The Project Gutenberg eBook ofBird BiographiesThis ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.Title: Bird BiographiesAuthor: Alice Eliza BallIllustrator: R. Bruce HorsfallRelease date: July 10, 2019 [eBook #59880]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file wasproduced from images generously made available by TheInternet Archive)*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRD BIOGRAPHIES ***
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online atwww.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Bird BiographiesAuthor: Alice Eliza BallIllustrator: R. Bruce HorsfallRelease date: July 10, 2019 [eBook #59880]Language: EnglishCredits: Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file wasproduced from images generously made available by TheInternet Archive)
Title: Bird Biographies
Author: Alice Eliza BallIllustrator: R. Bruce Horsfall
Author: Alice Eliza Ball
Illustrator: R. Bruce Horsfall
Release date: July 10, 2019 [eBook #59880]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Stephen Hutcheson and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file wasproduced from images generously made available by TheInternet Archive)
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BIRD BIOGRAPHIES ***
BIRD BIOGRAPHIESA GUIDE-BOOK FOR BEGINNERSAn Introduction to 150 Common Land Birds of the Eastern United StatesBYALICE E. BALLAuthor of “A YEAR WITH THE BIRDS”ILLUSTRATED BYROBERT BRUCE HORSFALLPainter of Backgrounds in Habitat, Groups American Museum of Natural History New York City56 COLORED PLATESPublisher logoNEW YORKDODD, MEAD AND COMPANY1923
An Introduction to 150 Common Land Birds of the Eastern United States
BYALICE E. BALLAuthor of “A YEAR WITH THE BIRDS”
ILLUSTRATED BYROBERT BRUCE HORSFALLPainter of Backgrounds in Habitat, Groups American Museum of Natural History New York City
56 COLORED PLATES
Publisher logo
NEW YORKDODD, MEAD AND COMPANY1923
Copyright, 1923.By DODD, MEAD & COMPANY, Inc.PRINTED IN U. S. A.
VAIL-BALLOU COMPANYBINGHAMTON AND NEW YORK
TO MY FRIENDELIZABETH JONESIN LOVING ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF HER UNTIRING AID, UNWAVERING FAITH, AND INSPIRING CRITICISMTHIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
In the “Foreword” of this book I express my grateful appreciation to Dr. A. K. Fisher and Mr. E. H. Forbush for permission to use extracts from published works. I wish to add my thanks to Dr. Charles Richmond and Mr. Joseph Riley of the National Museum of Washington, for their courtesy in furnishing me with bird-skins from the National Museum collections and a copy of the A. O. U. Check-list of 1910, used for the descriptions and ranges of the birds described in the text.
I am indebted to Dr. John M. Clarke, Director of the State Museum of the University of New York, for the permission to make selections from Eaton’s “Birds of New York”; also to Dr. Francis H. Herrick, of Western Reserve University, and Dr. Alexander Wetmore, of the Biological Survey, for the right to quote from their publications.
The selections from John Burroughs, Thoreau, Frank Bolles, Dallas Lore Sharp, Florence Merriam, Olive Thorne Miller, Henry W. Longfellow, E. R. Sill, Celia Thaxter, Lucy Larcom, and Edna Dean Proctor, are used by permission of, and by special arrangement with, The Houghton Mifflin Co., the authorized publishers. Three selections from Wilson Flagg’s “Birds of New England” are used by special arrangement with the Page Co. of Boston.
To the Courtesy of D. Appleton & Co. I am indebted for the right to quote one stanza of Bryant’s “To a Waterfowl,” dates and selections from Frank M. Chapman’s “Birds of Eastern North America”; to G. P. Putman’s Sons for the use of three extracts from Dr. Herrick’s “Home Life of Wild Birds,” and to Charles Scribner’s Sons for Henry van Dyke’s rendering of the song sparrow’s song. I acknowledge also with thanks my obligation to Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, for his permission to use six color-plates of the National Association of Audubon Societies and to quote from the Educational Leaflets of the Society.
To my friends, Dallas Lore Sharp, Mrs. Sylvester D. Judd, and Miss Harriet E. Richards, I desire to express my deep appreciation of their suggestions and criticisms. I am indebted to Mr. James P. Chapin, Assistant-Curator at the American Museum of Natural History, New York, for a critical reading of the manuscript.
John Burroughs, in his delightful essay called “Birds and Poets” says: “The very idea of a bird is a symbol and a suggestion to the poet. A bird seems to be at the top of the scale, so vehement and intense is his life—large brained, large lunged, hot, ecstatic, his frame charged with buoyancy and his heart with song. The beautiful vagabonds, endowed with every grace, masters of all climes, and knowing no bounds,—how many human aspirations are realized in their free, holiday-lives—and how many suggestions to the poet in their flight and song.”[1]
Long before the place of birds in the great scheme of nature was understood, they made their appeal: first, to primitive man, who had curious superstitions and created beautiful myths concerning them; next, to poets and dreamers of ancient civilizations, who used them in allusions beautiful with Oriental imagery; to artists, who delighted in portraying symbolism; to later poets and lovers of beauty, who perceived deep truths and revelations of God; and to scientists, who saw back of the phenomena of nature the marvelous laws of God.
It is interesting to follow the effect birds have had upon the development of man. Though the religion of the early Egyptians was largely worship of the sun and moon, yet reverence for birds entered into their faith and their ritual. The swallow, the heron, the hawk, the vulture,the goose, and the ibis were all held sacred. The people of Egypt with their belief in transmigration, imagined the swallow and the heron as possible abiding-places for their souls after death.
The Chinese and Japanese have had interesting conceptions regarding birds that have been both symbolic and poetic. In Japan, wild ducks, geese, cocks, herons, and cranes have been highly honored. The people have built torii gates, or entrances to their temples, as “bird-rests” or perches for their sacred fowl.
The Greek and Roman mythologies abound in allusions to bird-life. It was natural that the powerful eagle should be held sacred to Jupiter, the lordly peacock to Juno, the wise owl to Minerva, the repulsive vulture that haunted battlefields to Mars, the beautiful swan to Apollo, and the cooing dove to Venus.
The American Indians regarded birds with great reverence. Their bird-myths are full of beauty. To them the eagle and the raven were especially sacred.
The dove was a cherished symbol of early Christian writers and painters. The pelican, too, was revered; it was the mediæval symbol of charity. The red breast of the robin was thought to have been caused by a prick of a thorn in Christ’s crown as the bird strove to “wrench one single thorn away.” The red crossbill’s beak was believed to have been twisted in its attempt to remove the iron nail from Christ’s blood-stained hand.
Burroughs continues: “The very oldest poets, the towering antique bards, seem to make very little mention of the song-birds. They loved better the soaring, swooping birds of prey, the eagle, the ominous birds, the vultures,the storks and cranes, or the clamorous sea-birds and the screaming hawk. These suited better the rugged, warlike character of the times, and the simple, powerful souls of the singers themselves. Homer must have heard the twittering of the swallows, the cry of the plover, the voice of the turtle (dove), and the warble of the nightingale; but they were not adequate symbols to express what he felt or to adorn his theme. Æschylus saw in the eagle the ‘dog of Jove,’ and his verse cuts like a sword with such a conception.
“It is not because the old bards were less as poets, but that they were more as men. To strong, susceptible characters, the music of nature is not confined to sweet sounds. The defiant scream of the hawk circling aloft, the wild whinney of the loon, the whooping of the crane, the booming of the bittern, the loud trumpeting of the migratory geese sounding down out of the midnight sky, or the wild crooning of the flocks of gulls—are much more welcome in certain moods than any and all mere bird-melodies, in keeping as they are with the shaggy and untamed features of ocean and woods, and suggesting something like Richard Wagner music in the ornithological orchestra.”
As the life of man grew less warlike and heroic, as the humbler fireside virtues were honored and the amenities of life were cultivated, it is true that poets sang of the gentler, more beautiful aspects of nature. Wordsworth wrote of the skylark, the cuckoo, and the throstle, Shelley and Shakespeare of the skylark, Keats of the nightingale and of goldfinches, Tennyson of the swallow and the throstle. They were, however, all deeply sensitive to the wilder phases of nature—to the scudding cloud, the dashingspray of the ocean, the raving and moaning of the tempest. They saw, too, as have many later poets, a spiritual significance and an inspiration as truly great and ennobling as the conceptions of the older bards.
Numerous American poets have found spiritual help, comfort, and inspiration in birds. Frank Bolles felt the presence of God in the forest where the Oven-bird sings:
“Pouring out his spirit’s gladnessToward the Source of life and being.”
“Pouring out his spirit’s gladness
Toward the Source of life and being.”
Celia Thaxter mused on God’s care of man and bird:
“For are we not God’s children both,Thou, little Sandpiper, and I?”
“For are we not God’s children both,
Thou, little Sandpiper, and I?”
Serenity and joy came to Edna Dean Proctor:
“My heart beside the bluebird, singsAnd folds serene its weary wings.”
“My heart beside the bluebird, sings
And folds serene its weary wings.”
Edward Rowland Sill voiced human need in his poem:
“Surely thus to sing, Robin,Thou must have in sight,Beautiful skies behind the shower,And dawn beyond the night.
“Surely thus to sing, Robin,
Thou must have in sight,
Beautiful skies behind the shower,
And dawn beyond the night.
Would thy faith were mine, Robin!Then, though night were longAll its silent hours would meltTheir shadow into song.”
Would thy faith were mine, Robin!
Then, though night were long
All its silent hours would melt
Their shadow into song.”
Beautiful memories that soothed pain came to Helen Hunt Jackson at the mere shadow of a bird’s wing across her darkened window. Bird-song bowed Lucy Larcom’s heart in reverence:
“Then will the birds sing anthems: for the earth and sky and airWill seem a great cathedral, filled with beings dear and fair;And long processions, from the time that bluebird notes beginTill gentians fade, through forest-aisles will still move out and in.”
“Then will the birds sing anthems: for the earth and sky and air
Will seem a great cathedral, filled with beings dear and fair;
And long processions, from the time that bluebird notes begin
Till gentians fade, through forest-aisles will still move out and in.”
All who appreciate Bryant’s great poem “To a Waterfowl” may see God, not only “flying over the hill with the bird,” but as the unfailing guide of the human soul.
“He who, from zone to zone,Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,In the long way that I must tread alone,Will lead my steps aright.”
“He who, from zone to zone,
Guides through the boundless sky thy certain flight,
In the long way that I must tread alone,
Will lead my steps aright.”
No more triumphant lines exist in literature than those in Browning’s “Paracelsus” which express faith in God’s guidance of man and bird:
“I go to prove my soul!I see my way as birds their trackless way.I shall arrive: what time, what circuit first,I ask not: but unless God send his hailOr blinding fireballs, sleet or stifling snow,In some time, his good time, I shall arrive:He guides me and the bird.”
“I go to prove my soul!
I see my way as birds their trackless way.
I shall arrive: what time, what circuit first,
I ask not: but unless God send his hail
Or blinding fireballs, sleet or stifling snow,
In some time, his good time, I shall arrive:
He guides me and the bird.”
The poets of the past generations may have written much about birds, but it is quite probable that they possessed very little accurate information regarding the service they render to the world. Longfellow alone has bequeathed to us, in his beautiful “Birds of Killingworth,” a plea for the preservation of birds because of their practical use to man as well as their æsthetic and spiritual value:
“Plato, anticipating the Reviewers,From his Republic banished without pityThe Poets; in this town of yours,You put to death, by means of a Committee,The ballad-singers and the Troubadours,The street musicians of the heavenly city,The birds, who make sweet music for us allIn our dark hours, as David did for Saul.· · · · · · ·“Think of your woods and orchards without birds!Of empty nests that cling to boughs and beamsAs in an idiot’s brain remembered wordsHang empty ’mid the cobwebs of his dreams!Will bleat of flocks or bellowing of herdsMake up for the lost music, when your teamsDrag home the stingy harvest, and no moreThe feathered gleaners follow to your door?· · · · · · ·“You call them thieves and pillagers; but knowThey are the winged wardens of your farms,Who from the cornfields drive the insidious foe,And from your harvests keep a hundred harms.”
“Plato, anticipating the Reviewers,
From his Republic banished without pity
The Poets; in this town of yours,
You put to death, by means of a Committee,
The ballad-singers and the Troubadours,
The street musicians of the heavenly city,
The birds, who make sweet music for us all
In our dark hours, as David did for Saul.
· · · · · · ·
“Think of your woods and orchards without birds!
Of empty nests that cling to boughs and beams
As in an idiot’s brain remembered words
Hang empty ’mid the cobwebs of his dreams!
Will bleat of flocks or bellowing of herds
Make up for the lost music, when your teams
Drag home the stingy harvest, and no more
The feathered gleaners follow to your door?
· · · · · · ·
“You call them thieves and pillagers; but know
They are the winged wardens of your farms,
Who from the cornfields drive the insidious foe,
And from your harvests keep a hundred harms.”
During this past century, the period of scientific investigation, birds have received a large share of attention. The immortal pioneers in American Ornithology, Audubon, Wilson, and Nuttall have been followed by a host of scientists who have done work of distinction along various lines. They have described the birds of both fertile and arid regions, as well as far distant lands, such as Alaska and the tundra of the North. They have made complete and valuable collections, the most noted of which are in the National Museum of Washington and the American Museum of Natural History in New York. The lattercontains famous Habitat Groups with beautiful backgrounds, painted by distinguished bird-artists.
Scientists have studied the anatomy of birds, their eggs, their nests, and nestlings; an army of field-men have been recording observations on migration, on the molt of birds, their songs and call-notes, their food habits, especially with relation to their economic importance. The work of the Biological Survey in the Department of Agriculture at Washington has been of incalculable value; the examination of the contents of birds’ stomachs has given indisputable evidence of the relation the different species bear to insect-life and thus to vegetation. The bulletins published by the Department and the leaflets issued by the National Association of Audubon Societies have been enormous factors in the preservation of bird-life in the United States.
Dr. A. K. Fisher, Professor F. E. L. Beal, Dr. Sylvester D. Judd, Dr. C. Hart Merriam, Dr. Henry W. Henshaw, Dr. E. W. Nelson, Dr. T. S. Palmer, and Dr. Wells T. Cooke have done work of special distinction in the Biological Survey, Mr. William Brewster and Mr. E. H. Forbush in Massachusetts, and Dr. Frank Chapman in New York.
To Dr. Fisher I am especially indebted for the right to incorporate into this book extracts from the bulletins of the Biological Survey, and to Mr. Forbush for permission to quote from his admirable book “Useful Birds and Their Protection.”
It has been my purpose to give, not only a portrait and a description of the birds I have chosen for this volume, but a summing up of the beneficial and injurious habits of each, gained from the highest authorities obtainable. The book is intended for beginners, or for thosewho long to know birds intimately and intelligently, and wish to belong to the great army of bird-students who are “doing their bit” to preserve the bird-life of our country.
Note—The illustrations starred are made from plates loaned by T. Gilbert Pearson, President of the National Association of Audubon Societies.
Note—The illustrations starred are made from plates loaned by T. Gilbert Pearson, President of the National Association of Audubon Societies.
Most people are surprised to learn that about sixty species of birds may be seen in the north-central part of Eastern North America during the winter months. Many of us, if questioned, would affirm that sparrows, crows, and jays are the only winter birds to be found. If some one opens for us the door which leads out into the great bird-world, we may say, as did the writer of the old couplet:
“I hearing get, who had but ears,And sight, who had but eyes before,”
“I hearing get, who had but ears,
And sight, who had but eyes before,”
and we may then find, even during the winter season, a surprising wealth of bird-life to enrich our own.
In spite of wings that will bear them immeasurable distances, birds seem to have unusual loyalty to their native haunts, and they stay in the North until hunger impels them to seek friendlier climes. Those that remain may be grouped according to the kind of food upon which they subsist during the winter: first, birds that eat animal food; second, birds that eat vegetable food; and third,those that eat the eggs or young of insects on tree-trunks and branches, or chisel them from the wood.
To the first group belong six species of owls and eight species of hawks, eagles, crows, gulls, shrikes, and about eight species of ducks. They feed on mice and other small rodents, on smaller birds and poultry, and on seafood such as fish, clams, mussels, and scallops.
The birds that live on vegetable food during the winter are numerous. Throughout the spring and summer months they may be useful destroyers of insects; but in winter they are able to subsist on what the woods and fields yield in the way of nuts, acorns, berries, and the seeds of grasses and weeds. Such are jays, red-headed woodpeckers, quail, grouse, and the following members of the finch or sparrow family: cardinals, pine grosbeaks, crossbills, goldfinches, snow buntings, juncos, tree sparrows, white-throated sparrows, redpolls, and pine siskins. Many of these are permanent residents, but juncos, snow buntings, tree sparrows, crossbills, pine grosbeaks, and a few others leave their homes in the far North when deep snows bury their food supply and resort to less severe climates. Winter wrens are found in some localities. A few robins, bluebirds, meadowlarks, and flickers, remain North during open winters.
The third group of winter birds consists of downy and hairy woodpeckers, chickadees, tufted titmice, brown creepers, nuthatches, and golden-crowned kinglets. They glean insect-eggs from the bark of trees as a large part of their winter food-supply and form an exceedingly important group. The enormous number of insect-eggs eaten by them every year is almost incalculable. Everypart of a tree—the trunk, the large branches, and small twigs—is scrutinized by these industrious members of the Life-Saving Army of our forests.
Dr. Frank Chapman recommends beginning the study of birds in the winter, while the trees are leafless and the birds comparatively few in number. People who spread tables for them are frequently surprised at the number of species they attract and at the pleasure they experience in the companionship of their interesting winter visitors.
The class of birds calledPERMANENT RESIDENTSincludes species which are to be found throughout the year. Dr. Chapman states that comparatively few species of this group are permanent residents in the strictest use of the term. “The Bob-white, Ruffed Grouse, and several of the owls are doubtless literally permanent residents, but it is not probable that the Bluebirds, for example, found here during the winter are the same birds which nested with us in the summer. Doubtless our winter Bluebirds pass the summer farther north, while our summer Bluebirdswinter farther south, but as a species, the Bluebird is a permanent resident.”
WINTER RESIDENTSorWINTER VISITANTSare birds that breed farther north and move southward during the winter months to obtain food. They may arrive in the fall and remain until spring.
[A]A few in winter.[B]Rare or irregular in winter.
[A]A few in winter.
[B]Rare or irregular in winter.
Grebes, Loons, Auks, Cormorants, Snowy Owls, and several species of Gulls and Ducks may also be found during the winter months in the vicinity of New York City.
Length: About 11½ inches; 1½ inch longer than the robin; tail, over 5 inches long.General Appearance: Acrestedgrayish-blue bird, withbright blue wings and tail, barred and tipped with black and white. In flight, the long tail is conspicuous; it resembles a pointed fan.Male and Female: Grayish-blue above, grayish-white below, lighter on throat and belly. Head with a conspicuous crest; forehead black; bill long, strong, and black. A black band that extends back of the crest and encircles the throat is widest across the breast. Wings bright blue, barred with black; the white tips of some of the feathers form bands and patches of white.Note: A harshyăh, yăh, yăh, orjay, jay, jay, which Thoreau says is “a true winter sound, wholly without sentiment.”[3]Song: A pleasant, flute-like strain:Pedunkle, pedunkle, parlez-vous. There is a sort of jerkiness about his love-song, as though his throat was unaccustomed to make agreeable sounds. Jays are able to produce many strange noises, and appear to enjoy using their power.Habitat: Woodlands; those containing oaks and other nut-bearing trees preferred.Nest: A rough basket of twigs, with a soft lining of root-fibers.Range: Eastern North America. A permanent resident of south-central Canada and eastern United States, west to the Dakotas, Colorado, and central Texas.
Length: About 11½ inches; 1½ inch longer than the robin; tail, over 5 inches long.
General Appearance: Acrestedgrayish-blue bird, withbright blue wings and tail, barred and tipped with black and white. In flight, the long tail is conspicuous; it resembles a pointed fan.
Male and Female: Grayish-blue above, grayish-white below, lighter on throat and belly. Head with a conspicuous crest; forehead black; bill long, strong, and black. A black band that extends back of the crest and encircles the throat is widest across the breast. Wings bright blue, barred with black; the white tips of some of the feathers form bands and patches of white.
Note: A harshyăh, yăh, yăh, orjay, jay, jay, which Thoreau says is “a true winter sound, wholly without sentiment.”[3]
Song: A pleasant, flute-like strain:Pedunkle, pedunkle, parlez-vous. There is a sort of jerkiness about his love-song, as though his throat was unaccustomed to make agreeable sounds. Jays are able to produce many strange noises, and appear to enjoy using their power.
Habitat: Woodlands; those containing oaks and other nut-bearing trees preferred.
Nest: A rough basket of twigs, with a soft lining of root-fibers.
Range: Eastern North America. A permanent resident of south-central Canada and eastern United States, west to the Dakotas, Colorado, and central Texas.
BLUE JAY
BLUE JAY
This brilliant, handsome blue-coat never “hides his light under a bushel”; his noisyjay-jayalways proclaims his presence. He would at times be unendurable, except that he never remains long in one place; he is on the leap constantly, with a dash and an impudent assurance that is amusing.
He is the “bad boy” of the bird neighborhood, the terror of the small birds. They seem to have the same fear of him that children have of a great bully. He swoops down upon them, worries and frightens them, robs their nests, and brings to his own spoiled fledglings eggs and young as tidbits.
He is a devoted husband and father, who shows his best traits in his family circle. He reminds one of certain human beings who take excellent care of their own, but who are neither good neighbors nor desirable citizens. Occasionally, however, he has family differences. My sister tells of watching a jay bring twig after twig for nest-building to his mate, who was evidently in a bad mood. She would have none of them; she seized each twig and threw it away with a disagreeableyăh, yăh. After repeated attempts, he gave it up and both flew away. My sister never learned what occurred later.
The jay is an inveterate tease. He delights in annoying poor half-blind owls in the day-time, by pecking at them from unexpected quarters. An owl has been known to seize the Tormentor and speedily put an end to his existence.
The blue jay is a member of the same family to which the crow belongs, and while totally different in appearance, resembles him in his cleverness, his fearlessness, and his audacious insolence. Dr. Henshaw, formerly ofthe Biological Survey in Washington, brings the following accusation against this bird:
“The blue jay is of a dual nature. Cautious and silent in the vicinity of its nest, away from it, it is bold and noisy. Sly in the commission of mischief, it is ever ready to scream ‘thief’ at the slightest disturbance. As usual in such cases, its remarks are applicable to none more than itself, a fact neighboring nest-holders know to their sorrow, for during the breeding season the jay lays heavy toll upon the eggs and young of other birds, and in doing so deprives us of the services of species more beneficial than itself.”[4]
Mr. E. R. Kalmbach, also of the Biological Survey, says that in winter jays eat the eggs of the tent caterpillar, and the larvæ of the brown-tail moth, besides waste grain, and “mast,”—the name given to vegetable food such as acorns, beechnuts, chestnuts, hazelnuts, etc. It likes pecans and cultivated fruit in their season—two other points against the bird. The wild fruits it selects are of no economic value.
Mr. Kalmbach concludes: “The blue jay probably renders its best service to man in destroying grasshoppers late in the season and in feeding on hibernating insects and their eggs, as they do in the case of the tent caterpillar and brown-tail moth. Beetles and weevils of various kinds also fall as their prey. The severest criticism against the species is the destruction of other birds and their eggs. Where we wish to attract the latter in large numbers about our dooryards, in our parks, and in gamepreserves, it will be well not to allow the jay to become too abundant.”[5]
Wilson Flagg says: “The blue jay is a true American. He is known throughout the continent and never visits any other country. At no season is he absent from our woods.
“He has a beautiful outward appearance, under which he conceals an unamiable temper and a propensity to mischief. There is no bird in our forest that is arrayed in equal splendor. But with all his beauty, he has, like the peacock, a harsh voice. He is a sort of Ishmael among the feathered tribes, who are startled at the sound of his voice and fear him as a bandit. There is no music in his nature; he is fit only for ‘stratagems and spoils.’
“He is an industrious consumer of the larger insects and grubs, atoning in this way for some of his evil deeds. I cannot say, therefore, that I would consent to his banishment, for he is one of the most cheering tenants of the grove at a season when they have but few inhabitants.”[6]
Two species of jays are found in Florida. One, called theFLORIDA BLUE JAY, resembles its northern relative, except that it is somewhat smaller (10½ inches), is less brilliant in color, and has narrower, less conspicuous white tips to its feathers. These jays frequent live-oak trees. A flock of six or eight on the ground searching for acorns, is pleasing to the eye, but not to the ear.
A second species is called theFLORIDA JAY. The top and sides of its head are agrayish-blue; its neck, wings,and tail are abrighter blue;its back is a grayish-brown; its under parts are gray, washed with brown, and faintly streaked on throat and breast. Its breast-band isbluish. This jay is found chiefly along the southern coast of Florida. Theabsence of a crestis its most distinguishing mark.
Two species of jays are common in California and its neighboring states. One, theSTELLER JAY, enjoys a good reputation. It differs from its better-known relatives in appearance, also. Itshead,crest,throat,breast, andbackare abrownish-black; itsbellyandrumparelight blue, its wings and tail purplish-blue, barred with black.
It is a shy bird and does not often approach the haunts of man. Its food is very like that of other jays, but its habits bring no condemnation upon it.[7]
TheCALIFORNIA JAYis similar to the Florida Jay and may be easily distinguished by its blue headwithout a crest, its blue neck, wings, and tail, its brown back, white throat, and gray under parts. This jay is a decided reprobate. Professor Beal has characterized it as follows: “It freely visits the stockyards near ranch buildings, and orchards and gardens. As a fruit stealer it is notorious. One instance is recorded where seven jays were shot from a prune tree, one after the other, the dead bodies being left under the tree until all were killed. So eager were the birds to get the fruit that the report of the gun and the sight of their dead did not deter them from comingto the tree. In orchards, in canyons, or on hillsides adjacent to chaparral or other cover, great mischief is done by this bird. In one such case an orchard was under observation at a time when the prune crop was ripening, and jays in a continuous stream were seen to come down a small ravine to the orchard, prey upon the fruit, and return.
“Fruit stealing, however, is only one of the sins of the California jay. That it robs hens’ nests is universal testimony. A case is reported of a hen having a nest under a clump of bushes; every day a jay came to a tree a few rods away, and when it heard the cackle of the hen announcing a new egg it flew at once to the nest. At the same time the mistress of the house hastened to the spot to secure the prize, but in most cases the jay won the race. This is only one of many similar cases recounted. The jays have learned just what the cackle of the hen means. Another case more serious is that related by a man engaged in raising white leghorn fowls on a ranch several miles from a canyon. He stated that when the chicks were very young the jays attacked and killed them by a few blows of the beak and then pecked open the skull and ate out the brains. In spite of all efforts to protect the chicks and kill the jays, the losses in this way were serious.”[8]
TheCANADA JAYis similar in form and size to its blue relatives, but has the coloring of a northern winter landscape—gray, black, and white. This jay has no crest;the back of its head and nape are black; the forehead and neck are white; the upper parts are gray, with darker gray wings and tail; under parts, light gray; tail, long; plumage, fluffy and fur-like.
This bird is found in the forests of Canada and in the northern part of the United States, where it is most common in the coniferous forests of Maine and Minnesota, in the wilder parts of the White and Green Mts., and in the Adirondacks.
Major Charles Bendire, in his interesting “Life Histories of American Birds,” published by our government, writes the following amusing account of the Canada jay:
“No bird is better known to the lumbermen, trappers and hunters along our northern border than the Canada Jay, which is a constant attendant at their camps, and affords them no little amusement during the lonely hours spent in the woods. To one not familiar with these birds it is astonishing how tame they become.
“Mr. Manly Hardy writes: ‘The Canada Jay is a constant resident of northern Maine, but in some seasons they are far more abundant than in others, being usually found in companies of from three to ten. They are the boldest of all our birds, except the Chickadee, and in cool impudence far surpass all others. They will enter tents, and often alight on the bow of a canoe where the paddle at every stroke comes within 18 inches of them. I know of nothing which can be eaten that they will not take, and I had one steal all my candles, pulling them out endwise one by one from a piece of birch bark they were rolled in, and another pecked a large hole in a cake of castile soap. A duck which I had picked and laid down for a few minutes had the entire breast eaten out byone or more of these birds. I have seen one alight in the middle of my canoe and peck away at the carcass of a beaver I had skinned. They often spoil deer saddles by pecking into them near the kidneys. They do great damage to the trappers by stealing the bait from traps set for martens and minks and by eating trapped game; they will spoil a marten in a short time. They will sit quietly and see you build a log trap and bait it, and then, almost before your back is turned, you hear their hatefulca-ca-caas they glide down and peer into it. They will work steadily carrying off meat and hiding it.’”