PART TWO

BIRD BIOGRAPHIES

WINTER BIRDS Permanent Residents and Winter Visitors

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,"

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. Every part 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.

BIRDS SEEN DURING THE WINTER NEAR NEW YORK CITY[2]

The class of birds called PERMANENT RESIDENTS includes 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 Bluebirds winter farther south, but as a species, the Bluebird is a permanent resident."

PERMANENT RESIDENTS

Bob-white Ruffed Grouse 8 species of Hawks Bald Eagle 5 species of Owls Hairy Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker [B]Red-headed Woodpecker [A]Flicker [A]Meadowlark Blue Jay American Crow Fish Crow House Sparrow Purple Finch American Goldfinch Song Sparrow Cardinal [B]Cedar Waxwing Carolina Wren White-breasted Nuthatch Tufted Titmouse Chickadee [A]Robin [A]Bluebird Starling

WINTER RESIDENTS or WINTER VISITANTS are 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.

WINTER RESIDENTS AND VISITORS

Horned Lark American or Red Crossbill White-winged Crossbill Pine Grosbeak [B]Pine Siskin [B]Redpoll Tree Sparrow White-throated Sparrow Northern Shrike [A]Myrtle Warbler Winter Wren Brown Creeper Snowflake Junco Red-breasted Nuthatch Golden-crowned Kinglet

[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.

DESCRIPTIONS AND BIOGRAPHIES

THE BLUE JAY _Crow Family--Corvidæ_

Length: About 11½ inches; 1½ inch longer than the robin; tail, over 5 inches long.

General Appearance: A _crested_ grayish-blue bird, with _bright 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 harsh _yah, yah, yah_, or _jay, 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.

This brilliant, handsome blue-coat never "hides his light under a bushel"; his noisy _jay-jay_ always 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 disagreeable _yah, yah_. 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 of the 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 game preserves, 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]

FLORIDA JAYS

Two species of jays are found in Florida. One, called the FLORIDA 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 the FLORIDA JAY. The top and sides of its head are a _grayish-blue_; its neck, wings, and tail are a _brighter 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 is _bluish_. This jay is found chiefly along the southern coast of Florida. The _absence of a crest_ is its most distinguishing mark.

PACIFIC COAST JAYS

Two species of jays are common in California and its neighboring states. One, the STELLER JAY, enjoys a good reputation. It differs from its better-known relatives in appearance, also. Its _head_, _crest_, _throat_, _breast_, and _back_ are a _brownish-black_; its _belly_ and _rump_ are _light 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]

The CALIFORNIA JAY is similar to the Florida Jay and may be easily distinguished by its blue head _without 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 coming to 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]

THE CANADA JAY

The CANADA JAY is 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 by one 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 hateful _ca-ca-ca_ as they glide down and peer into it. They will work steadily carrying off meat and hiding it.'"

THE AMERICAN CROW _Crow Family--Corvidæ_

The AMERICAN CROW is too well-known to need a description--merely a reference to the steely-blue or dark purple sheen of his "crow-black" plumage, and to the remarkable power of his long (twelve-inch) wings, which in flight show feather finger-tips at their ends.

One cannot but admire his strength and his absolute fearlessness, nor fail to be amused at his cleverness and his insolent bravado. Two or three crows, cawing hoarsely, will people a woodland in winter; while a flock, winging its way to the naked March woods, will cause a thrill of joy and expectancy, in spite of the knowledge that the advent of these black marauders means eternal vigilance to long-suffering farmers.

Dr. Sylvester D. Judd at Marshall Hall, Maryland, made an exhaustive study of the crow's food habits. He reported the following:

"The crow is by all means the worst pilferer of the cornfield. Every year at Marshall Hall, as elsewhere, a part of the field must be replanted because of his 'pickings and stealings.' In 1899, the replanting was more extensive than usual--46 per cent. of the 3½ bushels originally planted. This unusual ratio was probably caused by the failure of the cherry crop, which left the crow short of food."

Dr. Judd told of the "protective devices of tarring corn," which did not prevent the crows from pulling up the grain in large quantities, though they did not eat it. He continued:

"The injury to corn at other seasons than sprouting time is, as a general thing, comparatively insignificant, but in some years it has been important when the ears were in the milk. They then tear open the ears, and pick out the kernels in rapid succession. In the National Zoölogical Park at Washington during the summer of 1896, their depredations on an acre of corn were watched, and 50 per cent. of the crop was found to have been ruined.

"The only scarecrows that proved effective at Marshall Hall were dead crows, and strings stretched on poles around the field and hung with long white streamers. Although in fall the number of marauders is greatly increased by reënforcements from the North, ripe corn sustains less injury from crows than roasting ears. One reason is the abundance of fall fruit.

"Wheat suffers comparatively little. When it is ripening, cherries and sprouting corn divert the crow's attention. After it is cut and gathered into the shock, however, they often join the English sparrows in removing the kernels. Oats are injured even less than wheat, though crows have been noticed feeding on them at harvest time."

While the crow is considered the arch-criminal of the bird-world, Dr. Judd ascribed to him a good habit--that of the dissemination of wild seeds in an unusual manner. He wrote: "In November, 1899, a large flock on the wing was noticed in the distance, at a point opposite Fort Washington, several miles above Marshall Hall. They came on down the river in a line that at times stretched almost from one bank to the other. They circled several times and alighted on the shore. The flock numbered at least a thousand, and hoarse caws and croaks gave evidence that it was made up to some extent of fish crows.

"After the birds had remained on shore about fifteen minutes, they were put to flight by a farmer's boy and flew on down the river. Going to the place where they had alighted, I found the sandy beach cut up for more than a hundred yards with their tracks. Many led out to the water, and floating black feathers here and there showed where baths had been taken.

"The most interesting trace of their sojourn, however, was several hundred pellets of fruit material, which they had ejected through their mouths and dropped on the ground. These pellets were about an inch in length and half an inch in diameter. They were of a deep purplish color, due to the fruit of woodbine, wild grape, and pokeberry, of which they were mainly composed. In 50 pellets collected there were only 11 seeds of other plants--namely, holly, bitter-sweet, and poison ivy. Pokeberry seeds were by far the most numerous. Mr. A. J. Pieters, of the Botanical Division of the Department of Agriculture, germinated some of them, thus demonstrating the fact that they were distributed uninjured.

"The pellets were made up not only of seeds and skins, but largely of fruit pulp in an undigested state. It seems strange that the birds should have rid themselves of a substance that still contained a good deal of nutriment.

"Little is known of the distribution of fruit seeds by crows during migration, but it is certain that they do this work effectively while they fly to and from the roosts where they congregate in winter, for their feeding grounds often cover an area stretching out on all sides from the roosts for 50 miles or more. It appears highly probable that the crows which are found in winter at Marshall Hall roost at Woodbridge, D. C., some 15 miles distant. There, in the midst of several acres of woodland, a crow dormitory is established, in which probably 100,000 crows sleep every winter night. It was visited in February, 1901, and the ground was found to be strewn with disgorged pellets."[9]

The FISH CROW (16 inches long) is three inches smaller than the common crow. It has a more uniform iridescence above, and is greenish underneath. Its caw is hoarser and more nasal. Its range is from Connecticut and the lower Hudson southward, generally near the coast. It is abundant in Virginia, and near the city of Washington.

The FLORIDA CROW is similar to the American Crow, except that its bill and feet are larger, its wings and tail shorter.

THE RAVEN

The NORTHERN RAVEN so resembles the crow that it is often difficult to distinguish them. The chief differences are the raven's much greater size (from 22 to 26½ inches), and its note, which sounds more like _Croak_ than _Caw_. This is the raven found in Alaska, northern Canada, and Greenland,--the bird especially revered by Alaskan Indians. It is found also in the northern United States,--in the state of Washington, in Minnesota, the Adirondacks, and elsewhere.

Major Charles Bendire, in his "Life Histories of North American Birds," makes the following statements about the northern raven:

"It lives to a great extent on offal and refuse of any kind, and is generally most abundant in the immediate vicinity of Indian camps and settlements, which are mostly located on the seashore, or on the banks of the larger rivers in the interior where these birds act as scavengers. Hundreds of ravens may frequently be seen in the vicinity of the salmon-canning stations. Clams also form a part of their food; these are said to be carried some distance in the air and dropped on the rocks to break their shells. They also prey to no small extent on the young and eggs of different water-fowl."

THE CARDINAL Cardinal Grosbeak, Redbird, Virginia Nightingale

(_Cardinals belong to the Grosbeak group of the large Finch or Sparrow Family, or the Fringillidæ._)

Length: About 8¼ inches; slightly smaller than the robin.

General Appearance: Brilliant rose-red plumage; crested head and thick beak.

Male: A soft cardinal red, except for a black throat, a black band encircling bill, and, in winter, a grayish tinge to wings. Bill large, heavy, and light red. Red crest conspicuous; it may be raised and lowered at will. Tail long and slender; it is twitched nervously and frequently.

Female: Brownish-gray above, yellowish underneath. Crest, wings, and tail reddish--the color especially noticeable in flight. Throat and band about bill grayish-black.

Call-note: A sharp, insistent _tsip, tsip_.

Song: A loud and clear, yet sweet and mellow whistle, _cheer, cheer, he-u, he-u, he-u_, repeatedly rapidly with descending inflection, and with nearly an octave in range. The female, unlike most of her sex in the bird-world, is also a fine singer; her soft melodious warble is considered by many listeners to be superior to the song of her mate.

Habitat: "Shrubbery is its chosen haunt, the more tangled the better. Here the nest is built and here they spend most of their days. Higher trees are usually sought only under the inspiration of song."[10]

Range: From southeastern South Dakota, Iowa, northern Indiana and Ohio, southeastern and southwestern Pennsylvania, southern Hudson Valley, south to the Gulf States; a resident of Bermuda. Cardinals are not migratory.

Cardinals are especially numerous in our Southern States. They abound in Florida and Bermuda, where their brilliant coloring contrasts wonderfully with the light sands and the coral limestone. A cardinal singing in an hibiscus bush, laden with gorgeous red blooms, makes a never-to-be-forgotten memory; while a sight of one in a blossoming Virginia dog-wood tree or against a northern snow-scene is equally memorable. These birds are great favorites in the South, rivaling the mockingbirds in the affections of many people. In the North, a glimpse of a cardinal marks a red-letter day; and bird-lovers whose kind hands spread bountiful tables for winter residents, count themselves highly favored to have a pair of cardinals for their guests. Aside from the joy which their beauty and their song bring, they possess great practical value.

Mr. W. L. McAtee, of the Biological Survey, writes that about one-fourth of the cardinal's food consists of destructive pests such as the worms which infest cotton plants, and numerous other caterpillars, besides grasshoppers, scale insects, beetles, and others. A large part of their food consists of the seeds of troublesome weeds and of wild fruits. "The bird has a record for feeding on many of the worst agricultural pests."[11] No sins are laid at his door. "Cardinals are usually seen in pairs, but in winter they often collect in southern swamps and thickets, and flock to feeding-places near the haunts of man when food is scarce."[12]

They were formerly trapped for cage-birds. They were so highly esteemed that they were in great demand even in Europe, where they received the name of the "Virginia Nightingale." But trapping is now nearly abolished, and the wild, liberty-loving cardinal may roam as he will with the wife of his heart. Few birds are more ardent, jealous lovers, more tenderly devoted husbands, or more anxious, solicitous fathers than these beautiful, sweet-voiced redbirds.[12]

THE PINE GROSBEAK _Finch Family--Fringillidæ_

Length: A little over 9 inches; slightly larger than his cousin, the cardinal, and nearly an inch smaller than the robin.

General Appearance: A _red bird_ with _brown and white wings, a brown tail, and a heavy beak_.

Male: A bright raspberry-red, deepest on the _head_, _breast_, _rump_, and _upper tail-coverts_; the rest of the body a slaty gray, lighter underneath, with a _soft red breast_; wings dark brown, edged with white, forming two broad wing-bars; tail forked; beak large and strong, with a small hook at the end.

Female: Slaty gray, with head, rump, and upper tail-coverts _olive-yellow_ where the male's are red; under parts washed with yellow: wings and tail brown; wings edged with white; two wing-bars.

Young: Similar to female.

Song: A loud, clear whistle, given while on the wing. In spring, a melodious nesting song.

Range: Eastern North America. Breeds in the tree-regions of Canada, in the White Mts., and Maine; winters south to Iowa, Indiana, Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, (and occasionally to the District of Columbia and Kentucky), westward to Manitoba, Minnesota, and Kansas.

This brilliant, handsome Pine Grosbeak is comparatively unknown in the United States, but wherever he appears as a rare visitor, he is hailed with enthusiasm or excitement because of his beautiful color. He resembles his cousin, the purple finch, in color and markings, but is much larger.

Thoreau says, "When some rare northern bird like the pine grosbeak is seen thus far south in the winter, he does not suggest poverty, but dazzles us with his beauty. There is in them a warmth akin to the warmth that melts the icicle. Think of these brilliant, warm-colored, and richly-warbling birds, birds of paradise, dainty-footed, downy-clad, in the midst of a New England, a Canadian winter."[13]

The Pine Grosbeak "is of gentle, unobtrusive manner, almost entirely fearless of man's approach, and always seems to be perfectly contented with its situation wherever encountered. A whole tree full of these birds may be seen feeding on the seeds of mountain ash berries, apples, or the buds of beeches. One may stand within a few feet of them for a long time without their taking any notice of one's presence. They are slow and deliberate in manner. Their flight, however, is rather rapid and aggressive, slightly undulating."[14]

They are silent, uninteresting birds, awkward in their movements. They are very hardy, and roam southward when the severe Canadian winters send them forth in search of food. Seeds of cone-bearing trees, sumac and mountain ash berries are their favorite winter diet. They return to their northern nesting places when few birds would consider it seemly to set up housekeeping.

THE AMERICAN OR RED CROSSBILL _Finch Family--Fringillidæ_

Length: A little over 6 inches; slightly larger than the English sparrow.

General Appearance: A small, plump red bird, with brown wings, brown forked tail, and a _bill crossed at the tip_.

Male: Head and body a dull red, brownish on the back, and bright red above tail; wings brown, _without white bars_; tail brown and notched; bill with long strong mandibles that are crossed somewhat like a parrot's.

Female: Head and body dull olive, with a yellowish wash--brightest on rump; head, back, and under parts mottled with black.

Call-note: A short, clear, metallic whistle.

Song: A gentle warble, varied, and agreeable to hear.

Flight: Undulating.

Habitat: Coniferous forests, preferably.

Range: Northern North America. Breeds from central Alaska, and northern Canada south to the mountains of California, to Colorado, Michigan, and in the Alleghanies of Georgia, occasionally in Massachusetts, Maryland, and Virginia.

Red Crossbills are truly the "Wandering Jews" of the bird-world. They are erratic nomads, living in flocks, and roaming where fancy leads or necessity impels them. They pitch their tents and raise their broods wherever they may happen to be sojourning in late winter or early spring, even though many miles south of their natural breeding places. Dr. Elliot Coues writes: "Their most remarkable habit is that of breeding in the winter, or very early in the spring, when one would think it impossible that their callow young could endure the rigors of the season." He mentions a nest taken in Maine in February, and another in Vermont so early in March that the ground was covered with snow and the weather was very severe.[15]

They make no regular migrations, spring or fall, but like will-o'-the-wisps appear and vanish, affording one of the most delightful surprises to be found in nature. To see one of them, accompanied by his olive-green mate, swinging from a spruce bough against a flaming sunset sky or a snowy landscape, is an event in one's life.

Crossbills are denizens of coniferous forests. Their twisted or crossed bills are peculiarly adapted to extracting seeds from pine and spruce cones, though they eat berries, fruit, grass seeds, and cankerworms in season. Because of their curiously twisted beaks, these birds have always been regarded with peculiar interest, even with superstition. Longfellow has preserved for us the German legend regarding this bird in his poem:

THE LEGEND OF THE CROSSBILL

On the cross the dying Saviour Heavenward lifts his eyelids calm, Feels, but scarcely feels, a trembling In his pierced and bleeding palm.

And by all the world forsaken, Sees He how with zealous care At the ruthless nail of iron A little bird is striving there.

Stained with blood and never tiring With its beak it doth not cease; From the cross 'twould free the Saviour, Its Creator's Son release.

And the Saviour speaks in mildness: "Blest be thou of all the good! Bear, as token of this moment, Marks of blood and holy rood!"

And that bird is called the crossbill; Covered all with blood so clear, In the groves of pine it singeth Songs, like legends, strange to hear.[16] Henry W. Longfellow

THE WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL

The White-winged Crossbill is similar to the Red Crossbill, but its body is a _dull crimson instead of red_, and its black wing-feathers are so tipped with white as to form _two broad white wing-bars_. The female is olive-green, gray underneath, with a yellow rump, dark wings and tail, white wing-bars, and dark streaks on head, breast, and back.

This crossbill breeds in Canada, south to the Adirondacks, White Mountains, and Maine. Its note is a soft _cheep_; its song a gentle warble. To see a flock of these birds feeding silently in a grove of spruces or hear them singing their low sweet song makes a memory cherished by bird-lovers. They may be seen in winter as far south as North Carolina.

THE JUNCO OR SLATE-COLORED SNOWBIRD _Finch Family--Fringillidæ_

Length: About 6¼ inches; slightly smaller than the English sparrow.

General Appearance: Trim, dainty little birds, all gray and white, except for a _pinkish_ or _flesh-colored_ bill. _White outer tail-feathers_, showing in flight, are distinguishing marks.

Male: Dark slate-gray above and white below. The gray extends to the center of the breast in a nearly horizontal line, and with the white under parts, gives the effect of the birds' having waded breast-deep in the snow, or having been sliced in two, like the "sliced animals" of our childhood. Sides grayish; wings slightly darker; tail dark brown, with two outer feathers white; third feather, partly white; bill heavy, adapted to a diet of seeds.

Female: Similar to male, only brownish-gray. Winter plumage of all juncos browner than summer plumage.

Young: Light brownish, streaked with black.

Note: A gentle _tseep, tseep_, and a _smack, smack_, of alarm or distress.

Song: A tender, sweet trill in the spring. Though monotonous, the song is very pleasing.

Habitat: Groves of conifers; thickets of bushes or vines, or clumps of weeds.

Nest: Juncos' nests are built of mosses or grasses on or near the ground. The speckled eggs and the streaked babies are excellent examples of protective coloring. The nests are sometimes placed very near houses, if the surroundings are to the liking of the birds.

Range: Eastern and northern North America. Breeds from the tree-limit of Alaska and Canada southward to northern United States,--northern Minnesota, central Michigan, Maine, the mountains of New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts; winters throughout eastern United States and southern Canada to the Gulf Coast.

The Carolina Junco, nesting in the southern Appalachian mountains, is a subspecies, differing but very slightly in color.

Juncos are gentle, attractive little creatures that come to our thickets when the chill of autumn has driven away our insectivorous birds. Being seed-eaters, they do not fear winter snows, except those that cover tall weeds. According to Professor Beal, juncos should be rigidly protected. They not only destroy large quantities of weed seeds, thereby rendering service to agriculture, but they eat harmful insects, of which caterpillars are their favorite. They do no damage to fruit or grain.[17]

Mr. Forbush writes of the junco as follows: "The Snowbird does not often breed in Massachusetts, excepting on the higher lands of the north-central and western parts of the State. Pairs are said to nest occasionally in ice-houses, which are certainly cool, if not suitable situations. It is a bird of the Canadian fauna, and it winters in Massachusetts whenever conditions are favorable. In the southeastern portion of the State, where the ground is bare in sheltered places through much of the winter, or where weed seed, chaff, and other food can be secured, this bird is common in the colder months. Its notes at this season are chiefly sparrow like chirps.

"A flock of these dark birds on the new-fallen snow is an interesting sight on a cold winter's day, as they come familiarly about the house or barnyard. Audubon says that in winter they burrow in stacks of corn or hay for shelter at night during the continuance of inclement weather. As spring comes they begin to sing much like the Chipping Sparrow. They converse together with a musical twittering, and about the first of May they leave for their northern breeding-ground."[18]

THE SNOWFLAKE OR SNOW BUNTING _Finch Family--Fringillidæ_

Length: A little less than 7 inches; slightly larger than the junco and the English sparrow.

General Appearance: A brown, black, and white bird; the _white is conspicuous on wings and tail_, especially in flight. The bird has a characteristic way of "hugging the ground" when walking or running--it does not hop.

Male and Female: _In winter_: head brown on top, lighter on neck; white on sides of head, with a brown thumb-mark below eye; back brown, streaked with black; throat and belly white; a broad brownish band across breast; a brownish wash on sides and rump; wings black and white, some of the feathers edged with brown--in flight, the wings appear white, broadly tipped with black; inner tail-feathers black, outer feathers white. _In summer_: back and shoulders black, the rest of the body white; wings and tail black and white.

Notes: Thoreau calls their note "a rippling whistle." He says also, "Besides their rippling note, they have a vibratory twitter, and from the loiterers you hear quite a tender peep."[19]

Habitat: The tundras of North America. Snow buntings breed in the treeless regions of the North; they migrate southward during the winter.

Range: Northern Hemisphere. In North America, they breed from 83° north (including Greenland), to the northern part of Canada and Alaska; winter from Unalaska and south-central Canada to northern United States, irregularly to northern California, Colorado, Kansas, southern Indiana and Ohio, and Florida.

Snow Buntings, or "Brown Snowbirds" as they are called to distinguish them from the juncos, or "Gray Snowbirds," are not generally known because of the infrequency and irregularity of their visits. They belong to the Sparrow family, but have so much black and white on their wings and tail as to appear very unlike their relatives.

Snowflakes are gentle, fearless little birds, possibly because they come from the sparsely settled regions of the North, where they need not learn to fear human beings. Like chickadees, they appear to love driving storms, and to frolic during February blizzards with as keen delight as warmly clad children; like tree sparrows, they are protected by a layer of fat that keeps out the cold. As they, too, are seed-eaters, snow buntings must journey southward during the winter to regions where deep snows do not bury the weeds.

Few people are aware that in the treeless plains of the north there lives a bird that resembles the much-admired skylark of England in its way of singing. Both snow buntings and skylarks begin to sing as they rise from the ground, sing while on the wing or high up in the air, then drop swiftly to the ground.

Dr. Judd writes as follows about the snowbird: "The snowflake is a bird of the arctic tundra, above the limit of tree growth. In North America it breeds about Hudson Bay, in the northernmost parts of Labrador and Alaska, and to the northward. In its northern home it is a white, black-blotched sparrow, of whose habits very little is known, except that it makes a feather-lined nest on the ground, in which it rears four or five young on a diet which probably consists principally of insects. After the breeding season, however, a buffy brown comes mixed with the black and white, and the birds assume a more sparrowlike aspect. They migrate southward with the first severe cold weather, some of them coming as far south as the northern half of the United States, where their appearance is regarded as a sure sign that winter has begun in earnest. Often a flock of a thousand will come with a blizzard, the thermometer registering 30° to 40° below zero; and in their circling, swirling flight, as they are borne along by the blast, they might well be mistaken at a distance for veritable snowflakes. They settle in the open fields and along railroad tracks, where they secure some food from hayseed, grain that has sifted out of the grain cars, and seeds of weeds that grow along the tracks. Here they remain until April, when, in obedience to the migrating instinct, they journey north to nest on the treeless plains of the arctic regions.

"The snowflake differs from many other winter sparrows, such as the tree sparrow, junco, and white-throated sparrow, in that its flocks act more nearly as units, the alarm of a single member causing the whole flock to whirl up into the air and be off. A further difference may be noted in its strictly terrestrial habits. When not flying, it is almost invariably found on the ground; and when it does happen to alight in a tree, awkward wobblings betray its discomfort. Where the feeding conditions are favorable, immense flocks of snowflakes may be seen apparently rolling like a cloud across the land, this curious effect being due to the rear rank continually rising and flying forward to a point just in advance of the rest of the flock."[20]

Dr. Judd says that little information can be given concerning the summer food of this bird, but that it probably feeds on the seeds of shore or marsh plants. The winter food consists of grain, mostly gleanings or waste, and of weed seed which is consumed in enormous quantities. "On account of its good work as a weed destroyer and the apparent absence of any noticeably detrimental food habits, the snowflake seems to deserve high commendation, and should receive careful protection."

THE TREE SPARROW OR WINTER CHIPPY _Finch Family--Fringillidæ_

Length: A little over 6 inches; about the size of the English sparrow.

General Appearance: A small brown bird with a gray breast that has an _indistinct black spot_ in the _center_.

Male and Female: _Crown reddish-brown_; a gray line over the eye, a reddish-brown line back of eye; gray below eye; a reddish-brown streak curving from bill; bill short and thick; back brown, streaked with black and buff; wings dark brown, edged with white, and with two white wing-bars; tail brown, slightly forked, outer feathers edged with white; sides brownish, other under parts white; _the black spot in the center of the breast_, the identification mark.

Notes: Cheerful twitters and chirps.

Song: A sweet, gentle trill, very delightful to hear.

Habitat: Fields, especially those bordered by bushes that can be used as shelter at night and as a refuge from enemies.

Range: Eastern North America. Breeds in northern and central Canada; winters from southern Minnesota and southeastern Canada to eastern Oklahoma, central Arkansas, and South Carolina.

THE TREE SPARROW

When lordly Winter stalks abroad With trailing robes of snow, That hide the lovely tender things His icy breath lays low; When grasses, shrubs, and hardy weeds Hold high their heads, and mock Their tyrant lord,--from Northland woods There come a merry flock Of feathered songsters, soft and brown With a dark spot on each breast. They sway on stalk of golden-rod Above a snowdrift's crest. Their voices ring like tinkling bells Beneath the wintry sky, Till April, when with joyous songs Back to the North they fly.

Such are the rollicking little Tree Sparrows, that whirl into our vision like an eddy of brown leaves. To the untrained observer, they are "just sparrows," but to the "seeing eye" they are altogether more dainty and refined than English sparrows, and have different markings. Their little brown caps, the gray line over their bright eyes, their brown backs, white wing-bars, pale gray breasts and forked tails resemble those of their little cousins, the chipping sparrows. But _the soft grayish-black spot on each_ tree sparrow's breast is a difference. Careful comparison with the "Chippy" will show no straight black line extending from the eye, but a brown curve behind the eye that joins the one extending from the bill.

The voices of winter chippies are infinitely sweeter than those of the door yard chippies and their English relatives. Their note is sweet and joyous. Mr. Forbush writes of their song as follows: "Tree Sparrows are among the few birds that can 'look our winters in the face and sing.' They are occasionally heard singing in November and December and late in February, when deep snow covers the ground. The song is among the sweetest of sparrow notes, but not very strong. It slightly resembles that of the Fox Sparrow. Like other sparrows they chirp and twitter from time to time, but the full chorus of a flock in winter is a sound worth going far to hear."[21]

Dr. Judd says: "The tree sparrow breeds in Labrador and the Hudson Bay region and westward to Alaska. In the fall the birds come down from the north in immense throngs and spread over the United States as far south as South Carolina, Kansas, and Arizona. During the winter, in company with juncos, white-throats, white-crowns, and fox sparrows, they give life to the hedgerows, tangled thickets, and weed patches.... The food of the tree sparrow during its stay in the United States is almost entirely made up of seeds. The bird shows an essential difference from its associates, however, in its large consumption of grass seed, fully half of its food consisting of this element.... Nearly two-thirds of the vegetable food that is not grass seed is derived from such plants as ragweed, amaranth, lamb's quarters, ... and a variety of seeds such as wild sunflower, goldenrod, chickweed, purslane, wood sorrel, violet, and sheep sorrel."[22]

Professor Beal says that the oily seeds of such plants as ragweed cause the little bodies of tree sparrows to be encased in "a layer of fat constituting a set of under-flannels from one-eighth to one-fourth of an inch in thickness all over the bird's body." They are so warmly dressed that it is no wonder they are happy, cheerful, and active. A sight of them in a beautiful, snowy meadow is enough to repay one for the trouble of a quest.

Pine siskins, REDPOLLS, SONG SPARROWS, WHITE-THROATED SPARROWS, PURPLE FINCHES, and GOLDFINCHES are other species of the large Finch family, or Fringillidæ, that may be seen during the winter months.

The Pine siskin or PINE FINCH is a small brownish-gray bird streaked with black, and with _buff edges_ to many of its feathers. The _yellow in the wings and in the forked tail_ will distinguish it.

The REDPOLL is a little brownish-gray bird with a red forehead, reddish breast and rump, black chin and throat. It has distinct dark streaks on its head, back, and under parts, except the breast. There are several species varying slightly in size and markings.

The Song Sparrow is described on page 106, the White-throat on page 154, the Purple Finch on Page 159, the Goldfinch on page 216.

THE BOBWHITE OR QUAIL _American Partridge Family--Odontophoridæ_

Length: About 10 inches; the same length as the robin, but the quail has a stouter body and a shorter tail.

General Appearance: A plump, mottled brown bird, with a small head, short bill, and short tail.

Male: Upper parts reddish-brown and chestnut-brown, mottled with black, gray, and buff; head slightly crested; _forehead and line above eye white_, line extending to neck; black patch below eye, that curves to enclose _white throat_ and forms a band below it; under parts whitish, barred with black, except upper part of breast which is reddish-brown; tail short, gray, mottled with buff and a few black flecks.

Female: Similar to male, except for _buff patch over eye and buff throat_, and less black on head, neck, and across breast. In summer, the crown of both sexes is darker than in winter; the buff markings are lighter in color.

Note: _Bob-white? Bob-bob-white?_ A very clear, sweet, musical whistle.

Habitat: Grassy meadows and cultivated fields; farmyards, thickets, and swamps during the winter.

Range: Eastern North America, from southern Canada to the Gulf Coast and northern Florida and west to eastern Colorado. Usually a resident.

In Florida, except in the north, is found the FLORIDA BOBWHITE, a smaller and darker species. A quail is called a partridge in the south. The CALIFORNIA QUAIL, one of several western species, is very different in appearance from the eastern quail. It has a nodding plume on its head and is largely black, white, and brownish-gray.

No birds of my acquaintance, unless it be bluebirds, goldfinches, chickadees, and thrushes, seem so lovable, so interesting, and so altogether desirable as quail. Our summer meadows would lose much of their charm without the cheery "Bob White" ringing across them.

The character of human beings is shown in their voices; that of birds seems likewise revealed. The note of the quail breathes sweetness, tenderness, joy in life, and deep contentment. Unless need of food compels it, the killing of these nearly human creatures seems to me like the "Slaughter of the Innocents."

Few birds are so devoted to their mates or to their young as the quail. Many human parents are less alive to parental responsibilities. It is a well-known fact that while Mother Quail is sitting upon her second nestful of a dozen or more eggs, Father Bob assumes the entire care of the large, restless, older brood.

Most birds love their mates and their young, but quail seem to have affection for their brothers and sisters, also. The parents and the two broods sometimes remain together during the winter. When one member of the family is lost, the others give their tender covey-call, to lure home the prodigal. There are few sweeter sounds in nature. Mr. Forbush says: "When the broods are scattered by the gunner, they are reassembled again by a whistled call of the old bird, which has been given, '_ka-loi-kee, ka-loi-kee_,' and is answered by the whistled repeated response, '_whoil-kee_.' The syllables almost run together. The first call is uttered with a rising and the other with a falling inflection. It is plainly the rallying call and the answering cry."[23]

Dallas Lore Sharp, in his charming book "Wild Life Near Home," refers to the covey-call as follows: "It was the sweetest bird-note I ever heard, being so low, so liquid, so mellow that I almost doubted if Bob White could make it. But there she stood in the snow with head high, listening anxiously. Again she whistled, louder this time; and from the woods below came a faint answering call, _White!_ The answer seemed to break a spell; and on three sides of me sounded other calls. At this the little signaler repeated her efforts, and each time the answers came louder and nearer. Presently something dark hurried by me over the snow and joined the quail I was watching. It was one of the covey I had heard call from the woods.

"Again and again the signal was sent forth, until a third, fourth, and finally a fifth were grouped about the leader. There was just an audible twitter of welcome and gratitude exchanged as each new-comer made his appearance. Once more the whistle sounded; but this time there was no response across the silent field."

Young quail are very precocious. They are able to run about soon after they are hatched. They early learn how to hide and "freeze." A friend told me of coming suddenly upon a brood. The mother gave a call and all fled instantly, except one that turned into a little brown wooden image under a leaf at his feet. He picked it up and held it in his hand. Not a motion did it make until its mother gave a second call, when it shot out of his hand like a flash.

Another friend told me of her experience in finding a lost baby-quail. It was too little and too weak to keep up with the family--was probably the last born. It was so tired and distressed that when she knelt down and placed her cupped hand near it, the poor little thing ran to it, nestled down, and shut its eyes. She discovered the brood and carried the baby over to join its family, but it seemed loath to leave her. Three times it ran back to the warm shelter of her hand. She could hardly bear to abandon it to the life that seemed more than it could endure.

Dr. Judd made a careful study of the bobwhite. The following extracts are from his report: "It is the general opinion that with the on-coming of winter the bobwhite is found less often in the open fields, when withered herbaceous plants afford but scant protection from enemies, than in dense bushy, briery coverts and woods. In Maryland and Virginia, the scattered and depleted coveys after the shooting season evidently unite into large bevies. Their favorite resort is a bank with a southern exposure and suitable food-supply.

"Robert Ridgway found a clutch of freshly deposited eggs in southern Illinois on October 16, and H. C. Munger found another set in Missouri in January, the parent being afterwards found frozen on the nest. Authentic records show that bobwhite has been known to breed, at least occasionally, somewhere in its range every month in the year....

"In Maryland and Virginia large land-owners often feed their birds in severe weather. Wheat and corn are the best food and should be scattered, if possible, among the briers where the birds are safe from hawks. Bobwhites have been known to feed with chickens in barnyards. By a little forethought land-owners and sportsmen can easily make provision for their birds. Sumac bushes should be left along hedgerows and the edge of woodland to furnish food that is always above the snow and lasts well into spring.... The bayberry and wax-myrtle last until May, also.

"The food habits of the bobwhite are noteworthy in several respects. Vegetable matter has long been known to be an important element in the food of the bobwhite. Grain-eating birds are likely to do much harm to crops.... The bobwhite is a notable exception. Not a single sprouting kernel was found in the crops and stomachs of quail examined."[24]

Dr. Judd enumerates eighty-eight varieties of weed seeds that are eaten by quail, and states an amazing number eaten at one time. "One bird shot at Marshall Hall had eaten 1000 ragweed akenes; another contained [quantities of] leguminous seeds, mainly tick-trefoil; a third had eaten 5000 seeds of green foxtail grass, while a fourth had taken about 10000 [infinitesimal] pigweed seeds."[24]

As an insect-destroyer the bobwhite is of enormous value. During the summer, insects form more then one-third of its food. Over one hundred varieties had been discovered by examination of the stomachs of quail in 1905, an unusually large proportion of which were highly injurious to crops. Mr. Forbush thinks that no farmer in Massachusetts can afford to shoot a quail or allow it to be shot on his land, and that if the markets must be supplied, quail must be reared artificially.

Our bobwhite sleeps on the ground. The California quail roosts in bushes or trees. One summer evening in Santa Barbara it was my privilege to see a charming phase of quail family life. I was sitting quietly under a tree on a knoll that overlooked a flat shed-roof, when I heard a low call, and a whirring of wings. Mother Quail, accompanied by thirteen little balls of brown feathers, alighted on the roof near me. She talked to her adorable family, and, judging by their quick responses, she evidently gave them numerous commands. They finally ran to the edge of the roof and arranged themselves in a row, faces outward, until she gave another call. Then obediently they gathered around her in a true Kindergarten Circle, heads outward and tails toward her, all ready for bed. There they nestled, until a passer-by disturbed them and, to my great regret, they flew away. In a few minutes I heard a clear loud _ku-ku-kow_, and on the same roof alighted Father Bob with fifteen restless boys and girls--a veritable Primary Class. He had more trouble in controlling them than Mother had experienced with her docile little ones; they ran hither and thither in spite of his insistent, anxious calls. He succeeded in gathering them about him, however; but just as they were forming their circle, they, too, were frightened away.

THE RUFFED GROUSE _Grouse Family--Tetraonidæ_

Length: About 17 inches.

Male: Upper parts reddish-brown, with black, yellowish, gray, and whitish markings; large tufts or "ruffs" of glossy black feathers at the sides of the neck. Tail long and broad, gray and reddish-brown, mottled and barred with black, and a broad blackish band near the end; when spread, the tail resembles a fan. Under parts buffy, becoming white, with black bars that are indistinct on breast and belly, and darker on the sides; a broken band on the breast.

Female: Similar to male, but with smaller ruffs on the sides of the neck.

"Love-song": A loud tattoo or drumming that sounds like a thump on a large drum--a _tum-tum-tum-tum-tum-tup-tup-whir-r-r-r-r-r_. This tattoo is most common in late winter and early spring, but may be heard in the summer and fall. While heard most frequently during the day, it may be heard at any hour of the night. In making it, the bird usually stands very erect on a hollow log or stump, with head held high and ruffs erected and spread, and, raising its wings, strikes downward and forward. The sound produced is a muffled boom or thump. It begins with a few slow beats, gradually growing quicker, and ends in a rolling, accelerated "tattoo."[25]

Habitat: A bird of the woods that nests on the ground.

Range: A resident in the northern two-thirds of the United States and in the forested parts of Canada.

The Ruffed Grouse, the finest and most famous game-bird of the northern woods, was formerly very abundant. Its numbers have greatly decreased. Like the bobwhite, it responds to protection and may be raised under artificial conditions. It eats nearly sixty kinds of wild fruit; beechnuts, hazelnuts, chestnuts, acorns, and weed seeds form a large part of its diet. It eats some insects, the most important being beetles of various kinds.

Mr. Forbush says: "The female alone undertakes the task of incubation and the care of the young.... All the young grouse in a nest hatch at nearly the same instant; their feathers dry very rapidly, and they are soon ready to run about.... They run about, stealing noiselessly along among the dead leaves, under the foliage of ferns and shrubbery.... Meanwhile, the mother marches slowly in the rear, perhaps to guard them against surprise from any keen-scented animal that may follow on the trail. She seems to be always on the alert, and a single warning note from her will cause the young birds to flatten themselves on the ground or to hide under leaves, where they will remain motionless until they are trodden upon, rather than run the risk of betraying themselves by attempting to escape.

"During the fall, the Grouse keep together in small flocks. Sometimes a dozen birds may be found around some favorite grape vine or apple tree, but they are usually so harried and scattered by gunners that toward winter the old birds may sometimes be found alone.

"As winter approaches, this hardy bird puts on its 'snowshoes,' which consist of a fringe of horny processes or pectinations that grow out along each toe, and help to distribute the weight of the bird over a larger surface, and so allow it to walk over snows into which a bird not so provided would sink deeply. Its digestion must resemble that of the famous Ostrich, as broken twigs and dry leaves are ground up in its mill. It is a hard winter that will starve the Grouse. A pair spent many winter nights in a little cave in the rocky wall of an old quarry. Sumacs grew there, and many rank weeds. The birds lived well on sumac berries, weed seeds, and buds.

"Sometimes, but perhaps rarely, these birds are imprisoned under the snow by the icy crust which forms in cold weather following a rain, but usually they are vigorous enough to find a way out somewhere. The Grouse is perfectly at home beneath the snow; it will dive into it to escape a Hawk, and can move rapidly about beneath the surface and burst out again in rapid flight at some unexpected place.

"The Ruffed Grouse is a bird of the woodland, and though useful in the woods, it sometimes does some injury in the orchard by removing too many buds from a single tree. In winter and early spring, when other food is buried by the snow and hard to obtain, the Grouse lives largely on the buds and green twigs of trees; but as spring advances, insects form a considerable part of the food. The young feed very largely on insects, including many very destructive species."[26]

THE CEDAR WAXWING OR CEDAR-BIRD _Called Locally the "Cherry Bird" Waxwing Family or Bombycillidæ_

Length: A little over 7 inches.

General Appearance: A grayish-brown bird, with a decided crest and a yellow band at end of tail. Plump and well-fed in appearance.

Male and Female: A beautiful, rich grayish-brown with a soft yellow breast. Head conspicuously crested; forehead glossy black; a black line above the bill is extended toward the top of the head, outlining the crest; crest elevated and lowered to express surprise, contentment, fear and other emotions; bill and chin black; throat blackish. Wings brown, becoming a soft gray; wing-feathers with small red tips that look like bits of sealing-wax--hence the name, Waxwing. Tail light gray, shading to a dark grey, rounded, fan-shaped in flight, and edged with a broad yellow band.

Young: Grayish-brown, streaked, and without red tips to their wings.

Note: A gentle lisping _tseep, tseep_, monotonous and uninteresting. Mr. Forbush says of the waxwing, "It moves about in silence, save as it utters a lisping 'beading' note or a 'hushed whistle.'"

Habitat: During the nesting season, devoted pairs may be seen in orchards, in red cedars, or in shrubbery by roadsides, preferably near trees or bushes laden with berries. The birds are rovers, usually flying in large flocks.

Range: North America. Breeds from south-central Canada to southern Oregon, northern New Mexico, Kansas, northern Arkansas, and North Carolina; winters irregularly throughout nearly all the United States, and south to Cuba, Mexico, and Panama.

Cedar Waxwings are among our most exquisite birds in their delicate blending of color and in their dainty refinement. They seem to have been tinted by a water-color artist, or an expert in the use of pastels. Their proverbial good manners seem to preclude any disturbance of their well-preened feathers by undue haste of movement or quarrelsome ruffling.

My earliest recollections of these beautiful but rather uninteresting birds is of their frequent raids upon a great mulberry tree in my grandparents' garden. They gorged upon the dead-ripe mulberries with the quiet enjoyment of epicures rather than the greedy haste of gourmands. I remember, also, my grandmother's dismay at the inroads which the "cherry-birds" and robins made upon her cherry crop, and my bird-loving grandfather's command that no bird should be molested.

Cedar, juniper, sumac, and mountain ash berries, form the winter diet of these frugivorous birds. As a larder is speedily exhausted by a flock of from twenty to sixty hungry fruit-eaters, they must fly to "pastures new." During the spring and summer seasons, they supplement their diet of wild fruit, most of which is of no commercial value, with beetles that infest potato-patches and elm trees, and cankerworms that prey upon apple trees. They are very valuable to man, and earn their dessert of cultivated cherries. Mr. Forbush says that they deserve the name of "cankerworm birds."

He writes as follows: "They frequent infested orchards in large flocks, and fill themselves with the worms until they can eat no more. Such little gluttons rarely can be found among birds. The Cedar-bird seems to have the most rapid digestion of any bird with which experiments have been made. Audubon said that Cedar-birds would gorge themselves with fruit until they could be taken by hand; and that he had seen wounded birds, confined in a cage, eat of apples until suffocated. They will stuff themselves to the very throat. So, wherever they feed, their appetites produce a visible effect. Professor Forbes estimates that thirty Cedar-birds will destroy ninety thousand cankerworms in a month. This calculation seems to be far within bounds.

"Cedar-birds are devoted to each other and to their young. Sometimes a row of six or eight may be seen, sitting close together on a limb, passing and repassing from beak to beak a fat caterpillar or juicy cherry. I have seen this touching courtesy but once, and believe it was done not so much from politeness as from the fact that most of the birds were so full that they had no room for more--a condition in which they could afford to be generous. Nevertheless, the manner in which it was done, and the simulation of tender regard and consideration for each other exhibited, rendered it a sight well worth seeing. They also have a habit of 'billing' or saluting one another with the bill."[27]

A flock of cedar-birds "seep" and whisper to each other like over-fed children. Their note seems to be an expression of their gentle, affectionate, comfortable, ease-loving natures. There appears to be absence of aspiration or longing in their bird-hearts, which seems so poignant in thrushes and many other songsters.

THE BOHEMIAN WAXWING

The Bohemian Waxwing is very similar to its cousin, the Cedar Waxwing, in color and markings, but may be distinguished by its _larger size_, (8 inches), by _reddish-brown feathers under the tail, by the absence of yellow on the breast, by a crown that is reddish-brown in front_, and _by yellow and white markings on the wings_. In note, feeding habits, and other characteristics, it resembles the Cedar-bird.

This larger species of waxwing is found in the colder regions of the whole Northern Hemisphere. In North America it breeds from northern Alaska and northern Canada to southern British Columbia and Alberta; winters east to Nova Scotia and south irregularly to eastern California, Colorado, Kansas, southern Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. It is a rare winter visitor in Massachusetts.

THE TUFTED TITMOUSE OR TOMTIT _Titmouse Family--Paridæ_

Length: About 6 inches; a little smaller than the English sparrow.

General Appearance: A slender, active, gray and white bird, _with a crest_. Its reddish-brown sides are not visible at a distance. The titmouse need never be confused with the waxwing; it is much smaller, and lacks the yellow and red markings on tail and wings.

Male and Female: Head conspicuously crested; crest gray and pointed; forehead black; bill short, sharp, black; back, wings, and tail gray; under parts whitish, with a reddish-brown wash on the sides.

Call-note: _De-de-de-de_, similar to one of the chickadee's notes, but louder.

Song: A loud, sweet, clear whistle: _Pe'-to, pe'-to, pe'-to, pe'-to, pe'-to_, frequently repeated five times. The titmouse is called locally the "Peter-bird."

Habitat: Woodlands; open groves of hard-wood trees preferred.

Range: Rare in New England. From Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, south to central Texas, the Gulf Coast, and Florida; occasional in Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, and Connecticut. Common permanent resident near Washington, especially in winter.

No winter bird more truly exemplifies protective coloring than the lively crested Tomtit, unless it be his little cousin, the Black-capped Chickadee. This sober-hued titmouse is such a blending of the grays and blacks of tree-trunk and icy brook, of the dazzling white of snow and the soft gray shadows that lie across it, of reddish-brown shrubs and weeds, that he might escape notice except for his conspicuous crest. He can be distinguished from the cedar waxwing at a glance by his reddish sides, and because of the _absence_ of a yellow band across the tail and of conspicuous black, white, and red patches or markings.

Few more active birds exist than titmice. They are at once the envy and the despair of aspiring small boys who know them, because of their extreme agility--their ability to perform acrobatic feats. They swing head downward from twigs in the search for their favorite food of insect-eggs; they seem strung on wires.

In the woodlands frequented by tufted titmice, they are as much in evidence as blue jays, because of their loud, clear _peto-peto-peto-peto-peto_, a welcome and pleasant sound during belated spring days or a bleak March "sugaring-off" season.

They are less friendly than chickadees, but are not shy, so they can be observed easily. They are very sociable with their kind, and are found, "playing around" with chickadees, nuthatches, and downy woodpeckers in the winter-time, and snuggling close together in old nest-holes during winter weather. In the spring, titmice use hollowed trees for their nesting sites and have been known to welcome a nesting-box.

These birds do enormous good, not only in eating insect-eggs, but in destroying caterpillars, cutworms, beetles, weevils, flies, wasps, plant-lice, and scale-insects in their season.[28] They will eat berries, nuts, and acorns during the winter and are extremely hardy.

THE CHICKADEE OR BLACK-CAPPED TITMOUSE _Titmouse Family--Paridæ_

Length: About 5¼ inches.

General Appearance: A very active little gray and white bird, with a black cap and throat and dull yellowish sides.

Male and Female: Head and throat a glistening black; sides of head white; bill small, black, sharp-pointed; back a soft brownish-gray; wings and tail gray, edged with white; breast white, becoming yellowish at the sides below the wings.

Song: _Chick-a-dee-dee-dee_, uttered with gurgles and chuckles, and with variations.

Call-notes: _Day'-day_, and a whistle that resembles the word _Pé-whee_. The latter note is often called the "Phoebe note," and sometimes the "Pewee note." To me it resembles neither; it is not hoarse and wheezing like the phoebe's, nor plaintive like the pewee's. The last syllable has a descending inflection.

Flight: Very swift and jerky.

Habitat: Woodlands, orchards, and groves.

Range: Eastern North America, from the Hudson Bay region and N. F., south to central Missouri, Illinois, northern Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, and in the Alleghany Mts. to North Carolina; somewhat farther south in winter.

The CAROLINA CHICKADEE, a smaller species, breeds from central Missouri, Indiana, central Ohio, Pennsylvania (infrequently), and central New Jersey, south to southeastern Louisiana, the Gulf Coast and northern Florida. In southern Florida, are found the FLORIDA CHICKADEES, that are still smaller and browner.

In the White Mts., the Green Mts., the Adirondacks, and southeastern Canada live ACADIAN CHICKADEES, that differ from the preceding species in having brownish-gray crowns, and reddish-brown sides. A similarly marked species, slightly larger, is found from Ontario to Alaska.

During tiresome days of a winter convalescence, spent largely on a sleeping-porch that overlooked a beautiful hillside, my most constant and cheering companions were lively little chickadees. Their blending with the winter landscape was perfect. Whether they were seen against the black snow-laden trunks or smooth gray boles of beeches, or among yellowish willow-withes, they were bits of color harmony.

These active little gymnasts, performing unexpected feats in their swinging from horizontal bars, furnished pleasant diversion, while their friendly, confiding ways, their undaunted fearlessness, and their optimism cheered lonely hours.

An ice-storm necessitated the spreading of a table for our brave little all-kinds-of-weather friends. They came in pairs, grew very tame, and drew near to us like confiding children who knew that no harm would befall them. They acted as though our care of them was the most natural thing in the world. Chickadees have never seemed to me to "grow up," but always to remain the trusting little ones of the bird-world, too small to be out alone, and yet, like children, to fare forth with confidence that their needs would be supplied.

They repay a thousand-fold any care bestowed upon them. Dr. Judd reported finding in the stomach of one black-capped chickadee between 200 and 300 eggs of the fall cankerworm moth, and 450 eggs of a plant louse in another. Mr. C. E. Bailey computed that one chickadee alone would destroy 138,750 eggs of the cankerworm moth in 25 days, while Prof. Sanderson estimated that 8,000,000,000 insects are destroyed yearly in Michigan by these invaluable little birds.[29]

"Much of the daylight life of the chickadee is spent in a busy, active pursuit of, or search for, insects and their eggs. This is particularly the case in winter, when hibernating insects or their eggs must be most diligently sought, for then starvation always threatens. But the chickadee is one of the few insectivorous birds that is keen-witted enough to find abundant food and safe shelter during the inclement northern winter. Nevertheless, its busy search for food is sometimes interrupted for so long a time during severe storms, when the trees are encased in ice, that it dies from cold and hunger. During a sleet storm Mr. C. E. Bailey saw two chickadees creep under the loose clapboards of an old building for shelter. Their tails were so weighted down with ice that they could hardly fly, and had he not cared for them they might have perished.

"The chickadee, notwithstanding its hardiness, requires protection from cold winds and storms at night. It finds such shelter either in some hollow tree or in some deserted bird nest. Late one cold and snowy afternoon Mr. Bailey detected a movement in a cavity under an old crow's nest, and on climbing the tree he found two chickadees nestling there. They remained there until he had climbed to the nest and put his hand on one, when they flew out, only to return before he reached the ground. Minot speaks of a chickadee that slept alone in winter in a phoebe's nest under his veranda. It retires to its refuge rather early at night, and does not come out until the Tree Sparrow, Song Sparrow, and Junco are abroad."[30]

THE GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET _Old World Warbler Family--Sylviidæ_

Length: About 4 inches; smaller than the chickadee.

Male: Olive-green above, grayish-white underneath; crown with a _bright red center, bordered on each side_ by _bright yellow_, and by a _black stripe_ that edges the yellow; a light line over the eye; wings and tail brown; tail forked.

Female: Like male, but without the red in the center of the yellow-and-black crown.

Call-note: A weak _tzee, tzee_, highly pitched.

Song: William Brewster, in the _Auk_ for 1888, describes the song as follows: [It] "begins with a succession of five or six fine, shrill, high-pitched somewhat faltering notes, and ends with a short, rapid, rather explosive warble. The opening notes are given in a rising key, but the song falls rapidly at the end. The whole may be expressed as follows: _tzee, tzee, tzee, tzee, ti, ti, ter, ti-ti-ti-ti_."

Habitat: Woodlands, where kinglets are usually found _near the ends of branches_, of coniferous trees especially.

Range: Eastern North America. Breeds in the tree-regions of central Canada, south in the Rocky Mts. to northern Arizona, New Mexico, and to Michigan, New York, and mountains of Massachusetts, and in the higher Alleghanies south to North Carolina; winters from Iowa, Ontario, New Brunswick, to northern Florida and Mexico.

Though the Golden-crowned Kinglet is one of our smallest birds, it braves the rigors of winter in the United States. It may be seen from the latter part of September until April or early May, when it goes to its more northerly nesting ground.

Kinglets and chickadees are industrious searchers for insects' eggs. Their value is almost inestimable. Mr. Forbush tells of watching the "Gold-crest" hunt for its food among the pines. He says: "The birds were fluttering about among the trees. Each one would hover for a moment before a tuft of pine 'needles,' and then either alight upon it and feed or pass on to another. I examined the 'needles' after the Kinglets had left them, and could find nothing on them; but when a bird was disturbed before it had finished feeding, the spray from which it had been driven was invariably found to be infested with numerous black specks, the eggs of plant lice. Evidently the birds were cleaning each spray thoroughly, as far as they went."[31]

Mr. Forbush tells also of observing the work of seven kinglets in a grove of white pine which "must have been infested with countless thousands of these eggs, for the band of Kinglets remained there until March 25, almost three months later, apparently feeding most of the time on these eggs. When they had cleared the branches, the little birds fluttered about the trunks, hanging poised on busy wing, like Hummingbirds before a flower, meanwhile rapidly pecking the clinging eggs from the bark. In those three months they must have suppressed hosts of little tree pests, for I have never seen birds more industrious and assiduous in their attentions to the trees. One might expect such work of Creepers or of Woodpeckers; but the Kinglets seemed to have departed from their usual habits of gleaning among limbs and foliage, to take the place of the missing Creepers, not one of which was seen in the grove last winter."[32]

THE CAROLINA WREN _Wren Family--Troglodytidæ_

Length: About 5½ inches; the largest of the six more common eastern wrens.

Male and Female: Reddish-brown above; _no bars_ or _streaks_, except on wings and tail, and occasionally underneath the body, near the tail; a _long light line over the eye, extending to the shoulders_; under parts buff with a brownish wash; throat white.

Notes: "Wren-like _chucks_ of annoyance or interrogation," and "a peculiar fluttering _k-r-r-r-r-uck_, which resembles the bleating call of a tree-toad."[33]

Song: A loud clear whistle, consisting of three similar syllables, with variations.

Habitat: Thickets, vines, and undergrowth.

Range: Eastern United States. Breeds from southeastern Nebraska, Iowa, Ohio, southern Pennsylvania, the lower Hudson and Connecticut valleys south to central Texas, Gulf States, and northern Florida; casual north to Wisconsin, Michigan, Ontario, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.

Professor Beal writes of this interesting wren as follows: "The Carolina wren is resident from the Gulf of Mexico north to the southern boundaries of Iowa, Illinois, and Connecticut in the breeding season, but in winter it withdraws somewhat farther south. It is a bird of the thicket and undergrowth, preferring to place its nest in holes and crannies, but when necessary, will build a bulky structure in a tangle of twigs and vines. Unlike the house wren it does not ordinarily use the structures of man for nesting sites.

"It is one of the few American birds that sing throughout the year. Most birds sing, or try to, in the mating season, but the Carolina wren may be heard pouring forth his melody of song every month. The writer's first introduction to this bird was in the month of January when he heard gushing from a thicket a song which reminded him of June instead of midwinter.

"This wren keeps up the reputation of the family as an insect-eater, as over nine-tenths of its diet consists of insects and their allies." Stomach analysis shows that the vegetable food of the Carolina wren is largely seeds of trees and shrubs and some wild berries. He concludes: "From this analysis of the food of the Carolina wren, it is evident that the farmer and fruit-grower have not the slightest cause for complaint against the bird. It eats neither cultivated fruit nor grain, and does not even nest in an orchard tree; but it does feed on numerous injurious insects and enlivens the tangled thickets with its cheerful songs for twelve months of the year."[34]

Dr. Witmer Stone writes of the song of the Carolina wren as follows: "His most characteristic song has been likened by Mr. Chapman to _tea-kettle, tea-kettle, tea-kettle_, and to _whee-udle, whee-udle, whee-udle_. Wilson wrote it _sweet-william, sweet-william, sweet-william_; and to Audubon it seemed to say _come-to-me, come-to-me, come-to-me_. It has variations recalling forms in the Cardinal's song, and also that of the Tufted Titmouse; and the Wren after repeating one form for some time, often changes suddenly to another producing a rather startling effect, as if another bird has taken its place."[35]

THE WINTER WREN _Wren Family--Troglodytidæ_

Length: About 4 inches; the same size as the golden-crowned kinglet.

Male and Female: Similar in appearance to the house wren, but smaller and with a shorter tail; body brown, mostly barred with fine, black lines; light line over the eye; under parts darker than those of the house wren, with a buff wash across throat and breast.

Song: A very beautiful song, unusually loud for so small a bird. Those fortunate enough to hear it are extravagant in their praise. Mr. Eaton calls it the sweetest melody that he and his associates heard in the Adirondacks, excelling even the thrushes.

Habitat: Brush heaps, thickets in woods, along streams, and in wild rocky places.

Range: Breeds from southern Canada to Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, and Massachusetts, through the Alleghanies to North Carolina; winters from about its southern breeding limit to Texas and northern Florida.

Eaton says: "During the migration, this little wren is commonly observed about the shrubbery of our lawns, parks, and the edges of woods, when disturbed retreating to the recesses of some brush pile or under the damp edges of the stream bank. A few remain throughout the winter in western and central New York, and it is fairly common as a winter resident in the southeastern portion of the State, but in the principal breeding range of the Adirondacks and Catskills it is only a summer resident."[36] It is a rather common winter visitor near Washington, and rare in New England.

THE DOWNY WOODPECKER _Woodpecker Family--Picidæ_

Length: A little over 6½ inches; the smallest of our woodpeckers.

General Appearance: A _small_ black and white bird, with a _white stripe extending down the middle of its back_; a red patch on back of male's head. The tail is used for a prop as the woodpecker climbs tree-trunks.

Male: Upper parts black and white; crown of head black with _red patch at nape_; two broad white stripes above and below eye; a _broad white stripe down the center of back_; wings spotted and barred with white; tail sharply pointed; the long tail-feathers, black; the short _outer tail-feathers, white barred with black_; bill long, strong, with a tuft of feathers at its base.

Female: Like male, except for the _absence of a red patch on the head_.

Notes: A call-note _Peek-peek_. A metallic _Tut-tut-tut'-tut-tut-tut-tut_ might be considered the Downy's song, but he belongs really to the group of songless birds. He beats loud tattoos on the boughs of trees, especially at mating time.

Flight: Labored, jerky, with a characteristic shutting of the wings against the sides.

Habitat: Tree-trunks in woods and orchards, and on lawns. The Downy is our most common woodpecker, and a permanent resident.

Range: Northern and central parts of eastern North America, from Alberta, Manitoba, and Ungava, south to eastern Nebraska, Kansas, the Potomac Valley, and in the mountains to North Carolina.

The SOUTHERN DOWNY WOODPECKER of the South Atlantic and Gulf States is smaller and browner than its northern relative.

The Downy Woodpecker is a member of a family of birds that has attracted man's attention since the old days of superstition. Various myths have grown up around these birds; those of the American Indians are possibly the most interesting. Until recently, woodpeckers have been persecuted by the white man, because of their habit of pecking at trees which they were thought to kill. Many have been unjustly slain.

While one branch of the family, the Sapsuckers, have done a great deal of harm to forests where they breed, and other woodpeckers have done occasional damage, it is now known that they are invaluable as preservers of our trees. Entomologists and foresters consider them the greatest enemies known of spruce-bark beetles and sap-wood borers. As borers are found near the surface in living trees, the holes made by woodpeckers while extracting them soon heals and leaves little mark.

An examination of the structure of woodpeckers shows the admirable way in which they are fitted for their work. They have short, stout legs; strong feet, usually with two toes in front and two in the back; large claws, and stiff tails tipped with sharp spines, to aid them in supporting themselves firmly against tree-trunks and branches. Mr. Forbush says: "The bird is thus more fully equipped for climbing than a telegraph lineman. The claws and tail take the place of the man's hand and spurs."[37]

Professor Beal writes the following: "As much of the food of woodpeckers is obtained from solid wood, Nature has provided most of them with a stout beak having a chisel-shaped point which forms an exceedingly effective instrument. But the most peculiar and interesting point in the anatomy of these birds is the tongue. This is more or less cylindrical in form and usually very long. At the anterior end it generally terminates in a hard point, with more or less barbs upon the sides. Posteriorly the typical woodpecker tongue is extended in two long, slender filaments of the hyoid bone _which curl up around the back of the skull_ and, while they commonly stop between the eyes, in some species they pass around the eye, but in others enter the right nasal opening and extend to the end of the beak. In this last case the tongue is practically twice the length of the head. Posteriorly this organ is inclosed in a muscular sheath by means of which it can be extruded from the mouth to a considerable length, and used as a most effective instrument for dislodging grubs or ants from their burrows in wood or bark. Hence, while most birds have to be content with such insects as they find on the surface or in open crevices, the woodpeckers devote their energies to those larvæ or grubs which are beneath the bark or even in the heart of the tree. They locate their hidden prey with great accuracy, and often cut small holes directly to the burrows of the grubs."[38]

Mr. Forbush calls attention to the wonderfully constructed head of a woodpecker "which is built so that it can withstand hard and continuous hammering. The skull is very thick and hard. Its connection with the beak is strong, but at the same time springy, and somewhat jar-deadening. The membrane which surrounds the brain is very thick and strong."[39]

The Downy is the smallest member of the woodpecker family in North America, and is one of the most useful. He is especially fond of orchards and shade trees, and not only devours insects that infest them during the spring and summer, but eats the eggs they laid in the crevices of the bark during the winter. One Downy alone is of inestimable value in an orchard or a grove. Mr. Forbush writes as follows: "When the Metropolitan Park Commission first began to set out young trees along the parkways of Boston, some species of trees were attacked by borers; but the Downy Woodpeckers found them out and extracted the grubs, saving most of the trees.

"The untiring industry of this bird and the perfection of its perceptive powers may be shown by the experience of Mr. Bailey. On March 28, 1899, a Downy Woodpecker that he watched climbed over and inspected one hundred and eighty-one woodland trees between 9:40 A. M. and 12:15 P. M., and made twenty-six excavations for food. Most of these holes exposed galleries in the trunks in high branches where wood-boring ants were hiding.... These ants often gain an entrance at some unprotected spot on a living tree, and so excavate the wood of the trunk that the tree is blown down by the wind. This woodpecker acts as a continual check on the increase of such ants."[39]

The Downy may easily be attracted to our yards by a piece of suet fastened securely to a tree. During the past winter, one has sought my suet-cage, in company with chickadees and nuthatches. This spring he brought his mate to a maple in front of the house. He has seemed excited and happy, and has drummed persistently on a certain broken limb of the tree. He has indulged in numerous rapid flights and his metallic, ringing call.

THE HAIRY WOODPECKER _Woodpecker Family--Picidæ_

Length: About 9½ inches; nearly 1/3 larger than the Downy, whom he _resembles almost identically as to general appearance, except in_ SIZE.

Male: Black and white above; white underneath; _broad white stripe down_ the _middle of_ the _back_; head with black and white stripes, a red patch at the back, and bristles at the bill; wings black, with white stripes and bars; tail black, with white outside feathers; _the absence of black flecks on the tail-feathers and the larger size of the bird_ distinguishes the Hairy from the Downy.

Female: Like male, except for the absence of a red patch on the head.

Note: A loud, shrill call, difficult to imitate or to reproduce on paper for identification. The Hairy also "drums" on the boughs of trees; it has no real song.

Habitat: Tree-trunks in woodlands, rather than in orchards or gardens, though I have noticed these woodpeckers in winter frequenting the trees of village streets without shyness or fear. During the breeding season, they remain in secluded spots in the woods.

Range: Three species of the Hairy Woodpecker may be found in Canada and the United States; the NORTHERN HAIRY WOODPECKER, the HAIRY WOODPECKER, and the SOUTHERN HAIRY WOODPECKER. The northern species lives in the tree-zone of Canada, and is the largest of the three; the Hairy, next in size, may be found in the United States from Colorado, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, to the middle and northern parts of the Eastern States. The Southern Hairy, the smallest of the three, is a resident of our southern section.

The Hairy Woodpecker is so like his small Downy relative in appearance and habits that his characteristics are not usually dwelt upon; he is like an older neglected cousin of a baby upon whom much attention is lavished.

But he is very worth while attracting. He is as untiring as the Downy in his quest for beetles, his favorite kind of tree-food; he is also a lover of ants and other "borers." His longer bill enables him to reach many that the Downy cannot. One Hairy Woodpecker alone saved an entire orchard that had become infested with "borers." One tree had died before he began his rescue-work, but he saved all the others.[40]

He likes the caterpillars of the cecropia and gypsy moths. He eats much vegetable food, especially during the winter; he has been known to take an occasional bite of the soft inner bark of trees and a drink of sap which he has well earned. Like the Downy, he will eat suet in the winter season.

Mr. Forbush writes: "While this bird often excavates a hole for winter shelter, it sometimes sleeps exposed on a tree-trunk. Mr. Bailey and I once watched one that slept for many winter nights on the north side of a tree trunk in a thick grove. It attached its claws to the bark and went to sleep in much the same position in which it ordinarily climbed the tree. It invariably went to the same tree at night, and was found in the same place at daylight every morning."[40]

THE WHITE-BREASTED NUTHATCH _Nuthatch Family--Sittidæ_

Length: About 6 inches.

General Appearance: A short, thickset bird, blue-gray, black, and white. Bill long; tail short and square.

Male: Mostly bluish-gray above; white underneath, shading to reddish-brown at sides and under tail; top of head and nape a shining blue-black; sides of head and throat white; wings gray shading to brown, edged and tipped with light gray or white; shoulders gray and black; bill large and strong, (¾ of an inch in length); tail short and square-cut; middle feathers bluish-gray; outer ones black, with large white patches near tips; legs short; feet large and strong; hind toe unusually long, with a long, sharp nail.

Female: Head a dull grayish-black; otherwise like male.

Notes: A nasal _crank-crank_, which, though not melodious, is not unpleasant to hear. Dr. Chapman says: "There is such a lack of sentiment in the Nuthatch's character, he seems so matter-of-fact in all his ways, that it is difficult to imagine him indulging in anything like song. But even he cannot withstand the conquering influences of spring, and at that season he raises his voice in a peculiar monotone--a tenor _hah-hah-hah-hah-hah_--sounding strangely like mirthless laughter."[41]

Flight: Undulating.

Habitat: Trunks of trees, which he ascends and descends. The other tree-trunk birds, except the black and white warbler, usually ascend trees.

Range: North America, east of the Plains. A permanent resident, though irregularly distributed. Breeds from central Canada to the northern parts of the Gulf States.

Of the so-called tree-trunk birds, none are easier to identify than nuthatches, because of their habit of _descending_ trees. Woodpeckers jerk themselves up a tree somewhat as men might ascend telegraph-poles or smooth slippery palm trees. Creepers wind spirally about trunks in a gentle, unobtrusive manner. Both woodpeckers and creepers use their sharply-pointed tails as props. Not so the nuthatches. They care not how they go--"uphill or down dale"--all is one to them. They are as sure-footed as burros descending the Grand Canyon. If they depart from their trail, and decide to leap from crag to crag of their arboreal cliffs, they alight on their strong feet with something of the assurance of a cat. Their tails are not necessary to them as supports.

It is interesting to inquire into the reasons for curious habits of birds. In the economy of Nature one finds marvelous adaptations and harmonies. Mr. Francis H. Allen, in his delightful sketch written for the National Association of Audubon Societies, speaks of the nuthatch as "filling a gap in nature" by approaching his prey from an angle not possible to woodpeckers and creepers. Mr. Allen says: "He would not have adopted so unusual a method of feeding if it had not stood him in good stead. I suspect that by approaching his prey from above he detects insects and insect-eggs in the crevices of the bark which would be hidden from another point of view. The woodpeckers and the creepers can take care of the rest. Of course these other birds get something of a downward view as they bend their heads forward, but the Nuthatch has the advantage of seeing, before he gets to them, some insects which even a Brown Creeper's gentle approach would scare into closer hiding in their holes and crannies."[42]

In addition to beetles, moths, caterpillars, ants, and wasps, the nuthatch eats seeds, waste grain, and nuts such as acorns, beechnuts, and chestnuts.[43] His habit of wedging nuts into some crevice that will hold them securely, and then using his strong bill as a hatchet to "hatch" open the nuts is well-known. From that habit he derives his name, which Mr. Forbush says originated probably from _nuthack_ or _nuthacker_. The bird does much good, and no harm that is known.

He is active and cheerful, inquisitive, and intelligent. He makes an interesting winter companion. During an ice-storm in Asheville, N. C., a nuthatch was attracted by fragments of bread scattered for the hungry winter birds during their famine time. This nuthatch pounced on large crumbs so greedily and purloined them so rapidly that my sisters feared he would die of acute indigestion! They finally discovered that he had wedged the crumbs into large crevices in the bark of a tree near by, and had stowed one good-sized crust in a hole in a telegraph-pole. When he had appropriated most of the bread, he spent the day feasting, going from one store house to another.

A nuthatch in Massachusetts frequently sought an improvised feeding-table made from a bluebird's nesting-box. One cold morning the owner saw him emerging from the box, where he had evidently "spent the night sitting on his breakfast," literally seated in the lap of luxury. He reminded me of that delicious tale I loved to read and contemplate during childhood,--of the children who lived in a candy house and ate their way out of it!

Another New England nuthatch, one that I watched at my feeding-table, at first made rapid inroads upon the suet-cage, storing pieces in the cracks of a tree near by. I saw him tuck one large crumb beneath a warped shingle of the chicken-house, evidently laying it up for an icy day, instead of the proverbial rainy one. When an unusually severe ice-storm occurred, he returned to his store house and the crumb disappeared. I had the satisfaction of having assisted him in his dire need.

THE RED-BREASTED NUTHATCH _Nuthatch Family--Sittidæ_

The Red-breasted Nuthatch is very similar to its white-breasted cousin except that it is smaller, (4½ to 5 inches), and is _yellowish_ or "_rusty_" _underneath_, (except for a white throat), has a _white stripe_ on each side of its _black crown_, and a _black stripe extending through the eye_. The head of the female is gray, with white and gray stripes.

This species is not so well known as the white-breasted nuthatch, because it frequents coniferous forests or woods that contain evergreens. It breeds from the Upper Yukon Valley, central Canada, and northern United States, and winters as far south as lower California, New Mexico, Arizona, and the Gulf Coast.

Mr. Allen says of this bird: "To those who know it the Red-breasted Nuthatch is dear out of all proportion to its size and its musical attainments. It is livelier than its big cousin, and prettier in its markings, and there is something particularly fetching about its quaint little form. It is even less of a songster than the white-breasted species, for prolongations and repetitions of its call-note seem to be all it has that can pass for a song. This call-note can be rendered as _äap_. It is nasal, like that of the White-breasted Nuthatch, but much higher in pitch, more drawling, and lacks the _r_. It has been happily likened to the sound of a tiny trumpet or tin horn.

"The habits of the Red-breasted Nuthatch are so like those of the White-breasted that much that I have said about that species is applicable to this. The most striking difference is in the favorite haunts of the two birds, the Red-breasted preferring the coniferous woods, or mixed woods that contain a large proportion of evergreens. In those winters when they are found in southern New England, they come freely to the neighborhood of man's dwellings and feed familiarly on the supplies provided for the winter birds, but even there they show their partiality for coniferous trees. They are particularly fond of the seeds of pines and spruces, so that they are much more vegetarian than their white-breasted cousins. They have the same habit of hiding their savings in cracks and crevices."[44]

THE BROWN CREEPER _Creeper Family--Certhiidæ_

Length: About 5½ inches.

Male and Female: Brown above, mottled with gray, buff, and white; under parts white. A _whitish line over eye_; bill long, curved; a bar of buff across wings; tail-feathers long, _sharply pointed_; _upper tail-coverts bright reddish-brown_.

Note: A faint, monotonous, _skreek-skreek, skreek-skreek_.

Song: According to Brewster, the brown creeper sings an unusually sweet song during the nesting season.

Habitat: Tree-trunks, which are carefully inspected by these industrious birds.

Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from Nebraska, Indiana, the mountains of North Carolina and Massachusetts north to southern Canada; also in the mountains of western North America from Alaska to Nicaragua; winters over most of its range.

The Brown Creeper should inherit the earth, for he is one of the most perfect examples of meekness that may be found. Small, slight, self-effacing, untiring in his work, he reminds one of a quiet industrious person who performs unremittingly small tasks that amount to a large total.

He is a searcher for insect-eggs, and for insects so small that they might escape the notice of eyes not peculiarly fitted to espy them. His long bill is slender enough to slip into crevices which neither nuthatches nor woodpeckers investigate. Possibly it is because he selects such tiny particles of food that he must work so industriously in order to get enough to eat. He seems always in a hurry. Mr. Frank Chapman has humorously described the brown creeper as follows:

"After watching him for several minutes, one becomes impressed with the fact that he has lost the only thing in the world he ever cared for, and that his one object in life is to find it. Ignoring you completely, with scarcely a pause, he winds his way in a preoccupied, near-sighted manner up a tree-trunk. Having finally reached the top of his spiral staircase, one might suppose he would rest long enough to survey his surroundings, but like a bit of loosened bark he drops off to the base of the nearest tree and resumes his never-ending task."[45]

The creeper is not easy to find. He is so wonderfully protected by his dull brown feathers that he looks more like an animated lichen than a bird. His nest is a cleverly camouflaged affair, tucked behind loose bark and often containing eight whitish eggs about the size of beans.

We are surprised to learn that this patient, hard-working little creature has the soul of a poet. His sweet nesting song, reserved for his mate brooding in the woods, breathes exquisite tenderness and beauty.

THE STARLING _Starling Family--Sturnidæ_

Length: About 8½ inches.

General Appearance: A _short-tailed, long-billed black bird_ with flecks of brown that look like freckles.

Male and Female: Head purple, flecked with light brown spots; body purple and green, the purple predominating on back and sides, the green on the breast. In summer, the upper parts and sides are speckled, the breast and belly dark, and the _bill yellow_. In winter, the upper parts are spotted with light brown, the under parts with white; the bill is _brown_ until January, when it begins to turn yellow.

Notes: Squeaks and gurgles, interspersed with pleasant musical notes. A flock of starlings make a great deal of noise.

Range: Numerous starlings live in the Eastern Hemisphere. A number of them were brought to America in 1890 and released in Central Park, New York City. They have increased in number and enlarged their range greatly. They have spread northward and southward; they are now reasonably common near Boston and Washington, as well as New York and other places in the East.

In the winter, starlings are easily identified, because they are the only black birds smaller than crows to be found in some localities. In the spring, they may be readily distinguished from grackles because they have _yellow bills_, _dark eyes_, and _short, square_ tails, while grackles have _dark_ bills, _yellow_ eyes, and _long_ tails. Both starlings and grackles are iridescent; a near view reveals the spotted plumage of the starlings and the iridescent bars on the backs of the purple grackles.

Major Bendire says that starlings possess unusual adaptability and can make their nests in a great variety of places. Accusations are brought against them for driving away bluebirds and even flickers. It remains to be seen how much harm is done to our native birds in this way.

There are different opinions regarding the economic value of Old World starlings. Mr. Forbush tells of an Australian locust invasion near Ballarat, Victoria, which made terrible havoc with crops. "It was feared that all the sheep would have to be sold for want of grass, when flocks of Starlings, Spoon-bills, and Cranes made their appearance and in a few days made so complete a destruction of the locusts that only about forty acres of grass were lost." Mr. Forbush gives also "the experience of the forest authorities in Bavaria during the great and destructive outbreak of the nun moth which occurred there from 1889 to 1891. The flight of Starlings collected in one locality alone was creditably estimated at ten thousand, all busily feeding on the caterpillars, pupæ and moths. The attraction of Starlings to such centers became so great that market-gardeners at a distance felt their absence seriously."[46]

In an article by E. R. Kalmbach of the Biological Survey, published in "The Auk" of April, 1922, and entitled "A Comparison of the Food Habits of British and American Starlings," occur the following statements by Dr. Walter E. Collinge, the eminent Scotch biologist:

"The Starling offers a most serious menace to the production of home-grown food, and any further increase in its numbers can only be fraught with the most serious consequences." He says also, "For many years past there has been taking place a sure but gradual change of opinion with reference to the economic status of the Starling, for from one of our most useful wild birds it has become one of the most injurious. Its alarming increase throughout the country threatens our cereal and fruit crops, and the magnitude of the plague is now fully realized." He states further, "There is fairly reasonable evidence to show that in the past the bulk of the food consisted of insects and insect larvæ, slugs, snails, earthworms, millepedes, weed seeds, and wild fruits; in more recent years, this has been supplemented by cereals and cultivated fruits and roots."

Mr. Kalmbach reports a better record for the starling in America, and refers to the decision made by the Department of Agriculture, reported in Bulletin 868:

"Most of the Starling's food habits have been demonstrated to be either beneficial to man or of a neutral character. Furthermore, it has been found that the time the bird spends in destroying crops or in molesting other birds is extremely short compared with the endless hours it spends searching for insects or feeding on wild fruits. Nevertheless, no policy would be sound which would give the bird absolute protection and afford no relief to the farmer whose crops are threatened by a local overabundance of the species.... The individual farmer will be well rewarded by allowing a reasonable number of Starlings to conduct their nesting operations on the farm. Later in the season a little vigilance will prevent these easily frightened birds from exacting an unfair toll for services rendered."

THE NORTHERN SHRIKE OR BUTCHER-BIRD _Shrike Family--Laniidæ_

Length: A little over 10 inches.

Male and Female: Gray above, lighter underneath; forehead, rump, and upper tail-coverts white; wings black, irregularly marked with white; tail black, bordered with white; _a heavy black streak extending from the bill beyond the eye_; _bill hooked_ and blackish.

Notes: A call-note and a sweet song.

Habitat: Fields or roadsides where it can find insects, small rodents, and little birds for its prey.

Range: Northern North America. Breeds from northwestern Alaska and northern Canada to the base of the Alaskan Peninsula, Saskatchewan, Ontario, and Quebec; winters south to central California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Kentucky, and Virginia.

The LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE, a resident of the Southern States, is similar to the Northern Shrike but smaller. It is found from southern Florida to North Carolina and west to Louisiana. Northward this species is represented by the MIGRANT SHRIKE, nesting locally from Virginia and eastern Kansas to the southern border of Canada.

Shrikes or Butcher-Birds are attractive to look at, but have a habit which renders them extremely unpopular. They pursue small rodents and little birds and impale them upon sharp twigs, thorns, or barbed wire fences. In excuse for these cruel acts, it must be said that they have not strong, sharp talons like hawks and owls; in order to tear their prey to pieces, there must be a way of holding it firmly.[47] One agrees with Mr. Forbush, however, in his estimate of the habit. He says:

"The Shrike or Butcher-Bird is regarded as beneficial; but our winter visitor, the Northern Shrike, kills many small birds. It pursues Tree Sparrows, Juncos, Song Sparrows, and Chickadees, overtakes and strikes them while they are in flight, sometimes eating them, but oftener leaving them to hang on trees, where they furnish food for other birds. When one sees the little Butcher killing Chickadees and hanging them up, his faith in its usefulness receives a great shock. Shrikes are probably of less value here than in their northern homes, where in summer they feed much on insects. Their chief utility while here [in Massachusetts] consists in their mouse-hunting proclivities."[47]

Their habit of killing English sparrows and thus getting rid of a nuisance has been commended. Shrikes are likewise destroyers of grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, and other insects.

"Like birds of prey and some other birds, the Butcher-Bird habitually disgorges the indigestible part of its food after digesting the nutritive portion. The bones and hair of mice are rolled into compact pellets in the stomach before being disgorged."[48]

DESCRIPTIONS AND BIOGRAPHIES OF OUR EARLY SPRING BIRDS