Length: About 7 inches.Adult Male:Breeding Plumage: Head, throat, neck, and upper half of back black; breast, belly, shoulders, lower half of back a bright chestnut brown; wings and tail dark brown; wing-feathers tipped or edged with white, forming a bar across wing. The winter plumage is different from the breeding plumage; the male passes through several changes as he matures.Female: Olive-green above, darkest on head and back, dull yellow below; wing-feathers tipped with white, forming two bars across wing; tail olive-green.Immature Male: Like female, the first autumn; the next spring, he has a black throat; the chestnut plumage develops later.Notes and Song: Similar to those of the Baltimore oriole. Song clear and melodious; tones possibly not quite somellowas those of its relatives, but sweeter.Habitat: Orchards and shade trees.Nest: A pensile nest, but shorter and more firmly attached than that of the Baltimore oriole.Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from northern United States, southern Canada, and central New York, south to northern Florida and the Gulf Coast, west to Texas, central Nebraska, and western Kansas; winters from southern Mexico to northern Colombia. Not common in Massachusetts.
Length: About 7 inches.
Adult Male:Breeding Plumage: Head, throat, neck, and upper half of back black; breast, belly, shoulders, lower half of back a bright chestnut brown; wings and tail dark brown; wing-feathers tipped or edged with white, forming a bar across wing. The winter plumage is different from the breeding plumage; the male passes through several changes as he matures.
Female: Olive-green above, darkest on head and back, dull yellow below; wing-feathers tipped with white, forming two bars across wing; tail olive-green.
Immature Male: Like female, the first autumn; the next spring, he has a black throat; the chestnut plumage develops later.
Notes and Song: Similar to those of the Baltimore oriole. Song clear and melodious; tones possibly not quite somellowas those of its relatives, but sweeter.
Habitat: Orchards and shade trees.
Nest: A pensile nest, but shorter and more firmly attached than that of the Baltimore oriole.
Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from northern United States, southern Canada, and central New York, south to northern Florida and the Gulf Coast, west to Texas, central Nebraska, and western Kansas; winters from southern Mexico to northern Colombia. Not common in Massachusetts.
The markings of the Orchard Oriole are similar to those of the more brilliant and striking Baltimore Oriole, but its coloring more nearly resembles that of the towhee. Like its cousin, it is arboreal, while the towhee is a ground bird.
ORCHARD ORIOLE
ORCHARD ORIOLE
The orchard oriole is more shy than the Baltimore oriole and is less well known. It is, however, very active and restless,—indefatigable in its quest for insects. It has a better reputation than most members of the blackbird family. Major Bendire says that it would be difficult to find a bird that does more good and less harm than the orchard oriole, and that it should be fully protected.
Length: About 7 inches.General Appearance:A bright scarlet body, with black wings and tail; no crest.Male: Scarlet and black in breeding plumage; after the molt,oliveandyellow, with black wingsandtail; wings white underneath. The male does not acquire red plumage until the second year. While molting, the adult male has irregular patches of olive and yellow mixed with his red feathers, giving a curious effect.Female: Olive-green above; yellowish-olive below, brightest on throat; wings and tail dark gray, washed with olive. She is very effectively protected by her coloring.Note: Call-notechip-chur, very distinct and reasonably loud.Song: A warble, full, rich, and pleasing, but not varied; sufficiently like the songs of the robin and the rose-breasted grosbeak to make identification difficult for a beginner. The frequentchip-churbetrays the tanager’s presence.Habitat: Dense groves of hard-wood trees, especially those containing oaks. Mr. Forbush calls the tanager “the appointed guardian of the oaks.” The bird is found in parks and on well-wooded estates, as well as in the deep woods.Range: Eastern North America and northern South America. Breeds in southern Canada as far west as the Plains, and in the United States to southern Kansas, northern Arkansas, Tennessee, northern Georgia, and the mountains of Virginia and South Carolina; winters from Colombia to Bolivia and Peru.
Length: About 7 inches.
General Appearance:A bright scarlet body, with black wings and tail; no crest.
Male: Scarlet and black in breeding plumage; after the molt,oliveandyellow, with black wingsandtail; wings white underneath. The male does not acquire red plumage until the second year. While molting, the adult male has irregular patches of olive and yellow mixed with his red feathers, giving a curious effect.
Female: Olive-green above; yellowish-olive below, brightest on throat; wings and tail dark gray, washed with olive. She is very effectively protected by her coloring.
Note: Call-notechip-chur, very distinct and reasonably loud.
Song: A warble, full, rich, and pleasing, but not varied; sufficiently like the songs of the robin and the rose-breasted grosbeak to make identification difficult for a beginner. The frequentchip-churbetrays the tanager’s presence.
Habitat: Dense groves of hard-wood trees, especially those containing oaks. Mr. Forbush calls the tanager “the appointed guardian of the oaks.” The bird is found in parks and on well-wooded estates, as well as in the deep woods.
Range: Eastern North America and northern South America. Breeds in southern Canada as far west as the Plains, and in the United States to southern Kansas, northern Arkansas, Tennessee, northern Georgia, and the mountains of Virginia and South Carolina; winters from Colombia to Bolivia and Peru.
SCARLET TANAGER
SCARLET TANAGER
These “black-winged redbirds” are occasionally mistaken by novices for cardinals, but the dusky wings and tail, and the absence of a crest differentiate them. Then, too, the scarlet of their coats is of a different shade of red.
Their cousins, theSUMMER TANAGERS, denizens of southeastern United States and occasional residents of the North, resemble cardinals more closely. Both have a nearly uniform rose-red plumage, but the summer tanager has brownish wings edged with red, andno crest.
The beauty of male tanagers has caused them to be eagerly sought in the past. I have childish memories of their scarlet bodies decorating the hats of thoughtless women, and I blush to confess a feeling of envy rather than regret at the wicked slaughter. Audubon Societies have done much to change public sentiment and put a stop to barbarous practices.
Never shall I forget the breathless joy I felt when, grown to young womanhood, I first saw a tanager’s vivid beauty gleaming against the almost black-green foliage of a dense grove. I think that I remember every tanager which I have since seen, as well as each lovely setting that enhanced his gorgeous coloring. A glimpse of one marks a red-letter day. Twice I have seen two males at once, in company with a rose-breasted grosbeak—all singing; memorable experiences.
TheWESTERN TANAGER, with his yellow body and crown, his red “face,” black back and tail, and yellow and black wings, appeared before me one day in the noble woods that crown Glacier Point in the Yosemite Valley. I felt that his beauty, like that of his eastern relatives, was his “excuse for being.” He does not enjoy quite so gooda reputation as do other tanagers, because he has a taste for fruit—almost as reprehensible as horse- or cattle-stealing in the west.
Tanagers, however, are valuable insect-destroyers. Our brilliant species deserves our whole-hearted protection, not only for aesthetic, but also for economic reasons.
ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK
ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK
Length: A little over 8 inches.General Appearance: A black and white bird, with arose-colored breastandheavy, flesh-colored beak.Male: Head, throat, and back black; rump and under parts white, excepton breastandunder wings, which are a beautifulrose-red; wings black, with bars and patches of white; tail black; outer feathers with white tips to their inner webs. The winter plumage is slightly different from the summer plumage.Female: A soft grayish-brown, streaked with white, buff, and gray; under parts light buff, faintly streaked with brown; head brown; a buff streak through center of the crown, a white streak over the eye; wings and tail grayish-brown, some of the wing-feathers tipped with white; yellow under wings instead of rose.Note: A sharptsick, tsick.Song: A rich, beautiful warble, somewhat like that of the robin and tanager, but more joyous than either. It possesses a purer, more liquid quality. The song is remarkable, also, in that it may be heard at night, and at midday.Habitat: Woodlands and thickets, fields and gardens. This grosbeak frequents also the shade trees of large estates and suburban streets.Nest: Large and loosely constructed, made of twigs, grasses, and root-fibers, and placed from five to twenty feet from the ground.Eggs: Pale blue, spotted with brown or purple. The male takes his turn at sitting on the eggs.Range: Eastern North America and northern South America. Breeds from southern Canada south to Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, New Jersey, and in the mountains of northern Georgia; winters from southern Mexico to Colombia and Ecuador.
Length: A little over 8 inches.
General Appearance: A black and white bird, with arose-colored breastandheavy, flesh-colored beak.
Male: Head, throat, and back black; rump and under parts white, excepton breastandunder wings, which are a beautifulrose-red; wings black, with bars and patches of white; tail black; outer feathers with white tips to their inner webs. The winter plumage is slightly different from the summer plumage.
Female: A soft grayish-brown, streaked with white, buff, and gray; under parts light buff, faintly streaked with brown; head brown; a buff streak through center of the crown, a white streak over the eye; wings and tail grayish-brown, some of the wing-feathers tipped with white; yellow under wings instead of rose.
Note: A sharptsick, tsick.
Song: A rich, beautiful warble, somewhat like that of the robin and tanager, but more joyous than either. It possesses a purer, more liquid quality. The song is remarkable, also, in that it may be heard at night, and at midday.
Habitat: Woodlands and thickets, fields and gardens. This grosbeak frequents also the shade trees of large estates and suburban streets.
Nest: Large and loosely constructed, made of twigs, grasses, and root-fibers, and placed from five to twenty feet from the ground.
Eggs: Pale blue, spotted with brown or purple. The male takes his turn at sitting on the eggs.
Range: Eastern North America and northern South America. Breeds from southern Canada south to Kansas, Missouri, Ohio, New Jersey, and in the mountains of northern Georgia; winters from southern Mexico to Colombia and Ecuador.
So beautiful is the rose-breasted grosbeak and so melodious his song that he invariably attracts attention. Upon close acquaintance, he reveals many interesting habits and delightful traits. He is so useful that he reminds one of the occasional rare person who combines practical qualities with beauty of form and face and unusual gifts.
He is one of our most beneficial birds. Occasionally he partakes of cultivated fruit and devours green peas, but the slight mischief he is guilty of is greatly overbalanced by the good he does. So fond is he of the Colorado potato beetle that in some localities he is called the “potato-bug bird.”[109]Professor Beal tells of watching grosbeaks near a potato-patch that was nearly riddled by these destructive insects. He saw the parent-birds visit the field repeatedly, and then bring their young when able to fly. The brood perched in a row on the top rail of the fence, and were fed so frequently that in a few days the potato-bugs had entirely disappeared. The crop was saved.
Grosbeaks appear to lead unusually happy domestic lives. Though the males fight for their mates, they guard them and their young with great devotion. They not only utter low sweet notes to the mother-bird as she broods, but quite frequently take her place on the nest.
My sister tells of hearing a rose-breast’s song in a maplegrove, and of searching diligently for the singer. She located the tree from which the sound proceeded, and waited patiently to see him “gaily flit from bough to bough”; but no bird came into view. She went around the tree until, to her delight, she discovered him sitting on the nest, only a few feet from where she stood. He stopped singing when he saw her, but showed neither surprise nor fear, and resumed his song after she went away. She realized that she had had an unusually rare privilege.
To hear a grosbeak’s song at night is an experience similar to that of listening to a nightingale in Europe, or to a mockingbird in our South or West, singing by moonlight.
Length: 7 inches; indigo bunting, 5½ inches.Male: Body a deep blue, almost black on the back; chin and cheeks black; bill heavy; tail black, edged with blue; wings black, tipped with bright brown, giving the effect of one broad and one narrow wing-bar. Winter plumage, rusty brown mottled with blue.Female: Grayish-brown above, more or less washed with blue; wings brown, barred with buff; under parts washed with buff.Song: A sweet grosbeak warble.Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from Missouri, southern Illinois and Maryland, south to eastern Texas, and northern Florida; accidental in Wisconsin, New England, the Maritime Provinces, and Cuba; winters in Yucatan and Honduras.
Length: 7 inches; indigo bunting, 5½ inches.
Male: Body a deep blue, almost black on the back; chin and cheeks black; bill heavy; tail black, edged with blue; wings black, tipped with bright brown, giving the effect of one broad and one narrow wing-bar. Winter plumage, rusty brown mottled with blue.
Female: Grayish-brown above, more or less washed with blue; wings brown, barred with buff; under parts washed with buff.
Song: A sweet grosbeak warble.
Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from Missouri, southern Illinois and Maryland, south to eastern Texas, and northern Florida; accidental in Wisconsin, New England, the Maritime Provinces, and Cuba; winters in Yucatan and Honduras.
The Blue Grosbeak resembles its smaller relative, the indigo bunting, but it has a larger, darker body, a heavier bill, and brown-tipped wing feathers. It is more nearly the size of a cowbird than of the indigo-bird. It may be found in thickets similar to those frequented by its small blue relative.
It is a bird of the southeastern part of the United States, but occasionally strays northward.
Length: 8 inches; 3 inches larger than the goldfinch.Male: Forehead bright yellow; crown of head black; body olive-brown, with yellow on shoulders, rump, and belly; wings black and white; tail forked, black; bill heavy and yellowish.Female: Brownish-gray, tinged with yellow underneath; wings black and white; forked tail black, tipped with white.Range: Central North America. Breeds in western Alberta; winters in the interior of North America east of the Rocky Mts., more or less irregularly in southern Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, eastern Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, New England, and Quebec.
Length: 8 inches; 3 inches larger than the goldfinch.
Male: Forehead bright yellow; crown of head black; body olive-brown, with yellow on shoulders, rump, and belly; wings black and white; tail forked, black; bill heavy and yellowish.
Female: Brownish-gray, tinged with yellow underneath; wings black and white; forked tail black, tipped with white.
Range: Central North America. Breeds in western Alberta; winters in the interior of North America east of the Rocky Mts., more or less irregularly in southern Missouri, Kentucky, Ohio, eastern Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, New England, and Quebec.
A sight of this handsome bird is an event in the East, and arouses great interest in people who know how rare it is. Five were seen near Washington in early April of this year, and were hailed with enthusiasm. It is a common resident of our Northwest, though it wanders in flocks to the East occasionally.
It looks like a large goldfinch, though it is a less brilliant yellow, has larger patches of white on its wings and wears its dark cap back on its head, above its yellow forehead, instead of pulled down to its eyes and bill. It blends perfectly with the yellows and olive-browns of some of our western landscapes.
It feeds on berries, seeds, and insects. It becomes very tame.
The Black-headed Grosbeak hascinnamon-brownupper parts, breast, band about the neck, and rump; yellow belly, black head, wings, and tail; wings with two white bars and a white patch; tail with white tips. Female brownish-black and buff above; under parts tawny and yellow, streaked with dark; chin, sides of throat, and line over eye whitish.
“The Black-headed Grosbeak takes the place in the West of the rosebreast of the East, and, like it, is a fine songster. Like it, also, the blackhead readily resorts to orchards and gardens and is common in agricultural districts. The bird has a very powerful bill and easily crushes or cuts into the firmest fruit. It feeds upon cherries, apricots, and other fruits, and also does some damage to peas and beans, but it is so active a foe of certain horticultural pests that we can afford to overlook its faults.... It eats scale insects, cankerworms, codling moths, and many flower beetles, which do incalculable damage to cultivated flowers and to ripe fruit.”[110]
Length: A little over 7 inches.Male:SpringorBreeding plumage: Crown, sides of head, throat, and other under parts black;back of head and neck light yellow; upper half of back black, streaked with creamy white;lower half of back, rump, and shoulders white; wings black, some of the feathers tipped with buff; tail black, the feathers pointed. Many birds have dark upper parts and light breasts; the bobolink wears his bright breast upon his back during the summer. In the fall, he resembles the female.Female: Olive-brown and light yellow above, with black streaks; head with olive-brown and light yellow stripes; under parts pale yellow; wings and tail brown.Notes: A tinklingding-ding, not unlike the sound of a bell; likewise a chirp.Song: A bubbling song, full of ecstasy and abandon. It is one of the most delightful songs of the later migrants.Habitat: While in the North, the bobolink inhabits our fields and meadows, where he “swings on brier and weed.” In the fall, he frequents the rice-fields of our southern states on his way to South America, and does so much harm that he is dreaded and hated.Range: North and South America. Breeds mainly from the plains of south-central Canada to Nevada, Utah, northern Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey; winters in South America, to southern Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia.
Length: A little over 7 inches.
Male:SpringorBreeding plumage: Crown, sides of head, throat, and other under parts black;back of head and neck light yellow; upper half of back black, streaked with creamy white;lower half of back, rump, and shoulders white; wings black, some of the feathers tipped with buff; tail black, the feathers pointed. Many birds have dark upper parts and light breasts; the bobolink wears his bright breast upon his back during the summer. In the fall, he resembles the female.
Female: Olive-brown and light yellow above, with black streaks; head with olive-brown and light yellow stripes; under parts pale yellow; wings and tail brown.
Notes: A tinklingding-ding, not unlike the sound of a bell; likewise a chirp.
Song: A bubbling song, full of ecstasy and abandon. It is one of the most delightful songs of the later migrants.
Habitat: While in the North, the bobolink inhabits our fields and meadows, where he “swings on brier and weed.” In the fall, he frequents the rice-fields of our southern states on his way to South America, and does so much harm that he is dreaded and hated.
Range: North and South America. Breeds mainly from the plains of south-central Canada to Nevada, Utah, northern Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey; winters in South America, to southern Brazil, Paraguay, and Bolivia.
BOBOLINK
BOBOLINK
Had Robert Louis Stevenson written the biography of a bobolink, he might have given him the names of his immortal Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, for the bird seems to possess a dual nature, and to bear totally different reputations in the North and the South. When he visits Canada and northern United States in May, dressed in his gay wedding finery, he is greeted with joy. Few more delightful birds are to be found than this attractive, happy-hearted singer against whom no reproaches are registered in the North.
His song has been a favorite theme for poets and nature-writers. Thoreau wrote: “One or two notes globe themselves and fall in bubbles from his teeming throat. It is as if he touched his harp within a vase of liquid melody, and when he lifted it out, the notes fell like bubbles from the strings. Methinks they are the most liquidly sweet and melodious sounds I ever heard.”[111]
The bobolink’s habits in the North are almost beyond reproach. Professor Beal writes: “In New England there are few birds about which so much romance clusters as this rollicking songster, naturally associated with the June meadows; but in the South there are none on whose head so many maledictions have been heaped on account of its fondness for rice. During its sojourn in the Northern States it feeds mainly upon insects and seeds of useless plants; but while rearing its young, insects constitute its chief food, and almost the exclusive diet of its brood. After the young are able to fly, the whole family gathersinto a small flock and begins to live almost entirely upon vegetable food. This consists for the most part of weed seeds, since in the North these birds do not appear to attack grain to any extent. They eat a few oats.”[112]
Dr. Henshaw adds: “When the young are well on the wing, they gather in flocks with the parent birds and gradually move southward, being then generally known asreed-birds. They reach the ricefields of the Carolinas about August 20, when the rice is in the milk. Then until the birds depart for South America, planters and birds fight for the crop, and in spite of constant watchfulness and innumerable devices for scaring the birds a loss of 10 per cent. of the rice is the usual result.”[113]
Major Bendire, in his “Life Histories of North American Birds,” quotes a letter from Capt. W. M. Hazzard, a large rice-grower of South Carolina, written concerning the warfare waged against thesericebirds:
“The Bobolinks make their appearance here during the latter part of April. At that season, their plumage is white and black, and they sing merrily when at rest. Their flight is always at night. In the evening there are none. In the morning their appearance is heralded by the popping of whips and firing of musketry by the bird-minders in their efforts to keep the birds from pulling up the young rice. This warfare is kept up incessantly until about the 25th of May, when they suddenly disappear at night. Their next appearance is in a dark yellow plumage, as theRicebird. There is no song at this time, but instead a chirp which means ruin to any rice found in the milk. My plantation record will show that for thepast ten years, except when prevented by stormy south or southwest winds, the Ricebirds have come punctually on the night of the 21st of August, apparently coming from seaward. All night their chirp can be heard passing over our summer homes on South Island, which is situated 6 miles to the east of our rice plantations, in full view of the ocean. Curious to say, we have never seen this flight during the day. During the nights of August 21, 22, 23, and 24, millions of these birds make their appearance and settle in the ricefields. From the 21st of August to the 25th of September our every effort is made to save the crop. Men, boys, and women with guns and ammunition, are posted.... The firing commences at dawn and is kept up till sunset.... If from any cause there is a check to the crop during its growth which prevents the grain from being hard, but in milky condition, the destruction of such fields is complete, it not paying to cut and bring the rice out of the field.... I consider these birds as destructive to rice as the caterpillar is to cotton, with this difference, that these Ricebirds never fail to come.”
Length: About 5 inches.Male:Springandsummer plumage—bodyandshoulders bright yellow;crown black;wingsandtail,blackandwhite; tail forked; feathers above tail, gray.Winter plumage—olive-brown back; throat, breast, and shoulders yellow; wings black and white.Female: Olive-brown above; dull yellow below; wings and tail a dull black; white bars on wings, tail white-tipped; shoulders olive-green; grayish above tail.No black on crown.Notes: An unusually sweet chirp or call-note like that of a canary,who-ee′, with a rising inflection; a flight-note,per-chick′ory, given as the goldfinch bounds through the air; a number of gentle little twittering sounds, for these birds are very social and communicative.Song: A rapid outpouring of notes in a wild, sweet, canary-like strain.Flight: In great waves or undulations.Habitat: Fields and gardens, or wherever its favorite food may be obtained.Nest: In bushes or trees; made of soft grasses or fibers, and lined with thistledown.Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from south-central Canada to Oklahoma, Arkansas, and northern Georgia; winters over most of its breeding range and south to the Gulf Coast.
Length: About 5 inches.
Male:Springandsummer plumage—bodyandshoulders bright yellow;crown black;wingsandtail,blackandwhite; tail forked; feathers above tail, gray.Winter plumage—olive-brown back; throat, breast, and shoulders yellow; wings black and white.
Female: Olive-brown above; dull yellow below; wings and tail a dull black; white bars on wings, tail white-tipped; shoulders olive-green; grayish above tail.No black on crown.
Notes: An unusually sweet chirp or call-note like that of a canary,who-ee′, with a rising inflection; a flight-note,per-chick′ory, given as the goldfinch bounds through the air; a number of gentle little twittering sounds, for these birds are very social and communicative.
Song: A rapid outpouring of notes in a wild, sweet, canary-like strain.
Flight: In great waves or undulations.
Habitat: Fields and gardens, or wherever its favorite food may be obtained.
Nest: In bushes or trees; made of soft grasses or fibers, and lined with thistledown.
Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from south-central Canada to Oklahoma, Arkansas, and northern Georgia; winters over most of its breeding range and south to the Gulf Coast.
In winter, the goldfinch may be distinguished from others of the finch or sparrow family by its undulating flight, its flight-note,per-chick′ory, and its call-note. Its black and white wings and tail are also distinctive. It is found in flocks during the winter season.
GOLDFINCH
GOLDFINCH
The Goldfinch or “Wild Canary” is one of our best-loved birds. The beauty of the male’s coloring, the sweetness of his voice, the joyousness of his nature have won him many friends.
John Burroughs wrote: “The goldfinch has many pretty ways. So far as my knowledge goes, he is not capable of one harsh note. His tones are either joyous or plaintive. In his spring reunions they are joyous. In the peculiar flight song in which he indulges in the mating season, beating the air vertically with his round open wings, his tones are fairly ecstatic. His call to his mate when she is brooding, and when he circles about her in that long, billowy flight, the crests of his airy waves being thirty or forty feet apart, calling, ‘Perchic-o-pee, perchic-o-pee,’ as if he were saying, ‘For love of thee, for love of thee,’ and she calling back, ‘Yes, dearie; yes, dearie’—his tones at such times express contentment and reassurance.
“When any of his natural enemies appear—a hawk, a cat, a jay,—his tones are plaintive in sorrow and not in anger.
“When with his mate he leads their brood about the August thistles, the young call in a similar tone. When in July the nesting has begun, the female talks the prettiest ‘baby talk’ to her mate as he feeds her. The nest-building rarely begins till thistledown can be had, so literally are all the ways of this darling bird ways of softness and gentleness. The nest is a thick, soft, warm structure, securely fastened in the fork of a maple or an apple-tree.”[114]
The fondness of goldfinches for the seeds of thistles has given them the name ofthistle-birds. While they eat insects during the summer, they are especially useful as seed-destroyers. At Marshall Hall, Md., Dr. Judd observed them eating their first fresh supply in the spring from dandelions; in June, they ate the seeds of the field daisy; in July, of the purple aster and wild carrot. Thistles and wild lettuce were feasted upon during August; while in September the troublesome beggar-tick and ragweed were eagerly sought. At one time Dr. Judd counted a flock of three hundred goldfinches busily stripping seeds from a rank growth of the latter weed; he discovered them, also, devouring seeds of the trumpet-creeper. They are invaluable aids to a farmer; the only fault of which they can be accused is that of “pilfering” sunflower seeds. The presence of sunflowers in a garden is likely to attract goldfinches, just as trumpet-creeper blossoms lure hummingbirds.
I recall a lovely garden in which I spent many pleasant hours one summer, happy in its beauty and fragrance, and in the companionship of bird visitors. Near my accustomed seat grew a clump of sunflowers, often sought by goldfinches. The black and gold of their plumage made a pretty sight against the yellow petals and dark centers of the great flowers. I remember one little bird that fluttered among the golden petals, too busy singing to eat for a time.
Two bird-hunting cats haunted the garden. I took a malicious pleasure in driving them away, because their ignorant, parsimonious owner had informed me that she kept them locked up while her chickens were young, so the cats wouldn’t catch them. She didn’t care how manybirds were killed, for then she wouldn’t be obliged to feed the prowlers. The goldfinches soon learned that when I was there they could feast in safety. More than once when I was in the house or on the porch I would hear their alarm cry ofDé-de? dé-de?sound from a maple near the piazza, plainly calling for my aid. When I went out to the garden and drove away their feline foes, the cries would cease. The angry owner of the cats, who dared not remonstrate further with me, cut down the sunflowers!
My most beautiful memory of goldfinches is associated with one of their spring mating-festivals. My sister and I had read Burroughs’s description of these love-feasts, so we were prepared to understand what the unusual chorus meant. The sweet call-notes of the males, interspersed with rapturous bursts of melody and frequent flutterings met with quick response from the olive-and-gold females, who chirped and said “Yes” with a joy pleasant to see! It is impossible to convey adequately any idea of the exquisite tenderness of their voices, of the absence of quarreling and jealousies,—of the perfect harmony of the proceeding. I can only wish that every person who loves birds might some time have the pleasure of a similar experience.
Length: Nearly 9 inches.Male and Female: A slender, long-tailed, gray bird, with ablack crownandtail, andchestnut-brown feathers under the tail; breast somewhat paler than back; bill slightly curved.Note: A softwă, not unlike the mew of a kitten.Song: A delightful warble—soft, sweet, and musical, though it is occasionally interspersed with the catlike noisewă, and with sounds of mimicry. Catbirds are sometimes called northern mockingbirds.Habitat: Tangled thickets preferred. Fruit trees, berry-patches, and garden-shrubbery are also sought.Nest: A veritable scrap-basket made of twigs, leaves, grasses, plant-fibers and rootlets, with paper sometimes interwoven. One nest that I examined contained a scrap from a torn letter and a fragment of a sermon from a newspaper. Several tell-tale cherry-stones lay on the bottom, circumstantial evidence of theft.Eggs: A lovely greenish-blue, not unlike those of the robin.Range: A common bird of eastern North America, from central Canada to the Gulf and northern Florida. It is found in the northwestern part of the U. S. and winters in our southern states and in Central America.
Length: Nearly 9 inches.
Male and Female: A slender, long-tailed, gray bird, with ablack crownandtail, andchestnut-brown feathers under the tail; breast somewhat paler than back; bill slightly curved.
Note: A softwă, not unlike the mew of a kitten.
Song: A delightful warble—soft, sweet, and musical, though it is occasionally interspersed with the catlike noisewă, and with sounds of mimicry. Catbirds are sometimes called northern mockingbirds.
Habitat: Tangled thickets preferred. Fruit trees, berry-patches, and garden-shrubbery are also sought.
Nest: A veritable scrap-basket made of twigs, leaves, grasses, plant-fibers and rootlets, with paper sometimes interwoven. One nest that I examined contained a scrap from a torn letter and a fragment of a sermon from a newspaper. Several tell-tale cherry-stones lay on the bottom, circumstantial evidence of theft.
Eggs: A lovely greenish-blue, not unlike those of the robin.
Range: A common bird of eastern North America, from central Canada to the Gulf and northern Florida. It is found in the northwestern part of the U. S. and winters in our southern states and in Central America.
The catbird is well-named. It is the color of a Maltese cat, is sleek and agile, and in movement quiet and stealthy. Its mew is so like that of a kitten as to be confusing to the uninitiated. I recall the frantic barking of our small dog at a catbird that she heard in the shrubbery one day. It was difficult to convince her that one of her hated foes, a cat, was not the author of the sound that always infuriated her.
CATBIRD
CATBIRD
Though catbirds possess little claim to beauty, they seem to be vain and appear always to be doing something to attract attention. They are in constant motion—twitching their tails, jerking their bodies, and making their gentle, inane “cat-calls.”
I once had an amusing experience with a catbird. I had seated myself near a thicket in which a Maryland Yellow-throat was flitting. Hoping to beguile him from the shrubbery and thus afford myself a better view of him, I gave his song repeatedly—“Witch-a-tee-o, witch-a-tee-o.” A catbird on the fence-rail behind the thicket was flirting his tail, looking knowingly at me, and giving his call repeatedly. I paid no attention to him, and continued to say “Witch-a-tee-o.” It was not long before he, too, warbled “Witch-a-tee-o.” Whether he did it from his love of mimicry or from a desire to be noticed, I shall never know, but his bearing was, “Nowwill you pay some attention tome!”
Catbirds are in disfavor among the growers of cherries and berries, both wild and cultivated; they make havoc in strawberry-beds. Mr. Forbush reports that their depredations vary in different localities. He claims that in spite of their fruit-stealing propensities they deserve protection in Massachusetts, because they devour locusts, cankerworms, and the caterpillars of various moths, most important being those of the gypsy and brown-tail moths.
In the Biological Survey Bulletin “Fifty Common Birds of Farm and Orchard” (No. 513) the following statementsabout the catbird are made: “Half of its food consists of fruit, and the cultivated crops most often injured are cherries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries. Beetles, ants, crickets, and grasshoppers are the most important element of its animal food. The bird is known to attack a few pests such as cutworms, leaf beetles, clover-root curculio, and the periodical cicada, but the good it does in this way probably does not pay for the fruit it steals. The extent to which it should be protected may perhaps be left to the individual cultivator; that is, it should be made lawful to destroy catbirds that are doing manifest damage to crops.”
Dr. Judd found that catbirds fed their young almost entirely on insects; he therefore scored a point in their favor. Their bravery in defense of their nest and their young is well known.
Burroughs tells an unusual anecdote about a catbird as follows:
“A friend of mine who had a summer home on one of the trout-streams of the Catskills discovered that the catbird was fond of butter, and she soon had one of the birds coming every day to the dining-room, perching on the back of the chair, and receiving its morsel of butter from a fork held in the mistress’s hand. I think the butter was unsalted. My friend was convinced after three years that the same pair of birds returned to her each year because each season the male came promptly for his butter.”[115]
Many other incidents might be related concerning this interesting bird,—of its unusual intelligence and its remarkable power of mimicry. One catbird in Tennessee learned to imitate the songs of all the birds that nestednear him. His rendering of the red-eyed vireo’s song was as good as that of the vireo himself. His listeners felt that it was wearisome enough to have the red-eye preaching constantly, but to have the catbird reiterating it was more than they could endure.
Length: About 11 inches, larger than the robin; tail 5 inches long.General Appearance: A large bird with abright brown back, white breast streaked with brownish-black, and avery long tailwhich is moved or “thrashed” about incessantly.Male and Female: Reddish-brown above; white underneath, becoming buff after the August molt; throat indistinctly marked with dark streaks; breast and sidesheavily streaked; wings with two indistinct white bars; tail almost half the length of the bird; bill long (about 1 inch), sharp and curving.Notes: A “smacking” sound and a sharpwhew.Song: A loud, clear, beautiful song. It consists of several phrases, each composed of two or more similar notes. Thoreau interpreted it as follows: “cherruit, cherruit, cherruit; go ahead, go ahead; give it to him, give it to him.”[116]The song is generally sung from the tops of trees or bushes.Habitat: Like the catbird, the thrasher is found frequently in shrubbery, where it scratches among dead leaves for its food. Its brown color protects it admirably.Nest: Made of twigs, leaves, and root-fibers, placed in thickets or on the ground.Eggs: White, evenly speckled with fine brown spots.Food: Wild fruit and berries (30 kinds), and insects, especially beetles and caterpillars. Professor Beal says: “The farmer has nothing to fear from depredations on fruit or grain by the brown thrasher. The bird is a resident of groves and swamps rather than of orchards and gardens.”[117]BROWN THRASHERRange: Eastern United States and southern Canada, westward to the Rocky Mts.; winters in south-eastern United States.
Length: About 11 inches, larger than the robin; tail 5 inches long.
General Appearance: A large bird with abright brown back, white breast streaked with brownish-black, and avery long tailwhich is moved or “thrashed” about incessantly.
Male and Female: Reddish-brown above; white underneath, becoming buff after the August molt; throat indistinctly marked with dark streaks; breast and sidesheavily streaked; wings with two indistinct white bars; tail almost half the length of the bird; bill long (about 1 inch), sharp and curving.
Notes: A “smacking” sound and a sharpwhew.
Song: A loud, clear, beautiful song. It consists of several phrases, each composed of two or more similar notes. Thoreau interpreted it as follows: “cherruit, cherruit, cherruit; go ahead, go ahead; give it to him, give it to him.”[116]The song is generally sung from the tops of trees or bushes.
Habitat: Like the catbird, the thrasher is found frequently in shrubbery, where it scratches among dead leaves for its food. Its brown color protects it admirably.
Nest: Made of twigs, leaves, and root-fibers, placed in thickets or on the ground.
Eggs: White, evenly speckled with fine brown spots.
Food: Wild fruit and berries (30 kinds), and insects, especially beetles and caterpillars. Professor Beal says: “The farmer has nothing to fear from depredations on fruit or grain by the brown thrasher. The bird is a resident of groves and swamps rather than of orchards and gardens.”[117]
BROWN THRASHER
BROWN THRASHER
Range: Eastern United States and southern Canada, westward to the Rocky Mts.; winters in south-eastern United States.
Because of his brown color and his speckled breast, the Brown Thrasher has often been erroneously called theBrown Thrush. Careful observation reveals many points of difference. He is three or four inches longer than our common thrushes—in fact, his tail alone is only about 2½ inches shorter than the entire body of the veery or the hermit thrush; his bill is almost four times as long as theirs and is decidedly curved. Instead of dark, thrush-like eyes, he has pale yellow ones that give him an uncanny appearance.
He is not a dweller in woods, but, like the catbird, prefers thickets. Burroughs says: “The furtive and stealthy manners of the catbird contrast strongly with the frank open manners of the thrushes. Its cousin the brown thrasher goes skulking about in much the same way, flirting from bush to bush like a culprit escaping from justice. But he does love to sing from the April treetops where all the world may see and hear, if said world does not come too near.”[118]
His song is a brilliant, delightful performance, admirable in technique, but lacking in a quality of tone that moves the heart. It is often of long duration. One May afternoon, I heard a thrasher singing so long that I was moved to time him. He sang without stopping for fifteenminutes by my watch, and his entire song must have lasted nearly half an hour.
The brown thrasher, like the other members of his family, has power of mimicry. In the north, he is sometimes called the “Northern Mocker”; in some regions where he and the mockingbird both live, he is known as the “Sandy Mocker.” There is sufficient similarity in the songs of the catbird, the thrasher, and the mockingbird to make a listener pause a moment to distinguish them when in a locality where the three birds are to be found. The catbird’s mew betrays him; the thrasher’s song is more brilliant and sustained; the mocker’s more varied. Thoreau says, “The thrasher has a sort of laugh in his strain that the catbird has not.”[119]His song resembles decidedly that of the English thrush, famed in poetry. Browning’s description of the latter is equally applicable to our thrasher:
“He sings each song twice over,Lest you should think he never could recaptureThat first fine careless rapture.”
“He sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
That first fine careless rapture.”
MOCKINGBIRD
MOCKINGBIRD
Length: About 10 inches; an inch longer than the catbird and an inch shorter than the thrasher; tail about 5 inches long.Male and Female: A long, slender, brownish-gray bird, with grayish-white under parts; wings and tail dark brown; wings with two white bars andwhite patches that are conspicuous in flight; middle tail-feathers brown,outer feathers white, others partly white. The female frequently has less white than the male.Notes: A great variety. Some mockingbirds seem to possess unlimited powers of mimicry; others have far less ability to reproduce sounds.Song: A sweet, delightful melody, sung in pure liquid tones and with ease and assurance, as though the birds were conscious of their power. They are probably the most famous songsters of America. Sidney Lanier, Walt Whitman, and other poets have written well-known poems in their praise, while Roosevelt and many other prose-writers have added their encomiums.Habitat: Near the haunts of man, in gardens, parks, tree-shaded streets, and groves.Range: Southeastern United States chiefly from eastern Nebraska, southern Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Maryland, south to eastern Texas, southern Florida and the Bahamas; occasional in New York and Massachusetts, though a number of records have been made near Boston; accidental in Wisconsin, Ontario, Maine, and Nova Scotia; introduced into Bermuda.TheWESTERN MOCKINGBIRDis found in California, southern Wyoming, northwestern Nebraska, and western Kansas, south to Mexico and Lower California. It has a longer tail and wings than the eastern species, and is a paler gray.
Length: About 10 inches; an inch longer than the catbird and an inch shorter than the thrasher; tail about 5 inches long.
Male and Female: A long, slender, brownish-gray bird, with grayish-white under parts; wings and tail dark brown; wings with two white bars andwhite patches that are conspicuous in flight; middle tail-feathers brown,outer feathers white, others partly white. The female frequently has less white than the male.
Notes: A great variety. Some mockingbirds seem to possess unlimited powers of mimicry; others have far less ability to reproduce sounds.
Song: A sweet, delightful melody, sung in pure liquid tones and with ease and assurance, as though the birds were conscious of their power. They are probably the most famous songsters of America. Sidney Lanier, Walt Whitman, and other poets have written well-known poems in their praise, while Roosevelt and many other prose-writers have added their encomiums.
Habitat: Near the haunts of man, in gardens, parks, tree-shaded streets, and groves.
Range: Southeastern United States chiefly from eastern Nebraska, southern Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Maryland, south to eastern Texas, southern Florida and the Bahamas; occasional in New York and Massachusetts, though a number of records have been made near Boston; accidental in Wisconsin, Ontario, Maine, and Nova Scotia; introduced into Bermuda.
TheWESTERN MOCKINGBIRDis found in California, southern Wyoming, northwestern Nebraska, and western Kansas, south to Mexico and Lower California. It has a longer tail and wings than the eastern species, and is a paler gray.
Nuttall called the Mockingbird “the unrivalled Orpheus of the forest, and the natural wonder of America.” His voice certainly has power to “soothe the savage breast,” to interest the mind because of the varied range and remarkable technique, and to uplift the soul, especially when heard in the stillness and beauty of a moonlight night.
There is great difference of opinion regarding the “mocker.” He is more loved and admired in the South than in the West, and is regarded with pride as worthy to be called the nightingale of America. Most writers have sung his praises, but occasionally some one regards him with disfavor because of his habit of interlarding his beautiful song with curious and disagreeable sounds. Wilson Flagg says, “He often brings his tiresome extravaganzas to a magnificent climax of melody and as frequently concludes an inimitable chant with a most contemptible bathos.”[120]
The power of mimicry varies with different individuals. In a brief interval of time, one bird may imitate a woodpecker, a phœbe, a wren, a jay, or a cardinal, so as to deceive most listeners. He may produce the sound made by the popping of a cork or the buzzing of a saw; the next moment he may scream like a hawk to frighten chickens and send them to cover, or cluck like an old hen and bringyoung chicks from their hiding-places. Some mockers seem to be able to reproduce the bird-songs they hear more melodiously than the singers themselves render them.
Mockingbirds’ bravery in defense of their nests and their young is well known. They have an especial antipathy to dogs and cats, and are merciless in their attacks on those animals if seen near the vicinity of their nests. A friend in California told me that her cat was in abject terror of a mockingbird. Instead of considering him tempting prey, she invariably fled to cover when he appeared, and remained in hiding for a time. The fur on her sides was noticeably thinned where the angry bird had pulled out numerous locks. One day, while my family were visiting San Francisco, they heard a dog yelping piteously and discovered him running at lightning speed down the middle of the street. A mockingbird was perched on his back and was pulling hairs out of his tail with spiteful tweaks. Mockers have been known to kill snakes that approached their nests, and to attack human beings with great fury.
They like to live near people and seem to respond to the affection shown them in the South, where they are such favorites that they are seldom molested. Formerly mockingbirds were trapped for cage-birds, as were cardinals, but this practice is largely discontinued now, because of protective laws and aroused public sentiment.
Dr. Henry W. Henshaw says: “It is not surprising that the mockingbird should receive protection principally because of its ability as a songster and its preference for the vicinity of dwellings. Its place in the affections of the South is similar to that occupied by the robin in the North. It is well that this is true, for the bird appearsnot to earn protection from a strictly economic standpoint. About half of its diet consists of fruit, and many cultivated varieties are attacked, such as oranges, grapes, figs, strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries. Somewhat less than a fourth of the food is animal matter, of which grasshoppers are the largest single element. The bird is fond of cottonworms, and is known to feed on the chinch bug, rice weevil, and bollworm. It is unfortunate that it does not feed on injurious insects to an extent to offset its depredations on fruit.”[121]
Professor Beal says, however, “The mockingbird will probably do little harm to cultivated fruits so long as wild varieties are accessible and abundant.”[122]Wise cultivators of fruit take this into consideration and plant accordingly, to keep both their fruit and the delightful, amusing mockingbirds.
YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO
YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO
Length: About 12 inches; tail over 6 inches.Male and Female: Brownish-gray above with a greenish tinge; white underneath;reddish-brown wings; feathers brightest on inner web; middle tail feathers brownish-gray; outer onesblack, broadly tipped with white, tips decreasing in size toward center;lower mandible of bill yellowexcept at the end.Notes: A rapid, guttural utterance of the wordscook-cook-cook-cookandcow-cow-cow-cow. Our cuckoos sometimes give a cooing note, but do not saycuck′-oolike their European relatives.Flight: Swift and difficult to observe, as the cuckoo glides rapidly from bough to bough, under cover if possible.Nest: A loosely-constructed platform of sticks.Habitat: Orchards, woodlands, park-like estates, and quiet shady streets. Cuckoos are occasionally seen in exposed, sunny places.Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from southern Canada and northern United States as far west as North Dakota and as far south as northern Louisiana and Florida; winters south to Argentina.TheBLACK-BILLED CUCKOOis similar to the Yellow-bill in general appearance, but has several marked differences. Its upper parts are more greenish; its tail-feathers have smaller white tips; its wings aregray, not reddish-brown; its bill isblack, notyellow; its eye-ring is red.
Length: About 12 inches; tail over 6 inches.
Male and Female: Brownish-gray above with a greenish tinge; white underneath;reddish-brown wings; feathers brightest on inner web; middle tail feathers brownish-gray; outer onesblack, broadly tipped with white, tips decreasing in size toward center;lower mandible of bill yellowexcept at the end.
Notes: A rapid, guttural utterance of the wordscook-cook-cook-cookandcow-cow-cow-cow. Our cuckoos sometimes give a cooing note, but do not saycuck′-oolike their European relatives.
Flight: Swift and difficult to observe, as the cuckoo glides rapidly from bough to bough, under cover if possible.
Nest: A loosely-constructed platform of sticks.
Habitat: Orchards, woodlands, park-like estates, and quiet shady streets. Cuckoos are occasionally seen in exposed, sunny places.
Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from southern Canada and northern United States as far west as North Dakota and as far south as northern Louisiana and Florida; winters south to Argentina.
TheBLACK-BILLED CUCKOOis similar to the Yellow-bill in general appearance, but has several marked differences. Its upper parts are more greenish; its tail-feathers have smaller white tips; its wings aregray, not reddish-brown; its bill isblack, notyellow; its eye-ring is red.