Category: Nature/Gardening/Animals
MY MOTHER THINKS SHE DOES NOT KNOW MUCH ABOUT BIRDS; BUT SHE KNEW ENOUGH ABOUT THEM TO LET ME BRING THEM, ALIVE, DEAD, OR WORSE THAN DEAD, INTO HER BUSY HOUSEHOLD, AND I THINK SHE IS A GOOD ORNITHOLOGIST.
The Ruddy Duck, with its stiff, upturned tail, is comical in appearance. The male, while in bright breeding plumage, is given to holding himself with a jaunty air. They are expe...
8. Part 8Description.—Size small, not much larger than a Robin; adults and young alike; wings pointed. _Male_: Top of head blue-gray, with rusty brown crown-patch; sides of head buffy or...
1. Part 1MY MOTHER THINKS SHE DOES NOT KNOW MUCH ABOUT BIRDS; BUT SHE KNEW ENOUGH ABOUT THEM TO LET ME BRING THEM, ALIVE, DEAD, OR WORSE THAN DEAD, INTO HER BUSY HOUSEHOLD, AND I THINK S...
7. Part 7Its food consists of mice, frogs, snakes, and other creatures which are captured among the cat-tails or on the ground. Occasionally it takes a bird or visits the poultry-yard, b...
6. Part 6The Spotted Sandpiper is our best-known shore-bird. It is not particularly wary, and frequents all the small streams which have not been polluted. As it runs along the muddy mar...
10. Part 10Description.—Our smallest bird; bill about twice as long as head; feet small, with downy plumage at base; wings with comparatively short bones, but with powerful muscles; tail-f...
17. Part 17The House Wren is destined to be popular because he nests in bird-boxes, even though they be poorly constructed and improperly placed. So intent is he upon rearing a brood that...
11. Part 11Range in Pennsylvania.—Now found in almost every county and rapidly encroaching upon the western and more mountainous counties; exceedingly abundant in the southeastern counties...
2. Part 2Most of the smaller birds migrate at night, following streams or mountain ranges. Swallows and hawks usually migrate by day, ducks and geese by both day and night. The Ohio, Del...
9. Part 9Like its slightly larger relative, the Black-bill is fond of caterpillars, and both are very valuable birds. They eat so many “woolly” caterpillars that their stomachs become li...
5. Part 5The Yellow Rail (_Coturnicops noveboracensis_) is smaller than the Sora and is rich buffy yellow with dark, streaked upperparts. It is exceedingly rare, in fact, virtually unkno...
16. Part 16Nest.—A compact cup of plant fibers and down, lined with hairs, fibers, and rootlets, placed low in bushes. _Eggs_: 4 or 5, white, spotted with brown, chiefly in a wreath at lar...
3. Part 3The white crown-patch of the male Baldpate not only has given this bird its name but also furnishes an excellent field-mark. The pinkish brown breast and sides are somewhat diag...
13. Part 13Look for the Chippy, as a rule, _only near houses or farms_. It is not a bird of the wilds, and because of its confiding disposition has come to be associated with our very door...
15. Part 15Description.—_Adult male_: Crown clear gray; prominent white superciliary; line through eye black; underparts white, washed along sides with faint yellow; upperparts olive-green...
12. Part 12Description.—Size and general proportions of English Sparrow; nostrils covered with small, bristly feathers; tail slightly forked. _Adult male_: Head and breast rosy pink, _not...
14. Part 14Description.—Smaller than an English Sparrow; tail of moderate length and not deeply forked. _Adult male_: Upperparts glossy blue-green, brightest on crown and back, less colorf...
18. Part 18The soft, brief warble of the Bluebird in spring, and the gentle farewell it sings in the fall as it flies over, are to be classed among the sweetest of bird music, to my way of...
19. Part 19S Salad Bird. See Goldfinch. Sanderling, 45. Sandhill Crane. See Heron, Great Blue. Sand Martin. See Swallow, Bank. Sandpiper, Baird’s, 43. Bartramian (figured), 47. Least (figu...