The Boat-tailed Grackle, the largest member of the blackbird family, (16
inches long), has wonderful violet reflections on head and neck. The
female is much smaller and is brownish. This grackle is found in the
South Atlantic and Gulf States from Chesapeake Bay to Florida and west
to the eastern coast of Texas, and like the red-winged blackbird seems
to prefer the vicinity of water.
THE RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD
_American Blackbird Family--Icteridæ_
Length: About 9½ inches; length varies in different individuals.
Male: Jet black, except shoulders, which are _scarlet_ edged with
_yellow_; plumage mottled in winter--upper parts edged with rusty
brown; bill long, sharp-pointed, black; legs and feet black; eyes
dark.
Female: Head and back blackish, rusty brown, and buff. Light streak over
and under eye; throat yellowish; under parts streaked with black and
white; wings brown, edged with buff; tail brown. Plumage
inconspicuous, but attractive on close inspection.
Young Males: Similar to females, but with red and black shoulders.
Call-Note: A hoarse _chuck_ resembling that of the grackle.
Song: A liquid, pleasant _o-ka-ree_.
Habitat:
In meadows where a streamlet flows
Or sedges rim a pool,
There swings upon a blade of green
Beside the waters cool,
A bird of black, with "epaulets"
Of red and gold. With glee
He plays upon his "Magic Flute":
"_O-o-ka-ree? O-o-ka-ree?_"
Nest: A beautiful structure, long and deep, fastened to reeds; a
"hanging" nest.
Eggs: Pale bluish, with inky scrawls and spots.
Range: North America, east of the Great Plains, except the Gulf Coast
and Florida; abundant where there are marshes and ponds; winters
mainly south of Ohio and Delaware Valleys.
[Illustration: RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD]
When the hylas begin to pipe in the spring, they are joined by the
musical Redwings. The voices of these birds have been likened to flutes,
also to violincellos in an orchestra. Their song is pleasant to hear,
but seems to require considerable effort on the part of the
performers--they lift their shoulders and spread their tails into broad
fans when singing.
Redwings are noisy chatterers; they are intensely social in their
nature. It is thought that some males have several wives at a time--one
marvels at their courage! During the winter the females flock by
themselves, and in the spring migrate about two weeks after their
venturesome, prospective husbands have come northward. When they arrive,
there is great "Confusion of Tongues"--the marsh is transformed into a
Babel. Then sites for homes are selected, and house-building begins in
earnest. Blackbirds make devoted parents.
They are much more popular than their cousins, the grackles, though in
some localities where they are very abundant, as in the Upper
Mississippi Valley, they are in disfavor because of the grain they
devour. They eat oats, corn, and wheat, but only one-third as much as do
the grackles; they eat the seeds of smartweed and barnyard grass in
preference. Grasshoppers they consider great delicacies, also many other
harmful insects.[64] Professor Beal states that nearly seven-eighths of
their food consists of weed seed and insects injurious to agriculture.
He pleads for their protection as does Mr. Forbush, who says: "Should
there be an outbreak of cankerworms in an orchard, the blackbirds will
fly at least half a mile to get them for their young."[65] They eat
little fruit and do slight harm to garden or orchard. On the whole, they
are beneficial to mankind.
The RUSTY BLACKBIRD and the YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD are two other
species of blackbirds.
The RUSTY BLACKBIRD resembles both the purple grackle and the redwing.
It is more nearly uniformly glossy black in summer than the former; it
is rusty in winter like the latter. It is about the size of the redwing
and has a sweeter voice. It is sometimes mistaken for the grackle; but
its smaller size, its shorter, rounder tail, and more musical voice
differentiate it.
The YELLOW-HEADED BLACKBIRD, our western species, is easy to identify
because of his yellow head, neck, throat, and breast, and his black
body, with white wing-patches. The female has a paler yellow head,
which, with the breast, is marked with white.
The Yellowhead lives in swamps of the Mississippi Valley from Indiana
westward to California. He is attractive to see, but not pleasant to
hear. He, too, is a grain-thief and therefore unpopular.
[Illustration: COWBIRD]
THE COWBIRD
_American Blackbird Family--Icteridæ_
Length: About 8 inches.
Male: Glossy black, with a brown head, neck, and breast; some metallic
reflections on body, tail, and upper wing-feathers. _Smaller than
the grackle_, with a shorter tail, less iridescence, and _dark
eyes_. Like the grackle, the cowbird is a walker.
Female: Dark brown, with a grayish tinge; under parts lighter,
especially the throat, which has two dark streaks outlining the
light patch.
Call-note: A loud _chuck_.
Song: No real song, only a disagreeable gurgle, that is emitted with
great effort.
Habitat: Pastures and open woodlands; usually seen on the ground, but
sometimes in trees.
Range: North America. Breeds in central Canada, south to northern
California, Nevada, northern New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, and North
Carolina; winters from southeast California and the Ohio and Potomac
Valleys to the Gulf Coast and Central Mexico.
The four common black birds--crows, grackles, redwings, and
cowbirds--all have sins laid at their doors. Crows and blackbirds are
grain-thieves and destroyers of the eggs and young of other birds;
redwings have been accused of polygamy and theft; but if judged by human
standards, none compare with cowbirds in what might be called moral
degeneracy. Cowbirds not only mate promiscuously, but unlike blackbirds,
have no regard for their own young. They are like the human mothers who
lay their babies on doorsteps, depart, and let others rear them.
It is a well-known fact that the female cowbird always selects the nest
of a bird smaller and weaker than herself in which to deposit her egg.
Major Bendire lists ninety-one varieties of birds that have been thus
outraged, frequent victims being the song sparrow, indigo bunting,
parula warbler, yellow warbler, vireo, chipping sparrow, towhee,
oven-bird, yellow-breasted chat, and even the tiny blue-gray
gnatcatcher. From one to seven cowbirds' eggs have been found at a time
in other birds' nests, often in the warm center of the nest. Unless the
little bird should build a new floor, or abandon her nest entirely, the
cowbird egg will hatch first, and the lusty changeling will demand the
lion's share of food and attention. Frequently the other eggs do not
hatch; if they do, the young birds often perish with hunger and cold.
When young cowbirds have been reared by their patient little
foster-parents, they leave their benefactors and join flocks of their
disreputable relatives.
In justice it must be said that cowbirds, like all villains, have a
redeeming trait--they are great destroyers of weed seeds and insects.
Like Cadmus and his band, they "Follow the Cow," and enjoy the insects
that she arouses as she walks about in pastures. When the cow lies down,
they, too, pause; they have been known to hop upon her back in friendly
fashion. Self-interest prompts them, however, for they know that they
may find there a harvest of insects.
[Illustration: MEADOWLARK]
THE MEADOWLARK
Called also Field Lark and Old Field Lark
_American Blackbird Family--Icteridæ_
Length: About 10¾ inches, a little larger than the robin; bill 1½
inches.
General Appearance: A large brown bird, with a _short tail that shows
conspicuous white feathers_ at each side in flight. The bright
yellow breast crossed by a black crescent is less frequently seen.
Male and Female: Upper parts dark brown, mottled with black and buff;
head striped, with a light line through the center and a yellow line
over each eye, alternating with two dark stripes; cheeks gray;
throat, breast, and belly yellow; a V-shaped band on breast; sides
and lower part of belly whitish, streaked with black; bill long and
sharp; tail short, (about 3 inches); outer tail-feathers almost
entirely white; middle feathers brown, barred with black.
Call-note: A sharp nasal _Yerk_, and a twitter that sounds like a
succession of rapid sneezes.
Song: A loud, clear, sweet refrain that usually consists of four
syllables, but sometimes of five or six. It has been interpreted in
various ways as follows:
_Spring'-of--the-y-e'-a-r!
I love--you d-e-a-r.
I'm Mead'-ow-lar'-rk._
Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson tells of a lazy darky down South who
interpreted the lark's song as
"_Laziness-will kill' you._"[66]
Flight: Direct, yet fluttering; usually away from the observer, showing
the brown back and white tail-feathers, as though the bird was
conscious of its bright yellow breast.
Habitat: Cultivated meadows, and grassgrown fields, especially one
containing a running brook for drinking and bathing. Its fondness
for unmown fields has given it the name of "Old Field Lark."[67]
Range: Eastern North America. Breeds from eastern Minnesota and southern
Canada, south to northern Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina, and
west to western Iowa, eastern Kansas, and northwestern Texas;
winters regularly from southern New England and Ohio valley south to
the Gulf States, and north locally to the Great Lakes and southern
Maine.
In the South, from southern Illinois, southwestern Indiana and North
Carolina to the coast of Texas, Louisiana, and southern Florida is
found the SOUTHERN MEADOWLARK, smaller and darker than the northern
species, and with a different song.
In the West, from British Columbia to Manitoba and south to southern
California, northern Mexico, and Texas is the WESTERN MEADOWLARK,
similar to its eastern relative in habits and plumage, but very
different as to song. Its pure, sweet, liquid notes are among my
most delightful memories of western birds.
It is fortunate that no human being or bird is possessed of all the
virtues and charms, and that every individual may hold his own place in
our interest and affections. As the spring migrants arrive, each
receives a welcome peculiarly his own.
"The lark is so brimful of gladness and love--
The green fields below him, the blue sky above,
That he sings and he sings and forever sings he,
'I love my love, and my love loves me.'"[68]
His voice, clear and sweet, rings out joyously across the fields,
fragrant with up-turned earth and bright with sunshine. He is the
delight of spring meadows as Bob White is of summer fields.
The meadowlark has many friends: those who love him for his winning
ways--his brightness, cheerfulness, and devotion to his family;
epicures, ignorant of his value or fond only of their own pleasure; and
people who realize that he is of enormous economic importance.
He was formerly believed to be a destroyer of grain. He was accused of
pulling up as much corn and oats as crows, and of eating clover seed;
but he is now recognized as "one of the most useful allies of
agriculture, standing almost without a peer as a destroyer of noxious
insects."[69]
So untiring is he in his search, that he uses his long sharp bill, even
while snow is on the ground, to probe the earth for larvæ. He rids the
fields of grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, caterpillars, flies, spiders,
and "thousand-legs." Grasshoppers are his favorite delicacy. Professor
Beal states that these insects form three-fourths of the meadowlark's
food during August. He eats also large numbers of the white grubs of
beetles "which are among the worst enemies of many cultivated crops,
notably grasses and grains, and to a less extent of strawberries and
garden vegetables."[69]
Like the quail, meadowlarks destroy weed seeds, which are eaten mostly
in winter. When insects are obtainable, they are greatly preferred.
A search for a meadowlark's nest is an exciting adventure that keeps one
alert. It is usually found by accident, perhaps after the wary builder
has ceased trying to deceive the searcher. A sight of the speckled eggs
or young fledglings in their cozy home with a grass-arched doorway is
not soon forgotten.
Unlike quail, baby meadowlarks are unable to run about as soon as they
are out of the egg, but remain for two weeks in their cleverly
camouflaged home, where they are often the prey of snakes and other
enemies. Meadowlarks are now being widely protected, for many farmers
regard them as one of their greatest assets.
[Illustration: FLICKER]
THE NORTHERN FLICKER OR GOLDEN-WINGED WOODPECKER
_Woodpecker Family--Picidæ_
Length: About 12 inches; one of our largest common birds.
General Appearance: A large brown bird with a _red patch on the back_ of
the _head_, _conspicuous white rump_ and _yellow lining_ of _wings_,
which distinguish it from the brown meadowlark with its white
tail-feathers.
Male: Top of head and neck gray; a _crescent_ of _red across nape_;
cheeks and throat pinkish-brown, separated by _black patches_;
strong bill 1½ inches long; under parts pinkish-brown and white,
_heavily spotted with black_; a _black crescent_ separates throat
and breast. Back and upper wing-feathers a grayish-brown, _barred
with black_; large white patch at rump very conspicuous in flight;
upper tail-coverts black and white; tail black above, yellow
underneath.
Female: Like male, except for the _absence of black patches at the sides
of the throat_.
Notes: A loud _che-ack'_; also a note which Mr. Frank M. Chapman says
"can be closely imitated by the swishing of a willow-wand: _weechew,
weechew, weechew_."[70] Flickers drum frequently on boughs, also,
and give a loud, rapid _flick, flick, flick, flick, flick, flick,
flick, flick, flicker_,--which may be called, by courtesy, their
song.
Habitat: Open woods, fields, orchards, and gardens, where trees or
ant-hills are to be found.
Range: Northern and eastern North America. Breeds in the forested
regions of Alaska and Canada; in the United States east of the
Rockies and southward to the Gulf Coast and Texas in the winter.
Resident in the U. S. except in the more northern parts.
The SOUTHERN FLICKER, a resident as far south as southern Florida
and central Texas, is _smaller_ and _darker_ than the Northern
Flicker.
The RED-SHAFTED FLICKER, a western species, has _red cheek-patches_
instead of _black_, _red wing_ and _tail_ feathers, instead of
_yellow_; it _lacks_ the _red band_ on the _head_. It is found in
the Rocky Mt. and Pacific Coast regions from British Columbia to
Mexico, and east to western Texas, Nebraska, and South Dakota. In
regions where the northern flicker also is found, these two species
have hybridized. In the National Museum of Washington there are
numerous specimens of these hybrids, where the red and black
cheek-patches, the red and yellow wing-feathers and red band on the
head appear in various unusual combinations.
The Flicker is a bird of distinction. A glimpse of him at once arouses
interest, curiosity, and a desire for further acquaintance. He is
handsome, well set up, full of vitality and power--the personification
of efficiency.
We like his cheerful voice--a trifle too loud for a gentleman of
refinement, but a welcome sound in the season when the whole world
wishes to shout with joy at the release from winter's confinement.
Thoreau wrote: "Ah, there is the note of the first flicker, a prolonged,
monotonous _wick-wick-wick-wick-wick-wick_, etc., or, if you please,
_quick, quick, quick_, heard far over and through the dry leaves. But
how that single sound peoples and enriches all the woods and fields.
They are no longer the same woods and fields that they were. This note
really quickens what was dead. It seems to put life into the withered
grass and leaves and bare twigs, and henceforth the days shall not be as
they have been. It is as when a family, your neighbors, return to an
empty house after a long absence, and you hear the cheerful hum of
voices and the laughter of children.... So the flicker makes his voice
ring.... It is as good as a house-warming to all nature."[71]
We cannot repress a smile as we watch this golden-winged woodpecker
striving to make a favorable impression upon Miss Flicker. He and a
group of rivals take amusing, awkward attitudes, make a variety of noisy
but pleasant calls, and without any ill-tempered quarreling, select
their mates and "live happily ever after."
Though a woodpecker, the flicker departs from family habits and
traditions by seeking his livelihood on the ground in preference to
tree-trunks. He is a foe to the industrious ant that we were taught to
admire along with the "busy bee." But ants destroy timber, infest
houses, and cause the spread of aphids that are enemies of garden
plants; therefore the ant's destroyer, the flicker, is a neighborhood
benefactor and deserves our heartfelt protection. Professor Beal reports
finding 3,000 ants in the stomach of each of two flickers and fully
5,000 in that of another.[72] These insects form almost half of this
bird's food. His long, sticky tongue is especially adapted to their
capture. He likes grasshoppers, crickets, beetles, and caterpillars, and
while he enjoys fruit, he takes little that is of any value to man.
Most northern flickers migrate. They remain during the winter in some
localities, as Cape Cod, where food is sufficiently abundant. Mr.
Forbush tells of flickers that have bored holes in summer cottages on
the Cape, and spent the winters in rooms which they damaged by their
habit of "pecking." He states that bird-boxes containing large entrances
placed on the outside of the houses or on the trees near by, would have
prevented those flickers from forming the "criminal habit of breaking
and entering."[73] Red-Shafted Flickers have also been found guilty of
the same crime, and have entered not only dwellings, but school-houses
and church steeples.[74]
Though rather shy birds, they often approach inhabited houses and
frequently cause amusing situations because of their regular drumming on
roof or wall. In Florida, a young woman whom I know was once aroused
from her early morning's sleep by a flicker's knock, and drowsily
responded with a "Come in." A friend and I, spending a week-end in an
Ohio summer cottage that possessed no alarm-clock, asked to be called in
time for a very early boat. We heard a knocking, arose, dressed quietly
to avoid disturbing the household, and then found that our summons had
come from flickers on the roof, and that we had lost about two hours of
precious morning's sleep.
Flickers have more local names than almost any other bird. Over one
hundred names have been recorded, of which "Yellowhammer," and
"Golden-winged Woodpecker," are perhaps most common.
[Illustration: RED-HEADED WOODPECKER]
THE RED-HEADED WOODPECKER
_Woodpecker Family--Picidæ_
Length: About 9¾ inches; nearly as large as a robin.
General Appearance: A black and white bird _with entire head and neck
bright red_.
Male and Female: Head, neck, throat, and upper part of the breast
brilliant red; upper part of back and wings black; longer
wing-feathers or primaries also black; lower back and secondary
wing-feathers white; under parts white; tail pointed, black,
margined with white. In flight, the areas of red, black, and white
are very distinct.
Young: Brown heads and necks, mottled with black; upper parts of backs
barred with light brown. The other parts of their bodies resemble
those of their parents.
Note: No song, but a loud, cheerful _Quir-r-r-k? Quir-r-r-k?_ and a
drumming sound, similar to that made by other woodpeckers.
Habitat: Open woods, groves of beeches preferred.
Nest: In hollow tree-trunks or telegraph-poles.
Range: From southeastern British Columbia, to Ontario, south to the Gulf
Coast, and from central Montana, Colorado, and Texas east to the
valleys of the Hudson and Delaware; rare in New England. Irregularly
migratory in the northern parts of its range.
This conspicuous bird is one of the handsomest members of the Woodpecker
family. He is the only one really entitled to the name of Red-Headed
Woodpecker. His male relatives wear only small skull-caps placed on
their crowns at various angles; he possesses a sort of toboggan-cap
pulled down over his head and tucked into his black coat and white
vest-front.
Many stories and legends are told of this woodpecker. He is the delight
of children in localities where he is to be found. I remember how I used
to look for the red hood and the black shawl worn over a white dress,
especially noticeable in flight. I never tired of watching one of these
birds approach his nest in a tall dead tree with food in his mouth. At a
signal from him, his wife's red head would appear in the doorway. She
would emerge; he would then enter and remain with the children until her
return.
Redheads have not been popular with farmers, who have accused them of
various crimes. They have been caught eating small fruit and corn on the
ear, destroying both the eggs and young of other birds, and boring holes
in telegraph-poles in which to build their nests. While individuals may
be guilty of such misdemeanors, the redheads are probably neither so
black nor so gory, except in plumage, as they are painted.
These woodpeckers are not such persistent destroyers of insects as
others of their family. They have a decided preference for beetles, but
eat fewer ants and larvæ than do the Downy and Hairy woodpeckers. They
are exceptionally fond of vegetable food; their preference for beechnuts
is very great. Dr. C. Hart Merriam states that in northern New York,
where the redhead is one of the commonest woodpeckers, it subsists
almost exclusively on beechnuts during the fall and winter, even pecking
the green nuts before they are ripe and while the trees are still
covered with leaves. He has shown that these woodpeckers invariably
remain throughout the winter after good nut-yields and migrate whenever
the nut-crop fails.[75]
"In central Indiana during a good beechnut year, from the time the nuts
began to ripen, the redheads were almost constantly on the wing; passing
from the beeches to some place of deposit. They hid the nuts in almost
every conceivable situation. Many were placed in cavities in partly
decayed trees; and the felling of an old beech was certain to provide a
feast for the children. Large handfuls were taken from a single knot
hole. They were often found under a patch of raised bark, and single
nuts were driven into cracks in the bark. Others were thrust into cracks
in gate-posts; and a favorite place of deposit was behind long slivers
on fence-posts. In a few cases grains of corn were mixed with beechnuts.
Nuts were often driven into cracks in the end of railroad ties, and the
birds were often seen on the roofs of houses pounding nuts into crevices
between the shingles. In several instances the space formed by a board
springing away from a fence was nearly filled with nuts, and afterwards
pieces of bark and wood were brought and driven over the nuts as if to
hide them from poachers."[76]
In summer, Dr. Merriam has seen the redheads "make frequent sallies into
the air after passing insects, which were almost invariably secured." He
has also seen them catch grasshoppers on the ground in a pasture.
They are cheerful, active birds, with a call like that of a giant
tree-toad. Their brilliant plumage has unfortunately made them a good
target for sportsmen.
THE RED-BELLIED WOODPECKER
_Woodpecker Family--Picidæ_
Length: About 9½ inches.
Male: _Crown of head and back of neck bright red_, resembling slightly
that of the red-headed woodpecker, but _throat and cheeks gray_;
back and wings barred with white, the barring reminding one of the
flicker. _Under parts gray mashed with red_; tail black and white;
upper tail-coverts white, streaked with black.