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NATURE STUDY 
 
 BIRDS 
 
 CHESTER a'^^REED, B. S. 
 
 Author of " Land Birds," " Water Birds," 
 "North American Birds' Eggs," "Flower Guide," etc. 
 
 Curator in Ornithology, 
 Worcester Museum of Natural History. 
 
 A Book kor Beginners in Bird Study 
 
 Forty Illustrations in Colors 
 
 DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & CO. 
 Garden City, New York 
 
 1910 
 
 -XT 
 
Copyrighted 1910 
 Chas. K. Reed, Worcester, Mass. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 This book is prepared for the large number of wide- 
 awake boys and girls who are interested in the study and 
 observation of our wild birds. It will be of the greatest 
 assistance to novices^ those just entering the field of orni- 
 thology, as the study of birds is called. I am quite sure that 
 those already well versed in bird lore will find the many 
 facts worked into the bird stories to be of interest and value 
 to them. 
 
 It may be of interest to note that every occurrence or in- 
 cident relating to bird life is based on actual facts and not 
 imagination. 
 
 The book is divided into two parts, the first containing 
 many facts concerning bird life in general, — facts which 
 everyone should know as a matter of information and facts 
 that every student of birds must Ivnow before he or she can 
 make satisfactory progress. The second part contains bird 
 stories as related to Dorothy and Diak by their "Uncle 
 George." The forty birds illustrated and talked about rep- 
 resent practically all the families of birds anyone except the 
 professional naturalist is apt to find. 
 
 These bird stories will make entertaining reading for 
 children in their homes and will be used in the school for 
 
-t 
 
 general reading and as a basis for composition work. For 
 this purpose, all the little colored bird pictures have been 
 printed separately and may be secured at book stores or of 
 tlic publisher at the rate of a penny each^ — in lots of ten or 
 more, assorted or alike, as wished. Many uses for these 
 little pictures will suggest themselves : Composition work, 
 scraja books, postcard albums, grouped and framed as pic- 
 tures for the home or school room, to enclose in letters to 
 birdloving friends, etc. 
 
 The index in the back of the book contains not onlj' the 
 names of the birds included in its pages, but additional data 
 in regard to their ranges, etc. 
 
BIRD LORE 
 Part I. 
 
 All birds have feathers and no anim*als, other than birds, 
 do wear feathers. Birds are more closely related to lizards 
 than to any others of the animal family, in fact their struc- 
 ture is quite lizard-like in many respects. It has been prov- 
 ed quite conclusively that birds and lizards, in prehistoric 
 times, had a common anceslor. 
 
 Birds have been classified and grouped into "Orders" 
 according to the degree of refinement in their structures. 
 The lower order among our North Anierican birds is made 
 up of the grebes and loons, while the highest development 
 is attained in the thrushes. 
 
 With the exception of a few kinds of birds that show 
 bare skin on parts of the head, birds are covered with feath- 
 ers. Feathers do not, however, grow uniformly over the 
 body; as a rule they are in tracts or patches with large bare 
 spaces between. We do not see these bare spaces on liv- 
 ing birds because the feathers on both sides lap over and 
 cover them. 
 
 Feathers are very poor conductors of heat or cold; they 
 make perfect clothes for birds cither in winter or summer. 
 
6 
 
 If the weather is very cold, birds simply fluff their feathers 
 out and the cushion of air underneath makes them a much 
 thicker and warmer coat. You can readily see this in the 
 puffy appearance of the household canary when it is cold. 
 
 CHANGING THEIR CLOTHES.— All birds get new 
 feathers at least once a year, and some twice a year. This 
 changing of feathers is called moultiiig. Since they can- 
 not change their clothing at will, birds have to be careful to 
 keep their feathers clean and in good condition. Most of 
 them are very neat and spend a great deal of time in pick- 
 ing over and preening the feathers. 
 
 Most all birds have tiny oil glands at the base of the 
 tail; in the case of water birds these glaiads are quite large. 
 They get small quantities of an oily liquid from these, with 
 which to dress their feathers ; this renders the close-iitting 
 plumage of ducks and other swimming birds impervious to 
 water. 
 
 As I have said, all healthy birds nioult at least once a 
 year, usually just after the nesting season. During this 
 first moult practically all the feathers are changed, some- 
 times so many of them being lost at once that the bird is 
 unable to fly; this commonly happens in the case of ducks 
 and other swimming birds. Birds that moult twice a year 
 go through the second operation early in spring; this sec- 
 ond moult is not as complete a one as the regular summer 
 moult; the feathers are lost and replaced gradually, but 
 
often startling changes occur in the resulting plumagCj such 
 as plumes or ornaments on certain male birds. 
 
 During the summer moult, the males of a great many spe- 
 cies, especially if they are bright colored and very different- 
 ly plumaged from the females, assume the dull-colored 
 dress of their mates. Of course in the spring moult their 
 bright colors are assumed again; tanagers, bobolinks and 
 many of the ducks well illustrate these changes. 
 
 There is another method of changing the plumage in 
 spring, that takes place without moulting. It is caused by 
 the wearing or falling away of the outer edges of some of 
 the feathers, exposing some other crior underneath. This 
 is well illustrated in the cases of the Snow Bunting and some 
 of the longspurs. The former loses all of the brown that 
 shows on the tips of the feathers in winter and also all of the 
 white edging to the feathers on the back, so that its back is 
 jet black and the rest of the plumage ilmost spotless white, 
 — this change being accomplished without the loss of any 
 feathers. 
 
 All young birds are born covered with down, but those 
 that remain in the nest for a short period have so little of 
 it that they often appear to be entirely naked. This down is 
 rapidly replaced by feathers, those of the wings and tail 
 growing most rapidly. The following rule will, in most 
 cases, apply to the first plumages of young birds of various 
 species, but of course it has its exceptions: if the plumages 
 
of the parent birds are very different, the male being the 
 brighter, the first plumage of their young will probably re- 
 semble that of the mother; if the paTents are similar in 
 plumage, that of the young will probably be different from 
 either. The first case is shown by tanagers, orioles, gold- 
 finches, etc., and the second by bluebirds, robins, Chipping 
 Sparrows, etc., the young of which have spotted breasts 
 while those of the parents are plain. 
 
 Some birds get their full adult plumage the first spring 
 after birth while others do not attain full plumage for two 
 or even three years. A good e.xample of this is shown by 
 the Orchard Oriole. During the first fall, the young male 
 resembles his mother; in the second year he has the color- 
 ing of the female but has in addition -a large black patch 
 on the throat; in the third year he attains the perfect black 
 and chestnut plumage of tlie adult male. 
 
 With every family of our birds except one, when there 
 is difference in plumage between the sexes, the male is the 
 more beautifully clothed. The exception is in the case of 
 Phalaropes. The females of this famih' of shore birds are 
 more brilliantly plumaged than the males and furthermore 
 they do all the courtship, — a complete reversal of the man- 
 ners of other birds. While Mrs. Phalarope lays the eggs 
 in the nest, it is the male bird that has tp attend to the duties 
 of incubation. 
 
 MIGRATION. — Birds inhabit nearly every portion of 
 
the earth: In the tropics, where the temperature is always 
 very warm, we find great nmnbers of many kinds of birds. 
 In the North, far beyond the limit of trees, we still find 
 birds in large numbers, during the summer, but of fewer 
 kinds. Wherever food can be obtained, birds will be found. 
 
 Growth takes place very rapidlj^ in the Arctic regions ; 
 for a brief period all exposed land abounds in insect life 
 and vegetation, then it as rapidly disappears. As the food 
 supply decreases and the weather becSmes colder, most of 
 the birds have to move southward. 
 
 The moving southward of birds in fall and northward in 
 spring is called migration. It is a kind of migration when 
 a man and his family regularly move tp their country home 
 .in summer and to the city in winter; only, with the birds, it 
 is a necessary migration and has become an instinctive habit 
 so tliat, at a certain time each year, flocks of the same kinds 
 of birds gather together ready to start their journey. 
 
 Some birds like cold weather and otliers do not; some 
 make long migrations and others short ones. The tiny hum- 
 mingbird flies twice a 3''ear, between here and Central Amer- 
 ica, and some of them from as far north as Labrador, — 
 about three thousand miles, an almost incredible distance for 
 such tiny birds to travel. The Golden Plover travels from 
 the west coast of Hudson Bay to Brazil and even to Pata- 
 gonia^ a distance of fully eight thousand miles, twice a year. 
 
 On the other hand, some of the birds such as grouse and 
 
10 
 
 some owls may migrate but a few miles or may stay in the 
 same locality all the time. Chickadees may be found in the 
 northern states at all times, but the ones that are here in 
 winter are those that have come from farther north while 
 those that were here in summer have migrated to localities 
 a little farther south. 
 
 One of the best methods of studying birds is the keep- 
 ing of migration records, that is dates of the first arrival of 
 each species in spring and of their departure in fall. This 
 gets anyone out of doors each morning and keeps one "on 
 the jumjj" trying to find new kinds of birds. But, what- 
 ever you do, do not let your imagination run away with you. 
 I often liave persons describe birds they have seen, — birds 
 that never lived in this nor any other country, yet they be- 
 lieved they saw such birds. Should you see one you do not 
 recognize, look him over very, very carefully; move about so 
 as to see him from another position; remember that the 
 shadow of a branch may cause the throat of a bird to appear 
 black, even though it is really white. 
 
 FLIGHT. — A very interesting field of observation is that 
 of bird flight, — the manner of flying arid the speed that dif- 
 ferent species are capable of. It is a field that has hardly 
 been touched and offers many problems for the boys and 
 girls to solve. We used to read of birds flying at the rate 
 of a hundred miles an hour or more, but as a matter of fact 
 no living bird ever reached anywhere near that speed. Pos- 
 
11 
 
 sibly some of the ducks may spurt for a verj' short distance 
 at the rate of seventy miles per hour. It is quite evident 
 that the average ordinary rate of flight of all birds, large 
 and small will not exceed twenty miles an hour. 
 
 When traveling it is very interesting to compare the speed 
 of birds going in the same direction with that of the train. 
 
 Nearly every bird has some peculiarity in its fight or in 
 the shape of its wings that will identify it easily at a dis- 
 tance to the trained naturalist. It is a pleasure and should 
 be the aim of every boy and girl to be able to know most of 
 the birds in this way. 
 
 The high-speed camera has been of great value in show- 
 ing many features of the flight of the larger birds, such as 
 the extent to which the wings are raised and how far they 
 are carried down at each stroke. It also shows that when 
 in full flight, the primaries, or long outer wing feathers, are 
 wideljr separated. 
 
 You know how fast the wings of a hummingbird buzz, — 
 so rapidly as to be just a blur to the eye. The modern cam- 
 era shutter will take a picture in the remarkably short space 
 of time of one thousandth part of a seCond; yet it has been 
 proved that even when taken as quickly as this, the wings of 
 a flying hummingbird still show as a blur in the picture. 
 
 PLUMAGE AND COLOR PROTECTION.— As a rule 
 most birds are colored, or have their markings so arranged as 
 to harmonize with their chosen surroundings. Most birds that 
 
13 
 
 ]i\L- or spend the greater part of their time on the ground 
 are some shade of brown, usually either streaked or barred. 
 
 Even though the male bird is gaudilj' dressed, his mate 
 is often clad in brown or some dull color so she is not at all 
 conspicuous when sitting upon lier nest, whether it be in a 
 tree or on the ground. Even bright co.lored birds that fre- 
 quent green trees do not show up as plainly as one would 
 think; the sunlight filtering through the leaves makes spots 
 of many colors and shades and you hardly notice the addi- 
 tion of another bright spot in the shape of a bird. This 
 would be particularly true if we were in the position of 
 hawks sailing over the tops of the trees. 
 
 One of the verjr best examples of color protection is shown 
 by the Whip-poor-will. His islumage matches the coloring 
 of dead leaves and sticks perfectly. ,T have made several 
 photographs of these birds on their nests and although the 
 picture may be perfectly sharp, it is quite difficult to make 
 >out the form of the bird. 
 
 NEST BUILDING. 
 
 Perhaps the most interesting feature of bird life is the 
 nest building. The various families of birds build their 
 homes so differently and some of them jiisplay so much skill 
 that we have to admire them. Many different trades are 
 represented in the making of homes of some of our common 
 birds. 
 
l.'S 
 
 MASONS.— Robins, Pliocbes, Barn and ClifF Swallows 
 are /imong tlic most skilful masons ; the flask-like nest that 
 the Cliff' S-\val]ow sometimes makes is a wonderful jjiece of 
 work for a bird to do. In the West, colonies of them attach 
 their nests to the faces of cliffs, but in the East they are per- 
 haps better known as Eave Swallows, because they attach 
 their nests on the outside of buildings, under the ea^-es. Bit 
 by bit, pieces of mud are cemented in place until a globe- 
 shaped \ (ssel is formed; the entrance to tliis is through a 
 neck or hole in the side. 
 
 CARPENTERS.— All tlie woodpeckers may be classed 
 as carpenters, because the}- bore or hammer into trees to 
 make their houses. Nuthatches, chickadees and several 
 other birds make their homes in trees but it is necessary 
 that the wood be decayed so they can pick out a cavity; 
 woodpeckers can bore their way into living wood with their 
 eliisel-like bills. The large Pileated Woodpecker sometimes 
 ^'hisels holes twenty or even tliirty inches in depth in solid 
 wood. 
 
 TAILORS. — A great many of the birds weave pretty and 
 strong nests but for skill as tailors none of our birds can 
 compare with the members of the oriole family. The long, 
 pouch-shaped nest of the Baltimore Oriole is so well made 
 that we often see nests, two or three years old, swinging 
 from the outer branches of elm trees. If you have never 
 
seen orioles building tlieir nest, it will be well worth your 
 while to watch tliem. Both birds engage in the work, the 
 female of course doing the greater share. When the nest is 
 most completed, you may often see both birds working in- 
 dustriously at the same time, the female on the inside and 
 the male hanging to the outside. Some children have fun 
 placing colored yarn where the orioles will get it and weave 
 it into their homes ; of times very peculiar effects in color are 
 made. 
 
 BASKET-AIAKERS. — Many birds Veave their nests in 
 the form of baskets, but the best examples of this kind of 
 work are shown by the vireos. Their nests are made of 
 grasses and strips of bark firmly woven in the form of lit- 
 tle baskets, and suspended In' the "rims from forked 
 brnuclies. Often they work bits of newspaper into the out- 
 side, too. 
 
 CURIOUS NESTS.— The majority of birds build con- 
 ventional nests and, as a rule, members of the same family 
 build nests similar in character. Grebes gather decaying 
 rushes, form them into piles on the water and on these wet, 
 floating masses lay their eggs. Auks lay their single eggs 
 on bare ledges of rock; these eggs ai^e usually large and 
 round at one end and quite pointed at the other so that, if 
 they arc moved, they will roll around in a circle instead of 
 rolling off the ledge. 
 
15 
 
 The tiny California Bush-tit, scarcely bigger than our 
 hummingbird, makes a purse-shaped nest, sometimes as 
 long as fourteen inches; this is quite slender at the top, 
 where there is an opening in the side, and larger at the bot- 
 tom, making a little room for the eggs and little birdies. 
 
 The Dipper or Water Ouzel, a short-tailed, gray bird 
 about the size of a bluebird, found in the Rocky Mountains, 
 makes a round nest of moss; this is placed under overhang- 
 ing banks along streams and often is under rocks where the 
 bird has to dive through a waterfall to get to it. 
 
 Our Parula Warbler makes a dainty nest and one that is 
 quite difficult to find. Many decaying cedar swamps have 
 quantities of long, drooping moss hanging from the 
 branches. The little warbler turns up and weaves together 
 the ends of these, forming a little pocket that is lined with 
 fine grasses or hair, and makes a soft and safe bed for the 
 eggs and young. 
 
 The Scott Oriole found on our Mexican border sews its 
 purse-shaped nest to the under side of palm leaves. 
 
 The Chimney Swift glues sticks to the inner walls of 
 chimneys so as to make a frail platforrd for its white eggs. 
 
 Eggs of birds of different families differ as greatly as the 
 homes they are laid in. They range in size from that of 
 the hummingbird, about the size of an ordinary bean, to that 
 of the California Vulture, measuring four and a half inches 
 long. In color they vary from the pure glossy white of 
 
16 
 
 woodpecker eggs to the deep greenish-blue of those of the 
 Catbird; to those of Ptarmigan, so heavily blotched with 
 blackish-brown as to appear almost black; and to those of 
 tlie Duck Hawk, often so plentifully "prinkled with brown 
 as to apjaear almost uniform in color. 
 
e::rd studies. 
 
 Part II. 
 
 The subjects for the forty stories on the following pages 
 have been chosen so as to represent all the common bird 
 families, with a view to giving the r(jader a general idea 
 about the habits of the birds of each family. 
 
 For school use we have all of these little bird pictures print- 
 ed separately on small paper with no text except the name of 
 the bird. These may be used for composition work or may 
 be grouped artistically for framing. They can be secured 
 for a penny each at bookstores or will be mailed by Chas K. 
 Reed, \\'orcester, ^lass. They may be assorted as you wish 
 but K;u.st be ordered not less than ten at a time. 
 
"Uncle George !" called Dick, "come 
 out here, I want to show you some- 
 thing." 
 
 Following the sound of his voice, I 
 soon found him perched, boy-fashion, 
 astride a limb^ in one of the apple 
 trees. 
 
 "See ! A Bluebird has made a nest 
 in this hole, and there are five of the 
 cutest blue eggs in it. Jimniie wanted 
 to take one of them, but I wouldn't let 
 him." 
 
 "That's right, Dick! If Jimmie had 
 taken one of .them, the mother bird 
 would probably have deserted the nest. Never disturb the 
 nest of a bird, nor allow your companions to, if you can pre- 
 vent it." 
 
 "There's the male bird now 1" exclaimed Dick, "isn't he 
 a beauty ! Sec how his back glistens in the sun, — brighter 
 than the bluest sky. And there's Mrs. Bluebird too, in the 
 next tree. They are not a bit afraid of me for they know I 
 would not harm them. I watched them building the nest; 
 she kept bringing dead grasses and carrying them in, but 
 he did not offer to help her, — just followed her about, sing- 
 ing, while she did the work. Todaj', though, I saw him 
 
 From "hand Birds 
 
 BLUEBIRD 
 
19 
 
 bring a green worm and take it to her while s'he was sitting 
 on the eggs, so I guess he is not such a bad fellow after all." 
 
 "That is the way with the bird world, Dick; the male 
 birds wear fine clothes and, perhaps, sing beautiful songs, 
 while their plainly clad mates are busy with household 
 duties. Still, when the little birdies appear, you will find 
 that yon brilliantly garbed chevalier will do his best to sup- 
 ply them with the many, many insects they require." 
 
 When, two weeks later, five, lusty, clamoring little birds 
 filled the nest, Dick found tliat both parents were very busy 
 indeed supplying their needs. 
 
 One day Dick, and his sister Doroth}^, who had been daily 
 watching the growth of the little Bluebirds, rushed into the 
 room crying in concert — "Uncle George ! They have left 
 the nest and the mother is teaching them to fly; and," added 
 Dorothy, "they are the dearest things and they all have 
 speckled breasts." 
 
 "Yes, children ! Bluebirds belong to the Thrush family, 
 and the young of all these birds have spotted breasts even 
 though their parents do not. In the fall, they change their ^■y'l. ^'.' 
 dress so that, when they leave in November, you can hardly r ^%'^. 
 tell them from their parents." ~\"' M'''' 
 
 "I don't like to see them go," said Dick, "for it means m^,. 
 'goodrb3re to summer' and no more 'bird walks' until spring." &ift;!|i*\ 
 
 
 
 ■'^r 
 
20 
 
 "Chickadee-dee-dee," the sound 
 came faintl_v to us from the far end of 
 the orchard; but Dick's alert ears in- 
 stantly caught? it. 
 
 "There is a Chickadee ! No, — two 
 of them in the last apple tree," called 
 the bojr. 
 
 "I like Chickadees," ventured Dor- 
 othy, "they are such dainty, tiny, 
 feathered mites ; always happy and 
 very busy, — besides they stay with us 
 all winter and Dick and I have such 
 ''■'^~' fun watcliing them eat the suet and 
 nuts we put out for them." 
 "Sometimes they come right on the window sill. But, 
 uncle, how can they keep warm on very cold winter nights 
 without any houses to shelter them?" 
 
 "Oh, Dorothy, but they do have their houses; not big 
 ones like yours to live in, year in and year out, but every lit- 
 tle crevice or niche under boulder? or overhanging banks, 
 every hole in decayed stumps or trees, even the dense foliage 
 of pines and cedars furnishes cozj' little retreats where they 
 can spend tlie night in comfort. Our winter birds suffer 
 real hardship only when ice storms cover everything with 
 
 CHICKADEE 
 
21 
 
 a hard coating t,o they cannot get at the insect eggs and 
 larvae that they require for food. 
 
 "Perhaps we can find a Chickadee nest some day. Did 
 you ever sec onCj Dick?" 
 
 "No, Uncle George, but I have hunted everywhere to find 
 one, when I knew it was very near.'' 
 
 "Perhaps, Dick, you did not look in the right jDlace." 
 
 "But I looked everywhere, — on the ground, in the bushes 
 and in the trees." 
 
 "^Vhat kind of trees were they, Dick.''" 
 
 "^Vhy, most of them were birches, I think." 
 
 "I thought so. You may not have noticed it, but probab- 
 ly one of those birches was decayed, — ;;erhaps just a stump 
 left; near the top of that stump you might have found a lit- 
 tle round hole; if yo\i had looked inside yoH might have 
 seen the eggs on a very soft bed of quilted plant fibres and 
 feathers ; — beautiful little eggs, — pinkish-whjte with tiny 
 reddish-brown specks all over them. One nest I found had 
 ten eggs ; they all hatched and you can imagine how crowd- 
 ed the little home was and what a scramble there was when 
 mother irought them their dinner." 
 
 "I am glad, children, that you like the Chickadees, and 
 feed them winters. It is generally agreed i^hat they are 
 xery, very good little birds to have around, for they eat so 
 \6ry many bad little insects." 
 
 ^ ,1ti, ^ ^ ^i F'f i^i 
 
22 
 
 "Sometimes Nuthatches would come 
 to our lunch counter, too;" said Dor- 
 othy; "they are such droll creatures 
 and have such a queer way of climb- 
 ing about upside down; even their 
 voices are funny, — about half way be- 
 tween the sound of a, penny horn and 
 the weak quacking of a duck." 
 
 "Do either of you know why the 
 Nuthatch is so often seen "upside 
 down' as Dorothy calls it?" 
 
 "No, wh}"" is it?" came eagerly from 
 both children in unison. 
 
 "Well, his acrobatic feats are caus- 
 ed by his fondness for insect eggs, larvae and beetles that 
 are found only in the crevices or under the bark of trees. 
 The Nuthatch has no stiif tail feathers to help support him 
 as woodpeckers have, so it would be> very difficult for him to 
 climb upward. Many birds simply cling to the bark of a 
 tree while they gather a few morsels that happen to be 
 within reach, but Sir Nuthatch was, perhaps, wiser than 
 they for he found that by spreading his feet wide apart, 
 
 From "Land Birds 
 
 NUTHATCH 
 
23 
 
 one under his breast and the other reaching backward and 
 grasping the bark, he could quite easily progress downward 
 or around a tree, with a sort of 'hitching' motion. 
 
 "This inverted position often aids the little fellow, too, in 
 prying up the bark to get insects or eggs that are concealed 
 underneath, for his weight being above the lever (his bill) 
 assists him j ust as a man's weight often helps in prying with 
 a crowbar." 
 
 "Do Nuthatches make their homes in holes of trees, the 
 same as chickadees do," asked Dicli. 
 
 "They do, but they love the big woods so that is where 
 most of them make their homes, usually high up in oak or 
 chestnut trees. They seem to be gradually changing their 
 haunts, as birds sometimes do, for in the last few years 
 numerous instances of nuthatches building t^eir nests close 
 to dwellings have been reported. Three years ago, I found 
 one in a decayed apple tree within reach frotn a window of 
 a fai-m house. Perhaps the kindiiess of boys and girls in 
 feeding them winters is bearing fruit and, in -time, they may 
 become as friendly with us as bluebirds and chickadees 
 are." 
 
24, 
 
 "Come, children^ we will go down 
 toward the brook for our 'bird walk' 
 this afternoon. I was down there this 
 morning while Dick was playing with 
 his friend Jimmie, and I have found a 
 surprise for both of you." 
 
 "Oh, Uncle George, what is it?" 
 "Wait a moment; do not get impa- 
 patient. There, — we will get over the 
 wall now and see what is in this little 
 apple tre.'." 
 
 A few moments later and Dick and 
 Dorothy were peering into the end of a 
 hollow, broken-oiF limb just on a level 
 
 From "Land Birds" 
 
 HOUSE WREN 
 
 with their eyes. 
 
 Their surprise and gratification was immediately shown 
 bj' the volley of "Oh's' and other exclamations that rang 
 out. 
 
 "Aren't they lovely? One-twd-three-four-five-six-seven, 
 - -seven of them, but who do they belong to?" exclaimed 
 Dorothy. 
 
 "I know," shouted the excited boy, "It is the House 
 Wren. There is a picture of one in my 'Bird Guide' just 
 about to go in a hole in an apple tree, almost exactly like 
 
25 
 
 this one. And I remember that it says the eggs are all cov- 
 ered with pinkish-brown dots." 
 
 "You are rights Dick, it is the home of a pair of House 
 Wrens. Let us go back to the wall and ^^atch for them to 
 return." 
 
 In a few minutes a little brown bird canie speeding across 
 the field to the tree, stopped just an instant in view, then 
 dove in the opening and settled on her treasures. 
 
 An instant later, another little brown bird appeared, the 
 exact counterpart of the first one. He perched on a twig 
 where he could see into the nest, lifted his head, swelled out 
 his throat and poured forth his song, — the sweetest, most 
 rollicking, rippling, soul-stirring melody of any wild bird. 
 
 "Isn't it beautiful," exclaimed Dorothy, "I never knew a 
 bird could sing like that." 
 
 "All the Wrens have loud songs, Dorothy, but none of the 
 others can sing as sweetly as this kind." 
 
 "Everyone likes Wrens, and they seem to know it, for 
 they show little fear of man and like to make their homes 
 in little houses that are built for them, no matter how rude- 
 ly they are constructed. They sometimes even come into 
 houses through open windows and malte their nests inside." 
 
26 
 
 "We will follow this wall down past 
 the thicket and, if I am not mistaken, 
 I think we will find another nest,^ — one 
 not inside a tree this time." 
 
 "I wonder what it will be," said 
 Dorothy. 
 
 As if to answer her, a dark gray 
 bird nearly the size of a Robin, came 
 from the heart of the thicket and, 
 perched on the top of a dead thorn 
 branch, sang a medley of notes, some 
 his own and Others imitating those of 
 From "Land Birds" other birds; as a fitting end to his song 
 CAIdIKL) he added a ca^-like "meouw." 
 
 Oh, it's a Catbird !" exclaimed Dorothy. 
 "Let us see who can first find its nest," added Dick, fol- 
 lowing his suggestion b}' plunging jnto the thicket. 
 
 Catbirds are very brave and alao very noisy in the de- 
 fense of their homes. Not knowing that we would do them 
 no harm, both birds fluttered about giving harsh calls and 
 meouws. 
 
 "Oh, Dick, come here !" called Dorothy, "I am sure this 
 is a nest but the briers are so sharp I cannot get to it." 
 Sure enough, it was the nest that our gray friends were so 
 
27 
 
 anxious about. It was quite large and strongly made of 
 fine black rootlets, a few larger twigs and many strips of 
 grapevine bark. 
 
 "No wonder they were so anxious/' said Dick, after wad- 
 ing through the tangle of blackberry vines and reaching the 
 nest, "for there are four little Catbirds here, only about two 
 days old, — queer little things all covered with black pin- 
 feathers." 
 
 Touched by the actions of the parent birds, with their 
 scolding and dashing at the boy in their distress, little Dor- 
 othy suddenly exclaimed: 
 
 "Oh, Uncle George ! Let us go away and leave poor "Kit- 
 ty-bird' alone with her babies." 
 
 Elated at seeing us depart, mother Catbird at once went 
 to her nest and brooded her little ones while her mate perch- 
 ed on the highest twig of the nesting bush and warbled joy- 
 ously, in a lower voice than when we had first heard him, as-^'tr^S* 
 though he were thankful that they had escaped the threat- ^fe^;^^ 
 ened danger to their home. QSf- 
 
 We followed the path to the edge of the brook and, seat- 
 ed on a large boulder in the cool shade of the woods, lis- w^xj/'y'-- -^ 
 tened to the many happy songsters about us. ';& ^"'^^1^,.-^ 
 
^./! 
 
 28 
 
 Warblers w'ere flitting about every- 
 where. The Maryland Yellow-throat 
 was the most noisy; from his perch on 
 the top of an alder he would sing his 
 "wichery-wichery-wichery," then with 
 a sputtering alarm note, sounding like 
 a watchman's rattle, he would dash 
 into the thicket; a moment later we 
 would hear him scolding and see him 
 peering at us from among the leaves, 
 his little black eyes twinkling in the 
 jet black mask of his face. "Ah!" 
 cried Dick as a small black and orange 
 bird dashed out into the air and snap- 
 ped up a small moth, "There is a Redstart. I think they 
 are the prettiest and best of all the warblers. See how live- 
 ly he is, — his wings fluttering all the time and his tail open- 
 ing and shutting just like a fan. J think he knows he is 
 beautiful and wants us to notice him." 
 
 "You arc right, Dick, the Redstart is the best of the 
 warblers. Nearly all of them are beautiful and they are 
 all very useful too, but Sir Redstart does the most good of 
 them all. He catches a greater variety of insects than any 
 of the others, getting them from -the ground, the bark of 
 
 From "Land Birds 
 
 REDSTART 
 
29 
 
 the trees, from the leaves or, as we have j ust seen, catching 
 thera in mid air. 
 
 "You will notice if you get close enough to him that his 
 bill is broad and flat at its base, very much like the bills of 
 flycatchers, and his mouth is surrounded by bristles like 
 those of most birds that have the habit of catching their 
 food while on the wing." 
 
 "I wonder where his mate is?" asked Dorothy. 
 
 "Well, as he does not go very far away from here, I sus- 
 pect that she is in one of the nearby trees; probably with 
 just her head and tail in sight above the edge of a hand- 
 some little nest. It is almost useless to look for the nest 
 though, unless you can see her and watch her go to it. It 
 is j ust a little cup of softly quilted, gray, plant fibres, safe- 
 ly and firmly bound in the crotch of some stnall tree. 
 
 "Probably they have eggs in their nest; otherwise Mr. 
 Redstart would not be so industriously getting his own din- 
 ner., but would be gathering all the choice morsels he could 
 find for his little birdies. You would be surprised to see 
 some of the things they bring to their young, — worms, cater- 
 pillars, gnats, plant lice, small grasshoppers and small hard- 
 shelled beetles ; when watching them I have often been 
 afraid some of the insects they brought would choke the 
 little fellows, but they always mastered them and were 
 soon calling for more. 
 
30 
 
 "Well, Dorothy, have you rested 
 long enough?" 
 
 "Yes, Uncle George. Where will we 
 go now?" 
 
 "A few moments ago, I heard a bird 
 that you will be interested in, singing 
 in that little clump of pines over 
 there." 
 
 "Oh, Uncle George, how is it that 
 you can always recognize the songs 
 of all the birds when so many are 
 singing at once?" 
 
 "It is all ,in practice, Dick. The 
 well trained naturalist could, if led 
 through the woods blindfolded, name nearly every bird thai 
 called, chipped or sung." 
 
 By this time we were under the pines and tlie song was 
 plainly heard by both children. 
 
 "There ! It is singing again. It sounds like 'zwee-zwee- 
 zu-zee' : I wonder what it can be," said Dorothy. 
 
 "Look sharp and you will soon see him. Notice how well 
 his song fits with the sound of the wind in the tree-tops; 
 some birdlovers have likened his Song to the words 'Trees, 
 trees, murmuring trees'. Do you not think it sounds some- 
 thing like it." 
 
 BLACK-THROATED 
 GREEN WARBLER 
 
31 
 
 "Yes," said Dick. "I see him ! It is a little bird and he 
 has a black throat, — and yellow face, — and white on his 
 wings. T do not think I ever saw one before. What is it, 
 Uncle George.''" 
 
 "It is the Black-throated Green Warbler. It is rather a 
 long clumsy name for so small a bird, but it describes him 
 pretty well, for his back is quite greenish. In summer you 
 seldom iind them far from pine groves, but during their 
 migrations, you may verj often see them ^vith other war- 
 blers. 
 
 "It is very hard to find their little nests, — cunningly con- 
 cealed in tufts of pine needles near the tops of the trees. 
 The birds are quite clever too, for it has often been observ- 
 ed that, when they thought there was danger of their nest 
 being found, they would commence carrying grasses and 
 rootlets to another tree, app^irently trying to deceive you 
 into thinking they were just commencing their nest. The 
 only other warbler that has, as far as I know, been known to 
 mislead one in this way is the Prairie Warbler. 
 
 "Besides Black-throated Greens, we nearly always find 
 Pine Warblers in pine groves; to these two little warblers 
 and the tiny Chickadee belongs the chief credit for destroy- 
 ing insects that ravage the pines. 
 
 # 
 
32 
 
 "Right in that dead tree beyond the 
 last pine^ we saw a Shrike, last spring, 
 didn't we Dorothy?" 
 
 "Yes, Dick; and do you remember 
 how loudly he whistled? We did not 
 know what it was at first, — until we 
 found his picture in our 'Bird 
 Guide.' " 
 
 "Did you ever see a Shrike catch a 
 bird, Uncle George?" 
 
 "Yes, Dick, I have often seen them 
 catch English Sparrows. They hunt 
 in two different ways : — Sometimes 
 they sit on a lookout perch in the 
 open, and pursue and strike down passing little birds; or 
 they may conceal themselves in vines or bushes and pounce 
 upon prey that comes within their reach. 
 
 "Shrikes are not nearly as destructive birds as they are 
 often called. Indeed they sometimes are quite useful. They 
 destroy a great many grasshoppers and other large insects 
 and also kill a great many field mice. When they can get 
 insects or mice, they rarely touch little birds. 
 
 "Their beaks are very sharp and hooked, but their feet 
 «re like those of a Robin, — not strong enough to hold thei? 
 
 SHRIKE 
 
S3 
 
 prey firmly while they tear it to pieces. It is for this reason 
 that they have to imjDale birds, mice or insects on thorns, 
 the barbs of wire fences or hang them in forked branches. 
 
 "When a Shrike is in a hunting mood, he often kills a 
 great deal more than he can eat; that is why we sometimes 
 see mice or little birds hung up but untouched. 
 
 "When they are hungry. Shrikes arc very, very bold. 
 They have been known to dash into windows and try to 
 seize canaries from between the wires of their cages. Once 
 1 saw one pounce upon an English Sparroy in the. street ; 
 the sparrow was killed at tile first blow, but the shrike >did 
 not let go of his hold even when he and his 'prey were both 
 picked up and carried into the house. He continued to pull 
 and tear at the sparrow while I held it in my hand. I think 
 he must have been very, very hungry." 
 
 "A\'ell, we have had a fine afternoon's walk and I think 
 it is E'.lout time we started for home." 
 
 "Xes, Uncle, we have had a fine time and learned a great 
 deal cbout birds this afternoon. When we get home I want , 
 to show vou Ihe Barn Swallow nests in the barn." 
 
----.--«>T[ 
 
 3<t 
 
 "There are some of the swallows 
 flying about now/' said Dick as soon 
 as we came within sight of the barn. 
 "See, one of the window panes in the 
 gable is takeri out e^ery spring so that 
 thev will always be able to get in." 
 
 The barn was a large one with dou- 
 ble lofts, although of course, they were 
 nearly empty at this time (in June.) 
 Dick led the way up two ladders and 
 then proudly jjointed out three Barn 
 Swallow nests that were in use and 
 several old ones. 
 
 "Two days ago, that nest over the 
 
 rruiti •■LanJ Birds" 
 
 BARN SWALLOW 
 
 top of the window had five eggs in it ; the one on the third 
 rafter had four little birds and this one had only one egg. 
 
 "See that rope that hangs between those two rafters? 
 The swallows use that for a resting place. Nearly always 
 there are one or two of them sitting side bj'' side on it. See, 
 Uncle ! Here comes one of them in through the door now. 
 He has a large gnat in his bill. *Ycs, — he is going to the 
 m .st with the little ones." 
 
 Hanging upright on the side of the nest, the Swallow 
 
S5 
 
 rapidly gave each of his little ones a morselj for, besides 
 the insect that was in sight in his bill, he had several others 
 securely packed in his mouth. It was a very pretty sight to 
 see the little ones waving their wings in their eagerness to 
 be fed. 
 
 The ease and grace of a swallow's flight was well shown 
 by this bird, when he fell backwards from the edge of the 
 nest, caught himself on out-stretched wings and slid down 
 the air out through the barn door without any flapping. 
 
 Nothing would satisfy Dick until I climbed up the little 
 ladder he kept there for the purpose, and looked at the nest 
 containing the five eggs. It was a well-built swallow nest, 
 made of mud and fine straws, the outside being decorated 
 with little round pellets of mud so that it was very rough; 
 the inside, as usual, was very warmly lined with soft feath- 
 ers from the barnyard fowls. The eggs were very pretty, — 
 creamy-white with bright reddish-brown spots. 
 
 "You have some good bird friends here, Dick; and the 
 best part of it is that the very same birds return to the 
 same spot year after year unless some accident happens or 
 someone is unkind to them." 
 
 i*^_ 
 
36 
 
 "Well J children, which way shall we 
 go this fine morning?" 
 
 "I would like to go up in the big 
 woods/' said Dick; "I have only been 
 there once this year." 
 
 "All right, it is the big woods for this 
 morning. Wfe have about four hours 
 before noon. In that time we ought to 
 find several interesting things." 
 
 It was nn open piece of woods 
 chiefly of oalis but with a few chest- 
 nuts and pine trees scattered about. 
 From "Land Birds" Dick was determined to do his best 
 SCARLET TANAGER and had both eyes and ears wide open 
 for bird life. He was delighted by finding a nest of the 
 Song Sparrow, carefully hidden in a tuft of grass, and 
 also one of the Field Sparrow in a< clump of weeds ; — both 
 of these while we were crossing the field on our way to the 
 woods. 
 
 From all parts of the woods came the loudly-chanted song 
 of the Oven-bird, often known as the "Teacher-bird" be- 
 cause his song sounds like "Teacher-teacher-teaeher," re- 
 peated from three to ten times. 
 
37 
 
 The song that interested the children most was that of 
 the Vecry, or Wilson Thrush^ a musical^ descending roll 
 with a hollow sound, as Dick said "It sounds as though he 
 was singing through a piece of drain pipe. 
 
 "There, children, listen ! I hear the song I have been ex- 
 pecting." 
 
 "What is it. Uncle George.'' It sounds to me like a very 
 hoarse Robin," said Dick. 
 
 "It does sound something like what you say, Dick, but 
 it is the song of the most brightly colored bird found in 
 the Northern States." 
 
 "I know ! It must be the Scarlet Tanager," exclaimed 
 Dorothy." You know, Dick, he is the ^■ery brightest of red 
 with black wings and tail, — and his mate is so differently 
 dressed from him, just plain olive-green." 
 
 "I see him !" exclaimed Dick, "In that pine tree, on the 
 third branch. There, — he just hopped!" 
 
 "Oh! Isn't he bright. Why, he is even brighter scarlet'' 
 than the picture in our bird book, Dick." 
 
 "See how happy he is, children.'' He is probably sing-' 
 ing to his mate who may even now be in one of these oaks,' 
 perhaps sitting on her nest of twigs and grasses." 
 
38 
 
 Dick was "moving about trying to 
 get a better view of the Tanager that 
 had just flown to the top of the pine^ 
 when a scramble among the leaves at 
 his feet caused him to look down quick- 
 ly, just in time to see a brown and 
 white bird run limping away, trailing 
 its wings on th"e ground. 
 
 "Oh ! Unole George, come here 
 quick ! Here is a female Towhee and 
 I am afraid I have stepped on her; she 
 seems to be hurt.'' 
 From ■'Land, Birds" "The poor little thing," mourned 
 
 1 OWHll'lli Dorothy. "How did you happen to do 
 
 it Dick?" 
 
 But Dick did not reply for he ^as looking at his uncle 
 who seemed very pleased about something and could hardly 
 restrain his laughter. 
 
 "Let me see you catch the bird, "Dick, and we will per- 
 haps find out what is the matter with it." 
 
 Dick did not catch the Towhee for, to his great surprise, 
 after it had fluttered along in froiit of him for about ten 
 yards it suddenly flew rapidly into the underbrush and dis- 
 appeared. 
 
39 
 
 "Dickj I guess you were well fooled that time. Some 
 birds are more clever than you would think. Slie was lead- 
 ing you on a wild-goose chase for a very good reason. I 
 think if you go back to the spot she started from and look 
 very carefully you will find why.'' 
 
 Dick and Dorothy started back but before they reached 
 the spot two angry and frightened Towhees were flying 
 about them; no sign of crippled wings or legs now, but 
 quick actions and loud voices. 
 
 The children very quickly found the cause of their ex- 
 citement, — four baby Towhees in a nest of fine rootlets, 
 sunk in a hollow among the dead leaves under a small 
 bush. 
 
 Dick was quite crest-fallen because he had been so easily 
 led away by the mother bird so I consoled him by saying: 
 "Well, Dick, nearly everyone is fooled by this bird-trick the 
 first time it is played upon them ; and, after all, I guess you 
 are glad to be shown that a bird can be smart enough to lead 
 anyone away from its nest. It is an art that is used by a 
 great many kinds of birds, most often to decoy some 
 animals, such as foxes, weasels, etc., away from their little 
 ones. 
 
 "Notice the calls that both the birds are making 'Cherink, 
 cherink' ; The birds are very often called Cherinks or 
 Chewinks because of these notes. It is from their song 
 'Pil-tow-hee' that their most common name is taken," 
 
40 
 
 It was almost noon. We were sit- 
 ting on a cool, shady, mossy bank. The 
 ground sloped sharply down to the 
 rocky bed of a noisy little brook. 
 
 "I remember a day last summer, 
 Dorothy, whin I was sitting in just 
 such a place as this. The ground was 
 covered with the same kind of moss, the 
 brook was just as noisy and a stone al- 
 most like the one on which you are 
 leaning was only a few feet from me. 
 It was on one of those beautiful is- 
 lands that dot the Maine coast. I had 
 been studying a large gull colony 
 about which I will tell you later. 
 
 "Well, I was enjoying myself watching the great birds 
 soaring lazily overhead when a very sharp 'chip' came from 
 a low branch of the hemlock. I looked up and saw a little 
 gray and white bird, one of your winter friends, one with a 
 pink bill, white outer tail feathers and with a dark gray 
 breast showing very sharply against the white below it." 
 
 "I know! It was a Slate-colored Junco," said Dorothy. 
 "They stay around the barn nearly all winter; Dick and 
 
 From "hand Birds 
 
 JUNCO 
 
41 
 
 I throw out chafF and grain for them. Orie of them last 
 winter became so tame he would eat out of our hands." 
 
 "We had lots and lots of fun with our .Tuncos," said Dick, 
 "but now we want to hear about yours.'' 
 
 "^^'ell, as I said, I looked up when he chipped and saw 
 that he had a fat little worm in his beak. That looked in- 
 teresting so I sat very, very still. The little fellow chipped 
 a few minutes, watching me very closely, then came a lit- 
 tle nearer and nearer, chipping less and less often; I almost 
 held my breath and hardly winked for fear of alarming 
 him; at last he fluttered down on the top of the stone not 
 four feet from ine. A chorus of baby bird voices greeted 
 him and he at once hopped down under the overhanging end 
 of the stone; in a few moments, having satisfied the hun- 
 ger of at least one of his children he flew away in search 
 of more dainties for the rest. 
 
 "I hurried to the spot and found his snug little home, 
 containing three little, bright-eyed birdies, — well protected 
 from sun and rain by the rock overhead aiid almost con- 
 cealed from view by a little clump of grass. 
 
 "I hurried back to my place and watched the old birds 
 feed them for about an hour; they took turnjs, one of them 
 coming about every five minutes. 
 
 V 
 
42 
 
 £,f'^£ei:-^'*i~'' J^^^^ "Well, Dick, I have to go to town 
 
 R;# jgBJtev^^^ ~ ^^^^^i this morning:; so you and Dorothy will 
 wL BHk'^hHb* mL have to take the walk without me; but 
 
 you can tell nje this evening what you 
 see." 
 
 "I wanted you to go with us down 
 to the old mill; we will not go there 
 today but wait until tomorrow when 
 you can be with us." 
 
 I eould tell as soon as I reached the 
 
 house that niglit that the children had 
 
 not been idle, for the bojr's eyes 
 
 twinkled and *he could scarcely wait 
 
 Fioiii "Land Birds'' Until We Were seated on the porch, af- 
 
 CHIPPING SPARROW ter supper, before telling me what he 
 
 and his sister had been doing during the day. 
 
 "Oh, Uncle George! We went out in the orchard just af- 
 ter 3'ou went away and I found a nest of a Chipping Spar- 
 row with young birds almost big enough to fly." 
 
 "And I found one. too, with three eggs in it," said Dor- 
 othy, adding proudly, "and I climbed the tree too. It was 
 such a pretty little nest, — nearly all made of horsehair, with 
 only just a few small rootlets on the outside. And the eggs 
 
43 
 
 were just beautiful, — almost sky-blue with a pretty ring of 
 brown and black specks around the large end." 
 
 "But we had the most fun with my nest," br'oke in Dick, 
 "for we sat under the tree ever so long and watched the lit- 
 tle ones being fed. \\'c took turns using the field glasses 
 and tried to see if we could tell what kinds of insects the 
 mother and father brought each time. We did not have any 
 watch so we could not tell how often they fed the little 
 ones, but it seemed as though one of the parents was there 
 about all the time. They took turns most of the time, but 
 once in a while the two would come at the same time. 
 
 "Nearly every time after the male bird h^d taken his 
 turn at feeding, he would go to the same branch above the 
 nest and sing, — a 'chip-chip-chip' — so fast that the 'chips' 
 all ran together." 
 
 "We. wrote down on this piece of paper, as nearly as we 
 could make out, what the little birds were fed most often," 
 s.aid Dorothy. "We have: Smooth green caterpillars, five 
 times; hairy caterpillars, eleven times; grasshoppers or 
 crickets, seven times ; moths or millers, seven times ; and 
 hard-shelled beetles, six times." 
 
 "That shows, children, how useful these birds are. Just 
 think of the number that each bird eats daily multiplied by 
 all the birds there are. It amounts to many times more than 
 vou would believe." 
 
 
 
44, 
 
 According to Dick's wish, eight 
 o'clock in the morning found us on our 
 way to the old mill. It was about half 
 a mile away (jn an old run-down farm. 
 The brook had been checked so as to 
 form quite a large pond, — 1 a r g e 
 enough so that years and years before 
 it had furnished water to turn a wheel 
 so that the tfarmer could grind his 
 own and his neighbors' corn. 
 
 Most of our way to the old mill was 
 through pastiire land that produced a 
 little grass, quantities of weeds and 
 many thistles ; many of the thistles 
 were in full bloom while others had gone to seed. 
 
 On the way we, of course, saw many Song, Vesper and 
 Field Sparrows, but what interested the children most were 
 the numbers of Goldfinches that flew from the thistles 
 when we approached too near. Goldfinches are great fav- 
 orites with everybody; by country boys and girls they are 
 very often known as "Wild Canaries" oi "Thistle-birds." 
 
 Their song is very sweet, — not as long, but richer and 
 wilder than that of the canary. People used to catch them 
 
 From "Land Birds' 
 
 GOLD FINCH 
 
45 
 
 and keep them in cages, but they are too pretty and too 
 valuable as wild birds to be kept in confinerrient; the law 
 almost everywhere now prohibits catching or keeping them 
 or other wild birds caged. 
 
 "I just love to watch Goldfinches go bounding through 
 the air," said Dorothy, "up and down, up and down and 
 between each bound singing "per-chic-o-ree.' " ; 
 
 "They are just feeding now, on the thistle s^eds; they al- 
 so eat a great many weed seeds, those of wild or "cultivated 
 sunflowers and, particularly during their nesting season, a 
 great many injurious insects. ' ,* 
 
 "During the latter part of July or early in August, if <" 
 you look sharply among those alders that I see about the 
 edge of the pond, you will probably find some of their nests. 
 The}' are made out of soft, silky plant-fibres ahd are woven 
 into forked branches; they look very much like the nests ,\ \ :^ 
 of Redstarts, Yellow Warblers or Least Flycatchers, in : ;/, ;, 
 fact if you should bring me deserted nests of any of these ;,,', \' 
 birds I could not tell every time which they Were unless I 
 
 knew just where you found them. Goldfinches lay four or v\J:\\',\\v 
 
 often five very pale blue eggs without spots of any kind. , ^ 
 "Well, here we are at the old mill! Who will be the firstV^!g^,_ 
 to find a nest and what will it be?" 
 
 " ^ev-tUkt-o-v 
 
46 
 
 "There is a. bird! Just flying into 
 that elm that hangs its branches out 
 over the water. It is a Baltimore 
 Oriole," exclaimed Dick. "There, he 
 is calling to his mate now; I like to 
 listen to them because their notes are 
 so sharp and clear and wild. Their 
 song is beautiful too, — they put so 
 much force and good will into it." 
 
 "I guess Mrs. Oriole heard him call 
 to her, for heije she comes," said Dor- 
 othy, as a bird flew over our heads, at 
 the same time giving an answering 
 call. 
 
 Her mate was not the only bird watching for her coming 
 for, from the end of the branch that hung furthest over 
 the water, came the loud, whining calls that only young 
 orioles can make. 
 
 It was toward this brancli that the mother bird flew; we 
 could see the branch and nest shaking violently as all the 
 little birds tried to reach the rim /it the same time. They 
 are alw.-iys very forward youngsters, very noisy and anxious 
 to get the lion's share of all food that their parents bring. 
 It is a wonder that they do not more often fall from the 
 
 From "Land Birds 
 
 ORIOLE 
 
47 
 
 nest as they jostle each other and tr_v each to reach fur- 
 thest for the coming breakfast. 
 
 W e sat down and watched the birds for about an hour. 
 It made Dorothy quite provoked because Mrs. Oriole had 
 to hunt for nearly all the food. Mr. Oriole helped once in 
 a while but most of his time was spent in singing, getting 
 insects for himself and in looking pretty; he was a beauti- 
 ful bird, the blackest of black and the very brightest of 
 orange. As Dorothy remarked, it is no wonder that many 
 people call such birds "Golden Robins" or "Fire-birds." 
 
 He was a valiant bird too and allowed no other kind to 
 come near his home. "Wliile we watched, he had several very 
 exciting lights with a Kingbird that often flew out over tlie 
 water after insects. They were about e\enly matched in 
 skill and strength; the Oriole is one of the few birds that 
 can hold its own with the brave kingbird. 
 
 This oriole nest was a very pretty one, — pouch-shaped 
 as usual, about eight inches long and suspended from very 
 slender twigs so that it swayed back and forth with every 
 breath of air. It was strongly woven of touglj fibres, hairs 
 and string. Because of this pouch-shaped, hanging nest, 
 manv people know the Oriole as the "Hang Nest." 
 
48 
 
 Dorothy and Dick had been so in- 
 terested watching the Orioles that 
 they had paid .little attention to other 
 birds. They -were reminded of this 
 when an old male blackbird, with 
 bright red and white shoulderstraps, 
 spied us sitting on the bank. 
 
 Blackbirds are inquisitive and also 
 noisy; the old fellow came over to see 
 what we were about and his harsh 
 "chucks" of alarm soon brought a 
 From "Land Birds" dozen other members of the colony 
 
 RED-WINGED about us. 
 
 dLACivdIKU "They make as much noise as though 
 
 we were robbing their homes," said Dick, "so we might as 
 well go over and look at them ; they cannot scold any 
 louder." 
 
 They could, though, for they were joined by their mates 
 as we approached the end of the pond where they nested; 
 they "chacked" and "chucked" and "chee'd" so loudly that 
 Dorothy wanted to go away at once, but Dick was set on 
 first finding one of their nests. 
 
 ^Ve could see one nest in a bush quite a ways out in the 
 water and could tell where there were several more by the 
 
19 
 
 wa3' the birds hovered over certain spots. Finally Dick 
 found one in a bush on the very edge of the pond. By 
 leaning out over the water carefully we could see the four 
 dull-blue eggs that were in it; they were curiously scrawled 
 and marked with black and brown, looking, as Dorothj- 
 said "as if a fly has stepped in the ink bottle and then walk- 
 ed over them. The nest was quite large, — made of coarse 
 grasses woven together to form a basket willi a deep cup- 
 s'laped center. 
 
 "Red-winged Blackbirds do not always build in bushes 
 like these, Dick; near my home is a marshy meadow, al- 
 ways partly covered with water when the blackbirds build 
 their nests, but it dries up by the time their little ones ap- 
 pear so that I can walk across and find their nests in almost 
 every large clump of grass." 
 
 As we started away from the pond, the blackbirds, one 
 by om-, stopped their scolding; by the time we were a hun- 
 dred yards distant, they were all quiet. 
 
 Just before we got out of hearing, one of them, perhaps i 
 the old fellow that first noticed us, perched on the bush | 
 above his nest and sang the blackbird song, resembling the 
 syllables "quong-ka-ree." Perhaps it was his *ay of saying 
 good, bve to us. 
 
50 
 
 We crossed the fields and were near- 
 ly' to the house when Dick said to his 
 sister : — "Come on^ Dorothy ! Let us 
 look at the Chipping Sparrow nests we 
 found yesterday.'' 
 
 They were off with a rush^ racing 
 to see who would reach the orchard 
 first. Dick arrived at the tree first 
 with Dorothy right at his heels. Up 
 both went as cuimblj^ as squirrels, and 
 soon were looking into the nest Dor- 
 othy had found. 
 From "Land Birds" "Uncle Ge'orge ! Come here quick ! 
 L-UWdIKU There are five eggs now! There were 
 
 only three yesterday ; and one of them is bigger and white, 
 with little brown spots all over it." These and other ex- 
 clamations came rapidly from the two excited children. 
 
 "I am sure the large egg is that ©f a Cowbird/' said Dick. 
 I climbed up beside them and sure enough, the little Chip- 
 ping Sparrow had laid her fourth egg and a Cowbird had 
 added hers to make five. The nest was small and was al- 
 most full of eggs. That of the Cowbird was quite warm 
 whjle the other four were cold, showing that the large one 
 had been very recently laid. 
 
51 
 
 "Well, Dick, I guess we had better remove the egg of the 
 Cowbird. As it has just been laid, I do not think the little 
 sparrow will leave the nest if we take it outj and surely if 
 wc let it hatch with hers, the nest will be so crowded that 
 her own little ones will be killed. 
 
 "The Cowbird is the only bird we have in this country 
 that always lays its eggs in other birds' nests, leaving its 
 children for them to care for. Their eggs are nearly always 
 laid in the nests of smaller birds and since the young Cow- 
 bird is so much bigger and stronger than its foster brothers 
 and. sisters, the latter are very often forced out of the nest 
 or starved because he is so greedy. 
 
 "Cowbirds are often known as "Lazy Birds" because 
 they build no nest of their own; young Cowbirds are lazy, 
 too, for they follow their little foster mothers about and 
 make them feed them long after their own children are able 
 to care for themselves. It is a very queer sight to see a 
 large young bird following a small adult one about, flutter- 
 ing its wings and asking to be fed. 
 
 If it were not for this very habit of thrusting its 3'oung 
 on other birds, Cowbirds would be good birds, for they eat 
 a great many of very destructive insects." 
 
52 
 
 Leaving this nest, which Dorothy 
 proudly claimed as hers, we went 
 to the other end of the orchard 
 to see what had become of the little 
 birds that were in the one that Dick 
 found. Not a sign of them could be 
 found; they had left their home early 
 in the morning and were probably 
 safely hidden among the leaves in 
 some of the other trees, being careful- 
 ly tended by their parents until they 
 could fly about and look out for them- 
 selves. 
 
 Although Dick's sparrows had dis- 
 appeared, he found something else that pleased him even 
 more than the finding of their nest^ It was the beginning 
 of the nest of a Kingbird. AVe had seen and heard this 
 noisy fellow about the orchard every day but had not been 
 able to locate bi.s nest, for the very good reason, as we now 
 knew, that it had not been built. 
 
 Just then we saw a relative of the Kingbird, — one that 
 interested Dorothy very much because, as she said, "he has 
 such a sad and plaintive voice." It was a Wood Pcwee. 
 We soon found that he bad live regular lookout perches 
 
 WOOD PEWEE 
 
53 
 
 and that he would return to one or another of these after 
 each air voyage. 
 
 He would dash quickly out, snap up the gnat, mosquito, 
 moth or whatever insect happened to be passjng, and having 
 returned to one of his favorite perches, throw back his 
 head and whistle in a very high pitch "pee-a-wee," — a 
 song rather sweet, restful and also, as Dorothy said, sad. 
 sometimes after a short pause, he would add to this song two 
 more notes, usually described as "pe-eer." 
 
 "^A'here do you suppose his nest is, Uncle George?" 
 asked Dick. 
 
 "It may possiblj^ be in some of these apple trees, but 1 
 think it more likely' to be in those oak.s on the edge of the 
 woods. Probably Jfrs. Pewee is sitting on the nest while he 
 is hunting in this orcliard. 
 
 "They make one of the prettiest of bird nests, — of wool- 
 ly fibres covered on the outside with bits of lichens or moss 
 such as grows on the branches of many treeS. This nest is 
 always placed on a horizontal limb, usually quite a large 
 one, and looks just like a little tuft of moss .growing on the 
 top of it. It looks so much like the tree that their nests are 
 quite difficult to find. 
 
 "Pewee eggs, too, are very beautiful, — a rich, creamy ; 
 white with a wreath of quite large brown spots about the 
 large end." 
 
 "^^ 
 
54 
 
 Dorothy' and Dick spent a great 
 deal of their spare time during the 
 next month in watching the progress 
 of the Kingbird family. 
 
 They watched the building of the 
 nest until it nvas completed on the 
 third day from the time it was start- 
 ed. With the field glasses they saw 
 them weave together the gray fibres 
 made most of it and e\en hung up 
 pieces of strihg on the branches and 
 watched the birds get and work them 
 into the outside of the nest. 
 
 Because thny saw the children so 
 often, the birds paid little attention to them. They would 
 go about their work of building and, later, of caring for 
 their little ones while Dorothy and JJick were sitting on the 
 ground right under them. Usually if one goes near the 
 home of a Kingbird, the birds are very, very noisy and even 
 try to dri\e you away. I have sex'eral times seen them strike 
 ii boy on the head as he was climbing to their nest. 
 
 From "hand Bird 
 
 KINGBIRD 
 
55 
 
 These birds, though so quiet when the children were 
 about, would allow no one else to approach without making 
 the usual fuss about it. 
 
 Although both tlie birds were very much alike in plu- 
 mage^ the children could tell them apart for the made had 
 lost one wing feather in some one of his many battles with 
 other birds that caoie too near his nest. He was verv proud 
 of the handsome brown-specked eggs the nest contained 
 and often hovered in the air over them to see that they 
 were all right, but he never took his turn at sitting on them. 
 
 When his little ones appeared, he was fiercer than ever 
 and became quite savage in liis attack upon other birds. 
 He was very expert at catching insects and fed the little 
 Kingbirds more often than his mate did. He brought, 
 among other things, many locusts, motlis dragon flies and 
 even bees; most of these were swallowed by the little birds 
 whole,, but sometimes the parents would pull the winjjs oft' 
 first. 
 
 The. Kingbird is a bully but he is ver}'- brave too; he rare- 
 ly attacks a bird smaller than himself and no hawk or eagle 
 is too large for him to drive awaj'. On this account, as well 
 as for their destruction of insects, tliey are valuable birds 
 to have about the farm for they let no bird of pre}^ come 
 near if they can prevent it. 
 
56 
 
 From now on Uncle George was un- 
 able to give as much of his time to 
 out of door walks with the children. 
 Dick and Dorothy^ however, spent 
 nearer all of every morning or after- 
 noon watching their old friends and 
 trying to find new ones. Every even- 
 ing they told Uncle George about what 
 they had seen -and listened to his stor- 
 ies about birdg he had seen in different 
 places. 
 
 "We found some Blue Jays today. 
 Uncle George," said Dick, "We did 
 not see the nest but saw one of the 
 old jays feed one of the little ones." 
 
 "Then we hunted," added Dorothy, "until we found three 
 others. They could fly just a little but we managed to 
 catch all of them. The jays did not like it a bit when we 
 caught their children; they scolded and screamed and whis- 
 tled. The little ones were not afraid of us at all. We 
 played with them a few minutes and then put all four in a 
 row on a branch. 
 
 "As soon as we went away a short distance, the mother 
 jay came back and fed them. Blue Jays are beautiful 
 birds, are they not. Uncle George.^" 
 
 From "Land Birds 
 
 BLUE JAY 
 
57 
 
 "They are beautiful birds, Dorothy, and it is a pity they 
 are not as good as they are handsome. Tliey are very mis- 
 chievous and often cruel, for tliey like to eat eggs of other 
 birds and sometimes kill their little ones too." 
 
 "Oh, aren't they wicked? I never would have supposed 
 Such things of such pretty birds." 
 
 "You see, Dorothy, it is rather a faiijily habit. All 
 members of the crow family, to which jaj^s belong, have 
 these same destructive customs. 
 
 "Ja_ys make very interesting pets, but they have to be 
 continually watched for thc}^ are always getting into mis- 
 chief. One that I kept for se\ eral years wowld steal e^ery- 
 thing that he could carry away. He had a+great liking for 
 pennies and would always catch them in his be;ik when they 
 were thrown to him. We had a box, on the wall, with a hole 
 in the top and he would carry pennies or other small things 
 and drop them into this box. 
 
 "He liked to fly quickly by an)-one's face and really, 
 from the twinkling of his eyes, seemed to laugh when they 
 jumped as his wings hit their face. He liked bright col- 
 ors and always inspected the flowers on lady visitors' liats, 
 often to their alarm. Your little cousins had a great deal 
 cf fun with him." 
 
58 
 
 "Now Uncle," said Dick, "tell us 
 about the Downy Woodpecker and 
 the woodland apartment house. Dor- 
 othy has never heard you tell it." 
 
 "All right, Dick. I will not have 
 time to tell all the interesting things 
 that happened while I was visiting 
 this apartment house, but I will tell 
 those that df.al with the Downy 
 Woodpecker, — one of the chief char- 
 acters in the woodland sketch. 
 
 "I was pushing my way through 
 some thick brush, just coming to a 
 clearing, when I heard the beautiful 
 song of a House Wren, — just such a song as our wren sang 
 the other day down by the wall. This song was unusual be- 
 cause the bird would stop singing very suddenly right in 
 the middle of his song. He kept singing and stopping and 
 as soon as I came to the edge of the woods I saw the rea- 
 son for it. 
 
 "He was perched on the end of a branch on an old dead 
 apple tree and had just commenced his song, when a black 
 and white bird, — the "Woodpecker, — dashed at him. The 
 
 FroDi "Land 
 
 DOWNY 
 WOODPECKER 
 
59 
 
 wren changed his position, started his song again and the 
 same thing happened. 
 
 "I soon found that 'Downy' had his nest in a hole about 
 half way up the trunk of the tree. He was afraid that the 
 loud music of the wren would attract somebody or something 
 to the; spot and that they would discover his home. Looking 
 a little closer T found that Mrs. Downy^ who had just flown 
 out of the nestj had been co\ering five glossy white eggs; 
 and I also found that Mrs. Wren was sitting upon seven 
 creamy, brown-specked ones in the hollow end of a limb 
 not three feet below the nest of the woodpecker. 
 
 "The wren was singing because he was sd very happy 
 about his home ; the woodpecker was trying to stop him be- 
 cause he feared someone would find his. 
 
 "These were the two middle flats of the apartment house; 
 the ground floor was occupied by a Chipmunk, -that lived un- 
 der the roots of tlie tree; the upper floor was used by a 
 small colony of "yellow-jacket' bees that had bored into the 
 soft wood a little above Downy's nest. Downy brought all 
 kinds of insects to his little ones when they apjpeared. Sev- 
 eral times I saw him catch and feed them some of the bees 
 that lived just above him, but more often he brought differ- 
 ent kinds of wood borers. I had lots of fun watching these 
 two bird families and happened to be there on the days 
 when each of them had their little ones leave their nests." 
 
GO 
 
 "Oh, Uncle George/' exclaimed 
 Dick, "there have been two tiny hum- 
 mingbirds abo.ut the flower garden 
 nearly all day. The male is 'Ruby- 
 throat' and Dorothy has named his 
 mate 'Emerald-back.' 
 
 "We have had ever so much fun 
 watching them; they visit most all the 
 flowers but I think they liked the pe- 
 tunias the best. 
 
 "\\c sat OH: the grass in front of the 
 flower bed and sometimes they would 
 come within two feet of us. They look 
 so queer when they have their heads 
 and bills inside the flowers; their *ings move so fast you 
 cannot see them at all, — just a sort of blur." 
 
 "They kept going from the flowers to the orchard," said 
 Dorothy, "and Dick is sure they must have a nest there 
 somewhere, but we could not find it." 
 
 "Probably it is in the orchard, Dorothy, but more often 
 they build their nests in trees in the woods. I have found 
 them in vines not more than Hve feet from the ground and 
 at most all distances up to sixty fqet above the ground in a 
 
 From "Land Birds' 
 
 HUMMINGBIRD 
 
61 
 
 l;irge pine. The nests are very difficult to iind unless you 
 chanci' to see the bird building or going to it. 
 
 "It usually takes four or five days for tjiem to finish n 
 nest. The body of it is built almost wholly of the soft 
 woolly substance you often find on the stems of ferns; bit 
 by bit this is carried and placed on the top of a branch, 
 where it is worlied and molded into the proper shape. Then 
 the most interesting part conies, — Ihat of decorating the 
 outside. The birds buzz up and down the sides of trees se- 
 lecting suit.able bits of moss ; these they put on the sides of 
 Lhe nest, the natural slickiness of the wool, perhaps aided a 
 little by the bird's saliva, causing them to be firmly held. 
 The completed nest perfectly resembles a little knob of 
 moss growing on the upper side of tlie limb. Their two lit- 
 tle white eggs are just the size and shape of little white 
 beans. 
 
 "Hummingbirds eat not only the sweets of flowers, but a 
 great many tin}' gnats and little spiders. Although the 
 birds are so very tiny, they are so quick and fearless that 
 they drive all other birds away from their homes. 
 
 "When angry, they will dash straight at a person and, 
 although they never hit you, you always dodg,e for fear that 
 tliev will." 
 
62 
 
 Our talk that evening changed very 
 quickly from the hummingbird to an- 
 other as a harsh, rasping 'peenk' 
 sounded from gomcwhere overhead; 
 it was followed by answering notes 
 from other directions. 
 
 "Oh I The first X ighthawks we have 
 seen this season," exclaimed Dick. 
 
 "If you and Dorothy lived in the 
 city you would see plenty of them 
 for a great many are flying over 
 the houses every evening. They like 
 there better than in the country be- 
 cause there are more insects flying 
 i^bout and the gravel roofs of man}' of the buildings make 
 fine places for them to nest on." 
 
 "Do you mean to say that they nest on top of the roofs, 
 Uncle George?" asked Dick. 
 
 "Yes, they make no nest but they do lay their two eggs 
 right among the pebbles on the roofs. And the eggs are 
 mottled with gray so that it is hard to tell them from the 
 pebbles without looking very sharply.' 
 
 "Well, I guess Xighthawks and English Sparrows are 
 about the only birds city children see more often than we 
 do," said Dorothy. 
 
 hiotn " Ltitul Birds 
 
 NIGHTHAWK 
 
63 
 
 "You are right; for instance few of them ever heard or 
 saw that bird so like the Nighthawk, — tlie *Whip-poor-will, 
 while you can hear them every night." 
 
 There, one of the Xighthawks is swooping now!" ex- 
 claimed Dick; "Just see him go down, there, — he has turn- 
 ed upward again ; what makes that boomiiig sound, Uncle 
 George?" 
 
 "That is caused by the air rushing from under their 
 wings as the}- turn them to check their downward course. 
 Sonie folks think they make those rapid swoops just in play, 
 while others think thej' see swarms of insects below them 
 and are dashing down to secure /is many as possible. Cer- 
 tainly they do get ,i very many insects as they go coursing 
 through the air. 
 
 "While the Niglithawk hill is very small, his mouth opens 
 very, very wide so that by opening it as he goes through 
 a swarm of mosquitoes, winged ants or other insects, he 
 scoops up great quantities of them. 
 
 "Xighthawks are one of our \ery best kind of birds; 
 they do no damage at all and our only complaint can be that 
 vhere are not more of them. 
 
 "The Xighthawks that you see here, like tliose that just 
 passed o\er, lay their eggs on pebbly places or on flat 
 stones in pastures." 
 
64 
 
 "I will not have to go to the city 
 until afternoon, so we can spend this 
 morning together." This was the de- 
 lightful news -that their uncle told the 
 children one morning at breakfast. 
 "Oh, good!" exclaimed Dick. 
 'We can go down to the mill pond 
 again. It has loeen nearly three weeks 
 since we were there and I suppose 
 that most of the blackbirds have fin- 
 ished with their nesting, but we can 
 surely find something else." 
 
 To the children's surprise and de- 
 
 KINGFISHER light we found that the blackbirds 
 
 were still there and we found several more of their nests, 
 
 some with eggs and some with young birds, but we found 
 
 something else that was of even more interest to them. 
 
 Dick first noticed the gray and white bird hovering, with 
 rapidly' beating wings, over the pond as though he were 
 about to dive into the water ; instead, however, he flew across 
 the pond making a harsh rattling* sound, as he went, that 
 announced him to be a Kingfisher. 
 
 He perched on a beam that projected from the old mill 
 out o\'er the water and waited patiently for a fish to come 
 
65 
 
 near tlit- surface; we waited just as patiently to see what lie 
 would do. 
 
 "I think he sees a fish now/' said Dick, who had the field 
 glasses. "YeSj there he goes !" 
 
 Straight down, like an arrow he went and disappeared 
 beneath the surface ; in an instant he emerged, shook the 
 water from his feathers and we could see that he carried a 
 fair sized fish in his large beak. Instead of going to his 
 I'erch and .swallowing his prey as usual, he gave a half- 
 smothered rattle and stai-ted off across the field. 
 
 "It looks as though, this time, he was fishing for some 
 little kingfishers instead of for himself, doesn't it children? 
 Well, he is a good fisherman and has better success than 
 most boys or men." 
 
 "Somewhere, not very far away, in the direction in which 
 our Kingfisher friend just flew, is a sand bank. At the 
 end of a tunnel in this bank are half .i do^en of his chil- 
 dren eagerly waiting for him. 
 
 "If you could see the Kingfisher's feet j'ou would find 
 that his toes have partl_y grown together, making little 
 scooiJs that aid him very much in digging the tunnel for his 
 nest. This tunnel is usually about two feet long; it is j 
 larger at the inner end, making a little room on the floor of 
 which are laid the pure white eggs." 
 
66 
 
 Almost before the Kingfisher we had 
 been watching had disappeared from 
 sight, the attention of the children was 
 drawn to some strange sounds coming 
 from a tangWd thicket bordering the 
 pond and only a short ways from us, 
 — low, deep croaks sounding like the 
 syllables 'kow-kow-kow' repeated 
 slowh' many times followed by a dou- 
 ble note like 'kow-uh, kow-uh.' 
 
 After thinking a few moments, 
 Dick correctly guessed that it must 
 be a Black-billed Cuckoo. 
 
 We carefullv made our way to the 
 
 From "Land Birds" 
 
 BLACK-BILLED 
 CUCKOO 
 
 Uiicket and found the Cuckoo ])erched in a stunted apple 
 tree rijiht beside a tent caterpillar nest. Between songs he 
 was eating his fill of these hair}' insects. 
 
 During llie fifteen minutes that we stood watching liim, 
 he gave his croaking song four times, ate twenty-five cat- 
 erpillars and twice flew to the farther end of the thicket, 
 each time carrying a caterpillar in , his mouth. 
 
 We concluded that he must have a nest there and so we very 
 quietly walked around the thicket to see if we could find it. 
 
Suddenly Dick whispered: "There it is!" And sure enough, 
 his sharp eyes had found it, and Mrs. Cuckoo was sitting 
 upon the nest, apparently not yet having seen us. 
 
 \Ve had watched her but a few moments when !Mr. Cuckoo 
 slipped quickly through the brush and glided to a branch 
 just over her head. She greeted him witli a short croak 
 and greedily seized the caterpillar that he had brought. 
 
 This courtesy on the part of the Cuckoo to his mate is 
 not unusual, but it seems strange when oiie knows them 
 well, for, as a rule, they appear to ha\ e nO great affection 
 for their families ; at least they do not show it as other birds 
 do. 
 
 Slie left the nest soon after and the children looked it 
 over carefully; it w.as very poorly made of twigs and lined 
 with "catkins," — almost flat on top so that there was dan- 
 ger of the eggs rolling off if the nest was disturbed. The 
 three eggs were of a dull blue shade, just about the color of 
 those of Robins. 
 
 "The Cuckoo that they have in Europe, Dick, never 
 builds a nesst of its own, but lays its eggs in nests of other 
 birds the same as our Cowbird does. I api \ery glad that 
 our bird has better manners than its foreign cousin and I' 
 looks out for its own children. 
 
68 
 
 "^Vlint birds shall we talk about 
 tonight?" Uncle George asked as he 
 and the children sat on the veranda 
 one evening. 
 
 "Tell us about owls/' said Dick. 
 "Jimmie said there was a 'Hoot Owl' 
 I in the woods back of his house last 
 night." 
 
 "There are a great many kinds of 
 owls and I am afraid it would take me 
 a sery long time to tell about all of 
 them^ so we -will talk about a few that 
 live right around here. 
 
 "Let us first take the name, 'Hoot 
 Owl' ; it is not at all certain what owl anyone means when 
 tliey speak of it as a hoot owl for the name is used for 
 about all kinds. 
 
 "The little Screech Owl has a very pretty trill, yet I have 
 often heard it called a hoot owl; ,it is more often known, 
 thougli. as the 'Cat Owl' because o*f its ear tufts. Both the 
 Barred Owl and the Great Horned Owl really hoot, — a ser- 
 ies of dismal, hollow sounds, like "Hoo, hoo, hoo-o-o.' The 
 Barred Owl is the most common of the large owls. All of 
 
 From "IVatcr Birds' 
 
 BARRED OWL 
 
69 
 
 them, large or small, catch birds sometimes but they live, 
 chiefly upon mice, moles, rabbits, squirrels, ffitc. ■ , , 
 
 "All small creatures, like mice, owls swallow whole, — f.ur-, 
 bones and all; later these parts that are not gopdto eat are 
 thrown up in the form of round pellets. Owl ^ests may of- 
 ten be found by seeing these 'fur and bone' pellets on the 
 ground. 
 
 "The Screech Owl always nests in holes, in trees, most 
 often in apple trees, and the Barred Owl does when she 
 can find a suitable hollow tree. If such pla'ces happen to be 
 scarce she will lay her three or four round white eggs in 
 an old crow nest. 
 
 "Many people think owls cannot see well in daylight. 
 They are mistaken, for nearh' all the owls can see as well 
 as most other birds in bright light. As they do most of 
 their hunting at night, they try to find quiet places and 
 sleep during daytime. 
 
 "Crows do not like owls and frequently we can tell by 
 their actions where an owl is sleeping; they gather about 
 him, caw and dash at him until he is forced to fly to some 
 other place. 
 
 "No birds can fly easier or with less noise than owls; 
 their feathers are .'ery soft, light and broad and make no 
 sound whatever as their wings beat the air in flight. 
 
70 
 
 "On my way to the city this morn- 
 ing, Dickj I sriw one of the birds you 
 liked so well io watch at the seashore 
 last summer." 
 
 "Was it :a Fish Hawk, Uncle 
 George?" 
 
 "\es, Dickj it was a Fish Hawk or 
 Osprey. He was flying up the river 
 and kept opposite the train for a short 
 while, but our .speed was too much for 
 ■him and he was left behind." 
 
 "It is such fun to see them catch 
 fish. I wish we were at the shore now/" 
 said Dorothy, "but anywajr we will 
 
 be in ;ibout two weeks from now. Then Dick and I will 
 have great sport watching the gulls and terns and Fish 
 Hawks." 
 
 "I have read of eagles robbing Fish Hawks of the fish 
 they catch," said Dick. "Did you ever see them do so, 
 Uncle George?" 
 
 "Yes, Dick, I have, — a number of times. On the coast of 
 Virginia at Lynn Haven Inlet, 3ald Eagles were very 
 abundant. I counted sixteen of them one morning all in 
 sight at the same time. Most of them kept near the water, 
 picking up fish that washed ashore or catching them in the 
 
 OSPREY 
 
71 
 
 weirs or fishermen's nets that were set close to shore. 
 
 "I found an Osprey nest about two hundred yards back 
 from the beach. It had young in it and I sat a short dis- 
 tance away for one whole morning watching them and the 
 eagles. 
 
 "The Ospreys caught most of their fish from inside the 
 nets ; of course this was very easy fishing as there were lots 
 of fish there and they could not escape. 'Sometimes they 
 would liover over the net and plunge under water in their 
 usual manner and again they would simply fly close to the 
 water and reach dov.ii and grasp a fish in their powerful 
 feet and talons. 
 
 "Twice during that morning I saw an eaj^le start in pur- 
 suit of one of the Osprevs as he was bringing a fish to his 
 nest. Uttering shrill, piercing wliistles, the Osprey tried to 
 escape; up and up he went in short circles with the eagle 
 following just below. The Osprey dropped his fish when 
 about a quarter of a mile above the wate-r and the eagle 
 caught it as it passed him. In the second pursuit both birds 
 went so high that I could barely see them with the field <X>v^' 
 glasses, but the eagle came down with the fish and the 
 Osprey had to go out to the weirs for another one. 
 
 "As fish were so plenty and so easily cajight it must be, 
 in these cases, that the eagle took them away from the 
 Osprey just to prove that he was the master 
 
72 
 
 "Another kind of hawk, the smallest 
 that we have in this country, was very 
 common along the coast at Lynn 
 Haven. 
 
 "Do you remember the little Spar- 
 row Hawk iliat flew overhead one 
 morning just as we were starting on 
 one of our walks ? Well, the sand had 
 blown in and half covered and killed 
 most of the trees along the beach. 
 Many of these trees were decayed and 
 had holes in ±hem. 
 
 "These made fine homes for Spar- 
 row hawks; a-t almost any time I could 
 see one or more of them flying about, always with the same 
 rapid beats of the wings and short sails, just as the one we 
 saw the other day flew. While I was watching the Ospreys 
 and eagles, I had plenty of time, too, to keep one eye on the 
 doings of these little hawks. 
 
 "I saw several of them suddenly dash down to the ground 
 and capture grasshoppers; once one of them caught one of 
 the insects in the air. 
 
 "Several times, too, I saw Sparrow Hawks catch some of 
 
 From "Land Birds' 
 
 SPARROW HAWK 
 
73 
 
 the ver^' lively and numerous lizards th'at were sunning 
 themselves on the hot sand. 
 
 "Numbers of sand crabs were running about among the 
 sand dunes and, although they are very difficult to catph, 
 they could not escape the speedy little hawks, — at least, 
 not all the time for twice I saw one of the libtle fellows 
 bear a crab off in his little claws, 
 
 "^^'here^■er field mice or moles are to be found, Sparrow 
 Hawks feed upon them rather than upon anything else; 
 so, by destroying these little mammals and grasshoppers, 
 these hawks may be counted as among onr most valuable 
 birds. 
 
 "You can see from the picture in your bird book that 
 there is a great difference in plumage between Mr, and 
 ]\Irs. Sparrow Hawk ; the males and females of most hawks 
 are very similar in plumage. The Sparro* Hawk also has 
 a very different call or song from that of any other hawk; 
 it is a very rapidly whistled 'kil-ly, kil-ly, kil-ly,' while 
 most hawks have but a single piercing whistle or scream. 
 
 "It not onlj' differs from other hawks in its small size, 
 bright plumage and peculiar song, but also in its nesting .is 
 it is the only American hawk that always nests in holes in 
 trees. They lay four or five cream-colored eggs, covered all 
 over with fine dots of brown." 
 
74 
 
 "1 am quite sure, Uncle George, 
 that I saw two Mourning Doves to- 
 da}/' said Dick one evening. "They 
 flew from the ground under the old 
 oak in the pasture ; I could see the 
 white outer feathers and the pointed 
 tails as they fl§w away but I was not 
 close enough jrfnd they went too fast 
 for me to see the black spots on the 
 sides of the head so as to make sure 
 they were the doves." 
 
 "They pro'bably were Mourning 
 i luii, II uui Buih Doves, Dick. These birds, though, 
 MOURNING DOVE are quite rare in Massachusetts, but 
 are common in the Southern and Central States. 
 
 "Although they are much smaller and quite different in 
 plumage, they are verj' frequently mistaken for the very 
 rare and jaerhaps extinct Passengeir Pigeons. 
 
 "As- you saw, today, their flight is \ery rapid and usual- 
 ly erratic, that is not in a straight line. Probably, as 
 the}- were some distance from you, you did not hear the 
 noise of their wings; when several fly by you, you can hear 
 quite a loud humming or whistling noise made by their 
 wings beating the air. 
 
75 
 
 "I have been able to examine a great many nests of 
 Mourning Doves and they all prove that these birds are per- 
 haps the most shiftless house builders of any wild bird that 
 pretends to build any nest at all. The nests are made of 
 twigs, not woven or laced together, but simply laid one on 
 another ; and so few twigs are used that you can easily see 
 the eggs through the bottom. Sometimes they are so lazy 
 they even lay their two white eggs on tlie ground, with no 
 nest at all. I have also found their eggs almost balanced on 
 the top of a fallen tree trunk, in places where a slight jar 
 would cause them to roll off. 
 
 "The little birds remain in the nest longer than most 
 other young birds, — about three weeks; they are first cover- 
 ed with white down, then by stiff pinfeathers that makej- 
 them look like little hedgehogs ; when they first fly, they are 
 fully feathered but their clothes are different from their ^,j 
 parents as each feather has an edge of white, giving the 
 birds a scaled appearance. ^W~- 
 
 "The song of the Mourning Dove is a sad, plaintive coo- 
 ing, rather disagreeable when heard continually, but not 
 objectionable when it is heard in company with many other 
 wild bird songs." 
 
76 
 
 "Did you ever see a Partridge nest, 
 Uncle George?" asked Dick. 
 
 "les, I have found a great many 
 nests of the Ruffed Grouse or Par- 
 tridge, as you called it." 
 
 "Jimmie says his father found one 
 in the woods yesterday ; it has four- 
 teen eggs in it. The Partridge acted 
 just as the Towhee did when we found 
 her nest; she ran away limping, trail- 
 ing one wing, on the ground and whin- 
 ing just as though she was badly 
 wounded." 
 
 "I think, Dick, that no other bird is 
 as clever as the grouse when it comes to leading enemies 
 away from its nest; but they do not alwa3S run away mak- 
 ing believe they are lame, for if they think there is a chance 
 that a person or an animal may not-see them on the nest, they 
 will sit perfectly still until almost stepped upon, trusting to 
 the similarity between their plumage and the surrounding 
 dead leaves to escape being seen." 
 
 "Mother Grouse does not run aw.ay because she is afraid 
 but simply to draw your attention away from her home; 
 she is a very brave bird when necessary. 
 
 From Water Birds 
 
 RUFFED GROUSE 
 
77 
 
 "Littk- grouse are downy just like little chickens, in fact 
 they look like little Brown-leghorns; they follow their moth- 
 er about and can run quite fast as soon as they leave the 
 egg shell. 
 
 "If j'ou come across Mother Grouse and her family of 
 little ones, she gives them a warning note at which they 
 scamper in different directions and hide under leaves or 
 sticks. If you fail to follow the mother as she limps away, 
 but try to catch some of the little chicks, she will come back, 
 squealing and all bristled up; she may even pick at your 
 hands. She keeps giving her little note of warning and 
 not one of her children will leave his hiding place unless 
 you actu.ally find him. If you go away a short distance and 
 hide, after Mother Grouse has satisfied herself that danger 
 is gone she will give a little whistle and every little chick 
 will appear as if by magic. 
 
 "You maj' have heard the loud rumble caused by a grouse 
 as it leaves the ground in flight. This noise is probably 
 made purposely to bewilder one, for the birds can leave the 
 gromid silently if they wish. The noise is quite similar to 
 the drumming produced, in spring, by the male rapidly beat- 
 ino- his winffs forward and toward his breast. This drum- 
 ming is the love song of the grouse and is the only song 
 that they have. 
 
78 
 
 "I think I like the Bob-White or 
 Quail better than the Grouse," said 
 Dorothy, We used to hear them 
 whistling every morning last summer, 
 but we have not heard any this year. 
 ^^'llere do you suppose they have gone, 
 Uncle George?" 
 
 "The Quail in New England, Dor- 
 othy, have a very hard time. Their 
 worst enemy, is the weather. You see 
 that in winter they go in flocks and 
 they have the habit of diving or bur- 
 rowing into soft snow and passing the 
 night under it; the snow may change 
 to rain or the surface may meit and then freeze into a 
 solid crust. Often whole flocks are caught under it and 
 die because they are unable to gejt out. Rains, when the lit- 
 tle birds are but a few days old, also destroy a great many 
 of them. 
 
 "Foxes and weasels are always on the lookout for quail 
 or any other birds. Men were allowed to shoot quail for 
 sport at certain seasons. The result of all these dangers 
 that await Bob- White at nearly every turn is that we find 
 very few of them left in New England now. They are still 
 
 From "H\,lcr Birds 
 
 BOB-WHITE 
 
79 
 
 abundant in the Southern States and in the Mississippi Val- 
 ley. ]\lany attempts have been made to bring birds from 
 these places to re-stock our covers, but the birds, being used 
 to a milder climate, soon pass away. 
 
 "The farmer who can not boast of a few pair of quail 
 on his farm is very fortunate. They eat a great many 
 beetles that are verj^ injurious to the crops. Quail are 
 birds of the field, while grouse are birds of the woodland. 
 It is much easier for a hunter to kill the slower flying quail 
 in the open than it is grouse that start from the ground in 
 brush, with a rush, and quicklv dodge behind the first tree 
 they come to. Quail need all the protection we can give 
 them; many farmers feed them grain during the winter, — 
 a kindness that saves the lives of many of the birds. 
 
 "Bob-Whites make their nests usually in tall grass along 
 walls, fences or the edges of woods. The grass is arched 
 over so they liave a little tunnel tlirough which to enter. 
 Mr. Bob-White is more gallant tlian most birds for he of- 
 ten assists his mate in incubating the eight to sixteen pure 
 white eggs that she lays. The little quail are like little 
 grouse or tiny chicks; they are very spry .uid hide instantly 
 at a warning cluck from their mother when danger comes, 
 just as little grouse do." 
 
y-- 
 
 
 1 
 
 r 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 80 
 
 "As I was coming home tonight, 
 children, I saw some sandpipers run- 
 ning along the shore of the river. As 
 we have riot yet talked about any of the 
 sandpiper family, I thought I would 
 tell a little about them this evening." 
 "Oh, good!" exclaimed Dorothy. 
 ' \^'c sometimes see sandpipers down 
 at the pond, and they look so funny 
 bobbing up and down." 
 
 "Bobbing ujj and down or 'teeter- 
 ing' is a habit of all the sandpipers, 
 Dorothy, but the Spotted Sandpiper 
 does it more than the others and that 
 is probably the kind you have seen at the pond. 
 
 "The Spotted Sandpiper is the most common kind in most 
 of the United Sates during the summer months ; at this sea- 
 son the breasts of both male and female birds are spotted 
 with brownish-black, but in winter neither the adults nor the 
 young birds have any spots. 
 
 "The flight of Spotted Sandpipers is peculiar and you 
 can easily distinguish them by it; the wings are raised but 
 little, if any, above the back and are brought well under 
 
 Frail "li'atcv Birds 
 
 SPOTTED 
 SANDPIPER 
 
them at each stroke. They also fly in straight lines or gentle 
 curves, while most other small sandpipers Hy in a zig-zag 
 course, continually twisting so as to show first the back, then 
 the breast. This last method of flight is a great protection 
 to the birds ; it is a case of now you see -me/ as the , dark 
 upper part of the bird comes against the sky, and 'now you 
 do not' as his white underparts are exposed. 
 
 "All the sandpipers are valuable birds; all of them eat 
 insects and the Spotted Sandpiper lives $lmost wholly on 
 little water insects and those it gets from the fields. 
 
 "Just as the quail, grouse and most of the ground birds 
 decoy enemies away from their nest by making believe 
 wounded, so do the sandpipers. The Spotted Sandpiper is 
 very expert at doing this; she remains on the nest until al- 
 most stepped upon and then runs off so suddenly and so 
 very plainly wounded that it is but naturaj to follow her. 
 
 "Tlieir nests may be in grass or weeds close to the edges 
 of ponds or rivers or it may be on the edges of fields at 
 quite a distance from the water. The ngst is just a little 
 hollow in the ground. The four eggs are a brownish-buff 
 color with sharp black spots. The little sandpipers are born 
 covered with soft gray and white down ■and are prettily 
 marked with faint stripes on the back." 
 
 A- 
 
 .x\s^A, 
 
"The Woodcock is another, but very 
 difFercnt bird, that belongs to the 
 sandpiper and snipe family. Turn to 
 his picture in your Bird Guide nnd 
 you will see how diflFerent he is from 
 the Spotted Sandpiper." 
 
 "Oh!" exclaimed Dorothy. "Isn't 
 he .1 funny bird, — just the color of 
 dead leaves. '\Vhy are his eyes so big 
 and so near the top of his head ? And 
 why is his biH so long?" 
 
 "His eyeS; &re large, Dorothy, be- 
 cause he does most of his feeding 
 after dark, and they are near the top 
 of his head so that, while he is feeding, he can more readi- 
 ly keep watch for danger. 
 
 "His bill is long so that he can reach down into the mud 
 and find worms ; the tip of it is very sensitive and he can 
 open it so as to grasp a worm whan he feels one. His col- 
 ors are. as you said, dead leaf color; they match perfect- 
 Iv witli the ground on which he feeds so that it is very hard 
 to see him. 
 
 Alder swamps along the muddy edges of brooks are the 
 places to find Woodcock. They ibuild their nests among 
 the leaves, usually under the sheltfer of ferns, weeds or low 
 
 From "li'atcr Birtls' 
 
 WOODCOCK 
 
83 
 
 bushes, along the edges of such swamps. Or rather, they 
 lay their eggs in such places for they really make no nest 
 but lay the four buff, pale-spotted eggs directly on the 
 leaves. The eggs of all birds of the sandpiper family are 
 rounded at one end and pointed at the other; they are 
 always laid so that the points come together in the middle 
 of the nest. 
 
 "The Woodcock knows that his colors make it difficult 
 to see him so he does not fly until he is sure that he will be 
 seen. His flight is very swift and in a zig-zag manner so that 
 fortunately it is difficult for most hunters to shoot them. 
 The three outer wing feathers are very narrow and quite 
 stiff; they make a whistling sound as the bird starts his 
 .swift flight from the ground. 
 
 "The male Woodcock often struts the same as a turkey 
 gobbler or a Ruffed Grouse does, — with head thrown back 
 and tail spread wide in the shape of a fan and bent for- 
 wards over the back so as to nearly touch the head. During 
 the nesting season they are not at all timid for they often 
 allow a person to stroke them on the back, without leaving 
 their nests. I have even lifted one up so as to see the eggs 
 and placed her back on them without apparently frightening 
 her. If the eggs are handled, though, they are very apt to 
 leave the nest." 
 
84 
 
 "\\'c have something for 3'ou to 
 guess tonight, Uncle George." 
 
 "Well, I will try my best, children, 
 what have yo*u seen toda^'?" 
 
 "Wc saw :a great big bird," said 
 Dick, "the biggest one 3'on ever saw, 
 or that is. it was the biggest one we 
 ever saw, wasil't it Dorothy.?" 
 
 "Well, Dick, let us see! The heav- 
 iest wild bir4 I have seen is probably 
 the Swan, and the tallest is probably 
 the Whooping Crane. I am sure you 
 From "iratci- Birds" could not hate Seen either of these. I 
 GREAT BLUE HERON will guess th^t it was a Great Blue 
 Heron. Am I right?" 
 
 "That is what is was. Uncle. jSe flew almost over the 
 house. I think he was going down to the mill pond. Dor- 
 othy and I watched him as long as he was in sight. He 
 looked grand as he sailed overhead with his great broad 
 wings slowly flapping, his neck doubled so his head almost 
 rested on his shoulders and his long legs trailing behind." 
 
 "A flying Great Blue Heron, silmost floating across the 
 sky. is a beautiful sight, Dick. All lierons fly just as this 
 
85 
 
 one did, but all cranes fly with the neck stretched out at full 
 length in front of them. Of course we do not find any of 
 the cranes in New England, but in the Mississippi Valley 
 and in the South, where they are found, they can easilj'^ be 
 distinguished from herons, even at a distance when flying. 
 
 "The Blue Heron makes a beautiful picture, too, when 
 he is standing in shallow water fishing, — the clear water 
 making another bird of him, the reflection of course being 
 upside down. In his large, pointed beak, he has a weapon 
 for catching fish or frogs better than the best hook that 
 man can make. He stands perfectly uiutionless in the water 
 until his prey gets near enough; then his head darts down as 
 though his neck were a coiled spring and the unfortunate 
 creature is either killed by the fierce stab or else seized be- 
 tween the open mandibles. In either case it is quickly swal- 
 lowed head first. 
 
 "Herons also kill and eat meadow mice and moles, the 
 good they do in this respect more than balancing the harm 
 they do in killing fish. They do some damage when they 
 fish in trout ponds and I have seen from one to six at a 
 time standing in fishermen's seins spearing fish that were li 
 trapped ; of course in this last case they only took small | 
 fish that were of no use to the fishermen." 
 
86 
 
 "I will tell you about another water 
 
 bird, one that •! used to see on some of 
 
 the lakes near here. I am sorry to say 
 
 that it is quite rare now for the bird 
 
 __^ i,,,^ -w I mean is the most beautiful duck in 
 
 yr^ the world, the Wood Duck.'' 
 
 "Here is his picture in our Bird 
 Guide, Dorothy !" 
 
 "Isn't he beautiful ! Just look at 
 his loveljr crest ! And see how differ- 
 ent his mate is !" exclaimed Dorothy. 
 
 "The females of nearly all ducks 
 are duller colored than their mates, 
 Dorothy, probably so they will not 
 
 show so plainly when they are sitting upon their nests. 
 Still, ]\Irs. Wood Duck is a very handsome bird, even if her 
 dress cannot compare with that of the male. 
 
 "Wood Ducks live around fresh water entirely and they 
 like best, clear lakes surrounded by woods. They usually 
 keep in little lagoons, or inlets, where they are partly hid- 
 den by grasses. I have very seldom seen them swimming 
 out in the lakes where they were in plain sight. Some peo- 
 ple call the ducks Bridal Ducks because of the beautiful 
 
 From "Water Bn-J. 
 
 WOOD DUCK 
 
87 
 
 plumage of the male, and others call them Summer Ducks 
 because they are, or were, found almost everywhere in the 
 United States in summer, while most of the ducks live in 
 summer, north of our boundaries. 
 
 "Wood Ducks nest in holes in trees, usually from three 
 to twenty feet above ground. That is pr'bbably one of the 
 reasons they are not as common here as they were, for large 
 trees suitable for them to nest in are getting scarcer every 
 year. 
 
 "As almost everyone knows, little ducks are born covered 
 with soft down; they can run and swim ^jut of course they 
 cannot fly for a long time." 
 
 "How do they reach tlie ground when the nest is high 
 
 up 
 
 ?" asked Dick. 
 
 "If the trunk of the tree is quite slanting, they can flutter 
 down it; if it is too steep for that, the mother takes each 
 one, in turn, by the wing and flies down with it. When she 
 has them all safely on the ground she leads them to the wat- 
 er; they plunge in and swim about close to the edge, feed- 
 ing upon small insects and nibbling at tender roots of 
 grasses that mother duck pull up for them. 
 
 "Wood Duck are very easily domesticated and are often 
 seen in parks or ornamental ponds on private estates. 
 
 ':±^^^ryf%^,.: 
 
88 
 
 "Uncle George! Will you tell us 
 tonight of soine of the birds you have 
 seen in other parts of the country?" 
 
 "AH right, children! Let me see, — 
 suppose I tell you about the pelicans 
 in Florida." 
 
 "Oh, good I" exclaimed Dorothy, 
 "those are the birds with the big, fun- 
 ny bills." Djck was rapidly turning 
 over the pages of his Bird Book to see 
 just what the pelicans looked like 
 
 "Two kinds of pelicans are found 
 in Florida, the White Pelican and the 
 Brown Pelican. The last kind are 
 found in Florida at all times of the year and are the ones 
 I will tell you about. The White. Pelicans are larger and 
 their plumage is white all over; they are found in Florida 
 in the winter but spend the summer in the northwestern 
 parts of the United States and Canada. 
 
 "Brown Pelicans are found in *all the Southern States 
 and occasionally one even strays as far north as Maine. 
 There is a small island in the Indian River (Florida) that 
 has always been called Pelican Island because of the large 
 numbers of pelicans that made their homes there. Tourists 
 
 From "Water Birds'' 
 
 BROWN PELICAN 
 
S.Q 
 
 travelling down this river used to shoot at and frighten 
 away the pelicans so that fewer and fewer of them nested 
 on the island each year. The Audubon societies put a stop 
 to this by having the island made a government reservation 
 and so protecting the birds from being disturbed. They 
 are now more abundant on this island in the nesting season 
 than ever before. 
 
 "Most of their nests are on the ground, but some are lo- 
 cated in the few, low trees that remain on the island; the 
 nests, made of sticks, are quite large and hollowed so that 
 the large white eggs will not roll out. 
 
 "Young pelicans are quite noisy but the adults make hard- 
 ly a sound. When anyone visits the island, all the young 
 JDelicans that can walk, leave their nest and waddle off, 
 screaming at the top of their voices, before the intruder; 
 but the old birds fly about without making any sound in pro- 
 test. 
 
 "Pelicans live and feed their young chiefly upon little 
 fish that they catch. If, when one is circling about over the 
 water, it sees a school of small fish^ he at once plunges 
 a:fter them and secures wiiat he can in his large mouth; the 
 head is thrown back so the water drains out and the solid 
 mass of fish is either eaten or taken home to the little ones." 
 
 ^^l^ 
 
90 
 
 "Cormorants are fine fishermen; I 
 think that the_y really are the best 
 fishermen of 'all birds. There are a 
 number of liinds of cormorants found 
 in North America, several species liv- 
 ing on the Pacific coast and two 
 on the Atlantic. The Double-crested 
 Cormorant is most common from Flor- 
 ida to North Carolina and up the 
 Mississippi Valley to Hudson Bay. 
 The Common Cormorant, the one 
 whose picture Dick is now looking at 
 in his Bird Guide, nests on rocks and 
 cliffs from Maint, to Labrador. 
 "Let us look at this picture, together, and I will tell you 
 why cormorants are such good fisherbirds. First 1 will tell 
 you how they catch them. They do not spear them as the 
 heron does, nor do they plunge and seize them as ospreys, 
 the kingfishers and the pelicans do; they dive and pursue 
 tlie fish under water until they catch them. 
 
 "Of course they have to swim very fast to catch fish in 
 this way, but they are shaped just right for speed. See 
 how small the head is and how the -Ipng neck tapers Into the 
 spindle-shaped body. The tail feathers are very stiff, mak- 
 
 ' Water Birds'' 
 
 Fro 
 
 CORMORANT 
 
91 
 
 iiig an excellent rudder. The legs are set well back and all 
 the toes are connected by webs so that he igets great force to 
 propel him forward through the water. In addition, he of- 
 ten uses his wings so as to go faster, — really flies under 
 water. You can also see in the picture that his bill has a 
 hook at the tip, so there is small chance of a fish escaping 
 once he has closed upon it. 
 
 "The Chinese used to train cormorants to fish for them. 
 They do so now, but the sport is carried on chiefly to amuse 
 tourists. A ring is placed .'ibout the neck of the bird so it 
 cannot swallow the fish, and it dives from the raft or boat 
 of its owner. Soon it will come to the surface with a fish 
 firmly held in its bill and swim back to its master. 
 
 "The Common Cormorant makes its nest out of seaweed %\A\\y 
 and rubbish, placed in a pile on rocky islets or cliffs. The 'p-jjl' 
 three or four eggs are rather long and narrow and are /'\^ 
 greenish-blue in color; but they are so thickly covered with Tim^^^^^ 
 a chalky deposit that the color sometimes cannot be seen. ^^ 
 The young are born naked, their skin resembling a black ^ 
 kid glove. The parents have to keep close watch over them 
 for gulls are always hovering about waiting for a chance - 
 to seize and devour the little ones." 
 
92 
 
 "Must you really go home tomor- 
 row. Uncle George?" asked Dick one 
 evening. 
 
 "Yes, Dick, I must. My work in 
 the city is finished and I have lots of 
 work on hand at home waiting for 
 me." 
 
 "That is too bad. But, then, Dor- 
 othy and I are going next week to 
 visit grandma in Maine, so we will be 
 able to see some new birds ourselves. 
 ^Miat do yQu think we will see, 
 Uncle?" 
 
 "I will tell you this evening about 
 some of the birds you may see; two of them I know you will 
 see a great many of and the third you ma3' find if you look 
 sharp. 
 
 "Among the most beautiful of 'the birds seen along the 
 New England coast in summer are the terns. They are so 
 graceful and their flight so neailly resembles that of the 
 swallows, that they are often known as 'Sea Swallows.' 
 
 "You will probably see two kinds of terns but you will 
 ha\'e to look sharp to notice the difference. One, the Arc- 
 tic Tern has the bill wholly red, while the other, the Com- 
 mon Tern has the outer end of the bill, black. 
 
 From "Water Birds 
 
 COMMON TERN 
 
PS 
 
 "You will see many of them coursing up and down the 
 beach or hovering over the water, keeping sharp lookout 
 for little fisli. There is nothing more pleasant than to sit 
 on a broad sandy beach^ away from all signs of houses, 
 and listen to the surf rolling in and to the wild cries of the 
 terns. Theirs is a very peculiar note, — a purring, vibrant, 
 twanging 'tee-arr-r-r' ; a rather pleasing sound that goes 
 well with the surroundings. 
 
 "You will notice that terns nearly always fly with their 
 bill pointed straight down. Sometimes they fold their wings 
 and dive down, going entirely under water after little fish, 
 but usually they follow a school near the surface and keep 
 darting down, just putting the head under water, getting 
 a fish at almost every dip. They like little mackerel and 
 are often called by fishermen 'Mackerel GKllls.' 
 
 "Most of the low, sandy islands along the coast are used 
 by them for nesting. These places are very interesting 
 to visit in June or July, when you may fi«d many of Iheir 
 nests, usually just a hollow in the ground, occupied by 
 three spotted, grayish-brown eggs, or by the handsome 
 downy, tern-chicks. The little fellows can run about and 
 can swim, but are not nearly as quick as the young of grouse 
 or quail." 
 
9i 
 
 "The Herring Gull is one of the 
 largest of the gulls and is the one that 
 you will find very abundant every- 
 where along *the Maine coast in sum- 
 mer. In winter^ many of them may 
 be seen in all the harbors from !Maiiie 
 to Georgia ; they fly about the wharves 
 and follow -'vessels picking up any 
 refuse that rnay be thrown overboard. 
 "They are always hungry and will 
 eat almost anything. All the gulls 
 have a great liking for eggs or young 
 of any of the sea birds, so all of these 
 have to keep very close watch to pre- 
 vent their homes being robbed; gulls even rob each others 
 nests when they find them unguarded. 
 
 "When you see gulls and terns, you want to notice par- 
 ticularh' the following differences between them: Gulls 
 have strong, almost hooked bills while those of terns are 
 sharpljr pointed. Gulls have the tails square at the end 
 (except one species), while the tails of most terns are fork- 
 ed. Gulls fly most often with the bill carried horizontally 
 in front of them, while terns us^ially have tlieirs pointed 
 down towards the water. Gulls commonly float on the sur- 
 
 Froiii "Water Birds' 
 
 HERRING GULL 
 
95 
 
 face of the water, while terns ver^- rarely do. Terns get 
 their food by diving, sometimes going entirely under water, 
 while gulls never do. Gulls are gourmands and will eat 
 most anything, usually refuse or dead fish floating on the 
 water, while terns eat only living little fish, insects or small 
 shellfish. 
 
 "I have been to Duck Island, not far from where you are 
 going, Dick, several times just to study the gulls, petrels and 
 guillemots that nest there. There are several thousand pairs 
 of gulls on this island and, as each one screams its loudest 
 when you arc in their nesting grounds, you can imagine 
 what a noise there is ; it reminds me most of several thous- 
 and hens, each trjdng to cackle louder than the other. 
 
 "Some of the gulls make nests of seaweed and sticks, 
 while others just lay their eggs in hollows on the ground; 
 the three eggs are olive-gray, spotted with black. The 
 young gulls are very funny little fellows ; they are covered 
 with a gray down and are spotted with brown. They are 
 very lively and can run, I think, almost as fast as Dick can. 
 I know I had all I could do to catch a few of them so I „ 
 could take pictures of them. They not only can run, but 
 they can swim like ducks: several that I cha.sed ran to the , 
 water, plunged in and swam away as though they had al- ;^^^ 
 ways been used to doing so, but it was probably the first ^^^JT 
 time thev had ever been in the water." 
 
96 
 
 "Now, children, I have just time to 
 tell you abodt one more bird; and I 
 will take one that I do not think you 
 have ever seen, — the Loon or Great 
 Northern Diver. You may, perhaps 
 see one, on your vacation, for I believe 
 there is a pretty little lake within 
 about two miles of where you are go- 
 ing. 
 
 "Loons arc big- birds with large 
 
 heavy bodies and big, strong, sharply- 
 
 _^ ^^-^r^^.. pointed bills. The;y are very clever 
 
 From ■■ivatci- Binis" fislicrs, swindming under water the 
 
 ^'^^■'■^ same as cormorants do, using both 
 
 their wings and powerful feet. 
 
 "You can see from the picture how beautifully they are 
 marked with black and white in summer; in winter they are 
 just plain gray above and white Below. 
 
 "We sometimes hear some disrespectful person say that 
 someone is as 'crazy as a loon' or 'loony.' Both these ex- 
 pressions get their origin from the peculiar actions of th<' 
 males in spring when they are trying to win the love of 
 some of the opposite sex. I have never seen this perform- 
 ance, but it is said by several, who. claim to have witnessed 
 it. that the males line up at one en3 of the pond and ai^par- 
 
97 
 
 ently at a given signal all start running arid partly flying 
 along the water to the other end. As they rush by the ad- 
 miring maiden loons^ each male cries out his loud^ laughing 
 'wah-hoo-o-o-o.' It surely would be called a "crazy' per- 
 formance, but it is not more so than the 'love antics' of some 
 other species of birds, especially some of the grouse fam- 
 ily, whose eccentric dancing, drumming, booming, pouting, 
 etc. are well known. 
 
 "Many loons spend the winter off the Atlantic coast and 
 on lakes and rivers as far north as the watqf remains open. 
 Wliile crossing Chesapeake Bay, I have seen hundreds of 
 Ihera leaving the water in front of the boat. Their wings 
 are small so they have to run along the water some distance 
 before they get speed enough to rise into the air. Some of 
 them would try to fly and, finding that they were unable to 
 get started soon enougli, would have to dive >ind swim under 
 the toat. Their flight, when they do get started, is very 
 swift. 
 
 "In summer, they frequent fresh water ponds and lakes. 
 SomeJimes they make a nest of weeds and leaves and, again, 
 they just lay their two dark greenish-brofljn, spotted eggs 
 upon the bare ground, usually under the shelter of over- 
 hanging brush. The nests are always near the water, so 
 the bird can at once slide off the eggs into the water if j.ww,; '^,;'7 1'-^fy"' 
 
 awkward walkers on land." 'l!'<v^'^^^,iSW/i'^, 
 
 danger comes, for they are very 
 
INDEX 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Blackbird, Red-wixged . . .48 
 
 The Red-winged Blackbird, or one of its six very 
 similar subspecies, is found throughout Xorth Amer- 
 ica ; it winters in the Gulf States. It arrives in the 
 northern states about March 1st, and leaves the last 
 of October. It is !) 1-2 in. in length. 
 
 Bn EBIRD 18 
 
 Xortli America east of the Rockies, spending the 
 summer in northern United States and southern Can- 
 ad.a and wintering in the southern half of the United 
 States. Length 7 in. 
 
 Bob-White; Quail 78 
 
 Resident in the United States east of the Rocky 
 Mountains. A very useful bird, e.ating quantities of 
 hard-shelled beetles not touched by other species. 
 Length 10 in. 
 
 Catbird -6 
 
 Breeds throughout the L'liited States and southern 
 Canada, except the Pacific coast states. ^Vinters in 
 the Gulf States. Length nearly <) in. Arrives in the 
 northern states about M.av 1st. 
 
II 
 
 Chickadee 20 
 
 Very common^ breeding from Pennsylvania and Illi- 
 nois north to Labrador; migrates but a short distance 
 from its breeding grounds. Length 5 1-4 in. 
 
 Cormorant 90 
 
 The Common Cormorant breeds on the Atlantic 
 coast from Maine to Labrador and winters south to the 
 Carolinas. The Double-crested Cormorant breeds 
 from Minnesota and Dakota northwards and winters 
 in the southern states. Length from 30 in. to 3 feet. 
 
 COWBIRD 50 
 
 Common in eastern Noi-th America, breeding from 
 the Gulf of Mexico north to New Brunswick and Hud- 
 son Bay; winters in the southern half of the United 
 States. Length nearly 8 in. 
 
 Cuckoo, Black-billed 66 
 
 Eastern North American, breeding north to Labra- 
 dor. Winters south of the United States to northern 
 South America. Length 1 1 3-i in. Arrives in north- 
 ern states about ^fay 15th. 
 
 Dove, Mourning 74 
 
 Breeds throughout the United States and southern 
 Canada. Winters in the southern half of the United 
 States. Length nearly 12 in. 
 
 Duck, Wood 86 
 
 Breeds locally from Florida to Labrador and Brit- 
 ish Columbia. Winters from New Jersey and British 
 Columbia southwards. Length 18 1-2 in. 
 
in 
 
 Goldfinch : 4,4, 
 
 Abundant resident in the United States and south- 
 ern Canada^ congregating in flocks in winter. Length 
 5 1-4 in. 
 
 Grouse, Ruffed 76 
 
 Common and resident throughout the United States 
 and southern Canada. Length 17 in. 
 
 Gull, Herring 94 
 
 Breeds from Maine, the Great I^akes and British 
 Columbia northwards ; winters south to the Gulf of 
 Mexico. Length 24 in. 
 
 Hawk, Sparrow 72 
 
 Eastern North America, breeding from the Gulf 
 States to Hudson Bay and Labrador. Winters from 
 New Jersey and Missouri southwards. Length 
 10 1-2 in. 
 
 Heron, Blue , 84 
 
 Whole of North America south of the Arctic regions, 
 breeding throughout the range. Winters in the south- 
 ern half of the United States. Length 45 in. 
 
IV 
 
 HlM.MIXHRIR)), Rl'BY-THHOATED 60 
 
 Breeds in eastern Xorth America from Florida to 
 Labrador. \^'interH from iMexico to northern South 
 America. Arrives in the northern .states about May 
 l;")th. Length 3 1 -i in. 
 
 Jay, Blue ^ ;)6 
 
 Common throughout eastern North America. Resi- 
 dent except in the very northern ])arts of its range. 
 Lengtii 11 3-1 in. 
 
 JuXCO, .Sl VTE-COLORED iO 
 
 Eastern Xorth America, breedii\g from northern 
 New England and Minnesota norfhward. Winters 
 througliout the Ignited States. Length fi 1-1 in. 
 
 KlXfiBIRD .... 51' 
 
 \\'liole of temperate Xorth America^ breeding from 
 the Gulf north to X'ew Brunswick, Manitoba and Brit- 
 isli Columbia. Winters in Cuba. M'pxico and Central 
 America. Arrives in the northern .states about May 
 .-jth. Length 8 1-9 in. 
 
 IviXfiFISHER 6 t 
 
 Breeds from tlie Gulf of Mexico north to the Arctic 
 regions. A^'inters in the southern half of the United 
 States. Arrives in the northern states about March 
 '.'Oth. Length i:^ in. 
 
Loon; Great Northern Diver ... ..... Q6 
 
 Breeds from the northern edge of the United States 
 north to the Arctic Circle. \A'inters in the southern 
 h.ilf of the United States /ind farther nortli on the 
 seacoasts. Length 27 in. 
 
 XiriHTHAWK (yj 
 
 Breeds from tlie Gulf coa.st to I,abrador and Brit- 
 ish Columbia. A^'inters south of the United States. 
 Arrives in the northern states about the last of iVpril. 
 Length 10 in. 
 
 XrTHATCII, WlIITE-BREASTED . . .... .... . . . '2'2 
 
 Breeds and is resident from the Cjulf States to south- 
 ern Canada. Length 6 in. 
 
 Oriole, Baltimore 46 
 
 Breeds from Florida nortli to N^ew Brunswick and 
 Hudson Bay. ^A'inters in Central and South America. 
 Arrives in the northern stales last of April. Length 
 7 1-2 in. 
 
 Osprey; Fish Hawk 70 
 
 Whole of Amerie.i, breeding from the Gulf to the 
 Arctic Circle. \Mnters in tlie southern half of the 
 United States. Length 2.3 in. 
 
VI 
 
 OwLj Barred 68 
 
 Eastern North America from Gulf of Mexico north 
 to Nova Scotia and Manitoba. Resident except in the 
 northern portion of its range. Length 20 in. 
 
 Pelican, Brown 88 
 
 Resident and breeds in the Gulf States. Often 
 straj's to northern United States. Length 50 in. 
 
 PeweEj Wood , 52 
 
 Eastern North America, breeding from the Gulf 
 States north to Manitoba and Nova Scotia. Winters 
 in Central America. Arrives in the Northern states 
 about May 15th. Length 6 1-2 in. 
 
 Redstart * 28 
 
 Breeds from North Carolina and Kansas north to 
 Labrador and Alaska. Winters in the West Indies, 
 Central and South America. Arrives in the northern 
 states May 1st. Length 5 1-2 in. 
 
 SandpipeKj Spotted 80 
 
 Breeds throughout the United States and the south- 
 ern half of Canada. Winters from the Gulf States 
 southward. Arrives in the northern states the last 
 week in April. Length 7 1-3 in. 
 
VII 
 
 Shrike, Northern 32 
 
 North America, breeding from Labrador to Alaska. 
 Winters south to Virginia, K;insas and California, 
 Length 10 1-4 in. 
 
 Sparrow, Chipping 42 
 
 Very common summer resident, breeding from the 
 Gulf States north to Newfoundland and Hudson Bay. 
 Winters in the Gulf States. Arrives in the northern 
 states about April 10th. Length 5 1-4 in. 
 
 Swallow, Barn 34 
 
 Common. Breeds from the Gulf States to the Arc- 
 tic Circle. Winters in northern South America. Ar- 
 rives in the northern states about the last week in 
 April. Length 7 1-2 in. 
 
 Tanager, Scarlet 86 
 
 Eastern United States, breeding in the northern half 
 and also southern Canada. Winters in Central and 
 South America. Arrives in the northern states about 
 May 10th. Length 7 1-2 in. 
 
 Tern, Common 92 
 
 Breeds from the Gulf States to the Arctic Circle. 
 Winters south of the United States. Length 15 in. 
 
VIII 
 
 TowHEE ; Chewink 38 
 
 Eastern United States, breeding from Georgia north 
 to Maine and ^Manitoba. Winters in the southern half 
 of the United States. Arrives in the northern states 
 the hist week in April. Length 8 in. 
 
 Warbler, BlA( k-thro.\teu Gree^n . . 30 
 
 Eastern Xortli America, breeding from Connecti- 
 cut and Illinois north to N(na Scotia and Hudson Bay. 
 Winters in Central America. Arrives in the northern 
 states the last week in April. Length .'> in. 
 
 Woodcock 82 
 
 Eastern North America, breeding from the Gulf to 
 Labrador and .Manitoba and wintering in the southern 
 states. Length 11 in. 
 
 \\'oODPECKER, DoWNV 58 
 
 Common resident in eastern North America. Mi- 
 grates only from the extreme northern parts of its 
 range. Length 6 in. 
 
 A^'ren, HorsK -1 
 
 Eastern North America, breeding north to Elaine 
 and ^Manitoba. Winters in the southern states. Arrives 
 in northern states the last of April. Length t 3-t in. 
 
BIRD PICTURES 
 
 —COLORED— 
 
 For school use, composition worl<, decorations, etc. 
 
 40 SUBJECTS 
 
 Each of the 40 birds shown in this book is printed, separ- 
 ately, on paper about 3x4 in. 
 
 —ONE CENT EACH — 
 
 They can be procured at your bool^store, of the publisher, 
 ..or from Chas. K. Reed, Worcester, Mass., at a penny each in 
 lots of 10 or more, assorted or alike, as you wish. 
 
WATER BIRDS 
 
 By CHESTER A. REED,"B. S, 
 
 This I'^iOk is uniform in sizo and scope with. LAND BIRDS. 
 It includes all of the Water Birds, Game Birds and Birds of 
 Prey, east of the Rockies. Each species is ILLUSTRATED 
 IN COLOR from oil paintings; the bird, irts habits and nesting 
 habits are deseiibed. 
 
 The pictures show more than 230 birds in color, every spe- 
 cies found in our range. They exceed in number those in any 
 other bird book. In quality they cannot be surpassed — ex- 
 quisite gems, each with an attractive background typical of 
 the habitat of the species. 
 
 "LAND BIRDS" and WATER BIRDS" are the only books, 
 regardless of price, that describe and show in color every bird. 
 250 pages, neatly boxed. 
 
 Bound in Cloth, $1.00 net; in Leather, $1.25 net; postage, 5c. 
 
 NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS' EQQS 
 
 By CHESTER A. REED, B. S. 
 
 This is the only book on the market that gives illustrations 
 of the eggs ol all North American birds. Each egg is shown 
 FULL SIZE, photographed directly from an authentic and 
 well marked specimen. There are a great many full-page 
 plates of nests and eggs in their natural situations. 
 
 The habitat and habits of each bird are given. 
 
 It is finely printed on the best of paper and handsomely 
 bound in cloth. 350 pages — 6 x 9 inches. 
 
 $2.50 net; postage, 25c. 
 
LAND BIRDS 
 
 By CHESTER A. REED, B. S. 
 
 An illustrated, pocket text book that enables anyone to 
 quickly identify any song or insectivorous bird found east of 
 the Rocky Mountains. It describes their habits and peculiar- 
 ities; tells you where to look for them and describes their 
 nests, eggs and songs. 
 
 EVERY BIRD IS SHOWN IN COLOR, rincluding the females 
 and young where the plumage differs, from watercolor draw- 
 ings by the 4-color process. The illustrations are the BEST, 
 the MOST ACCURATE, and the MOST VALUABLE ever 
 printed in a bird book. 
 
 "LAND BIRDS" is the most popular and has had the 
 LARGEST SALE of any bird book published in this country. 
 It is used and recommended by our leading Ornithologists and 
 teachers. 230 pages. 
 
 Bound in Cloth, 75c. net; in Leather, $1.00 net; postage, 5c. 
 
 COLOR KEY TO N. A. BIRDS 
 
 By F. iVl. CHAPMAN and C. A. REED 
 
 This might well be called an illustrated dictionary of North 
 American birds, the male of each species being shown in 
 COLOR from pen and ink drawings. Uniform with Egg Book. 
 350 pages. 
 
 $2.50 net.; postage 25c. 
 
FLOWER GUIDE 
 
 By CHESTER A. REED, B. S. 
 
 A guide to the common wild ilowcrs found in the Eastern 
 and Middle States. 
 
 Wild Flower Guide is the some size and scope as Bird 
 Guide. It has had an extraorilinary sale apd has been adopted 
 and used in quantities in many of our 'leading colleges and 
 .. schools. 
 
 The COT>ORED TTJ.USTRATIONS, 1 92 in number, are beau- 
 tiful, artistic and accurate reproductions from oil paintings; the 
 finest series ever made. The text tells t'^here each is found, 
 when it blooms, whether in woods, fields, swamps, etc., the 
 height that the plant attains, whether it is self-fertilized or 
 cross fertilized by insects and how; in fact it gives a great 
 deal more information than one would think possible in a 
 book to fit comfortably in the pocket. 
 
 Bound in Cloth, 75c.; in Leatlier, $1.00; postage, 5c. 
 
 GOLDFISH, AQUARIA AND FERNERIES 
 
 How to make aquaria. How to fit them up; all about gold- 
 fish and fresh water fish that are suitafcle for the aquarium. 
 Water plants are described, as well as many curiosities that 
 can be kept in the ta,nks. All these things are FINELY 
 ILLUSTRATED. Cloth bound, 50c; postage, 5c, 
 
 GUIDE TO TAXIDERIVIY 
 
 A practical and thorough instructor in the art of mounting 
 birds, mammals, heads, fish, etc. Fully Illustrated ; cloth 
 bound; 310 pages. $1.65 postpaid. 
 
GUIDE TO THE MUSHROOMS 
 
 By EMIVIA TAYLOR COLE 
 
 Tells HOW, WHEN and WHERE they grow; how to collect 
 and prepare them tor the table; describes the common kinds 
 both edible and poisonous. Handsomely illustrated with about 
 70 halftones from photographs ot living mushrooms and five 
 "PLATES IN COLOR. Uniform with "Wild Flowers." 
 
 $1.50 net; postage, 10c. 
 
 WILD FLOWERS 
 
 East of the Rockies 
 
 By CHESTER A. REED, B. S. 
 
 The most comi)lete popular book about Wild Flowers. In 
 fact it is in a class by itself. 
 
 Besides giving a great deal of valuable and important in- 
 formation concerning plant ways, it has FULL PAGE COL- 
 ORED PLATES by the best process, showing 320 SPECIES 
 OF FLOWERS. 
 
 It is a beautiful and useful book. 'l.'iO aiages; finely bound; 
 boxed. $2.50 net; postage 15c. 
 
FIELD GLASSES FOR BIRD 
 STUDY 
 
 or equally good for the mou'n tains, sea shore or theatre, or 
 wherever a large, clear image o£ an object is desired. 
 
 We carefully examined more than a hundred makes of field 
 glasses, to select the ones best adapted for bird study. 
 
 We found one make that was superior to any other of the 
 same price and equal optically, and nearly as well made as 
 those costing three times as much. 
 
 They magnify about three diameters, and have an unusuaL 
 ly large field of vision or angle of view, making it easy to 
 find a bird or keep him in sight. Price only $5.00 postpaid. 
 CHAS. K. REED Worcester, Mass. 
 
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