The dove, bearing an olive branch, is, in Christian art, an emblem of
peace. The early churches used vessels of precious metal fashioned in
the shape of a dove in which to place the holy sacrament, no doubt
because the Holy Spirit descended upon Christ in the form of a dove.
Noah’s dove, of still older fame, was immortalized as a constellation in
the sky.
The plaintive “coo” of the dove has also added to the sentiment about
it. The poets delight to refer to it as a sorrowful bird. One of them
says:
“Oft I heard the tender dove
In fiery woodlands making moan.”
The dove, “most musical, most melancholy,” is the singer whom the
mocking bird does not attempt to imitate.
There is a Philippine legend that of all birds only the dove understands
the human tongue. The pigeon tribe is noted for its friendliness to man—
“Of all the feathered race
Alone it looks unscared on the human face.”
The word dove means “diver” and refers to the way this bird ducks its
head.
It has purposely designed “wing whistles” and often strikes the wings
together when beginning to fly.
The broken wing dodge it often practices tends to prove that its
ancestors built on the ground.
The nest of the dove has no architectural beauty and it is not a good
housekeeper, and is something of a gad-about. Indeed, doves are not so
gentle in character as they are usually portrayed. They are sometimes
impolite to each other and occasionally indulge in a family “scrap.” But
as nothing in this world is quite perfect, the dove with its fine form,
and beautiful quaker-like garb, may be accepted as one of the most
interesting of our birds.
Belle Paxson Drury.
THE GREEN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER.
(_Empidonax virescens_.)
The Green-crested or Acadian Flycatcher is a frequent summer resident in
the eastern United States, and through the valley of the Mississippi
river it migrates as far northward as Manitoba, where it is said to be
quite common.
This bird exhibits no haste in its northward spring journey, for it is
one of the latest species to arrive on its breeding grounds in the
higher latitudes and as winter approaches, it leaves the United States
entirely and winters in Mexico, Central America and northern South
America.
If we would make the acquaintance of the Green-crested Flycatcher, we
must seek it in woodlands in the vicinity of some stream or other body
of water. Its favorite haunts are “deep, shady, second-growth hardwood
forests, on rather elevated ground, especially beech woods with little
undergrowth, or bottom lands not subject to periodical overflow.” It is
not an over shy bird, yet it is rather difficult to find, for its colors
are in perfect harmony with its surroundings as it passes from tree to
tree through the dark foliage of the lower limbs. So perfect is this
color-harmony that Major Charles Bendire said, “I have several times
failed to detect the bird when I was perfectly certain it was within
twenty feet of me,” and Neltje Blanchan likens its movements to “a leaf
that is being blown about, touched by the sunshine flittering through
the trees, and partly shaded by the young foliage casting its first
shadows.”
Like its sister flycatchers the Green-crested is not a good natured bird
and will even quarrel with individuals of its own species. Even its
voice is fretful, especially when from its perch it is waiting for an
insect to pass by. It seldom perches higher than from fifteen to twenty
feet from the ground, and while standing constantly twitches its tail
and frequently utters a note that Mr. Chapman describes as a single spee
or peet.
It is a beneficial bird, for its food consists of insects except in the
fall when it feeds to a limited extent on wild berries. It will
occasionally visit orchards where it has learned there may be found a
plentiful supply of food to its liking. When an insect is sighted, like
the other flycatchers, except that it chooses a low rather than a high
perch from which to watch, it flies outward and with an upward sweep
seldom fails to catch its prey in its open bill, which is suddenly
closed with a notably loud click that seems like an expression of
satisfaction over the result of its efforts.
The drooping branches of several kinds of trees and shrubs are selected
by the Green-crested Flycatchers as suitable sites for their
unpretentious homes. The nests are semipensil, being attached by the rim
to the fork of a small limb or to two parallel limbs. They are shallow
and so loosely constructed that frequently the eggs may be seen from the
underside. As this Flycatcher breeds nearly throughout its range, the
materials used in the construction of the nests varies greatly. In
southern states where Spanish moss is common it is one of the chief
constituents of the nest. In more northern district, stems of plants,
small roots and fibrous materials are used. These are loosely woven with
blades of grass, dry flowers and the catkins of the willow. Not
infrequently the hanging catkins, decayed fibres and the loose ends of
stems and blades of grass give an untidy appearance to the home of this
useful and interesting bird.
[Illustration: GREEN-CRESTED FLYCATCHER.
(Empidonax virescens).
Life-size.]