dressed in gay colors. But we have only three of them in our country.
Their home is in the warmer parts of the world. We have the scarlet
tanager in the East, the Louisiana tanager in the West, and the summer
tanager in the South. Tanagers are a little larger than sparrows, and
live in the trees. They feed on insects and fruit; sometimes, it is
said, on flowers.
The SCARLET TANAGER is the brilliant red bird with black wings and tail,
common all over the Eastern and Middle States. His mate is dressed in
modest olive green, and the nestlings are like her the first year.
The tanager himself wears his gay dress only during the nesting season,
that is, spring and summer. Towards fall he turns from scarlet to green
like his mate, and he is a droll-looking object while he does it. He
seems to break out into green patches or streaks. One that I watched
began by showing a little green feather among the red on each side of
his breast. I have seen one with a green ring around the neck, and all
the rest of the plumage scarlet; and another with a green stripe down
the back. Some show no regularity about it, but are covered with green
patches all over, and look like bunches of colored rags.
[Illustration: SCARLET TANAGER]
It is no wonder that a bird hides in the woods, as many do, when
changing his coat, if he looks such an object. In spring he gets back
his brilliant coat, and comes to our Northern woods again, to nest.
The nest of this bird is not very high in a tree. It is a rather shabby
affair, that looks as if it would fall to pieces, and the birds are
madly shy about being looked at.
I once saw in the woods a tanager building her nest. I hoped to watch
her through nesting, and see how she brought up her little folk. Both of
the pair were there, but were too shy to come to the nest while my
friend and I were there. We kept very still, and even hid in some
bushes, hoping she would not see us. We were so quiet that she was
gradually getting over her fright, and coming nearer the nest, when
suddenly the big dog we had with us gave a loud sneeze. In an instant
both birds were off, as if shot out of a gun. And I think they never
came back, for the nest was not finished.
The song of the tanager is much like the robin song, but having once
learned it, a sharp ear can easily tell them apart, for it is of a
different tone. It is rather hoarse, not so smooth as a robin's voice.
The common call is a hoarse and very distinct "chip, chur," given by
both of the pair.
Several years ago I saw a scarlet tanager in a bird store. It was
winter, and I brought him home to keep till it was safe to set him free
in the spring. He was very timid, and did not like to have any one look
at him, especially when he went to eat.
If I happened to look at him when he was at his food-dish, he would
instantly fly to his top perch, and look as if he would never eat again.
So I partitioned off one corner of his cage for a private dining-room,
by a strip of stiff paper woven between the wires. After that it was
very droll to see him retire behind the screen and eat, now and then
sticking up his head to glance over the top, and see if I were looking.
I found it hard to please him with food. He liked living insects, but he
wanted to catch them for himself. So I got some sticky fly-paper, and
hung it up outside the kitchen door. When I had caught half a dozen
flies, I took it up to him. He was not in a cage, and the minute he saw
the flies he flew across the room and hovered before me like a big
hummingbird, while he daintily picked off every fly. He forgot that he
didn't like to have me see him eat. After that I was fly-catcher every
day till he learned to like mockingbird food.
In the spring he began to sing--a sweet, low song, different from the
common tanager song. Then I took him out to the country, away from the
English sparrows, and set him free.
The SUMMER TANAGER nests in the Southern States from New Jersey to
Florida. He is all red, but otherwise looks like the scarlet tanager,
and his habits are about the same.
The LOUISIANA TANAGER nests in the Western States from the Plains to the
Pacific. He is brighter, with a variety of colors. He is mostly bright
yellow, with brilliant red head, and black wings and tail, and his
mate--like other female tanagers--is in olive green. He is a shy bird,
and lives in the woods, and his habits have been very little studied.
I once saw a pair of these birds in Utah, getting their breakfast. At
least, the gay singer himself was at that business, though his
sharp-eyed mate was too busy watching me to see that I did not mean any
harm, to care for food.
They were on a long fence, catching flies. One would fly out a little
way, his bill snapping as he seized the fly, and then return to the
fence a little farther off. Every time he came back he alighted farther
away, though he did not seem even to see me. His mate kept between him
and me, and never took her eyes from me. I feared she would go hungry,
so I came away and left them.
FOOTNOTE:
[14] See Appendix, 13.
XVI
THE SPARROW AND FINCH FAMILY
(_Fringillidæ_)[15]
THIS is the largest bird family, more than five hundred species, and
they are found nearly all over the world. It is divided into sparrows,
finches, grosbeaks, and crossbills. All of them are smaller than a
robin, and have short, high beaks, with the back corners turned down.
The beaks show that they are seed eaters, though all of them eat insects
too.
An interesting thing about birds who eat seeds is the grinding machine
they have inside to break up the hard seeds. For of course, having no
teeth, they are obliged to swallow them nearly whole. What I have called
a machine is the gizzard, and you have seen it on the table from a
chicken. It is well fitted to grind up the food, and birds often swallow
small stones to help in the work.
The first group of this family, the sparrows, are all small, about the
size of an English sparrow. They are dressed in dull, brownish colors,
more or less streaked, and they live and get their food very largely on
or near the ground. Their colors keep them from being easily seen on the
ground.
All of this group sing, and some of them are noted songsters, as the
song sparrow, the white-throated sparrow, and the fox sparrow. The best
known is the little song sparrow, who is found almost everywhere, and is
dear to nearly every one.
The SONG SPARROW is streaked all over in shades of brown. The breast is
white, with the dark brown streaks coming together in an
irregular-shaped spot, or sometimes two spots, in front.
The nest of the song sparrow is on the ground or very near it. Sometimes
it is in a tuft of grass, sometimes in a low bush a few inches up. One I
found at the roots of a little clump of golden-rod, before it bloomed,
of course. It was a slight affair, right among the stems, so that it
could not be taken up without tearing the plant.
This bird is one of the first to come in the spring, and his song and
the robin's are the first we hear. He also stays very late in the fall,
and about New York some of them stay all winter. Their food being the
seeds of weeds, which are always to be found, they do not need to
migrate.
The song sparrow has a sweet and cheery voice, and a variety of songs,
and he sings a great deal. I have heard one bird sing six different
songs, standing on a fence in plain sight all the time. Some of the
songs are charming, and all are pleasant to hear. One never tires of
song-sparrow music.
The second branch of this family--the Finches--have some brighter
colored members, the goldfinch in brilliant lemon-yellow, and the purple
finch in crimson and white.
The GOLDFINCH, called also the thistle-bird, lettuce-bird, and wild
canary, is a charming fellow, dressed, as I said, in lemon color, with
black wings and tail and cap. His mate is in olive brown. He is the most
delightful of singers, with a sweet voice, and is a common bird all over
the country. He flies in great waves, uttering a cheery little warble as
he goes over each airy wave.
The nest is one of the prettiest we have, in an upright crotch, and
furnished with a bed of thistledown an inch thick for the baby
goldfinches to rest upon. It is made late in the season, in July and
sometimes in August.
One of the most lovely bird-studies I ever had was of a pair of these
birds nesting in a low plum-tree. While his mate was sitting, the gay
little fellow hung around, doing nothing but watching the tree that held
his family. Every little while the sitting bird would begin to call her
sweet-voiced "s-w-e-e-t," which sounds so much like a canary's call. On
hearing this he would answer her, and at once fly over to see if she was
all right, or wanted anything. When he thought it time to eat, he would
come and call her off. Both would then go to a patch of weeds, where
they cracked and ate the seeds till they had had enough, and then go
back to the nursery.
These little birds eat mostly the seeds of weeds,--thistle, ragweed, and
beggar's-ticks,--as well as the larvæ of the wheat-midge and other
pests, and they feed great quantities to their young.
Goldfinches do not leave us in winter. The male puts off his bright coat
and comes out in dull colors like his mate, except that he keeps his
black wings and tail. All of a neighborhood collect in small flocks and
stay about all winter, looking more like sparrows than goldfinches.
The Western goldfinch which corresponds to this bird is called in
California the WILLOW GOLDFINCH, but in looks and in habits of life he
seems to be the same as the Eastern bird. He is a confiding little
creature, and by a person of quiet ways may be made very tame.
Among the finches will be found the CHEWINK, or TOWHEE BUNTING, a bird
nearly of the size of a catbird, who is sometimes called ground robin.
He is black and white, with reddish sides and red eyes, and his mate is
brown where he is black. He is usually found on the ground, where he
gets his food, and where the nest is placed.
There are several species in California, and the Western variety of the
common chewink of the East is called the spurred towhee, with habits the
same, so far as known.
The chewink has at the best an exquisite song, though there is a great
difference in singers, as there is in all bird families. The finest song
is like a peal of silver-toned bells.
A bird-lover whom I know found one day a nestling chewink who could not
fly much, and seemed to be deserted, or lost, in a barren place on Long
Island. Fearing that some cat would get him, he brought the bird home
and put him in a cage. The little fellow was not at all frightened at
his new surroundings, and became very tame.
The cage of the young bird was near that of an ortolan, a European bird
noted as a singer, and a common cage-bird. The baby chewink seemed to
take a great liking to the stranger, and tried to do everything he did.
Perhaps he felt the need of some education, since he had been deprived
of his parents. At any rate, he evidently adopted the ortolan as his
model.
When the little one began to sing, he did not sing chewink but ortolan,
and he did it so well that one could hardly tell which bird was singing.
The gentleman wanted to see if the little fellow would recognize the
song of his own family. So he bought a full-grown chewink who was
singing, and put him close to his young relative. The new bird was full
of music, and sang a great deal. But the youngster paid no attention to
him, and kept up his ortolan notes.
This story shows that a bird does not always, if ever, know his native
song by instinct, but has to learn it. It is supposed by those who have
studied bird ways that he learns it from the old bird before he leaves
the nest.
FOOTNOTE:
[15] See Appendix, 14.
XVII
THE GROSBEAK BRANCH
(_Fringillidæ_)--Continued
THE third division of this family is of grosbeaks. These are the largest
of the group, and nearly the size of a robin, with very big beaks. They
live in trees and wear some bright colors. They are also fine singers.
In the Eastern States, and west to Missouri, is found the ROSE-BREASTED
GROSBEAK. He is a beautiful bird, black and white, with a gorgeous
rose-colored patch on his white breast, and the same color on the inside
of his wings. You can see him in the picture. His mate is modest in
stripes of brown and buffy white.
[Illustration: ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK]
A lady whom I know in New England has had three of these birds living
tame in her house, hardly at all confined to a cage. Each one was picked
up when just out of the nest and so injured that it could not care for
itself. It was carefully fed and reared in the house, and thus saved
from death.
One of the three was a female, who was as tame as a domestic cat, and
lived in the house four or five years. She was a fine singer, though
never a loud one. She kept the family cats in their place by pecking at
their toes when they came near, so they had respect for her.
Another was a young singer who had his bill crossed, so that he could
not feed himself. He was nearly dead for want of food when he was found.
She fed him carefully and brought him up, though she had always to feed
him herself. That is a good deal to do, for birds want to be fed very
often.
These birds who lived in a house, and were not taught by their parents,
never gave the common song of the species, but made up songs of their
own. They lived several years with their friend, who was very fond of
them.
The rose-breasted grosbeak is one who puts on his gay colors only for
the nesting season. When that is over, and he moults, and gets his new
winter suit, it is mostly streaked brown like his mate's. The rosy patch
is very small, and mixed with brown, so the effect is dull. In the
spring he moults the body feathers, and comes out again with his
brilliant rose colors.
The bird who takes the place of the rosebreast in the West is the
BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK. He is reddish brown and black, with the same
color and lemon yellow on the under parts, and yellow under the wings,
instead of rose like the Eastern bird. He is a loud, enthusiastic
singer. Miss Merriam says of him that his song to his mate is finer than
that of any other bird she has heard.
The CARDINAL GROSBEAK, cardinal redbird, Virginia nightingale, or
redbird, as he is called in different places, is of the third group of
this family. He is found all over the Southern States, and as far north
as Southern New England and New York. He is a brilliant red to the tip
of his beak, with a beautiful crest and black throat and face. His mate
is in soft dove colors, with red beak, and reddish tints on her quiet
robe.
Both of the pair are singers. He is much the louder, but she has the
sweeter song. He is famous as a singer, and is therefore trapped and
caught in great numbers for cages. In Europe, where he is a favorite
cage-bird, he is thought by many to be equal to the famous nightingale
as a singer.
In Ohio, a few years ago, a law was made that no cardinal should be
caged, and those in cages should be set free. In one small village were
more than forty freed. This shows how many are caged.
While nesting, the cardinal is rather savage, ready to fight any one who
disturbs the nest. If a snake comes about, all the birds within hearing,
from cardinals to kinglets, will come to help defend the nest and punish
the enemy. They fly at him with loud cries, and even attack him if he
does not leave.
The nest of these birds is not very high, in a tree or bush, and they
are very shy about it. A cardinal will desert her nest if it is touched,
especially if eggs are not yet laid. But they have reason to be afraid;
they cannot be blamed for that.
I saw a nest built on a trellis beside a kitchen door, and the birds
were so used to the people that they were not afraid. One who lived in
that house was a boy fourteen years old. But he was so gentle with birds
that they did not fear him at all. They would feed the nestlings freely,
while he stood not three feet from them. So they can be made tame, if
people will be gentle and not disturb them.
The cardinal grosbeak stays as far north as New Jersey and Ohio all
winter, and a little flock have lived in Central Park, New York, for
several years. That is most delightful for those who live near, for
they sing all winter, when few bird-notes are to be heard. They can stay
because they are seed eaters, and they find many weed seeds, and wild
berries like cedar berries, that stay on all winter.
[Illustration: CARDINAL]
A lady once had a cardinal in a cage with a pair of the tiny green
parrots called love-birds. These little birds, you know, are always
putting the bills together and caressing each other, as if kissing. The
cardinal seemed to think this very silly; at any rate, he did not like
it. After looking on awhile, he would lose patience and dash right down
between them. Of course this drove them apart. Then he seemed to feel
better, and went back to his perch. But when they began it again, down
he would come between them again. He did not disturb them at any other
time, but that sort of thing he plainly couldn't endure.
XVIII
THE CROSSBILL BRANCH
(_Fringillidæ_)--Continued
THE fourth branch of this family is of crossbills. Of these we have two.
They are smaller than grosbeaks, and, as their name shows, have the two
points of the bill crossed. It looks as if they could not feed
themselves. But a beak like this is just fitted to pick seeds out of
cones. And crossbills live mostly on cone-seeds.
These queer beaks are used for another thing, too. They help the birds
climb around on the trees. They are almost as good as a hand. You have
seen a parrot use his beak in the same way.
The AMERICAN, or RED, CROSSBILL is the more common of our two. He
travels about all over the Northern States and California. But he's very
particular about a place to nest, and is suited only in the northern
parts, or in the mountains.
The red crossbill seems to be a whimsical fellow; one never knows where
to find him. One year he will come with all his friends to a place, and
the next year there will not be one there.
The male is dull red, more or less streaked all over with brown. His
mate is olive green, mottled and mixed with blackish.
Crossbills go in flocks. They are usually seen among the evergreens,
where they find their food. They are much attached to one another.
I had a chance one summer to get well acquainted with a flock of
American crossbills. I found them very odd in their manners. They had
the queerest songs and calls of any bird I know. These were not musical,
but sounded like such things as the squeaking of a wagon wheel or the
sawing of wood.
The birds were very fond of calling and singing, and they kept up a
constant chattering, as they flew from spruce to spruce. They spent most
of their time on these trees, eating the seeds of the cones.
The white-winged crossbill lives about as the red one does. But he has a
really fine song. It is full of trills, something like a canary's song.
One of the odd things about these birds is their habit of nesting in
winter. A Maine hunter was once shooting moose in the middle of January,
when he came upon the nest of a crossbill, with the bird sitting. The
weather was cold, of course, and there was deep snow on the ground. The
nest was in the woods, and made of twigs, with long gray moss outside.
It looked so like a bunch of moss that it was hard to see. Other nests
have been found in winter also.
Mr. Nehrling says that if one of these birds is caught, the rest of the
flock will not leave him. They stay around him, crying and showing their
distress in every way, and if one is put alone into a cage, he will
die.
XIX
THE BLACKBIRD FAMILY
(_Icteridæ_)[16]
THERE are more than one hundred species of the Blackbird Family in
America. So we will divide them into four branches: Marsh Blackbirds,
Meadow Starlings, Orioles, and Crow Blackbirds.
[Illustration: RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD]
Blackbirds are walkers. They dress mostly in black, and they are of
medium size. Some of them will generally be found on the ground in a
marsh or a meadow. They are social birds, that is, they go in flocks.
Fond as they are of society, however, there is one time when they are
willing to be a little apart from the blackbird world. That is when they
are nesting and rearing a young family. Two interesting birds of this
family are the red-winged blackbird and the cow-blackbird or cowbird.
The RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD is found all over the country. He is not so
large as a robin, and is black all over, excepting one place on the
wings. On these are bright stripes of red and orange, which seem to be
on the shoulders when the wings are closed. They make the bird very gay,
when he spreads them out in flying.
The red-wing's mate is a modest-looking bird in stripes of brown and
black. She is a plodding sort of a creature, too. She walks about on the
ground, looking for grubs or insects so busily that she hardly seems to
see anything else.
The nest is usually in a marsh. At any rate, it must be near the water,
for red-wings are as fond of the water as any old sailor. It is hung
between reeds, or in the branches of a low bush. It is a comfortable,
bag-like affair, deep enough and big enough to hold the restless
blackbird babies.
While the mother red-wing is sitting, her mate stays near her and sings
a great deal. His song is a loud, sweet "hwa-ker-ee," which may be heard
a long way off. When nestlings are out, he is one of the most busy and
fussy of birds. He helps in the feeding, and seems to be a good and
careful father. But when the young ones are grown up and able to feed
themselves, a curious thing happens. All the gay red-wings in a
neighborhood come together in a flock again. And all the young ones and
the mothers stay in another flock.
The red-wing is a very nervous and uneasy fellow. While his mate is
sitting he is always on guard to see that no harm comes to her. In the
picture you can see he looks much concerned, as if he had discovered
something. Then he makes a great row if any one comes near. He will give
such cries of distress that one would think he was hurt, or that his
nestlings were being stolen away. If the enemy is a crow, come to feed
quietly on the meadow, he will fly at him, try to peck his head, and
annoy him till he goes away. If it is a person who alarms him, he will
circle about over his head with loud cries, and now and then swoop down
as if he meant to attack him. In fact, he shows so much distress that it
is not very pleasant to stay near him.
The young red-wing is just as uneasy and fussy as his papa. As soon as
he is able to get out of the nest, he scrambles about in the bushes. He
never stays two minutes in one place, and every time his mother comes
with food she has to hunt him up before she can give it to him.
The red-wing is fond of green corn, and is often shot by farmers, but he
is also a famous insect eater, and earns all the corn he gets. He eats
numbers of cut-worms, and other insects, and in some of the prairie
States he does great good by eating locusts and their eggs. Besides
these, he likes variety, and is fond of the seeds of weeds. Ragweed and
smartweed seeds are dainties to him as some nuts are to you, and he eats
a great many. So unless a large flock comes to one place to disturb the
crops, you may be sure they do more good than harm. So says the
Department I told you about.
The young red-winged blackbird is a droll fellow, and has decided
notions of his own. Mr. Keyser tells a story of one he picked up. He was
put in with some other young birds,--meadowlarks and catbirds. They were
all babies together, and all used to being fed. So when the little
red-wing got something to eat, they would open their mouths and beg for
it, in the pretty bird-baby way. At first he fed them, though he wasn't
much more than a baby himself; but they liked it so well that they
coaxed everything away from him. He soon got tired of that, and at last
refused to feed them at all.
This little bird liked to play jokes on the sober young meadowlarks. His
way was to seize one by the wing or tail and dance around the floor,
dragging his victim after him. The young larks scolded and held back,
and at last they learned to stop his pranks. They did it by throwing
themselves over on their backs, and holding up their claws ready to
fight.
In spite of this naughty fun, the young blackbird was really fond of
them. The larks slept on the ground, and at night, when the little
fellows settled down on the floor, the red-wing would often leave his
perch and cuddle down by them. This must have been for company only, for
it was his way to sleep on a perch.