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diff --git a/27277-8.txt b/27277-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ec8ffd4 --- /dev/null +++ b/27277-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6769 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Little Brothers of the Air, by Olive Thorne Miller + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Little Brothers of the Air + +Author: Olive Thorne Miller + +Release Date: November 16, 2008 [EBook #27277] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LITTLE BROTHERS OF THE AIR *** + + + + +Produced by Chris Curnow, Joseph Cooper, Greg Bergquist +and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + + + By Olive Thorne Miller. + + BIRD-WAYS. 16mo, $1.25. + + IN NESTING TIME. 16mo, $1.25. + + LITTLE BROTHERS OF THE AIR. $1.25. + + HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. + BOSTON AND NEW YORK. + + + + + LITTLE BROTHERS OF + THE AIR + + BY + + OLIVE THORNE MILLER + + [Illustration] + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY + The Riverside Press, Cambridge + 1893 + + + + + Copyright, 1892, + BY H.M. MILLER. + + _All rights reserved._ + + _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U.S.A._ + Electrotyped and Printed by H.O. Houghton & Company. + + + + +INTRODUCTORY. + + +Some of the chapters of this little book were written in 1888, on the +shore of the Great South Bay, Long Island; others in the northern part +of New York State, known to its residents as the "Black River Country," +a year or two later. Part of them have been published in The Atlantic +Monthly, Harper's Bazaar, The Independent and other papers. + +The nomenclature in the Table of Contents is that adopted by the +American Ornithological Society. + +OLIVE THORNE MILLER. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + ON THE GREAT SOUTH BAY. + + PAGE + + I. THE KINGBIRD'S NEST 1 + + Kingbird. _Tyrannus tyrannus._ + + II. A CHRONICLE OF THREE LITTLE KINGS 19 + + Kingbird. _Tyrannus tyrannus._ + + III. THE BABES IN THE WOOD 34 + + Flicker. _Colaptes auratus._ + + IV. HOME LIFE OF THE REDSTART 48 + + American Redstart. _Setophaga ruticilla._ + + V. WHEN NESTING IS OVER 61 + + Thrasher. _Harporhynchus rufus._ + + White-bellied Swallow. _Tachycineta bicolor._ + + Wood Pewee. _Contopus virens._ + + Bluebird. _Sialia sialis._ + + VI. IN SEARCH OF THE BLUEJAY 76 + + Bluejay. _Cyanocitta cristata._ + + VII. IN THE WOOD LOT 83 + + Bluejay. _Cyanocitta cristata._ + + VIII. THE BLUEJAY BABY 89 + + Bluejay. _Cyanocitta cristata._ + + + IN THE BLACK RIVER COUNTRY. + + IX. THAT WITCHING SONG 99 + + Wilson's Thrush. _Turdus fuscescens._ + + X. THE VEERY MOTHER 107 + + Wilson's Thrush. _Turdus fuscescens._ + + XI. THE TAWNY THRUSH'S BROOD 114 + + Wilson's Thrush. _Turdus fuscescens._ + + XII. A MEADOW NEST 123 + + Wilson's Thrush. _Turdus fuscescens._ + + XIII. A JUNE ROUND OF CALLS 130 + + Wood Pewee. _Contopus virens._ + + Junco. _Junco hyemalis._ + + Flicker. _Colaptes auratus._ + + Redstart. _Setophaga ruticilla._ + + Sapsucker. _Sphyrapicus varius._ + + XIV. A BOBOLINK RHAPSODY 138 + + Bobolink. _Dolichonyx oryzivorus._ + + XV. THE BOBOLINK'S NEST 146 + + Bobolink. _Dolichonyx oryzivorus._ + + XVI. THE TANAGER'S NEST 155 + + Scarlet Tanager. _Piranga erythromelas._ + + XVII. THE WILES OF A WARBLER 163 + + Black-throated Blue. _Dendroica coerulescens._ + + XVIII. A RAINY-DAY TRAMP 173 + + Oven-bird. _Seiurus aurocapillus._ + + XIX. THE VAGARIES OF A WARBLER 180 + + Redstart. _Setophaga ruticilla._ + + Chestnut-sided W. _Dendroica pensylvanica._ + + XX. A CLEVER CUCKOO 190 + + Black-billed C. _Coccyzus erythrophthalmus._ + + XXI. TWO LITTLE DRUMMERS 201 + + Sapsucker. _Sphyrapicus varius._ + + Red-headed Woodpecker. _Melanerpes erythrocephalus._ + + XXII. FROM MY WINDOW 221 + + Phoebe. _Sayornis phoebe._ + + Robin. _Merula migratoria._ + + Great-crested Fly-catcher. _Myiarchus crinitus._ + + Purple Grackle. _Quiscalus quiscula._ + + Downy Woodpecker. _Dryobates pubescens._ + + Chestnut-sided Warbler. _Dendroica pensylvanica._ + + Kingbird. _Tyrannus tyrannus._ + + XXIII. THE COMICAL CROW BABY 236 + + Common Crow. _Corvus americanus._ + + XXIV. A MIDSUMMER WOOING 244 + + American Goldfinch. _Spinus tristis._ + + XXV. A PLUM-TREE ROMANCE 252 + + American Goldfinch. _Spinus tristis._ + + XXVI. SOLITARY THE THRUSH 259 + + Hermit Thrush. _Turdus aonalaschkoe pallasii._ + + INDEX 269 + + + + +ON THE GREAT SOUTH BAY. + + + + + Precious qualities of silence haunt + Round these vast margins ministrant. + + 'T is here, 't is here, thou canst unhand thy heart + And breathe it free, and breathe it free + By rangy marsh, in lone sea-liberty. + + SIDNEY LANIER. + + + + +LITTLE BROTHERS OF THE AIR. + + + + +I. + +THE KINGBIRD'S NEST. + + +To study a nest is to make an acquaintance. However familiar the bird, +unless the student has watched its ways during the only domestic period +of its life,--nesting time,--he has still something to learn. In fact, +he has almost everything to learn, for into those few weeks is crowded a +whole lifetime of emotions and experiences which fully bring out the +individuality of the bird. Family life is a test of character, no less +in the nest than in the house. Moreover, to a devotee of the science +that some one has aptly called Ornithography, nothing is so attractive. +What hopes it holds out! Who can guess what mysteries shall be +disclosed, what interesting episodes of life shall be seen about that +charmed spot? + +To find a newly built nest is the first June work of the bird-student, +and this year on the Great South Bay a particularly inviting one +presented itself, on the top branch of a tall oak-tree near my "inn of +rest." It was in plain sight from the veranda. The builder evidently +cared nothing for concealment, and relied, with reason, upon its +inaccessible position for safety. To be sure, as days went by and oak +leaves grew, a fair screen for the little dwelling was not lacking; but +summer breezes were kind, and often blew them aside, and, better still, +from other points of view the nest was never hidden. + +To whom, then, did the nest belong? I hoped to the kingbird, who at that +moment sat demurely upon the picket fence below, apparently interested +only in passing insects; and while I looked the question was answered by +Madame Tyrannis herself, who came with the confidence of ownership, +carrying a beakful of building material, and arranging it with great +pains inside the structure. This was satisfactory, for I did not know +the kingbird in domestic life. + +For several days it seemed uncertain whether the kingbirds would ever +really occupy the nest, so spasmodic was the work upon it. Now one of +the pair came with a bit of something, placed it, tried its effect this +way and that, and then disappeared; while for hours every day both might +be seen about the place, hunting insects and taking their ease on the +fence as if no thought of nesting ever stirred their wise little heads. +The last addition to the domicile was curious: a soft white feather from +the poultry yard, which was fastened up on the edge, and stood there +floating in the breeze; a white banner of peace flung out to the world +from her castle walls. + +Peace from a kingbird? Direful tales are told of this bird: "he is +pugnacious," says one writer; "he fights everybody," adds another; "he +is a coward," remarks a third. Science has dubbed him tyrant +(_Tyrannis_), and his character is supposed to be settled. But may there +not be two sides to the story? We shall see. One kingbird, at least, +shall be studied sympathetically; we shall try to enter his life, to +judge him fairly, and shall above all + + "bring not + The fancies found in books, + Leave author's eyes, and fetch our own." + +Nearly two months that small dwelling on the oak was watched, day after +day, early and late, in storm and in sunshine; now I know at least one +family of kingbirds, and what I know I shall honestly tell, "nothing +extenuating." + +The house was built, the season was passing, yet housekeeping did not +begin. The birds, indeed, appeared to have abandoned the tree, and days +went by in which I could not see that either visited it. But the nest +was not deserted, for all that; the curiosity and impertinence of the +neighbors were simply amazing. (Perhaps the kingbird has some reason to +be pugnacious!) No sooner was that tenement finished than, as promptly +as if they had received cards to a house-warming, visitors began to +come. First to show himself was an orchard oriole, who was in the habit +of passing over the yard every day and stopping an hour or more in the +neighborhood, while he scrambled over the trees, varying his lunches +with a rich and graceful song. Arrived this morning in the kingbird +tree, he began his usual hunt over the top branch, when suddenly his eye +fell upon the kingbird cradle. He paused, cast a wary glance about, then +dropped to a lower perch, his singing ended, his manner guilty. Nearer +and nearer he drew, looking cautiously about and moving in perfect +silence. Still the owner did not come, and at last the stranger stood +upon the edge. What joy! He looked that mansion over from foundation to +banner fluttering in the wind; he examined closely its construction; +with head turned over one side, he criticised its general effect, and +apparently did not think much of it; he gratified to the full his +curiosity, and after about one minute's study flew to the next tree, and +resumed his singing. + +The next arrival was a pewee, whose own nest was nearly built, in a +wild-cherry tree not far off. The fence under the oak was his usual +perch, and it was plain that he made his first call with "malice +aforethought;" for, disdaining the smallest pretense of interest in it, +he flew directly to the nest, hovered beneath it, and pulled out some +part of the building material that pleased his fancy,--nothing less than +pure thievery. + +Among the occasional visitors to the yard were two American goldfinches, +or thistle-birds, in bright yellow and black plumage, both males. They +also went to the new homestead in the oak, inspected it, chatted over it +in their sweet tones, and then passed on. It began to look as though the +nest were in the market for any one to choose, and the string of company +was not yet ended. + +Soon after the goldfinches had passed by, there alighted a gay Baltimore +oriole, who, not content with looking at the new castle in the air, must +needs try it. He actually stepped into the nest and settled down as if +sitting. Who knows but he was experimenting to see if this simple, +wide-open cradle wouldn't do as well for oriole babies as for kingbirds? +Certainly it was a curious performance. It made an impression on him +too, for the next day he came again; and this time he picked at it, and +seemed to be changing its interior arrangement, but he carried nothing +away when he flew. Even after sitting began, this oriole paid two more +visits to the nest which so interested him. On the first occasion, the +owner was at home, and gave him instant notice that the place was no +longer on view. He retired, but, being no coward, and not choosing to +submit to dictation, he came again. This time, a fly-up together, a +clinch in the air, with loud and offensive remarks, cured him of further +desire to call. + +More persistent than any yet mentioned was a robin. Heretofore, strange +to say, the guests had all been males, but this caller was the mother of +a young brood in the next yard. She came in her usual way, alighted on a +low branch, ran out upon it, hopped to the next higher, and so proceeded +till she reached the nest. The kingbird happened to be near it himself, +and drove her away in an indifferent manner, as if this interloper were +of small account. The robin went, of course, but returned, and, perching +close to the object of interest, leaned over and looked at it as long as +she chose, while the owner stood calmly by on a twig and did not +interfere. I know he was not afraid of the robin, as later events +proved; and it really looked as if the pair deliberately delayed sitting +to give the neighborhood a chance to satisfy its curiosity; as if they +thus proclaimed to whom it might concern that there was to be a kingbird +household, that they might view it at their leisure before it was +occupied, but after that no guests were desired. Whatever the cause, the +fact is, that once completed, the nest was almost entirely abandoned by +the builders for several days, during which this neighborhood inspection +went on. They even deserted their usual hunting-ground, and might +generally be seen at the back of the house, awaiting their prey in the +most unconcerned manner. + +However, time was passing, and one day Madame Tyrannis herself began to +call, but fitfully. Sometimes she stayed about the nest one minute, +sometimes five minutes, but was restless; picking at the walls, +twitching the leaves that hung too near, rearranging the lining, trying +it this way and that, as if to see how it fitted her figure, and how she +should like it when she was settled. First she tried sitting with face +looking toward the bay; then she jerked herself around, without rising, +and looked awhile toward the house. She had as much trouble to get +matters adjusted to her mind as if she had a houseful of furniture to +place, with carpets to lay, curtains to hang, and the thousand and one +"things" with which we bigger housekeepers cumber ourselves and make +life a burden. This spasmodic visitation went on for days, and finally +it was plain that sitting had begun. Still the birds of the vicinity +were interested callers, and I began to think that one kingbird would +not even protect his nest, far less justify his reputation by +tyrannizing over the feathered world. But when his mate had seriously +established herself, it was time for the head of the household to assume +her defense, and he did. + +As usual, the kingbird united the characters of brave defender and +tender lover. To his spouse his manners were charming. When he came to +relieve her of her care, to give her exercise or a chance for luncheon, +he greeted her with a few low notes, and alighted on a small leafless +twig that curved up about a foot above the nest, and made a perfect +watch-tower. She slipped off her seat and disappeared for about six +minutes. During her absence he stayed at his post, sometimes changing +his perch to one or other of half a dozen leafless branchlets in that +part of the tree, and there sitting, silent and watchful, ready to +interview any stranger who appeared. Upon her return he again saluted +her with a few words, adding to them a lifting of wings and spreading of +his beautiful tail that most comically suggested the bowing and +hat-lifting of bigger gentlemen. In all their life together, even when +the demands of three infants kept them busy from morning till night, he +never forgot this little civility to his helpmate. If she alighted +beside him on the fence, he rose a few inches above his perch, and flew +around in a small circle while greeting her; and sometimes, on her +return to the nest, he described a larger circle, talking (as I must +call it) all the time. Occasionally, when she approached, he flew out to +meet and come back with her, as if to escort her. Could this bird, to +his mate so thoughtful and polite, be to the rest of the world the bully +he is pictured? Did he, who for ten months of the year shows less +curiosity about others, and attends more perfectly to his own business +than any bird I have noticed, suddenly, at this crisis in his life, +become aggressive, and during these two months of love and paternity and +hard work, make war upon a peaceful neighborhood? + +I watched closely. There was not an hour of the day, often from four +A.M. to eight P.M., that I had not the kingbird and his nest directly in +sight, and hardly a movement of his life escaped me. There he stood, on +the fence under his tree, on a dead bush at the edge of the bay, or on +the lowest limb of a small pear-tree in the yard. Sometimes he dashed +into the air for his prey; sometimes he dropped to the ground to secure +it; but oftenest, especially when baby throats grew clamorous, he +hovered over the rank grass on the low land of the shore, wings beating, +tail wide spread, diving now and then for an instant to snatch a morsel; +and every thirty minutes, as punctually as if he carried a watch in his +trim white vest, he took a direct line for the home where his mate sat +waiting. + +A few days after the little dame took possession of the nest, the +kingbird had succeeded, without much trouble, in making most of his +fellow-creatures understand that he laid claim to the upper branches of +the oak, and was prepared to defend them against all comers, and they +simply gave the tree a wide berth in passing. + +Apparently deceived by his former indifference, however, the robin above +mentioned presumed to call somewhat later. This time she was received in +a manner that plainly showed she was no longer welcome. She retired, but +she expressed her mind freely for some time, sitting on the fence below. +With true robin persistence she did not give it up, and she selected for +her next call the dusk of evening, just before going to bed. + +This time both kingbirds flung themselves after her, and she left, +"laughing" as she went. The kingbirds did not follow beyond their own +borders, and the robin soon returned to the nearest tree, where she +kept up the taunting "he! he! he!" a long time, seemingly with +deliberate intention to insult or enrage her pursuers, but without +success; for unless she came to their tree, the kingbirds paid her not +the slightest attention. + +The last time the robin tried to be on friendly terms with her neighbor, +I noticed her standing near him on the picket fence under his tree. +There were not more than three pickets between them, and she was +expostulating earnestly, with flirting tail and jerking wings, and with +loud "tut! tut's," and "he! he's!" she managed to be very eloquent. Had +he driven her from his nest? and was she complaining? I could only +guess. The kingbird did not reply to her, but when she flew he followed, +and she did not cease telling him what she thought of him as she flew, +till out of sight. + +Strangest of all was the fact that, during the whole of this scene, her +mate stood on the fence within a dozen feet, and looked on! Did he think +her capable of managing her own affairs? Did he prefer to be on good +terms with his peppery neighbor? or was it because with her it would be +a war of words, while if he entered the arena it must be a fight? as we +sometimes see, when a man goes home fighting drunk, every man of the +neighborhood keeps out of sight, while all the women go out and help +his wife to get him home. The most troublesome meddler was, as might be +expected, an English sparrow. From the time when the first stick was +laid till the babies were grown and had left the tree, that bird never +ceased to intrude and annoy. He visited the nest when empty; he managed +to have frequent peeps at the young; and notwithstanding he was driven +off every time, he still hung around, with prying ways so exasperating +that he well deserved a thrashing, and I wonder he did not get it. He +was driven away repeatedly, and he was "picked off" from below, and +pounced upon from above, but he never failed to return. + +Another visitor of whom the kingbird seemed suspicious was a purple crow +blackbird, who every day passed over. This bird and the common crow were +the only ones he drove away without waiting for them to alight; and if +half that is told of them be true, he had reason to do so. + +With none of these intruders had the kingbird any quarrel when away from +his nest. The blackbird, to whom he showed the most violence, hunted +peacefully beside him on the grass all day; the robin alighted near him +on the fence, as usual; the orioles scrambled over the neighboring +trees, singing, and eating, as was their custom; even the English +sparrow carried on his vulgar squabbles on his own branch of the oak all +day; but to none of them did the kingbird pay the slightest attention. +He simply and solely defended his own household. + +In the beginning the little dame took sitting very easy, fidgeting about +in the nest, standing up to dress her feathers, stretching her neck to +see what went on in the yard below, and stepping out upon a neighboring +twig to rest herself. After a few days she settled more seriously to +work, and became very quiet and patient. Her mate never brought food to +her, nor did he once take her place in the nest; not even during a +furious northeast gale that turned June into November, and lasted +thirty-six hours, most of the time with heavy rain, when the top branch +bent and tossed, and threatened every moment a catastrophe. In the +house, fires were built and books and work brought out; but the +bird-student, wrapped in heavy shawls, kept close watch from an open +window, and noted well the bad-weather manners of Tyrannis. Madame sat +very close, head to the northeast, and tail, narrowed to the width of +one feather, pressed against a twig that grew up behind the nest. All +through the storm, I think the head of the family remained in a +sheltered part of the tree, but he did not come to the usual twigs which +were so exposed. I know he was near, for I heard him, and occasionally +saw him standing with body horizontal instead of upright, as usual, the +better to maintain his position against the wind. At about the ordinary +intervals the sitter left her nest, without so much as a leaf to cover +it, and was absent perhaps half as long as common, but not once did her +mate assume her post. + +How were this pair distinguished from each other, since there is no +difference in their dress? First, by a fortunate peculiarity of marking; +the male had one short tail feather, that, when he was resting, showed +its white tip above the others, and made a perfectly distinct and (with +a glass) plainly visible mark. Later, when I had become familiar with +the very different manners of the pair, I did not need this mark to +distinguish the male, though it remained _en evidence_ all through the +two months I had them under observation. + +During the period of sitting, life went on with great regularity. The +protector of the nest perched every night in a poplar-tree across the +yard, and promptly at half past four o'clock every morning began his +matins. Surprised and interested by an unfamiliar song, I rose one day +at that unnatural hour to trace it home. It was in that enchanting time +when men are still asleep in their nests, and even "My Lord Sun" has +not arisen from his; when the air is sweet and fresh, and as free from +the dust of man's coming and going as if his tumults did not exist. It +was so still that the flit of a wing was almost startling. The water +lapped softly against the shore; but who can + + "Write in a hook the morning's prime, + Or match with words that tender sky"? + +The song that had called me up was a sweet though simple strain, and it +was repeated every morning while his mate was separated from him by her +nest duties. I can find no mention of it in books, but I had many +opportunities to study it, and thus it was. It began with a low kingbird +"Kr-r-r" (or rolling sound impossible to express by letters), without +which I should not have identified it at first, and it ended with a very +sweet call of two notes, five tones apart, the lower first, after a +manner suggestive of the phoebe--something like this: +"Kr-r-r-r-r-ree-bé! Kr-r-r-r-r-ree-bé!" In the outset, and I think I +heard the very first attempt, it resembled the initial efforts of +cage-birds, when spring tunes their throats. The notes seemed hard to +get out; they were weak, uncertain, fluttering, as if the singer were +practicing something quite new. But as the days went by they grew strong +and assured, and at last were a joyous and loud morning greeting. I +don't know why I should be so surprised to hear a kingbird sing; for I +believe that one of the things we shall discover, when we begin to study +birds alive instead of dead, is that every one has a song, at least in +spring, when, in the words of an enthusiastic bird-lover, "the smallest +become poets, often sublime songsters." I have already heard several +sing that are set down as lacking in that mode of expression. + +To return to my kingbird, struggling with his early song. After +practicing perhaps fifteen or twenty minutes, he left his perch, flew +across the yard, and circled around the top bough, with his usual +good-morning to his partner, who at once slipped off and went for her +breakfast, while he stayed to watch the nest. + +This magic dawn could not last. It grew lighter; the sun was bestirring +himself. I heard oars on the bay; and now that the sounds of men began, +the robin mounted the fence and sang his waking song. The rogue!--he had +been "laughing" and shouting for an hour. "Awake! awake!" he seemed to +say; and on our dreamy beds we hear him, and think it the first sound of +the new day. Then, too, came the jubilee of the English sparrow, +welcoming the appearance of mankind, whose waste and improvidence supply +so easily his larder. Why should he spend his time hunting insects? The +kitchen will open, the dining-room follows, and crumbs are sure to +result. He will wait, and meanwhile do his best to waken his purveyor. + +I found this to be the almost invariable programme of kingbird life at +this period: after matins, the singer flew to the nest tree, and his +spouse went to her breakfast; in a few seconds he dropped to the edge of +the nest, looked long and earnestly at the contents, then flew to one of +his usual perching-places near by, and remained in silence till he saw +the little mother coming. During the day he relieved her at the +intervals mentioned, and at night, when she had settled to rest, he +stayed at his post on the fence till almost too dark to be seen, and +then took his way, with a good-night greeting, to his sleeping-place on +the poplar. + +Thus matters went through June till the 29th, when, at about four +o'clock in the afternoon, there was an unusual stir about the kingbird +castle. I saw that something had happened, and this must open a new +chapter. But before beginning the chronicle of the kingbird babies, I +should like to give my testimony about _one_ member of the family. As a +courteous and tender spouse, as a devoted father and a brave defender of +his household, I know no one who outranks him. In attending to his own +business and never meddling with others, he is unexcelled. In regard to +his fighting, he has driven many away from his tree, as do all birds, +but he never sought a quarrel; and the only cases of anything like a +personal encounter were with the two birds who insisted on annoying him. +He is chivalrous to young birds not his own, as will appear in the story +of his family. He is, indeed, usually silent, perhaps even solemn, but +he may well be so; he has an important duty to perform in the world, and +one that should bring him thanks and protection instead of scorn and a +bad name. It is to reduce the number of man's worst enemies, the vast +army of insects. What we owe to the fly-catchers, indeed, we can never +guess, although, if we go on destroying them, we may have our eyes +opened most thoroughly. Even if the most serious charge against the +kingbird is true, that he eats bees, it were better that every bee on +the face of the earth should perish than that his efficient work among +other insects should be stopped. + + + + +II. + +A CHRONICLE OF THREE LITTLE KINGS. + + +There was + + "Riot of roses and babel of birds, + All the world in a whirl of delight," + +when the three baby kingbirds opened their eyes to the June sunlight. +Three weeks I had watched, if I had not assisted at, the rocking of +their cradle, followed day by day the patient brooding, and carefully +noted the manners and customs of the owners thereof. At last my long +vigil was rewarded. It was near the end of a lovely June day, when June +days were nearly over, that there appeared a gentle excitement in the +kingbird family. The faithful sitter arose, with a peculiar cry that +brought her mate at once to her side, and both looked eagerly together +into the nest that held their hopes. Once or twice the little dame +leaned over and made some arrangements within, and then suddenly she +slipped back into her place, and her spouse flew away. But something had +happened, it was plain to see; for from that moment she did not sit so +closely, her mate showed unusual interest in the nest, and both of them +often stood upon the edge at the same time. That day was doubtless the +birthday of the first little king. + +To be sure, the careful mother still sat on the nest part of every day, +but that she continued to do, with ever-lengthening intervals, till +every infant had grown up and left the homestead forever. + +All through the sitting the work of the head of the family had been +confined to encouraging his partner with an early morning song and his +cheerful presence during the day, and to guarding the nest while she +sought her food; but now that her most fatiguing labor was over, his +began. At first he took entire charge of the provision supply, while she +kept her nurslings warm and quiet, which every mother, little or big, +knows is of great importance. When the young father arrived with food, +which he did frequently, his spouse stepped to the nearest twig and +looked on with interest, while he leaned over and filled one little +mouth, or at any rate administered one significant poke which must be +thus interpreted. He did not stay long; indeed, he had not time, for +this way of supplying the needs of a family is slow business; and +although there were but three mouths to fill, three excursions and three +hunts were required to fill them. In the early morning he seemed to +have more leisure; at that time, the happy young couple stood one each +side of the nest, and the silent listener would hear the gentle murmurs +of what Victor Hugo calls "the airy dialogues of the nest." Ah, that our +dull ears could understand! + +For some days the homestead was never left alone, and the summer breezes + + "Softly rocked the babies three, + Nestled under the mother's wing," + +almost as closely as before they came out of the egg. But much of the +time she sat on the edge, while her partner came and went, always +lingering a moment to look in. It was pretty to see him making up his +mind where to put the morsel, so small that it did not show in the beak. +He turned his head one side and then the other, considered, decided, and +at last thrust it in the selected mouth. + +The resting-time of the newly made matron was short; for when those +youngsters were four days old--so fast do birdlings grow--the labor of +both parents was required to keep them fed. Every ten minutes of the day +one of the pair came to the nest: the father invariably alighted, +deliberated, fed, and then flew; while the mother administered her +mouthful, and then either slipped into the nest, covering her bantlings +completely, or rested upon the edge for several minutes. There was +always a marked difference in the conduct of the pair. + +Six days the kingbird babies were unseen from below; but on the seventh +day of their life two downy gray caps were lifted above the edge of the +dwelling, accompanied by two small yellow beaks, half open for what +goods the gods might provide. After that event, whenever the tender +mother sat on her nest, two--and later three--little heads showed +plainly against her satiny white breast, as if they were resting there, +making a lovely picture of motherhood. + +Not for many days lasted the open-mouth baby stage in these rapidly +developing youngsters. Very soon they were pert and wide awake, looking +upon the green world about them with calm eyes, and opening mouths only +when food was to be expected. Mouthfuls, too, were no longer of the +minute order; they were large enough for the parents themselves, and of +course plain to be seen. Sometimes, indeed, as in the case of a big +dragon-fly, the father was obliged to hold on, while the young hopeful +pulled off piece after piece, until it was small enough for him to +manage; occasionally, too, when the morsel was particularly hard, the +little king passed it back to the giver, who stood waiting, and received +it again when it had been apparently crushed or otherwise prepared, so +that he could swallow it. + +Midsummer was at hand. The voices of young birds were heard on every +side. The young thrasher and the robin chirped in the grove; sweet +bluebird and pewee baby cries came from the shrubbery; the golden-wing +leaned far out of his oaken walls, and called from morning to night. +Hard-working parents rushed hither and thither, snatching, digging, or +dragging their prey from every imaginable hiding-place. It was woful +times in the insect world, so many new hungry mouths to be filled. All +this life seemed to stir the young kings: they grew restless; they were +late. Their three little heads, growing darker every day, bobbed this +way and that; they changed places in the nest; they thrust out small +wings; above all and through all, they violently preened themselves. In +fact, this elaborate dressing of feathers was their constant business +for so long a time that I thought it no wonder the grown-up kingbird +pays little attention to his dress; he does enough pluming in the +nursery to last a lifetime. + +On the twelfth day of their life, the young birds added their voices to +the grand world-chorus in a faint, low "che-up," delivered with a +kingbird accent; then, also, they began to sit up calmly, and look over +the edge of the nest at what went on below, quite in the manner of +their fathers. Two days later, the first little king mounted the walls +of his castle, fluttered his wings, and apparently meditated the grand +plunge into the world outside of home. So absorbed was he in his new +emotions that he did not see the arrival of something to eat, and put in +a claim for his share, as usual. I thought he was about to bid farewell +to his birthplace. But I did not know him. Not till the youngest of the +family was ready to go did he step out of the nest,--the three were +inseparable. While I waited, expecting every moment to see him fly, +there was a sudden change in the air, and very shortly a furious storm +of wind and rain broke over us. Instantly every young bird subsided into +the nest, out of sight; and in a few minutes their mother came, and gave +them the protection of her presence. + +Several days were spent by the oak-tree household in shaking out the +wings, taking observations of the world, dressing the feathers, and +partaking of luncheon every few minutes. Such a nestful of restlessness +I never saw; the constant wonder was that they managed not to fall out. +Often the three sat up side by side on the edge, white breasts shining +in the sun, and heads turning every way with evident interest. The dress +was now almost exactly like the parents'. No speckled bib, like the +bluebird or robin infant's, defaces the snowy breast; no ugly gray coat, +like the redwing baby's, obscures the beauty of the little kingbird's +attire. He enters society in full dress. + +But each day, now, the trio grew in size, in repose of manner, and in +strength of voice; and before long they sat up hours at a time, patient, +silent, and ludicrously resembling the + + "Three wise men of Gotham + Who went to sea in a bowl." + +In spite of their grown-up looks and manners, they did not lose their +appetite; and from breakfast, at the unnatural hour of half past four in +the morning, till a late supper, when so dark that I could see only the +movement of feeding like a silhouette against the white clouds, all +through the day, food came to the nest every two minutes or less. Think +of the work of those two birds! Every mouthful brought during those +fifteen and a half hours required a separate hunt. They usually flew out +to a strip of low land, where the grass was thick and high. Over this +they hovered with beautiful motion, and occasionally dropped an instant +into the grass. The capture made, they started at once for the nest, +resting scarcely a moment. There were thus between three and four +hundred trips a day, and of course that number of insects were +destroyed. Even after the salt bath, which one bird took always about +eleven in the morning, and the other about four in the afternoon, they +did not stop to dry their plumage; but simply passed the wing feathers +through the beak, paying no attention to the breast feathers, which +often hung in locks, showing the dark part next the body, and so +disguising the birds that I scarcely knew them when they came to the +nest. + +The bath was interesting. The river, so called, was in fact an arm of +the Great South Bay, and of course salt. To get a bath, the bird flew +directly into the water, as if after a fish; then came to the fence to +shake himself. Sometimes the dip was repeated once or twice, but more +often bathing ended with a single plunge. + +Two weeks had passed over their heads, and the three little kings had +for several days dallied with temptation on the brink before one set +foot outside the nest. Even then, on the fifteenth day, he merely +reached the door-step, as it were, the branch on which it rested. +However, that was a great advance. He shook himself thoroughly, as if +glad to have room to do so. This venturesome infant hopped about four +inches from the walls of the cottage, looked upon the universe from that +remote point, then hurried back to his brothers, evidently frightened at +his own boldness. + +On the day of this first adventure began a mysterious performance, the +meaning of which I did not understand till later, when it became very +familiar. It opened with a peculiar call, and its object was to rouse +the young to follow. So remarkable was the effect upon them that I have +no doubt a mob of kingbirds could be brought together by its means. It +began, as I said, with a call, a low, prolonged cry, sounding, as nearly +as letters can express it, like "Kr-r-r-r! Kr-r-r-r!" At the same +moment, both parents flew in circles around the tree, a little above the +nest, now and then almost touching it, and all the time uttering the +strange cry. At the first sound, the three young kings mounted the edge, +wildly excited, dressing their plumage in the most frantic manner, as if +their lives depended on being off in an instant. It lasted but a few +moments: the parents flew away; the youngsters calmed down. + +In a short time all the nestlings were accustomed to going out upon the +branch, where they clustered together in a little row, and called and +plumed alternately; but one after another slipped back into the dear old +home, which they apparently found it very hard to leave. Often, upon +coming out of the house, after the imperative demands of luncheon or +dinner had dragged me for a time away from my absorbing study, not a +kingbird, old or young, could be seen. The oak was deserted, the nest +perfectly silent. + +"They have flown!" I thought. + +But no: in a few minutes small heads began show above the battlements; +and in ten seconds after the three little kings were all in sight, +chirping and arranging their dress with fresh vigor, after their nap. + +Not one of the young family tried his wings till he was seventeen days +old. The first one flew perhaps fifteen feet, to another branch of the +native tree, caught at a cluster of leaves, held on a few seconds, then +scrambled to a twig and stood up. The first flight accomplished! After +resting some minutes, he flew back home, alighting more easily this +time, and no doubt considered himself a hero. Whatever his feelings, it +was evident that he could fly, and he was so pleased with his success +that he tried it again and again, always keeping within ten or fifteen +feet of home. Soon his nest-fellows began to follow his example; and +then it was interesting to see them, now scattered about the broad old +tree, and then, in a little time, all back in the nest, as if they had +never left it. After each excursion came a long rest, and every time +they went out they flew with more freedom. Never were young birds so +loath to leave the nursery, and never were little folk so clannish. It +looked as if they had resolved to make that homestead on the top branch +their headquarters for life, and, above all, never to separate. That +night, however, came the first break, and they slept in a droll little +row, so close that they looked as if welded into one, and about six feet +from home. For some time after they had settled themselves the mother +sat by them, as if she intended to stay; but when it had grown quite +dark, her mate sailed out over the tree calling; and she,--well, the +babies were grown up enough to be out in the world,--she went with her +spouse to the poplar-tree. + +Progress was somewhat more rapid after this experience, and in a day or +two the little kings were flying freely, by short flights, all about the +grove, which came quite up to the fence. Now I saw the working of the +strange migrating call above mentioned. Whenever the old birds began the +cries and the circling flight, the young were thrown into a fever of +excitement. One after another flew out, calling and moving in circles as +long as he could keep it up. For five minutes the air was full of +kingbird cries, both old and young, and then fell a sudden silence. Each +young bird dropped to a perch, and the elders betook themselves to their +hunting-ground as calmly as if they had not been stirring up a rout in +the family. Usually, at the end of the affair, the youngsters found +themselves widely apart; for they had not yet learned to fly together, +and to be apart was, above all things, repugnant to the three. They +began calling; and the sound was potent to reunite them. From this side +and that, by easy stages, came a little kingbird, each flight bringing +them nearer each other; and before two minutes had passed they were +nestled side by side, as close as ever. There they sat an hour or two +and uttered their cries, and there they were hunted up and fed by the +parents. There, I almost believe, they would have stayed till doomsday, +but for the periodical stirring up by the mysterious call. No matter how +far they wandered,--and each day it was farther and farther,--seven +o'clock always found them moving; and all three came back to the native +tree for the night, though never to the nest again. + +No characteristic of the young kingbirds was more winning than their +confiding and unsuspicious reception of strangers, for so soon as they +began to frequent other trees than the one the paternal vigilance had +made comparatively sacred to them, they were the subjects of attention. +The English sparrow was first, as usual, to inquire into their right to +be out of their own tree. He came near them, alighted, and began to hop +still closer. Not in the least startled by his threatening manner, the +nearest youngster looked at him, and began to flutter his wings, to +call, and to move toward him, as if expecting to be fed. This was too +much even for a sparrow; he departed. + +Another curious visitor was a red-eyed vireo, who, being received in the +same innocent and childlike way, also took his leave. But this bird +appeared to feel insulted, and in a few minutes stole back, and took +revenge in a most peculiar way; he hovered under the twig on which the +three were sitting, their dumpy tails hanging down in a row, and +actually twitched the feathers of those tails! Even that did not +frighten the little ones; they leaned far over and stared at their +assailant, but nothing more. I looked carefully to see if the vireo had +a nest on that tree, so strange a thing it seemed for a bird to do. The +tree was quite tall, with few branches, an oak grown in a close grove, +and I am sure there was no vireo nest on it; so that it was an +absolutely gratuitous insult. + +In addition to supplying the constantly growing appetites of the family, +the male kingbird did not forget to keep a sharp lookout for intruders; +for, until the youngsters could take care of themselves, he was bound to +protect them. One day a young robin alighted nearer to the little group +than he considered altogether proper, and he started, full tilt, toward +him. As he drew near, the alarmed robin uttered his baby cry, when +instantly the kingbird wheeled and left; nor did he notice the stranger +again, although he stayed there a long time. But when an old robin came +to attend to his wants, that was a different matter; the kingbird went +at once for the grown-up bird, thus proving that he spared the first one +because of his babyhood. + +It was not till they were three weeks old that the little kings began to +fly any lower than about the level of their nest. Then one came to the +fence, and the others to the top of a grape-trellis. I hoped to see some +indication of looking for food, and I did; but it was all looking up and +calling on the parents; not an eye was turned earthward. Now the young +ones began to fly more nearly together, and one could see that a few +days' more practice would enable them to fly in a compact little flock. +Shortly before this they had ceased to come to the native tree at night, +and by day extended their wanderings so far that sometimes they were not +heard for hours. Regularly, however, as night drew near, the migrating +cry sounded in the grove, and upon going out I always found them +together,--three + + "Silver brown little birds, + Sitting close in the branches." + +These interesting bantlings were twenty-four days old when it became +necessary for me to leave them, as they had already left me. It was a +warm morning, near the end of July, and about half an hour before I must +go I went out to take my last look at them. Their calls were still loud +and frequent, and I had no difficulty in tracing them to a dead twig +near the top of a pine-tree, where they sat close together, as usual, +with faces to the west; lacking only in length of tail of being as big +as their parents, yet still calling for food, and still, to all +appearances, without the smallest notion that they could ever help +themselves. + +Thus I left them. + + + + +III. + +THE BABES IN THE WOOD. + + +The little home in the wood was well hidden. About its door were no +signs of life, no chips from its building, no birds lingering near, no +external indication whatever. In silence the tenants came and went; +neither calls, songs, nor indiscreet tapping gave hint of the presence +of woodpeckers in the neighborhood, and food was sought out of sight and +hearing of the carefully secluded spot. No one would have suspected what +treasures were concealed within the rough trunk of that old oak but for +an accident. + +Madam herself was the culprit. In carrying out an eggshell, broken at +one end and of no further use, she dropped it near the foot of the tree. +To her this was doubtless a disaster, but to me it was a treasure-trove, +for it told her well-kept secret. The hint was taken, the home soon +found in the heart of an oak, with entrance twenty feet from the ground, +and close watching from a distance revealed the owner, a golden-winged +woodpecker. + +The tree selected by the shy young pair for their nursery stood in a +pleasant bit of woods, left wild, on the shore of the Great South Bay, +"where precious qualities of silence haunt," and the delicious breath of +the sea mingled with the fragrance of pines. One must be an enthusiast +to spy out the secrets of a bird's life, and this pair of golden-wings +made more than common demand on the patience of the student, so silent, +so wary, so wisely chosen, their sanctum. Before the door hung a +friendly oak branch, heavy with leaves, that swayed and swung with every +breeze. Now it hid the entrance from the east, now from the west, and +with every change of the vagrant wind the observer must choose a new +point of view. + +Then the birds! Was ever a pair so quiet? Without a sound they came, on +level path, to the nest, dropped softly to the trunk, slipped quickly +in, and, after staying about one minute inside, departed as noiselessly +as they came. Their color, too! One would think a bird of that size, of +golden-brown mottled with black, with yellow feather-shafts and a +brilliant scarlet head-band, must be conspicuous. But so perfectly did +the soft colors harmonize with the rough, sun-touched bark, so +misleading were the shadows of the leaves moving in the breeze, and so +motionless was the bird flattened against the trunk, that one might look +directly at it and not see it. + +For a few days the woodpeckers were so timid that I was unable to +secure a good look at them. The marked difference of manner, however, +convinced me that both parents were engaged in attending upon the young +family; and as they grew less vigilant and I learned to distinguish +them, I discovered that it was so. The only dissimilarity in dress +between the lord and lady of the golden-wing family is a small black +patch descending from the beak of the male, answering very well to the +mustache of bigger "lords of creation." In coming to the nest, one of +the pair flew swiftly, just touched for an instant the threshold, and +disappeared within; this I found to be the head of the household. The +other, the mother, as it proved, being more cautious, alighted at the +door, paused, thrust her head in, withdrew it, as if undecided whether +to venture in the presence of a stranger, and, after two or three such +movements, darted in. Always in one minute the bird reappeared, flew at +once out of the wood, at about the height of the nest, and did not come +down till it reached, on one side, an old garden run to waste, or, on +the other, far over the water, a cultivated field. At that tender age, +the young flickers received their rations about twice in an hour. + +Although the golden-wings were silent, the wood around them was lively +from morning till night. Blackbirds and cuckoos flew over; orioles, +both orchard and Baltimore, sang and foraged among the trees; +song-sparrows and chippies trilled from the fence at one side: bluebird +and thrasher searched the ground, and paid in music for the privilege; +pewees and kingbirds made war upon insects; and from afar came the notes +of redwing and meadow-lark. Others there were, casual visitors, and of +course it did not escape the squawks and squabbles of the English +sparrow,-- + + "Irritant, iterant, maddening bird." + +The robins, who one sometimes wishes, with Lanier's owl, "had more to +think and less to say," were not so self-assertive as they usually are; +in fact, they were quite subdued. They came and went freely, but they +never questioned my actions, as they are sure to do where they lead +society. Now and then one perched on the fence and regarded me, with +flick of wing and tail that meant a good deal, but he expressed no +opinion. With kingbirds on one side, pewees on the other, and the great +crested fly-catcher a daily caller, this was eminently a fly-catcher +grove, and the robin plainly felt that he was not responsible for its +good order. Indeed, after fly-catcher households were set up, he had his +hands full to maintain his right to be there at all. + +Whatever went on, the woodpeckers took no part in it. Back and forth +they passed, almost stealthily, caring not who ruled the grove so that +their precious secret was not discovered. Neither of them stayed to +watch the nest, nor did they come and go together. The birds in the +neighborhood might be inquisitive,--there was no one to resent it; +blackbirds scrambled over the oak, robins perched on the screening +branch, and no one about the silent entrance disputed their right. + +In the first flush of dismay at finding themselves watched, the +golden-wings, as I said, redoubled their cautiousness. They tried to +keep the position of the nest secret by coming from the back, gliding +around on the trunk, and stealing in at the door, or by alighting +quietly high up in the body of the tree, and coming down backward,--that +is, tail first. But by remaining absolutely without motion or sound +while they were present, I gradually won their toleration, and had my +reward. The birds ceased to regard me as an enemy, and, though they +always looked at me, no longer tried to keep out of sight, or to hide +the object of their visits. During the first day of watching I had the +good fortune to see a second empty shell brought out of the nest, and +dropped a little farther off than the first had been; and I feel safe in +assuming that these two were the birthdays of the babes in the wood. + +Thirteen days were devoted to the study of the manners and customs of +the parents before the hidden subjects of their solicitude gave any +signs of life visible from below. Though visits were about half an hour +apart, and flicker babies have very good appetites, they did not go +hungry, for on every occasion they had a hearty meal instead of the +single mouthful that many young birds receive. This fact was guessed at +on the thirteenth day, when the concealed little ones came out of the +darkness up to the door, and the parents' movements in feeding could be +seen; but the whole curious process was plain two days later, when a +young golden-wing appeared at the opening and met his supplies half-way. +The food-bearer clung to the bark beside the entrance, leaned over, +turned his head on one side, and thrust his beak within the slightly +opened beak of his offspring. In this position he gave eight or ten +quick little jerks of his head, which doubtless represented so many +mouthfuls; then, drawing back his head, he made a motion of the throat, +as though swallowing, which was, presumably, raising instead, for he +leaned over again and repeated the operation in the waiting mouth. This +performance was gone through with as many as three or four times in +succession before one flicker baby was satisfied. After the nestlings +came up to the door, the parents went no more inside, as a rule, and +housekeeping took care of itself. + +On the fifteenth day of his life, as said above, the eldest scion of the +golden-wing family made his appearance at the portal of his home. The +sight and the sound of him came together, for he burst out at once with +a cry. It was not very loud, but it meant something, and the practice of +a day or two gave it all the strength that was desirable. In fact, it +became clamorous to a degree that made further attempts at concealment +useless, and no one was quicker to recognize it than the parents. The +baby cry was the utterance familiar from the grown-up birds as "wick-a! +wick-a! wick-a!" From this day, when one of the elders drew near the +tree, it was met at the opening by an eager little face and a begging +call; but it was several days before the recluse showed interest in +anything except the food supply. Meals were now nearly an hour apart, +and the moment one was over the well-fed youngster in the tree fell back +out of sight, probably to sleep, after the fashion of babies the world +over. But all this soon came to an end. The young flicker began to +linger a few minutes after he had been fed, and to thrust his beak out +in a tentative way, as if wondering what the big out-of-doors was like, +any way. + +Matters were going on thus prosperously, when a party of English +sparrows, newly fledged, came to haunt the wood in a small flock of +eighteen or twenty; to meddle, in sparrow style, with everybody's +business; and to profane the sweet stillness of the place with harsh +squawks. The mistress of the little home in the oak, who had conducted +her domestic affairs so discreetly, one day found herself the centre of +a mob; for these birds early learn the power of combination. She came to +her nest followed by the impertinent sparrows, who flew as close as +possible, none of them more than a foot from her. They alighted as near +as they could find perches, crowded nearer, stretched up, flew over, and +tried in every way, with an air of the deepest interest, to see what she +_could_ be doing in that hole. When she left,--which she did soon, for +she was annoyed,--the crowd did not go with her; they were bound to +explore the mystery of that opening. They flew past it; they hovered +before it; they craned their necks to peer in; they perched on a bare +twig that grew over it, as many as could get footing, and leaned far +over to see within. The young flicker retired before his inquisitive +visitors, and was seen no more till the mother came again; and then she +had to go in out of sight to find him. + +As the days went on, the babe in the wood became more used to the +sunlight and the bird-sounds about him. Evidently, he was of a +meditative turn, for he did not scramble out, and rudely rush upon his +fate; he deliberated; he studied, with the air of a philosopher; he +weighed the attractions of a cool and breezy world against the comforts +and delightful obscurity of home. Perhaps, also, there entered into his +calculations the annoyance of a reporter meeting him on the threshold of +life, tearing the veil away from his private affairs. What would one +give to know the thoughts in that little brown head, on its first look +at life! Whatever the reason, he plainly concluded not to take the risk +that day, for he disappeared again behind a door that no reporter, +however glib or plausible, could pass. Sometimes he vanished with a +suddenness that was not natural. Did his heart fail him, or, perchance, +his footing give way? For whether he clung to the walls, or made +stepping-stones of his brothers and sisters (as do many of his betters, +or at least his biggers), who can tell? Often beside this eldest-born, +after the first day, appeared a second little head, spying eagerly, if a +little less bravely, on the world, and as days passed he frequently +contested the position of vantage with his brother, but he was always +second. + +Mother Nature is kind to woodpeckers. She fits them out for life before +they leave the seclusion of the nursery. There is no callow, immature +period in the face of the world, no "green" age for the gibes or +superior airs of elders. A woodpecker out of the nest is a woodpecker in +the dress and with the bearing of his fathers,--dignified, serene, and +grown up. + +As the sweet June days advanced, the young bird in the oak-tree grew +bolder. He no longer darted in when a saucy sparrow came near, and when +the parent arrived with food the cries became so loud that all the world +could know that here were young woodpeckers at dinner. Now, too, he +began to spend much time in dressing his plumage, in preparation for the +grand début. Usually, when a young bird begins to dally with the +temptation to fly, so rapid is growth among birds, he may be expected +out in a few hours. In this deliberate family it is different; indeed, +taking flight must be a greater step for a woodpecker than for a bird +from an open nest. + +Three days the youngster had been debating whether it were "to be or not +to be," and more and more he lingered in the doorway, sitting far enough +out to show his black necklace. His was no longer the wondering gaze of +infancy, to which all things are equally strange; it was a +discriminating look,--the head turned quickly, and passing objects drew +his attention. On the third day, too, he uttered his first genuine +woodpecker cry of "pe-auk!" He had not the least embarrassment before +me. I think he regarded me as a part of the landscape,--the eccentric +development of a tree trunk, perhaps; for while he never looked at me +nor put the smallest restraint upon his infant passions, let another +person come into the wood, and he was at once silent and on his guard. +All this time he had become more and more fascinated with the view +without his door; one could fairly see the love of the world grow upon +him. He picked at the bark about him; he began to get ideas about ants, +and ran out a long tongue and helped himself to many a tidbit. + +When the young golden-wing had passed four days in this manner, he grew +impatient. The hour-long intervals between meals were not to his mind, +and he began to express himself fluently. He leaned far out, and +delivered the adult cry with great vigor and new pathos; he then bowed +violently many times, moved his mouth as if eating, and struggled +farther and still farther out, until it seemed that he could not keep +within another minute. When one of the parents came he forgot his +grown-up manner, and returned to the baby cry, loud and urgent, as if he +were starved. + +He was fed, and again left; and now he scrambled up with his feet on +the edge. He was silent; he was considering an important move, a plunge +into the world. He wanted to come,--he longed to fly. Outside were +sunshine, sweet air, trees, food,--inside only darkness. The smallest +coaxing would bring him out; but coaxing he was not to have. He must +decide for himself; the impulse must be from within. + +The next morning opened with a severe northeast gale. + + "It rained, and the wind was never weary." + +The birds felt the depressing influence of the day. The robins perched +on the fence, wings hanging, each feather like a bare stick, and not a +sound escaping the throat; and when robins are discouraged, it is dismal +weather indeed. The bluebirds came about, draggled almost beyond +recognition. Even the swallows sailed over silently, their merry chatter +hushed. + +But life must go on, whatever the weather; and fearing the young +woodpecker might select this day to make his entry into the big world, +his faithful watcher donned rainy-day costume, and went out to assist in +the operation. The storm did not beat upon his side of the tree, and the +youngster still hung out of his hole in the trunk, calling and crying, +apparently without the least intention of exposing his brand-new +feathers to the rain. + +Very early the following morning, before the human world was astir, loud +golden-wing cries, and calls, and "laughs" were heard about the wood. +This abandonment of restraint proclaimed that something had happened; +and so, indeed, I discovered; for in hastening to my post I found an +ominous silence about the oak-tree. The young wise-head, whose struggles +and temptations I had watched so closely, had chosen to go in the +magical morning hours, when the world belongs entirely to birds and +beasts. The home in the wood looked deserted. + +I sat down in silence and waited, for I knew the young flicker could not +long be still. Sure enough, I soon heard his cry, but how far off! I +followed it to an oak-tree on the farther edge of the grove. I searched +the tree, and there I saw him, quiet now as I approached, and plainly +full of joy in his freedom and his wings. + +I returned to my place, hoping that all had not gone. There must be more +than one, for two had been up to the door, I was sure. I waited. Some +hours later, the parents came to their home in the wood, one after the +other. Back one alighted beside the door, glanced in, in a casual way, +but did not put the head in, and then flew to a neighboring tree, +uttering what sounded marvelously like a chuckling laugh, and in a +moment left the grove. Did, then, the daughters of the house meekly fly, +without preliminary study of the world from the door? Were there, +perchance, no daughters? Indeed, had more than one infant reached +maturity? All these questions I asked myself, but not one shall I ever +be able to answer. + +I waited several hours. Many birds sang and called among the trees, but +no sound came from the oak-tree household, and to me the wood was +deserted. + + + + +IV. + +HOME LIFE OF THE REDSTART. + + +The redstart himself told me where his treasures were "hid in a leafy +hollow." Not that he intended to be so confiding; on the contrary he was +somewhat disconcerted when he saw what he had done, and tried his best +to undo it by appearing not to have the smallest interest in that +particular tree. I happened that morning to be wandering slowly along +the edge of a tree-lined ravine, looking for the nest of a greatly +disturbed pair of cat-birds. As I drew near an old moss-covered +apple-tree, I heard a low though energetic "phit! phit!" and a chipping +sparrow emerged from the tree with much haste, quickly followed by a +redstart, with the unmistakable air of proprietor. The sight of me made +a diversion. The pursued dropped into the grass, while the pursuer +turned his attention to the bigger game, presented so unexpectedly that +he had not time to bethink himself of his usual custom of not showing +his gorgeous black and gold about home. He scolded me well for an +instant, till his wits returned, when he disappeared like a flash. It +was too late to deceive me, however, and I marked that tree as I passed, +intent at the moment upon cat-birds. + +On returning, I stopped on the bank to look the tree over at my leisure, +and there I soon saw, two feet from the top of the tallest upright +branch and tightly clinging to it, a small cradle, gently rocking in the +warm breeze. No one was at home, and I sat down to wait. This movement +did not meet the approval of a certain small tenant of a neighboring +tree, for I was saluted by a sharp, low, incessant cry; now it came from +the right side, now from the left. I turned quickly, caught a glimpse of +yellow, the flit of a wing, and then--nothing. In a moment the sound +began again, and thus it tantalized me till my neck became tired, and I +laid my head back among the ferns, to wait till the small fire-brand +calmed down a little. To my surprise and delight, the bird seemed to +regard this as a surrender, for down a broad branch that sloped toward +me came a most animated bundle of feathers, wings and tail wide spread, +making hostile demonstrations, and scolding as fiercely as such an atom +could. It had all the airs of ownership, and its colors were olive and +yellow; had, then, the roguish redstart deceived me, after all? Thus +pondering, I suddenly remembered that I had never seen his spouse, and +that monsieur and madame do not dress alike in the bird world any more +than in the human. I marked the points; I consulted the books; there +could be no doubt this was the little dame herself, and her mate had +been too clever to come to her aid. + +The structure on the apple bough was the redstart homestead. Watch it +every day I must, yet not to disturb the fiery little owners it was +necessary to move further from them. I sought and found a delightful +nook, the other side of the ravine. On its steep sides the native forest +still flourished, and seated at the foot of a tall maple, tented in by a +heavy low growth at my back, I could look across the narrow chasm +through a gap in the trees, and see the redstart nest in the pasture +beyond. The restless pair did not notice me behind my veil of greenery, +and my glass was of the best; so I secured a good view of the small +mansion and the life that went on about it, without in the least +annoying the builders thereof. I found the head of the family very +interesting in his rôle of husband and father. + +Perhaps not every one knows a redstart, and his name is misleading, for +he has not a red feather on his body. He is a bird of very few inches, +clothed in brilliant array of orange and black and white, which always +suggests the Baltimore oriole. His mate is more soberly clad in +olive-brown and golden-yellow; neither of them is still for an instant, +diving and flitting about on a tree like specks of animated sunlight. + +At my pleasant post of observation I spent hours of every day, stealing +in soon after breakfast, quietly, so as not to arouse the suspicions of +a robin who lived in the neighborhood; for unfortunate is the student +whose ways are not acceptable to one of this noisy family. I found, +however, when my patience gave out, that the robin will take a hint. On +throwing a pebble through the branches near him, as a suggestion that +his attentions were not welcome, he flew to a tree a little farther off, +and resumed his offensive remarks; another pebble convinced him that the +distance might be profitably increased, and thus I drove him away; at +about the fourth pebble he took a final departure. + +Here, then, I saw the small housekeeping go on. I always found the +little dame in possession, and generally the lord and master gleaning +food in redstart fashion; flitting around a branch, darting behind a +leaf, over and under a twig, tail spread to keep his balance during +these jerky movements, his bright oriole colors flashing as he dashed +through a patch of sunlight,--a beautiful object, but a perfectly silent +one. When his happiness demanded expression he flew to a maple-tree, +and poured out his soul in the quaint though not very musical ditty of +his race. Sometimes he stood still on a branch, like a bird who has +something to say; but more often he rushed around after insects on this +tree, and threw in the notes between the firm snaps of his beak. + +Promptly every half hour the little sprite took his way to that precious +apple branch, and dropped, light as a snow-flake, on a certain twig on +the nearest side of his homestead. A flash from the nest announced the +departure of madame, and he popped into her place. Not to settle down to +business, as she did,--far from it! It is a wonder to me how even a +female redstart can sit still. On taking his place, he first examined +the treasures it held, leaning over the edge with a solicitude charming +to see; and when he did at last cover them from sight, his black velvet +cap still bobbed up and down, this way and that, as though he were +taking advantage of his enforced quiet to plume himself. Precisely three +minutes he allowed his modest spouse for her repast. At the expiration +of that time he deserted, darted away, and began to call from the next +tree, when she instantly returned. Sometimes she was at hand, and +alighted on a twig on the farther side of the nest, when he bounded off +and out of sight. She carefully inspected the nest to see that all was +right, then slipped in, settled herself with a gentle flutter of wings, +and I knew she was safe for another half hour. It was the closest +watching I ever tried, so quick were the motions, so silent the going +and coming. + +Now and then the redstart chose to stay longer at home. The usual time +having expired, the little sitter appeared, but if her mate did not +vacate, she availed herself of the additional liberty in flitting about +the tree, adding a dessert to her dinner. On one occasion he let her +return twice before he left, occupying her place for eight minutes,--an +enormous length of time for a redstart. More often he grew impatient in +less than three minutes, and once he forgot himself so far as to call +while in the nest. + +During the sitting there came two days of steady, pouring rain and high +wind. I feared the hopes of that family, as well as others all about, +would perish, but the brave little mother bore the depressing season +well. The eggs were never left uncovered, nor did that gay rover, her +spouse, forget to take her place as usual. + +On the morning of my fourth day of watching, I saw there was news; +sitting was over, and though they could not be seen, it was easy to +picture the featherless, wide-mouthed objects, evidently so lovely to +the young parents. Close work as it had been to observe the movements +of the pair, it was much harder after that, they became at once so wary. +I am sure they never regarded me in any way as a spy, for I was not in +their highway; moreover, they would certainly have expressed their mind +if they had. Yet they came and went entirely from the other side, and so +exactly opposite the nest that often I could not see even the flit of a +wing. Not until one stood on the threshold could I see it, and the most +untiring vigilance was necessary. Even before this madame was cautious +in her going and coming; she first dropped about two feet to a branch, +paused a moment, then went to a second one, still lower, thus left the +tree near the ground, and in returning she began at the lowest branch +and retraced her steps to the nest. + +That day the father of the new family seemed very joyous, and treated us +to a great deal of singing, though it was not a singing-day, being very +cold, with a steady rain. The pretty little mother took thoughtful care +of her brood. For a half hour or more she worked very busily, her mate +helping, and fed them well; then she deliberately sat down upon those +youngsters, exactly as though they were still eggs. There she stayed as +long as she thought best, and then she went to her work again. + +The morning they were six days old I had the pleasure of seeing a +movement in the nest. When the sun reached a certain height above the +tree, it shone into that small mansion in such a way as to reveal its +contents; thus I could see the redstart babies moving restlessly, +evidently in haste already to come out into the world. This day the +father took rather more than half the charge of the provision supply, +and with considerable regularity. During four hours that the nest was +closely watched, its tenants were fed at about five-minute intervals for +half an hour; and then mamma promptly smothered their ambition, as above +mentioned, for perhaps a quarter of an hour, when, if they did not take +naps like "good little birdies," they at least were forced to keep +still. + +This young matron reminded me of some mothers of a larger growth, she +was so fussy, so careful that her charges did not go too fast for their +strength, while her spouse made it his business to see that she did not +keep them tender by over-coddling. He allowed her to brood them for +fifteen minutes; longer than that he would not tolerate, but came like a +fiery meteor to see that she moved. She plainly understood his +intention, for the instant he appeared she darted off, although he did +not touch the nest. All day the weight of responsibility kept this rover +at home; he might generally be seen on the lower branches of his tree, +darting about in perfect silence; but once or twice I saw him actually +loitering, a pleasant pastime of which I never suspected a redstart. + +Six days appears to be the limit of time a redstart baby can submit to a +cradle. (I know this does not agree with the books, so I explain that it +was six days from the time constant sitting ceased. If the young were +out of the shell before that, they were covered all the time, and not +fed.) The day that stirring urchin was six days old he mounted the edge +of the nest and tried his wings. When mamma came, he asked for food in +the usual bird-baby way, gentle flutters of the wings; but this haste +was certainly not pleasing to the little dame, and upon her departure I +noticed that he had returned to the nursery. + +However, his ambition was roused,--the ambition of a redstart to be +moving,--and at seven o'clock the next morning, his seventh day, he came +out with his mind made up to stay. First a shaky little yellowish head +appeared above the nest; then the owner thereof clambered out upon a +twig, three inches higher. One minute he rested, to glance around the +new world, and quickly increased the distance to six inches, where he +stood fidgeting, arranging his feathers, and evidently preparing for a +tremendous flight, when his anxious parent returned. Plainly, he would +have been wiser to wait another day, for all the time it was difficult +for him to keep his place; every few seconds he made wild struggles, +beating the air with his wings, and at last, after enjoying that +elevated position in life about ten minutes, he lost his hold and fell. +I held my breath, for a fall to the ground meant a dead nestling; but he +clutched at a twig two or three feet lower, and succeeded in retaining +this more humble station. Madame came and fed and comforted him, and it +was soon evident that he had learned a lesson, for he moderated his +transports; though his head was as restless as ever, his feet were more +steady; he did not fall again, and he soon scrambled freely all over the +tree. + +Now I was interested to see how the redstart babies were brought up, and +for more than four hours I kept my eyes on that youngster. It is no +small task, let me say, to keep watch of an atom an inch or two long, to +whom any leaf is ample screen, to note every movement lest he slip out +of sight, and to make memorandum of each morsel of food he gets. There +were, also, of course, the most seductive sounds about me; never so many +birds came near. Cat-birds whispered softly behind my back; a vireo +cried plaintively over my head; the towhee bunting boldly perched on a +low bush, and saluted me with his peculiar cry; flickers uttered their +quaint "wick-up" on my right, and a veery sighed softly "we-o" on my +left. Unflinchingly, however, I kept my face toward that apple-tree, and +my eyes on that restless young hopeful, while I noted the conduct of the +parents toward him. + +This is what I learned: first, that those left in the nest were to be +kept back, and not allowed out of the nursery till this one was able to +care for himself, or at least to help. The nest, holding probably one or +two little ones, was visited, the first hour almost exactly once in +twenty minutes, by madame exclusively, and the three succeeding hours at +longer intervals, by her spouse. Scarcely a move was made there; plainly +there were no more "come-outers" that day. The efforts of the mother +were concentrated on number one, apparently, to bring him forward as +fast as possible. He was, for an hour, fed every five or six minutes, +the next hour only three times, and this system was kept up with perfect +regularity all day. + +Meanwhile, the behavior of the happy father was peculiar and somewhat +puzzling, considering how solicitous he had hitherto appeared. For some +time his gay coat was not to be seen, even on his favorite lower +branches; and when he did come around, his mate flew at him, whether to +praise or to punish could only be guessed, for he at once disappeared +before her. After two or three episodes of this sort he remained about +the tree, and occasionally contributed a mite to the family sustenance. + +The next morning, at half past seven, I resumed my seat as usual, and +very soon saw I was too late. Both parents were busily flitting about +the tree, but never once went near the old home; moreover, when the sun +reached the magical point where he revealed the inside of the nest, lo, +it was empty! + +Either there had been but one other bairn, and he had got out before I +did,--things happen so rapidly in the redstart family,--or there had +been a tragedy, I could not discover which. Neither could I find a young +bird on that tree, though I was sure, by the conduct of the parents, +that at least one remained. + +Now that no one's feelings could be hurt by the operation, I had a limb +cut off the apple-tree, and the little home I had watched with so great +interest brought down to me. Nothing could be daintier or more secure +than that snug little structure. Placed on an upright branch, just below +the point where five branchlets, a foot or more long, sprang out to +shelter, and closely surrounded by seven twigs, of few inches but many +leaves, it was a marvel I had been able to see it at all. The redstarts +might be lively and restless, but they were good workers. So firmly was +that nest fastened to its branch, resting on one-twig and embraced by +two others, like arms, that to remove it would destroy it. Strips of +something like grapevine bark, with a few grass-blades and a material +that looked like hornets' or other insects' nest, formed the outside, +while long horsehairs made the soft lining. Though strong and firm, it +was on the sides so thin, that, as mentioned above, the movements of the +young could be seen through it. + +This pretty cup, around which so many hopes had centred, was of a size +for a fairy's homestead,--hardly two inches inside diameter, and less +than two inches deep. I carried it off as a memento of a delightful June +among the hills of the old Bay State. + + + + +V. + +WHEN NESTING IS OVER. + + + "When the birds fly past + And the chimes ring fast + And the long spring shadows sweet shadow cast," + +comes the most attractive time of year to the bird-lover,--the +baby-days, when the labors and anxieties of the nest being over, proud +and happy parents bring forward their tender younglings all unused to +the ways of the world, and carry on their training before our eyes. + +First to come upon the scene of the summer's studies was the brown +thrush family. For some time the head of the household had made the +grove a regular resting place in his daily round. He always entered in +silence, alighted on the lowest limb of a tree, and hopped lightly, step +by step, to the top, where he sang softly a few delightful and +tantalizing strains. In a moment he dropped to the ground, uttering a +liquid note or two as he went, and threw into his work of digging among +the dead leaves the same suppressed vehemence he had put into his song. +Not unfrequently he came into collision with a sparrow mob that claimed +to own that piece of wood, and his way of dealing with them was an ever +fresh satisfaction. He stood quiet, though the crouching attitude and +the significant twitches of his expressive tail indicated very clearly +to one who knew him that he was far from calm inside; that he was merely +biding his time. His tranquil manner misled the vulgar foe; that they +mistook it for cowardice was obvious. Nearer, and still nearer, they +drew, surrounded him, and seemed about to fall upon him in a body, when +he suddenly wheeled, and like a flash of light dashed right and left +almost simultaneously, as if he had become two birds, and the +impertinent enemy fairly vanished before him. + +Like many another bird, however, the thrasher, although not afraid of +sparrows, disliked a continual row. He had gradually ceased to come into +the neighborhood, and I feared I should neither see nor (what was worse) +hear him again. But one morning he presented himself with two +youngsters, so brimful of joy that he quite forgot his previous caution +and reserve. They perched in plain sight on the fence, and while the +little ones clumsily struggled to maintain their footing, the father +turned his head this side and that, jerked his tail, and uttered a low +cry as touch as to say, "Can anybody beat that pair now?" + +In a moment he fell to the serious work of filling their hungry mouths. +Being very wide awake, the young birds readily saw where supplies came +from, and then they accompanied their parent to the ground, following +every step, as he dug almost without ceasing. After a tolerably solid +repast of large white grubs, he slipped away from the dear coaxers, +disappeared on the other side of the fence, and before they recovered +from their bewilderment at finding themselves deserted, returned bearing +in his beak a strawberry. The young thrush received the dainty eagerly, +but finding it too big to swallow, beat it on the fence as if it were a +worm. Of course it parted, and a piece fell to the ground, which the +waiting parent went after, and administered as a second mouthful. + +For a long time the little ones were fed on the fence, and the father +was so happy that every few minutes he was forced to retire behind a +neighboring tree and "make gladness musical upon the other side." + +After that morning the thrasher came daily to the place, and a dessert +of strawberries invariably followed the more substantial meal, but never +again did he bring more than one of his family with him. + +One morning the brown thrush baby, who had been rapidly growing +self-reliant, came alone for the first time. It was interesting to watch +him, running along the tops of the pickets; searching in the hot grass +till out of breath for something to eat; looking around in a surprised +way, as if wondering why the food did not come; making a dash, with +childlike innocence, after a strawberry he saw in the mouth of a robin, +who in amazement leaped a foot in the air; and at last flying to a tree +to call and listen for his sire. That wise personage, meanwhile, had +stolen silently into the grove, all dripping from his bath in the bay, +and while indulging in a most elaborate dressing and pluming, had kept +one eye on the infant in the grass below, apparently to see how he got +on by himself. When at last the little one stood panting and +discouraged, he called, a single "chirp." The relieved youngster +recognized it and answered, and at once flew over to join him. + +This restless young thrasher, excepting that he was perhaps somewhat +lighter in color and a little less glossy of coat, looked at that moment +as old as he ever would. Nothing but his ingenuous ways, and his soft +baby-cry "chr-er-er" revealed his tender age. His curiosity when he +found himself in an unfamiliar place or on a strange tree was amusing. +He looked up and down, stretching his neck in his desire to see +everything; he critically examined the tuft of leaves near him; he +peered over and under a neighboring branch, and then gazed gravely +around on the prospect before him. He flew with ease, and alighted with +the grace of his family, on the bare trunk of a tree, the straight side +of a picket, or any other unlikely place for a bird to be found. For a +week he came and went and was watched and studied, but one day the +strawberries were gathered in the old garden, and the beautiful brown +thrush baby appeared no more. + +The world was not deserted of bird voices, however. + + "Swift bright wings flitted in and out + And happy chirpings were all about." + +For days the wood had resounded with the shrill little cries of swallow +babies, who alighted on the low trees on the border while their busy +parents skimmed over the bay, or the marshy shore, and every few minutes +brought food to their clamorous offspring. I had a remarkably good +opportunity to make the acquaintance of this youngster--the +white-bellied swallow. There were dozens of them, and the half grown +trees were their chosen perches. The droll little fellows, with white +fluffy breasts, no feet to speak of, and + + "Built so narrow + Like the head of an arrow + To cut the air," + +did not even notice me in my nook under the pines. + +They could fly very well, and now and then one followed the parent far +out, calling sharply his baby "cheep" and trying to get close to her in +the air. Often she turned, met and fed him on the wing, and then sailed +on, while the youngster lagged a little, unable to give his mind to +feeding and flying at the same time. Sometimes the mother avoided a too +persistent pleader by suddenly rising above him. When a little one was +at rest, she usually paused before him on wing only long enough to poke +a mouthful into his wide open beak; occasionally--but not often--she +alighted beside him for a few moments. + +Leading out into the water for the use of boatmen, was a narrow foot +pier, provided on one side with a hand rail. This rail was a convenient +rendezvous for all the babies belonging to the swallow flock, a sort of +a community nursery. On this they rested from the fatigue of flying; +here they were fed, and sometimes gently pushed off the perch afterward, +as a mild hint to use their wings. + +I wanted to find out whether parents and young knew each other from all +the rest. Of course in this crowd it was not possible to tell, but I +found a better chance in another favorite spot, an old post that rose +out of the water, eight or ten feet from the shore, and so small that it +was only comfortable for one, although two could stand on it. The post +seldom lacked its occupant, a baby swallow with head up, looking eagerly +into the flock above him. This isolated youngling I made my special +study. Sometimes on the approach of a grown up bird, he lifted his wings +and opened his mouth, petitioning for, and plainly expecting food. At +other times he paid not the least attention to a swallow passing over +him, but sat composed and silent, though watchful, apparently for the +right one to come in sight. He was often, though not invariably, fed +upon his appeal; but that proves nothing, for it would require the +services of a dozen parents to respond to every request of a young bird. +It not unfrequently happened, too, that one of the flock always flying +about over the water came very near the little one on the post as if to +offer him a morsel, but suddenly, when almost upon him, wheeled and +left,--obviously mistaken. On no such occasion did that knowing +youngster show any expectation of attention. Again there would sometimes +join him on the post, a second young swallow, and, although crowded, +they were quite contented together. Then I noticed as the elders swept +over, that sometimes one baby begged, sometimes the other; never both at +once. This seemed to indicate that the little one knows its parents, for +no one familiar with the craving hunger and the constant opening of the +baby beak to its natural purveyors, will doubt that when a young bird +failed to ask, it was because the elder was not its parent. + +An early lesson in many bird lives is that of following, or flying in a +flock, for at first the babies of a brood scatter wildly, and seem not +to have the smallest notion of keeping together. The small swallows in +the trees near me were carefully trained in this. Often while one stood +chirping vehemently, clearly thinking himself half starved, a grown-up +bird flew close past him, calling in very sweet tones, and stopped in +plain sight, ten or fifteen feet away. Of course the youngster followed +at once. But just as he reached the side of the parent, that thoughtful +tutor took another short flight, calling and coaxing as before. This +little performance was repeated three or four times before the pupil +received the tidbits he so urgently desired. + +Other sweet baby-talk in the trees came from the wood-pewee. The pewee I +had noted from the building of her beautiful lichen-covered cradle in +the crotch of a wild-cherry tree. The branch, dead and leafless, +afforded no screen for the brave little mother. Look when one might, in +the hottest sunshine or the heaviest rain, there sat the bird quite up +out of the nest, head erect and eyes eagerly watching for intruders. The +pewee, for all his tender and melancholy utterances, has a fiery spirit. +He hesitates not to clinch with a brother pewee, interpolates his +sweetest call into the hot chases, and even when resting between +encounters, spreads his tail, flutters his wings, and erects his crest +in a most warlike manner. The little dame was not a whit less vigilant +than her spouse. Let but a blackbird pass over and she was off in a +twinkling, pursuing him, pouncing down upon him savagely, and all the +time uttering her plaintive "pe-o-wee!" till her mate joined her, and +made it so uncomfortable for the big foe that he departed, protesting to +be sure in vigorous black-birdese, but taking good care to go. So +persistent were the pewees in these efforts, that in a few days they +convinced a pair of blackbirds (purple crow blackbirds) that this part +of the grove was no longer a thoroughfare, and whereas they had been +quite frequent visitors, they were now rarely seen. + +The saucy robin who chose to insist upon his right to alight on their +tree, as he had always done, was harder to convince; in fact, he never +was driven away. Every day, and many times a day, arose the doleful cry +of distress. I always looked over from my seat on the other side of the +little open spot in the wood, and invariably saw a robin on the lower +part of the wild-cherry where the trunk divided, flirting his tail, +jerking his wings, and looking very wicked indeed. Down upon him came +one, sometimes two pewees. He simply ran up the sloping branch toward +their nest, hopped to another limb, every step bringing him nearer, the +pewees darting frantically at him--and at last took flight from the +other side; but not until he was quite ready. This drama was enacted +with clock-like regularity, neither party seeming to tire of its +repetition, till the happy day when the pewee baby could fly, and +appeared across the grove, near me. + +One morning I noticed the anxious parents very busy on a small oak-tree, +but a clump of leaves made a perfect hiding place for the infant, and I +could not see it at first. There may have been more, although I saw but +one and heard but one baby cry, a prolonged but very low sound of pewee +quality. While their charge lingered so near me, I was treated to +another sensation by one of the pair,--a pewee song. The performer +alighted almost directly over my head, and began at once to sing in a +very sweet voice, but so low it could not be heard a dozen feet away. +There was little variation in the tones, but it was rapidly delivered, +with longer and shorter intervals and varying inflections, a genuine +whisper-song such as most birds that I have studied delight in. It did +not please madam, his mate; she listened, looked, and then rushed at the +singer, and I regret to say, they fell into a "scrimmage" in the grass, +quite after the vulgar manner of the sparrow. + +They soon returned to their duty of feeding the baby behind the oak leaf +screen. Both came very nearly at the same time; each one on arriving, +administered a significant "poke" behind the leaf, then indulged in +several eccentric movements in their jerky style, dashed after a fly, +stood a full minute staring at me, and at last flew. This programme was +scarcely varied. Inoffensive as I was, however, the birds plainly did +not relish my spying upon them, and when I returned from luncheon, they +had removed their infant. For a day or two, I heard on the farther side +of the grove the sweet, mournful "pe-o-wee" with which this bird +proclaims the passage of another insect to its fate, and then it was +gone, and I saw and heard them no more. + +One morning I rose at dawn and seated myself behind my blind to spy upon +the doings of the early risers. On this particular morning I first +heard the tender notes of "the darling of children and bards"--the +bluebird baby. The cry was almost constant; it was urgent and clamorous +beyond anything I ever heard from "April's bird." I even doubted the +author till I saw him. The thin and worn looking mother who had him in +charge worked without ceasing, while the open-mouthed infant lifted up +his voice and wept in a way so petulant and persistent as to completely +disguise its sweet bluebird quality. Now this charming youngster, +bearing heaven's color on his wings, with speckled bib and +shoulder-cape, and honest, innocent eyes, is a special favorite with me; +I never before saw a cry-baby in the family, and I did not lose sight of +him. Three or four days passed in which the pair frequently came about, +but without the father or any other young ones. Had there been an +accident and were these the survivors? Was the troublesome brawler a +spoiled "only child"? All questions were settled by the appearance +somewhat later of three other young bluebirds who were not cry-babies. +The father had evidently shaken off the trammels of domestic life, and +"gone for his holiday" into the grove, where his encounters with the +pewees kept up a little excitement for him. + +When the pitiful looking little dame had succeeded in shaking off her +ne'er-do-well, the four little ones came every day on the lawn +together. Sometimes the mother came near to see how they prospered, but +oftener they were alone. They cried no more; they ran about in the +grass, and if one happened upon a fat morsel, the three others crowded +around him and asked in pretty baby fashion for a share. Often they went +to the fence, or the lower bar of the grape trellis, and there stood +pertly erect, with head leaning a little forward, as though pondering +some of the serious problems of bluebird life, but in fact concerning +themselves only with the movements in the grass, as now and then a +sudden plunge proved. Sometimes one of the group appeared alone on the +ground, when no person was about (except behind the blinds), and then he +talked with himself for company, a very charming monologue in the +inimitable bluebird tone, with modifications suggesting that a new and +wonderful song was possible to him. He was evidently too full of joy to +keep still. + +The English sparrow, who had usurped the martin house in the yard, +warned him off; the tiny golden warbler, who flitted about the shrubbery +all day, threatened to annihilate him, but with infantile innocence he +refused to understand hostility; he stared at his assailant, and he held +his ground. The little flock of four was captivating to see, and though +the mother looked ragged and careless in dress, one could but honor the +little creature who had made the world so delightful a gift as four +beautiful new bluebirds, in whose calm eyes + + "Shines the peace of all being without cloud." + +Other young birds were plentiful in those warm July days. From morning +till night the chipping sparrow baby, with fine streaked breast, uttered +his shrill cricket-like trill. No doubt he had already found out that he +would get nothing in this world without asking, so, in order that +nothing escape him, his demand was constant. The first broods of English +sparrows had long before united in a mob, and established themselves in +the grove, and the nests were a second time full of gaping infants +calling ever for more. The energies of even this unattractive bird were +so severely taxed that he spared us his comments on things in general, +and our affairs in particular. In the wood, young high-holes thrust +their heads out of the door and called; blackbird and martin babies flew +over with their parents, talking eagerly all the way; barn swallow +nestlings crowded up to the window-sill to look out and be fed by +passing mothers; and cautious young kingbirds, in black caps, dressed +their feathers on the edge of the nest. + +But days hurried on; before long, young birds were as big as their +fathers and had joined the ranks of the grown-ups. There were no more +babies left on tree or lawn, and holiday time was over. + + + + +VI. + +IN SEARCH OF THE BLUEJAY. + + +"The grass grows up to the front door, and the forest comes down to the +back; it's the end of the road, and the woods are full of bluejays." + +Such was the siren song that lured me to a certain nook on the side of +the highest mountain in Massachusetts one June. The country was +gloriously green and fresh and young, as if it had just been created. +From my window I looked down the valley beginning between Greylock and +Ragged Mountain, and winding around other and (to me) nameless hills +till lost in the distance, apparently cut square off by what looked like +an unbroken chain from east to west. The heavy forests which covered the +hills ended in steep grass-covered slopes, with dashing and hurrying +mountain brooks between, and, save the road, scarcely a trace of man was +seen. + +The birds were already there. The robin came on to the rail fence, and +with rain pouring off his sleek coat, bade us "Be cheery! be cheery!" +the bluebird sat silent and motionless on a fence post; the "veery's +clarion" rang out all the evening from the valley below; many little +birds sang and called; and + + "The gossip of swallows filled all the sky." + +But the bluejays? + +The bluejays, too, were there. One saucily flirted his tail at me from +the top of a tree; another sly rogue flaunted his blue robes over a wall +and disappeared the other side; a third shrieked in my face and slipped +away behind a tree; but one and all were far too wise to reveal their +domestic secrets. I knew mysteries were on foot among them, as we know +little folk are in mischief by their unnatural stillness, but I knew +also that not until every jay baby was out of the nest, and there was +nothing to hide, should I see that cunning bird in his usual noisy, +careless rôle. + +The peculiarity of that particular corner of nature's handiwork was that +any way you went you had to climb, except east, where you might roll if +you chose; in fact, you could hardly do otherwise. The first day of my +hunt I started west. I climbed a hill devoted to pasture, passed through +the bars, and faced my mountain. It presented a compact front of +spruce-trees closely interlaced at the ground, and of course impassable. +But a way opened in the midst, the path of a mountain brook, deserted +now and dry. I sought an alpenstock. I abandoned all impedimenta. I +started up that stony path escorted on each side by a close rank of +spruce. It was exceedingly steep, for the way of a brook on this +mountain-side is a constant succession of falls. I scrambled over rocks; +I stumbled on rolling stones; I "caught" on twigs and dead branches; I +crept under fallen tree trunks; the way grew darker and more winding. +How merrily had the water rushed down this path, so hard to go up! How +easy for it to do so again! Nothing seemed so natural. I began to look +and listen for it. + +A mysterious reluctance to penetrating the heart of the mountain by this +unknown and strangely hewn path stole over me. I felt like an intruder. +Who could tell what the next turn might reveal? On a fallen trunk that +barred my way I seated myself to rest. The silence was oppressive; not a +bird called, not a squirrel chattered, not an insect hummed. The whole +forest was one vast, deep, overwhelming solitude. I felt my slightest +rustle an impertinence; I could not utter a sound; surely the spirit of +the wood was near! A strange excitement, almost amounting to terror, +possessed me. I turned and fled--that is to say, crept--down my steep +and winding stair, back to the bars where I had taken leave of +civilization (in the shape of one farmhouse). + +Here I paused, and again the legend of bluejays allured me. From the +bars, turning sharply to one side, were the tracks of cows. The strange +feeling of oppression vanished. Wherever the gentle beasts had passed, I +could go, sure of finding sunny openings, grassy spots, and nothing +uncanny. Meekly I followed in their footsteps; the solemn grandeur of +the forest had so stirred me that even the footprint of a cow was +companionable. + +This path led down through a pleasant fringe of beech and birch and +maple trees to a beautiful brook, which was easily crossed on stones, +then up the bank on the other side into an open pasture with scattering +spruce and other trees. Now I began to look for my bluejays. I disturbed +the peace of a robin, who scolded me roundly from the top spire of a +spruce. I started out in hot haste a dainty bit of bird life--the black +and yellow warbler. I listened to the delightsome song of the +field-sparrow. I heard the far-off drumming of the partridge. I walked +and climbed myself tired. + +Then I sat down to wait. I made a nosegay of blue violets and sweetbrier +leaves; I regaled myself with wintergreens in memory of my childhood; I +wrote up my note-book; but never a blue feather did I see. + +The next day, between showers, I tried the north, with a guide--a +visiting Massachusetts ornithologist--to show me a partridge nest with +the bird sitting. We followed the ups and downs of the road for a mile, +passing a meadow full of bobolinks, + + "Bubbling rapturously, madly," + +climbed by a grass-grown wood road a mountain-side pasture, and reached +the forest. Under a dead spruce sat my lady, in a snug bed among the +fallen leaves. She was wet; her lovely mottled plumage was disarranged +and draggled, but her head was drawn down into her feathers in patient +endurance, the mother love triumphant over everything, even fear. We +stood within six feet of the shy creature; we discussed her courage in +the face of the human monsters we felt ourselves to be. Not a feather +fluttered, not an eyelid quivered; truly it was the perfect love that +casteth out fear. + +My guide went on up to the top of Greylock; I turned back to pursue my +search. + +Eastward was my next trip, down toward the brook that made a valley +between Greylock and Ragged Mountain. My path was under the edge of the +woods that fringed a mountain stream. Not the smallest of the debt we +owe the bonny brook is that it wears a deep gully, whose precipitous +sides are clothed with a thick growth of waving trees--beech, white and +black birches, maple, and chestnut--in refreshing and delightful +confusion. The stream babbled and murmured at my side as I walked slowly +down, peering in every bush for nests, and at last I parted the branches +like a curtain and stepped within. It was a cool green solitude, a +shrine, one of nature's most enchanting nooks, sacred to dreams and +birds and--woodchucks, one of which sat straight up and looked solemnly +at me out of his great brown eyes. + +I sat on the low-growing limb of a tree, and was rocked by the wind +outside. I forgot my object. What did it matter that I should find my +bluejay? Was it worth while to go on? Was anything worth while, indeed, +except to dream and muse, lulled by the music of the "laughing water"? +Ah! if one were a poet! + +Then the birds came. A cat-bird first, with witching low song, eying me +closely with that calm, dark eye of his, the while he poured it out from +a shrub, + + "Like dripping water falling slow + Round mossy rooks, in music rare;" + +a vireo, repeating over and over his few notes in tireless warble; high +up in the maple across the chasm, a sweet-voiced goldfinch singing his +soul away outside; and lastly, a robin, who broke the charm by a +peremptory demand to know my business in his private quarters. I rose +to leave him in possession. In rising I disturbed another resident, a +red squirrel, who ran out on a branch and delivered as vehement a piece +of mind as I ever heard, stamping his little feet and jerking his bushy +tail with every word, scolding all over, to the tip of his longest hair. + +I left them in their green paradise. I went to my room. I sat down in my +rocker to consider. + +Then the winds got up. Through the "bellows pipe," as they suggestively +call the head of the valley, there poured such a gale that the birds +could hardly hold on to their perches. All day long it tossed the +branches, tore off leaves, beat the birds, rattled the windows, and +filled the blue cover to our green bowl of a valley with clouds, even +half way down the sides of the mountains themselves. And at last they +began to weep, and I spent my twilight by an open window, wrapped in a +shawl, listening to the + + "Unrivaled one, the hermit-thrush, + Solitary, singing in the west," + +and looking out upon the hills, where I still hoped to find my bluejay. + + + + +VII. + +IN THE WOOD LOT. + + +"There's blue jays a-plenty up in the wood lot," said the farmer's boy, +hearing me lament my unsuccessful search for that wily bird. "There's +one pair makes an awful fuss every time I passes." + +I immediately offered to accompany the youth on his next trip up the +mountain, where he was engaged in dragging down to our level, sunshine +and summer breezes, winter winds and pure mountain air, in the shape of +the bodies of trees, whose noble heads were laid low by the axes last +winter. One hundred and fifty cords of beauty, the slow work of +unnumbered years, brought down to "what base uses"! the most beautiful +of nature's productions degraded to the lowest service--to fry our bacon +and bake our pies! + +The farmer did not look upon it exactly in that way; he called it +"cord-wood," and his oxen dragged it down day by day. The point of view +makes such a difference! + +The road that wound down through the valley, skirting its hills, +bridging its brooks, and connecting the lonely homestead with the rest +of the human world, had on one side a beautiful border of all sorts of +greeneries, just as Nature, with her inimitable touch, had placed them. +It was a home and a cover for small birds; it was a shade on a warm day; +it was a delight to the eye at all times. Yet in the farmer's eye it was +"shiftless" (the New Englander's bogy). The other side of the road he +had "improved;" it gloried in what looked at a little distance like a +single-file procession of glaring new posts, which on approaching were +found to be the supports of one of man's neighborly devices--barbed +wire. Rejoicing in this work of his hands on the left, he longed to turn +his murderous weapons against the right side. He was labored with; he +bided his time; but I knew in my heart that whoever went there next +summer would find that picturesque road bristling with barbed wire on +both sides. It will be as ugly as man can make it, but it will be "tidy" +(New England's shibboleth), for no sweet green thing will grow up beside +it. Nature doesn't take kindly to barbed wire. + +The old stone wall at that time was an irresistible invitation to the +riotous luxuriance of vines. Elder-bushes, with their fine cream-colored +blossoms, hung lovingly over it; blackberry bushes, lovely from their +snowy flowering to their rich autumn foliage, flourished beside it; and +a thousand and one exquisite, and to me nameless, green things hung upon +it, and leaned against it, and nearly covered it up. And what a garden +of delight nestled in each protected corner of an old-fashioned zigzag +fence! Yet all these are under the ban--"shiftless." + +Thanks be to the gods who sowed this country so full of stones and +trees, that the army of farmers who have worried the land haven't +succeeded in turning it into the abomination of desolation they admire! + +And now, having relieved my mind, I'll go on with the bluejay hunt. + +The next morning it was, for a rarity, fine. I started up the wood road +ahead of my guide, so that I might take my climb as easily as such a +thing can be taken. Passing through the bare pasture, I entered the +outlying clumps of spruce which form the advance-guard of the forests on +Greylock, and here my leader overtook me, urging his fiery steeds, with +their empty sled. Now horned beasts have had a certain terror for me +ever since an exciting experience with them in my childhood. I stood +respectfully on one side, prepared to fly should the "critters" (local) +show malicious intent. On they came, looking at me sharply with wicked +eyes. I made ready for a rush, when, lo! they turned from me, and +dashed madly into a spruce-tree, nearly upsetting themselves, and +threatening to run away. We were all afraid of each other. + +The mortified driver apologized for their behavior on the ground that +"they ain't much used to seeing a lady up in the wood lot." I generously +forgave them, and then meekly followed in their footsteps, up, up, up +toward the clouds, till we reached the bluejay neighborhood. Here we +parted. My escort passed on still higher, and I seated myself to see at +last my bluejays. + +Dead silence around me. Not a leaf stirred; not a bird peeped. I began +to make a noise myself--calls and imitations (feeble) of bird-notes to +arouse their curiosity; a bluejay is a born investigator. No sign of +heaven's color appeared except in the patches of sky between the leaves. + +Other wood dwellers came; a rose-breasted grosbeak, with lovely rosy +shield, with much posturing and many sharp "clicks," essayed to find out +what manner of irreverent intruder this might be. Later his modest +gray-clad spouse joined him. They circled around to view the wonder on +all sides. They exchanged dubious-sounding opinions. They were as little +"used to seeing a lady" as the oxen. They slipped away, and in a moment +I heard his rich song from afar. + +No one else paid the slightest attention to my coaxing, and I returned +by easy stages to the spruces, where I had the misfortune to arouse the +suspicion of a robin. Do you know what it is to be under robin +surveillance? Let but one redbreast take it into his obstinate little +head that you are a suspicious character, and he mounts the nearest +tree--the very top twig, in plain sight--and begins his loud "Peep! +peep! tut, tut, tut! Peep! peep! tut, tut, tut!" + +This is his tocsin of war, and soon his allies appear, and then + + "From the north, from the east, from the south and the west, + Woodland, wheat field, corn field, clover, + Over and over, and over and over, + Five o'clock, ten o'clock, twelve, or seven, + Nothing but robin-calls heard under heaven." + +No matter what you do or what you don't do. One will perch on each side +of you, and join the maddening chorus, driving every bird in the +neighborhood either to join in the hue and cry (as do some of the +sparrows), or to hide himself from the monster that has been discovered. + +I tried to tire them out by sitting absolutely motionless; but three, +who evidently had business in the vicinity, for each held a mouthful of +worms, guarded me to right and left and in front, and never ceased +their offensive remarks long enough to stuff those worms into the mouths +waiting for them. + +I was not able to convince them that I had no designs on robin +households, and I had to own myself defeated again. Then and there I +abandoned the search for the bluejay. + + + + +VIII. + +THE BLUEJAY BABY. + + +My time of triumph came, however, a little later. Birds may securely +hide their nests, but they cannot always silence their nestlings. So +soon as little folk find their voices, whether their dress be feathers, +or furs, or French cambric, they are sure to make themselves heard and +seen. + +One morning, two or three weeks after I had given up the bluejay search, +and consoled myself with looking after baby cat-birds and thrushes, I +started out as usual for a walk. I turned naturally into a favorite path +beside a brook that danced down the mountain below the house. It was +near the bottom of a deep gully, where I had come to grief in my search +for a veery baby. + +As I passed slowly up, looking well to my steps, and listening for +birds, I heard a note that aroused me at once,--the squawk of a bluejay. +It came from the higher ground, and I looked about for a pathway up the +steep bank on my right. At the most promising point I could select I +started my climb. Unfortunately that very spot had been already chosen +by a small rill, a mere trickle of water, to come down. It was not big +enough to make itself a channel and keep to it, but it sprawled all over +the land. Now it lingered in the cows' footprints and made a little +round pool of each; then it loitered on a level bit of ground, and +soaked it full; when it reached a comfortable bed between the roots of +trees, it almost decided to stay and be a pond, and it dallied so long +before it found a tiny opening and straggled out, that if it did not +result in a pond, it did accomplish a treacherous quagmire. In fact that +undecided, feeble-minded streamlet totally "demoralized" the whole +hillside, and with its vagaries I had to contend at every step of my +way. + +I reached the top, but I left deep footprints to be turned into pools of +a new pattern, and as trophy I carried away some of the soil on my +dress. Of my shoes I will not speak; shall we not have souls above +shoe-leather? + +As soon as I recovered breath after my hasty scramble to dry ground, I +started toward a thick-growing belt of spruce trees which came down from +the mountain and ended in a point,--one tree in advance, like the leader +of an army. Here I found the bird I was seeking, a much disturbed +bluejay, who met me at the door--so to speak--with a defiant squawk, a +warning to come no nearer. + +"Ah ha!" said I, exultingly, "are your little folk in there? Then I +shall see them." + +I slowly advanced; she disputed my passage at every step, but nothing +was to be seen till her anxiety got the better of her discretion and she +herself gave me the precious secret; she suddenly slipped through the +trees to the other side, and became perfectly silent. + +I could not follow her path through the tangle of trees, but I could go +around, and I did. On a dead spruce wedged in among the living ones I +saw the object of her solicitude; a lovely sight it was! Two young +bluejays huddled close together on a twig. They were "humped up," with +heads drawn down into their shoulders, and breast feathers fluffed out +like snowy-white floss silk, completely covering their feet and the +perch. No wonder that poor little mother was anxious, for a more +beautiful pair I never saw, and to see them was to long to take them in +one's hands. + +Silent and patient little fellows they appeared, looking at me with +innocent eyes, but showing no fear. They were a good deal more concerned +about something to eat, and when their mother came they reminded her by +a low peep that they were still there. She gave them nothing; she was +too anxious to get them out of my sight, and she disappeared behind a +thick branch. + +In a moment I heard the cry of a bird I could not see. So also did the +twins on the tree, and to them it meant somebody being fed; they lifted +their little wings, spread out like fans their short beautiful tails, +and by help of both, half hopped, half flew through the branches to the +other side. + +I followed, by the roundabout way again, and then I saw another one. +Three bonny bairns in blue were on that dead spruce tree; two close +together as before, and the third--who seemed more lively--sitting +alone. He lifted his crest a little, turned his head and looked squarely +at me, but seeing nothing to alarm him--wise little jay!--did not move. +Then again mamma came forward, and remonstrated and protested, but only +by her one argument, a squawk. + +I quietly sat down and tried to make myself as much a part of the bank +as possible, for I wanted the distracted dame in blue to go on with her +household duties, and feed those babies. After a while she did calm down +a little, though she kept one distrustful eye on me, and now and then +came near and delivered a squawk at me, as if to assure me that she saw +through my manoeuvres, and despised them. + +But I cared not at that moment for her opinion of me; she did not move +my sympathies as do many birds, for she appeared insulted and angry, not +in the least afraid. I wanted to see her feed, and at last I +did--_almost_; she was to the last too sharp for me. + +She came with a mouthful of food. Each one of the three rose on his +sturdy little legs, fluttered his wings, opened his beak and cried. It +was a sort of whispered squawk, which shows that the bluejay is a wary +bird even in the cradle. When they were all roused and eager, the mother +used that morsel as a bait to coax them through the tree again. She did +not give it to either of her petitioners, but she moved slowly from +branch to branch, holding it before them, and as one bird they followed, +led by their appetite, like bigger folk,-- + + "Three souls with but a single thought, + Three hearts that beat as one!" + +and as I had no desire to see them die of starvation, and leave the +world so much poorer in beauty, I came away and left them to their +repast. + +That was not the end of the bluejay episode. A few days later a young +bird, perhaps one of this very trio, set out by himself in search of +adventures. Into the wide-open door of the barn he flew, probably to see +for what the swallows were flying out and in. Alas for that curious +young bird! He was noticed by the farmer's boy, chased into a corner, +still out of breath from his first flight, then caught, thrust into an +old canary cage, brought to the house, and given to the bird-student. + +Poor little creature! he was dumb with fright, though he was not +motionless. He beat himself against the wires and thrust his beak +through the openings, in vain efforts to escape. We looked at him with +great interest, but we had not the heart to keep him very long. In a few +minutes he was taken out of the cage in a hand (which he tried to bite), +carried to the door and set free. + +Away like a flash went the little boy blue and alighted in a tree beside +the house. For a few moments he panted for breath, and then he opened +his mouth to tell the news to whom it might concern. In rapid succession +he uttered half a dozen jay-baby squawks, rested a moment, then repeated +them, hopping about the tree in great excitement. + +In less than thirty seconds his cries were answered. A bluejay appeared +on the barn; another was seen in a spruce close by; three came to a tall +tree across the road; and from near and far we heard the calls of +friends trooping to the rescue. + +Meanwhile the birds of the neighborhood, where the squawk of a jay was +seldom heard, began to take an interest in this unusual gathering. Two +cedar birds, with the policy of peace which their Quaker garb suggests, +betook themselves to a safe distance, a cat-bird went to the tree to +interview the clamorous stranger, a vireo made its appearance on the +branches, and followed the big baby in blue from perch to perch, looking +at him with great curiosity, while a veery uttered his plaintive cry +from the fence below. + +All this attention was too much for a bluejay, who always wants plenty +of elbow room in this wide world. He flew off towards the woods, where, +after a proper interval to see that no more babies were in trouble, he +was followed by his grown-up relatives from every quarter. But I think +they had a convention to talk it over, up in the woods, for squawks and +cries of many kinds came from that direction for a long time. + + + + +IN THE BLACK RIVER COUNTRY. + + Where shall we keep the holiday? + + Up and away! where haughty woods + Front the liberated floods: + We will climb the broad-backed hills, + Hear the uproar of their joy; + We will mark the leaps and gleams + Of the new-delivered streams, + And the murmuring river of sap + Mount in the pipes of the trees. + + And the colors of joy in the bird + And the love in his carol heard. + Frog and lizard in holiday coats, + And turtle brave in his golden spots. + + EMERSON. + + + + +IX. + +THAT WITCHING SONG. + + +A year or two before setting up my tent in the Black River Country, +began my acquaintance with the author of the witching song. + +The time was evening; the place, the veranda of a friend's summer +cottage at Lake George. The vireo and the redstart had ceased their +songs; the cat-bird had flirted "good-night" from the fence; even the +robin, last of all to go to bed, had uttered his final peep and vanished +from sight and hearing; the sun had gone down behind the mountains +across the lake, and I was listening for the whippoorwill who lived at +the edge of the wood to take up the burden of song and carry it into the +night. + +Suddenly there burst upon the silence a song that startled me. It was +loud and distinct as if very near, yet it had the spirit and the echoes +of the woods in it; a wild, rare, thrilling strain, the woods themselves +made vocal. Such it seemed to me. I was strangely moved, and filled from +that moment with an undying determination to trace that witching song to +the bird that could utter it. + +"I'm going to seek my singer," was the message I flung back next +morning, as, opera-glass in hand, I started down the orchard towards the +woods. I followed the path under the apple-trees, passed the daisy +field, white from fence to fence with beauty,--despair of the farmer, +but delight of the cottagers,--hurried across the pasture beyond, +skirting the little knoll on which the cow happened this morning to be +feeding, crossed the brook on a plank, and reached my daily walk. + +This was a broad path that ran for half a mile on the edge of the lake. +Behind it, penetrated every now and then by a foot-path, was the bit of +old woods that the clearers of this land had the grace to leave, to +charm the eye and refresh the soul (though probably not for that +reason). Before it stretched the clear, sparkling waters of Lake George, +and on the other side rose abruptly one of the beautiful mountains that +fringe that exquisite piece of water. + +Usually I passed half the morning here, seated on one of the rocks that +cropped out everywhere, filling my memory with pictures to take home +with me. But to-day I could not stay. I entered one of the paths, passed +into the grand, silent woods, found a comfortable seat on a bed of pine +needles, with the trunk of a tall maple tree for a back, and prepared +to wait. I would test Thoreau's assertion that if one will sit long +enough in some attractive spot in the woods, sooner or later every +inhabitant of it will pass before him. I had confidence in Thoreau's +woodcraft, for has not Emerson said:-- + + "What others did at distance hear, + And guessed within the thicket's gloom, + Was shown to this philosopher, + And at his bidding seemed to come"? + +and I resolved to sit there till I should see my bird. I was confident I +should know him: a wild, fearless eye, I was sure, a noble bearing, a +dweller on the tree-tops. + +Alas! I forgot one phrase in Thoreau's statement: "sooner or _later_." +No doubt the Concord hermit was a true prophet; but how many of the +inhabitants are "later"--too late, indeed, for a mortal who, unlike our +New England philosopher, has such weak human needs as food and rest, and +whose back will be tired in spite of her enthusiasm, if she sits a few +hours on a rock, with a tree for a back. + +Many of the sweet and shy residents of that lovely bit of wildness +showed themselves while I waited. A flicker, whose open door was in +sight, and who was plainly engaged in setting her house in order, +entertained me for a long time. Silently she stole in, I did not see +how. Her first appearance to me was on the trunk, the opposite side +from her nest, whence she slid, or so it looked, in a series of jerks to +her door, paused a few minutes on the step to look sharply at me, and +then disappeared, head first, within. Quick as a jack-in-the-box, her +head popped out again to see if the spy had moved while she had been out +of sight, and finding all serene, she threw herself with true feminine +energy into her work. The beak-loads she brought to the door and flung +out seemed so insufficient that I longed to lend her a broom; but I +found she had a better helper than that, a partner. + +When she tired, or thought she had earned a rest, she came out, and +flying to the limb above the nest, began softly calling. Never was the +ventriloquial quality more plainly exhibited. I heard that low "ka! ka! +ka! ka! ka!" long repeated, and I looked with interest in every +direction to see the bird appear. For a long time I did not suspect the +sly dame so quietly resting on the branch, and when I did it was only by +the closest inspection that I discovered the slight jerk of the tail, +the almost imperceptible movement of the beak, that betrayed her. + +Another as well as I heard that call, and he responded. He was exactly +like her, with the addition of a pair of black "mustachios," and it may +be she told him that the strange object under the maple had not moved +for half an hour, and was undoubtedly some new device of man's, made of +wood perhaps, for he did not hesitate on the door-step, but plunged in +at once, and devoted himself to the business in hand, clearing out, +while she vanished. + +But though I watched this domestic scene with pleasure, and saw and +noted every feather that appeared about me, the tree-tops had my closest +attention, for there I was certain I should find my rare singer. Hours +passed, the shadows grew long, and sadly and slowly I took my way +homewards, wishing I had a charm against fatigue, mosquitoes, and other +terrors of the night, and could stay out till he came. + +All through the month of June I haunted that wood, seeking the unknown. +Every evening I heard him, but no sight came to gladden my eyes. I grew +almost to believe it merely "a wandering voice," and I went home with my +longing unsatisfied. + +When next the month of roses came around, I betook myself to a spur of +the Hoosac Mountains to see my birds. The evening of my arrival, as the +twilight gathered, rose the call of my witching voice. + +"What bird is that?" I demanded, with the usual result; no one knew. (A +chapter might be written on the ignorance of country people of their +own birds and plants. A chapter, did I say? A book, a dozen books, the +country is full of material.) + +"I shall find that bird," I said, "if I stay a year." In the morning I +set out. The song had come from the belt of trees that hang lovingly +over a little stream on its merry way down the mountain, and thither I +turned my steps. Now, my hostess had a drove of twenty cows, wild, +head-tossing creatures,--"Holsteins" they were,--and having half a dozen +pastures, they were changed about from day to day. Driving them every +morning was almost as exciting as the stampede of a drove of horses, and +it seemed as if they could never reconcile themselves to the +idiosyncrasies of the American woman. The pasture where they were shut +for the day was as sacred from my foot as if it were filled with mad +dogs. My mere appearance near the fence was a signal for a headlong race +to the spot to see what on earth I was doing now. + +I went into the field, looking cautiously about, and satisfying myself +that the too curious foreigners were not within sight, found a +comfortable seat on a bank overlooking the whole beautiful view of the +brook and its waving green borders, and commanding the approach to my +side of the field. + +This time again my mysterious singer proved to be among the "later" +ones, and after spending an hour or two there, I rose to go back, when +in passing a thick-growing evergreen tree, I saw that I had created a +panic. There was a flutter of wings, there were cries, and on the tree, +in plain sight, the towhee bunting and his brown-clad spouse. Of course +there must be some reason for this reckless display; I sought the cause, +and found a nest, a mere depression in the ground, and one sorry-looking +youngster, the sole survivor of the perils of the situation. Over that +one nestling they were as concerned as the proverbial hen with one +chicken, and they flitted about in distress while I looked at their +half-fledged bantling, and hoped it was a singer to ring the delightful +silver-toned tremolo that had charmed me that morning. + +That evening, listening on the piazza to the usual twilight chorus, the +wood-thrush far-off, the towhee from the pasture, the robins all around, +I heard suddenly the "quee-o" of a bird I knew, so near that I started, +and my eyes fell directly upon him, standing on the lowest limb of a +dead tree, not ten feet from me. + +He was so near I did not need my glass, nor indeed did I dare move a +finger, lest he take flight. Several times he uttered his soft call, and +then, while my eyes were fastened upon him, he began quivering with +excitement, his wings lifted a little, and in a clear though low tone +he uttered the long-sought song. I held my breath, and he repeated it, +each time lower than before. Even at that distance it sounded far off, +and doubtless many times in the woods, when I looked for it afar, it may +have been over my head. + +A long time--how long I cannot guess--that beautiful bird sat and sang +his witching evening hymn, while I listened spellbound. + +It was the tawny thrush,--the veery. + + + + +X. + +THE VEERY MOTHER. + + +My next interview with the veery family took place the following June, +at the foot of Mount Greylock, in Massachusetts. I had just returned +from a walk down the meadow, put on wrapper and slippers, and +established myself by the window to write some letters. Pen, ink, paper, +and all the accessories were spread out before me. I dipped my pen in +the ink and wrote "My Dear," when a sound fell upon my ears: it was the +cry of a young bird! it was new to me! it had a veery ring! + +Away went my good resolutions, and my pen with them; papers flew to +right and left; hither and thither scattered the letters I had meant to +answer. I snatched my glass, seized my hat as I passed, and was +outdoors. In the open air the call sounded louder, and plainly came from +the borders of the brook that with its fringe of trees divides the yard +from the pasture beyond. It was a two-syllabled utterance like "quee +wee," but it had the intermitted or tremolo sound that distinguishes the +song of the tawny thrush from others. I could locate the bird almost to +a twig, but nobody cared if I could. It was on the other side of the +brook and the deep gully through which it ran, and they who had that +youngster in charge could laugh at me. + +But I knew the way up the brookside. I went down the road to the bars, +crossed the water on stepping-stones, and in a few minutes entered a +cow-path that wandered up beside the stream. All was quiet; the young +thrush no doubt had been hushed. They were waiting for me to pass by, as +I often did, for that was a common walk of mine. On this log I sat one +day to watch a woodchuck; a little further on was the rock from which I +had peeped into a robin's nest, where one egg had been alone a week, and +I never saw a robin near it. + +At length I reached the path that ran up the bank where I usually turned +and went to the pasture, for beyond this the cow-path descended, and +looked damp and wild, as if it might once have been the way of the cows, +but now was abandoned. Still all was quiet, and I thought of my letters +unanswered, of my slippers, and--and I turned to go back. + +Just at that moment that unlucky young thrush opened his mouth for a +cry; the birds had been too sure. I forgot my letters again, and looked +at the path beyond. I thought I could see a dry way, so I took a step +or two forward. This was too much! this I had never before done, and I +believe those birds were well used to my habits, for the moment I passed +my usual bounds a cry rang out, loud, and a bird flew past my head. She +alighted near me. It was a tawny thrush; and when one of those shy +birds, who fly if I turn my head behind the blinds, gets bold, there's a +good reason for it. I thanked madam for giving me my cue; I knew now it +was her baby, and I walked slowly on. + +I had to go slowly, for the placing of each foot required study. It is +surprising what a quantity of water will stand on the steep sides of a +mountain. Some parts of this one were like a marsh, or a saturated +sponge, and everywhere a cow had stepped was a small pool. As I +proceeded the thrush grew more and more uneasy. She came so near me that +I saw she had a gauzy-winged fly in her mouth, another proof that she +had young ones near. She called, without opening her beak, her usual low +"quee." + +Finding a dry spot, and the baby-cry having ceased, I sat down to +consider and to wait. Then the bird seemed suddenly to remember how +compromising her mouthful was, and she planted herself on a branch +before my eyes, deliberately ate that fly and wiped her beak, as who +should say, "You thought I was carrying that morsel to somebody, but +you see I have eaten it myself; there's nothing up that path." But much +as I respected the dear mother, I did not believe her eloquent +demonstration. I selected another point where I could stop a minute, and +picked my way to it. Then all my poor little bird's philosophy deserted +her; she came close to me, she uttered the greatest variety of cries; +she almost begged me to believe that she was the only living creature up +that gully. And so much did she move me, so intolerably brutal did she +make me feel, that for the second time I was very near to turning back. + +But the cry began again. How could I miss so good a chance to see that +tawny youngster, when I knew I should not lay finger on it? I hardened +my heart, and struggled a few feet further. + +Then some of the neighbors came to see what was the trouble, and if they +could do anything about it. A black-and-white creeper rose from a low +bush with a surprised "chit-it-it-it," alighted on a tree and ran glibly +up the upright branch as though it were a ladder. But a glance at the +"cause of all this woe" was more than his courage could endure; one cry +escaped him, and then a streak of black and white passed over the road +out of sight. + +Next came a redstart, himself the head of a family, for he too had his +beak full of provisions. He was not in the least dismayed; he perched on +a twig and looked over at me with interest, as if trying to see what the +veery found so terrifying, and then continued on his way home. A +snow-bird was the last visitor, and he came nearer and nearer, not at +all frightened, merely curious, but madam evidently distrusted him, for +she flew at him, intimating in a way that he plainly understood that +"his room was better than his company." + +Still I floundered on, and now the disturbed mother added a new cry, +like the bleating of a lamb. I never should have suspected a bird of +making that sound; it was a perfect "ba-ha-ha." Yet on listening +closely, I saw that it was the very tremolo that gives the song of the +male its peculiar thrill. Her "ba-ha-ha," pitched to his tone, and with +his intervals, would be a perfect reproduction of it. No doubt she could +sing, and perhaps she does,--who knows? + +Now the mother threw in occasionally a louder sort of call-note like +"pee-ro," which was quickly followed by the appearance of another +thrush, her mate, I presume. He called, too, the usual "quee-o," but he +kept himself well out of sight; no reckless mother-love made him lose +his reason. Still, steadily though slowly, and with many pauses to +study out the next step, I progressed. The cry, often suppressed for +minutes at a time, was perceptibly nearer. The bank was rougher than +ever, but with one scramble I was sure I could reach my prize. I started +carefully, when a cry rang out sudden and sharp and close at hand. At +that instant the stone I had put faith in failed me basely and rolled: +one foot _went in_, a dead twig caught my hair, part of my dress +remained with the sharp end of a broken branch, I came to one knee (but +not in a devotional spirit); I struck the ground with one hand and a +brier-bush with the other, but I did not drop my glass, and I reached my +goal in a fashion. + +I paused to recover my breath and give that youngster, who I was +persuaded was laughing at me all the time, a chance to lift up his voice +again. But he had subsided, while the mother was earnest as ever. +Perhaps I was too near, or had scared him out of his wits by my +sensational entry. While I was patiently studying every twig on the tree +from which the last cry had come, the slight flutter of a leaf caught my +eye, and there stood the long-sought infant himself. + +He was a few feet below me. I could have laid my hands upon him, but he +did not appear to see me, and stood like a statue while I studied his +points. Mamma, too, was suddenly quiet; either she saw at last that my +intentions were friendly, or she thought the supreme moment had come, +and was paralyzed. I had no leisure to look after her; I wanted to make +acquaintance with her bairn, and I did. He was the exact image of his +parents; I should have known him anywhere, the same soft, tawny back, +and light under-parts, but no tail to be seen, and only a dumpy pair of +wings, which would not bear him very far. The feathers of his side +looked rough, and not fully out, but his head was lovely and his eye was +the wild free eye of a veery. I saw the youngster utter his cry. I saw +him fly four or five feet, and then I climbed the bank, hopeless of +returning the way I had come, pushed my way between detaining spruces, +and emerged once more on dry ground. I had been two hours on the trail. + +I slipped into the house the back way, and hastened to my room, where I +counted the cost: slippers ruined, dress torn, hand scratched, toilet a +general wreck. But I had seen the tawny-thrush baby, and I was happy. +And it's no common thing to do, either. Does not Emerson count it among +Thoreau's remarkable feats that + + "All her shows did Nature yield + To please and win this pilgrim wise; + He found the tawny thrush's brood, + And the shy hawk did wait for him"? + + + + +XI. + +THE TAWNY THRUSH'S BROOD. + + +"He found the tawny thrush's brood," says Emerson, in enumerating the +special gifts of the nature-lover whose praise he celebrates. Whether +the reference were to Thoreau or to another "forest-seer," it was +certainly to a fortunate and happy man, whom I have always envied till I +learned to find the shy brood myself. + +I shall never forget the exciting and blissful moment when I discovered +my first tawny-thrush nest. It was the crowning event of a long search. + +It was not until the fourth year that I had looked for him, that I came +really to know the bird, to see his family, and last of all his nest. My +summer abiding-place in the Black River country was very near a bit of +woods where veeries were plentiful, and I saw them at all hours, and +under nearly all conditions. + +My favorite seat was at the foot of a low-growing tree in the edge of +the woods, where the branches hung over and almost hid me. From under +my green screen I could look out into a field golden with buttercups, +with scattering elms and maples, while behind me was the forest, the +chosen haunt of this bird. Here, unseen, I listened to his song,-- + + "O matchless melody! O perfect art! + O lovely, lofty voice unfaltering!" + +till my soul was filled with rapture, and a longing to know him in his +home relations took such possession of me that the world seemed to hold +but one object of desire, a veery's nest. + +Yet though the woods were full of them, so wary and so wise were the +little builders that not a nest could I find. I studied the descriptions +in the books; I examined the nests in a collection at hand. The books +declared, and the specimens confirmed the statement, that the cradle of +the tawny thrush would be found amid certain surroundings. Many such +places existed in the woods, and I never passed one without seeking a +nest; but always unsuccessfully, till, as June days were rapidly +passing, I came to have a feeling something akin to despair when I heard +the veery notes. + +One day,--it was Sunday afternoon,--I was still grieving over the lost, +or rather the unfound nest, and my friend was sitting composedly on the +veranda writing letters, when restlessness seized me, and I resolved to +take a quiet walk. I sauntered slowly down the road, towards the woods, +of course; all roads in that charming place led to the woods. + +I had nearly reached the "Sunset Corner," where I had a half-formed +intention of resting and then turning back, when my eyes fell upon--but +hold! I will not describe it, lest I enlighten one more collector, and +aid in the robbery, perhaps the death, of one more bird-mother. Suffice +it to say what I saw resembled, though not perfectly, the surroundings +of a veery's nest as described in the books. + +Of course there could be no nest there, I thought, yet the ruling +passion asserted itself at once. It would at least do no harm to look. I +left the path, walked carelessly up to the spot, and looked at it. It +seemed empty of life; but as I gazed, there gradually took form a head, +a pair of anxious eyes fixed upon mine, a beak pointed upward, and there +was my nest! almost at my feet. + +Joy and surprise contended within me. I thought not of the mother's +anxiety; I stood and stared, absolutely paralyzed with delight. + +But not for long. I remembered my friend who had not found the tawny +thrush's nest, and with whom I must instantly share my happiness, and +carefully marking the locality, not to lose what I had so accidentally +found, and might so easily lose, I moved quietly away till I reached +the road. Then I hurried to an opening in the trees from which the house +could be seen. Here I stopped; the letter-writer looked up. I waved my +green bough in triumph above my head, and with the other hand I +beckoned. + +"A veery's nest!" she thought at once. Away went paper and pen, and in a +moment she joined me. Together we stood beside the beautiful sitting +thrush, so brave, though no doubt suffering from deadly terror. Then we +slowly walked away, rejoicing. It was so near the house! so easy to +watch! the bird not at all afraid! All the way home we congratulated +ourselves. + +The next morning our first thought was of the veery's nest, and on +starting out for the day we turned in that direction. Alas! the old +story! The nest was overturned and thrown out of place, the leaves were +trampled; there had evidently been a struggle of some kind. No birds, no +eggs, not a bit of broken shell--nothing was left, except one dark brown +spotted feather from a large bird, whether hawk or owl I shall never +know, for neglecting to take it at the moment, it was gone when I +thought of it as a witness. + +Again the old longing for a nest assailed me; but I was not without +hope, for I had my hint. I had found out what sort of places the +veeries in this neighborhood liked. After that I never went into the +woods, on whatever errand bent, but I kept my eyes open for the chosen +situation. I examined dozens of promising spots, and I found nests that +had been used, which proved that I was on the right track, and kept up +my courage. + +It was several days before another tawny-thrush cradle in use gladdened +our eyes, and this was in a wild part of the woods where we seldom went. +We were drawn there by the song of a tiny warbler, whose nest my friend +desired to find, since it was rare; and in passing a thicket of maple +saplings three feet high, she discovered a nest. She quickly parted the +leaves and looked in; three young birds opened their mouths for food. +"Veeries!" she exclaimed, in surprise. "What a strange place!" + +This little home rested on a bare dead stick that had fallen and lodged +in a living branch, and the dead leaves used by veeries in their +building made it conspicuous, when the eyes happened to fall upon it; +but it was so well concealed by living branches that one might pass +fifty times and not see it. I describe this location, for it was very +unusual. + +We looked at the birdlings; we walked on till we came to the place where +we turned from the path to see the warbler's little domicile. My friend +passed along. I lingered a moment, for it was a lovely spot, attractive +to birds as to bird-lovers, and high up in the air on the upturned roots +of a fallen tree + + "an elder or two + Foamed over with blossoms white as spray." + +While I stood there admiring the brave little bush that kept on living +and blooming, though lifted into an unnatural position by the tree at +whose feet it had grown, some mysterious drawing made me look closely at +a spot beside the road which we had passed many times without special +notice. There I found our third veery nest, the mother bird sitting. + +Henceforth, every morning we went up the veery road, and before each +little nursery we sat us down to watch and study. It was necessary to be +very quiet, the birds in the saplings were so nervous; but keeping still +in the woods in summer is not the easy performance it is elsewhere, +though great are the inducements. From one side comes the chirp of the +winter wren, from the other, low, excited calls of veeries, and nothing +but absolute quiet seems necessary to capture some of the charming +secrets of their lives. Meanwhile a dancing and singing host collects +around one's head. I call up my philosophy; I resolve not to care, +though I shall be devoured. My philosophy stands the strain; I do not +_care_; but my nerves basely fail me, and after a few moments, and a +dozen stings here and there, I spring involuntarily to my feet, wildly +flourish my wisp of leaves, and of course put to instant flight the +actors in the drama before me. + +The pair of veeries in the maple bushes were never reconciled to our +visits. They called and cried in all the varied inflections of their +sweet voices, and they moved uneasily about on the low branches with +mouths full of food. But though we were as motionless as circumstances +would permit, they never learned to trust us. + +One--the mother, doubtless--did sometimes pay a flying visit to her +three darlings under the leaves; but she undoubtedly felt that she took +her life in her hands (so to speak), and it did not give her courage. +She returned to her post and cried no less than before. We were not +heartless; we could not bear to torture the timid creatures, and +therefore we never stayed very long. + +Every day we looked at the growing babies, who passed most of their time +in sleep, as babies should; and at last came the time, sooner than +expected, when we found the family had flitted. Nestlings cradled near +the ground seem to be spared the long period in the nest endured by +birdlings who must be able to fly before they can safely go. Young +veeries and bobolinks, song sparrows and warblers, who build low, +apparently take leave of the nursery as soon they can stand up. +Thereafter the parents must seek them on the ground; and if the student +follows their chirps, he will often see the droll little dumpy fellows +running about or crouched under bushes until their wing feathers shall +grow and lift them to the bird's world, above the dull earth. + +After the exit of the family in the maples, we kept closer watch of the +remaining nest. Every day we passed it, and not always at the same hour, +yet never but once did we find the mother away, and seven days after +that morning, when not one youngster had broken the shell, the family +was gone. + +The young birds in the maples we had seen in the nest for five days +after they were hatched, so we were forced to believe that either the +second nest had been robbed, or that the mother had watched for us, and +flown to cover her babies after they were hatched, till we had paid our +daily visit and passed on. This latter may be the correct conclusion, +and if so, her conduct was entirely different from that of any veery I +have seen. + +Whatever cause had emptied the thrush cradle we found no signs of +disturbance about it, and we heard no lamentations. But we did hear +from every impenetrable tangle in the woods, the baby-cries of young +thrushes; and we ventured to hope that no hawk or owl or squirrel, or +other foe in feathers or in fur, had carried off the nestlings of that +brave brown-eyed mamma. + + + + +XII. + +A MEADOW NEST. + + +A bird's nest in the middle of a meadow is as isolated as if on an +island; for the most eager bird student, though he may look and long +afar off, will hesitate before he harrows the soul of the owner of the +fair waving sea of grass by trampling it down. In such a secure place, +among scattered old apple-trees, a pair of veeries had set up their +household, surrounded and protected from every enemy who does not wear +wings. + +They were late in nesting, for young veeries were out everywhere. +Doubtless the first home had been destroyed, and they had selected this +retreat in the midst of the tall grass for its seclusion and apparent +safety. + +What dismay, then, must have filled the heart of the timid creatures +when there arrived, one morning, a party of men and horses and machines, +who proceeded at once, with the clatter and confusion which follows the +doings of men, to lay low their green protecting walls, and expose their +cherished treasures to the greed or the cruelty of their worst enemies! +Not less their surprise and grief when, after the uproar of cutting, +raking and carrying away their only screen, there entered the silent but +watchful spies, who planted their stools in plain sight, to take note of +all their doings. + +The nest, with its babies three, was wide open to the sun; no one could +pass without seeing it. It was in a cluster of shoots growing up from +the roots of an old apple-tree, and so closely crowded between them that +its shape was oval. + +The nestlings were nearly ready to fly, and I hoped that birds brave +enough to come out of the woods and build among apple-trees would be +less afraid of people than the woods dwellers. So when I learned of my +comrade's discovery I hastened at once to make the acquaintance of this, +our fourth nesting-veery of the summer. + +The parents were absent when I seated myself at some distance from their +homestead to wait. They soon came, together, with food in their mouths; +but their eager, happy manner vanished at sight of me, and they +abandoned themselves to utter despair, after the manner of veeries. They +stood motionless on neighboring perches, and cried and bewailed the +anticipated fate of those babies for all of the short time that I was +able to endure it. A kingbird came to the tree under which I sat, to see +for himself the terrible bugaboo, and a robin or two, as usual, +interested themselves in the affairs of a neighbor in trouble. + +Thirty minutes proved to be as long as I could bring myself to stay, and +then I meekly retired to the furthest corner of the field, where I made +myself as inconspicuous as possible, and hoped I might be allowed to +remain. Kingbird and robins accepted the compromise and returned to +their own affairs; but the veeries by turns fed the babies and reviled +me from a tree near my retreat, till I took pity on their distress and +left the orchard altogether. + +Not only does the veery exhibit this strong liking for solitude, and +express the loneliness of the woods more perfectly than any other bird, +with the exception, perhaps, of the wood-pewee; but his calls and cries +are all plaintive, many of them sensational, and one or two really +tragic. + +His most common utterance, as he flits lightly from branch to branch, is +a low, sweet "quee-o," sometimes hardly above a whisper. When everything +is quiet about him one may often hear an extraordinary performance. +Beginning the usual call of "quee-o," in a tender and mournful tone, he +will repeat it again and again at short intervals, every time with more +pathetic inflection, till the wrought-up listener cannot resist the +feeling that the next sound must be a burst of tears. Although his notes +seem melancholy to hearers, however, the beautiful bird himself is far +from expressing that emotion in his manner. + +Aside from the enchanting quality of his calls, and the thrilling +magnetism of his song, the tawny thrush is an exceedingly interesting +bird. In his reserved way he is socially inclined, showing no dislike to +an acquaintance with his human neighbors, and even evincing a curiosity +and willingness to be friendly, most winning to see. + +Speak to one who, as you passed, has flown up from the ground and +alighted on the lowest limb of a tree, looking at you with clear, calm +eyes. He will not fly; he will even answer you. You may stand there half +an hour and talk to him and hear his low replies. It seems as if it were +the easiest thing in the world to inspire him with perfect confidence, +to coax him to a real intimacy. But there is a limit to his +trustfulness. When he has a nest and little ones to protect, as already +shown, he is a different bird; he is wild with terror and distress, and +refuses to be comforted when one approaches the sacred spot. + +This unfortunate distrust of one's intentions makes it very hard for a +student who loves the individual bird to watch his nest. One can't +endure to give pain to the gentle and winsome creature. The mournful, +despairing cry of both parents, "ke-o-ik! ke-o-ik! ke-o-ik!" constantly +repeated, makes me, at least, feel like a robber and a murderer, and no +number of "facts" to be gained will compensate me for the suffering thus +caused. + +One more phase of veery character I was surprised and delighted to +learn. Sitting on a log in the edge of the woods one evening, just at +sunset, I listened to the singing of one of these birds quite close to +me, but hidden from sight. I had never been so near a singer, and I was +surprised to hear, after every repetition of his song, a low response, a +sort of whispered "chee." Was it his mate answering, or criticising his +music? Was it the first note of his newly-fledged offspring? Or could it +be _sotto voce_ remarks of the bird himself? It was impossible to +decide, and I went home much puzzled to account for it; but a day or two +later the mystery was solved,--the thrush showed himself to be a +humorist. + +The odd performance by which I discovered this fact I saw through my +closed blind. The bird was in plain sight on a small dead tree, but it +was a retired spot, where he was accustomed to see no one, and he +evidently did not suspect that he had a listener. + +He had eaten his fill from a cluster of elderberries I had hung on the +tree, and he lingered to sing a little, as he often did. First he +uttered a call, aloud, clear "quee-o," and followed it instantly by a +mocking squawk in an undertone. I could hardly believe my eyes and ears, +and at once gave much closer attention to him. As if for the express +purpose of convincing me that I had not been mistaken, he instantly +repeated his effort; and after doing so two or three times, he poured +out his regular song in his sweet, ringing voice, and followed it by a +whispered "mew," almost exactly in the tone of pussy herself. + +He was not far from my window, across a small yard, and as plainly seen +through my glass as though not six feet away. I saw his beak and throat, +and am absolutely certain that he delivered every note. The absorbed +singer stood there motionless a long time, and carried on this queer +conversation with himself. It sounded precisely like two birds, one of +whom was mocking or ridiculing the other in a low tone. + +Sometimes the undertone, as said above, was a squawk; again it resembled +a squeal; now it was petulant, as though the performer scoffed at his +own singing; and then it was a perfect copy of the song itself, given in +an indescribably sneering manner. I could think of nothing but the way +in which one child will sometimes mock the words of another. + +It was very droll, as well as exceedingly interesting, and I hope some +day to study further this unfamiliar side of the thrush nature. + +After my unsuccessful attempt to disarm the fears and suspicions of the +meadow-nesting thrushes, we left the little family to its much loved +solitude, and in a day or two the whole nestful departed. + + + + +XIII. + +A JUNE ROUND OF CALLS. + + +"I should like to meet you two in that rig on Fifth Avenue," calmly said +our hostess one morning in June, as we started out on our regular round +of calls. + +What a suggestion! We stared at each other with a new standard of +criticism in our eyes. We were not exactly in ordinary visiting costume; +but then, neither were we making ordinary visits, for the calling-list +of June differs in every way from that of January. The neighbors at +whose doors we appeared would be quite as well (or as ill) pleased to +see us in our dull green woods dress, with fresh leaves on our hats to +convey the impression that we were mere perambulating shrubs, with +opera-glasses instead of cards, and camp-stools in place of a carriage, +as though we had been in regulation array. Away we went, the big dog +prancing ahead with the camp-stool of his mistress. + +Our first call was upon a small dame very high up in the world, thirty +feet at least. The mention of Fifth Avenue suggests that possibly our +manners were not above criticism. We introduced ourselves to Madam +Wood-Pewee not by ringing and sending up cards, but by pausing before +her door, seating ourselves on our stools, and leveling our glasses at +her house. We felt, indeed, that we had almost a proprietary interest in +that little lichen-covered nest resting snugly in a fork of a dead +branch, for we had assisted in building it, at least by our daily +presence, during the week or two that she spent in bringing, in the most +desultory way, snips of material, fastening them in place, and moulding +the whole by getting in the nest and pressing her breast against it, +while turning slowly round and round. Now that she had really settled +herself to sit, we never neglected to leave a card upon her, so to +speak, every morning. + +As we approached we were pleased to see her trim lord and master bearing +in his mouth what was no doubt intended for a delicate offering to cheer +her weary hours, for a gauzy yellow wing stuck out on each side of his +beak, suggesting something uncommonly nice within. He stood a moment +till we should pass, looking the picture of unconsciousness, and defying +us to assert that he had a house and home anywhere about that tree. But +when we did not pass, after hesitatingly hopping from perch to perch +nearer the nest, he deliberately diverted yellow wing from its original +destiny, swallowed it himself, and wiped his beak with an air that said: +"There now! What can you make out of that?" + +Ashamed to have deprived the little sitter of her treat, we folded our +stools and resumed our march. + +How shall one put into words the delights of the woods in June without +"dropping into poetry?" Does not our own native poet say:-- + + "Who speeds to the woodland walks? + To birds and trees who talks? + Cćsar of his leafy Rome, + There the _poet_ is at home." + +But if one is not a poet, must he then suffer and enjoy in silence? When +he puts aside the leafy portičre and enters the cool green paradise of +the trees, must he be dumb? Slowly, almost solemnly, we walked up the +beautiful road with its carpet of dead leaves. It was as silent of man's +ways as if he were not within a thousand miles, and we had all the +enjoyment of the deep forest, with the comforting assurance that five +minutes' walk would bring us to people. + +A small family in dark slate-color and white, with a curious taste for +the antique cave-dwelling, was next on our list. The home was an +excavation in the soft earth, held together by the roots of an +overturned tree, and everything was quiet when we arrived--the two +well-grown infants sound asleep on their hair mattress. We sat down to +wait, and in a moment we heard the anxious "pip" of the returning +parents. They had been attending to their regular morning work, and both +brought food for those youngsters, who woke inopportunely--as babies +will--and demanded it instantly. + +Junco--for he was the head of this household--paused on a twig near by, +opened and shut his beautiful white-bordered tail, in the embarrassing +consideration whether he should go in before our eyes and take the risk +of our intentions, or let his evidently starving offspring suffer. He +"eyed us over;" he waited till his modest little spouse, acting from +feeling rather than from judgment (as was to be expected from one of her +unreasoning sex), had slipped in from below, administered her morsel to +those precious babies, and escaped unharmed. Then he plucked up courage, +boldly entered his door, gave a poke behind it, and flew away. + +A week later, after we had called as usual one morning and found the +house empty, he brought his pretty snow-birdlings in their tidy striped +bibs up to the grove at the back door, where we often heard his sharp +trilling little song, and saw him working like some bigger papas to keep +the dear clamorous mouths filled. + +The Junco neighborhood was a populous part of our calling district. +Behind his cave, in a high tree, lived a family of golden-winged +woodpeckers, who "laughed" and talked as loud as they liked, scorning to +look upon the two spies so far below them. Not quite so self-possessed +and bold were they a little later, when madam came up to the grass by +the farmhouse with her young son to teach him to dig, for that is what +she did. He was a canny youngster, though he was shy, and had no notion +of being left in the lurch for a moment. If mamma flew to the fence, he +instantly followed; did she return to the ground, baby was in a second +at her side demanding attention. On one occasion while I was watching +them behind my blind, the mother managed to slip away from him and +disappear. In a moment he realized his deserted condition, stretched up, +like a lost chicken, looking about on every side, and calling, in a most +plaintive tone, "pe-au! au!" and then, "au! au! pe-au!" When at length +he saw his mother, he burst into a loud cry of delight, and flew into a +locust-tree, where I heard for a long time low complaining cries, as if +he reproached her for leaving her baby alone on the fence. + +On the right of the home of the golden wings, in a sapling not more than +five feet from the ground, was the residence of a gay little redstart, +which we had watched almost from the laying of the foundations. We made +our visit. Yesterday there were two pearls of promise within; to-day, +alas! nothing. + +Squirrels, we said; for those beasts were the bugaboo of the woods to +its feathered inhabitants. Hardly a nest was so high, so well hidden, or +so closely watched, but some unlucky day a little fellow--sportsman, +would you call him?--- in gray or red fur, would find his chance, and +make his breakfast on next year's song birds. + +Musing on this and other tragedies among our friends, we silently turned +to the next neighbor. At this door we could knock, and we always did. +(We desired to be civil when circumstances permitted.) A rap or two on +the dead trunk brought hastily to the door, twenty-five feet high, a +small head, with a bright red cap and necktie, and eager, questioning +eyes. Observing that he had guests, he came out, showing his black and +white coat. But one glance was usually enough; he declined to entertain +us, and instantly took his leave. We knew him well, however--the +yellow-bellied woodpecker, or "sapsucker," as he was called in the +vicinity. This morning we did not need to knock, for one of the family +was already outside,--a young woodpecker, clinging to the bark, and +dressing his nest-ruffled plumage for the grand performance, his first +flight. We resolved at once to assist at the début, secured reserved +seats with a good view, and seated ourselves to wait. + +Didst ever, dear reader, sit in one position on a camp-stool without a +back, with head thrown back, and eyes fixed upon one small bird thirty +feet from the ground, afraid to move or turn your eyes, lest you miss +what you are waiting for, while the sun moves steadily on till his +hottest rays pour through some opening directly upon you; while +mosquitoes sing about your ears (would that they sang only!), and flies +buzz noisily before your face; while birds flit past, and strange notes +sound from behind; while rustling in the dead leaves at your feet +suggests snakes, and a crawling on your neck proclaims spiders? If you +have not, you can never appreciate the enthusiasms of a bird student, +nor realize what neck-breaks and other discomforts one will cheerfully +endure to witness the first flight of a nestling. + +This affair turned out, however, as in many another case of great +expectations, to be no remarkable performance. When the débutant had +made his toilet, he flew, as if he had done it all his life, to the next +tree, where he began at once to call for refreshment, after his +exertion. + +Disappointed, we dropped our eyes, whisked away our insect tormentors, +gathered up our properties, and passed on our way. + +This was the farthest point of our wanderings. The way back was through +a narrow path beside the oven-bird's pretty domed nest, then between the +tangle of wild-berry bushes and saplings, where a cuckoo had set up +housekeeping, and where veeries and warblers had successfully hidden +their nests, tantalizing us with calls and songs from morning till +night; from thence through the garden, past the kitchen door, home. + + + + +XIV. + +A BOBOLINK RHAPSODY. + + +Can anything be more lovely than a meadow in June, its tall grass +overtopped by daisies, whose open faces, + + "Candid and simple and nothing-withholding and free, + Publish themselves to the sky"? + +One such I knew, despised of men as a meadow, no doubt, but glorious to +the eye with its unbroken stretch of white bowing before the summer +breeze like the waves of the sea, and charming as well to pewee and +kingbird who hovered over it, ever and anon diving and bringing up food +for the nestlings. When, to a meadow not so completely abandoned to +daisies, where buttercups and red clover flourish among the grass, is +added the music of the meadow's poet, the bobolink, surely nothing is +lacking to its perfection. + +Passing such a field one evening, I noted the babble of bobolinks, too +far off to hear well, and the next day I set out down another path which +passed through the meadow, to cultivate the acquaintance of the birds. +It was a warm summer morning, near the middle of June, and when I +reached the spot not a bobolink was in sight; but I sought a convenient +bank under an old apple-tree, made myself as inconspicuous as possible, +and waited. With these birds, however, as I soon found out, my +precautions were unnecessary. They are not chary of their music; on the +contrary, they appear to sing directly to a spectator, and they are too +confident of the security of the nest to be disturbed about that. In a +moment a black head with its buff cap appeared at the top of a grass +stem, and instantly the black body, with its grotesque white decoration, +followed. The bird flew half a dozen feet, singing as he went, as if the +movement of the wings set the music going, alighted a little nearer, +sang again, and finally, concluding that here was something to be looked +after, a human being, such as he was accustomed to see pass by, taking +possession of a part of the bobolink domain, he flew boldly to a small +tree a few yards from me. He alighted on the top twig, in plain sight, +and proceeded to "look me over," a performance which I returned with +interest. He was silent only a few seconds, but the sound that came from +his beak amazed me; it was a "mew." If the cat-bird cry resembles that +of a cat, this was a perfect copy of a kitten's weak wail. It was always +uttered twice in close succession, and sometimes followed by a harsh +note that proclaimed his blackbird strain, a "chack!" + +His utterance was thus: "mew, mew (quickly), chack!" and I interpreted +it into a warning to me to leave the premises. I did not go, however, +and after several repetitions his vigilance began to relax. He was +really so full of sweet summer madness that it was impossible to keep up +the rôle of stern guardian of the nests under the veil of buttercups and +daisies, which he knew all the time I could never find. So, when he +opened his mouth to say "chack," a note or two would irresistibly bubble +out beside it, as if he said, "You really must go away, my big friend. +We cannot have you in our fields;--but, after all, isn't the morning +delicious?" + +After a long conflict between desire to sing and his conviction of duty +as special policeman, which ludicrously suggested Mr. Dick in his +struggle between longing to be foolish with David Copperfield and to be +grave to please Miss Betsy, he fairly gave in and did sing--and such a +burst! Everybody has tried his hand at characterizing this bird's +incomparable song, but no one has fully expressed it, for words are not +capable of it. Perhaps Mrs. Spofford has caught the spirit as well as +any one:-- + + "Last year methinks the bobolinks + Filled the low fields with vagrant tune, + The sweetest songs of sweetest June-- + Wild spurts of frolic, always gladly + Bubbling, doubling, brightly troubling, + Bubbling rapturously, madly." + +Expressing himself was so great a relief to my bobolink, after his +unnatural gravity of demeanor, that he repeated the performance again +and again. I say repeated it; I found that he had two ways of beginning, +but after he got into his ecstasy I could think of nothing but how +marvelous it was, so that whether the two differed all through I am not +sure. It was every time a new rapture to me as well as to him. One of +his beginnings that I had time to note before I was lost in the flood of +melody was of two notes, the second a fifth higher than the first, with +a "grace-note," very low indeed, before each one. The other beginning +was also two notes, the second at least a fifth lower than the first, +with an indescribable jerk between, and uttered so softly that if I had +been a little further away I could not have heard it. It sounded like +"tut, now." + +Seeing that I remained motionless, the bird forgot altogether his +uncongenial occupation of watchman, and launched himself into the air +toward me, soaring round and round me, letting fall such a flood, such a +torrent, of liquid notes that I thought half a dozen were singing,--and +then dropped into the grass. Soon others appeared here and there, and +sang it mattered not how or where,--soaring or beating the wings, on a +grass stem, the top of a tree, hidden in the grass, or rudely rocked by +the wind, they "sang and sang and sang." + +Then for a while all was still. A turkey leading her fuzzy little brood +about in the grass thrust her scrawny neck and anxious head above the +daisies, said "quit! quit!" to me, and returned to the brooding +mother-tones that kept her family around her. Tiring of my position +while waiting for the concert to resume, I laid my head back among the +ferns, letting the daisies and buttercups tower above my +face,--strangely enough, by this simple act realizing as never before +the real motherhood of the earth. + +While I lay musing, lo, a sudden burst of music above my head! A +bobolink sailed over my face, not three feet from it, singing his +merriest, and then dropped into the grass behind me. Oh, never did I so +much wish for eyes in the back of my head! He must be almost within +touch, yet I dared not move; doubtless I was under inspection by that +keen dark eye, for the first movement sent him away with a whir. + +My next visitors were a small flock of six or eight cedar-birds, who +were seriously disturbed by my choice of a couch. Evidently the green +tent above my head was their chosen tree, and they could not give it up. +Finding me perfectly silent, they would come, perch in various parts of +the branches, and turn their wise-looking black spectacles down to look +at me, keeping up an animated conversation the while. We call the +cedar-bird silent because he has, as generally supposed, but one low +note; but he can put into that one an almost infinite variety of +expressions. If I so much as moved a hand, instantly my Quaker-clad +friends dived off the tree below the bank across the road, as if, in +their despair, they had flung themselves madly into the brook at the +bottom. But I did not suspect them of so rash an act, and, indeed, in a +few minutes the apple-tree again resounded with their cries. + +Meanwhile the sun marched relentlessly on, and the shadows without and +the feelings within alike pointed to the dinner hour (12 M.). I rose, +and thereby created a panic in my small world. Six cedar-birds +disappeared over the bank, a song sparrow flew shrieking across the +field, a squirrel interrupted in his investigations fled madly along the +rail fence, every few steps stopping an instant, with hindquarters laid +flat and tail resting on the rail, to see if his head was still safe on +his shoulders. + +I gathered up my belongings and sauntered off toward home, musing, as I +went, upon the bobolink family. I had not once seen or heard the little +mates. Were they busy in the grass with bobolink babies? and did they +enjoy the music as keenly as I did? How much I "wanted to know"! How I +should like to see the nests and the nestlings! What sort of a father is +the gay singer? (Some of the blackbird family are exemplary in this +relation.) Does he drop his part of poet, of reveler of the meadows, I +wonder, and come down to the sober prose of stuffing baby mouths? Are +bobolinks always this jolly, delightful crowd? Are they never +quarrelsome? Alas! it would take much more than one day, however sunny +and however long, to tell all these things. + +At the edge of the meadow I sat down again, hoping for one more song, +and then came the crown of the whole morning, the choicest reserved for +the last. A bird sailed out from behind the daisies, passed over my +head, and delivered the most bewitching rhapsody I had yet heard. Not +merely once did he honor me, but again and again without pausing, as if +he intended to fill me as full of bobolink rapture as he was himself. +His voice was peculiarly rich and full, and, what amazed me, his first +three notes were an exact reproduction of the wood-thrush's (though more +rapidly sung), including the marvelous organ-like quality of that +bird's voice. I could have listened forever. + + "Oh, what have I to do with time? + For this the day was made." + +But when he had uttered his message he sank back into the grass, and I +tore myself away from the bobolink meadow, and came home far richer and +far happier than when I set out. + + + + +XV. + +THE BOBOLINK'S NEST. + + +My acquaintance with the bobolink was resumed a year later in the lovely +summer home of a friend in the Black River Country, within sight of the +Adirondack hills. We had found many nests in the woods and orchards, but +the meadow had been safe from our feet, partly because of the rich crops +that covered it, but more, perhaps, because of the hopelessness of the +search over the broad fields for anything so easily hidden as a ground +nest. + +One evening, however, our host with a triumphant air invited us to walk, +declaring that he could show us a nest more interesting than we had +found. + +The gentleman was a joker, and his statements were apt to be somewhat +embellished by his vivid imagination, so that we accepted them with +caution; but now he looked exultant, and we believed him, especially as +he took his hat and stick and started off. + +Down the road we went, a single carriage-way between two banks of grass +a yard high. After carefully taking his bearings by certain small +elm-trees, and searching diligently about for an inconspicuous dead twig +he had planted as a guide-post, our leader confidently waded into the +green depths, parted the stalks in a certain spot, and bade us look. + +We did. In a cosy cup, almost under our feet, were cuddled together +three bird-babies. + +"Bobolinks?" we cried in a breath. + +"Yes, bobolinks," said our guide; "and you had to wait for an old +half-blind man to find them for you." + +We were too much delighted to be annoyed by his teasing; a bobolink's +nest we never hoped to see. + +Nor should we, but for a discovery of mine that very morning. Walking +down that same road, I had noticed in the deep grass near the path a +clump of exquisite wild flowers. They were of gorgeous coloring, shaded +from deep orange to rich yellow, full petaled like an English daisy, and +about the size of that flower, with the edge of every tiny petal cut in +fairy-like fringe. I admired them for some minutes as they grew, and +then gathered a handful to grace my room. As I came up to the house, my +host stood on the steps; his eyes fell at once upon my nosegay, and a +look of horror came into his face. + +My heart sank. Had I unwittingly picked some of his special treasures, +some rare exotic which he had cultivated with care? + +"Where did you find that stuff?" he demanded. I was instantly relieved; +no man will call a treasure "stuff." + +"In the meadow," I answered. "What is it?" + +"You must show me the exact spot," he said, emphatically. "I shall have +a man out at once, to get it up, root and branch. It's the devil's +paintbrush." + +"Then his majesty has good taste in color," I said. + +"That stuff," he went on, "spreads like wildfire. It'll eat up my meadow +in a year." + +I turned back and showed him the spot from which my flowers had come, +pointing out at the same time two or three other clumps I could see +farther out in the waving green sea, and before long his farmer and he +were very busy over them. + +Now it appeared that in tramping about the deep grass, where we +bird-students dared not set our feet, he had nearly stepped on a +bobolink, who flew, and thus pointed out her nest; and he had taken its +bearings with the intention of putting us to shame. + +We looked long at the tiny trio so compactly packed in their cradle, +till they awoke and demanded supplies. Then we carefully replanted the +dead stick, taking its exact bearings between three trees, drew a few +grass-stems together in a braid at the margin so that we should not lose +what we had so accidentally gained, and then we left them. + +During this inspection of the nest, the "poet of the year" and his +spouse were perched on two neighboring trees, utterly unmoved by our +movements. They were, no doubt, so perfectly confident of the security +of the hiding-place that it never occurred to them even to look to see +what we three giants were doing. At least, such we judged were their +sentiments by the change in their manners somewhat later, when they +thought we were likely to make discoveries. + +The meadow itself had been our delight for weeks. When we arrived, in +the beginning of June, it was covered with luxuriant clumps of blue +violets, and great bunches of blue-eyed grass that one might gather by +the handful at one picking. Later the higher parts were thickly +sprinkled with white where + + "Gracefully as does the fawn, + Sweet Marguerites their dainty heads uphold," + +while the hollows were golden with buttercups. Then the grass under the +warm June sun stretched up inch by inch till it was three or four feet +high and very thick. Meanwhile a bobolink or two, and as many +meadow-larks had taken possession of it, and it was made still richer +by the sweet minor strains of the lark, and the song of the bird who, + + "like the soul + Of the sweet season vocal in a bird, + Gurgles in ecstasy we know not what." + +The evening after our humiliation--which we lost sight of in our joy--we +returned to the charmed spot, parted again the sweet grass curtains and +gazed down at the baby bobolinks, while the parents perched on two trees +as before and paid not the smallest attention to us. + +We passed on down the road to the gate where we could look into a +neighboring pasture and watch for a pair of red-headed woodpeckers who +lived in that pleasant place, and catch the reflection of the sunset in +the northern sky. While we lingered there, I looked with my glass back +at the bobolinks, and chanced to see Bobby himself in the act of diving +into the grass. When he came out he seemed to notice me, and instantly +began trying to mislead me. + +He came up boldly, flew to another spot where a weed lifted its head +above the green, and dropped into the grass exactly as though he was +going to the nest; then he rose again, repeated his tactics, pausing +every time he came out and calling, as if to say, "This is my home; if +you're looking for a nest, here it is!" His air was so business-like +that it would naturally deceive one not possessed of our precious +secret, the real spot where his three babies were cradled, and one might +easily be led all over the meadow by the wily fellow. + +For six successive days we paid our short visits, and found the +nestlings safe. They did not seem to mature very fast, though they came +to look up at us, and open their mouths for food. But on the seventh day +there was a change in Master Robert's behavior. On the afternoon of this +day, wishing to observe their habits more closely, I found a seat under +a tree at some distance, not near enough, as I thought, to disturb them. + +I did disturb them sorely, however, as instantly appeared. The calmness +they had shown during all the days we had been looking at the nest was +gone, and they began to scold at once. The head of the family berated me +from the top of a grass-stem, and then flew to a tall old stump, and put +me under the closest surveillance, constantly uttering a queer call like +"Chack-que-dle-la," jerking wings and tail, and in every way showing +that he considered me intrusive and altogether too much interested in +his family affairs. I admitted the charge, I could not deny it; but I +did not retire. + +At last he apparently determined to insist upon my going, for he +started from his high perch directly toward me. Swiftly and with all his +force he flew, and about twenty feet from me swooped down so that I +thought he would certainly strike my face. I instinctively dodged, and +he passed over, so near that the wind from his wings fanned my face. +This was a hint I could not refuse to take. I left him, for the time. + +That evening when we went for our usual call, lo! the nest was empty. At +not more than seven or eight days of age, those precocious infants had +started out in the world! That explained the conduct of the anxious papa +in the afternoon, and I forgave him on the spot. I understood his fear +that I should discover or step on his babies three, scattered and +scrambling about under all that depth of grass. The abandoned homestead, +which we carefully examined, proved to be merely a cup-shaped hollow in +the ground, slightly protected by a thin lining. + +In a few days the wandering younglings were up in front of the house, +where we could watch the parents drop into the grass with food; and +where, of course, they were safe from anybody's intrusion. I had one +more encounter with his lordship. After the young had been out a week or +more, they seemed in their moving about to get back near to the old +place. As I took my usual walk one evening, down the carriage drive to +the gate, I found two pairs of bobolinks on one tree; the two mothers +with food in their mouths, evidently intended for somebody down in the +grass; and the two fathers, very much disturbed at my appearance. They +greeted me with severe and reproving "chacks," and finally favored me +with the most musical call I have heard from the sweet-voiced bird of +the meadow. It was like "kee-lee!" in loud and rich tones, and it was +many times repeated. + +I assured them that I had no wish to disturb their little ones; though, +if I had been able to lift the whole grassy cover to peep at the two +small families hidden there, I fear I should have yielded to the +temptation. + +Our bird had been somewhat erratic in making his home far from his +fellows,--so social are these birds even in nesting-time; but now he was +joined by more of his kind from the meadows below, and to the beautiful +waving carpet of green, dotted here and there with great bunches of +black-eyed Susans and devil's paint-brushes (what names!), and sprinkled +all over with daisies, now beginning to look a little disheveled and +wild, was added the tantalizing interest of dozens of little folk +running about under its shelter. + +The next week brought to the meadow what must seem from the bobolink +point of view almost the end of the world. Men and horses and great +rattling machines, armed with sharp knives, which laid low every stem of +grass and flower, and let the light of the sun in upon the haunts and +the nests of the bobolink babies. + +Happily, however, not all the earth is meadow and subject to this annual +catastrophe; and I think the whole flock took refuge in a pasture where +they were safe from the hay-cutters, and had for neighbors only the cows +and the crow babies. + + + + +XVI. + +THE TANAGER'S NEST. + + +One of the prettiest memory-pictures of my delightful June on the banks +of the Black River is the nest of a scarlet tanager, placed as the +keystone of one of Nature's exquisite living arches. The path which led +to it was almost as charming as the nest itself. Lifting a low-hanging +branch of maple at the entrance to the woods, we took leave of the world +and all its affairs, and stepped at once into a secluded path. Though so +near the house, the woods were solitary, for they were private and very +carefully protected. Passing up the rustic foot-path, under interlacing +boughs of maple and beech, we came at length to a sunny open spot, where +all winter grain is kept for partridges, squirrels, and other pensioners +who may choose to come. From this little opening one road turned to the +wild-berry field, where lived the cuckoo and the warblers; another +opened an inviting way into the deep woods; a third went through the +fernery. We took that, and passed on through a second lovely bit of +wood, where the ground was wet, and ferns of many kinds grew +luxuriantly, and the walk was mostly over a dainty corduroy of minute +moss-covered logs. + +At the end of the fernery are two ways. The first runs along the edge of +the forest, whose outlying saplings hang over and make a cool covered +walk. Down this path I almost had an adventure one day. The morning was +warm and I was alone. As I came out of this covered passage, beside an +old stump, I noticed in a depression in the ground at my feet a +squirming mass of fur. On looking closer I saw four or five little +beasts rolling and scrambling over each other. They were as big, +perhaps, as a month-old kitten, but they were a good deal more knowing +than pussy's babies, for as I drew near they stopped their play and +waited to see what would happen. I looked at them with eager interest. +They were really beautiful; black and white in stripes, with long bushy +tails. Black and white, and so self-possessed!--a thought struck me. +"Mephitis," I gasped, and instantly put several feet more between us. So +attractive and playful were they, however, that notwithstanding I feared +it might be hard to convince their mamma, should she appear, of my +amiable intentions, I could not resist another look. Calm as a summer +morning walked off one of the mephitis babies, holding his pretty tail +straight up like a kitten's, while the other four went on with their +frolic in the grass. At this moment I heard a rustle in the dead leaves, +and having no desire to meet their grown-up relatives, I left in so +great haste that I took the wrong path, and finally lost myself for a +time in a tangle of wild raspberry bushes, whose long arms reached out +on every side to scratch the face and hands or catch the dress of the +unwary passer-by. + +The other of the two ways spoken of was a road, soft-carpeted with dead +leaves. To reach the tanager's nest we took that, and came, a little +further on, to a big log half covered with growing fungi and laid +squarely across the passage. This was the fungus log, another landmark +for the wanderer unfamiliar with these winding ways. On this, if I were +alone, I always rested awhile to get completely into the woods spirit, +for this is the heart of the woods, with nothing to be seen on any side +but trees. Cheerful, pleasant woods they are, of sunny beech, birch, +maple, and butternut, with branches high above our heads, and a far +outlook under the trees in every direction. There is no gloom such as +evergreens make; no barricade of dark impenetrable foliage, behind which +might lurk anything one chose to imagine, from a grizzly bear to an +equally unwelcome tramp. + +In this lovely spot come together four roads and a path, and to the +pilgrim from cities they seem like paths into paradise. That on the +right leads by a roundabout way to the "corner," where one may see the +sunset. The next, straight in front, is the passage to the nest of the +winter wren. The far left invites one to a wild tangle of fallen trees +and undergrowth, where veeries sing, and enchanting but maddening +warblers lure the bird-lover on, to scramble over logs, wade into +swamps, push through chaotic masses of branches, and, while using both +hands to make her way, incidentally offer herself a victim to the +thirsty inhabitants whose stronghold it is. All this in a vain search +for some atom of a bird that doubtless sits through the whole, calmly +perched on the topmost twig of the tallest tree, shielded by a leaf, and +pours out the tantalizing trill that draws one like a magnet. + +Between this road and the wren's highway a path runs upward. It is +narrow, and guarded at the opening by a mossy log to be stepped over, +but it is most alluring. Up that route we go. On the left as we pass we +notice two beautiful nests in saplings, so low that we can look in; +redstarts both, and nearly always we find madam at home. We pass on, +step over a second mossy log, pause a moment to glance at a vireo's +hanging cradle on the right, and arrive at length at a crossing road, +on the other side of which our path goes on, with a pile of logs like a +stile to go over. Over the logs we step, walk a rod or two further, stop +beside the blackened trunk of a fallen tree, turn our faces to the left, +and behold the nest. + +Before us is one of nature's arches. A maple sapling, perhaps fifteen +feet high, has in some way been bowed till its top touched the ground +and became fastened there, a thing often seen in these woods. Thus +diverted from its original destiny of growing into a tree, it has kept +its "sweetness and light," sent out leaves and twigs through all its +length, and become one of the most beautiful things in the woods--a +living arch. Just in the middle of this exquisite bow, five feet above +the ground, is the tanager's nest, well shielded by leaves. We never +should have found it if the little fellow in scarlet had not made so +much objection to our going up this particular passage that we suspected +him of having a secret in this quarter. He went ahead of us from tree to +tree, keeping an eye on us, and calling, warily, "chip-chur!" When we +sat down a few moments to see what all the fuss was about, we saw his +spouse in her modest dress of olive green on a low branch. She, too, +uttered the cry "chip-chur!" and seemed disturbed by our call. Looking +around for the object of their solicitude, our eyes fell at the same +instant on the nest. We dared not speak, but an ecstatic glance from my +comrade, with a hand laid on her heart to indicate her emotions, +announced that our hopes were fulfilled; it was the nest we were +seeking. + +The birds, seeing that we meant to stay, flew away after a while, and we +hastened to secrete ourselves before they should return, by placing our +camp-stools in a thick growth of saplings just higher than our heads. We +crowned ourselves with fresh leaves, not as conquerors, though such we +felt ourselves, but as a disguise to hide our heads. We daubed our faces +here and there with an odorous (not to say odious) preparation warranted +to discourage too great familiarity on the part of the residents already +established in that spot. We subsided into silence. + +The birds returned, but were still wary. As before, the male perched +high and kept a sharp eye out on the country around, and I have no doubt +soon espied us in our retreat. Madam again tried to "screw her courage +up" to visit that nest. Nearer and nearer she came, pausing at every +step, looking around and calling to her mate to make sure he was near. +At last, just as she seemed about to take the last step and go in, and +we were waiting breathless for her to do it, a terrific sound broke the +silence. The big dog, protector and constant companion of my +fellow-student, overcome by the torment of mosquitoes, and having no +curiosity about tanagers to make him endure them, had yielded to his +emotions and sneezed. Away went the tanager family, and, laughing at the +absurd accident, away we went too, happy at having discovered the nest, +and planning to come the next day. We came next day, and many days +thereafter, but never again did we see the birds near. They abandoned +the nest, doubtless feeling that they had been driven away by a +convulsion of nature. + +One day, somewhat later, in the winter wren's quarter, where there were +pools left by a heavy rain, we met them again. Madam was bathing, and +her husband accompanied her as guard and protector. They flew away +together. All of June we heard him sing, and we often followed him, but +never again did we surprise a secret of his, till the very last day of +the month. We had been making a visit to our veery nests, and on our way +back noticed that the tanager was more than usually interested in our +doings. He seemed very busy too, with the air of a person of family. +While we were watching to see what it meant, he caught a flying insect +and held it in his mouth. Then we knew he had little folk to feed, so +we seated ourselves on the fungus log, and waited for him to point one +out. He did. He could not resist giving that delicate morsel to his +first-born. With many wary approaches, he dropped at last into the +scanty undergrowth, and there, a foot above the ground, we saw the young +tanager. He was a little dumpling of a fellow, with no hint in his +baby-suit of the glory that shall clothe him by and by. But where was +the mother? and where had they nested? But for that untimely sneeze, as +I shall always believe, they would have made their home in that +beautiful nest on the arch, and we should have been there to see. + + + + +XVII. + +THE WILES OF A WARBLER. + + "Hark to that petulant chirp! What ails the warbler? + Mark his capricious ways to draw the eye." + + +We called him the blue, but that was not his whole name by any means. +Fancy a scientist with a new bird to label, contenting himself with one +word! His whole name is--or was till lately--black-throated blue-backed +warbler, or _Dendroica coerulescens_, and that being fairly set down +for future reference for whom it may concern, I shall call him +henceforth, as we did in the woods, the blue. + +For a day or two at first he was to us, like many another of his size, +only a "wandering voice." But it was an enticing voice, a sweet-toned +succession of _z-z-z_ in ascending scale, and it was so persistent that +when we really made the attempt, we had no trouble in getting sight of +the little beauty hardly bigger than one's thumb. He was a wary little +sprite, and though he looked down upon us as we turned opera-glasses +toward him,--a battery that puts some birds into a panic,--he was not +alarmed. He probably made up his mind then and there, that it should be +his special business to keep us away from his nest, for really that +seemed to be his occupation. No sooner did we set foot in the woods than +his sweet song attracted us. We followed it, and he, carelessly as it +seemed, but surely, led us on around and around, always in a circle +without end. + +My fellow bird-student became fairly bewitched, and could not rest till +she found his nest. For my part I gave up the warbler family long ago, +as too small, too uneasy, too fond of tree-tops, to waste time and +patience over. In these her native woods, my comrade led in our walks, +and the moment we heard his tantalizing _z-z-z_ she turned irresistibly +toward it. I followed, of course, happy to be anywhere under these +trees. + +One morning she tracked him inch by inch till she was fortunate enough +to trace him to a wild corner in the woods given up to a tangle of +fallen trees, saplings, and other growth. She went home happy, sure she +was on the trail. The next day we turned our steps to that quarter and +penetrated the jungle till we reached a moderately clear spot facing an +impenetrable mass of low saplings. There we took our places, to wait +with what patience we might for the blue. + +Our lucky star was in the ascendant that day, for we had not been there +three minutes before a small, inconspicuous bird dropped into the bushes +a few feet from us. My friend's eye followed her, and in a second fell +upon the nest the little creature was lining, in a low maple about two +feet from the ground. + +But who was she? For it is one of the difficulties about nests, that the +brightly-colored male, whom one knows so well, is very sure not to show +himself in the neighborhood, and his spouse is certain to look just like +everybody else. However, there is always some mark by which we may know, +and as soon as the watcher secured a good look she announced in an +excited whisper, "We have it! a female blue, building." + +So it proved to be, and we planted our seats against trees for backs, +and arranged ourselves to stay. The dog seeing this preparation, and +recognizing it as somewhat permanent, with a heavy sigh laid himself out +full length, and composed himself to sleep. + +The work over that nest was one of the prettiest bits of bird-life I +ever watched. Never was a scrap of a warbler, a mere pinch of feathers, +so perfectly delighted with anything as she with that dear little +homestead of hers. It was pretty; it looked outside like the dainty +hanging cradle of a vireo, but instead of being suspended from a +horizontal forked twig, it was held in an upright fork made by four +twigs of the sapling. + +The little creature's body seemed too small to hold her joy; she simply +could not bring her mind to leave it. She rushed off a short distance +and brought some infinitesimal atom of something not visible to our +coarse sight, but very important in hers. This she arranged carefully, +then slipped into the nest and moulded it into place by pressing her +breast against it and turning around. + +Thus she worked for some time, and then seemed to feel that her task was +over, at least for the moment. Yet she could not tear herself away. She +flew six inches away, then instantly came back and got into the nest, +trying it this way and that. Then she ran up a stem, and in a moment +down again, trying that nest in a new way, from a fresh point of view. +This performance went on a long time, and we found it as impossible to +leave as she did; we were as completely charmed with her ingenuous and +bewitching manners as she was with her new home. + +Well indeed was it that we stayed that morning and enriched ourselves +with the beautiful picture of bird ways, for like many another fair +promise of the summer it came to naught. + +We had not startled her, she had not observed us at all, nor been in the +least degree hindered in her work by our silent presence, twenty feet +away and half hidden by her leafy screen. But the next day she was not +there. After we had waited half an hour, my friend could no longer +resist a siren voice that had lured us for days (and was never traced +home, by the way). I offered to wait for the little blue while she +sought her charmer. + +We were near the edge of the woods, and she was obliged to pass through +part of a pasture where sheep were kept. Her one terror about her big +dog was that he should take to making himself disagreeable among sheep, +when she knew his days would be numbered, so she told him to stay with +me. He had risen when she started, and he looked a little dubious, but +sat down again, and she went away. + +He watched her so long as she could be seen and then turned to me for +comfort. He came close and laid his big head on my lap to be petted. I +patted his head and praised him a while, and then wished to be relieved. +But flattery was sweet to his ears, and the touch of a hand to his +brow,--he declined to be put away; on the contrary he demanded constant +repetition of the agreeable sensations. If I stopped, he laid his heavy +head across my arm, in a way most uncomfortable to one not accustomed to +dogs. These methods not availing, he sat up close beside me, when he +came nearly to my shoulder and leaned heavily against me, his head +resting against my arm in a most sentimental attitude. + +At last finding that I would not be coaxed or forced into devoting +myself wholly to his entertainment, he rose with dignity, and walked off +in the direction his mistress had gone, paying no more attention to my +commands or my coaxings than if I did not exist. If I would not do what +he wished, and pay the price of his society, he would not do what I +asked. I was, therefore, left alone. + +I was perfectly quiet. My dress was a dull woods tint, carefully +selected to be inconspicuous, and I was motionless. No little dame +appeared, but I soon became aware of the pleasing sound of the blue +himself. It drew nearer, and suddenly ceased. Cautiously, without +moving, I looked up. My eyes fell upon the little beauty peering down +upon me. I scarcely breathed while he came nearer, at last directly over +my head, silent, and plainly studying me. I shall always think his +conclusion was unfavorable, that he decided I was dangerous; and I, who +never lay a finger on an egg or a nest in use, had to suffer for the +depredations of the race to which I belong. The pretty nest so doted +upon by its little builder was never occupied, and the winsome song of +the warbler came from another part of the wood. + +We found him, indeed, so often near this particular place, a worse +tangle, if possible, than the other, that we suspected they had set up +their household gods here. Many times did my friend and her dog work +their way through it, while I waited outside, and considered the +admirable tactics of the wary warbler. The search was without result. + +Weeks passed, but though other birds interested us, and filled our days +with pleasure, my comrade never ceased longing to find the elusive nest +of that blue warbler, and our revenge came at last. Nests may be +deserted, little brown spouses may be hidden under green leaves, +homesteads may be so cunningly placed that one cannot find them, but +baby birds cannot be concealed. They will speak for themselves; they +will get out of the nest before they can fly; they will scramble about, +careless of being seen; and such is the devotion of parents that they +must and will follow all these vagaries, and thus give their precious +secret to whoever has eyes to see. + +One day I came alone into the woods, and as I reached a certain place, +sauntering along in perfect silence, I evidently surprised somebody, for +I was saluted by low "smacks" and I caught glimpses of two birds who +dived into the jewel-weed and disappeared. A moment later I saw the +blue take flight a little farther off, and soon his song burst out, calm +and sweet as though he had never been surprised in his life. + +I walked slowly on up the road, for this was one of the most enchanting +spots in the woods, to birds as well as to bird-lovers. Here the cuckoo +hid her brood till they could fly. In this retired corner the tawny +thrush built her nest, and the hermit filled its aisles with music, +while on the trespass notices hung here, the yellow-bellied woodpecker +drummed and signaled. It was filled with interest and with pleasant +memories, and I lingered here for some time. + +Then as the road led me still farther away, I turned back. Coming +quietly, again I surprised the blue family and was greeted in the same +manner as before. They had slipped back in silence during my absence, +and the young blues were, doubtless, at that moment running about under +the weeds. + +Thus we found our warbler, the head of a family, hard at work as any +sparrow, feeding a beloved, but somewhat scraggy looking, youngster, the +feeble likeness of himself. There, too, we found the little brown mamma, +the same, as we suppose, whose nest-building we had watched with so much +interest. She also had a youngster under her charge. But how was this! +a brown baby clad like herself! Could it be that the sons and daughters +of this warbler family outrage all precedent by wearing their grown-up +dress in the cradle? We consulted the authorities and found our +conclusion was correct. + +Henceforth we watched with greater interest than before. Every day that +we came into the woods we saw the little party of four, always near +together, scrambling about under the saplings or among the jewel-weed, +or running over the tangled branches of a fallen tree, the two younger +calling in sharp little voices for food, and the elders bustling about +on low trees to find it. + +We soon noticed that there was favoritism in the family. Papa fed only +the little man, while mamma fed the little maid, though she too +sometimes stuffed a morsel into the mouth of her son. Let us hope that +by this arrangement both babies are equally fed, and not, as is often +the case, the most greedy secures the greatest amount. + +We had now reached the last of July, and the woods were full of new +voices, not alone the peeps or chirps of birdlings impatient for food. +There were baffling rustles of leaves in the tree-tops, rebounds of +twigs as some small form left them, flits of strange-colored +wings,--migration had begun. Now, if the bird-student wishes not to go +mad with problems she cannot solve, she will be wise to fold her +camp-stool and return to the haunts of the squawking English sparrow and +the tireless canary, the loud-voiced parrot, and the sleep-destroying +mockingbird. I did. + + + + +XVIII. + +A RAINY-DAY TRAMP. + + +Before I opened my eyes in the morning I knew something had happened, +for I missed the usual charm of dawn. A robin, to be sure, made an +effort to lead, as was his custom, and sang out bravely once or twice; a +song sparrow, too, flitted into the evergreen beside my window, and +uttered his sweet and cheery little greeting to whom it might concern. +But those were the only ones out of the fourteen voices we were +accustomed to hear in the morning. + +When I came out on the veranda not a note was to be heard and not a bird +to be seen excepting a woodpecker, who bounded gayly up the trunk of a +maple, as if sunshine were not essential to happiness, and a +chipping-sparrow, who went about through the dripping grass with perfect +indifference to weather, squabbling with his fellow-chippies, and +picking up his breakfast as usual. + +I seated myself in the big rocker, and turned toward the woods, a few +rods away. The rain, which had fallen heavily for hours, light and fine +now, drew a shimmering veil before the trees,--a veil like a Japanese +bead-hanging, which hides nothing, only the rain veil was more +diaphanous than anything fashioned by human hands. It did not conceal, +but enhanced the charm of everything behind it, lending a glamour that +turned the woods into enchanted land. + +Before the house how the prospect was changed! The hills and Adirondack +woods in the distance were cut sharply off, and our little world stood +alone, closed in by heavy walls of mist. + +My glass transported me to the edge of the side lawn, where I looked far +under the trees, and rejoiced in the joy of the woods in rain. The trees +were still, as if in ecstasy "too deep for smiling;" the ferns gently +waved and nodded. Every tiny leaf that had thrust its head up through +the mould, ambitious to be an ash or a maple or a fern, straightened +itself with fullness of fresh life. The woods were never so fascinating, +nor showed so plainly + + "The immortal gladness of inanimate things." + +A summer shower the birds, and we, have reason to expect, and even to +enjoy, but a downpour of several hours, a storm that lays the deep grass +flat, beats down branches, and turns every hollow into a lake, was more +than they had provided for, I fear. My heart went out to the dozens of +bobolink and song-sparrow babies buried under the matted grass, the +little tawny thrushes wandering around cold and comfortless on the +soaked ground in the woods, the warbler infants,--redstart and +chestnut-sided--that I knew were sitting humped up and miserable in some +watery place under the berry bushes, the young tanager only just out of +the nest, and the two cuckoo babies, thrust out of their home at the +untimely age of seven days, to shiver around on their weak blue legs. + +My only comfort was in thinking of woodpecker little folk, the +yellow-bellied family whose loud and insistent baby cries we had +listened to for days, the downy and hairy, and the golden-wing. They +were all warm and snug, if they could only be persuaded to stay at home. +But from what I have seen of young birds, when their hour strikes they +go, be it fair or foul. To take the bitter with the sweet is their fate, +and no rain, however driving, no wind, however rough, can detain them an +hour when they feel the call of the inner voice which bids them go. I +have seen many birdlings start out in weather that from our point of +view should make the feathered folk, old or young, hug the nest or any +shelter they can find. + +In the afternoon the rain had ceased, and we went out. How beautiful we +found the woods! More than ever I despair of + + "Putting my woods in song." + +Every fresh condition of light brings out new features. They are not the +same in the morning and the afternoon; sunshine makes them very +different from a gray sky; and heavy rain, which hangs still in drops +from every leaf and twig, changes them still more. + +This time the tree-trunks were the most noticeable feature. Thoreau +speaks of rain waking the lichens into life, and we saw this as never +before. Not only does it bring out the colors and give a brightness and +richness they show at no other time, but it raises the leaves--if one +may so call them--makes them stand out fresh. The beeches were marvelous +with many shades of green, and of pink, from a delicate blush over the +whole tree, to bright vermilion in small patches. The birches, "most shy +and ladylike of trees," were intensely yellow; some lovely with dabs of +green, while others looked like rugged old heroes of many battles, with +great patches of black, and ragged ends of loosened bark fringing them +like an Indian's war dress, up to the branches. Every hollow under the +trees had become a clear pond to reflect these beauties, and lively +little brooks rippled across the path, adding to the woods the only +thing they lacked,--running water. + +Instinctively our feet turned up the path to the oven-bird's nest, so +narrow that we brushed a shower from every bush. There he was, singing +at that moment. "Teacher! teacher! teacher!" he called, with head thrown +up and wings drooped. And then while we looked he left his perch, and +passed up between the branches out of our sight, his sweet ecstatic +love-song floating down to delight our souls. + +Surely, we thought, all must be well in the cabin among the dead leaves, +or he could not sing so. Yet life had not been all rose-colored to the +little dame whom we had surprised several days before, bringing great +pieces of what appeared to be lace, to line the nest she had made so +wonderfully. We had watched her, breathless, for a long time, while she +went back and forth carrying in old leaves, softened, bleached, and +turned to lace by long exposure, arranged each one carefully and moulded +it to place by pressing her breast against it, and turning round and +round in the nest. Curious enough she looked as she alighted at some +distance, and walked--not hopped--to her little "oven," holding the +almost skeletonized leaf before her like an apron, so busy that she did +not observe that she had visitors. + +Then came a day when, on reaching our usual place, we found that an +accident had happened. The dainty roof was crushed in, and the poor +little egg, for which such loving preparations had been made, lay +pathetically on the ground outside the door. My comrade crept carefully +up, raised the tiny roof to place, and with deft fingers put a twig +under as a prop to hold it, then gently laid the pretty egg in the +lace-lined nest. + +The next day we hurried out to see if the bird had resented our clumsy +human help. But no; like the wise little creature she was, she had +accepted the goods the gods had provided, and laid a second pearl beside +the first. On our next visit, therefore--especially when we heard the +gleeful song of her (supposed) mate--we came up with confidence to see +our little oven-bird homestead. But, alas! somebody not so loving as we +had been there; the two pretty eggs were gone, not a sign of them to be +seen, and the nest was deserted. Yet we could not give up a hope that +she would return, and day after day our steps turned of themselves to +the oven-bird's nook. This rainy day, as a dozen times before, we found +the little house still empty, and as before we turned sadly away, when +suddenly a new sound broke the stillness. "Wuk! wuk! wuk! wa-a-a-ah! +wa-a-a-ah!" it cried. It was the exact tone of a young baby, a naive +and innocent cry. What could it be? Was some tramp mother hidden behind +the bushes? Was it a new bird with this unbird-like cry? I was startled. +But my friend was smiling at my dismay. She pointed to the crotch of a +tree, and there a saucy gray squirrel lay sprawled out flat, uttering +his sentiments in this abominable parody on the human baby cry. I +believe the first squirrel learned it from some deserted infant, and +handed it down as a choice joke upon us all. At any rate this performer +was not suffering as his tones would indicate; for seeing that he had an +audience more interested than he desired, he pulled himself together, +whisked his bushy tail in our faces, and disappeared behind the trunk, +from whence, in one instant, his head was thrust on one side and his +tail on the other. And so he remained as long as we were in sight. + +This absurd episode changed our mood, and soon we tramped gayly back +over the soft leaf-covered paths, fording the newly formed brooks, +shaking showers upon ourselves from the saplings, and arriving at last, +dripping but happy, on the veranda, where, after donning drier costumes, +we spent the rest of the day watching the birds that came to the trees +on the lawn. + + + + +XIX. + +THE VAGARIES OF A WARBLER. + + +The bird lover who carries a glass but never a gun, who observes but +never shoots, sees many queer things not set down in the books; freaks +and notions and curious fancies on the part of the feathered folk, which +reveal an individuality of character as marked in a three-inch warbler +as in a six-foot man. Some of the idiosyncrasies of our "little +brothers" may be understood and explained from the human standpoint, +others are as baffling as "the lady, or the tiger?" + +One lovely and lazy day last July--the fourth it was--a perfect day with +not a cannon nor even a cracker to disturb its peace, my comrade and I +turned our steps toward the woods, as we had for the thirty-and-three +mornings preceding that one. + +This morning, however, was distinguished by the fact that we had a +special object. In general, our passage through the woods was an +open-eyed (and open-minded) loitering walk, alternated with periods of +rest on our camp-stools, wherever we found anything of interest to +detain us. + +On this Fourth of July we were in search of a warbler,--one of the most +tantalizing, maddening pursuits a sensible human being can engage in. +Fancy the difficulty of dragging one's self, not to mention the flying +gown, camp-stool, opera-glass, note-book and other impedimenta through +brush and brier, over logs, under fallen trees, in the swamp and through +the tangle, to follow the eccentric movements of a scrap of a bird the +size of one's finger, who proceeds by wings and not by feet, who goes +over and not through all this growth. + +The corner to which we had traced our "black-throated blue," and where +we suspected he had a nest, presented a little worse than the usual +snarl of saplings and fallen branches and other hindrances, and the +morning was warm. My heart failed me; and as my leader turned from the +path I deserted. "You go in, if you like," I said; "I'll wait for you +here." + +I seated myself, and she went on. For a few minutes I heard the cracking +of twigs, the rustle of her movements against the bushes, the heavy +tread of her big dog, and then all was silent. + +It was--did I say it was a fair morning?--not a breath of air was +stirring. My seat was in a rather open spot at the foot of a big +butternut tree; and I could look far up where its branches spread out +wide and held their graceful leafy stars against the blue. + +In the woods I am never lonely; but I was not this morning alone. Near +by a vireo kept up his tireless song; a gray squirrel peeped curiously +at me from behind a trunk, his head showing on one side and his tail on +the other; an oven-bird stole up behind to see what manner of creature +this was, and far off I could hear the tanager singing. + +I did not notice the time; but after a while I became conscious of a low +whistle which seemed to mingle with my reveries, and might have been +going on for some minutes. Suddenly it struck me that it was the call of +my fellow-student, and I started up the road wondering lazily if she had +found the nest, and, to tell the truth, not caring much whether she had +or not. For, to tell the whole truth, I had long ago steeled my heart +against the fascinations of those bewitching little sprites who never +stay two seconds in one spot, and sternly resolved never, _never_ to get +interested in a warbler. + +My companion, however, was not so philosophical or so cool. She never +could withstand the flit of a warbler wing; she would follow for half a +day the absurd but enchanting little trill; and she regularly went mad +(so to speak) at every migration, over the hundred or two, more or +less, varieties that made this wood a resting-place on their way. Now, I +could resist the birds by never looking at them, but I could not resist +my friend's enthusiasm; so when she started on a warbler trail, I +generally followed, as a matter of course. And I admit that the blue, to +which we shortened his name, was a beauty and a charming singer. + +I passed quietly up the road toward the continued low calls, and soon +saw the student, not far from the path, in a clearer spot than usual, +sitting against a maple sapling, with her four-footed protector at her +feet. When I came in sight she beckoned eagerly but silently, and I knew +she had found something; probably the nest, I thought. As quietly as +might be under the circumstances (namely, a passage through dead leaves, +brittle twigs, unexpected hollows, etc.), I crept to her side, planted +my camp-stool near hers, and sat down, in obedience to her imperious +gesture. + +"Now look," she whispered, pointing to a nest in plain sight. + +"Why that's the redstart nest we saw yesterday from the road," I +answered in the same tone, somewhat disappointed, it must be said, for +redstart nests were on about every third sapling in the woods. + +"Yes; but see what's going on," she added, excitedly. + +"I see," I replied; "there is a young bird on the edge of the nest and +its mother is feeding it;" and I was about to lower my glass and ask +what there was surprising about that, when she went on:-- + +"Keep looking! There! Who's that?" + +"Why that's--why--that's a chestnut-sided warbler! and--what?--he feeds +the same baby!" I gasped, interested now as much as she. + +"There!" she exclaimed, triumphantly, "I wanted you to see that with +your own eyes, since you scorn to look at the warblers. He has been +doing that ever since I left you. I couldn't bear to let him out of my +sight!" + +At that moment the warbler appeared again, and the wise redstart baby, +who at least knew enough to take a good thing when it offered, opened +his ever-ready mouth for the bit of a worm he brought. + +But lo! Madam, who had flown the moment before, returned in hot haste, +and flung herself upon that small philanthropist as if he had brought +poison; he vanished. + +Here was indeed a queer complication! It was a redstart nest without +doubt, but who owned the baby? If he were a redstart, why did Mamma +refuse help in her hard work, and why did the chestnut-sided insist on +helping? If he were a chestnut-sided infant, how did he come in a +redstart nest, and what had the redstart to do with him? + +These were the problems with which we had to grapple, and we settled +ourselves to the work. We placed our seats against neighboring saplings, +for backs, and we first critically examined that nest. It was surely a +redstart's, though at an unusual height, perhaps twenty-five feet, as we +had observed the day before when we had both noted in our books that we +saw the male feeding the young. Even had the nest not been so plainly a +redstart's, the air of that mother was unmistakable. She owned that nest +and that baby, there could not be a doubt, and the dapper little +personage with chestnut sides was an interloper. + +Nearly two hours we watched every movement of the small actors in this +strange drama, and in seeking food they often came within six feet of us +on our own level, so that we could not mistake their identity. + +The poor little mamma was in deep distress. Although her mate was +absent, she resented her neighbor's efforts to help in her work, and +dashed at him furiously every time she saw him come. Yet she could not +stay on guard, for upon her alone devolved the duty of feeding that +nestling! So she rushed frantically hither and thither in mad redstart +fashion, brought her morsel and administered it, and then darted angrily +after the enemy, who appeared as often as she did, every time with a +tidbit for that pampered youngster. + +This double duty seemed almost too much for the redstart. Her feathers +were ruffled, her tail opened and shut nervously, and at every interval +that she could spare from her breathless exertions she uttered in low +tones the redstart song, as though calling on that missing lord of hers. + +And where was that much needed personage? Had he been killed in these +carefully protected and fenced woods, where no guns or collectors were +allowed, and trespass notices were as plentiful as blackberries? Not by +shooting we were sure; we should have heard a gun at the house. Had, +then, an owl paid a twilight visit, and could a redstart be surprised? +Or could, perchance, a squirrel have stolen upon him unaware? We shall +never know. There's no morning paper to chronicle the tragedies in the +bird world; and it would be too pitiful reading if there were. + +The most curious thing about the whole performance was the behavior of +the chestnut-sided. His manner was as unruffled as Madam's was excited. +The most just and honorable cause in the world could not give more +absolute self-possession, more dignified persistence, than was shown by +this wonderful atom of a bird. He acknowledged her right to reprove him, +for he vanished before her outraged motherhood every time; but the +moment the chase ended he fell to collecting food, and by the time his +assailant had given her bantling a morsel, he was ready with another. + +What could be his motive? Was he a charity-mad personage, such as we +sometimes see among bigger folk, determined to benefit his kind, whether +they would or no? Had he, perchance, been bereaved of his own +younglings, and felt moved to bestow his parental care upon somebody? +Did he wish to experiment with some theory of his own on another's baby? +Was it his aim to coax that young redstart to desert his family and +follow after the traditions of the chestnut-sided? + +Alas! how easy to ask; how hard to answer! + +By this time I had become as absorbed in the drama as my companion. We +forgot, or postponed, the blue, and gave the day to study of this case +of domestic infelicity. Five long hours we sat there (morning and +afternoon) before the stage on which the interesting but agitating play +went on; and after tea, just before dark, we came out again. All this +time the war between the two still raged, with no abatement of spirit. + +Breakfast was not loitered over on the following morning, and we hurried +out to our post. The situation was changed a little. The youngster had +made up his mind to go out into the world. He had moved as far as the +branch, a few inches from the nest, and was still fed on both sides by +his zealous providers. Mamma, however, though every time repelling her +unwelcome assistant, was not so nervous. Perhaps she realized that a few +hours more would end the trouble. She fed, she encouraged, and pretty +soon, while we looked, the infant flew to the nearest tree. + +Now the chestnut-sided began to have difficulty in following up his +self-imposed charge. He took to coming close upon the mother's heels to +see where she went. But this course was attended with the difficulty +that the instant she had fed she was ready to turn upon him, which she +never failed to do. + +After several short flights about the tree, the young bird, grown +bolder, perhaps by over-feeding, for surely never nestling was stuffed +as that one was, attempted a more ambitious flight, failed, and came +fluttering to the ground, much to the dismay of his mamma, who followed +him closely all the way. + +This was our opportunity, the moment we had waited for; we must see that +disputed baby! + +My comrade dropped everything and ran to the spot. A moment's scrambling +about on the ground, a few careful "grabs" among the dead leaves, and +she held the exhausted little fellow in her hand. He was not frightened; +but his mother was greatly disturbed at first. We were too interested in +this case to heed her, and indeed after a moment's demonstration she +flew away and left him in our hands. + +We examined him minutely, and I noted his markings on the spot. There +was no doubt about his being a redstart baby, as I had been convinced +from the first. When we had settled this, the little one was placed on a +branch, where he remained quite calmly, and we left him to his two +attendants. + +The next morning we found the mother still hard at work in the same part +of the woods (we knew her by some feathers she had lost from her +breast), but the gallant little warbler was nowhere to be seen. + + + + +XX. + +A CLEVER CUCKOO. + + "Hark, the cuckoo, weatherwise, + Still hiding, farther onward woos you." + + +The mysterious bird, around whose name cluster some strange facts as +well as absurd fancies; shy and intolerant of the human race, yet bold +in protecting his treasures; devoted and tender in his family relations, +yet often known in the neighborhood where he passes his days as a mere +"wandering voice,"-- + + "No bird, but an invisible thing, + A voice, a mystery,"-- + +this bird, the cuckoo, was a stranger to me till one happy day last +June, when I came upon him where he could not escape, beside his own +nest. + +In returning from our daily visit to the woods that morning, my +fellow-student turned down a narrow footway connecting the woods with +the home-fields, and I followed. She had passed through half its length, +her dog close behind her, when our eyes, ever searching the trees and +bushes, fell almost at the same instant upon a nest, with the sitting +bird at home. It was so near me that I could have touched it, being not +more than two feet from the ground, and hardly farther from the path. + +Fearing to startle the little mother, whose frightened eyes were fixed +upon us, we announced our mutual discovery by a single movement of the +hand, and walked quietly past without pausing. Not until we reached the +open fields at the end did my comrade whisper, "a cuckoo," and our +hearts, if not our lips, sang with Wordsworth, "Thrice welcome, darling +of the spring," for the nest of this shy bird we hardly dared hope to +see. + +After the morning of our happy discovery the cuckoo path became part of +our regular route home from the woods. Our first care was to dispel the +fears of the bird, and accustom her to seeing us, so for several days we +passed her without pausing, though we looked at her and spoke to her in +low tones as we went by. + +Three times she flew at sight of us, but on the fourth morning she +remained, though with tail straight up and ready for instant flight. But +finding that we did not disturb her, she calmed down, and became so +fearless that she did not move nor appear agitated when at last we did +stop before her door, spoke to her, and identified her as the +black-billed cuckoo. + +On the eighth day of our visits it happened that I went to the woods +alone. I found the bird at home, as usual, and armed with an +opera-glass, I placed myself at some distance to watch her. Half an hour +passed before she stirred a feather, but I was not lonely. A +mourning-warbler came about, eating and singing alternately, after the +manner of his kind, and the pretty trill of the black-throated green +warbler came out of the woods. Then a crow mamma created a diversion by +helping herself to an egg for her baby's breakfast, when a robin and a +vireo--curious pair!--took after her with loud cries of indignation and +reproach. + +When this excitement was over, the trio had disappeared in the woods, +and silence had fallen upon us again, I heard the cuckoo call at a +little distance, and in a moment the bird himself alighted on a twig +three feet above the nest. He was a beauty, but he appeared greatly +excited. He threw up his tail till it pointed to the sky over his head, +then let it slowly drop to the horizontal position. This he did three +times, while he looked down upon his household, so absorbed that he did +not see me at all. + +Then the patient sitter vacated her post, and he flew down to the nest. +The top was hidden by leaves, so that I cannot positively affirm that he +sat on the eggs, but it is certain that he remained perfectly silent +and motionless there for forty-five minutes. Then I caught sight of +Madam returning. She came in from the woods, behind and at the level of +the nest; there was a moment's flutter of wings, and I saw that her mate +was gone, and she in her usual place. + +The next day there was a change in the programme. It happened that I +arrived when the mother was away, and the head of the household in +charge. No sooner did I appear on the path than he flew off the nest +with great hustle, thus betraying himself at once; but he did not desert +his post of protector. He perched on a branch somewhat higher than my +head, and five or six feet away, and began calling, a low "coo-oo." With +every cry he opened his mouth very wide, as though to shriek at the top +of his voice, and the low cry that came out was so ludicrously +inadequate to his apparent effort that it was very droll. In this +performance he made fine display of the inside of his mouth and throat, +which looked, from where I stood, like black satin. + +The calls he made while I watched him sounded so far off that if I had +not been within six feet of him, and seen him make them, I should never +have suspected him:-- + + "A cry + Which made me look a thousand ways, + In bush and tree and sky." + +Finding that his voice did not drive me away, the bird resorted to +another method; he tried intimidation. First he threw himself into a +most curious attitude, humping his shoulders and opening his tail like a +fan, then spreading his wings and resting the upper end of them on his +tail, which made at the back a sort of scoop effect. Every time he +uttered the cry he lifted wings and tail together, and let them fall +slowly back to their natural position. It was the queerest bird +performance I ever saw. + +During all this excitement there sounded from a little distance a low +single "coo," which, I suppose, was the voice of his mate. Not wishing +to make a serious disturbance in the family, and seeing that he was not +to be conciliated, I walked slowly on, looking in the nest as I passed. +It contained one egg that looked like a robin's, and beside it a small +bundle of what resembled black flesh stuck full of white pins. This, +then, was the cuckoo baby; surely an odd one! + +On the third day after this experience we were fortunate enough again to +find the nest uncovered. A second youngster lay beside the first, and +the two entirely filled the nest. They were perhaps two and a half +inches long, and resembled, as said above, mere lumps of flesh. After +looking at the young family, we seated ourselves a little way off to +wait for some one to come home. + +The place the cuckoo had chosen to nest was one of the most attractive +spots on the grounds, an opening in the woods in which, after the loss +of the trees, had grown up a thicket of wild berries. The bushes were +nearly as high as one's head, and so luxuriant that they made an +impenetrable tangle, through which paths were cut in all directions, and +kept open by much work each year. + +In the middle of the opening was a clump of larger saplings, around the +foot of two or three very tall old basswood-trees, part of the original +forest. It was the paradise of small fruits. Early in the season +elderberries ripened, and offered food to whoever would come. Before +they were gone the bushes were red with the raspberry, and blackberries +were ready to follow; choke-cherries completed the list, and lasted till +into the fall. The insect enemies of fruit were there in armies. + +Its constant supply of food, its shelter from the winds on every side, +and its admirable hiding-places for nests, made this warm, sunny corner +the chosen home of many birds. Warblers were there from early spring, +heard, though not always seen. Veeries nested on its borders, +woodpeckers haunted the dead trees at the edge, and all the birds of the +neighborhood paid visits to it. + +We had not waited long when the head of the cuckoo family appeared. He +saw us instantly, and, I regret to say, was no more reconciled to our +presence than he had been on the previous occasion; but he showed his +displeasure in a different way. He rushed about in the trees, crying, +"cuck-a-ruck, cuck-a-ruck," running out even to the tip of slender +branches that seemed too slight to bear his weight. When his feelings +entirely overcame him he flew away, and though we remained fifteen +minutes, no one came to the nest. + +The day after this display of unkindly feeling toward us we passed down +the cuckoo path, saw Madam on the nest, and at once determined to wait +and see what new demonstration her mate would invent to express his +emotions. My comrade threw herself down full length on the dead leaves +beside the path, where she could bask in the sunlight, while I sat in +the shade close by. + +After some time we saw the cuckoo stealing in by a roundabout back way +through the low growth in the edge of the wood. He was coming with +supplies, for a worm dangled from his beak. He had nearly reached the +nest--in fact was not two feet away--when his eyes fell upon us. He +stopped as if paralyzed. We remained motionless, almost breathless, but +he did not take his eyes off us, nor attempt to relieve himself of that +worm. Still we did not move; arms began to ache, feet tingled with +"going to sleep," every joint stiffened, and I began to be afraid I +should find myself turned to stone. Still that bird never moved an +eyelid, so far as we could see. + +It was fully twenty-five minutes that we three stared at each other, all +struck dumb. But Nature asserted herself in us before it did in him. The +sun was hot, and the mosquitoes far from dumb. We yielded as gracefully +as we could under the circumstances, and left him there as motionless as +a "mounted specimen" in a glass case. + +The next morning we started out rather earlier than usual, half +expecting to find Master Cuckoo grown to that perch. It appeared, +however, that he had torn himself away, for he was not to be seen. The +little mother, who was on the nest, had readily learned that we intended +no harm, but her peppery little spouse learned nothing; he was just as +unreconciled to us the last day as the first. + +This time he tried to keep out of sight. First we heard his call far +off, then a low "cuck-a-ruck" quite near, to which she replied with a +gentle "coo-oo" hardly above her breath. + +It was soothing, but it did not altogether soothe. He came up from +behind us with another dangling worm in his mouth, slipped silently +through the bushes to the nest, and in a moment departed by the back way +without a word. Then we went nearer, looked once more upon the shy but +brave little mother, and went our way. + +We did not suspect it, but that was our last sight of the cuckoo family +at home; the next day the place was empty and deserted. + +I was smitten with remorse. Were we the cause of the calamity? Had the +poor birds carried off the babies? Or had, perchance, another nest +tragedy occurred? We looked carefully; there were no signs of a +struggle. They had apparently flown in peace. Yet six days before one +was still in the egg and the other newly hatched. Only two days ago the +pair looked like tiny black cushions covered with white pins, and not a +quarter the size of the parents. Moreover, they had been sat upon every +day. + +In this painful uncertainty we were obliged to leave the matter; but +although we saw no more of them, they did not pass out of our minds. +Every day we looked in the woods and listened for cuckoo voices, but +every day we were disappointed, until about eleven days later. + +We were walking slowly down what we called the veery road in the woods, +far over the other side from the cuckoo's nest, when we heard a very +low but strange baby cry in some thick bushes. It was a constant +repetition of one note, a gentle "tut, tut, tut." + +We were naturally eager to see the youngster, and we carefully +approached the spot. As we came near, a cuckoo flew up, scrambled +through a tree, and disappeared. Could it be a cuckoo baby we had heard? +In an instant the fugitive seemed to think better of her intention to +fly. Perhaps she was conscience-smitten for deserting the little one, +for she returned in plain sight, though at some distance. She began at +once calling and posturing, clearly for our benefit. We, of course, +understood her tactics. She wished to draw us away from the neighborhood +of her infant, and as it was impossible to penetrate the thicket, and we +did not enjoy torturing an anxious mother, we decided to yield to her +wishes, and see what she would do. + +She cried every moment, "tut, tut, tut," in a low tone, and ten or +twelve times repeated. At the same time she lifted her long tail, and +slowly let it fall, with a beautiful and graceful motion. She crouched +on the branch, and put her head down to it, then suddenly rose and threw +up her head and tail, making herself as conspicuous and as remarkable as +she could. We moved a little toward her. That encouraged her to go on; +and easily, in a sort of careless, inconsequent way, she hopped to the +next branch farther. So we let ourselves be drawn away, she keeping up +all the time the low call, while the infant, which we are sure was +there, had become utterly silent. + +She was a beautiful creature, a picture of grace; and when she had +beguiled us some distance away from where we heard the baby-cry, she +suddenly slipped behind a branch and was gone; and we felt repaid for +missing the young one by the beautiful exhibition she had made of +herself. We never saw her again. + + + + +XXI. + +TWO LITTLE DRUMMERS. + + +Last summer I made the acquaintance of an outlaw; an unfortunate +fellow-creature under the ban of condemnation, burdened with an +opprobrious name, and by general consent given over to the tender +mercies of any vagabond who chooses to torture him or take his life. One +would naturally sympathize with the "under dog," but when, instead of +one of his peers as opponent, a poor little fellow, eight inches long, +has arrayed against him the whole human race, with all its devices for +catching and killing, his chances for life and the pursuit of happiness +are so small that any lover of justice must be roused to his defense, if +defense be possible. + +The individual of whom I speak is, properly, the yellow-bellied +woodpecker, though he is more commonly known as the sapsucker, in some +places the squealing sapsucker; and I hailed with joy his presence in a +certain protected bit of woods, a little paradise for birds and bird +lovers, where, if anywhere, he could be studied. There is some propriety +in applying to him the strange epithet "squealing," I must allow, for +the bird has a peculiar voice, nasal enough for the conventional Brother +Jonathan; but "sapsucker" is, in the opinion of many who have studied +his ways, undeserved. Dr. Merriam, even while admitting that the birds +do taste the sap, says positively, "It is my firm belief that their +chief object in making these holes is to secure the insects which gather +about them." + +My introduction to the subject of my study took place just after sundown +on a beautiful June evening. We were riding up from the railway station, +three miles away. The horses had climbed to the top of the last hill, +and trotted gayly through a belt of fragrant woods which reached like an +arm around from the forest behind, as if lovingly inclosing the +attractive scene,--a pleasant, old-fashioned homestead, with ample lawn +sloping down toward the valley we had left, and looking away over low +hills to the apparently unbroken forests of the Adirondacks. + +At this moment there arose a loud, strange cry, of distress it seemed, +and I turned hastily to see a black and white bird, with bright red +crown and throat, bounding straight up the trunk of an elm-tree, +throwing back his head at every jerk with a comical suggestion of +Jack's "Hitchety! hatchety! up I go!" as he joyously mounted his +beanstalk, in the old nursery story. There was surely nothing amiss with +this little fellow, and, knowing almost nothing of the + + "Greys, whites, and reds, + Of pranked woodpeckers that ne'er gossip out, + But always tap at doors and gad about," + +I eagerly demanded his name, and was delighted to hear in answer, "The +sapsucker." I was delighted because I hoped to see for myself whether +the bird merited the offensive name bestowed upon him, or was the victim +of hasty generalization from careless observation or insufficient data, +like others of his race. The close investigations of scientific men have +reversed many popular decisions. They have proved the crow to be the +farmer's friend, most of the hawks and owls to be laborers in his +interest, the kingbird to fare almost entirely upon destructive insects +rather than bees, and other birds to be more sinned against than +sinning. + +The first thing noted was the sapsucker's peculiar food-seeking habit. +One bird made the lawn a daily haunt, and we, living chiefly on the +veranda, saw him before us at all hours, from dawn to dusk, and thus had +the best possible chance to catch him in mischief, if to mischief he +inclined. He generally made his appearance flying in bounding, wave-like +fashion, uttering his loud mournful cry, which, though an apparent +wail, was evidently not inspired by sadness. Alighting near the foot of +a tree-trunk, with many repetitions of his complaining note, he gayly +bobbed his way up the bark highway as if it were a ladder. When he +reached the branches, he flew to another tree. This bird's custom of +delivering his striking call as he approached and mounted a tree not far +from his "food tree" may be a newly acquired habit; for Dr. Merriam, who +observed this species ten years ago on the same place, says that he +"never heard a note of any description from them, either while in the +neighborhood of these trees, or in flying to and fro between them and +the forests." On his own trees the sapsucker was not in such haste, but +lingered about the prepared rings, evidently taking his pick of the +insects attracted there. + +The array of traps prepared for the woodpecker's use was most curious, +and readily explained how he came by his name. The clever little workman +had selected for his purpose two trees. One was a large elm, and around +its trunk, about fifteen feet from the ground, he had laboriously cut +with his sharp beak several rings of cups. These receptacles were +somewhat less than half an inch in diameter, and nearly their own width +apart, and the rings encircled the trunk as regularly as though laid +out with mechanical instruments. His second depot of supplies was one of +a close group of mountain ashes, which seemed to spring from one root, +and were thickly shaded by leaves to the ground. The elm would naturally +attract the high-flying insects, and the ash those which stay nearer the +earth, though I do not presume to say that was the bird's intention in +so arranging them. The mountain-ash trunk was perforated in a different +way from the elm, the holes being in lines up and down, and the whole +trunk covered five or six feet above the root. These places were not at +all moist or sticky on the several occasions when I examined them, and +both trees were in a flourishing condition. + +The habit of the author of this elaborate arrangement was to fly from +one tree to the other almost constantly. It appeared to lookers-on that +he visited the traps on one and secured whatever was caught or lingered +there, then went to the other for the same purpose; thus allowing +insects a chance to settle on each while he was absent. At almost any +hour of the day he could be found vigorously carrying on his insect hunt +in this singular fashion. + +It was too late in the season to see the sapsucker in his most +frolicsome humor, although occasionally we met in the woods two of them +in a lively mood, eagerly discussing in garrulous tones their own +private affairs, or chasing each other with droll, taunting cries, some +of which resembled the boy's yell, "oy-ee," but others defied +description. During courtship, observes Dr. Merriam, they are +inexpressibly comical, with queer rollicking ways and eccentric pranks, +making the woods ring with their extraordinary voices. At this time, +early in June, the season of woodpecker wooing was past. Each little +couple had built a castle in the air, and set up a household of its own, +somewhere in the woods surrounding the house. + +The two storehouses on the lawn seemed to belong to one family, whose +labor alone had prepared them; certainly they were the property of the +sapsuckers. But the bird world, like the human, has its spoilers. A +frequent visitor to the elm, on poaching bent, was a humming-bird, who +treated the beguiling cups like so many flowers, hovering lightly before +them, and testing one after another in regular order. The owner +naturally objected, and if present flew at the dainty robber; but the +elusive birdling simply moved to another place, not in the least awed by +his comparatively clumsy assailant. Large flies, perhaps bees also, +buzzed around the tempting bait, and doubtless many paid with their +lives for their folly. + +The most unexpected plunderer of the sapsucker stores was a gray +squirrel, who lay spread out flat against the trunk as though glued +there, body, arms, legs, and even tail, with head down and closely +pressed against the bark. I cannot positively affirm that he was sucking +the sap or feeding upon the insects attracted to it, but it is a fact +that his mouth rested exactly over one of the rings of holes; and his +position seemed very satisfactory, for some reason, for he hung there +motionless so long that I began to fear he was dead. All these petty +pilferers may possibly have regarded the treasure as nature's own +provision, like the flowers, but one visitor to his neighbor's magazine +certainly knew better. This was the brilliant cousin of the sapsucker, +the red-headed woodpecker, whose vagaries I shall speak of a little +later. + +Nothing about the tri-colored family is more interesting than its habit +of drumming,-- + + "The ceaseless rap + Of the yellow-hammer's tap, + Tip-tap, tip-tap, tip-tap-tip. + 'Tis the merry pitter-patter + Of the yellow-hammer's tap." + +Whether or not it is mere play is perhaps yet an open question. The +drumming of the sapsucker, one of the most common sounds of the woods +and lawn, seemed sometimes simply for amusement, but again it appeared +exceedingly like a signal. A bird frequently settled himself in plain +sight of us, on one of the trespass notices in the woods, and spent +several minutes in that occupation, changing his place now and then, and +thus producing different sounds, whether with that intention or not. Now +he would tap on top of the board, again down one side, and then on a +corner, but always on the edge. Nor was it a regular and monotonous +rapping; it was curiously varied. One performance that I carefully noted +down at the moment reminded me of the click of a telegraph instrument. +It was "rat-tat-tat-t-t-t-t-rat-tat,"--the first three notes rather +quick and sharp, the next four very rapid, and the last two quite slow. +After tapping, the bird always seemed to listen. Often while I was +watching one at his hammering, a signal of the same sort would come from +a distance. Sometimes my bird replied; sometimes he instantly flew in +the direction from which it came. Around the house the woodpeckers +selected particular spots to use as drums, generally a bit of tin on a +roof, or an eave-gutter of the same metal. A favorite place was the +hindquarters of a gorgeous gilded deer that swung with the wind on the +roof of the barn. + +So closely were they watched that the sapsuckers themselves were like +old acquaintances before the babes in the woods began to make +themselves heard. No sooner had these little folk found their voices +than they made the woods fairly echo. Cry-babies in feathers I thought I +knew before, but the young woodpecker outdoes anything in my experience. +No wonder the woodpecker mamma sets up her nursery out of the reach of +prowlers of all sorts; so loud and so persistent are the demands of her +nestlings that they would not be safe an hour, if they could be got at. +The tone, too, must always arrest attention, for it is of the nasal +quality I have mentioned. The first baby whisper, hardly heard at the +foot of the tree, has a squeaky twang, which strengthens with the +infant's strength, and the grown-up murmurs of love and screams of war +are of the same order. + +It was during the nest-feeding days that we discovered most of the +sapsucker homesteads; for, having many nests nearer our own level to +study, we never sought them, and noticed them only when the baby voices +attracted our attention. The home that apparently belonged to our bird +of the lawn was beautifully placed in a beech-tree heavy with foliage. +At first we thought the owner an eccentric personage, who had violated +all sapsucker traditions by building in a living tree; but, on looking +closely, it was evident that the top of the tree had been blown off, +and from that break the trunk was dead two or three feet down. In that +part was the opening, and the foliage that nearly hid it grew on the +large branches below. Most of the nests, however, were in the customary +dead trunks, on which we could gently rap, and bring out whoever was at +home to answer our call. + +Young woodpeckers are somewhat precocious; or, to speak more correctly, +they stay in the nest till almost mature. We see in this family no +half-fledged youngster wandering aimlessly about, unable to fly or to +help itself, a sight very common among the feathered folk whose homes +are nearer the ground. One morning, a young bird, not yet familiar with +the mysteries of the world about him, flew into the open window of a +room in the house, and for an hour we had a fine opportunity to study +him near at hand. The moment he entered he went to the cornice, and +although he flew around freely, he did not descend so low as the top of +the window, wide open for his benefit. He was not in the least afraid or +embarrassed by his staring audience, nor did he beat himself against the +wall and the furniture, as would many birds in his position; in fact, he +showed unusual self-possession and self-reliance. He was exceedingly +curious about his surroundings: tapped the wall, tested the top of +picture frames, drummed on the curtain cornice, and closely examined +the ceiling. He was beautifully dressed in soft gray all mottled and +spotted and barred with white, but he had not as yet put on the red cap +of his fathers. While we watched him, he heard outside a sapsucker cry, +to which he listened eagerly; then he drummed quite vigorously on the +cornice, as if in reply. It was not till he must have been very hungry +that he blundered out of the window, as he had doubtless blundered in. + +The beauty of the drumming family, at least in that part of the country, +is the red-headed woodpecker, which it happened I did not know. The +first time I saw one, he was out for an airing with his mate, one lovely +evening in June. The pair were scrambling about, as if in play, on the +trunk of a tall maple-tree across the lane. They did not welcome our +visit, nor our perhaps rather rude way of gazing at them; for one flew +away, and the other perched on the topmost dead branch of a tree a +little farther off, and proceeded to express his mind by a scolding +"kr-r-r," accompanied by violent bows toward us. Finding his +demonstration unavailing, he soon followed his mate, and weeks passed +before we saw him again, although we often walked down the lane with the +hope of doing so. + +One beautiful morning, after the hay had been cut from the meadow, and +all the hidden nests we had looked at and longed for while grass was +growing, were opened to us, I had taken my comfortable folding-chair to +a specially delightful nook between a clump of evergreens, which +screened it from the house, and a row of maples, elms, and other trees, +much frequented by birds. Close before me was a beautiful hawthorn-tree, +in which a pair of kingbirds had long ago built their nest. On one side +I could look over to an impenetrable, somewhat swampy thicket, where +song sparrows and indigo birds nested; on the other, past the +picturesque old-fashioned arbor, half buried under vines and untrimmed +trees, far down the pretty carriage-drive between young elms and +flowering shrubs, where the bobolink had raised her brood, and the +meadow lark had chanted his vesper hymn for us all through June. Many +winged strangers came to feast on the treasures uncovered by the +hay-cutter, and then the shy red-head showed himself on our grounds. To +my surprise, he was searching the freshly cut stubble not at all like a +woodpecker, but hobbling about most awkwardly, half flying, half +hopping, seeking some delectable morsel, which, when found, he carried +to the side of a tree-trunk, thrust into a crack, and ate at his +leisure. The object I saw him treat in this way was as large as a bee, +and he was some time in disposing of it, even after it was anchored in +the crack. Then, observing that, although a long way off, I was +interested in his doings, he slipped around behind the trunk, and peered +at me first from one side, then in an instant from the other. + +The next performance with which this bird entertained me was poaching +upon his cousin's preserves. Sitting one evening on the veranda, looking +over the meadow, I heard his low "kr-r-r," and saw him alight upon the +sapsucker's elm. Whether he stumbled upon the feast or went with malice +aforethought, he was not slow to appreciate the charms of his position. +It may have been the nectar from the tree, or the minute victims of its +attractions, I could not tell which, but something pleased him, for he +devoted himself to the task of exploring the tiny cups his industrious +relative had carved, driving away one of the younger members of the +family already in possession. The young bird could not refuse to go +before the big beak and determined manner of the stranger, but he did +refuse to stay away; and every time he was ousted he returned to the +tree, though he settled on a different place. Before the red-head had +shown any signs of exhausting his find, the sapsucker himself appeared, +and at once fell upon his bigger cousin with savage cries. Disturbed so +rudely from his pleasing occupation, the intruder retired before the +attack, though he protested vigorously; and so great was the fascination +of the spot, that he returned again and again, every time to go through +the same process of being driven away. + +The raspberry hedge before my windows was the decoy that gave me my best +chance to study the red-headed woodpecker. Day after day, as the berries +ripened, I watched the dwellers of wood and meadow drawn to the rich +feast, and at last, one morning, to my great joy, I saw the interesting +drummer alight on a post overlooking the loaded vines. He plainly felt +himself a stranger, and not certain of his reception by the residents of +the neighborhood, for he crouched close to the fence, and looked warily +about on every side. He had been there but a few moments when a robin, +self-constituted dictator of that particular corner of the premises, +came down a few feet from him, as if to inquire his business. The +woodpecker acknowledged the courtesy by drawing himself up very straight +and bowing. The bow impressed, not to say awed, the native bird. He +stood staring blankly, till the new-comer proclaimed his errand by +dropping into the bushes, helping himself to a berry, and returning to +the fence to dispose of his plunder. This was too much; the outraged +redbreast dashed suddenly over the head of the impertinent visitor, +almost touching it as he passed. The woodpecker kept his ground in spite +of this demonstration, and I learned how a bird accustomed to rest, and +even to work, hanging to the trunk of a tree, would manage to pluck and +eat fruit from a bush. He first sidled along the top of the board fence, +looking down, till he had selected his berry. Then he half dropped, half +flew, into the bushes, and sometimes seized the ripe morsel instantly, +without alighting, but generally hung, back down, on a stalk which bent +and swayed with his weight, while he deliberately gathered the fruit. He +then returned to the fence, laid his prize down, and pecked it apart, +making three or four bites of it. After some practice he learned to +swallow a berry whole, though it often required three or four attempts, +and seemed almost more than he could manage. When he had accomplished +this feat, he sat with his head drawn down into his shoulders, as though +he found himself uncomfortably stuffed. Having eaten two or three +raspberries, our distinguished visitor always picked another, with which +he flew away,--doubtless for the babies growing up in some dead tree +across the lane. + +The little difficulty with the robin was easily settled by the stranger. +Somewhat later in that first day, he took his revenge for the insulting +dash over him by turning the tables and sweeping over the lofty head of +the astonished robin, who ducked ingloriously, in his surprise, and +called out, "Tut! tut!" as who should say, "Can such things be?" After +that Master Robin undertook a closer surveillance of that highway the +fence, and might be seen at all hours perched on the tall gatepost, +looking out for callers in brilliant array, or running along its whole +length to see that no wily woodpecker was hiding in the bushes. He could +not be on guard every moment, for his nursery up under the eaves of the +barn was full of clamorous babies, and he was obliged to give some +attention to them; but the red-head was not afraid of him, and, finding +the fruit to his taste, he soon became a daily guest. + +Sometimes the spouse of the gay little fellow came also. She was always +greeted by a low-whispered "kr-r-r," and the husky-toned conversation +between the two was kept up so long as both were there. Now, too, as the +male began to feel at home, I saw more of his odd ways. His attitudes +were especially comical. Sometimes he clung to the edge of the top +board, his tail pressed against it, his wings drooped and spread a +little, exposing his whole back, and thus remained for perhaps ten +minutes. Again he flattened himself out on top of a post for a sun +bath. He sprawled and spread himself, every feather standing independent +of its neighbor, till he looked as if he had been smashed flat, and more +like some of the feather monstrosities with which milliners disfigure +their hats than a living bird. + +Another curious habit of my versatile guest was his fly-catching. It is +already notorious that the golden-wing is giving up the profession of +woodpecker and becoming a ground bird; it is equally patent to one who +observes him that the red-head is learning the trade of fly-catching. +Frequently, during the weeks that I had him under observation, I saw him +fly up in the air and return to the fence, exactly like the kingbird. + +All the time I had been making this pleasing acquaintance I had longed +in vain to find the red-head's nest. It was probably in the pasture in +which we had first met him, where the somewhat spirited cattle in +possession prevented my explorations. I hoped at least to see his young +family; but July days passed away, and though the bonny couple spent +much time among the raspberries, they always carried off the nestlings' +share. + +In the very last hours of my stay, after trunks were packed, fate +relented, and I spent nearly the whole day studying the "tricks and +manners" of a red-headed baby. I had returned from my last morning's +walk in the woods, and was seated by my window, thinking half sadly that +my summer was ended, when I saw the woodpecker come to the raspberries, +gather one, and fly away with it. Instead, however, of heading, as +usual, for the woods across the pasture, he alighted on a fence near by. +A small dark head rose above the edge of a board, opened a bill, and +received the berry in it. Instantly I turned my glass upon that +meek-looking head. So soon as the old bird disappeared the young one +came up in sight, and in a few moments flew over to the nearer fence, +beside the bushes. Then one of the parents returned, fed him two or +three times, apparently to show him that berries grew on bushes, and not +in the beak, and then departed with an air that said, "There, my son, +are the berries; help yourself!" + +Left now to his own devices, the little woodpecker was my study for +hours. He was like his parents, except that he was gray where they were +red, and the white on the wings was barred off with a dark color which +on theirs did not appear. Like young creatures the world over, he at +once began to amuse himself, working at a hole in the top of a post, +digging into it vehemently, and at last, after violent effort, bringing +out a stick nearly as long as himself. This he brandished about as a +child flourishes a whip, and presently laid it down, worried it, flung +it about, and had a rare frolic with it. Tiring of that, he closely +examined the fence, going over it inch by inch, and pecking every mark +and stain on it. When startled by a bird flying over or alighting near +him, he sprang back instantly, slipped over behind the fence or post, +and hung on by his claws, leaving only his head in sight. He was a true +woodpecker in his manners; bowing to strangers who appeared, driving +away one of his sapsucker cousins who came about, and keeping up a low +cry of "kr-r-r" almost exactly like his parents. He showed also great +interest in a party of goldfinches, who seemed to have gone mad that +morning. + +Finally the thought of berries struck the young red-head. He began to +consider going for them. One could fairly see the idea grow in his mind. +He leaned over and peered into the bushes; he hitched along the fence, a +little nearer, bent over again, then came down on the side of the board, +and hung there, with body inclined toward the fruit. After many such +feints, he actually did drop to the second board, and a little later +secured a berry, which he took to the top of the post to eat. In spite +of the fact that he was amply able to help himself, as he proved, he +still demanded food when his parents came near, bowing and calling +eagerly, but not fluttering his wings, as do most young birds. + +Nearly all day the little fellow entertained himself; working +industriously on the fence, hammering the posts as if to keep in +practice, as children play at their parents' life work, and varying +these occupations with occasional excursions into the bushes for +berries. The notion of flying away from where he had been left never +appeared to enter his head. He seemed to be an unusually well-balanced +young person, and intelligent beyond his years,--days, I should say. + + + + +XXII. + +FROM MY WINDOW. + + +The best place I have found for spying upon the habits of birds is +behind a blind. If one can command a window with outside blinds, looking +upon a spot attractive to the feathered world, he will be sure, sooner +or later, to see every bird of the vicinity. If he will keep the blinds +closed and look only through the opened slats, he will witness more of +their unconstrained free ways than can possibly be seen by a person +within their sight, though he assume the attitude and the stolidity of a +wooden figure. Says our nature-poet, Emerson:-- + + "You often thread the woods in vain + To see what singer piped the strain. + Seek not, and the little eremite + Flies forth and gayly sings in sight." + +And the bird student can testify to the truth of the verse. + +Many times, after having spent the morning in wandering about in the +bird haunts of a neighborhood, I have returned to my room to write up my +note-book, and have seen more of birds and bird life in an hour from my +window than during the whole morning's stroll. + +One of my windows, last summer, looked out upon an ideal bird corner: a +bit of grass, uncut till very late, with a group of trees and shrubs at +the lower boundary, and an old board fence, half buried in luxuriant +wild raspberry bushes, running along one side. It was a neglected spot, +the side yard of a farmhouse; and I was careful not to enter it myself +so often as to suggest to the birds that they were likely to see people. +It had the further advantage of being so near the woods surrounding the +house, that the shy forest birds were attracted to it. + +No sooner would I seat myself, pen in hand, than chirps and twitters +would come from the trees, a bird alight on the fence, or a red squirrel +come out to sun himself. Of course the pen gave way to the opera-glass +in a moment, and often not a line of the note-book got itself written +till birds and squirrels had gone to bed with the sun. + +The group of trees which bounded my view at the end of this outdoor +study I called the "locust group." It consisted of a locust or two, +surrounded by a small but close growth of lesser trees and shrubs that +made a heavy mass of foliage. There were a few young ashes, two or three +half-grown maples, a shadberry bush, and wild raspberry vines to carry +the varied foliage to the ground. Inside this beautiful tangle of +Nature's own arranging, was a perfect tent, so thickly grown near the +ground that a person could hardly penetrate it without an axe, but open +and roomy above, with branches and twigs enough to accommodate an army +of birds. Behind that waving green curtain of leaves took place many +dramas I longed to see; but I knew that my appearance there would be a +signal for the whole scene to vanish, and with flit of wings the +_dramatis personć_ to make their exit. So I tried to possess my soul in +patience, and to content myself with the flashes and glimpses I could +catch through an opening here and there in the leafy drapery. + +At one corner of the group stood a small dead tree. This was the +phoebe's customary perch, and on those bare branches--first or +last--every visitor was sure to appear. On the lower branch the robin +paused, with worm in mouth, on the way to his two-story nest under the +eaves of the barn. On the top spire the warbler baby sat and stared at +the world about it, till its anxious parent could coax it to a more +secluded perch. From a side branch the veery poured his wonderful song, +and the cheery little song sparrow uttered his message of good will for +all to hear and heed. Here the red-headed woodpecker waited, with low +"k-r-r-r-r" and many bows to the universe in general, to see if the way +were clear for him to go to the fence. Nothing is so good to bring birds +into sight as an old fence or a dead tree. On the single leafless branch +at the top of an old apple-tree the student will generally see, at one +time or another, every bird in an orchard. + +This dead tree of the locust group was the regular perch of "the +loneliest of its kind," the phoebe, whose big chuckle-head and high +shoulders gave him the look of an old man, bent with age. His outline +one could never mistake, even though he were but a silhouette against +the sky. One of these birds could nearly always be seen on the lowest +branch pursuing his business of fly-catcher, and I learned more of the +singularly reserved creature than I ever knew before. I found, contrary +to my expectation, that he had a great deal to say for himself, aside +from the professional performance at the peak of the barn roof which +gives him his name. + + "Phoebe is all it has to say + In plaintive cadence o'er and o'er," + +sings the poet, but he had not so close acquaintance with him as I +enjoyed behind my blind. There were two mud cottages in the +neighborhood, and two pairs of birds to occupy them, and no phoebe of +spirit will tolerate in silence another of his kind near him. Sparrows +of all sorts might come about; juncos and chickadees, thrushes and +warblers, might alight on his chosen tree,--rarely a word would he say; +but let a phoebe appear, and there began at once a war of words. It +might be mere friendly talk, but it sounded very much like vituperation +and "calling names," and I noticed that it ended in a chase and the +disappearance of one of them. + +Again, whenever a phoebe alighted on the fence he made a low but +distinct remark that sounded marvelously like "cheese-it," and several +times the mysterious bird treated me to a very singular performance. He +hovered like a humming-bird close before a nest, looking into it and +uttering a loud strange cry, like the last note of "phoebe" repeated +rapidly, as "be-be-be." Was it derision, complaint, or a mere neighborly +call? This was not for the benefit of his own family, for he did it +before the robin's nest. I thought at first he meant mischief to the +young robins, but although he approached very near he did not actually +touch them. + +The loudest note this bird uttered was, of course, his well-known +"phoebe," which he delivered from the peak of the barn (never from the +dead tree) with an emphasis that proclaimed to all whom it might +concern that he had something on his mind. It was plain that he was a +person of cares; indeed, his whole bearing was that of one with no +nonsense about him, with serious duties to perform. I wonder if these +birds are ever playful! Even the babies are dignified and +self-contained. Phoebes in a frolic would be a rare sight. Of the two +nests whose owners I had to study, one was on a low beam in the +cow-barn, where a person might look in; the other under the eaves of a +farm-building close by. + +The special policeman of the group and its environs was a robin, who +lived in a two-story nest under the eaves of the hay-barn. This bird, +after the manner of his family, constituted himself regulator and +dictator. He lived in peace with the ordinary residents, but took it +upon himself to see that no stranger showed his head near the spot. He +chased the crow blackbird who happened to fly over on business of his +own, and by calls for help brought the whole robin population about the +ears of the intruder. He also headed the mob of redbreasts that +descended one morning upon a meek-looking half-grown kitten, who chanced +to cast its innocent eyes upon a robin baby under the trees on another +side of the house. The youngster could fly with ease, but he preferred +to stay on the ground, for he quickly returned there when I put him on +a low branch; and when a robin makes up his mind, arguments are useless. +The same robin bullied the red-headed woodpecker, and flew at the +kingbird when he brought his young family up to taste the raspberries. + +One visitor there was, however, to the fence and the locusts whom Master +Robin did not molest. When a prolonged, incisive "pu-eep" in the martial +and inspiring tone of the great-crested fly-catcher broke the silence, I +observed that the robin always had plenty of his own business to attend +to. I admire this beautiful bird, perhaps because he is the inveterate +enemy of the house sparrow, and almost the only one who actually keeps +that little bully in his proper place. There is to me something pleasing +in the bearing of the great-crest, who, though of few inches, carries +himself in a manner worthy of an eagle. Even the play of a pair of them +on the tops of the tallest dead trees in the woods, though merry enough +with loud joyful cries, has a certain dignity and circumspection about +it uncommon in so small a bird. + +A pair of great-crests were frequent visitors to the fence, where they +were usually very quiet. But one day as the male flew over from the +woods, his call was answered by a loud-voiced canary, whose cage hung +all summer outside the kitchen door. The stranger alighted on a tree, +apparently astonished to be challenged, but he replied at once. The +canary, who was out of sight on the other side of the cottage, answered, +and the droll conversation was kept up for some time; the woods bird +turning his head this way and that, eager to see his social neighbor, +but unable, of course, to do so. + +A little later in the season, when baby birds began to fly about, the +locust group became even more attractive. Its nearness to the woods, as +already mentioned, made it convenient for forest birds, and its +seclusion and supply of food were charms they could not resist. First of +the fledglings to appear were a family of crow blackbirds, four of them +with their parents. These are the least interesting feathered young +people I know, but the parents are among the most devoted. They keep +their little flock together, and work hard to fill their mouths. The low +cry is husky, but insistent, and they flutter their wings with great +energy, holding them out level with the back. + +After berries began to ripen, the woodpeckers came to call on us. In my +walk in the woods in the morning, I frequently brought home a branch of +elder with two or three clusters of berries, which I hung in the small +dead tree. In that way I drew some of the woods birds about. The downy +woodpecker was one of my first callers. He came with a sharp +"chit-it-it," hung upon the clusters, occasionally head down, and picked +and ate as long as he liked. The vigilant robin would sometimes fly at +him, and he would leave; but in a moment back he came, and went on with +his repast. When the care of an infant fell to him, he brought his +charge to the source of supplies. A farm wagon happened to stand near +the dead tree, and on this the young woodpecker alighted, and stood +humped up and quiet while his parent went to the berries, picked several +for himself, and then proceeded to feed him. This young person was very +circumspect in his behavior. He did not flutter nor cry, in the usual +bird-baby manner, but received his food with perfect composure. Berries, +however, seemed to be new to him, and he did not appear to relish them, +for after tasting two or three he flew away. In spite of this he came +again the next day, and then he flew over to a cluster himself, and +hung, back down, while he ate. He was charming with his sweet low +chatter, and very lovely in plumage, white as snow, with dark markings +clear and soft. + +One of the prettiest of our guests was a young chestnut-sided warbler. +He looked much bigger than his papa, as warbler babies often do; but +that is probably because the young bird is not accustomed to his suit of +feathers, and does not know how to manage them. Some of them appear like +a child in his grandfather's coat. The chestnut-sided warbler was +himself an attractive little fellow, with a generous desire to help in +the world's work pleasant to see in bird or man. After becoming greatly +interested in one we had seen in the woods, who insisted on helping a +widowed redstart feed her youngster, and had almost to fight the little +dame to do so, we found another chestnut-sided warbler engaged in +helping his fellows. Whether it were the same bird we could not tell; we +certainly discovered him in the same corner of the woods. This little +fellow was absorbed in the care of an infant more than twice as big as +himself. "A cowbird baby!" will exclaim every one who knows the habit, +shameful from our point of view, of the cowbird, to impose her infants +on her neighbors to hatch and bring up. But this baby, unfortunately for +the "wisdom of the wise," did not resemble the cowbird family. + +We saw the strange pair several times in the woods, and then one day, as +I sat at my window trying to write, I heard a new cry, and saw a strange +bird fly to the fence. He was very restless, ran along the top board, +then flew to another fence, scrambled along a few feet, raising and +lowering his tail, and all the time uttering a husky two-note baby-cry. +While I was struggling to keep him in the field of my glass long enough +to note his points, he went to the dead tree, when the philosophical +phoebe sitting there took his case in hand, and made a dash for him. +The stranger flew straight over the house, with his assailant in close +chase. But in a moment I heard the baby-cry in a maple beside the +cottage, while the phoebe calmly returned to his post and gave his +mind again to his fly-catching. The young bird was not in range from the +window, but when, a few seconds later, I heard the feeding-cry, I could +no longer resist the desire to see him. + +I forgot my caution, and rushed out of the house, for I suspected that +this uneasy visitor was the chestnut-sided's adopted charge. So I found +it. There stood the infant, big and clumsy by comparison, calling, +calling, forever calling; and stretching up on tiptoe, as it were, to +reach him was the poor little warbler, trying to stop his mouth by +stuffing him. The foster-parent lingered as if he were weary, and his +plumage looked as if he had not dressed it for a week. But the insatiate +beggar gave him no peace; with the swallowing of the last morsel began +his cry for more. Again, standing within ten feet of him, I noticed the +young bird's points, and again I was convinced that he was not a +cowbird baby. + +The curious antics of a solemn kingbird, who did not suspect his hidden +observer, were droll to look upon. He seemed to be alone on the fence, +though some silent spectator may have been hidden behind the leaves. He +mounted suddenly straight up in the air, with cries, twenty feet or +more, then soared down with a beautiful display of his plumage. This he +did many times in succession, with an indescribably conscious air, and +at last he dropped behind some tall grass in the pasture. It looked +exceedingly like "showing off," and who could imagine a kingbird in that +rôle! + +But all flourishes were over when, somewhat later, he brought his lovely +little family of three to the fence to be treated to berries. It was +interesting to see a fly-catcher take his fruit "on the wing," as it +were; that is, fly at it, seize it, and jerk it off without alighting. +The phoebe picked berries in the same way, when he occasionally +condescended to investigate the attraction that brought so many +strangers into his quiet corner. + +The young kingbirds were sweet and chatty among themselves, and they +decidedly approved the berries; but they never lost sight of each other, +and kept close together, the little company of three, as I have seen +other kingbirds do. One day they came in the rain, feathers all in +locks, showing the dark color next the skin, and looking like beggars in +"rags and tags," but they were as cheerful and as clannish as ever. + +To the locust group, too, came the red-headed woodpeckers; at first the +parents, who talked to each other in whispered "kr-r-r-r's," and carried +off many a sweet morsel to their family in the woods; later, one +youngster, who took possession of the fence with the calm assurance of +his race, and when I left the place had apparently established himself +there for the season. + +Many others alighted on the fence; the junco, with his pretty brown +bantling and his charming little trilling song; the crow baby, with its +funny ways and queer cry of "ma-a-a;" the redstart, who + + "Folds and unfolds his twinkling tail in sport;" + +the flicker mamma, with her "merry pitter-patter" and her baby as big as +herself. Even the sapsucker from the lawn had somehow heard the news +that a feast was spread near the locusts, and came over to see. + +Birds were not the only frequenters of the fence and the berry bushes. +There were squirrels, gray and red, and chipmunks, who sat up pertly on +a post, with two little paws laid upon their heart in theatrical +attitude, as who should say, "Be still, my heart," while they looked +the country over to see if any lurking member of the human family were +about. The red squirrels were the most amusing, for they were very +frolicsome, indulging in mad chases over and under the fence, through +the trees, around the trunks, so rapidly that they resembled a red +streak more than little beasts. + +One squirrel adopted the fence as his regular highway, and the high post +of the farm gate as his watch-tower. He often sunned himself, lying on +his face, with his legs and his tail spread out as flat as if he had +been smashed. His presence scared the birds from the neighborhood, and I +undertook to discourage him. I went out one day when I saw him near the +fence. The squirrel made up his mind to pass over the gate and get into +the locust, but I posted myself quite near, and he did not like to pass +me. Giving up his plan is no part of a squirrel's intention, however, +and every moment he would scramble up a few feet one side of me, with +the design of running past me. As soon as his sharp black eyes showed +above the top board I cried "Shoo!" He understood my motion, and +doubtless would if I had said "Scat!" or "Get out!" (What should one say +to a squirrel?) + +He dashed behind his barricade and disappeared. But he did not "stay +put;" in two seconds he tried it again, and again his discouraging +reception drove him back. He grew wary, however, and pretty soon I began +to notice that every time he made his dash to the top he was a few +inches nearer the gate, which stretched like a bridge from the fence to +the locust-tree, and of course so much nearer me. At last, advancing +thus inch by inch, he came up close to the gate, so near I could have +put my hand on him,--that is, I could have put my hand on the place he +occupied, for he did not stay to be caressed; he flew across the gate, +sprang three or four feet into the tree, and was out of sight before I +could lift a finger. This passage having been successfully made, he felt +that he was safe, and could afford to be saucy. He began the usual +scold. Then I tossed a little stick up toward him, as a reminder that +human power is not limited by the length of an arm, and he subsided. + +Once when he came up to the fence top, before his grand dash, I laughed +at him. Strange to say, this made him furious. He reviled me vehemently. +No doubt, if I had understood his language, I should have been covered +with confusion, for I confess that he could make a very good point +against me. What business had I, an interloper in his dominion, to +interfere with his rights, or to say whether he should dine off birds or +berries? + + + + +XXIII. + +THE COMICAL CROW BABY. + + +Nothing in the world of feathers is so comical as a crow baby, with its +awkward bows and ungainly hops, its tottering steps on the fence and its +mincing, tight-boot sort of gait on the ground, its eager fluttering +when it has hopes of food, and its loud and unintermitting demand for +the same. + +My window overlooked a long stretch of cattle pastures and meadows still +uncut, bounded on one side by woods, and in the middle of this valley +unvisited by man, the crows of the neighborhood established a training +school for their youngsters. A good glass let me in as unsuspected +audience, and I had views of many interesting family scenes, supposed by +the wary parents to be visible only to the cows stolidly feeding on the +hillside. In this way I had all the fun and none of the trouble of the +training business. + +It is astonishing how completely the manner of the adult crow is lacking +in his young offspring, whose only external difference is the want of a +tail. Must we then conclude that the dignity of a bird depends upon the +length of his tail? We are accustomed to regard the crow as a grave and +solemn personage with a serious rôle in life; and indeed life is such a +constant warfare to him that I cannot see how he finds any enjoyment in +it. Lowell says of him at one period:-- + + "The crow is very comical as a lover, and to hear him try to soften + his croak to the proper Saint Preux standard has something the + effect of a Mississippi boatman quoting Tennyson." + +If he is droll as a lover, he is much more entertaining as an infant. +The first I knew of the new use of the pasture, I heard one morning a +strange cry. It was loud and persistent, and sounded marvelously like +"Ma-a! Ma-a!" Mingled with it I heard the vigorous cries of crows. + +I looked over into the pasture, and there I first saw the crow baby, +nearly as big and black as his mamma, but with no tail to speak of. He +sat--not stood--on the rail fence, bawling at the top of his hoarse +baby-voice, "Ma! Ma! Ma!" and as he grew impatient he uttered it faster +and faster and louder and louder, drawing in his breath between the +cries, and making it more like "Wah! Wah!" Whenever mamma flew over he +followed her movement with his eyes, turning his head, and showing an +eager, almost painful interest, till some one took pity on him and fed +him. As he saw food approaching his voice ran up several tones higher, +in laughable imitation of a human baby cry. This note is of course the +promise of a "caw," but the _a_ is flattened to the sound of _a_ in bar, +which makes it a ludicrous caricature of our own first utterances. + +But sometimes mamma did not heed the cries, and sailed calmly by, +alighting a few rails beyond her hungry infant, though he held out his +fluttering wings in the bird-baby's begging way, exactly as does a young +warbler who wouldn't be a mouthful for him. Then the little fellow would +start up on unsteady legs, to walk the rail to reach her, balancing +himself with outspread wings, and when he got beside her, put his beak +to hers in a coaxing way that I don't see how any mother could resist. +But this wise dame had evidently hardened her heart. She probably wanted +him to learn to help himself, for she dropped to the ground, and went +wading about in the wet grass and mud, and at length flew off without +giving him a morsel. Then the disappointed youngster cuddled up to a +brother crow baby, and both lifted up their voices and lamented the +emptiness of the cold, cold world. + +Perhaps the most comical performance of this clumsy baby was his way of +alighting on a fence when he had been flying. He seized the board with +his claws, which clung for dear life, while his body went on as it was +going, with the result almost of a somersault. He tried to learn, +however. He made great efforts to master the vagaries of fences, the +irregularities of the ground, the peculiarities of branches. He +persistently walked the rail fence, though he had to spread both wings +to keep his balance. Then he climbed to the top of the rail which stood +up at the corners, and maintained his position with great effort, but +never gave up the attempt. + +These interesting young folks dote on fences, after they get used to +them, and not having learned to recognize them as devices of the enemy, +capable of concealing a trap of some sort, they will come quite near a +house when they see no one about. So I, behind my blind, had excellent +chance to watch their ways. For I try to keep my window view good by +contenting myself with what I can see from it, and never going out to +give the birds a notion that they must look out for visitors. + +One day when the grass had been cut from the meadow before the house, +and I had encamped under the shade of a big maple to see how the +kingbirds were coming on in nesting, I noticed a young crow walking in +the hot stubble, trying to find something to eat. He wandered about +looking in vain to see something attractive. A robin who was also +engaged in a food-hunt came and "took his measure," looking sharply at +him as if to decide whether it was his duty to go for him. He plainly +recognized the youthfulness of the intruder, for after a moment's study +he passed on, attending to his own business, while the young crow stared +at him in open-mouthed curiosity. At last the crow baby picked up an +object--I could not tell what--which hung from his beak while he +balanced the probabilities of its being good, aiding his deliberations +by a gentle lift of the wings which looked like a shrug of the +shoulders. He decided to risk it, and swallowed, but instantly choked it +up, and for some time shook his head as if to get rid of even the memory +of it. When, a few minutes after this disastrous experience, he heard +another baby utter the cries that indicate being fed, it seemed to +suggest to him an easier way of getting satisfaction out of life. He +spread his wings, flew to a tree and began to call. + +To be a crow mamma is no sinecure. My heart went out to the poor souls +who must be torn between anxiety for their dear "cantankerous" +offspring, and fear of their deadly enemy, man. I watched with deep +interest their method of training. One day I saw a baby get an object +lesson in his proper attitude toward mankind, in this way. An old and a +young crow were nearer the house than usual, and I walked down toward +the fence to see why. The instant my head appeared, the elder flew with +terrific outcry, for which of course I did not blame the poor creature, +since mankind has proved itself her bitterest foe. The infant was nearly +frightened to death, and followed as quickly as his awkward wings would +carry him. I do not like to figure as "Rawhead and bloody-bones" in the +nursery of even a crow baby, so I tried several times to redeem the bad +name of my race. But to no avail; that subtle mamma had acquired her +wisdom by experience, and she knew me as one of a species quite capable +of murdering an innocent crow baby. + +I was interested to see the young family in the pasture taking lessons +in following, or flying in a flock. There was great excitement and +calling, and all flew, excepting one, who stood quietly on a big stone +by himself. They simply circled around and alighted again, so it plainly +was only an exercise. But the baby who did not learn the lesson and +follow, was punished by one of the grown-ups, who flew directly against +him on the return, and knocked him off his perch; the hint was taken, +and the next time they flew no one stayed behind. + +Day by day the excitement in the crow world grew, and new families +appeared in the pasture as fast as old ones got out. The rails of the +fence were always occupied by young ones--though never more than five or +six at a time--crying and shrieking and calling for "Ma-a!" and old ones +all the time flying about half distracted, cawing and trying, I suppose, +to enforce some order and discipline among the unruly rogues. Order, +however, was quite a secondary consideration; the pressing duty of the +hour was feeding. A crow parent on a foraging expedition is a most +unwelcome visitor to the farmer with young chickens, or the bird-lover +interested in the fate of nestlings. Yet when I saw the persecuted +creature in the character of provider for four hungry and ever clamorous +mouths, to whose wants she is as alive as we are to the wants of our +babies, I took a new view of crow depredations, and could not see why +her children should not have a chicken or a bird for breakfast, as well +as ours. Poor hunted crow, against whom every man's hand is raised! She +feels, with reason, that every human being is a deadly enemy thirsting +for her life, that every cylinder pointed upward is loaded with death, +that every string is a cruel snare to entangle and maim her,--yet whose +offspring, dear as ours to us, clamor for food. How should she know that +it is wrong to eat chickens; or that robin babies were made to live and +grow up, and crow babies to die of starvation? The farmer ignores the +millions of insects she destroys, and shoots her for the one chicken she +takes, though she has been amply proved to be one of his most valuable +servants. The kingbird and the oriole worry her life out of her because +her babies like eggs--as who does not! + +In fact, there are, emphatically, two sides to the crow question, and I +take the side of the crow. + + + + +XXIV. + +A MIDSUMMER WOOING. + + +The "sweet June days" had passed, and bird nesting was nearly at an end. +Woods and fields were bubbling over with young bird notes, and the +pretty cradles on tree and shrub were empty and deserted. A few motherly +souls, it is true, were still occupied with their second broods, but, in +general, feathered families were complete, and the parents were busy +training their little folk for life. + +One bird, however, the charming, sweet-voiced goldfinch, + + "All black and gold, a flame of fire," + +still held aloof, as is his custom. He does not follow the fashion of +his fellows; he resists the allurements of the nesting month; he waits. +Whether it be for a late-coming insect necessary to the welfare of his +nestlings, or for the thistle silk which alone makes fit cushion for his +delicate spouse and her "wee babies," opinions differ. + +But though goldfinch nests were not set up, goldfinch wooing went on +with enthusiasm; the summer air rang with sweetest song, and the +graceful wave-like flight charmed us from morning till night. The +courtship of the bird of July is a beautiful sight. He is at all times +peculiarly joyous, but at this season his little body seems hardly able +to contain him; so great is his rapture, indeed, that it infects and +inspires the most matter-of-fact student. Our bird-loving poet Celia +Thaxter must have seen him in loverly mood when she thus addressed +him:-- + + "Where do you hide such a store of delight, + O delicate creature, tiny and slender, + Like a mellow morning sunbeam bright, + Overflowing with music tender?" + +At all hours of these enchanted days, whether fair or foul, the winsome +little fellows were flying hither and thither, singing and calling in +ecstatic tones, bounding through the air, and hardly pausing long enough +to eat. July was fast slipping away when the excitement deepened and +matters grew more serious. Then the observer, if he were wary, might +catch occasional glimpses of puzzling scenes, mysteries of bird life +that could not be unraveled because he did not see the whole. + +At one time the student came upon a scene like this: Two or three of the +little dames in olive and gold hopping about on an evergreen tree, +ostensibly eating, calling, in their enticing voices, "sw-e-e-t!" and +to all appearance unconscious of the presence of two of their bright +young wooers, sitting in perfect silence on an upper branch. Suddenly +from this happy party one of the damsels flew, when instantly one of the +black-winged suitors flashed out in pursuit. On she went, flying madly, +encircled one tree, dashed to another, and around that, passed up and +down, here and there, this way and that, but everywhere with her +follower close after her, singing at the top of his voice, till they +disappeared in the distance. + +Can the goldfinch wooing be a sort of Comanche affair? Is the little +bride won by force? Or is she, perchance, like some of her sisters of +larger growth, who require a "scene" of some sort to make them "name the +day"? + +Again, attracted by loud eager singing, the student found a pair who +were apparently fighting,--the peaceful goldfinch! They flew up close +together, they almost clinched, then flew away to a group of trees, +under, over, around, between, through, and beyond they went, never six +inches apart, and he singing furiously all the time. At last, just as +the looker-on expected to see them grapple, they calmly alighted on a +tree eight or ten feet from each other. Nothing but a frolic, obviously! + +Another curious performance of this July wooing was several times +noted. Hearing a strange and unfamiliar cry, in a tone of distress, I +drew cautiously near, and found, on a low branch, one of the goldfinch +maidens, uttering the plaintive notes, which, by the way, were +afterwards very common about the nests. She held in her beak something +which might be a tiny green worm, or a bit of nesting material, and she +called constantly, looking about this way and that, as if seeking some +one. After a while a male goldfinch appeared on the next tree, but he +did not act in the least as if invited by her call. He seemed merely to +be interested as any bird would be by her evident excitement. He watched +her calmly, but did not offer to follow when at last she flew. + +Time, true to his reputation, was hurrying away even these sweet summer +days, and still the love affairs of our little beauties seemed no nearer +settlement than at first. In the opinion of impatient observers, their +wooing was as long drawn out as that of Augustus and Araminta in an +old-fashioned three-volume novel. Their manners, too, ludicrously +suggested the behavior of the bigger pair; first he would follow her +about, sing to her, parade himself, and show off; then she coquetted, +and charmed him with her bewitching and altogether indescribable call, +"sw-e-e-t." Then they were off in a whirl of excitement together, +flitting hither and thither, singing and dancing through the air, life +showing its rosiest hue. + +All things come to an end--in time. By the middle of the month the +ecstasies of goldfinch youth were toned down, and the presence of dainty +nests here and there proved that madam at least had settled to work, +making preparation for her long, patient brooding. + +The tall grass in the meadow in front of the house was about this time +laid low; nodding daisies,--white and yellow,--plumy meadow-grass and +plain timothy, devil's paintbrush and soft purple grass flowers, alike +lay in long rows dying on the ground. Delighted at last to possess the +places so long tabooed to us by the heavy crop, my comrade and I went +out the next morning on discoveries bent. The nook in which we rested +after our walk--she on the fresh sweet hay in the broad sunshine, and I +in the shade close by--offered a rare combination of seclusion with +perfect security. It was within call from the veranda, yet completely +hidden from it by a dense clump of evergreens. + +We had hardly settled ourselves when we noticed three lively goldfinches +frolicking about the top of a tall maple-tree not far off. While we idly +speculated about them, wondering if they had no mates, and if the +goldfinches were not going to build this year, the eyes of my friend, +who was lying on the ground, fell upon the nest. It was near the end of +a lower branch of the maple, ten or twelve feet from the ground, and the +little dame was at that moment working upon it. She was so deeply +absorbed in her occupation that she did not even notice us, and we +studied her movements with interest, till the haymakers came with wagon +and oxen, and much talking and shouting, to gather up their fragrant +loads, which on that side of the field stood in small stack's all ready. + +Once again, in spite of long experience, I was amazed to see how deaf +and blind are people to what goes on about them. "We see only that which +concerns us," says some one, and since the farmer, with whole mind bent +upon making a firm and symmetrical load, did not concern himself with +bird affairs, goldfinch work went on without hindrance. The half-loaded +wagon paused under the chosen branch, where the man could have laid his +hand upon the nest, but the small builder went in and out, calling and +fluttering around as freely as if he were not there. As a matter of fact +he was not, for though his body was near, he was down in the hay, and he +never heard or saw the bird. + +We kept watch of the fateful branch, ready to protect it if necessary, +till the train moved off, and then we went home congratulating ourselves +on possessing the goldfinch's precious secret, planning to spend a part +of every morning in studying her ways. + +"Man proposes," but many things "dispose." The next morning revealed +another tragedy. The dainty nest, so laboriously built, was found a +wreck, the whole of one side pulled out and hanging over the branch, +while the soft cushion of silky white thistle-down, an inch thick, lay +on the grass below. The culprit we could not discover, for he had left +no trace. It might be a squirrel; it certainly looked like the work of +his strong claws; but, on the other hand, it might be the sparrow-hawk +who had made the meadow his daily hunting-ground since the mysterious +disaster to the kingbird's nest had deprived us of the police services +of that vigilant bird. Probably a squirrel was the culprit, for the hawk +appeared only after the grass was cut, and grasshoppers and other +insects were left without shelter, and he seemed to give his entire +attention to the grass at the foot of the flagpole on which he always +perched. + +Whoever was guilty of the cruel deed, it added one more to the list of +ravaged nests, and of all that we watched that summer exactly half had +been broken up or destroyed. + +I am happy to say that the little pair were not utterly discouraged, +for a day or two later we found the provident mistress carefully drawing +out of the ruin some of the material she had woven into it, and carrying +it away, doubtless to add to a fresh nest. But she had this time chosen +a more secluded site, that we were unable to discover. I hope she did +not credit us with her disaster. + + + + +XXV. + +A PLUM-TREE ROMANCE. + + +It was just after the catastrophe of the last chapter when a pair of +goldfinches, whose pretty pastoral I hoped to watch, had been robbed and +driven from their home in a maple-tree that the plum-tree romance began. +Grieving for their sorrow as well as for my loss, I turned my steps +toward the farmhouse, intending to devote part of the day to the baby +crows, who were enlivening the pasture with their droll cries and +droller actions. But the crow family had the pasture to themselves that +morning, for in passing through the orchard, looking, as always, for +indications of feathered life, I suddenly saw a new nest in the top of a +plum-tree, and my spirits rose instantly when I noticed that the busy +little architect, at that moment working upon it, was a goldfinch. + +What an unfortunate place she had chosen, was my first thought. A young +tree, a mere sapling, not more than eight feet high, close beside the +regular farm road, where men, and worse, two nest-robbing boys, passed +forty times a day. Would the trim little matron, now so happy in her +plans, have any chance of bringing up a brood there in plain sight, +where, if the roving eyes of those youngsters happened to fall upon her +nest, peace would take its departure even if calamity did not overtake +her? + +Looking all about, to make sure that no one was in sight, I seated +myself to make the acquaintance of my new neighbor. My whole study of +the life in and around the plum-tree, carried on for the next two weeks, +was of a spasmodic order, for I had always to take care that no spies +were about before I dared even look toward the orchard. One glimpse of +me in the neighborhood would have disclosed their secret to the sharp +boys who knew my ways. + +The little dame was bewitching in her manner, and her handsome young +spouse the most devoted consort I ever saw in feathers, or out of them, +I may say. Although she alone built the nest, he was her constant +attendant, and they always made their appearance together. He dropped +into a taller tree--an apple near by--while she, with her beak full of +materials, alighted on the lowest branch of the plum, and hopped gayly +from twig to twig, as though they were steps, up to the sky parlor where +she had established her homestead. Then she went busily to work to +adjust the new matter, while he waited patiently during the ten or +fifteen minutes she thus occupied. Sometimes he seemed to wonder what +she could be about all this time, for he came and alighted beside her, +staying only an instant, and then flying with the evident expectation +that she would follow. Usually, however, he remained quietly on guard +till she left the nest with her joyful call, when he joined her, and +away they went together, crying, "te-o-tum, te! te!" till out of sight +and hearing. There was a joyousness of manner in this pair that gave a +festive air to even so prosaic a performance as going for food. The +source of supplies, as I soon discovered, was a bit of neglected ground +between a buckwheat patch and a barn, where grass and weeds of several +sorts flourished. Here each bird pulled down by its weight a stalk of +meadow or other grass, and spent some time feasting upon its seeds. + +But madam was a timid little soul; she reminded me constantly of some +bigger folk I have known. She wanted her gay cavalier always within +call, and he responded to her demands nobly, becoming more domestic than +one would imagine possible for such a restless, light-hearted sprite. +After the young house-mistress settled herself to her sitting, she often +lifted her head above the edge of her nest, and uttered a strangely +thrilling and appealing cry, which I think is only heard in the +nesting-time. He always replied instantly, in tenderest tones, and came +at once, sometimes from the other side of the orchard, singing as he +flew, and perched in the apple-tree. If she wanted his escort to lunch, +she joined him there, and after exchanging a few low remarks, they +departed together. Occasionally, however, she seemed to be merely +nervous, perhaps about some other bird who she fancied might be +troublesome, though, in general, neither of the pair paid the slightest +attention to birds who came about, even upon their own little tree. + +Often when the goldfinch came in answer to this call of his love, he +flew around, at some height above the tree, in a circle of thirty or +forty feet diameter, apparently to search out any enemy who might be +annoying her. If he saw a bird, he drove him off, though in a +perfunctory manner, as if it were done merely in deference to his lady's +wishes, and not from any suspicion or jealousy. On these occasions, too, +he came quite near me, stood fearless and calm, and studied me most +sharply, doubtless to see if my intentions were innocent. Of course I +looked as amiable and harmless as possible, and in a moment he decided +that I was not dangerous, made some quiet remark to his fussy little +partner, and flew away. + +Sometimes this conduct did not reassure the uneasy bird, and she called +again. Then he brought some tidbit in his beak, went to the edge of the +nest, and fed her. Then she was pacified; but do not mistake her, it was +not hunger that prompted her actions; when she was hungry, she openly +left her nest and went for food. It was, as I am convinced, the longing +desire to know that he was near her, that he was still anxious to serve +her, that he had not forgotten her in her long absence from his side. +This may sound a little fanciful to one who has not studied birds +closely, but she was so "human" in all her actions that I feel justified +in judging of her motives exactly as I should judge had she measured +five feet instead of five inches, and worn silk instead of feathers. + +The goldfinch need not have worried about her mate, for he spent most of +his time within a few feet of her, and more absolutely loyal one could +not be. His most common perch was a neighboring tree, though in a heavy +beating rain he frequently crouched on the lowest branch of the plum +itself. Now and then he rested on a pile of boards beside the farm road +already spoken of, and again he took his post on a very tall ash, with +only a few limbs at the top, where his body looked like a dot against +the blue, and he could oversee the whole country around. Wherever he +might be, he sat all puffed out, silent and motionless, evidently just +waiting. Sometimes he took occasion to plume himself very carefully, +oftener he did nothing, but held himself in readiness to answer any call +from the plum-tree, and to accompany the sitter out to dinner. + +This bird was an enchanting singer. During courtship, and while his mate +was sitting, he often poured out a song that was nothing less than an +ecstasy. It was delivered on the wing, and not in his usual wave-like +manner of flight, but sailing slowly around and around, very much as a +bobolink does, singing rapturously, without pause or break. The quality +of the music, too, was strikingly like bobolink notes, and the whole +performance was exquisite. + +The little sitter soon became accustomed to my presence. When out of her +nest, she sometimes came to the tree over my head, and answered when I +spoke to her. In this way we carried on quite a long conversation, I +imitating, so far as I was able, her own charming "sweet," and she +replying in varied utterances, which, alas! were Greek to me. + +I longed to watch the lovely and loving pair through their nesting; to +see their rapture over their nestlings, their tender care and training, +and the first flight of the goldfinch babies. But the inexorable +task-master of us all, who proverbially "waits for no man," hurried off +these last precious days of July with painful eagerness, and thrust +before me the first of August, with the hot and dusty journey set down +for that day, long before I was ready for it. + +So I did not see the end of their love and labor myself, but the bird's +wisdom in the selection of a site for her nursery was proved to be +greater than mine, who had ventured to criticise her, by the fact that +the nest, as I have been assured, escaped the young eyes of the +neighborhood, and turned out its full complement of birdlings to add to +next summer's beauty and song. + + + + +XXVI. + +SOLITARY THE THRUSH. + + + "Solitary the thrush, + The hermit, withdrawn to himself, + Sings by himself a song." + +Thus says the poet, with no less truth than beauty. No description could +better express the spirit of the bird, the retiring habit and the love +of quiet for which not alone the hermit, but the three famous singers of +the thrush family are remarkable. We should indeed be shocked were it +otherwise, for there is an indefinable quality in the tones of this +trio, the hermit, wood, and tawny, that stirs the soul to its depths, +and one can hardly conceive of them as mingling their notes with other +singers, or becoming in any way familiar. In this peculiar power no +bird-voice in our part of the world can compare with theirs. The brown +thrush ranks high as a musician, the mockingbird leads the world, in the +opinion of its lovers, and the winter wren thrills one to the heart. Yet +no bird song so moves the spirit, no other--it seems to me--so +intoxicates its hearer with rapture, as the solemn chant of "the hermit +withdrawn to himself." + +"Whenever a man hears it," says our devoted lover of Nature, Thoreau, +"he is young, and Nature is in her spring; wherever he hears it there is +a new world, and the gates of heaven are not shut against him." + +One might quote pages of rhapsody from poets and prose writers, yet to +him who has not drunk of the enchantment, they would be but words; they +would touch no chord that had not already been thrilled by the marvelous +strain itself. + +My first acquaintance in the beautiful family was the wood-thrush, and +the study of his charms of voice and character filled me with love for +the whole bird tribe. He frequented the places I also preferred, the +quiet nooks and out of the way corners of a large city park. At that +time I thought no bird note on earth could equal his; but a year or two +later, on the shore of Lake George, I fell under the magical sway of +another voice, whose few notes were exceedingly simple in arrangement, +but full of the strangely thrilling power characteristic of the thrush +family. + +Four years passed, at first in search of the owner of the "wandering +voice" that had bewitched me, and when I had found it to be the tawny +thrush or veery, in study of the attractive singer himself, which made +me an enthusiastic lover of him also. But the "shy and hidden" bird, +the hermit, enthroned by those who know him far above the others, I had +rarely seen and never clearly heard. Far-off snatches I had gathered, a +few of the louder notes had reached me from distant woods, or from far +up the mountain side; but I had never been satisfied. + +There appeared almost a fatality about my hearing this bird. No matter +how common his song in the neighborhood, no sooner did I go there than +he retired to the secluded recesses of his choice. He always had "just +been singing," but had mysteriously stopped. My search was much longer +than, and quite as disappointing as Mr. Burroughs's search through +English lanes for a singing nightingale. + +Last spring one of the strongest attractions that drew me to a lovely +spot in Northern New York was the assurance that the hermit was a +constant visitor. I went, and the same old story met me. Before this +year the hermit had always been with them. The song of the veery was my +morning and evening inspiration, but his shy brother had apparently +taken his departure for parts unknown. + +"We will go to Sunset Hill," said my friend. "We always hear them there +at sunset." + +That evening after an early tea, we started for the promised land. The +single-file procession through the charming wood paths consisted of our +host as protector on the return in the dark, the big dog--his mistress's +body-guard--his mistress, an enthusiastic bird-lover, and myself. + +The road was all the way through the woods, then lovely with the glow of +the western sun, which reached far under the branches, gilded the trunks +of the trees, and made a fresh picture at every turn. At the further +side of the woods was a grass-covered hill which we ascended, eager to +treat our eyes to the sunset, and our ears to the hermit songs. The sun +went down serenely, without a cloud to reflect his glory, but the whole +pleasant country at our feet was illuminated by his parting rays. + +And hark! a hermit began "air-o-ee!" Instantly everything else was +forgotten, although the bird was far away. + +"He will come nearer," whispered my comrade, and we waited in silence. +Several singers were within hearing, but all at a tantalizing remoteness +that allowed us to hear the louder notes, and constantly to realize what +we were losing. + +We lingered, loath to abandon hope, till the deepening shadows reminded +us of the woods to be passed through; but no bird came nearer than that +maddening distance. In despair we turned our faces homeward at last; +several times on the way we paused, lured by an ecstatic note, but +every one too far off to be completely heard. + +In our quiet walk back through the dark woods I accepted my evident +fate, that I was not to be blessed with hermit music this season; but I +made a private resolve to find next year a "hermit neighborhood," where +birds should be warranted to sing, if I had to take a tent and camp out +in a swamp. + +June passed away in delightful bird-study, and July followed quickly. +Nests and songs in plenty rewarded our search. Every day had been full. +Nothing had been wanting to fill our cup of content, except the +longed-for song of the hermit; and I had been so absorbed I had almost +ceased to regret it. + +With the last days of July everything was changed about us. The world +was full of bird babies. Infant voices rang out from every tangle; +flutters of baby wings stirred every bush; the woods echoed to anxious +"pips," and "smacks," and "quits," of uneasy parents working for dear +life. We had been so occupied with our study of these charming +youngsters, that we bethought ourselves, only as one after another +strange warbler appeared upon the scene, that migrating time had +arrived, the wonderful procession to the summer-land had begun. + +This, alas! I could not stay to see. And if one must go, it were better +to take leave before getting entangled in the toils of the warblers, to +be driven wild by the numberless shades of yellow and olive, to go +frantic over stripes and spots, and bars, and to wear out patience and +the Manual, trying to discover what particular combination of Latin +syllables scientists have bestowed upon this or that flitting atom in +feathers. Before the student is out of bed, a new warbler-note will +distract her; in the twilight some tiny bird will fly over her head with +an unfamiliar twitter; each and every one will rouse her to eager desire +to see it, to name it. + +Why have we such a rage for labeling and cataloguing the beautiful +things of Nature? Why can I not delight in a bird or flower, knowing it +by what it is to me, without longing to know what it has been to some +other person? What pleasure can it afford to one not making a scientific +study of birds to see such names as "the blue and yellow-throated +warbler," "the chestnut-headed golden warbler," "the yellow-bellied, +red-poll warbler," attached to the smallest and daintiest beauties of +the woods? + +Musing upon this and other mysteries, I followed my friend up the +familiar paths one day, looking for some young birds whose strange cries +we had noted. It was a gray morning, and all the tree trunks were grim +and dark, with no variety in coloring. The sounds we were following led +us through some unused roads entirely grown up with jewel-weed, part of +it five feet high, and thickly hung with the yellow flower from which it +takes its name. + +It had rained in the night, and every leaf was adorned with minute drops +like gems. We parted the stems carefully and passed through, though it +seemed to us like wading in deep water, and, in spite of our caution, we +were well sprinkled from the dripping leaves. Just as we stepped out of +our green sea, the low calls we were trying to locate ceased. We walked +slowly on until we were attracted by a rustling in the dry leaves, and +then we turned to see two young thrushes foraging about in silence by +themselves. They were not very shy, but looked at us with innocent baby +eyes as we drew near and examined them. We saw the color and the +markings and the peculiar movement of the tail characteristic of the +hermit. There could be no doubt that these were hermit babies. We were +delighted to see them. I never feel that I know a bird family till I +have seen the young. But my pleasure was sadly marred by the reflection +that where there were babies must have been a nest and a singer, and we +had not heard his voice. + +The last Sunday of my stay came, all too soon. It was a glorious day, +and, as usual, the two bird-lovers turned their steps toward the woods. +Everything seemed at rest and silent. We paused a while in a part of the +forest in which we had seen some strange phases of bird life, and had +christened the "Bewitched Corner." A gentle breeze set all the leaves to +fluttering; far off a woodpecker drummed his salute to his fellows; +beyond the trees we could hear the indigo bird singing; but nothing +about us was stirring. The wood-pewee was unheard, and even the vireo +seemed to have finished his endless song and gone his way. + +We passed on a few rods to a favorite resting place of our daily rounds, +where my comrade always liked to stretch herself upon the big bole of a +fallen tree in the broad sunshine, and I to seat myself at the foot of +another tree in the shade. It was a spot + + "where hours went their way + As softly as sweet dreams go down the night." + +As we approached this place a sound reached us that struck us dumb; it +was a hermit thrush not far off. Silently we stole up the gentle hill +and seated ourselves. + +"At last! at last!" I cried in my heart, as I leaned back against my +tree to listen. + +Then the glorious anthem began again; it rose and swelled upon the air; +it filled the woods,-- + + "And up by mystical chords of song + The soul was lifted from care and pain." + +Though not in sight, the bird was quite near, so that we heard every +note, so enchanting! so inimitable! For ten or fifteen minutes he poured +out the melody, while our hearts fairly stood still. Then he stopped, +and we heard the thrush "chuck" and the hermit call, which is different +from other thrushes, being something between a squawk and a mew. Whether +this were his conversation with his mate we could only guess, for we +dared not move, hardly indeed to breathe. + +After a pause the bird began again, and for one perfect hour we sat +there motionless, entranced, and took our fill of his matchless +rhapsody. I longed inexpressibly to see the enchanter, though I dared +not stir for fear of startling him. Perhaps my urgent desire drew him; +at any rate he came at last within sight, stood a few minutes on the low +branch of a tree and looked at me, lifting and dropping his expressive +tail as he did so. Two or three low, rich notes bubbled out, as if he +had half a mind to sing to me; but he thought better of it and dived off +the branch into the bushes. We rose to go. + +"This only was lacking," I said. "This crowns my summer. I ask no more, +and tomorrow I go." + + + + +INDEX. + + + American Goldfinch: + bewitching manners, 253. + devotion of the male, 255, 256. + difficulty of watching, 253. + nervous sitter, a, 256. + nest, a second, 252. + neat building, 248, 249, 251, 253. + nesting ways, 244, 254. + queer scenes, 245, 246, 247. + song, 257. + talk with me, a, 257. + tragedy again, 250. + wooing, 244, 247. + + Black and White creeper, 110. + + Black-throated Blue Warbler: + delight in nest, 166. + hard to study, 164. + nest and mate, 165. + song, 163. + studies me, 168. + vain search for, 169. + young, 170. + + Bluejay, the young, 77. + appearance of, 89. + description of, 91. + food as bait, 93. + interest of neighbors, 95. + not afraid, 92. + old birds to the rescue, 94. + stray youngster, a, 93. + + Bobolink, 139. + attack, 152. + cries, strange, 139, 140. + disturbed, 151. + manners, 139. + musical call, 153. + song, 141, 144. + wiles, 150. + + + Cedar Birds, 143. + + Chestnut-sided Warbler, 184, 187. + adopted infant, 230. + + Chipping Sparrow, 173. + + Crow, the parents, 240, 242. + two sides to the question, 242. + the young, 236. + alighting, 238. + coaxing ways, 238. + cry, a strange, 237. + efforts to learn, 239. + experimenting in food, 240. + object lesson, an, 241. + + Cuckoo, the Black Billed, 190. + curious performance, 194. + male, the, 192. + mother tactics, the, 199. + nest, 191. + nest deserted, 198. + relieving the sitter, 192. + sitting bird, the, 191. + struck dumb, 196. + ventriloquism, 192. + young, 194. + + Curiosity of Birds, 4. + + + Golden-winged Woodpecker, or Flicker: + cry of young, 40, 44. + dress, 36. + feeding, 39, 40, 43. + flight of young, 46. + manners, 35, 38. + nest, 34. + nest deserted, 47. + preparing to leave, 42, 43, 45. + setting house in order, 101. + teaching the young, 134. + ventriloquism, 102. + young appear, 39. + + Gray Squirrel: + cry of, 178. + poacher, 207. + + Great-crested Fly-catcher, 227. + + + Hermit Thrush, 259. + search for, 262. + shyness of, 261. + song, 266. + voice, 259. + young, 265. + + Humming Bird as poacher, 207. + + + Insects, destruction of, 18, 23. + + + Junco, nest, 132. + young, 133. + + + Kingbird: + bathing, 26. + character, 3, 12, 17. + curious antics, 232. + distinguishing marks, 14. + English sparrow annoyance, 12. + feeding, 21, 22, 25. + greeting to mate, 8. + nest of, 2. + nesting habits, 9, 20. + night perch, 14. + oriole encounter, 5. + preparing to sit, 7. + robin encounter, 6, 10. + sitting, 13. + song, 14. + treatment of young robin, 31. + young out, 17, 19. + + Kingbird, the young: + appearance above the nest, 22. + attachment to each other, 24. + dress of, 25. + first flight, 28. + first night out of nest, 29. + last view, 32. + leaving the nest, 26. + migrating cry, 27, 29, + preparing for flight, 34. + reception of strangers, 30. + vireo impertinence, 31. + voice, 23. + + + Mephitis Family, 156. + + + Oven Bird, Golden Crowned Thrush: + accident to nest, 177. + good sense of, 178. + nest, 177. + song, 177. + + + Partridge, a sitting, 80. + + Phoebe, 223. + manners, 224. + strange performance, 225. + + + Red-headed Woodpecker, 211, 223. + after berries, 215, 219. + comical attitudes, 216. + feeding on the ground, 212. + fly-catching, 217. + frolics of young, 219. + greeting to mate, 216. + insulted by robin, 214. + on the raspberries, 214. + poaching, 213. + robin surveillance, 216. + settling with the robin, 215. + young, 217. + + Redstart + and chestnut-sided warbler, 184. + caution of, 54. + curiosity, 111. + description, 50. + hostility, 49. + in rain, 53. + nest, 49, 59. + nesting habits, 51, 58. + out of nest, 56. + out of shell, 53. + treatment of young, 55. + young identified, 189. + + Red Squirrel, 234. + + Robin, a saucy, 70. + morning song, 173. + on guard, 216. + special policeman, 226. + subdued, 37. + surveillance, 87. + takes a hint, 51. + + Rose-breasted Grosbeak, 86. + + + Scarlet Tanager: + bathing, 161. + nest, 159. + shyness, 160. + young, 162. + + Song Sparrow, 173. + + Sparrow Hawk, 250. + + + Towhee Bunting, young, 105. + + + Veery, Wilson's Thrush: + bleating cry, 111. + calls and cries, 125. + cry of young, 107. + description of young, 113. + distress of parents, 120, 124, 126. + empty nest, 120. + friendliness, 126. + humorist, 127. + mother, the, 109. + nest destroyed, 117. + nest seeking, 115. + nests found, 116, 118, 119, 124. + solitude, love of, 125. + song, 99, 106, 260. + + + Warbler life, problems in, 184, 264. + + Wood-pewee, 68. + nest, 131. + song, 70. + + Wood-thrush, 260. + + + Yellow-bellied Woodpecker, or Sapsucker, 173, 201. + drumming habit, 207. + food habits, 203. + frolics, 205. + manners, 203, 204. + nest, 209. + traps, 204. + voice, 202. + young, 135, 209, 210. + + Young Birds: + black-throated blue warbler, 170. + bluebird, 72. + brown thrush, 61. + chestnut-sided warbler, 229. + crow, 236. + crow blackbird, 228. + cuckoo, 194. + downy woodpecker, 229. + hermit thrush, 265. + in rain, 175. + kingbird, 22, 232. + learning to flock, 68. + other young birds, 74, 233, 263. + out, 23. + red-headed woodpecker, 217, 233. + scarlet tanager, 162. + swallow, 65. + towhee bunting, 105. + veery, 113. + Wilson's thrush, 113. + woodpecker, 175. + wood-pewee, 71. + yellow-bellied woodpecker, 135, 209. + + + + +OUT-DOOR BOOKS + +Selected from the Publications of + +Houghton, Mifflin and Company, + +_4 Park St., Boston; 11 East 17th St., New York._ + + +Adirondack Stories. By P. DEMING. 18mo, 75 cents. + +A-Hunting of the Deer; How I Killed a Bear; Lost in the Woods; Camping +Out; A Wilderness Romance; What Some People call Pleasure. By CHARLES +DUDLEY WARNER. 16mo, paper covers, 15 cents, _net_. + +The American Horsewoman. By ELIZABETH KARR. Illustrated. New Edition. +16mo, $1.25. + +A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers. By HENRY D. THOREAU. 12mo, +gilt top, $1.50. + +Birds and Bees. By JOHN BURROUGHS. With an Introduction by MARY E. BURT, +of Chicago. 16mo, paper covers, 15 cents, _net_. + +Birds and Poets, with Other Papers. By JOHN BURROUGHS. 16mo, gilt top, +$1.25. + +Birds in the Bush. By BRADFORD TORREY. 16mo, $1.25. + +Birds through an Opera-Glass. By FLORENCE A. MERRIAM. In Riverside +Library for Young People. 16mo, 75 cents. + +Bird-Ways. By OLIVE THORNE MILLER. 16mo, $1.25. + +Cape Cod. By HENRY D. THOREAU. 12mo, gilt top, $1.50. + +Country By-Ways. By SARAH ORNE JEWETT. 18mo, gilt top, $1.25. + +Drift-Weed. Poems. 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