Chapter 3

I live farther west than he does. You find him in the eastern and middle states. Then he disappears and I take his place, all the way from the Great Plains to the Pacific Ocean.

Some people call me the Lazuli Painted Finch. That's funny, for I never painted anything in my life--not even my cheeks. Would you like to know how my mate and I go to housekeeping? A lady who visits California, where I live, will tell you all about it. She rides a horse called Mountain Billy. He will stand still under a tree so that she can peep into nests and count the eggs, when the mother bird is away.

She can travel a good many miles in that way, and meet lots of birds. She says in her book, that she has got acquainted with seventy-five families, without robbing one nest, or doing the little creatures any harm.

Well, one day this lady saw a brownish bird flying busily back and forth to some tall green weeds. After a while a handsome blue Bunting flew along side of her, full of life and joy.

That was my mate and I. How frightened I was! for our nest was in those green weeds and not very far from the ground. I flew away as soon as I could pluck up courage, but not far, so that I could watch the lady and the nest. How my heart jumped when I saw her creep up, part the weeds and look in. All she saw was a few twigs and a sage-green nest of old grass laid in a coil. My mate hadn't put in the lining yet; you see it takes her quite a while to get the thistle down and the hair and strips of bark for the inside. The next time the lady passed, the house was done and my mate was sitting on the nest. She just looked down at us from the back of Mountain Billy and passed on.

Four weeks after, she came again, and there I was, flying about and singing "like a bird," my mouth full of insects, too. I waited 'till she had turned away before I flew to the nest to feed our little ones. I didn't know, you see, that she was such a good friend of ours, or I wouldn't have been so afraid.

SUMMARY

Page 163.

#SUMMER TANAGER.#--_Piranga rubra._ Other names: "Summer Red-bird," "Rose Tanager."

RANGE--Eastern United States west to the edge of the Plains; north regularly to about 40°--New Jersey, central Ohio, Illinois, casually north to Connecticut and Ontario, accidentally to Nova Scotia, wintering in Cuba, Central America, and northern South America. (Davie.)

NEST--Of bark strips and leaves interwoven with various vegetable substances, on drooping branch of tree.

EGGS--Three or four, bluish-white or greenish-blue, with cinnamon or olive-brown markings.

* * * * *

Page 168.

#AMERICAN WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE#--_Anser albifrons gambeli._ Other names: "Laughing Goose," "Speckle Belly."

RANGE--North America, breeding far northward; in winter south to Mexico and Cuba, rare on the Atlantic coast.

NEST--On the ground, of grasses lined with down.

Eggs--Six or seven, dull greenish-yellow with obscure darker tints.

* * * * *

Page 171.

#TURNSTONE.#--_Arenaria interpres._ Other names: "Brant Bird," "Calico-back," "Bead-bird," "Sand-runner," "Chickling," "Horse-foot Snipe."

RANGE--Nearly cosmopolitan; nests in the Arctic regions, and in America migrates southward to Patagonia. (Chapman.)

NEST--A slight depression on the ground.

EGGS--Two or four, greenish-drab, spotted all over with brown.

* * * * *

Page 175.

#THE BELTED PIPING PLOVER.#--_Aegialitis meloda circumcincta._

RANGE--Missouri river region; occasionally eastward to the Atlantic coast.

NEST--Depression in the sand without lining.

EGGS--Four, light gray to creamy buff, finely speckled with blackish brown and purplish gray.

* * * * *

Page 180.

#WILD TURKEY#--_Meleagris gallopava._

RANGE--Eastern United States from Pennsylvania southward to Florida, west to Wisconsin, the Indian Territory and Texas.

NEST--On the ground, at the base of a bush or tree.

EGGS--Ten to fourteen, pale cream buff, finely and evenly speckled with grayish brown.

* * * * *

Page 181.

#CERULEAN WARBLER#--_Dendræca caerulea._ Other names: "Azure Warbler;" "White-throated Blue Warbler."

RANGE--Mississippi valley as far north as Minnesota, and eastward as far as Lockport, N. Y. (Davison.) Winters in the tropics.

NEST--Of fine grasses bound with spider's silk, lined with strips of bark and with a few lichens attached to its upper surface, in a tree, twenty-five to fifty feet from the ground. (Chapman.)

EGGS--Four, creamy-white, thickly covered with rather heavy blotches of reddish brown.

* * * * *

Page 186.

#YELLOW-BILLED TROPIC BIRD.#--_Phaethon flavirostris._ Other names: "Phaeton."

RANGE.--Tropical coasts; Atlantic coasts of tropical America, West Indies, Bahamas, Bermudas; casual in Florida and accidental in Western New York and Nova Scotia. (Chapman.)

NEST--In holes in the perpendicular faces of cliffs, also on the flat surfaces of rocks.

EGGS--One, ground color of purplish brownish white, covered with fine reddish chocolate-colored spots. (Davie.)

* * * * *

Page 190.

#EUROPEAN KINGFISHER.#--_Alcedo ispida._

RANGE--England and portions of Europe.

NEST--In holes of the banks of streams.

EGGS--Usually six, of a deep pinkish hue.

* * * * *

Page 193.

#VERMILION FLY-CATCHER.#--_Pyocephalus rubineus mexicanus._

RANGE--Southern Border of the United States south through Mexico and Guatemala.

NEST--In forks of ratana trees, not more than six feet up, of small twigs and soft materials felted together, the rims covered with lichens; the cavity is shallow.

EGGS--Usually three, the ground color a rich creamy-white, with a ring of large brown and lilac blotches at the larger end.

* * * * *

Page 198.

#LAZULI BUNTING.#--_Passerina amoena._ Other name: "Lazuli Painted Finch."

RANGE--Western United States from the Great Plains to the Pacific; south in winter to Western Mexico.

NEST--In a bush or the lower limbs of trees, a few feet from the ground, of fine strips of bark, small twigs, grasses, and is lined with hair.

EGGS--Usually four, light bluish-green.