[Contents]CHAPTER XXXIIINSECTIVOROUS BIRDS“Now let us go back to the principal slender-beaked birds, eaters of insects only and consequently our greatest helpers. They are all small in size, delicately and gracefully formed, and modest in dress. Among them we find the sweet singers that make the woods echo in spring with the refreshing songs of the opening season.NightingaleNightingale“First there is the nightingale, clothed all in brown except the under parts, which are whitish in color. Listen to it some calm evening in May. All is quiet, so we need not lose a note of the bird’s hymn. It begins with a few timid and tentative phrases, thus:Teoo-oo, teoo-oo, teoo-oo, teoo-oo,Shpe, teoo-oo, tokooa.Then it becomes more animated:Teo, teo, teo, teo, teo,Koo-oo-teoo, koo-oo-teoo, koo-oo-teoo, koo-oo-teoo,[246]Tskoo-o, tskoo-o, tskoo-o, tskoo-o,Tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee.Here the phrasing becomes more marked, the melody quicker:Dlo, dlo, dlo, dlo, dlo, dlo,Koo-e-oo, trrrrrrritz!Lu-lu-lu, le-le-le-le, lee-lee-lee-lee.Enthusiasm then bursts all bounds and the bird indulges in the most brilliant roulades; but our harsh alphabet is powerless to show the sounds that come from this wonderful throat.“ ‘The nightingale,’ says Buffon, ‘begins with a timid prelude in weak and almost wavering tones, as if wishing to try its instrument and win the attention of those within hearing; but presently, gaining assurance, it gradually becomes animated and displays all the resources of its incomparable organ. Bursts of melody, lively volleys of rippling song in which clearness is equaled only by volubility, low and voiceless murmurs inaudible to the listener, but calculated to increase the brilliance of the notes about to be heard, vivid and rapid trills that sweep the gamut and are articulated with force and even with a certain hardness of effect not unpleasing to the ear, plaintive cadences softly modulated, notes struck without art but full of soul, enchanting and poignant chords that seem to come from the very heart and to convey a touching significance—such are the impassioned strains by which, in a tongue doubtless full of sentiment, this natural songster[247]appears to try to charm its mate or, rather, to contend before her with his jealous rivals for the prize of supreme excellence in song.’“I have seen unfeeling barbarians cut short this pretty romance with a shot from a gun. They say that half a dozen nightingales make an excellent broiled dish. Horrors! What a frightful brute is man when he thinks of nothing but his stomach!“The nightingale builds its nest in bushes and rather near the ground, sometimes even among the roots. Coarse grasses and oak leaves are used for the outside, tufts of fleece and horsehair for the inside. The female lays five dark-green eggs.Yellow WarblerYellow Warbler“With the nightingale, though less wonderful as singers, are to be classed the warblers, thirty or more species of which can be counted in Europe. All live on flies, caterpillars, small beetles, spiders, and larvæ of various kinds. Their nests are constructed with much art. Some nest in trees and hedges in our gardens; others prefer thickets and lonely groves; still others choose holes in tree trunks and walls. Others, again, build on piling that projects above the water in marshes; that is, they unite three or four slender reeds with[248]a ligature and build their nest on this swaying support. Others, finally, content themselves with a little hole in the ground. Among the best-known of these birds is the black-capped warbler, so named on account of the black hood that covers the top of the head and the nape of the neck. You remember it is one of the cuckoo’s victims, as was proved by the egg found a few days ago, in the nest at the foot of the garden. Then we must include the babbling warbler, lover of copses, orchards, and gardens; the little red warbler, which visits our fruit-trees and says,zip-zap, zip-zap, zip-zap; the marsh-warbler, which builds its nest among the marsh reeds; and the Alpine warbler, guest of chalets and tuneful songster of high, snowy mountains.WheatearWheatear“Now let us look at the fallow-finch or whitetail, which flies from clod to clod in our fallow fields (whence its name of fallow-finch), and in flying spreads its white tail, a target for the huntsman and the reason for its second name. It is ash-colored on the back and reddish white underneath, with black wings and eyebrows. It frequents cultivated fields to catch the grubs turned up by the plow. Its nest, placed under a clod of turf, amid a pile of stones, or in a hole in some dry wall, is made of moss, grass, and feathers. The eggs, five or six in number, are light blue. The fallow-finch’s chosen[249]haunts are dry, rocky uplands, where it may be seen in the autumn in large flocks, flying from one rock to another and from one clod to another, keeping close to the ground.“By the fallow-finch’s side let us place the stonechat, a little, lively, active bird always seen perched on the topmost branch of a bush or bramble, where it repeats, with frisky movements, its short cry ofooistratra, ooistratra. If from this place of observation it sees an insect on the ground, it flies down, seizes it, and returns in a trice to its perch by a short curving flight like that so characteristic of the shrike. Its plumage is brown, with red breast and black throat. The sides of the neck, together with the wings and the rump, are ornamented with white. Stonechats frequent hedges that border sown fields and dry pastures, and are never seen, any more than are fallow-finches, in damp lands along the banks of rivers. They build their nests, in which they lay five or six greenish-blue eggs, among the roots of bushes, in crevices in rocks, and among piles of stones.European RobinEuropean Robin“I should count it almost a crime to omit here the robin redbreast, in my opinion the most pleasing of our smaller birds in its wide-awake manner, its gentle look, and its friendly curiosity, which makes it come and pick up the shepherd’s crumbs when he is[250]eating his lunch. At the first dawn of day it begins its lively song, uttering now and then a note or two that recall certain parts of the nightingale’s more elaborate performance. Who does not know its alert cry from the depths of some clump of bushes,treet, tee-ree-tee-teet, tee-reet, tee-ree-tee-teet, and its call to some passing member of its kin,oo-eep, oo-eep?American RobinAmerican Robin“The redbreast is greenish brown above, bright red on the throat and breast, and white on the stomach. It nests in the densest woods amid the moss-grown tree roots, and its nest, made of leaves, horsehair, tufts of wool, and feathers, contains from five to seven whitish eggs spotted with red.Song-thrushSong-thrush“In winter the redbreast leaves the forest, draws near our farms, and even ventures into our houses in quest of food. God forbid, boys, that you should ever betray its[251]confidence when, on a stormy winter’s day, it comes discreetly tapping with its beak on the window-pane, asking hospitality. Welcome the poor little famished creature, and it will pay you a hundred times over with its gentle warbling and its zeal in defending the fruits of the earth.Red-winged ThrushRed-winged ThrushVaried ThrushVaried Thrush“But enough about the slender-beaks. You ought by this time to appreciate the immense help we receive from these legions of insect-eaters which share the work of the fields, hedges, meadows, gardens, woods, and orchards, and wage incessant warfare on every sort of vermin that would destroy our harvests unless others than ourselves were constantly on the watch—others cleverer and endowed with sharper eyesight and greater patience for the unending hunt, and also having nothing else to do. I am not exaggerating, I assure you; without our insectivorous birds we should soon suffer from famine. Who, then, except an idiot with a mania for destruction, would dare touch the nests of these birds of the good God that enliven the country-side with their[252]varied plumage and protect us from insects? There are, I well know, unruly boys who, tired of their books and lessons, delight to play truant and make a pastime of climbing trees and searching hedges in order to toss the new-born birds out of their nests to a miserable death and to smash the eggs. The rural guard is on the watch for these wicked thieves, and the law punishes them, that our fields and orchards may enjoy the birds’ protection and continue to produce their sheaves and their fruit.”Thrush-titThrush-tit[253]
[Contents]CHAPTER XXXIIINSECTIVOROUS BIRDS“Now let us go back to the principal slender-beaked birds, eaters of insects only and consequently our greatest helpers. They are all small in size, delicately and gracefully formed, and modest in dress. Among them we find the sweet singers that make the woods echo in spring with the refreshing songs of the opening season.NightingaleNightingale“First there is the nightingale, clothed all in brown except the under parts, which are whitish in color. Listen to it some calm evening in May. All is quiet, so we need not lose a note of the bird’s hymn. It begins with a few timid and tentative phrases, thus:Teoo-oo, teoo-oo, teoo-oo, teoo-oo,Shpe, teoo-oo, tokooa.Then it becomes more animated:Teo, teo, teo, teo, teo,Koo-oo-teoo, koo-oo-teoo, koo-oo-teoo, koo-oo-teoo,[246]Tskoo-o, tskoo-o, tskoo-o, tskoo-o,Tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee.Here the phrasing becomes more marked, the melody quicker:Dlo, dlo, dlo, dlo, dlo, dlo,Koo-e-oo, trrrrrrritz!Lu-lu-lu, le-le-le-le, lee-lee-lee-lee.Enthusiasm then bursts all bounds and the bird indulges in the most brilliant roulades; but our harsh alphabet is powerless to show the sounds that come from this wonderful throat.“ ‘The nightingale,’ says Buffon, ‘begins with a timid prelude in weak and almost wavering tones, as if wishing to try its instrument and win the attention of those within hearing; but presently, gaining assurance, it gradually becomes animated and displays all the resources of its incomparable organ. Bursts of melody, lively volleys of rippling song in which clearness is equaled only by volubility, low and voiceless murmurs inaudible to the listener, but calculated to increase the brilliance of the notes about to be heard, vivid and rapid trills that sweep the gamut and are articulated with force and even with a certain hardness of effect not unpleasing to the ear, plaintive cadences softly modulated, notes struck without art but full of soul, enchanting and poignant chords that seem to come from the very heart and to convey a touching significance—such are the impassioned strains by which, in a tongue doubtless full of sentiment, this natural songster[247]appears to try to charm its mate or, rather, to contend before her with his jealous rivals for the prize of supreme excellence in song.’“I have seen unfeeling barbarians cut short this pretty romance with a shot from a gun. They say that half a dozen nightingales make an excellent broiled dish. Horrors! What a frightful brute is man when he thinks of nothing but his stomach!“The nightingale builds its nest in bushes and rather near the ground, sometimes even among the roots. Coarse grasses and oak leaves are used for the outside, tufts of fleece and horsehair for the inside. The female lays five dark-green eggs.Yellow WarblerYellow Warbler“With the nightingale, though less wonderful as singers, are to be classed the warblers, thirty or more species of which can be counted in Europe. All live on flies, caterpillars, small beetles, spiders, and larvæ of various kinds. Their nests are constructed with much art. Some nest in trees and hedges in our gardens; others prefer thickets and lonely groves; still others choose holes in tree trunks and walls. Others, again, build on piling that projects above the water in marshes; that is, they unite three or four slender reeds with[248]a ligature and build their nest on this swaying support. Others, finally, content themselves with a little hole in the ground. Among the best-known of these birds is the black-capped warbler, so named on account of the black hood that covers the top of the head and the nape of the neck. You remember it is one of the cuckoo’s victims, as was proved by the egg found a few days ago, in the nest at the foot of the garden. Then we must include the babbling warbler, lover of copses, orchards, and gardens; the little red warbler, which visits our fruit-trees and says,zip-zap, zip-zap, zip-zap; the marsh-warbler, which builds its nest among the marsh reeds; and the Alpine warbler, guest of chalets and tuneful songster of high, snowy mountains.WheatearWheatear“Now let us look at the fallow-finch or whitetail, which flies from clod to clod in our fallow fields (whence its name of fallow-finch), and in flying spreads its white tail, a target for the huntsman and the reason for its second name. It is ash-colored on the back and reddish white underneath, with black wings and eyebrows. It frequents cultivated fields to catch the grubs turned up by the plow. Its nest, placed under a clod of turf, amid a pile of stones, or in a hole in some dry wall, is made of moss, grass, and feathers. The eggs, five or six in number, are light blue. The fallow-finch’s chosen[249]haunts are dry, rocky uplands, where it may be seen in the autumn in large flocks, flying from one rock to another and from one clod to another, keeping close to the ground.“By the fallow-finch’s side let us place the stonechat, a little, lively, active bird always seen perched on the topmost branch of a bush or bramble, where it repeats, with frisky movements, its short cry ofooistratra, ooistratra. If from this place of observation it sees an insect on the ground, it flies down, seizes it, and returns in a trice to its perch by a short curving flight like that so characteristic of the shrike. Its plumage is brown, with red breast and black throat. The sides of the neck, together with the wings and the rump, are ornamented with white. Stonechats frequent hedges that border sown fields and dry pastures, and are never seen, any more than are fallow-finches, in damp lands along the banks of rivers. They build their nests, in which they lay five or six greenish-blue eggs, among the roots of bushes, in crevices in rocks, and among piles of stones.European RobinEuropean Robin“I should count it almost a crime to omit here the robin redbreast, in my opinion the most pleasing of our smaller birds in its wide-awake manner, its gentle look, and its friendly curiosity, which makes it come and pick up the shepherd’s crumbs when he is[250]eating his lunch. At the first dawn of day it begins its lively song, uttering now and then a note or two that recall certain parts of the nightingale’s more elaborate performance. Who does not know its alert cry from the depths of some clump of bushes,treet, tee-ree-tee-teet, tee-reet, tee-ree-tee-teet, and its call to some passing member of its kin,oo-eep, oo-eep?American RobinAmerican Robin“The redbreast is greenish brown above, bright red on the throat and breast, and white on the stomach. It nests in the densest woods amid the moss-grown tree roots, and its nest, made of leaves, horsehair, tufts of wool, and feathers, contains from five to seven whitish eggs spotted with red.Song-thrushSong-thrush“In winter the redbreast leaves the forest, draws near our farms, and even ventures into our houses in quest of food. God forbid, boys, that you should ever betray its[251]confidence when, on a stormy winter’s day, it comes discreetly tapping with its beak on the window-pane, asking hospitality. Welcome the poor little famished creature, and it will pay you a hundred times over with its gentle warbling and its zeal in defending the fruits of the earth.Red-winged ThrushRed-winged ThrushVaried ThrushVaried Thrush“But enough about the slender-beaks. You ought by this time to appreciate the immense help we receive from these legions of insect-eaters which share the work of the fields, hedges, meadows, gardens, woods, and orchards, and wage incessant warfare on every sort of vermin that would destroy our harvests unless others than ourselves were constantly on the watch—others cleverer and endowed with sharper eyesight and greater patience for the unending hunt, and also having nothing else to do. I am not exaggerating, I assure you; without our insectivorous birds we should soon suffer from famine. Who, then, except an idiot with a mania for destruction, would dare touch the nests of these birds of the good God that enliven the country-side with their[252]varied plumage and protect us from insects? There are, I well know, unruly boys who, tired of their books and lessons, delight to play truant and make a pastime of climbing trees and searching hedges in order to toss the new-born birds out of their nests to a miserable death and to smash the eggs. The rural guard is on the watch for these wicked thieves, and the law punishes them, that our fields and orchards may enjoy the birds’ protection and continue to produce their sheaves and their fruit.”Thrush-titThrush-tit[253]
CHAPTER XXXIIINSECTIVOROUS BIRDS
“Now let us go back to the principal slender-beaked birds, eaters of insects only and consequently our greatest helpers. They are all small in size, delicately and gracefully formed, and modest in dress. Among them we find the sweet singers that make the woods echo in spring with the refreshing songs of the opening season.NightingaleNightingale“First there is the nightingale, clothed all in brown except the under parts, which are whitish in color. Listen to it some calm evening in May. All is quiet, so we need not lose a note of the bird’s hymn. It begins with a few timid and tentative phrases, thus:Teoo-oo, teoo-oo, teoo-oo, teoo-oo,Shpe, teoo-oo, tokooa.Then it becomes more animated:Teo, teo, teo, teo, teo,Koo-oo-teoo, koo-oo-teoo, koo-oo-teoo, koo-oo-teoo,[246]Tskoo-o, tskoo-o, tskoo-o, tskoo-o,Tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee.Here the phrasing becomes more marked, the melody quicker:Dlo, dlo, dlo, dlo, dlo, dlo,Koo-e-oo, trrrrrrritz!Lu-lu-lu, le-le-le-le, lee-lee-lee-lee.Enthusiasm then bursts all bounds and the bird indulges in the most brilliant roulades; but our harsh alphabet is powerless to show the sounds that come from this wonderful throat.“ ‘The nightingale,’ says Buffon, ‘begins with a timid prelude in weak and almost wavering tones, as if wishing to try its instrument and win the attention of those within hearing; but presently, gaining assurance, it gradually becomes animated and displays all the resources of its incomparable organ. Bursts of melody, lively volleys of rippling song in which clearness is equaled only by volubility, low and voiceless murmurs inaudible to the listener, but calculated to increase the brilliance of the notes about to be heard, vivid and rapid trills that sweep the gamut and are articulated with force and even with a certain hardness of effect not unpleasing to the ear, plaintive cadences softly modulated, notes struck without art but full of soul, enchanting and poignant chords that seem to come from the very heart and to convey a touching significance—such are the impassioned strains by which, in a tongue doubtless full of sentiment, this natural songster[247]appears to try to charm its mate or, rather, to contend before her with his jealous rivals for the prize of supreme excellence in song.’“I have seen unfeeling barbarians cut short this pretty romance with a shot from a gun. They say that half a dozen nightingales make an excellent broiled dish. Horrors! What a frightful brute is man when he thinks of nothing but his stomach!“The nightingale builds its nest in bushes and rather near the ground, sometimes even among the roots. Coarse grasses and oak leaves are used for the outside, tufts of fleece and horsehair for the inside. The female lays five dark-green eggs.Yellow WarblerYellow Warbler“With the nightingale, though less wonderful as singers, are to be classed the warblers, thirty or more species of which can be counted in Europe. All live on flies, caterpillars, small beetles, spiders, and larvæ of various kinds. Their nests are constructed with much art. Some nest in trees and hedges in our gardens; others prefer thickets and lonely groves; still others choose holes in tree trunks and walls. Others, again, build on piling that projects above the water in marshes; that is, they unite three or four slender reeds with[248]a ligature and build their nest on this swaying support. Others, finally, content themselves with a little hole in the ground. Among the best-known of these birds is the black-capped warbler, so named on account of the black hood that covers the top of the head and the nape of the neck. You remember it is one of the cuckoo’s victims, as was proved by the egg found a few days ago, in the nest at the foot of the garden. Then we must include the babbling warbler, lover of copses, orchards, and gardens; the little red warbler, which visits our fruit-trees and says,zip-zap, zip-zap, zip-zap; the marsh-warbler, which builds its nest among the marsh reeds; and the Alpine warbler, guest of chalets and tuneful songster of high, snowy mountains.WheatearWheatear“Now let us look at the fallow-finch or whitetail, which flies from clod to clod in our fallow fields (whence its name of fallow-finch), and in flying spreads its white tail, a target for the huntsman and the reason for its second name. It is ash-colored on the back and reddish white underneath, with black wings and eyebrows. It frequents cultivated fields to catch the grubs turned up by the plow. Its nest, placed under a clod of turf, amid a pile of stones, or in a hole in some dry wall, is made of moss, grass, and feathers. The eggs, five or six in number, are light blue. The fallow-finch’s chosen[249]haunts are dry, rocky uplands, where it may be seen in the autumn in large flocks, flying from one rock to another and from one clod to another, keeping close to the ground.“By the fallow-finch’s side let us place the stonechat, a little, lively, active bird always seen perched on the topmost branch of a bush or bramble, where it repeats, with frisky movements, its short cry ofooistratra, ooistratra. If from this place of observation it sees an insect on the ground, it flies down, seizes it, and returns in a trice to its perch by a short curving flight like that so characteristic of the shrike. Its plumage is brown, with red breast and black throat. The sides of the neck, together with the wings and the rump, are ornamented with white. Stonechats frequent hedges that border sown fields and dry pastures, and are never seen, any more than are fallow-finches, in damp lands along the banks of rivers. They build their nests, in which they lay five or six greenish-blue eggs, among the roots of bushes, in crevices in rocks, and among piles of stones.European RobinEuropean Robin“I should count it almost a crime to omit here the robin redbreast, in my opinion the most pleasing of our smaller birds in its wide-awake manner, its gentle look, and its friendly curiosity, which makes it come and pick up the shepherd’s crumbs when he is[250]eating his lunch. At the first dawn of day it begins its lively song, uttering now and then a note or two that recall certain parts of the nightingale’s more elaborate performance. Who does not know its alert cry from the depths of some clump of bushes,treet, tee-ree-tee-teet, tee-reet, tee-ree-tee-teet, and its call to some passing member of its kin,oo-eep, oo-eep?American RobinAmerican Robin“The redbreast is greenish brown above, bright red on the throat and breast, and white on the stomach. It nests in the densest woods amid the moss-grown tree roots, and its nest, made of leaves, horsehair, tufts of wool, and feathers, contains from five to seven whitish eggs spotted with red.Song-thrushSong-thrush“In winter the redbreast leaves the forest, draws near our farms, and even ventures into our houses in quest of food. God forbid, boys, that you should ever betray its[251]confidence when, on a stormy winter’s day, it comes discreetly tapping with its beak on the window-pane, asking hospitality. Welcome the poor little famished creature, and it will pay you a hundred times over with its gentle warbling and its zeal in defending the fruits of the earth.Red-winged ThrushRed-winged ThrushVaried ThrushVaried Thrush“But enough about the slender-beaks. You ought by this time to appreciate the immense help we receive from these legions of insect-eaters which share the work of the fields, hedges, meadows, gardens, woods, and orchards, and wage incessant warfare on every sort of vermin that would destroy our harvests unless others than ourselves were constantly on the watch—others cleverer and endowed with sharper eyesight and greater patience for the unending hunt, and also having nothing else to do. I am not exaggerating, I assure you; without our insectivorous birds we should soon suffer from famine. Who, then, except an idiot with a mania for destruction, would dare touch the nests of these birds of the good God that enliven the country-side with their[252]varied plumage and protect us from insects? There are, I well know, unruly boys who, tired of their books and lessons, delight to play truant and make a pastime of climbing trees and searching hedges in order to toss the new-born birds out of their nests to a miserable death and to smash the eggs. The rural guard is on the watch for these wicked thieves, and the law punishes them, that our fields and orchards may enjoy the birds’ protection and continue to produce their sheaves and their fruit.”Thrush-titThrush-tit[253]
“Now let us go back to the principal slender-beaked birds, eaters of insects only and consequently our greatest helpers. They are all small in size, delicately and gracefully formed, and modest in dress. Among them we find the sweet singers that make the woods echo in spring with the refreshing songs of the opening season.
NightingaleNightingale
Nightingale
“First there is the nightingale, clothed all in brown except the under parts, which are whitish in color. Listen to it some calm evening in May. All is quiet, so we need not lose a note of the bird’s hymn. It begins with a few timid and tentative phrases, thus:
Teoo-oo, teoo-oo, teoo-oo, teoo-oo,Shpe, teoo-oo, tokooa.
Then it becomes more animated:
Teo, teo, teo, teo, teo,Koo-oo-teoo, koo-oo-teoo, koo-oo-teoo, koo-oo-teoo,[246]Tskoo-o, tskoo-o, tskoo-o, tskoo-o,Tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee, tsee-ee.
Here the phrasing becomes more marked, the melody quicker:
Dlo, dlo, dlo, dlo, dlo, dlo,Koo-e-oo, trrrrrrritz!Lu-lu-lu, le-le-le-le, lee-lee-lee-lee.
Enthusiasm then bursts all bounds and the bird indulges in the most brilliant roulades; but our harsh alphabet is powerless to show the sounds that come from this wonderful throat.
“ ‘The nightingale,’ says Buffon, ‘begins with a timid prelude in weak and almost wavering tones, as if wishing to try its instrument and win the attention of those within hearing; but presently, gaining assurance, it gradually becomes animated and displays all the resources of its incomparable organ. Bursts of melody, lively volleys of rippling song in which clearness is equaled only by volubility, low and voiceless murmurs inaudible to the listener, but calculated to increase the brilliance of the notes about to be heard, vivid and rapid trills that sweep the gamut and are articulated with force and even with a certain hardness of effect not unpleasing to the ear, plaintive cadences softly modulated, notes struck without art but full of soul, enchanting and poignant chords that seem to come from the very heart and to convey a touching significance—such are the impassioned strains by which, in a tongue doubtless full of sentiment, this natural songster[247]appears to try to charm its mate or, rather, to contend before her with his jealous rivals for the prize of supreme excellence in song.’
“I have seen unfeeling barbarians cut short this pretty romance with a shot from a gun. They say that half a dozen nightingales make an excellent broiled dish. Horrors! What a frightful brute is man when he thinks of nothing but his stomach!
“The nightingale builds its nest in bushes and rather near the ground, sometimes even among the roots. Coarse grasses and oak leaves are used for the outside, tufts of fleece and horsehair for the inside. The female lays five dark-green eggs.
Yellow WarblerYellow Warbler
Yellow Warbler
“With the nightingale, though less wonderful as singers, are to be classed the warblers, thirty or more species of which can be counted in Europe. All live on flies, caterpillars, small beetles, spiders, and larvæ of various kinds. Their nests are constructed with much art. Some nest in trees and hedges in our gardens; others prefer thickets and lonely groves; still others choose holes in tree trunks and walls. Others, again, build on piling that projects above the water in marshes; that is, they unite three or four slender reeds with[248]a ligature and build their nest on this swaying support. Others, finally, content themselves with a little hole in the ground. Among the best-known of these birds is the black-capped warbler, so named on account of the black hood that covers the top of the head and the nape of the neck. You remember it is one of the cuckoo’s victims, as was proved by the egg found a few days ago, in the nest at the foot of the garden. Then we must include the babbling warbler, lover of copses, orchards, and gardens; the little red warbler, which visits our fruit-trees and says,zip-zap, zip-zap, zip-zap; the marsh-warbler, which builds its nest among the marsh reeds; and the Alpine warbler, guest of chalets and tuneful songster of high, snowy mountains.
WheatearWheatear
Wheatear
“Now let us look at the fallow-finch or whitetail, which flies from clod to clod in our fallow fields (whence its name of fallow-finch), and in flying spreads its white tail, a target for the huntsman and the reason for its second name. It is ash-colored on the back and reddish white underneath, with black wings and eyebrows. It frequents cultivated fields to catch the grubs turned up by the plow. Its nest, placed under a clod of turf, amid a pile of stones, or in a hole in some dry wall, is made of moss, grass, and feathers. The eggs, five or six in number, are light blue. The fallow-finch’s chosen[249]haunts are dry, rocky uplands, where it may be seen in the autumn in large flocks, flying from one rock to another and from one clod to another, keeping close to the ground.
“By the fallow-finch’s side let us place the stonechat, a little, lively, active bird always seen perched on the topmost branch of a bush or bramble, where it repeats, with frisky movements, its short cry ofooistratra, ooistratra. If from this place of observation it sees an insect on the ground, it flies down, seizes it, and returns in a trice to its perch by a short curving flight like that so characteristic of the shrike. Its plumage is brown, with red breast and black throat. The sides of the neck, together with the wings and the rump, are ornamented with white. Stonechats frequent hedges that border sown fields and dry pastures, and are never seen, any more than are fallow-finches, in damp lands along the banks of rivers. They build their nests, in which they lay five or six greenish-blue eggs, among the roots of bushes, in crevices in rocks, and among piles of stones.
European RobinEuropean Robin
European Robin
“I should count it almost a crime to omit here the robin redbreast, in my opinion the most pleasing of our smaller birds in its wide-awake manner, its gentle look, and its friendly curiosity, which makes it come and pick up the shepherd’s crumbs when he is[250]eating his lunch. At the first dawn of day it begins its lively song, uttering now and then a note or two that recall certain parts of the nightingale’s more elaborate performance. Who does not know its alert cry from the depths of some clump of bushes,treet, tee-ree-tee-teet, tee-reet, tee-ree-tee-teet, and its call to some passing member of its kin,oo-eep, oo-eep?
American RobinAmerican Robin
American Robin
“The redbreast is greenish brown above, bright red on the throat and breast, and white on the stomach. It nests in the densest woods amid the moss-grown tree roots, and its nest, made of leaves, horsehair, tufts of wool, and feathers, contains from five to seven whitish eggs spotted with red.
Song-thrushSong-thrush
Song-thrush
“In winter the redbreast leaves the forest, draws near our farms, and even ventures into our houses in quest of food. God forbid, boys, that you should ever betray its[251]confidence when, on a stormy winter’s day, it comes discreetly tapping with its beak on the window-pane, asking hospitality. Welcome the poor little famished creature, and it will pay you a hundred times over with its gentle warbling and its zeal in defending the fruits of the earth.
Red-winged ThrushRed-winged Thrush
Red-winged Thrush
Varied ThrushVaried Thrush
Varied Thrush
“But enough about the slender-beaks. You ought by this time to appreciate the immense help we receive from these legions of insect-eaters which share the work of the fields, hedges, meadows, gardens, woods, and orchards, and wage incessant warfare on every sort of vermin that would destroy our harvests unless others than ourselves were constantly on the watch—others cleverer and endowed with sharper eyesight and greater patience for the unending hunt, and also having nothing else to do. I am not exaggerating, I assure you; without our insectivorous birds we should soon suffer from famine. Who, then, except an idiot with a mania for destruction, would dare touch the nests of these birds of the good God that enliven the country-side with their[252]varied plumage and protect us from insects? There are, I well know, unruly boys who, tired of their books and lessons, delight to play truant and make a pastime of climbing trees and searching hedges in order to toss the new-born birds out of their nests to a miserable death and to smash the eggs. The rural guard is on the watch for these wicked thieves, and the law punishes them, that our fields and orchards may enjoy the birds’ protection and continue to produce their sheaves and their fruit.”
Thrush-titThrush-tit
Thrush-tit
[253]