little stranger. When she saw him on the ground, she started for him. No
doubt she meant to catch him, for she was a great bird hunter. When she
got almost up to the little fellow, she seemed suddenly to notice that
he was a baby, and helpless. At once her manner changed. She went up to
him, and actually played with him in the gentlest way, not hurting him
in the least. She did this several times before the bird got strong
enough to fly. This is a true story.
The CALIFORNIAN WOODPECKER takes the place of the red-head in
California. He is most interesting because of one habit which gives him
the common name of "carpenter woodpecker." This habit is of storing
sweet acorns for winter use.
Other birds store acorns, but this bird has found out a new way. He
drills a hole in the bark of a tree for each acorn by itself. It is
generally a soft pine or cedar, and sometimes thousands of acorns are
put in one tree. Often a trunk will be filled from near the ground up
forty feet. The acorns are driven in point first, and so tightly that
they have to be cut out with a knife. When a tree is filled, it is
carefully guarded till they are needed.
Many people think they lay up these acorns for the worms that sometimes
come into them. But Mr. John Muir, who lives right there, and knows them
as well as anybody in the world, says the birds eat the sound acorns
themselves. Sometimes, when food is scarce, Indians go to these trees
and steal the poor birds' store. They have to chop the acorns out with
hatchets. They often take a bushel from one tree.
These birds are more social than most woodpeckers. Often a party of them
will be seen together. In his flight and his ways of eating this bird is
like the red-headed woodpecker. Like him also, he is fond of clinging to
a dead limb, and drumming, hours at a time.
But in looks the Californian and the red-headed woodpeckers are very
different. The Western bird has only a cap of bright red. His back is
glossy blue-black, and he has the same color on the breast. His other
under parts are white, and he has a white patch on the wings, and
another just above the tail.
* * * * *
The smallest of our woodpeckers is the Downy Woodpecker, who is not much
bigger than an English sparrow. The picture shows two of these birds. In
"The First Book of Birds" there is a picture of a flicker at his
nest-hole.
FOOTNOTE:
[23] See Appendix, 22.
XXX
THE KINGFISHER FAMILY
(_Alcedinidæ_)[24]
MOST of the Kingfisher family belong to the tropics, but we have one who
is found all over the United States. This is the BELTED KINGFISHER.
[Illustration: BELTED KINGFISHER]
The belted kingfisher is large and rather chunky. He is dark blue above
and white below, with a bluish band across the breast. He has a fine
crest and a big head, and he sits up straight as a hawk.
The tail of the kingfisher is short, and square at the end. His plumage
is thick and oily, so that it does not hold wet. This is very important
to him in the way he gets his food, for he is an expert fisherman. He
lives alone, or with his mate, near the water,--a lake, or pond, or
small stream.
This bird's way of getting fish is to dive for them. You may have seen
him splash into the water out of sight, and in a moment come up with
a small fish in his beak. Then he goes back to his perch and beats the
fish to death, before he swallows it. He swallows it whole and head
first, because the fins might stick in his throat if he took it tail
first. After a while he throws up a little ball of the bones, scales,
and skin of the fish he has eaten. It is said that the kingfisher can
take a very large fish. One was shot who had swallowed a fish so long
that the tail stuck out of his mouth, and could not get down.
The nest of the kingfisher is in the bank of a river or lake. The birds
first cut a passage or hallway. Sometimes this is only four feet long,
and straight. But when stones or roots are in the way, it will be much
longer and have many turns. At the end of this passage is the kingfisher
nursery. This is a round room nearly a foot across, with a roof rounded
up over it. It is a little higher than the passageway so that water will
not run into it.
Sometimes it takes the birds two or three weeks to make one of these
nests, as we might expect when we think they have only beaks and feet to
work with. Usually it does not take so long. If the pair are not
disturbed, they will use the same nest year after year. Sometimes the
bed for the nestlings is of dry grass. One was found in which the bed
was entirely of the bones and scales of fish.
Mr. Baily has told us about a family of kingfisher little folk whom he
studied and photographed. He dug down to the nest from above, and was
careful not to hurt them and to put them back safely. First Mr. Baily
took a picture of them when two days old. They were queer-looking
objects, with eyes not open, and not a feather to their backs. They were
not so young but that they had one notion in their little round heads.
That was to cuddle up close together. They were not used to much room in
their dark cradle.
When Mr. Baily laid them out on the ground, they at once crawled up
together and made themselves into a sort of ball. They put their bare
wings and their bills over one another, and held on so that one could
not be moved without the others. After they had sat for their picture
they were carefully put back, and the nest was covered up again.
When the nestlings were nine days old, the nest was opened again, and
another picture taken. The little ones had grown a good deal in these
few days. Their eyes were open, and they were fast getting their feather
coats on. But they were just as fond of being close together as before.
After this the birds were left in their home till they were twenty-three
days old, and it seemed about time for them to come out. When the nest
was opened this time, it was found that the family had moved. The old
room was filled up with earth, and a new one made farther up. No doubt
the old birds thought the man too curious about their babies. The young
birds were ready to fly, and two of them did take to their wings when
they came to daylight.
* * * * *
There is a very old fable about the kingfisher, who was called the
halcyon. It is told in the first book that was ever written about birds
(so far as I know). The author was Aristotle, a Greek who lived three
hundred years before Christ. The story is, that the bird builds a nest
that floats on the sea, and for seven days before and seven days after
the shortest winter day, the sea stays calm, so that the nest may not be
hurt. During the first seven days she builds her nest, and in the second
seven she hatches out the young. These fourteen days were called halcyon
days. You may find more about this curious story in the encyclopædias.
FOOTNOTE:
[24] See Appendix, 23.
XXXI
THE CUCKOO FAMILY
(_Cuculidæ_)[25]
MOST of the cuckoo family live in a hotter climate than ours, but we
have a few of them. They are beautiful birds, with some peculiar ways.
[Illustration: YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO]
Cuckoos are rather slim in form, with very long tails, and bills a
little curved. Their toes are divided like woodpeckers' toes, two turned
forward and two back. In the Eastern States we have but two, the
yellow-billed and the black-billed. Best known in the East is the
YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOO, and in California the Western Yellow-billed, or
California, Cuckoo.
This bird has several names. In some places he is called the rain crow,
and in other places the wood pigeon; but of course he is neither a crow
nor a pigeon. He is a graceful bird, with plumage like satin. He is a
soft brown above and white below, but he is so shy that he is not so
often seen as heard. His call or song is a loud, yet not harsh
"kuk-kuk-kuk" many times repeated. Sometimes it begins slow and grows
faster till the notes run into each other, and then grows slow again,
ending in a sort of "cow-cow-cow;" but it does not always do so.
The cuckoo does not manage her nursery affairs as other birds do. Most
birds lay an egg a day, or every other day, so that they hatch about the
same time; but this bird doesn't mind if several days come between. Thus
it happens that one or more little cuckoos hatch out before the rest are
ready, and it is common to find little ones of several ages in the same
nest. There may be one nearly grown, another just beginning to get
feathers, and a third one not yet out of the egg.
There is another droll thing that may be found in a cuckoo's nest. When
the feathers begin to grow out on young birds, they come wrapped in
little sheaths. In most cases these sheaths burst open and the feathers
show, when they are a little way out. But in this family it is
different. The sheath does not open, says Mr. Dugmore, till the feathers
have grown their full length. Till that happens, the youngster looks as
if he were stuck all over with white pins on his black body.
You have heard, or read, that the cuckoo lays eggs in other birds'
nests, and leaves her young to be brought up by others. Do not forget
that the bird who does that is the European cuckoo--not ours. Our
cuckoos build nests, though very poor ones, sometimes hardly more than a
platform of sticks.
This bird is useful to us, for he eats some of our most troublesome
insects,--such as tent caterpillars, which few birds like to eat because
they are so hairy, and other insects with spines that are poisonous, and
so generally avoided.
The cuckoo is graceful in flight. He goes swiftly, without noise, and
seems to glide through the thickest foliage with ease.
I once found a young bird tumbling about on the ground. He was trying to
fly, but was not able to go much more than a foot at a time. He was
giving strange calls, which were answered from the woods beside the road
by a low tapping sound. I thought of course the little one was a
woodpecker and his mother was doing the knocking. It was so dark I could
not see him well. After some trouble I caught him and was going to take
a good look at him to see who he was before I let him go. As I grasped
him he gave a shriek, and out from the thick trees popped a cuckoo. She
alighted on a low branch outside and gave such a cry of distress that I
knew at once it was her baby I held in my hand.
I suppose the poor mother thought I wanted to carry the youngster off. I
couldn't bear to have a bird think that for a minute; so I opened my
hands and away he went, half flying, half scrambling up the road, while
the mother slipped back into the woods. In a moment she began again her
hollow-sounding calls, which I had thought were woodpecker tappings.
FOOTNOTE:
[25] See Appendix, 24.
XXXII
THE OWL FAMILY
(_Bubonidæ_)[26]
OWLS differ from all other birds in having eyes that look forward like
ours. They have also a broad face, which is made to look even wider by
the feathers which stand out around the eyes.
Owls cannot turn their eyes in the sockets, so they have to turn the
whole head to see to one side. Many of them have tufts of feathers like
horns, which they can stand up or lay down as they choose. These are
called horned owls. An owl's legs are covered with feathers, sometimes
down to the toes. The whole plumage of this bird is soft and fluffy, so
that he can fly without making any noise. This is important to him, for
he lives mostly on mice, and he never could catch one if he made much
noise getting about.
The owl's mate looks like him, and--what is unusual among birds--she is
larger than he. Because they come out in the evening, when we cannot
see them well, we know very little of their ways. They are more often
heard than seen. Their voices are generally mournful, but that is no
reason why they should be feared.
All birds have control over some of their feathers, that is, they can
make them stand up or lie down as they choose. But owls have more than
any other bird. An owl can alter his shape or size so that he will look
like another bird.
Mr. Bolles says that a large owl can change from a mass of bristling
feathers a yard wide, to a slim, sleek brown post only a few inches
wide. When he does this, one cannot see him, though he may be in plain
sight. His colors blend with a tree trunk, or stump, and he can stand
without stirring for an hour, and likes to do it.
Mr. Bolles had owls in the house, and watched them closely. He has told
us some curious things about their ways. He says that when one steps
daintily across the floor, his feathers tuck themselves up as a lady
holds up her gown.
This moving of the feathers sometimes looks very droll. When eating, the
feathers around the mouth, which might get soiled, draw back out of the
way. And when an owl wants to hide his food, he stands over it, and the
feathers droop down like a curtain to screen it from view. When Mrs.
Bolles wanted to sketch an owl, he kept changing his shape all the time,
though he did not seem to move at all.
[Illustration]
Another man who had a pet owl says that the bird would stand before him
and throw back his breast feathers each side, just as a man throws open
his coat.
The owlets come out of the egg dressed in soft, fluffy down. In some of
the family it is gray, in others it is snowy white. They are carefully
fed and reared by their loving parents.
A funny story is told by a man who wanted to see what was in an owl's
nest. He lifted the mother bird out, and to his surprise the whole
family came out with her. She held on to one little one, and each one
held on to the next, and so he had the whole owl family in a cluster,
like a bunch of grapes.
The SCREECH OWL is the best known of this family. He is found, under
slightly different forms, all over our country. In Florida he is smaller
and darker than in the Middle States. In California he is larger and
grayer, and in the Rocky Mountains somewhat lighter. But he acts in
about the same way, wherever he lives.
In the East the screech owl is found in two colors. Some have reddish
feathers, others have gray. The wise men have not yet found any
reason for this difference.
The screech owl is badly named, for his song is not a screech. It is a
sort of trembling sound, and in some places he is called the "shivering
owl," which is a much better name for him than screech owl. If one does
not know who makes it, it is rather a weird song in the dark; but if one
knows the pretty gray bird, it is sweet and pleasing.
The bird comes out before it is quite pitch dark. He may often be seen
against the sky, standing on a branch, bowing and swaying back and
forth, while he utters strange notes of many kinds. He has plenty to say
for himself. But you must keep as still as a mouse if you want to see
him. If he can see to catch a mouse in the dark, you may be sure he can
see you.
Generally the screech owl makes a nest in a hollow tree or a deserted
woodpecker nest, and comes out only at night. What he likes best to eat
is mice, and mice too come out at night. The way he eats is curious, as
I told you in "The First Book of Birds."
A few years ago a screech owl went through a broken window into the
attic of a house in New Jersey, and lived there all winter. The family
were bird-lovers, so they let her stay. She liked it so well that the
next spring she made her nest there and hatched out three little owls.
The little ones were not at all afraid of people, and a son of the
family made many photographs of them.
After the owlets were grown, the whole family disappeared, and lived out
of doors the rest of the summer. But when cold weather came, the old
birds came back and stayed all winter again. They have made their home
in that attic, and reared a brood every spring since. They are always
very social among themselves. They talk and sing, and make many sorts of
noises.
One of the queerest of the owl family is the little BURROWING OWL of the
West. The Florida Burrowing Owl, found in Florida, differs only a little
from the Western bird. The burrowing owl is a comical-looking fellow,
only about as large as a robin. He has very long legs for an owl, and is
dressed in grayish brown.
This bird is said to have very polite manners. In some places he is
called the "how-do-you-do owl." He is always bowing, and turning from
side to side, and seems to be greeting you as you come near him.
The burrowing owl likes a comfortable home underground, out of the way
of enemies. In the West, where he lives, prairie dogs are plentiful,
and they are always digging out passages and rooms, more than they can
use. So the owl has no trouble in finding empty quarters to live in.
But in California, and places where are none of the digging dogs, the
little owl rooms with some of the ground squirrels that burrow there. He
must have an underground home in that land where trees are scarce, and
he has no fancy for digging. Even if he wanted to dig, his feet are not
fitted for it like the feet of the little beasts.
The burrowing owl has no trouble in taking a house where he finds one to
suit him, for he's a savage little fellow. He can kill squirrels and
prairie dogs much bigger than himself, and even rattlesnakes, which take
lodgings in the prairie dog houses also. He feeds upon all these
creatures. He eats also crickets, scorpions, and many troublesome
insects. This makes him valuable to farmers, for nearly all these
creatures destroy his crops.
Remember, too, that birds have great appetites; as I have told you, they
eat more than their own weight every day. In that way they dispose of
enormous numbers of pests. It almost seems as if a bird were a sort of
eating machine, made on purpose to work for us. We should never forget
this.
This bird, like most others, makes many different sounds. His song is a
soft "coo-oo," something like that of a mourning dove. When a stranger
comes to his home and he is there, he gives a rattle which sounds like a
rattlesnake. This scares people, and perhaps animals, away, for no one
wants to meet a rattlesnake in a dark hole. I wonder if the bird learned
this trick living in the same house with the snake.
The Department of Agriculture has proved owls to be among the most
useful of birds. Their food is almost entirely of hurtful creatures, and
they come out at night when other birds are asleep and are ready to hunt
the pests which do the same.
FOOTNOTE:
[26] See Appendix, 25.
XXXIII
THE BARN OWL FAMILY
(_Strigidæ_)[27]
THIS is a small family of which we have but one member in America, the
AMERICAN BARN OWL. He is found all over the country, as far north as
southern New England, but he is one of the shyest of birds. He comes out
only at night, and hides so well in the day that he is not often seen,
even where he is common. So very little is known of his ways.
When he does happen to come out, and any one sees him, a great deal is
said about him. For he is a very odd-looking fellow indeed. He is all in
gray and white, clouded and speckled and barred, and his face is the
strangest of bird faces. It is three-cornered, and looks more like a
monkey's than a bird's. If he shows this face in the daylight, he is
generally caught or shot, and the newspapers make a great fuss about
him. Some one says he looks like a toothless little old woman, with a
hooked nose.
Happily for the barn owl, he does not often come out. He loves quiet
more than anything. He seeks a hidden, safe place, not only for a nest,
but to spend his days in. He is almost the only bird who may be said to
live in a home.
When house hunting, this bird will take a snug cavity in a tree, or an
empty building. He does not despise an old mining shaft, or a burrow in
the ground. He delights in a church steeple or a barn. Almost any place
that is quiet and out of sight of the world will suit him.
All day the barn owl stays at home. But in the evening he comes out for
his dinner, and then there is havoc among the small animals. Rats,
ground squirrels, mice, bats, small snakes, grasshoppers, and almost
anything else that is eatable are welcome to him. He should be protected
because he is so useful.
This bird is an amiable fellow too. He has been known to live pleasantly
in a church tower with pigeons, whom he could easily kill to eat if he
wished. He is a hearty eater himself, besides feeding a family of five
or six little fuzzy white owlets great quantities of food.
One of these owls has lived for years in a tower of the Smithsonian
Institution in Washington. In the Zoölogical Collection of that city,
there was, not long ago, another of the family alive. Wishing to have
more of them in the Zoo, some one watched the nest of the tower bird.
When her little family of seven was about ready to fly, he took them
away, and gave them to their caged relative. She promptly adopted the
whole party, and reared them with the greatest care. No doubt she was
glad to have something to do. Life in a cage must be very tiresome for
wild birds and beasts.
Mr. Reed of Philadelphia has told us how a pet barn owl threw up the
castings. These, you know, are the bones and skin of mice and other
creatures which are thrown up awhile after eating. He would bow his head
and shake it very hard. Then raise it and jerk out the little ball.
This bird was very tame. The place where he liked best to sit was on the
arm or shoulder of his master. If the man wanted to do anything except
play with him, he had to get a stuffed bird to amuse the living one. It
was like a doll for a baby girl. When the owl was not perfectly
comfortable, he kept up a constant cry, so his master had to keep him
well entertained and fed.
The note of the barn owl is a wild screech. One is sometimes heard
making this sound, but he is never heard flying, for, like other owls,
he is dressed in soft feathers that make no rustle.
FOOTNOTE:
[27] See Appendix, 26.
XXXIV
THE HAWK AND EAGLE FAMILY
(_Falconidæ_)[28]
THIS is a family of birds of prey. That is, birds who live entirely on
living animals, which they hunt and catch for themselves. Owls are also
birds of prey, but they do their hunting by night, while this family
work by day.
[Illustration: SPARROW HAWK]
Like all birds, hawks are well fitted for what they have to do. They
have long wings, so that they can fly swiftly and long at a time, to
follow up the prey. They have sharp, curved claws, made for grasping and
holding things. Their hooked beak is the best kind for cutting and
tearing meat.
Most of these birds work for us the whole time, as do the owls. For they
eat the same destructive animals, and they eat an enormous number. Yet
we have a foolish prejudice against them, because two or three of them
sometimes take poultry and game birds. Even when these birds do take
our poultry and game birds, some good is done. For they naturally catch
the weak ones who are not able to get out of their way. And it is better
for the whole race of these birds that the weak ones should not live. It
leaves the rest stronger, and better able to make their way in the
world.
This family is found all over the world. It includes birds of all sizes,
from one as small as a sparrow to one who spreads his wings ten feet. In
our country we have neither the smallest nor the largest. Of those you
are likely to see, the least is the American Sparrow Hawk, who is not
much larger than a robin, and the greatest is the Bald Eagle, who is
sometimes a yard from the tip of his beak to the end of his tail.
Hawks have wonderful eyes like a telescope and microscope in one, as I
have told you in "The First Book of Birds." In eating without knife and
fork, they often swallow food whole and throw up castings like the owls.
In catching their prey these birds use their feet instead of their
beaks. Even those who hunt grasshoppers and crickets seize them in their
claws. Their feet are quite as useful as hands. In them they carry
material for the nest as well as food for the little ones. The claws are
powerful weapons of war, too. A hawk who is ready to fight throws
himself on his back and presents his claws to the enemy. Few people
would like to be grappled by those terrible claws.
Hawks and eagles have wonderful wing power. Some of them can stay far up
in the air an hour at a time. They go up in great circles with wings
held stiffly out and not beating, till out of sight. Men have not yet
been able to see quite how it is done. It is probably by using the wings
as sailors use their sails, and making the wind carry them.
The one of this family I shall tell you about is the FISH HAWK, or
AMERICAN OSPREY, because he is found all over the United States. He is
one of those which you will be most likely to see, and want to know
about.
The osprey is a large bird, about two feet long. He is dressed in
chocolate brown, with white breast and white tips to many of his
feathers. His head feathers are long, and lie back on his neck, giving a
peculiar shape to the head, by which you may know him at once. These
feathers too are white, so that as he flies over he looks as if he were
bald. He has feet marvelously fitted to hold slippery fish. The talons
are sharp, and the toes long, and rough on the under side, so that
nothing can get away from them.