Bird Neighbors
An Introductory Acquaintance with One Hundred and Fifty Birds Commonly Found in the Gardens, Meadows, and Woods About Our Homes (2024)

Bird Neighbors

by Neltje Blanchan

Etext prepared by Gerry Rising of Buffalo, NY. Notes [in brackets] are theAmerican Ornithologists Union bird names as of 1998.

BIRD NEIGHBORS. An Introductory Acquaintance With One Hundred and Fifty Birds
Commonly Found in the Gardens, Meadows, and Woods About Our Homes

By NELTJE BLANCHAN

INTRODUCTION BY JOHN BURROUGHS1897, 1904, 1922

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION BY JOHN BURROUGHS

PREFACE
I. BIRD FAMILIES: Their Characteristics and the
Representatives of Each Family included in "Bird
Neighbors"
II. HABITATS OF BIRDS
III. SEASONS OF BIRDS
IV. BIRDS GROUPED ACCORDING TO SIZE
V. DESCRIPTIONS OF BIRDS GROUPED ACCORDING TO COLOR
Birds Conspicuously Black
Birds Conspicuously Black and White
Dusky, Gray, and Slate-colored Birds
Blue and Bluish Birds
Brown, Olive or Grayish Brown, and Brown and Gray Sparrowy
Birds
Green, Greenish Gray, Olive, and Yellowish O1ive Birds
Birds Conspicuously Yellow and Orange
Birds Conspicuously Red of any Shade

INTRODUCTION

I write these few introductory sentences to this volume only to second soworthy an attempt to quicken and enlarge the general interest in our birds.The book itself is merely an introduction, and is only designed to place a fewclews in the reader's hands which he himself or herself is to follow up. I cansay that it is reliable and is written in a vivacious strain and by a realbird lover, and should prove a help and a stimulus to any one who seeks by theaid of its pages to become better acquainted with our songsters. The variousgrouping of the birds according to color, season, habitat, etc., ought torender the identification of the birds, with no other weapon than an operaglass, an easy matter.

When I began the study of the birds I had access to a copy of Audubon, whichgreatly stimulated my interest in the pursuit, but I did not have the operaglass, and I could not take Audubon with me on my walks, as the reader maythis volume.

But you do not want to make out your bird the first time; the book or yourfriend must not make the problem too easy for you. You must go again andagain, and see and hear your bird under varying conditions and get a good holdof several of its characteristic traits. Things easily learned are apt to beeasily forgotten. Some ladies, beginning the study of birds, once wrote to me,asking if I would not please come and help them, and set them right aboutcertain birds in dispute. I replied that that would be getting their knowledgetoo easily; that what I and any one else told them they would be very apt toforget, but that the things they found out themselves they would alwaysremember. We must in a way earn what we have or keep. Only thus does it becomeours, a real part of us.

Not very long afterward I had the pleasure of walking with one of the ladies,and I found her eye and ear quite as sharp as my own, and that she was in afair way to conquer the bird kingdom without any outside help. She said thatthe groves and fields, through which she used to walk with only a languidinterest, were now completely transformed to her and afforded her the keenestpleasure; a whole new world of interest had been disclosed to her; she felt asif she was constantly on the eve of some new discovery; the next turn in thepath might reveal to her a new warbler or a new vireo. I remember the thrillshe seemed to experience when I called her attention to a purple finch singingin the tree-tops in front of her house, a rare visitant she had not beforeheard. The thrill would of course have been greater had she identified thebird without my aid. One would rather bag one's own game, whether it be with abullet or an eyebeam.

The experience of this lady is the experience of all in whom is kindled thisbird enthusiasm. A new interest is added to life; one more resource againstennui and stagnation. If you have only a city yard with a few sickly trees init, you will find great delight in noting the numerous stragglers from thegreat army of spring and autumn migrants that find their way there. If youlive in the country, it is as if new eyes and new ears were given you, with acorrespondingly increased capacity for rural enjoyment.

The birds link themselves to your memory of seasons and places, so that Asong, a call, a gleam of color, set going a sequence of delightfulreminiscences in your mind. When a solitary great Carolina wren came oneAugust day and took up its abode near me and sang and called and warbled as Ihad heard it long before on the Potomac, how it brought the old days, the oldscenes back again, and made me for the moment younger by all those years!

A few seasons ago I feared the tribe of bluebirds were on the verge ofextinction from the enormous number of them that perished from cold and hungerin the South in the winter of '94. For two summers not a blue wing, not a bluewarble. I seemed to miss something kindred and precious from my environment —the visible embodiment of the tender sky and the wistful soil. What a loss, Isaid, to the coming generations of dwellers in the country — no bluebird inthe spring! What will the farm-boy date from? But the fear was groundless: thebirds are regaining their lost ground; broods of young blue-coats are againseen drifting from stake to stake or from mullen-stalk to mullen-stalk aboutthe fields in summer, and our April air will doubtless again be warmed andthrilled by this lovely harbinger of spring. — JOHN BURROUGHS, August 19,1897

PREFACE

Not to have so much as a bowing acquaintance with the birds that nest in ourgardens or under the very eaves of our houses; that haunt our wood-piles; keepour fruit-trees free from slugs; waken us with their songs, and enliven ourwalks along the roadside and through the woods, seems to be, at least, abreach of etiquette toward some of our most kindly disposed neighbors.

Birds of prey, game and water birds are not included in the book. Thefollowing pages are intended to be nothing more than a familiar introductionto the birds that live near us. Even in the principal park of a great citylike New York, a bird-lover has found more than one hundred and thirtyspecies; as many, probably, as could be discovered in the same sized territoryanywhere.

The plan of the book is not a scientific one, if the term scientific isunderstood to mean technical and anatomical. The purpose of the writer is togive, in a popular and accessible form, knowledge which is accurate andreliable about the life of our common birds. This knowledge has not beencollected from the stuffed carcasses of birds in museums, but gleaned afield.In a word, these short narrative descriptions treat of the bird'scharacteristics of size, color, and flight; its peculiarities of instinct andtemperament; its nest and home life; its choice of food; its songs; and of theseason in which we may expect it to play its part in the great panorama Natureunfolds with faithful precision year after year. They are an attempt to makethe bird so live before the reader that, when seen out of doors, itsrecognition shall be instant and cordial, like that given to a friend.

The coloring described in this book is sometimes more vivid than that found inthe works of some learned authorities whose conflicting testimony is oftensadly bewildering to the novice. In different parts of the country, and atdifferent seasons of the year, the plumage of some birds undergoes manychanges. The reader must remember, therefore, that the specimens examined anddescribed were not, as before stated, the faded ones in our museums, but livebirds in their fresh, spring plumage, studied afield.

The birds have been classed into color groups, in the belief that this method,more than any other will make identification most easy. The color of the birdis the first, and often the only, characteristic noticed. But they have alsobeen classified according to the localities for which they show decidedpreferences and in which they are most likely to be found. Again, they havebeen grouped according to the season when they may be expected. In the briefparagraphs that deal with groups of birds separated into the various familiesrepresented in the book, the characteristics and traits of each clan areclearly emphasized. By these several aids it is believed the merest novicewill be able to quickly identify any bird neighbor that is neither local norrare.

To the uninitiated or uninterested observer, all small, dull-colored birds are"common sparrows." The closer scrutiny of the trained eye quicklydifferentiates, and picks out not only the Song, the Canada, and the FoxSparrows, but finds a dozen other familiar friends where one who "has eyes andsees not" does not even suspect their presence. Ruskin says: "The more I thinkof it, I find this conclusion more impressed upon me, that the greatest thinga human soul ever does in this world is to SEE something. Hundreds of peoplecan talk for one who can think, but thousands can think for one who can see.To see clearly is poetry, prophecy, and religion — all in one."

While the author is indebted to all the time-honored standard authorities, andto many ornithologists of the present day — too many for individual mention— it is to Mr. John Burroughs her deepest debt is due. To this clear-visionedprophet, who has opened the blind eyes of thousands to the delights thatNature holds within our easy reach, she would gratefully acknowledge manyobligations; first of all, for the plan on which "Bird Neighbors" is arranged;next, for his patient kindness in reading and annotating the manuscript of thebook; and, not least, for the inspiration of his perennially charming writingsthat are so largely responsible for the ready-made audience now awaitingwriters on out-of-door topics.

The author takes this opportunity to express her appreciation of the work theNational Association of Audubon Societies has done and is doing to prevent theslaughter of birds in all parts of the United States, to develop birdsanctuaries and inaugurate protective legislation. Indeed to it, more than toall other agencies combined, is due the credit of eliminating so much of thePrussianlike cruelty toward birds that once characterized American treatmentof them, from the rising generation. — NELTJE BLANCHAN

I. BIRD FAMILIES

THEIR CHARACTERISTICS AND THE REPRESENTATIVES OF EACH FAMILY INCLUDED IN "BIRD NEIGHBORS'

Order Coccyges: CUCKOOS AND KINGFISHERS

Family Cuculidae: CUCKOOS

Long, pigeon-shaped birds, whose backs are grayish brown with a bronze lustreand whose under parts are whitish. Bill long and curved. Tail long; raised anddrooped slowly while the bird is perching. Two toes point forward and twobackward. Call-note loud and like a tree-toad's rattle. Song lacking. Birds oflow trees and undergrowth, where they also nest; partial to neighborhood ofstreams, or wherever the tent caterpillar is abundant. Habits rather solitary,silent, and eccentric. Migratory. Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Black-billed Cuckoo.

Family Alcedinidae: KINGFISHERS

Large, top-heavy birds of streams and ponds. Usually seen perching over thewater looking for fish. Head crested; upper parts slate-blue; underneathwhite, and belted with blue or rusty. Bill large and heavy. Middle and outertoes joined for half their length. Call-note loud and prolonged, like apoliceman's rattle. Solitary birds; little inclined to rove from a chosenlocality. Migratory. Belted Kingfisher.

Order Pici: WOODPECKERS

Family Picidae: WOODPECKERS

Medium-sized and small birds, usually with plumage black and white, and alwayswith some red feathers about the head. (The flicker is brownish and yellowinstead of black and white.) Stocky, high-shouldered build; bill strong andlong for drilling holes in bark of trees. Tail feathers pointed and stiffenedto serve as a prop. Two toes before and two behind for clinging. Usually seenclinging erect on tree-trunks; rarely, if ever, head downward, like thenuthatches, titmice, etc. Woodpeckers feed as they creep around the trunks andbranches. Habits rather phlegmatic. The flicker has better developed vocalpowers than other birds of this class, whose rolling tattoo, beaten with theirbills against the tree-trunks, must answer for their love-song. Nest inhollowed-out trees. Red-headed Woodpecker. Hairy Woodpecker. Downy Woodpecker. Yellow-bellied Woodpecker. Flicker.

Order Macrochires: GOATSUCKERS, SWIFTS, AND HUMMING-BIRDS

Family Caprimulgidae: NIGHTHAWKS, WHIPPOORWILLS, ETC.

Medium-sized, mottled brownish, gray, black, and white birds of heavy build.Short, thick head; gaping, large mouth; very small bill, with bristles atbase. Take insect food on the wing. Feet small and weak; wings long andpowerful. These birds rest lengthwise on their perch while sleeping throughthe brightest daylight hours, or on the ground, where they nest. Nighthawk. Whippoorwill.

Family Micropolidae: SWIFTS

Sooty, dusky birds seen on the wing, never resting except in chimneys ofhouses, or hollow trees, where they nest. Tips of tail feathers with sharpspines, used as props. They show their kinship with the goatsuckers in theirnocturnal as well as diurnal habits, their small bills and large mouths forcatching insects on the wing, and their weak feet. Gregarious, especially atthe nesting season. Chimney Swift.

Family Trochilidae: HUMMING-BIRDS

Very small birds with green plumage (iridescent red or orange breast inmales); long, needle-shaped bill for extracting insects and nectar fromdeep-cupped flowers, and exceedingly rapid, darting flight. Small feet. Ruby-throated Humming-bird.

Order Passeres: PERCHING BIRDS

Family Tyrannidae: FLYCATCHERS

Small and medium-sized dull, dark-olive, or gray birds, with big heads that
are sometimes crested. Bills hooked at end, and with bristles at base. Harsh
or plaintive voices. Wings longer than tail; both wings and tails usually
drooped and vibrating when the birds are perching. Habits moody and silent
when perching on a conspicuous limb, telegraph wire, dead tree, or fence rail
and waiting for insects to fly within range. Sudden, nervous, spasmodic
sallies in midair to seize insects on the wing. Usually they return to their
identical perch or lookout. Pugnacious and fearless. Excellent nest builders
and devoted mates.
Kingbird.
Phoebe.
Wood Pewee.
Acadian Flycatcher.
Great Crested Flycatcher.
Least Flycatcher.
Olive-sided Flycatcher.
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher.
Say's Flycatcher.

Family Alaudidae: LARKS

The only true larks to be found in this country are the two species givenbelow. They are the kin of the European skylark, of which several unsuccessfulattempts to introduce the bird have been made in this country. These two larksmust not be confused with the meadow larks and titlarks, which belong to theblackbird and pipit families respectively. The horned larks are birds of theground, and are seen in the United States only in the autumn and winter. Inthe nesting season at the North their voices are most musical. Plumage grayishand brown, in color harmony with their habitats. Usually found in flocks; thefirst species on or near the shore. Horned Lark. Prairie Horned Lark.

Family Corvidae: CROWS AND JAYS

The crows are large black birds, walkers, with stout feet adapted for thepurpose. Fond of shifting their residence at different seasons rather thanstrictly migratory, for, except at the northern limit of range, they remainresident all the year. Gregarious. Sexes alike. Omnivorous feeders, beingpartly carnivorous, as are also the jays. Both crows and jays inhabit woodedcountry. Their voices are harsh and clamorous; and their habits are boisterousand bold, particularly the jays. Devoted mates; unpleasant neighbors. Common Crow. Fish Crow. Northern Raven. Blue Jay. Canada Jay.

Family Icteridae: BLACKBIRDS, ORIOLES, ETC.

Plumage black or a brilliant color combined with black. (The meadow lark a
sole exception.) Sexes unlike. These birds form a connecting link between the
crows and the finches. The blackbirds have strong feet for use upon the
ground, where they generally feed, while the orioles are birds of the trees.
They are both seed and insect eaters. The bills of the bobolink and cowbird
are short and conical, for they are conspicuous seed eaters. Bills of the
others long and conical, adapted for insectivorous diet. About half the family
are gifted songsters.
Red-winged Blackbird.
Rusty Blackbird.
Purple Grackle.
Bronzed Grackle.
Cowbird.
Meadow Lark.
Western Meadow Lark.
Bobolink.
Orchard Oriole.
Baltimore Oriole.

Family Fringillidae: FINCHES, SPARROWS, GROSBEAKS, BUNTINGS,
LINNETS, AND CROSSBILLS

Generally fine songsters. Bills conical, short, and stout for cracking seeds.Length from five to nine inches, usually under eight inches. This, the largestfamily of birds that we have (about one-seventh of all our birds belong toit), comprises birds of such varied plumage and habit that, while certainfamily resemblances may be traced throughout, it is almost impossible tocharacterize the family as such. The sparrows are comparatively small gray andbrown birds with striped upper parts, lighter underneath. Birds of the ground,or not far from it, elevated perches being chosen for rest and song. Nest inlow bushes or on the ground. (Chipping sparrow often selects tall trees.)Coloring adapted to grassy, dusty habitats. Males and females similar. Flightlabored. About forty species of sparrows are found in the United States; ofthese, fourteen may be met with by a novice, and six, at least, surely willbe.

The finches and their larger kin are chiefly bright-plumaged birds, the
females either duller or distinct from males; bills heavy, dull, and conical,
befitting seed eaters. Not so migratory as insectivorous birds nor so
restless. Mostly phlegmatic in temperament. Fine songsters.
Chipping Sparrow.
English Sparrow.
Field Sparrow.
Fox Sparrow.
Grasshopper Sparrow.
Savanna Sparrow.
Seaside Sparrow.
Sharp-tailed Sparrow.
Song Sparrow.
Swamp Song Sparrow.
Tree Sparrow.
Vesper Sparrow.
White-crowned Sparrow.
White-throated Sparrow.
Lapland Longspur.
Smith's Painted Longspur.
Pine Siskin (or Finch).
Purple Finch.
Goldfinch.
Redpoll.
Greater Redpoll.
Red Crossbill.
White-winged Red Crossbill.
Cardinal Grosbeak.
Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
Pine Grosbeak.
Evening Grosbeak.
Blue Grosbeak.
Indigo Bunting.
Junco.
Snowflake.
Chewink.

Family Tanagridae: TANAGERS

Distinctly an American family, remarkable for their brilliant plumage, which,however, undergoes great changes twice a year, Females different from males,being dull and inconspicuous. Birds of the tropics, two species only findingtheir way north, and the summer tanager rarely found north of Pennsylvania.Shy inhabitants of woods. Though they may nest low in trees, they choose highperches when singing or feeding upon flowers, fruits, and insects. As afamily, the tanagers have weak, squeaky voices, but both our species are goodsongsters. Suffering the fate of most bright-plumaged birds, immense numbershave been shot annually. Scarlet Tanager. Summer Tanager.

Family Hirundinidae. SWALLOWS

Birds of the air, that take their insect food on the wing. Migratory. Flightstrong, skimming, darting; exceedingly graceful. When not flying they chooseslender, conspicuous perches like telegraph wires, gutters, and eaves ofbarns. Plumage of some species dull, of others iridescent blues and Greensabove, whitish or ruddy below. Sexes similar. Bills small; mouths large. -Long and pointed wings, generally reaching the tip of the tail or beyond. Tailmore or less forked. Feet small and weak from disuse. Song a twittering warblewithout power. Gregarious birds. Barn Swallow. Bank Swallow. Cliff (or Eaves) Swallow. Tree Swallow. Rough-winged Swallow. Purple Martin.

Family Ampelidae: WAXWINGS

Medium-sized Quaker-like birds, with plumage of soft browns and grays. Headcrested; black band across forehead and through the eye. Bodies plump fromindolence. Tail tipped with yellow; wings with red tips to coverts, resemblingsealing-wax. Sexes similar. Silent, gentle, courteous, elegant birds. Usuallyseen in large flocks feeding upon berries in the trees or perching on thebranches, except at the nesting season. Voices resemble a soft, lispingtwitter. Cedar Bird. Bohemian Waxwing.

Family Laniidae: SHRIKES

Medium-sized grayish, black-and-white birds, with hooked and hawk-like billfor tearing the flesh of smaller birds,field-mice, and large insects that they impale on thorns. Handsome, boldbirds, the terror of all small, feathered neighbors, not excluding the Englishsparrow. They choose conspicuous perches when on the lookout for prey aprojecting or dead limb of a tree, the cupola of a house, the ridge-pole orweather-vane of a barn, or a telegraph wire, from which to suddenly drop upona victim. Eyesight remarkable. Call-notes harsh and unmusical. Habits solitaryand wandering. The first-named species is resident during the colder months ofthe year; the latter is a summer resident only north of Maryland. Northern Shrike. Loggerhead Shrike.

Family Vireonidae: VIREOS OR GREENLETS

Small greenish-gray or olive birds, whitish or yellowish underneath, theirplumage resembling the foliage of the trees they hunt, nest, and live among.Sexes alike. More deliberate in habit than the restless, flitting warblersthat are chiefly seen darting about the ends of twigs. Vireos are morepainstaking gleaners; they carefully explore the bark, turn their heads upwardto investigate the under side of leaves, and usually keep well hidden amongthe foliage. Bill hooked at tip for holding worms and insects. Giftedsongsters, superior to the warblers. This family is peculiar to America. Red-eyed Vireo. Solitary Vireo. Warbling Vireo. White-eyed Vireo. Yellow-throated Vireo.

Family Mniotiltidae: WOOD WARBLERS

A large group of birds, for the most part smaller than the English sparrow;
all, except the ground warblers, of beautiful plumage, in which yellow, olive,
slate-blue, black, and white are predominant colors. Females generally duller
than males. Exceedingly active, graceful, restless feeders among the terminal
twigs of trees and shrubbery; haunters of tree-tops in the woods at nesting
time. Abundant birds, especially during May and September, when the majority
are migrating to and from regions north of the United States; but they are
strangely unknown to all but devoted bird lovers, who seek them out during
these months that particularly favor acquaintance. Several species are erratic
in their migrations and choose a different course to return southward from the
one they travelled over in spring. A few species are summer residents, and
one, at least, of this tropical family, the myrtle warbler, winters at the
north. The habits of the family are not identical in every representative;
some are more deliberate and less nervous than others; a few, like the
Canadian and Wilson's warblers, are expert flycatchers, taking their food on
the wing, but not usually returning to the same perch, like true flycatchers;
and a few of the warblers, as, for example, the black-and-white, the pine, and
the worm-eating species, have the nuthatches' habit of creeping around the
bark of trees. Quite a number feed upon the ground. All are insectivorous,
though many vary their diet with blossom, fruit, or berries, and naturally
their bills are slender and sharply pointed, rarely finch-like. The
yellow-breasted chat has the greatest variety of vocal expressions. The ground
warblers are compensated for their sober, thrush-like plumage by their
exquisite voices, while the great majority of the family that are gaily
dressed have notes that either resemble the trill of
mid-summer insects or, by their limited range and feeble utterance, sadly
belie the family name.
Bay-breasted Warbler.
Blackburnian Warbler.
Blackpoll Warbler.
Black-throated Blue Warbler.
Black-throated Green Warbler.
Black-and-white Creeping Warbler.
Blue-winged Warbler.
Canadian Warbler.
Chestnut-sided Warbler.
Golden-winged Warbler.
Hooded Warbler.
Kentucky Warbler.
Magnolia Warbler.
Mourning Warbler.
Myrtle Warbler.
Nashville Warbler.
Palm Warbler.
Parula Warbler.
Pine Warbler.
Prairie Warbler.
Redstart.
Wilson's Warbler.
Worm-eating Warbler.
Yellow Warbler.
Yellow Palm Warbler.
Ovenbird.
Northern Water Thrush.
Louisiana Water Thrush.
Maryland Yellowthroat.
Yellow-breasted Chat.

Family Motacillidae: WAGTAILS AND PIPITS,

Only three birds of this family inhabit North America, and ofthese only one is common enough, east of the Mississippi, to beincluded in this book. Terrestrial birds of open tracts near thecoast, stubble-fields, and country roadsides, with brownishplumage to harmonize with their surroundings. The American pipit,or titlark, has a peculiar wavering flight when, after beingflushed, it reluctantly leaves the ground. Then its white tailfeathers are conspicuous. Its habit of wagging its tail whenperching is not an exclusive family trait, as the family namemight imply. American Pipit, or Titlark

Family Troglodytidae: THRASHERS, WRENS, ETC.

Subfamily Miminae: THRASHERS, MOCKING-BIRDS, AND CATBIRDS

Apparently the birds that comprise this large general family are too unlike tobe related, but the missing links or intermediate species may all be found farSouth. The first subfamily is comprised of distinctively American birds. Mostnumerous in the tropics. Their long tails serve a double purpose-in assistingtheir flight and acting as an outlet for their vivacity. Usually they inhabitscrubby undergrowth bordering woods. They rank among our finest songsters,with ventriloquial and imitative powers added to sweetness of tone. Brown Thrasher. Catbird. Mocking-bird.

Subfamily Troglodytinae: WRENS

Small brown birds, more or less barred with darkest brown above, much lighterbelow. Usually carry their short tails erect. Wings are small, for shortflight. Vivacious, busy, excitable, easily displeased, quick to take alarm.Most of the species have scolding notes in addition to their lyrical, gushingsong, that seems much too powerful a performance for a diminutive bird. As arule, wrens haunt thickets or marshes, but at least one species is thoroughlydomesticated. All are insectivorous. Carolina Wren. House Wren. Winter-Wren. Long-billed Marsh Wren. Short-billed Marsh Wren.

Family Certhiidae: CREEPERS

Only one species of this Old World family is found in America. It is a brown,much mottled bird, that creeps spirally around and around the trunks of treesin fall and winter, pecking at the larvae in the bark with its long, sharpbill, and doing its work with faithful exactness but little spirit. It usesits tail as a prop in climbing, like the woodpeckers. Brown Creeper.

Family Paridae: NUTHATCHES AND TITMICE

Two distinct subfamilies are included under this general head. The nuthatches(Sittinae) are small, slate-colored birds, seen chiefly in winter walking upand down the barks of trees, and sometimes running along the under side ofbranches upside down, like flies. Plumage compact and smooth. Their name isderived from their habit of wedging nuts (usually beechnuts) in the bark oftrees, and then hatching them open with their strong straight bills. White-breasted Nuthatch. Red-breasted Nuthatch.

The titmice or chickadees (Parinae) are fluffy little gray birds, the onecrested. the other with a black cap. They are also expert climbers, though notsuch wonderful gymnasts as the nuthatches. These cousins are frequently seentogether in winter woods or in the evergreens about houses. Chickadees arepartial to tree-tops, especially to the highest pine cones, on which they hangfearlessly. Cheerful, constant residents, retreating to the deep woods only tonest. Tufted Titmouse. Chickadee.

Family Sylviidae: KINGLETS AND GNATCATCHERS

The kinglets (Regulinae) are very small greenish-gray birds, with highlycolored crown patch, that are seen chiefly in autumn, winter, and spring southof Labrador. Habits active; diligent flitters among trees and shrubbery fromlimb to limb after minute insects. Beautiful nest builders. Song remarkablefor so small a bird. Golden-crowned Kinglet. Ruby-crowned Kinglet.

The one representative of the distinctly American subfamily of gnatcatchers(Polioptilinae) that we have, is a small blue-gray bird, whitish below. It israrely found outside moist, low tracts of woodland, where insects abound.These it takes on the wing with wonderful dexterity. It is exceedinglygraceful and assumes many charming postures. A bird of trees, nesting in thehigh branches. A bird of strong character and an exquisitely finished thoughfeeble songster. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.

Family Turdidae: THRUSHES, BLUEBIRDS, ETC.

This group includes our finest songsters. Birds of moderate size, stout build;
as a rule, inhabitants of woodlands, but the robin and the bluebird are
notable exceptions. Bills long and slender, suitable for worm diet. Only
casual fruit-eaters. Slender, strong legs for running and hopping. True
thrushes are grayish or olive-brown above; buff or whitish below, heavily
streaked or spotted.
Bluebird.
Robin.
Alice's Thrush.
Hermit Thrush.
Olive-backed Thrush.
Wilson's Thrush (Veery).
Wood Thrush.

Order Columbae, PIGEONS AND DOVES

Family Columbidae: PIGEONS AND DOVES

The wild pigeon is now too rare to be included among our bird neighbors; butit* beautiful relative, without the fatally gregarious habit, still nests andsings a-coo-oo-oo to its devoted mate in unfrequented corners of the farm orthe borders of woodland. Delicately shaded fawn-colored and bluish plumage.Small heads, protruding breasts. Often seen on ground. Flight strong andrapid, owing to long wings. Mourning or Carolina Dove.

II. HABITATS OF BIRDS

BIRDS OF THE AIR CATCHING THEIR FOOD AS THEY FLY

Acadian Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher, Least Flycatcher, Olive-sided
Flycatcher, Say's Flycatcher, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Kingbird, Phoebe.
Wood Pewee, Purple Martin, Chimney Swift, Barn Swallow, Bank Swallow, Cliff
Swallow, Tree Swallow, Rough-winged Swallow, Canadian Warbler, Blackpoll
Warbler, Wilson's Warbler, Nighthawk, Whippoorwill, Ruby-throated
Humming-bird, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.

BIRDS MOST FREQUENTLY SEEN IN THE UPPER HALF OF TREES

Scarlet Tanager, Summer Tanager, Baltimore Oriole, Orchard Oriole, Chickadee,
Tufted Titmouse, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, nearly all the Warblers except the
Ground Warblers; Cedar Bird, Bohemian Waxwing, the Vireos, Robin, Red
Crossbill, White-winged Crossbill, Purple Grackle, Bronzed Grackle, Redstart,
Northern Shrike, Loggerhead Shrike, Crow, Fish Crow, Raven, Purple Finch, Tree
and Chipping Sparrows, Cardinal, Blue Jay, Kingbird, the Crested and other
Flycatchers.

BIRDS OF LOW TREES OR LOWER PARTS OF TREES

Black-billed Cuckoo, Yellow-billed Cuckoo, the Sparrows, the Thrushes, the
Grosbeaks, Goldfinch, Summer Yellowbird and other Warblers; the Wrens,
Bluebird, Mocking-bird, Catbird, Brown Thrasher, Maryland Yellowthroat,
Yellow-breasted Chat.

BIRDS OF TREE-TRUNKS AND LARGE LIMBS

Hairy Woodpecker, Downy Woodpecker, Red-headed Woodpecker,
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker, Flicker, White-breasted Nuthatch,
Red-breasted Nuthatch, Brown Creeper, Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse,
Golden-crowned Kinglet, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Black-and-white Creeping
Warbler, Blue-winged Warbler, Worm-eating Warbler, Pine Warbler, Blackpoll
Warbler, Whippoorwill, Nighthawk.

BIRDS THAT SHOW A PREFERENCE FOR PINES AND OTHER EVERGREENS

Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, the Nuthatches, Brown Creeper, the Kinglets, Pine
Warbler, Black-and-white Creeping Warbler and all the Warblers except the
Ground Warblers; Pine Siskin, Cedar Bird and Bohemian Waxwing (in juniper and
cedar trees), Pine Grosbeak, Red Crossbill, White-winged Crossbill, the
Grackles, Crow, Raven, Pine Finch.

BIRDS SEEN FEEDING AMONG THE FOLIAGE AND TERMINAL TWIGS OF TREES

The Red-eyed Vireo, White-eyed Vireo, Warbling Vireo, Solitary Vireo,
Yellow-throated Vireo, Golden-crowned Kinglet. Ruby-crowned Kinglet,
Black-billed Cuckoo, Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Yellow Warbler or Summer
Yellowbird, nearly all the Warblers except the Pine and the Ground Warblers;
the Flycatchers, Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.

BIRDS THAT CHOOSE CONSPICUOUS PERCHES

Northern Shrike, Loggerhead Shrike, Kingbird, the Wood Pewee, the Phoebe andother Flycatchers, the Swallows, Kingfisher, Crows, Grackles, Blue Jay andCanada Jay; the Song, the White-throated, and the Fox Sparrows; the Grosbeaks,Cedar Bird, Goldfinch, Robin, Purple Finch, Cowbird, Brown Thrasher while insong.

BIRDS OF THE GARDENS AND ORCHARDS.

Bluebird, Robin; the English, Song, White-throated, Vesper,
White-crowned, Fox, Chipping, and Tree Sparrows; Phoebe, Wood Pewee, the Least
Flycatcher, Crested Flycatcher, Kingbird, Brown Thrasher, Wood Thrush,
Mocking-bird, Catbird, House Wren; nearly all the Warblers, especially at
blossom time among the shrubbery and fruit trees; Cedar Bird, Purple Martin,
Eaves Swallow, Barn Swallow, Purple Finch, Cowbird, Baltimore and Orchard
Orioles, Purple Grackle, Bronzed Grackle, Blue Jay, Crow, Fish Crow, Chimney
Swift, Ruby-throated Hummingbird, the Woodpeckers, Flicker, the Nuthatches,
Chickadee, Tufted Titmouse, the Cuckoos, Mourning Dove, Junco, Starling.

BIRDS OF THE WOODS

The Warblers almost without exception; the Thrushes, the Woodpeckers, the
Flycatchers, the Winter and the Carolina Wrens, the Tanagers, the Nuthatches
and Titmice, the Kinglets, the Water Thrushes, the Vireos, Whippoorwill,
Nighthawk, Kingfisher, Cardinal, Ovenbird, Brown Creeper, Tree Sparrow, Fox
Sparrow, White-throated Sparrow, White-crowned Sparrow, Junco.

BIRDS SEEN NEAR THE EDGES OF WOODS

The Wrens, the Woodpeckers, the Flycatchers, the Warblers, Purple Finch, the
Cuckoos, Brown Thrasher, Wood Thrush, Cowbird, Brown Creepers, the Nuthatches
and Titmice, the Kinglets, Chewink; the White-crowned, White-throated, Tree,
Fox, and Song Sparrows; Humming-bird, Bluebird, Junco, the Crossbills, the
Grosbeaks, Nighthawk, Whippoorwill, Mourning Dove, Indigo Bird, Brown
Thrasher.

BIRDS OF SHRUBBERY, BUSHES, AND THICKETS

Maryland Yellowthroat, Ovenbird (in woods); Myrtle Warbler, Mourning Warbler,
Yellow-breasted Chat, and other Warblers during the migrations; the Shrikes;
the White-throated, the Fox, the Song, and other Sparrows; Chickadee, Junco,
Chewink, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Cowbird, Red-winged Blackbird, Catbird,
Mocking-bird, Wilson's Thrush, Goldfinch, Redpolls, Maryland Yellowthroat,
White-eyed Vireo, Hooded Warbler.

BIRDS SEEN FEEDING ON THE GROUND

The Sparrows, Junco, Meadowlark, Horned Lark, Chewink, Robin, Ovenbird, Pipitor Titlark, Redpoll, Greater Redpoll, Snowflake, Lapland Longspur, Smith'sPainted Longspur, Rusty Blackbird, Red-winged Blackbird, the Crows, Cowbird,the Water Thrushes, Bobolink, Canada Jay, the Grackles, Mourning Dove; theWorm-eating, the Prairie, the Kentucky, and the Mourning Ground Warblers;Flicker.

BIRDS OF MEADOW, FIELD, AND UPLAND

The Field and Vesper Sparrows, Bobolink, Meadowlark, Horned Lark, Goldfinch,the Swallows, Pipit or Titlark, Cowbird, Redpoll, Greater Redpoll, Snowflake,Junco, Lapland Longspur, Smith's Painted Longspur, Rusty Blackbird, Crow, FishCrow, Nighthawk, Whippoorwill; the Yellow, the Palm, and the Prairie Warblers;the Grackles, Flicker, Bluebird, Indigo Bird.

BIRDS OF ROADSIDE AND FENCES

The Sparrows, Kingbird, Crested Flycatcher, Yellow-breasted Chat, Indigo Bird,
Bluebird, Flicker, Goldfinch, Brown Thrasher, Catbird, Robin, the Woodpeckers,
Yellow Palm Warbler, the Vireos.

BIRDS OF MARSHES AND BOGGY MEADOWS

Long-billed Marsh Wren, Short-billed Marsh Wren; the Swamp, the Savanna, the
Sharp-tailed, and the Seaside Sparrows; Red-winged Blackbird.

BIRDS OF WET WOODLANDS AND MARSHY THICKETS

Northern Water Thrush, Louisiana Water Thrush, Ovenbird, Winter Wren, Carolina
Wren, Phoebe; Wood Pewee and the other Flycatchers; Wilson's Thrush or Veery,
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher, Yellow-breasted Chat; the Canadian, Wilson's,
Black-capped, the Maryland Yellowthroat, the Hooded, and the Yellow-throated
Warblers.

BIRDS FOUND NEAR SALT WATER

Fish Crow, Common Crow, Bank Swallow, Tree Swallow, Savanna Sparrow,
Sharp-tailed Sparrow, Seaside Sparrow, Horned Lark, Pipit or Titlark.

BIRDS FOUND NEAR STREAMS AND PONDS

Kingfisher, the Swallows, Northern Water Thrush, Louisiana Water Thrush,
Phoebe, Wood Pewee, the Flycatchers, Winter Wren, Wilson's Black-capped
Warbler, the Canadian and the Yellow Warblers.

BIRDS THAT SING ON THE WING

Bobolink, Meadowlark, Indigo Bird, Purple Finch, Goldfinch, Ovenbird,
Kingbird, Vesper Sparrow (rarely), Maryland Yellowthroat, Horned Lark,
Kingfisher, the Swallows, Chimney Swift, Nighthawk, Song Sparrow, Red-winged
Blackbird, Pipit or Titlark, Mocking-bird.

III. SEASONS OF BIRDS

The latitude of New York is taken as an arbitrary division for whichallowances must be made for other localities.

THE SEASONS OF BIRDS IN THE VICINITY OF NEW YORK OR, APPROXIMATELY, OF THEFORTY-SECOND DEGREE OF LATITUDE

PERMANENT RESIDENTS

Hairy Woodpecker. Swamp Sparrow.
Downy Woodpecker. Song Sparrow.
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker. Cedar Bird.
Red-headed Woodpecker. Cardinal.
Flicker. Carolina Wren.
Meadowlark. White-breasted Nuthatch.
Prairie Horned Lark. Tufted Titmouse.
Blue Jay. Chickadee.
Crow. Robin.
Fish Crow. Bluebird.
English Sparrow. Goldfinch.
Social Sparrow. Starling.

WINTER RESIDENTS AND VISITORS

BIRDS SEEN BETWEEN NOVEMBER AND APRIL

English Sparrow. Pine Grosbeak.
Tree Sparrow. Redpoll.
White-throated Sparrow. Greater Redpoll.
Swamp Sparrow. Cedar Bird.
Vesper Sparrow. Bohemian Waxwing.
White-crowned Sparrow. Hairy Woodpecker.
Fox Sparrow. Downy Woodpecker.
Song Sparrow. Yellow-bellied Woodpecker.
Snowflake. Flicker.
Junco. Myrtle Warbler.
Horned Lark. Northern Shrike.
Meadowlark. White-breasted Nuthatch.
Red-breasted Nuthatch. Goldfinch.
Tufted Titmouse. Pine Siskin.
Chickadee. Lapland Longspur.
Robin. Smith's Painted Longspur.
Bluebird. Evening Grosbeak.
Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Cardinal.
Golden-crowned Kinglet. Blue Jay.
Brown Creeper. Red Crossbill.
Carolina Wren. White-winged Crossbill.
Winter Wren. Crow.
Pipit. Fish Crow.
Purple Finch. Kingfisher.

SUMMER RESIDENTS

BIRDS SEEN BETWEEN APRIL AND NOVEMBE&

Mourning Dove. Red-winged Blackbird.
Black-billed Cuckoo. Rusty Blackbird.
Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Orchard Oriole.
Kingfisher. Baltimore Oriole.
Red-headed Woodpecker. Purple Grackle.
Hairy Woodpecker. Bronzed Grackle.
Downy Woodpecker. Crow.
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker. Fish Crow.
Flicker. Raven.
Whippoorwill. Blue Jay.
Nighthawk. Canada Jay.
Chimney Swift. Chipping Sparrow.
Ruby-throated Humming-bird. English Sparrow.
Kingbird. Field Sparrow.
Wood Pewee. Fox Sparrow.
Phoebe. Grasshopper Sparrow.
Acadian Flycatcher. Savanna Sparrow.
Crested Flycatcher. Seaside Sparrow.
Least Flycatcher. Sharp-tailed Sparrow.
Olive-sided Flycatcher. Swamp Song Sparrow.
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. Song Sparrow.
Say's Flycatcher. Vesper Sparrow.
Bobolink. Rose-breasted Grosbeak.
Cowbird. Blue Grosbeak.
Indigo Bird. Yellow-breasted Chat.
Scarlet Tanager. Maryland Yellowthroat.
Purple Martin. Mocking-bird.
Barn Swallow. Catbird.
Bank Swallow. Brown Thrasher.
Cliff Swallow. House Wren.
Tree Swallow. Carolina Wren.
Rough-winged Swallow. Long-billed Marsh Wren.
Red-eyed Vireo. Short-billed Marsh Wren.
White-eyed Vireo. Alice's Thrush.
Solitary Vireo. Hermit Thrush.
Warbling Vireo. Olive-backed Thrush.
Yellow-throated Vireo. Wilson's Thrush or Veery.
Black-and-white Warbler. Wood Thrush.
Black-throated Green Warbler. Meadowlark.
Blue-winged Warbler. Western Meadowlark.
Chestnut-sided Warbler. Prairie Horned Lark.
Golden-winged Warbler. White-breasted Nuthatch.
Hooded Warbler. Chickadee.
Pine Warbler. Tufted Titmouse.
Prairie Warbler. Chewink.
Parula Warbler. Purple Finch.
Worm-eating Warbler. Goldfinch.
Yellow Warbler. Cardinal.
Redstart. Robin.
Ovenbird. Bluebird.
Northern Water Thrush. Cedar-Bird.
Louisiana Water Thrush. Loggerhead Shrike.

SPRING AND AUTUMN MIGRANTS ONLY, OR RARE SUMMER VISITORS

The following Warblers:
Bay-breasted. Nashville.
Blackburnian. Wilson's Black-capped.
Black-polled. Palm.
Black-throated Blue. Yellow Palm.
Canadian.
Magnolia. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher.
Mourning. Summer Tanager.
Myrtle.

MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS IN VICINITY OF NEW YORK

FEBRUARY 15 TO MARCH 15

Bluebird, Robin, the Grackles, Song Sparrow, Fox Sparrow,
Red-winged Blackbird, Kingfisher, Flicker, Purple Finch.

MARCH 15 TO APRIL 1

Increased numbers of foregoing group; Cowbird, Meadowlark, Phoebe; the Field,the Vesper, and the Swamp Sparrows.

APRIL 1 TO 15

The White-throated and the Chipping Sparrows, the Tree and the Barn Swallows,
Rusty Blackbird, the Red-headed and the Yellow-bellied Woodpeckers, Hermit
Thrush, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Pipit; the Pine, the Myrtle, and the Yellow Palm
Warblers; Goldfinch.

APRIL 15 TO MAY 1

Increased numbers of foregoing group; Brown Thrasher; Alice's, the
Olive-backed, and the Wood Thrushes; Chimney Swift, Whippoorwill, Chewink, the
Purple Martin, and the Cliff and the Bank Swallows; Least Flycatcher; the
Black-and-white Creeping, the Parula, and the Black-throated Green Warblers;
Ovenbird, House Wren, Catbird.

MAY 1 TO 15

Increased numbers of foregoing group; Wilson's Thrush or Veery; Nighthawk,
Ruby-throated Humming-bird, the Cuckoos, Crested Flycatcher, Kingbird, Wood
Pewee, the Marsh Wrens, Bank Swallow, the five Vireos, the Baltimore and
Orchard Orioles, Bobolink, Indigo Bird, Rose-breasted Grosbeak, Scarlet
Tanager, Maryland Yellowthroat, Yellow-breasted Chat, the Water Thrushes; and
the Magnolia, the Yellow, the Black-throated Blue, the Bay-breasted, the
Chestnut-sided, and the Golden-winged Warblers.

MAY 15 TO JUNE 1.

Increased numbers of foregoing group; Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Mocking-bird,
Summer Tanager; and the Blackburnian, the Blackpoll, the Worm-eating, the
Hooded, Wilson's Blackcapped, and Canadian Warblers.

JUNE, JULY, AUGUST

In June few species of birds are not nesting, in July they may rove about moreor less with their increased families, searching for their favorite foods;August finds them moulting and moping in silence, but toward the end of themonth, thoughts of returning southward set them astir again.

AUGUST 15 TO SEPTEMBER 15

Bobolink, Cliff Swallow, Scarlet Tanager, Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Purple
Martin; the Blackburnian, the Worm-eating, the Bay-breasted, the
Chestnut-sided, the Hooded, the Mourning, Wilson's Black-capped, and the
Canadian Warblers; Baltimore Oriole. Humming-bird.

SEPTEMBER 15 TO OCTOBER 1

Increased numbers of foregoing group; Wilson's Thrush, Wood Thrush, Kingbird,
Wood Pewee, Crested Flycatcher; the Least, the Olive-sided, and the Acadian
Flycatchers; the Marsh Wrens, the Cuckoos, Whippoorwill, Rose-breasted
Grosbeak, Orchard Oriole, Indigo Bird; the Warbling, the Solitary, and the
Yellow-throated Vireos; the Black-and-white Creeping, the Golden-winged, the
Yellow, and the Black-throated Blue Warblers; Maryland Yellowthroat,
Yellow-breasted Chat, Redstart.

OCTOBER 1 TO 15

Increased numbers of foregoing group; Hermit Thrush, Catbird, House Wren,
Ovenbird, the Water Thrushes, the Red-eyed and the White-eyed Vireos, Wood
Pewee, Nighthawk, Chimney Swift, Cowbird, Horned Lark, Winter Wren, Junco; the
Tree, the Vesper, the
White-throated, and the Grasshopper Sparrows; the Blackpoll, the Parula, the
Pine, the Yellow Palm, and the Prairie Warblers; Chickadee; Tufted Titmouse.

OCTOBER 15 TO NOVEMBER 15

Increased numbers of foregoing group; Wood Thrush, Wilson's Thrush or Veery,
Alice's Thrush, Olive-backed Thrush, Robin, Chewink, Brown Thrasher, Phoebe,
Shrike; the Fox, the Field, the Swamp, the Savanna, the White-crowned, the
Chipping, and the Song Sparrows; the Red-winged and the Rusty Blackbirds;
Meadowlark, the Grackles, Flicker, the Red-headed and the Yellow-bellied
Woodpeckers; Purple Finch, the Kinglets. the Nuthatches, Pine Siskin.

IV. BIRDS GROUPED ACCORDING TO SIZE

SMALLER THAN THE ENGLISH SPARROW

Humming-bird. The Redpolls.
The Kinglets. Goldfinch.
The Wrens. Pine Siskin.
All the Warblers not Savanna Sparrow.
mentioned elsewhere. Grasshopper Sparrow.
Redstart. Sharp-tailed Sparrow.
Ovenbird. Chipping Sparrow.
Chickadee. Field Sparrow.
Tufted Titmouse. Swamp Song Sparrow.
Red-breasted Nuthatch. Indigo-Bunting.
White-breasted Nuthatch. Warbling Vireo.
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher. Yellow-throated Vireo.
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher. Red-eyed Vireo.
Acadian Flycatcher. White-eyed Vireo.
Least Flycatcher. Brown Creeper.

ABOUT THE SIZE OF THE ENGLISH SPARROW

Purple Finch. Junco.
The Crossbills. Song Sparrow.
The Longspurs. Solitary Vireo.
Vesper Sparrow. The Water-thrushes.
Seaside Sparrow. Pipit or Titlark.
Tree Sparrow. Downy Woodpecker.

LARGER THAN THE ENGLISH SPARROW AND SMALLER THAN THE ROBIN

Yellow-bellied Woodpecker. Kingbird.
Chimney Swift (apparently). Crested Flycatcher.
The Swallows (apparently). Phoebe.
Olive-sided Flycatcher, Snowflake.
Wood Pewee. White-crowned Sparrow.
Horned Lark White-throated Sparrow.
Bobolink. Fox Sparrow
Cowbird. The Tanagers
Orchard Oriole. Cedar Bird.
Baltimore Oriole. Bohemian Waxwing.
The Grosbeaks: Evening, Blue, Yellow-breasted Chat.
Pine, Rose-breasted, The Thrushes.
and Cardinal. Bluebird.

ABOUT THE LENGTH OF THE ROBIN.

Red-headed Woodpecker. Northern Shrike.
Hairy Woodpecker. Mocking-bird.
Red-winged Blackbird. Catbird.
Rusty Blackbird. Chewink.
Loggerhead Shrike. Purple Martin (apparently).
Starling.

LONGER THAN THE ROBIN

Mourning Dove. Blue Jay.
The Cuckoos. Canada Jay.
Kingfisher. Meadowlark.
Flicker. Whippoorwill (apparently).
Raven. Nighthawk (apparently).
Crow. The Grackles.
Fish Crow. Brown Thrasher.

V. DESCRIPTIONS OF BIRDS

GROUPED ACCORDING TO COLOR

BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK

Common Crow.
Fish Crow.
American Raven.
Purple Grackle.
Bronzed Grackle.
Rusty Blackbird.
Red-winged Blackbird.
Purple Martin.
Cowbird.
Starling.

See also several of the Swallows; the Kingbird, the Phoebe, the Wood Pewee andother Flycatchers; the Chimney Swift; and the Chewink.

BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK

COMMON CROW

(Corvus americanus) Crow family

Called also: CORN THIEF; [AMERICAN CROW, AOU 1998]

Length — 16 to 17.50 inches.
Male — Glossy black with violet reflections. Wings appear
saw-toothed when spread, and almost equal the tail in length.
Female — Like male, except that the black is less brilliant.
Range — Throughout North America, from Hudson Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.
Migrations — March. October. Summer and winter resident.

If we have an eye for the picturesque, we place a certain value upon thebroad, strong dash of color in the landscape, given by a flock of crowsflapping their course above a corn-field, against an October sky; but thepractical eye of the farmer looks only for his gun in such a case. To him thecrow is an unmitigated nuisance, all the more maddening because it is cleverenough to circumvent every means devised for its ruin. Nothing escapes itsrapacity; fear is unknown to it. It migrates in broad daylight, chooses themost conspicuous perches, and yet its assurance is amply justified in itssteadily increasing numbers.

In the very early spring, note well the friendly way in which the crow followsthe plow, ingratiating itself by eating the larvae, field mice, and wormsupturned in the furrows, for this is its one serviceable act throughout theyear. When the first brood of chickens is hatched, its serious depredationsbegin. Not only the farmer's young fledglings, ducks, turkeys, and chicks, aresnatched up and devoured, but the nests of song birds are made desolate, eggsbeing crushed and eaten on the spot, when there are no birds to carry off tothe rickety, coarse nest in the high tree top in the woods. The fish crow,however, is the much greater enemy of the birds. Like the common crows, this,their smaller cousin, likes to congregate in winter along the seacoast to feedupon shell-fish and other sea-food that the tide brings to its feet.

Samuels claims to have seen a pair of crows visit an orchard and destroy theyoung in two robins' nests in half an hour. He calculates that two crows kill,in one day alone, young birds that in the course of the season would haveeaten a hundred thousand insects. When, in addition to these atrocities, weremember the crow's depredations in the corn-field, it is small wonder thatamong the first laws enacted in New York State was one offering a reward forits head. But the more scientific agriculturists now concede that the crow isthe farmer's true friend.

FISH CROW (Corvus ossifragus) Crow family

Length — 14 to 16 inches. About half as large again as the
robin.
Male and Female — Glossy black, with purplish-blue reflections,
generally greener underneath. Chin naked.
Range — Along Atlantic coast and that of the Gult of Mexico,
northward to southern New England. Rare stragglers or) the
Pacific coast.
Migrations — March or April. September. Summer resident only at
northern limit of range. Is found in Hudson River valley about
half-way to Albany.

Compared with the common crow, with which it is often confounded, the fishcrow is of much smaller, more slender build. Thus its flight is less laboredand more like a gull's, whose habit of catching fish that may be swimming nearthe surface of the water it sometimes adopts. Both Audubon and Wilson, whofirst made this species known, record its habit of snatching food as it fliesover the southern waters — a rare practice at the north. Its plumage, too,differs slightly from the common crow's in being a richer black everywhere,and particularly underneath, where the "corn thief" is dull. But it is thedifference between the two crows' call-note that we chiefly depend upon todistinguish these confusing cousins. To say that the fish crow says car-r-rinstead of a loud, clear caw, means little until we have had an opportunity tocompare its hoarse, cracked voice with the other bird's familiar call.

From the farmer's point of view, there is still another distinction: the fishcrow lets his crops alone. It contents itself with picking up refuse on theshores of the sea or rivers not far inland; haunting the neighborhood offishermen's huts for the small fish discarded when the seines are drawn, andtreading out with its toes the shell-fish hidden in the sand at low tide. Whenwe see it in the fields it is usually intent upon catching field-mice, grubs,and worms, with which it often varies its fish diet. It is, however, the worstnest robber we have; it probably destroys ten times as many eggs and youngbirds as its larger cousin.

The fishermen have a tradition that this southern crow comes and goes with theshad and herring — a saw which science unkindly disapproves.

AMERICAN RAVEN

(Corvus corax principalis) Crow family

Called also: NORTHERN RAVEN; [COMMON RAVEN, AOU 1998]

Length — 26 to 27 inches. Nearly three times as large as a
robin.
Male and Female — Glossy black above, with purplish and greenish
reflections. Duller underneath. Feathers of the throat and
breast long and loose, like fringe.
Range — North America, from polar regions to Mexico. Rare along
Atlantic coast and in the south. Common in the west, and very
abundant in the northwest.
Migrations — An erratic wanderer, usually resident where it
finds its way.

The weird, uncanny voice of this great bird that soars in wide circles abovethe evergreen trees of dark northern forests seems to come out of the skieslike the malediction of an evil spirit. Without uttering the words of anylanguage — Poe's "Nevermore" was, of course, a poetic license — people ofall nationalities appear to understand that some dire calamity, some wickedportent, is being announced every time the unbirdlike creature utters itsrasping call. The superstitious folk crow with an "I told you so," as theysolemnly wag their heads when they hear, of some death in the village after"the bird of ill-omen" has made an unwelcome visit to the neighborhood—itreceives the blame for every possible misfortune.

When seen in the air, the crow is the only other bird for which the ravencould be mistaken; but the raven does more sailing and less flapping, and hedelights in describing circles as he easily soars high above the trees. On theground, he is seen to be a far larger bird than the largest crow. The curiousbeard or fringe of feathers on his breast at once distinguishes him.

These birds show the family instinct for living in flocks large and small, notof ravens only, but of any birds of their own genera. In the art of nestbuilding they could instruct most of their relatives. High up in evergreentrees or on the top of cliffs, never very near the seashore, they make acompact, symmetrical nest of sticks, neatly lined with grasses and wool fromthe sheep pastures, adding soft, comfortable linings to the old nest from yearto year for each new brood. When the young emerge from the eggs, which takemany curious freaks of color and markings, they are pied black and white,suggesting the young of the western white-necked raven, a similarity which, sofar as plumage is concerned, they quickly outgrow. They early acquire thefortunate habit of eating whatever their parents set before them— grubs, worms, grain, field-mice; anything, in fact, for the raven is aconspicuously omnivorous bird.

PURPLE GRACKLE (Quiscalus quiscula) Blackbird family

Called also: CROW BLACKBIRD; MAIZE THIEF; KEEL-TAILED GRACKLE;
[COMMON GRACKLE, AOU 1998]

Length — 12 to 13 inches. About one-fourth as large again as the
robin.
Male — Iridescent black, in which metallic violet, blue, copper,
and green tints predominate. The plumage of this grackle has
iridescent bars. Iris of eye bright yellow and conspicuous.
Tail longer than wings.
Female — Less brilliant black than male, and smaller.
Range — Gulf of Mexico to 57th parallel north latitude.
Migrations — Permanent resident in Southern States. Few are
permanent throughout range. Migrates in immense flocks in March
and September.

This "refined crow" (which is really no crow at all except in appearance) hasscarcely more friends than a thief is entitled to; for, although in manysections of the country it has given up its old habit of stealing Indian cornand substituted ravages upon the grasshoppers instead, it still indulges acrow-like instinct for pillaging nests and eating young birds.

Travelling in immense flocks of its own kind, a gregarious bird of the firstorder, it nevertheless is not the social fellow that its cousin, thered-winged blackbird, is. It especially holds aloof from mankind, and mankindreciprocates its suspicion.

The tallest, densest evergreens are not too remote for it to build its home,according to Dr. Abbott, though in other States than New Jersey, where heobserved them, an old orchard often contains dozens of nests. One peculiarityof the grackles is that their eggs vary so much in coloring and markings thatdifferent sets examined in the same groups of trees are often wholly unlike.The average groundwork, however, is soiled blue or greenish, waved, streaked,or clouded with brown. These are laid in a nest made of miscellaneous sticksand grasses, rather carefully constructed, and lined with mud. Anotherpeculiarity is the bird's method of steering itself by its tail when it wishesto turn its direction or alight.

Peering at you from the top of a dark pine tree with its staring yellow eye,the grackle is certainly uncanny. There, very early in the spring, you mayhear its cracked and wheezy whistle, for, being aware that however much it maylook like a crow it belongs to another family, it makes a ridiculous attemptto sing. When a number of grackles lift up their voices at once, some one hasaptly likened the result to a "good wheel-barrow chorus!" The grackle's matealone appreciates his efforts as, standing on tiptoe, with half-spread wingsand tail, he pours forth his craven soul to her through a disjointed larynx.With all their faults, and they are numerous, let it be recorded of both crowsand grackles that they are as devoted lovers as turtle-doves. Lowellcharacterizes them in these four lines:

"Fust come the black birds, clatt'rin' in tall trees,
And settlin' things in windy Congresses;
Queer politicians, though, for I'll be skinned
If all on 'em don't head against the wind."

The Bronzed Grackle (Quiscalus quiscula aeneus) differs from the precedingchiefly in the more brownish bronze tint of its plumage and its lack ofiridescent bars. Its range is more westerly, and in the southwest it isparticularly common; but as a summer resident it finds its way to New Englandin large numbers. The call-note is louder and more metallic than the purplegrackle's. In nearly all respects the habits of these two birds are identical.

RUSTY BLACKBIRD (Scolecophagus carolinus) Blackbird family

Called also: THRUSH BLACKBIRD; RUSTY GRACKLE; RUSTY ORIOLE; RUSTY
CROW; BLACKBIRD

Length — 9 to 9.55 inches. A trifle smaller than the robin.Male — In full plumage, glossy black with metallic reflections, intermixed with rusty brown that becomes more pronounced as the season advances. Pale straw-colored eyes.Female — Duller plumage and more rusty, inclining to gray. Light line over eye. Smaller than male.Range — North America, from Newfoundland to Gulf of Mexico and westward to the Plains.Migrations — April. November. A few winter north.

A more sociable bird than the grackle, though it travel in smaller flocks, therusty blackbird condescends to mingle freely with other feathered friends inmarshes and by brooksides. You can identify it by its rusty feathers and paleyellow eye, and easily distinguish the rusty-gray female from the femaleredwing that is conspicuously streaked.

In April flocks of these birds may frequently be seen along sluggish, secludedstreams in the woods, feeding upon the seeds of various water or brooksideplants, and probably upon insects also. At such times they often indulge in acurious spluttering, squeaking, musical concert that one listens to withpleasure. The breeding range is mostly north of the United States. But littleseems to be known of the birds' habits in their northern home.

Why it should ever have been called a thrush blackbird is one of thoseinscrutable mysteries peculiar to the naming of birds which are so frequentlycalled precisely what they are not. In spite of the compliment implied inassociating the name of one of our finest songsters with it, the rustyblackbird has a clucking call as unmusical as it is infrequent, and only veryrarely in the spring does it pipe a note that even suggests the sweetness ofthe redwing's.

RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD

(Agelaius Phamiceus) Blackbird family

Called also. SWAMP BLACKBIRD; RED-WINGED ORIOLE; RED-WINGED
STARLING

Length — Exceptionally variable—7.50 to 9.80 inches. Usually
about an inch smaller than the robin.
Male — Coal-black. Shoulders scarlet, edged with yellow.
Female — Feathers finely and inconspicuously speckled with
brown, rusty black, whitish, and orange. Upper wing-coverts
black, tipped with white, or rufous and sometimes spotted with
black and red.
Range — North America. Breeds from Texas to Columbia River, and
throughout the United States. Commonly found from Mexico to
57th degree north latitude.
Migrations — March. October. Common summer resident.

In oozy pastures where a brook lazily finds its way through the farm is theideal pleasure ground of this "bird of society." His notes, "h'-wa-ker-ee" or"con-quer-ee" (on an ascending scale), are liquid in quality, suggesting thesweet, moist, cool retreats where he nests. Liking either heat or cold (he isfond of wintering in Florida, but often retreats to the north while themarshes are still frozen); enjoying not only the company of large flocks ofhis own kind with whom he travels, but any bird associates with whom he canscrape acquaintance; or to sit quietly on a tree-top in the secluded,inaccessible bog while his mate is nesting; satisfied with cut-worms, grubs,and insects, or with fruit and grain for his food — the blackbird is animpressive and helpful example of how to get the best out of life.

Yet, of all the birds, some farmers complain that the blackbird is thegreatest nuisance. They dislike the noisy chatterings when a flock is simplyindulging its social instincts. They complain, too, that the blackbirds eattheir corn, forgetting that having devoured innumerable grubs from it duringthe summer, the birds feel justly entitled to a share of the profits. Thoughoccasionally guilty of eating the farmer's corn and oats and rice, yet it hasbeen found that nearly seven-eighths of the redwing's food is made up ofweed-seeds or of insects injurious to agriculture. This bird builds its nestin low bushes on the margin of ponds or low in the bog grass of marshes. Fromthree to five pale-blue eggs, curiously streaked, spotted, and scrawled withblack or purple, constitute a brood. Nursery duties are soon finished, for inJuly the young birds are ready to gather in flocks with their elders.

"The blackbirds make the maples ring
With social cheer and jubilee;
The red-wing flutes his '0-ka-lee!'"
—Emerson.

PURPLE MARTIN (Progne subis) Swallow family

Length — 7 to 8 inches. Two or three inches smaller than the
robin.
Male — Rich glossy black with bluish and purple reflections;
duller black on wings and tail. Wings rather longer than the
tail, which is forked.
Female — More brownish and mottled; grayish below.
Range — Peculiar to America. Penetrates from Arctic Circle to
South America.
Migrations — Late April. Early September. Summer resident.

In old-fashioned gardens, set on a pole over which honeysuckle and rosesclimbed from a bed where China pinks, phlox, sweet Williams, and hollyhockscrowded each other below, martin boxes used always to be seen with a pair ofthese large, beautiful swallows circling overhead. Bur now, alas! the boxes,where set up at all, are quickly monopolized by the English sparrow, a birdthat the martin, courageous as a kingbird in attacking crows and hawks,tolerates as a neighbor only when it must.

Bradford Torrey tells of seeing quantities of long-necked squashes danglingfrom poles about the negro cabins all through the South. One day he asked anold colored man what these squashes were for.

"Why, deh is martins' boxes," said Uncle Remus. "No danger of hawks carryin'off de chickens so long as de martins am around."

The Indians, too, have always had a special liking for this bird. They oftenlined a hollowed-out gourd with bits of bark and fastened it in the crotch oftheir tent poles to invite its friendship. The Mohegan Indians have called it"the bird that never rests"—a name better suited to the tireless barnswallow, Dr. Abbott thinks.

Wasps, beetles, and all manner of injurious garden insects constitute its diet— another reason for its universal popularity. It is simple enough todistinguish the martins from the other swallows by their larger size andiridescent dark coat, not to mention their song, which is very soft and sweet,like musical laughter, rippling up through the throat.

COWBIRD (Molothrus ater) Blackbird family

Called also: BROWN-HEADED ORIOLE; COW-PEN BIRD; COW BLACKBIRD;
COW BUNTING; [BROWN-HEADED COWBIRD, AOU 1998]

Length — 7 to 8 inches. About one-fifth smaller than the robin.
Male — Iridescent black, with head, neck, and breast glistening
brown. Bill dark brown, feet brownish.
Female — Dull grayish-brown above, a shade lighter below, and
streaked with paler shades of brown.
Range — United States, from coast to coast. North into British
America, south into Mexico.
Migrations — March. November. Common summer resident.

The cowbird takes its name from its habit of walking about among the cattle inthe pasture, picking up the small insects which the cattle disturb in theirgrazing. The bird may often be seen within a foot or two of the nose of a cowor heifer, walking briskly about like a miniature hen, intently watching forits insect prey.

Its marital and domestic character is thoroughly bad. Polygamous and utterlyirresponsible for its offspring, this bird forms a striking contrast to otherfeathered neighbors, and indeed is almost an anomaly in the animal kingdom. Inthe breeding season an unnatural mother may be seen skulking about in thetrees and shrubbery, seeking for nests in which to place a surreptitious egg,never imposing it upon a bird of its size, but selecting in a cowardly way asmall nest, as that of the vireos or warblers or chipping sparrows, and thereleaving the hatching and care of its young to the tender mercies of somealready burdened little mother. It has been seen to remove an egg from thenest of the red-eyed vireo in order to place one of its own in its place. Notfinding a convenient nest, it will even drop its eggs on the ground, trustingthem to merciless fate, or, still worse, devouring them. The eggs are nearlyan inch long, white speckled with brown or gray.

Cowbirds are gregarious. The ungrateful young birds, as soon as they are ableto go roaming, leave their foster-parents and join the flock of their ownkind. In keeping with its unclean habits and unholy life and character, thecowbird's ordinary note is a gurgling, rasping whistle, followed by a fewsharp notes.

STARLING (Sturnus vulgaris)

[Called also: EUROPEAN STARLING, AOU 1998]

Length — 8 to 9 inches. Weight about equals that of robin, but
the starling, with its short, drooping tail, is chunkier in
appearance.
Male — Iridescent black with glints of purple, green, and blue.
On back the black feathers, with iridescence of green and
bronze, are tipped with brown, as are some of the tail and wing
feathers. In autumn and early winter feathers of sides of head,
breast, flanks and underparts are tipped with white, giving a
gray, mottled appearance. During the winter most of the white
tips on breast and underparts wear off. Until the first moult
in late summer the young birds are a dark olive-brown in color,
with white or whitish throat. These differences in plumage at
different seasons and different ages make starlings hard to
identify. Red-winged blackbirds and grackles are often mistaken
for them. From early spring till mid-June, starling's rather
long, sharp bill is yellow. Later in summer it darkens. No
other black bird of ours has this yellow bill at any season.
Female — Similar in appearance.
Range — Massachusetts to Maryland. Not common beyond 100 miles
inland. (Native of northern Europe and Asia.)
Migrations — Permanent resident, but flocks show some tendency
to drift southward in winter.

This newcomer to our shores is by no means so black as he has been painted.Like many other European immigrants he landed at or near Castle Garden, NewYork City, and his descendants have not cared to wander very far from thisvicinity, preferring regions with a pretty numerous human population. Thestarlings have increased so fast in this limited region since their firstpermanent settlement in Central Park about 1890 that farmers and suburbandwellers have feared that they might become as undesirable citizens as someother Europeans — the brown rat, the house mouse, and the English sparrow.But a very thorough investigation conducted by the United States Bureau ofBiological Survey (Bulletin No. 868, 1921) is most reassuring in its results.

Let us first state the case for the prosecution: (1) the starling must pleadguilty to a fondness for cultivated cherries; (2) he is often a persecutor ofnative birds, like the bluebird and flicker; (3) his roosts, where hesometimes congregates in thousands in the autumn, are apt to become publicnuisances, offensive alike to the eye, the nose and the ear.

But these offences are not so very serious after all. He does not eat so manycherries as our old friend the robin, though his depredations are moreconspicuous, for whereas the robins in ones and twos will pilfer steadily frommany trees for many days without attracting notice, a crowd of starlings isoccasionally observed to descend en masse upon a single tree and strip it in afew hours. Naturally such high-handed procedure is observed by many and deeplyresented by the owner of the tree, who suffers the steady but less spectacularraids of the robins without serious disquiet,

Less can be said in defense of the starling's scandalous treatment of somenative birds. "Unrelenting perseverance dominates the starling's activitieswhen engaged in a controversy over a nesting site. More of its battles are wonby dogged persistence in annoying its victim than by bold aggression, and itsirritating tactics are sometimes carried to such a point that it seems almostas if the bird were actuated more by a morbid pleasure of annoying itsneighbors than by any necessity arising from a scarcity of nesting sites…

"In contests with the flicker the starling frequently makes up in numbers whatdisadvantage it may have in size. Typical of such combats was the one observedon May 9, at Hartford, Conn., where a group of starlings and a flicker were incontroversy over a newly excavated nest. The number of starlings varied, butas many as 6 were noted at one time. Attention was first attracted to thedispute by a number of starlings in close proximity to the hole and by thesounds of a tussle within. Presently a flicker came out dragging a starlingafter him. The starling continued the battle outside long enough to allow oneof its comrades to slip into the nest. Of course the flicker had to repeat theentire performance. He did this for about half an hour, when he gave up,leaving the starlings in possession of the nest…

"Economically considered, the starling is the superior of either the flicker,the robin, or the English sparrow, three of the species with which it comes incontact in its breeding operations. The eggs and young of bluebirds and wrensmay be protected by the use of nest boxes with circular openings 1 1/2 inchesor less in diameter. This leaves the purple martin the only species readilysubject to attack by the starling, whose economic worth may be consideredgreater than that of the latter, but in no case was the disturbance of awell-established colony of martins noted."

As for the nuisance of a big established roost of starlings, it may be abatedby nightly salvos of Roman candles or blank cartridges, continued for a weekor at most ten days.

So much for the starling in his aspect as an undesirable citizen. Governmentinvestigators, by a long-continued study, have discovered that his good deedsfar outnumber his misdemeanors. Primarily he feeds on noxious insects anduseless wild fruits. Small truck gardens and individual cherry trees may beoccasionally raided by large flocks with disastrous results in a small way.But on the whole he is a useful frequenter of our door-yards who 'pays his wayby destroying hosts of cut-worms and equally noxious' insects. "A thoroughconsideration of the evidence at hand indicates that, based on food habits,the adult starling is the economic superior of the robin, catbird, flicker,red-winged blackbird, or grackle." Need more be said for him?

BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK AND WHITE

Red-headed Woodpecker
Hairy Woodpecker
Downy Woodpecker
Yellow-bellied Woodpecker
Chewink
Snowflake
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Bobolink
Black-poll Warbler
Black-and-white Creeping Warbler

See also the Swallows; the Shrikes; Nuthatches and Titmice, the Kingbird andother Flycatchers; the Nighthawk; the Redstart; and the following Warblers:the Myrtle; the Bay-breasted, the Blackburnian; and the Black-throated BlueWarbler.

BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK AND WHITE

RED-HEADED WOODPECKER (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) Woodpecker family

Called also: TRI-COLOR, RED-HEAD

Length — 8.50 to 9.75 inches. An inch or less smaller than the
robin.
Male and Female — Head, neck, and throat crimson; breast and
underneath white; back black and white; wings and tail blue
black, with broad white band on wings conspicuous in flight.
Range — United States, east of Rocky Mountains and north to
Manitoba.
Migrations — Abundant but irregular migrant. Most commonly seen
in Autumn, and rarely resident.

In thinly populated sections, where there are few guns about, this is stillone of the commonest as it is perhaps the most conspicuous member of thewoodpecker family, but its striking glossy black-and-white body and its stillmore striking crimson head, flattened out against the side of a tree like atarget, where it is feeding, have made it all too tempting a mark for therifles of the sportsmen and the sling-shots of small boys. As if sufficientattention were not attracted to it by its plumage, it must needs keep up anoisy, guttural rattle, ker-r-ruck,ker-r-ruck, very like a tree-toad's call, and flit about among the trees withthe restlessness of a fly-catcher. Yet, in spite of these invitations for ashot to the passing gunner, it still multiplies in districts where nutsabound, being "more common than the robin" about Washington, says JohnBurroughs.

All the familiar woodpeckers have two characteristics most prominentlyexemplified in this red-headed member of their tribe. The hairy, the downy,the crested, the red-bellied, the sapsucker, and the flicker have each a redmark somewhere about their heads as if they had been wounded there and bled alittle — some more, some less; and the figures of all of them, from muchflattening against tree-trunks, have become high-shouldered and long-waisted.

The red-headed woodpecker selects, by preference, a partly decayed tree inwhich to excavate a hole for its nest, because the digging is easier, and thesawdust and chips make a softer lining than green wood. Both male and femaletake turns in this hollowing-out process. The one that is off duty is allowedtwenty minutes for refreshments, "consisting of grubs, beetles, ripe apples orcherries, corn, or preferably beech-nuts. At a loving call from its mate inthe hollow tree, it returns promptly to perform its share of the work, whenthe carefully observed time is up." The heap of sawdust at the bottom of thehollow will eventually cradle from four to six glossy-white eggs.

This woodpecker has the thrifty habit of storing away nuts in the knot-holesof trees, between cracks in the bark, or in decayed fence rails—too often aconvenient storehouse at which the squirrels may help themselves. But it isthe black snake that enters the nest and eats the young family, and that is amore deadly foe than even the sportsman or the milliner.

HAIRY WOODPECKER (Dryobates villosus) Woodpecker family

Length—9 to 10 inches. About the size of the robin.
Male—Black and white above, white beneath. White stripe down the
back, composed of long hair-like feathers. Brightred band on
the nape of neck. Wings striped and dashed with black and
white. Outer tail feathers white, without bars. White stripe
about eyes and on sides of the head.
Female—Without the red band on head, and body more brownish than
that of the male.
Range—Eastern parts of United States, from the Canadian border
to the Carolinas.
Migrations—Resident throughout its range.

The bill of the woodpecker is a hammering tool, well fitted for its work. Itsmission in life is to rid the trees of insects, which hide beneath the bark,and with this end in view, the bird is seen clinging to the trunks andbranches of trees through fair and wintry weather, industriously scanningevery inch for the well-known signs of the boring worm or destructive fly.

In the autumn the male begins to excavate his winter quarters, carrying orthrowing out the chips, by which this good workman is known, with his beak,while the female may make herself cosey or not, as she chooses, in anabandoned hole. About her comfort he seems shamefully unconcerned. Intent onlyon his own, he drills a perfectly round hole, usually on the underside of alimb where neither snow nor wind can harm him, and digs out a horizontaltunnel in the dry, brittle wood in the very heart of the tree, before turningdownward into the deep, pear-shaped chamber, where he lives in selfishsolitude. But when the nesting season comes, how devoted he is temporarily tothe mate he has neglected and even abused through the winter! Will she neverlearn that after her clear-white eggs are laid and her brood raised he willrelapse into the savage and forget all his tender wiles?

The hairy woodpecker, like many another bird and beast, furnishes muchdoubtful weather lore for credulous and inexact observers. "When thewoodpecker pecks low on the trees, expect warm weather" is a common saying,but when different individuals are seen pecking at the same time, one but afew feet from the ground, and another among the high branches, one may makethe prophecy that pleases him best.

The hairy woodpeckers love the deep woods. They are drummers, not singers; butwhen walking in the desolate winter woods even the drumming and tapping of thebusy feathered workmen on a resonant limb is a solace, giving a sense of lifeand cheerful activity which is invigorating.

DOWNY WOODPECKER (Dryobates pubescens) Woodpecker family

Length — 6 to 7 inches. About the size of the English sparrow.
Male — Black above, striped with white. Tail shaped like a wedge
Outer tail feathers white, and barred with black. Middle tail
feathers black. A black stripe on top of head, and distinct
white band over and under the eyes. Red patch on upper side of
neck. Wings, with six white bands crossing them transversely;
white underneath.
Female — Similar, but without scarlet on the nape, which is
white.
Range — Eastern North America, from Labrador to Florida.
Migrations — Resident all the year throughout its range.

The downy woodpecker is similar to his big relative, the hairy woodpecker, incolor and shape, though much smaller. His outer tail feathers are white,barred with black, but the hairy's white outer tail feathers lack thesedistinguishing marks.

He is often called a sapsucker — though quite another bird alone merits thatname — from the supposition that he bores into the trees for the purpose ofsucking the sap; but his tongue is ill adapted for such use, being barbed atthe end, and most ornithologists consider the charge libellous. It has beensurmised that he bores the numerous little round holes close together, sooften seen, with the idea of attracting insects to the luscious sap. Thewoodpeckers never drill for insects in live wood. The downy actually drillsthese little holes in apple and other trees to feed upon the inner milky barkof the tree — the cambium layer. The only harm to be laid to his account isthat, in his zeal, he sometimes makes a ring of small holes so continuous asto inadvertently damage the tree by girdling it. The bird, like most others,does not debar himself entirely from fruit diet, but enjoys berries,especially poke-berries.

He is very social with birds and men alike. In winter he attaches himself tostrolling bands of nuthatches and chickadees, and in summer is fond of makingfriendly visits among village folk, frequenting the shade trees of the streetsand grapevines of back gardens. He has even been known to fearlessly peck atflies on window panes.

In contrast to his large brother woodpecker, who is seldom drawn from timberlands, the little downy member of the family brings the comfort of his cheerypresence to country homes, beating his rolling tattoo in spring on someresonant limb under our windows in the garden with a strength worthy of alarger drummer.

This rolling tattoo, or drumming, answers several purposes: by it hedetermines whether the tree is green or hollow; it startles insects from theirlurking places underneath the bark, and it also serves as a love song.

YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER (Sphyrapicus varius) Woodpecker family

Called also: THE SAPSUCKER; [YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER, AOU 1998]

Length — 8 to 8.6 inches. About one-fifth smaller than the
robin.
Male — Black, white, and yellowish white above, with bright-red
crown, chin, and throat. Breast black, in form of crescent A
yellowish-white line, beginning at bill and passing below eye,
merges into the pale yellow of the bird underneath. Wings
spotted with white, and coverts chiefly white. Tail black;
white on middle of feathers.
Female — Paler, and with head and throat white.
Range — Eastern North America, from Labrador to Central America.
Migrations — April. October. Resident north of Massachusetts.
Most common in autumn.

It is sad to record that this exquisitely marked woodpecker, the most jovialand boisterous of its family, is one of the very few bird visitors whoseintimacy should be discouraged. For its useful appetite for slugs and insectswhich it can take on the wing with wonderful dexterity, it need not be whollycondemned. But as we look upon a favorite maple or fruit tree devitalized orperhaps wholly dead from its ravages, we cannot forget that this bird, while amost abstemious fruit-eater, has a pernicious and most intemperate thirst forsap. Indeed, it spends much of its time in the orchard, drilling holes intothe freshest, most vigorous trees; then, when their sap begins to flow, itsiphons it into an insatiable throat, stopping in its orgie only long enoughto snap at the insects that have been attracted to the wounded tree by thestreams of its heart-blood now trickling down its sides. Another favoritepastime is to strip the bark off a tree, then peck at the soft wood underneath— almost as fatal a habit. It drills holes in maples in early spring for saponly. If it drills holes in fruit trees it is for the cambium layer, a soft,pulpy, nutritious under-bark.

These woodpeckers have a variety of call-notes, but their rapid drummingagainst the limbs and trunks of trees is the sound we always associate withthem and the sound that Mr. Bicknell says is the love-note of the family.

Unhappily, these birds, that many would be glad to have decrease in numbers,take extra precautions for the safety of their young by making very deepexcavations for their nests, often as deep as eighteen or twenty inches.

THE CHEWINK (Pipilo erythrophthalmus) Finch family

Called also: GROUND ROBIN; TOWHEE; TOWHEE BUNTING; TOWHEE GROUND
FINCH; GRASEL; [EASTERN TOWHEE, AOU 1998]

Length — 8 to 8.5 inches. About one-fifth smaller than the
robin.
Male — Upper parts black, sometimes margined with rufous. Breast
white; chestnut color on sides and rump. Wings marked with
white. Three outer feathers of tail striped with white,
conspicuous in flight. Bill black and stout. Red eyes; feet
brown.
Female — Brownish where the male is black. Abdomen shading from
chestnut to white in the centre.
Range — From Labrador, on the north, to the Southern States;
West to the Rocky Mountains.
Migrations — April. September and October. Summer resident. Very
rarely a winter resident at the north.

The unobtrusive little chewink is not infrequently mistaken for a robin,because of the reddish chestnut on its under parts. Careful observation,however, shows important distinctions. It is rather smaller and darker incolor; its carriage and form are not those of the robin, but of the finch. Thefemale is smaller still, and has an olive tint in her brown back. Her eggs areinconspicuous in color, dirty white speckled with brown, and laid in a sunkennest on the ground. Dead leaves and twigs abound, and form, as the anxiousmother fondly hopes, a safe hiding place for her brood. So carefulconcealment, however, brings peril to the fledglings, for the most cautiousbird-lover may, and often does, inadvertently set his foot on the hidden nest.

The chewink derives its name from the fancied resemblance of its note to thesesyllables, while those naming it "towhee" hear the sound to-whick, to-whick,to-whee. Its song is rich, full, and pleasing, and given only when the birdhas risen to the branches above its low foraging ground.

It frequents the border of swampy places and bushy fields. It is generallyseen in the underbrush, picking about among the dead leaves for its steadydiet of earthworms and larvae of insects, occasionally regaling itself with afew dropping berries and fruit.

When startled, the bird rises not more than ten or twelve feet from the earth,and utters its characteristic calls. On account of this habit of flying lowand grubbing among the leaves, it is sometimes called the ground robin. In theSouth our modest and useful little food-gatherer is often called grasel,especially in Louisiana, where it is white-eyed, and is much esteemed, alas!by epicures.

SNOWFLAKE (Plectrophenax nivalis) Finch family

Called also: SNOW BUNTING [AOU 1998]; WHITEBIRD; SNOWBIRD; SNOW
LARK

Length — 7 to 7.5 inches. About one-fourth smaller than the
robin.
Male and Female — Head, neck, and beneath soiled white, with a
few reddish-brown feathers on top of head, and suggesting an
imperfect collar. Above, grayish brown obsoletely streaked with
black, the markings being most conspicuous in a band between
shoulders. Lower tail feathers black; others, white and all
edged with white. Wings brown, white, and gray. Plumage
unusually variable. In summer dress (in arctic regions) the
bird is almost white.
Range — Circumpolar regions to Kentucky (in winter only).
Migrations — Midwinter visitor; rarely, if ever, resident south
of arctic regions.

These snowflakes (mentioned collectively, for it is impossible to think of thebird except in great flocks) are the "true spirits of the snowstorm," saysThoreau. They are animated beings that ride upon it, and have their life init. By comparison with the climate of the arctic regions, no doubt ourhardiest winter weather seems luxuriously mild to them. We associate them onlywith those wonderful midwinter days when sky, fields, and woods alike arewhite, and a "hard, dull bitterness of cold" drives every other bird and beastto shelter. It is said they often pass the night buried beneath the snow. Theyhave been seen to dive beneath it to escape a hawk.

Whirling about in the drifting snow to catch the seeds on the tallest stalksthat the wind in the open meadows uncovers, the snowflakes suggest a lot ofdead leaves being blown through the all-pervading whiteness. Beautiful softbrown, gray, and predominating black-and-white coloring distinguish thesecapricious visitors from the slaty junco, the "snowbird" more commonly known.They are, indeed, the only birds we have that are nearly white; and rarely, ifever, do they rise far above the ground their plumage so admirably imitates.

At the far north, travellers have mentioned their inspiriting song, but in theUnited States we hear only their cheerful twitter. Nansen tells of seeing anoccasional snow bunting in that desolation of arctic ice where the Framdrifted so long.

ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK (Habia ludoviciana) Finch family

Length — 7.75 to 8.5 inches. About one-fifth smaller than the
robin.
Male — Head and upper parts black. Breast has rose-carmine
shield-shaped patch, often extending downward to the centre of
the abdomen. Underneath, tail quills, and two spots on wings
white. Conspicuous yellow, blunt beak.
Female — Brownish, with dark streakings, like a sparrow. No
rose-color. Light sulphur yellow under wings. Dark brown, heavy
beak.
Range — Eastern North America, from southern Canada to Panama.
Migrations — Early May. September. Summer resident.

A certain ornithologist tells with complacent pride of having shot overfifty-eight rose-breasted grosbeaks in less than three weeks (during thebreeding season) to learn what kind of food they had in their crops. This kindof devotion to science may have quite as much to do with the growing scarcityof this bird in some localities as the demands of the milliners, who, however,receive all of the blame for the slaughter of our beautiful songsters. Thefarmers in Pennsylvania, who, with more truth than poetry, call this thepotato-bug bird, are taking active measures, however, to protect the neighborthat is more useful to their crop than all the insecticides known. It alsoeats flies, wasps, and grubs.

Seen upon the ground, the dark bird is scarcely attractive with his clumsybeak overbalancing a head that protrudes with stupid-looking awkwardness; butas he rises into the trees his lovely rose-colored breast and under-wingfeathers are seen, and before he has had time to repeat his delicious,rich-voiced warble you are already in love with him. Vibrating his wings afterthe manner of the mocking-bird, he pours forth a marvellously sweet, clear,mellow song (with something of the quality of the oriole's, robin's, andthrush's notes), making the day on which you first hear it memorable. This isone of the few birds that sing at night. A soft, sweet, rolling warble, heardwhen the moon is at its full on a midsummer night, is more than likely to comefrom the rose-breasted grosbeak.

It is not that his quiet little sparrow-like wife has advanced notions offeminine independence that he takes his turn at sitting upon the nest, butthat he is one of the most unselfish and devoted of mates. With their combinedefforts they construct only a coarse, unlovely cradle in a thorn-bush or lowtree near an old, overgrown pasture lot. The father may be the poorest ofarchitects, but as he patiently sits brooding over the green, speckled eggs,his beautiful rosy breast just showing above the grassy rim, he is a succulentadornment for any bird's home.

BOBOLINK (Dolichonyx oryzivorus) Blackbird family

Called also:REEDBIRD; MAYBIRD; MEADOW-BIRD; AMERICAN ORTOLAN;
BUTTER-BIRD; SKUNK BLACKBIRD

Length — 7 inches. A trifle larger than the English sparrow.
Male — In spring plumage: black, with light-yellow patch on
upper neck, also on edges of wings and tail feathers. Rump and
upper wings splashed with white. Middle of back streaked with
pale buff. Tail feathers have pointed tips. In autumn plumage,
resembles female.
Female — Dull yellow-brown, with light and dark dashes on back.
wings, and tail. Two decided dark stripes on top of head.
Range — North America, from eastern coast to western prairies.
Migrates in early autumn to Southern States, and in winter to
South America and West Indies.
Migrations — Early May. From August to October. Common summer
resident.

Perhaps none of our birds have so fitted into song and story as the bobolink.Unlike a good child, who should "be seen and not heard," he is heard morefrequently than seen. Very shy, of peering eyes, he keeps well out of sight inthe meadow grass before entrancing our listening ears. The bobolink neversoars like the lark, as the poets would have us believe, but generally singson the wing, flying with a peculiar self-conscious flight horizontally thirtyor forty feet above the meadow grass. He also sings perched upon the fence ortuft of grass. He is one of the greatest poseurs among the birds.

In spring and early summer the bobolinks respond to every poet's effort toimitate their notes. "Dignified 'Robert of Lincoln' is telling his name," saysone; "Spink, spank, spink," another hears him say. But best of all are WilsonFlagg's lines:

". . .Now they rise and now they fly;
They cross and turn, and in and out; and down the middle and
wheel about,
With a 'Phew, shew, Wadolincon; listen to me Bobolincon!"

After midsummer the cares of the family have so worn upon the jollity of ourdashing, rollicking friend that his song is seldom heard. The colors of hiscoat fade into a dull yellowish brown like that of his faithful mate, who hasborne the greater burden of the season, for he has two complete moults eachyear.

The bobolinks build their nest on the ground in high grass. The eggs are of abluish white. Their food is largely insectivorous: grasshoppers, crickets,beetles, spiders, with seeds of grass especially for variety.

In August they begin their journey southward, flying mainly by night. Arrivingin the Southern States, they become thesad-colored, low-voiced rice or reed bird, feeding on the rice fields, wherethey descend to the ignominious fate of being dressed for the plate of theepicure.

Could there be a more tragic ending to the glorious note of the gay songsterof the north?

BLACKPOLL WARBLER (Dendroica striata) Wood Warbler family

Length — 5.5 to 6 inches. About an inch smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male — Black cap; cheeks and beneath grayish white, forming a
sort of collar, more or less distinct. Upper parts striped
gray, black, and olive. Breast and under parts white, with
black streaks. Tail olive-brown, with yellow-white spots.
Female — Without cap. Greenish-olive above, faintly streaked
with black. Paler than male. Bands on wings, yellowish.
Range — North America, to Greenland and Alaska. In winter, to
northern part of South America.
Migrations — Last of May. Late October.

A faint "screep, screep," like "the noise made by striking two pebblestogether," Audubon says, is often the only indication of the blackpoll'spresence; but surely that tireless bird-student had heard its morecharacteristic notes, which, rapidly uttered, increasing in the middle of thestrain and diminishing toward the end, suggest the shrill, wiry burn of somemidsummer insect. After the opera-glass has searched him out we find him by nomeans an inconspicuous bird. A dainty little fellow, with a glossy black cappulled over his eyes, he is almost hidden by the dense foliage on the trees bythe time he returns to us at the very end of spring. Giraud says that he isthe very last of his tribe to come north, though the bay-breasted warbler hasusually been thought the bird to wind up the spring procession.

The blackpoll has a certain characteristic motion that distinguishes him fromthe black-and-white creeper, for which a hasty glance might mistake him, andfrom the jolly little chickadee with his black cap. Apparently he runs aboutthe tree-trunk, but in reality he so flits his wings that his feet do nottouch the bark at all; yet so rapidly does he go that the flipping wing-motionis not observed. He is most often seen in May in the apple trees, peeping intothe opening blossoms for insects, uttering now and then his slender, lisping,brief song.

Vivacious, a busy hunter, often catching insects on the wing like theflycatchers, he is a cheerful, useful neighbor the short time he spends withus before travelling to the far north, where he mates and nests. A nest hasbeen found on Slide Mountain, in the Catskills, but the hardy evergreens ofCanada, and sometimes those of northern New England, are the chosen home ofthis little bird that builds a nest of bits of root, lichens, and sedges,amply large for a family twice the size of his.

BLACK-AND-WHITE CREEPING WARBLER (Mniotilta varia) Wood Warbler
family

Called also: VARIED CREEPING WARBLER; BLACK-AND WHITE CREEPER;
WHITEPOLL WARBLER; [BLACK-AND-WHITE WARBLER, AOU 1998]

Length — 5 to inches. About an inch smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male — Upper parts white, varied with black. A white stripe
along the summit of the head and back of the neck, edged
with black. White line above and below the eye. Black cheeks
and throat, grayish in females and young. Breast white in
middle, with black stripes on sides. Wings and tail rusty
black, with two white cross-bars on former, and soiled white
markings on tail quills.
Female — Paler and less distinct markings throughout.
Range — Peculiar to America. Eastern United States and westward
to the plains. North as far as the fur countries. Winters in
tropics south of Florida.
Migrations — April. Late September. Summer resident.

Nine times out of ten this active little warbler is mistaken for the downywoodpecker, not because of his coloring alone, but also on account of theircommon habit of running up and down the trunks of trees and on the under sideof branches, looking for insects, on which all the warblers subsist. Butpresently the true warbler characteristic of restless flitting about showsitself. A woodpecker would go over a tree with painstaking, systematic care,while the black-and-white warbler, no less intent upon securing its food,hurries off from tree to tree, wherever the most promising menu is offered.

Clinging to the mottled bark of the tree-trunk, which he so closely resembles,it would be difficult to find him were it not for these sudden fittings andthe feeble song, "Weachy, weachy, weachy, 'twee, 'twee, 'tweet," he halflisps, half sings between his dashes after slugs. Very rarely indeed can hisnest be found in an old stump or mossy bank, where bark, leaves. and hair makethe downy cradle for his four or five tiny babies.

DUSKY AND GRAY AND SLATE-COLORED BIRDS

Chimney Swift
Kingbird
Wood Pewee
Phoebe and Say's Phoebe
Crested Flycatcher
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Least Flycatcher
Chickadee
Tufted Titmouse
Canada Jay
Catbird
Mocking-bird
Junco
White-breasted Nuthatch
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Loggerhead Shrike
Northern Shrike
Bohemian Waxwing
Bay-breasted Warbler
Chestnut-sided Warbler
Golden-winged Warbler
Myrtle Warbler
Parula Warbler
Black-throated Blue Warbler

See also the Grayish Green and the Grayish Brown Birds, particularly the CedarBird, several Swallows, the Acadian and the Yellow-bellied Flycatchers;Alice's and the Olive-backed Thrushes; the Louisiana Water Thrush; theBlue-gray Gnatcatcher; and the Seaside Sparrow. See also the females of thefollowing birds: Pine Grosbeak; White-winged Red Crossbill; Purple Martin; andthe Nashville, the Pine, and the Magnolia Warblers.

DUSKY, GRAY, AND SLATE-COLORED BIRDS

CHIMNEY SWIFT (Chaetura pelagica) Swift family

Called also: CHIMNEY SWALLOW; AMERICAN SWIFT

Length — to 5.45 inches. About an inch shorter than the English
sparrow. Long wings make its length appear greater.
Male and Female — Deep sooty gray; throat of a trifle lighter
gray. Wings extend an inch and a half beyond the even tail,
which has sharply pointed and very elastic quills, that serve
as props. Feet are muscular, and have exceedingly sharp claws.
Range — Peculiar to North America east of the Rockies, and from
Labrador to Panama.
Migrations — April. September or October. Common summer
resident.

The chimney swift is, properly speaking, not a swallow at all, though chimneyswallow is its more popular name. Rowing towards the roof of your house, as ifit used first one wing, then the other, its flight, while swift and powerful,is stiff and mechanical, unlike the swallow's, and its entire aspect suggestsa bat. The nighthawk and whippoorwill are its relatives, and it resembles themnot a little, especially in its nocturnal habits.

So much fault has been found with the misleading names of many birds, it ispleasant to record the fact that the name of the chimney swift is everythingit ought to be. No other birds can surpass and few can equal it in itspowerful flight, sometimes covering a thousand miles in twenty-four hours, itis said, and never resting except in its roosting places (hollow trees orchimneys of dwellings), where it does not perch, but rather clings to thesides with its sharp claws, partly supported by its sharper tail. Audubontells of a certain plane tree in Kentucky where he counted over nine thousandof these swifts clinging to the hollow trunk.

Their nest, which is a loosely woven twig lattice, made of twigs of trees,which the birds snap off with their beaks and carry in their beaks, is gluedwith the bird's saliva or tree-gum into a solid structure, and firmly attachedto the inside of chimneys, or hollow trees where there are no houses about.Two broods in a season usually emerge from the pure white, elongated eggs.

What a twittering there is in the chimney that the swifts appropriate afterthe winter fires have died out! Instead of the hospitable column of smokecurling from the top, a cloud of sooty birds wheels and floats above it. Asound as of distant thunder fills the chimney as a host of these birds,startled, perhaps, by some indoor noise, whirl their way upward. Woe betidethe happy colony if a sudden cold snap in early summer necessitates thestarting of a fire on the hearth by the unsuspecting householder! The gluebeing melted by the fire, "down comes the cradle, babies and all" into theglowing embers. A prolonged, heavy rain also causes their nests to loosentheir hold and fall with the soot to the bottom.

Thrifty New England housekeepers claim that bedbugs, commonly found on bats,infest the bodies of swifts also, which is one reason why wire netting isstretched across the chimney tops before the birds arrive from the South.

KINGBIRD (Tyrannus tyrannus) Flycatcher family

Called also: TYRANT FLYCATCHER; BEE MARTIN; [EASTERN KINGBIRD,
AOU 1998]

Length — 8 inches. About two inches shorter than the robin.
Male — Ashy black above; white, shaded with ash-color, beneath
A concealed crest of orange-red on crown. Tail black,
Terminating with a white band conspicuous in flight. Wing
feathers edged with white. Feet and bill black.
Female — Similar to the male, but lacking the crown.
Range — United States to the Rocky Mountains. British provinces
To Central and South America.
Migrations — May. September. Common summer resident.

If the pugnacious propensity of the kingbird is the occasion of its royalname, he cannot be said to deserve it from any fine or noble qualities hepossesses. He is a born fighter from the very love of it, without provocation,rhyme, or reason. One can but watch with a degree of admiration his boldsallies on the big, black crow or the marauding hawk, but when he bullies thesmall inoffensive birds in wanton attacks for sheer amusem*nt, the charge isless entertaining. Occasionally, when the little victim shows pluck and faceshis assailant, the kingbird will literally turn tail and show the whitefeather. His method of attack is always when a bird is in flight; then heswoops down from the telegraph pole or high point of vantage, and strikes onthe head or back of the neck, darting back like a flash to the exact spot fromwhich he started. By these tactics he avoids a return blow and retreats fromdanger. He never makes a fair hand-to-hand fight, or whatever is equivalent inbird warfare. It is a satisfaction to record that he does not attempt to givebattle to the catbird, but whenever in view makes a grand detour to give him awide berth.

The kingbird feeds on beetles, canker-worms, and winged insects, with anoccasional dessert of berries. He is popularly supposed to prefer the honeybeeas his favorite tidbit, but the weight of opinion is adverse to the charge ofhis depopulating the beehive, even though he owes his appellation bee martinto this tradition. One or two ornithologists declare that he selects only thedrones fur his diet, which would give him credit for marvellous sight in hisrapid motion through the air. The kingbird is preeminently a bird of thegarden and orchard. The nest is open, though deep, and not carefullyconcealed. Eggs are nearly round, bluish white spotted with brown and lilac.With truly royal exclusiveness, the tyrant favors no community of interest,but sits in regal state on a conspicuous throne, and takes his grand flightsalone or with his queen, but never with a flock of his kind.

WOOD PEWEE (Contopus virens) Flycatcher family

Length — 6.50 inches. A trifle larger than the English sparrow.
Male — Dusky brownish olive above, darkest on head; paler on
throat, lighter still underneath, and with a yellowish tinge on
the dusky gray under parts. Dusky wings and tail, the wing
coverts tipped with soiled white, forming two indistinct bars.
Whitish eye-ring. Wings longer than tail.
Female — Similar, but slightly more buff underneath.
Range — Eastern North America, from Florida to northern British
provinces. Winters in Central America.
Migrations — May. October. Common summer resident

The wood pewee, like the olive-sided flycatcher, has wings decidedly longerthan its tail, and it is by no means a simple matter for the novice to tellthese birds apart or separate them distinctly in the mind from the othermembers of a family whose coloring and habits are most confusingly similar.This dusky haunter of tall shady trees has not yet learned to be sociable likethe phoebe; but while it may not be so much in evidence close to our homes, itis doubtless just as common. The orchard is as near the house as it oftencares to come. An old orchard, where modern insecticides are unknown andneglect allows insects to riot among the decayed bark and fallen fruit, is ahappy hunting ground enough; but the bird's real preferences are decidedly forhigh tree-tops in the woods, where no sunshine touches the feathers on hisdusky coat. It is one of the few shade-loving birds. In deep solitudes, whereit surely retreats by nesting time, however neighborly it may be during themigrations, its pensive, pathetic notes, long drawn out, seem like theexpression of some hidden sorrow. Pe-a-wee, pe-a-wee, pewee-ah-peer is theburden of its plaintive song, a sound as depressing as it is familiar in everywalk through the woods, and the bird's most prominent characteristic.

To see the bird dashing about in his aerial chase for insects, no one wouldaccuse him of melancholia. He keeps an eye on the "main chance," whatever hispreying grief may be, and never allows it to affect his appetite. Returning tohis perch after a successful sally in pursuit of the passing fly, he repeatshis "sweetly solemn thought" over and over again all day long and every daythroughout the summer.

The wood pewees show that devotion to each other and to their home,characteristic of their family. Both lovers work on the construction of theflat nest that is saddled on some mossy or lichen-covered limb, and socleverly do they cover the rounded edge with bits of bark and lichen thatsharp eyes only can detect where the cradle lies. Creamy-white eggs, whoselarger end is wreathed with brown and lilac spots, are guarded with fiercesolicitude.

Trowbridge has celebrated this bird in a beautiful poem.

PHOEBE (Sayornis phoebe) Flycatcher family

Called also: DUSKY FLYCATCHER; BRIDGE PEWEE; WATER PEWEE;
[EASTERN PHOEBE, AOU 1998]

Length — 7 inches. About an inch longer than the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — Dusky olive — brown above darkest on head,
Which is slightly crested. Wings and tail dusky, the outer
edges of some tail feathers whitish. Dingy yellowish white
underneath. Bill and feet black.
Range — North America, from Newfoundland to the South Atlantic
States, and westward to the Rockies. Winters south of the
Carolinas, into Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies.
Migrations — March. October. Common summer resident.

The earliest representative of the flycatcher family to come out of thetropics where insect life fairly swarms and teems, what does the friendlylittle phoebe find to attract him to the north in March while his prospectivedinners must all be still in embryo? He looks dejected, it is true, as he sitssolitary and silent on some projecting bare limb in the garden, awaiting thecoming of his tardy mate; nevertheless, the date of his return will not varyby more than a few days in a given locality year after year. Why birds thatare mated for life, as these are said to be, and such devoted lovers, shouldnot travel together on their journey north, is another of the many mysteriesof bird-life awaiting solution.

The reunited, happy couple go about the garden and outbuildings likedomesticated wrens, investigating the crannies on piazzas, where people may becoming and going, and boldly entering barn-lofts to find a suitable site forthe nest that it must take much of both time and skill to build.

Pewit, phoebe, phoebe; pewit, phoebe, they contentedly but rather monotonouslysing as they investigate all the sites in the neighborhood. Presently alocation is chosen under a beam or rafter, and the work of collecting moss andmud for the foundation and hair and feathers or wool to line the exquisitelittle home begins. But the labor is done cheerfully, with many a sally inmidair either to let off superfluous high spirits or to catch a morsel on thewing, and with many a vivacious outburst of what by courtesy only we may namea song.

When not domesticated, as these birds are rapidly becoming, the phoebes dearlylove a cool, wet woodland retreat. Here they hunt and bathe; here they alsobuild in a rocky bank or ledge of rocks or underneath a bridge, but alwayswith clever adaptation of their nest to its surroundings, out of which itseems a natural growth. It is one of the most finished, beautiful nests everfound.

A pair of phoebes become attached to a spot where they have once nested; theynever stray far from it, and return to it regularly, though they may not againoccupy the old nest. This is because it soon becomes infested with lice fromthe hen's feathers used in lining it, for which reason too close relationshipwith this friendly bird-neighbor is discouraged by thrifty housekeepers. Whenthe baby birds have come out from the four or six little white eggs, theirhelpless bodies are mercilessly attacked by parasites, and are often soenfeebled that half the brood die. The next season another nest will be builtnear the first, the following summer still another, until it would appear thata colony of birds had made their homes in the place.

Throughout the long summer — for as the phoebe is the first flycatcher tocome, so it is the last to go — the bird is a tireless hunter of insects,which it catches on the wing with a sharp click of its beak like the othermembers of its dexterous family.

Say's Phoebe (Sayornis saya) is the Western representative of the Easternspecies, which it resembles in coloring and many of its habits. It is the birdof the open plains, a tireless hunter in midair sallies from an isolatedperch, and has the same vibrating motion of the tail that the Eastern phoebeindulges in when excited. This bird differs chiefly in its lighter coloring,but not in habits, from the black pewee of the Pacific slope.

GREAT-CRESTED FLYCATCHER (Myiarchus crinitus) Flycatcher family

Called also: CRESTED FLYCATCHER; [GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER, AOU
1998]

Length — 8.50 to 9 inches. A little smaller than the robin.
Male and female — Feathers of the head pointed and erect. Upper
parts dark grayish-olive, inclining to rusty brown on wings and
tail. Wing coverts crossed with two irregular bars of yellowish
white. Throat gray, shading into sulphur-yellow underneath,
that also extends under the wings. Inner vane of several tail
quills rusty red. Bristles at base of bill.
Range — From Mexico, Central America, and West Indies northward
to southern Canada and westward to the plains. Most common in
Mississippi basin; common also in eastern United States, south
of New England.
Migrations — May. September. Common summer resident.

The most dignified and handsomely dressed member of his family, the crestedflycatcher has, nevertheless, an air of pensive melancholy about him when inrepose that can be accounted for only by the pain he must feel every time hehears himself screech. His harsh, shrill call, louder and more disagreeablethan the kingbird's, cannot but rasp his ears as it does ours. And yet it ischiefly by this piercing note, given with a rising inflection, that we knowthe bird is in our neighborhood; for he is somewhat of a recluse, and we mustoften follow the disagreeable noise to its source in the tree-tops before wecan catch a glimpse of the screecher. Perched on a high lookout, he appearsmorose and sluggish, in spite of his aristocratic-looking crest, trim figure,and feathers that must seem rather gay to one of his dusky tribe. A lowsoliloquy, apparently born of discontent, can be overheard from the foot ofhis tree. But another second, and he has dashed off in hot pursuit of aninsect flying beyond our sight, and with extremely quick, dexterous evolutionsin midair, he finishes the hunt with a sharp click of his bill as it closesover the unhappy victim, and then he returns to his perch. On the wing he isexceedingly active and joyous; in the tree he appears just the reverse. Thathe is a domineering fellow, quite as much of a tyrant as the notoriouskingbird, that bears the greater burden of opprobrium, is shown in the fierceway he promptly dashes at a feathered stranger that may have alighted too nearhis perch, and pursues it beyond the bounds of justice, all the whilescreaming his rasping cry into the intruder's ears, that must pierce as deepas the thrusts from his relentless beak. He has even been known to drive offwoodpeckers and bluebirds from the hollows in the trees that he, like them,chooses for a nest, and appropriate the results of their labor for hisscarcely less belligerent mate. With a slight but important and indispensableaddition, the stolen nest is ready to receive her four cream-colored eggs,that look as if a pen dipped in purple ink had been scratched over them.

The fact that gives the great-crested flycatcher a unique interest among allNorth American birds is that it invariably lines its nest with snake-skins ifone can be had. Science would scarcely be worth the studying if it did not setour imaginations to work delving for plausible reasons for Nature's strangedoings. Most of us will doubtless agree with Wilson (who made a special studyof these interesting nests and never found a single one without castsnake-skins in it, even in districts where snakes were so rare they weresupposed not to exist at all), that the lining was chosen to terrorize allintruders. The scientific mind that is unwilling to dismiss any detail ofNature's work as merely arbitrary and haphazard, is greatly exercised over thereason for the existence of crests on birds. But, surely, may not the sight ofsnake-skins that first greet the eyes of the fledgling flycatchers as theyemerge from the shell be a good and sufficient reason why the feathers ontheir little heads should stand on end? "In the absence of a snake-skin, Ihave found an onion skin and shad scales in the nest," says John Burroughs,who calls this bird "the wild Irishman of the flycatchers."

OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER (Contotus borealis) Flycatcher family

Length — 7 to inches. About an inch longer than the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — Dusky olive or grayish brown above; head
darkest. Wings and tail blackish brown, the former sometimes,
but not always, margined and tipped with dusky white. Throat
yellowish white; other under parts slightly lighter shade than
above. Olive-gray on sides. A tuft of yellowish-white, downy
feathers on flanks. Bristles at base of bill.
Range — From Labrador to Panama. Winters in the tropics. Nests
usually north of United States, but it also breeds in the
Catskills.
Migrations — May. September Resident only in northern part of
Its range.

Only in the migrations may people south of Massachusetts hope to see thisflycatcher, which can be distinguished from the rest of its kin by the darkerunder parts, and by the fluffy,yellowish-white tufts of feathers on its flanks. Its habits have the familycharacteristics: it takes its food on the wing, suddenly sallying forth fromits perch, darting about midair to seize its prey, then as suddenly returningto its identical point of vantage, usually in some distended, dead limb in thetree-top; it is pugnacious, bold, and tyrannical; mopish and inert when not onthe hunt, but wonderfully alert and swift when in pursuit of insect orfeathered foe. The short necks of the flycatchers make their heads appearlarge for their bodies, a peculiarity slightly emphasized in this member ofthe family. High up in some evergreen tree, well out on a branch, over whichthe shapeless mass of twigs and moss that serves as a nest is saddled, four orfive buff-speckled eggs are laid, and by some special dispensation rarely fallout of their insecure cradle.

A sharp, loud whistle, wheu—o-wheu-o-wheu-o, rings out from the throat ofthis olive-sided tyrant, warning all intruders off the premises; but howeverharshly he may treat the rest of the feathered world, he has only gentledevotion to offer his brooding mate.

LEAST FLYCATCHER (Empidonax minimus) Flycatcher family

Called also: CHEBEC

Length — 5 to 5.5 inches. About an inch smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male — Gray or olive-gray above, paler on wings and lower part
of back, and a more distinct olive-green on head. Underneath
grayish white, sometimes faintly suffused with pale yellow.
wings have whitish bars. White eye-ring. Lower half of bill
horn color.
Female is slightly more yellowish underneath.
Range — Eastern North America, from tropics northward to Quebec,
Migrations — May. September. Common summer resident.

This, the smallest member of its family, takes the place of the more southerlyAcadian flycatcher, throughout New England and the region of the Great Lakes.But, unlike his Southern relative, he prefers orchards and gardens close toour homes for his hunting grounds rather than the wet recesses of the forests.Che-bec, che-bec, the diminutive olive-pated gray sprite calls out from theorchard between his aerial sallies after the passing insects that have beenattracted by the decaying fruit, and chebec is the name by which many NewEnglanders know him.

While giving this characteristic call-note, with drooping jerking tail,trembling wings, and uplifted parti-colored bill, he looks unnerved and limpby the effort it has cost him. But in the next instant a gnat flies past. Howquickly the bird recovers itself, and charges full-tilt at his passing dinner!The sharp click of his little bill proves that he has not missed his aim; andafter careering about in the air another minute or two, looking for more gameto snap up on the wing, he will return to the same perch and take up hisfamiliar refrain. Without hearing this call-note one might often mistake thebird for either the wood pewee or the phoebe, for all the three are similarlyclothed and have many traits in common. The slightly large size of the phoebeand pewee is not always apparent when they are seen perching on the trees.Unlike the "tuft of hay" to which the Acadian flycatcher's nest has beenlikened, the least flycatcher's home is a neat, substantial cup-shaped cradlesoftly lined with down or horsehair, and placed generally in an upright crotchof a tree, well above the ground.

THE CHICKADEE (Parus atricapillus) Titmouse family

Called also: BLACK-CAPPED TITMOUSE; BLACK-CAP TIT; [BLACK-CAPPED
CHICKADEE, AOU 1998]

Length — 5 to 5.5 inches. About an inch smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — Not crested. Crown and nape and throat black.
Above gray, slightly tinged with brown. A white space,
beginning at base of bill, extends backwards, widening over
cheeks and upper part of breast, forming a sort of collar that
almost surrounds neck. Underneath dirty white. with pale rusty
brown wash on sides. Wings and tail gray. with white edgings.
Plumage downy.
Range — Eastern North America. North of the Carolinas to
Labrador. Does not migrate in the North.
Migrations — Late September. May. Winter resident; permanent
resident in northern parts of the United States.

No "fair weather friend" is the jolly little chickadee. In the depth of theautumn equinoctial storm it returns to the tops of the trees close by thehouse, where, through the sunshine, snow, and tempest of the entire winter,you may hear its cheery, irrepressible chickadee-dee-dee-dee or day-day-day asit swings Around the dangling cones of the evergreens. It fairly overflowswith good spirits, and is never more contagiously gay than in a snowstorm. Soactive, so friendly and cheering, what would the long northern winters be likewithout this lovable little neighbor?

It serves a more utilitarian purpose, however, than bracing faint-heartedspirits. "There is no bird that compares with it in destroying the femalecanker-worm moths and their eggs," writes a well-known entomologist. Hecalculates that as a chickadee destroys about 5,500 eggs in one day, it willeat 138,750 eggs in the twenty-five days it takes the canker-worm moth tocrawl up the trees. The moral that it pays to attract chickadees about yourhome by feeding them in winter is obvious. Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright, in herdelightful and helpful book "Birdcraft," tells us how she makes a sort of abird-hash of finely minced raw meat, waste canary-seed, buckwheat, and crackedoats, which she scatters in a sheltered spot for all the winter birds. The waythis is consumed leaves no doubt of its popularity. A raw bone, hung from anevergreen limb, is equally appreciated.

Friendly as the chickadee is and Dr. Abbott declares it the tamest bird wehave it prefers well-timbered districts, especially where there are red-budtrees, when it is time to nest. It is very often clever enough to leave thelabor of hollowing out a nest in the tree-trunk to the woodpecker or nuthatch,whose old homes it readily appropriates; or, when these birds object, aknot-hole or a hollow fence-rail answers every purpose. Here, in the summerwoods, when family cares beset it, a plaintive, minor whistle replaces thechickadee-dee-dee that Thoreau likens to "silver tinkling" as he heard it on afrosty morning.

"Piped a tiny voice near by,
Gay and polite, a cheerful cry
Chick-chickadeedee! 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.'"
— Emerson.

TUFTED TITMOUSE (Parus bicolor) Titmouse family

Called also: CRESTED TITMOUSE; CRESTED TOMTIT

Length — 6 to 6. inches. About the size of the English sparrow.
Male and Female — Crest high and pointed. Leaden or ash-gray
above; darkest on wings and tail. Frontlet, bill, and shoulders
black; space between eyes gray. Sides of head dull white. Under
parts light gray; sides yellowish, tinged with red.
Range — United States east of plains, and only rarely seen so
far north as New England.
Migrations — October. April. Winter resident, but also found
throughout the year in many States.

"A noisy titmouse is Jack Frost's trumpeter" may be one of those fewweather-wise proverbs with a grain of truth in them. As the chickadee comesfrom the woods with the frost, so it may be noticed his cousin, the crestedtitmouse, is in more noisy evidence throughout the winter.

One might sometimes think his whistle, like a tugboat's, worked by steam. Buthow effectually nesting cares alone can silence it in April!

Titmice always see to it you are not lonely as you walk through the woods.This lordly tomtit, with his jaunty crest, keeps up a persistent whistle atyou as he flits from tree to tree, leading you deeper into the forest, callingout "Here-here-here!', and looking like a pert and jaunty little blue jay,minus his gay clothes. Mr. Nehrling translates one of the calls"Heedle-deedle-deedle-dee!" and another "Peto-peto-peto-daytee-daytee!" But itis at the former, sharply whistled as the crested titmouse gives it, thatevery dog pricks up his ears.

Comparatively little has been written about this bird, because it is not oftenfound in New England, where most of the bird litterateurs have lived. South ofNew York State, however, it is a common resident, and much respected for thegood work it does in destroying injurious insects, though it is more fond ofvarying its diet with nuts, berries, and seeds than that all-round benefactor,the chickadee.

CANADA JAY (Perisoreus canadensis) Crow and Jay family

Called also: WHISKY JACK OR JOHN; MOOSE-BIRD; MEAT BIRD; VENISON
HERON; GREASE-BIRD; CANADIAN CARRION-BIRD; CAMP ROBBER; [GRAY
JAY, AOU 1998]

Length — 11 to 12 inches. About two inches larger than the
robin.
Male and Female — Upper p arts gray; darkest on wings and tail;
back of the head and nape of the neck sooty, almost black.
Forehead, throat, and neck white, and a few white tips on wings
and tail. Underneath lighter gray. Tail long. Plumage fluffy.
Range — Northern parts of the United States and British
Provinces of North America.
Migrations — Resident where found.

The Canada jay looks like an exaggerated chickadee, and both birds are equallyfond of bitter cold weather, but here the similarity stops short. Where thechickadee is friendly the jay is impudent and bold; hardly less of a villainthan his blue relative when it comes to marauding other birds' nests anddestroying their young. With all his vices, however, intemperance cannot beattributed to him, in spite of the name given him by the Adirondack lumbermenand guides. "Whisky John" is a purely innocent corruption of"Wis-ka-tjon," as the Indians call this bird that haunts their camps andfamiliarly enters their wigwams. The numerous popular names by which theCanada jays are known are admirably accounted for by Mr. Hardy in a bulletinissued by the Smithsonian Institution.

"They will enter the tents, and often alight on the bow of a canoe, where thepaddle at every stroke comes within eighteen inches of them. I know nothingwhich can be eaten that they will not take, and I had one steal all mycandles, pulling them out endwise, one by one, from a piece of birch bark inwhich they were rolled, and another peck a large hole in a keg of castilesoap. A duck which I had picked and laid down for a few minutes, had theentire breast eaten out by one or more of these birds. I have seen one alightin the middle of my canoe and peck away at the carcass of a beaver I hadskinned. They often spoil deer saddles by pecking into them near the kidneys.They do great damage to the trappers by stealing the bait from traps set formartens and minks and by eating trapped game. They will sit quietly and seeyou build a log trap and bait it, and then, almost before your back is turned,you hear their hateful ca-ca-ca! as they glide down and peer into it. Theywill work steadily, carrying off meat and hiding it. I have thrown out pieces,and watched one to see how much he would carry off. He flew across a widestream, and in a short time looked as bloody as a butcher from carrying largepieces; but his patience held out longer than mine. I think one would work aslong as Mark Twain's California jay did trying to fill a miner's cabin withacorns through a knot-hole in the root. They are fond of the berries of themountain ash, and, in fact, few things come amiss; I believe they do notpossess a single good quality except industry."

One virtue not mentioned by Mr. Hardy is their prudent saving from the summersurplus to keep the winter storeroom well supplied like a squirrel's. Suchthrift is the more necessary when a clamorous, hungry family of young jaysmust be reared while the thermometer is often as low as thirty degrees belowzero at the end of March. How eggs are ever hatched at all in a temperaturecalculated to freeze any sitting bird stiff, is one of the mysteries of thewoods. And yet four or five fluffy little jays, that look as if they weredressed in gray fur, emerge from the eggs before the spring sunshine hasunbound the icy rivers or melted the snowdrifts piled high around theevergreens.

CATBIRD (Galcoscoptes carolinensis ) Mocking-bird family

Called also: BLACK-CAPPED THRUSH; [GRAY CATBIRD, AOU 1998]

Length — 9 inches. An inch shorter than the robin.
Male and Female — Dark slate above; below somewhat paler; top of
head black. Distinct chestnut patch under the tail, which is
black; feet and bill black also. Wings short, more than two
inches shorter than the tail.
Range — British provinces to Mexico; west to Rocky Mountains,
to Pacific coast. Winters in Southern States, Central
America, and Cuba.
Migrations — May. November. Common summer resident,

Our familiar catbird, of all the feathered tribe, presents the most contrarycharacteristics, and is therefore held in varied estimation — loved, admired,ridiculed, abused. He is the veriest "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" of birds.Exquisitely proportioned, with finely poised black head and satin-gray coat,which he bathes most carefully and prunes and prinks by the hour, he appearsfrom his toilet a Beau Brummell, an aristocratic-looking, even dandifiedneighbor. Suddenly, as if shot, he drops head and tail and assumes the mosthang-dog air, without the least sign of self-respect; then crouches andlengthens into a roll, head forward and tail straightened, till he looks likea little, short gray snake, lank and limp. Anon, with a jerk and a sprint,every muscle tense, tail erect, eyes snapping, he darts into the air intentupon some well-planned mischief. It is impossible to describe his variousattitudes or moods. In song and call he presents the same oppositecharacteristics. How such a bird, exquisite in style, can demean himself toutter such harsh, altogether hateful catcalls and squawks as have given thebird his common name, is a wonder when in the next moment his throat swellsand beginning phut-phut-coquillicot, he gives forth a long glorious song, onlysecond to that of the wood thrush in melody. He is a jester, a caricaturist, amocking-bird.

The catbird's nest is like a veritable scrap-basket, loosely woven of coarsetwigs, bits of newspaper, scraps, and rags, till this rough exterior is softlylined and made fit to receive the four to six pretty dark green-blue eggs tobe laid therein.

As a fruit thief harsh epithets are showered upon the friendly, confidinglittle creature at our doors; but surely his depredations may be pardoned, forhe is industrious at all times and unusually adroit in catching insects,especially in the moth stage.

THE MOCKING-BIRD (Mimus polyglottus) Mocking-bird family

[Called also: NORTHERN MOCKINGBIRD, AOU 1998]

Length — 9 to 10 inches. About the size of the robin.Male and Female — Gray above; wings and wedge-shaped; tail brownish; upper wing feathers tipped with white; outer tail quills white, conspicuous in flight; chin white; underneath light gray, shading to whitish.Range — Peculiar to torrid and temperate zones of two Americas.Migrations — No fixed migrations: usually resident where seen.

North of Delaware this commonest of Southern birds is all too rarely seenoutside of cages, yet even in midwinter it is not unknown in Central Park, NewYork. This is the angel that it is said the catbird was before he fell fromgrace. Slim, neat, graceful, imitative, amusing, with a rich, tender song thatonly the thrush can hope to rival, and with an instinctive preference for thesociety of man, it is little wonder he is a favorite, caged or free. He is amost devoted parent, too, when the four or six speckled green eggs haveproduced as many mouths to be supplied with insects and berries.

In the Connecticut Valley, where many mocking-birds' nests have been found,year after year, they are all seen near the ground, and without exception areloosely, poorly constructed affairs of leaves, feathers, grass, and even rags.

With all his virtues, it must be added, however, that this charming bird is asad tease. 'There is no sound, whether made by bird or beast about him, thathe cannot imitate so clearly as to deceive every one but himself. Very rarelycan you find a mocking-bird without intelligence and mischief enough toappreciate his ventriloquism. In Sidney Lanier's college note-book was foundwritten this reflection: "A poet is the mocking-bird of the spiritualuniverse. In him are collected all the individual songs of all individualnatures." Later in life, with the same thought in mind, he referred to thebird as "yon slim Shakespeare on the tree." His exquisite stanzas, "To OurMocking-bird," exalt the singer with the immortals:

"Trillets of humor, — shrewdest whistle — wit —
Contralto cadences of grave desire,
Such as from off the passionate Indian pyre
Drift down through sandal-odored flames that split
About the slim young widow, who doth sit
And sing above, — midnights of tone entire, —
Tissues of moonlight, shot with songs of fire; —
Bright drops of tune, from oceans infinite
Of melody, sipped off the thin-edged wave
And trickling down the beak, — discourses brave
Of serious matter that no man may guess, —
Good-fellow greetings, cries of light distress —
All these but now within the house we heard:
O Death, wast thou too deaf to hear the bird?
. . . . .
"Nay, Bird; my grief gainsays the Lord's best right.
The Lord was fain, at some late festal time,
That Keats should set all heaven's woods in rhyme,
And Thou in bird-notes. Lo, this tearful night
Methinks I see thee, fresh from Death's despite,
Perched in a palm-grove, wild with pantomime
O'er blissful companies couched in shady thyme.
Methinks I hear thy silver whistlings bright
Meet with the mighty discourse of the wise, —
'Till broad Beethoven, deaf no more, and Keats,
'Midst of much talk, uplift their smiling eyes
And mark the music of thy wood-conceits,
And half-way pause on some large courteous word,
And call thee 'Brother,' O thou heavenly Bird!"

JUNCO (Junco hyemalis) Finch family

Called also: SNOWBIRD; SLATE-COLORED SNOWBIRD; [DARK-EYED JUNCO,
AOU 1998]

Length — 5.5 to 6.5 inches. About the size of the English
sparrow.
Male — Upper parts slate-colored; darkest on head and neck,
which are sometimes almost black and marked like a cowl. Gray
on breast, like a vest. Underneath white. Several outer tall
feathers white, conspicuous in flight.
Female — Lighter gray, inclining to brown.
Range — North America. Not common in warm latitudes. Breeds in
the Catskills and northern New England.
Migrations — September. April. Winter resident.

"Leaden skies above; snow below," is Mr. Parkhurst's suggestive description ofthis rather timid little neighbor, that is only starved into familiarity. Whenthe snow has buried seed and berries, a flock of juncos, mingling sociablywith the sparrows and chickadees about the kitchen door, will pick up scrapsof food with an intimacy quite touching in a bird naturally rather shy. Herewe can readily distinguish these "little gray-robed monks and nuns," as MissFlorence Merriam calls them.

They are trim, sprightly, sleek, and even natty; their dispositions are genialand vivacious, not quarrelsome, like their sparrow cousins, and what isperhaps best about them, they are birds we may surely depend upon seeing inthe winter months. A few come forth in September, migrating at night from thedeep woods of the north, where they have nested and moulted during the summer;but not until frost has sharpened the air are large numbers of them seen.Rejoicing in winter, they nevertheless do not revel in the deep and fiercearctic blasts, as the snowflakes do, but take good care to avoid the openpastures before the hard storms overtake them.

Early in the spring their song is sometimes heard before they leave us to wooand to nest in the north. Mr. Bicknell describes it as "a crisp call-note, asimple trill, and a faint, whispered warble, usually much broken, but notwithout sweetness."

WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH (Sitta carolinensis) Nuthatch family

Called also: TREE-MOUSE; DEVIL DOWNHEAD

Length — 5.5 to 6 inches. A trifle smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — Upper parts slate-color. Top of head and nape
black. Wings dark slate, edged with black, that fades to brown.
Tail feathers brownish black, with white bars. Sides of head
and underneath white, shading to pale reddish under the tail.
(Female's head leaden.) Body flat and compact. Bill longer than
head.
Range — British provinces to Mexico. Eastern United States.
Migrations — October. April. Common resident. Most prominent in
winter.

"Shrewd little haunter 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 in your view?"
— Edith M. Thomas.

Could a dozen lines well contain a fuller description or more aptcharacterization of a bird than these "To a Nuthatch"?

With more artless inquisitiveness than fear, this lively little acrobat stopshis hammering or hatcheting at your approach, and stretching himself out fromthe tree until it would seem he must fall off, he peers down at you, headdownward, straight into your upturned opera-glasses. If there is too much snowon the upper side of a branch, watch how he runs along underneath it like afly, busily tapping the bark, or adroitly breaking the decayed bits with hisbill, as he searches for the spider's eggs, larvae, etc., hidden there; yetsomehow, between mouthfuls, managing to call out his cheery quank! quank!hank! hank!

Titmice and nuthatches, which have many similar characteristics, are oftenseen in the most friendly hunting parties on the same tree. A pine woods istheir dearest delight. There, as the mercury goes down, their spirits onlyseem to go up higher. In the spring they have been thought by many to migratein flocks, whereas they are only retreating with their relations away from thehaunts of men to the deep, cool woods, where they nest. With infinite patiencethe nuthatch excavates a hole in a tree, lining it with feathers and moss, andoften depositing as many as ten white eggs speckled with red and lilac) for asingle brood.

RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH (Sitta canadensis) Nuthatch family

Called also: CANADA NUTHATCH

Length — 4 to 4.75 inches. One-third smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male — Lead-colored above; brownish on wings and tail. Head,
neck, and stripe passing through eye to shoulder, black.
Frontlet, chin, and shoulders white; also a white stripe over
eye, meeting on brow. Under parts light, rusty red. Tail
feathers barred with white near end, and tipped with pale
brown.
Female — Has crown of brownish black, and is lighter beneath
than male.
Range — Northern parts of North America. Not often seen south of
the most northerly States.
Migrations — November. April. Winter resident.

The brighter coloring of this tiny, hardy bird distinguishes from the otherand larger nuthatch, with whom it is usually seen, for the winter birds have adelightfully social manner, so that a colony of these Free masons is apt tocontain not only both kinds of nuthatches and chickadees, but kinglets andbrown creepers as well. It shares the family habit of walking about the trees,head downward, and running along the under side of limbs like a fly. ByThanksgiving Day the quank! quank! of the white-breasted species is answeredby the tai-tai-tait! of the red-breasted cousin in the orchard, where thefamily party is celebrating with an elaborate menu of slugs, insects' eggs,and oily seeds from the evergreen trees.

For many years this nuthatch, a more northern species than the white-breastedbird, was thought to be only a spring and autumn visitor, but latterly it iscredited with habits like its congener's in nearly every particular.

LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE (Lanius ludovicianus) Shrike family

Length — 8.5 to 9 inches. A little smaller than the robin.
Male and Female — Upper parts gray; narrow black line across
forehead, connecting small black patches on sides of head at
base of bill. Wings and tail black, plentifully marked with
white, the outer tail feathers often being entirely white and
conspicuous in flight. Underneath white or very light gray.
Bill hooked and hawk-like.
Range — Eastern United States to the plains.
Migrations — May. October. Summer resident.

It is not easy, even at a slight distance, to distinguish the loggerhead fromthe Northern shrike. Both have the pernicious habit of killing insects andsmaller birds and impaling them on thorns; both have the peculiarity offlying, with strong, vigorous flight and much wing-flapping, close along theground, then suddenly rising to a tree, on the lookout for prey. Their harsh,unmusical call-notes are similar too, and their hawk-like method of droppingsuddenly upon a victim on the ground below is identical. Indeed, the samedescription very nearly answers for both birds. But there is one veryimportant difference. While the Northern shrike is a winter visitor, theloggerhead, being his Southern counterpart, does not arrive until after thefrost is out of the ground, and he can be sure of a truly warm welcome. Alesser distiction between the only two representatives of the shrike familythat frequent our neighborhood — and they are two too many — is in thesmaller size of the loggerhead and its lighter-gray plumage. But as both thesebirds select some high commanding position, like a distended branch near thetree-top, a cupola, house-peak, lightning-rod, telegraph wire, orweather-vane, the better to detect a passing dinner, it would be quiteimpossible at such a distance to know which shrike was sitting up theresilently plotting villainies, without remembering the season when each may beexpected.

NORTHERN SHRIKE (Lanius borealis) Shrike family

Called also: BUTCHER-BIRD; NINE-KILLER

Length — 9.5 to 10.5 inches. About the size of the robin.
Male — Upper parts slate-gray; wing quills and tail black,
edged and tipped with white, conspicuous in flight; a white
spot on centre of outer wing feathers. A black band runs
from bill, through eye to side of throat. Light gray below,
tinged with brownish, and faintly marked with waving lines
of darker gray. Bill hooked and hawk-like.
Female — With eye-band more obscure than male's, and with
More distinct brownish cast on her plumage.
Range — Northern North America. South in winter to middle
Portion of United States.
Migrations — November, April. A roving winter resident.

"Matching the bravest of the brave among birds of prey in deeds of daring, andno less relentless than reckless, the shrike compels that sort of deference,not unmixed with indignation, we are accustomed to accord to creatures ofseeming insignificance whose exploits demand much strength, great spirit, andinsatiate love for carnage. We cannot be indifferent to the marauder who takeshis own wherever he finds it — a feudal baron who holds his own withundisputed sway — and an ogre whose victims are so many more than he can eat,that he actually keeps a private graveyard for the balance." Who is honestlyable to give the shrikes a better character than Dr. Coues, just quoted? A fewoffer them questionable defence by recording the large numbers of Englishsparrows they kill in a season, as if wanton carnage were ever justifiable.

Not even a hawk itself can produce the consternation among a flock of sparrowsthat the harsh, rasping voice of the butcherbird creates, for escape they wellknow to be difficult before the small ogre swoops down upon his victim, andcarries it off to impale it on a thorn or frozen twig, there to devour itlater piecemeal. Every shrike thus either impales or else hangs up, as abutcher does his meat, more little birds of many kinds, field-mice,grasshoppers, and other large insects than it can hope to devour in a week ofbloody orgies. Field-mice are perhaps its favorite diet, but even snakes arenot disdained.

More contemptible than the actual slaughter of its victims, if possible, isthe method by which the shrike often lures and sneaks upon his prey. Hiding ina clump of bushes in the meadow or garden, he imitates with fiendishcleverness the call-notes of little birds that come in cheerful response,hopping and flitting within easy range of him. His bloody work is finished ina trice. Usually, however, it must be owned, the shrike's hunting habits arethe reverse of sneaking. Perched on a point of vantage on some tree-top orweather-vane, his hawk-like eye can detect a grasshopper going through thegrass fifty yards away.

What is our surprise when, some fine warm day in March, just before ourbutcher, ogre, sneak, and fiend leaves us for colder regions, to hear himbreak out into song! Love has warmed even his cold heart, and with sweet,warbled notes on the tip of a beak that but yesterday was reeking with hisvictim's blood, he starts for Canada, leaving behind him the only goodimpression he has made during a long winter's visit.

BOHEMIAN WAXWING (Ampelis garrulus) Waxwing family

Called also: BLACK-THROATED WAX WING; LAPLAND WAX WING; SILKTAIL

Length — 8 to 9.5 inches. A little smaller than the robin.
Male and Female — General color drab, with faint brownish wash
above, shading into lighter gray below. Crest conspicuous.
being nearly an inch and a half in length; rufous at the base,
shading into light gray above, velvety-black forehead, chin,
and line through the eye. Wings grayish brown, with very dark
quills, which have two white bars; the bar at the edge of the
upper wing coverts being tipped with red sealing-wax-like
points, that give the bird its name. A few wing feathers tipped
with yellow on outer edge. Tail quills dark brown, with yellow
band across the end, and faint red streaks on upper and inner
sides.
Range — Northern United States and British America. Most common
in Canada and northern Mississippi region.
Migrations — Very irregular winter visitor.

When Charles Bonaparte, Prince of Canino, who was the first to count thiscommon waxwing of Europe and Asia among the birds of North America, publishedan account of it in his "Synopsis," it was considered a very rare bird indeed.It may be these waxwings have greatly increased, but however uncommon they maystill be considered, certainly no one who had ever seen a flock containingmore than a thousand of them, resting on the trees of a lawn within sight ofNew York City, as the writer has done, could be expected to consider the birds"very rare."

The Bohemian waxwing, like the only other member of the family that evervisits us, the cedar-bird, is a roving gipsy. In Germany they say seven yearsmust elapse between its visitations, which the superstitious old cronies arewont to associate with woful stories of pestilence — just such tales as areresurrected from the depths of morbid memories here when a comet reappears orthe seven-year locust ascends from the ground.

The goings and comings of these birds are certainly most erratic andinfrequent; nevertheless, when hunger drives them from the far north to feastupon the juniper and other winter berries of our Northern States, they come inenormous flocks, making up in quantity what they lack in regularity of visitsand evenness of distribution.

Surely no bird has less right to be associated with evil than this mildwaxwing. It seems the very incarnation of peace and harmony. Part of a flockthat has lodged in a tree will sit almost motionless for hours and whisper insoftly hissed twitterings, very much as a company of Quaker ladies, similarlydressed, might sit at yearly meeting. Exquisitely clothed in silky-grayfeathers that no berry juice is ever permitted to stain, they are dainty,gentle, aristocratic-looking birds, a trifle heavy and indolent, perhaps, whenwalking on the ground or perching; but as they fly in compact squads justabove the tree-tops their flight is exceedingly swift and graceful.

BAY-BREASTED WARBLER (Dendroica castanea) Wood Warbler family

Length. — 5.25 to 5.75 inches. A little smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male — Crown, chin, throat, upper breast, and sides dull
chestnut. Forehead, sides of head, and cheeks black. Above
olive-gray, streaked with black. Underneath buffy. Two white
wing-bars. Outer tail quills with white patches on tips. Cream
white patch on either side of neck.
Female — Has more greenish-olive above.
Range — Eastern North America, from Hudson's Bay to Central
America. Nests north of the United States. Winters in tropical
limit of range.
Migrations — May. September. Rare migrant

The chestnut breast of this capricious little visitor makes him look like adiminutive robin. In spring, when these warblers are said to take a moreeasterly route than the one they choose in autumn to return by to CentralAmerica, they may be so suddenly abundant that the fresh green trees andshrubbery of the garden will contain a dozen of the busy little hunters.Another season they may pass northward either by another route or leave yourgarden unvisited; and perhaps the people in the very next town may be countingyour rare bird common, while it is simply perverse.

Whether common or rare, before your acquaintance has had time to ripen intofriendship, away go the freaky little creatures to nest in the tree-tops ofthe Canadian coniferous forests.

CHESTNUT-SIDED WARBLER (Dendroica pennsylvanica) Wood Warblerfamily

Called also: BLOODY-SIDED WARBLER

Length — About 5 inches. More than an inch shorter than the
English sparrow.
Male — Top of head and streaks in wings yellow. A black line
running through the eye and round back of crown, and a black
spot in front of eye, extending to cheeks. Ear coverts, chin,
and underneath white. Back greenish gray and slate, streaked
with black. Sides of bird chestnut. Wings, which are streaked
with black and yellow, have yellowish-white bars. Very dark
tail with white patches on inner vanes of the outer quills.
Female — Similar, but duller. Chestnut sides are often scarcely
apparent.
Range — Eastern North America, from Manitoba and Labrador to the
tropics, where it winters.
Migrations — May. September. Summer resident, most common in
migrations.

In the Alleghanies, and from New Jersey and Illinois northward, this restlesslittle warbler nests in the bushy borders of woodlands and the undergrowth ofthe woods, for which he forsakes our gardens and orchards after a very shortvisit in May. While hopping over the ground catching ants, of which he seemsto be inordinately fond, or flitting actively about the shrubbery after grubsand insects, we may note his coat of many colors— patchwork in which nearly all the warbler colors are curiously combined.With drooped wings that often conceal the bird's chestnut sides, which are hischief distinguishing mark, and with tail erected like a redstart's, he huntsincessantly. Here in the garden he is as refreshingly indifferent to yourinterest in him as later in his breeding haunts he is shy and distrustful. Hissong is bright and animated, like that of the yellow warbler.

GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER (Helminthophila chrysoptera) Wood Warblerfamily

Length — About 5 inches. More than an inch shorter than the
English sparrow.
Male — Yellow crown and yellow patches on the wings. Upper parts
bluish gray, sometimes tinged with greenish. Stripe through the
eye and throat black. Sides of head chin, and line over the eye
white. Underneath white, grayish on sides. A few white markings
on outer tail feathers.
Female — Crown duller; gray where male is black, with olive
Upper parts and grayer underneath.
Range — From Canadian border to Central America, where it
winters.
Migrations — May. September. Summer resident.

After one has seen a golden-winged warbler fluttering hither and thither aboutthe shrubbery of a park within sight and sound of a great city's distractionsand with blissful unconcern of them all, partaking of a hearty lunch ofinsects that infest the leaves before one's eyes, one counts the bird lessrare and shy than one has been taught to consider it. Whoever looks for awarbler with gaudy yellow wings will not find the golden-winged variety. Hiswings have golden patches only, and while these are distinguishing marks, theyare scarcely prominent enough features to have given the bird the rathermisleading name he bears. But, then, most warblers' names are misleading. Theyserve their best purpose in cultivating patience and other gentle virtues inthe novice.

Such habits and choice of haunts as characterize the blue-winged warbler arealso the golden-winged's. But their voices are quite different, the former'sbeing sharp and metallic, while the latter's zee, zee, zee comes more lazilyand without accent.

MYRTLE WARBLER (Dendroica coronata) Wood Warbler family

Called also: YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER [AOU 1998]; MYRTLE BIRD;
YELLOW-CROWNED WARBLER

Length — 5 to 5.5 inches. About an inch smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male — In summer plumage: A yellow patch on top of head, lower
back, and either side of the breast. Upper parts bluish slate,
streaked with black. Upper breast black; throat white; all
other under parts whitish, streaked with black. Two white wing
bars, and tail quills have white spots near the tip. In winter:
Upper parts olive-brown, streaked with black; the yellow spot
on lower back the only yellow mark remaining. Wing-bars
grayish.
Female — Resembles male in winter plumage.
Range — Eastern North America. Occasional on Pacific slope.
Summers from Minnesota and northern New England northward to
Fur Countries. Winters from Middle States south ward into
Central America; a few often remaining at the northern United
States all the winter.
Migrations — April. October. November. Also, but more rarely, a
winter resident.

The first of the warblers to arrive in the spring and the last to leave us inthe autumn, some even remaining throughout the northern winter, the myrtlewarbler, next to the summer yellowbird, is the most familiar of itsmultitudinous kin. Though we become acquainted with it chiefly in themigrations, it impresses us by its numbers rather than by any gorgeousness ofattire. The four yellow spots on crown, lower back, and sides are itsdistinguishing marks; and in the autumn these marks have dwindled to only one,that on the lower back or rump. The great difficulty experienced inidentifying any warbler is in its restless habit of flitting about.

For a few days in early May we are forcibly reminded of the Florida peninsula,which fairly teems with these birds; they become almost superabundant, adistraction during the precious days when the rarer species are quietlyslipping by, not to return again for a year, perhaps longer, for some warblersare notoriously irregular in their routes north and south, and never return bythe way they travelled in the spring.

But if we look sharply into every group of myrtle warblers, we are quitelikely to discover some of their dainty, fragile cousins that gladly seek theescort of birds so fearless as they. By the last of May all the warblers aregone from the neighborhood except the constant little summer yellowbird andredstart.

In autumn, when the myrtle warblers return after a busy enough summer passedin Canadian nurseries, they chiefly haunt those regions where juniper andbay-berries abound. These latter (Myrica cerifera), or the myrtle wax-berries,as they are sometimes called, and which are the bird's favorite food, havegiven it their name. Wherever the supply of these berries is sufficient tolast through the winter, there it may be found foraging in the scrubby bushes.Sometimes driven by cold and hunger from the fields, this hardiest member of afamily that properly belongs to the tropics, seeks shelter and food close tothe outbuildings on the farm.

PARULA WARBLER (Compsothlypis americana) Wood Warbler family

Called also: BLUE YELLOW-BACKED WARBLER; [NORTHERN PARULA, AOU
1998]
Length — 4.5 to 4.75 inches. About an inch and a half shorter
than the English sparrow.
Male and Female — Slate-colored above, with a greenish-yellow or
bronze patch in the middle of the back. Chin, throat, and
breast yellow. A black, bluish, or rufous band across the
breast, usually lacking in female. Underneath white, sometimes
marked with rufous on sides, but these markings are variable.
Wings have two white patches; outer tail feathers have white
patch near the end.
Range — Eastern North America. Winters from Florida southward.
Migrations — April. October. Summer resident.

Through an open window of an apartment in the very heart of New York City, aparula warbler flew this spring of 1897, surely the daintiest, mostexquisitely beautiful bird visitor that ever voluntarily lodged between twobrick walls.

A number of such airy, tiny beauties flitting about among the blossoms of theshrubbery on a bright May morning and swaying on the slenderest branches withtheir inimitable grace, is a sight that the memory should retain into old age.They seem the very embodiment of life, joy, beauty, grace; of everythinglovely that birds by any possibility could be. Apparently they are waftedabout the garden; they fly with no more effort than a dainty lifting of thewings, as if to catch the breeze, that seems to lift them as it might a bunchof thistledown. They go through a great variety of charming posturings as theyhunt for their food upon the blossoms and tender fresh twigs, now creepinglike a nuthatch along the bark and peering into the crevices, now gracefullyswaying and balancing like a goldfinch upon a slender, pendent stem. Onelittle sprite pauses in its hunt for the insects to raise its pretty head andtrill a short and wiry song.

But the parula warbler does not remain long about the gardens and orchards,though it will not forsake us altogether for the Canadian forests, where mostof its relatives pass the summer. It retreats only to the woods near thewater, if may be, or to just as close a counterpart of a swampy southernwoods, where the Spanish or Usnea "moss" drapes itself over the cypresses, asit can find here at the north. Its rarely [found,] beautiful nest, that hangssuspended from a slender branch very much like the Baltimore oriole's, is sowoven and festooned with this moss that its concealment is perfect.

BLACK-THROATED BLUE WARBLER (Dendroica caerulescens) Wood Warblerfamily

Length — 5.30 inches. About an inch shorter than the English
sparrow.
Male — Slate-color, not blue above; lightest on forehead and
darkest on lower back. Wings and tail edged with bluish.
Cheeks, chin, throat, upper breast, and sides black. Breast and
underneath white. White spots on wings, and a little white on
tail.
Female — Olive-green above; underneath soiled yellow. Wing-spots
inconspicuous. Tail generally has a faint bluish tinge.
Range — Eastern North America, from Labrador to tropics, where
It winters.
Migrations — May. September. Usually a migrant only in the
United States.

Whoever looks for this beautifully marked warbler among the bluebirds, willwish that the man who named him had possessed a truer eye for color. But ifthe name so illy fits the bright slate-colored male, how grieved must be hislittleolive-and-yellow mate to answer to the name of black-throated blue warblerwhen she has neither a black throat nor a blue feather! It is not easy todistinguish her as she flits about the twigs and leaves of the garden in Mayor early autumn, except as she is seen in company with her husband, whose nameshe has taken with him for better or for worse. The white spot on the wingsshould always be looked for to positively identify this bird.

Before flying up to a twig to peck off the insects, the birds have a prettyvireo trick of co*cking their heads on one side to investigate the quantityhidden underneath the leaves. They seem less nervous and more deliberate thanmany of their restless family.

Most warblers go over the Canada border to nest, but there are many records ofthe nests of this species in the Alleghanies as far south as Georgia, in theCatskills, in Connecticut, northern Minnesota and Michigan. Laurel thicketsand moist undergrowth of woods in the United States, and more commonly pinewoods in Canada, are the favorite nesting haunts. A sharp zip, zip, like somemidsummer insect's noise, is the bird's call-note, but its love-song, zee,zee, zee, or twee, twea, twea-e-e, as one authority writes it, is only rarelyheard in the migrations. It is a languid, drawling little strain, with anupward slide that is easily drowned in the full bird chorus of May.

BLUE AND BLUISH BIRDS

Bluebird
Indigo Bunting
Belted Kingfisher
Blue Jay
Blue Grosbeak
Barn Swallow
Cliff Swallow
Mourning Dove
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

Look also among Slate-colored Birds in preceding group, particularly among the
Warblers there, or in the group of Birds conspicuously Yellow and Orange.

BLUE AND BLUISH BIRDS

THE BLUEBIRD (Sialia sialis) Thrush family

Called also: BLUE ROBIN; [EASTERN BLUEBIRD, AOU 1998]

Length — 7 inches. About an inch longer than the English
sparrow.
Male — Upper parts, wings, and tail bright blue, with rusty wash
in autumn. Throat, breast, and sides cinnamon-red. Underneath
white.
Female — Has duller blue feathers, washed with gray, and a paler
breast than male.
Range — North America, from Nova Scotia. and Manitoba to Gulf of
Mexico. Southward in winter from Middle States to Bermuda and
West Indies.
Migrations — March. November. Summer resident. A few sometimes
remain throughout the winter.

With the first soft, plaintive warble of the bluebirds early in March, thesugar camps, waiting for their signal, take on a bustling activity; the farmerlooks to his plough; orders are hurried off to the seedsmen; a fever to be outof doors seizes one: spring is here. Snowstorms may yet whiten fields andgardens, high winds may howl about the trees and chimneys, but the little blueheralds persistently proclaim from the orchard and garden that the springprocession has begun to move.Tru-al-ly, tru-al-ly, they sweetly assert to ourincredulous ears.

The bluebird is not always a migrant, except in the more northern portions ofthe country. Some representatives there are always with us, but the greatmajority winter south and drop out of the spring procession on its waynorthward, the males a little ahead of their mates, which show housewifelyinstincts immediately after their arrival. A pair of these ratherundemonstrativematter-of-fact lovers go about looking for some deserted woodpecker's hole inthe orchard, peering into cavities in the fence-rails, or into the bird-housesthat, once set up in theold-fashioned gardens for their special benefit, are now appropriated toooften by the ubiquitous sparrow. Wrens they can readily dispossess of anattractive tenement, and do. With a temper as heavenly as the color of theirfeathers, the bluebird's sense of justice is not always so adorable. Butsparrows unnerve them into cowardice. The comparatively infrequent nesting ofthe bluebirds about our homes at the present time is one of the mostdeplorable results of unrestricted sparrow immigration. Formerly they were thecommonest of bird neighbors.

Nest-building is not a favorite occupation with the bluebirds, that areconspicuously domestic none the less. Two, and even three, broods in a seasonfully occupy their time. As in most cases, the mother-bird does more than hershare of the work. The male looks with wondering admiration at the housewifelyactivity, applauds her with song, feeds her as she sits brooding over thenestful of pale greenish-blue eggs, but his adoration of her virtues does notlead him into emulation.

"Shifting his light load of song,
From post to post along the cheerless fence,"

Lowell observed that he carried his duties quite as lightly.

When the young birds first emerge from the shell they are almost black; theycome into their splendid heritage of color by degrees, lest their young headsmight be turned. It is only as they spread their tiny wings for their firstflight from the nest that we can see a few blue feathers.

With the first cool days of autumn the bluebirds collect in flocks, oftenassociating with orioles and kingbirds in sheltered, sunny places whereinsects are still plentiful. Their steady, undulating flight now becomeserratic as they take food on the wing — a habit that they may have learned byassociation with the kingbirds, for they have also adopted the habit ofperching upon some conspicuous lookout and then suddenly launching out intothe air for a passing fly and returning to their perch. Long after theirassociates have gone southward, they linger like the last leaves on the tree.It is indeed "good-bye to summer" when the bluebirds withdraw their touch ofbrightness from the dreary November landscape.

The bluebirds from Canada and the northern portions of New England and NewYork migrate into Virginia and the Carolinas, the birds from the Middle Statesmove down into the Gulf States to pass the winter. It was there that countlessnumbers were cut off by the severe winter of 1894-95, which was so severe inthat section.

INDIGO BUNTING (Passerina cyanea) Finch family

Called also: INDIGO BIRD

Length — 5 to 6 inches. Smaller than the English sparrow, or the
size of a canary.
Male — In certain lights rich blue, deepest on head. In another
light the blue feathers show verdigris tints. Wings, tail, and
lower back with brownish wash, most prominent in autumn
plumage. Quills of wings and tail deep blue, margined with
light.
Female — Plain sienna-brown above. Yellowish on breast and
shading to white underneath, and indistinctly streaked. Wings
and tail darkest, sometimes with slight tinge of blue in outer
webs and on shoulders.
Range — North America, from Hudson Bay to Panama. Most common in
eastern part of United States. Winters in Central America and
Mexico.
Migrations — May. September. Summer resident.

The "glowing indigo" of this tropical-looking visitor that so delightedThoreau in the Walden woods, often seems only the more intense by comparisonwith the blue sky, against which it stands out in relief as the bird perchessinging in a tree-top. What has this gaily dressed, dapper little cavalier incommon with his dingy sparrow cousins that haunt the ground and delight indust-baths, leaving their feathers no whit more dingy than they were before,and in temper, as in plumage, suggesting more of earth than of heaven?Apparently he has nothing, and yet the small brown bird in the roadsidethicket, which you have misnamed a sparrow, not noticing the glint of blue inher shoulders and tail, is his mate. Besides the structural resemblances,which are, of course, the only ones considered by ornithologists inclassifying birds, the indigo buntings have several sparrowlike traits. Theyfeed upon the ground, mainly upon seeds of grasses and herbs, with a fewinsects interspersed to give relish to the grain; they build grassy nests inlow bushes or tall, rank grass; and their flight is short and labored. Bordersof woods, roadside thickets, and even garden shrubbery, with open pasture lotsfor foraging grounds near by, are favorite haunts of these birds, that returnagain and again to some preferred spot. But however close to our homes theybuild theirs, our presence never ceases to be regarded by them with anythingbut suspicion, not to say alarm. Their metallic cheep, cheep, warns you tokeep away from the little blue-white eggs, hidden away securely in the bushes;and the nervous tail twitchings and jerkings are pathetic to see. Happily forthe safety of their nest, the brooding mother has no tell-tale feathers toattract the eye. Dense foliage no more conceals the male bird's brilliant coatthan it can the tanager's or oriole's.

With no attempt at concealment, which he doubtless understands would be quiteimpossible, he chooses some high, conspicuous perch to which he mounts by easystages, singing as he goes; and there begins a loud and rapid strain thatpromises much, but growing weaker and weaker, ends as if the bird were eitherout of breath or too, weak to finish. Then suddenly he begins the same songover again, and keeps up this continuous performance for nearly half an hour.The noonday heat of an August day that silences nearly every other voice,seems to give to the indigo bird's only fresh animation and timbre.

THE BELTED KINGFISHER (Ceryle alcyon) Kingfisher family

Called also: THE HALCYON

Length — 12 to 13 inches. About one-fourth as large again as the
robin.
Male — Upper part grayish blue, with prominent crest on head
reaching to the nape. A white spot in front of the eye. Bill
longer than the head, which is large and heavy. Wings and the
short tail minutely speckled and marked with broken bands of
white. Chin, band around throat, and underneath white. Two
bluish bands across the breast and a bluish wash on sides.
Female — Female and immature specimens have rufous bands where
The adult male's are blue. Plumage of both birds oily.
Range — North America, except where the Texan kingfisher
replaces it in a limited area in the Southwest. Common from
Labrador to Florida, east and west. Winters chiefly from
Virginia southward to South America.
Migrations — March. December. Common summer resident. Usually a
winter resident also.

If the kingfisher is not so neighborly as we could wish, or as he used to be,it is not because he has grown less friendly, but because the streams near ourhomes are fished out. Fish he must and will have, and to get them nowadays itis too often necessary to follow the stream back through secluded woods to thequiet waters of its source: a clear, cool pond or lake whose scaly inmateshave not yet learned wisdom at the point of the sportsman's fly.

In such quiet haunts the kingfisher is easily the most conspicuous object insight, where he perches on some dead or projecting branch over the water,intently watching for a dinner that is all unsuspectingly swimming below.Suddenly the bird drops — dives; there is a splash, a struggle, and then the"lone fisherman" returns triumphant to his perch, holding a shining fish inhis beak. If the fish is small it is swallowed at once, but if it is large andbony it must first be killed against the branch. A few sharp knocks, and thestruggles of the fish are over, but the kingfisher's have only begun. How hegags and writhes, swallows his dinner, and then, regretting his haste, bringsit up again to try another wider avenue down his throat I The many abortiveefforts he makes to land his dinner safely below in his stomach, his grimcontortions as the fishbones scratch his throat-lining on their way down andup again, force a smile in spite of the bird's evident distress. It is smallwonder he supplements his fish diet with various kinds of the larger insects,shrimps, and fresh-water mollusks.

Flying well over the tree-tops or along the waterways. the kingfisher makesthe woodland echo with his noisy rattle, that breaks the stillness like awatchman's at midnight. It is, perhaps, the most familiar sound heard alongthe banks of the inland rivers. No love or cradle song does he know. Insteadof softening and growing sweet, as the voices of most birds do in the nestingseason, the endearments uttered by a pair of mated kingfishers are the moststrident, rattly shrieks ever heard by lovers it sounds as if they wereperpetually quarrelling, yet they are really particularly devoted.

The nest of these birds, like the bank swallow's, is excavated in the face ofa high bank, preferably one that rises from a stream; and at about six feetfrom the entrance of the tunnel six or eight clear, shining white eggs areplaced on a curious nest. All the fish bones and scales that, beingindigestible, are disgorged in pellets by the parents, are carefully carriedto the end of the tunnel to form a prickly cradle for the unhappy fledglings.Very rarely a nest is made in the hollow trunk of a tree; but wherever thehome is, the kingfishers become strongly attached to it, returning again andagain to the spot that has cost them so much labor to excavate. Some observershave accused them of appropriating the holes of the water-rats.

In ancient times of myths and fables, kingfishers or halcyons were said tobuild a floating nest on the sea, and to possess some mysterious power thatcalmed the troubled waves while the eggs were hatching and the young birdswere being reared, hence the term "halcyon days," meaning days of fairweather.

BLUE JAY (Cyanocitta cristata) Crow and Jay family

Length — 11 to 12 inches. A little larger than the robin.

Male and Female — Blue above. Black band around the neck,
joining some black feathers on the back. Under parts dusky
white. Wing coverts and tail bright blue, striped transversely
with black. Tail much rounded. Many feathers edged and tipped
with white. Head finely crested; bill, tongue, and legs black.
Range — Eastern coast of North America to the plains, and from
northern Canada to Florida and eastern Texas.
Migrations — Permanent resident. Although seen in flocks moving
southward or northward, they are merely seeking happier hunting
grounds, not migrating.

No bird of finer color or presence sojourns with us the year round than theblue jay. In a peculiar sense his is a case o. "beauty covering a multitude ofsins." Among close students of bird traits, we find none so poor as to do himreverence. Dishonest, cruel, inquisitive, murderous, voracious, villainous,are some of the epithets applied to this bird of exquisite plumage. Emerson,however, has said in his defence he does "more good than harm," alluding, nodoubt, to his habit of burying nuts and hard seeds in the ground, so that manya waste place is clothed with trees and shrubs, thanks to his propensity andindustry.

He is mischievous as a small boy, destructive as a monkey, deft at hiding as asquirrel. He is unsociable and unamiable, disliking the society of otherbirds. His harsh screams, shrieks, and most aggressive and unmusical callsseem often intended maliciously to drown the songs of the sweet-voicedsingers.

From April to September, the breeding and moulting season, the blue jays arealmost silent, only sallying forth from the woods to pillage and devour theyoung and eggs of their more peaceful neighbors. In a bulky nest, usuallyplaced in a tree-crotch high above our heads, from four to six eggs,olive-gray with brown spots, are laid and most carefully tended.

Notwithstanding the unlovely characteristics of the blue jay, we could illspare the flash of color, like a bit of blue sky dropped from above, which isso rare a tint even in our land, that we number not more than three or fourtrue blue birds, and in England, it is said, there is none.

BLUE GROSBEAK (Guiraca carulea) Finch family

Length — 7 inches. About an inch larger than the English
sparrow.
Male — Deep blue, dark, and almost black on the back; wings and
tail black, slightly edged with blue, and the former marked
with bright chestnut. Cheeks and chin black. Bill heavy and
bluish.
Female — Grayish brown above, sometimes with bluish tinge on
head, lower back, and shoulders. Wings dark olive-brown, with
faint buff markings; tail same shade as wings, but witb bluish
gray markings. Underneath brownish cream-color, the breast
feathers often blue at the base.
Range — United States, from southern New England westward to the
Rocky Mountains and southward into Mexico and beyon d.M ost
common in the Southwest. Rare along the Atlantic seaboard.
Migrations — May. September. Summer resident.

This beautiful but rather shy and solitary bird occasionally wanders eastwardto rival the bluebird and the indigo bunting in their rare and lovelycoloring, and eclipse them both in song. Audubon, we remember, found the nestin New Jersey. Pennsylvania is still favored with one now and then, but it isin the Southwest only that the blue grosbeak is as common as the eveninggrosbeak is in the Northwest. Since rice is its favorite food, it naturallyabounds where that cereal grows. Seeds and kernels of the hardest kinds, thatit* heavy, strong beak is well adapted to crack, constitute its diet when itstrays beyond the rice-fields.

Possibly the heavy bills of all the grosbeaks make them look stupid whetherthey are or not — a characteristic that the blue grosbeak's habit of sittingmotionless with a vacant stare many minutes at a time unfortunatelyemphasizes.

When seen in the roadside thickets or tall weeds, such as the field sparrowchooses to frequent, it shows little fear of man unless actually approachedand threatened, but whether this fearlessness comes from actual confidence orstupidity is by no means certain. Whatever the motive of its inactivity, itaccomplishes an end to be desired by the cleverest bird; its presence isalmost never suspected by the passer-by, and its grassy nest on a tree-branch,containing three or four pale bluish-white eggs, is never betrayed by look orsign to the marauding small boy.

BARN SWALLOW (Chelidon erythrogaster) Swallow family

Length — 6.5 to 7 inches. A trifle larger than the English
sparrow. Apparently considerably larger, because of its wide
wingspread.
Male — Glistening steel-blue shading to black above. Chin,
breast, and underneath bright chestnut-brown and brilliant buff
that glistens in the sunlight. A partial collar of steel-blue.
Tail very deeply forked and slender.
Female — Smaller and paler, with shorter outer tail feathers,
making the fork less prominent.
Range — Throughout North America. Winters in tropics of both
Americas.
Migrations — April. September. Summer resident.

Any one who attempts to describe the coloring of a bird's plumage knows howinadequate words are to convey a just idea of the delicacy, richness, andbrilliancy of the living tints. But, happily, the beautiful barn swallow istoo familiar to need description. Wheeling about our barns and houses,skimming over the fields, its bright sides flashing in the sunlight, playing"cross tag" with its friends at evening, when the insects, too, are on thewing, gyrating, darting, and gliding through the air, it is no more possibleto adequately describe the exquisite grace of a swallow's flight than theglistening buff of its breast.

This is a typical bird of the air, as an oriole is of the trees and a sparrowof the ground. Though the swallow may often be seen perching on a telegraphwire, suddenly it darts off as if it had received a shock of electricity, andwe see the bird in its true element.

While this swallow is peculiarly American, it is often confounded with its
European cousin Hirundo rustica in noted ornithologies.

Up in the rafters of the barn, or in the arch of an old bridge that spans astream, these swallows build their bracket-like nests of clay or mud pelletsintermixed with straw. Here the noisy little broods pick their way out of thewhite eggs curiously spotted with brown and lilac that were all too familiarin the marauding days of our childhood.

CLIFF SWALLOW (Petrochelidon lunifrons) Swallow family

Called also: EAVE SWALLOW; CRESCENT SWALLOW; ROCKY MOUNTAIN
SWALLOW

Length — 6 inches. A trifle smaller than the English sparrow.
Apparently considerably larger because of its wide wingspread.
Male and Female — Steel-blue above, shading to blue-black on
crown of head and on wings and tail. A brownish-gray ring
around the neck. Beneath dusty white, with rufous tint.
Crescent-like frontlet. Chin, throat, sides of head, and tail
coverts rufous.
Range — North and South America. Winters in the tropics.
Migrations — Early April. Late September. Summer resident.

Not quite so brilliantly colored as the barn swallow, nor with tail so deeplyforked, and consequently without so much grace in flying, and with a squeakrather than the really musical twitter of the gayer bird, the cliff swallowmay be positively identified by the rufous feathers of its tail coverts, butmore definitely by its crescent-shaped frontlet shining like a new moon; henceits specific Latin name from luna = moon, and frons = front.

Such great numbers of these swallows have been seen in the far West that thename of Rocky Mountain swallows is sometimes given to them; though howeverrare they may have been in 1824, when DeWitt Clinton thought he "discovered"them near Lake Champlain, they are now common enough in all parts of theUnited States.

In the West this swallow is wholly a cliff-dweller, but it has learned tomodify its home in different localities. As usually seen, it is gourd-shaped,opened at the top, built entirely of mud pellets ("bricks without straw"),softly lined with feathers and wisps of grass, and attached by the larger partto a projecting cliff or eave.

Like all the swallows, this bird lives in colonies, and the clay-colored nestsbeneath the eaves of barns are often so close together that a group of themresembles nothing so much as a gigantic wasp's nest. It is said that whenswallows pair they are mated for life; but, then, more is said about swallowsthan the most tireless bird-lover could substantiate. The tradition thatswallows fly low when it is going to rain may be easily credited, because theair before a storm is usually too heavy with moisture for the winged insects,upon which the swallows feed, to fly high.

MOURNING DOVE (Zenaidura macroura) Pigeon family

Called also: CAROLINA DOVE; TURTLE DOVE

Length — 12 to 13 inches. About one-half as large again as the
robin.
Male — Grayish brown or fawn-color above, varying to bluish
gray. Crown and upper part of head greenish blue, with green
and golden metallic reflections on sides of neck. A black spot
under each ear. Forehead and breast reddish buff; lighter
underneath. (General impression of color, bluish fawn.) Bill
black, with tumid, fleshy covering; feet red; two middle tail
feathers longest; all others banded with black and tipped with
ashy white. Wing coverts sparsely spotted with black. Flanks
and underneath the wings bluish.
Female — Duller and without iridescent reflections on neck.
Range — North America, from Quebec to Panama, and westward to
Arizona. Most common in temperate climate, east of Rocky
Mountains.
Migrations — March. November. Common summer resident not
Migratory south of Virginia.

The beautiful, soft-colored plumage of this incessant and rather melancholylove-maker is not on public exhibition. To see it we must trace the a-coo-o,coo-o, coo-oo, coo-o to its source in the thick foliage in some tree in anout-of-the-way corner of the farm, or to an evergreen near the edge of thewoods. The slow, plaintive notes, more like a dirge than a love-song,penetrate to a surprising distance. They may not always be the same lovers wehear from April to the end of summer, but surely the sound seems to indicatethat they are. The dove is a shy bird, attached to its gentle and refined matewith a devotion that has passed into a proverb, but caring little or nothingfor the society of other feathered friends, and very little for its own kind,unless after the nesting season has passed. In this respect it differs widelyfrom its cousins, the wild pigeons, flocks of which, numbering many millions,are recorded by Wilson and other early writers before the days when nettingthese birds became so fatally profitable.

What the dove finds to adore so ardently in the "shiftless housewife," as Mrs.Wright calls his lady-love, must pass the comprehension of the phoebe, thatconstructs such an exquisite home, or of a bustling, energetic Jenny wren,that "looketh well to the ways of her household and eateth not the bread ofidleness." She is a flabby, spineless bundle of flesh and pretty feathers,gentle and refined in manners, but slack and incompetent in all she does. Hernest consists of few loose sticks. without rim or lining; and when her twobabies emerge from the white eggs, that somehow do not fall through or rollout of the rickety lattice, their tender little naked bodies must suffer frommany bruises. We are almost inclined to blame the inconsiderate mother forallowing her offspring to enter the world unclothed — obviously not herfault, though she is capable of just such negligence. Fortunate are the babydoves when their lazy mother scatters her makeshift nest on top of one that arobin has deserted, as she frequently does. It is almost excusable to take heryoung birds and rear them in captivity, where they invariably thrive, mate,and live happily, unless death comes to one, when the other often refuses foodand grieves its life away.

In the wild state, when the nesting season approaches, both birds make curiousacrobatic flights above the tree-tops; then, after a short sail in midair,they return to their perch. This appears to be their only giddiness andfrivolity, unless a dust-bath in the country road might be considered adissipation.

In the autumn a few pairs of doves show slight gregarious tendencies, feedingamiably together in the grain fields and retiring to the same roost atsundown.

BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER (Polioptila coerulea) Gnatcatcher family

Called also: SYLVAN FLYCATCHER

Length — 4.5 inches. About two inches smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male — Grayish blue above, dull grayish white below. Grayish
tips on wings. Tail with white outer quills changing gradually
through black and white to all black on centre quills. Narrow
black band over the forehead and eyes. Resembles in manner and
form a miniature catbird.
Female — More grayish and less blue, and without the black on
head.
Range — United States to Canadian border on the north, the
Rockies on the west, and the Atlantic States, from Maine to
Florida most common in the Middle States. A rare bird north of
New Jersey. Winters in Mexico and beyond.
Migrations — May. September. Summer resident.

In thick woodlands, where a stream that lazily creeps through the mossy, oozyground attracts myriads of insects to its humid neighborhood, this tiny hunterloves to hide in the denser foliage of the upper branches. He has the habit ofnervously flitting about from twig to twig of his relatives, the kinglets, butunhappily he lacks their social, friendly instincts, and therefore is rarelyseen. Formerly classed among the warblers, then among the flycatchers, whilestill as much a lover of flies, gnats, and mosquitoes as ever, his vocalpowers have now won for him recognition among the singing birds. Some one haslikened his voice to the squeak of a mouse, and Nuttall says it is "scarcelylouder," which is all too true, for at a little distance it is quiteinaudible. But in addition to the mouse-like call-note, the tiny bird has arather feeble but exquisitely finished song, so faint it seems almost as itthe bird were singing in its sleep.

If by accident you enter the neighborhood of its nest, you soon find out thatthis timid, soft-voiced little creature can be roused to rashness and make itspresence disagreeable to ears and eyes alike as it angrily darts about yourunoffending head, pecking at your face and uttering its shrill squeak close toyour very ear-drums. All this excitement is in defence of a dainty,lichen-covered nest, whose presence you may not have even suspected before,and of four or five bluish-white, speckled eggs well beyond reach in thetree-tops.

During the migrations the bird seems not unwilling to show its delicate, trimlittle body, that has often been likened to a diminutive mocking-bird's, verynear the homes of men. Its graceful postures, its song and constant motion,are sure to attract attention. In Central Park, New York City, the bird is notunknown.

BROWN, OLIVE OR GRAYISH BROWN, AND BROWN AND GRAY SPARROWY BIRDS

House Wren Yellow-billed Cuckoo
Carolina Wren Bank Swallow and
Winter Wren Rough-winged Swallow
Long-billed Marsh Wren Cedar Bird
Short-billed Marsh Wren Brown Creeper
Brown Thrasher Pine Siskin
Wilson's Thrush or Veery Smith's Painted Longspur
Wood Thrush Lapland Longspur
Hermit Thrush Chipping Sparrow
Alice's Thrush English Sparrow
Olive-backed Thrush Field Sparrow
Louisiana Water Thrush Fox Sparrow
Northern Water Thrush Grasshopper Sparrow
Flicker Savannah Sparrow
Meadowlark and Western Seaside Sparrow
Meadowlark Sharp-tailed Sparrow
Horned Lark and Prairie Song Sparrow
Horned Lark Swamp Song Sparrow
Pipit or Titlark Tree Sparrow
Whippoorwill Vesper Sparrow
Nighthawk White-crowned Sparrow
Black-billed Cuckoo White-throated Sparrow

See also winter plumage of the Bobolink, Goldfinch, and Myrtle Warbler. See
females of Red-winged Blackbird, Rusty Blackbird, the Grackles, Bobolink,
Cowbird, the Redpolls, Purple Finch, Chewink, Bluebird, Indigo Bunting,
Baltimore Oriole, Cardinal, and of the Evening, the Blue, and the
Rose-breasted Grosbeaks. See also Purple Finch, the Redpolls, Mourning Dove,
Mocking-bird, Robin.

BROWN, OLIVE OR GRAYISH BROWN, AND BROWN AND GRAY SPARROWY BIRDS

HOUSE WREN (Troglodytes aedon) Wren family

Length — 4.5 to 5 inches. Actually about one-fourth smaller than
the English sparrow; apparently only half as large because of
its erect tail.
Male and Female — Upper parts cinnamon-brown. Deepest shade on
head and neck; lightest above tail, which is more rufous. Back
has obscure, dusky bars; wings and tail are finely barred.
Underneath whitish, with grayish-brown wash and faint bands
Most prominent on sides.
Range — North America, from Manitoba to the Gulf. Most common in
the United States, from the Mississippi eastward. Winters south
of the Carolinas.
Migrations — April October. Common summer resident.

Early some morning in April there will go off under your window that mostdelightful of all alarm-clocks — the tiny, friendly house wren, just returnedfrom a long visit south. Like some little mountain spring that, having beenimprisoned by winter ice, now bubbles up in the spring sunshine, and goesrippling along over the pebbles, tumbling over itself in merry cascades, sothis little wren's song bubbles, ripples, cascades in a miniature torrent ofecstasy.

Year after year these birds return to the same nesting places: a box set upagainst the house, a crevice in the barn, a niche under the eaves; but oncehome, always home to them. The nest is kept scrupulously clean; thehouse-cleaning, like the house-building and renovating, being accompanied bythe cheeriest of songs, that makes the bird fairly tremble by its intensity.But however angelic the voice of the house wren, its temper can put to flighteven the English sparrow. Need description go further.

Six to eight minutely speckled, flesh-colored eggs suffice to keep thenervous, irritable parents in a state bordering on frenzy whenever anotherbird comes near their habitation. With tail erect and head alert, the fathermounts on guard, singing a perfect ecstasy of love to his silent little mate,that sits upon the nest if no danger threatens; but both rush with passionatemalice upon the first intruder, for it must be admitted that Jenny wren is asad shrew.

While the little family is being reared, or, indeed, at any time, no one iswise enough to estimate the millions of tiny insects from the garden that findtheir way into the tireless bills of these wrens.

It is often said that the house wren remains at the north all the year, which,though not a fact, is easily accounted for by the coming of the winter wrensjust as the others migrate in the autumn, and by their return to Canada whenJenny wren makes up her feather-bed under the eaves in the spring.

CAROLINA WREN (Thryothorus ludovicianus) Wren family

Called also: MOCKING WREN

Length — 6 inches. Just a trifle smaller than the English
sparrow
Male and Female — Chestnut-brown above. A whitish streak,
beginning at base of bill, passes through the eye to the nape
of the neck. Throat whitish. Under parts light buff-brown Wings
and tail finely barred with dark.
Range — United States, from Gulf to northern Illinois and
Southern New England.
Migrations — A common resident except at northern boundary of
range, where it is a summer visitor.

This largest of the wrens appears to be the embodiment of the entire familycharacteristics: it is exceedingly active, nervous, and easily excited,quick-tempered, full of curiosity, peeping into every hole and corner itpasses, short of flight as it is of wing, inseparable from its mate tillparted by death, and a gushing lyrical songster that only death itself cansilence. It also has the wren-like preference for a nest that is roofed over,but not too near the homes of men.

Undergrowths near water, brush heaps, rocky bits of woodland, are favoriteresorts. The Carolina wren decidedly objects to being stared at, and likes todart out of sight in the midst of the underbrush in a twinkling while theopera-glasses are being focussed. To let off some of his superfluousvivacity, Nature has provided him with two safety-valves: one is his voice,another is his tail. With the latter he gesticulates in a manner so expressivethat it seems to be a certain index to what is passing in his busy littlebrain — drooping it, after the habit of the catbird, when he becomes limpwith the emotion of his love-song, or holding it erect as, alert andinquisitive, he peers at the impudent intruder in the thicket below his perch.

But it is his joyous, melodious, bubbling song that is his chief fascination.He has so great a variety of strains that many people have thought that helearned them from other birds, and so have called him what many ornithologistsdeclare that he is not — a mocking wren. And he is one of the few birds thatsing at night — not in his sleep or only by moonlight, but even in the totaldarkness, just before dawn, he gives us the same wide-awake song thatentrances us by day.

WINTER WREN (Troglodytes biemalis) Wren family

Length — 4 to 4.5 inches. About one-third smaller than the
English sparrow. Apparently only half the size.
Male and Female — Cinnamon-brown above, with numerous short,
dusky bars. Head and neck without markings. Underneath rusty,
dimly and finely barred with dark brown. Tail short.
Range — United States, east and west, and from North Carolina to
the Fur Countries
Migrations — October, April. Summer resident. Commonly a winter
resident in the South and Middle States only.

It all too rarely happens that we see this tiny mouse-like wren in summer,unless we come upon him suddenly and overtake him unawares as he creeps shylyover the mossy logs or runs literally "like a flash" under the fern andthrough the tangled underbrush of the deep, cool woods. His presence there isfar more likely to be detected by the ear than the eye.

Throughout the nesting season music fairly pours from his tiny throat; itbubbles up like champagne; it gushes forth in a lyrical torrent and overflowsinto every nook of the forest, that seems entirely pervaded by his song. Whilemusic is everywhere, it apparently comes from no particular point, and, searchas you may, the tiny singer still eludes, exasperates, and yet entrances.

If by accident you discover him balancing on a swaying twig, never far fromthe ground, with his comical little tail erect, or more likely pointingtowards his head, what a pert, saucy minstrel he is! You are lost in amazementthat so much music could come from a throat so tiny.

Comparatively few of his admirers, however, hear the exquisite notes of thislittle brown wood-sprite, for after the nesting season is over he finds littleto call them forth during the bleak, snowy winter months, when in the Middleand Southern States he may properly be called a neighbor. Sharp hunger, ratherthan natural boldness, drives him near the homes of men, where he appears justas the house wren departs for the South. With a forced confidence in man thatis almost pathetic in a bird that loves the forest as he does, he picks upwhatever lies about the house or barn in the shape of food-crumbs from thekitchen door, a morsel from the dog's plate, a little seed in the barn-yard,happily rewarded if he can find a spider lurking in some sheltered place togive a flavor to the unrelished grain. Now he becomes almost tame, but we feelit is only because he must be.

The spot that decided preference leads him to, either winter or summer, isbeside a bubbling spring. In the moss that grows near it the nest is placed inearly summer, nearly always roofed over and entered from the side, in truewren-fashion; and as the young fledglings emerge from the creamy-white eggs,almost the first lesson they receive from their devoted little parents is inthe fine art of bathing. Even in winter weather, when the wren has to stand ona rim of ice, he will duck and splash his diminutive body. It is recorded of acertain little individual that he was wont to dive through the icy water on aDecember day. Evidently the wrens, as a family, are not far removed in theevolutionary scale from true water-birds.

LONG-BILLED MARSH WREN (Cistothorus palustris) Wren family

[Called also: MARSH WREN, AOU 1998]

Length — 4.5 to 5.2 inches. Actually a little smaller than the
English sparrow. Apparently half the size.
Male and Female — Brown above, with white line over the eye, and
the back irregularly and faintly streaked with white. Wings and
tail barred with darker cinnamon-brown. Underneath white. Sides
dusky. Tail long and often carried erect. Bill extra long and
slender.
Range — United States and southern British America.
Migrations — May. September. Summer resident.

Sometimes when you are gathering cat-tails in the river marshes an alert,nervous little brown bird rises startled from the rushes and tries to eludeyou as with short, jerky flight it goes deeper and deeper into the marsh,where even the rubber boot may not follow. It closely resembles two otherbirds found in such a place, the swamp sparrow and the short-billed marshwren; but you may know by its long, slender bill that it is not the latter,and by the absence of a bright bay crown that it is not the shyest of thesparrows.

These marsh wrens appear to be especially partial to running water; theirhomes are not very far from brooks and rivers, preferably those that areaffected in their rise and flow by the tides. They build in colonies, andmight be called inveterate singers, for no single bird is often permitted tofinish his bubbling song without half the colony joining in a chorus.

Still another characteristic of this particularly interesting bird is itsunique architectural effects produced with coarse grasses woven into globularform and suspended in the reeds. Sometimes adapting its nest to the buildingmaterial at hand, it weaves it of grasses and twigs, and suspends it from thelimb of a bush or tree overhanging the water, where it swings like anoriole's. The entrance to the nest is invariably on the side.

More devoted homebodies than these little wrens are not among the featheredtribe. Once let the hand of man desecrate their nest, even before the tinyspeckled eggs are deposited in it, and off go the birds to a more inaccessibleplace, where they can enjoy their home unmolested. Thus three or four nestsmay be made in a summer.

SHORT-BILLED MARSH WREN (Cistothorus stellaris) Wren family

[Called also: SEDGE WREN, AOU 1998]

Length — 4 to 5 inches. Actually about one-third smaller than
the English sparrow, but apparently only half its size.
Male and Female — Brown above, faintly streaked with white,
black, and buff. Wings and tail barred with same. Underneath
white, with buff and rusty tinges on throat and breast. Short
bill.
Range — North America, from Manitoba southward in winter to Gulf
of Mexico. Most common in north temperate latitudes.
Migrations — Early May. Late September.

Where red-winged blackbirds like to congregate in oozy pastures or near boggywoods, the little short-billed wren may more often be heard than seen, for heis more shy, if possible, than his long-billed cousin, and will dive down intothe sedges at your approach, very much as a duck disappears under water. Butif you see him at all, it is usually while swaying to and fro as he clings tosome tall stalk of grass, keeping his balance by the nervous, jerky tailmotions characteristic of all the wrens, and singing with all his might.Oftentimes his tail reaches backward almost to his head in a most exaggeratedwren-fashion.

Samuels explains the peculiar habit both the long-billed and the short-billedmarsh wrens have of building several nests in one season, by the theory thatthey are made to protect the sitting female, for it is noticed that the malebird always lures a visitor to an empty nest, and if this does not satisfy hiscuriosity, to another one, to prove conclusively that he has no family inprospect.

Wild rice is an ideal nesting place for a colony of these little marsh wrens.The home is made of sedge grasses, softly lined with the softer meadow grassor plant-down, and placed in a tussock of tall grass, or even upon the ground.The entrance is on the side. But while fond of moist places, both for a homeand feeding ground, it will be noticed that these wrens have no specialfondness for running water, so dear to their long-billed relatives. Anotherdistinction is that the eggs of this species, instead of being so denselyspeckled as to look brown, are pure white.

BROWN THRASHER (Harporhynchus rufus) Thrasher and Mocking-bird
family

Called also: BROWN THRUSH; GROUND THRUSH; RED THRUSH; BROWN
MOCKING-BIRD; FRENCH MOCKING-BIRD; MAVIS

Length — 11 to 11.5 inches. Fully an inch longer than the robin.
Male — Rusty red-brown or rufous above; darkest on wings, which
have two short whitish bands. Underneath white, heavily
streaked (except on throat) with dark-brown, arrow-shaped
spots. Tail very long. Yellow eyes. Bill long and curved at
tip.
Female — Paler than male.
Range — United States to Rockies. Nests from Gulf States to
Manitoba and Montreal. Winters south of Virginia.
Migrations — Late April. October. Common summer resident

"There's a merry brown thrush sitting up in a tree;
He is singing to me! He is singing to me!
And what does he say, little girl, little boy?
'Oh, the world's running over with joy!'"

The hackneyed poem beginning with this stanza that delighted our nursery days,has left in our minds a fairly correct impression of the bird. He still provesto be one of the perennially joyous singers, like a true cousin of the wrens,and when we study him afield, he appears to give his whole attention to hissong with a self-consciousness that is rather amusing than the reverse. "Whatmusician wouldn't be conscious of his own powers," he seems to challenge us,"if he possessed such a gift?" Seated on a conspicuous perch, as if invitingattention to his performance, with uplifted head and drooping tail he repeatsthe one exultant, dashing air to which his repertoire is limited, withoutwaiting for an encore. Much practice has given the notes a brilliancy ofexecution to be compared only with the mockingbird's; but in spite of the name"ferruginous mocking-bird" that Audubon gave him, he does not seem to have thefaculty of imitating other birds' songs. Thoreau says the Massachusettsfarmers, when planting their seed, always think they hear the thrasher say,"Drop it, drop it — cover it up, cover it up — pull it up, pull it up, pullit up."

One of the shatterings of childish impressions that age too often brings iswhen we learn by the books that our "merry brown thrush" is no thrush at all,but a thrasher — first cousin to the wrens, in spite of his speckled breast,large size, and certain thrush-like instincts, such as never singing near thenest and shunning mankind in the nesting season, to mention only two.Certainly his bold, swinging flight and habit of hopping and running over theground would seem to indicate that he is not very far removed from the truethrushes. But he has one undeniable wren-like trait, that of twitching,wagging, and thrashing his long tail about to help express his emotions. Itswings like a pendulum as he rests on a branch, and thrashes about in a mostludicrous way as he is feeding on the ground upon the worms, insects, andfruit that constitute his diet.

Before the fatal multiplication of cats, and in unfrequented, sandy locationsstill, the thrasher builds her nest upon the ground, thus earning the name"ground thrush" that is often given her; but with dearly paid-for wisdom shenow most frequently selecting a low shrub or tree to cradle the two broodsthat all too early in the summer effectually silence the father's delightfulsong.

WILSON'S THRUSH (Turdus fuscescens) Thrush family

Called also: VEERY {AOU 1998]; TAWNY THRUSH

Length — 7 to 7.5 inches. About one-fourth smaller than the
robin.
Male and Female — Uniform olive-brown, with a tawny cast above.
Centre of the throat white, with cream-buff on sides of throat
and upper part of breast, which is lightly spotted with
wedge-shaped, brown points. Underneath white, or with a faint
grayish tinge.
Range — United States, westward to plains.
Migrations — May. October. Summer resident.

To many of us the veery, as they call the Wilson's thrush in New England, ismerely a voice, a sylvan mystery, reflecting the sweetness and wildness of theforest, a vocal "will-o'-the-wisp" that, after enticing us deeper and deeperinto the woods, where we sink into the spongy moss of its damp retreats andbecome entangled in the wild grape-vines twined about the saplings andunderbrush, still sings to us from unapproachable tangles. Plainly, if we wantto see the bird, we must let it seek us out on the fallen log where we havesunk exhausted in the chase.

Presently a brown bird scuds through the fern. It is a thrush, you guess in aminute, from its slender, graceful body. At first you notice no speckles onits breast, but as it comes nearer, obscure arrow-heads are visible — notheavy, heart-shaped spots such as plentifully speckle the larger wood thrushor the smaller hermit. It is the smallest of the three commoner thrushes, andit lacks the ring about the eye that both the others have. Shy and elusive, itslips away again in a most unfriendly fashion, and is lost in the wet tanglebefore you have become acquainted. You determine, however, before you leavethe log, to cultivate the acquaintance of this bird the next spring, when,before it mates and retreats to the forest, it comes boldly into the gardensand scratches about in the dry leaves on the ground for the lurking insectsbeneath. Miss Florence Merriam tells of having drawn a number of veeries abouther by imitating their call-note, which is a whistled wheew, whoit, very easyto counterfeit when once heard. "Taweel-ah, taweel-ah, twil-ah, twil-ah!"Professor Ridgeway interprets their song, that descends in a succession oftrills without break or pause; but no words can possibly convey an idea of thequality of the music. The veery, that never claims an audience, sings at nightalso, and its weird, sweet strains floating through the woods at dusk, thrillone like the mysterious voice of a disembodied spirit.

Whittier mentions the veery in "The Playmate":

"And here in spring the veeries sing
The song of long ago."

WOOD THRUSH (Turdus mustelinus) Thrush family

Called also: SONG THRUSH; WOOD ROBIN; BELLBIRD

Length — 8 to 8.3 inches. About two inches shorter than the
robin.
Male and Female — Brown above, reddish on head and shoulders,
shading into olive-brown on tail. Throat, breast, and
underneath white, plain in the middle, but heavily marked on
sides and breast with heart-shaped spots of very dark brown.
Whitish eye-ring.
Migrations — Late April or early May. October. Summer resident.

When Nuttall wrote of "this solitary and retiring songster," before thecountry was as thickly settled as it is to-day, it possibly had not developedthe confidence in men that now distinguishes the wood thrush from its shycongeners that are distinctly wood birds, which it can no longer strictly besaid to be. In city parks and country places, where plenty of trees shade thevillage streets and lawns, it comes near you, half hopping, half running, withdignified unconsciousness and even familiarity, all the more delightful in abird whose family instincts should take it into secluded woodlands with theirshady dells. Perhaps, in its heart of hearts, it still prefers such retreats.Many conservative wood thrushes keep to their wild haunts, and it must beowned not a few liberals, that discard family traditions at other times, seekthe forest at nesting time. But social as the wood thrush is and abundant,too, it is also eminently high-bred; and when contrasted with its tawnycousin, the veery, that skulks away to hide in the nearest bushes as youapproach, or with the hermit thrush, that pours out its heavenly song in thesolitude of the forest, how gracious and full of gentle confidence it seems!Every gesture is graceful and elegant; even a wriggling beetle is eaten asdaintily as caviare at the king's table. It is only when its confidence in youis abused, and you pass too near the nest, that might easily be mistaken for arobin's, just above your head in a sapling, that the wood thrush so farforgets itself as to become excited. Pit, pit, pit, sharply reiterated, iscalled out at you with a strident quality in the tone that is painful evidenceof the fearful anxiety your presence gives this gentle bird.

Too many guardians of nests, whether out of excessive happiness or excessivestupidity, have a dangerous habit of singing very near them. Not so the woodthrush. "Come to me," as the opening notes of its flute-like song have beenfreely translated, invites the intruder far away from where the blue eggs liecradled in ambush. is as good a rendering into syllables of the luscious songas could very well be made. Pure, liquid, rich, and luscious, it rings outfrom the trees on the summer air and penetrates our home like"Uoli-a-e-o-li-noli-nol-aeolee-lee! strait of music from a stringed quartette.

HERMIT THRUSH (Turdus aonalaschkae pallasii) Thrush family

Called also: SWAMP ANGEL; LITTLE THRUSH

Length — 7.25 to 7.5 inches. About one-fourth smaller than the
robin.
Male and Female — Upper parts olive-brown, reddening near the
tail, which is pale rufous, quite distinct from the color of
the back. Throat, sides of neck, and breast pale buff. Feathers
of throat and neck finished with dark arrow-points at tip;
feathers of the breast have larger rounded spots. Sides
brownish gray. Underneath white. A yellow ring around the eye.
Smallest of the thrushes.
Range — Eastern parts of North America. Most common in the
United States to the plains. Winters from southern Illinois and
New Jersey to Gulf.
Migrations — April. November. Summer resident.

The first thrush to come and the last to go, nevertheless the hermit is littleseen throughout its long visit north. It may loiter awhile in the shrubbyroadsides, in the garden or the parks in the spring before it begins theserious business of life in a nest of moss, coarse grass, and pine-needlesplaced on the ground in the depths of the forest, but by the middle of May itspresence in the neighborhood of our homes becomes only a memory. Although onenever hears it at its best during the migrations, how one loves to recall theserene, ethereal evening hymn! "The finest sound in Nature," John Burroughscalls it. "It is not a proud, gorgeous strain like the tanager's or thegrosbeak's," he says; "it suggests no passion or emotion — nothing personal,but seems to be the voice of that calm, sweet solemnity one attains to in hisbest moments. It realizes a peace and a deep, solemn joy that only the finestsouls may know."

Beyond the question of even the hypercritical, the hermit thrush has a moreexquisitely beautiful voice than any other American bird, and only thenightingale's of Europe can be compared with it. It is the one theme thatexhausts all the ornithologists' musical adjectives in a vain attempt toconvey in words any idea of it to one who has never heard it, for the qualityof the song is as elusive as the bird itself. But why should the poets be sosilent? Why has it not called forth such verse as the English poets havelavished upon the nightingale? Undoubtedly because it lifts up its heavenlyvoice in the solitude of the forest. whereas the nightingales, singing in loudchoruses in the moonlight under the poet's very window, cannot but impress hiswaking thoughts and even his dreams with their melody.

Since the severe storm and cold in the Gulf States a few winters ago, wherevast numbers of hermit thrushes died from cold and starvation, this bird hasbeen very rare in haunts where it used to be abundant. The other thrushesescaped because they spend the winter farther south.

ALICE'S THRUSH (Turdus alicia) Thrush family

Called also: GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH; [now separated into two
species: the more mid-western GRAY-CHEEKED THRUSH and the New
England and Adirondack BICKNELL'S THRUSH, AOU 1998]

Length — 7.5 to 8 inches. About the size of the bluebird.
Male and Female — Upper parts uniform olive-brown. Eye-ring
whitish. Cheeks gray; sides dull grayish white. Sides of the
throat and breast pale cream-buff, speckled with arrow-shaped
points on throat and with half-round dark-brown marks below.
Range — North America, from Labrador and Alaska to Central
America.
Migrations — Late April or May. October. Chiefly seen in
migrations, except at northern parts of its range.

One looks for a prettier bird than this least attractive of all the thrushesin one that bears such a suggestive name. Like the olive-backed thrush, fromwhich it is almost impossible to tell it when both are alive and hopping aboutthe shrubbery, its plumage above is a dull olive-brown that is more protectivethan pleasing.

Just as Wilson hopelessly confused the olive-backed thrush with the hermit, sohas Alice's thrush been confounded by later writers with the olive-backed,from which it differs chiefly in being a trifle larger, in having gray cheeksinstead of buff, and in possessing a few faint streaks on the throat. Where itgoes to make a home for its greenish-blue speckled eggs in some low bush atthe northern end of its range, it bursts into song, but except in the nestinggrounds its voice is never heard. Mr. Bradford Torrey, who heard it singing inthe White Mountains, describes the song as like the thrush's in quality, butdifferently accented: "Wee-o-wee-o-tit-ti-wee-o!"

In New England and New York this thrush is most often seen during its autumnmigrations. As it starts up and perches upon a low branch before you, itappears to have longer legs and a broader, squarer tail than its congeners.

OLIVE-BACKED THRUSH (Turdus ustulatus swainsonii) Thrush family

Called also: SWAINSON'S THRUSH [AOU 1998]

Length — 7 to 7.50 inches. About one-fourth smaller than the
robin.
Male and Female — Upper parts olive-brown. Whole throat and
breast yellow-buff, shading to ashy on sides and to white
underneath. Buff ring around eye. Dark streaks on sides of
throat (none on centre), and larger, more spot-like marks on
breast.
Range — North America to Rockies; a few stragglers on Pacific
slope. Northward to arctic countries.
Migrations — April. October. Summer resident in Canada. Chiefly
a migrant in United States.

Mr. Parkhurst tells of finding this "the commonest bird in the Park (CentralPark, New York), not even excepting the robin," during the last week of May ona certain year; but usually, it must be owned, we have to be on the lookout tofind it, or it will pass unnoticed in the great companies of more conspicuousbirds travelling at the same time. White-throated sparrows often keep itcompany on the long journeys northward, and they may frequently be seentogether, hopping sociably about the garden, the thrush calling out a ratherharsh note — puk! puk! — quite different from the liquid, mellow calls ofthe other thrushes, to resent either the sparrows' bad manners or theinquisitiveness of a human disturber of its peace. But this gregarious habitand neighborly visit end even before acquaintance fairly begins, and thethrushes are off for their nesting grounds in the pine woods of New England orLabrador if they are travelling up the east coast, or to Alaska, BritishColumbia, or Manitoba if west of the Mississippi. There they stay all summer,often travelling southward with the sparrows in the autumn, as in the spring.

Why they should prefer coniferous trees, unless to utilize the needles for anest, is not understood. Low trees and bushes are favorite building sites withthem as with others of the family, though these thrushes disdain a mud liningto their nests. Those who have heard the olive-backed thrush singing aneven-song to its brooding mate compare it with the veery's, but it has a breakin it and is less simple and pleasing than the latter's.

LOUISIANA WATER THRUSH (Seiurus motacilla) Wood Warbler family

Length — 6 to 6.28 inches. Just a trifle smaller than the
English sparrow.
Male and Female — Grayish olive-brown upper parts, with
conspicuous white line over the eye and reaching almost to the
nape. Underneath white, tinged with pale buff. Throat and line
through the middle, plain. Other parts streaked with very dark
brown, rather faintly on the breast, giving them the speckled
breast of the thrushes. Heavy, dark bill.
Range — United States, westward to the plains; northward to
southern New England. Winters in the tropics.
Migrations — Late April. October. Summer resident.

This bird, that so delighted Audubon with its high-trilled song as he trampedwith indefatigable zeal through the hammocks of the Gulf States, seems to bealmost the counterpart of the Northern water thrush, just as the loggerhead isthe Southern counterpart of the Northern shrike. Very many Eastern birds havetheir duplicates in Western species, as we all know, and it is mostinteresting to trace the slight external variations that different climatesand diet have produced on the same bird, and thus differentiated the species.In winter the Northern water thrush visits the cradle of its kind, the swampsof Louisiana and Florida, and, no doubt, by daily contact with its congenersthere, keeps close to their cherished traditions, from which it never deviatesfarther than Nature compels, though it penetrate to the arctic regions duringits summer journeys.

With a more southerly range, the Louisiana water thrush does not venturebeyond the White Mountains and to the shores of the Great Lakes in summer, buteven at the North the same woods often contain both birds, and there isopportunity to note just how much they differ. The Southern bird is slightlythe larger, possibly an inch; it is more gray, and it lacks a few of thestreaks, notably on the throat, that plentifully speckle its Northerncounterpart; but the habits of both of these birds appear to be identical.Only for a few days in the spring or autumn migrations do they pass nearenough to our homes for us to study them, and then we must ever be on thealert to steal a glance at them through the opera-glasses, for birds more shythan they do not visit the garden shrubbery at any season. Only let themsuspect they are being stared at, and they are under cover in a twinkling.

Where mountain streams dash through tracts of mossy, spongy ground that iscarpeted with fern and moss, and overgrown with impenetrable thickets ofunderbrush and tangles of creepers — such a place is the favorite resort ofboth the water thrushes. With a rubber boot missing, clothes torn, and temperby no means unruffled, you finally stand over the Louisiana thrush's nest inthe roots of an upturned tree immediately over the water, or else in a mossyroot-belaced bank above a purling stream. A liquid-trilled warble, wild andsweet, breaks the stillness, and, like Audubon, you feel amply rewarded foryour pains though you may not be prepared to agree with him in thinking thesong the equal of the European nightingale's.

NORTHERN WATER THRUSH (Seiurus noveboracensis) Wood Warblerfamily

Called also: NEW YORK WATER THRUSH; AQUATIC WOOD WAGTAIL; AQUATIC
THRUSH

Length — 5 to 6 inches. A trifle smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — Uniform olive or grayish brown above. Pale
buff line over the eye. Underneath, white tinged with sulphur
yellow, and streaked like a thrush with very dark brown arrow
headed or oblong spots that are also seen underneath wings.
Range — United States, westward to Rockies and northward through
British provinces. Winters from Gulf States southward.
Migrations — Late April. October. Summer resident.

According to the books we have before us, a warbler; but who, to look at hisspeckled throat and breast, would ever take him for anything but a diminutivethrush; or, studying him from some distance through the opera-glasses as heruns in and out of the little waves along the brook or river shore, would notname him a baby sandpiper? The rather unsteady motion of his legs, balancingof the tail, and sudden jerking of the head suggest an aquatic bird ratherthan a bird of the woods. But to really know either man or beast, you mustfollow him to his home, and if you have pluck enough to brave the swamp andthe almost impenetrable tangle of undergrowth where the water thrush choosesto nest, there "In the swamp in secluded recesses, a shy and hidden bird iswarbling a song;" and this warbled song that Walt Whitman so adored gives youyour first clue to the proper classification of the bird. It has nothing incommon with the serene, hymn-like voices of the true thrushes; the bird has noflute-like notes, but an emphatic smacking or chucking kind of warble. For afew days only is this song heard about the gardens and roadsides of ourcountry places. Like the Louisiana water thrush, this bird never ventures nearthe homes of men after the spring and autumn migrations, but, on the contrary,goes as far away from them as possible, preferably to some mountain region,beside a cool and dashing brook, where a party of adventurous young climbersfrom a summer hotel or the lonely trout fisherman may startle it from itsmossy nest on the ground.

FLICKER (Colaptes auratus) Woodpecker family

Called also: GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER; CLAPE; PIGEON WOODPECKER;
YELLOWHAMMER; HIGH HOLE OR HIGH-HOLDER; YARUP; WAKE-UP;
YELLOW-SHAFTED WOODPECKER

Length — 12 to 13 inches. About one-fourth as large again as the
robin.
Male and Female — Head and neck bluish gray, with a red crescent
across back of neck and a black crescent on breast. Male has
black cheek-patches, that are wanting in female. Golden brown
shading into brownish-gray, and barred with black above.
Underneath whitish, tinged with light chocolate and thickly
spotted with black. Wing linings, shafts of wing, and tail
quills bright yellow. Above tail white, conspicuous when the
bird flies.
Range — United States, east of Rockies; Alaska and British
America, south of Hudson Bay. Occasional on Pacific slope.
Migrations — Most commonly seen from April to October. Usually
Resident.

If we were to follow the list of thirty-six aliases by which this largest andcommonest of our woodpeckers is known throughout its wide range, we shouldfind all its peculiarities of color, flight, noises, and habits indicated inits popular names. It cannot but attract attention wherever seen, with itsbeautiful plumage, conspicuously yellow if its outstretched wings are lookedat from below, conspicuously brown and white if seen upon the ground. At adistance it suggests the meadowlark. Both birds wear black, crescent breastdecorations, and the flicker also has the habit of feeding upon the ground,especially in autumn, a characteristic not shared by its relations.

Early in the spring this bird of many names and many voices makes itself knownby a long, strong, sonorous call, a sort of proclamation that differs from itssong proper, which Audubon. calls "a prolonged jovial laugh" (described byMrs. Wright as "Wick, wick, wick, wick!") and differs also from its rapidlyrepeated, mellow, and most musical cub, cub, cub, cub, cub, uttered during thenesting season.

Its nasal kee-yer, vigorously called out in the autumn, is lesscharacteristic, however, than the sound it makes while associating with itsfellows on the feeding ground — a sound that Mr. Frank M. Chapman says can beclosely imitated by the swishing of a willow wand.

A very ardent and ridiculous-looking lover is this bird, as, with tail stifflyspread, he sidles up to his desired mate and bows and bobs before her, thenretreats and advances, bowing and bobbing again, very often with a rival loverbeside him (whom he generously tolerates) trying to outdo him in grace andgeneral attractiveness. Not the least of the bird's qualities that mustcommend themselves to the bride is his unfailing good nature, genial alike inthe home and in the field.

The "high-holders" have the peculiar and silly habit of boring out a number ofsuperfluous holes for nests high up in the trees, in buildings, or hollowwooden columns, only one of which they intend to use. Six white eggs is theproper number for a household, but Dr. Coues says the female that has beenrobbed keeps on laying three or even four sets of eggs without interruption.

MEADOWLARK (Sturnella magna) Blackbird family

Called also: FIELD LARK; OLDFIELD LARK; [EASTERN MEADOWLARK, AOU
1998]

Length — 10 to 11 inches. A trifle larger than the robin.
Male — Upper parts brown, varied with chestnut, deep brown, and
black. Crown streaked with brown and black, and with a
cream-colored streak through the centre. Dark-brown line
apparently running through the eye; another line over eye,
yellow. Throat and chin yellow; a large conspicuous black
crescent on breast. Underneath yellow, shading into buffy
brown, spotted or streaked with very dark brown, Outer tail
feathers chiefly white, conspicuous in flight. Long, strong
legs and claws, adapted for walking. Less black in winter
plumage, which is more grayish brown.
Female — Paler than male.
Range — North America, from Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mexico,
and westward to the plains, where the Western meadowlark takes
its place. Winters from Massachusetts and Illinois southward.
Migrations — April. Late October. Usually a resident, a few
remaining through the winter.

In the same meadows with the red-winged blackbirds, birds of another feather,but of the same family, nevertheless, may be found flocking together, huntingfor worms and larvae, building their nests, and rearing their young very neareach other with the truly social instinct of all their kin.

The meadowlarks, which are really not larks at all, but the blackbirds' andorioles' cousins, are so protected by the coloring of the feathers on theirbacks, like that of the grass and stubble they live among, that ten blackbirdsare noticed for every meadowlark although the latter is very common. Not untilyou flush a flock of them as you walk along the roadside or through themeadows and you note the white tail feathers and the black crescents on theyellow breasts of the large brown birds that rise towards the tree-tops withwhirring sound and a flight suggesting the quail's, do you suspect there areany birds among the tall grasses.

Their clear and piercing whistle, "Spring o' the y-e-a-r, Spring o' the year!"rings out from the trees with varying intonation and accent, but always sweetand inspiriting. To the bird's high vantage ground you may not follow, for nolonger having the protection of the high grass, it has become wary and fliesaway as you approach, calling out peent-peent and nervously flitting its tail(again showing the white feather), when it rests a moment on the pasturefence-rail.

It is like looking for a needle in a haystack to try to find a meadowlark'snest, an unpretentious structure of dried grasses partly arched over andhidden in a clump of high timothy, flat upon the ground. But what havoc snakesand field-mice play with the white-speckled eggs and helpless fledglings! Thecare of rearing two or three broods in a season and the change of plumage toduller winter tints seem to exhaust the high spirits of the sweet whistler.For a time he is silent, but partly regains his vocal powers in the autumn,when, with large flocks of his own kind, he resorts to marshy feeding grounds.In the winter he chooses for companions the horned larks, that walk along theshore, or the snow buntings and sparrows of the inland pastures, and will eveninclude the denizens of the barn-yard when hunger drives him close to thehaunts of men.

The Western Meadowlark or Prairie Lark (Sturnella magna neglecta), which manyornithologists consider a different species from the foregoing [as does AOU1998], is distinguished chiefly by its lighter, more grayish-brown plumage, byits yellow cheeks, and more especially by its richer, fuller song. In his"Birds of Manitoba" Mr. Ernest E. Thompson says of this meadowlark: "Inrichness of voice and modulation it equals or excels both wood thrush andnightingale, and in the beauty of its articulation it has no superior in thewhole world of feathered choristers with which I am acquainted."

HORNED LARK (Otocoris alpestris) Lark family

Called also: SHORE LARK

Length — 7.5 to 8 inches. About one-fifth smaller than the
robin.
Male — Upper parts dull brown, streaked with lighter on edges
and tinged with pink or vinaceous; darkest on back of head
neck, shoulders, and nearest the tail. A few erectile feathers
on either side of the head form slight tufts or horns that are
wanting in female. A black mark from the base of the bill
passes below the eye and ends in a horn-shaped curve on cheeks,
which are yellow. Throat clear yellow. Breast has crescent
shaped black patch. Underneath soiled white, with dusky spots
on lower breast. Tail black, the outer feathers margined with
white, noticed in flight.
Female — Has yellow eye-stripe; less prominent markings,
especially on head, and is a trifle smaller.
Range — Northeastern parts of North America, and in winter from
Ohio and eastern United States as far south as North Carolina.
Migrations — October and November. March. Winter resident

Far away to the north in Greenland and Labrador this true lark, the mostbeautiful of its genus, makes its summer home. There it is a conspicuouslyhandsome bird with its pinkish-gray and chocolate feathers, that have greatlyfaded into dull browns when we see them in the late autumn. In the far northonly does it sing, and, according to Audubon, the charming song is flung tothe breeze while the bird soars like a skylark. In the United States we hearonly its call-note.

Great flocks come down the Atlantic coast in October and November, andseparate into smaller bands that take up their residence in sandy stretchesand open tracts near the sea or wherever the food supply looks promising, andthere the larks stay until all the seeds, buds of bushes, berries, larvae, andinsects in their chosen territory are exhausted. They are ever conspicuouslyground birds, walkers, and when disturbed at their dinner, prefer to squat onthe earth rather than expose themselves by flight. Sometimes they run nimblyover the frozen ground to escape an intruder, but flying they reserve as alast resort. When the visitor has passed they quickly return to their dinner.If they were content to eat less ravenously and remain slender, fewer victimsmight be slaughtered annually to tickle the palates of the epicure. It is amystery what they find to fatten upon when snow covers the frozen ground. Evenin the severe midwinter storms they will not seek the protection of the woods,but always prefer sandy dunes with their scrubby undergrowth or open meadowlands. Occasionally a small flock wanders toward the farms to pick up seedsthat are blown from the hayricks or scattered about the barn-yard by overfeddomestic fowls.

The Prairie Horned Lark (Otocoris alpestris praticola) is similar to thepreceding, but a trifle smaller and paler, with a white instead of a yellowstreak above the eye, the throat yellowish or entirely white instead ofsulphur-yellow, and other minor differences. It has a far more southerlyrange, confined to northern portions of the United States from the Mississippieastward. Once a distinctly prairie bird, it now roams wherever largestretches of open country that suit its purposes are cleared in the East, andremains resident. This species also sings in midair on the wing, but its songis a crude, half-inarticulate affair, barely audible from a height of twohundred feet.

AMERICAN PIPIT (Anthus pensilvanicus) Wagtail family

Called also: TITLARK; BROWN OR RED LARK

Length — 6.38 to 7 inches. About the size of a sparrow.
Male and Female — Upper parts brown; wings and tail dark
olive-brown; the wing coverts tipped with buff or whitish, and
ends of outer tail feathers white, conspicuous in flight. White
or yellowish eye-ring, and line above the eye. Underneath light
buff brown, with spots on breast and sides, the under parts
being washed with brown of various shades. Feet brown. Hind
toe-nail as long as or longer than the toe.
Range — North America at large. Winters south of Virginia to
Mexico and beyond.
Migrations — April. October or November. Common in the United
States, chiefly during the migrations.

The color of this bird varies slightly with age and sex, the under partsranging from white through pale rosy brown to a reddish tinge; but at anyseason, and under all circ*mstances, the pipit is a distinctly brown bird,resembling the water thrushes not in plumage only, but in the comical tailwaggings and jerkings that alone are sufficient to identify it. However thebooks may tell us the bird is a wagtail, it certainly possesses two strongcharacteristics of true larks: it is a walker, delighting in walking orrunning, never hopping over the ground, and it has the angelic habit ofsinging as it flies.

During the migrations the pipits are abundant in salt marshes or openstretches of country inland, that, with lark-like preference, they choose forfeeding grounds. When flushed, all the flock rise together with uncertainflight, hovering and wheeling about the place, calling down dee-dee, dee-deeabove your head until you have passed on your way, then promptly returning tothe spot from whence they were disturbed. Along the roadsides and pastures,where two or three birds are frequently seen together, they are too oftenmistaken for the vesper sparrows because of their similar size and coloring,but their easy, graceful walk should distinguish them at once from the hoppingsparrow. They often run to get ahead of some one in the lane, but rarely flyif they can help it, and then scarcely higher than a fence-rail. Early insummer they are off for the mountains in the north. Labrador is their chosennesting ground, and they are said to place their grassy nest, lined withlichens or moss, flat upon the ground — still another lark trait. Their eggsare chocolate-brown scratched with black.

WHIPPOORWILL (Antrostomus vociferus) Goatsucker family

[Called also: WHIP-POOR-WILL, AOU 1998]

Length — 9 to 10 inches. About the size of the robin. Apparently
much larger, because of its long wings and wide wingspread.
Male — A long-winged bird, mottled all over with reddish brown,
grayish black, and dusky white; numerous bristles fringing the
large mouth. A narrow white band across the upper breast. Tail
quills on the end and under side white.
Female — Similar to male, except that the tail is dusky in color
where that of the male is white. Band on breast buff instead of
white.
Range — United States, to the plains. Not common near the sea.
Migrations — Late April to middle of September. Summer resident.

The whippoorwill, because of its nocturnal habits and plaintive note, isinvested with a reputation for occult power which inspires a chilling aweamong superstitious people, and leads them insanely to attribute to it an evilinfluence; but it is a harmless, useful night prowler, flying low and catchingenormous numbers of hurtful insects, always the winged varieties, in itspeculiar fly-trap mouth.

It loves the rocky, solitary woods, where it sleeps all day; but it is seldomseen, even after painstaking search, because of its dull, mottled markingsconforming so nearly to rocks and dry leaves, and because of its unusual habitof stretching itself length-wise on a tree branch or ledge, where it is easilyconfounded with a patch of lichen, and thus overlooked. If by accident onehappens upon a sleeping bird, it suddenly rouses and flies away, making nomore sound than a passing butterfly — a curious and uncanny silence that isquite remarkable. When the sun goes down and as the gloaming deepens, thebird's activity increases, and it begins its nightly duties, emitting fromtime to time, like a sentry on his post or a watchman of the night, thedoleful call which has given the bird its common name. It

"Mourns unseen, and ceaseless sings
Ever a note of wail and woe,"

that our Dutch ancestors interpreted as "Quote-kerr-kee," and so called it.They had a tradition that no frost ever appeared after the bird had been heardcalling in the spring, and that it wisely left for warmer skies before frostcame in the autumn. Prudent bird, never caught napping!

It is erratic in its choice of habitations, even when rock and solitude seemsuited to its taste. Very rarely is this odd bird found close to the seashore,and in the Hudson River valley it keeps a half mile or more back from theriver.

The eggs, generally two in number, are creamy white, dashed with dark andolive spots, and laid on the ground on dry leaves, or in a little hollow inrock or stump — never in a nest built with loving care. But in extenuation ofsuch carelessness it may be said that, if disturbed or threatened, the mothershows no lack of maternal instinct, and removes her young, carrying them inher beak as a cat conveys her kittens to secure shelter.

NIGHTHAWK (Chordeiles virginianus) Goatsucker family

Called also: NIGHTJAR; BULL-BAT; MOSQUITO HAWK; WILL-O'-THE-WISP;
PISK; PIRAMIDIG; LONGWINGED GOATSUCKER; [COMMON NIGHTHAWK, AOU
1998]

Length — 9 to 10 inches. About the same length as the robin, but
apparently much longer because of its very wide wing-spread.
Male and Female — Mottled blackish brown and rufous above, with
a multitude of cream-yellow spots and dashes. Lighter below,
with waving bars of brown on breast and underneath. White mark
on throat, like an imperfect horseshoe; also a band of white
across tail of male bird. These latter markings are wanting in
female. Heavy wings, which are partly mottled, are brown on
shoulders and tips, and longer than tail. They have large white
spots, conspicuous in flight, one of their distinguishing marks
from the whippoorwill. Head large and depressed, with large
eyes and ear-openings. Very small bill.
Range — From Mexico to arctic islands.
Migrations — May. October. Common summer resident.

The nighthawk's misleading name could not well imply more that the bird isnot: it is not nocturnal in its habits, neither is it a hawk, for if it were,no account of it would be given in this book, which distinctly excludes birdsof prey. Stories of its chicken-stealing prove to be ignorant rather thanmalicious slanders. Any one disliking the name, however, surely cannotcomplain of a limited choice of other names by which, in different sections ofthe country, it is quite as commonly known.

Too often it is mistaken for the whippoorwill. The night hawk does not havethe weird and woful cry of that more dismal bird, but gives instead a harsh,whistling note while on the wing, followed by a vibrating, booming, whirringsound that Nuttall likens to "the rapid turning of a spinning wheel, or astrong blowing into the bung-hole of an empty hogshead." This peculiar soundis responsible for the name nightjar, frequently given to this curious bird.It is said to be made as the bird drops suddenly through the air, creating asort of stringed instrument of its outstretched wings and tail. When thesewings are spread, their large white spots running through the feathers to theunder side should be noted to further distinguish the nighthawk from thewhippoorwill, which has none, but which it otherwise closely resembles. Thisbooming sound, coming from such a height that the bird itself is often unseen,was said by the Indians to be made by the shad spirits to warn the scholes ofshad about to ascend the rivers to spawn in the spring, of their impendingfate.

The flight of the nighthawk is free and graceful in the extreme. Soaringthrough space without any apparent motion of its wings, suddenly it darts withamazing swiftness like an erratic bat after the fly, mosquito, beetle, or moththat falls within the range of its truly hawk-like eye.

Usually the nighthawks hunt in little companies in the most sociable fashion.Late in the summer they seem to be almost gregarious. They fly in the earlymorning or late afternoon with beak wide open, hawking for insects, but exceptwhen the moon is full they are not known to go a-hunting after sunset. Duringthe heat of the day and at night they rest on limbs of trees, fence-rails,stone walls, lichen-covered rocks or old logs — wherever Nature has providedsuitable mimicry of their plumage to help conceal them.

With this object in mind, they quite as often choose a hollow surface of rockin some waste pasture or the open ground on which to deposit the twospeckled-gray eggs that sixteen days later will give birth to their family.But in August, when family cares have ended for the season, it is curious tofind this bird of the thickly wooded country readily adapting itself to citylife, resting on Mansard roofs, darting into the streets from the housetops,and wheeling about the electric lights, making a hearty supper of the little,winged insects they attract.

BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO (Coccyzus erythrophthalmus) Cuckoo family

Called also: RAIN CROW

Length — 11 to 12 inches. About one-fifth larger than the robin.
Male — Grayish brown above, with bronze tint in feathers.
Underneath grayish white; bill, which is long as head and
black, arched and acute. Skin about the eye bright red. Tail
long, and with spots on tips of quills that are small and
inconspicuous.
Female — Has obscure dusky bars on the tail.
Range — Labrador to Panama; westward to Rocky Mountains.
Migration — May. September. Summer resident.

"O cuckoo! shalt I call thee bird?
Or but a wandering voice?"

From the tangled shrubbery on the hillside back of Dove Cottage, Keswick,where Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy listened for the coming of this"darling of the spring"; in the willows overhanging Shakespeare's Avon; fromthe favorite haunts of Chaucer and Spenser, where

"Runneth meade and springeth blede,"

we hear the cuckoo calling; but how many on this side of the Atlantic arefamiliar with its American counterpart? Here, too, the cuckoo delights inrunning water and damp, cloudy weather like that of an English spring; ithaunts the willows by our river-sides, where as yet no "immortal bard" arisesto give it fame. It "loud sings" in our shrubbery, too. Indeed, if we cannotstudy our bird afield, the next best place to become acquainted with it is inthe pages of the English poets. But due allowance must be made for differencesof temperament. Our cuckoo is scarcely a "merry harbinger"; his talents, suchas they are, certainly are not musical. However, the guttural cluck is notdiscordant, and the black-billed species, at least, has a soft, mellow voicethat seems to indicate an embryonic songster.

"K-k-k-k, kow-kow-ow-kow-ow!" is a familiar sound in many localities, but thelarge. slim,, pigeon-shaped, brownish-olive bird that makes it, securelyhidden in the low trees and shrubs that are its haunts, is not oftenpersonally known. Catching a glimpse only of the grayish-white under partsfrom where we stand looking up into the tree at it, it is quite impossible totell the bird from the yellow-billed species. When, as it flies about, we areable to note the red circles about its eyes, its black bill, and the absenceof black tail feathers, with their white "thumb-nail" spots, and see no brightcinnamon feathers on the wings (the yellow-billed specie's distinguishingmarks), we can at last claim acquaintance with the black-billed cuckoo. Ourtwo common cuckoos are so nearly alike that they are constantly confused inthe popular mind and very often in the writings of ornithologists. At firstglance the birds look alike. Their haunts are almost identical; their habitsare the same; and, as they usually keep well out of sight, it is notsurprising if confusion arise.

Neither cuckoo knows how to build a proper home; a bunch of sticks droppedcarelessly into the bush, where the hapless babies that emerge from thegreenish eggs will not have far to fall when they tumble out of bed, as theymust inevitably do, may by courtesy only be called a nest. The cuckoo is saidto suck the eggs of other birds; but, surely, such vice is only the rarestdissipation. Insects of many kinds and "tent caterpillars" chiefly are theirchosen food.

YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO (Coccyzus americanus) Cuckoo family

Called also: RAIN CROW

Length — 11 to 12 inches. About one-fifth longer than the robin.Male and Female — Grayish brown above, with bronze tint in feathers. Underneath grayish white. Bill, which is as tong as head, arched, acute, and more robust than the black-billed species, and with lower mandible yellow. Wings washed with bright cinnamon-brown. Tail has outer quills black, conspicuously marked with white thumb-nail spots.Female larger.Range — North America, from Mexico to Labrador. Most common intemperate climates. Rare on Pacific slope.Migrations — Late April. September. Summer resident.

"Kak, k-kuh, k-kuk, k-kuk!" like an exaggerated tree-toad's rattle, is a soundthat, when first heard, makes you rush out of doors instantly to "name" thebird. Look for him in the depths of the tall shrubbery or low trees, nearrunning water, if there is any in the neighborhood, and if you are morefortunate than most people, you will presently become acquainted with theyellow-billed cuckoo. When seen perching at a little distance, his large, slimbody, grayish brown, with olive tints above and whitish below, can scarcely bedistinguished from that of the black-billed species. It is not until you getclose enough to note the yellow bill, reddish-brown wings, and black tailfeathers with their white "thumb-nail" marks, that you know which cuckoo youare watching. In repose the bird looks dazed or stupid, but as it darts aboutamong the trees after insects, noiselessly slipping to another one thatpromises better results, and hopping along the limbs after performing a seriesof beautiful evolutions among the branches as it hunts for its favorite "tentcaterpillars," it appears what it really is: an unusually active, graceful,intelligent bird.

A solitary wanderer, nevertheless one cuckoo in an apple orchard is worth ahundred robins in ridding it of caterpillars and inch-worms, for it delightsin killing many more of these than it can possibly eat. In the autumn itvaries its diet with minute fresh-water shellfish from the swamp and lake.Mulberries, that look so like caterpillars the bird possibly likes them onthat account, it devours wholesale.

Family cares rest lightly on the cuckoos. The nest of both species is aramshackle affair — a mere bundle of twigs and sticks without a rim to keepthe eggs from rolling from the bush, where they rest, to the ground. Unliketheir European relative, they have the decency to rear their own young and notimpose this heavy task on others; but the cuckoos on both sides of theAtlantic are most erratic and irregular in their nesting habits. Theoverworked mother-bird often lays an egg while brooding over its nearlyhatched companion, and the two or three half-grown fledglings already in thenest may roll the large greenish eggs out upon the ground, while both parentsare off searching for food to quiet their noisy clamorings. Such distractingmismanagement in the nursery is enough to make a homeless wanderer of anyfather. It is the mother-bird that tumbles to the ground at your approach fromsheer fright; feigns lameness, trails her wings as she tries to entice youaway from the nest. The male bird shows far less concern; a no more devotedfather, we fear, than he is a lover. It is said he changes his mate everyyear.

Altogether, the cuckoo is a very different sort of bird from what our fancypictured. The little Swiss creatures of wood that fly out of the doors ofclocks and call out the bed-hour to sleepy children, are chiefly responsiblefor the false impressions of our mature years. The American bird does notrepeat its name, and its harsh, grating "kuk, kuk," does not remotely suggestthe sweet voice of its European relative.

BANK SWALLOW (Clivicola riparia) Swallow family

Called also: SAND MARTIN; SAND SWALLOW

Length — 5 to 5.5 inches. About an inch shorter than the English
sparrow, but apparently much larger because of its wide
wing-spread.
Male and Female — Grayish brown or clay-colored above. Upper
wings and tail darkest. Below, white, with brownish band
across chest. Tail, which is rounded and more nearly square
than the other swallows, is obscurely edged with white.
Range — Throughout North America south of Hudson Bay.
Migrations — April. October. Summer resident.

Where a brook cuts its way through a sand bank to reach the sea is an idealnesting ground for a colony of sand martins. The face of the high bank shows anumber of clean, round holes indiscriminately bored into the sand, as if theplace had just received a cannonading; but instead of war an atmosphere ofpeace pervades the place in midsummer, when you are most likely to visit it.Now that the young ones have flown from their nests that your arm can barelyreach through the tunnelled sand or clay, there can be little harm inexamining the feathers dropped from gulls, ducks, and other water-birds withwhich the grassy home is lined.

The bank swallow's nest, like the kingfisher's, which it resembles, is hishome as well. There he rests when tired of flying about in pursuit of insectfood. Perhaps a bird that has been resting in one of the tunnels, startled byyour innocent housebreaking, will fly out across your face, near enough foryou to see how unlike the other swallows he is: smaller, plainer, and withnone of their glinting steel-blues and buffs about him. With strong, swiftflight he rejoins his fellows, wheeling, skimming, darting through the airabove you, and uttering his characteristic "giggling twitter," that is one ofthe cheeriest noises heard along the beach. In early October vast numbers ofthese swallows may be seen in loose flocks along the Jersey coast, slowlymaking their way South. Clouds of them miles in extent are recorded.

Closely associated with the sand martin is the Rough-winged Swallow(Stelgidopteryx serripennis), not to be distinguished from its companion onthe wing, but easily recognized by its dull-gray throat and the absence of thebrown breast-band when seen at close range.

CEDAR BIRD (Ampelis cedrorum) Waxwing family

Called also: CEDAR WAXWING [AOU 1998]; CHERRY-BIRD; CANADA ROBIN; RECOLLET

Length — 7 to 8 inches. About one-fifth smaller than the robin.
Male — Upper parts rich grayish brown, with plum-colored tints
showing through the brown on crest, throat, breast, wings, and
tail. A velvety-black line on forehead runs through the eye and
back of crest. Chin black; crest conspicuous; breast lighter
than the back, and shading into yellow underneath. Wings have
quill-shafts of secondaries elongated, and with brilliant
vermilion tips like drops of sealing-wax, rarely seen on tail
quills, which have yellow bands across the end.
Female — With duller plumage, smaller crest, and narrower
tail-band.
Range — North America, from northern British provinces to
Central America in winter.
Migrations — A roving resident, without fixed seasons for
migrating.

As the cedar birds travel about in great flocks that quickly exhaust theirspecial food in a neighborhood, they necessarily lead a nomadic life — hereto-day, gone to-morrow — and, like the Arabs, they "silently steal away." Itis surprising how very little noise so great a company of these birds make atany time. That is because they are singularly gentle and refined; soft ofvoice, as they are of color, their plumage suggesting a fine Japanesewater-color painting on silk, with its beautiful sheen and exquisitely blendedtints.

One listens in vain for a song; only a lisping "Twee-twee-ze," or "a drearywhisper," as Minot calls their low-toned communications with each other,reaches our ears from their high perches in the cedar trees, where they sit,almost motionless hours at a time, digesting the enormous quantities ofjuniper and whortleberries, wild cherries, worms, and insects upon which theyhave gormandized.

Nuttall gives the cedar birds credit for excessive politeness to each other.He says he has often seen them passing a worm from one to another down a wholerow of beaks and back again before it was finally eaten.

When nesting time arrives — that is to say, towards the end of the summer —they give up their gregarious habits and live in pairs, billing and kissinglike turtle-doves in the orchard or wild crabtrees, where a flat, bulky nestis rather carelessly built of twigs, grasses, feathers, strings — any oddsand ends that may be lying about. The eggs are usually four, white tinged withpurple and spotted with black.

Apparently they have no moulting season; their plumage is always the same,beautifully neat and full-feathered. Nothing ever hurries or flusters them,their greatest concern apparently being, when they alight, to settlethemselves comfortably between their over-polite friends, who are never guiltyof jolting or crowding. Few birds care to take life so easily, not to sayindolently.

Among the French Canadians they are called Recollet, from the color of theircrest resembling the hood of the religious order of that name. Every regionthe birds pass through, local names appear to be applied to them, a few of themost common of which are given above.

Of the three waxwings known to scientists, two are found in America, and thethird in Japan,

BROWN CREEPER (Certhia familiaris americana) Creeper family

Length — 5 to 5.75 inches. A little smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — Brown above, varied with ashy-gray stripes and
small, lozenge-shaped gray mottles. Color lightest on head,
increasing in shade to reddish brown near tail. Tail paler
brown and long; wings brown and barred with whitish. Beneath
grayish white. Slender, curving bill.
Range — United States and Canada, east of Rocky Mountains.
Migrations — April. September. Winter resident

This little brown wood sprite, the very embodiment of virtuous diligence, isnever found far from the nuthatches, titmice, and kinglets, though notstrictly in their company, for he is a rather solitary bird. Possibly herepels them by being too exasperatingly conscientious.

Beginning at the bottom of a rough-barked tree (for a smooth bark conceals nolarvae, the creeper silently climbs upward in a sort of spiral, now lost tosight on the opposite side of the tree, then reappearing just where he isexpected to, flitting back a foot or two, perhaps, lest he overlooked a singlespider egg, but never by any chance leaving a tree until conscience approvesof his thoroughness. And yet with all this painstaking workman's care, ittakes him just about fifty seconds to finish a tree. Then off he flits to thebase of another, to repeat the spiral process. Only rarely does he adopt thewoodpecker process of partly flitting, partly rocking his way with the help ofhis tail straight up one side of the tree.

Yet this little bird is not altogether the soulless drudge he appears. In themidst of his work, uncheered by summer sunshine, and clinging with numb toesto the tree-trunk some bitter cold day, he still finds some tender emotionwithin him to voice in a "wild, sweet song" that is positively enchanting atsuch a time. But it is not often this song is heard south of his nestinggrounds.

The brown creeper's plumage is one of Nature's most successful feats ofmimicry — an exact counterfeit in feathers of the brown-gray bark on whichthe bird lives. And the protective coloring is carried out in the nestcarefully tucked under a piece of loosened bark in the very heart of the tree.

PINE SISKIN (Spinus pinus) Finch family

Called also: PINE FINCH; PINE LINNET

Length — 4.75 to 5 inches. Over an inch smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — Olive-brown and gray above, much streaked and
striped with very dark brown everywhere. Darkest on head and
back. Lower back, base of tail, and wing feathers pale
sulphur-yellow. Under parts very light buff brown, heavily
streaked.
Range — North America generally. Most common in north latitudes.
Winters south to the Gulf of Mexico.
Migrations — Erratic winter visitor from October to April.
Uncommon in summer.

A small grayish-brown brindle bird, relieved with touches of yellow on itsback, wings, and tail, may be seen some winter morning roving on the lawn fromone evergreen tree to another, clinging to the pine cones and peeringattentively between the scales before extracting the kernels. It utters acall-note so like the English sparrow's that you are surprised when you lookup into the tree to find it comes from a stranger. The pine siskin is anerratic visitor, and there is always the charm of the unexpected about itscoming near our houses that heightens our enjoyment of its brief stay.

As it flies downward from the top of the spruce tree to feed upon the brownseeds still clinging to the pigweed and goldenrod stalks sticking out abovethe snow by the roadside, it dips and floats through the air like its charminglittle cousin, the goldfinch. They have several characteristics in commonbesides their flight and their fondness for thistles. Far at the north, wherethe pine siskin nests in the top of the evergreens, his sweet-warbledlove-song is said to be like that of our "wild canary's," only with asuggestion of fretfulness in the tone.

Occasionally some one living in an Adirondack or other mountain camp reportsfinding the nest and hearing the siskin sing even in midsummer; but it is,nevertheless, considered a northern species, however its erratic habits maysometimes break through the ornithologist's traditions.

SMITH'S PAINTED LONGSPUR (Calcarius pictus) Finch family

[Called also: SMITH'S LONGSPUR, AOU 1998]

Length — 6.5 inches. About the size of a large English sparrow.
Male and Female — Upper parts marked with black, brown, and
white, like a sparrow; brown predominant. Male bird with more
black about head, shoulders, and tail feathers, and a whitish
patch, edged with black, under the eye. Underneath pale brown,
shading to buff. Hind claw or spur conspicuous.
Range — Interior of North America, from the arctic coast to
Illinois and and Texas; Migrations — Winter visitor. Without
fixed season.

Confined to a narrower range than the Lapland longspur, this bird, quitecommonly found on the open prairie districts of the middle West in winter, is,nevertheless, so very like its cousin that the same description of theirhabits might very well answer for both. Indeed, both these birds are oftenseen in the same flock. Larks and the ubiquitous sparrows, too, interminglewith them with the familiarity that only the starvation rations of midwinter,and not true sociability, can effect; and, looking out upon such aheterogeneous flock of brown birds as they are feeding together on the frozenground, only the trained field ornithologist would find it easy to point outthe painted longspurs.

Certain peculiarities are noticeable, however. Longspurs squat while resting;then, when flushed, they run quickly and lightly, and "rise with a sharpclick, repeated several times in quick succession, and move with an easy,undulating motion for a short distance, when they alight very suddenly,seeming to fall perpendicularly several feet to the ground." Anotherpeculiarity of their flight is their habit of flying about in circles, to andfro, keeping up a constant chirping or call. It is only in the mating season,when we rarely hear them, that the longspurs have the angelic manner ofsinging as they fly, like the skylark. The colors of the males, among theseveral longspurs, may differ widely, but the indistinctly marked females areso like each other that only their mates, perhaps, could tell them apart.

LAPLAND LONGSPUR (Calcarius lapponicus) Finch family

Called also: LAPLAND SNOWBIRD; LAPLAND LARK BUNTING

Length — 6.5 to 7 inches. trifle larger than the English sparrow.
Male — Color varies with season. Winter plumage: Top of head
black, with rusty markings, all feathers being tipped with
white. Behind and below the eye rusty black. Breast and
underneath grayish white faintly streaked with black. Above
reddish brown with black markings. Feet, which are black, have
conspicuous, long hind claws or spur.
Female — Rusty gray above, less conspicuously marked. Whitish
below.
Range — Circumpolar regions; northern United States; occasional
in Middle States; abundant in winter as far as Kansas and the
Rocky Mountains.
Migrations — Winter visitors, rarely resident, and without a
Fixed season.

This arctic bird, although considered somewhat rare with us, when seen at allin midwinter is in such large flocks that, before its visit in theneighborhood is ended, and because there are so few other birds about, itbecomes delightfully familiar as it nimbly runs over the frozen ground,picking up grain that has blown about from the barn, when the seeds of thefield are buried under snow. This lack of fear through sharp hunger, thatoften drives the shyest of the birds to our very doors in winter, is aspathetic as it is charming. Possibly it is not so rare a bird as we think, forit is often mistaken for some of the sparrows, the shore larks, and the snowbuntings, that it not only resembles, but whose company it frequently keeps,or for one of the other longspurs.

At all seasons of the year a ground bird, you may readily identify the Laplandlongspur by its tracks through the snow, showing the mark of the long hindclaw or spur. In summer we know little or nothing about it, for, with thecoming of the flowers, it is off to the far north, where, we are told, itdepresses its nest in a bed of moss upon the ground, and lines it with furshed from the coat of the arctic fox.

CHIPPING SPARROW (Spizella socialis) Finch family

Called also: CHIPPY; HAIR-BIRD; CHIP-BIRD; SOCIAL SPARROW

Length — 5 to 5.5 inches. An inch shorter than the English
sparrow.
Male — Under the eye, on the back of the neck, underneath, and
on the lower back ash-gray. Gray stripe over the eye, and a
blackish brown one apparently through it. Dark red-brown crown.
Back brown, slightly rufous, and feathers streaked with black.
Wings and tail dusty brown. Wing-bars not conspicuous. Bill
black.
Female — Lacks the chestnut color on the crown, which is
Streaked with black. In winter the frontlet is black. Bill
brownish.
Range — North America, from Newfoundland to the Gulf of Mexico
And westward to the Rockies. Winters in Gulf States and Mexico.
Most common in eastern United States.
Migrations — April. October. Common summer resident, many birds
remaining all the year from southern New England southward.

Who does not know this humblest, most unassuming little neighbor that comeshopping to our very doors; this mite of a bird with "one talent" that it sopersistently uses all the day and every day throughout the summer? Its high,wiry trill, like the buzzing of the locust, heard in the dawn before the skygrows even gray, or in the middle of the night, starts the morning chorus; andafter all other voices are hushed in the evening, its tremolo is the lastbed-song to come from the trees. But however monotonous such cheerfulnesssometimes becomes when we are surfeited with real songs from dozens of otherthroats, there are long periods of midsummer silence that it punctuates mostacceptably.

Its call-note, chip! chip! from which several of its popular names arederived, is altogether different from the trill which must do duty as a songto express love, contentment, everything that so amiable a little nature mightfeel impelled to voice.

But with all its virtues, the chippy shows lamentable weakness of character inallowing its grown children to impose upon it, as it certainly does. In everygroup of these birds throughout the summer we can see young ones (which we mayknow by the black line-stripes on their breasts) hopping around after theirparents, that are often no larger or more able-bodied than they, and teasingto be fed; drooping their wings to excite pity for a helplessness that they donot possess when the weary little mother hops away from them, and stillpersistently chirping for food until she weakly relents, returns to them,picks a seed from the ground and thrusts it down the bill of the sauciestteaser in the group. With two such broods in a season the chestnut feathers onthe father's jaunty head might well turn gray.

Unlike most of the sparrows, the little chippy frequents high trees, where itsnest is built quite as often as in the low bushes of the garden. Thehorse-hair, which always lines the grass" up that holds its greenish-blue,speckled eggs, is alone responsible for the name hair-bird, and not thechippy's hair-like trill, as some suppose.

ENGLISH SPARROW (Passer domesticus) Finch family

Called also: HOUSE SPARROW [AOU 1998]

Length — 6.33 inches.
Male — Ashy above, with black and chestnut stripes on back and
shoulders. Wings have chestnut and white bar, bordered by faint
black line. Gray crown, bordered from the eye backward and on
the nape by chestnut. Middle of throat and breast black.
Underneath grayish white.
Female — Paler; wing-bars indistinct, and without the black
marking on throat and breast.
Range — Around the world. Introduced and naturalized in America,
Australia, New Zealand.
Migrations — Constant resident.

"Of course, no self-respecting ornithologist will condescend to enlarge hislist by counting in the English sparrow — too pestiferous to mention," writesMr. H. E. Parkhurst, and yet of all bird neighbors is any one more within thescope of this book than the audacious little gamin that delights in thecompanion ship of humans even in their most noisy city thoroughfares?

In a bulletin issued by the Department of Agriculture it is shown that theprogeny of a single pair of these sparrows might amount to 275,716,983,698 inten years! Inasmuch as many pairs were liberated in the streets of Brooklyn,New York, in 1851, when the first importation was made, the day is evidentlynot far off when these birds, by no means meek, "shall inherit the earth."

In Australia Scotch thistles, English sparrows, and rabbits, three mostunfortunate importations, have multiplied with equal rapidity until seriousalarm fills the minds of the colonists. But in England a special committeeappointed by the House of Commons to investigate the character of the allegedpest has yet to learn whether the sparrow's services as an insect-destroyer donot outweigh the injury it does to fruit and grain.

FIELD SPARROW (Spizella pusilla) Finch family

Called also: FIELD BUNTING; WOOD SPARROW; BUSH SPARROW

Length — 5.5 to 5.75 inches. A little smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male — Chestnut crown. Upper back bright chestnut, finely
streaked with black and ashy brown. Lower back more grayish.
Whitish wing-bars. Cheeks, line over the eye, throat, pale
brownish drab. Tail long. Underneath grayish white, tinged with
palest buff on breast and sides. Bill reddish.
Female — Paler; the crown edged with grayish.
Range — North America, from British provinces to the Gulf, and
westward to the plains. Winters from Illinois and Virginia
southward. Migrations — April. November. Common summer
resident.

Simply because both birds have chestnut crowns, the field sparrow is oftenmistaken for the dapper, sociable chippy; and, no doubt because it loves suchheathery, grassy pastures as are dear to the vesper sparrow, and has bay wingsand a sweet song, these two cousins also are often confused. The field sparrowhas a more reddish-brown upper back than any of its small relatives; theabsence of streaks on its breast and of the white tail quills so conspicuousin the vesper sparrow's flight, sufficiently differentiate the two birds,while the red bill of the field sparrow is a positive mark of identification.

This bird of humble nature, that makes the scrubby pastures and uplandstuneful from early morning until after sunset, flies away with exasperatingshyness as you approach. Alighting on a convenient branch, he lures you onwith his clear, sweet song. Follow him, and he only hops about from bush tobush, farther and farther away, singing as he goes a variety of strains, whichis one of the bird's peculiarities. The song not only varies in individuals,but in different localities, which may be one reason why no two ornithologistsrecord it alike. Doubtless the chief reason for the amusing differences in thesyllables into which the songs of birds are often translated in the books, isthat the same Notes actually sound differently to different individuals. Thus,to people in Massachusetts the white-throated sparrow seems to say,"Pea-bod-y, Pea-bod-y, Pea-bod-y!" while good British subjects beyond the NewEngland border hear him sing quite distinctly, "Sweet Can-a-da, Can-a-da,Can-a-da!" But however the opinions as to the syllables of the field sparrow'ssong may differ, all are agreed as to its exquisite quality, that resemblesthe vesper sparrow's tender, sweet melody. The song begins with three soft,wild whistles, and ends with a series of trills and quavers that graduallymelt away into silence: a serene and restful strain as soothing as a hymn.Like the vesper sparrows, these birds sometimes build a plain, grassy nest,unprotected by over hanging bush, flat upon the ground. Possibly from aprudent tear of field-mice and snakes, the little mother most frequently laysher bluish-white, rufous — marked eggs in a nest placed in a bush of a bushyfield. Hence John Burroughs has called the bird the ''bush sparrow."

FOX SPARROW (Passerella ilica) Finch family

Called also: FOX-COLORED SPARROW; FERRUGINOUS FINCH; FOXY FINCH

Length — 6.5 to 7.25 inches. Nearly an inch longer than the
English sparrow.
Male and Female — Upper parts reddish brown, varied with ash
gray, brightest on lower back, wings, and tail. Bluish slate
about the head. Underneath whitish; the throat, breast, and
sides heavily marked with arrow-heads and oblong dashes of
reddish brown and blackish.
Range — Alaska and Manitoba to southern United States. Winters
chiefly south of Illinois and Virginia. Occasional stragglers
remain north most of the winter.
Migrations — March. November. Most common in the migrations.

There will be little difficulty in naming this largest, most plump and reddishof all the sparrows, whose fox-colored feathers, rather than any maliciouscunning of its disposition, are responsible for the name it bears. The malebird is incomparably the finest singer of its gifted family. His faint tseepcall-note gives no indication of his vocal powers that some bleak morning inearly March suddenly send a thrill of pleasure through you. It is the mostwelcome "glad surprise" of all the spring. Without a preliminary twitter orthroat-clearing of any sort, the full, rich, luscious tones, with just a tingeof plaintiveness in them, are poured forth with spontaneous abandon. Such asong at such a time is enough to summon anybody with a musical ear out ofdoors under the leaden skies to where the delicious notes issue from theleafless shrubbery by the roadside. Watch the singer until the song ends, whenhe will quite likely descend among the dead leaves on the ground and scratchamong them like any barn-yard fowl, but somehow contriving to use both feet atonce in the operation, as no chicken ever could. He seems to take specialdelight in damp thickets, where the insects with which he varies his seed dietare plentiful.

Usually the fox sparrows keep in small, loose flocks, apart by themselves, forthey are not truly gregarious; but they may sometimes be seen travelling incompany with their white-throated cousins. They are among the last birds toleave us in the late autumn or winter. Mr. Bicknell says that they seemindisposed to sing unless present in numbers. Indeed, they are little inclinedto absolute solitude at any time, for even in the nesting season quite acolony of grassy nurseries may be found in the same meadow, and smallcompanies haunt the roadside shrubbery during the migrations.

GRASSHOPPER SPARROW (Ammodramus savannarum passerinus) Finch family

Called also: YELLOW-WINGED SPARROW

Length — 5 to 5.4 inches. About an inch smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — A cream-yellow line over the eye; centre of
crown, shoulders, and lesser wing coverts yellowish. Head
blackish; rust-colored feathers, with small black spots on back
of the neck; an orange mark before the eye. All other upper
parts varied red, brown, cream, and black, with a drab wash.
Underneath brownish drab on breast, shading to soiled white,
and without streaks. Dusky, even, pointed tail feathers have
grayish-white outer margins.
Range — Eastern North America, from British provinces to Cuba.
Winters south of the Carolinas.
Migrations — April. October. Common summer resident.

It is safe to say that no other common bird is so frequently overlooked asthis little sparrow, that keeps persistently to the grass and low bushes, andonly faintly lifts up a weak, wiry voice that is usually attributed to someinsect. At the bend of the wings only are the feathers really yellow, and eventhis bright shade often goes unnoticed as the bird runs shyly through an olddairy field or grassy pasture. You may all but step upon it before it takeswing and exhibits itself on the fence-rail, which is usually as far from theground as it cares to go. If you are near enough to this perch you mayoverhear the zee-e-e-e-e-e-e-e that has earned it the name of grasshoppersparrow. If you persistently follow it too closely, away it flies, thensuddenly drops to the ground where a scrubby bush affords protection. Acurious fact about this bird is that after you have once become acquaintedwith it, you find that instead of being a rare discovery, as you had supposed,it is apt to be a common resident of almost every field you walk through.

SAVANNA SPARROW (Ammodramus sandwichensis savanna) Finch family

Called also: SAVANNA BUNTING

Length — 5.5 to 6 inches. A trifle smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — Cheeks, space over the eye, and on the bend of
the wings pale yellow. General effect of the upper parts
brownish drab, streaked with black. Wings and tail dusky, the
outer webs of the feathers margined with buff. Under parts
white, heavily streaked with blackish and rufous, the marks on
breast feathers being wedge-shaped. In the autumn the plumage
is often suffused with a yellow tinge.
Range — Eastern North America, from Hudson Bay to Mexico.
Winters south of Illinois and Virginia.
Migrations — April. October. A few remain in sheltered marshes
at the north all winter.

Look for the savanna sparrow in salt marshes, marshy or upland pastures, neverfar inland, and if you see a sparrowy bird, unusually white and heavilystreaked beneath, and with pale yellow markings about the eye and on the bendof the wing; you may still make several guesses at its identity before theweak, little insect-like trill finally establishes it. Whoever can correctlyname every sparrow and warbler on sight is a person to be envied, if, indeed,he exists at all.

In the lowlands of Nova Scotia and, in fact, of all the maritime provinces,this sparrow is the one that is perhaps most commonly seen. Every fence-railhas one perched upon it, singing "Ptsip, ptsip, ptsip, ze-e-e-e-e" close tothe ear of the passer-by, who otherwise might not hear the lowgrasshopper-like song. At the north the bird somehow loses the shyness thatmakes it comparatively little known farther south. Depending upon the scruband grass to conceal it, you may almost tread upon it before it startles youby its sudden rising with a whirring noise, only to drop to the ground againjust a few yards farther away, where it scuds among the underbrush and is lostto sight Tall weeds and fence-rails are as high and exposed situations as itis likely to select while singing. It is most distinctively a ground bird, andflat upon the pasture or in a slightly hollowed cup it has the merest apologyfor a nest. Only a few wisps of grass are laid in the cavity to receive thepale-green eggs, that are covered most curiously with blotches of brown ofmany shapes and tints.

SEASIDE SPARROW (Ammodramus maritimus) Finch family

Called also: MEADOW CHIPPY; SEASIDE FINCH

Length — 6 inches. A shade smaller than the English sparrow.
Male and Female — Upper parts dusky grayish or olivaceous brown,
inclining to gray on shoulders and on edges of some feathers.
Wings and tail darkest. Throat yellowish white, shading to gray
on breast, which is indistinctly mottled and streaked. A yellow
spot before the eye and on bend of the wing, the bird's
characteristic marks. Blunt tail.
Range — Atlantic seaboard, from Georgia northward. Usually
Winters south of Virginia.
Migrations — April. November. A few remain in sheltered marshes
all winter.

The savanna, the swamp, the sharp-tailed, and the song sparrows may allsometimes be found in the haunts of the seaside sparrow, but you may becertain of finding the latter nowhere else than in the salt marshes withinsight or sound of the sea. It is a dingy little bird, with the least definitecoloring of all the sparrows that have maritime inclinations, with no rufoustint in its feathers, and less distinct streakings on the breast than any ofthem. It has no black markings on the back.

Good-sized flocks of seaside sparrows live together in the marshes; but theyspend so much of their time on the ground, running about among the reeds andgrasses, whose seeds and insect parasites they feed upon, that not until someunusual disturbance in the quiet place flushes them does the intruder suspecttheir presence, Hunters after beach-birds, longshoremen, seaside cottagers,and whoever follows the windings of a creek through the salt meadows to catchcrabs and eels in midsummer, are well acquainted with the "meadow chippies,"as the fishermen call them. They keep up a good deal of chirping,sparrow-fashion, and have four or five notes resembling a song that is usuallydelivered from a tall reed stalk, where the bird sways and balances until hishusky performance has ended, when down he drops upon the ground out of sight.Sometimes, too, these notes are uttered while the bird flutters in the airabove the tops of the sedges.

SHARP-TAILED SPARROW (Ammodramus caudacutus) Finch family

Length — 5.25 to 5.85 inches. A trifle smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — Upper parts brownish or grayish olive, the
back with black streaks, and gray edges to some feathers. A
gray line through centre of crown, which has maroon stripes;
gray ears enclosed by buff lines, one of which passes through
the eye and one on side of throat; brownish orange, or buff, on
sides of head. Bend of the wing yellow. Breast and sides pale
buff, distinctly streaked with black. Underneath whitish. Each
narrow quill of tail is sharply pointed. the outer ones
shortest.
Range — Atlantic coast. Winters south of Virginia.
Migrations — April. November. Summer resident.

This bird delights in the company of the dull-colored seaside sparrow, whosehaunts in the salt marshes it frequents, especially the drier parts; but itspointed tail-quills and more distinct markings are sufficient to preventconfusion. Mr. J. Dwight, Jr., who has made a special study of maritime birds,says of it: "It runs about among the reeds and grasses with the celerity of amouse, and it is not apt to take wing unless closely pressed." (Wilsoncredited it with the nimbleness of a sandpiper.) "It builds its nest in thetussocks on the bank of a ditch, or in the drift left by the tide, rather thanin the grassier sites chosen by its neighbors, the seaside sparrows."

Only rarely does one get a glimpse of this shy little bird, that darts out ofsight like a flash at the first approach. Balancing on a cat-tail stalk orperched upon a bit of driftwood, it makes a feeble, husky attempt to sing afew notes; and during the brief performance the opera-glasses may search itout successfully. While it feeds upon the bits of sea-food washed ashore tothe edge of the marshes, it gives us perhaps the best chance we ever get,outside of a museum, to study the bird's characteristics of plumage.

"Both the sharp-tailed and the seaside finches are crepuscular," says Dr.Abbott, in "The Birds About Us." They run up and down the reeds and on thewater's edge long after most birds have gone to sleep.

SONG SPARROW (Melospiza fasciata) Finch family

Length — 6 to 6.5 inches. About the same size as the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — Brown head, with three longitudinal gray bands
Brown stripe on sides of throat. Brownish-gray back streaked
With rufous. Underneath gray, shading to white, heavily
streaked with darkest brown. A black spot on breast. Wings
without bars. Tail plain grayish brown.
Range — North America, from Fur Countries to the Gulf States.
Winters from southern Illinois and Massachusetts to the Gulf.
Migrations — March. November. A few birds remain at the north
All the year.

Here is a veritable bird neighbor, if ever there was one; at home in ourgardens and hedges, not often farther away than the roadside, abundanteverywhere during nearly every month in the year, and yet was there ever onetoo many? There is scarcely an hour in the day, too, when its delicious,ecstatic song may not be heard; in the darkness of midnight, just before dawn,when its voice is almost the first to respond to the chipping sparrow's wirytrill and the robin's warble; in the cool of the morning, the heat of noon,the hush of evening — ever the simple, homely, sweet melody that every goodAmerican has learned to love in childhood. What the bird lacks in beauty itabundantly makes up in good cheer. Not at all retiring, though never bold, itchooses some conspicuous perch on a bush or tree to deliver its outburst ofsong, and sings away with serene unconsciousness. Its artlessness is charming.Thoreau writes in his "Summer" that the country girls in Massachusetts hearthe bird say: "Maids, maids, maids, hang on your teakettle,teakettle-ettle-ettle." The call-note, a metallic chip, is equallycharacteristic of the bird's irrepressible vivacity. It has still anothermusical expression, however, a song more prolonged and varied than its usualperformance, that it seems to sing only on the wing.

Of course, the song sparrow must sometimes fly upward, but whoever sees it flyanywhere but downward into the thicket that it depends upon to conceal it fromtoo close inspection? By pumping its tail as it flies, it seems to acquiremore than the ordinary sparrow's velocity.

Its nest, which is likely to be laid flat on the ground, except wherefield-mice are plentiful (in which case it is elevated into the crotch of abush), is made of grass, strips of bark, and leaves, and lined with finergrasses and hair. Sometimes three broods may be reared in a season, but eventhe cares of providing insects and seeds enough for so many hungry babiescannot altogether suppress the cheerful singer. The eggs are grayish white,speckled and clouded with lavender and various shades of brown.

In sparsely settled regions the song sparrows seem to show a fondness formoist woodland thickets, possibly because their tastes are insectivorous. Butit is difficult to imagine the friendly little musician anything but aneighbor.

SWAMP SONG SPARROW (Melospiza georgiana) Finch family

Called also: SWAMP SPARROW [AOU 1998]; MARSH SPARROW; RED
GRASS-BIRD; SWAMP FINCH

Length — 5 to 5.8 inches. A little smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male — Forehead black; crown, which in winter has black stripes,
is always bright bay; line over the eye, sides of the neck
gray. Back brown, striped with various shades. Wing. edges and
tail reddish brown. Mottled gray underneath inclining to white
on the chin.
Female — Without black forehead and stripes on head.
Range — North America, from Texas to Labrador.
Migrations — April. October. A few winter at the north.

In just such impenetrable retreats as the marsh wrens choose, another weebrown bird may sometimes be seen springing up from among the sedges, singing afew sweet notes as it flies and floats above them, and then suddenlydisappearing into the grassy tangle. It is too small, and its breast is notstreaked enough to be a song sparrow, neither are their songs alike; it hasnot the wren's peculiarities of bill and tail, Its bright-bay crown andsparrowy markings finally identify it. A suggestion of the bird's watery homeshows itself in the liquid quality of its simple, sweet note, stronger andsweeter than the chippy's, and repeated many times almost like a trill thatseems to trickle from the marsh in a little rivulet of song. The sweetness isapt to become monotonous to all but the bird itself, that takes evidentdelight in its performance. In the spring, when flocks of swamp sparrows comenorth, how they enliven the marshes and waste places. And yet the song, simpleas it is, is evidently not uttered altogether without effort, if thetail-spreading and teetering of the body after the manner of the ovenbird, areany indications of exertion.

Nuttall says of these birds: "They thread their devious way with the samealacrity as the rail, with whom, indeed, they are often associated inneighborhood. In consequence of this perpetual brushing through sedge andbushes, their feathers are frequently so worn that their tails appear almostlike those of rats."

But the swamp sparrows frequently belie their name, and, especially in theSouth, live in dry fields, worn-out pasture lands with scrubby, weedy patchesin them. They live upon seeds of grasses and berries, but Dr. Abbott hasdetected their special fondness for fish — not fresh fish particularly, butrather such as have lain in the sun for a few days and become dry as a chip.Their nest is placed on the ground, sometimes in a tussock of grass or rootsof an upturned tree quite surrounded by water. Four or five soiled white eggswith reddish-brown spots are laid usually twice in 2 season.

TREE SPARROW (Spizella monticola) Finch family

Called also: CANADA SPARROW; WINTER CHIPPY; TREE BUNTING; WINTER
CHIP-BIRD; ARCTIC CHIPPER

Length — 6 to 6.35 inches. About the same size as the English
sparrow.
Male — Crown of head bright chestnut. Line over the eye, cheeks,
throat, and breast gray, the breast with an indistinct black
spot on centre. Brown back, the feathers edged with black and
buff. Lower back pale grayish brown. Two whitish bars across
dusky wings; tail feathers bordered with grayish white.
Underneath whitish.
Female — Smaller and less distinctly marked.
Range — North America, from Hudson Bay to the Carolinas, and
westward to the plains.
Migrations — October. April. Winter resident.

A revised and enlarged edition of the friendly little chipping sparrow, thathops to our very doors for crumbs throughout the mild weather, comes out ofBritish America at the beginning of winter to dissipate much of the winter'sdreariness by his cheerful twitterings. Why he should have been called a treesparrow is a mystery, unless because he does not frequent trees— a reason with sufficient plausibility to commend the name to several ofthe early ornithologists, who not infrequently called a bird precisely what itwas not. The tree sparrow actually does not show half the preference for treesthat its familiar little counterpart does, but rather keeps to low bushes whennot on the ground, where we usually find it. It does not crouch upon theground like the chippy, but with a lordly carriage holds itself erect as itnimbly runs over the frozen crust. Sheltered from the high, wintry winds inthe furrows and dry ditches of ploughed fields, a loose flock of these activebirds keep up a merry hunt for fallen seeds and berries, with a belated beetleto give the grain a relish. As you approach the feeding ground, one bird givesa shrill alarm-cry, and instantly five times as many birds as you suspectedwere in the field take wing and settle down in the scrubby undergrowth at theedge of the woods or by the wayside. No still cold seems too keen for them togo a-foraging; but when cutting winds blow through the leafless thickets thescattered remnants of a flock seek the shelter of stone walls, hedges, barns,and cozy nooks about the house and garden. It is in mid-winter that thesebirds grow most neighborly, although even then they are distinctly lesssociable than their small chippy cousins.

By the first of March, when the fox sparrow and the bluebird attract thelion's share of attention by their superior voices, we not infrequently aredeaf to the modest, sweet little strain that answers for the tree sparrow'slove-song. Soon after the bird is in full voice, away it goes with its flockto their nesting ground in Labrador or the Hudson Bay region. It builds,either on the ground or not far from it, a nest of grasses, rootlets, andhair, without which no true chippy counts its home complete.

VESPER SPARROW (Poocaetes gramineus) Finch family

Called also: BAY-WINGED BUNTING; GRASSFINCH; GRASSBIRD

Length — 5.75 to 6.25 inches. A little smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — Brown above, streaked and varied with gray.
Lesser wing coverts bright rufous. Throat and breast whitish,
striped with dark brown. Underneath plain soiled white. Outer
tail-quills, which are its special mark of identification, are
partly white, but apparently wholly white a.s the bird flies.
Range — North America, especially common in eastern parts from
Hudson Bay to Gulf of Mexico. Winters south of Virginia.
Migrations — April. October. Common summer resident.

Among the least conspicuous birds, sparrows are the easiest to classify forthat very reason, and certain prominent features of the half dozen commonestof the tribe make their identification simple even to the merest novice. Thedistinguishing marks of this sparrow that haunts open, breezy pasture landsand country waysides are its bright, reddish-brown wing coverts, prominentamong its dingy, pale brownish-gray feathers, and its white tail-quills, shownas the bird flies along the road ahead of you to light upon the fence-rail. Itrarely flies higher, even to sing its serene, pastoral strain, restful as thetwilight, of which, indeed, it seems to be the vocal expression. How differentfrom the ecstatic outburst of the song sparrow! Pensive, but not sad, itslong-drawn silvery notes continue in quavers that float off unended like atrail of mist. The song is suggestive of the thoughts that must come atevening to some New England saint of humble station after a well-spent,soul-uplifting day.

But while the vesper sparrow sings oftenest and most sweetly in the lateafternoon and continues singing until only he and the rose-breasted grosbeakbreak the silence of the early night, his is one of the first voices to jointhe morning chorus. No "early worm," however, tempts him from his grassy nest,for the seeds in the pasture lands and certain tiny insects that live amongthe grass furnish meals at all hours. He simply delights in the cool, stillmorning and evening hours and in giving voice to his enjoyment of them.

The vesper sparrow is preeminently a grass-bird. It first opens its eyes onthe world in a nest neatly woven of grasses, laid on the ground among thegrass that shelters it and furnishes it with food and its protective coloring.Only the grazing cattle know how many nests and birds are hidden in theirpastures. Like the meadowlarks, their presence is not even suspected until aflock is flushed from its feeding ground, only to return to the spot when youhave passed on your way. Like the meadowlark again, the vesper sparrowoccasionally sings as it soars upward from its grassy home.

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW (Zonotrichia leucophrys) Finch family

Length — 7 inches. A little larger than the English sparrow.
Male — White head, with four longitudinal black lines marking
off a crown, the black-and-white stripes being of about equal
width. Cheeks, nape, and throat gray. Light gray underneath,
with some buff tints. Back dark grayish brown. some feathers
margined with gray. Two interrupted white bars across wings.
Plain, dusky tail; total effect, a clear ashen gray.
Female — With rusty head inclining to gray on crown. Paler
throughout than the male.
Range — From high mountain ranges of western United States (more
rarely on Pacific slope) to Atlantic Ocean, and from Labrador
to Mexico. Chiefly south of Pennsylvania.
Migrations — October. April. Irregular migrant in Northern
States. A winter resident elsewhere.

The large size and handsome markings of this aristocratic-looking Northernsparrow would serve to distinguish him at once, did he not often consort withhis equally fine-looking white-throated cousins while migrating, and so toooften get overlooked. Sparrows are such gregarious birds that it is well toscrutinize every flock with especial care in the spring and autumn, when therarer migrants are passing. This bird is more common in the high altitudes ofthe Sierra Nevada and Rocky Mountains than elsewhere in the United States.There in the lonely forest it nests in low bushes or on the ground, and singsits full love song, as it does in the northern British provinces, along theAtlantic coast; but during the migrations it favors us only with selectionsfrom its repertoire. Mr. Ernest Thompson says, "Its usual song is like thelatter half of the white-throat's familiar refrain, repeated a number of timeswith a peculiar, sad cadence and in a clear, soft whistle that ischaracteristic of the group." "The song is the loudest and most plaintive ofall the sparrow songs," says John Burroughs. "It begins with the words fe-u,fe-u, fe-u, and runs off into trills and quavers like the song sparrow's, onlymuch more touching." Colorado miners tell that this sparrow, like itswhite-throated relative, sings on the darkest nights. Often a score or morebirds are heard singing at once after the habit of the European nightingales,which, however, choose to sing only in the moonlight.

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW (Zonotrichia albicollis) Finch family

Called also: PEABODY BIRD; CANADA SPARROW

Length — 6.75 to 7 inches. Larger than the English sparrow.
Male and Female — A black crown divided by narrow white line.
Yellow spot before the eye, and a white line, apparently
running through it, passes backward to the nape. Conspicuous
white throat. Chestnut back, varied with black and whitish.
Breast gray, growing lighter underneath. Wings edged with
rufous and with two white cross-bars.
Range — Eastern North America. Nests from Michigan and
Massachusetts northward to Labrador. Winters from southern New
England to Florida.
Migrations — April. October. Abundant during migrations, and in
many States a winter resident.

"I-I, Pea-body, Pea-body, Pea-body," are the syllables of the white-throat'ssong heard by the good New Englanders, who have a tradition that you musteither be a Peabody or a nobody there; while just over the British border thebird is distinctly understood to say, "Swee-e-e-t Can-a-da, Can-a-da, Can-ada." "All day, whit-tle-ing, whit-tle-ing, whit-tle-ing," the Maine peopledeclare he sings; and Hamilton Gibson told of a perplexed farmer, Peverly byname, who, as he stood in the field undecided as to what crop to plant,clearly heard the bird advise, "Sow wheat, Pev-er-ly, Pev-er-ly, Pev-er-ly."Such divergence of opinion, which is really slight compared with the verbalrecord of many birds' songs, only goes to show how little the sweetness ofbirds' music, like the perfume of a rose, depends upon a name.

In a family not distinguished for good looks, the white-throated sparrow isconspicuously handsome, especially after the spring moult. In midwinter thefeathers grow dingy and the markings indistinct; but as the season advances,his colors are sure to brighten perceptibly, and before he takes the northwardjourney in April, any little lady sparrow might feel proud of the attentionsof so fine-looking and sweet-voiced a lover. The black, white, and yellowmarkings on his head are now clear and beautiful. His figure is plump andaristocratic.

These sparrows are particularly sociable travellers, and cordially welcomemany stragglers to their flocks — not during the migrations only, but evenwhen winter's snow affords only the barest gleanings above it. Then theyboldly peck about the dog's plate by the kitchen door and enter the barn-yard,calling their feathered friends with a sharp tseep to follow them. Seeds andinsects are their chosen food, and were they not well wrapped in an adiposecoat under their feathers, there must be many a winter night when they wouldgo shivering, supperless, to their perch.

In the dark of midnight one may sometimes hear the white-throat softly singingin its dreams.

GREEN, GREENISH GRAY, OLIVE, AND YELLOWISH OLIVE BIRDS

Tree Swallow
Ruby-throated Humming-bird
Golden-crowned Kinglet
Ruby-crowned Kinglet
Solitary Vireo
Red-eyed Vireo
White-eyed Vireo
Warbling Vireo
Ovenbird
Worm-eating Warbler
Acadian Flycatcher
Yellow-bellied Flycatcher
Black-throated Green Warbler

Look also among the Olive-brown Birds, especially for theCuckoos, Alice's and the Olive-backed Thrushes; and look in theyellow group, many of whose birds are olive also. See alsofemales of the Red Crossbill, Orchard Oriole, Scarlet Tanager,Summer Tanager.

GREEN, GREENISH GRAY, OLIVE, AND YELLOWISH OLIVE BIRDS

TREE SWALLOW (Tachycineta bicolor) Swallow family

Called also: WHITE-BELLIED SWALLOW

Length — 5 to 6 inches. A little shorter than the English
sparrow, but apparently much larger because of its wide wing
spread.
Male — Lustrous dark steel-green above; darker and shading into
black on wings and tail, which is forked. Under parts soft
white.
Female — Duller than male.
Range — North America, from Hudson Bay to Panama.
Migrations — End of March. September or later. Summer resident.

"The stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times: and theturtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of theircoming." — Jeremiah, viii. 7.

The earliest of the family to appear in the spring, the tree swallow comesskimming over the freshly ploughed fields with a wide sweep of the wings, inwhat appears to be a perfect ecstasy of flight. More shy of the haunts of man,and less gregarious than its cousins, it is usually to be seen duringmigration flying low over the marshes, ponds, and streams with a few chosenfriends, keeping up an incessant warbling twitter while performing theirbewildering and tireless evolutions as they catch their food on the wing.Their white breasts flash in the sunlight, and it is only when they dart nearyou, and skim close along the surface of the water, that you discover theirbacks to be not black, but rich, dark green, glossy to iridescence.

It is probable that these birds keep near the waterways because their favoriteinsects and wax-berries are more plentiful in such places: but thispeculiarity has led many people to the absurd belief that the tree swallowburies itself under the mud of ponds in winter in a state of hibernation. Nobird's breathing apparatus is made to operate under mud.

In unsettled districts these swallows nest in hollow trees, hence their name;but with that laziness that forms a part of the degeneracy of civilization,they now gladly accept the boxes about men's homes set up for the martins.Thousands of these beautiful birds have been shot on the Long Island marshesand sold to New York epicures for snipe.

RUBY-THROATED HUMMING-BIRD (Trochilus colubris) Humming-bird
Family

[Called also RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD, AOU 1998]

Length — 3.5 to 3.75 inches. A trifle over half as long as the
English sparrow. The smallest bird we have.
Male — Bright metallic green above; wings and tail darkest, with
ruddy-purplish reflections and dusky-white tips on outer
tail quills. Throat and breast brilliant metallic — red in one
light, orange flame in another, and dusky orange in another,
according as the light strikes the plumage. Sides greenish;
underneath lightest gray, with whitish border outlining the
brilliant breast. Bill long and needle-like.
Female — Without the brilliant feathers on throat; darker gray
beneath. Outer tail-quills are banded with black and tipped
with white.
Range — Eastern North America, from northern Canada to the Gulf
Of Mexico in summer. Winters in Central America.
Migrations — May. October. Common summer resident.

This smallest, most exquisite and unabashed of our bird neighbors cannot bemistaken, for it is the only one of its kin found east of the plains and northof Florida, although about four hundred species, native only to the New World,have been named by scientists. How does it happen that this little tropicaljewel alone flashes about our Northern gardens? Does it never stir the spiritof adventure and emulation in the glistening breasts of its stay-at-homecousins in the tropics by tales of luxuriant tangles of honeysuckle andclematis on our cottage porches; of deep-cupped trumpet-flowers climbing overthe walls of old-fashioned gardens, where larkspur, narcissus, roses, andphlox, that crowd the box-edged beds, are more gay and honey-laden than theirlittle brains can picture? Apparently it takes only the wish to be in a placeto transport one of these little fairies either from the honeysuckle trellisto the canna bed or from Yucatan to the Hudson. It is easy to see how to willand to fly are allied in the minds of the humming-birds, as they are in theLatin tongue. One minute poised in midair, apparently motionless before aflower while draining the nectar from its deep cup — though the humming ofits wings tells that it is suspended there by no magic — the next instant ithas flashed out of sight as if a fairy's wand had made it suddenly invisible.Without seeing the hummer, it might be, and often is, mistaken for a beeimproving the "shining hour."

At evening one often hears of a "humming-bird" going the rounds of the garden,but at this hour it is usually the sphinx-moth hovering above the flower-beds— the one other creature besides the bee for which the bird is ever mistaken.The postures and preferences of this beautiful large moth make the mistake avery natural one.

The ruby-throat is strangely fearless and unabashed. It will dart among thevines on the veranda while the entire household are assembled there, and addits hum to that of the conversation in a most delightfully neighborly way.Once a glistening little sprite, quite undaunted by the size of an audiencethat sat almost breathless enjoying his beauty, thrust his bill into one calyxafter another on a long sprig of honeysuckle held in the hand.

And yet, with all its friendliness — or is it simply fearlessness? — thebird is a desperate duellist, and will lunge his deadly blade into thejewelled breast of an enemy at the slightest provocation and quicker thanthought. All the heat of his glowing throat seems to be transferred to hishead while the fight continues, sometimes even to the death — a cruel, butmarvellously beautiful sight as the glistening birds dart and tumble aboutbeyond the range of peace-makers.

High up in a tree, preferably one whose knots and lichen-covered excrescencesare calculated to help conceal the nest that so cleverly imitates them, themother humming-bird saddles her exquisite cradle to a horizontal limb. Shelines it with plant down, fluffy bits from cat-tails, and the fronds of fern,felting the material into a circle that an elm-leaf amply roofs over. Outside,lichens or bits of bark blend the nest so harmoniously with its surroundingsthat one may look long and thoroughly before discovering it. Twoinfinitesimal, white eggs tax the nest accommodation to its utmost.

In the mating season the female may be seen perching — a posture one rarelycatches her gay lover in — preening her dainty but sombre feathers withladylike nicety. The young birds do a great deal of perching before they gainthe marvellously rapid wing-motions of maturity, but they are ready to flywithin three weeks after they are hatched. By the time the trumpet-vine is inbloom they dart and sip and utter a shrill little squeak among the flowers, incompany with the old birds.

During the nest-building and incubation the male bird keeps so aggressively onthe defensive that he often betrays to a hitherto unsuspecting intruder thelocation of his home. After the young birds have to be fed he is most diligentin collecting food, that consists not alone of the sweet juices of flowers, asis popularly supposed, but also of aphides and plant-lice that hisproboscis-like tongue licks off the garden foliage literally like a streak oflightning.

Both parents feed the young by regurgitation — a process disgusting to thehuman observer, whose stomach involuntarily revolts at the sight so welcome tothe tiny, squeaking, hungry birds.

RUBY-CROWNED KINGLET (Regulus calendula) Kinglet family

Called also: RUBY-CROWNED WREN; RUBY-CROWNED WARBLER

Length — 4.25 to 4.5 inches. About two inches smaller than the
English sparrow.
Male — Upper parts grayish olive-green, brighter nearer the
tail; wings and tail dusky, edged with yellowish olive. Two
whitish wing-bars. Breast and underneath light yellowish gray.
In the adult male a vermilion spot on crown of his ash-gray
head.
Female — Similar, but without the vermilion crest.
Range — North America. Breeds from northern United States
northward. Winters from southern limits of its breeding range
to Central America and Mexico.
Migrations — October. April. Rarely a winter resident at the
North. Most common during its migrations.

A trifle larger than the golden-crowned kinglet, with a vermilion crestinstead of a yellow and flame one, and with a decided preference for a warmerwinter climate, and the ruby-crown's chief distinguishing characteristics aretold. These rather confusing relatives would be less puzzling if it were thehabit of either to keep quiet long enough to focus the opera-glasses on theircrowns, which it only rarely is while some particularly promising haunt ofinsects that lurk beneath the rough bark of the evergreens has to bethoroughly explored. At all other times both kinglets keep up an incessantfluttering and twinkling among the twigs and leaves at the ends of thebranches, jerking their tiny bodies from twig to twig in the shrubbery,hanging head downward, like a nuthatch, and most industriously feeding everysecond upon the tiny insects and larvae hidden beneath the bark and leaves.They seem to be the feathered expression of perpetual motion. And how daintyand charming these tiny sprites are! They are not at all shy; you may approachthem quite close if you will, for the birds are simply too intent on theirbusiness to be concerned with yours.

If a sharp lookout be kept for these ruby-crowned migrants, that too oftenslip away to the south before we know they have come, we notice that theyappear about a fortnight ahead of the golden-crested species, since the mild,soft air of our Indian summer is exactly to their liking. At this season thereis nothing in the bird's "thin, metallic call-note, like a vibrating wire," toindicate that he is one of our finest songsters. But listen for him during thespring migration, when a love-song is already ripening in his tiny throat.What a volume of rich, lyrical melody pours from the Norway spruce, where thelittle musician is simply practising to perfect the richer, fuller song thathe sings to his nesting mate in the far north! The volume is reallytremendous, coming from so tiny a throat. Those who have heard it in northernCanada describe it as a flute-like and mellow warble full of intricate phrasespast the imitating. Dr. Coues says of it: "The kinglet's exquisitevocalization defies description."

Curiously enough, the nest of this bird, that is not at all rare, has beendiscovered only six times. It would appear to be over large for the tiny bird,until we remember that kinglets are wont to have a numerous progeny in theirpensile, globular home. It is made of light, flimsy material — moss, stripsof bark, and plant fibre well knit together and closely lined with feathers,which must be a grateful addition to the babies, where they are reared inevergreens in cold, northern woods.

GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET (Regulus satrapa) Kinglet family

Called also: GOLDEN-CROWNED GOLDCREST; FIERY CROWNED WREN.

Length — 4 to 4.25 inches. About two inches smaller than the
English sparrow.
Male — Upper parts grayish olive-green; wings and tail dusky,
margined with olive-green. Underneath soiled whitish. Centre of
crown bright orange, bordered by yellow and en. closed by black
line. Cheeks gray; a whitish line over the eye.
Female — Similar, but centre of crown lemon-yellow and more
grayish underneath.
Range — North America generally. Breeds from northern United
States northward. Winters chiefly from North Carolina to
Central America, but many remain north all the year.
Migrations — September. April. Chiefly a winter resident south
Of Canada.

If this cheery little winter neighbor would keep quiet long enough, we mighthave a glimpse of the golden crest that distinguishes him from his equallylively cousin, the ruby-crowned; but he is so constantly flitting about theends of the twigs, peering at the bark for hidden insects, twinkling his wingsand fluttering among the evergreens with more nervous restlessness than avireo, that you may know him well before you have a glimpse of his tri-coloredcrown.

When the autumn foliage is all aglow with yellow and flame this tiny spritecomes out of the north where neither nesting nor moulting could rob him of hischeerful spirits. Except the humming-bird and the winter wren, he is thesmallest bird we have. And yet, somewhere stored up in his diminutive body, iswarmth enough to withstand zero weather. With evident enjoyment of the cold,he calls out a shrill, wiry zee, zee, zee, that rings merrily from the pinesand spruces when our fingers are too numb to hold the opera glasses in anattempt to follow his restless fittings from branch to branch. Is it one ofthe unwritten laws of birds that the smaller their bodies the greater theiractivity?

When you see one kinglet about, you may be sure there are others not far away,for, except in the nesting season, its habits are distinctly social, itsfriendliness extending to the humdrum brown creeper, the chickadees, and thenuthatches, in whose company it is often seen; indeed, it is likely to be inalmost any flock of the winter birds. They are a merry band as they goexploring the trees together. The kinglet can hang upside down, too, like theother acrobats, many of whose tricks he has learned; and it can pick offinsects from a tree with as business-like an air as the brown creeper, butwith none of that soulless bird's plodding precision.

In the early spring, just before this busy little sprite leaves us to nest inCanada or Labrador — for heat is the one thing that he can't cheerfullyendure — a gushing, lyrical song bursts from his tiny throat — a song whosevolume is so out of proportion to the bird's size that Nuttall'sclassification of kinglets with wrens doesn't seem far wrong after all. Onlyrarely is a nest found so far south as the White Mountains. It is said to beextraordinarily large for so small a bird but that need not surprise us whenwe learn that as many as tencreamy-white eggs, blotched with brown and lavender, are no uncommon numberfor the pensile cradle to hold. How do the tiny parents contrive to cover somany eggs and to feed such a nestful of fledglings?

SOLITARY VIREO (Vireo solitarius) Vireo or Greenlet family

Called also: BLUE-HEADED VIREO [AOU 1998]

Length — 5.5 to 7 inches. A little smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male — Dusky olive above; head bluish gray, with a white line
around the eye, spreading behind the eye into a patch. Beneath
whitish, with yellow-green wash on the sides. Wings dusky
olive, with two distinct white bars. Tail dusky, some quills
edged with white.
Female — Similar, but her head is dusky olive.
Range — United States to plains, and the southern British
provinces. Winters in Florida and southward.
Migrations — May. Early October. Common during migrations; more
rarely a summer resident south of Massachusetts.

By no means the recluse that its name would imply, the solitary vireo, while abird of the woods, shows a charming curiosity about the stranger withopera-glasses in hand, who has penetrated to the deep, swampy tangles, whereit chooses to live. Peering at you through the green undergrowth with an eyethat seems especially conspicuous because of its encircling white rim, it isat least as sociable and cheerful as any member of its family, and Mr.Bradford Torrey credits it with "winning tameness." "Wood-bird as it is," hesays, "it will sometimes permit the greatest familiarities. Two birds I haveseen, which allowed themselves to be stroked in the freest manner, whilesitting on the eggs, and which ate from my hand as readily as any pet canary."

The solitary vireo also builds a pensile nest, swung from the crotch of abranch, not so high from the ground as the yellow-throated vireos nor soexquisitely finished, but still a beautiful little structure of pine-needles,plant-fibre, dry leaves, and twigs, all lichen-lined and bound and reboundwith coarse spiders' webs.

The distinguishing quality of this vireo's celebrated song is its tenderness:a pure, serene uplifting of its loving, trustful nature that seems inspired bya fine spirituality.

RED-EYED VIREO (Vireo olivaceus) Vireo or Greenlet family

Called also: THE PREACHER

Length — 5.75 to 6.25 inches. A fraction smaller than the
English sparrow.
Male and Female — Upper parts light olive-green; well-defined
slaty-gray cap, with black marginal line, below which, and
forming an exaggerated eyebrow, is a line of white. A brownish
band runs from base of bill through the eye. The iris is
ruby-red. Underneath white, shaded with light greenish yellow
on sides and on under tail and wing coverts.
Range — United States to Rockies and northward. Wnters in
Central and South America.
Migrations — April. October. Common summer resident.

"You see it — you know it — do you hear me? Do you believe it?" is WilsonFlagg's famous interpretation of the song of this commonest of all the vireos,that you cannot mistake with such a key. He calls the bird the preacher fromits declamatory style; an up-and-down warble delivered with a risinginflection at the close and followed by an impressive silence, as if thelittle green orator were saying, "I pause for a reply."

Notwithstanding its quiet coloring, that so closely resembles the leaves ithunts among, this vireo is rather more noticeable than its relatives becauseof its slaty cap and the black-and-white lines over its ruby eye, that, inaddition to the song, are its marked characteristics.

Whether she is excessively stupid or excessively kind, the mother-vireo hascertainly won for herself no end of ridicule by allowing the cowbird todeposit a stray egg in the exquisitely made, pensile nest, where her own tinywhite eggs are lying and though the young cowbird crowd and worry her littlefledglings and eat their dinner as fast as she can bring it in, no displeasureor grudging is shown towards the dusky intruder that is sure to upset therightful heirs out of the nest before they are able to fly.

In the heat of a midsummer noon, when nearly every other bird's voice ishushed, and only the locust seems to rejoice in the fierce sunshine, thelittle red-eyed vireo goes persistently about its business of gatheringinsects from the leaves, not flitting nervously about like a warbler, ortaking its food on the wing like a flycatcher, but patiently and industriouslydining where it can, and singing as it goes.

When a worm is caught it is first shaken against a branch to kill it before itis swallowed. Vireos haunt shrubbery and trees with heavy foliage, all theirhunting, singing, resting, and home-building being done among the leaves —never on the ground.

WHITE-EYED VIREO (Vireo noveboracensis) Vireo or Greenlet family

Male — 5 to 5.3 inches. An inch shorter than the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — Upper parts bright olive-green, washed with
grayish. Throat and underneath white; the breast and sides
greenish yellow; wings have two distinct bars of yellowish
white. Yellow line from beak to and around the eye, which has a
white iris. Feathers of wings and tail brownish and edged with
yellow.
Range — United States to the Rockies, and to the Gulf regions
And beyond in winter.
Migrations — May. September. Summer resident.

"Pertest of songsters," the white-eyed vireo makes whatever neighborhood itenters lively at once. Taking up a residence in the tangled shrubbery orthickety undergrowth, it immediately begins to scold like a crotchety oldwren. It becomes irritated over the merest trifles — a passing bumblebee, avisit from another bird to its tangle, an unsuccessful peck at a gnat— anything seems calculated to rouse its wrath and set every feather on itslittle body a-trembling, while it sharply snaps out what might perhaps befreely constructed into "cuss-words."

And yet the inscrutable mystery is that this virago meekly permits the lazycowbird to deposit an egg in its nest, and will patiently sit upon it, thoughit is as large as three of her own tiny eggs; and when the little interlopercomes out from his shell the mother-bird will continue to give it the mostdevoted care long after it has shoved her poor little starved babies out ofthe nest to meet an untimely death in the smilax thicket below.

An unusual variety of expression distinguishes this bird's voice from thesongs of the other vireos, which are apt to be monotonous, as they areincessant. If you are so fortunate to approach the white-eyed vireo before hesuspects your presence, you may hear him amusing himself by jumbling togethersnatches of the songs of the other birds in a sort of potpourri; or perhaps hewill be scolding or arguing with an imaginary foe, then dropping his voice andtalking confidentially to himself. Suddenly he bursts into a charming, simplelittle song, as if the introspection had given him reason for real joy. Allthese vocal accomplishments suggest the chat at once; but the minute yourintrusion is discovered the sharp scolding, that is fairly screamed at youfrom an enraged little throat, leaves no possible shadow of a doubt as to thebird you have disturbed. It has the most emphatic call and song to be heard inthe woods; it snaps its words off very short. "Chick-a-rer chick" is its usualcall-note, jerked out with great spitefulness.

Wilson thus describes the jealously guarded nest: "This bird builds a veryneat little nest, often in the figure of an inverted cone; it is suspended bythe upper end of the two sides, on the circular bend of a prickly vine, aspecies of smilax, that generally grows in low thickets. Outwardly it isconstructed of various light materials, bits of rotten wood, fibres of drystalks, of weeds, pieces of paper (commonly newspapers, an article almostalways found about its nest, so that some of my friends have given it the nameof the politician); all these materials are interwoven with the silk of thecaterpillars, and the inside is lined with fine, dry grass and hair."

WARBLING VIREO (Vireo gilvus) Vireo or Greenlet family

Length — 5.5 to 6 inches. A little smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — Ashy olive-green above, with head and neck
ash-colored. Dusky line over the eye. Underneath whitish,
faintly washed with dull yellow, deepest on sides; no bars on
wings.
Range — North America, from Hudson Bay to Mexico.
Migrations — May. Late September or early October. Summer
resident.

This musical little bird shows a curious preference for rows of trees in thevillage street or by the roadside, where he can be sure of an audience tolisten to his rich, continuous warble. There is a mellowness about his voice,which rises loud, but not altogether cheerfully, above the bird chorus, as ifhe were a gifted but slightly disgruntled contralto. Too inconspicuouslydressed, and usually too high in the tree-top to be identified withoutopera-glasses, we may easily mistake him by his voice for one of the warblerfamily, which is very closely allied to the vireos. Indeed, this warblingvireo seems to be the connecting link between them.

Morning and afternoon, but almost never in the evening, we may hear himrippling out song after song as he feeds on insects and berries about thegarden. But this familiarity lasts only until nesting time, for off he goeswith his little mate to some unfrequented lane near a wood until their familyis reared, when, with a perceptibly happier strain in his voice, he once morehaunts our garden and row of elms before taking the southern journey.

OVENBIRD (Seiurus aurocapillus) Wood Warbler family

Called also: GOLDEN-CROWNED THRUSH; THE TEACHER; WOOD WAGTAIL;
GOLDEN-CROWNED WAGTAIL; GOLDEN-CROWNED ACCENTOR

Length — 6 to 6.15 inches. Just a shade smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — Upper parts olive, with an orange-brown crown,
bordered by black lines that converge toward the bill. Under
parts white; breast spotted and streaked on the sides. White
eye-ring.
Range — United States, to Pacific slope.
Migrations — May. October. Common summer resident.

Early in May you may have the good fortune to see this little bird of thewoods strutting in and out of the garden shrubbery with a certain mockdignity, like a child wearing its father's boots. Few birds can walk withoutappearing more or less ridiculous, and however gracefully and prettily itsteps, this amusing little wagtail is no exception. When seen at all — whichis not often, for it is shy — it is usually on the ground, not far from theshrubbery or a woodland thicket, under which it will quickly dodge out ofsight at the merest suspicion of a footstep. To most people the bird is only avoice calling, "TEACHER TEACHER. TEACHER, TEACHER, TEACHER!" as Mr. Burroughshas interpreted the notes that go off in pairs like a series of littleexplosions, softly at first, then louder and louder and more shrill until thebird that you at first thought far away seems to be shrieking his penetratingcrescendo into your very ears. But you may look until you are tired before youfind him in the high, dry wood, never near water.

In the driest parts of the wood, here the ground is thickly carpeted with deadleaves, you may some day notice a little bunch of them, that look as if aplant, in pushing its way up through the ground, had raised the leaves,rootlets, and twigs a trifle.

Examine the spot more carefully, and on one side you find an opening, andwithin the ball of earth, softly lined with grass, lie four or fivecream-white, speckled eggs. It is only by a happy accident that this nest ofthe ovenbird is discovered. The concealment could not be better. It is thispeculiarity of nest construction — in shape like a Dutch oven — that hasgiven the bird what DeKay considers its "trivial name." Not far from the nestthe parent birds scratch about in the leaves like diminutive barnyard fowls,for the grubs and insects hiding under them. But at the first suspicion of anintruder their alarm becomes pitiful. Panic-stricken, they become fairly limpwith fear, and drooping her wings and tail, the mother-bird drags herselfhither and thither over the ground.

As utterly bewildered as his mate, the male darts, flies, and tumbles aboutthrough the low branches, jerking and wagging his tail in nervous spasms untilyou have beaten a double-quick retreat.

In nesting time, at evening, a very few have heard the "luxurious nuptialsong" of the ovenbird; but it is a song to haunt the memory forever afterward.Burroughs appears to be the first writer to record this "rare bit of birdmelody." "Mounting by easy flight to the top of the tallest tree," says theauthor of "Wake-Robin," "the ovenbird launches into the air with a sort ofsuspended, hovering flight, like certain of the finches, and bursts into aperfect ecstasy of song — clear, ringing, copious, rivalling the goldfinch'sin vivacity and the linnet's in melody."

WORM-EATING WARBLER (Helmintherus vermivorus) Wood Warbler family

Length — 5.50 inches. Less than an inch shorter than the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — Greenish olive above. Head yellowish brown,
With two black stripes through crown to the nape; also black
Lines from the eyes to neck. Under parts buffy and white.
Range — Eastern parts of United States. Nests as far north as
southern Illinois and southern Connecticut. Winters in the Gulf
States and southward.
Migrations — May. September. Summer resident.

In the Delaware Valley and along the same parallel, this inconspicuous warbleris abundant, but north of New Jersey it is rare enough to give an excitementto the day on which you discover it. No doubt it is commoner than we suppose,for its coloring blends so admirably with its habitats that it is probablyvery often overlooked. Its call-note, a common chirp, has nothingdistinguishing about it, and all ornithologists confess to having been oftenmisled by its song into thinking it came from the chipping sparrow. It closelyresembles that of the pine warbler also. If it were as nervously active asmost warblers, we should more often discover it, but it is quite as deliberateas a vireo, and in the painstaking way in which it often circles around a treewhile searching for spiders and other insects that infest the trunks, itreminds us of the brown creeper. Sunny slopes and hillsides covered with thickundergrowth are its preferred foraging and nesting haunts. It is often seenhopping directly on the dry ground, where it places its nest, and it nevermounts far above it. The well-drained, sunny situation for the home is chosenwith the wisdom of a sanitary expert.

ACADIAN FLYCATCHER (Empidonax virescens) Flycatcher family

Called also: SMALL GREEN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER; SMALL PEWEE

Length — 5.75 to 6 inches. A trifle smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male — Dull olive above. Two conspicuous yellowish wing-bars.
Throat white, shading into pale yellow on breast. Light gray
or white underneath. Upper part of bill black; lower mandible
flesh-color. White eye-ring.
Female — Greener above and more yellow below.
Range — From Canada to Mexico, Central America, and West Indies.
Most common in south temperate latitudes. Winters in southerly
limit of range.
Migrations — April. September. Summer resident.

When all our northern landscape takes on the exquisite, soft green, gray, andyellow tints of early spring, this little flycatcher, in perfect color-harmonywith the woods it darts among, comes out of the south. It might be a leaf thatis being blown about, touched by the sunshine filtering through the trees, andpartly shaded by the young foliage casting its first shadows.

Woodlands, through which small streams meander lazily, inviting swarms ofinsects to their boggy shores, make ideal hunting grounds for the Acadianflycatcher. It chooses a low rather than a high, conspicuous perch, that othermembers of its family invariably select; and from such a lookout it may beseen launching into the air after the passing gnat — darting downward, thensuddenly mounting upward in its aerial hunt, the vigorous clicks of the beakas it closes over its tiny victims testifying to the bird's unerring aim andits hearty appetite.

While perching, a constant tail-twitching is kept up; and a faint, fretful"Tshee-kee, tshee-kee" escapes the bird when inactively waiting for a dinnerto heave in sight.

In the Middle Atlantic States its peeping sound and the clicking of itsparticolored bill are infrequently heard in the village streets in the autumn,when the shy and solitary birds are enticed from the deep woods by a prospectof a more plentiful diet of insects, attracted by the fruit in orchards andgardens.

Never far from the ground, on two or more parallel branches, the shallow,unsubstantial nest is laid. Some one has cleverly described it as "a tuft ofhay caught by the limb from a load driven under it," but this descriptionomits all mention of the quantities of blossoms that must be gathered to linethe cradle for the tiny, cream white eggs spotted with brown.

YELLOW-BELLIED FLYCATCHER (Empidonax flaviventris) Flycatcher
family

Length — 5 to 5.6 inches. About an inch smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male — Rather dark, but true olive-green above. Throat and
breast yellowish olive, shading into pale yellow underneath,
including wing linings and under tail coverts. Wings have
yellowish bars. Whitish ring around eye. Upper part of bill
black, under part whitish or flesh-colored.
Female — Smaller, with brighter yellow under parts and more
decidedly yellow wing-bars.
Range — North America, from Labrador to Panama, and westward
from the Atlantic to the plains. Winters in Central America.
Migrations — May. September. Summer resident. More commonly a
migrant only.

This is the most yellow of the small flycatchers and the only Eastern specieswith a yellow instead of a white throat. Without hearing its call-note,"pse-ek-pse-ek," which it abruptly sneezes rather than utters, it is quiteimpossible, as it darts among the trees, to tell it from the Acadianflycatcher, with which even Audubon confounded it. Both these little birdschoose the same sort of retreats — well-timbered woods near a stream thatattracts myriads of insects to its spongy shores — and both are rather shyand solitary. The yellow-bellied species has a far more northerly range,however, than its Southern relative or even the small green-crestedflycatcher. It is rare in the Middle States, not common even in New England,except in the migrations, but from the Canada border northward its soft,plaintive whistle, which is its love-song, may be heard in every forest whereit nests. All the flycatchers seem to make a noise with so much struggle, suchconvulsive jerkings of head and tail, and flutterings of the wings that,considering the scanty success of their musical attempts, it is surprisingthey try to lift their voices at all when the effort almost literally liftsthem off their feet.

While this little flycatcher is no less erratic than its Acadian cousin, itsnest is never slovenly. One couple had their home in a wild-grape bower inPennsylvania; a Virginia creeper in New Jersey supported another cradle thatwas fully twenty feet above the ground; but in Labrador, where the bird hasits chosen breeding grounds, the bulky nest is said to be invariably placedeither in the moss by the brookside or in some old stump, should the localitybe too swampy.

BLACK-THROATED GREEN WARBLER (Dendroica virens) Wood Warbler
family

Length — 5 inches. Over an inch smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male — Back and crown of head bright yellowish olive-green.
Forehead, band over eye, cheeks, and sides of neck rich yellow.
Throat, upper breast, and stripe along sides black. Underneath
yellowish white. Wings and tail brownish olive, the former with
two white bars, the latter with much white in outer quills. In
autumn, plumage resembling the female's.
Female — Similar; chin yellowish; throat and breast dusky, the
black being mixed with yellowish.
Range — Eastern North America, from Hudson Bay to Central
America and Mexico. Nests north of Illinois and New York.
Winters in tropics.
Migrations — May. October. Common summer resident north of New
Jersey.

There can be little difficulty in naming a bird so brilliantly and distinctlymarked as this green, gold, and black warbler, that lifts up a few pure,sweet, tender notes, loud enough to attract attention when he visits thegarden. "See-see, see-saw," he sings, but there is a tone of anxiety betrayedin the simple, sylvan strain that always seems as if the bird neededreassuring, possibly due to the rising inflection, like an interrogative, ofthe last notes.

However abundant about our homes during the migrations, this warbler, true tothe family instinct, retreats to the woods to nest — not always so far awayas Canada, the nesting ground of most warblers, for in many Northern Statesthe bird is commonly found throughout the summer. Doubtless it prefers tallevergreen trees for its mossy, grassy nest; but it is not always particular,so that the tree be a tall one with a convenient fork in an upper branch.

Early in September increased numbers emerge from the woods, the plumage of themale being less brilliant than when we saw it last, as if the family cares ofthe summer had proved too taxing. For nearly a month longer they huntincessantly, with much flitting about the leaves and twigs at the ends ofbranches in the shrubbery and evergreens, for the tiny insects that thewarblers must devour by the million during their all too brief visit.

BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY YELLOW AND ORANGE

Yellow-throated Vireo
American Goldfinch
Evening Grosbeak
Blue-winged Warbler
Canadian Warbler
Hooded Warbler
Kentucky Warbler
Magnolia Warbler
Mourning Warbler
Nashville Warbler
Pine Warbler
Prairie Warbler
Wilson's Warbler or Blackcap Yellow Warbler or Summer
Yellowbird
Yellow Redpoll Warbler
Yellow-breasted Chat
Maryland Yellowthroat
Blackburnian Warbler
Redstart
Baltimore Oriole

Look also among the Yellowish Olive Birds in the preceding group;and among the Brown Birds for the Meadowlark and Flicker. Seealso Parula Warbler (Slate) and Yellow-bellied Woodpecker (Blackand White).

BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY YELLOW AND ORANGE

YELLOW-THROATED VIREO (Vireo flavifrons) Vireo or Greenlet family

Length — 5.5. to 6 inches. A little smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — Lemon-yellow on throat, upper breast; line
around the eye and forehead. Yellow, shading into olive-green,
on head, back, and shoulders. Underneath white. Tail dark
brownish, edged with white. Wings a lighter shade, with two
white bands across, and some quills edged with white.
Range — North America, from Newfoundland to Gulf of Mexico, and
westward to the Rockies. Winters in the tropics.
Migrations — May. September. Spring and autumn migrant; more
rarely resident.

This is undoubtedly the beauty of the vireo family — a group of neat, active,stoutly built, and vigorous little birds of yellow, greenish, and whiteplumage; birds that love the trees, and whose feathers reflect the coloring ofthe leaves they hide, hunt, and nest among. "We have no birds," says BradfordTorrey, "so unsparing of their music: they sing from morning till night."

The yellow-throated vireo partakes of all the family characteristics, but, inaddition to these, it eclipses all its relatives in the brilliancy of itscoloring and in the art of nest-building, which it has brought to a state ofhopeless perfection. No envious bird need try to excel the exquisite finish ofits workmanship. Happily, it has wit enough to build its pensile nest highabove the reach of small boys, usually suspending it from a branch overhangingrunning water that threatens too precipitous a bath to tempt the youngclimbers.

However common in the city parks and suburban gardens this bird may be duringthe migrations, it delights in a secluded retreat overgrown with tall treesand near a stream, such as is dear to the solitary vireo as well when thenesting time approaches. High up in the trees we hear its rather sad,persistent strain, that is more in harmony with the dim forest than with thegay flower garden, where, if the truth must be told, its song is bothmonotonous and depressing. Mr. Bicknell says it is the only vireo that singsas it flies.

AMERICAN GOLDFINCH (Spinus tristis) Finch family

Called also: WILD CANARY; YELLOWBIRD; THISTLE BIRD

Length — 5 to 5.2 inches. About an inch smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male — In summer plumage: Bright yellow, except on crown of
head, frontlet, wings, and tail, which are black. Whitish
markings on wings give effect of bands. Tail with white on
inner webs. In winter plumage: Head yellow-olive; no frontlet;
black drab, with reddish tinge; shoulders and throat yellow;
soiled brownish white underneath.
Female — Brownish olive above, yellowish white beneath.
Range — North America, from the tropics to the Fur Countries and
westward to the Columbia River and California. Common
throughout its range.
Migrations — May-October. Common summer resident, frequently
Seen throughout the winter as well.

An old field, overgrown with thistles and tall, stalky wild flowers, is theparadise of the goldfinches, summer or winter. Here they congregate in happycompanies while the sunshine and goldenrod are as bright as their feathers,and cling to the swaying slender stems that furnish an abundant harvest,daintily. lunching upon the fluffy seeds of thistle blossoms, pecking at themullein-stalks, and swinging airily among the asters and Michaelmas daisies;or, when snow covers the same field with a glistening crust, above which thebrown stalks offer only a meagre dinner, the same birds, now sombrely clad inwinter feathers, cling to the swaying stems with cheerful fortitude.

At your approach, the busy company rises on the wing, and with peculiar, wavyflight rise and fall through the air, marking each undulation with a clusterof notes, sweet and clear, that come floating downward from the blue ether,where the birds seem to bound along exultant in their motion and song alike.

In the spring the plumage of the goldfinch, which has been drab and brownthrough the winter months, is moulted or shed — a change that transforms thebird from a sombre Puritan into the gayest of cavaliers, and seems towonderfully exalt his spirits. He bursts into a wild, sweet, incoherent melodythat might be the outpouring from two or three throats at once instead of one,expressing his rapture somewhat after the manner of the canary, although hissong lacks the variety and the finish of his caged namesake. What tone ofsadness in his music the man found who applied the adjective tristis to hisscientific name it is difficult to imagine when listening to the notes thatcome bubbling up from the bird's happy heart.

With plumage so lovely and song so delicious and dreamy, it is small wonderthat numbers of our goldfinches are caught and caged, however inferior theirsong may be to the European species recently introduced into this country.Heard in Central Park, New York, where they were set at liberty, the Europeangoldfinches seemed to sing with more abandon, perhaps, but with no moresweetness than their American cousins. The song remains at its best allthrough the summer months, for the bird is a long wooer. It is nearly Julybefore he mates, and not until the tardy cedar birds are house-building in theorchard do the happy pair begin to carry grass, moss, and plant-down to acrotch of some tall tree convenient to a field of such wild flowers as willfurnish food to a growing family. Doubtless the birds wait for this food to bein proper condition before they undertake parental duties at all— the most plausible excuse for their late nesting. The cares evolving fromfour to six pale-blue eggs will suffice to quiet the father's song for thewinter by the first of September, and fade all the glory out of his shiningcoat. As pretty a sight as any garden offers is when a family of goldfinchesalights on the top of a sunflower to feast upon the oily seeds — a perfectharmony of brown and gold.

EVENING GROSBEAK (Coccothraustes vespertinus) Finch family

Length — 8 inches. Two inches shorter than the robin.
Male — Forehead, shoulders, and underneath clear yellow: dull
yellow on lower back; sides of the head, throat, and breast
olive-brown. Crown, tail, and wings black, the latter with
white secondary feathers. Bill heavy and blunt, and yellow.
Female — Brownish gray, more less suffused with yellow. Wings
and tail blackish, with some white feathers.
Range — Interior of North America. Resident from Manitoba
northward. Common winter visitor in northwestern United States
and Mississippi Valley; casual winter visitor in northern
Atlantic States.

In the winter of 1889-90 Eastern people had the rare treat of becomingacquainted with this common bird of the Northwest, that, in one of its erratictravels, chose to visit New England and the Atlantic States, as far south asDelaware, in great numbers. Those who saw the evening grosbeaks then rememberhow beautiful their yellow plumage — a rare winter tint — looked in thesnow-covered trees, where small companies of the gentle and ever tame visitorsenjoyed the buds and seeds of the maples, elders, and evergreens. Possiblyevening grosbeaks were in vogue for the next season's millinery, or perhapsEastern ornithologists had a sudden zeal to investigate their structuralanatomy. At any rate, these birds, whose very tameness, that showed slightacquaintance with mankind, should have touched the coldest heart, received thewarmest kind of a reception from hot shot. The few birds that escaped to thesolitudes of Manitoba could not be expected to tempt other travellers eastwardby an account of their visit. The bird is quite likely to remain rare in theEast.

But in the Mississippi Valley and throughout the northwest, companies of fromsix to sixty may be regularly counted upon as winter neighbors on almost everyfarm. Here the females keep up a busy chatting, like a company of cedar birds,and the males punctuate their pauses with a single shrill note that giveslittle indication of their vocal powers. But in the solitude of the northernforests the love-song is said to resemble the robin's at the start. Unhappily,after a most promising beginning, the bird suddenly stops, as if he were outof breath.

BLUE-WINGED WARBLER (Helminthophila pinus) Wood Warbler family

Called also: BLUE-WINGED YELLOW WARBLER

Length — 4.75 inches. An inch and a half shorter than the
English sparrow.
Male — Crown of head and all under parts bright yellow. Back
olive-green. Wings and tail bluish slate, the former with white
bars, and three outer tail quills with large white patches on
their inner webs.
Female — Paler and more olive.
Range — Eastern United States, from southern New England and
Minnesota, the northern limit of its nesting range, to Mexico
And Central America, where it winters.
Migrations — May. September. Summer resident.

In the naming of warblers, bluish slate is the shade intended when blue ismentioned; so that if you see a dainty little olive and yellow bird withslate-colored wings and tail hunting for spiders in the blossoming orchard orduring the early autumn you will have seen the beautiful blue-winged warbler.It has a rather leisurely way of hunting, unlike the nervous, restlessflitting about from twig to twig that is characteristic of many of its manycousins. The search is thorough — bark, stems, blossoms, leaves are inspectedfor larvae and spiders, with many pretty motions of head and body. Sometimes,hanging with head downward, the bird suggests a yellow titmouse. After blossomtime a pair of these warblers, that have done serviceable work in the orchardin their all too brief stay, hurry off to dense woods to nest. They areusually to be seen in pairs at all seasons. Not to "high coniferous trees innorthern forests," — the Mecca of innumerable warblers — but to scrubby,second growth of woodland borders, or lower trees in the heart of the woods,do these dainty birds retreat. There they build the usual warbler nest oftwigs, bits of bark, leaves, and grasses, but with this peculiarity: thenumerous leaves with which the nest is wrapped all have their stems pointingupward. Mr. Frank Chapman has admirably defined their song as consisting of"two drawled, wheezy notes — swee-chee, the first inhaled, the secondexhaled."

CANADIAN WARBLER (Sylvania canadensis) Wood Warbler family

Called also: CANADIAN FLYCATCHER; SPOTTED CANADIAN WARBLER;
[CANADA WARBLER, AOU 1998]

Length — 5 to 5.6 inches. About an inch shorter than the English
sparrow.
Male — Immaculate bluish ash above, without marks on wings or
tail; crown spotted with arrow-shaped black marks. Cheeks, line
from bill to eye, and underneath clear yellow. Black streaks
forming a necklace across the breast.
Female — Paler, with necklace indistinct.
Range — North America, from Manitoba and Labrador to tropics.
Migrations — May. September. Summer resident; most abundant in
migrations.

Since about one-third of all the song-birds met with in a year's rambles areapt to be warblers, the novice cannot devote his first attention to a bettergroup, confusing though it is by reason of its size and the repetition of thesame colors in so many bewildering combinations. Monotony, however, is unknownin the warbler family. Whoever can rightly name every warbler, male andfemale, on sight is uniquely accomplished.

The jet necklace worn on this bird's breast is its best mark ofidentification. Its form is particularly slender and graceful, as might beexpected in a bird so active, one to whom a hundred tiny insects barely afforda dinner that must often be caught piecemeal as it flies past. To satisfy itsappetite, which cannot but be dainty in so thoroughly charming a bird, itlives in low, boggy woods, in such retreats as Wilson's black-capped warblerselects for a like reason. Neither of these two "flycatcher" warblers dependsaltogether on catching insects on the wing; countless thousands are picked offthe under sides of leaves and about the stems of twigs in true warblerfashion.

The Canadian's song is particularly loud, sweet, and vivacious. It ishazardous for any one without long field practice to try to name any warblerby its song alone, but possibly this one's animated music is as characteristicas any.

The nest is built on the ground on a mossy bank or elevated into the rootcrannies of some large tree, where there is much water in the woods. Bits ofbark, dead wood, moss, and fine rootlets, all carefully wrapped with leaves,go to make the pretty cradle. Unhappily, the little Canada warblers are oftencheated out of their natural rights, like so many other delightful songbirds,by the greedy interloper that the cowbird deposits in their nest.

HOODED WARBLER (Sylvania mitrata) Wood Warbler family

Length — 5 to 5.75 inches. About an inch shorter than the
English sparrow.
Male — Head, neck, chin, and throat black like a hood in mature
male specimens only. Hood restricted, or altogether wanting in
female and young. Upper parts rich olive. Forehead, cheeks, and
underneath yellow. Some conspicuous white on tail feathers.
Female — Duller, and with restricted cowl.
Range — United States east of Rockies, and from southern
Michigan and southern New England to West Indies and tropical
America, where it winters. Very local.
Migrations — May. September. Summer resident.

This beautifully marked, sprightly little warbler might be mistaken in hisimmaturity for the yellowthroat; and as it is said to take him nearly threeyears to grow his hood, with the completed cowl and cape, there is surelysufficient reason here for the despair that often seizes the novice inattempting to distinguish the perplexing warblers. Like its Southerncounterpart, the hooded warbler prefers wet woods and low trees rather thanhigh ones, for much of its food consists of insects attracted by the dampness,and many of them must be taken on the wing. Because of its tireless activitythe bird's figure is particularly slender and graceful — a trait, too, towhich we owe all the glimpses of it we are likely to get throughout thesummer. It has a curious habit of spreading its tail, as if it wished you totake special notice of the white spots that adorn it; not flirting it, as theredstart does his more gorgeous one, but simply opening it like a fan as itflies and darts about.

Its song, which is particularly sweet and graceful, and with more variationthan most warblers' music, has been translated "Che-we-eo-tsip, tsip,che-we-eo," again interpreted by Mr. Chapman as "You must come to the woods,or you won't see me."

KENTUCKY WARBLER (Geothlypis formosa) Wood Warbler family

Length — 5.5 inches. Nearly an inch shorter than the English
sparrow.
Male — Upper parts olive-green; under parts yellow; a yellow
line from the bill passes over and around the eye. Crown of
head, patch below the eye, and line defining throat, black.
Female — Similar, but paler, and with grayish instead of black
markings.
Range — United States eastward from the Rockies, and from Iowa
and Connecticut to Central, America, where it winters.
Migrations — May. September. Summer resident.

No bird is common at the extreme limits of its range, and so this warbler hasa reputation for rarity among the New England ornithologists that wouldsurprise people in the middle South and Southwest. After all that may be saidin the books, a bird is either common or rare to the individual who may or maynot have happened to become acquainted with it in any part of its chosenterritory. Plenty of people in Kentucky, where we might judge from its namethis bird is supposed to be most numerous, have never seen or heard of it,while a student on the Hudson River, within sight of New York, knows itintimately. It also nests regularly in certain parts of the ConnecticutValley. "Who is my neighbor?" is often a question difficult indeed to answerwhere birds are concerned. In the chapter, "Spring at the Capital," which,with every reading of "Wake Robin," inspires the bird-lover with fresh zeal,Mr. Burroughs writes of the Kentucky warbler: "I meet with him in low, dampplaces, in the woods, usually on the steep sides of some little run. I hear atintervals a clear, strong, bell-like whistle or warble, and presently catch aglimpse of the bird as he jumps up from the ground to take an insect or wormfrom the under side of a leaf. This is his characteristic movement. He belongsto the class of ground warblers, and his range is very low, indeed lower thanthat of any other species with which I am acquainted."

Like the ovenbird and comparatively few others, for most birds hop over theground, the Kentucky warbler walks rapidly about, looking for insects underthe fallen leaves, and poking his inquisitive beak into every cranny where aspider may be lurking. The bird has a pretty, conscious way of flying up to aperch, a few feet above the ground, as a tenor might advance towards thefootlights of a stage, to pour forth his clear, penetrating whistle, that inthe nesting season especially is repeated over, and over again with tirelesspersistency.

MAGNOLIA WARBLER (Dendroica maculosa) Wood Warbler family

Called also: BLACK-AND-YELLOW WARBLER; SPOTTED WARBLER;
BLUE-HEADED YELLOW-RUMPED WARBLER

Length — 4.75 to 5 inches. About an inch and a half smaller than
the English sparrow.
Male — Crown of head slate-color, bordered on either side by a
white line; a black line, apparently running through the eye,
and a yellow line below it, merging into the yellow throat.
Lower back and under parts yellow. Back, wings, and tail
blackish olive. Large white patch on the wings, and the
middle of the tail-quills white. Throat and sides heavily
streaked with black.
Female — Has greener back, is paler, and has less distinct
markings.
Range — North America, from Hudson Bay to Panama. Summers from
northern Michigan and northern New England northward; winters
in Central America and Cuba.
Migrations — May. October. Spring and summer migrant.

In spite of the bird's name, one need not look for it in the glossy magnoliatrees of the southern gardens more than in the shrubbery on New England lawns,and during the migrations it is quite as likely to be found in one place as inthe other. Its true preference, however, is for the spruces and hemlocks ofits nesting ground in the northern forests. For these it deserts us after abrief hunt about the tender, young spring foliage and blossoms, where theearly worm lies concealed, and before we have become so well acquainted withits handsome clothes that we will instantly recognize it in the duller ones itwears on its return trip in the autumn. The position of the white marks on thetail feathers of this warbler, however, is the clue by which it may beidentified at any season or any stage of its growth. If the white bar runsacross the middle of the warbler's tail, you can be sure of the identity ofthe bird. A nervous and restless hunter, it nevertheless seems less shy thanmany of its kin. Another pleasing characteristic is that it brings back withit in October the loud, clear, rapid whistle with which it has entertained itsnesting mate in the Canada woods through the summer.

MOURNING WARBLER (Geothlypis philadelphia) Wood Warbler family

Called also: MOURNING GROUND WARBLER

Length — 5 to 5.6 inches. About an inch smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male — Gray head and throat; the breast gray; the feathers with
black edges that make them look crinkled, like crape. The black
markings converge into a spot on upper breast. Upper parts,
except head, olive. Underneath rich yellow.
Female — Similar, but duller; throat and breast buff and dusky
where the male is black. Back olive-green.
Range — "Eastern North America; breeds from eastern Nebraska,
northern New York, and Nova Scotia northward, and south ward
along the Alleghanies to Pennsylvania. Winters in the tropics."
— Chapman.
Migrations — May. September. Spring and autumn migrant.

Since Audubon met with but one of these birds in his incessant trampings, andWilson secured only an immature, imperfectly marked specimen for hiscollection, the novice may feel no disappointment if he fails to make theacquaintance of this "gay and agreeable widow." And yet the shy and wary birdis not unknown in Central Park, New York City. Even where its clear, whistledsong strikes the ear with a startling novelty that invites to instant pursuitof the singer, you may look long and diligently through the undergrowthwithout finding it. Dr. Merriam says the whistle resembles the syllables"true, true, true, tru, too, the voice rising on the first three syllables andfalling on the last two." In the nesting season this song is repeated over andover again with a persistency worthy of a Kentucky warbler. It is deliveredfrom a perch within a few feet of the ground, as high as the bird seems everinclined to ascend.

NASHVILLE WARBLER (Helminthophila ruficapilla) Wood Warbler
family

Length — 4.75 to 5 inches. About an inch and a half smaller than
the English sparrow.
Male — Olive-green above; yellow underneath. Slate-gray head and
neck. Partially concealed chestnut patch on crown. Wings and
tail olive-brown and without markings.
Female — Dull olive and paler, with brownish wash underneath.
Range — North America, westward to the plains; north to the Fur
Countries, and south to Central America and Mexico. Nests north
of Illinois and northern New England; winters in tropics.
Migrations — April. September or October.

It must not be thought that this beautiful warbler confines itself tobackyards in the city of Nashville simply because Wilson discovered it nearthere and gave it a local name, for the bird's actual range reaches from thefur trader's camp near Hudson Bay to the adobe villages of Mexico and CentralAmerica, and over two thousand miles east and west in the United States. Itchooses open rather than dense woods and tree-bordered fields. It seems tohave a liking for hemlocks and pine trees, especially if near a stream thatattracts insects to its shores; and Dr. Warren notes that in Pennsylvania hefinds small flocks of these warblers in the autumn migration, feeding in thewillowy trees near little rivers and ponds. Only in the northern parts of theUnited States is their nest ever found, for the northern British provinces aretheir preferred nesting ground. One seen in the White Mountains was built on amossy, rocky edge, directly on the ground at the foot of a pine tree, and madeof rootlets, moss, needles from the trees overhead, and several layers ofleaves outside, with a lining of fine grasses that cradled four white,speckled eggs.

Audubon likened the bird's feeble note to the breaking of twigs.

PINE WARBLER (Dendroica vigorsii) Wood Warbler family

Called also: PINE-CREEPING WARBLER

Length — 5.5 to 6 inches. A trifle smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male — Yellowish olive above; clear yellow below, shading to
grayish white, with obscure dark streaks on side of breast. Two
whitish wing-bars; two outer tail feathers partly white.
Female — Duller; grayish white only faintly tinged with yellow
underneath.
Range — North America, east of the Rockies; north to Manitoba,
And south to Florida and the Bahamas. Winters from southern
Illinois southward.
Migrations — March or April. October or later. Common summer
resident.

The pine warbler closely presses the myrtle warbler for the first place in theranks of the family migrants, but as the latter bird often stays north allwinter, it is usually given the palm. Here is a warbler, let it be recorded,that is fittingly named, for it is a denizen of pine woods only; most commonin the long stretches of pine forests at the south and in New York and NewEngland, and correspondingly uncommon wherever the woodsman's axe has laid thepine trees low throughout its range. Its "simple, sweet, and drowsy song,"writes Mr. Parkhurst, is always associated "with the smell of pines on asultry day." It recalls that of the junco and the social sparrow or chippy.

Creeping over the bark of trees and peering into every crevice like anuthatch; running along the limbs, not often hopping nervously or flittinglike the warblers; darting into the air for a passing insect, or descending tothe ground to feed on seeds and berries, the pine warbler has, by a curiouscombination, the movements that seem to characterize several different birds.

It is one of the largest and hardiest members of its family, but notremarkable for its beauty. It is a sociable traveller, cheerfully escortingother warblers northward, and welcoming to its band both the yellow redpollsand the myrtle warblers. These birds are very often seen together in the pineand other evergreen trees in our lawns and in the large city parks.

PRAIRIE WARBLER (Dendroica discolor) Wood Warbler family

Length — 4.75 to 5 inches. About an inch and a half shorter than
the English sparrow.
Male — Olive-green above, shading to yellowish on the head, and
with brick-red spots on back between the shoulders. A yellow
line over the eye; wing-bars and all under parts bright yellow,
heavily streaked with black on the sides. Line through the eye
and crescent below it, black. Much white in outer tail
feathers.
Female — Paler; upper parts more grayish olive, and markings
Less distinct than male's.
Range — Eastern half of the United States. Nests as far north as
New England and Michigan. Winters from Florida southward.
Migrations — May. September. Summer resident.

Doubtless this diminutive bird was given its name because it prefers opencountry rather than the woods — the scrubby undergrowth of oaks, youngevergreens, and bushes that border clearings being as good a place as any tolook for it, and not the wind-swept, treeless tracts of the wild West. Itsrange is southerly. The Southern and Middle States are where it is mostabundant. Here is a wood warbler that is not a bird of the woods — less so,in fact, than either the summer yellowbird (yellow warbler) or the palmwarbler, that are eminently neighborly and fond of pasture lands and roadsidethickets. But the prairie warblers are rather more retiring little spritesthan their cousins, and it is not often we get a close enough view of them tonote the brick-red spots on their backs, which are their distinguishing marks.They have a most unkind preference for briery bushes, that discourage humanintimacy. In such forbidding retreats they build their nest of plant-fibre,rootlets, and twigs, lined with plant-down and hair.

The song of an individual prairie warbler makes only a slight impression. Itconsists "of a series of six or seven quickly repeated tees, the next to thelast one being the highest" (Chapman). But the united voices of a dozen ormore of these pretty little birds, that often sing together, afford somethingapproaching a musical treat.

WILSON'S WARBLER (Sylvania pusila) Wood Warbler family

Called also: BLACKCAP; GREEN BLACK-CAPPED WARBLER; WILSON'S
FLYCATCHER

Length — 4.75 to 5 inches. About an inch and a half shorter than
the English sparrow.
Male — Black cap; yellow forehead; all other upper parts
olive-green; rich yellow underneath.
Female — Lacks the black cap.
Range — North America, from Alaska and Nova Scotia to Panama.
Winters south of Gulf States. Nests chiefly north of the United
States.
Migrations — May. September. Spring and autumn migrant.

To see this strikingly marked little bird one must be on the sharp lookout forit during the latter half of May, or at the season of apple bloom, and theearly part of September. It passes northward with an almost scornful rapidity.Audubon mentions having seen it in Maine at the end of October, but thisspecimen surely must have been an exceptional laggard.

In common with several others of its family, it is exceedingly expert incatching insects on the wing; but it may be known as no true flycatcher fromthe conspicuous rich yellow of its under parts, and also from its habit ofreturning from a midair sally to a different perch from the one it left topursue its dinner. A true flycatcher usually returns to its old perch aftereach hunt.

To indulge in this aerial chase with success, these warblers select for theirhome and hunting ground some low woodland growth where a sluggish streamattracts myriads of insects to the boggy neighborhood. Here they build theirnest in low bushes or upon the ground. Four or five grayish eggs, sprinkledwith cinnamon-colored spots in a circle around the larger end, are laid in thegrassy cradle in June. Mr. H. D. Minot found one of these nests on Pike's Peakat an altitude of 11,000 feet, almost at the limit of vegetation. The sameauthority compares the bird's song to that of the redstart and the yellowwarbler.

YELLOW REDPOLL WARBLER (Dendroica palmarum hypochrysea) Wood
Warbler family

Called also: YELLOW PALM WARBLER; [the two former palm warbler
species combined as PALM WARBLER, AOU 1998]

Length — 5.5 to 5.75 inches. A little smaller than the English
sparrow.
Male and Female — Chestnut crown. Upper parts brownish olive;
greenest on lower back. Underneath uniform bright yellow,
streaked with chestnut on throat, breast, and sides. Yellow
line over and around the eye. Wings unmarked. Tail edged with
olive-green; a few white spots near tips of outer quills. More
brownish above in autumn, and with a grayish wash over the
yellow under parts.
Range — Eastern parts of North America. Nests from Nova Scotia
northward. Winters in the Gulf States.
Migrations — April. October. Spring and autumn migrant.

While the uniform yellow of this warbler's under parts in any plumage is itsdistinguishing mark, it also has a flycatcher's trait of constantly flirtingits tail, that is at once an outlet for its superabundant vivacity and afairly reliable aid to identification. The tail is jerked, wagged, and flirtedlike a baton in the hands of an inexperienced leader of an orchestra. One neednot go to the woods to look for the restless little sprite that comesnorthward when the early April foliage is as yellow and green as its feathers.It prefers the fields and roadsides, and before there are leaves enough on theundergrowth to conceal it we may come to know it as well as it is possible toknow any bird whose home life is passed so far away. Usually it is the firstwarbler one sees in the spring in New York and New England. With all thealertness of a flycatcher, it will dart into the air after insects that flynear the ground, keeping up a constant chip, chip, fine and shrill, at one endof the small body, and the liveliest sort of tail motions at the other. Thepine warbler often bears it company.

With the first suspicion of warm weather, off goes this hardy little fellowthat apparently loves the cold almost well enough to stay north all the yearlike its cousin, the myrtle warbler. It builds a particularly deep nest, ofthe usual warbler construction, on the ground, but its eggs are rosy ratherthan the bluish white of others.

In the Southern States the bird becomes particularly neighborly, and is saidto enter the streets and gardens of towns with a chippy's familiarity.

Palm Warbler or Redpoll Warbler (Dendroica palmarum) differs from thepreceding chiefly in its slightly smaller size, the more grayish-brown tint inits olive upper parts, and the uneven shade of yellow underneath that variesfrom clear yellow to soiled whitish. It is the Western counterpart of theyellow redpoll, and is most common in the Mississippi Valley. Strangelyenough, however, it is this warbler, and not hypochrysea, that goes out of itsway to winter in Florida, where it is abundant all winter.

YELLOW WARBLER (Dendroica aestiva) Wood Warbler family

Called also: SUMMER YELLOWBIRD; GOLDEN WARBLER; YELLOW POLL

Length — 4.75 to 5.2 inches. Over an inch shorter than the
English sparrow.
Male — Upper parts olive-yellow, brightest on the crown; under
parts bright yellow, streaked with reddish brown. Wings and
tail dusky olive-brown, edged with yellow.
Female — Similar; but reddish-brown streakings less distinct.
Range — North America, except Southwestern States, where the
prothonotary warbler reigns in its stead. Nests from Gulf
States to Fur Countries. Winters south of the Gulf States. As
far as northern parts of South America.
Migrations — May. September. Common summer resident.

This exquisite little creature of perpetual summer (though to find it it musttravel back and forth between two continents) comes out of the south with thegolden days of spring. From much living in the sunshine through countlessgenerations, its feathers have finally become the color of sunshine itself,and in disposition, as well, it is nothing if not sunny and bright. Not theleast of its attractions is that it is exceedingly common everywhere: in theshrubbery of our lawns, in gardens and orchards, by the road and brookside, inthe edges of woods — everywhere we catch its glint of brightness through thelong summer days, and hear its simple, sweet, and happy song until the end ofJuly.

Because both birds are so conspicuously yellow, no doubt this warbler is quitegenerally confused with the goldfinch; but their distinctions are clear enoughto any but the most superficial glance. In the first place, the yellow warbleris a smaller bird than the goldfinch; it has neither black crown, wings, nortail, and it does have reddish-brown streaks on its breast that aresufficiently obsolete to make the coloring of that part look simply dull at alittle distance. The goldfinch's bill is heavy, in order that it may crackseeds, whereas the yellow warbler's is slender, to enable it to pick minuteinsects from the foliage. The goldfinch's wavy, curved flight is unique, andthat of his "double" differs not a whit from that of all nervous, flittingwarblers. Surely no one familiar with the rich, full, canary-like song of the"wild canary," as the goldfinch is called, could confuse it with the mild"Weechee, chee, cher-wee" of the summer yellowbird. Another distinction, notalways infallible, but nearly so, is that when seen feeding, the goldfinch isgenerally below the line of vision, while the yellow warbler is either on itor not far above it, as it rarely goes over twelve feet from the ground.

No doubt, the particularly mild, sweet amiability of the yellow warbler isresponsible for the persistent visitations of the cowbird, from which it is aconspicuous sufferer. In the exquisite, neat little matted cradle ofglistening milk-weed flax, lined with down from the fronds of fern, theskulking housebreaker deposits her surreptitious egg for the little yellowmother-bird to hatch and tend. But amiability is not the only prominent traitin the female yellow warbler's character. She is clever as well, and quicklybuilds a new bottom on her nest, thus sealing up the cowbird's egg, anddepositing her own on the soft, spongy floor above it. This operation has beenknown to be twice repeated, until the nest became three stories high, when apersistent cowbird made such unusual architecture necessary.

The most common nesting place of the yellow warbler is in low willows alongthe shores of streams.

YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT (Icteria virens) Wood Warbler family

Called also: POLYGLOT CHAT; YELLOW MOCKING BIRD

Length — 7.5 inches. A trifle over an inch longer than the
English sparrow.
Male and Female — Uniform olive-green above. Throat, breast, and
under side of wings bright, clear yellow. Underneath white.
Sides grayish. White line over the eye, reaching to base of
bill and forming partial eye-ring. Also white line on sides of
throat. Bill and feet black.
Range — North America, from Ontario to Central America and
westward to the plains. Most common in Middle Atlantic States.
Migrations — Early May. Late August or September. Summer
resident.

This largest of the warblers might be mistaken for a dozen birds collectivelyin as many minutes; but when it is known that the jumble of whistles, parts ofsongs, chuckles, clucks, barks, quacks, whines, and wails proceed from asingle throat, the yellow-breasted chat becomes a marked specimen forthwith —a conspicuous individual never to be confused with any other member of thefeathered tribe. It is indeed absolutely unique. The catbird and themocking-bird are rare mimics; but while the chat is not their equal in thisrespect, it has a large repertoire of weird, uncanny cries all its own — apower of throwing its voice, like a human ventriloquist, into unexpectedcorners of the thicket or meadow. In addition to its extraordinary vocalfeats, it can turn somersaults and do other clown-like stunts as well as anyvariety actor on the Bowery stage.

Only by creeping cautiously towards the roadside tangle, where this"rollicking polyglot" is entertaining himself and his mate, brooding over herspeckled eggs in a bulky nest set in a most inaccessible briery part of thethicket, can you hope to hear him rattle through his variety performance. Walkboldly or noisily past his retreat, and there is "silence there and nothingmore." But two very bright eyes peer out at you through the undergrowth, wherethe trim, elegant-looking bird watches you with quizzical suspicion until youquietly seat yourself assume silent indifference. "Whew, whew!" he begins, andthen immediately, with evident intent to amuse, he rattles off anindescribable, eccentric medley until your ears are tired listening. With billuplifted, tail drooping, wings fluttering at his side, he cuts an absurdfigure enough, but not so comical as when he rises into the air, trailing hislegs behind him stork-fashion. This surely is the clown among birds. But anythough he is, he is as capable of devotion to his Columbine as Punchinello,and remains faithfully mated year after year. However much of a tease and adeceiver he may be to the passer-by along the roadside, in the privacy of thedomestic circle he shows truly lovable traits.

He has the habit of singing in his unmusical way on moonlight nights. Probablyhis ventriloquial powers are cultivated not for popular entertainment, but tolure intruders away from his nest.

MARYLAND YELLOWTHROAT (Geothlypis trichas) Wood Warbler family

Called also: BLACK-MASKED GROUND WARBLER; [COMMON YELLOWTHROAT,
AOU 1998]

Length — 5.33 inches. Just an inch shorter than the typical
English sparrow.
Male — Olive-gray on head, shading to olive-green on all the
other upper parts. Forehead, cheeks, and sides of head black,
like a mask, and bordered behind by a grayish line. Throat and
breast bright yellow, growing steadily paler underneath.
Female — Either totally lacks black mask or its place is
Indicated by only a dusky tint. She is smaller and duller.
Range — Eastern North America, west to the plains; most common
east of the Alleghanies. Nests from the Gulf States to Labrador
and Manitoba; winters south of Gulf States to Panama.
Migrations — May. September. Common summer resident.

"Given a piece of marshy ground with an abundance of skunk cabbage and afairly dense growth of saplings, and near by a tangle of green brier andblackberry, and you will be pretty sure to have it tenanted by a pair ofyellowthroats," says Dr. Abbott, who found several of their nests inskunk-cabbage plants, which he says are favorite cradles. No animal cares totouch this plant if it can be avoided; but have the birds themselves no senseof smell?

Before and after the nesting season these active birds, plump of form, elegantof attire, forceful, but not bold, enter the scrubby pastures near our housesand the shrubbery of old- fashioned, overgrown gardens, and peer out at thehuman wanderer therein with a charming curiosity. The bright eyes of the malemasquerader shine through his black mask, where he intently watches you fromthe tangle of syringa and snowball bushes; and as he flies into the laburnumwith its golden chain of blossoms that pale before the yellow of his throatand breast, you are so impressed with his grace and elegance that you followtoo audaciously, he thinks, and off he goes. And yet this is a bird that seemsto delight in being pursued. It never goes so far away that you are nottempted to follow it, though it be through dense undergrowth and swampythickets, and it always gives you just glimpse enough of its beauties andgraces before it flies ahead, to invite the hope of a closer inspection nexttime. When it dives into the deepest part of the tangle, where you can imagineit hunting about among the roots and fallen leaves for the larvae,caterpillars, spiders, and other insects on which it feeds, it sometimesamuses itself with a simple little song between the hunts. But the bird'sindifference, you feel sure, arises from preoccupation rather than rudeness.

If, however, your visit to the undergrowth is unfortunately timed and therehappens to be a bulky nest in process of construction on the ground, a quicklyrepeated, vigorous chit, pit, quit, impatiently inquires the reason for yourbold intrusion. Withdraw discreetly and listen to the love-song that ispresently poured out to reassure his plain little maskless mate. The music isdelivered with all the force and energy of his vigorous nature and penetratesto a surprising distance. "Follow me, follow me, follow me," many people hearhim say; others write the syllables, "Wichity, wichity, wichity, wichity"; andstill others write them, "I beseech you, I beseech you, I beseech you," thoughthe tones of this self-assertive bird rather command than entreat. Mr. FrankChapman says of the yellowthroats: "They sing throughout the summer, and inAugust add a flight-song to their repertoire. This is usually uttered towardevening, when the bird springs several feet into the air, hovers for a second,and then drops back to the bushes."

BLACKBURNIAN WARBLER (Dendroica blackburnia) Wood Warbler family

Called also: HEMLOCK WARBLER; ORANGE-THROATED WARBLER; TORCH-BIRD

Length — 4.5 to 5.5 inches. An inch and a half smaller than the
English sparrow.
Male — Head black, striped with orange-flame; throat and breast
orange, shading through yellow to white underneath; wings,
tail, and part of back black, with white markings.
Female — Olive-brown above, shading into yellow on breast, and
paler under parts.
Range — Eastern North America to plains. Winters in tropics.
Migrations — May. September. Spring and autumn migrant.

"The orange-throated warbler would seem to be his right name, hischaracteristic cognomen," says John Burroughs, in ever-delightful "WakeRobin"; "but no, he is doomed to wear the name of some discoverer, perhaps thefirst who robbed his nest or rifled him of his mate — Blackburn; hence,Blackburnian warbler. The burn seems appropriate enough, for in these darkevergreens his throat and breast show like flame. He has a very fine warble,suggesting that of the redstart, but not especially musical."

No foliage is dense enough to hide, and no autumnal tint too brilliant tooutshine this luminous little bird that in May, as it migrates northward toits nesting ground, darts in and out of the leafy shadows like a tongue offire.

It is by far the most glorious of all the warblers — a sort of diminutiveoriole. The quiet-colored little mate flits about after him, apparently lostin admiration of his fine feathers and the ease with which his thin tenorvoice can end his lover's warble in a high Z.

Take a good look at this attractive couple, for in May they leave us to builda nest of bark and moss in the evergreens of Canada — that paradise forwarblers — or of the Catskills and Adirondacks, and in autumn they hurrysouth to escape the first frosts.

REDSTART (Setophaga ruticilla) Wood Warbler family

Called also: YELLOW-TAILED WARBLER; [AMERICAN REDSTART, AOU 1998]

Length — 5 to 5.5 inches.
Male — In spring plumage: Head, neck, back, and middle breast
glossy black, with blue reflections. Breast and underneath
white, slightly flushed with salmon, increasing to bright
salmon-orange on the sides of the body and on the wing linings.
Occasional specimens show orange-red. Tail feathers partly
black, partly orange, with broad black band across the end.
Orange markings on wings. Bill and feet black. In autumn:
Fading into rusty black, olive, and yellow.
Female — Olive-brown, and yellow where the male is orange. Young
browner than the females.
Range — North America to upper Canada. West occasionally, as far
as the Pacific coast, but commonly found in summer in the
Atlantic and Middle States.
Migrations — Early May. End of September. Summer resident.

Late some evening, early in May, when one by one the birds have withdrawntheir voices from the vesper chorus, listen for the lingering "'tsee, 'tsee,'tseet" (usually twelve times repeated in a minute), that the redstart sweetlybut rather monotonously sings from the evergreens, where, as his tiny bodyburns in the twilight, Mrs. Wright likens him to a "wind-blown firebrand, halfglowing, half charred."

But by daylight this brilliant little warbler is constantly on the alert. Itis true he has the habit, like the flycatchers (among which some learnedornithologists still class him), of sitting pensively on a branch, with fluffyfeathers and drooping wings; but the very next instant he shows true warblerblood by making a sudden dash upward, then downward through the air, tumblingsomersaults, as if blown by the wind, flitting from branch to branch, busilysnapping at the tiny insects hidden beneath the leaves, clinging to thetree-trunk like a creeper, and singing between bites.

Possibly he will stop long enough in his mad chase to open and shut his tail,fan-fashion, with a dainty egotism that, in the peaco*ck, becomes rank vanity.

The Germans call this little bird roth Stert (red tail), but, like so manypopular names, this is a misnomer, as, strictly speaking, the redstart isnever red, though its salmon-orange markings often border on to orange-flame.

In a fork of some tall bush or tree, placed ten or fifteen feet from theground, a carefully constructed little nest is made of moss, horsehair, andstrippings from the bark, against which the nest is built, the better toconceal its location. Four or five whitish eggs, thickly sprinkled with palebrown and lilac, like the other warblers', are too jealously guarded by thelittle mother-bird to be very often seen.

BALTIMORE ORIOLE (Iderus galbula) Oriole and Blackbird family

Called also: GOLDEN ORIOLE;FIREBIRD; GOLDEN ROBIN; HANG-NEST;
ENGLISH ROBIN

Length — 7 to 8 inches. About one-fifth smaller than the robin.
Male — Head, throat, upper part of back glossy black. Wings
black, with white spots and edgings. Tail-quills black, with
yellow markings on the tips. Everywhere else orange, shading
into flame.
Female — Yellowish olive. Wings dark brown, and quills margined
with white. Tail yellowish brown, with obscure, dusky bars.
Range — The whole United States. Most numerous in Eastern States
below 55 degrees north latitude.
Migrations — Early May. Middle of September. Common summer
resident.

A flash of fire through the air; a rich, high, whistled song floating in thewake of the feathered meteor: the Baltimore oriole cannot be mistaken. Whenthe orchards are in blossom he arrives in full plumage and song, and awaitsthe coming of the female birds, that travel northward more leisurely inflocks. He is decidedly in evidence. No foliage is dense enough to hide hisbrilliancy; his temper, quite as fiery as his feathers, leads him into noisyquarrels, and his insistent song with its martial, interrogative notes becomesalmost tiresome until he is happily mated and family cares check hisenthusiasm.

Among the best architects in the world is his plain but energetic mate.Gracefully swung from a high branch of some tall tree, the nest is woven withexquisite skill into a long, flexible pouch that rain cannot penetrate, norwind shake from its horsehair moorings. Bits of string, threads of silk, andsometimes yarn of the gayest colors, if laid about the shrubbery in thegarden, will be quickly interwoven with the shreds of bark and milkweed stalksthat the bird has found afield. The shape of the nest often differs, becausein unsettled regions, where hawks abound, it is necessary to make it deeperthan seven inches (the customary depth when it is built near the homes ofmen), and to partly close it at the top to conceal the sitting bird. From fourto six whitish eggs, scrawled over with black-brown, are hatched by the motheroriole, and most jealously guarded by her now truly domesticated mate.

The number of grubs, worms, flies, caterpillars, and even cocoons, that go tosatisfy the hunger of a family of orioles in a day, might indicate, if itcould be computed, the great value these birds are about our homes, aside fromthe good cheer they bring.

There is a popular tradition about the naming of this gorgeous bird: WhenGeorge Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, worn out and discouraged by varioushardships in his Newfoundland colony, decided to visit Virginia in 1628, hewrote that nothing in the Chesapeake country so impressed him as the myriadsof birds in its woods. But the song and color of the oriole particularlycheered and delighted him, and orange and black became the heraldic colors ofthe first lords proprietors of Maryland.

Hush! 'tis he! My Oriole, my glance of summer fire,
Is come at last; and ever on the watch,
Twitches the pack-thread I had lightly wound
About the bough to help his housekeeping.
Twitches and scouts by turns, blessing his luck,
Yet fearing me who laid it in his way.
Nor, more than wiser we in our affairs,
Divines the Providence that hides and helps.
Heave, ho! Heave, ho! he whistles as the twine
Slackens its hold; once more, now! and a flash
Lightens across the sunlight to the elm
Where his mate dangles at her cup of felt.
— James Russell Lowell.

BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY RED OF ANY SHADE

Cardinal Grosbeak
Summer Tanager
Scarlet Tanager
Pine Grosbeak
American Crossbill and the White-winged Crossbill
Redpoll and Greater Redpoll
Purple Finch
Robin
Orchard Oriole

See the Red-winged Blackbird (Black). See also the males of the
Rose-breasted Grosbeak, the Woodpeckers, the Chewink (Black and
White), the Red-breasted Nuthatch, the Bay-breasted and the
Chestnut-sided Warblers (Slate and Gray); the Bluebird and Barn
Swallow (Blue); the Flicker (Brown); the Humming-bird and the
Kinglets (Greenish Gray); and the Blackburnian and Redstart
Warblers, and the Baltimore Oriole (Orange).

BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY RED OF ANY SHADE

CARDINAL GROSBEAK (Cardinalis cardinalis) Finch family

Called also: CRESTED REDBIRD; VIRGINIA REDBIRD; VIRGINIA
NIGHTINGALE; CARDINAL BIRD; [NORTHERN CARDINAL, AOU 1998]

Length — 8 to 9 inches. A little smaller than the robin.
Male — Brilliant cardinal; chin and band around bill black. Beak
stout and red. Crest conspicuous. In winter dress, wings washed
with gray.
Female — Brownish yellow above, shading to gray below. Tail
shorter than the male's. Crest, wings, and tail reddish. Breast
sometimes tinged with red.
Range — Eastern United States. A Southern bird, becoming more
and more common during the summer in States north of Virginia,
especially in Ohio, south of which it is resident throughout
the year.
Migrations — Resident rather than migrating birds, remaining
throughout the winter in localities where they have found their
way. Travel in flocks.

Among the numerous names by which this beautiful bird is known, it has becomeimmortalized under the title of Mr. James Lane Allen's exquisite book, "TheKentucky Cardinal." Here, while we are given a most charmingly sympathetic,delicate account of the bird "who has only to be seen or heard, and Deathadjusts an arrow," it is the cardinal's pathetic fate that impresses one most.Seen through less poetical eyes, however, the bird appears to be a haughtyautocrat, a sort of "F. F. V." among the feathered tribes, as, indeed, histitle, "Virginia redbird," has been unkindly said to imply. Bearing himselfwith a refined and courtly dignity, not stooping to soil his feet by walkingon the ground like the more democratic robin, or even condescending below thelevel of the laurel bushes, the cardinal is literally a shining example ofself-conscious superiority — a bird to call forth respect and admirationrather than affection. But a group of cardinals in a cedar tree in a snowywinter landscape makes us forgetful of everything but their supreme beauty.

As might be expected in one of the finch family, the cardinal is a songster —the fact which, in connection with his lovely plumage, accounts for the numberof these birds shipped in cages to Europe, where they are known as Virginianightingales. Commencing with a strong, rich whistle, like the high notes of afife, "Cheo-cheo-cheo-cheo," repeated over and over as if to make perfect thestart of a song he is about to sing, suddenly he stops, and you learn thatthere is to be no glorious performance after all, only a prelude to —nothing. The song, such as it is, begins, with both male and female, in March,and lasts, with a brief intermission, until September — "the most melodioussigh," as Mr. Allen calls it. Early in May the cardinals build a bulky andloosely made nest, usually in the holly, laurel, or other evergreen shrubsthat they always love to frequent, especially if these are near fields of cornor other grain. And often two broods in a year come forth from the pale-gray,brown-marked eggs, beating what is literally for them the "fatal gift ofbeauty."

SUMMER TANAGER (Piranga rubra) Tanager family

Called also: REDBIRD; SMOOTH-HEADED REDBIRD

Length — 7.5 inches. About one-fourth smaller than the robin.
Male — Uniform red. Wings and tail like the body.
Female — Upper parts yellowish olive-green; underneath inclining
to orange-yellow.
Range — Tropical portions of two Americas and eastern United
States. Most common in Southern States. Rare north of
Pennsylvania. Winters in the tropics. Mirations — In Southern
States: April. October. Irregular migrant north of the
Carolinas.

Thirty years ago, it is recorded that so far north as New Jersey the summerredbird was quite as common as any of the thrushes. In the South still thereis scarcely an orchard that does not contain this tropical-looking beauty —the redbird par excellence, the sweetest singer of the family. Is there a morebeautiful sight in all nature than a grove of orange trees laden with fruit,starred with their delicious blossoms, and with flocks of redbirds disportingthemselves among the dark, glossy leaves? Pine and oak woods are also favoriteresorts, especially at the north, where the bird nowadays forsakes theorchards to hide his beauty, if he can, unharmed by the rifle that only rarelyis offered so shining a mark. He shows the scarlet tanager's preference fortree-tops, where his musical voice, calling "Chicky-tucky-tuk," alone betrayshis presence in the woods. The Southern farmers declare that he is aninfallible weather prophet, his "wet, WET, WET," being the certain indicationof rain — another absurd saw, for the call-note is by no means confined tothe rainy season.

The yellowish-olive mate, whose quiet colors betray no nest secrets, collectstwigs and grasses for the cradle to be saddled on the end of some horizontalbranch, though in this work the male sometimes cautiously takes aninsignificant part. After her three or four eggs are laid she sits upon themfor nearly two weeks, being only rarely and stealthily visited by her matewith some choice grub, blossom, or berry in his beak. But how cheerfully hisfife-like whistle rings out during the temporary exile! Then his song is atit* best. Later in the summer he has an aggravating way of joining in thechorus of other birds' songs, by which the pleasant individuality of his ownvoice is lost.

A nest of these tanagers, observed not far from New York City, was commencedthe last week of May on the extreme edge of a hickory limb in an open wood;four eggs were laid on the fourth of June, and twelve days later the tinyfledglings, that all look like their mother in the early stages of theirexistence, burst from the greenish-white, speckled shells. In less than amonth the young birds were able to fly quite well and collect their food.

SCARLET TANAGER (Piranga erythromelas) Tanager family

Called also: BLACK-WINGED REDBIRD; FIREBIRD; CANADA TANAGER;
POCKET-BIRD

Length — 7 to 7.5 inches. About one-fourth smaller than the
robin.
Male — In spring plumage: Brilliant scarlet, with black wings
And tail. Under wing coverts grayish white. In autumn: Similar
To female.
Female — Olive-green above; wings and tail dark, lightly
Margined with olive. Underneath greenish yellow.
Range — North America to northern Canada boundaries, and
southwardin winter to South America.
Migrations — May. October. Summer resident

The gorgeous coloring of the scarlet tanager has been its snare anddestruction. The densest evergreens could not altogether hide this blazingtarget for the sportsman's gun, too often fired at the instigation of citymilliners. "Fine feathers make fine birds" — and cruel, silly women, theadage might be adapted for latter-day use. This rarely beautiful tanager,thanks to them, is now only an infrequent flash of beauty in our countryroads.

Instinct leads it to be chary of its charms; and whereas it used to be one ofthe commonest of bird neighbors, it is now shy and solitary. An ideal resortfor it is a grove of oak or swamp maple near a stream or pond where it canbathe. Evergreen trees, too, are favorites, possibly because the bird knowshow exquisitely its bright scarlet coat is set off by their dark background.

High in the tree-tops he perches, all unsuspected by the visitor passingthrough the woods below, until a burst of rich, sweet melody directs theopera-glasses suddenly upward. There we detect him carolling loud andcheerfully, like a robin. He is an apparition of beauty — a veritable bird ofparadise, as, indeed, he is sometimes called. Because of their similarcoloring, the tanager and cardinal are sometimes confounded, but an instant'scomparison of the two birds shows nothing in common except red feathers, andeven those of quite different shades. The inconspicuous olive-green and yellowof the female tanager's plumage is another striking instance of Nature'sunequal distribution of gifts; but if our bright-colored birds have becomeshockingly few under existing conditions, would any at all remain were thefemales prominent, like the males, as they brood upon the nest? Both tanagersconstruct a rather disorderly-looking nest of fibres and sticks, through whichdaylight can be seen where it rests securely upon the horizontal branch ofsome oak or pine tree; but as soon as three or four bluish-green eggs havebeen laid in the cradle, off goes the father, wearing his tell-tale coat, to adistant tree. There he sings his sweetest carol to the patient, brooding mate,returning to her side only long enough to feed her with the insects andberries that form their food.

Happily for the young birds' fate, they are clothed at first in motley, dullcolors, with here and there only a bright touch of scarlet, yellow, and oliveto prove their claim to the parent whose gorgeous plumage must be theiradmiration. But after the moulting season it would be a wise tanager that knewits own father. His scarlet feathers are now replaced by an autumn coat ofolive and yellow not unlike his mate's.

PINE GROSBEAK (Pinicola enucleator) Finch family

Called also: PINE BULLFINCH

Length — Variously recorded from 6.5 to 11 inches. Specimen
measured 8.5 inches. About one-fifth smaller than the robin.
Male — General color strawberry-red, with some slate-gray
fleckings about head, under wings, and on legs. Tail brown;
wings brown, marked with black and white and slate. A band-
shaped series of markings between the shoulders. Underneath
paler red, merging into grayish green. Heavy, conspicuous bill.
Female — Ash-brown. Head and hind neck yellowish brown, each
feather having central dusky streak. Cheeks and throat
yellowish. Beneath ash-gray, tinged with brownish yellow under
tail.
Range — British American provinces and northern United States.
Migrations — Irregular winter visitors; length of visits as
uncertain as their coming.

As inseparable as bees from flowers, so are these beautiful winter visitorsfrom the evergreen woods, where their red feathers, shining against thedark-green background of the trees, give them charming prominence; but theyalso feed freely upon the buds of various deciduous trees.

South of Canada we may not look for them except in the severest winterweather. Even then their coming is not to be positively depended upon; butwhen their caprice — or was it an unusually fierce northern blast? — sendsthem over the Canada border, it is a simple matter to identify them when suchbrilliant birds are rare. The brownish-yellow and grayish females and youngmales, however, always seem to be in the majority with us, though our Canadianfriends assure us of the irreproachable morals of this gay bird.

Wherever there are clusters of pine or cedar trees, when there is a flock ofpine grosbeaks in the neighborhood, you may expect to find a pair of birdsdiligently feeding upon the seeds and berries. No cheerful note escapes themas they persistently gormandize, and, if the truth must be confessed, theyappear to be rather stupid and uninteresting, albeit they visit us at a timewhen we are most inclined to rapture over our bird visitors. They are said tohave a deliciously sweet song in the nesting season. When, however, few exceptthe Canadian voyageurs hear it.

AMERICAN CROSSBILL (Loxia curvirostra minor) Finch family

Called also: RED CROSSBILL [AOU 1998]

Length — 6 to 7 inches. About the size of the English sparrow.
Male — General color Indian red, passing into brownish gray,
with red tinge beneath. Wings (without bands), also tail,
brown, Beak crossed at the tip.
Female — General color greenish yellow, with brownish tints.
Dull-yellowish tints on head, throat, breast, and underneath.
Wings and tail pale brown. Beak crossed at tip.
Range — Pennsylvania to northern British America. West of
Mississippi, range more southerly.
Migrations — Irregular winter visitor. November. Sometimes
resident until April.

It is a rash statement to say that a bird is rare simply because you havenever seen it in your neighborhood, for while you are going out of the frontdoor your rara avis may be eating the crumbs about your kitchen. Even with oureyes and ears constantly alert for some fresh bird excitement, our phlegmaticneighbor over the way may be enjoying a visit from a whole flock of the verybird we have been looking and listening for in vain all the year. The redcrossbills are capricious little visitors, it is true, but by no meansuncommon.

About the size of an English sparrow, of a brick or Indian red color, for themost part, the peculiarity of its parrot-like beak is its certain mark ofidentification.

Longfellow has rendered into verse the German legend of the crossbill, whichtells that as the Saviour hung upon the cross, a little bird tried to pull outthe nails that pierced His hands and feet, thus twisting its beak and stainingits feathers with the blood.

At first glance the birds would seem to be hampered by their crossed beaks ingetting at the seeds in the pine cones — a superficial criticism when thethoroughness and admirable dexterity of their work are better understood.

Various seeds of fruits, berries, and the buds of trees enlarge their bill offare. They are said to be inordinately fond of salt. Mr. Romeyn B. Hough tellsof a certain old ice-cream freezer that attracted flocks of crossbills onewinter, as a salt-lick attracts deer. Whether the traditional salt that mayhave stuck to the bird's tail is responsible for its tameness is not related,but it is certain the crossbills, like most bird visitors from the far north,are remarkably gentle, friendly little birds. As they swing about the pinetrees, parrot-fashion, with the help of their bill, calling out kimp, kimp,that sounds like the snapping of the pine cones on a sunny day, it often seemseasily possible to catch them with the hand.

There is another species of crossbill, called the White-winged (Loxialeucoptera), that differs from the preceding chiefly in having two white bandsacross its wings and in being more rare.

THE REDPOLL (Acanthis linaria) Finch family

Called also: REDPOLL LINNET; LITTLE SNOWBIRD; LESSER REDPOLL;
[COMMON REDPOLL, AOU 1998]

Length — 5.25 to 5.5 inches. About an inch shorter than the
English sparrow.
Male — A rich crimson wash on head, neck, breast, and lower
back, that is sometimes only a pink when we see the bird in
midwinter. Grayish-brown, sparrowy feathers show underneath the
red wash. Dusky wings and tail, the feathers more or less edged
with whitish. Soiled white underneath; the sides with dusky
streaks. Bill sharply pointed.
Female — More dingy than male, sides more heavily streaked, and
having crimson only on the crown.
Range — An arctic bird that descends irregularly into the
Northern United States.
Migrations — An irregular winter visitor.

"Ere long, amid the cold and powdery snow, as it were a fruit of the season,will come twittering a flock of delicate crimson-tinged birds, lesserredpolls, to sport and feed on the buds just ripe for them on the sunny sideof a wood, shaking down the powdery snow there in their cheerful feeding, asif it were high midsummer to them." Thoreau's beautiful description of thesetiny winter visitors, which should be read entire, shows the man in one of hismost sympathetic, exalted moods, and it is the best brief characterization ofthe redpoll that we have.

When the arctic cold becomes too cruel for even the snow-birds and crossbillsto withstand, flocks of the sociable little redpolls flying southward are themerest specks in the sullen, gray sky, when they can be seen at all. So highdo they keep that often they must pass above our heads without our knowing it.First we see a quantity of tiny dots, like a shake of pepper, in the cloudabove, then the specks grow larger and larger, and finally the birds seem todrop from the sky upon some tall tree that they completely cover — averitable cloudburst of birds. Without pausing to rest after the long journey,down they flutter into the weedy pastures with much cheerful twittering, tofeed upon whatever seeds may be protruding through the snow. Every action of aflock seems to be concerted, as if some rigid disciplinarian had drilled them,and yet no leader can be distinguished in the merry company. When one flies,all fly; where one feeds, all feed, and by some subtle telepathy all rise atthe identical instant from their feeding ground and cheerfully twitter inconcert where they all alight at once. They are more easily disturbed than thegoldfinches, that are often seen feeding with them in the lowlands;nevertheless, they quite often venture into our gardens and orchards, even insuburbs penetrated by the trolley-car.

Usually in winter we hear only their lisping call-note; but if the birdslinger late enough in the spring, when their "fancy lightly turns to thoughtsof love," a gleeful, canary-like song comes from the naked branches, and wemay know by it that the flock will soon disappear for their nesting grounds inthe northern forests.

The Greater Redpoll (Acanthis linaria rostrata) may be distinguished from theforegoing species by its slightly larger size, darker upper parts, andshorter, stouter bill. But the notes, habits, and general appearance of bothredpolls are so nearly identical that the birds are usually mistaken for eachother.

PURPLE FINCH (Carpodacus purpureus) Finch family

Called also: PURPLE LINNET

Length — 6 to 6.25 inches. About the same size as the English
sparrow.
Male — Until two years old, sparrow-like in appearance like the
female, but with olive-yellow on chin and lower back.
Afterwards entire body suffused with a bright raspberry-red,
deepest on head, lower back, and breast, and other parts only
faintly washed with this color. More brown on back; and wings
and tail, which are dusky, have some reddish brown feathers.
Underneath grayish white. Bill heavy. Tail forked.
Female — Grayish olive brown above; whitish below; finely
Streaked everywhere with very dark brown, like a sparrow. Sides
of breast have arrow-shaped marks. Wings and tail darkest.
Range — North America, from Columbia River eastward to Atlantic
and from Mexico northward to Manitoba. Most common in Middle
States and New England. Winters south of Pennsylvania.
Migrations — March. November. Common summer resident. Rarely
individuals winter at the north.

In this "much be-sparrowed country" of ours familiarity is apt to breedcontempt for any bird that looks sparrowy, in which case one of the mostdelicious songsters we have might easily be overlooked. It is not until thepurple finch reaches maturity in his second year that his plumage takes on theraspberry-red tints that some ornithologists named purple. Oriental purple isour magenta, it is true, but not a raspberry shade. Before maturity, but forthe yellow on his lower back and throat, he and his mate alike suggest asong-sparrow; and it is important to note their particularly heavy, roundedbills, with the tufts of feathers at the base, and their forked tails, to namethem correctly. But the identification of the purple finch, after all, dependsquite as much upon his song as his color. In March, when flocks of these birdscome north, he has begun to sing a little; by the beginning of May he isdesperately in love, and sudden, joyous peals of music from the elm orevergreen trees on the lawn enliven the garden. How could his little brownlady-love fail to be impressed with a suitor so gayly dressed, so tender andsolicitous, so deliciously sweet-voiced? With fuller, richer song than thewarbling vireo's, which Nuttall has said it resembles, a perfect ecstasy oflove, pours incessantly from his throat during the early summer days. There isa suggestion of the robins love-song in his, but its copiousness, variety, andrapidity give it a character all its own.

In some old, neglected hedge or low tree about the countryplace a flat, grassynest, lined with horsehair, contains four or five green eggs in June, and theold birds are devotion itself to each other, and soon to their young, sparrowybrood.

But when parental duties are over, the finches leave our lawns and gardens tojoin flocks of their own kind in more remote orchards or woods, their favoritehaunts. Their subdued warble may be heard during October and later, as if thebirds were humming to themselves.

Much is said of their fondness for fruit blossoms and tree buds, but the truthis that noxious insects and seeds of grain constitute their food in summer,the berries of evergreens in winter. To a bird so gay of color, charming ofvoice, social, and trustful of disposition, surely a few blossoms might bespared without grudging.

THE AMERICAN ROBIN (Merula migratoria) Thrush family

Called also: RED-BREASTED OR MIGRATORY THRUSH; ROBIN-REDBREAST

Length — 10 inches.
Male — Dull brownish olive-gray above. Head black; tail brownish
black, with exterior feathers white at inner tip. Wings dark
brownish. Throat streaked with black and white. White eyelids.
Entire breast bright rusty red; whitish below the tail.
Female — Duller and with paler breast, resembling the male in
autumn.
Range — North America, from Mexico to arctic regions.
Migrations — March. October or November. Often resident
throughout the year.

It seems almost superfluous to write a line of description about a bird thatis as familiar as a chicken; yet how can this nearest of our bird neighbors bepassed without a reference? Probably he was the very first bird we learned tocall by name.

The early English colonists, who had doubtless been brought up, like the restof us, on "The Babes in the Wood," named the bird after the only heroes inthat melancholy tale; but in reality the American robin is a much larger birdthan the Englishrobin-redbreast and less brilliantly colored. John Burroughs calls him, of allour birds, "the most native and democratic."

How the robin dominates birddom with his strong, aggressive personality! Hisvoice rings out strong and clear in the early morning chorus, and, moretenderly subdued at twilight, it still rises above all the sleepy notes abouthim. Whether lightly tripping over the lawn after the "early worm," or risingwith his sharp, quick cry of alarm, when startled, to his nest near by, everymotion is decided, alert, and free. No pensive hermit of the woods, like hiscousins, the thrushes, is this joyous vigorous "bird of the morning." Such apresence is inspiriting.

Does any bird excel the robin in the great variety of his vocal expressions?Mr. Parkhurst, in his charming "Birds' Calendar," says he knows of "no otherbird that is able to give so many shades of meaning to a single note, runningthrough the entire gamut of its possible feelings. From the soft and mellowquality, almost as coaxing as a dove's note, with which it encourages itsyoung when just out of the nest, the tone, with minute gradations, becomesmore vehement, and then harsh and with quickened reiteration, until itexpresses the greatest intensity of a bird's emotions. Love, contentment,anxiety, exultation, rage — what other bird can throw such multifariousmeaning into its tone? And herein the robin seems more nearly human than anyof its kind."

There is no one thing that attracts more birds about the house that adrinking-dish — large enough for a bathtub as well; and certainly no birddelights in sprinkling the water over his back more than a robin, often aidedin his ablutions by the spattering of the sparrows. But see to it that thisdrinking-dish is well raised above the reach of lurking cats.

While the robin is a famous splasher, his neatness stops there. A robin's nestis notoriously dirty within, and so carelessly constructed of weed-stalks,grass, and mud, that a heavy summer shower brings more robins' nests to theground than we like to contemplate. The color of the eggs, as every one knows,has given their name to the tint. Four is the number of eggs laid, and twobroods are often reared in the same nest.

Too much stress is laid on the mischief done by the robins in the cherry treesand strawberry patches, and too little upon the quantity of worms and insectsthey devour. Professor Treadwell, who experimented upon some young robins keptin captivity, learned that they ate sixty-eight earthworms daily — "that is,each bird ate forty-one per cent more than its own weight in twelve hours! Thelength of these worms, if laid end to end, would be about fourteen feet. Man,at this rate, would eat about seventy pounds of flesh a day, and drink five orsix gallons of water."

ORCHARD ORIOLE (Icterus spurius) Blackbird and Oriole family

Called also: ORCHARD STARLING; ORCHARD HANG-NEST

Length — 7 to 7.3 inches. About one-fourth smaller than the
robin.
Male — Head, throat, upper back, tail, and part of wings black.
Breast, rump, shoulders, under wing and tail coverts, and under
parts bright reddish brown. Whitish-yellow markings on a few
tail and wing feathers.
Female — Head and upper parts olive, shading into brown;
brighter on head and near tail. Back and wings dusky brown,
with pale-buff shoulder-bars and edges of coverts. Throat
black. Under parts olive, shading into yellow.
Range — Canada to Central America. Common in temperate latitudes
of the United States.
Migrations — Early May. Middle of September. Common summer
resident.

With a more southerly range than the Baltimore oriole and less conspicuouscoloring, the orchard oriole is not so familiar a bird in many NorthernStates, where, nevertheless, it is quite common enough to be classed among ourwould-be intimates. The orchard is not always as close, to the house as thisbird cares to venture; he will pursue an insect even to the piazza vines.

His song, says John Burroughs, is like scarlet, "strong, intense, emphatic,"but it is sweet and is more rapidly uttered than that of others of the family.It is ended for the season early in July.

This oriole, too, builds a beautiful nest, not often pendent like theBaltimore's, but securely placed in the fork of a sturdy fruit tree, at amoderate height, and woven with skill and precision, like a basket. When thedried grasses from one of these nests were stretched and measured, all werefound to be very nearly the same length, showing to what pains the littleweaver had gone to make the nest neat and pliable, yet strong. Fourcloudy-white eggs with dark-brown spots are usually found in the nest in June.