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MR. P. M. SILLOWAY, in his charming sketches, "Some Common Birds," writes:
"The Cardinal frequently whistles the most gaily while seated in the summit
of the bush which shelters his mate on her nest. It is thus with
Dickcissel, for though his ditties are not always eloquent to us, he is
brave in proclaiming his happiness near the fountain of his inspiration.
While his gentle mistress patiently attends to her household in some low
bush or tussock near the hedge, Dick flutters from perch to perch in the
immediate vicinity and voices his love and devotion. Once I flushed a
female from a nest in the top of an elm bush along a railroad while Dick
was proclaiming his name from the top of a hedge within twenty feet of the
site. Even while she was chirping anxiously about the spot, apprehending
that her home might be harried by ruthless visitors, he was brave and
hopeful, and tried to sustain her anxious mind by ringing forth his
cheerful exclamations."
Dick has a variety of names, the Black-throated Bunting, Little Field Lark,
and "Judas-bird." In general appearance it looks like the European House
Sparrow, averaging a trifle larger.
The favorite resorts of this Bunting are pastures with a sparse growth of
stunted bushes and clover fields. In these places, its unmusical,
monotonous song may be heard thoughout the day during the breeding season.
Its song is uttered from a tall weed, stump, or fence-stake, and is a very
pleasing ditty, says Davie, when its sound is heard coming far over grain
fields and meadows, in the blaze of the noon-day sun, when all is hushed
and most other birds have retired to shadier places.
As a rule, the Dickcissels do not begin to prepare for housekeeping before
the first of June, but in advanced seasons the nests are made and the eggs
deposited before the end of May. The nest is built on the ground, in trees
and in bushes, in tall grass, or in clover fields. The materials are
leaves, grasses, rootlets, corn husks, and weed stems; the lining is of
fine grasses, and often horse hair. It is a compact structure. Second nests
are sometimes built in July or August. The eggs number four or five, almost
exactly like those of the Bluebird.
The summer home of Dickcissel is eastern United States, extending northward
to southern New England and Ontario, and the states bordering the great
lakes. He ranges westward to the edge of the great plains, frequently to
southeastern United States on the migration. His winter home is in tropical
regions, extending as far south as northern South America. He is commonly
regarded as a Lark, but is really a Finch.
In the transactions of the Illinois Horticultural Society, Prof. S. A.
Forbes reports that his investigations show that sixty-eight per cent. of
the food of the Dickcissels renders them beneficial to horticulture, seven
per cent. injurious, and twenty-five per cent. neutral, thus leaving a
large balance in their favor.
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