YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER
YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER
Professor Beal made the following report regarding this woodpecker: “The red-bellied woodpecker ranges over the eastern United States as far west as central Texas and eastern Colorado and as far north as New York, southern Ontario, Michigan, and southern Minnesota. It breeds throughout this range and appears to be irregularly migratory. It appears to go north of its breeding range sometimes to spend the winter. Four stomachs, collected in November and December, were received from Canada, and in eight years’ residence in central Iowa the writer found the species abundant every winter, but never saw one in the breeding season. It is rather more of a forest bird than some of the other woodpeckers, but is frequently seen in open or thinly timbered country. In the northern part of its range it appears to prefer deciduous growth, but in the South is very common in pine forests.
“Ants are a fairly constant article of diet. The most are taken during the warmer months. Evidently this bird does not dig all the ants which it eats from decaying wood, like the downy woodpecker, but, like the flickers, collects them from the ground and the bark of trees.
“In Florida, the bird has been observed to eat oranges to an injurious extent. It attacks the over-ripe fruit and pecks holes in it and sometimes completely devours it. The fruit selected is that which is dead ripe or partly decayed, so it is not often that the damage is serious. The bird sometimes attacks the trunks of the orange trees as well as others and does some harm. The contents of the stomachs, however, show that wild fruits are preferred, and probably only when these have been replaced by cultivated varieties is any mischief done.”[78]
Length: About 8½ inches, larger than the Downy, and smaller than the Red-headed woodpecker.General Appearance: A medium-sized bird, withbars,stripes, andpatchesof black and white. Thescarlet crown, theblack band acrossthebreast, and thescarlet throatof the males are distinguishing marks.Male: Crown and throat bright red; bill long; head with broad black and white stripes, extending to neck. The black stripe beginning at bill unites with ablack crescent that encloses red throat.Breastandbelly light yellow; sides gray, streaked with black; back black, barred with white; wings black, withlarge white patches, white bars, and spots;middletail-feathers, white and black; outer tail-feathers mostly black.Female: Resembles male, but throat is usually white instead of scarlet.Young: Similar to parents, but with dull blackish crowns, whitish throats, and brownish-gray breasts.Notes: A faint call-note; a ringing call, consisting of several similar notes.Habitat: Tree-trunks, into which these birds drill holes and thus kill the trees.Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from the tree-belt of Canada to northern Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, mountains of Massachusetts and North Carolina; winters from Pennsylvania and Ohio Valley to the Gulf Coast, Bahamas, Cuba, and Costa Rica.
Length: About 8½ inches, larger than the Downy, and smaller than the Red-headed woodpecker.
General Appearance: A medium-sized bird, withbars,stripes, andpatchesof black and white. Thescarlet crown, theblack band acrossthebreast, and thescarlet throatof the males are distinguishing marks.
Male: Crown and throat bright red; bill long; head with broad black and white stripes, extending to neck. The black stripe beginning at bill unites with ablack crescent that encloses red throat.Breastandbelly light yellow; sides gray, streaked with black; back black, barred with white; wings black, withlarge white patches, white bars, and spots;middletail-feathers, white and black; outer tail-feathers mostly black.
Female: Resembles male, but throat is usually white instead of scarlet.
Young: Similar to parents, but with dull blackish crowns, whitish throats, and brownish-gray breasts.
Notes: A faint call-note; a ringing call, consisting of several similar notes.
Habitat: Tree-trunks, into which these birds drill holes and thus kill the trees.
Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from the tree-belt of Canada to northern Missouri, Indiana, Ohio, mountains of Massachusetts and North Carolina; winters from Pennsylvania and Ohio Valley to the Gulf Coast, Bahamas, Cuba, and Costa Rica.
The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is the renegade of the woodpecker family—the transgressor that hascalled down anathemas upon all his tribe. He does more damage in some localities than others. Mr. Forbush reports that while the sapsucker has undoubtedly killed trees in northern New England where he breeds, yet in thirty years he has done no appreciable harm in Massachusetts.
Dr. Henry Henshaw, formerly Chief of the Biological Survey, writes: “The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker, unlike other woodpeckers, does comparatively little good and much harm.” Mr. Henshaw reports 250 kinds of trees known to have been attacked by sapsuckers and left with “girdles of holes” or “blemishes known as bird-pecks, especially numerous in hickory, oak, cypress, and yellow poplar.”[79]
The experience of Dr. Sylvester Judd at Marshall Hall, Maryland, was as follows: “In the summer of 1895 there was on the Bryan farm a little orchard of nine apple trees, about twelve years old, that appeared perfectly healthy. In the fall sapsuckers tapped them in many places, and during spring and fall of the next four years they resorted to them regularly for supplies of sap. Observations were made (October 15, 1896) of two sapsuckers in adjoining trees of the orchard. From a point twenty feet distant they were watched for three hours with powerful glasses to see whether they fed to any considerable extent on ants or other insects that were running over the tree-trunks. In that time one bird seized an ant and the other snapped at some flying insect. One drank sap from the holes thirty and the other forty-one times. Later in the day, one drilled two new holes and the other five. The holes were made in more or less regular rings about the trunk, one ring close above another, for a distance ofsix to eight inches. The drills were about a quarter of an inch deep, and penetrated the bark and the outer part of the wood.
“In November, 1900, seven of the nine trees were dead and the others were dying. The loss of sap must have been an exhausting drain, but it was not the sole cause of death. Beetles of the flat-headed apple-borer, attracted by the exuding sap, had oviposited in the holes, and the next generation, having thus gained an entrance, had finished the deadly work begun by the sapsuckers.”[80]
Mr. W. L. McAtee, of the Biological Survey, made the following report on sapsuckers: “These birds have short, brushy tongues not adapted to the capture of insects, while the other woodpeckers have tongues with barbed tips which can be extended to spear luckless borers or other insects whose burrows in the wood have been reached by their powerful beaks. The sapsuckers practically do not feed on wood-borers or other forest enemies. Their chief insect food is ants. About 15 per cent. of their diet consists of cambium and the inner bark of trees, and they drink a great deal of sap.
“The parts of the tree injured by sapsuckers are those that carry the rich sap which nourishes the growing wood and bark. Sapsucker pecking disfigures ornamental trees, giving rise to pitch streams, gummy excrescences, and deformities of the trunks. Small fruit trees, especially the apple, are often killed, and whole young orchards have been destroyed.
“These birds inflict much greater financial loss by producing defects in the wood of the far larger number oftrees which they work upon but do not kill. Blemishes frequently render the trees unfit for anything except coarse construction and fuel.
“Hickory trees are favorites of sapsuckers. It is estimated that about 10 per cent. of the merchantable material is left in the woods on account of bird pecks. On this basis the annual loss on hickory is about $600,000. To this must be added the loss on timber by the manufacturer.”[81]
It is no wonder that war has been declared upon sapsuckers; but it is very sad that because of a lack of careful observation of the distinctive markings of tree-trunk birds, many useful woodpeckers, especially the Downy and Hairy, have been sacrificed.
Downy and Hairy Woodpeckers may be readily identified by abroad white stripeextending down thecenterof theback, asmall patchofredon thebackof the head,pure white throatsandbreasts, and wingsbarredwith white. Ared foreheadandcrown(and red throat of males), ablack crescent acrossthebreast,large white patcheson thewings, abackwithblackandwhite bars instead of a white streak, differentiate this sapsucker from the Downy and Hairy woodpeckers. The yellow belly is not a conspicuous “field-mark.”
There are several species of sapsucker in the West. TheYELLOW-BELLIEDis found in western Texas; theRED-NAPED SAPSUCKERin the Rocky Mt. region, from British Columbia to northwestern Mexico, and from Colorado and Montana to the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Mts.; theRED-BREASTED SAPSUCKERin the Canadian forests of thePacific Coast region, from Alaska to Lower California, eastto the Cascades and Sierra Nevadas; and theWILLIAMSON SAPSUCKER, from the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mts. westward to the Pacific, and from Arizona and New Mexico to British Columbia.[82]The last-named species is a great devourer of ants.
MOURNING DOVE
MOURNING DOVE
Length: Nearly 12 inches; tail 5½ inches.General Appearance: A large, plump, grayish-brown bird, with a small head, ablack mark below the ear, and along pointed tail, in contrast to the round, fan-shaped tail of tame pigeons.Male: Upper parts a soft grayish-brown, except the head, which is bluish-gray on the crown, with a pinkish-buff forehead, and the wings, which have long, gray primaries.Sides of neck beautifully iridescent, with asmall black spot belowtheear, an identification-mark; black spots on the lower part of breast and wings; breast with a pinkish tinge, and underneath the tail pale yellow; tail long and sharply pointed when the bird is at rest. In flight, it resembles the jay’s in shape; the middle feathers are brown, like the back; outer feathers largely white; others brown, tipped with white and banded with black; feet and legs red.Female: Duller than male, with less iridescence on neck.Note: A soft, monotonouscoo-oo-a-coo-o-o, uttered mournfully and with great tenderness. The sound is pleasing to some people, but unendurable to others.Habitat: Open woodlands, or fields bordered with trees.Range: North America. Breeds chiefly from southern Canada throughout the United States and Mexico; winters from southern Oregon, Colorado, the Ohio Valley, and North Carolina to Panama; casual in winter in the Middle States.
Length: Nearly 12 inches; tail 5½ inches.
General Appearance: A large, plump, grayish-brown bird, with a small head, ablack mark below the ear, and along pointed tail, in contrast to the round, fan-shaped tail of tame pigeons.
Male: Upper parts a soft grayish-brown, except the head, which is bluish-gray on the crown, with a pinkish-buff forehead, and the wings, which have long, gray primaries.Sides of neck beautifully iridescent, with asmall black spot belowtheear, an identification-mark; black spots on the lower part of breast and wings; breast with a pinkish tinge, and underneath the tail pale yellow; tail long and sharply pointed when the bird is at rest. In flight, it resembles the jay’s in shape; the middle feathers are brown, like the back; outer feathers largely white; others brown, tipped with white and banded with black; feet and legs red.
Female: Duller than male, with less iridescence on neck.
Note: A soft, monotonouscoo-oo-a-coo-o-o, uttered mournfully and with great tenderness. The sound is pleasing to some people, but unendurable to others.
Habitat: Open woodlands, or fields bordered with trees.
Range: North America. Breeds chiefly from southern Canada throughout the United States and Mexico; winters from southern Oregon, Colorado, the Ohio Valley, and North Carolina to Panama; casual in winter in the Middle States.
Mourning doves, whose “billing and cooing” have become proverbial, are as devoted pairs of lovers as may be found in the bird-world. The ardent male appears to seek the society of none except his loving mate. She seems perfectly satisfied with his attentions and evidently gives him her whole heart.
Madame Dove is a very inefficient housekeeper. Her nest, built of rough sticks, and notoriously ill-constructed—is a sort of platform on which two white eggs are laid. It is a wonder that they remain in safety long enough to be hatched, for the nests are often not more than ten feet from the ground. Were not her twin-babies as phlegmatic as their parents, they might roll out of bed and come to an untimely end.
It is fortunate that the easy-going mother does not need to prepare the bountiful repasts her family demand. She and her husband select a home-site near fields where weeds abound and where grain is raised. The family gorge themselves upon seeds until they almost burst. Mr. Charles Nash says that “these birds are often so full of seeds that, if a bird is shot, the crop bursts open when it strikes the ground.”[83]
They are of enormous economic value. Their food is almost entirely vegetable, and consists largely of the seeds of weeds that a farmer must pay to have destroyed or work hard to eradicate. Doves frequent fields of wheat, corn, buckwheat, rye, oats, and barley, but the grain they destroy is only a third of their food, and consists largely of waste kernels, according to the reports of the Department of Agriculture.[84]They like many varieties of infinitesimalseeds that are eschewed by other birds; as many as 9200 seeds have been found in the stomach of one dove.
These birds have an unerring instinct for fresh water. With a peculiar, whistling sound, they fly at nightfall to a spring or pool for a cool drink before retiring. Hunters are said to have watched them and thus found springs for their needs.[85]
Doves eat quantities of gravel to aid in the digestion of their epicurean feasts. They are fond of dust-baths. They also indulge in queer, senseless-looking acrobatic performances, which appear like attempts at gymnastics.
Length: About 13 inches—a rather large, stocky bird.General Appearance: A large bluish-gray and white bird, with avery large crested head, along bill, and a short tail.Male: Bluish-gray above, becoming darker on the wings; a ragged-looking crest on an unusually large head; a white spot in front of each large dark eye; small flecks on the wings; tail bluish-gray, flecked and barred with white;throat white, abandofwhite extending nearly around theneck; abroad bandofbluish-gray extending across the breast; under parts white, except the sides, which are bluish-gray; feet relatively small, but with long, strong nails.Female: Similar to the male, except for abandofreddish-brown across the breast, extending to the sides, and forming a fourth belt; a white belt at the throat, then gray, white, and reddish-brown belts. Unlike most birds, the female kingfisher is more highly colored than the male.Note: A long harsh rattle, similar to the sound made by two bones or smooth sticks in the hands of a boy, or to the noise of a policeman’s rattle.Habitat:“By a wooded stream or a clear cool pond,Or the shores of a shining lake.”Range: North America, and northern South America. Breeds from Alaska and northern Canada to the southern border of the United States; winters from British Columbia, central United States to the West Indies, Colombia, and Guiana, irregularly to Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Ontario.
Length: About 13 inches—a rather large, stocky bird.
General Appearance: A large bluish-gray and white bird, with avery large crested head, along bill, and a short tail.
Male: Bluish-gray above, becoming darker on the wings; a ragged-looking crest on an unusually large head; a white spot in front of each large dark eye; small flecks on the wings; tail bluish-gray, flecked and barred with white;throat white, abandofwhite extending nearly around theneck; abroad bandofbluish-gray extending across the breast; under parts white, except the sides, which are bluish-gray; feet relatively small, but with long, strong nails.
Female: Similar to the male, except for abandofreddish-brown across the breast, extending to the sides, and forming a fourth belt; a white belt at the throat, then gray, white, and reddish-brown belts. Unlike most birds, the female kingfisher is more highly colored than the male.
Note: A long harsh rattle, similar to the sound made by two bones or smooth sticks in the hands of a boy, or to the noise of a policeman’s rattle.
Habitat:
“By a wooded stream or a clear cool pond,Or the shores of a shining lake.”
“By a wooded stream or a clear cool pond,
Or the shores of a shining lake.”
Range: North America, and northern South America. Breeds from Alaska and northern Canada to the southern border of the United States; winters from British Columbia, central United States to the West Indies, Colombia, and Guiana, irregularly to Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Ontario.
KINGFISHER
KINGFISHER
This self-appointed guardian of our streams and lakes is clad in a suit of gendarme blue. He wears a sharp two-edged sword in his cap, and carries a rattle in his throat.
He is a perfect example of “Watchful Waiting,” as he sits motionless on a bough overhanging a stream, with his fierce eyes fixed intently upon the waters beneath him. When an unwary fish swims by, this blue-coat plunges after it and spears it with deadly accuracy. If small, the fish is swallowed whole; if large, it is beaten to death against a tree, and devoured with difficulty. When fish are not obtainable, the kingfisher will eat frogs and crustaceans, and sometimes grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles. Fish, however, are his favorite food.[86]
The nest is as unusual and interesting as the bird himself. It consists of a tunnel excavated in a bank by the long knife-shaped bills of the kingfisher and his mate. A cavity of good size must be hollowed out to accommodate so large a bird and a family of from five to eight lusty youngsters. They are lively and quarrelsome; they set up a great clamor when Father or Mother arrives with an already-prepared fish-dinner. Dr. Francis H. Herrick, in his delightful book, “The Home Life of Wild Birds,” tells of his observations of a kingfisher’s nest and nesting habits as follows: “The nest had a 4 inch bore; 4 feet from the opening was a vaulted chamber 6 inches high and 10 inches across....”
A series of rattles announced the approach of the parent bird “who came at full tilt with a fish in her bill, making the earth resound.” In response came “muffled rattles offive young kingfishers, who issued from their subterranean abode.... With a rattle in shrillest crescendo, she bolted right into the hole, delivered the fish, remained for half a minute, then came out backwards, turning in the air as she dropped from the entrance, and with a parting rattle was off to the river.”
There were five babies in what Dr. Herrick called the “King Row.” They were amusing to look at as they sat back on their legs; the bill of one nestling protruded above the shoulder of the bird in front of it. They never seized their food (fish) of their own accord. “It was necessary to open their bills and press the food well down into the distensible throats.” Raw meat was rejected, but they throve on fish. “Kingfishers’ throats are lined with inwardly projecting papillae so that when a fish is once taken in its throat, it is impossible for it to escape.”[87]
The young kingfishers that Dr. Herrick observed became very tame. He is pictured with them on his hand, his shoulder, and on both knees.
While kingfishers do less good than most of our feathered benefactors, they do not destroy enough fish to be a detriment to the fishing interests of lakes and streams. They are true sportsmen, whose presence we should miss when we followed the rod and creel. We are forced to respect their prowess, and we may apostrophize them in the words of Izaac Walton: “Angling is an Art, and you know that Art better than others; and that this is the truth is demonstrated by the fruits of that pleasant labor which you enjoy.”
FIELD SPARROW
FIELD SPARROW
Length: About 5½ inches.General Appearance:A small brown bird with areddish backandbill, and abuff breast without spotsorstreaks.Male and Female: Top of head reddish-brown; sides of head, nape of neck, and line over eye gray; bill reddish-brown; back reddish-brown, streaked with black and gray; rump brownish-gray; wings and tail brown, some wing-feathers edged with gray;sidesandbreast washed with buff.Song: A sweet trill, consisting of the syllabledeerepeated a number of times. It varies with different individuals, but is phrased somewhat as follows:Dee′-dee′-dee′, de′-de, de′-de, de′-de, de′-de, de′-de, de′-de.Habitat: Old overgrown pastures containing clumps of bushes, preferred to cultivated fields. This sparrow is not accurately named, for it is not strictly a bird of the fields.Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from southern Minnesota, Michigan, Quebec, and Maine to central Texas, Louisiana, and northern Florida; winters from Missouri, Illinois, southern Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to the Gulf Coast.
Length: About 5½ inches.
General Appearance:A small brown bird with areddish backandbill, and abuff breast without spotsorstreaks.
Male and Female: Top of head reddish-brown; sides of head, nape of neck, and line over eye gray; bill reddish-brown; back reddish-brown, streaked with black and gray; rump brownish-gray; wings and tail brown, some wing-feathers edged with gray;sidesandbreast washed with buff.
Song: A sweet trill, consisting of the syllabledeerepeated a number of times. It varies with different individuals, but is phrased somewhat as follows:Dee′-dee′-dee′, de′-de, de′-de, de′-de, de′-de, de′-de, de′-de.
Habitat: Old overgrown pastures containing clumps of bushes, preferred to cultivated fields. This sparrow is not accurately named, for it is not strictly a bird of the fields.
Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from southern Minnesota, Michigan, Quebec, and Maine to central Texas, Louisiana, and northern Florida; winters from Missouri, Illinois, southern Pennsylvania, and New Jersey to the Gulf Coast.
Some gorgeous but noisy birds, like blue jays, peacocks, and parrots, please only the eye; many quietly-dressed but sweet-voiced songsters are a delight to the ear. To the latter class belongs the Field Sparrow, a gentle little bird, so rarely seen as to recall to our minds the lines:
“Shall I call thee BirdOr but a wandering Voice?· · · · · ·Even yet thou art to meNo bird, but an invisible thing,A voice, a mystery.”
“Shall I call thee Bird
Or but a wandering Voice?
· · · · · ·
Even yet thou art to me
No bird, but an invisible thing,
A voice, a mystery.”
It was several years after I had learned to love the sweet, tender song of the field sparrow that I had my first glimpse of the singer. He is a very real and delightful part of our April meadows, where he lives his serene life.
VESPER SPARROW
VESPER SPARROW
Length: A little over 6 inches; slightly larger than the field sparrow.Male and Female: Brownish-gray above, with faint streaks of black and buff; wings brownish, withbright reddish-brown shoulders, giving this sparrow the name ofBay-Winged Bunting. Under parts white, the sides and breast streaked with black and buff; tail brownish, withouter tail-feathers mostly white, and conspicuous in flight.Song: A plaintive minor strain, usually consisting of two notes followed by a trill. The syllables sound likeSweet’-heart, I love you-you-you-you-you.Habitat: Grassy pastures and plowed fields, usually in the open, away from farmhouses and out-buildings.Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from central Canada south to eastern Nebraska, central Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, and North Carolina, west to western Minnesota; winters from the southern part of its breeding range to the Gulf Coast, west to central Texas.
Length: A little over 6 inches; slightly larger than the field sparrow.
Male and Female: Brownish-gray above, with faint streaks of black and buff; wings brownish, withbright reddish-brown shoulders, giving this sparrow the name ofBay-Winged Bunting. Under parts white, the sides and breast streaked with black and buff; tail brownish, withouter tail-feathers mostly white, and conspicuous in flight.
Song: A plaintive minor strain, usually consisting of two notes followed by a trill. The syllables sound likeSweet’-heart, I love you-you-you-you-you.
Habitat: Grassy pastures and plowed fields, usually in the open, away from farmhouses and out-buildings.
Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from central Canada south to eastern Nebraska, central Missouri, Kentucky, Virginia, and North Carolina, west to western Minnesota; winters from the southern part of its breeding range to the Gulf Coast, west to central Texas.
The Vesper Sparrow is very easy to identify because of its white tail-feathers. They show conspicuously as the bird flutters beside hedges that border fields, frequently keeping just ahead of the observer.
The bird is less attractive in appearance than the other familiar sparrows, but has to my mind the sweetest voice of all the sparrows that I know except the fox sparrow. Its song is pensive and tender, with a spiritual qualitythat gives it a high rank. The song sparrow’s lay usually consists of three similar notes sung in a major key with a rising inflection, and followed by a cheerful trill; the vesper sparrow’s song generally has two plaintive notes preceding a trill, sung in a minor key. It is particularly beautiful and uplifting when several vesper sparrows are singing at sunset.
When the meadows are brown or flushed with greenAnd the lark’s glad note rings clear,—When the field sparrow’s voice like a silver bellChimes a melody sweet to hear,—A small brown bird with bay-capped wingsAnd feathers white in his tail,Flutters along by a roadside hedgeAnd alights on a zigzag rail,And breathes forth a song entrancing,Of a beauty surpassed by few—A wistful, plaintive, minor strain—“O Sweetheart, I love you!”
When the meadows are brown or flushed with green
And the lark’s glad note rings clear,—
When the field sparrow’s voice like a silver bell
Chimes a melody sweet to hear,—
A small brown bird with bay-capped wings
And feathers white in his tail,
Flutters along by a roadside hedge
And alights on a zigzag rail,
And breathes forth a song entrancing,
Of a beauty surpassed by few—
A wistful, plaintive, minor strain—
“O Sweetheart, I love you!”
When a mist of green o’erspreads the trees,And corals and rubies gayAre hung on the maple and red-bud boughs,And the brooks are babbling away,—When the setting sun goes down in a glowOf the purest primrose gold,And the pearly east reflects a flushFrom the glories the west doth hold,—This brown bird then, with a soul in his voice,Sings to his mate so trueThe tenderest song of the April choir—“O Sweetheart, I love you!”
When a mist of green o’erspreads the trees,
And corals and rubies gay
Are hung on the maple and red-bud boughs,
And the brooks are babbling away,—
When the setting sun goes down in a glow
Of the purest primrose gold,
And the pearly east reflects a flush
From the glories the west doth hold,—
This brown bird then, with a soul in his voice,
Sings to his mate so true
The tenderest song of the April choir—
“O Sweetheart, I love you!”
CHIPPING SPARROW
CHIPPING SPARROW
Length: A little over 5 inches; the smallest of our common sparrows.Male and Female:Crown reddish-brown, bill black; a black line extending through the eye; agray line above the eye; back, wings, and tail brown; tail forked; rump gray;breast pale gray without streaks or spots. In the fall, the reddish crown becomes brown, streaked with black.Call-note:Chip-chip.Song: A monotonous trill,Chippy-chippy-chippy-chippy-chippy-chippy-chippy, more like the metallic sound made by a locust than the song of a bird.Habitat: A “doorstep” bird that loves to spend the spring and summer near man. It is found in gardens, orchards, and plowed fields.Nest: An unusually dainty nest made of grass and fine root-fibers, lined with horsehair, which has given to the chipping sparrow the name of “hair-bird.” The nest is built in trees or low bushes, sometimes very near the ground.Eggs: Four or five pale-green eggs, mottled with dark markings.Range: North America, from central Canada to Central America; commonest in the east.
Length: A little over 5 inches; the smallest of our common sparrows.
Male and Female:Crown reddish-brown, bill black; a black line extending through the eye; agray line above the eye; back, wings, and tail brown; tail forked; rump gray;breast pale gray without streaks or spots. In the fall, the reddish crown becomes brown, streaked with black.
Call-note:Chip-chip.
Song: A monotonous trill,Chippy-chippy-chippy-chippy-chippy-chippy-chippy, more like the metallic sound made by a locust than the song of a bird.
Habitat: A “doorstep” bird that loves to spend the spring and summer near man. It is found in gardens, orchards, and plowed fields.
Nest: An unusually dainty nest made of grass and fine root-fibers, lined with horsehair, which has given to the chipping sparrow the name of “hair-bird.” The nest is built in trees or low bushes, sometimes very near the ground.
Eggs: Four or five pale-green eggs, mottled with dark markings.
Range: North America, from central Canada to Central America; commonest in the east.
This gentle, trustful sparrow is a general favorite. He is an unobtrusive little bird, seemingly contented to occupy his place in the world near to the haunts of man, unconsciously doing his important work withoutnoisy demonstration. Like the brown creeper and the phœbe, he is of great economic value; like them, he is not particularly interesting, and he is without skill as a songster. But his monotonous trill is a pleasant part of the spring chorus, and his presence in our yards we should sorely miss.
Mr. Forbush speaks in high praise of this bird’s usefulness. He claims that the chippy is “the most destructive of all birds to the injurious pea-louse, which caused a loss of three million dollars to the pea-crop of a single state in one year.”[88]This sparrow eats the grubs that feed on beet-leaves, cabbages, and other vegetables; he devours cankerworms and currant worms, besides gypsy, brown-tail, and tent caterpillars, any one of which would entitle him to our protection. In the fall, with the decrease of life in the garden, he takes to the fields, where like other sparrows he feasts on seeds.
If it were more generally known how invaluable chipping sparrows are, people would guard them more carefully from marauding cats. I wish it might become as unlawful to let cats stalk abroad during the nesting season as it is to allow unmuzzled dogs to go about freely during dog-days. I know of a bird-lover near Painesville, Ohio, who never during nesting-time allowed her pet cat to stir outside of a good-sized enclosure without a weight attached to his collar. Some people have put bells on their cats’ necks, but while that is efficacious in alarming parent-birds, it is of no value in preventing the slaughter of young birds that have just left the nest. Mr. Forbush has written an appeal, which I wish was more widely known and heeded. It is called “The Domestic Cat” andwas published under the direction of the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture.
Mr. Forbush wrote to such eminent experts and authorities on bird-life as Robert Ridgway, Dr. Frank M. Chapman, Dr. Witmer Stone, Dr. Henry W. Henshaw, Dr. William T. Hornaday, John Burroughs, William Dutcher, T. Gilbert Pearson, Dr. George W. Field, Dr. C. F. Hodge, Ernest Harold Baynes, Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright, and others, for their opinions regarding the relative destructiveness of cats to the bird-life of the country. They were unanimous in their denunciation of cats as the “greatest destructive agency to our smaller song and insectivorous birds.”
Mrs. Wright says: “If the people of the country insist upon keeping cats in the same number as at present, all the splendid work of Federal and State legislation, all the labors of game- and song-bird protective associations, all the loving care of individuals in watching and feeding, will not be able to save our birds in many localities.”
Young chipping sparrows are spoiled bird-babies. They “tag” their gentle little parents about with unusual persistence, knowing that they will get what they demand. They frequently look as if they might not turn out to be excellent bird-citizens like their ancestors. When a noted ornithologist first saw Mr. Horsfall’s original drawing of the accompanying family of chipping sparrows he remarked, “That baby looks a million years old and steeped in sin!” But the duties of parenthood sober the youngsters, and the following year, they become in turn pleasant, docile, lovable little “Bird Neighbors.”
Length: About 6¾ inches.General Appearance: One of the larger sparrows, with ablack and white striped crown, awhite throat, and ayellow spot before the eye.Male and Female: Striped crown, with anarrow white linein thecenter, a broad black stripe on each side of the white; a broad white stripeovertheeyeedged with a narrow black line;a yellow spot in front of the eye, and at the outer curve of the wing. Back brown, streaked with black; rump and tail grayish-brown; wings with two white bars; breast gray, becoming whitish on the belly; sides brownish.Notes: A sharpchipfor the alarm-note; low, pleasant twitterings.Song: A sweet whistle, usually pitched high. It consists of two or three notes that vary considerably. Sometimes the first note is an octave below the second; at other times it is a few tones higher than the second. I heard one recently that sang a perfect monotone as follows:Dee, dee, de′-de-de, de′-de-de, de′-de-de. The song has been interpreted in Massachusetts asSam, Peabody, Peabody, Peabody/Old/and the bird is known as the “Peabody Bird.”Habitat: Hedgerows and thickets along roadsides, in parks, on estates, and in woods.Range: Eastern and central North America. Breeds from north-central Canada to southern Montana, centralMinnesota and Wisconsin, and mountains of northern Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts; winters from Missouri, the Ohio Valley, southern Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, (casually in Maine), south to northeastern Mexico and Florida.
Length: About 6¾ inches.
General Appearance: One of the larger sparrows, with ablack and white striped crown, awhite throat, and ayellow spot before the eye.
Male and Female: Striped crown, with anarrow white linein thecenter, a broad black stripe on each side of the white; a broad white stripeovertheeyeedged with a narrow black line;a yellow spot in front of the eye, and at the outer curve of the wing. Back brown, streaked with black; rump and tail grayish-brown; wings with two white bars; breast gray, becoming whitish on the belly; sides brownish.
Notes: A sharpchipfor the alarm-note; low, pleasant twitterings.
Song: A sweet whistle, usually pitched high. It consists of two or three notes that vary considerably. Sometimes the first note is an octave below the second; at other times it is a few tones higher than the second. I heard one recently that sang a perfect monotone as follows:Dee, dee, de′-de-de, de′-de-de, de′-de-de. The song has been interpreted in Massachusetts as
Sam, Peabody, Peabody, Peabody/Old/
Sam, Peabody, Peabody, Peabody
/
Old/
and the bird is known as the “Peabody Bird.”
Habitat: Hedgerows and thickets along roadsides, in parks, on estates, and in woods.
Range: Eastern and central North America. Breeds from north-central Canada to southern Montana, centralMinnesota and Wisconsin, and mountains of northern Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts; winters from Missouri, the Ohio Valley, southern Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, (casually in Maine), south to northeastern Mexico and Florida.
Length: Nearly 7 inches; a little larger than the white-throated sparrow.Male and Female: Crownwhite, bordered on each side by a broad black stripe that extends from bill in front of the eye; a broad white stripe borders each black stripe; a narrow line of black borders the white.No yellow on head or winglike that of the white-throated sparrow. Cheeks, neck, throat, and under parts gray; belly white, sides buff; back, wings, and tail brown; back streaked; wings with two white bars.Song: A sweet whistled strain.Habitat: Thickets, woods, and fields.Range: Breeds in Canada, the mountains of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, and thence to the Pacific Coast; winters in the southern half of the United States and in northern Mexico.
Length: Nearly 7 inches; a little larger than the white-throated sparrow.
Male and Female: Crownwhite, bordered on each side by a broad black stripe that extends from bill in front of the eye; a broad white stripe borders each black stripe; a narrow line of black borders the white.No yellow on head or winglike that of the white-throated sparrow. Cheeks, neck, throat, and under parts gray; belly white, sides buff; back, wings, and tail brown; back streaked; wings with two white bars.
Song: A sweet whistled strain.
Habitat: Thickets, woods, and fields.
Range: Breeds in Canada, the mountains of New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana, and thence to the Pacific Coast; winters in the southern half of the United States and in northern Mexico.
The White-crowned Sparrow is considered by some admirers to be the handsomest member of the sparrow tribe. It is not widely known in the East, and is sometimes confused with the white-throat. The gray throat of the white-crown and the absence of yellow on the wing and near the eye, distinguish it from the white-throat.
In Bulletin 513 of the Biological Survey occurs this description of the white-crown: “This beautiful sparrow is much more numerous in the western than in the eastern States, where indeed it is rather rare. In the East it isshy and retiring, but it is much bolder and more conspicuous in the far West and often frequents gardens and parks. Like most of its family it is a seed-eater by preference, and insects comprise very little more than 7 per cent. of its diet. Caterpillars are the largest item, with some beetles, a few ants and wasps, and some bugs, among which are black olive scales. The great bulk of food, however, consists of weed seeds, which amount to 74 per cent. of the whole. In California this bird is accused of eating the buds and blossoms of fruit trees, but buds or blossoms were found in only 30 out of 516 stomachs, and probably it is only under exceptional circumstances that it does any damage in this way. Evidently neither the farmer nor the fruit-grower has much to fear from the white-crowned sparrow. The little fruit it eats is mostly wild, and the grain eaten is waste.”
Length: About 6¼ inches; a little smaller than the English sparrow.Adult Male: Body largely raspberry- or rose-red, streaked with brown. For two seasons the male is a brown sparrowlike bird, with a yellowish-olive chin and rump; the third season his body seems to have been washed with a beautifulred, not purple, the color richest on his head, breast, and rump. Head slightly crested; bill thick, with bristles at nostrils; cheeks and back brownish; under parts grayish-white; wings and tail brownish, edged with red; tail forked.Female: Decidedly sparrowlike; body grayish-brown, heavily streaked, lighter underneath; patch of light gray extending from eye, another from beak; wings dark grayish-brown, with indistinct gray bands. She is not unlike the song sparrow, except for the absence of the three black spots on breast and throat.Call-note: A sharp, metallicchip.Song: A clear, sweet, joyous warble.Habitat: Woods, orchards, and gardens.Range: Eastern North America. Breeds in central and southern Canada, and northern United States, in North Dakota, central Minnesota, northern Illinois, and New Jersey, Maine, Massachusetts, the Pennsylvania mountains, and Long Island; winters from considerably north of the southern boundary of its breeding-range to the Gulf Coast, from Texas to Florida.
Length: About 6¼ inches; a little smaller than the English sparrow.
Adult Male: Body largely raspberry- or rose-red, streaked with brown. For two seasons the male is a brown sparrowlike bird, with a yellowish-olive chin and rump; the third season his body seems to have been washed with a beautifulred, not purple, the color richest on his head, breast, and rump. Head slightly crested; bill thick, with bristles at nostrils; cheeks and back brownish; under parts grayish-white; wings and tail brownish, edged with red; tail forked.
Female: Decidedly sparrowlike; body grayish-brown, heavily streaked, lighter underneath; patch of light gray extending from eye, another from beak; wings dark grayish-brown, with indistinct gray bands. She is not unlike the song sparrow, except for the absence of the three black spots on breast and throat.
Call-note: A sharp, metallicchip.
Song: A clear, sweet, joyous warble.
Habitat: Woods, orchards, and gardens.
Range: Eastern North America. Breeds in central and southern Canada, and northern United States, in North Dakota, central Minnesota, northern Illinois, and New Jersey, Maine, Massachusetts, the Pennsylvania mountains, and Long Island; winters from considerably north of the southern boundary of its breeding-range to the Gulf Coast, from Texas to Florida.
None of our smaller finches, except the goldfinch and indigo bunting are more beautiful in color than thePURPLE FINCHwhich wears a Tyrian purple, rather than the shade we commonly know.
Few members of the family sing more sweetly and joyously than this songster of the treetops. His delightful warble resembles somewhat the song of the rose-breasted grosbeak, and attracts attention wherever the bird is to be found. Several purple finches singing from neighboring elm trees at once, makes a May or June concert not easily excelled. Mr. Forbush says: “The song of the male is a sudden, joyous burst of melody, vigorous, but clear and pure, which no mere words can do justice. When, filled with ecstasy, he mounts in air and hangs with fluttering wings above the trees where sits the one who holds his affections, his efforts far transcend his ordinary tones, and a continuous melody flows forth, until, exhausted with his vocal efforts, he sinks to the level of his spouse in the treetop. This is a musical species, for some females sing, though not so well as the males.”[89]
The bird has been accused of eating the buds of fruit and shade trees, especially elms, and while he is at times guilty, he is not condemned by those who know his food-habits best, but commended for his fondness for weed seeds, especially ragweed, and for destroying plant-lice, cankerworms, cutworms, and ground beetles.[89]
His cousin, theHOUSE FINCH, orLINNETof California, who is brighter in color, is more beloved by tourists and more hated by fruit-growers than almost any bird in the state. Professor Beal writes: “This bird, like the othermembers of its family, is by nature a seed-eater, and before the beginning of fruit-growing in California probably subsisted upon the seeds of weeds, with an occasional wild berry. Now, however, when orchards have extended throughout the length and breadth of the state and every month from May to December sees some ripening fruit, the linnets take their share. As their name is legion, the sum total of the fruit that they destroy is more than the fruit-raiser can well spare. As the bird has a stout beak, it has no difficulty in breaking the skin of the hardest fruit and feasting upon the pulp, thereby spoiling the fruit and giving weaker-billed birds a chance to sample and acquire a taste for what they might not otherwise have molested. Complaints against this bird have been many and loud.... Whatever the linnet’s sins may be, grain-eating is not one of them. In view of the great complaint made against their fruit-eating habit, the small quantity found in the stomachs taken is somewhat of a surprise. When a bird takes a single peck from a cherry or an apricot, it spoils the whole fruit, and in this way may ruin half a dozen in taking a single meal. That the damage is often serious no one will deny. It is noticeable, however, that the earliest varieties are the ones most affected; also, that in large orchards the damage is not perceptible, while in small plantations the whole crop is frequently destroyed.”[90]
In spite of this troublesome habit, the linnet is a most engaging little bird. Its sweet bubbling song, not unlike that of the purple finch, adds much to the charm of California.
TOWHEE
TOWHEE
Length: About 8½ inches; smaller than the robin and larger than the oriole.General Appearance: A black bird withreddish-brown sides,black breast, andwhite belly; outer tail-featherstippedwithwhite.Male: Head, back, throat, and breast, a glossy black; wings black, outer feathers edged with white; tail black, outer edge of outer feather white; three other feathers partly white, decreasing in size toward middle of tail; belly white;eyes dark red.Female: Brownish, where male is black. The young are streaked with black.Call-note: A cheerfulcha-ree, uttered with a rising inflection. The note is also interpreted astow hee′? chewink′? jaree′?An engaging trait of this bird is his almost invariable response to one imitating his note.Song: Two notes, followed by a trill. The song may be translated intochip-chur, pussy-pussy-willow.Habitat: Woodlands, where he is first found in April scratching among old leaves like fox sparrows, white-throats, and other members of his family.Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from southern Canada and Maine to central Kansas and northern Georgia; winters from southeastern Nebraska, the Ohio and Potomac Valleys to central Texas, the Gulf Coast, and southern Florida.TheWHITE-EYED TOWHEEis found on the Atlantic Coast region from about Charleston, South Carolina,to southern Florida. He resembles his northern cousin except that hiseyesarewhite, and that his wings and tail havelesswhite on them. There are several species of towhee in our western states.
Length: About 8½ inches; smaller than the robin and larger than the oriole.
General Appearance: A black bird withreddish-brown sides,black breast, andwhite belly; outer tail-featherstippedwithwhite.
Male: Head, back, throat, and breast, a glossy black; wings black, outer feathers edged with white; tail black, outer edge of outer feather white; three other feathers partly white, decreasing in size toward middle of tail; belly white;eyes dark red.
Female: Brownish, where male is black. The young are streaked with black.
Call-note: A cheerfulcha-ree, uttered with a rising inflection. The note is also interpreted astow hee′? chewink′? jaree′?An engaging trait of this bird is his almost invariable response to one imitating his note.
Song: Two notes, followed by a trill. The song may be translated intochip-chur, pussy-pussy-willow.
Habitat: Woodlands, where he is first found in April scratching among old leaves like fox sparrows, white-throats, and other members of his family.
Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from southern Canada and Maine to central Kansas and northern Georgia; winters from southeastern Nebraska, the Ohio and Potomac Valleys to central Texas, the Gulf Coast, and southern Florida.
TheWHITE-EYED TOWHEEis found on the Atlantic Coast region from about Charleston, South Carolina,to southern Florida. He resembles his northern cousin except that hiseyesarewhite, and that his wings and tail havelesswhite on them. There are several species of towhee in our western states.
Before the trees are in leaf, there appears in our April woods a lively, trim, and attractive bird who makes himself known in no uncertain manner. So bustling and energetic is he, so cheerful and self-confident, without unpleasant aggressiveness, that he always attracts attention. The uninitiated frequently call him an oriole, whom he does resemble in having a glossy black head, throat, back, and tail, and white markings on his wings, with reddish-brown like that of the orchard oriole on his sides; but there the resemblance ceases, for the oriole has in addition a reddish-brown breast, belly, and rump. Then, too, the towhee arrives early, before larvæ have hatched; the oriole arrives in May, when swarms of insects have begun their work of fertilizing blossoms of fruit trees.
Professor Beal writes of the towhee as follows: “After snow has disappeared in early spring, an investigation of the rustling so often heard among the leaves near a fence or in a thicket will frequently disclose a towhee at work scratching for his dinner after the manner of a hen; and in these places and along the sunny border of woods, old leaves will be found overturned where the bird has been searching for hibernating beetles and larvæ. The good which the towhee does in this way can hardly be overestimated, since the death of a single insect at this time, before it has had an opportunity to deposit its egg, is equivalentto the destruction of a host later in the year.”[91]
While attending to business, this ground robin seems most materialistic and worldly-minded; but when satisfied with his quest for food, “a change comes over the spirit of his dreams.” He perches upon a low bough; in a sweet and joyous song he reveals his passionate devotion to his mate, and brings pleasure to listeners whose ears are attuned to the sounds of Nature.
Spring comes with a rush in some parts of our country and remains but a short time, so closely does Summer follow in her footsteps. But in New England, New York, northern Pennsylvania, Ohio, and neighboring states, her approach is more gradual and restrained.
When maple and red-bud have laid aside their corals and fruit-trees have donned their robes of white and shell-pink; when the woods show again a flush of tender green, Spring arrives. She has long been heralded by early choristers; she is now accompanied by a host more wonderful than retinue of kings, so varied is their dress and so sweet their triumphal music. Grove and orchard are alive with happy-hearted birds, who help to make May the loveliest month of the year.
First come the swallows, skimming over pools and circling above meadows—embodiment of grace, gladdening the world with their joyous twitterings. Swifts, nighthawks, and whip-poor-wills make nightfall vocal. Little house wrens, each a fountain of bubbling music, take up their abode near our homes.
Cuckoos slip quietly from tree to tree; thrashers and catbirds seek thickets or perch on treetops, to sing like their celebrated cousins, the mockingbirds. Shy ovenbirds and lustrous-eyed thrushes return to live in the woods, or pass through them as they journey to their northern homes. The advent of the tanager in his flashing scarlet, and the grosbeak with his glowing rose bring toevery bird-lover “a most pointed pleasure.” With Stevenson he may say, [They] “stab my spirit broad awake.”
Vireos and wood pewees appear in the groves; warblers flit from treetop to treetop, many of them on their way to northern woods. Orioles in the elms and orchards shout with joy; bobolinks bubble and tinkle in the meadows; indigo buntings and kingbirds greet us from roadsides, and Maryland yellow-throats from thickets. Goldfinches hold their May festival, and choose their mates as they sing with joyous abandon. The earth is fresh and beautiful, with promise of a glad fulfillment near at hand.