LESSON XXXV.
THE OTHER PARTNER.
You know I told you that the flowers had gone into business, and taken the birds and insects for their partners. Now these partners are not good friends to each other. In fact, the bird partner is given to eating up the insect partner.
We will now look at some birds that prefer insects to any other food. But these, like all birds, will change their diet and eat almost anything if very hungry.
Our first bird shall be the “nuthatch.” It has been given this name because people think it can crack nuts. No doubt it can crack beech and hazel nuts, and chestnuts. Its object is not to get the meat of the nut, but the grubs that lie in it.
The nuthatch is of a light bluish-gray color, with some white and black in its feathers. It is not much larger than a thrush.
Early in April, the nuthatch finds a hole in a tree, or in a fence rail or an old roof. There he makes a nest by piling up dead leaves and any soft wool or hairs he can find.
In this nest are laid five white eggs, with brown spots on one end. While the mother bird sits on these eggs, the mate spends all his time near her. If any danger comes, he flies to the nest. He hunts for nice fat grubs and worms, and takes them to the sitting bird to eat.
He searches for insects and larvæ, and little can escape his big bright eyes. When he takes something to his mate, he gives a soft, low, glad chirp. He never passes the door of the nest-hole withoutputting in his head, to make a few cheerful remarks. He seems to be telling the news.
When the mother-bird flies out, to have a chance to find food for herself, her mate keeps calling her, as if to say, “Are you quite safe?” “Are you there?” And she replies with a little note of joy.
The nuthatch finds most of his food under the bark of trees. He flies round and round the tree and strips off pieces of bark. Hidden there, he finds worms, spiders, caterpillars, eggs and larvæ of insects. He seems very curious, and pries into every crack and hole.
The nuthatch seldom migrates. If food is scarce, he will fly to the barns, and even pick up seeds with the fowls. But he does not like that food. He prefers insects.
Another bird that feeds chiefly on insects, is, in many respects, the loveliest and dearest of birds. Can you not guess that I mean the bluebird? This bird, with its blue back and wings, and ruddy breast is the first to tell us of the return of spring.
On warm days in February, or early March, we see him flitting above the last melting wreaths of snow, or sitting on the top rail of the fence. If a few cold snowy days come, he vanishes. But back he flies with his mate, and they skim low over theground to pick up the first beetles, worms, and spiders that venture out.
For a few days the two are very busy eating insects. If Mr. Bluebird finds a very nice, fat bug, he does not keep it for himself, but flies with it to his mate. He gives a glad cry, spreads his wings wide, and drops it into her mouth.
But soon the pair set about cleaning and rebuilding last year’s nest. If there is a box on a tree in your garden or orchard, or a hole in a branch, they will build there year after year.
While the bluebirds are busy setting their house in order, Mrs. House-Wren gets back from her winter trip. She peeps in, and seems much vexed that such a nice house was let before she arrived. As soon as the bluebirds go off, for some more grass, or hairs, Mrs. Wren steps in, and pulls a few twigs out of the new nest. She does this to show her feelings. But she hurries away, before the blue owners return.
Mrs. Bluebird puts five or six pale blue eggs in her nest. She raises two, or even three, broods in a summer. While she is sitting on the second eggs, the father bird watches over the young of the first brood. He feeds them, and takes great care of them, and lets them perch by him at night.
Now and then, in the autumn, you will see a pair of old bluebirds with ten or twelve young ones, of their various broods. Then they may be feeding on gum-tree or smilax berries. But spiders and beetles are their chosen food.
The note of the bluebird is a soft, sweet warble. He loves sunshine and springtime. In the fall his note becomes sad and low, as if he mourns because winter is coming.
When the cold winds, and frosts, and bare trees, make the country desolate, the bluebird migrates. He goes to the Southern States, the West Indies, and Mexico. We are all glad to welcome him back. He is the prophet of fine weather. The farmers like him because he eats so many harmful insects.
Of all the insect-eating birds, none is more famous than the flycatcher, or kingbird. In some places he is called the field-martin, and the tyrant. The name flycatcher comes from his food. He catches living, full-grown insects, such as flies, gnats, wasps, and some bees. I am sorry that he is accused of picking up bees.
The name king, or tyrant, bird comes to this brisk little fellow from his manners. He is very strong, very swift on the wing, and very bold. He is fond of his brood and mate, and bold in theirdefence. He watches to drive off birds which might harm them.
The big blue jay dares not rob a kingbird’s nest. The kingbird will chase a jay, a crow, even an eagle, or a hawk. His bill is sharp and strong, and as he flies under or over his enemy, he darts at him, and drives his bill into him with a peck.
He is so fierce only when he has a young brood to defend. At other times he is quiet enough. When his young brood is in the nest, he feels so proud that he seems to think himself the lord of all birds.
The purple martin can fly faster than the kingbird and likes to tease him. It is also very funny to see a big woodpecker and a kingbird having a conflict on a fence rail. The woodpecker whirls round and round like a boy turning springs over a bar. The kingbird flies from side to side and tries to get a peck at him but cannot.
The kingbird is not a singer. He is a silent, dark bird. His plumes are brown, black, and white. On his head he has a crest, or crown of raised feathers. He seems very particular about his food. It is not every insect that he will eat.
Many farmers, who have watched him carefully, say that he does not pick up worker-bees, but takesonly the drones. He also eats many gad-flies that trouble and bite the horses. He devours hundreds of insects and worms which eat fruit, cucumbers, and pumpkins.
In fact, even if the kingbird does eat a few bees, he more than pays for that damage by the good he does in destroying harmful insects. When a farmer shoots a kingbird he shoots one of his best friends. Besides all this, as we are not quite sure that the kingbird does eat worker-bees, I think we should give him the benefit of the doubt and let him live.