In Apple-blossom Time look for Orioles and All the Brightly Coloured Birds.</span></p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In May you must get up early and keep both eyes and
-ears wide open if you would name this month’s share of
-the birds. All that have not come must do so now or
-never, though sick and crippled birds may straggle along
-at any time.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“These are the birds you may expect during the month.
-Some you already know from both pictures and stories,
-and these will seem like old friends:—</p>
-
-<div class='lgl' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Yellow-billed Cuckoo<a id='cuck1'></a></p>
-<p class='line'>Nighthawk<a id='nhawk4'></a></p>
-<p class='line'>Humming-bird<a id='hum3'></a></p>
-<p class='line'>Kingbird<a id='kbird'></a></p>
-<p class='line'>Baltimore Oriole<a id='orio1'></a></p>
-<p class='line'>Bobolink<a id='bobo5'></a></p>
-<p class='line'>Indigo-bird<a id='indigo2'></a></p>
-<p class='line'>Scarlet Tanager<a id='tan2'></a></p>
-<p class='line'>Red-eyed Vireo<a id='vireored1'></a></p>
-<p class='line'>Yellow Warbler<a id='yellow'></a></p>
-<p class='line'>Maryland Yellowthroat<a id='throat1'></a></p>
-<p class='line'>Yellow-breasted Chat<a id='chat1'></a></p>
-<p class='line'>Redstart<a id='reds2'></a></p>
-<p class='line'>Veery<a id='veery3'></a></p>
-<p class='line'>Rose-breasted Grosbeak<a id='gros1'></a></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Some cloudy morning early in the month, you will
-hear a new call. At first it may suggest the coo-oo-oo of
-the Mourning Dove, then the drumming of the Flicker,
-but after waiting for a moment you realize that it is
-<span class='pageno' title='404' id='Page_404'></span>
-neither. <a id='cuck2'></a>The first sound is like that made by clicking
-the tongue rapidly against the roof of the mouth; the
-second sounds like cow-cow-cow-cow-cow repeated in
-quick succession. By this you will know that the <span class='it'>Yellow-billed
-Cuckoo</span> has come.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You will be disappointed when first you see the bird
-itself, for it does not in the least resemble the bird of the
-English poets, who lives in Cuckoo clocks and
-bobs out to tell the hours. Neither is it a lazy
-bird who refuses to build a nest and leaves its
-eggs to the care of others like the Cowbird.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This Yellow-billed Cuckoo is a slender bird cloaked
-in brownish gray, of a soft hue and with a light belly.
-The tail-feathers are tipped with white, so that, as you look
-at the bird from below, it shows large white spots. This
-Cuckoo takes its name because the lower part of its bill
-is yellow, but you will scarcely notice this when he is in
-the trees, where he spends the greater part of his time in
-searching for insects and caterpillars, which are his favourite
-food.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i474.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0047' style='width:100%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The nest is a shallow, rather shiftless sort of an affair,
-and very often has so little lining that if the vine or bush
-in which it is placed tips a little, the pale blue eggs are
-in danger of rolling out. What the Cuckoos lack in housekeeping
-thrift they make up as destroyers of harmful
-insects, and here it has helped to keep the old orchard
-alive by tearing apart the nests of the tent-caterpillar
-and eating the inhabitants. These mischievous caterpillars
-used to be content to live in the wild cherry trees that line
-the roads and old pastures. People cut these down in
-consequence, so after a time the caterpillar found that
-<span class='pageno' title='405' id='Page_405'></span>
-apple trees were quite as much to his taste and seized
-upon the orchards. Then comes Master Cuckoo, and
-wherever the tent worms are, there we find him also. So
-many has he been known to devour that one of the Wise
-Men, upon examining the stomach of a Cuckoo that had
-been killed, found it lined with a sort of felt made from
-the hairs of the caterpillars.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“So, if you hear the harsh call near by, be very glad;
-the sound may not please the ear, but the bird is a pleasure
-to the sight as he slips away silently through the trees
-to do work for us that we cannot do as well.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='vireored2'></a>“The <span class='it'>Red-eyed Vireo</span>, excepting the Catbird, is the most
-talkative bird that we have; in fact, so fond is he of the
-sound of his own voice that he is rarely silent
-during the daylight hours. Then, too, his eloquence
-has a questioning and arguing quality that made
-Wilson Flagg give him the nickname of ‘The Preacher,’
-by which he will always be known. ‘You see it—you
-know it—do you hear me? Do you believe it?’ he
-hears this voice say, and if you keep these words in your
-mind, you will recognize the bird the first time that you
-hear his song. You may hear the Vireo’s words twenty
-times for every peep that you may get of his person; not
-that he is at all shy, but he is restlessness in feathers,
-while unlike many talkers he both talks and works at
-the same time. Now he is at the end of a branch close
-to you, then on the opposite side of the tree, from whence
-he works his way to the very top, clearing the small
-limbs and twigs of insects as he goes.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“After trying in vain to see him, one day when you
-are not thinking of this or any other bird, you will pass
-<span class='pageno' title='406' id='Page_406'></span>
-a familiar tree, one of the apples, perhaps, whose branches
-nearly sweep the ground. Your eye in going idly over
-the leaves halts at an object that is partly suspended
-between the forked twigs of a branch almost under your
-eye. You look again; it is a nest, pocket-shaped, and
-fastened between the twigs as the heel of a stocking is held
-between knitting needles. The nest itself is finely woven of
-plant-down, soft bark, and perhaps a few shreds of paper.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“You step nearer; a little head with a long, curved beak
-rises slightly above the nest,—Madam is at home. An
-eye holds your own,—a red eye with a long, clear, white
-mark over it by way of an eyebrow. Then you notice
-the head wears a gray cap bordered with black. The
-bird perhaps breathes a little faster, and the prettily
-shaded olive-green back heaves and the wings twitch as
-if to make ready to fly, otherwise the bird does not budge,
-but simply sits and waits for you to go; this, if you are
-really one of the Kind Hearts, you will do very soon.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“True, you may come back the next day and the next,
-and from a comfortable distance watch the Vireo’s housekeeping
-and the progress of her brood, only please do not
-touch either the nest or its contents. After she has done
-with it and autumn comes, you may have it for your own
-and see for yourself how wonderfully it is made.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“All sorts of amusing bits of printing from newspapers
-have been found woven into these nests, and there is one
-in Goldilocks’ cabinet, that I will show you later, that
-says upon the shred of paper,—‘an eight-room flat,—electric
-light and —— —— improvements,’ the
-missing words being concealed where the paper was
-woven under the plant fibres.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i477.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0048' style='width:100%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>F. M. Chapman, Photo.</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'></span>RED-EYED VIREO ON NEST</p>
-</div>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='407' id='Page_407'></span>
-“There are several other Vireos with richer, more
-melodious voices that you will learn to name after you
-have made your first bowing and speaking acquaintances
-in Birdland. The Red-eyed, however, is the largest and
-most easily named of them all if you remember his love
-of preaching, his white eyebrow, and gray, black-edged
-cap. He will be with us all summer, leaving in early
-October with the last flocks of Barn Swallows.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>RED-EYED VIREO</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>When overhead you hear a bird</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Who talks, or rather, chatters,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of all the latest woodland news,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;And other trivial matters,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Who is so kind, so very kind,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;She never can say no,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And so the nasty Cowbird</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Drops an egg among her row</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of neat white eggs. Behold her then,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;The Red-eyed Vireo!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Faith C. Lee</span>, in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THREE LISPERS AND A VENTRILOQUIST</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“When the trees are putting on their best and greenest
-leaves, many new sounds mingle with the hum of insects
-among the branches. You pause and look up
-in the confusing mass of fluttering green and
-sunbeams to find, if possible, the origin of these sounds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Many feathered shapes are fluttering about, some
-flying after the manner of birds, while others flit and move
-in the irregular fashion of butterflies, while the notes they
-utter, instead of being full-throated, have a sort of childish
-lisp.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='408' id='Page_408'></span>
-“<a id='reds3'></a>These birds belong to the tribe of <span class='it'>Warblers</span>; a few do
-really warble, but for the majority the <span class='it'>Lispers</span> would be
-a more appropriate title. Listen! there comes a little
-call now, as if the bird had kept his beak half closed,
-‘Sweet-sweetie-sweazy!’ and a bird of light build and no
-larger than a Chippy flits backward from the twig where
-he was perching and alights on one below, following in
-his flight one of the insects of which he is a valiant destroyer,
-as he belongs really to both the order of Tree
-Trappers and Sky Sweepers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Now is your chance; he is at rest for a moment; look
-at him,—black of back, head, and breast, some salmon-red
-feathers on wings and tail, and the sides of breast
-rich, pure salmon, and the belly white. What a brave
-little uniform, almost the Oriole colours. One of the Wise
-Men who has met the Redstart in his winter home in
-Cuba says that there he is called ‘<span class='it'>Candelita</span>, the little
-torch that flashes in the gloomy depth of tropical forests.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“There is nothing secluded about him, however, except
-the depths of shade where he feeds and weaves his nest, in
-texture much like the Vireo’s. His mate is also a very
-dainty bird, but his flame colour and black is replaced
-by pale yellow and gray.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Redstart is a bird to know in May and June,
-though it does not leave until early in October.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><a id='ybird'></a><span class='it'>The Summer Yellowbird</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“From the apple trees or shrubs near the house
-comes a cheerful lisping song that constantly declares
-that life up among the leaves is ‘Sweet-sweet-sweet-sweet-sweeter,’
-ending this remark by a warble full of melody.
-<span class='pageno' title='409' id='Page_409'></span>
-Then a little bird smaller than a Chippy flits out with a
-bit of green worm hanging from his beak and disappears in
-another tree. Brief as the glimpse is, you see that the
-bird is rich olive-yellow, with cinnamon streaks on the
-breast. If he pauses a moment, you will notice that
-the underparts are almost the colour of gold. This is the
-<span class='it'>Yellow Warbler</span> of many names,—<span class='it'>Wild Canary</span>, <span class='it'>Summer
-Yellowbird</span>, or simply <span class='it'>Yellowbird</span>; though this name
-is also commonly given to the seed-eating Goldfinch of
-the Sparrow tribe who wears a jaunty black cap, and
-stays with us all the year, while the Yellow Warbler goes
-southward before leaf-fall in September.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Yellow Warbler’s nest is one of the most beautiful
-and interesting bird-homes, and shares the fame of that
-of the Baltimore Oriole, Wood Pewee, Humming-bird, and
-Vireo. It is cup-shaped and deep, woven of fibres and
-plant-down, and is placed in the fork of a bush or in a fruit
-tree, where it is as firmly lashed by cords of vegetable
-fibre and cobwebs. The female is the builder and a very
-rapid workwoman. This nest is often used by the Cowbird,
-but little Mrs. Yellow Warbler is more clever than
-many other small birds and refuses to be imposed upon.
-She is evidently afraid to push out the alien egg, so she
-swiftly walls it in by building a second nest on top of the
-first. If this does not check the Cowbird, a third nest is
-sometimes added, like the one that Tommy brought me
-last fall, and there is a two-story nest in Goldilocks’
-cabinet.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This Warbler is not only beautiful to look at and
-pleasant to hear, but he is a very valuable tree trapper,
-for he eats the spinning cankerworms and also tent-caterpillars,
-<span class='pageno' title='410' id='Page_410'></span>
-pulling apart webs of the latter and using them
-‘for cordage’ to bind the nest. He is also a destroyer of
-plant-lice and something of a flycatcher as well.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><a id='throat2'></a><span class='it'>Maryland Yellowthroat</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Here is a merry bird that you cannot miss seeing or
-fail to name if you have eyes and ears. Olive on head and
-back, this bird certainly has a yellow throat, also much
-yellow on tail, wings, and underparts, but if I had the
-naming of it I should call him the ‘Yellow, Black-masked
-Warbler,’ for he wears a narrow mask of black across his
-face, through which his keen eyes peer provokingly as he
-flits ahead calling for you to follow, ‘Follow me—follow
-me—follow!’ When you see the bird, of two points
-you may be sure at once; it is yellow, and it wears a black
-mask, but whether it is yellowest on back, throat, or
-breast will require a second look.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This bird is here about the garden and lane from May
-to September, and last June we found its long, bulky nest,
-partly covered like an Indian cradle, in the bushes between
-the garden and orchard, but it usually is so clever at going
-into the bushes and then darting along close to the ground
-to its nest, that we had known of this nest for several
-days before we discovered that it belonged to Black Mask,
-for his wife, who kept the nearest to the nest, wears no
-mask, and we thought her some other kind of Warbler.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE MARYLAND YELLOWTHROAT</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>While May bedecks the naked trees</p>
-<p class='line0'>With tassels and embroideries,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And many blue-eyed violets beam</p>
-<p class='line0'>Along the edges of the stream,</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>I hear a voice that seems to say,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Now near at hand, now far away,</p>
-<p class='line0'>“Witchery-witchery-witchery!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;*</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>An incantation so serene,</p>
-<p class='line0'>So innocent, befits the scene;</p>
-<p class='line0'>There’s magic in that small bird’s note.</p>
-<p class='line0'>See! there he flits—the Yellowthroat;</p>
-<p class='line0'>A living sunbeam, tipped with wings,</p>
-<p class='line0'>A spark of light that shines and sings,</p>
-<p class='line0'>“Witchery-witchery-witchery!”</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Henry van Dyke</span>, in <span class='it'>The Builders and Other Poems</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='411' id='Page_411'></span>
-“A whistle comes out of the bushes that line the wood
-lane perhaps when you are gathering the pink Wild Azalea.
-If you have a dog with you, he will get up and sniff about.
-The whistle is repeated, and you yourself think it is one
-of your companions who has rounded the turn calling
-you. No; then it is merely a Catbird mocking half a
-dozen other songsters and then jeering at them.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><a id='chat2'></a>“By mere chance, glancing at a tree close above, you
-see a bird of good size with brilliant yellow throat, breast,
-and wing-linings, and a strong curved beak that appears
-almost hooked. Perching there is a Yellow-breasted
-Chat. He it is who is doing the mocking and jeering,
-but throws his voice in such a way that it seems to
-come from the opposite bushes. It is this power that
-gives him the name of ‘Ventriloquist.’ Being observed,
-he slips quickly out of sight, and then you notice the
-olive-green colour on his back. He has a song of his own
-as well as the power of imitating others and in the nesting
-season floats out upon the air, with spread wings and legs
-<span class='pageno' title='412' id='Page_412'></span>
-trailing behind, in a wild ecstasy of singing, looking to us
-humans very foolish, but is doubtless very fascinating to
-his mate on her nest hidden amid briers and bushes
-and thoroughly protected by vines.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'><span class='it'>Singers in Costume</span></h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Among the birds many of the best vocalists are choir
-singers, as it were. We hear their voices first, and from
-hearing them desire to know and name the singers. The
-Thrushes belong to the first group. Others there are who
-come on the stage in brilliant costume; we see them first,
-then desire to hear them sing, and afterward remember
-them as pleasing both to eye and ear. These are the
-gentlemen of the Opera, and four of them made the garden
-and orchard their music-hall last summer and I do not
-doubt will do so again. In fact the Goldfinches have
-never left, but a flock in sober winter suits have fed at
-the lunch-counter on the sunflower heads and fluttered over
-the weed seeds in the fields all winter.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The <a id='orio2'></a><span class='it'>Baltimore Oriole</span> is the first of the quartet to settle
-down to family life late in May. The <span class='it'>Rose-breast</span> follows
-him closely. But the <span class='it'>Tanager</span> waits for the heavy
-leafage of June to cover his brilliant colours while, for some
-reason not yet understood, the <span class='it'>American Goldfinch</span> keeps
-his bachelor freedom longer than any bird except the
-Cedar Waxwing. And though he wears his handsome
-yellow wedding-clothes from late April, he waits until he
-has feasted well on dandelion-down and the best grass
-seeds before he ceases to rove and takes to a bush, high
-maple, or other tree, to locate his soft nest made of moss
-and grasses and lined with thistle-down.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='413' id='Page_413'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE BALTIMORE ORIOLE</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>How falls it, Oriole, thou hast come to fly</p>
-<p class='line0'>In tropic splendour through our northern sky?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>At some glad moment was it Nature’s choice</p>
-<p class='line0'>To dower a scrap of sunset with a voice?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Or did an orange tulip flaked with black,</p>
-<p class='line0'>In some forgotten ages back,</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Yearning toward Heaven until its wish was heard,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Desire unspeakably to be a bird?</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Edgar Fawcett</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Baltimore Oriole should be first mentioned, for
-his voice is that of the bugler that heralds actual spring,
-the long-expected, long-delayed mellow period, distinct
-from the almanac spring, that, when it once comes to us
-of the middle and north country, is quickly absorbed by
-the ardour of summer herself. Also is this Oriole the gloriously
-illuminated initial letter wrought in ruddy gold
-and black pigments heading the chapter that records the
-season; and when we see him high in a tree against a
-light tracery of fresh foliage, we know in very truth that
-not only is winter over, that the treacherous snow-squalls
-of April are past, but that May is working day and night
-to complete the task allotted.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“For as the Indian waited for the blooming of the dogwood,
-<span class='it'>Cornus florida</span>, before planting his maize, so does the
-prudent gardener wait for the first call of the Oriole before
-she trusts her cellar-wintered geraniums and lemon balms
-once more to the care of Mother Earth.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='414' id='Page_414'></span>
-“This Oriole has history blended with his name; for it is
-said that George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, tired
-and discouraged by many of the troubles of his Newfoundland
-colony, in visiting the Virginia settlement in 1628,
-explored the waters of the Chesapeake, where he found
-the shores and woods alive with birds, and conspicuous
-among them, vast flocks of Orioles. These so pleased
-him that he took their colours for his own and they ever
-afterward bore his name—a fair exchange.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The <span class='it'>Baltimore Oriole</span> comes of a party-coloured American
-family—<span class='it'>Icteridæ</span>—that to the eye of the uninitiated at
-least would appear to be a hybrid clan drawn from all
-quarters of the bird world. Yet it is typically American,
-even in this variety; for what other race would have the
-temerity to harbour the Bobolink, Orchard and Baltimore
-Orioles, Red-wing, Meadowlark, various Grackles, together
-with the vagrant Cowbird, in the branches of the
-same family tree?</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“One of the many welcome facts concerning the Oriole
-is the ease with which he is identified; and I say <span class='it'>he</span> advisedly,
-for his more industrious half, who is the expert
-weaver of the pair, is much the more sombre of hue. In
-early May, or even as late as the middle of the month in
-backward seasons, you will hear a half-militant, half-complaining
-note from the high tree branches. As you
-go out to find its origin, it will be repeated, and then a
-flash of flame and black will shoot across the range of
-vision toward another tree, and the bird, chiding and complaining,
-begins a minute search along the smaller twigs
-for insects. This is the Oriole, <span class='it'>Icterus galbula</span>, as he
-first appears in full spring array,—his head, throat, and
-<span class='pageno' title='415' id='Page_415'></span>
-top of back and wings black, except a few margins and
-quills that are white edged. The breast and underparts,
-lower part of back, and lesser wing-coverts are orange
-flame, while his tail is partly black and partly orange.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Two other tree-top birds that arrive at about the
-same time, one to remain and one to pass on, wear somewhat
-the same combination of red and black,—the Redstart
-and the Blackburnian Warbler. But, besides
-being much smaller birds, they both belong to the
-pretty tribe of Warblers that, with a few notable exceptions,
-such as the Chat and Water-thrushes, should
-be more properly called ‘lispers’ and not be confused
-with the clear-toned Oriole.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Once the female Oriole arrives, usually several days
-after the male, his complaining call, ‘Will you? Will
-you really, truly?’ gradually lessens: and after a few
-weeks, when nest-building begins, it quite disappears, or
-rather, is appropriated by the songless female, who, while
-she weaves the nest, is encouraged by the clarion song of
-her mate. The plumage of the female is brown and gray
-blended with orange above, the head, back, and throat
-being mottled with black, while the underparts are
-a dull orange, with little of the flaming tints of the
-male.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Though the Oriole exposes himself more freely to view
-than most of our highly coloured birds and in fact seems to
-regard his gift of beauty anything but seriously, he takes no
-chances, however, in the locating of his nest, which is not
-only from twenty feet above the ground upward, but is
-suspended from a forked branch that is at once tough yet
-so slender that no marauding cat would dare venture to
-<span class='pageno' title='416' id='Page_416'></span>
-it. This pensile nest is diligently woven of grasses, twine,
-vegetable fibres, horsehair, bits of worsted, or anything
-manageable and varies much in size and shape, as if the
-matter of individual taste entered somewhat into the
-matter. It has been fairly well proven that location
-enters largely into this matter, and that nests in wild
-regions, where birds of prey, etc., abound, are smaller
-at the top and have a more decided neck than those in
-the trees of home lawns and orchard. Of the many nests
-that I have found and handled or else observed closely
-with a glass, the majority have been quite open at the
-top like the one pictured, and the only one with a narrow
-and funnel-like opening came from a wayside elm on the
-edge of a dense wood.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The female seems to be weaver-in-chief, using both
-claw and bill, though I have seen the male carry her
-material. It is asserted that Orioles will weave gayly
-coloured worsteds into their nests. This I very much
-doubt, or if they do, I believe it is for lack of something
-more suitable. I have repeatedly fastened varicoloured
-bunches of soft linen twine, carpet-thread, flosses, and the
-like under the bark of trees frequented by Orioles, and
-with one exception, it has been the more sombre tints that
-were selected, though I am told that nests are found made
-of very bright colours.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In the exceptional case a long thread of scarlet linen
-floss was taken and woven into the nest for about half its
-length, the remainder hanging down; but on resuming
-my watch the next day, I found that the weaver had left
-the half-finished task and crossed the lawn to another
-tree. Whether it was owing to the presence of red squirrels
-<span class='pageno' title='417' id='Page_417'></span>
-close by, or that the red thread had been a subject
-for domestic criticism and dissension, we may not know.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Be this as it may, in spite of the bright hues of the parent
-birds and the hanging shape of the nest that is never
-concealed by a branch upon which it is saddled, like the
-home of so many birds, an Oriole’s nest is exceedingly
-difficult to locate unless one has noticed the trips to and
-fro in the building process; but once the half-dozen white,
-darkly etched and spotted eggs it contains hatch out, the
-vociferous youngsters at once call attention to the spot
-and make their whereabouts known, in spite of sky cradle
-and carefully adjusted leaf umbrellas.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“If their parents bring them food, they squeal (yes, that
-is the only word for it); if they are left alone, they do likewise.
-Their baby voices can be heard above the wind,
-and it is only either at night or during a heavy shower,
-when a parent would naturally be supposed to be upon the
-nest, that they are silent.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As an adult, the Oriole lives on rather mixed diet and
-has a great love of honey; but of course as a parent he
-is, with his sharp beak, a great provider of animal food for
-his home, and to his credit must be placed a vast number
-of injurious tree-top insects that escape the notice of less
-agile birds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Complaints are frequently heard of his propensity for
-opening pods and eating young peas, piercing the throats
-of trumpet-shaped flowers for the honey, and in the
-autumn, before the southward migration, siphoning grape
-and plum juice by means of this same slender, pointed
-bill.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Personally, I have never lost peas through his appetite
-<span class='pageno' title='418' id='Page_418'></span>
-for green vegetables, though I have had the entire floral
-output of an old trumpet-vine riddled bud and blossom;
-and I have often stood and scolded them from under the
-boughs of a Spitzenburgh apple tree, amid the blossoms of
-which they were rummaging,—perhaps for insects, but also
-scattering the rosy blossoms right and left with torn and
-bruised petals. Powell, in <span class='it'>The Independent</span>, writes feelingly
-of this trait of the Oriole, thus:—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘An Oriole is like a golden shuttle in the foliage of the
-trees, but he is the incarnation of mischief. That is just
-the word for it. If there is anything possible to be destroyed,
-the Oriole likes to tear it up.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘He wastes a lot of string in building his nest. He is
-pulling off apple blossoms now, possibly eating a few
-petals. By and by he will pick holes in bushels of grapes,
-and in plum season he will let the wasps and hornets into
-the heart of every Golden Abundance plum on your
-favourite tree.&nbsp;.&nbsp;.&nbsp;. Yet the saucy scamp is so beautiful
-that he is tolerated—and he does kill an enormous lot
-of insects. There is a swinging nest just over there above
-the blackberry bushes. It is wonderfully woven and is a
-cradle as well as a house. I should like to have been
-brought up in such a homestead.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“It seems as if the Oriole must be a descendant of one
-of the brilliant birds that inhabited North America in
-by-gone days of tropic heat and that has stayed on
-from a matter of hereditary association; for in the
-nesting season it is to be found from Florida and
-Texas up to New Brunswick and the Saskatchewan
-country and westward to the Rockies, beyond which this
-type is replaced by Bullock’s Oriole, of much similar
-<span class='pageno' title='419' id='Page_419'></span>
-colouring save that it has more orange on the sides of the
-head, and the white wing-patch is larger.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“But however much the Baltimore Oriole loves his
-native land, the climate and the exigencies of travel
-make his stay in it brief; for he does not appear until
-there is some protection of foliage and he starts southward
-toward his winter home in Central and South
-America often before a single leaf has fallen.</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>THE BALTIMORE ORIOLE</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>O Golden Robin! pipe again</p>
-<p class='line0'>That happy, hopeful, cheering strain!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>A prisoner in my chamber, I</p>
-<p class='line0'>See neither grass, nor bough, nor sky;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Yet to my mind thy warblings bring,</p>
-<p class='line0'>In troops, all images of spring;</p>
-<p class='line0'>And every sense is satisfied</p>
-<p class='line0'>But what thy magic has supplied.</p>
-<p class='line0'>As by enchantment, now I see</p>
-<p class='line0'>On every bush and forest tree</p>
-<p class='line0'>The tender, downy leaf appear.—</p>
-<p class='line0'>The loveliest robe they wear.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>The tulip and the hyacinth grace</p>
-<p class='line0'>The garden bed; each grassy place</p>
-<p class='line0'>With dandelions glowing bright,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Or king-cups, childhood’s pure delight,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Invite the passer-by to tread</p>
-<p class='line0'>Upon the soft, elastic bed,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And pluck again the simple flowers</p>
-<p class='line0'>Which charmed so oft his younger hours.</p>
-<p class='line0'>The apple orchards all in bloom—</p>
-<p class='line0'>I seem to smell their rare perfume.</p>
-<p class='line0'>And thou, gay whistler! to whose song</p>
-<p class='line0'>These powers of magic art belong,</p>
-<p class='line0'>On top of lofty elm I see</p>
-<p class='line0'>Thy black and orange livery;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Forgive that word! a freeman bold,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Of choice thou wearest jet and gold,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And no man’s livery dost bear,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Thou flying tulip! free as air!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Come, Golden Robin! once again</p>
-<p class='line0'>That magic, joy-inspiring strain!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Thomas Hill.</span></p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='420' id='Page_420'></span>
-<a id='tan3'></a>“Of all our North American birds, the Tanager is the
-most gorgeous and suggestive of the tropics. I do not
-understand how any one can fail to name him.
-He is unlike any other. Entire body rich
-scarlet, wings and tail black; that is all that
-there is to remember about him in spring dress. In
-autumn he moults to a greenish yellow like his mate,
-but still keeps his black wings and tail.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This bird is commonly thought to be rare, but that
-is because he loves groves of oaks, chestnuts, and beeches,
-and Nature has taught him to keep in high deep shade,
-that his colour, far richer than the Cardinals, may not
-make him a target for enemies, both feathered and
-human. But in the migrations he is often to be seen.
-Half a dozen were feeding at one time in the garden
-and about the lunch-counter this spring, and in May,
-whenever I drove about or went to Fair Meadows village,
-some one was sure to either ask me the name of the beautiful
-red birds that they had seen about the yard, or, if
-they knew the bird, tell how plentiful Tanagers had been
-this year.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Protection has certainly helped this bird, and in some
-<span class='pageno' title='421' id='Page_421'></span>
-places it is said to be increasing; and as it is distinctly
-a bird of high trees, where its nest of loosely built sticks
-is placed, it is not so much affected by the modern plague
-of cats as either Robin, Song Sparrow, or the Thrushes.
-‘The song resembles somewhat that of the Robin, but
-is shorter and less varied, with a little apparent hoarseness
-or harshness in the tone. Chi-chi-chi-char-ee, char-ee-chi
-represents it fairly well.’ It also has a sharp
-‘Chip-churr!’ alarm note.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Robin, Grosbeak, and Tanager all have certain
-notes in common, so that when they all sing at once, it
-is often difficult to distinguish the individual songs.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Tanager is the guardian of the forest trees and
-their insect pests. As a caterpillar hunter, it is said
-‘he has but few superiors.’ He finds the leaf-rolling
-caterpillar in its snug retreat and destroys myriads of
-weevils, click-beetles, and crane-flies. The Tanager also
-visits orchards, and in early spring, during the migrations,
-he braves danger and feeds in the furrows of
-ploughed land in the same way as the Grackles and Robins.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Tanagers are unique little specimens when they
-first leave the nest, for the male birds undergo as many
-changes of colour as Harlequin in the pantomime. After
-the down of nestlings, they wear the dull colour of the
-mother, and before they put on the full spring plumage,
-they go through a stage of patchwork such as you see
-in this picture in my portfolio. Then after being bright
-red all summer, they again go through the patchwork
-state before leaving in fall.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The coming of cold weather evidently warns this
-Tanager to go, for being provided with a dull travelling
-<span class='pageno' title='422' id='Page_422'></span>
-cloak, he need no more fear being seen in the leafless
-trees than the Thrushes or Sparrows.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='gold2'></a><span class='it'>Thistle-bird</span>, <span class='it'>Lettuce-bird</span>, and <span class='it'>Yellowbird</span> are all names
-given to this friendly little Sparrow of the stout bill,
-black cap, tail, wings, and bright gamboge-yellow
-plumage, who lives with us all the
-year and is almost always seen in flocks. In spring
-we find these birds and their more sober wives feeding
-on dandelion seeds. In early summer they glean grass
-seeds in the hayfields. In late summer and early autumn
-they flutter about the seeding thistle in company with
-the rich red butterflies, and after this, the male and female,
-garbed alike, then live wherever the wild composite
-flowers like asters, sunflowers, or garden marigolds and zinnias
-have gone to seed and in the great waste fields of weeds.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“At all times its flight is noticeable for its dip, followed
-by an upward jerk, and as they fly, they call ‘per-chic-o-ree-per-chic-o-ree’
-(Chapman) in a jolly, gleeful manner.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“In May, June, and July they sing in a varied and
-canary-like manner from tree-tops and as they swing on
-stalks of grass, having quite powerful voices for their
-size, which is under five inches.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“A lover and close observer of these Goldfinches has
-written the summer life of a pair of these birds in so
-interesting a fashion that I will read it to you. Either
-the pair that she describes were very late in nesting, or it
-was their second brood.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i494.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0049' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>GOLDFINCH</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>Order—<span class='sc'>Passeres</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Family—<span class='sc'>Fringillidæ</span></p>
-<p class='line'>Genus—<span class='sc'>Astragalinus</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Species—<span class='sc'>Tristis</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>A GOLDFINCH IDYL</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Do you know of any far-away pasture where, in blueberry
-time, Sparrows play hide-and-seek in the bushes,
-<span class='pageno' title='423' id='Page_423'></span>
-and Finches are like little golden balls tossed on the
-breeze? It was in such a field that my Goldfinch found
-the thistle-down for her soft couch—<span class='it'>her</span> couch, observe,
-for it was the dull mate in greenish olive that made the bed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>I was there when the maple twig was chosen for the
-nest—as good luck would have it—close by our cottage
-door and in plain sight from my window. The choice
-was announced by a shower of golden notes from the male
-bird and a responsive twitter from his mate. She began
-building at once, quickly outlining the nest with grasses
-and bark. Her approach was always heralded by a
-burst of song from her mate, who hovered near while
-she deftly wove the pretty fabric and then flew away
-with him to the base of supply.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>It was August 2 when the nest began. I quote from
-my note-book:—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“August 3. I observed the work closely for an hour.
-The working partner made eighteen trips, the first eleven
-in twenty-two minutes, grass and thistle-down being
-brought; the last nine trips only down, more time being
-taken to weave it into the walls. The male warbled
-near by and twice flew into the tree and cheered his
-industrious mate with song.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“August 5. The home growing. The female tarries
-much longer at the nest, fashioning the lining.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“August 6. Both birds sing while flying to and from
-the nest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“August 7. Nest completed. The mother bird has
-a little ‘song of the nest’—a very happy song. Think
-an egg was laid to-day.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“August 11. The male Goldfinch feeds his mate on
-<span class='pageno' title='424' id='Page_424'></span>
-the nest. Flies to her with a jubilant twitter, his mouth
-full of seeds. She eagerly takes from twelve to twenty
-morsels. They always meet and part with song. Once
-the brooding mate grew impatient, flew to the next tree
-to meet her provider, took eight or ten morsels, then
-flew with him to the nest and took twelve more. A
-generous commissary!</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“August 17. Breakfast on the nest; twenty-three
-morsels from one mouthful. How is it possible for song
-to escape from that bill before the unloading? Yet
-it never fails.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Here the record comes to an untimely stop, the reporter
-being suddenly called home. But the following
-year Nature’s serial opened at the same leaf.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Toward the last of July, a steady increase in Goldfinch
-music, and a subtle change in its meaning marked
-the approach of nesting time. Again I quote from my
-journal:—</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“August 8. My careful search was rewarded by the
-discovery of a Goldfinch’s nest, barely outlined, in the
-rock maple near the former site, but on the road side of
-the tree. That my bird friends had returned to the old
-treestead I could not doubt, as they bore my scrutiny
-with unconcern. In six days the nest was completed.
-The builder flew to the brook and drank with her mate,
-but rarely stayed away long enough for food supply;
-that was carried to her and received on the nest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“August 18. An episode: a rival male flew to the
-home tree with the male Goldfinch, both singing delightfully
-and circling about the nest. The mate, much
-excited, several times flew from the nest and joined in
-<span class='pageno' title='425' id='Page_425'></span>
-the discussion. Two bouts between the males ended
-in the discomfiture of number two and the return of
-my Goldfinch with a victor’s song.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“August 20. The course of true love now ran smooth,
-and Goldfinch, sure of his intrenched affection, sang
-less volubly. The female, delicately sensitive of ear,
-apparently recognizes the voice of her mate and never
-fails to respond. Other Goldfinches flew by in song,
-calling and singing, but only one appealed to her.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“August 25 was a red-letter day in Goldfinch annals;
-then, and only then, I saw the male on the nest fed by
-his mate. The male then shares incubation? He
-certainly gave it a trial, but so far as my observation
-goes, found it too confining to be repeated.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“August 29. ‘Out to-day,’ as the newsboy cries—the
-female’s elevation on the nest determined that.
-Her eagerness now overcame caution, and she flew
-straight to the nest instead of in a roundabout course.
-Both parents fed the young.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“August 30. In a single trip the male Goldfinch
-brought forty morsels to the family, his mate eager to
-get her ‘thirds,’ but as soon as he had gone she slipped
-off the nest and fed the young. This method was pursued
-for three days.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sept. 1. The female very active at the nest, making
-toilets of young, reassuring them with tender syllables
-when a red squirrel ran up the tree with alarming sounds.
-I saw three open mouths. The brooding bird went
-for food and returned stealthily to the nest. The male
-came once, but brought nothing, and henceforth was
-an idle partner.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='426' id='Page_426'></span>
-“Sept. 6. Young birds, having found their voices,
-announced meal time with joyous twitter. They were
-fed, on an average, once in forty-five minutes and were
-now forming cleanly habits, like young Swallows, voiding
-excrement over the rim of the nest.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sept. 8. The old bird no longer perching at the
-nest to feed her young, but on the branch, to lure them
-from their cradle. They shook their wings vigorously
-and preened their tiny feathers.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sept. 11. Young Finches ventured to the edge of
-the nest and peered curiously into the unknown.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Sept. 11. An empty nest.”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;'>—<span class='sc'>Ella Gilbert Ives</span>, in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk133'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“<a id='gros2'></a>In spite of the rosy wing-linings and shield set above
-his white breast, the Rose-breasted Grosbeak is the
-least conspicuous of the Singers in Costume.
-The reason for this is, that unless you are either
-directly under or before him, the richly coloured
-breast may escape notice and only the dark back appear.
-Yet to one who knows birds, even the back will serve
-to name him, for no other familiar songster has so much
-black and white about him—black head and back, a
-white rump, black-and-white wings, and black-and-white
-tail.</p>
-
-<div class='figcenter'>
-<img src='images/i427.jpg' alt='' id='iid-0050' style='width:75%;height:auto;'/>
-<p class='credit'>National Association of Audubon Societies</p> <p class='caption'><span style='font-size:smaller'>ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK<br/>(<span class='sc'>Upper Figure, Male; Lower Figure, Female</span>)</span></p>
-</div>
-
-<div class='lgc' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>Order—<span class='sc'>Passeres</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Family—<span class='sc'>Fringillidæ</span></p>
-<p class='line'>Genus—<span class='sc'>Zamelodia</span> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Species—<span class='sc'>Ludoviciana</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<p class='pindent'>“This Grosbeak delights in young woodlands where
-the trees are small and well branched, and the big, rather
-loosely woven nest of weeds, twigs, and various wood
-fibres is seldom placed as high as even the Robin’s or
-Tanager’s, and yet, in spite of the fact that female birds
-<span class='pageno' title='427' id='Page_427'></span>
-are supposed to have dull feathers because they will
-be less seen when on the nest, I have seen a gorgeous
-male brooding the eggs in bright daylight, the nest
-being on a low sapling in a rather thickly wooded brush-lot.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The Rose-breast is very useful as a killer of large beetles
-and insects, and from his prowess with the striped potato-beetle
-has been called locally the ‘Potato Bird’; but it
-is for its song that we love and prize him as one of the
-birds that to miss from the garden, means that one of
-the best features of the season has been lost.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“Listen to what Audubon said of this song, that great
-pioneer naturalist, whose pure nature and spiritual
-kinship with the birds never forsook him in hours of
-adversity.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘One year, in the month of August, I was trudging
-along the shores of the Mohawk River, when night overtook
-me. Being little acquainted with that part of the
-country, I resolved to camp where I was. The evening
-was calm and beautiful, the sky sparkled with stars,
-which were reflected by the smooth waters, and the
-deep shade of the rocks and trees of the opposite shore
-fell on the bosom of the stream, while gently from afar
-came on the ear the muttering sound of the cataract.
-My little fire was soon lighted under a rock, and, spreading
-out my scanty stock of provisions, I reclined on my
-grassy couch. As I looked around on the fading features
-of the beautiful landscape, my heart turned toward my
-distant home, where my friends were doubtless wishing
-me, as I wished them, a happy night and peaceful slumbers.
-Then were heard the barkings of the watch-dog
-<span class='pageno' title='428' id='Page_428'></span>
-and I tapped my faithful companion to prevent his answering
-them. The thoughts of my worldly mission
-then came over my mind, and having thanked the Creator
-of all for His never-failing mercy, I closed my eyes and
-was passing away into the world of dreaming existence,
-when suddenly there burst on my soul the serenade of
-the Rose-breasted Bird, so rich, so mellow, so loud in
-the stillness of the night, that sleep fled from my eyelids.
-Never did I enjoy music more: it thrilled through my
-heart and surrounded me with an atmosphere of bliss.
-One might easily have imagined that even the Owl,
-charmed by such delightful music, remained reverently
-silent. Long after the sounds ceased did I enjoy them,
-and when all had again become still, I stretched out my
-wearied limbs and gave myself up to the luxury of repose.’</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“As a near-by garden neighbour, the Rose-breast, though
-shy by nature, may become as intimate as the Wood
-Thrush, and if you are near his feeding-haunts you will
-notice, aside from his song, he has a way of talking when
-he feeds and that, with a little imagination, you can
-translate his words to suit yourself. I had once thought
-this an idea of my own, but this clipping in my scrap-book
-proves the contrary, and that others have made
-his notes into words.”</p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>A TALKING ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK.</h2>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Early last summer, while standing on my back steps,
-I heard a cheerful voice say, “You’re a pretty bird.
-Where are you?” I supposed it to be the voice of a
-Parrot, but wondered how any Parrot could talk loud
-<span class='pageno' title='429' id='Page_429'></span>
-enough to be heard at that distance, for the houses on
-the street back of us are quite a way off.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Almost before I had done laughing, the voice came
-again, clear, musical, and strong—“You’re a pretty
-bird. Where are you?”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>For several days I endured the suspense of waiting
-for time to investigate. Then I chased him up. There
-he was in the top of a walnut tree, his gorgeous attire telling
-me immediately that he was a Rose-breasted Grosbeak.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At the end of a week he varied his compliment to,
-“Pretty, pretty bird, where are you? Where are you?”
-with a kind of impatient jerk on the last “you.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He and his mate stayed near us all last summer, and
-though I heard him talk a hundred times, yet he always
-brought a feeling of gladness and a laugh.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Our friend has come back again this spring. About
-May 1st I heard the same endearing compliment as before.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Several of my friends whom I have told about him
-have asked, “Does he say the words plainly? Do you
-mean that he really talks?” My reply is, “He says
-them just as plainly as a bird ever says anything, so
-plainly, that even now I laugh whenever I hear him.”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>He is not very easily frightened, and sometimes talks
-quite a while when I am standing under the tree where
-he is.</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:2em;'>—<span class='sc'>Emily B. Pellet</span>, Worcester, Mass., in <span class='it'>Bird-Lore</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='430' id='Page_430'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>A SONG OF THE ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Hark! Hark!</p>
-<p class='line0'>From the elm tree’s topmost spray,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;As the sun’s first spark</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;O’erleaps the dark</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;He sings to the dawning day.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Over and over and over, the thrilling strain:</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Never more clear</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;On love-tuned ear</p>
-<p class='line0'>Burst forth love’s charmed refrain.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Hark, hark, listen and hear!</p>
-<p class='line0'>The robin’s whistle, the oriole’s note,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Both are drowned</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;In the golden sound</p>
-<p class='line0'>That pours from the perfect throat.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Sing, spirit of might,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Bird of beauty and tune,—</p>
-<p class='line0'>Sable-winged as a summer’s night,</p>
-<p class='line0'>With the red-rose breast as soft, as bright</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;As a rose-red dawn in June!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Sing, sing to the rippling light,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Sing to the paling moon!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Sing, sing, sing</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Of a joy beyond our ken,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Till the burdens of manhood loose their hold,</p>
-<p class='line0'>And the heart grows young, and the Age of Gold</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;Rolls back on the souls of men.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>—<span class='sc'>Dora Read Goodale</span>, in <span class='it'>Youth’s Companion</span>.</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<div><span class='pageno' title='431' id='Page_431'></span><h1>XXVII<br/> <span class='sub-head'>FLAG DAY</span></h1></div>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The Spring Sale of the work of the Kind Hearts’ Club
-was held the Saturday after Arbour and Bird Day.
-People who had seen the bird-houses that their friends
-had bought at Christmas drove over from towns many
-miles away, while those who had been before came again
-and seemed perfectly fascinated by the birds’ baths and
-drinking-troughs made from the hollowed logs.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The money thus being secure, the wayside drinking-fountain
-for man, beast, and bird was begun at once
-and before Memorial Day was completed and the water
-turned on, to Tommy’s great pride.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Nor were the children obliged to spend all their pennies
-upon the work, for besides the actual money, they had
-earned something of more value—the confidence and co-operation
-of their own parents and of the neighbourhood.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At first the work that Gray Lady had begun at Foxes
-Corners school was thought to be merely a passing fancy
-or a matter of sentiment only, but day by day many of
-those who were not only indifferent, but perhaps aggressive,
-saw that common sense went hand in hand
-with the common humanity that the Kind Hearts’ Club
-expressed.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Flag Day, that year falling upon a Friday, was to be
-the last regular bird lesson for the Foxes Corners school.
-Now that the planting season had come, and the summer
-<span class='pageno' title='432' id='Page_432'></span>
-vacation was near, the Friday afternoons were needed
-for making up back work on the part of those who had
-been absent and in preparing for examinations.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>In some way it seemed to be an understood fact that
-Rose Wilde would go to Bridgeton to teach in the High
-School, and it was a subject about which her pupils were
-very unhappy.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>There were to be some patriotic exercises at the school
-in the morning as usual; then Miss Wilde asked Gray
-Lady, who had been away for several days, if the children
-might not have their afternoon talk at Swallow Chimney
-instead of at the school, as the air in the low room was
-quite heavy and uncomfortable in the warm June afternoons.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Luncheon was hardly over on that day before Goldilocks
-began to show unusual signs of hurry. In answer
-to her mother’s question as to what made her so restless,
-she replied, “I’m so afraid we may be late. I promised
-Miss Wilde we would be over by half-past one,”
-and then stopped and looked confused.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“I do not see how we can be late when the class cannot
-begin by itself,” said Gray Lady, smiling, for she was
-well aware that there was something unusual in the air,
-but exactly what, she had purposely kept herself from
-guessing.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>However, she did not aggravate Goldilocks by any
-unnecessary delay, and half-past one saw mother and
-daughter going through the garden toward the gate of
-Birdland. Goldilocks, for some mysterious reason, kept
-her eyes upon the ground, while it seemed to her as if
-her mother stopped an endlessly long time to admire
-<span class='pageno' title='433' id='Page_433'></span>
-every shrub and to gather a bunch of delicately pencilled
-pansies of lilac, mauve, and royal purple to fasten in the
-belt of her soft gray muslin gown.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>As the pair came out from the shadow of the overhanging
-vines of the garden walk, a low murmur and
-the distinct words “here she comes” made Gray Lady
-pause and look toward the rustic gate of Birdland. As
-she did so, the gate opened, and inside she saw the school
-children drawn up in line on either side of the grass path
-that formed a natural aisle to the middle of the orchard,
-where several of the old trees had crumbled away, leaving
-an open space.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We must walk right on,” whispered Goldilocks,
-clutching her mother’s hand and almost pulling her
-along. So, wishing every one good day right and left
-as she went, Gray Lady allowed herself to be led, the
-children closing in and following.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>At first the bright light in the open space blinded
-Gray Lady, and then she saw that a tall flagpole was
-planted in the centre of the open,—a slender pole,
-flawless from bottom to top, polished and smooth as
-glass. On the top was perched a gilded eagle with wings
-wide-spread; in the halyards on the pole a loosely
-folded bundle was caught, and the end of the line was
-in the hands of Jack Todd.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Gray Lady stood quite still looking from one to the
-other, her breath coming fast. Then Jack jerked the
-line, and out of the bundle, fold on fold, fell a large flag;
-slowly it rose to the top of the pole and floated in the
-breeze, while at the little click of Miss Wilde’s tuning-fork
-twenty-five fresh young voices broke into song.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='434' id='Page_434'></span></p>
-
-<h2 class='nobreak'>HYMN OF THE FLAG</h2>
-
-
-          <div class='poetry-container' style=''>
-          <div class='lgp'> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>(Dedicated to the Army and Navy)</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>North, South, East, and West</p>
-<p class='line0'>Rise and join your hands.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Native born and Brothers drawn</p>
-<p class='line0'>From many Fatherlands.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Rise ye Nation of the morn,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Land where Liberty was born;</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Ye who fear no ruler’s nod,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Ye who only kneel to God—</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Rise—Salute your Flag!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Stars upon its azure throng,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Stars for states that stride along,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Stars of hope that make men strong.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Blood-red bars for battle done,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Steel-white stars for peace well won.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Rise—Salute this Flag!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>North, South, East, and West</p>
-<p class='line0'>Bring your tribute then.</p>
-<p class='line0'>Gold ye have and grain enough</p>
-<p class='line0'>To feed earth’s starving men.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Ye who tent on distant shores,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Ye whose name the ocean roars,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Ye who toil in mine and field,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Ye who pluck the cotton’s yield,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Rise—Salute your flag!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>North, South, East, and West</p>
-<p class='line0'>Rise and join your hands;</p>
-<p class='line0'>Native born and brothers drawn</p>
-<p class='line0'>From many Fatherlands.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;One ye stand in common cause,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;One to break oppression’s laws,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;One to open Freedom’s gate,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;One! Ye re-United States!</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Rise—Salute your Flag!</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div>
-<div class='stanza-outer'>
-<p class='line0'>Stars upon its azure throng,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Stars for states that stride along,</p>
-<p class='line0'>Stars of hope that make men strong.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Blood-red bars for battles done,</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Steel-white stars for peace well won.</p>
-<p class='line0'>&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;&ensp;Rise—Salute this Flag!</p>
-</div>
-</div></div> <!-- end poetry block --><!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='tbk134'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='435' id='Page_435'></span>
-The singing ceased, and Gray Lady stood with bent
-head, a smile upon her lips and tears in her eyes, for
-often when one is happiest, the two go together.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>The words of the hymn had been written by a dear
-friend on one of the anniversaries of the day that the
-General gave his life for his flag’s honour, and forgetting
-that Goldilocks knew, Gray Lady had thought that
-no one remembered the verses but herself.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Tommy and Sarah, to whom it had fallen to explain
-the occasion in a little speech of Miss Wilde’s wording,
-stepped forward, then looked at each other and seemed
-struck dumb. Sarah found her tongue first and also
-her own wording for the speech; clasping her hands
-nervously, she began: “Last fall when we had the orchard
-party, you said ‘some day Birdland must have a flagpole
-of its own,’ so we thought we would all do it and
-Miss Wilde said, ‘yes.’ The big boys cut the pole in
-Haines’ woods (he let them), and they shaped it out and
-polished it all themselves, and Jacob helped set it yesterday.
-We were awfully afraid you wouldn’t go to New
-York so’s they could do it without being seen.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'><span class='pageno' title='436' id='Page_436'></span>
-“Miss Wilde fitted the music to the words, and Mrs.
-Wilde cut out the flag, and the rest of us all sewed on
-it, the little boys too. The stripes were easy, but some
-of the stars wiggled in the points, because it’s hard turning
-sharp corners.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“We all bought the eagle, not in a store,—they cost
-too much,—but of the junk pedler, and it’s been done
-over. It’s a good strong one, better than they make
-nowadays, grandma says.” Then, as Sarah realized
-that she had forgotten all the expressions of thanks
-for the happiness that had come to them at “the General’s”
-which Miss Wilde had so carefully worded and
-drilled them to pronounce correctly, she gave a despairing
-look at their friend and, seeing something in her face
-that invited her, cast herself into Gray Lady’s arms.</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk135'/>
-
-<p class='pindent'>After the flag had been lowered, duly examined, and
-praised, and the crooked stars declared to be quite natural,
-because, as Goldilocks truthfully remarked, “real stars
-twinkle and always look crooked, you know,” Gray
-Lady said: “Now that I know the beautiful surprise
-you had for me, I will tell you a little secret of my own.
-It is true, as rumour says, that Miss Wilde is going to leave
-Foxes Corners school at the term end, but <span class='it'>not</span> to go to
-Bridgeton.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“She is going to have a little school all of her own in
-the big room at Swallow Chimney, with Goldilocks and
-as many of you for pupils as wish to go to the High
-School by and by and are ready for the eighth grade.
-Yes, I have arranged it with the school committee, and
-<span class='pageno' title='437' id='Page_437'></span>
-it is perfectly satisfactory to them. Oh! children, do
-not smother me!”</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>Then Tommy Todd suddenly realized that he had
-not only thought of following Sarah’s example and
-hugging Gray Lady, but that he had actually done so!</p>
-
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;'>THE END</p>
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<div><h1 class='nobreak'>INDEX</h1></div>
-
-<div class='lgl' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line'>Birds, Travels of, <a href='#travels'>136</a>-153.</p>
-<p class='line'>Blackbird, Red-winged, <a href='#rwbird'>333</a>-340.</p>
-<p class='line'>Bluebird, <a href='#bbird'>313</a>-317.</p>
-<p class='line'>Bobolink, <a href='#bobo1'>21</a>, <a href='#bobo2'>34</a>, <a href='#bobo3'>147</a>, <a href='#bobo4'>226</a>-228, <a href='#bobo5'>403</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Bob-white (Quail), <a href='#bobW1'>145</a>, <a href='#bobW2'>199</a>-202.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Cardinal, <a href='#card1'>145</a>, <a href='#card2'>277</a>, <a href='#card3'>282</a>-288.</p>
-<p class='line'>Catbird, <a href='#cat1'>32</a>, <a href='#cat2'>366</a>, <a href='#cat3'>382</a>, <a href='#cat4'>383</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Chat, Yellow-breasted, <a href='#chat1'>403</a>, <a href='#chat2'>411</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Chickadee, <a href='#cdee1'>25</a>-27, <a href='#cdee2'>181</a>, <a href='#cdee3'>246</a>, <a href='#cdee4'>355</a>-356.</p>
-<p class='line'>Chippy, Winter, see Tree-Sparrow.</p>
-<p class='line'>Cowbird, <a href='#cow1'>333</a>, <a href='#cow2'>336</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Creeper, Brown, <a href='#brown'>184</a>-186.</p>
-<p class='line'>Crossbill, Red-winged, <a href='#redcross'>252</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Crossbill, White-winged, <a href='#cross2'>252</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Crow, <a href='#crow1'>10</a>-11, <a href='#crow3'>107</a>-109, <a href='#crow4'>114</a>-128.</p>
-<p class='line'>Cuckoo, Yellow-billed, <a href='#cuck1'>403</a>, <a href='#cuck2'>404</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Curlew, Eskimo, <a href='#curl'>148</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Dove, Mourning, <a href='#dove1'>219</a>-220.</p>
-<p class='line'>Duck, Wood, <a href='#duck'>213</a>-215.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Finch, Purple, <a href='#pfinch'>363</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Flicker, <a href='#flick'>189</a>-194.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Goldfinch, American, <a href='#gold1'>247</a>, <a href='#gold2'>422</a>-426.</p>
-<p class='line'>Goose, Wild, <a href='#goose'>356</a>-358.</p>
-<p class='line'>Grackle, Purple, <a href='#grack1'>117</a>, <a href='#grack2'>337</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Grackle, Rusty, <a href='#grack3'>337</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Grosbeak, Rose-breasted, <a href='#gros1'>403</a>, <a href='#gros2'>426</a>-430.</p>
-<p class='line'>Grouse, Ruffed (Partridge), <a href='#ruff1'>197</a>-199, <a href='#ruff2'>203</a>-208.</p>
-<p class='line'>Gull, Herring or Harbour, <a href='#gull1'>229</a>, <a href='#gull2'>232</a>-241.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Hawks, <a href='#hawk1'>157</a>, etc.</p>
-<p class='line'>Hawk, American Sparrow, <a href='#hawk2'>172</a>-174.</p>
-<p class='line'>Hawk, Harrier, <a href='#hawk3'>171</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Hawk, Marsh, <a href='#hawk4'>171</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Hawk, Red-shouldered, <a href='#hawk5'>154</a>, <a href='#hawk6'>171</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Heron, Great Blue, <a href='#heron'>363</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Heron, Snowy Egret, <a href='#egret1'>50</a>, <a href='#egret2'>65</a>-72.</p>
-<p class='line'>Humming-bird, Ruby-throated, <a href='#hum1'>366</a>, <a href='#hum2'>375</a>-376, <a href='#hum3'>403</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Indigo-bird, <a href='#indigo1'>279</a>-281, <a href='#indigo2'>403</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Jay, Blue, <a href='#jay1'>25</a>, <a href='#jay2'>116</a>, <a href='#jay3'>128</a>-135.</p>
-<p class='line'>Junco, <a href='#junc1'>250</a>, <a href='#junc2'>308</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Killdeer, <a href='#killd1'>220</a>, <a href='#killd2'>223</a>-225.</p>
-<p class='line'>Kingbird, <a href='#kbird'>403</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Kingfisher, <a href='#kingf'>340</a>-350.</p>
-<p class='line'>Kinglet, Golden-crowned, <a href='#king1'>250</a>, <a href='#king2'>251</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Lark, Horned, <a href='#lark'>297</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Martin, Purple, <a href='#mart1'>95</a>, <a href='#mart2'>96</a>, <a href='#mart3'>99</a>, <a href='#mart4'>101</a>, <a href='#mart5'>365</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Meadowlark, <a href='#mead1'>217</a>-218, <a href='#mead2'>337</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Migration of Birds, <a href='#mig'>136</a>-153.</p>
-<p class='line'>Mockingbird, <a href='#mock1'>271</a>-274, <a href='#mock2'>277</a>, <a href='#mock3'>289</a>, <a href='#mock4'>290</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Murres, <a href='#murre'>143</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Nest-Building, <a href='#nest'>358</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Nighthawk, <a href='#nhawk1'>147</a>-153, <a href='#nhawk2'>366</a>, <a href='#nhawk3'>369</a>-372, <a href='#nhawk4'>403</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Nonpareil, <a href='#non1'>276</a>, <a href='#non2'>278</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Nuthatch, White-breasted, <a href='#nut1'>178</a>-180, <a href='#nut2'>183</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Oriole, Baltimore, <a href='#orio1'>403</a>, <a href='#orio2'>412</a>-420.</p>
-<p class='line'>Ostrich, <a href='#ost1'>65</a>, <a href='#ost2'>73</a>-79.</p>
-<p class='line'>Ovenbird, <a href='#oven'>365</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Owls, <a href='#owl1'>157</a>, etc.</p>
-<p class='line'>Owl, Barn, <a href='#barn1'>166</a>-167.</p>
-<p class='line'>Owl, Barred, <a href='#owlbar1'>163</a>, <a href='#owlbar2'>166</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Owl, Great Horned, <a href='#horned1'>163</a>, <a href='#horned2'>165</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Owl, Gray, see Screech Owl.</p>
-<p class='line'>Owl, Mottled, see Screech Owl.</p>
-<p class='line'>Owl, Red, see Screech Owl.</p>
-<p class='line'>Owl, Screech, <a href='#screech'>158</a>-162.</p>
-<p class='line'>Owl, Short-eared, <a href='#short'>166</a>-169.</p>
-<p class='line'>Owl, Snowy, <a href='#snowy'>295</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Partridge, see Ruffed Grouse.</p>
-<p class='line'>Phœbe, <a href='#phe1'>32</a>, <a href='#phe2'>335</a>, <a href='#phe3'>350</a>-354.</p>
-<p class='line'>Plover, Upland, <a href='#plovup'>220</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Plover, Golden, <a href='#plovg'>148</a>-150.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Quail, see Bob-White.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Redpoll, <a href='#redpoll'>297</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Redstart, <a href='#reds1'>249</a>, <a href='#reds2'>403</a>, <a href='#reds3'>408</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Robin, <a href='#rob1'>23</a>, <a href='#rob2'>322</a>, <a href='#rob3'>326</a>-332.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Sandpiper, Least, <a href='#least'>220</a>-222.</p>
-<p class='line'>Sandpiper, Spotted, <a href='#spot1'>220</a>-223, <a href='#spot2'>365</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Sapsucker, Yellow-bellied, <a href='#sap1'>188</a>-189.</p>
-<p class='line'>Shrike, Northern, <a href='#shrike'>298</a>-299.</p>
-<p class='line'>Snowbird, Gray, see Junco.</p>
-<p class='line'>Sparrow, Chipping, <a href='#sparchip'>364</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Sparrow, Fox, <a href='#sparfox'>334</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Sparrow, Song, <a href='#song1'>21</a>, <a href='#song2'>318</a>-325.</p>
-<p class='line'>Sparrow, Tree, <a href='#tree'>249</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Sparrow, Vesper, <a href='#vesp'>363</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Sparrow, White-throated, <a href='#sparwh'>298</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Starling, English, <a href='#star'>110</a>-113.</p>
-<p class='line'>Swallows, <a href='#swal1'>89</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Swallow, Bank, <a href='#swalb1'>91</a>-95, <a href='#swalb2'>98</a>, <a href='#swalb3'>101</a>, <a href='#swalb4'>365</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Swallow, Barn, <a href='#barnsw1'>21</a>, <a href='#barnsw2'>91</a>-94, <a href='#barnsw3'>98</a>, <a href='#barnsw4'>101</a>, <a href='#barnsw5'>365</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Swallow, Chimney, see Chimney Swift.</p>
-<p class='line'>Swallow, Cliff, or Eave, <a href='#cliff1'>93</a>, <a href='#cliff2'>95</a>, <a href='#cliff3'>98</a>-99.</p>
-<p class='line'>Swallow, Tree, <a href='#tree1'>94</a>, <a href='#tree2'>98</a>, <a href='#tree3'>101</a>, <a href='#tree4'>364</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Swallow, White-breasted, <a href='#whiteb'>93</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Swift, Chimney, <a href='#swift1'>90</a>, <a href='#swift2'>152</a>, <a href='#swift3'>366</a>, <a href='#swift4'>372</a>-375.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Tanager, Scarlet, <a href='#tan1'>34</a>, <a href='#tan2'>403</a>, <a href='#tan3'>420</a>-422.</p>
-<p class='line'>Thistle-bird, see Goldfinch.</p>
-<p class='line'>Thrasher, Brown, <a href='#thrash1'>366</a>, <a href='#thrash2'>381</a>-383.</p>
-<p class='line'>Thrush, Golden-crowned, see Ovenbird.</p>
-<p class='line'>Thrush, Wood, <a href='#wood1'>366</a>, <a href='#wood2'>377</a>-379.</p>
-<p class='line'>Thrush, Brown, see Thrasher.</p>
-<p class='line'>Turnstone, <a href='#turn'>148</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Veery, <a href='#veery1'>366</a>, <a href='#veery2'>380</a>-381, <a href='#veery3'>403</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Vireo, Red-eyed, <a href='#vireored1'>403</a>, <a href='#vireored2'>405</a>-407.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Wake-up, see Flicker.</p>
-<p class='line'>Warbler, Black-and-white, <a href='#warbbw'>365</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Warbler, Myrtle, <a href='#warbmyr1'>250</a>, <a href='#warbmyr2'>251</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Warbler, Yellow, <a href='#yellow'>403</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Warbler, Yellow-rumped, see Myrtle Warbler.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Whip-poor-will, <a href='#whip1'>335</a>, <a href='#whip2'>365</a>-367.</p>
-<p class='line'>Wilson’s Thrush, see Veery.</p>
-<p class='line'>Woodcock, <a href='#cock1'>201</a>, <a href='#cock2'>209</a>-212.</p>
-<p class='line'>Woodpeckers, <a href='#woodp'>187</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Woodpecker, Downy, <a href='#downy'>194</a>-196.</p>
-<p class='line'>Woodpecker, Golden-winged, see Flicker.</p>
-<p class='line'>Woodpecker, Partridge, see Flicker.</p>
-<p class='line'>Woodpecker, Pigeon, see Flicker.</p>
-<p class='line'>Wren, House, <a href='#housew'>366</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>Wren, Winter, <a href='#wrenwin'>248</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>Yellowbird, Summer, <a href='#ybird'>408</a>-409.</p>
-<p class='line'>Yellowhammer, see Flicker.</p>
-<p class='line'>Yellowthroat, Maryland, <a href='#throat1'>403</a>, <a href='#throat2'>410</a>.</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<hr class='pbk'/>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;font-size:1.8em;font-weight:bold;'>OUT-DOOR BOOKS BY “BARBARA”</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:center;margin-top:1.1em;'>(<span class='it'>MABEL OSGOOD WRIGHT</span>)</p>
-
-<p class='line' style='text-align:right;margin-right:4em;margin-top:1.2em;'><span class='it'>Each</span>, $1.50</p>
-
-<hr class='tbk136'/>
-
-<div class='lgl' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line' style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Garden of a Commuter’s Wife</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'><span class='it'>Recorded by the Gardener, with eight photogravure illustrations</span></p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“ ‘The Garden of a Commuter’s Wife’ is a legend which gives no hint of
-the wit and wisdom and graceful phrase within its covers. The Commuter’s
-charming woman writes of her suburban garden, her original servants, and
-various other incidents which come in the course of living in a thoroughly
-human way. She reminds one of Elizabeth of ‘German Garden’ fame in more
-ways than one, but being American she is broader, more versatile and humorous,
-if not also more poetic. It breathes an air of cheery companionship, of
-flowers, birds, all nature, and the warm affection of human friendship. Its
-philosophy is wholesome, unselfish, and kindly, and the Commuter’s Wife, who
-writes her own memoirs, is one we would be glad to number among our
-friends.”—<span class='it'>The Evening Post</span>, Chicago.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk137'/>
-
-<div class='lgl' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line' style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>People of the Whirlpool</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'><span class='it'>From the Experience Book of a Commuter’s Wife</span></p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'><span class='it'>With eight illustrations</span></p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“They who have read ‘The Garden of a Commuter’s Wife’ know what to
-expect in this, ‘The Experience Book’ of the same delightful Barbara; but to
-the uninitiated, who light upon the book without preconceived ‘notions’ of
-what it is, it will come with a double note of delight.”—<span class='it'>New York Times’ Saturday Review</span>.</p>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The whole book is delicious, with wise and kindly humor, its just perspectives
-of the true values of things, its clever pen pictures of people and
-customs, and its healthy optimism for the great world in general.”—<span class='it'>The Evening Telegraph</span>, Philadelphia.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk138'/>
-
-<div class='lgl' style=''> <!-- rend=';' -->
-<p class='line' style='font-size:1.2em;font-weight:bold;'>The Garden, You and I</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'><span class='it'>With a Frontispiece in Colors and Other Illustrations</span></p>
-</div> <!-- end rend -->
-
-<div class='blockquote'>
-
-<p class='pindent'>“The garden and its flowers are the dominant interest, of course, but it is so
-managed that they shall serve as a setting for the human activities that engage
-a good share of the reader’s attention. There runs through the book that
-strong and hearty nature which is characteristic of all this author’s work.
-Before everything else, it is an outdoor book. It tells for the most part the tale
-of the open-air seasons.”—<span class='it'>Brooklyn Eagle</span>.</p>
-
-</div>
-
-<hr class='tbk139'/>
-
-<p class='line' style='margin-top:2em;font-size:1.1em;font-weight:bold;'>Transcriber’s Notes:</p>
-
-<p class='noindent'> A few obvious typesetting errors have been corrected without note. Some illustrations
-have been moved slightly to keep paragraphs intact.</p>
-
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-<p class='line'>&#160;</p>
-
-<p class='noindent'>[End of <span class='it'>Gray Lady and the Birds</span> by Mabel Osgood Wright]</p>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
-End of Project Gutenberg's Gray Lady and the Birds, by Mabel Osgood Wright
-
-*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS ***
-
-***** This file should be named 62793-h.htm or 62793-h.zip *****
-This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
-        http://www.gutenberg.org/6/2/7/9/62793/
-
-Produced by Mardi Desjardins & the online Distributed
-Proofreaders Canada team at https://www.pgdpcanada.net
-
-Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will
-be renamed.
-
-Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
-law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
-so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
-States without permission and without paying copyright
-royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
-of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
-concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
-and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive
-specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this
-eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook
-for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports,
-performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given
-away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks
-not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the
-trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.
-
-START: FULL LICENSE
-
-THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
-PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
-
-To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
-distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
-(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
-Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
-Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
-www.gutenberg.org/license.
-
-Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-
-1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
-and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
-(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
-the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
-destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your
-possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
-Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
-by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
-person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph
-1.E.8.
-
-1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
-used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
-agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
-things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
-paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this
-agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
-
-1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the
-Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
-of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual
-works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
-States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
-United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
-claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
-displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
-all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
-that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting
-free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm
-works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
-Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily
-comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
-same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when
-you share it without charge with others.
-
-1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
-what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
-in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
-check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
-agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
-distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
-other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no
-representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
-country outside the United States.
-
-1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
-
-1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
-immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear
-prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work
-on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the
-phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,
-performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
-
-  This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
-  most other parts of the world 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. If you are not located in the
-  United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you
-  are located before using this ebook.
-
-1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is
-derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
-contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
-copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
-the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
-redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project
-Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
-either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
-obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm
-trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
-
-1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
-with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
-must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
-additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
-will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works
-posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
-beginning of this work.
-
-1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
-License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
-work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
-
-1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
-electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
-prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
-active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm License.
-
-1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
-compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
-any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
-to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format
-other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official
-version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site
-(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
-to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
-of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain
-Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the
-full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
-
-1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
-performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
-unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
-
-1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
-access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-provided that
-
-* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
-  the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
-  you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
-  to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has
-  agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
-  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
-  within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
-  legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
-  payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
-  Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
-  Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
-  Literary Archive Foundation."
-
-* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
-  you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
-  does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
-  License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
-  copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
-  all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm
-  works.
-
-* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
-  any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
-  electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
-  receipt of the work.
-
-* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
-  distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
-
-1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than
-are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
-from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The
-Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm
-trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
-
-1.F.
-
-1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
-effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
-works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
-Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
-contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
-or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
-intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
-other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
-cannot be read by your equipment.
-
-1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
-of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
-liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
-fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
-LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
-PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
-TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
-LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
-INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
-DAMAGE.
-
-1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
-defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
-receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
-written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
-received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
-with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
-with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
-lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
-or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
-opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
-the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
-without further opportunities to fix the problem.
-
-1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
-in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO
-OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
-LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
-
-1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
-warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
-damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
-violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
-agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
-limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
-unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
-remaining provisions.
-
-1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
-trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
-providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in
-accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
-production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
-including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
-the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
-or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or
-additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any
-Defect you cause.
-
-Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
-electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
-computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
-exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
-from people in all walks of life.
-
-Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
-assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
-goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
-remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
-and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future
-generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
-Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
-www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-
-Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
-
-The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
-501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
-state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
-Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
-number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
-U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
-
-The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the
-mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its
-volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous
-locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt
-Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to
-date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and
-official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
-
-For additional contact information:
-
-    Dr. Gregory B. Newby
-    Chief Executive and Director
-    gbnewby@pglaf.org
-
-Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
-Literary Archive Foundation
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
-spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
-increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
-freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
-array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
-($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
-status with the IRS.
-
-The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
-charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
-States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
-considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
-with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
-where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
-DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
-state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
-
-While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
-have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
-against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
-approach us with offers to donate.
-
-International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
-any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
-outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
-
-Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
-methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
-ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
-donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
-
-Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works.
-
-Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be
-freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
-distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of
-volunteer support.
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
-editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
-the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
-necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
-edition.
-
-Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search
-facility: www.gutenberg.org
-
-This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
-including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
-subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-  </body>
-  <!-- created with fpgen.py 4.62 on 2020-07-31 02:29:58 GMT -->
-</html>
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/cover.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index e0633f9..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/cover.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i002.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i002.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 960c3e6..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i002.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i004.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i004.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index c375f13..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i004.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i009.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i009.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index dc5dc53..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i009.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i053.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i053.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 5f3a058..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i053.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i062.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i062.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 7efe0cd..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i062.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i095.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i095.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index a6a8d08..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i095.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i104.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i104.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 33a654f..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i104.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i127.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i127.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 02a676a..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i127.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i138.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i138.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index a36f4eb..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i138.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i161.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i161.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index ace610c..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i161.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i176.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i176.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index acd0701..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i176.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i183.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i183.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 4750459..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i183.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i188.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i188.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index c619f06..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i188.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i191.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i191.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 6a81d7b..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i191.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i196.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i196.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index eaa42fa..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i196.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i205.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i205.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index ba8523e..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i205.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i208.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i208.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index f15c5c4..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i208.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i211.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i211.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index cb08b29..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i211.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i216.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i216.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 3e6dac3..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i216.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i221.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i221.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index dc61b57..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i221.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i234.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i234.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 8e6223e..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i234.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i239.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i239.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 1a95801..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i239.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i244.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i244.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 58ffafa..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i244.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i247.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i247.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 9e85ead..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i247.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i250.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i250.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 564dc04..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i250.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i255.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i255.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index effcc8e..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i255.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i262.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i262.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 94d4f3d..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i262.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i265.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i265.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 4eb942c..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i265.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i270.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i270.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index d39e25a..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i270.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i273.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i273.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 0382fdb..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i273.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i276.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i276.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 0ab3e2f..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i276.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i279.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i279.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 1e40ba9..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i279.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i280.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i280.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 2e92ec2..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i280.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i289.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i289.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 2ce01a9..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i289.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i306.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i306.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index dfe6728..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i306.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i309.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i309.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 676c18f..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i309.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i340.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i340.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index b64e488..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i340.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i347.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i347.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index d13e914..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i347.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i376.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i376.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index f53b645..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i376.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i389.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i389.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 393831f..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i389.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i398.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i398.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index c39f550..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i398.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i405.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i405.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 82efe63..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i405.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i427.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i427.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 05cc4ce..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i427.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i437.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i437.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 815b042..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i437.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i442.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i442.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index c52832d..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i442.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i447.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i447.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 7fdc3f0..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i447.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i454.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i454.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 67242ab..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i454.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i474.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i474.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index bc4c754..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i474.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i477.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i477.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index d91c189..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i477.jpg
+++ /dev/null
diff --git a/old/62793-h/images/i494.jpg b/old/62793-h/images/i494.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index e388fbd..0000000
--- a/old/62793-h/images/i494.jpg
+++ /dev/null