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Plate 76

PINE GROSBEAK Piriicola enucltalur Itucitra CSlMeT)

PURPLE FINCH Carpodacus purpureus purpurrus (Gmelin I
AUSual.size

Birds of America

Editor-in-Chief
T. Gilbert Pearson

President of the National Association of Audubon Societies

^..in)

Consulting Editor
Joiin Burrouglis

Contributing Editors
Edward H. Forbush Herbert K. Job

State Ornithologist, Massachusetts Economic Ornithologist

William L. Finley

Naturalist, Author, and Lecturer

Managing Editor
George Gladden

L. Nelson Nichols

Member Linn£can Society

Associate Editor
J. Ellis Burdick

Associate Member of Amcricar
Ornithologists' Union

Artists
R. I. Brasher R. Bruce Horsfall Henry Thurston

•.<^^lfr^

VOLUME

THREE

The University Society Inc.

New York
1923

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Copyright. 1917. by
The University Society Inc.

Manufactured in the U. S A.

CONTENTS

Bird Migration ....
Order of Perching Birds, Continued

Finches

Tanagers

Swallows

Waxwings and Silky Flycatchers

Shrikes

Vireos ....

Warblers

Wagtails and Pipits

Dippers

Mimic Thrushes

Wrens ....

Nuthatches and Creepers

Titmice

Wren-Tits

Kinglets and Gnatcatchers

Thrushes
Color Keys

Glossary ....
Bibliography
Index .....

77
82

93

98

102

1 1 1

174
186
199
206
218
219
224
247
2S7
263
267

liii]

BIRD MIGRATION

By Wells W. Cdoke

HE mystery of bird migration has proved a fascinating subject for speculation
and study from earliest times. Long ago it was noticed that birds disappeared
in fall and reappeared in spring, but, not knowing where they spent the
intervening period, many fanciful theories were advanced to account for
their disappearance, as hibernation in hollow trees or in the mud of streams
or ponds. With later years, however, has come a fuller knowledge of migra-
tion, especially of the particular region in which each species passes the cold
season, and more definite information in regard to the routes followed in
the spring and fall journeys. But fuller knowledge has served to increase
rather than to lessen interest in the subject. More persons to-day are
watching birds and noting their times of arrival and departure than ever before.

A knowledge of the times of migration of birds is essential as a basis for intelligent
study of their economic relations and is equally necessary in formulating jjroper legislation
for bird protection — two subjects which form important parts of the work of the United
States Biological Survey.

For more than 2,000 years the phenomena of bird migration have been noted; but
while the extent and course of the routes traversed have of late become better known, no
conclusive answer has been found to the question. Why do North American birds migrate?
Two different and indeed diametrically opposite theories have been advanced to account
for the beginnings of these migrations.

According to the more commonly accepted theory, ages ago the United States and
Canada swarmed with non-migratory bird life, long before the Arctic ice fields advancing
south during the glacial era rendered uninhabitable the northern half of the continent. The
birds' love of home influenced them to remain near the nesting site until the approaching
ice began for the first time to produce a winter — that is, a period of inclement weather
which so reduced the food supply as to compel the birds to move or to starve. As the ice
approached very gradually, now and then receding, these enforced retreats and absences —
at first only a short distance and for a brief time — increased both in distance and in dura-
tion until migration became an integral part of the very being of the bird. In other words,
the formation of the habit of migration took place at the same time that changing seasons
in the year replaced the continuous semi-tropical conditions of the preglacial eras.

As the ice advanced southward the swing to the north in the spring migration was con-
tinually shortened and the fall retreat to a suitable winter home correspondingly lengthened,
until during the height of the glacial period birds were for the most part confined to Middle
and South America. But the habit of migration had been formed, and when the ice receded
toward its present position the birds followed it northward and in time established their
present long and diversified migration routes.

Those who thus argue that love of birthplace is the actuating impulse to spring migra-
tion call attention to the seeming impatience of the earliest migrants. Ducks and Geese
push northward with the beginnings of open water so early, so far, and so fast that many
are caught by late storms and wander disconsolately over frozen ponds and rivers, prefer-

vi BIRDS OF AMERICA

ring to risk starvation rather than to retreat. The Purple Martins often arrive at their
nesting boxes so prematurely that the cozy home becomes a tomb if a sleet storm sweeps
their winged food from the air. The Bluebird's cheery warble we welcome as a harbinger
of spring, often only to find later a lifeless body in some shed or outbuilding where the bird
sought shelter rather than return to the sunny land so recently left.

As a matter of fact, however, only a small percentage of birds exhibit these pre-seasonal
migration propensities. The great majority remain in the security of their winter homes
until spring is so far advanced that the journey can be made easily and with comparatively
slight danger; and they reach the nesting spot when a food supply is assured and all the
conditions of weather and vegetation are favorable for beginning immediately the rearing
of a family of young.

If, however, a longing for home is considered the main incentive to their northward
flight, there arises the question as to why birds desert that home so promptly after the nesting
season is over. Indeed, most birds start south as soon as the fledglings are able to shift for
themselves. The Orchard Oriole, the Redstart, and the Yellow Warbler of central United
States and the Nonpareil of the south all begin their southward journey early in July, long
before the fall storms sound a warning of approaching winter and when their insect menu
is particularly varied and abundant.

According to the opposite migration theory, the birds' real home is the Southland; all
bird life tends by over-production to over-crowding; and, at the end of the glacial era, the
birds, seeking in all directions for suitable breeding grounds with less keen competition than
in their tropical winter home, gradually worked northward as the retreat of the ice made
habitable vast reaches of virgin country. But the winter abiding place was still the home,
and to this they returned as soon as the breeding season was over. Thus, in the case of the
Orchard Oriole mentioned above, many individuals that arrive in southern Pennsylvania
the first week in May leave by the middle of July, spending only 25 months out of the 12
at the nesting site.

Whichever theory is accepted, the beginnings of migration ages ago undoubtedly were
intimately connected with periodic changes in the food supply. While North America
possesses enormous summer supplies of bird food, the birds must return south for the winter
or perish. The over-crowding which would necessarily ensue should they remain in the
equatorial regions is prevented by the spring exodus northward. No such movement occurs
toward the corresponding southern latitudes. .South America has almost no migratory land
birds, for bleak Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego offer no inducements to these dwellers of
the limitless forests of the Amazon.

The conclusion is inevitable that the advantages of the United States and Canada as
a summer home and the superb conditions of climate and food for the successful rearing of
a nestful of voracious young far over-balance the hazards and disasters of the journey thither.
For these periodical trips did not just happen in their present form; each migration route,
however long and complex, is but the present stage in development of a flight that at first
was short, easily accomplished, and comparatively free from danger. Each lengthening of
the course was adopted permanently only after experience through many generations had
proved its advantages.

It may safely be stated that the weather in the winter home has nothing to do with
starting birds on the spring migration, except in the case of a few, like some of the Ducks
and Geese, which press northward as fast as open water appears. There is no appreciable
change in temperature to warn the hundred or more species of our birds which visit South
America in winter that it is time to migrate. It must be a force from within, a physiological
change warning them of the approach of the breeding season, that impels them to spread
their wings for the long flight.

The habit of migration has been evolved through countless generations, and during this
time the physical structure and habits of birds have been undergoing a process of evolution

Eggs of American Birds

PLATE No. 4

1. Cedar Waxwing

2. Red-eyed Vireo

3. White-eyed Vireo

4. Warbling Vireo

5. Phainopepla

6. Blue-headed Vireo

7. Bell's Vireo

8. Black and White Warbler

9. Prothonotary Warbler

10. Worm-eating Warbler

11. Blue-winged Warbler

12. Oranged-crov/ned Warbler

13. Parula Warbler

14. Magnolia Warbler

15. Yellow Warbler

16. Water-Thrush

17. Yellow-throated Warbler

18. Prairie Warbler

19. Maryland Yellow-throat

20. Oven-bird

21. Yellow-breasted Chat

22. Chestnut-sided Warbler

23. Hooded Warbler

24. Redstart

25. Pipit

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BIRD iMIGRATION vii

in adaptation to the climate of the summer home. In spring and early summer climatic con-
ditions are decidedly variable, and yet there must be some period that has on the average
the best weather for the birds' arrival. In the course of ages there have been developed
habits of migration, under the influence of which the bird so performs its migratory move-
ments that on the average it arrives at the nesting site at the proper time.

The word " average " needs to be emphasized. It is the average weather at a given
locality that determines the average time of the bird's arrival. In obedience to physiologic
promptings the bird migrates at the usual average time and proceeds northward at the
usual average speed unless prevented by adverse weather. Weather conditions are not the
cause of the migration of birds; but the weather, by affecting the food supply, is the chief
factor which determines the average date of arrival at the breeding grounds. After the bird,
in response to physiological changes, has started to migrate, the weather it encounters en
route influences that migration in a subordinate way, retarding or accelerating the advance
by only a few days, and having usually only slight effect upon the date of arrival at the
nesting site.

Local weather conditions on the day of arrival at any stated locality are minor factors
in determining the appearance of a given species at that place and time. The major factors
in the problem are the weather conditions far to the southward, where the night's flight
began, and the relation which that place and time bear to the average position of the bird
under normal weather conditions. Many, if not most, instances of arrivals of birds under
adverse weather conditions are probably explainable by the supposition that the flight was
begun under favorable auspices and that later the weather changed. Migration in spring
usually occurs with a rising temperature and in autumn with a falling temperature. In each
case the changing temperature seems to be a more potent factor than the absolute degree
of cold.

The direction and force of the winds, except as they are occasionally intimately con-
nected with sudden and extreme variations in temperature, seem to have only a slight influence
on migration.

Some birds migrate by day, but most of them seek the cover of darkness. Day migrants
include Ducks and Geese (which also migrate by night). Hawks, Swallows, the Nighthawk,
and the Chimney Swift. The last two, combining business and pleasure, catch their morning
or evening meal during a zigzag flight that tends in the desired direction. The daily advance
of such migrants covers only a few miles, and when a large body of water is encountered
they pass around rather than across it. The night migrants include all the great family
of Warblers, the Thrushes, Flycatchers, Vireos, Orioles, Tanagers, shore birds, and most
of the Sparrows. They usually begin their flight soon after dark and end it before dawn,
and go farther before than after midnight.

Night migration probably results in more casualties from natural causes than would
occur if the birds made the same journey by day; but, on the other hand, there is a decided
gain in the matter of food supply. For instance, a bird feeds all day on the north shore of
the Gulf of Mexico; if, then, it waited until the next morning to make its flight across the
Gulf in the daytime it would arrive on the Mexican coast at nightfall and would have to
wait until the following morning to appease its hunger. Thus there would be 36 consecutive
hours without food, whereas by night migration the same journey can be performed with
only a 12 hours' fast.

Migrating birds do not fly at their fastest. Their migration speed is usually from 30 to
40 miles an hour and rarely exceeds 50. Flights of a few hours at night, alternating with rests
of one or more days, make the spring advance very slow, averaging for all species not more
than 23 miles a day, but with great variations of daily rate among the different species.
The exact number of miles which a particular bird makes during one day's journey has not
yet been determined, and cannot be ascertained until the tagging or banding of birds by
means of metal rings is carried out on a far more extensive scale than has yet been possible.

viii BIRDS OF AMERICA

If migration were a steady movement northward with the same individuals always in the
van, numerous careful observations might make it possible to approximate the truth; but
instead of this, most migrations are performed somewhat after the manner of a game of
leap-frog. The van in spring migration is composed chiefly of old birds, and as they reach
their nesting places of the previous year they remain to breed. Thus the vanguard is con-
stantly dropping out and the forward movement must depend upon the arrival of the next
corps, which may be near at hand or far in the rear. Moreover, in our present state of knowl-
edge we can not say whether a given group of birds after a night's migration keeps in the
van on succeeding nights or rests and feeds for several days and allows other groups pre-
viously in the rear to assume the lead. It is known that birds do not as a rule move rapidly
when migrating in the daytime, but from the meagre data available it may be inferred that
the speed at night is considerably greater. During day migration the smaller land birds
rarely fly faster than 20 miles an hour, though the larger birds, as Cranes, Geese, and Ducks
move somewhat more rapidly. The result of timing Nighthawks on several occasions gave
a rate of 10 to 14 miles an hour, the former being the more usual speed. This slow rate results
from the irregularity of the flight, caused by the birds' capturing their evening and morning
meals en route. In the evening the flight lasted about an hour and a half and in the morning
about an hour. Thus a distance of approximately j,o miles would be traveled by each indi-
vidual during the morning and evening flights.

Night migrants probably average longer distances in most of their flights, and this is
known to be the case with some species. The Purple Martin, during the spring of 1884,
performed almost its entire migration from New Orleans to Lake Winnipeg during only 12
nights — an average of 120 miles for each night of movement — and some late migrants,
like the Gray-cheeked Thrush, must make still greater distances at a single flight. That
most of them can fly several hundred miles without stopping is proved by the fact that they
make flights of 500 to 700 miles across the Gulf of Mexico.

The length of the migration journey varies enormously. A few birds, like the Grouse,
Quail, Cardinal, and Carolina Wren, are non-migrator>'. Many a Bobwhite rounds out its
full period of existence without ever going 10 miles from the nest where it was hatched.
Some other species migrate so short a distance that the movement is scarcely noticeable.
Thus, Meadowlarks are found near New York City all the year, but probably the individuals
nesting in that region pass a little farther south for the winter and their places are taken by
migrants from farther north. Or part of a species may migrate and the rest remain sta-
tionary, as in the case of the Pine Warbler and the Black-headed Grosbeak, which do not
venture in winter south of the breeding range. With them fall migration is only a with-
drawal from the northern and a concentration in the southern part of the summer home —
the Warbler in about a fourth and the Grosbeak in less than an eighth of the summer area.
In the case of the Maryland Yellow-throat, the breeding birds of Florida are strictly non-
migratory, while in spring and fall other Yellow-throats pass through Florida in their journeys
between their winter home in Cuba and their summer home in New England.

Another variation is illustrated by the Robin, which occurs in the middle districts of
the United States throughout the year, in Canada only in summer, and along the Gulf of
Mexico only in winter. Probably no individual Robin is a continuous resident in any sec-
tion; but the Robin that nests, let us say, in southern Missouri, spends the winter near the
Gulf, while his hardy Canada-bred cousin is the winter tenant of the abandoned summer
home of the southern bird.

Most migratory birds desert the entire region occupied in summer for some other dis-
trict adopted as a winter home. These two homes are separated by very variable distances.
Many species from Canada winter in the United States, as the Tree Sparrow, Junco, and
Snow Bunting; others nesting in northern United States winter in the Gulf States, as the
Chipping, Field, Savannah, and Vesper Sparrows, while more than a hundred species leave
the United States for the winter and spend that season in Central or even in South America.

BIRD MIGRATION ix

Nor are they content with journeying to northern South America, but many cross the
Equator and pass on to the pampas of Argentina and a few even to Patagonia. Among
these long-distance migrants are some of our commonest birds; the Scarlet Tanager migrates
from Canada to Peru; the Bobolinks that nest in New England probably winter in Brazil,
as do Purple Martins, Cliff Sparrows, Barn Sparrows, Nighthawks, and some Thrushes,
which are their companions both summer and winter. The Black-poll Warblers that nest
in Alaska winter in northern South America, at least 5,000 miles from the summer home.
The land bird with the longest migration route is probably the Nighthawk, which occurs
north to Yukon and south 7,000 miles away, to Argentina.

But even these distances are surpassed by some of the water birds, and notably by some
of the shorebirds, which as a group have the longest migration routes of any birds. Nine-
teen species of shorebirds breed north of the Arctic Circle, every one of which visits South
America in winter, six of them penetrating to Patagonia, a migration route more than 8,000
miles in length. The world's migration champion, however, is the Arctic Tern.

The shape of the land areas in the northern half of the Western Hemisphere and the
nature of the surface has tended to great variations in migratory movements. If the whole
area from Brazil to Canada were a plain with the general characteristics of the middle section
of the Mississippi Valley, the study of bird migration would lose much of its fascination.
There would be a simple rhythmical swinging of the migration pendulum back and forth,
spring and fall. But much of the earth's surface between Brazil and Canada is occupied by
the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and parts of the Atlantic Ocean, all devoid of

Most migrants use n
traverse the mo
along route No.

l^jurtL-sy of U. S. Uept. of Agriculture

PRINCIPAL MIGRATION ROUTES OF NORTH AMERICA

ute No. 4. though this necessitates a flight of 500 to 700 miles across the Gulf of Mexico. A few
re direct route No. ,i, and still fewer, route No. 2. Only water birds make the 2,400-nule flight
I, from Nova Scotia to South America.

X BIRDS OF AMERICA

sustenance for land birds. The two areas of abundant food supply are North America and
northern South America, separated by the comparatively small areas of Mexico and Central
America, the islands of the West Indies, and the great waste stretches of water.

The different courses taken by the birds to get around or over this intervening inhos-
pitable region are almost as numerous as the bird families that traverse them, and only some
of the more important routes will be mentioned here.

Birds often seem eccentric in choice of route, and many do not take the shortest line.
The so species from New England that winter in South America, instead of making the
direct trip over the Atlantic involving a flight of 2,000 miles, take a somewhat longer route
that follows the coast to Florida and passes thence by island or mainland to South America.
What would at first sight seem to be a natural and convenient migratory highway extends
from Florida through the Bahamas or Cuba to Haiti, Porto Rico, and the Lesser Antilles
and thence to South America. Birds that travel by this route need never be out of sight
of land; resting places are afforded at convenient intervals and the distance is but little
longer than the water route. Yet beyond Cuba this highway is little used. About 25 species
continue as far as Porto Rico and remain there through the winter. Only adventurers of
some six species gain the South American mainland by completing the island chain. The
reason is not far to seek — scarcity of food. The total area of all the West Indies east of
Porto Rico is a little less than that of Rhode Island. Should a small proportion only of the
feathered inhabitants of the eastern States select this route, not even the luxuriant fauna
and flora of the tropics could supply their needs.

A still more direct route, but one requiring longer single flights, stretches from Florida
to South America, via Cuba and Jamaica. The 150 miles between Florida and Cuba are
crossed by tens of thousands of birds of some 60 different species. About half the species
take the next flight of go miles to the Jamaican mountains. Here a 500-mile stretch of
islandless ocean confronts them, and scarcely a third of their number leave the forest-clad
hills for the unseen beyond. Chief among these is the Bobolink. With the Bobolink is an
incongruous company of traveling companions — a Vireo, a Kingbird, and a Nighthawk
that summer in Florida; the Chuck-will's-widow of the Gulf States; the two New England
Cuckoos; the Gray-cheeked Thrush from Quebec; the Bank Swallow from Labrador; and
the Black-poll Warbler from far-ofl Alaska.

The main-traveled highway is that which stretches from northwestern Florida across
the Gulf, continuing the southwesterly direction which most of the birds of the Atlantic
coast follow in journeying to Florida. A larger or smaller percentage of nearly all the species
bound for South America take this roundabout course, quite regardless of the several-hun-
dred-mile flight over the Gulf of Mexico.

The birds east of the Allegheny Mountains move southwest in the fall, approximately
parallel with the seacoast, and apparently keep this same direction across the Gulf to eastern
Mexico. The birds of the central Mississippi Valley go southward to and over the Gulf.
The birds between the Missouri and the edge of the plains and those of Canada east of the
Rocky Mountains move southeastward and south until they join the others in their passage
of the Gulf. In other words, the great majority of North American birds bound for a winter's
sojourn in Central or South America elect a short cut across the Gulf of Mexico in preference
to a longer land journey by way of Florida or Texas. In fact, millions of birds cross the Gulf
at its widest part, which necessitates a single flight of 500 to 700 miles. It might seem more
natural for the birds to make a leisurely trip along the Florida coast, take a short flight to
Cuba, and thence a still shorter one of less than 100 miles to Yucatan — a route only a little
longer and involving much less exposure. Indeed, the earlier naturalists, finding the same
species both in Florida and in Yucatan, took this probable route for granted, and for years
it has been noted in ornithological literature as one of the principal migration highways of
North American birds. As a fact, it is almost deserted except for a few Swallows, some shore
birds, and an occasional land bird storm driven from its accustomed course, while over the

Eggs of American Birds

PLATE No. 5

1. Long-billed Marsh Wren

2. Chickadee

3. Bush-Tit

4. Brown-headed Nuthatch

5. House Wren

6. Sharp-tailed Sparrow

7. Bank Swallow

8. Golden-crowned Kinglet
Q. Barn Swallow

10. Song Sparrow

11. Rose-breasted Grosbeak

12. Bluebird

13. Blue-gray Gnatcatcher

14. White-breasted Nuthatch

15. Wood Thrush
i5. Abert's Towhee

17. Bendire's Thrasher

18. Olive-backed Thrush

19. Blue Grosbeak

20. Cardinal

21. Mockingbird

22. Catbird

23. Brov/n Thrasher

24. Robin

25. California Thrasher

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EGGS OF AMERICAN iSIRDS
(Plate Number Five)

BIRD MIGRATION xi

Gulf route night after night for nearly eight months in the year myriads of hardy migrants
wing their way through the darkness toward an unseen destination.

To the w^estward a short route stretches a few hundred miles from the coast of Texas
to northern Vera Cruz. It is adopted by some Warblers, as the Kentucky, the Worm-eating,
and the Golden-winged, and a few other species, which seek in this way to avoid a region
scantily supplied with moist woodlands.

Still farther west are two routes which represent the land journeys of those birds from
western United States that winter in Mexico and Central America. Their trips are com-
paratively short ; most of the birds are content to stop when they reach the middle districts
of Mexico and only a few pass east of the southern part of that country.

Still another route is one which extends in an approximately north and south line from
Nova Scotia to the Lesser Antilles and the northern coast of South America. Though more
than a thousand miles shorter than the main migration route, it is not employed by any land
bird. But it is a favorite fall route for thousands of water birds, notable among which is
the Golden Plover.

All Black-poll Warblers winter in South America. Those that are to nest in Alaska
strike straight across the Caribbean Sea to Florida and northwestward to the Mississippi
River. Then the direction changes and a course is laid almost due north to northern Minne-
sota in order to avoid the treeless plains of North Dakota. But when the forests of the vSas-
katchewan are reached the northwestward course is resumed and, with a slight verging
toward the west, is held until the nesting region in the Alaskan spruces is attained.

Cliff Swallows in South America are winter neighbors of the Black-poll Warblers. But
when in early spring nature prompts the Swallows which are to nest in Nova Scotia to seek
that far-off land, situated exactly north of their winter abode, they begin their journey by
a westward flight of several hundred miles to Panama. Thence they move leisurely along
the western shore of the Caribbean Sea to Mexico, and, still avoiding any long trip over
water, go completely around the western end of the Gulf. Hence as they cross Louisiana
their course is directly opposite to that in which they started. A northeasterly flight from
Louisiana to Maine and an easterly one to Nova Scotia completes their spring migration.
This circuitous route has increased their flight more than 2,000 miles.

Why should the Swallow select a route so much more roundabout than that taken by
the Warbler? The explanation is simple. The Warbler is a night migrant. Launching
into the air soon after nightfall, it wings its way through the darkness toward some favorite
lunch station, usually one to several hundred miles distant, and here it rests and feeds for
several days before undertaking the next stage of its journey. Its migration consists of a
series of long flights from one feeding place to the next, and naturally it takes the most direct
course between stations, not avoiding any body of water that can be compassed in a single
flight.

The Swallow, on the other hand, is a day migrant. It begins its spring migration several
weeks earlier than the Warbler and catches each day's rations of flying insects during a
few hours of slow evolutions, which at the same time accomplish the work of migration.
Keeping along the insect-teeming shores, the 2,000 extra miles thereby added to the migra-
tion route are but a tithe of the distance the bird covers in pursuit of its daily food.

The normal migration route for the birds of eastern North America is a northeast and
southwest course approximately parallel with the trend of the Atlantic coast; the birds
breeding in the interior take a line of flight parallel in general with the course of the three
great river valleys — those of the Mississippi, the Red, and the Mackenzie — that form a
highway rich in food supplies between their winter and summer homes. Many birds, how-
ever, follow migration routes widely differing from the normal. One of the most extreme
exceptions is that of the Marbled Godwit. Formerly a common breeder in North Dakota
and Saskatchewan, some individuals on starting for their winter home in Central America
took a course almost due east to the Maritime Provinces of Canada and thence followed

xii BIRDS OF AMERICA

the Atlantic coast to Florida and continued southward; others went in the opposite direc-
tion, traveling westward to southern Alaska and southward along the Pacific coast to
Guatemala. Thus birds which were neighbors in summer became separated nearly 3,000
miles during migration, to settle finally in close prox'mity for the winter.

The Connecticut Warbler, choosing another eccentric course, adopts different routes
for its southward and northward journeys. All the individuals of this species winter in
South America, and so far as known all go and come by the same direct route between Florida
and vSouth America across the West Indies; but north of Florida the spring and fall routes
diverge. The spring route leads the birds up the Mississippi Valley to their summer home
in southern Canada; but fall migration begins with a 1,000-mile trip almost due east to New
England, whence the coast is followed southwest to Florida. The Connecticut Warbler is
considered rare, but the multitudes that have struck Long Island lighthouses during October
storms show that the species is at least more common than would be judged from spring
observations, and also show how closely it follows the coast line during fall migration. The
breeding of the Connecticut Warbler offers a fruitful field of investigation for some bird
lover during a summer vacation, for there undoubtedly is a large and as yet undiscovered
breeding area in Ontario north of Lakes Huron and Superior. Incidentally this route of the
Connecticut Warbler is a conclusive argument against the theory that migration routes
always indicate the original pioneer path by which the birds invaded the region of their
present summer homes.

Another species having an elliptical migration route is the White-winged Scoter. This
Duck breeds near fresh water in the interior of Canada and winters entirely on the ocean
along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States. From its summer home west
of Hudson Bay individuals that are to winter on the Atlantic travel 1,500 miles almost due
east to the coast of the most eastern part of Labrador; thence they cross the Gulf of St.
Lawrence and follow the New England coast to their winter home, which extends from
southwestern Maine to Chesapeake Bay, with the center of abundance off Long Island
and Massachusetts. In spring the birds return to their breeding grounds by an inland route
traversing the valleys of the Connecticut, Hudson, and Ottawa rivers. Individuals that
winter along the Pacific coast from Washington to southern California are known to pass
by thousands up and down the coast as far north as that coast has a generally north and
south trend; but as soon as the coast line turns westward near the northwestern part of
British Columbia the birds disappear and are not known anywhere in the 500-mile strip
between the Pacific coast and the Mackenzie Valley. Apparently this region is crossed at
a single flight from the salt water of the coast to the fresh-water summer home on the great
lakes of the Mackenzie Valley.

A migration route entirely different from any thus far mentioned is that of the Western
Tanager, or Louisiana Tanager, as it was formerly called. From its winter home in Guate-
mala it enters the United States about April 20; another 10 days and the van is in central
New Mexico, Arizona, and southern California, marking an approximately east and west
line. The next 10 days the easternmost birds advance only to southern Colorado, while
the western have reached northern Washington. May 10 finds the line of the van extending
in a great curve from Vancouver Island northeast to central Alberta and thence southeast
to northern Colorado. It is evident that the Alberta birds have not reached their breeding
grounds by way of the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, a route which would naturally
be taken for granted by anyone examining a map of the winter and summer homes. On
the contrary, these Alberta breeders must have come by way of the Pacific coast to southern
British Columbia and then crossed over the main range of the Rocky Mountains, which at
this season (May 20) are still cold and parth^ covered with snow.

The shape of North America tends to a converging of the lines of migration toward the
Gulf of Mexico, and consequently the east and west breadth of the migration route just
south of the United States is usually less than the corresponding breadth of the breeding

William L. Fmley and H. T. Bohlman photographing nest of Western Tanagers in top of fir tree, eighty feet

from the ground
[xiiil

xiv BIRDS OF AMERICA

territory. The extent to which migration routes contract varies greatly with different
species. The Redstart represents one extreme where the Hnes of migration are carried far
eastward to include the Bahamas and the Antilles, while they also extend southward into
Mexico. Thus the migrating hosts present a broad front with an east and west extension
of 2,500 miles from Mexico to the Lesser Antilles.

The opposite extreme, a narrow migration route, appears in the case of the Rose-breasted
Grosbeak. The breeding range extends from Nova Scotia to central Alberta, 2,500 miles,
and the migration lines converge until the Grosbeaks leave the United States along 800
miles of the Gulf coast from western Florida to central Texas.

The case of the Bobolink is typical of many species nesting in North America and win-
tering entirely in South America. The summer home extends from Cape Breton Island to
Saskatchewan, 2,300 miles, and the migration lines converge toward southeastern United
States and then strike directly across the West Indies for South America. In this part of
their journey the migration path contracts to an east and west breadth of about 800 miles,
and a very large percentage of the birds restrict themselves to the eastern half of it. In
South America the region occupied during the winter has about one-fifth the breadth and
one-third the area of the breeding range.

The route of the Scarlet Tanager is an extreme example of narrowness of the path traveled
twice a year between winter and summer homes. The breeding range extends i,goo miles
from New Brunswick to Saskatchewan. The migration range is contracted to 800 miles
from Florida to Texas as the birds leave the United States. The migration lines continue
to converge until in southern Central America the limits are not more than 100 miles apart.

The Black and White Warbler presents some interesting phases of migration. It winters
in Central America, Mexico, the West Indies, and the peninsula of Florida. Ordinarily it
would not be possible to distinguish the spring migrants in Florida from the wintering birds,
and the advance of migration could not be noted until the migrants had passed north of
the winter range, but records of Black and White Warblers striking lighthouses of southern
Florida indicate the beginning of the birds' northward migration flight from Cuba. This
occurs on the average on March 4, and the birds do not appear in southern Georgia beyond
their winter range on the average until March 24. Thus a period of 20 days is taken for
the van of migration to move 400 miles across Florida, an average rate of 20 miles per day.
This rate is about the slowest of all North American birds and is only slightly increased
throughout the whole spring migration up the Atlantic coast to Nova Scotia, where the birds
arrive about May 20, having averaged less than 25 miles a day for the whole 77 days after
leaving Cuba.

Migration along the western border of the range is fully as slow as along. the Atlantic
coast; on the average, the first arrive at Kerrville, Tex., March 9 and in northern North
Dakota May 10, having traveled 1,300 miles in 60 days, or 22 miles a day. Thence the
speed is more than doubled to the northwestern limit of the range in the Mackenzie Valley.

Incidentally it may be remarked that the Black and White Warbler is one of the very
few migrants which arrive in Texas and Florida before they appear at the mouth of the
Mississippi. The van of most species reaches southern Louisiana earlier than southern Texas.

The Cliff Swallow is another species with a slow migration schedule. It must start
northward very early, since by March 10 it is already 2,500 miles from the winter home and
yet averages only 25 miles a day for the next 20 days while rounding the western end of the
Gulf of Mexico. It more than doubles this rate while passing up the Mississippi and Ohio
River valleys. The crossing of the Allegheny Mountains comes next, and there are only 200
miles of progress to show for the 10 days' flight. By this time spring has really come east of
the AUeghenies, and the Swallow travels 60 miles a day to its summer home in Nova Scotia.
It is to be noted that the Swallow works up to high rates of speed only when it is traveling
on the diagonal, and that except during the ten days spent in crossing the mountains each
ID days' travel covers approximately 5 degrees of latitude.

BIRD MIGRATION xv

One of the best examples of rapid migration is that of the Gray-cheeked Thrush. This
bird remains in its South American winter home so long that it does not appear in southern
United States until late April — April 25 near the mouth of the Mississippi and April 30
in northern Florida. The last week in May finds the bird in extreme northwestern Alaska,
the 4,000 mile trip from Louisiana to Alaska having been performed in about 30 days, or
about 130 miles a day.

Generally the later in the season a bird migrates the greater is its average speed, but
not necessarily the distance covered in a single night. The early migrants encounter much
bad weather, and after one night's migration usually delay several days before making the
next flight. The later migrant finds few nights too unfavorable for advancing, so that short
flights taken on successive nights greatly raise the average migration speed.

How do migrating birds find their wa}-? They do not journey haphazard, for the
familiar inhabitants of our door>-ard Marten boxes will return next year to these same boxes,
though meanwhile thay have visited Brazil. If the entire distance were made overland, it
might be supposed that sight and memon,- were the only faculties exercised. But for those
birds that cross the Gulf of Mexico, something more than sight is necessary. Among day
migrants sight probably is the principal guide, but it is noticeable that these seldom make
the long single flights so common with night migrants.

Sight undoubtedly does play a part in guiding the night journeys also. On clear nights,
especially when the moon shines brightly, migrating birds fly high and the ear can scarcely
distinguish their faint twitterings; if clouds overspread the heavens, the flocks pass nearer
the earth and their notes are much more audible, and on very dark nights the flutter of
vibrant wings may be heard but a few feet overhead. Nevertheless, something besides sight
guides these travelers in the upper air. In Alaska a few years ago members of the Biological
Survey on the Harriman expedition went b}' steamer from the island of Unalaska to Bogoslof
Island, a distance of about 60 miles. A dense fog shut out every object beyond a hundred
yards. When the steamer was halfway across, flocks of Murres, returning to Bogoslof after
long quests for food, began to break through the fog-wall astern, fly parallel with the vessel,
and disappear in the mists ahead. By chart and compass the ship was heading straight
for the island, but its course was no more exact than that taken by the birds. The power
which carried them unerringly home over the ocean wastes, whatever its nature, may be called
a sense of direction. We recognize in ourselves the possession of some such sense, though
imperfect and frequently at fault. Doubtless a similar but vastly more acute sense enables
the Murres, flying from home and circling wide over the water, to keep in mind the direction
of their nests and return to them without the aid of sight.

But even the birds' sense of direction is not infallible. Reports from lighthouses in
southern Florida show that birds leave Cuba on cloudy nights, when they can not possibly
see the Florida shores, and safely reach their destination, provided no change occurs in the
weather. But at fickle equinoctial time many flocks starting out under auspicious skies find
themselves suddenly caught by a tempest. Buffeted by the wind and their sense of direction
lost, these birds fall easy victims to the lure of the lighthouse. Many are killed by the impact,
but many more settle on the framework or foundation until the storm ceases or the coming
of daylight allows them to recover their bearings.

A favorite theor>' of many American ornithologists is that coast lines, mountain chains,
and especially the courses of the larger rivers and their tributaries form well-marked highways
along which birds return to previous nesting sites. According to this theory, a bird breeding
in northern Indiana would in its fall migration pass down the nearest little rivulet or creek
to the Wabash River, thence to the Ohio, and reaching the IVlississippi would follow its
course to the Gulf of Mexico, and would use the same route reversed for the return trip
in the spring. The fact is that each county in the Central States contains nesting birds
which at the beginning of the fall migration scatter toward half the points of the
compass; indeed, it would be safe to say all the points of the compass, as some young

xvi BIRDS OF AMERICA

Herons preface their regular journey south with a little pleasure trip to the unexplored
north. In fall most of the migrant land birds breeding in New England move south-
west in a line approximately parallel with the Allegheny Mountains, but we can not
argue from this fact that the route is selected so that mountains will serve as a guide,
because at this very time thousands of birds reared in Indiana, Illinois, and to the north-
westward are crossing these mountains at right angles to visit South Carolina and Georgia.
This is shown specifically in the case of the Palm Warblers. They winter in the Gulf States
from Louisiana eastward and throughout the greater Antilles to Porto Rico; they nest in
Canada from the Mackenzie Valley to Newfoundland. To migrate according to the " lay
of the land," the Louisiana Palm Warblers should follow up the broad open highway of
the Mississippi River to its source and go thence to their breeding grounds, while the Warblers
of the Antilles should use the Allegheny Mountains as a guide. As a matter of fact, the
Louisiana birds nest in Labrador and those from the Antilles cut diagonally across the United
States to summer in central Canada. These two routes of Palm Warblers cross each other
in Georgia at approximately right angles. It is possible to trace the routes of the Palm
Warblers because those nesting to the east of Hudson Bay differ enough in color from those
nesting farther west to be readily distinguished even in their winter dress. It must always
be remembered, however, that from a common ancestry these two groups of Palm Warblers
came to differ in appearance because they gradually evolved differences in breeding grounds
and in migration routes and not that they chose different routes because they were sub-
specifically different.

The truth seems to be that birds pay little attention to natural physical highways except
when large bodies of water force them to deviate from the desired course. Food is the
principal factor in determining migration routes, and in general the course between summer
and winter homes is as straight as the birds can find and still have an abundance of food
at each stopping place.

It is interesting to note the relation between migration and molting. Most birds care
for their young until old enough to look out for themselves, then molt, and when the new
feathers are grown start on their southward journey in their new suits of clothes. But
the birds that nest beyond the Arctic Circle have too short a summer to permit such leisurely
movements. They begin their migration as soon as possible after the young are out of the
nest and molt en route. Indeed, these Arctic breeders are so pressed for time that many
of them do their courting during the period of spring migration and arrive at the breeding
grounds already paired and ready for nest building, while many a Robin and Bluebird in
the middle Mississippi Valley has been in the neighborhood of the nesting site a full month
before it carries the first straw of construction.

Migration is a season full of peril for myriads of winged travelers, especially for those
that cross large bodies of water. Some of the water birds making long voyages can rest
on the waves if overtaken by storms, but for the luckless Warbler or Sparrow whose feathers
become water-soaked an ocean grave is inevitable. Nor are such accidents infrequent.
A few years ago on Lake Michigan a storm during spring migration forced to the waves
numerous victims, as evidenced by many subsequently drifting ashore. If such mortality
could occur on a lake less than loo miles wide, how much more likely even a greater disaster
attending a flight across the Gulf of Mexico. Such a catastrophe was once witnessed from
the deck of a vessel 30 miles off the mouth of the Mississippi River. Large numbers of
migrating birds, mostly Warblers, had accomplished nine-tenths of their long flight and
were nearing land, when caught by a " norther," with which most of them were unable
to contend, and falling into the Gulf they were drowned by hundreds.

During migration birds are peculiarly liable to destruction by striking high objects.
The Washington Monument, at the National Capital, has witnessed the death of many
little migrants; on a single morning in the spring of 1902 nearly 150 lifeless bodies were
strewn around its base.

BIRD MIGR^ATION xvii

"^ Even,- spring the lights of the Hghthouses along the coast lure to destruction myriads

of birds en route from their winter homes in the south to their summer nesting places in
the north. Every fall a still greater death toll is exacted when the return journey is made.
Lighthouses are scattered every few miles along the more than 3,000 miles of coast Hne,
but two lighthouses, Fowey Rocks and Sombrero Key, cause far more bird tragedies than
any others. The reason is twofold — their geographic position and the character of their
lights. Both lights are situated at the southern end of Florida, where countless thousands
of birds pass each year to and from Cuba; and both are lights of the first magnitude on
towers 100-140 feet high. Fowey Rocks has a fixed white light, the deadliest of all.
A flashing light frightens birds away and a red light is avoided by them as would be a danger
signal, but a steady white light looming out of the mist or darkness seems like a magnet
drawing the wanderers to destruction. Coming from any direction they veer around to the
leeward side and then flying against the wind strike the glass, or more often exhaust themselves
like moths fluttering in and out of the bewildering rays.

During the spring migration of 1903 two experienced ornithologists spent the entire
season on the coast of northwestern Florida, visiting every sort of bird haunt. They were
eminently successful in the long list of species identified, but their enumeration is still more
remarkable for what it does not contain. About 25 species of the smaller land birds of the
Eastern States were not seen, including a dozen common species. ■ Among these latter
were the Chat, the Redstart, and the Indigo Bunting, three species abundant throughout
the whole region to the northward. The explanation of their absence from the list seems
to be that these birds, on crossing the Gulf of Mexico, flew far inland before alighting and
thus passed over the observers. This would seem to disprove the popular belief that birds
under ordinary circumstances find the ocean flight excessively wearisome, and that after
laboring with tired pinions across the seemingly endless wastes they sink exhausted on reaching
terra firma. The truth seems to be that, endowed by nature with wonderful powers of
aerial locomotion, many birds under normal conditions not only cross the Gulf of Mexico
at its widest point but even pass without pause over the low swampy coastal plain to the
higher territon>^ beyond.

So Httle averse are birds to an ocean flight that many fly from eastern Texas to the
Gulf coast of southern Mexico, though this 400 miles of water journey hardly shortens the
distance of travel by an hour's flight. Thus birds avoid the hot, treeless plains and scant
provender of southern Texas by a direct flight from the moist insect-teeming forests of
northern Texas to a similar country in southern Mexico.

It may be well to consider the actual amount of energy expended by birds in their
migratory flights. Both the soaring and the sailing of birds show that they are proficient
in the use of several factors in the art of flying that have not yet been mastered either in
principle or practice by the most skillful of modern aviators. A Vulture or a Crane, after
a few preliminary wing beats, sets its wings and mounts in wide sweeping circles to a great
height, overcoming gravity with no exertion apparent to human vision even when assisted
by the most powerful telescopes. The Carolina Rail, or Sora, has small, short wings
apparently ill adapted to protracted flight, and ordinarily when forced to fly does so
reluctantly and alights as soon as possible. It flies with such awkwardness and apparently
becomes so quickly exhausted that at least one writer has been led to infer that most of its
migration must be made on foot; the facts are, however, that the Carolina Rail has one
of the longest migration routes of the whole Rail family and easily crosses the wide reaches
of the Caribbean Sea. The Hummingbird, smallest of all birds, crosses the Gulf of Mexico,
flying over 500 miles in a single night. As already noted, the Golden Plover flies from Nova
Scotia to South America, and in fair weather makes the whole distance of 2,400 miles without
a stop, probably requiring nearly if not quite 48 hours for the trip.

Here is an aerial machine that is far more economical of fuel — i. e., of energ},- — than
the best aeroplane yet invented. The to-and-fro motion of the bird's wing appears to be an

\'0I,. III. — .'

xviii BIRDS OF AMERICA

uneconomical way of applying power, since all the force required to bring the wing forward
for the beginning of the stroke is not only wasted, but more than wasted, as it largely increases
the air friction and retards the speed. On the other hand, the screw propeller of the aero-
plane has no lost motion. Yet less than 2 ounces of fuel in the shape of body fat suffice
to force the bird at a high rate of speed over that 2,400-mile course. A thousand-pound
aeroplane, if as economical of fuel, would consume in a 20-mile flight not the gallon of
gasoline required by the best machines but only a single pint.

The Canada Goose is typical of what may be called regular migration. This bird
fulfills the popular notion of bird migration, /. c, it moves northward in spring as soon as

ISOTHERM or 35° F
ISOCHRONAL MIGRATION LINES

Tnurtesy of U. S. Dept. of Agriculture
MIGRATION OF THE CANADA GOOSE
An example of migration keeping pace with the advance of spring

the loosening of winter's fetters offers open water and a possibility of food. It continues
its progress at the same rate as spring, appearing at its most northern breeding grounds
at the earliest possible moment. The isotherm of 35° F. seems to be the governing factor
in the rate of spring migration of the Canada Goose and the isotherm and the vanguard
of the Geese are close traveling companions throughout the entire route. Moreover, the
isochronal lines representing the position of the van at various times are approximately
east-and-west lines during the whole migration period. But this so-called regular migration
is performed by a very small percentage of species, the great majority choosing exactly
the opposite course — to remain in their winter homes until spring is far advanced and then
reach their breeding grounds by a migration much more rapid than the northward advance
of the season.

Much has been learned about bird migration in these latter days, but much yet remains
to be learned.

ORDER OF PERCHING BIRDS Concluded

Order Pas

FINCHES

suborder Osci}ics ; family Frijigillidcr

^HE Finches are the largest family of birds; there are about twelve hundred
species and subspecies scattered over the world except in Australia; about
two hundred are represented in the United States. They belong to the
larger division of singing birds. All have cone-shaped bills, nine feathers
in the hand section of the wing, and a sharp angle at the back of each foot.
The line of opening of the bill turns downward near the base, and in some
of the Finches the cutting edge of the lower bill is distinctly elevated about
the center, this raised portion forming a tooth. At the corners of the mouth
are bristles, sometimes indistinct liut usually quite easily seen. There are
always twelve feathers in the tail, l;)ut the shape varies. The nostrils are
high up, bare in some species and in others covered with bristles.
The plumage varies from almost plain to highly variegated. The coloring of the
Sparrows is adapted to their grassy, dusty habitats and the males and females are similar;,
while in the subdivision of Finches the males are chiefly bright-colored and the females
either duller or with a distinct plumage. Nests are generally placed on the ground or in
bushes or in low trees.

These birds are essentially seed-eaters, their strong bills being jjeculiarly adapted to
this kind of food. They do, of course, eat insects also. Because of this indifiference to
animal food the Finches are less migratory than most birds.

Year by year the usefulness of this family is more and more appreciated by humans.
They lay the farmer under a heavy debt of gratitude by their food habits, since their chosen
fare consists largely of the seeds of weeds. Some idea of the money value of this group
of birds to the country may be gained from the statement that the total value of the farm
products in the United States in iqio reached the sum of $8, g26, 000,000 If we estimate
that the total consumption of weed seed by the combined members of this family resulted
in a saving of only one per cent of the crops — not a violent assumption — the sum saved
to farmers by these birds in igio was $89,260,000.

Their work begins before the seeds are ripe and continues throughout fall and winter
and even far into spring. The Sparrows that breed on the farm have to content them-
selves early in the spring with seeds left from the preceding year. During August the seed-
eating of Sparrows is sufficiently noticeable to attract the attention of even a casual observer;
for by this time great stores of weed seed have ripened and the young Sparrows, which have
lieen exclusively insectivorous, are ready to take vegetable food. From autumn to spring
evidence of the seed-eating habits of Sparrows is so plain that he who runs may read ; the lively
flocks diving here and there among the brown weeds to feed are familiar adjuncts of every
roadside, fence row, and field. A person visiting one of the weed patches in the agricultural
region of the upper Mississipjji valley on a sunny morning in January, when the thermometer
is 20 or more below zero, will be struck by the life and animation of the busy little inhabitants.
Instead of sitting forlorn and half frozen, they may be seen flitting from branch to branch,
twittering and fluttering, and showing every evidence of enjoyment and perfect comfort.
If one of them is shot, it will be found in excellent condition — in fact, a veritable ball of fat.
The most serious charge that can be brought against members of the Finch family
is that they distribute noxious plants, the seeds of which pass through their stomachs and
germinate when voided from the body. However, it seems likely that this agency of seed-
ing down farms to weeds is infinitesimal when compared with the dispersion of weeds caused

[I]

2 BIRDS OF AMERICA

by the use of manure containing weed seed and the planting of impure seed, which often
contains seeds of foreign weeds of the worst stamp. Birds take seeds for food and it seems
probable that such use would preclude the evacuation of any but a most insignificant propor-
tion of uninjured seeds.

Four vernacular names have been applied to this group : Buntings, Grosbeaks, Sparrows,
and Finches. "Bunting " means plump, or dumpy, or rounded out, as a sail is filled with the
wind, and its application to this family refers to the stocky little bodies of its members. "Gros-
beak" has reference to their short, thick bills, but is not altogether appropriate as there are
birds in other families with this characteristic. "Sparrow" literally means " fiutterer " and
has come to us from the Anglo-Saxon spearwa, through the mediaeval English sparwe, sparewe,
and sparowc. "Finch" is also of Anglo-Saxon origin, but its literal meaning has been lost.
Robert Ridgway considers it the most appropriate of the popular names for this family in
America; he says (manuscript) that in a strict sense the term "Sparrow" pertains to the
species Passer only, represented in America only by the introduced House Sparrow, or so-
called English Sparrow, and in this restricted sense we have no native American true
Sparrows; on the other hand there are many true Finches in America.

EVENING GROSBEAK

Hesperiphona vespertina vespertina ( W . Cooper)

A. O. U. Ni

514 See Color Plate 79

Other Names.— Sugar Bird ; American Hawfinch.

General Description. — Length, S'i inches. Males,
yellowisli and black: female, gray and black. Bill,
heavy : legs, short ; tail, short and slightly emarginate ;
wings, nearly twice the length of tail and pointed.

Color. — Adult Male: Forehead and stripe over the
eye. yellow: erozs.<n, black: rest of head with neck and
upper back, plain olive, lighter and more yellowish olive
on throat, changing gradually to clear lemon-yellow on
shoulders and rump and to lighter yellow on posterior
under parts, the longer under tail-coverts sometimes
partly white; upper tail-eoverts. tail, and icings black:
inner zcing quills, white or pale grayish ; bill, light olive-
yellowish or pale yellowish green ; iris, brown. Adult
Female : Above, plain deep smoke-gray, the head
darker, the rump paler ; the hindneck tinged with yellow-
ish olive-green ; throat, abdomen, and under tail-coverts
white: rest of under parts, light bufify-grayish usually
tinged with yellow, especially on sides of chest ; wings.

dull black with iimermost greater coverts largely dull
white, inner wing quills largely light gray ; the pri-
maries edged with white and pale gray, all except the
three outermost quills white at base, forming a distinct
patch; unper tail-coverts black with large terminal spots
of pale bufify-grayish and white; tail, black with inner
webs of feathers broadly white at tips.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Usually placed in the top of
a conifer from 15 to 50 feet up; sometimes in other
trees; a saucer-shaped affair of small twigs, grass, root-
lets, bark strips, lined with fine rootlets or horse-
hair. Eggs : 3 or 4. clear green blotched with pale
brown.

Distribution. — Interior districts of North America
east of Rocky Mountains; north (in winter) to the
-Saskatchewan ; south, in winter, irregularly, to Kansas,
Iowa, Illinois. Kentucky, Ohio, etc. ; eastward, irregu-
larly and in winter only, to Ontario, New York, and
New England. Breeds in western Canada.

The Hawfinch of England has lived in a popu-
lous land and among a people appreciative of the
beauty of a beautiful bird. The American rela-
tive of the Hawfinch, nesting far out in the less
accessible foothills of Alberta and up in the
Canadian Rockies, has failed to meet with the
poetical disposition and the friendship that be-
long to the admirers of the Hawfinch. The
Evening Grosbeak is in reality a stranger to
civilization except in the newer West, and this
newer West is a stranger to him. In the winter
there may be seen in the northwestern States
scattered flocks of these Grosbeaks strikingly

marked in their yellow and black. When cer-
tain seeds are scarce they will drift on into the
eastern States in the middle of winter, reaching
New England and the Maritime Provinces. But
these years are not often.

During the early months of igi6 the presence
of these birds in the East excited an unusual in-
terest. The first record of the Evening Grosbeak
in New York city was during the 191 1 migration.
The ornithological magazines and daily papers
had many letters on the observations made of the
1916 migration. Sara Chandler Eastman gave
the following interesting and informing record

FINCHES

to Bird-Lore: " The first record of the Evening
Grt)sheak at Portland. Maine, was made early in
Februarv. when a large flock settled in a moun-
tain-ash on private grounds in the western part
of the city. Throughout the months of Febru-
ary and April flocks in varying numbers were
observed in different sections of the city. aii<l the
birds remained until the eleventh of May. none
being seen, so far as known, after that dale."'
The birds were seen both in low jiine trees and
on the ground. She added that " the males were
in beautiful plumage, and it was a rare treat to
see them, one's pleasure being greatly enhanced
by their fearlessness, as they would permit a close
approach without taking flight." Their c;dl is
short and cheerv. and has been called by Mrs.
Hailev. " wild and free."

Down from western Canada through the moun-
tains all the way to Mexico is a variety called
the \\'estern Evening Grosbeak [ Hcs/^cripliona
z'cspcrtiiia iitoiitaiia). They breed in the ca-
nons in Arizona and are found not uiicumnKinly
near water throughout the southwestern moun-
tain country. In many of the tnwns of the
Pacific northwest they are fairly common winter
birds in the street maples and in the parks and
woodsides. Mrs. Bailey writes interestingly of
their protective coloration. " While watching
the birds on Mt. Shasta one day, I was struck
by the conspicuousness of one that flew across
an open space. As it lit on a dead stub whose
silvery branches were touched with yellow lichen,
to my amazement it simply vanished."

L. Nelson Nichols.

(Jn his winter visits, the Evening Grosbeak
may be found feeding on the buds or seeds of
trees. The maple, elder, box-elder, and ash, each
give their quota to him. The fruit of the sumac
also attracts him. But none of these is valued
as highlv by him as are the various frozen or
dried fruits on vines and trees ; of all food his

by R. I. BrasliLT
EVENING GROSBEAK

preference is for apple seeds taken from frozen
apjjles. A Michigan bird student reports that
several of these birds whicli he kept in captivity
for nearly two years refused to eat any kind of
grain except a few oats and that only when hard
pressed. Insects of any kind that could be se-
cured thev absolutelv refused to touch.

PINE GROSBEAK
Pinicola enucleator leucura {Miillcr)

:\. n. U. Number 515 See Color Plate 76

Other Names. — .American Pine Grosbeak; Canadian
Pine Grnshe.'ik; Canadian Grosbeak; Pine Bullfinch.

General Description. — Length, 9 inches. Male, pale
red and gray ; female, gray and yellowish. Bill, short,
broad, and thick; wings, long and pointed: tail, long
and eniarginated ; feet, small.

Color. — ."XriuLT M.m.e: General color of head, neck,
and under parts (except abdomen, flanks, anal region,
and under tail-coverts), rather light poppy-red (in
sunnner) or dull pinkish red (in winter), the feathers
grayish beneath the surface, this exposed in places,
especially on chest; nasal tufts and part of lores and eye
region, dusky; abdomen and upper portion of sides
and flanks, rather light dull ash-gray or smoke-gray ;

under tail-coverts, similar but in part darker, broadly
margined with white ; the space between the shoulders,
dusky, broadly margined with red ; shoulders, dark
grayish, margined with paler gray ; rump, superficially,
red ; upper tail-coverts, broadly margined with red :
wings, ciull slate-dusky, most of the feathers edged
with light grayish and white (the edgings broader and
decidedly white on the inner quills), the greater and
middle coverts broadly tipped with white, forming two
conspicuous bands, which are sometimes, especially the
anterior one, tinged with red ; tail, slate-dusky edged
with grayish (sometimes tinged with red), .^dult
Female: General color, plain smoke-gray, the crown
and rump and part of upper tail-coverts, bright yellow-

BIRDS OF AMERICA

ish olive, tawny-olive, or russet, the back and anterior
under parts, especially chest, sometimes tinged with the
same; otherwise like adult males.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Usually in conifers; con-
structed with foundation and outside walls of twigs
and rootlets enclosing a well woven "inner" nest of
finer twigs, grasses, and bark strips. Eccs : 4, pale
greenish-blue, spotted and blotched with dark umber-
brown and lavender.

Distribution. — Northeastern North America, breed-
ing from Cape P5reton Island, southern Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick, Maine, New Hampshire, Province of
Quebec, etc., north to limit of coniferous forests; south
in winter to southern New England, New York, north-
ern New Jersey, Pennsylvania, northern parts of Ohio,
Indiana, and Illinois. Iowa. etc.. casually to District of
Columbia. Kentucky, and Kansas ; west tn eastern
Kansas. Minnesota. Manitoba, etc.

Some cold bright winter morning when first
we step out into the frost, we hear a pleasing
mellow whistle, and see several birds resembling
Robins glide up into the apple tree or the clump
of spruces in the front yard. Investigation re-

imply that the spruces in the northern forests
are not bearing the normal crop of cones, and
that this is one of the seasons, occurring only
about once every half dozen years or so, when
there will be a notable influx into the United

Drawing by R, I

A bird that lo

PINE GROSBEAK I ! nat. size)
; the great pine forests of Canada and the United States

veals that there are about a dozen of them, mov-
ing about in rather a sedate and deliberate
manner. Several are on the ground, the rest
scattered about in the nearby trees, perhaps bit-
ing into frozen apples, or at work on the ever-
green cones ; in either case trying to get at the
seeds encased within. Most of them are dark
gray, but one or two look pinkish in the morn-
ing sunshine. A rather rare treat is ours, a visit
from those nomads of the cold North, the Pine
Grosbeaks.

The sight is of some significance. It may

States of Canadian winter birds. Probably the
Crossbills and Redpolls will also be seen, with
the accompanying flight of the fierce Goshawks,
which prey ujjon them, also the Northern Shrike,
and other northern birds. There is an added in-
centive now for winter otitings, which will pay
dividends in health and vigor through getting
away from poorly ventilated indoors. Somehow
there is a peculiar charm about these birds from
the northern wilds which make no account of the
fierce cold.

During one such winter some friends of mine

FINCHES

discovered a Pine (irosbeak by a roadside unable
to fly. owing to a slight injury to the wing, and
took it home. The wing soon healed, and the
bird, a young male, became very tame. Fre-
quently it was released from the cage and would
fly about the room, alighting on the persons of its
benefactors to eat seeds, crumbs, or tender leaves
such as lettuce. In spring it had a pretty warbled
song. I saw it in late summer when it was
molting and had lost most of its tail-feathers.

One year a flock of these interesting birds
visited my garden daily from the middle of Janu-
ary to early March. They devoted themselves
mostly to the maple seeds on the ground under
those trees. I swept off the snow for them, and
thus secured their daily return. It was most
entertaining to watch them twirl the winged
seeds in their bills and bite out the kernels. They
are also partial to sumac, mountain ash. or other
trees which bear and hold berries, and are not
above eating some buds, of which surely there
are enough.

In common with the Crossbills this species is
said to breed very early, even when there i
snow, but like them also it is probably irregular
in this respect, as nests have been found in sum-
mer. Herbert K. Job.

In western North America are several varieties
of the Pine Grosbeak. The Rocky Mountain
Pine Grosbeak [Pinicola ciiiiclcalor inoiitana )
lives in the Rocky Mountains from west central
Alberta, Idaho, and Montana to northern New
Mexico. The California Pine Grosbeak {Pini-
cola cnnclcator calif ornica) breeds in the central
Sierra Nevadas. in California. The Alaska Pine
Grosbeak (Pnticola oiitclditor ahiscriisis ) lirceds

from northwestern Alaska and northwestern
Alackenzie to northern Washington and winters
south to eastern British Columbia and Montana.
The Kodiak Pine Grosbeak (Pinicola cnnclcator
flauiinitla) is a bird of southern Alaska coming
south in winter along the coast to British Co-
lumbia. The differences between these western
forms and between them and the comnmn Pine
Grosbeak are trifling — a little larger or a little
smaller in size, a shade darker or a shade lighter
in coloration.

Phnto by H. K. Jub

I Uuting Pub. Co.

PINE GROSBEAK
In Mr. Job's garden

The economic status of the Pine Grosbeaks is
as nearly neutral as that of any bird could be
They do no particular good beyond the possible
distribution of seeds of valuable trees and, on the
other hand, the few buds they eat from the ever-
green and shade trees do not amount to much.
Most of their food consists of buds from pine,
spruce, and tamarack trees, the berries of the
Mrginia juniper and the mountain ash, and the
seeds of the maples.

PURPLE FINCH

Carpodacus purpureas purpureas (Ginclin)

A. O. U. Number =;i7 .See Color Plate 7f.

Other Names. — Purple Linnet ; I'lirple Grll^l>ea^; ;
Red Linnet; Gray Linnet (immature and female).

General Description. — Length, 6;<j inches. Male,
pinkisli-purple and brown ; female, olive-grayish above,
and white below, conspicuously streaked above and
below. Bill, shorter than head, conical, and thick ;
tail, about ^i length of wing, deeply einarginate.

Color. — Adult Male: Crown, deep wine-purple
(more crimson in summer) ; rump, jialer. more pinkish
wine-purple: back and shoulders, reddish-brown or

wine-purplish, streaked with darker: wings and tail,
dusky with light brownish-red or light brown edgings,
the middle and greater coverts, broadly tipped with dull
wine-purple or light brownish-red : eye and ear regions
dusky brownish-red; rest of head, together with front
and lateral under parts, pinkish wine-purple; abdomen,
anal region, and under tail-coverts, white ; flanks
usually streaked with brown, and longer under tail-
coverts rarely marked with narrow streaks of dusky.
Adult Fem.^le: Above, olive or olive-grayish (more

6

BIRDS OF AMERICA

olivaceous in winter), streaked with dusky and, to a
less extent, with whitish; wings and tail, dusky with
light olive or olive-grayish edgings; a hroad stripe of
olive on side of head, and a more broken stripe or
patch of the same on sides of throat; ear and cheek
regions, mostly whitish, streaked with olive ; under
parts, white (tinged with buff in winter) broadly
streaked with olive, except on abdomen, anal region,
and under tail-coverts, the streaks distinctly wedge-
shaped or triangular.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Usually placed in conifers;

a frail open-work structure of grass, rootlets, bark
strips, vegetable fibers, thickly lined with hair ;
resembles a Chipping Sparrow's nest, but larger. Eggs :
4 to 6, dull greenish-blue spotted with shades of brown,
black, and lilac.

Distribution. — Eastern North America; breeding
from Pennsylvania (especially in mountains), northern
New Jersey, Connecticut, southern Ontario, northern
Illinois, Minnesota, and North Dakota, north to more
eastern British provinces, Hudson Bay, Manitoba ; in
winter south to Gulf coast.

The haunts of the Purple Finch are the low
green forests, not the denser portions, but rather
the open woods and swamps wliere firs and
cedars are nunierous. He is one of the con-

C'lurtesy of Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.
PORPLE FINCH C. nat. size)
From the top of a balsam or a spruce he delivers his song

spicuous birds of such a neighborhood. From the
top of a balsam or a spruce he delivers his song
— a rapid, easily flowing, melodious warble, re-
sembling in a measure that of the Warbling Virco
but more variable in character. Sometimes when
overcome with emotion he launches into the air
with vibrating wings, rising upward and upward,
melody pouring from his throat like a torrent
down a mountain side, until he has reached an
altitude of two or three hundred feet, when with
outstretched wings he descends in wide circles

to the summit of the very tree from which he
started. Occasionally this impassioned outbreak
comes with such suddenness as to startle anyone
who may be nearby.

Often he may be seen dancing about a female
on the limbs of a tree or on the ground. His
wings will be fully extended and quivering, his
crest standing as high as possible, his tail spread,
and the bright feathers of the rump raised in the
air. During this performance he gives voice
softly and sweetly to his melodious warble. Pres-
ently, apparently overcome by his emotion, he
closes his wings and flies to a neighboring tree —
but in a short time he repeats his antics.

In addition to his song, he has a sharp call-
note, pip, uttered while flying, and another,
chip dice, used when feeding. The immature
males, which look like the females, sing almost
as well as the full-plumaged males. Several ob-
servers have stated that the female sings, but not
as sweetly as the male.

In western North America we find in the val-
leys the California Purple Finch (Carpodacus
piirpiirciis califoniiciis) and on the mountain
slopes Cassin's Purple Finch ( Carpodacus cas-
stni). The California Purple Finch is about the
same size as the eastern bird, but the red is bright
rosy instead of wine color. The Cassin's Finch
is similar to the California but duller in colora-
tion and he is larger by about an inch.

The scientific name given to this group of
birds is very expressive of a bad habit indulged
in by them. Carpodacus is from the Greek, and
translated into English means " fruit-biting."
When the trees are budding they do consider-
able harm in the peach and cherry orchards by
eating the buds. Later they have been found
feeding on green- cherries. In the winter any
seed-bearing tree will furnish them with a meal.
Though they habitually feed in trees, they often
destroy the seeds of noxious weeds. A bird of
this species was watched with a glass while
feeding in a thicket of giant ragwood. In three
minutes he ate fifteen seeds.

FINCHES

HOUSE FINCH

Carpodacus mexicanus frontalis (.S"(7r)

Other Names. — Crimson-frontctl Finch ; Red-headed
Linnet : Linnet : Burion ; Red-liead.

General Description. — Length. 5'.. inches. L^pper
parts, brownish-gray : under parts, white streaked with
brown. Bill, shorter than head, conical, and thick;
tail, about -54 length of wing, nearly even.

Color. — Adult Male: Forehead (broadly), broad
stripe above the ear (e.xtending from forehead to back
of head), check region, throat (sometimes upper part of
chest also), and rump, bright red; rest of upper parts,
hair-brown tinged with red ; the wings and tail, dusky
with pale grayish brown and brownish gray edgings ;
under parts ( e.xcept throat, etc.) dull u'hitish. thickly
streaked %cith hair-brown, the breast sometimes tinged
with pale red ; bill, dark horn-brownish ; iris, brown.
Adl'lt Fem.\le: Similar to the adult male, but without
any red, that of the upper parts replaced by the general

hair-hrown, that of throat, etc., by streaks of white and
.grayish brown, like rest of inider parts.

Nest and Eggs. — Xest : Usually about houses,
but located anywhere in trees, bushes, sagebrush, hay
stacks, old boxes, tin cans, but always near water; care-
lessly or compactly constructed of any handy material,
grass, string, paper, rags, straw, bark strips, or plant
fibers. Eggs : 3 to 6, bluish white or pale greenish blue,
sparingly marked with spots and lines of sepia or black;
rarely unmarked.

Distribution. — Western Lhiited States and northern
Mexico; north to southern Wyoming, southern Idaho,
and Oregon ; south to Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, north-
ern Chihuahua, northern Sonora, and northern Lower
California; east to western border of the Great Plains
( middle Texas to western Kansas and southeastern
Wyoming).

The House Finch or Red-headed T.innet
through many parts of the West is the com-
monest bird about the dooryard. It is even more
abundant and more familiar than the Robin
through the northern .States. It is especially fond
of nesting in vines about the porch, a cypress
hedge, or any favorable place not far from the
house. The bird is so familiar and alnmdant
through parts of California and it has such a
strong taste for the fruits ])lantcd by man, that
Red-head and his wife are often regarded as a
nuisance. However, if a person is willing to trade
his cherries, fio-s. and other fruit for bright bird

nuisic and companionslii]), the Linnet is willing
to give full value for all the fruit he takes.

While studying birds at Tucson, .\rizona, in
the spring of 1910, we fotmd the House Finch
one of the commonest residents. W^e tised to
watch a pair daily through the \'irginia creeper
that shaded our porch and window. There were
the remains of two old nests, one at the corner
of the porch and one in front of the window.

One morning early, we saw the male and
female looking at the nest bv the window. He
of the Red-head turned ardund and around on
the remains of the old nest ;is if saving, " Come

HOUSE FINCH
raaoy places he is regarded i

BIRDS OF AMERICA

on ; we can fix this up. We can add a little to it
and have a modern house." But this did not
suit the lady, for she turned and flew away in
disgust and he followed. Yet in a little while,
they were back again discussing the same ques-
tion. We saw the wife take hold of one of the
old strings as if she thought it might be a good
idea to use it in the new home. At least, it
would save a little hunting. And, indeed, that
is just what they did. They built a new nest
about six feet away. Occasionally when they got
tired of hunting straws and strings for the new
house, they pulled a little out of the old nest
until the last straw was used.

Out in San Clemente Island off the southern
coast of California, we found House Finches
were very numerous about the sheep camp.
There were no trees in which they could nest, so
their homes were found in every odd corner
about the sheds. I counted about forty nests,
some old, and many new ones containing eggs.
The door of the blacksmith shop was tied open
and in behind this I found a nest wedged and
resting on an inch strij). A House Finch was
sitting on five eggs. Had the door been untied,
the nest would have fallen to the ground. I
found another nest in an old can that was hung
against the wall. On nearly every beam and
bracket in the sheep sheds, was a Linnet's home.
Some of these, I could see, had been used over
and over again, the bird, of course, remodeling
or building a little on the old home. The birds
used the material closest at hand. Many of the
nests were made of wool that had been thrown
about on the floor. The only fruit about the
island was that of the cactus and this seemed to
satisfy the Linnets. Whenever a sheep was
killed and the Mexicans hung the fresh meat out
in the open, the Linnets took their share. I saw
where all the meat had been picked from several
bones that were hanging up.

WlLLIA.M L. FiNLE'i'.

There are several varieties of the House Finch
south of the United States and Mexican border.
North of the boundary is one local form, the
San Clemente House Finch ( Carpodacus mexi-
canits dementis) found in the Santa Barbara
Islands, California, and darker in coloration than
the House Finch.

Observations in orchards show that in the fruit
season, the House Finch is not backward in tak-
ing what it considers its share of the crop, and
as it spends much of its time there, field obser-
vations alone would lead to the conclusion that
fruit was its principal article of diet.

Examination of stomach contents proves that
such is not the case, and when we find how small
is the relative percentage of fruit eaten, it seems
strange that its fruit-eating proclivities should
have attracted so much attention. But it must
be borne in mind that the bird is wonderfully
abundant, which is a primary condition under
which any species may become injurious. More-
over, it must be noted that not all of the fruit
destroyed is eaten. Only one peck from the
strong bill is necessary to break the skin of the
pear, peach, or cherry, and the fruit is spoiled :
the House Finch by no means invariably visits
the same individual fruit a second time to finish
it, but often attacks a fresh one at each meal.
This is proved by the large number of half-eaten
fruits, either on the tree or on the ground be-
neath.

While the strong, conical beak of the House
Finch is a very effective instrument in attacking
fruit, this is evidently not the use for which
nature primarily designed it. Hard-billed birds
are supposed to feed on seeds and that this
species is no exception has been proved by ex-
aminations of contents of over 1200 stomachs.
Seeds of plants, mostly those of noxious weeds,
constitute about seven-eighths of its food for
the vear and in some months amount to much
more.

CROSSBILL

Loxia curvirostra minor {Brclun)

A, O. U. Number 5.;i

Other Names. — American Crossbill ; Red Crossbill ;
Common Crossbill.

General Description. — Length, 6 inches. Male, dull
red : female, grayish-olive. Bill, with the tips crossed
in adults ; wings, long and pointed ; tail, short, narrow,
and deeply forked.

See Color Plate 77

Color. — Adult Male: General color, dull red (vary-
ing from dull brownish scarlet or almost orange-
chrome in summer to a hue approaching dragon's blood
red in winter), the red brightest on rump, dullest on
back and shoulders, where the feathers have dusky
brownish centers; middle of abdomen, light grayish;

Cou.t.-sy i.f ti... N.'

Plate 77

CROSSBILL /,"'/. f w, /;/,'-. ,'r,, nnn<'i
WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL Ij'ru, l,uri,,,l,Tn Ul
All j nat. size

FINCHES

bill, horn color, more dusky at tips ; iris, brown.
Adult Female: The red of the adult male replaced by
grayish-olive or olive-grayish overlaid with bright yel-
lowish olive or dull saffron-yellow, this brighter color
always evident on rump and sometimes prevalent over
under parts (except abdomen and under tail-coverts);
wings and tail, less dark, more grayish dusky. Young:
Wings and tail as in adult female ; upper parts, pale
grayish mi.xed or tinged with olive on back and
shoulders (sometimes almost white on head, neck, and
rump) everywhere broadly streaked witli dusky;
beneath, whitish, usually tinged with olive, conspicu-
ously streaked with dusky or dusky olive.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Placed, like the White-
winged Crossbill's, in conifers, usually within jo feet of

the ground; outside "wall" constructed of evergreen
twigs, shreds of bark, rootlets with a thick lining of
moss, leaves, grass, cottony fibers well felted together,
and generally some green bits of hemlock or cedar
tips. Eggs : 3 or 4, pale greenish, specked and spotted
with shades of brown and purplish gray.

Distribution. — Northern and eastern North America,
breeding in coniferous forest districts from southern
Alleghenies in northern Georgia (sporadically toward
coast in Maryland, Virginia, etc.), Michigan, etc., to
Nova Scotia, to Fort Anderson in the interior, and to
western Alaska, and southward through Pacific coast
district to western Oregon ; in winter irregularly south-
ward to South Carolina (vicinity of Charleston),
Lnuisiana, Nevada, etc. ; casuallv to the Bermudas.

The Crossbill is the only American bird with
the curious crossing of the bills. No group of
water birds or parrots or ducks or tropica! birds
of any kind have crossed bills. Only this one
genus of Lo.via in the Finch family is so pecul-
iarly fashioned. Because of this singular char-

formed " bill. The process consists in inserting
the closed bill into the side of the cone, and then
opening the mandibles with a movement which
tears out the scales and thus leaves exposed the
seeds at their bases. These seeds are then
seized by the peculiarly shaped, scoop-like tongue.

- "^^^

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

CROSSBILL (1 nat. size)
Don't pity this bird because of his crossed bill; it 's exactly what he needs

acteristic, they are among the most interesting
birds in the American avifauna.

All-wise man has been known to point to the
Crossbill as one of the " blunders " of Nature,
and to sympathize with the poor creature thus
" deformed." If such an observer had taken the
pains to do a little real observing, he would have
discovered that the crossed hills are really a
special and very clever adaptation to the bird's
feeding habits. For an important part of the
Crossbill's diet consists of pine-cone seeds, and
these it rcadilv obtains bv means of its " de-

By this operation the bird will cut an apple to
pieces in a few seconds to get at the seeds. The
mandibles are operated by muscles so powerful
that the bird will splinter solid wood with them ;
and they can be closed tightly enough to hold
the smallest seed.

Many of the careful bird observers of the
northern States have never seen a Crossbill.
This is largely a matter of accident, the bird
student not happening to be at the same place as
the bird, whose wandering habits are very un-
certain. No one can expect to go into any piece

10

BIRDS OF AMERICA

of cone-bearing forest and find Crossbills ; there
may not be a Crossbill within a hundred miles.

Some observations have been made south of
Canada in the summer time in most unexpected
localities, but it is from November to March that
flocks of from a few dozen to a few hundred
roam about from forest to forest, and occa-
sionally fly about towns where coniferous trees
are scattered or where small frozen apples and
hard rose seeds tempt the birds to a side dish.
Dr. Merrill reports them as common at Fort
Sherman, Idaho, where they can be seen every
month of the year and are as tame as English
Sparrows. But in the east the eccentric wander-
ings of the flocks have made their visitations
events of importance to bird observers.

Their kimp-kimp or pip-pip, somewhat like a
chicken peeping, is the conversational chatter that
can be heard while a few dozen birds are break-
ing up the cones far up in the trees. The song,
given only during the breeding season, is said
by Gerald Thayer to be " a series of somewhat
goldfinch-like trills and whistles."

Alfred Newton in his Dictionary of Birds says
of the process of feeding on cone seeds : " For-
tunately the birds soon become tame in confine-
ment, and a little patience will enable an atten-
tive observer to satisfy himself as to the process,
the result of which at first seems almost as un-
accountable as that of a clever conjuring trick."

European Crossbills have been imported into
America, but it is not known if the stock has
continued. The largest of the Crossbills is the
Mexican Crossbill ( Toxia curvirostra sfrick-
landi) whose northern area extends up into
the higher mountains of Arizona and New
Mexico. These birds are about an inch longer
than the eastern variety. After the breeding
season the Mexican variety comes down out of
the mountains. Dr. Mearns found them one
year among the most commonly seen birds of
Arizona, flying about at all times at the watering
places and springs.

The White-winged Crossbill (Loxia Icucop-
tcra) is similar in general appearance to the
American Crossbill but somewhat larger, the
red of the male rose-red or even crimson, and
the wings in both sexes, old and young, with
two conspicuous white bars. (See Color Plate
JJ.) It is less known than the other Crossbills,
and ranges a little farther north toward the
arctic seas. It seems to be somewhat less com-
mon than the Red Crossbill. The flocks seem a
little more active and shy, are apt to remain in
the tops of trees if food is plenty there, and fly
about calling their cheep, cheep loudly and less
sedately than the Red Crossbill. Many years
will sometimes elapse before numerous flocks
will be seen in the northern States in winter.
Then the conspicuous white wing-bars and the
rosy red males will make their appearance for
a few winter weeks. Toward spring its song
has sometimes been heard in the wandering
flocks. Elon H. Eaton says that it is " a beauti-
ful song, perhaps more melodious than that of
the Red Crossbill, a low, soft warbling, suggest-
ing somewhat the song of the Redpoll." Its
nidification is similar to the Common Crossbill's.
The eggs are light blue, spotted around the large
end with sepia, black, and lilac ; they number
three to five and are laid in the winter or early
spring when the ground is covered with snow.
L. Nelson Nichols.

The Crossbills are of little importance from an
economic standpoint. Very little is known of
their summer food ; they probably eat some in-
sects. On their winter visits to the United
States they show their fondness for the seeds of
the arbor vitse, tamarack, various spruces, firs,
and pines. The peculiar structure and strength
of their bills enable them to tear open the
strongest and toughest cones and extract the
seeds. Occasionally they injure an evergreen by
cutting the twigs or destroying the terminal
buds, but as a rule this damage does not amount
to much.

GRAY-CROWNED ROSY FINCH

Leucosticte tephrocotis tephrocotis Swainson

A. O. U. Number 5^4

Other Name. — Gray-crowned Leucosticte.

General Description. — Length, 7'4 inches. Body,
brown; crown, gray. Bill, shorter than head; wings,
long and pointed ; tail, about Vi length of wing, and
forked ; legs short. Generally found on the ground.

Color. — Adult Male in Summer: Forehead and
part of crown, black; nasal tufts, grayish white; sides
of crown (from above eyes backward) and whole of
back of head, plain light ash-gray, very strongly con-
trasted with the contiguous brown color of the ear

FINCHES

regions and hindneck ; whole side of head below eyes
(whole of ear and cheek regions), neck, back, shoulders,
and under parts, chestnut-brown, darker on throat,
lighter on back where indistinctly streaked with dusky;
feathers of ruinp and fianks. together with upper and
under tail-coverts, broadly and abruptly tipped with
pink ; the remaining portion of the feathers dusky,
especially on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; wings
and tail, dusky ; the lesser and middle coverts, broadly
tipped with pink; the greater coverts, primary coverts,
and part of wing quills edged with pink or light
scarlet, tail-feathers also with lighter edgings but with
less of pink; bill entirely l.ilack. Adult Male in
Winter: Similar to suninier male but shoulders and
space between with distinct edgings of lighter brown,
feathers of breast, etc., with narrow, pale margins; the
pink markings, especially on wings and flanks, of a

softer hue, and the bill yellowish with dusky tip.
Adult Fem.\le: Similar to adult male, with the same
seasonal dilTerences of color, but averaging paler and
duller.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In a rocky crevice at high
altitudes; constructed of grasses, weed stems, lined
with fine grass and a few feathers. Eggs : 3 to 5, pure
white, sharp pointed, with a peculiar fine shell tex-
ture.

Distribution. — Interior districts of North America;
breeding on higher parts (11,000-12,000 feet) of White
Mountains and Sierra Nevada, southeastern California,
and probably also northward ; during migration east to
western Nebraska, eastern Colorado, Manitoba, etc.;
south to Colorado, Utah, etc. ; west to Cascade and
Sierra Nevada ranges; north to plains of the Saskatch-
ewan (May).

Amid the snowbank, and glaciers of western
North America are found the Rosy I'^inches.
They are optimistic little creatures liviiiL; the
gospel of " come storm or sunshine all is well."
When it is cold and stormy they will seek out
some sheltered spot and quietly wait for better
weather. With the coming of the sun. out they
scatter again, ju.-t as happy as ever. Where the
vegetation is mostly moss and lichens and low-
stunted spruce and when the weather is like the
typical month of ]\Iarch these birds start their
house-keeping.

Hepburn's Rosy Finch (Lciicoslirtc tcpliro-
cotis littoralis) is similar to the < Irav-crdwned
but the gray of the crown extends down the sides
of the head ; in typical examples the entire
head except a black frontal patch and the throat
are light ash-gray. It nests above the timber-
line in Alaska and in winter comes south to
Nevada. Utah, and Colorado, and along the
Pacific coast to Kodiak, Sitka, and \'ancouver
Island.

The Black Rosy Finch ( Lciicostictc atrata)
breeds in the mountains of Idaho and winters in
Colorado and Utah. It is a little smaller than
the Grav-crowned with the same marking on the
head, but the bodv is brownish black.

The Brown-c:ipped Rosy Finch ( Lcucostictc
aitstralis) has no distinct or clear grayish mark-
ings on the head. It breeds above the timber-
line on the high mountains of Colorado, descend-
ing to the valleys and plains and south to New
Mexico in the winter.

The food of the Rosy Finches is mainly in-
sects and seeds which have been blown to the
mountain heights by the storms. They hunt for
the chilled insects and the seeds along the edge
of the melting snows and they may be seen with
their feathers fluffed, their faces turned toward
the wind, busily hopping about and picking up
then- food, all the time cheerily chattering. Occa-
sionally one will take shelter behind a stone or
lump of snow and warm his toes against his
warm little bodv.

REDPOLL

Acanthis linaria linaria ( Liniunis)

A II I', Xumht-r sj8 ."-le Color Plate 78

Other Names.— Redpoll Linnet; Common Redpoll;
Linnet; Lintie; Lesser Redpoll: Little Redpoll; Little
Meatlowlark.

General Description. — Length, 5'< inches. Upper
parts, grayish-brown streaked with dusky ; under parts,
white and pink or buff: red cap. Rill, small, conical,
and acute ; wings, long and pointed ; tail, long and deeply
forked.

Color. — Adult Male in Breeding Dress: Forehead
(narrowly), dusky: rr.^oi, hrii/ht /'i'/'/>.v-''i'(' ; general

color of remaining upper parts, dark grayish-brown or
sepia, indistinctly streaked with darker and with
grayish-white ; rump, mixed pink and grayish-white,
broadly streaked with dusky ; upper tail-coverts, grayish-
brown edged with paler ; wings and tail, dusky grayish
brown ; the middle and greater wing-coverts, narrowly
tipped with .grayish-white ; chin and upper portion of
throat, dusky; checks. Imvcr throat, chest, and sides of
breast, deep peach-blossom pink: rest of under parts,
white, the sides, flanks, and under tail-coverts broadly

12

BIRDS OF AMERICA

streaked with dusky. Adult Male in Winter Plum-
age: Much Hghter colored than in summer, the pre-
vaiHng color of back, shoulders, and hind neck, light
buffy grayish-brown, distinctly streaked with dusky; the
pink of chest, etc.. paler (rose pink). Adult Female:
Similar to the male, but without any pink or red on the
under parts, the portions so colored on the male being
pale bufTy or whitish ; the seasonal differences exactly
as in the adult male. Young : No red on crown, the
whole crown being broadly streaked with dusky and
pale grayish buffy; sides of throat, chest, and sides of
breast, buffy or dull buffy whitish, streaked with dusky.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Placed in trees or bushes ;
bulky, loosely made exteriorly of twigs and grasses,
warmly lined with feathers. Eggs: 2 to 5, pale bluish
green, speckled around large end with chestnut, burnt-
umber, and a few spots of black.

Distribution. — More northern portions of northern
hemisphere ; breeds southward to islands in Gulf of St.
Lawrence ; in winter south to more northern United
States generally, irregularly and more rarely to Vir-
ginia, northern Alabama, southern Ohio, southern
Indiana, Kansas, Colorado, southeastern Oregon, coast
of Washington, etc.; casual in Bermudas.

The home of tlie Redpoll is in the northland.
There he rears his family in a quiet business-like
wav. This accomplished he puts on his rosy
suit and sallies forth with the snow for a vaca-
tion. He joins others of his own kind and is
rarely found except in flocks of twenty to fifty,

and longer ; a conversational twitter, used when
several birds are feeding together ; and a ker-
ivect, very much like the long plaintive call of
the Goldfinch but dififerent in tone.

The Redpoll is very unsuspicious and often
allows a person to approach very closely without

Drawing by R. I. Brashe

REDPOLL Ci nat. size I

and sometimes there are 200 or 300. While on
this winter tour the Redpolls visit and mingle
with their cousins the Crossbills and the Gold-
finches.

When he is at home the Redpoll has little time
for singing — only indulging in a faint warbling
or twittering — but with the throwing off of
family responsibility he proves that he can sing
delightfully. His song is more melodious than
that of the Goldfinch ; it has the quality of the
Hveet call of the Goldfinch and is delivered in
the manner of the Goldfinch's warble. He also
has at least four distinct call-notes: a loud twit-
tering call, used when on the wing ; a long buzz,
not unlike one note of the Pine Siskin but thinner

taking alarm. Should one stand still near where
they are feeding they will come closer and closer
as they feed without a sign of fear.

The Greater Redpoll (Acanthis linarla ros-
trafa) is a resident of Greenland; in winter he
comes south through Canada to northern Illinois,
Alichigan, northern Indiana, southern New York
and Massachusetts. He looks like the Common
Redpoll but is of greater size and has a relatively
thicker and more obtuse bill. ( See Color Plate
-8.) J. Ellis Burdick.

Very often when the Crossbill visits us there
will be found in his company the Redpoll. After
the stronger bird has torn open the cones the

, New York State Mu

Plate 78

/fe/'r CU

Ctlli't IfH^rVr.

GOLDFINCH Axtraaalinu-*

FINCHES

13

otluT will pick out the seeds. He also attacks a large extent he feeds on the seeds of the
cones himself, especially those of the tamarack birches and alders. He also eats grass seeds and
and arbor vitje, but not always successfully. To weed seeds.

EUROPEAN GOLDFINCH
Carduelis carduelis (Lininnis)

Other Names. — Thistle Finch; Thistle Bird.

General Description. — Length, 5' S inches. Body,
brown; wings and tail, hlack ; red spot on head. Bill,
elongate, conical, and acute ; wings, long and pointed ;
tail, rather short and deeply notched.

Color. — Adults: Fore part of head, all round,
crimson ; lores, back part of crown, back of head and
neck, and bar from the latter halfway across side of
neck, black; rest of head, white tinged with brownish
buff; back, shoulders, and rump, plain brown; upper
tail-coverts, white ; wings and tail, mostly black ; greater
portion of greater coverts, basal portion of outermost
secondaries, and basal half or more of exposed portion
of outer webs of primaries, bright lemon-yellow ;
secondaries, primaries, and middle tail-feathers tipped
with white, the inner webs of side tail-feathers, also
partly white; sides of breast, sides, and flanks, plain
cinnamon-brown or wood-brown ; rest of under parts
white ; bill, whitish tinged with flesh color or lilac ;
iris, brown. Young: Wings and tail as in adults, but

the former with middle and greater coverts tipped with
pale brownish, forming two bands ; no red on head nor
black on head or neck; crown and back of neck light
grayish brown, mottled or streaked with darker ; the
back also streaked with dusky ; chin and throat, whitish,
the latter flecked with sooty brown ; the foreneck, chest,
and breast, mottled or spotted with the same.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : A handsome thick-walled
structure of vegetable down, moss, and fine grasses;
the few noted in this country indicate a preference for
conifer trees as a site. Ecgs : 4 to 6, more cominonly
5, pale greenish or bluish white, spotted with chestnut
around large end.

Distribution. — Europe in general, e.xcept extreme
northern portions ; south, in winter, to Palestine and
Egypt. Introduced into the northeastern United States
and naturalized in Cuba, in New York city and
vicinity, and Cincinnati, Ohio ; accidental (?) at New
Haven, Connecticut, near Boston, Worcester, etc.,
Massachusetts, Toronto, Ontario, etc.

The European Goldfinch is well known all over
Europe and has been introduced into America.
How many times and at what places the attempt
has been made to Americanize this favorite of
Europeans is uncertain. About 1872 it was in-
troduced at Cincinnati, in 1878 at Hoboken,
about 1880 in eastern Massachusetts, and in 1886
in Cuba. There may have been more importa-
tions. For a few years these beatitiful birds
were seen in the vicinity of New York city. In
1900 they were seen at nest building in Central
Park. Dr. Chapman saw two in Englewood. N.
J., in 191 1, but records are very rare. There
have been scattered observations in Massachu-
setts and Connecticut. In 1888 foiu' birds were

seen in Toronto and in 1891) one bird in Ithaca,
N. Y. A German who knew the bird as the
Distclfink (Thistle Finch) is confident that he
saw one in Chicago in iQii. .'\bout New York
city they had formerly been seen in flocks of
.American Goldfinches with which their manners
and customs matched perfectly. It would seem
that this cheery and attractive little bird is not to
become as common as the English Sparrow, and
" more's the pity." In Europe the Goldfinch has
been a favorite cage bird for centuries. So
many thousands were captured in Great Britain
alone that Parliament had to take action for the
protection of the bird. But it seems never to
have been as common again.

; Wild
Salad-

.\ (). U. Xi.

Other Names.— Yellow-bird ; Thistle Bird
Canary ; (_'atnip Bird ; Lettuce-bird ; .Shiner ;
bird ; Beet P>ird : .'\merican Goldfinch.

General Description. — Length. 5 inches. Male in
summer has the body lemon-yellow and the wings and
tail black ; male in winter and female at all seasons
have the upper parts olive-brownish and the under

GOLDFINCH

Astragalinus tristis tristis (Linnirus)

;ee Color Plates ;8, ;ci

parts grayish-white with the wings and tail blackish.
Rill, small, conical, and acute; wings, long and pointed;
tail, rather short and forked ; legs, short.

Color. — .'Kdult M.m.e in Summer: General color
pure lemon or canary-yellow ; the lores, forehead, and
crown, together with wings (except small coverts) and
tail, black; tail-coverts, middle (sometimes also lesser)

14

BIRDS OF AMERICA

wing-coverts, tips of greater coverts, and part of edges
of wings, white; bill, orange or orange-yellow tipped
with black; iris, brown. Adult Female in Summer:
Above, olive-brownish or grayish, sometimes tinged
with olive-greenish ; the wings and tail, blackish or
dusky marked with white or whitish, much as in the
male ; upper tail-coverts, pale grayish or grayish-white ;
under parts, dull grayish-white tinged with yellow,
especially in the front and on the sides, sometimes
entirely soiled yellow, except under tail-coverts. Adult
Male in Winter: Similar to the adult female but
wings and tail deeper black, with whitish markings
more conspicuous. Adult Female in Winter : Similar
to the summer female, but more lirownish. Young:
Somewhat like winter adults, but much browner, all
the wing-markings, pale cinnamon, the plumage gen-
erallv being suffused with this color.

Nest and Eggs.— Nest: Placed in forks of bush or
sapling, sometimes on the swaying stalk of a wild black-
berry, usually within 5 feet but sometimes 30 feet from
the ground ; a compact, artistic structure of felted
plant down, mosses, grass, leaves, bark strips, usually
lined with thistledown ; build later than any other birds,
from last week in June to second week' in September;
sometimes reconstruct old Blackbird or other nests, the
added material being principally a heavy lining of
down. Egos: 3 to 6, sets of 5 and 6 being common,
pale bluish white, unmarked.

Distribution. — United States and more southern
British provinces east of Rocky Mountains, north to
Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, southern Labrador, and
Newfoundland; breeding southward to the middle dis-
tricts of the United States ; wintering southward to
Gulf coast.

The Goldfinch is one of the most inter-
esting birds of American life. It is a bird the
most casual observer can enthtise over, and one

yoimg has brought forth many interesting com-
ments from the nature writers. Dr. Chapman
in liis Handbook says that " their love song is

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

GOLDFINCH (j nat. size)
A beautiful little fellow with jolly manners and a fine canary-like song

that the bird sttident will never tire raving about.
The male is such a bright yellow bird with black
wings and tail that he readily becomes known as
the Wild Canary in any community where he
is commonly seen. Then its habit of feeding
about where people go to and fro, scarcelv heed-
ing the inquisitive humans, has increased the
knowledge of the bird. But when the sun begins
to warm the earth and air, and summer is here,
the Goldfinch is then in his ecstasy. Swinging
through the air, its pcr-cliic-o-rcc, pcr-chic-o-
ree is as sweet in note as any caged Canary's.
The abandon and wild delight of the bird at this
season while most other birds are feeding their

delivered with an ecstasy and abandon which
carries them ofif their feet, and they circle over
the field sowing the air with music." After most
of the other birds are through with their nesting,
and all of the others have already begun, the
Goldfinch gathers his thistledown and fine grasses
together for the nest in a berry bush or some
other low shaded place jtist out of the sun's rays.
The pcr-chic-o-ree changes gradually to notes
more directly personal for the mate and young.
Tic-o-rcc. o-rcc. o-rcc and many variations are
heard. There are those who insist that the
male calls ba-by, ba-bec to the young in the
nest. Certainly the notes are as sweet and in-

Courtpsv of the New York State Museurt

Plat

e 79

jfouij ut&i^riiz Yuerfei

EVENING GROSBEAK Htspcriphonn t.sp.Tlinii vraprrlina (W. Coopoi
All i nat. siz»

FINCHES

15

si -lent a-- an\- jiareiit witli such a tliroat could
utlcr.

In the fall the males turn olive, something like
the females and immature. They Ljather intn
flocks, a few dozen or a few hundreds ,nid h.aunt
the weedv fields and seedy marshland^ where
the lilt of the Canary-like note is apt to he heard
even into the middle of winter. Let the sun liul
shine a little warmer in the early spriniL,' .-md
maybe it will be a Goldfinch instead nf a lllue-
bird that will <;reet the promise <if spriiiL;'. Its
all hail will be src-scc-r many limes repeated.

From ocean to ocean this bird is common. In
the Rockies it is lar.s^er and lii,diter with ])urer
tints in winter plumage, and is there distinijuished
by the varietal name of Pale Goldfinch i .Istra-
galiniis tristis pallidiis). On the Pacitic c(iasi
the ditTerences are not as great as in the moun-
tains, but great enough to make a separate variety
called the ^^'illow Goldfinch { .4stra(/aliiiiis tristis
salicauiaiis). Down through the luxuriance of
southern California they have been known as
"gentle-spirited birds" that "seem .as light-
hearted as butterflies." (Mrs. I-'lorence Merriam
Bailey. »

In her Birds Throiif/Ii an Opera Class the
same author says of the Goldfinch in the east:
" Being a vegetarian, his store-house is al\v;i_\s
well filled, for if the snow covers the seeds be
would gather from the brown weed-tops, he goes
to the alders in the swamp; and if the\' fail him
he is sure to find plentv in the seeds of the
hemlock, the spruce, and the larch."

P. Nf.lsox Nn iioi.s.

In winter this Goldfinch feeds largely on weed
seeds, the seeds of birches, and those of the
buttonbush. In summer it subsists to a large
extent on weed seed, but destroys many noxious
insects, such as cankerworms, plant lice, small
grasshoppers, and beetles. The habit of feeding
on thistles which has given the species the coiu-
mon name (jf " Thistle Bird " is well exemplified
by the following field note: A thistle on which
a Goldfinch had been feeding was examined and
on its leaves and the ground beneath sixtv-seven

seeds were counted. They appeared pertect, but
close inspection showed a slit through which
the meaty kernel had been deftlv removed. Dr.
.'-i. D. Judd reports having been able to approach
within ten feet of four Goldtmches who were
feeding on ragwecfl. Often they would all alight
on the same plant at once, then thev would

NEST AND EGGS OF GOLDFINCH

wrench oft' the seeds, extract the meat, and drop
the shell, their actions resembling those of a
Canary at its seed cup. In one instaitce three
alighted on a very small plant, which under
their weight bent to the ground. Nothing
daunted, the\- clung to the spr.ays, heads down-
ward, until they touched the earth, then shiftin.g
their position so as to hold the stems under
their feet, went on with their meal.

ARKANSAS GOLDFINCH

Astragalinus psaltria psaltria (Say)

Other Names. — Tarweed Canary; Arkansas Green- tail, black nr dusky. Hill, small, conical, and acute;

hack. wings, lon.c; and puinted ; tail, r:illu'r shcirl and forked;

General Description, — I^eiiK'tli, 4'j inches. Ui)i)er le.£?s, short.
I)arts. olive-yreeni^h ; under jiarts, yellow: win.ys and Color. — .Xiui r M \i.i: : Croi^'u, (/lossy I'lack': ear

\oL. 11 1. -3

I6

BIRDS OF AMERICA

region, hindneck, back, slioulders, and rump, olive-
green; zcijigs, black ik.ntli a large ivhitc patcli at base of
primaries; greater wing-coverts, tipped with white or
pale grayish ; primaries narrowly and inner wing quills
broadly edged with the same ; upper tail-coverts, black,
margined with olive-green ; tail, blackish ; under parts,
light yellozc. Adult Female: Above including crown,
olive-greenish, the crown sometimes indistinctly
streaked with dusky ; wings, as in adult male, but gen-
eral color grayish dusky instead of black; tail with the
white on inner webs of exterior tail-feathers restricted
to a squarish spot in middle portion ; under parts, light
olive-yellow. Young: Similar to adult female, but

tinged with buffy-brownish above, the lighter wing-
markings buffy, and tlie under parts a paler and duller,
or more buffy, yellow.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : In small trees or bushes ;
a counterpart of the American Goldfinch's, but, like the
eggs, smaller. EG(iS : 4 or 5, pale bluish-green.

Distribution. — Western United States, from coast of
California to eastern base of Rocky Mountains ; north
to northern California, southern Idaho, Utah, and Colo-
rado ; south, in winter at least, to southern Lower
California and southern New Mexico and Arizona;
breeding south to San Pedro Martir Mountains, north-
ern Lower California.

There is a very near relative of the Gold-
finch, residing exclusively in the western states ;
he is the Arkansas Goldfinch. He is a little
smaller than the mernbers of the more widely
distributed family. A friendly little fellow is
he, constantly found in gardens and along the
roadsides, sometimes busily feeding among the
weeds on the ground and again tossing his
song to the winds from the top of some tall
eucalyptus tree.

This Goldfinch is a long time acquiring the full
adult plumage and first breeds in the immature
plumage. This fact led to a great deal of con-

fusion, and the three stages of development
were each given a difTerent name until enough
specimens had been collected to prove that the
variations were due merely to age.

A slightly variant form of the Arkansas Gold-
finch is known as the Green-backed Goldfinch
( Astragalinux psaltria hcspcrophUus) and is
found in the southwestern United States and
northwestern Mexico from California and Lower
California to Utah, Arizona, and extreme sottth-
western New Mexico.

The Arkansas Goldfinch feeds almost entirely
on weed seeds.

PINE SISKIN
Spinus pinus (JVilson)

A. O, U. Number ;,)3 Sec Cnh.r TLltc -8

Other Names. — Pine Finch ; Pine Linnet ; American
Siskin ; Northern Canary Bird.

General Description. — Length, 444 inches. Upper
parts, grayish : under parts, white : streaked above and
below with dusky. Bill, small, conical, and acute ;
wings, long and pointed ; tail, rather short and forked ;
legs, short.

Color. — .^bove, grayish or brownish, conspicuously
streaked with dusky, the ground color of the rump
paler (whitish or light grayish) ; wings and tail, dusky
or dull blackish ; middle and greater wing-coverts,
tipped with whitish, and inner wing quills edged with
same: basal portion of wing feathers (especially
secondaries) and tail feathers, pale yellow, mostly
(often entirely) concealed ; under parts, dull white,
everywhere (except on abdomen and anal region)
streaked with dusky.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Usually located in a coni-
fer, from 2u to 30 feet up, well concealed; walls
roughly constructed of hemlock or other twigs and
inoss ; a saucer-shaped structure one-half foot across;
the interior, about two inches in diameter, is carefully
and thickly lined with plant down, fur, and hair. Eggs:
4 to 6. pale bluish or greenish white lightly spotted with
chestnut and some 'black.

Distribution. — Northern coniferous forest districts
of North .'\merica, breeding south to Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, parts of New England, lower Hudson val-
ley, mountains of Pennsylvania, and southward to high
mountains of North Carolina. Minnesota, etc., and on
the high western ranges quite to the southern boundary
of the United States; in winter, south to Gulf coast (in-
cluding Florida and Texas), valleys of California, etc.,
and into Mexico ; casual or accidental in Cuba.

FINCHES

17

Someone has said that any bird is frequent
enough to be common if you go where it breeds.
The Pine Sisivin breeds from the Atlantic to the
Pacific and yet very few people have ever seen
the bird. The reason is that the bird not only
confines itself pretty closely to the evergreen
mountain forests, but even there it is uncertain
in its abode. One year it may be seen in large
numbers about one group of mountain peaks
and valleys. The next year not a Siskin can
be found in the whole district. This uncertainty
in its breeding areas is as nothing to the eccen-
tricity of the fall and winter ramblings. Many
winters pass without a Siskin being seen about
New York city, Boston, Washington, and
Chicago. Then again there are winters when
they are tolerably common. Its notes are some-
what similar to the Goldfinch's. T. M. Trippe of
Colorado wrote to Dr. Coues that " in spring it
sings very agreeably, very much like the latter
bird [the Goldfinch], but in a lower voice;
and like it has the habit of singing in a lively,
rambling sort of way for an hour or more at
a time."

The birds congregate in large flocks after the
breeding season. There is nothing particularly
interesting to attract an observer to a flock feed-
ing qtiietly in the weeds. They look like plain
little striped brown Sparrows. Startle them
and the flock as one bird will rise and wheel off
to a more distant feeding ground. A quick ob-
server will notice the yellow patches on the wings
and tail. Then too they may utter weak tit-i-
tit notes, or on occasions will break out in
Goldfinch-like scc-a-z^'cc notes that betrav the

close relationship to the \Vild Canary. Herbert
K. Job calls them Northern Canary Birds,
and says that he found them in their nesting
grounds in June in northern Nova Scotia ; and
that they were singing prettily in the shade trees
along the streets of Pictou. Wells W. Cooke
said that in Colorado the .Si>kins range from the
timber-line in the high mountains down to about
7000 feet above sea level. " Some stay near the
timber-line through the winter, but the bulk
scatter over the lower valleys and plains."

Herbert K. Job says that it was early in Octo-
ber when he saw the Siskins for the first time.
He was hunting Partridge and \\'oodcock and
in an opening in the woods he saw a flock of
them alight on a tree. Trembling with excite-
ment he fired into the midst of them and ob-
tained a number of specimens. Never since has
he seen so large a flock. The ordinary bird
observer may not be so excited as Mr. Job was,
but he had better look lung and earnestly when
he sees his first flock, for it may be manv a day
before he sees the second.

T. Net, SON Nichols.

The Pine .Siskin is very similar in his habits
to the Goldfinch and the Redpoll and associates
very freely with them. Not infrequently he is
seen with Crossbills. He feeds principally on
the seeds of the white cedar, tamarack, and the
various pines and spruces. When the ground
is bare he eagerly eats the fallen seeds of maple,
elm. and other trees, as well as grass and weed
seeds. Frequently he is reported in the spring as
feeding on dandelion seeds.

ENGLISH SPARROW
Passer domesticus {Liniunis}

Other Names. — European House Sparrow ; Gamin ;
Tramp ; Hoodlum : Domestic Sparrow.

General Description. — Length, 5'4 inches. Upper
parts, reddish-brown, streaked with black; under parts,
grayish-white. Bill, stout, shorter than head; wings,
of medium lengtli ; tail, about .'4 length of wing; legs,
short and rather stout.

Color. — Adult M,.\le: Crown, deep gray or olive-
gray bordered laterally by a broad patch of chestnut
extending from behind the eye to sides of neck ; chin,
throat, and chest, black ; a small white spot above rear
angle of the eye; back and shoulders, rusty brown
streaked with black ; lesser wing-coverts, chestnut ;
middle coverts, blackish tipped with white forming a
conspicuous bar ; rest of wings, dusky with light brown
and rusty brown edgings ; rump, olive or olive-grayish ;
tail, dusky edged with light olive or olive-grayish :
cheek region and sides of throat, white; under parts of
body, dull grayish white, more grayish laterally ; bill,
black. .AnuLT Fem.^le: Crown and hindneck, grayish

brown or olive; chin, throat, and chest, dull brownish
white or pale brownish gray like rest of under parts;
otherwise like the adult male, but back browner.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Occasionally built in trees,
more often in bird-houses, electric-light hoods, cornices,
water-spouts, and similar places ; tree-nests large and
covered, others open ; made of grasses or any easily
obtained material, loosely put together, and lined with
featliers. Eggs : 4 to 7, generally white, finely and
evenly marked with olive, but also varying from plain
white to almost uniform olive brown; two broods at
least in a season, usually three, and soinetimes four and
even five.

Distribution, — luirope in general, except Italy ;
introduced into the United States, where thoroughly
and ineradicably naturalized in all settled districts,
except southern Florida and a few other extreme out-
posts; also introduced into Bahamas (island of New
Providence), Cuba, Nova Scotia, Bermudas, and
southern Greenland.

IS

BIRDS OF AMERICA

1 lie F,nglish Sparrow or luiro])i-an House
Sparrow was introduced into America in 1850.
In the fall of that year eight pairs were brought
to Brooklyn, N. Y., and liberated in the follow-
ing spring. Since that time many importations
have been made, and small lots of sparrows have
been carried from one locality to another until
now the bird is naturalized nearly all o^■er the
United States. This rapid dissemination is a

resident, he starts his nesting early and when
the other birds arrive, all the available nesting
sites are occupied and the new-comers must
either fight for a place or go elsewhere. Not
infrequently he directly attacks Robins, Song
Sparrows, Chickadees, Flycatchers, Thrushes,
Tanagers, and other birds, while they are feed-
ing and annoys them by repeated calls at their
liomes.

Drawing by L. A. Fui-rtes

ENGLISH SPARROWS
Male Female

Taking possession of a nesting box provided for a native bird

result of the bird's hardiness, extraordinary
fecundity, diversity of food, aggressive disposi-
tion, and almost complete immunity from
natural enemies.

Although English Sparrows are widely dis-
tributed as a species, individuals and flocks have
an extremely narrow range, each flock occupying
one locality and confining its operations to that
particular territory.

The House Sparrow is a persistent enemy of
many native birds, especially those which fre-
quent the neighborhood of houses, or which nest
in boxes, holes, or other places prepared for
them l)v their human friends. Being a winter

The lilthy habits of these birds are most annoy-
ing. They gather in immense flocks to roost,
and generally select cornices, ornamental work
about the eaves and gables of houses, windovi'-
cappings, and the vines which cover the walls
of buildings. These they defile with their ex-
crement. Great and serious damage , is often
caused by their carrying nesting materials into
rain-spouts, gutters, and similar places about
houses, so that cisterns are defiled, or pipes over-
flow, causing destruction of or injury to property.

The English S])arrow. when once established
increases with wonderful rapidity. At least two
broods are raised in a season, but the usual num-

FINCHES

19

ber is tliree and trustworthy observers have
recorded four and five. Very seldom are there
less than four birds in a brood and the old birds
are generally successful in s^a-tting the youni; on
the wing without any accidents. Therefore an
immense number of these Sparrows can be raised
in a limited area in one season. A dozen pairs
in the course of three or four years will have
increased, if let alone, to thousands.

The English Sparrow among birds, like the
rat among mammals, is cunning, destructive, and
filthy. Its nattiral diet consists of seeds, but il
eats a great variety of other foods. \\'hile much
of its fare consists of waste material from the
streets, in autumn and winter it consumes (|uan-
tities of weed seed and in summer numenius
insects. The destruction of weed seed sliduld
undeniably count in the Sparrow's favor. Its
record as to insects in most localities is not sd
clear.

In exceptional cases it has been found very
useful as a destroyer of insect pests. For
example, during an investigation by the United
States Biological Bureau of birds that destroy
the alfalfa weevil, English Sparrows were feeding
their nestlings largely on weevil larvs and cut-
worms, both of which are very injurious to
alfalfa. In this case the Sparrows, attracted by
grain in the fields and poultry rtins and by the
excellent nest sites afforded by the thatched roofs
of many farm buildings, had left the city and
taken up their abode in the country where the
weevil outbreak subsequently occurred. l'nf(ir-
tunately, however, farmers can rarely expect
such aid asfainst their insect foes, \\'liene\-er

this bird proves usefid it is entitled to protection
and encouragement in proportion to its net value.
Under normal conditions its choice of insects is
often unfavorable.

The English .Sparrow destroys fruit, as cher-
ries, grapes, pears, and peaches. It also destrovs
liuds and flowers of cultivated trees, shrubs, and
vines. In the garden it eats seeds as they ripen,
and nips ulT ten(ki \(inni, \(L;(tihles, especialh'

Photo l.y 11. T. Mi.ldlil.jTi

FEMALE ENGLISH SPARROW

peas and lettuce, as lliey ai^iear abo\e ground.
It damages wheat and other grains, whether
newly sown, ripening, or in shocks. As a flock
of fifty .Sparrows requires daily the equivalent
of a quart of wheat, the annual loss caused by
these birds throughout the country is very great.
It reduces the numliers of some our most useful
native birds, as Bluebirds, House Wrens, Purple
.Martins, Tree Swallows, and Barn Swallows, by
destroying their eggs and young and by usurping
nesting places.

SNOW BUNTING
Plectrophenax nivalis nivalis ( Liii/nnis)

.\ O I' XuTiilMr -u See Color I'l.Tte 80

Other Names. — Snowflake ; Snow Lark; Snuwliinl;
Whitebird ; White Snowbird.

General Description. — Length, 8 incho>. L\ Su.\i-
mkr: Male, wliite with black markings: female, white,
streaked on upper parts with black. In Wintkr: Moth
sexes have the upper parts stained with rusty. Rill,
with lower section thicker than the upper section :
wings, long and pointed; tail, about .'s length of wing,
forked, and the middle pair of feathers pointed at the
tip.

Color. — Adult Male in Summer: General color,
pure white: back, shoulders, innermost secondaries, and
greater wing-coverts, greater part of primaries, and
four to si.x middle tail-feathers (sometimes rump also),
black; bill, black; legs and feet, black, or the former
sometimes dark brown. .AnULT Male in Winter:

.Similar to the Mininier idnmagc, but the white parts
(except under parts (if body) staincrl with rusty brown,
especially on crown ( where sometimes rich dark
lirown) and hindneck. and the black of the back,
shoulders, etc., broken (sometimes almost concealed)
by broad margins of rusty and buffy wdiitish : bill,
yellow. Adult Female in Summer: Crown, dusky,
the feathers margined with dull wdiitish or pale grayish
huffy; hindneck. dull whitish or pale dull bufTy.
streaked with dusky: back and shoulders (sometimes
rump also), dull black or dusky, the feathers margined
with dull whitisli (their edgings quite \vorn off in mid-
summer plumage) : lesser and .greater wing-covcrts.
blackish margined and edged with whitish : greater
part of secondaries, three outermost tail-feathers, and
under parts (sometimes rump also), white: bill.

20

BIRDS OF AMERICA

dusky. Adult Female in Winter: Similar to sum-
mer female, but upper parts stained with rusty brown,
especially on crown, ear region, and sides of chest,
and margins to feathers of back, etc., paler, broader,
and more buffy or buffy grayish ; bill, yellowish.
Young: Head, neck, back, shoulders, and rump,
brownish gray tinged with olive, the back streaked
with dusky ; front under parts paler gray than upper
parts, the chest and sides of breast usually very faintly
streaked with dusky ; under parts of body, mainly
white, usually tinged with pale olive-yellowisli : wings
and tail, much as in winter adults.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : On the ground in grassy
tussocks ; a large, well built structure, exteriorly com-
posed of dried grass, moss woven into thick walls, the

small, deep center thickly feathered. Eggs : 4 to 6,
white or pale greenish white, spotted with raw umber
and lavender.

Distribution. — Northern parts of Europe, .i^sia, and
North America ; breeding in arctic and subarctic
districts ; in North America breeding on the barren-
ground or tundra region from northern Labrador to
."Maska, north and east of the coast ranges, and north
to islands of Arctic Ocean (at least to latitude 82°) ;
m winter south to more northern United States, irregu-
larly to District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, southern
Ohio, southern Indiana, Kansas, Colorado, northern
California, and eastern Oregon; casually to the Ber-
mudas : south in .'\sia to northern Japan and
China.

When the polar explorers have pushed far
beyond the Eskimo villages and out into the
wastes where the musk-ox and blue fox live,
there they find the Snow Bunting or Snowflake

the first sign of advancing spring will send

theni on their long flights far across Canada to

areas little known and to some not yet explored.

While flying, the members of the flock keep up

^^-

TimM. by R. L Brasher

SNOW BUNTING (J nat. size)
A hardy and beautiful winter visitor from the aorthland

in his nesting home, .\cross the ])olar islands
along the northern shore of Alaska and only as
far south as the bleak and inhospitable shores of
Hudson's Bay, these birds may be found in the
breeding season. Only in the depth of winter
do they drift on down into the northern United
States to haunt the snow-swept hillsides of the
farms, and the bleak and stormy shores of New
England at their bleakest and stormiest season.
They are so much whiter than other Sparrows
that they seem indeed like animated gusts of
arctic weather as they pass along over the
ground, the rear birds drifting on over to the
front of the advancing ranks. Many a person
muffled to the eyes in a cold winter's sleigh ride
has seen the Snowflakes feeding cheerily and by
choice out in the bitter biting zero weather of
wind-swept fields. Sometimes, indeed, they will
straggle far south, even to the Gulf coast, but

a tinkling whistle, a note that has been likened to
the syllable tec repeated at intervals by the
various members of the flock ; when disturbed,
they utter a harsh hccz-hccz. What sweet,
weird song they sing to the sunrise of the morn-
ing of the six-months arctic day, the explorers
have yet to tell us. Dr. Elliott Coues gives an
interesting account of these birds at Fort Ran-
dall on the Missouri River, some distance above
Yankton (Birds of the Nortlncest.) The Snow-
flakes "reached Fort Randall November 15.
after a severe cold snap with a light snow-fall,
and as I write (January), great numbers are
swirling over the ground around and in the
fort. They keep pretty closely in flocks num-
bering from a dozen or so to several hundred,
and, though they spread over the ground a good
deal in running about after seeds, they fly com-
pactly, and wheel all together. In their evolu-

Courtesy of tho N.-w York State M.jseun

Plate 80

TREE SPARROW Ximrllii mnnlicnla nvmticohi (Gmelin)
SNOW BUNTING I'lectrophrniix nivalis nivalis (I.innacm)
i nnt. size

FINCHES

ti(in>^ they present a i>rotty sight, and have not
a displeasing stridulent sound, from mingHng of
the weak chirrups from so many throats."

John Burroughs rises to his best literature as
he speaks of this bird [Far and N'car). "The
only one of our winter birds that really seems
a part of the winter, that seems to be born of
the whirling snow, and to be happiest when
storms drive thickest and coldest, is the Snow
Bunting, the real snowbird, with phnnage copied
from the fields where the drifts hide all but the
tops of the tallest weeds, large spaces of pure
white touched here and there with black and
gray and brown. Its twittering call and chirrup
coming out of the white obscurity is the sweetest
and happiest of all winter bird sounds. Tt is
like the laughter of children. The fox-hunter
hears it on the snowv hills, the farmer hears it
when he goes to fodder his cattle from the dis-
tant stack, the country schoolboy hears it as he
breaks his way through the drifts toward the
school. It is ever a voice of good cheer and
contentment."

In the Far \orth are found two other members

of this branch of the h'inch family. They never
come as far south as the United States. The
Pribilof Snow Hunting, or Aleutian Snowfiake
[Plectrophcnax nk'alis towusciidi ) is similar to
the better known Snow Hunting but decidedly
larger with a relatively longer bill. As his name
indicates his home is among the Aleutian Islands ;
he is also found on other islands of that region
and along the Siberian coast of Bering Sea.
McKay's Snow Bunting or Snowflake (Plec-
trophcnax hypcrborcns) is similar to the Pribilof
Snow Bunting, but with much more white, the
back and shoulders of the adult male being en-
tirely white. This Snow Bunting breeds on
Hall Island and St. Matthew's Island, north-
central part of Bering Sea ; in the winter it mi-
grates to the western portion of the .-Maskan
mainland. L. Nei.sox Xichols.

The Snow Bunting feeds almost exclusively
from the ground : the reports of his feeding in
trees are rare. Small seeds — pigweed, ragweed,
and all kinds of grass — are his chief foods.
From Nebraska comes a statement that he always
eats locusts' eggs when thev are obtainable.

LAPLAND LONGSPUR

Calcarius lapponicus lapponicus ( Linnccux)

A. O. U. Number jjf.

Other Name. — Common Longspur.

General Description. — Length 7'4 inches. L'p[)er
parts, light brownish, streaked with blackish ; under
parts, white. Bill, small; wings, long and [lointed ; tail,
more than '■'j length of wing, anri double rounded;
hind claw, long and slender.

Color. — Adult M.\le in Summer: Head and chest,
deep black, relieved by a broad white or buffy stripe
behind eye, continued downward (vertically) behind
ear-coverts and then backward along sides of chest;
sides, broadly streaked or striped with black ; rest of
under parts, white; hindneck, deep chestnut-rufous; rest
of upper parts, light brownish, broadly streaked with
blackish ; lesser wing-coverts, grayish, featliers black in
center. Adult M.«lLE in Winter: Black of head con-
fined to crown, posterior and lower border of ear-
coverts, lower part of throat, and patch on chest, all
more or less obscured by whitish or pale brownish tips
to feathers; sides of head (including lores and greater
part of ear-coverts), mostly dull light brownish; rufous
on hindneck also similarly obscured. Adult Fem.^le in
Summer: Much like the winter male, but markings

more sharply defined, black areas of chest, etc., more
restricted and still more broken, hindneck streaked with
blackish and size smaller. Adult Female in Winter:
Similar to summer plnma.gc, but browner and less
sharply streaked above, hindneck often without trace
of rufous, lower parts dull brownish-white, and dusky
markings very indistinct.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : On ground or in tussock
of grass; constructed of fine dried grass and moss;
lined with feathers or fur shed from the winter coats
of the arctic fox. Eggs: 3 to 6, dull white specked
and spotted and clouded witli umber-brown so thickly
as almost to obscure the ground color.

Distribution. — Breeding in arctic and subarctic dis-
tricts of Europe, northeastern North America, including
Greenland, and for an undetermined distance west-
ward to at least the more western portions of Siberia;
in North America migrating south in winter (more or
less irregularly) to Virginia, South Carolina, Ken-
tucky, eastern Kansas, Oklahoma, and even to Texas;
west during migration to eastern portion of Great
Plains (Manitoba to Texas).

The general characteristics of the I.ongsjnir
family are the small acutely conical bill, which is
deeper at the base than it is wide; exposed nos-
trils; long, pointed wing; tail more than half
hidden by the pointed upper coverts ; and a slen-

der and nearly straight hind claw about the
length of the toe. There are three species, difTer-
ing considerably in details of form. The type
species is the Lapland. .Smith's Longspur, or the
Painted Longspur (Calcarius f^icfii.';). found on

22

BIRDS OF AMERICA

the interior plains of North America east of the
Rocky Mountains from the Arctic coast in sum-
mer south to Texas in winter, is very similar to
the Lapland, but has a slenderer and more
pointed bill. The Chestnut-collared Loncjspur
(Calcariiis onmtiis) differs from the other two
species in having the tail much shorter than the
distance from the carpal or wrist joint of the
wing to the end of the wing-quills. The Chest-
nut-collared is also an inhabitant of the great
plains of the United States, but instead of ex-
tending his range to the north he prefers Mexico.
A relative of this family — so close a relative
that he has adopted the family name for popular
use — is McCown's Longspur ( RliynclwpJmiics

dent. In the winter they come down to the north-
ern States to stay only as long as the n(jrthern
barrens are swept by the unbearable storms.
While here they are seen in the most numbers in
broad prairie lands and along the wide sloping
mountain meadows. In the East they are not as
commonly seen, but many Snowflake flocks have
a few Longspurs. The Shore Larks that feed up
and down the wintry seashore of New England
and the middle States have also many Longspurs
among them.

Toward spring the male becomes a beautiful
bird with his black head and breast. He is the
most conspicuous creature of the northern bar-
rens when he reaches there in April. Louis A.

(J'-urtcsy ul Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.
LAPLAND LONGSPUR (] nat. size)
In April he is the most conspicuous creature of the northern barrens

mccozvtii). He is fotmd on the interior plains of
North America, east of the Rocky Mountains.
His bill is much larger and relatively thicker and
his tail relatively shorter than in his cousins. His
nostrils are nearly concealed by well developed
soft feathers. The Lapland Longspur and its
varieties, the Alaska and Siberian Longspurs
{Calcariiis laj^poniciis alascciisis and Calcariiis
lappoiiiciis colorahis), inhabit a broad subarctic
belt around the world during the breeding season.
In North America the Alaska occupies the
northwestern tundras east to the Mackenzie
country. From there east to northern Labrador
and Greenland the species is the same as the one
that extends across northern Europe and east into
western .Siberia. It derives its name from Jhat
part of the northern Russian tundras called Lap-
land. The differences noted in America between
the Alaska and Lapland are so slight that they
may be generally disregarded by the casual stu-

Euerte.- said after an Alaskan trip, that the Long-
spur sang the most beautiful song north of Bobo-
link-land. Edward \\'. Nelson has given nuich
time to the study of the bird. " The Lajiland
Longspur is one of the few birds, which, like
the Skylark and the Bobolink, are so filled with
the ecstasy of life in spring that they must rise
into the air to pour forth their joy in singing.
The males are scattered here and there over the
tundra on their chosen jtrojecting points and at
frequent intervals mount slowly on tremulous
wings ten or fifteen yards into the air. There
they pause a moment and then, with wings up-
pointed, forming V-shaped fi,gures. they float
gently back to their perches, uttering, as they
sing, their liquid notes, which fall in tinkling
succession on the ear. It is an exquisite, slightly
jingling melody . . . resembling the song of the
Bobolink."

L. Nelsox Nichols.

FINCHES

23

VESPER SPARROW
Pooecetes gramineus gramineus {Giiiclin)

A. O. V XumlKr ;40 See Culor Pbtc 8.-

Other Names. — Bay-winged Bunting; Grass Finch;
Gray Bin! ; Pasture Bird ; Grass Sparrow ; Ground-
bird ; Bay-winged Finch.

General Description. — Length, 6'^ inches. Upper
parts, grayish-brown, streaked witli black ; under parts,
white. Bill, small ; wings, long and pointed ; tail, about
ii length of wing, forked, and with the feathers rather
narrow.

Color. — Adults: .\bove, light grayish-brown (hair-
brown) conspicuously streaked with lilack, the streaks
broadest on back, less distinct on rump ; lessor wing-
coverts, cinnamon or russet with a dusky ( mostly
concealed) wedge-shaped central space; wings other-
wise and tail dusky, the feathers edged with light
grayish-brown, especially the larger wing-coverts and
secondaries, the former (middle and greater coverts)
indistinctly tipped with pale dull buffy. forming in-
distinct narrow bands ; outcniwst tail-fcallicrs. larrjcly
while: region over eye, light grayish brown or brown-
ish gray, narrowly and indistinctly streaked with dusky ;

ear region, browner : a white or bufTy white cheek
stripe margined below by a series of dusky streaks
along each side of throat ; under parts dull white
tinged with pale bufify on chest, sides, and flanks ; iris,
brown.

Nest and Eggs.— Xest : Always placed upon the
ground, sunk level, in pastures, meadows or along
roadsides in the brush ; rather bulky, thick rimmed,
well cupped but not tightly woven; constructed of
dried grass, weed stalks, some bark strips, and lined
with fine grass and hair. Eggs : 4 to 6, grayish
or bluish-white spotted with burnt umber and chest-
nut.

Distribution. — Eastern I'nited .States and more
southern British provinces ; breeding from Virginia,
Kentucky, Missouri, etc.. northward to Nova Scotia ( ?),
Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick( ?), Province
of Quebec( ?), eastern Manitoba ( ?), etc.; south in
winter to Gulf coast (Florida to eastern Texas);
casual in Bermudas.

It has been said that what the Veery's song
is to the deep woods, the Vesper .'-iparrow's is
to the fields and pastures. There is a certain
accuracy in this comparison, and yet the son.gs
are essentially different in spirit ; for the \''eery's
resonant tremolo has an elfin-like ring, which is
entirely absent from the Sparrow's simple little
expression of qniet thankfulness and very beau-
tiful contentment. Both songs may be heard at
any hour of the day, but there seems to be an
especial sincerity and spontaneity in the Spar-
row's utterance when it blends perfectly, as it

always does, with the spirit of the evenin'^' and
the advancing shadows. Then it is truly vcspc-
rian, and in that respect few birds have been
more a|)propriately named.

Some listeners consider the song similar to that
I if the .Song Sparrow, but such similarity cer-
tainly is not invariably ]>resent ; and generally
the songs are qm'te different in mood and musical
structure. Air. Torrey expressed this .general
difference accurately when he said that the Song
Sparrow's utterance is more declamatory and the
X'esper's more cantabile. l^requentlv the \^es-

"^^5^- **,

"t:*^^^.

..>

■^.

Fhotograph by A. A. Alle

FOUR lAPI-AND LONGSPURS AND FOUR PRAIRIE HORNED LARKS

24

BIRDS OF AMERICA

])t'r's lay is a simple descending series of notes,
very sweet and somewhat violin-like in quality,
delivered with increasing rapidity. Not infre-
quently the song is heard in the dead of night,
and occasionally the bird delivers a quite elab-

1 by H. K. Jub Cuurtcsy of C

NEST OF VESPER SPARROW
Containing three eggs of the Cowbird

orate flight-song as it flutters upward to a height
of fifty or seventy-five feet. This effort is very
different from the usual leisurely ditty, gen-
erally rendered from a conspicuous perch atop
a fence-post or bush.

The Vesper Sparrow is shy, after the manner
of its kind. Often in the fields or on the road-
sides, it will run along for some distance, keep-
ing just ahead of the pedestrian. When it takes
to its wings the two white feathers on either
side of its tail show very plainly. It has no true
crest, but it often elevates the feathers on the
crown of its head so that they form a temporary
one.

In western North America, except the Pacific
coast district, there is a variant form of the
\^esper Sparrow, known as the Western Ves-
per Sparrow {Poa-cctcs grauiincns confinis). It
averages larger, and has a slenderer bill than the
eastern Vesper ; it is also slightly paler and
grayer and the marks on the chest are not so
dark.

Both of these forms are replaced in the Pacific
coast district by the Oregon Vesper Sparrow
(Pocccctcs gramlncus affinis). The Oregon
Vesper is smaller than the Vesper, browner above
and distinctly biiffy below.

The Vesper Sparrow lives chiefly on different
injurious insects, the animal proportion of its
food reaching 90 per cent, in the height of sum-
mer. Beetles and grasshoppers are most sought
after, and next to them come cutworms, army
worms, and other smooth caterpillars. It should
be accorded the fullest protection because of its
value to the farmer.

IPSWICH SPARROW

Passerculus princeps Mayiiard

\. O. I'. Xumbcr 541 See Color Plate 81

General Description. — Length, 6'i incites. Upper
parts, grayish ; under parts, whitisli. Bill, small ; wings,
long and pointed: tail, about •f'i length of wing.

Color. — Adui-TS : .\bove, pale grayish : the crown
and back, streaked with pale brown and blackish :
cro'cii, ivith a narro'tC center stripe of fiale grayish
huff or dull huffy 'cchilish : broad siinilar but paler
stripe over eye; outer surface of inner wing-quills and
greater wing-coverts, pale bulTy brown ; cheek stripe,
pale buff or whitish ; under parts, white tinged later-

ally (sometimes across chest also) with pale brownish
bufif; the chest and sides, streaked with brown; iris,
brown.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : On the ground in ineadow
and grassy reaches of Sable Island (so far as known) ;
constructed of similar materials as the nest of the
Savannah Sparrow. Eggs: Also similar but larger.

Distribution. — Breeding on Sable Island (and other
islands?), off Nova Scotia; migrating southward
along Atlantic coast as far as Georgia.

FINCHES

25

This is a songless Sparrow which occurs, dur-
ing its migration, on the beaches along the Atlan-
tic and Gulf coasts from Sable Island, Nova
Scotia, where it breeds, to Georgia. It is most
likely to be found skulking in the beach-grass,
generally quite near the ocean. In such sur-
roundings it seems to have been first discovered
near Ipswich, Mass., in 1868, and thereafter for
several years was confounded with Baird's Spar-
row {Ainiiiodrainiis bainli), a western form,
which it only very slightly resembles. It is very
timid and when flushed is likely to flv rapidly for
a considerable distance, then plunge down into
the grass and continue its retreat by running for
perhaps fifty yards, so that it is difficult to see
the bird a second time. Its associates frequentlv
are Horned Larks, from which it may easily be
distinguished, but it somewhat resembles the

larger light-colored Savannah .Sparrow. Its
single note, only occasionally uttered, is a faint

The Ipswich Sparrow is a very rare bird and
this fact, added to its exceedingly limited range,
prevents it from having any appreciable impor-
tance. Grass seed, particularly in winter, forms
the staple diet. Lambs-quarters, different polyg-
onums, and dock are also taken. The fruit ele-
ment consists of bayberries, bkieberries, and
bunchberries. The animal food is made up of
beetles, wasp-like insects, bugs, caterpillars, flies,
spiders, and snails. In June the most common
article of diet is the little dung-beetle. Tiger
beetles are also eaten, a rather unusual element
of Sparrow fare, but due. probably, to the abun-
dance of these active insects ujjon the sand dunes
which the bird frequents.

SAVANNAH SPARROW
Passerculus sandwichensis savanna {IVilson)

Other Names. — Ground Sparrow; Field Sparrow
(incorrect): Ground-bird; Savannah Fiunting.

General Description. — Length. 6 inches. Upper
parts, grayish-brown; under parts, white; streaked
above and below with black. Bill, small; wings, long
and pointed; tail, about ^i length of wing, and notched.

Color. — Adults : Above, grayish-brown, conspicu-
ously streaked with black, the broad black streaks on
back and shoulders edged with narrower dull whitish
or light buffy-grayish ; streaks; croivn, zvith a median
narrow stripe of pale grayish or buffy-grayish streaks;
a broad stripe of yellowish over the eye. more decidedly
yellow in the front ; wings, light brownish with dusky
centers to the feathers ; tail, dusky grayish-brown, the
feathers edged with pale grayish but without any white
on inner webs; ear and under eye regions light brown-
ish-gray or dull grayish-buffy. margined above and
below by blackish streaks ; a broad white or pale buffy
stripe on the cheek; under parts, white (sometimes.

especially in fall and winter |iluniage. tinged with
buffy on chest and sides) with sides of throat, chest,
sides, and flanks conspicuously streaked with blackish,
the streaks on chest wedge-shaped, those on throat
coalesced into a stripe.

Nest and Eggs. — Xest: Level with ground, gen-
erally well concealed in tall grass or tussock ; a sparse
collection of grass and weed stalks; lined or not.
E(;(..s : 4 or 5, ground color varying from bluish-white
to grayish-white, spotted, speckled, and blotched with
brown and lavender, sometimes so thickly as to be
obscured.

Distribution. — Eastern Xorth .\merica; breeding
from Connecticut, Pennsylvania (Bradford, Crawford,
Clinton, Elk, and Erie counties). Ontario, northwestern
Indiana (Calumet, P^nglish, and Wolf Lakes), etc.,
northward to Ungava (Fort Chimo), western side of
Hudson Bay, etc.; migrating south ni winter to Gulf
coast, Bahamas, and Cuba; casual in Bermudas.

The Aleutian Savannah .Sparrow or Sandwich
Sparrow (Passerculus saiidn'ichnisis saiidicich-
ciisis) is the typical bird of this species. lie
breeds on LInalaska Island anrl in the winter
comes east and south along the coast to British
Columbia and occasionally to northern Califor-
nia. The san(i7vichcusis part of his scientific
name refers to his being first found on Sandwich
Island in the .Meutians bv a Russian. The better

known member of this family, however, is the
.Savannah Sparrow.

The peculiarity of this otherwise rather com-
monjilace bird is its habit of singing from the
ground. This is very unusual with birds which
have any song at all ; for though the habit of
singing from a more or less cons])icuous perch
is clearly an inherently dangerous one, since it
nnist have the effect of attracting the notice of the

26

BIRDS OF AMERICA

singer's natural enemies, it is i)ersisted in by all
but a very few American s])ecies, the law of the
" survival of the fittest " to the contrary notwith-
standing. In point of fact, however, the Savan-
nah's song is a rather insignificant elTort. Dr.
Jonathan Dwight describes it as " a weak, musi-
cal little trill following a grasshopper-like intro-
duction, and is of such small volume that it can be
heard but a few rods." As the sun sinks and the
quiet of evening deepens the tsip-tsip-tsip se-e-e-
s'r-r-r ( Dwight ) is sung more frequently and is
audible for a greater distance. The bird's best
known note is a sharp tsip, frequently heard
when it is migrating and still more frequently
during the breeding season. This note seems to
be used either to express alarm or to scold.

The Savannah is primarily a bird of the fields,
especially those near the coast, and is likely to
be mistaken for any of several other field Spar-
rows, for the Vesper, probably, more often than
others ; but careful study of the bird's coloration,
plus its ground-singing habit, will make its iden-
tification comparatively easy.

The Savannah is one of the most useful of the
Sparrows. Nearly half of its food consists of in-

sects, beetles being most eagerly sought, and in
winter it consumes large quantities of grass seeds
and weed seeds. Individuals taken in cotton
fields in winter were found to have eaten a
number of boll weevils.

In western North America, breeding in Alaska
but ranging south to Mexico, is the Western Sa-
vannah Sparrow (Passcrcuhis sandimchensis
alaudiniis) . It is about the same size as the
eastern species but the coloration is decidedlv
paler and grayer.

Other members of this group are : Bryant's
Sparrow {Passcrcuhis saudzinchciisis br\<anti),
somewhat smaller and darker than the Savannah
and found in the salt marshes along the coast of
California; Belding's Sparrow (Passcrcnliis
bcldhuji), still darker in coloration than Bryant's
and found in the salt marshes of southern and
Lower California; and the Large-billed .Sparrow
{Passcrcnliis rostratiis rostratiis), differing as
its name suggests in the size of the bill and also
in not having the upper parts conspicuously
streaked ; this Sparrow is also found in the salt
marshes of southern California and Lower
California.

GRASSHOPPER SPARROW

Ammodramus savannarum australis Maynard

A. O. U. Xumber =.46 See Coh.r I'late 81

Other Names. — Quail Siiarrow ; Yellow-winged
Sparrnw-

General Description. — Lengtli, 4' j inches. Upper
parts, gray, buff, brown, and black, mixed ; under parts,
whitish. Wing, short: tail, short and the featliers
narrow and lance-likc.

Color. — Adults in Summer: Crown, blackish nar-
rowly streaked with light gray or grayish buffy and
divided centrally by a distinct tine of pale grayish
buff; rest of upper parts, mixed grayish, pale buffy,
rusty brown, and black, the last prevailing on back
and shoulders, where forming large central or median
spots: hindneck, grayish streaked with chestnut, the
chestnut streaks sometimes black centrally : feathers
of rump, streaked or spotted with rusty brown, the
streaks sometimes black basally ; wings, dusky with
distinct pale buffy grayish edgings ; the lesser coverts,
mostly yellowish olive passing into yellow on edge of
wing; sides of head, including broad stripe over eye,
dull buffy, paler and more grayish on lores, the region
above lores yellowish; a dusky streak behind eye;
under parts, buffy becoming white or nearly so on lower
breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts ; bill, brown,
paler on the edge and below ; iris, brown. Adults
IN Winter: Similar to summer plumage, but brighter
colored, with less black and more of chestnut on upper

parts; the center crown-stripe, deeper buffy; the hind-
neck broadly streaked with chestnut; the space be-
tween the shoulders distinctly edged with buff and
.gray; buff of under parts deeper, that of chest some-
times indistinctly streaked with chestnut. Young :
Crown, dusky with an indistinct center stripe of pale
.grayish, and indistinctly streaked with the same, or
with pale brownish ; hindneck streaked with dusky
and pale buffy grayish; back and shoulders, dusky
or dull blackish ; the feathers distinctly margined with
dull buffy and pale grayish ; middle and greater
wing-coverts, margined terminally with dull buffy
whitish; under parts, dull buffy whitish; the chest and
sides of head streaked with dusky ; no yellow over
lores nor on edge of wing.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : On ground or sunk level,
in dry fields, clearings, or pastures, and well concealed ;
bulky ; built of dried grass, sometimes semi-arched with
deep interior. Eggs : 3 to 5, clear white, spotted and
specked rather sparsely, chiefly around large end, witli
chestnut, black, and lilac gray.

Distribution. — Eastern United States and more
southern British Provinces; west to edge of the Great
Plains ; north, in summer, to Maine, New Hampshire,
Ontario, etc. ; south, in winter, to Bahamas, Cuba,
island of Cozumel, Yucatan, and Gulf coast of Me.xico.

Courlesyul tlio N,-w York Stale Mus.-urr

Plate 8i

HENSLOWS SPARROW
Pasm-h,rlmli,.i h.naln.n li,„.-,l,m'i (Auauhmi)
LECONTE'S SPARROW
l'„s«,rli,rhulu.^ Immlr, ( Aucliihiiii)

IPSWICH SPARROW
ra-isirrulux pnii, ;■,,.■< M;ivnaril
SHARP-TAILED SPARROW
Pn.-<s,Thirl,ulu.s niuil.ifutu.-: iCliicIiii,!

■a

SAVANNAH SPARROW
PaN«Ti-i</(/,v sajirfir;,-/,,:«»,,< xnm,i„„ (Wilson)
SEASIDE SPARROW
P.,^«,rl„rl,„/„s mnrilimu.i manbmus (VVilsonI
ACADIAN SHARP-TAILED SPARROW
Pai.'or/artmhi^ „,l.<„,i, .^„hi'n;,;,lu ^ (Dwicllt)
NELSON'S SPARROW
/'„»»«■/»•;■).„/«» «,/.so„, „,b<,„, (AlU-ri)

FINCHES

It is unfortunate that this bird should over
h:i\(.- received the descriptive desig-nation, " yel-
low-winged," since the ])atch of color which
ap].)ears on its shoulders does not justify that de-
scription. Consequently, the absence of yellow-
wings is likely to mislead an observer who re-
members that the bird has been so described.
And this likelihood is increased by the extreme
shyness of the bird, and its decided disinclina-
tion to sit still in plain view if it sees it is being
observed. Under such conditions it is almost
certain to dive into the nearest cover. So the
observer will have to use his eyes quickly and
to note accurately the comparatively inconspicu-
ous marking of the plumage.

The insect-like, buzzing song of the bird
( whence its name ) is, however, quite distinctive,
and can hardlv be mistaken for that of any other
bird of the tields. It faintly suggests the song of
the R'.ue-winged \\"arbler. which, however, is es-
sentially a bird of the woods. This .Sparrow has
the skulking habits of most nf the members of
his family who live in the fields and build their
nests on the ground. .\lso, like other ground
birds, the female, when incubating, will sit still
until you are within a few feet of her. and then
leave her nest very quietly and flutter along the
ground, dragging her wings as if she were dis-
abled. This is plainly an instincti\'e efTort to
attract attention to herself and away from her
precious eggs. If one is determined to discover
the nest, it is best to stop short immediately the
bird is seen, try to locate that spot exactly, and
then mark it with a handkerchief, or a stick
thrust into the ground, and long enough to be
conspicuous. Then by patiently walking about
this spot in circles of slightly increasing diameter,
examining minutely every foot of the groimd
(and please, "watch your step"), the pretty
secret may be revealed. But it must be remem-
bered that the nest is built of grasses which
blend perfectly with the surroundings, and fur-
thermore, that it is an almost completely en-
closed structure, the entrance being at the side.
so that it is exceedingly difficult to discover it un-
less one detects this little door, which is often
itself partly concealed.

If the observer has a very sharp and trained
eye, he may notice the almost imperceptible path,
a few feet long, by which the Sparrow enters
and leaves her little home. Knowledge of this
trait is also useful if one undertakes to find the
nest by watching the bird until she returns to it,
which will take a deal of patience, if the little
mother sees she is observed. If, however, the
bird leaves her perch on a bush, or fence rail.

an<l dives into the grass, wait a few minutes,
with your gaze concentrated on that spot and
then walk slowly and softly toward it and mark-
it. Friim here, by very careful scrutiny of the
ground, you n-iay lie able to discern the little jiath,
for the bird never flies directly to her nest.
These suggestions have been offered, because to
lind a (Grasshopper Sjiarrow's nest is a real tri-
umph in field ornithology — one, indeed, which
many a trained observer has never accomjilished.
The vegetable food of the Grasshopper Spar-
row is of little importance when compared with
that of other species. Grain forms 2 per cent, of
the food : weed 'iccd amr)mits to about one-

Courtesy of Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.
GRASSHOPPER SPARROW (I nat. size)
An extremely shy little bird of the fields

fourth. Insects form its staple diet, and of
these, beetles, grasshoppers, and caterpillars are
the most important. As a destroyer of insect
pests the Grasshopper Sparrow is most efficient,
and, both its vegetable and animal food consid-
ered, it seems to be individually the most useful
species of bird whose food habits have been
thus far investigated.

The typical species of the Grasshopper Spar-
row family is the Antillean Grasshopper Sparrow
{.liiiuiodmiiiiis saz'aiiiiaruiii siwannanmi) : it is a
resident of Jan-iaica and Porto Rico and is sim-
ilar to the Grasshopper Sparrow of eastern
Xorth America but decidedly smaller and darker.
In the western United States and south over the
])lains of Mexico, is found the Western Grass-
hopper Sparrow (Auimodramus savannarum bi-
)iiaciilattis) . This western species is the sanie size
as the eastern. Init of a paler coloration ;ind with
more rusty brown and less black on the upper
jiarts.

28

BIRDS OF AMERICA

HENSLOW'S SPARROW

Passerherbulus henslowi henslowi (Audubon)

Other Name. — Henslow's Bunting.

General Description. — Length. s'A inches. Upper
parts, chestnut, black, and white, mixed ; under parts,
whitish. Bill, stout ; wing, short ; tail, not longer than
wing, and graduated.

Color. — Adults: Head and neck, buffy olive, the
crown heavily streaked, except along center line, with
black, the hindneck, more narrowly streaked ; back
and shoulders, chestnut, the feathers black centrally
and narrowly edged or margined with whitish ; wings,
mainly chestnut ; chin and throat, pale buff or buffy
whitish ; chest, sides, and flanks, deeper buffy streaked
with blackish ; abdomen, whitish. Young : Above, dull

See Color Plate 8i

brownish-buffy, streaked and spotted with black ; be-
neath, light buff, the sides streaked with dusky.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : In old clearings, pasture
lands, or fresh water meadows, on the ground under a
clump of grass; built of grass, lined with fine blades
and some horse- or cow-hair. Eggs : 4 or 5, pale
greenish or grayish white, heavily spotted and blotched
with shades of brown and lavender.

Distribution. — Eastern United States, west to edge
of Great Plains, north to New Hampshire, New York,
Ontario, Minnesota, etc.; breeding south at least to
38° ; wintering from about the same latitude to
southern Florida and Texas.

Henslow's Sparrow never will be a very popu-
lar bird. It is only a plain striped Sparrow, its
song is quite insignificant, its breeding home is
within inaccessible wet meadows, and it is very
retiring. It is really not so very rare in
southern New Jersey and Maryland and across
the weedy prairies of southern Indiana and Illi-
nois. In many parts of northern Missouri and
across Iowa to southern Minnesota, it is actually
common. It may not be as rare as has been
supposed in the northern part of its range, that
is, in the northeastern States and southern Can-
ada ; but only a keen ear will notice the explosive
Chc-sUck notes far off in the weeds or marsh

tussocks. The song as written bv P. L. Jotiy is
sis-r-r-rit-srif-srif. and this is as easily tin-
noticed as in that of the Grasshopper Sparrow
that sings its summery lay in the hearing of
thousands of people who never hear it at all, be-
cause a little distance makes the notes just the
simple buzz of spring and suminer. The aggres-
sive bird student, however, who sees and hears
everything, has made an acquaintance of this
little brown .Sparrow with its pale olive-green
head.

In the winter Henslow's Sparrows are found
most commonly throughout the south in the
broom sedge of the dry fields. As tliese fields

HENSLOW'S SPARROW (J nat. size)

But few bird lovers know this plain striped
Sparrow

Courtesy of Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.

iCj^^^'

A^T

'^:

FINCHES

29

are iu'.t,'lfCU'(l in winter and tlie S|)arro\vs call
but rarely, the people of tlie s(]uth know the
bird even less than do the people of the north.
Because of its small mniiliers and irregular
local distribution Henslow's Sparrow is of little
econoniic importance. Beetles, cutworms, grass-
hoppers, soldier inigs, assassin bugs, spiders,
blackberries, grass, and plant seeds have been
found in the stomachs exaniineil by the mem-
bers of the United States Biological Survey.

There is a ])aler race of Henslow's S|)arrows
in South Dakota that is called the \\'cstern Hens-
low's .Sparrow { I'asscrlicrbuliis hciislozci ocri-
ili-ii talis).

< )n the |)rairie marshes of the Mississippi
valley and of the central Canadian provinces,
southeastward in winter, is another very similar
species, known as Leconte's Sparrow { Passcr-
hcrhiiliis Iccontci). (See Color Plate 81.)

L. Nelson Nichols.

SHARP-TAILED SPARROW

Passerherbulus caudacutus ( Ginclin]

A. O. U. Numl.LT S49 S<;e Color I'latc .Si

General Description. — Length, 5'j inches. Upper
parts, olive-l)r<nvn : under parts, whitish ; streaked ahove
and below. tJill, stout; wing, short; tail, rounded,
the feathers sharp-pointed.

Color. — Adults : Broad, sharply delined, and con-
spicuous stripe over eye and broad cheek stripe, deep
bufT, the latter curving upward behind the ears, but
separated from the stripe on the eye by a narrow black
or dark brown stripe back of the eye ; ear region,
grayish ; crown, clear bister brown streaked with black,
divided by a broad but not sharply defined center
stripe of grayish; prevailing color of upper parts,
olivaceous, grayer on sides of hindneck and rump, the
shoulders and between decidedly darker olive-brown,
sharply edged with pale grayish or bufi'y whitish, pro-
ducing distinct streaks which are margined internally
by a narrower blackish streak; crf</r of icing, pair

yclluic: under parts, mostly white, but the chest, sides,
and flanks tinged witli butf, sharply and usually con-
spicuously streaked with dusky. YouNc; : Crown,
blackish divided by a narrow center stri(<e, or series of
streaks, of dull bulify; general color of upper parts,
light bufi'y brownish, the shoulders and between broadly
edged with buflFy, (Producing conspicuous streaks;
under parts, huffy, deepest on chest and sides, where
streaked, narrowly, with dusky ; the abdomen, some-
times nearly white.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Always in salt meadow
grass, sometimes concealed like the Seaside Sparrow's
under a bit of drift sedge; constructed of the same
materials as that bird's. Eggs : 4 or 5, pale brownish
or greenish white, profusely specked with chestnut.

Distribution. — Atlantic coast of United States;
breeding from Massachusetts southward.

The Shar])-tailed Sparrow is a bird of the salt-
water marshes along the coast of New England
and New York. It has a peculiar habit of perch-
ing on a perpendicular reed stalk, where it
manages, by spreading its feet wide apart, to
assume a ])artly upright position. On the ground
it runs about with its head lowered, among the
tussocks, like a mouse, and it is apt to resort to
this method of escaping observation, rather than
to flight. A distinguishing peculiaritv is the
form of its tail, which is rather long, and tapers
to a point, instead of being s(|uare at the end as
is that of the .Savannah .Sparrow; hence, of
course, its name. A distinctive plumage marking
is the bufTy line over the eye and on the sides
of the throat. Its song, like that of the Seaside
-Sparrow, is short and unmusical.

The food habits of the Sharp-tailed Sparrow
have inany striking peculiarities. The bird shows

a gretiter liking than most species for bugs, and
about half of those eaten are leaf-hoppers.
1 hese are, it is trtie, wonderfully abundant in
the moist, grassy j^laces where this Sparrow
lives, but they are not often eaten by other birds
that inhabit the same kinds of places. Of the
true bugs — that is, those belonging to the heter-
opterous division — both the smaller plant-feeding
;md predacious species are eaten. Perhaps the
most curious feature of the bird's food habits is
the liking shown for flies. These insects, mainly
midges and their larvpe, certain allied insects, and
the smaller adult horseflies, constitute 3 per cent,
of the food, probably a larger proportion of flies
than characterizes the food of any other birds
except Flycatchers and those shore-inhabiting
species in the Far North which feed so exten-
sively on midges.

There is a difference in the food of the -Sharp-

30

BIRDS OF AMERICA

tailed Sparrows collected by salt water and
those taken near fresh water, owing, no doubt,
to differences of environment. The salt-water
birds feed on the seeds of salt grasses and occa-
sionally eat wild rice ; the fresh-water birds eat
other grasses. The salt-water birds eat many
sand fleas which are very abundant along the
beach, and the birds pick them up either on
the clear sand or amid the seaweed or other
shore debris. The fresh-water birds do not eat
snails, while the others seem to find them very
palatable. Birds collected in fresh-water marshes
had fed on army worms.

Nelson's Sparrow (Passcrlicrbiilus nclsoiii
lu-lsoiii). also known as Nelson's Finch and as
Nelson's Sharp-tailed Sparrow, is decidedly
smaller than the Sharp-tailed Sparrow. Its col-

oration is much brighter, the white, ])ale grayish,
or [jale buffy streaks of back and shoulders more
sharply contrasted with the rich brown or olive
ground-color. It breeds in the Mississippi valley
northward and winters along the Gulf coast;
occasionally it visits the Atlantic coast during
migrations. (See Color Plate 8i.)

More plainly colored than either the Sharp-
tailed or the Nelson's is the .\cadian Sharp-tailed
Sparrow { Passcrlicrbiilus iiclsoni siihvirgatns)
which makes its home in the salt-water marshes
of the Atlantic coast of the United States and
the adjacent Canadian provinces. The conspicu-
ous lighter streaks on the back and shoulders
are lacking in this member of the family or else
they are not strongly contrasted with the ground
color. (See Color Plate 8i.j

SEASIDE SPARROW
Passerherbulus maritimus maritimus ( Wilson )

.\. O. V. Xiiml.cr 550 Ste Color I'late 81

Other Names. — Meadow Chippy ; Seaside Finch.

General Description. — Length, 6 inches. Upper
!)arts. oHve-grayish. streaked ; under parts, white. Bill,
stout: wing, short; tail, rounded, the feathers sharp-
pointed.

Color. — Adults: Above, olive-grayish tinged with
olive especially on back, where feathers are somewhat
darker with light grayish edges producing streaks;
crown, olive laterally, grayish medially, producing three
broad but very indistinct and faintly contrasted stripes ;
a stripe on the cheek, chin, throat, and abdomen, white ;
strif'c under the check and broad streaks on chest,
grayish; edge of xving, yellozv. Young: Above,
browner than in adult, the back broadly and crown

narrowly streaked with blackish; beneath, whitish;
the chest, sides, and flanks buffy and streaked with
dusky.

Nest and Eggs. — Nkst : Placed in the areas of
fine marsh grass, usually beneath dead drift patches of
grass, above normal high-water mark {many nests
are destroyed every year by extra high tides) ; con-
structed almost entirely of dried grass, lined with
finer blades. Eggs : 4 or 5, pale greenish or pale
brownish white, finely spotted all over and wreathed
at large end with rufous and dull purple.

Distribution. — Atlantic coast of United States, in
salt-water marshes, breeding from southern Massachu-
setts {Westport, near Rhode Island line) to Georgia.

.'\s its name indicates, the .Seaside .Sparrow is
a land bird which, nevertheless, evidentlv loves
the sotmd and the sight of the ocean, for it
is most frequently found in the salt marshes
along the Atlantic coast from Rhode Island
southward. It often has as companions Savan-
nah, Sharp-tailed, Swamp, or Song Sparrows
from any of which it may be distinguished by
its lack of the reddish cast of color, more or less
of which is shown in their i)Iumage, and by its
blunt tail. Its song, of four or five notes, can
hardly be considered musical ; it is delivered from
atop a reed, or sometimes as the bird flutters a
few feet upward.

There are four varieties of the Seaside Spar-
row found in dift'ercnt localities in the south-
eastern United States. Macgillivray's Seaside
.Sparrow ( Passcrlicrbiilus iiiaritiiiiiis macgilli-
vraii) is found on the Atlantic coast from South
Carolina to Florida and, in winter, along the
Gulf coast; in coloration it is darker than the
Seaside and its back is distinctly and often
broadly streaked with black. Scott's Seaside
Sparrow (Passcrlicrbiilus iiiariliiiiiis peninsula:')
is similar to Macgillivray's. but the coloration of
the upper parts is more uniform, the markings
being less sharjilv contrasted with the general
color; it inhabits the west coast of Florida. The

FINCHES

31

Louisiana Seaside Sparrow or Fislier's Seaside
Sparrow {Passcrhcrhiihis luariliiiiiis fi^iicri) is
niucli darker than Macgillivray's, often tlu- black-
on the upper parts exceeding the olive-gray, and
the ground color of the underparts being deep
bufTy ; it breeds on the coast of Louisiana and
in winter is distributed along the coast of Texas
and on the west coast of Florida. The fourth
variety is the Texas Seaside S]>arrow ( Passcr-
hcrbuhis iiwritiiiuix sciiiirtfi). .\s its name
would indicate, it is found along the coast of
Texas. It is smaller, paler, and much more buffv
than the Seaside, with the shoulders and the
space between distinctly darker than the rest of
the upper i)arts.

that this species is abundant and that the
region it inhabits is in no sense isolated, but that
both to the north aiul the south there are marshes
apparently simil.ar to those it occupies, the re-
striction of its range to an area onh- a few square
miles in extent makes its distrilnition unique
among North American birds."

The food habits of the Seaside Sparrow and
the .Shar]>tailed .Sparrow are very similar both
in elements and in the proportions of the food.
There are, however, some minor differences of
details. Thus, the .Seaside .Sparrow does not
take nearly so many sand fleas as its congener,
but it feeds on small crabs which so far as
known form no part of the food of the Sharp-

SEASIDE SPARROW ' ; nat. si!

Closely allied to the Seaside .S])arriiw ])Ut cun
stituting a different s])ecies is the Dusky .Seaside
Sparrow [ Fasscrlicrbiiliis iiif/rcscciis ) . Its gen-
eral coloratiiin above is lilrul^. indistinctl\' streak-
ed with olive .and gr,i\ish ; the wing and tail
feathers are edged witli oli\'e-brown : tlu- under
])arts are white thickly and broadly streaked
with black: the ed.ge of the wing and ;i s|)ot
above the lores are ganibo,ge-yellow. It is found
in the marshes at the northern end of the Indian
River, east coast of Florida. Of this species.
Dr. Chapman says: "In view of the fact

tailed .Sparrow. I'.ecause of the limited distribu-
tion of these birds they pr(jbabl\' do not come
in contact to any great extent with cultivated
cro|)s. In so far as they destro\- insect enemies
of s.alt-marsh hay they are hel])ful. and in so
far as they destroy enemies of insects which
prey upon this crop, they are harmful : but other-
wise they exercise little influence on agriculture.
The birds do not prey on the s.alt-marsh cater-
pillars, so destructive to the hay. and thev de-
stroy a considerable amoitnt of the seed of the
marsh grasses.

LARK SPARROW

Chondestes grammacus grammacus (Sav)

Other Names.— Quail-head; Kuad-bird ; Lark Finch;
Little Meadnwlark.

General Description.— Length, b'/'. inches. Upper
I)arts, bro\vnish-Kra.v streaked with blackish ; under
parts, white. Hill, stout; wings, long and pointed;
tail, \ong and rounded ; feet, small.

Vol. III. — 4

Color. — .'\dults : Crown and ear region, chestnut,
the former with a center stripe of pale brownish-gray
or grayish-bulif ; over eye a broad stripe of white,
becoming buffy toward the rear; under eye a large
white crescent-shaped spot; under farts, white l)econn'ng
bufTy grayish-brown on sides and flanks: tlie cliest

32

BIRDS OF AMERICA

tinge'd with the same and marked in center witli a
blackish spot ; back, shoulders, lesser wing-coverts, and
upper tail-coverts, brownish-gray or grayish-brown
(hair-brown): the back and shoulders broadly
streaked 'a'itli blaek; wings (except lesser coverts"),
dusky with light grayish-brown edgings, the middle
coverts tipped with white (producing a rather distinct
band), and the eighth to fifth or fourth primaries with
white at the base (producing a patch) ; middle pair
of tail-feathers, dusky grayish-brown, the remaining
feathers black, abruptly tif'f'ed icilh 'd'hite. this white
occupying nearly if not quite all the exposed terminal
half on outermost feather : iris, brown.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Located usually on tlie

ground in prairies or dry open meadows, sunk flush
with the earth, carefully concealed ; constructed of
dried grass, weed stalks, lined with finer similar mate-
rial. Eggs : 3 to 6, pure white or very pale bluish
or brownish white, with spots and pen lines of sepia
and black, bearing a singular resemblance to Oriole
eggs.

Distribution. — Mississippi valley, east of the Great
Plains: north to eastern Minnesota, Wisconsin, and
southern Michigan, east (regularly) to Ohio, Ken-
tucky, Tennessee, etc., casually or more rarely to Mas-
sachusetts, Long Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
District of Columbia, Virginia, etc., and (during migra-
tion ) Florida.

Tlie Lark Sparrow is one of the commonest
and most attractive of American birds. It is
found in grass country everywhere except in

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

LARK SPARROW (J nat. size)
A familiar bird, common on both city iawns and rocky mesas

the Alleghenies and on the Atlantic coast. In the
southwest there is less grass but plenty of sage-
brush, and there the Lark Sparrow is also
common. No one can travel through America
west of the Alleghenies without seeing the Lark
Sparrow. And no one who has ever known this
Sparrow will ever forget how handsome he is
with his chestnut and white head, one black spot
on a white breast and a white-edged tail. He
runs ahead along the dusty road, he rises out
of the June meadows, he walks across the lawns
of towns, he perches on rocks and Spanish bay-
onet and sagebrush and all kinds of wayside
bushes. Even out upon the flat and grassless
deserts he may be seen flying from cactus to
cactus. His absence from the Atlantic coast
States is the only fact that prevents his being
one of the best known birds of America. Over

his great range he is known not only for his
beauty, btit also for his friendly habit of nesting
near the farm buildings and villages.

If nothing else made the bird a favorite, his
melodious, long, and varied song, heard almost
continuously, would make him beloved. It is a
wonder that the poets have not sung his praises.
A poetic and intelligent people love the Lark
Sparrow already. The writer of poetry will
praise him in verse some later year. The song
is described by Ridgway as " one continued gush
of sprightly music, now gay, now melodious, and
then tender beyond description — the very ex-
pression of emotion. At intervals the singer
falters, as if exhausted by exertion, and his
voice becomes scarcely audible ; but suddenly
reviving in his jov it is resumed in all its vigor

, l.v I I H. i inir;v Mf v,,t, .A:, '\url.

NEST AND EGGS OF LARK SPARROW
Always carefully concealed

FLNCHES

53

until he appears to be really overcome by the
effort."

From the plains to the coast the l.ark Sparrow-
is lighter colored than east of the plains. This
makes a subspecies, according to the ornitholo-
gist ; and the western form is named the Western
Lark Sparrow {Chondcstcs grauimacus striga-
tus). There is. however, no [practical difference
in the habits, song, and beauty of eastern and
western birds.

It is very likely that the l.ark Sparrow will
extend his range eastward in much the same
way as has the Prairie Horned Lark. Being a
grassland bird the prairie land was the home of

the bird before man broke up the eastern forests
and made meadows and pastures suitable for
liomes for grassland birds. Man's progress into
the West, creating a continuous area of grass-
land all the way west to the prairies, has
made it possible for the prairie birds to find con-
genial homes further east. So as man has gone
west, some of the western birds have come east.
The food of this Sparrow is made up of seeds
of weeds, .grasses, and grain, with about 27 per
cent, of insects. It is considered to be one of
the most valuable of the S])arrows as a destrover
of grasshoppers.

L. Nelson Nichols.

HARRIS'S SPARROW
Zonotrichia querula (Nuttall)

A. O. U, Number 5,53

Other Names. — Hnod-crowned Sparrow : FSIack-
hood.

General Description. — Length, 7'i inches. Upper
parts, brown, streaked with blackish ; under parts, white.
Bill, small, compressed-conical : wings, lonu and
pointed; tail, about the length of wing, rounded or
slightly double rounded.

Color. — Adults : Crown, cheek region, chin, and
throat, uniform black, this extended over center portion
of chest in the form of a broad streaking or spotting;
sides of head, dull brownish buf¥y becoming more
grayish on sides of neck and nearly white next to the
black throat-patch, relieved by an irregular blackish or
dark brownish spot just back of upper rear portion of
ear region ; hindneck, brownish varied with blackish ;
upper parts, light brown or buffy hair-brown ; the back
and shoulders, broadly streaked with brownisli black ;
middle and greater wing-coverts, tipped with white

iir buffy white, producing two distinct bands; under
parts (except chin, throat, and center portion of chest),
white, becoming dull hnt'a'iiish huffy on sides and flanks,
where streaked witli l)rown or dusky; iris, brown.
Immature (young in first winter?) : Crown with
feathers black centrally, but margined witli pale grayish
buffy, producing a consi)icuously scaly effect ; throat,
white, or mostly .so, witli black along each side; middle
of chest, blotched or broadly streaked with black or
dark brown.

Nest and Eggs. — Probably but one nest has been
discovered.

Distribution. — Interior plains of North America,
from eastern base of Rocky Mountains to western
Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Manitoba, etc., occasionally,
during migration, to Illinois, and Wisconsin ; breeding
west of Hudson Bay; south in winter to Texas; acci-
dental in British Columbia and Orc.gon.

How modern is much of our knowledge of
American birds is shown by the fact that the
breeding range of the Harris's Sparrow was not
known in the nineteenth century. Only the in-
vestigation of the country west of Hudson's Bay
made since 1900 has established that country
as the nesting home of this bird. In the United
States it is distinctly a bird of the Missouri
River basin, not to breed, to he sure, but to
haunt for half the year the shrubberv along the
river bottoms and the thickets along the smaller
streams. In fact what the Wliite-throat does

when it comes down out of the North for three
seasons, that also does this Black-hooded Spar-
row. Black-hood and White-throat are members
of the same genus, but the former has the more
restricted area. Black-hood will chirp much in
the same tone as the White-throat, will seldom
rise much above the bushes, and haunts the
damper places in the thickets to rustle about in
the dead leaves.

In the spring the Black-hood's song, uttered
from the same bushes as the ^^^^ite-throat's,
begins something like the hvmn-notes of the

34

BIRDS OF AAlERICA

White-throat. A change suddenly conies in the
middle of the song that makes it very different
from the song of any other Sparrow. The close
of the song is harsh and drawling, reminding one
of the distant rasp of the Nighthawk.

When the winters are severe in the lower
Missouri valley, the birds push on in large num-
bers to central Texas, only to return, as a White-
throat would, to more northern wet woods and
thickets with the first sign of sjiring. .\t this
season they are known as Black-hoods, and are
a welcome sight in the Dakotas. where they sing
their cheerv songs from the tojimost twigs of
the scanty bushes. Their size and their colors

Writing in The Auk, he describes it thus: "It
was nil the ground under a dwarf birch, was
made of grass, and resembled the nest of tlie
\Miite-thruated Sparrow. It contained three
young, nearly readv to fl\'."

Figures indicate that it is advisable to afford
this species all possible encouragement and pro-
tection. The report of the United States Biologi-
cal Survey was bared on the examination of loo
stomachs. .\s is the case with many of the birds
that br(,-ed for the most part to the north and
merely winter in the United States, the stomach
contents wt'i-e mostly vegetable in character, the
animal matter amounting to but 8 per cent. The

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

HARRIS'S SPARROW (1 nat. size)
A comparatively little known bird whose nest was not discovered until 1907

make them as conspicucnis as Towhees. But
civilization loses sight of them during the breed-
ing season and through the heat of summer.

September, though, finds them corning back
over the international boundary into the upper
Missouri valley. But now the hoods are incon-
spicuous. Most noticeable now are the heavy
markings underneath and the generally reddish
appearance. In this garb it is as well to name
them after Mr. Harris as to call them by any
other name. The birds must search far on down
below the Arkansas River to find their black
hoods again.

The only nest of this species known was dis-
covered by Ernest T. Seton, August 5, 1907.

animal matter was made up of about the same
kinds of insects, spiders, and snails that enter
into the fare of other Sparrows, but the quantity
of leaf hoppers was unusually large (2 per cent.
of the food).

Of the vegetable food, _'5 [ler cent, was
made up of the seeds of wild fruits and of
various plants of uncertain economic position; 10
\>ev cent, of grain, which included more corn
than wheat and oats; per cent, of grass seed,
mainly pigeon grass, cral) grass, June grass, and
Johnson grass ; 6 per cent, of the seeds of ama-
rantli, lamb's-quarters, wild sunflower, and
gromwell, and 42 per cent, of ragweed and
])olygonum.

FINCHES

35

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW

Zonotrichia leucophrys leucophrys ( ./. A', l',trstcr)

A. (X V Xiiiiil.or ^54 See Color I'latc Rj

Other Name. — White-crown.

General Description. — LeiiRth. 6'4 inches. IMum-
agc. gray, light liclcnv, and dark with streaks nf hnnvn
above. Bill, small, compressed-conical ; w-ings. long
and pointed: tail, about the length of wing, rounded or
slightly double rounded.

Color. — Adults: Crown, with tz^u-i )<r,Hul Intrrnl
bands of dccf black, iiiclosiun tt i rii/rr i);;i- n/ i,7)(7.' or
grayish white of appro.ximately equal width: black of
forehead extending backward to the front angle of the
eye: a white or grayish-white stripe over eye extending
forward above the eye nearly or quite as far as its
front angle; hindneck, sides of neck, and ear region,
plain gray; liack and shoulders, light gray or brownish-
gray broadly streaked with chestnut-brown or vandyke-
brown ; rump and uiiper tail-coverts plain hair-brown ;
tail, dark hair-brown with paler edgings ; middle and
.greater win,a;-coverts, dusky grayish-brown, edged witli
pale hair-brown and tii)ped with white, forming two dis-
tinct bands ; inner wing-quills dusky, margined ter-
minally with whitish, this passing into chestnut-brown
toward basal portion of outer webs ; primaries, dusky
hair-brown narrowly edged with paler; sides of head
and neck and chest uniform rather light gray, fading

into nearly wdiite on tliroat. chin, and ahdonien ; sides
and flanks, pale bulTy-brown ; the under tail-coverts
pale buffy or buffy-whitish ; iris, brown.

Nest and Eggs. — Ne.st : Commonly placed on the
ground, in dry, high mountain meadows or clearings,
sometimes in low Inishes ; constructed of small twigs,
.grasses and rootlets, lined with fine .gra'-s .uid hair.
Eggs: 3 to 3. pale greenish bhie to dull pak brownish
white, specked and spoiled with cliestnnt. luaviest at
large end.

Distribution. — More eastern I'.rnish ]n-ovinces and
.greater part of United Slates; breeding from N'ermont,
Province of Quel)ec, northeastern Minnesota (?). etc.,
northward to west side of Hudson Bay and over
peninsula of I.alirador to southern Greenland, and
throughout tlie higli mountain districts of the western
United States, from tlie main Rocky Mountain ranges
to the Sierra Nevada, including the intermediate
Uinta and Wasatch ranges ; breeding southward to
New Mexico and Arizona, northward to northern Cali-
fornia ; mi.gratin.g southward over greater part of
eastern United .States, over Mexican plateau and
throughout peninsula of Lower California.

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

WHITE-CROWNED SPARROW (■ nat. sizs)
His song has a singular sweetness, all its own

36

BIRDS OF AMERICA

By careless observers this Sparrow is often
mistaken for the White-throat, though the diiTer-
ence in the coloration of the two is very marked.
In the first place, the White-crown lacks entirely
the yellow patch before the eye, the white stripe
over the eye, and white patch on the throat, all
of which are conspicuous markings of the White-
throat's plumage. Then, too, the White-throat's
head is much more nearly flat on the crown than
is the White-crown's, which is distinctly dome-
shaped. On the other hand. White-crowns and
White-throats frequently associate, and feed
together, and their manners are not unlike.

There is, however, little similarity in the songs
of the birds, and the \\'hite-throat's will be con-
sidered the better of the two probably by most
listeners. This is by no means intended to dis-
parage the effort of the White-crowned minstrel,
which has a singular sweetness and effective-
ness all its own. Indeed. Mr. Burroughs con-
siders the White-crown " a vastly finer songster
than the White-throat." As described by Mr.
Mathews, " it is comjjosed of six, or at the most,
seven notes (unless it is doubled) ; the first one
is twice as long as the others which are of about
even value. The intervals are fairly accurate
and include anything from a third to a fifth ; all
the notes are clearly whistled except (generally)
the two next to the last, and these are distinctly
double-toned or burred ; the whole is marked
by an even crescendo to the highest note, which
is next to or within one of the last, or some-
times actually the last." The song has something,
though rather less, of the plaintive quality which

characterizes that of the White-throat, and like
that bird's is also often heard at night.

In western North America there are two varie-
ties of the White-crowned Sparrow, riambel's
Sparrow (Zonotrichia Iciicof^Jirys (jauibdi) and
Nuttall's Sparrow {Zoiwtiichia Iciicoplirys luit-
talli). Gambel's Sparrow averages a trifle smaller
than the White-crowned; its coloration is similar,
but the lores is entirely white, thus making the
light-colored stripe over the eye continuous to
the bill. Nuttall's Sparrow also has this unin-
terru]jted stripe, but its general coloration is
much darker and its size smaller than Gambel's
Sparrow. Gambel's Sparrow is not found in the
Pacific coast district of the United States while
that is the home-land of Nuttall's Sparrow.

Like most of the family these birds are seed-
eaters by preference, and insects comprise very
little more than 7 per cent, of their diet. Cater-
pillars are the largest item, with some beetles,
a few ants and wasps, and some bugs, among
which are black-olive scales. The great bulk
of the food, however, consists of weed seeds,
which amount to 74 per cent, of the whole. In
California these birds have been accused of eat-
ing the buds and blossoms of fruit trees, but
buds or blossoms were found in only thirty out
of 516 stomachs, and probably it is only- under
exceptional circumstances that they do any <lam-
age in this way. Evidently neither the farmer
nor the fruit grower has much to fear from
White-crowned Sparrows. The little fruit they
eat is mostly wild, and the grain eaten is waste
or volunteer.

GOLDEN-CROWNED SPARROW

Zonotrichia coronata ( Pallas)

A. <). U. Xuinl).

Other Name. — rioldeii-crown.

General Description.— Length, 6.54 inches. Plum-
age, gray. light below, and dark with streaks of brown
above. Bill, small, compressed-conical ; wings, long
and pointed; tail, about the length of wing, rounded or
slightly double rounded.

Color. — Adult Male: Crown, deep black, divided
medially by a broad stripe of oUvc-yclloiv, changing
rather abruptly to light gray on back of head : upper
parts, grayish olive-brown, the back and shoulders
broadly streaked with brownish black, these streaks
with a marginal suffusion of chestnut-brown ; outer
webs of innermost greater wing-coverts and inner wing-
quills inclining to chestnut-brown ; middle and greater

coverts, tipped with white, forming two distinct bands ;
sides of head, dull grayish ; under parts, dull brownish
gray, somewhat paler on chin and throat, nearly white
on abdomen. li,ght buffy brownish color on sides and
flanks; under tail-coverts, light grayish-brown or drab,
broadly margined with pale buffy ; iris, brown. Adult
Fem.«,le: Similar to the male, sometimes hardly dis-
tinguishable, but usually with the lateral black stripes
of the crown narrower and less intensely black, the
yellow of the crown-spot rather paler, and the gray of
back of head streaked with dusky. Immature (Young
IN First Winter?^) : Similar to adult female, but with-
out any lateral black stripe on crown or well-defined
center stripe, the whole forehead and front portion of

Coortesy III thi; N,-« Yn.k Stat- MuSf-uri

Plate 82

^ip^"'''* ^»rfej

SLATE-COLORED JUNCO
Jniirii h;idnalis lu/frniili.^ ( Linnaeus)

MALE FEMALE

FINCHES

37

crown yellowish olive, more or less Hecked with dusky,
the back portion of the crown, liglit grayish-olive-
brown, streaked with dusky.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In alder thickets of Alaska
streams ; constructed of coarse grass, weed stems,
rootlets; lined with fine grass; quite large, and loosely
built. Eggs: 4 or 5, pale greenish blue, distinctly
speckled with shades of brown and chestnut.

Distribution. — Pacific coast and Bering Sea dis-
tricts of North America; breeding on the Shumagin
Islands, Alaska Peninsula, Kodiak, and more western
parts of the Alaskan mainland; migrating southward
in winter through southern Alaska, British Columbia,
Washington, Oregon, and California, to the San Pedro
Martir Mountains, Lower California, the Santa
Barbara Islands; occasional straggler eastward.

Alaska is the home of the Golden-crowned
Sparrows. They nest during the month of June.
After the breeding season, the Golden-crowns
are somewhat erratic in their movements. Some
stay in the North for a while ; others begin strag-
gling off for the South, either alone or in small
flocks. As a rule, the Golden-crowns join with
the White-crowned Sparrows. Our acquaint-
anceship with the Golden-crowns begins late in
the fall when we ;-ee a small flock in the shrub-
berv and hedgerows through California. It is
easy to make friends with these Sparrows by
scattering a few crumbs along the paths.

As far as I have observed, the Golden-crowns
<lo not sing much when traveling. I see them
each fall on their way through Oregon, but they
;ire silent. I knew the bird best about the campus
of the University of California at lierkeley and
in Golden Gate Park at San Francisco.

His mood is different from that of other birds.
It isn't the sun that makes him joyous; it is the
rain. Perhaps the lack of moisture in the Cali-
fornia climate makes him homesick. When a
rain does come, it reminds him so much of the
mist and showers of his northern home that he
cannot help breaking into song. The song of
the Golden-crown, therefore, is always associated
in my mind with a drizzling rain. It is a simple,
mournful lay in a high key. quite quavering at
times. It is a minor strain, each note lowered a
half step.

In his last book. Field Davs in California,
Bradford Torrey speaks of meeting the Golden-
crowned Sparrow at Paso Robles. " T was soon

close upon a flock of Golden-crowned Sparrows.
They were no novelty. I had seen many like
them. P)Ut these were in song ; and that was a
novelty; a brief and simple tune, making me
think of the opening notes of the eastern White-
throat, but stopping short of that bird's rollick-
ing triplets, ending almost before it began, as
if it had been broken off in the middle, with a
sweetly plaintive cadence. Like the White-
thr(iat's, and unlike the \\'hite-crown's, tlie tone
is a i>ure whistle, so that the strain can be imi-
tated, even at first hearing, well enough to
excite the birds to its repetition. I proved it on
the spot." William L. Fixlev.

For the determination of the food of the
Golden-crowned Sparrow, 184 stomachs were
available. The animal food amounted to 0.9
per cent., vegetable to 99,1 per cent. The animal
food consisted of insects and was prettv well dis-
tribtited among the various orders. It was evi-
dent that the Golden-crowned does not search
for insects and takes only those that come in its
way. The vegetable food consists of fruits,
buds and flowers, grain, and some miscellaneous
matter. Fruit amounted to a little more than I
per cent, of the food and consisted of elderber-
ries, grapes and what was thought to be apple.
Piuds and flowers averaged 29.5 per cent., grain
nearly 26 per cent., and weed seed 33 per cent.
This bird does no direct harm to fruit, but by
the destruction of buds and blossoms it may do
serious harm where it is numerous and visits
the orchards.

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW
Zonotrichia albicollis (Gnirlin)

.\. n. V. \umher ;^.<! S.-c Color I'l.Ttf 8_-

Other Names. — Pcabody Bird; Cherryhird (in parts, rusty-hrown, streaked with black; under parts,

Adirondacks) ; Canada Bird; White-throated Crown while and gray. Bill, small, compressed-conical ; win.sjs,

Sparrow; White-throat; Nightingale (in Manitoba"); long and pointed; tail, about length of wing, rounded

Canada Sparrow : Peverly Bird. or slightly double rounded.

General Description. — Length, -'4 inches. L'pper Color. — .Xntii.T: Crown, black divided centrally by

38

BIRDS OF AMERICA

a line or narrow stripe of white; a broad stripe over
eye, br'ujht yellow anti-riorly if nun lull to above eyes),
white posteriorly; a broad streak of black behind eye;
ear and under eye regions, plain gray; a conspicuous
li'liite patch covering chin, upper throat, and greater
part of cheek region; this white patch abruptly defined
below against the gray of lower throat and chest,
which passes into a more brownish hue on sides and
flanks, the latter streaked with grayish-brown; breast,
abdomen, and under tail-coverts, white ; back and
shoulders, rusty-brown streaked with black; rump and
upper tail-coverts, light olive or hair-brown ; tail,
deeper hair-brown edged with paler ; middle and
greater wing-coverts, tipped with whitish forming two
narrow bands; primaries, primary coverts, and outer-
most greater coverts, edged with lighter and more

grayish-brown ; the edge of wing, pale yellow ; iris,
brown.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Typical site on ground,
in burnt-over clearings of coniferous forests ; some-
times in low bushes near streams or borders of fresh-
water swamps, in the evergreen woods ; a rather bulky
structure, of coarse grasses, strips of bark, moss, lined
with fine blades of grass. Eggs; 4 or 5, minutely and
evenly sprinkled or heavily blotched with dark brown
on a pale greenish or pale buffy ground.

Distribution. — Eastern North -America ; breeding
from Massachusetts, northern New York, Ontario,
northern Michigan, nortlieastern Wyoming, eastern
Alontana, etc., northward to Great Bear Lake, west
shores of Hudson Bay, Labrador, etc.; south in winter
to Florida and southern Te.xas

Tliis is not only one of the handsomest of the
Sparrows ; it is perhaps the sweetest singer of
them all. The pity of it is that comparatively
little is seen or heard of him by humans who
would be glad to know him better ; for he shows
his fetching black, white, and yellow-striped cap,
his white ascot tie and his warm brown jacket,
and sings his beautiful little song, only on his
way to and from his breeding groimd in the
Canadian forests. This at least is true of the
great majority of White-throats, though many
breed in northern New York, Maine and in the
New England moimtains as far south as northern
Massachusetts. Both in spring and in fall the
birds are likely to travel in little flocks and to
spend much f)f their time on the ground, where

they scratch vigorously like Towhees and Juncos.
In this operation a White-throat creates a
commotion in the dry leaves which suggests
the presence of a bird or animal many times
its size.

There are few bird utterances at once more
characteristic and more appealing than the fin-
ished song of this Sparrow. Various eflorts have
lieen made to represent the song in words, but all
of these attempts are more or less unsatisfac-
tory, for the very good and sufficient reason that
they fail utterly to express the spirit of the utter-
ance. " Old Sam Peabody, Peabody, Peabody "
is the common New England rendition, from
which is derived the popular name of " Peabody
liird," but as W. Leon Dawson, the Ohio orni-

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

WHITE-THROATED SPARROW {\ nat. size)

FINCHES

39

thologist, says, " the bird does not utter anythine;
remotely resembling Peabodv while in Ohio,"
nor anywhere else, he might have made bold
to add.

From a New England farmer, Bradford
Torrey had the following story of the origin of
another eti'ort to put the song into words :

"A farmer named Peverly was walking about
his fields one spring morning, trying to make
up his mind whether the time had come to put
in his wheat. The question was important, and
he was still in a deep (piandary, when a bird
spoke up out of the wood and --aid, ' Sow wheat,
Peverly, Peverly, Peverly !' That settled the
matter. The wheat was sown and in the fall a
most abundant harvest was gathered ; and ever
since then this little feathered oracle has been
known as the Peverly bird." ( Birds in fhr Push ).

The fault with all of these attem[)tcd trans-
literations, as has been said, is that thev quite
fail to convey the real genius of the song. Its
two commoner forms are reduced to musical
notation bv Mr. Mathews as follows:

tt

^

Old <Sd m Tesbody. Peabody, Pedbody.
^J- ores.

W^

ishfe*

mdemto. '^'■^■^•

*t:

^ 1 ctrrTr i rrr-a

rue bird img] ^°'^ '^hedt, Peverly,' Peverly, Peverly.

twice 8vd.

^^

mm

rile piano conveys only a verv faint sugges-
tinn of the truly ethereal quality with whicli the
singer invests this simple little phrase. Played
with a \ery skillfully executed tremolo effect well
up on the K string of a fine violin, the notes
cmney a somewhat more definite idea of the
Ming, though the bird's tone is not that of the
\iolin. Kssentially the song is a lament — a la-
ment which is wistful and ineffably plaintive, but
in which there is no despair, only sweet hope-
fulness. Stewart Edward White in his book.
riw Forest, has a singularlv faithful rqiprecia-
tion of this quality in the song, .\scending from
jest to eloquent earnest, he writes:

rile \\"hite-throated Sparrow sings nine dif-
terent variations of the same song. He may sing
more, but that is all I have counted. . . . One
man 1 knew he nearly dro\-e crazv. To that man
he was always saying. 'And he never heard the

man say drink and the .' Toward the last

my frien<l used wildly to otTer a thousan<l dol-
lars if he wtiuld. if lie only would, finish that
sentence.

Rut occasionally, in just the jiroper circum-
st.ances, he forgets his stump corners, his vines,
his jolly sunlight, and his delightful bugs to be-
come an intimate voice of the wilds. It is night,
very still, very dark. The subdued murmur of
the forest ebbs and flows with the voices of the
furtive folk, an undertone fearful to lireak the
)iight calm. Suddenly across the dusk of silence
flashes a single thread of silver, vibrating,
trembling with some unguessed ecstasv of emo-
tion. '.\h ! [loor Canada, Canada, Canad.a ' it
mourns passionately, and falls silent. That is
all." George Claddex.

Pike many of the .members of its family, this
S])arrow is a great destroyer of weed seed and
has an especial fondness for the seeds of the
r;igweed and birdweed. It consumes, also, a
great many wild berries and a goodlv number of
insects. Its food habits in general place it
among the useftfl birds of the farm.

40

BIRDS OF AMERICA

TREE SPARROW

Spizella monticola monticola ( Cniiclin)

A. O. U. Xumher 559 See Color Plate 80

Other Names. — Snow Chippy; Winter Chip-bird;
Winter Chippy; Tree Bunting; Canada Sparrow;
Arctic Chipper; Winter Sparrow.

General Description. — Length, zVa inches. Upper
parts, gray, rusty, and black, streaked; under parts,
gray. Bill, small; wings, rather long and rather
pointed ; tail, shorter than wing, forked or double
rounded, the feathers narrow and blunt.

Color. — .'Vdult : Crown, streak behind eye. and
patch on sides of chest, brownish ; hindneck, sides of
head and neck (except as described), and broad stripe
over eye, light gray ; chin and throat, similar but paler ;
breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts, dull white,
the first with a dusky center spot or blotch at upper
edge, next to the pale grayish of the chest; sides and
flanks, pale wood brownish or brownish huffy; back
and shoulders, pale grayish huffy broadly streaked with
black and, more narrowly, with rusty ; rump and upper
tail-coverts, plain hair-brown ; tail, grayish dusky, the
feathers conspicuously edged with pale gray or buffy

gray; greater wing-coverts, broadly edged with rufous,
dusky centrally ; middle and greater wing-covcrts,
dusky, tipped zvith white, forming tzvo distinct bands;
iris, brown. Young : Crown, dull brown streaked with
blackish ; rump, pale bufify grayish indistinctly streaked
or mottled with dusky ; under parts, whitish tinged
with buffy on chest; the sides of throat, chest, breast,
and front portion of sides, streaked with dusky; other-
wise essentially like adults.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Located in low trees,
bushes or on ground ; constructed principally of dried
grass, strips of bark, moss, weed stems, and warmly
lined with feathers. Eggs : 3 to 5, pale greenish blue,
specked minutely and regularly over entire surface
with rufous brown.

Distribution. — Eastern North America, breeding in
Newfoundland, Labrador, and region about Hudson
Hay (limits of breeding range very imperfectly
known ) ; south in winter to South Carolina, Tennessee,
Oklahoma, etc.

The word " tree " is misleading as applied to
the Tree Sparrow ; for the bird is most fre-
quently found on the ground, and does not even
nest in trees ordinarily. This is r)nlv one of very

. by H. K. J.jb ('Murlt.-y -.

TREE SPARROW
Feeding on window-sill

many instances of strange inaccuracy in popular
nomenclature. The vernacular names "Arctic
Chipper " and " Winter Chip-bird " are, how-
ever, justified by the facts that the bird breeds in
the northland, and passes the v\'inter months in
the temperate zone. Indeed, the Tree Sparrow
and the Slate-colored Jtinco are the only native
members of the Sparrow family which may
fairlv be counted winter residents within the
United States. This, of course, excludes the
English Sparrow, " which does not deserve to be
considered as a bird, but rather as a feathered
rat," as Mr. Job says. The Tree Sparrow has
the further distinction of being one of the few
.Vmerican birds who sing real songs in real
\\inter weather, for its pleasing little Canary-
like ditty of tinkling notes is often heard in
February when there is both snow and blow
aplenty.

The Western Tree Sparrow {SpiccIIa jiwnti-
fola ochracca) has decidedly longer wings and
tail than tlie eastern species and its coloration is
|)aler. It breeds from the valley of the Anderson
River, near the Arctic coast, westward through
-■\laska and southward for an tmdetermined dis-
tance. In the winter it comes south through
western North America to Arizona, Utah, Colo-
rado, and Texas.

One-foiu-th ounce of weed seed per day is a
conservative estimate of the food of an adtiit
Tree Sparrow. On this basis, in a large agricul-

FINCHES

4^

tural state like Iowa, Tree Sparrows annually
eat apjiroxiinately 875 tons of weed seeds. Only
the farmer, uiion whose shoulders falls the heavy
hurdcn of freeing; his land of noxious weeds,
can realize what this vast consumption of weed
seeds means in the savini; and cost of lahor.
Dr. Judd reports an interestini; illustration of
the Tree Siiarrow's habits which was noticed
durint; a heavv snnwstorm in the third week of
Februarv. Here and there, where the whiteness
of the field was pierced by i)halanxes of dry

broom-sedge, a flock of a d<:)zen or more Tree
Sparrows found good cheer in spite of driving
flakes. From one brown i)atch to another they
flew, clinging to the plants while they [iluckcd
out the seeds, seldom leaving a stalk unexplored.
Frequently two would feed from a single stalk,
while a third, made thrifty by the wintry dearth,
hopfK'd in the snow below searching for scattered
seeds. The snow whirlefl in clouds across the
i'leld, Init these little creatures worked on with
cheerful, hardy industry.

CHIPPING SPARROW
Spizella passerina passerina ( Bcchslciii )

A. O. U. Xuniber 5C0 See Color I'l.itc 8.)

Other Names. — Chip-bird ; Chippy ; Hair-bird ;
Social Sparrow : Hair .Sparrow; Little House Sparrow.

General Description. — Length. 5'< inches. Upper
parts, gray, rusty, and black, streaked ; under parts,
gray. Bill, small ; wings, rather long and rather
pointed ; tail, shorter than wing, deeply forked, the
feathers narrow and blunt.

Color. — Adult M.\le: Crou'ii. deep ciiinamon-nifous
to rujous-chcstnut ; the forehead, black divided by a
center streak of whitish ; a broad stripe of white or
very pale gray over eye margined below by a conspicu-
ous streak of black, the latter extending beyond the
ears; ear and under eye regions, sides of neck, and
hindneck, gray, the last streaked with blackish ; back
and shoulders, light brown or drab broadly streaked
with black, the black streaks edged with rusty-brown ;
rump and upper tail coverts, deep olive-gray or mouse-
gray, the latter somewhat darker centrally ; tail, dusky,
the feathers edged with light gray ; lesser wing-coverts,
mouse-gray with darker centers ; middle coverts, dusky
broadly margined terminally with white or huffy form-
ing a band; greater coverts, dusky edged with pale
wood-brown or buffy-brown, usually passing into whitish
or pale buffy at tips of feathers; inner wing-quills,
dusky broadly edged with wood-brown or pale buffy
brown ; primaries, dusky narrowly edged with pale gray-
ish ; under parts, white or grayish-white; the chest,
sides and flanks shaded with pale gray ; iris, browrr
-Adult Female : Similar to the male and frequently not
distinguishable, but usually (?) with the rufous crown
slightly less extended and often streaked with dusky.
Winter adults have the colors duller, the markings less
sharply contrasted, the gray less pure, the chestnut
crown obscured by buffy tips to the feathers.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Built in bushes, hedges, or
almost any kind of tree, especially cedars, usually close
to houses, the orchard being a favorite locality ; a deli-

cate. o[>en-work structure of fine, curly rootlets, cleverly
interwoven and always thickly lined with horse-hair,
sometimes constructed almost entirely of this material.
Eggs ; 3 or 4, rarely 5, bluish-green, thinly spotted
with blackish brown, often wreathed at large end.

Distribution. — Eastern LTnited States and British
provinces, west to the Great Plains; breeding from

ving by R. I. Brasher

CHIPPING SPARROW (I nat. sizel

near the Gulf coast nortliward to Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, Prince Edward Island. Province of Quebec,
and wooded region on eastern side of the Saskatchewan
plains ; wintering chiefly in the more southern United
States (Florida to Eastern Texas and northward);
casual winter visitant to Cuba (and eastern Mexico?).

This Sparrow is one of the best known and
most loved of our door-vard birds. Its confi-
dence in the friencUiness of man seems to be no

less than that of the Robin and Pduebird, whence
one of its names, the .Social Sparrow. .Another
popular name, " Hair-bird," refers to the bird's

42

BIRDS OF AMERICA

fondness for horse-hairs as material for its nest.
As a matter of fact, this is not good nesting-
material, for. the hairs selected are from the
mane and tail of the horse, and besides beinsf
stiff, and therefore hard to weave into the only

Photo by H. T. Middictnu

CHIPPING SPARROW
One of the tamest of our door-yard birds

kind of nest the bird knows how to build, are
often so long that two or three ends are likely
to be left protruding for several inches. These
ends are dangerous snares, in which both old
and young birds become entangled, often with
tragic results. The persistence of the bird in
using this dangerous building material is but
another illustration of the blind way in which
instinct sometimes works.

The song of this Sparrow is a rapid and rather
monotonous reiteration of the same note. It is
frequently described as a " trill," but this is in-
accurate, as a trill is a rapid repetition of two
distinct tones, whereas there is but one tone in
Chippy's song. Mr. Burroughs records, as a
marked exception, a song of one of these Spar-
rows in which the tones were in two groups, one
at a little lower pitch than the other. The tone
is very high, — an octave or so above the highest
C of a piano. The bird is often in a conspicuous
place — the top of a tree or bush — as he pre-
sents this simple little offering: or he mav even
execute part of it while on the wing, though this
seems to be very unusual.

Inexperienced or careless observers frequently
confuse this Sparrow with the Field Sparrow :
but this is needless if one will remember that the
Chipping Sparrow has a black bill, and a grayish
line over the eye and a brown stripe through it,
distinguishing marks which the Field Sparrow
lacks.

The Chipping Sparrow is one of the most
insectivorous of all the Sparrows. Its diet con-
sists of about 42 per cent, of insects and spiders
and 58 per cent, of vegetable matter. The
animal food consists largely of caterpillars, of
which it feeds a great many to its yovmg. Be-
sides these, it eats beetles, including many wee-
vils. It also eats ants, wasps, and bugs. Among
the latter are plant lice and black-olive scales.
The vegetable food is practically all weed seed.
A nest with four young of this species was
watched at different hours on four days. In the
seven hours of observation 119 feedings were
noted, or an average of seventeen feedings per
liiiur. or four and one-quarter feedings per hour
to each nestling. This would give for a day of
fourteen hours at least 238 insects eaten by the
brood. Chipping Sparrows have been noted at
the end of May far out in a patch of corn
stubble feeding on yellow sorrel that was going
to seed. A score of Chipping .Sparrows have
been seen amid crab grass, which was spreading
so rapidly through a market garden in a pear
orchard that it was likely to impair the product.
They hopped up to the fruiting stalks, which
were then in the milk, and beginning at the tip
of one of tlie several spil<es that radiated from

H. K. Job Omrtcsy (.1 Outing Pub. Co.

CHIPPING SPARROW AT HOME
On Mr. Job's porch, in the woodbine

a common center like the spokes of a wheel and,
gradually moving their beaks along to the base,
the}' chewed oft" the seeds of spike after spike in
regular succession. Usually thev did not remove
their beaks until they reached the base, thotigh

Courtesy of tht- Nuw York Slato Mi.seuri

Plate

FIELD SPARROW Spuilla pustlla pu.iill,r (Wilaon)
CHIPPING SPARROW Spi.'fll,, ;w,«f;-,LT;«,"."Ti,m (Rechstoin)

FOX. SPARROW PnssmUn iliaca iliiica (Morrom)

FINCIIF.S

43

some individiiaK. cspccialK' birds nf ilic year. fnun ilic caslcni l)asc of (lie l\i)cky Mountains

wimld inmnh a lew sreds in tlir iiiiddK- nf a In ilir praiiir disiricl-^ nf ilir n|)|)cr Mississippi

s])ikc' and tlu-n lake a fiasli nnr. vaHcv lis nisi is iiMially lu-ar the [,'rnund like

Dfcidcdiv hir<(('r hiil paler in mlnralinn is llir llii' l''ic!d Sparrnw's.

Western Cliippini; Sparrnw { Sjv'.crlLi l^,is.u-ri)i,i Anollier elnsily allied speeies is I'.rewer's

uricoiUi- ) . It is fnimd L;enerall\- nxci" western Sparrnw i S l'i:::rl/ii /iriTei'r/ ) . locally knnwn in

North Anierica frniii tlie Rcn'kv Mnunlains tn ils i-anL;e in llie I 'liited Stales west nf the Kncky

the I'aeilii- cnasl. ineludiiiL; Alaska and the innre M(juntains and south into Mexien as the Sat,'c

westt-rn ]iarts nf the inti-rinr tlistr-iets nf I'.ritish (hippy. It averages a (rille smaller than the

America. t 'la\' colnied .Sparrnw, in which it is similar, hut

The riay-colnrecl Sparrnw (Spi.::clhi palliila] it is mnre narrowly and niiifnrmlv streaked

verv much rescmhles an immalure ( ■hipp\ It is ahn\e, especially nil the crown which lacks the

found on the yreat i)lains of North America central stri])e.

FIELD SPARROW
Spizella pusilla pusilla {Wilson)

\ (1 I • \nriil.. I ii; s, , ( nini I'l.rl,' K)

Other Names.— lUisli Sp.irmw : l\ii-li Sp.imiw; linnvn or hair-lu mwh : t.iil clrcp hair-linnvii. llu-

HucklcluTr.x-iin.l ; \V<"iil Sparrcm : l-u-M Cliippy; leallirrs edKed with p.ilc' Krayisli ; iaiKci' wiiiK-covcils

Ground-binl ; (irimiui .Sparrow; I*"icld I'.tiiitiiiK. and inner winK-(|uills. dusky centrally; middle and

General Description. — LenKth. sH i'ulu-s L'ppcr greater coverts, tipped with whitish, forniin.^ two hands

parts, uray. rnsly, and black, streaked ; under parts,
gray. Hill, small ; win.ijs. rather Iouk and rallier
jjointcd ; tail, nearly lennlh of wing, forked or donlile
iimnded. tlie feathers narrow and Idnnt.

Color. — Antii.Ts : Crown, rusty brown; sldeN of
head, li.nht gray (smoke-Hrav or olive-Rrav ) rehe\ed bv
a rusty brown streak luliind i-ye ; jiack and shoulders,
rusty brown narroul\ ^Irc.aked wilh Mack, often
streaked also (on eil;4rs of Iralliers) wilh Imhl dull
liul'fy or clay color; rump ami upper tail-cov(■rl^, li^bl

the tjreatcr coverts edged with pale brown ; outer web
of inner winK-(|uills, broadly edged with pale rusty
brown or cinnamon ; under parts, i)alc grayish bulTy
low.iril the front and sides, the bufTy tinge most |)ro-
noimced on clicst, fading into dull white on each side
of chest. Voi:n<. : Much duller in color than adults,
with the chest anil sides streaked wilh dusky; ii-.>wn,
dull liri>wn (not rusty >, usually ( '' ) n.irrovvly .incl in-
dislnullv streaked with dusky; otherwise essentially
hke adults.

Drawiiif! by R. I. Hrashcr

FIELD SPARROW (J nat. size)
A tinkling musician of the open fields

44

BIRDS OF AMERICA

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Usually placed in low thick
bushes, or in tufts of grass on the ground, in clearings,
or bushy fields, near woodland ; constructed of coarse
grass, weed strips, and rootlets, lined with finer grasses
and hair. Eggs : 3 to 5, grayish or bluish white
spotted with various shades of brown, more heavily
around large end.

Distribution. — Eastern North America, west to the
edge 01 tlic Great Plains; breeding from upper
Georgia and South Carolina, northwestern Florida,
central .-Mabama, and Mississippi, and central Te.xas.
northward to Maine. Ontario, Manitoba ; wintering in
more southern United States, from Florida to Texas,
northward to about 39°, occasionally farther.

The Field Sparrow, Chipping Sparrow, and
Tree Sparrow resemble one another nearly
enough to perple.x the ine.xperienced or hasty
observer. Sharp eyes, intelligently used, how-
ever, will reveal certain characteristic marks.
Look for the reddish bill and the plain breast of
the Field Sparrow ; the -a'liitc stripe over each
eye, the almost pure ichite breast and the (/ray
rump of the Chippy, and the dark spot in the
middle of the breast of the Tree Sparrow.

The popular specific term " field," is a little
misleading as applied to this bird, for its favorite
habitat is an old pasture-lot overgrown with
weeds and high bushes, or undergrowth along

Photo by S. .-v. Lottndge

NEST AND EGGS OF FIELD SPARROW

the edges of woodland, rather than cultivated
fields, in which it is rarely seen. Nor does it
ajipear, except by accident, in dooryards of
human habitations.

This Sparrow's habits of running along the
ground and skulking through the brush are
characteristics which aid in its indentification,
and which at the same time reveal its retiring
and timid disposition. Its song is a simple but
musical little ditty of which Thoreau says : " The
Rush Sparrow [a local name for the bird in his
time, and one still sometimes used] jingles her
small change, pure silver, on the counter of
the pastures," a fetching description, though
it implies a cttrious ignorance of the fact that it
is the male bird that does the singing. The

song is not unlike that of the Chipping Sparrow,
in that its notes are all of the same pitch, but it
is distinctive in that their delivery is at an ac-
celerated rate which efifectually relieves the eflfect
of monotony. The tone is pure and sweet,
rather more so than that of the " Chippy." Brad-
ford Torrey recorded that he once heard the
song rendered " in reverse order," with an effect
which jnizzled him ttntil he had identified the
singer. This observation conveys a valuable
hint as to the variability in the songs of birds.
It should always be borne in mind that this varia-
bility may be marked even in birds of the same
species and the same locality : indeed it is likely
that two birds from the same brood may render
Iierce]5tibly different versions of the same song.
The laboratory investigation of 175 specimens
of the Field Sparrow collected during all the
months of the year from fifteen States and the
District of Columbia showed 41 per cent, animal
material and 59 per cent, vegetable. The animal
matter consisted of weevils, leaf beetles, ground
beetles, tiger beetles, click beetles. May beetles,
caterpillars, grasshoppers, leaf-hoppers, true bugs,
saw flies, ants, flies, spiders, and parasitic wasps.
The last item is the principal point wherein the
Field Sparrow differs in its food habits from the
Chipping Sparrow — a dift'erence that is not to
the credit of this species from the standpoint of
usefulness, since these wasps have been proved
to be dangerous parasites of many caterpillars.
Of the vegetable food 51 per cent, was seeds of
grasses of such species as crab-grass, pigeon-
grass, broom-sedge, poverty-grass, and sheathed
rush-grass ; 4 per cent, was seeds of such weeds
as chickweed, lamb's-quarters. gromwell, spurge,
wood sorrel, and knot-weed ; and 4 per cent, was
oats. Dr. Judd tells in his Birds of a Maryland
farm of watching a flock of Field Sparrows in
the middle of November. They spent most of
their time swaying on broom-sedge stalks, from
which they were busily extracting seeds. Some-
times a bird alighting on a plant would bend it
to the ground and hold it down with its feet
while picking out the seeds : seldom would one
feed from the ground in any other way.

The Western Field Sparrow (Spicella piisilla

FINCHES

45

arciiacca) has imich longer wings and tail, es-
pecially the latter, than his eastern relative, and
his general color is grayer. He is found in the
more western portions of the (ireat Plains; he
hreeds from Xehraska and South Dakota to
eastern Montana and winters south to southern
Texas and Louisiana.

\\ urthcn's .S]jarrow or the Mexican Field
Sparrow (Sptj:clla worthcni) is a straggler from
over the Mexican border into New Mexico. He
is much like the Western Field Sparrow but liis
tail is much shorter, the wing-bands less distinct,
and the sides of the head gray, relie\-ed only bv a
w'liile eve-ring.

BLACK-CHINNED SPARROW

Spizella atrogularis ( Cabanis)

General Description. — Length, 5',:J inches. Upper
parts, rusty-brown streaked with black; under parts,
black, gray, and white. Bill, small ; wings, rather long
and rather pointed ; tail, decidedly longer than wing,
double rounded, the feathers narrow and blunt.

Color. — Adult M.\le: front farticui of check
region, chin, and ('art of throat, black; rest of head
and neck, gray, darker on crown, where sometimes
narrowly and indistinctly streaked with dusky, fading
into lighter gray or olive-gray on chest and other under
parts ; the abdomen, white ; back, liyht rusty-brown
or cinnamon streaked with black ; shoulders, similar
but with outer webs more decidedly rusty ; rump and
upper tail-coverts, plain gray or olive-gray ; tail, dusky ;
"ving-coverts, dusky centrally, broadly margined, and
tipped with pale cinnainon-buffy ; greater coverts, dusky
centrally broadly edged with pale buffy-brown or wood-

brown ; primaries, dusky edyed witli pale grayish.
.\dult Fem.\i,e: Similar to tlie adult male and not
always distinguishable, but usually with the black of
chin, etc., duller and much less e.xtended, often entirely
wanting, the entire head being gray, and the gray of
crown and hindneck rather browner.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In low bushes, in deserts
of Lower California. Arizona, and New Mexico; con-
structed of grass, weed fibers, lined with fine grasses
and cow-hair. Eggs: 3 to 5, plain light greenish blue,
normally unmarked.

Distribution. — More southern portions of south-
western United States and southward over Me.xican
plateau, north to southern California, Arizona, and
southwestern New Mexico ; Lower California, breed-
ing in more northern portions, south m winter to the
cape district.

A visitor from the eastern United States to the
sagebrush regions of the southwest hears the
song of a bird which makes him exclaim : " Why,
all those bird-books are wrong ! That's a I'ield
Sparrow from home. I know his song." Then
he catches sight of a little bird the size of a
Chipping Sparrow, except for its longer tail.
Hut instead of the rusty brown crown of the

Field Sparrow which he had expected to see, this
bird is a stranger with a gray head and a black-
patch on its throat. To his delight, the bird-
lover has added .1 new acquaintance to his list
— the Black-chinned Sparrow. r)n in(|llir^• he
finds that his new friend is fairly numerous
within its limited range.

J. liLLIS BURDJCK.

SLATE-COLORED JUNCO
Junco hyemalis hyemalis (LiiiiKciis)

A. O. V. Xuml.er ;(i7 >ii- ( i,l„r I'l.atc Sj

Other Names.— Snowbird ; Black Snowbird ; White
Bill ; Black Chipping Bird ; Common Snowbird ; Slate-
colored .Snowbird : Blue Snowbird : Eastern Junco.

General Description. — Length, 6 inches. Fore and
upper parts, gray; under parts, white. Bill, small;

wings, long and moderately rounded : tail, a little
shorter than wing, doulile-rounded. the feathers narrow
at the tips and blunt.

Color. — Adi'i.t M.m.e: Head. neck, chest, upper
breast, sides, flanks, and upper parts, plain slate-color.

46

BIRDS OF AMERICA

darker on head ; lower breast, abdomen, anal region,
and under tail-coverts, white; six middle tail-leathers,
slate-blackish, edged with slate grayish ; hco outermost
tail-feathers zi'hite; bill, pinkish; iris, dark reddish
brown or claret-purple. Adult Female ; Similar to
adult male, but the slate-color rather lighter ( some-
times decidely so). Young (First Plumage) : Above,
grayish brown or drab (sometimes slightly rufescent on
back), rather broadly streaked with blackish; chin,
throat, chest, sides, and flanks, pale dull buffy or buffy
grayish, spotted or broadly streaked (except on chin)
with dusky ; rest of under parts white, the breast
usually spotted or flecked with dusky.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Usually placed on the
ground, under a tuft of grass or weeds, sometimes in

rock crevices, or upturned tree roots ; constructed
mostly of dried grasses, thickly lined with hair. fur. and
feathers. Eggs : 4 or 5, white or greenish-white,
spotted with rufous-brown.

Distribution. — Breeding from mountains of Penn-
sylvania, New York, and Massachusetts, Ontario, cen-
tral Michigan, northern Minnesota, northward to
Labrador, western shores of Hudson Bay, and through
the interior to the Arctic coast and westward to valleys
of the Yukon and Kowak rivers, Alaska; migrating
southward in winter to Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,
Texas, Arizona, and California, straggling (?) to
Point Barrow and coast of Bering Sea (Kotzebue
Sound, St. Michaels, etc.), and to eastern Siberia
(Tschuctschi Peninsula).

The scientists have taken liold of our old
friend the Common Snowbird and done so many
things to him that ordinary bird observers and
the scientists themselves are quite distracted.
First they are disputing over the various races
of Snowbirds, not sure just how many different
species and varieties to list. They liave agreed
npon the scientific name " Junco " for the w hole

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

SLATE-COLORED JUNCO >\ nat. size)
A sprightly and welcome winter visitor

group or genus and imposed that I.atin name
upon the Englisli-speaking world as the com-
mon name in place of Snowbird. Maybe the
children of the newer generation will look out
of the windows on a Christmas morning and say
" Oh, see the Junco s ! " but the charm of the
word " Snowbird " seems to be more worth
while in childhood and in poetry at least. Bird

students are taking very kindly to the new name
but no one seems to know how it started and
what it means. Coues says that it is derived
from the Latin jiiiiciis meaning a seed. It was
after 1830 that the word "Junco" was first
brought into scientific use.

This is a true winter bird indeed. He remains
about his breeding range late into the fall and
often goes only a little way to warmer climates
when the food supply falls short farther north.
The white-edged tail and hood-like coloring of
the head makes the bird quite distinctive, and as
we see him in the winter his coloring makes him
very attractive against the snow or the ever-
greens. He is a tamer, more genial bird to us
than is that other Snowbird, the White Snow-
bird or Snowflake that stays far afield in all
kinds of weather. This Black Snowbird comes
near the barns and kitchen doors, dodges in and
out of the bushes in the garden, chatters cheerily
in the wild cherry and thorn bushes, lisps his
characteristic tsip from stone piles and stub-
ble rows, and as spring comes, sings from
the bushes and shorter trees his low, sweet song
which Mrs. Bailey says is " as unpretentious and
cheery as the friendly bird itself." And in early
spring off he goes for the breeding grounds,
often reaching there weeks before the nesting
can begin.

The Junco is one of the most common Spar-
rows of .'America. In migration he vies in ntim-
bers with the other song birds, often being seen
by the hundreds wherever there is shelter and
food. In the breeding territory he chooses the
cool and sheltered, and often damper localities.
He breeds commonly in the Adirondacks. But
farther south, any motmtainous region or valley
that is almost cold throughout the summer may

FINCHES

47

shelter its Jimco households. Not only in east-
ern but in western and northern Xorth Anieriea
up to the limit of trees, and south down through
Mexico to Central America the Junco is common.

It is over the Rocky Mountain and Pacific
coast Juncos that the scientists have become very
much disturbed, and well they might, for nearly
twenty varieties of Juncos have been credited
to that country. East of the Rockies there is
one great varietv, the Slate-colored or h'astern
Junco that occupies an area greater than any
dozen varieties of the West. Far up to the north-
west our Eastern Snowbird goes, sometimes
pushing on to the limit of trees on the lower
Coppermine and Mackenzie rivers. Many cross
the Rockies up in that far northwest to the head-
waters of the Yukon, and spread out in large
numbers down the Yukon and uj) its tributaries
occupying most of central, northern, and west-
ern Alaska. Some even fly through the Aleutian
Islands to the mainland of Siberia to nest on the
inhospitable rocks of a strange corner of the
Old World. The other varieties of Juncos do
not extend farther north than southern Alaska
and northern British Columbia.

A variety of the Eastern Junco is the Carolina
Junco {Junco hvciiialis caroliiiriisis ) . which ex-
hibits a remarkably short migration route. It
inhabits the southern Alleghenies and is slightly
larger than the Eastern and not so brownish. Dr.
\\'. W. Cooke said that in the fall migration
" no Juncos were seen at \\'eaverville, N, C.
before October i8th, though they nested ui)on
the neighboring mountains, within five minutes'
flight."

The other varieties are all ^\'estern and they
show all sorts of interesting variations of color,
but the habits of nesting, feeding, and singing
are all very much alike. The ^^'hite-winged
Junco {Junco aikciii), larger than the Eastern,
has two white wing bars and more white in the
tail. The White-wing breeds in the Black Hills
and surrounding country, and migrates less than
500 miles to southeastern Colorado for the
winter. Within its area it is found in immense
numbers.

Maybe the handsomest is the Oregon Junco
(Junco hycmalis orcganus) with a black head
and breast, sharply defined against a mahoganv-
brown back, white under parts, and pinkish-
brown sides. This is a bird of the Xorth Pa-
\'oi.. III. — ;

cific coast. Shufeldt's Junco {Junco liycnialis
coiiucctcns ) is like the (Jregon Init with colors
less intense, it is found in the mountains from
.Mbcrta to eastern Oregon. Thurlier's Jimco
{Junco liycnialis tluirbcri) has a paler back and
is a California mountain bird. The Point Pinos
Junco {Junco liycnialis pinosiis) is like Thurber's
but has the throat and breast gray, and hatmts
the coast of a part of southern California. The
Montana Junco (y^uk';; liycnialis inontaiius) is one
of the slaty-hooded and brown-backed Juncos.
It belongs in the higher Rockies of Idalio, Mon-
tana, and north to .-Mbcrta. The Pink-sided
Jinico {Junco liycnialis incarnsi) has broadly
pinkish sides and ranges iu the mountains from
northern Montana to Idaho and \\'yoming.
Ridgway's Junco {Junco liycnialis aniiccfcns)
is discarded by Ridgway himself as onl\- a
hybrid. It is foimd from Wvoming to Xew
Mexico. The Arizona Junco (Junco plnvonotus
pallialiis) has no pink sides but has a dark brown
back. It ranges from southern Arizona into
Mexico, and is said to have less of the manners
of a Junco than of a Water Thrush. The Red-
backed Junco {Junco plucoiiotiis ilorsalis) has a
bright rtifous back and a pink liill. It belongs in
the higher mountains of Arizona and New
Mexico. The (iray-headed Junco {Junco pluvo-
notiis caniccps) is of darker grav with I)elly
whiter than the jireceding. It finds its home in
the higher mountains of Colorado, Utah, and
Nevada. .South of the United .States are found
Townsend's, Baird's. Guadalu])e, Mexican, Chia-
pas, (7uatemala, and Irazu luncos. The first
three of these are of occasional occurrence in the
southwestern United States. .\11 of which means
that east of the Rockies we may still love
the cheery Black Snowbird that is frequentlv
willing to pick at a dinner laid out near our
doors and windows, but that elsewhere we niav
see all kinds of colors and sizes and variant
types, and maybe new kinds of Junco characters
and dispositions. L. Nelson Nichols.

The insect food of the Juncos is composed
almost entirely of harmful sjiecies, of which
caterpillars form the the largest item. Juncos do
no damage to fruit or grain. Thev eat large
quantities of weed seed (61.S per cent.), therebv
rendering service to agriculture. Thev should
be rigidly protected.

48

BIRDS OF AMERICA

BLACK-THROATED SPARROW
Amphispiza bilineata bilineata (Cassin)

A. O. U. Number 573

Other Name. — Black-throat.

General Description. — Length, sJj inches. Upper
parts, gray ; under parts, white. Bill, small ; wing, long
and slightly rounded; tail, trifle shorter than wing,
rounded or double rounded, the feathers broad and
rounded at the ends.

Color. — Adults : Conspicuous stripe over eye and
on cheeks, pure zchite; the front portion of the cheek
region, together with the chin, throat, and center por-
tion of chest, uniform black, the last with a convex
(sometimes angular) posterior outline; rest of under
parts, white shading into grayish on sides and flanks ;
the latter, together with anal region and under tail-
coverts, tinged with buffy in winter plumage; upper
parts, deep, slightly brownish, gray, becoming more
brownish (nearly hair-brown) on back and wings;

sides of head (between the two white stripes), plain
gray like crown ; the tail, blackish z^.'ilh white on edge
and tip of outermost feathers; iris, deep brown.
Young : Similar to adults but without any distinct
black markings on head. etc. ; the chin and throat, white
sometimes flecked with grayish ; the chest streaked with
the same.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Placed in sagebrush,
cactus, or other desert shrubs, near ground ; constructed
of fine shreds of bark, dried grasses, lined with fine
blades of the latter. Eggs : 3 or 4, plain greenish or
bluish white.

Distribution. — Middle and eastern Te.xas (except
along Gulf coast?), north to Oklahoma, western Kan-
sas, and eastern Colorado ( "O, south into States of
northeastern Mexico.

The Black-throated Sparrow is a very plentiful
and beatttiful songster of the one area of the
United States that certainly does need song. If
there is any area in the world that is more dreary

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

BLACK-THROATED SPARROW ^ aat. size)

than another it is a desert. A song is needed and
many of them to cheer the weary humans that
travel the long hot routes across the southwest-
ern country. Mrs. Bailey gives the bird the
credit due to him when she says : " On all
our walks through the thorn brush and climbs
over the agave-speared hills we found the lovely
little bird everywhere, sitting on top of the

bushes singing with head thrown back in fine
enjoyment of his bright lay." The bird has a
most winsome manner, all out of keeping
with the surroundings. Its cheery tra-rcc'-rah,
rcc'-rah-rcc with many variations can be heard
throughout all our southwestern desert country
and far down on the Mexican plateau. In most
places it is very common, exceeding in frequency
all other birds in the area.

The ornithologists have found slight differ-
ences by which they define three species. The
eastern race, the common Black-throated Spar-
row, extends from western Kansas south
through Texas and across the Rio Grande into
the nearer Mexican States. The western race is
named justly the Desert Sparrow or Desert
Black-throat (Auipliispi.'^a bilineata descrticola).
and has much the larger breeding area. It ex-
tends from the Pecos cotmtry of Texas, west to
the Pacific, and from Nevada and Utah south
to Lower California, .Sonora. and Chihuahua.
The third race is the Mexican Black-throated
S]iarrow (Aiiiplu'spi::a bilineata grisca) that
ranges over the central Mexico plateau.

Mrs. Bailey gives very clear reasons for en-
thusiasm for this bird. She says, " When we
camped on the arid mesa of the Pecos River,
among the sounds that were oftenest in our ears
were the songs of the Mockingbird and Non-
pareil, the iterant pe-cos' of the Scaled Quail, and
the calls of the Verdin and Roadrtinner, while,
mingled with them, always tinkling from the
bushes, was the cheery little tune of A)npliis-
pica."

FINCHES

49

BELL'S SPARROW
Amphispiza belli ( Cassin)

A, 11 r Xuml.cr -,74

General Description. — Length, 5'j inches. Upper
parts, j^ray ; under parts, white, liill. small ; wing, long
and slightly rounded ; tail, trifle shorter tlian wing,
rounded or double rounded, the feather; broad and
rounded at the ends.

Color. — Adults: Above (including ear region and
sides of neck), deep brownish slate-gray becoming
browner on back, where, as well as on crown, some-
times narrowly streaked with blackish or dusky; wings
and tail, dull blackish with light brown edgings (pale
grayish on primaries), the middle and greater coverts
indistinctly tipped with pale brownish huffy or pale
wood-brown ; eye-ring, cheek stripe, and under parts in
general, white; bitnid sIrif'L- on sides of thioat and
forcnfi-k. and spot in middle of chest, black or dusky-
grayish; sides and Hanks. tin,i;ed with huffy and
streaked with dusky; edge of wing, pale yellow; iris,

brown. Young: Crown and hindneck. dull gray,
the former broadly streaked with black ; back and
shoulders, grayish brown broadly streaked with black;
under parts, pale yellowish buff; the chest and sides of
throat broadly streaked with blackish, the breast, sides,
and flanks with smaller streaks of the same; a huffy
whitish eye-ring; wings and tail much as in adults.

Nest and Eggs. — Ne.st: In bushes, within 3 feet of
the ground ; composed of grasses, vegetable fibers, weed
stems ; lined with fine grass and hair. Eggs ; 3 or 4,
pale greenish-blue finely speckled with dark redflish-
brown, chiefly at large end.

Distribution. — Central and southern California
(valleys and foothills) west of the Sierra Nevada, and
Colorado Desert from about latitude 38°, and south
into northern Lower California; also on tlie Santa
Barbara Islands.

On the alkali plains of the Southwest, where
only yuccas, sas^ebrtish, and cacti grow, is the
home-land of Bell's Sparrow and its variants,
the Sage Sparrow (Ainpliispi::a iw-c'adnisis ncva-
densis). Gray Sage Sparrow {Amphispiza ncva-
dcnsis cincrca). and the California -Sage Sparrow

(Aniphispi::a nevadcnsis canesccns) . Here, amid
the dreary wastes of hot sands, these grayish
brown or brownish gray little mites cheerfully
go about the duties of their lives, preaching
sermons on patience, courage, and the joy of life
to all their human friends.

PINE-WOODS SPARROW
Peucaea aestivalis aestivalis { Liclitciistcin)

General Description. — Len.gth, 5'„. inches. Upjier
parts, brown and gray in streaks ; inider parts, whitish.
Wings, rather short and romnled ; tail, equal to or
longer than wing, graduated, the feathers narrow but
with rounded tips.

Color. — .Adults: Above, gray broadly streaked with
chestnut-brown ; tail, dusky with broad gray edgings ;
the middle pair of feathers, gray with a center stripe
of dusky; edge of wing, light yellow; sides of head
and neck, smoke-gray or dull ash-gray, the latter

streaked with chestnut or dark chestnut-brown ; a nar-
row chestnut or chestnut-l)rown stri[ie behind eye ;
cliin and throat, very pale dull grayish or buft'y grayish
white deepening on chest, sides, and flanks into pale
grayish-buffy or buffy-grayish ; iris, brown.

Nest and Eggs. — Ne.st : On ground, among palmetto
scrubs ; constructed of fine dry grasses, in a neat,
symmetrical manner. Eggs : 4. pure white.

Distribution. — Breeds in southern Georgia and
nortlu-rn Florida; winters in Florida.

The Pine-woods .Sparrow of Florida and its Virginia, but in the central west thev reach

northern variety Bachman's Sparrow, or South- southern Ohio, and central Illinois. In the

ern Pine Finch (Pciica-a (cstivalis hachmani) far South they haunt only the jiiiie woods

are striped .Sparrows that are distinctly and nest in the palmetto scrub in the pineries.

southern birds. In the east they are credited Further north they show greater variations of

as coming only as far north as southern nesting sites, but always on the ground, with the

5f>

BIRDS OF AMERICA

nest " distinctly roofed-over or domed," accord-
ing to the description given by Major Bendire.
He continues by saying that the nests " are
cybndrical in shape, about seven or eight inches
long by three in height . . . and the roof a
little over half an inch in thickness. . . . The
nests are all constructed out of dry grasses
exclusively, and are lined with fine grass tops
only. Some are much more artistically and com-
pactly built than others."

Yet a greater claim to attention this bird has
in its beautiful song. Dr. Chapman in speaking
of the Pine-woods Sparrow, goes so far as to
say, " In my opinion its song is more beautiful
than that of any other of our Sparrows. It is

very simple — I write it cJice-c-c-c—dc, dc, dc ;
chc-c—chcc-o, chcc-o, chcc-o, chcc-o — but it pos-
sesses all the exquisite tenderness and pathos of
the melody of the Hermit Thrush ; indeed, in
purity of tone and in execution I should con-
sider the Sparrow the superior songster."

The Southern Pine Finch (Bachman's) has a
song very similar tO' the Pine-woods Sparrow's.
Its song has been compared to the plaintive song
of the Field Sparrow, but louder and far sweeter.
As far north as the Ohio River, the Southern
Pine Finch may be heard (and seldom seen) in
open oak woods. Dr. W. W. Cooke found that
it is extending its range north of the Potomac
and over the Monongahela.

SONG SPARROW

Melospiza melodia melodia (Jl'ilson)

A. O. V. .\umbcr 581 See Color I'l.ite 84

Other Names. — Silver Tongue ; Everybody's Dar-
ling; Ground Sparrow; Hedge Sparrow; Bush Spar-
row ; Ground-bird ; Marsh Sparrow ; Red Grass-bird ;
Swamp Finch.

A^

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

SONG SPARROW (1 nat. size)

A sweet singer of the spring and summer and a useful
friend the year round

General Description. — Length, 6H inches. Upper
parts, brown and black in streaks ; under parts, white
streaked with black. Wings, short and rounded ; tail,
about the length of wing, rounded or double rounded,
the feathers narrow and blunt.

Color. — Adults : Crown, brown narrowly streaked
with black and divided by a narrow center stripe of
gray ; hindneck, brownish gray streaked or washed with

brown ; shoulders and between, black centrally produc-
ing streaks, these margined laterally with brown ; the
edges of the tail-feathers, brownish-gray; rump, olive-
grayish streaked with brown ; upper tail-coverts,
browner than rump and more distinctly streaked ; tail,
brown ; lesser wing-coverts, brown ; middle coverts,
brown margined terminally with pale brownish gray ;
greater coverts, brown margined tenninally with paler
and marked with a broad center tear-shaped (mostly
concealed) space of blackish; inner wing-quills, mostly
blackish, but outer webs chiefly brown ; edge of wing,
white; a broad stripe of olive-gray over eye; a broad
cheek stripe of dull white or pale buf¥y, margined below
by a conspicuous stripe or triangular spot of black or
mixed brown and black ; under parts, white ; the chest,
marked ivith wedge-shaped streaks of black edged with
rusty brown, these streaks in lower central portion of
chest, or upper breast, fonning an irregular spot ; sides
and flanks, streaked with black and rusty-brown ; under
tail-coverts, white or pale buffy; iris, brown. (In
suiTimer the colors grayer, with streaks on chest, etc.,
narrower, sometimes wholly black; in winter the gen-
eral coloration browner, the brown parts more rusty.)
Young : Much like adults, but without any gray on
upper parts ; the crown, duller brown with the indistinct
center stripe dull grayish buffy and the narrow blackish
streaks much less distinct than in adults ; ground color
of back and shoulders, light buiTy brownish or dull
bufify; under parts, duller white, often quite buffy,
witli the streaks narrower and much less distinct.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Typical site on ground,
in fields, adjoining woods, sheltered under a tussock of
grass ; sometimes in bushes, cedar or other small trees,
or in hollows of apple or other trees ; constructed of

FINCHES

51

grass, weed stems, leaves, lined with I'ine grass and
hair. Eggs; 4 or 5, dull pale greenish spotted thickly
or sparsely spotted or blotched with shades of reddish
or dark brown and lavender.

Distribution. — Creeds in the United States (except
the .South .\tlantic and Gulf States), southern Canada,
southern .Alaska, and Me.xico; winters in .Alaska and
most of the United States southward.

This is |ir(:)bahlv tlie licst known nf the vc-ry
large Sparrow family. It lacks the full meas-
ure of the Chipping Sparrow's pretty confidence
in the frienrJliness of man, and rather prefers
the fields and the roadsides to the immediate
vicinity of human habitations : htit against these
negative qualities are to be placed its more char-
acteristic plumage, and above all its real genitis
as a songster. Thousands of tiersons. old and

young, who pay little or no heed to the song of
the I'ield Sparrow or the \''esi)er S[)arrow or the
l""ox Sparrow, recognize instantly the character-
istic little motif of the Song Sparrow. .And the
bird lays an additional claim on the friendship
and sympathy of all, by the fact that it is a
freqtient winter resident in the northern .States.
Though to untrained observation confusingly
like some of the other Sparrows, this birfl should

N>

/n I

Hhuto of a mounted t;roup in the Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. Omrlesy of Nat. Asso. Aud. Soc.

CENTERS OF DISTRIBUTION OF SEVEN OF THE GEOGRAPHICAL RACES OF THE SONG SPARROW
z. Aleutian; 2. Sooty; 3. Heermann's; 4. Mountain; 5- Desert; 6. Mexican; 7- Eastern

52

BIRDS OF AxMERICA

readily be identified by its stronq-ly marked
breast, its stubby bill, and its sligiill\' forked
tail, as shown in flight.

The Song Sparrow takes his singing very
seriously. Almost invariably he presents his
recital from the top of a bush or a fence post
or a comparatively low tree. .Always as he be-
gins to sing he throws his head backward, and
points his bill at an angle of about 45 degrees, and
this position he retains until the song is finished.
He seems intent upon sending his little prayer
of thankfulness straight up to heaven, by the
shortest route. Over and over again the sweet
and sincere little petition is ofifered — and who
can doubt that it is heeded? There arc very
many \ai'iatinns of the song, and sometimes

Photo by S. A. L.iUnJgw

YOUNG SONG SPARROWS

several are presented in succession by the same
singer. Mr. Burroughs records one bird who
" had five distinct songs, each as markedly dif-
ferent from the others as any human songs,
which he repeated one after another. He may
have had a sixth or a seventh, but he bethought
himself of some business in the next field, and
flew away before he had exhausted his reper-
tory." (IViiys of Nature) Mr. Mathews de-
votes several pages, in his Field Book of Wild
Birds and Their Music, to many variations of
the song, reduced to musical notation. The
commonest form, however, begins with two notes
on the same pitch, followed by a third, four or
five tones higher, all of these accented, and fol-
lowed by a descending run in the same general
rhythm. Whatever the form of the song, how-
ever, its spirit is always the same, and Mr.
Burroughs interprets this very faithfully when
he says that it expresses " simple faith and
trust."

No other bird of the temperate and arctic

regions of North America, with the possible ex-
cei)tion of the Horned Lark, has proved so sen-
sitive to influences of physical environments, and
as a result it has become divided into a large
number of geographic forms, some of extensive,
others of very circumscribed range. In every
case the area of distribution coincides exactly
with the uniformity or continuity of physical
conditions. Thus the form having the widest
distribution is that inhabiting the Atlantic water-
shed, or the entire region from the Atlantic
coast to the wooded valleys of the Great Plains,
while those of the inost limited range belong
to the Pacific slope, where the topographic and
resultant climatic features are so varied and
complicated. In California nearly every dis-
tinct drainage area has its own' peculiar form of
the Song Sparrow ; one form, the Alameda
.Song Sparrow {Mclospiza mclodia pusillula),
is strictly limited to the salt marshes around San
Francisco Bav.

The Mountain Song Sparrow {Melospiza
uichidia iiiiiiilaiia) is found in the Rocky Moun-
tain district of the United States west to and in-
cluding the .Sierra Nevada, in California, north
to eastern Oregon, southern Idaho, and south-
ern Montana; south in winter to western Texas
and northern Mexico. In coloration it is grayer
than the type species, its tail and wings are
longer, and its bill is smaller and relatively more
slender.

Merrill's .Song Sparrow {Melospiza mclodia
inerrilli ) is very much like the Mountain Song
Sparrow : it is slightly darker and more uniform
above and the grayish edging to the feathers of
the shoulders and the space between them are
less strongly contrasted with the darker centers
which are usually more brown than black. It
breeds from northern California (in the moun-
tains), through Oregon and ^^'ashington east of
the Cascade Mountains, to northwestern Idaho ;
in winter it goes south into Nevada, Utah,
.\rizona, and northern Sonora.

The slender bill of the Desert Song Sparrow
(Melospiza mclodia falla.v) is like that of the
Mountain Song Sparrow, but its tail and wings
average decidedly shorter and its coloration is
conspicuously paler and more rusty. It inhabits
the Sonoran desert district of southwestern
Arizona, southern Nevada, southeastern Cali-
fornia, northeastern Lower California, and
Sonora.

Heermann's Song Sparrow ( lifelospiza luc-
lotlui Ih-cnuaiuii) is found in the central valleys
of California, including the lower levels of the

Courtesy of thu N..w Yo.k State Museum

Plate 84

m^^ ; '^ /

SONG SPARROW Mdospiza meladia meh„i:., (Wilson)

AUTUMN

LINCOLN'S SPARROW
MduciHZa linmlni linrnhd (Autlubnii

Piliila ,-ri,throphlhahniLS ,r,itl,ri,iihlhnln-n-: (J.i
FEMALE

FINCHES

53

Sacramento and San Joaquin basin. It is
smaller than the type species and darker and
browner in coloration.

The San Diego Song Sparrow ( Mclospica iiic-
lodia coopcri) is slightly smaller than Heer-
mann's Song Sparrow ; the prevailing color of
the back is a grayish-olive broadly streaked with
black. It lives in the southern coast district of
California and the northern Pacific coast district
of Lower California.

On the San Clemente, San Miguel, and Santa
Rosa islands, California, is fo.und the San Cle-
mente Song Sparrow (Mclospiza iiiclodia cle-
mentcc) ; it is larger than the San Diego Song
Sparrow and grayer in coloration, the back being
a light olive-gray with narrower black streaks.

The Santa Barbara Song Sparrow ( Mclospisa
melodia graminca) found on the Santa Barbara
and Santa Cruz islands, California, is like the
San Clemente in color but smaller in size.

Samuels's Song Sparrow {Mclospica iiiclodia
saiiiuclis) is exactly like Heermann's Song
Sparrow in color but in size it is much smaller
and its bill is more slender. It is found on the
coast slope of central California, except in the
salt-water marshes of San Francisco Bay, from
Santa Cruz County to Humboldt County.

Similar in size and proportions to Samuels's
Song Sparrow but very different in coloration
is the Mendocino Song Sparrow (McIospi::a
melodia clcoiicusis) of the northern coast district
of California and southwestern Oregon; its .gen-
eral color is more reddish, the upper parts being
a deep rusty olive, conspicuously and broadlv
streaked with dark rusty-brown, or chestnut, and

black ; tlie streaks on the chest are also dark
rusty-brown or chestnut.

The Rusty Song .Sparrow ( Mclospica melodia
morphna) breeds from the extreme southern
portion of Alaska through British Columbia to
western Oregon and in winter it travels south to
southern California. It is larger than the Men-
docino Song Sparrow but its coloration is simi-
lar, the rusty brown or chestnut streaks on the
hack being less strongly contrasted with the rusty
olive ground color.

In southern Alaska, on the coast and the islands
off the coast is the home of the Sooty Song
Sparrow ( Mclospiaa melodia nifina). In winter
it comes south to the coast of British Columbia,
Vancouver Island, and northwestern ^^'^ashing-
ton. It is larger than the Rusty Song Sparrow
;ind darker — sootv rather than rusty.

Four other Alaskan Song Sparrows are the
Yakutat (Mclospiza melodia eaurina), the Kenai
{ Melospi::a me'lodia kemiiensis), the Kodiak, or
Bischofif's (Melospiza melodia insignis). and the
Aleutian (Melospiza melodia sanaka). The
Yakutat is a little larger than the Sooty, the
Kenai is larger than the Yakutat, and the Kodiak
and Aleutian are still larger. All are graver in
coloration.

The food of this species varies considerably.
About three-fourths of its diet consists of the
seeds of noxious weeds and one-fourth of in-
sects. Of these, beetles, especially weevils, con-
stitute the major portion. Ants, wasps, bugs
(including the black olive scale), and caterpil-
lars are also eaten. Grasshoppers are taken by
the eastern bird, but not by the western ones.

LINCOLN'S SPARROW

Melospiza lincolni lincolni (Audubon)

.\. O, V Xumbcr -8? See lolor Plate 84

Other Names. — Lincoln's Song Sparrow: Lincoln's
Finch.

General Description. — Length. sH inclies. Upper
parts, brown and olive, streaked with black ; under
parts, buff and white, streaked with black. Wings,
short and rounded: tail, about the length of wing,
rounded or double-rounded, the feathers narrow and
blunt.

Color. — Adults: Crown, light mummy-brown,
conspicuously streaked with black and divided by a
center stripe of olive-grayish; hindneck. back, shoulders,
rump, and upper tail-coverts, light olive or buffy olive
sharply streaked with black, the streaks broadest on

back : outer surface of wings, more rusty brownish
especially on innermost greater coverts and secondaries :
the greater coverts and inner wing-quills conspicuously
blackish centrally: tail, light grayish brown; sides of
neck grayish or olive-grayish ; ear region similar, but
rather darker or browner; cheek region, space behind
ear. broad band across chest, sides, flanks, and under
tail-coverts buffy ; the chest, sides, flanks, and under
tail-cover! s streaked zvith black; rest of the under
parts white, the throat usuallv flecked or streaked with
black.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: On ground, in marshy
land; constructed entirely of grass, lined with finer

54

BIRDS OF AMERICA

blades of the same material. Eggs: 3 or 4. white, pale
greenish or brownish white rather coarsely blotched
with chestnut and lavender-gray chiefly around large
end.

Distribution. — North America at large; breeding
chiefly north of the United States and in the higher
parts of the Rocky Aloinitains and Sierra Nevada;
south in winter to Panama.

" Bird-afraid-of-his-shadow," W. Leon Daw-
son calls this Sparrow, and then he asks, " Why
should a bird of inconspicuous color steal silently
through our woods and slink along our streams
with bated breath as if in mortal dread of the
human eye ? Are we such hobgoblins ? " Yet
this appears to be the characteristic demeanor of
the bird throughout its very wide range. And
the tendency of this conduct to make the bird
little known is strengthened by its habit of arriv-
ing in the northern latitudes after most of the
other birds are on hand and engaging our atten-
tion, and departing in the fall with the general
wave of migrating Sparrows, in whiclt it loses
its identity.

From the Song Sparrow, which it closely re-
sembles, it may be distinguished by its smaller
size, its shorter tail, the bufif belt across its nar-
rowly streaked breast, and the olive-gray color

of the sides of its head. Its song, which is not
often heard, is. according to Dr. Dwight, " not
loud, and suggests the bubbling, guttural notes
of the House Wren, combined with the sweet
rippling music of the Purple Finch, and when
you think the song is done there is an unexpected
aftermath."

The food of the Lincoln Sparrow resembles
that of the Song Sparrow, but more ants and
fewer grasshoppers are destroyed than by the
Song Sparrow.

In British Columbia and western Washington
is a variety of the Lincoln Sparrow called For-
bush's Sparrow (Mclospha lincolni striata) . In
migration it is found in California also. The
stripe over the eye and the upper parts are more
strongly olivaceous and the dark streaks of the
back are blacker and more numerous. Its
habits are similar to those of its congener.

SWAMP SPARROW
Melospiza georgiana {Latham')

A. O. n. Number 584 Sec Color n.Tte 84

Courtesy of Am. AIus. Nat. Hist.
SWAMP SPARROW (J nat. size)
A sprite of swampy country

Other Name. — Swamp Song Sparrow.

General Description. — Length. 534 inches. Upper
parts, brown streaked with black ; under parts, gray.
Wings, short and rounded ; tail, about the length of
wing, rounded or double rounded, the feathers narrow
and almost pointed at the tip.

Color. — Adults ; Forehead, black divided by a center
line of grayish or whitish; cro'ani, chcstnnf sometimes
streaked with blackish ; back of head, blackish laterally,
grayish centrally ; hack and shoulders, light brown
broadly streaked with black ; rump, olive-brownish
streaked with dusky : upper tail-coverts, more rusty
brown, distinctly streaked with black ; tail, rusty brown ;
exposed surface of greater wing-coverts and second-
aries chestnut; inner icing-quills black, edged on outer
zi'cbs 7vith chestnut and bufTy ; sides of neck and hind-
neck, gray ; ear region, brownish gray, or light brownish
margined above by a distinct streak behind eye of black
and chestnut and beneath by a narrower streak of
same ; chin, throat, and abdomen, white or grayish
white; chest, light gray or brownish gray, sometimes
narrowly and indistinctly streaked with dusky ; sides
and flanks (especially the latter), tawny brown; under
tail-coverts, huffy with central marks of dusky.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest ; Placed on ground in a

FINCHES

55

biincli of flags or sedge grass, in or on edge of marshes,
or wet meadows; constructed entirely of grass and a
few leaves, lined with finer similar material. P2ggs :
4 or 5. pale greenish or bluish white, clouded with
yellowish brown and lilac.

Distribution. — Eastern North .America to the Plains,
north to the Hritish provinces, including Newfoundland
and Labrador ; breeds from the northern States north-
ward : and winters from Massachusetts southward to
the Gulf States.

Any swamp — within its natural range —
whether near the ocean or inland, is good enough
for the Swamp Sparrow, and occasionally it
spends the winter — if the weather be not too
severe — in cat-tail marshes along the coast of
Long Island and sotithern New England. The
song resembles tliat of the Chipping Sparrow,
though the quality of the tone is sweeter and
fuller.

^^'alter .S. Barrows says, in Michigan Bird
Life: " In our own experience the song merely
suggests that of the Chipping Sparrow, but the
notes are less rapid, far sweeter, and have a
distinct metallic or bell-like tone which suggests
the ring of cut glass."

The bird's plain breast distinguishes it
from the Song Sparrow, many of which are
found in the swamps in autumn, while in the
spring its reddish-brown wings atid chestnut-
colored crown are not duplicated by any member
of its family, save the Chipping Sparrow, which
does not frequent swamps and has a rnore slender
figure.

The food habits of this bird are sitnilar to
those of the Song Sparrow. It takes more
seeds of polygonums than most birds and eats
largely of the seeds of the sedges and aquatic
panicums that abound in its swampy habitat.

NEST AND EGGS OF SWAMP SPARROW

FOX SPARROW

Passerella iliaca iliaca (Mcrrcm)

A. O, U. Number 585 See Color Plate 83

Other Names. — Foxy Finch: Ferru,ginous Finch;
Fo.x-tail ; Fox-colored Sparrow.

General Description. — Length. ()y, inches. Upper
parts, gray streaked with brown, or uniform chestnut;
under parts, white spotted with chestnut. Bill, large,
conical, sharp-pointed, and strong; wings, long and
pointed; tail, about •S', length of wing, very slightly
rounded or double rounded.

Color. — AnuLTS : Upper parts, mixed deep rusty
and brownish gray in variable proportions. 1. Grav
Phase: Above, olive-gray, the back and shoulders
broadly streaked Xi'ilh rusty brown or chestnut, the
crown tinged with the same ; lower rump and upper

tail-coverts, cinnamon-rufous; the middle and greater
wing-co\erts. narrm^'ly tipj^ed zvilh zchifish ; wings and
inner webs of tail-feathers, dusky brown; under parts,
white heavily spotted on chest, sides of throat, etc.,
with chestnut-rufous ; the sides and flanks, broadly
streaked with same. IL Rtipous Phase: .'\bove. nearly
uniform chestnut or chestnut-rufous, the upper rump,
sides of neck, and ear region slightly intermixed with
olive or olive-grayish ; inider parts as in the gray
phase, but the chestnut-rufous spots larger, more
confluent.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: On ground, under ever-
greens; constructed of grass, moss, fine twigs, and a

56

BIRDS OF AMERICA

few leaves ; lined with fine grass and feathers. Eggs :
4 or 5, pale bluish green, heavily speckled with chestnut
or umber-brown.

Distribution. — Northern North .'Vmerica ; breeding
from Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands, Anticosti Island,
Newfoundland, northern Maine, Province of Quebec,

etc., northward and northwestward to valley of Lower
.Anderson River, Kowak River, and Bering seacoast of
Alaska (north of the Alaska peninsula) ; south in
winter to northern Florida and westward to middle
Texas, and eastern base of Rocky Mountains; occa-
sional on southern coast of Alaska during migration.

This is not only one of the laigest, but is the
handsomest and withal perhaps the most charac-
teristic of the American Sparrows. Most of the
members of this very large family are modestly
garbed, and furthermore there is so much simi-
larity in their plumage, that sometimes it takes
a sharp eye and acute observation to distinguish
one species from another. But " Foxy " may

at once, and often with such vigor as to make a
considerable commotion in the dry leaves.
Another peculiarity of the bird is shown when a
flock of them are disturbed while feeding on the
ground. Under these conditions, instead of seek-
ing concealment in the brush (as their relatives
are likely to do), these Sparrows generally fly to
the low branches of the nearest trees where they

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

FOX SPARROW (5 nat. size)
A handsome bird whose sweet whistle is all too infrequently heard

readily be identified not only by his size, but by
his rich tawny coloring (like that of a fox in his
summer pelage), as well as by certain of his
mannerisms, and by his fine song. It should be
remeinbered, too, that though he is frequently
seen in many regions which he traverses in his
migrations, he is essentially a migrant as far as
the United States are concerned. His real home
— that is, the regions in which he breeds — is
in the great forests of Canada. In the general
latitude of New York and New England, he
tarries, in his northward journey, from the
middle of March to the end of April, and in
his southward passage, from about the middle of
October to the end of November. During these
visits he is likely to be found both in open woods
and in bushes skirting fields.

When feeding on the ground one of his man-
nerisms is his habit of scratching with both feet

are apt to remain in plain sight, and whence
they return in a few minutes to the ground, if
they are not much frightened.

" Foxy's " song — most frequently heard in
the United States in spring — is one of the finest
of Sparrow ditties. It is a series of whistled
notes in descending intervals, and somewhat re-
sembles the lay of the Vesper Sparrow, though
the tone is much mellower and sweeter than the
Vesper's. Furthermore its technique is distinc-
tive in that the notes are very prettily slurred
together like those of the warbling birds. The
song is to be heard in the United States when
the birds are foraging in little flocks, but even
then altogether too infrequently ; for many a
bird-lover has never heard it at all.

The food of the Fox Sparrow consists of 14
per cent, animal matter and 86 per cent, vege-
table.

FINCHES

57

The animal food is of little interest ex-
cepting in the spring when it eats largely of
millepedes of the Jitliis group and at the same
time developes a taste for ground beetles. The
vegetable food differs from that of most other
Sparrows, in that it contains less grass seed, less
grain, and more fruit, ragweed, and polygonum.
Half of the food consists of ragweed and jiolyg-
onum, and more than a quarter of fruit. It
does no direct damage to cultivated fruit, though
it occasionally eats the buds of peach trees and
pear trees. Bradford Torrey has observed it
feeding on the fruit of burning bush.

In western North America, Ridgway recog-
nizes eight forms of the Fox Sparrow. These
are all browner than the type species, but
vary otherwise and from one another only in
small details. They are the Shumagin Fox Spar-
row {Passcrclla iliaca iinalascliccnsis). found in
the Shumagin Islands and the Alaska Peninsula;
the Kodiak Fox Sparrow (Passcrclla iliaca insii-
laris). found in summer (in Kodiak Island,
Alaska, and in winter south along the coast slope

to southern California; the Yakutat Fox Spar-
row (Passcrclla iliaca aniicctciis), living in sum-
mer on the coast of Alaska from Cross Sound
to Prince William Sound and in winter south
to California; Townscnd's Fox Sparrow (Passc-
rclla iliaca ttnciiscndi), making its home in the
coast district of southern Alaska and in the
winter going south to northern California; the
Sooty Fox Sparrow (Passcrclla iliaca fiiliginosa)
summering in the coast district, British Colum-
bia, on Vancouver Island, and in northwestern
Washington and wintering south along the coast
to San Francisco ; the Slate-colored Fox Spar-
row (Passcrclla iliaca schistacca), living in the
Rocky Mountain district, north to the interior of
British Columbia and south to New Mexico and
Arizona and east to Kansas ; the Thick-billed
Fox Sparrow (Passcrclla iliaca mcgarhyncha),
breeding on both slopes of the Sierra Nevadas
from Mount Shasta southward; and Stephens's
Fox Sparrow (Passcrclla iliaca stcplioisi).
breeding on the mountains of San Bernardino
and San Jacinto in southern California.

TEXAS SPARROW

Arremonops rufivirgatus { Lazvrcncc)

A. O. U. Number ;86

Other Name. — Green Finch.

General Description. — Length. 534 inches. Upper
parts, olive-green : under parts, white. Wings, short
and much rounded : tail, shorter than wing.

Color. — Adults; Above, plain grayish olive-.green
(wings and tail brighter) ; the crown, with two broad
lateral stripes of chestnut-brown separated by a central
stripe of olive or grayish olive-green; sides of head,
dull grayish relieved by a streak of chestnut-brown; a
narrow ring of dull white around eye; under parts, dull
whitish (pure white on abdomen) ; the chest, sides, and
flanks, shaded with buffy grayish; edge of wing, light

yellow; iris, brown. YouNr, ; Above, dull brownish,
including crown ; the wing-coverts, edged and tipped
with tawny; beneath similar, but rather paler, becoming
buffy or tawny on abdomen.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest ; In open thickets, or low
bushes, within three feet of ground ; constructed of
weed stalks, grasses, leaves, lined with fine grass and
hair ; semi-domed, being built obliquely, the upper rim
extending over, hiding the eggs from perpendicular
view. I'XDS : 4, plain, dull white.

Distribution. — Southern Texas and south through
nortlieastern Me.xico.

There is nothing very noticeable about the
Texas Sparrow and it is a bird that very few
Americans will ever see. Its plain olive and
brown colors do not attract attention, and its
very restricted area within the United .States will
never make it a well-known bird. The genus to
which it belongs is pretty well known all through
Mexico and Central America, and has been called
the genus of Middle American Sparrows. This
species is the only one of the genus that has

crossed the Rio Crande. The others are jiretty
well spread out over Mexico, and down through
the Central American States and Panama.

The Texas Sparrow is practically non-migra-
tory and occupies in our area only a small
triangle in southern Texas. It does not extend
much more than three hundred miles up the Rio
Grande and about two hundred miles up along
the Texas coast. In Mexico it occupies an area
about the same size just across the Rio Grande.

58

BIRDS OF AMERICA

Further south toward Vera Cruz there is a
variety that is darker and has been named the
Cordova Sparrow.

The Texas and Cordova Sparrows are simple
songsters. They frequent thickets and brusli
fences, and place their nests in thick buslies not
far from the ground. Their molts do not make
any conspicuous changes in their appearance. As

tlie males, females, and immature all have very
much the same appearance, and they live through-
out the year in nearly the same places, there is
a certain uniformity and dullness in their lives
that make this bird dififerent from most. Ameri-
can birds, among whom there is something
remarkable and interesting happening every
year;

TOWHEE
Pipilo erythrophthalmus erythrophthalmus {LiniKrus)

A. n. U. Number 5S7 ."^ce Color Plate 84

Other Names. — Chewink ; Towhee-bird ; Swamp
Robin; Bullfinch (in Virginia); Red-eyed Towhee ;
Ground Robin; Towhee Bunting; Jo-ree ; Marsh
Robin ; Bush-bird ; Turkey Sparrow.

General Description. — Length, 8 inches. Fore and
upper parts, black; under parts, white and brownish.
Wings, rather short and much rounded ; tail, longer
than wing, rounded, the feathers broad with compact
webs and rounded tips ; feet, stout.

Color. — Adult Male ; Head, neck, chest, and upper
parts, black; sides and flanks, uniform cinnamon-
rufous ; anal region and under tail-coverts, cinnamon-
bufTy ; breast and abdomen, white; eighth to fourth or
third primaries with basal portion of outer webs, white,
forming a patch ; outer webs of wing feathers, broadly
edged with white for part of their length; bill, wholly
black in summer; iris, red. Adult Female: Similar
to the adult male, but with the black portions replaced
by brown (dull prouts brown above, lighter, more
cinnamon-brown or raw umber on throat and chest).
Young Male: Above, dull fulvous-brown, darker and
uniform on head, elsewhere indistinctly streaked with
dusky; wings, dull black, the coverts edged with bufTy

brown ; wing feathers with a broad lateral stripe of
buffy whitish; primaries, marked with white, as in the
adult; tail, as in adult male; chin and throat, plain pale
buff, with an interrupted blackish stripe on each side;
chest, deeper buff, thickly marked with cuneate and
arr.iw-Iike vtreaks of dusky; breast and abdomen, dull
white.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : On the ground, under a
clump of grass, weeds, or bushes, in deep woods or
open, first growth clearings, sunk to level of surface
and always exceptionally well concealed ; construction
rather variable, sometimes carelessly made, at others
quite firm and compact ; made of leaves, twigs, grass,
and vegetable fibers, well lined with grass and rootlets.
Eggs : 4, white or pale pinkish white, thickly sprinkled
with light chestnut.

Distribution. — Eastern United States and more
southern British provinces west to edge of the Great
Plains, in Manitoba, North Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma,
etc.; breeding from near the Gulf coast, north to
Maine, Ontario, Manitoba, etc. ; south in winter to
southern Florida, Gulf coast in general, and eastern and
central Texas ; casual in New Brunswick.

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

TOWHEE I ; nat. size!
A skillful ventriloquist "who scratches like a hen "

FINCHES

59

Botli of the names, " Towhee ' and " Che-
wink," by which this bird is commonly known,
are intended to represent its characteristic call-
note, and the difference between the soinid of the
two words furnishes an interesting illustration of
how differently two persons may hear the same
syllables. That many ornithologists, whose hear-
ing should be very keen and discriminating, make
the syllables " tow-bee " out of the call is shown
by the fact that the American Ornithologists'
Union has adopted that name for the bird. Yet
to many others the call is much more clearly
represented by the syllables, " che-wink," even to
the ;; and k. though some bird students insist
that birds are incapable of uttering any true
consonant sound. At any rate, the tone and
accent of the call form a singular blend of cheer-
fulness and inquiry, albeit the quality is a bit
nasal.

The bird's song, such as it is, consists of three
notes, the first two strongly accented and the
second lower by several tones than the first:
these followed by several very rap'dly uttered
notes of the same pitch — not a " trill." as they
often are described, since a trill is the rai^id
repetition of two notes of different pitch. There
have been various efforts to reduce this song to
syllables, for example, Seton's transliteration,
chuck-burr, pil-a-wiJl-a-zi<iU-a-ii'ill, and Thoreau's
rendition, hip-vou. Ite-he-hc-hc, which gives a
close approximation to the vowel value of the
syllables.

Something strangely like the ventriloquistic
faculty seems to be possessed by tiot a few
American birds, and probably many observers
have noticed that the Chewink apparently em-
ploys it in a very marked degree, their per-
sistence having been taxed to the utmost to
locate a Chewink who sang at intervals of cver\'
ten or fifteen seconds for several minutes
before he was finally discovered, usuallv in ])lain
sight and not more than twenty-five or thirty
yards distant.

This bird has two other peculiarities which
distinguish it from most of its kind. r)iie is its
way of scratching on the ground, an operation in
which it uses its feet alternately, after the man-
ner of the domesticated hen. Indeed, the bird
gets much of its food by this ground-foraging,
incidentally making a commotion among the dry
leaves which suggests the efforts of a mucii
larger bird, or of a squirrel or woodchuck. .\gain,
the Towhee is decidedly unlike other birds in

its apparent nonchalance when its nest is ap-
proached. It may be dangerous to infer that
this seeming indifference is deliberately assumed
for the purpose of deceiving the intruder, yet it
is difficult to account for it in any other way, for
the bird betrays much solicitude once the nest is
actually discovered.

The Cowbird seems to have a special prefer-
ence for the nest of the Towhee and seems to
choose the latter to bring up her yoimg more
often than she does any other species. Fre-
quently two, three, and even four Cowbird's eggs
have been found in a Chewink's nest, and occa-
sionally five or six have 'oeen fotind. In the
cases of the larger numbers the nest has gen-
erally been deserted as if the Chewinks felt
that their good nature had Wen imposed upon

■■II !■! 1 1 II I

^^yi

^^

p

pyg^

^

m

i

1^

^

Phuto by H. K. J. lb Cuurtcsy ol i\al. Ai=..j. Aud. boc.

MALE TOWHEE FEEDING YOUNG

The two with open mouths are Cowbirds

too far. The eggs of the two species resemble
each other, but the Cowbird's egg is more likely
to be smaller and to lack the pinkish tint which
is a usual characteristic of the Towhee's.

Wild fruits of all kinds, from strawberries and
blackberries to wild cherries and grapes, are
eagerly eaten by the Towhee. However, seeds
and insects are its principal food. Beetles and
their larv?e, ants, moths, caterpillars, grasshop-
j)ers, flies, and earthworms are destroyed by the
Towhee. Although it cannot be classed as a de-
cidedly useful bird, chiefly because of its haunts,
there are no reports of its having damaged culti-
vated crops or caused loss of any kind to the
farmer.

The \Miite-eyed or Florida Tovv'hee (Pipilo
erythroplitlialiuiis aheiii) which is found on
the Florida peninsula, is smaller than the com-
mon Towhee and has much less white on the
wings and tail and its iris is brownish-yellow or
vellowish-white instead of carmine-red.

6o

BIRDS OF AMERICA

OREGON TOWHEE
Pipilo maculatus oregonus Bell

A. O. U. Number 588b

Other Name. — Spotted Towhee.

General Description. — Length, 8 inches. Fore and
upper parts, black ; under parts, white and brownish.
Wings, rather short and much rounded ; tail, longer
than wing, rounded, the feathers broad with compact
webs and rounded tips ; feet, stout.

Color. — Adult Male: Head, neck, and chest, black,
the throat with a white spot, and, very rarely, the back
of head streaked with rufous; upper parts, black;
middle and greater wing-coverts tipped with white,
forming two spots; three to four outer tail-feathers
with small terminal spaces of white, chiefly on inner
webs; the outermost tail-feathers with the outer web
edged with white ; breast and abdomen, white ; sides
and flanks, cinnamon-rufous occasionally with dusky

spots or bars ; anal region and under tail-coverts, paler
cinnamon-tawny or ochraceous buff; bill, black. Adult
Female: Similar to adult male, but throat and chest
dark sooty brown or sooty black ; general color of
upper parts, dark sooty brown.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest ; In ground, rim sunk flush
with the surface, usually near streams ; a strong, well
built structure of bark strips, grass, or pine needles,
lined with grass. Eggs: 4 or S, very pale greenish
white, covered with spots and specks of chestnut and
lavender.

Distribution. — Coast district of southern British
Columbia, Vancouver Island, Washington, Oregon,
and California, south to San Francisco Bay; winters
south to southern California.

The group of Tovvhees, known as Spotted To-
whees, and of which the Oregon Towhee is a
member, are found in western United States and
Mexico among the chaparral. They are very
shy and simply refuse to stay where they can be
observed; just as you hear one sing and catch
sight of him on the top of a bush, he sees you
and down he drops to the ground and starts
scratching among the leaves under the bushes.

In southern California, in the coast district, and
south into Lower California, is found the San

Diego Towhee {Pipilo maculatus mcgalonyx).
It is a deep glossy black with heavy white mark-
ings on the wings. The Arctic Towhee ( Pipilo
maculatus arcficus) has extensive white markings
on both wings and tail and its shoulders are
heavily streaked with white ; it breeds in the
plains and among the foothills of the Rockies
from southern Alberta to west central Montana
and northwestern Nebraska and winters from
eastern Colorado and southern Nebraska to
southern Texas. The Spurred Towhee (Pipilo

Drawing by R. Bruce Horsfall

OREGON TOWHEE (i nat. size)
A scratcher among the fallen leaves

FINCHES

6i

imiciilatiis iiioiitiDitis), distributed from British
Cokuiibia south into Mexico and from eastern
Cahfornia to Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico,
and \\'estern Texas, and tiie San Clemente To-
whee (PipUo iiiaciilatiis clivucut(r), found on the
San Clemente and other islands of southern Cali-
fornia, have the white markings much restricted.
These Towhees are not numerous enough to
inflict any great damage, no matter what their
habits. Should thev become very abtmdant they
very likely would injure fruit, but they seem
so shy and retiring that the more the country
is cleared and put under cultivation the more
likely they are to become rare.

About three-quarters of their food consists of
vegetable matter. Fruit forms about i8 per
cent, and is probably almost entirely wild or
waste, drain averages 4 ]icr cent, for the vear
with the largest amount eaten after the harvest-
ing season. Weed seed occupies the chief place
iin their menu and forms nearly 35 per cent, of
their food for the year.

.Apparently these Towhees do not care for
grasshoppers as they form less than 2 per cent.
of their food for the year and are eaten very
irregularly. Weevils, tree-boring beetles, ants,
wasps, bees, and the black olive scale make up
most of their animal food.

CANON TOWHEE
Pipilo fuscus mesoleucus Baird

A. O. U.

Other Names. — Fuscous Towhee ; Brown Chippy;
Canon liuntnig.

General Description, — Length, 9,':! inches. Upiier
parts, brown ; under parts, white, brown, and black.
Wings, rather short and much rounded ; tail, longer
than wing, rounded, the feathers broad with compact
webs and rounded tips ; feet, stout.

Color. — Adults : Above, hair-brown or pale grayish
sepia-brown, the crown distinctly ruddy, inclining to
cinnamon ; middle and greater wing-coverts and upper
tail-coverts, usually narrowly and indistinctly tipped
with paler ; wings and tail-feathers with the general
color darker, clearer, and less brown than other por-
tions; side of head, mainly colored like back, etc., but
with pale buffy or dull whitish markings ; cheek region,
chin, and throat, pinkisli buff ( deejier in winter, paler
in summer i)iumage), tlie first flecked with dusky, the

nearly (sometimes quite) immaculate throat area sur-
rounded by rather large triangular spots or streaks
of black; center portion of breast and abdomen, white;
sides of breast, sides, and flanks, brown (paler than
back) ; anal regions and under tail-coverts, cinnamon
or cinnamon-tawny ; iris, brown.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Located in thickets or
small mesquite trees, near ground, usually within 10
feet, sometimes in dense clumps of cholla or between
yucca leaves ; deep, large, but loosely constructed of
coarse .grass, lined with fine roots and horse- or cow-
hair. Eggs : 3, speckled, scratched and scrawled with
brown, black, or lavender.

Distribution. — Arid districts of Arizona, southern
and eastern New Mexico, western Texas, eastern
Colorado, and southwestern Colorado, south to north-
eastern Sonora and northwestern Chihuahua.

The Canon or Fuscous Tcnvhees form a numer-
ous species that is distinguished by their fluiTy
brown Sparrow-like appearance. To the Fast-
erner there seems to be less of the Towhee and
more of the brown Sparrow about this common
dooryard friend of the southwest. It is often
called the Brown Chippy from the very j^ersist-
ence of the loud metallic chip, whether heard in
the streets of towns or out in the dense chaparral
and scrub bushes that line the mountain canons.
The flight song is a Robin-like scrcep'-ecp-eep,
and it has another squeaky but quiet and con-
tented song. In the canons at dusk a dozen or
more of the Canon Towhees sing this song in
concert and the effect is like an evening hymn
in a temple to nature's God.

There are many varieties of the Fuscous Tow-

hee. The typical one is the Brown Towhee of
the Pacific slope of central Mexico. Throughout
California the variety is there known as the
California Towhee or Crissal Bunting (Pipilo
crissalis crissalis) , the main distinction appearing
to be a deeper colored head than the more east-
ern bird. Ridgway has seen enough dififerences
in them to make the California Towhee a sepa-
rate species, but Mrs. Bailey prefers to know
them as mere varieties of the Fuscous Towhee.
The Anthony Towhee (Pipilo crissalis scnicula)
of southern California is surely but a variety of
the California, having darker upper parts and
grayer lower parts.

\Micrever foimd, the Fuscous Towhee has no
fear of man, and when the breeding season comes
the gloomy canons resound with his songs.

62

BIRDS OF AMERICA

ABERT'S TOWHEE
Pipilo aberti Baird

A. O. U. Number 59J

Other Name. — Gray Towhee.

General Description. — Length, g'/z inches. Upper
parts, brown ; nndcr parts, brown and yellowish.
Wings, rather short and much rounded ; tail, longer
than wing, rounded, the feathers broad with compact
webs and rounded tips ; feet, stout.

Color. — Adults: Above, uniform rather light
brown, becoming rather darker and somewhat grayer
on wings and tail, the primaries edged with pale brown-
ish gray ; beneath, pale wood-brown, paler on breast,
deeper and tinged with reddish cinnamon on throat
and chest, the lower abdomen yellowish-bufify, the under
tail-coverts still deeper, or reddish tawny ; chin and
throat, streaked with dusky. Young : Above, olive-
grayish streaked with dusky : under parts, grayish-

white streaked on sides and chest with dusky; win.gs
and tail similar to adults.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Usually, in dense chaparral
thickets, willow, canebrake or mesquite clumps near
streams, within five feet of ground, rarely in trees
thirty feet up ; rather large, carelessly made of bark
strips, weed stalks, grass, twigs, lined with fine inner
bark or horse-hair. Eggs : 2 to 4, pale blue, thinly
marked or spotted around large end, sometimes over
the entire surface, with dark umber-brown and
black.

Distribution. — Arid division of Arizona, southern
Nevada (bend of Colorado River), southwestern Utah,
northwestern New Mexico and southeastern California;
south in winter to northern Lower California.

Despite the fact that the Abert's Towhee is
the largest of the plain Towhees he is extremely
shy. He lives among the mesquites and cotton-

woods of the desert region of Arizona, New
Mexico, and southeastern California. His note
of alarm is hnit hnit according to Bendire.

GREEN-TAILED TOWHEE
Oreospiza chlorura (Audubon)

A (>, V. Ni:

Other Names. — Chestnut-crowned Towhee ; Green-
tailed Bunting; Blanding's Finch.

General Description. — Length, 8 inches. Upper
parts, greenish ; under parts, white and gray. Bill,
small ; wings, long and pointed ; tail, long, equal to or
longer than wing, rounded.

Color. — Adults: Crown and back of head, plain
rufous or cinnamon-rufous; forehead and sides of head,
deep gray or olive-gray ; hindneck, back, shoulders,
rump, and upper tail-coverts, olive-grayish tinged with
yellowish olive-green ; wings and tail, mainly yellowish
olive-green, the greater wing-coverts and inner wing-
quills, duller and grayer; edge of wing, canary-yellow;
chin and throat, white forming a sharply defined patch ;
chest, sides of neck, and sides of breast, gray becoming
gradually paler on breast ; the abdomen, white ; sides
and flanks, bufify grayish ; under tail-coverts, light bufif ;
iris, cinnamon or reddish. Young: Crown, hindneck,

back, and shoulders light olive or grayish brown,
streaked with dusky ; under parts dull whitish, the chest
and sides streaked with dusky ; wings and tail as in
adults, but middle and greater wing-coverts indistinctly
tipped with brownish butTy.

Nest and Eggs. — Xest; Placed in bush, amid
shrubbery or on ground, sagebrush, chaparral, mesquite,
or cactus preferred; constructed of fine twigs, grass,
shreds of bark, lined with fine grass. Eggs: 4, white,
pale greenish or grayish white, freckled all over with
fine specks of bright chestnut.

Distribution. — Mountain districts of western United
States, from more eastern Rocky Mountain ranges to
Coast range of California; north to central Montana
and Idaho and eastern Washington ; south to southern
California, southeastern New Mexico, western Texas,
and, at least in winter, to middle Mexico, and to south-
ern Lower California; accidental in \'irginia.

The Green-tailed Towhee is a beautiful bird
with a soft glossy coat touched off with yellowish
green and his manners are so gentlemanly that
he quickly wins his way to our hearts. " He
may generally be found perched on top of a
btish and at sight of you will raise his rufous
cap inquiringly, turning to look down so that his
white chin shows to advantage. When seen
hopping over the grotmd he is as trim as a Song

.Sj)arrow, looking about and flashing his green
tail till he disappears to scratch in the brush."
(Mrs. Bailey.)

This Towhee has the peculiar trait of rtuining
along the grotmd when he is surprised instead
of taking wing. His song has many of the
characteristics of Finch songs but is phrased like
that of the Caiion Towhee. His call note is
very similar to that of the Chewink.

FINCHES

63

CARDINAL
Cardinalis cardinalis cardinalis (LiinurHs)

Other Names. — Cardinal Groslieak ; Redbird ;
Crested Redliird ; Virginia Redbird; Virginia Nightin-
gale; Virginia Cardinal; Kentucky Cardinal; Cardinal
Bird.

General Description. — Length, 8^4 inches. Male,
red; female, partly red, giving an appearance of being
faded. Bill, stout; wings, short and rounded; tail,
longer than wing, slightly rounded; head with con-
spicuous crest.

Color. — Adult M.\le: Front portion of forehead,
front part of cheek region, chin, and throat, black,
forming a conspicuous cap entirely surrounding the bill ;
rest of head, vermilion-red, duller on crown { includ-
ing crest) ; under parts, pure vermilion-red becoming
slightly paler posteriorly, the flanks slightly tinged with
grayish ; hindneck, back, shoulders, rutnp, and upper
tail-coverts, dull vermilion-red ; wings and tail, dull
red; bill, red-orange; iris, deep brown. Adult Female:
Wings and tail, much as in the male, but the red duller ;
red of head and body replaced above by plain grayish
olive or buffy grayish, the crest partly dull red, below

by pale fulvous or buffy (nearly white on abdomen),
the chest often tinged or mixed with red; head, dull
grayish, sometimes nearly white on throat.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Located in thickets of
brambles or grapevines or low saplings ; a carelessly
constructed, loosely put together afi^air of small twigs,
strips of bark, weed stems, grass, lined with fine root-
lets, and horse-hair. Eggs: 2 to 4, white, bluish, or
greenish white marked with shades of chestnut, purple,
and brown, usually scattered over entire surface.

Distribution. — Eastern United States ; north, regu-
larly and breeding to southeastern New York, lower
districts of eastern Pennsylvania, western Pennsyl-
vania, northeastern Ohio, northern Indiana, southern
Iowa, etc., casually or irregularly to Connecticut, Mas-
sachusetts, Maine, Nova Scotia, southern Ontario,
southern Michigan, southern Wisconsin, and Minne-
sota; west to edge of Great Plains, casually to eastern
Colorado ; south to Georgia, Alabama, and upland
region of Gulf States; Bermudas (introduced and
naturalized).

The flash of red that comes to view and dis-
appears in otlier trees is generally the Cardinal.
There are other red birds, btit none that frequent
the stately Southern elms and other large
roadside trees as docs this most attractive
S])arro\v.

All through the Southern plantation country
this is the bird that typifies everything that is
elegant and chivalric not only to the colored cot-
ton pickers and plantation laborers, but to the
country gentlemen. Novels have been written in
which the Virginia Cardinal and the Kentuckv
Cardinal and the Carolina Cardinal have given
a tone of aristocratic elegance to the plots. The
bird is indeed a fine specimen of bird character,
whether found on a .Southern plantation, or at
its northeastern limit in Central Park, New York
city, or at its western limit in the dingv chaparral
of southern Arizona.

The bird is ever cheerful and active and indus-
trious. The young are cared for eagerly bv the
male while the female is sitting on a second lav-
ing of eggs. Nothing daunts the male in his
care of the young that he leads out upon the
lawns and berry fields. The search for food, the
scent of danger, and the warnings given to
the heedless yottng are common observations
made by people who are attracted to them.

The attention the male gives his mate is very
noticeable. He is never fearful to fiv about
Vol.. III. —6

looking after the nest or leading her to some
favored food or singing to her from far up in
the tallest tree while she is bu.sy at her toilet
down by the brook in the vallev. And fre-
quently she will answer in a lower note that

A flash of red, coming to view one moment, and disappearing

the next

brings from him a quick response. There is a
remarkable charm in the Cardinal that brings
words of enthusiasm from all who have lived in

64

BIRDS OF AMERICA

the country with liim and have watched his
gracious ways.

His call is a rich and rounded ciic-ciic that
penetrates the grove and often hrint^^s an answer-
ing CIIC-CIIC from another 1)ird far away. The
rapid liip-ip-ip-ip-ip'ip-ij\ uttered without any
loss of [)Ower at the end. rings out clear from
the tops of the trees and seems to rouse the
echoes. Then there is the long drawn out c-ccc,

rllulu by II. T. MidillLauii

YOUNG CARDINAL

and the cheer, cheer, cheer that makes one feel
a joy in having such a bird in the neighborhood.
Ridgway has listed about a dozen varieties of
the Cardinal but they are mostly in Mexico.
Only the Florida {Cardinalis cardinalis flori-
daiiiis) and Arizona (Cardinalis cardinalis siipcr-
hiis) and the Gray-tailed (Cardinalis cardinalis
caiiicaiidiis) occupy small areas adjacent to the

great areas of the true Cardinalis east of Texas
and south of the Hudson and the Great Lakes.
The Gray-tailed Cardinal is but one of the Mexi-
can varieties that extends up into Texas. But
wherever found the Cardinal is a rare sight.
Many persons have become much interested in
all birds by being first interested in the Cardinal.
Some have called him an FFV ( member of one
of the first families of Virginia). Better yet, he
is an FF of America. L. Nelson Nichols.

It has been claimed that the Cardinal pulls
sprouting grain, but no evidence of damage to
cither grain or other crops is afforded by the
examination of more than 500 stomachs. On
the other hand, the evidence is ample that he
does much good. The Redbird is known to feed
on the Rocky Mountain locust, periodical cicada,
and Colorado potato beetle. It is a great enemy
also to the rose chafer, cotton worm, plum or
cherry scale, and other scale insects, and attacks
many other important insect pests, including the
zebra caterpillar of the cabbage, the cucumber
beetles, billbugs, locust flea-beetle, corn-ear worm,
cotton cutworm, southern fig-eater, codling
moth, and boll weevil. In addition, it consumes
a great many seeds of injurious weeds. Thus
its food habits entitle the bird to our esteem, as
its brilliant coat and spirited song compel our
admiration.

ARIZONA PYRRHULOXIA

Pyrrhuloxia sinuata sinuata ( Bonaparte)

A, O. l\ Number S94

Other Names. — P.ullfnich ; Rullfjiich Cardinal ; (jray
Griisheak : ("itay Cardinal; Parrot-bill.

General Description. — Length, 9 inches. Phimasie.
.grayish, with red crest and tail. Rill, short, thick, and
strongly curved; wings, short and nnich rounded; tail,
decidedly longer than wing, rounded.

Color. — .^I)UI.T Male: .'Vbove, brownish gray or
grayisli Iiair-brown becoming purer gray (between
drab-gray and smoke gray) on head and neck; all the
wing-feathers with concealed bases, dusky red; outer
webs of primaries and primary coverts, mostly dull red;
middle tail-feathers, dusky brownish becoming dark
dull reddish in the center and edged with brownish
gray; rest of tail-feathers, dull red becoming dusky
brownish at the ends, the shafts of all, black on upper
surface; longer feathers of crest, dull red; forehead,
chin, thrnal. and other center lower parts, thighs, and
most of un<U'r side of wing, f^urc red (geranium-red to

poppy-red), the lores and eye region, duller red; sides
of under parts, light brownish gray, paler and tinged
with bufify posteriorly; bill, yellowish in summer, horn
colored in winter; iris, Ijrown. Adult Female:
.Similar to adult male, but lacking the red of face and
center under parts (or with it but slightly indicated),
the general color of the under parts of a decided
bufTy hue; bill, yellow in summer, grayish brown in
winter.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In mesquite. or thorny
thickets; resembles that of t!ie Cardinal Init more com-
pactly put together and smaller; made of bark strips,
twigs, grass, lined with small roots. Eccs : 3. pale
bluish white spotted with difTerent shades of brown and
lavender, wreathed around large end.

Distribution. — Northwestern Mexico ; southern por-
tions of Arizona, southwestern New Mexico, and ex-
treme western part of Texas.

Court.'Sy of th.i Nuw Yirk Sl;.t.' Mus.'un

Piatt

ROSC-BREASTED GROSBEAK Xnmrl,,,!,,, hul.nirmna (I.mri;i<;u.f)

CARDINAL r,,;-,/,,,,,/,,. nirilumliH mulinali:< ( Lm-Kfcus)

FEMALE

All I „,U. size '""-'

FINCHES

65

The Pyrrhuloxia belongs to the Cardinal group
of Finches. Their habits are those of the Cardi-
nal, but the area in which they are found is but
a small part of the country in which the true
Cardinals live. The I'yrrliuloxia country is con-
linecl to the hot upland areas uf the northern
jjlateau of Mexico, and the adjacent parts of
Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

Some suppose the Pvrrhuloxia to be more
" shy and suspicious " than the Cardinal. Rut
the experience of William L. and Irene Finlcy
in photographing a Pyrrhuloxia on the nest, as
reported in Bird-Lore, is rather the reverse,
showing that the bird has about the same confi-
dence in human surroundings as has the Cardi-
nal. The Cardinal traits have been so noticeable
that the bird has often been known as the Gray
Cardinal. The differences are also conspicuous.
Instead of the cue note of the Cardinal, the
mesquite is musical with his clear, cheerful
whistling.

The red crest is the most characteristic feature
of the Pyrrhuloxia. Every change of mood in
the bird is not only shown but exaggerated by the
quick up and- down motions of the crest feathers.
I'rom listlessness to alertness, and from curiosity
to ennui are the changes of a second. These
changes are rapid and occur many scores of
times every hour.

The eastern variety is called the Texas Pyr-
rhuloxia (Pyrrhuloxia sinnata tcxana) and has
the ring around the bill conspicuously marked
with black. From El Paso west into southern
Arizona the variety is known as the Arizona
Pyrrhuloxia. It is a very fancy name, but it
will remain, for it is a very fancy bird.

Like the Blue Grosbeak the Arizona Pvrrhu-
loxia is more fond of caterpillars and grass-
hoppers than of other insects. Weevils are next

in order of ])reference. The Parrot-bill ranges
over much of the cotton belt of Texas and feeds
u|)on two im])ortant cotton pests, one of which —
the boll weevil — is one of our most destructive

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

PYRRHULOXIA ( ; nat. size)
A fine whistler, with a red waistcoat and a very dandified air

insects. Cotton worms are highly relished, as
many as eighteen having been found in a single
stomach. In August and September seven-tenths
of the Gray Grosbeak's food is weed seed, five-
tenths consisting exclusively of the seeds of two
of the most imjjortant weeds of the South,
namely, fo.xtail and burr grass. So far as known,
the Gray Grosbeak eats practically no beneficial
insect and damages no crop. This, in addition
to the fact that it feeds upon noxious weed and
insect pests, entitles it to complete protection.

ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK
Zamelodia ludoviciana ( Liniucits)

A. O. U, Number S5

Other Names.— Potato-bug Bird : Common Gros-
beak : Summer Grosbeak ; Rose-breast.

General Description. — Length. 814 inches. Fore
and upper parts, black or blackish-brown ; under parts,
red and white. Bill, heavy and short ; wings, long and
pointed; tail, more than % length of wing, even or
sbghtly rounded, the feathers broad anrl rounded at
the ends.

Color. — Adult M.m.k in Summer: Head, neck, back,

See Color Plate 85

and shoulders, uniform black; wings, black relieved by
a large patch of white on basal portion of primaries,
white spots at tips of innermost greater coverts and
inner wing-quills, and a broad white band coinposed of
the middle coverts ; upper tail-coverts, black with large
terminal spots of white; tail, black with inner webs of
three outermost tail-feathers white at the ends; chest,
center portion of breast, and under zcing-coTerts. rose
red or lii]ht carmine; rest of under parts of body.

66

BIRDS OF AMERICA

ivliitc. the rump, also white; iris, brown. Adult Male
IN Winter: Wings, tail, and upper tail-coverts as in
summer ; head, neck, back, and shoulders, brown
streaked with black, color of head relieved by a center
crown-stripe, a stripe over eye. and a cheek stripe of
pale buffy or buiify whitish ; under parts, brownish
white, the chest, sides, and flanks streaked with dusky,
the first tinged or sufifused with rose-red or rose-pink.
Young M.\le in First Winter: Similar to the adult
male in winter, but wings, upper tail-coverts, and tail,
grayish brown, instead of black, the last without any
white, the first with the white markings much reduced
and tinged with brown ; back and shoulders, more uni-
formly brown ; chest, sides, and flanks, more deeply
fulvous and more heavily streaked, the first with little,
if any, red or pink; under wing-coverts and axillaries,
rose-pink. Adults Female (Summer and Winter):
Much like the young male, but wing-coverts yellow.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In low trees and bushes,
sometimes on such slender branches that the eggs roll
out when the support is bent by a strong breeze ; a flat,
rather carelessly made saucer-shaped structure of small
twigs, wiry rootlets, and grass. Eggs : 3 to 5, greenish
blue, spotted and blotched over entire surface with
chestnut and shades of brown.

Distribution. — Eastern United States and more
southern British provinces, from Atlantic coast to edge
of the Great Plains (eastern Kansas to Manitoba) ;
breeding from New Jersey, Pennsylvania, northern
Ohio, northern Indiana, northern Illinois, Iowa, and
eastern Kansas, north to Manitoba. Ontario, Nova
Scotia, etc., and south along the Allegheny Mountains
to western North Carolina (3500 to 5000 feet) ; in
winter south to Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, and through
Mexico and Central America to western Ecuador ;
casual in Bermudas.

There is no bird in our eastern American avi-
fauna that is better worth an acquaintance than
the Rose-breasted Grosbeak. .Some birds force
themselves upon our attention ; we have to go
to find the Rose-breast for he is nowhere com-

mon. .Some birds have commonplace voices, but
the Rose-breast lias a rich and mellow voice
that rings out with abundant vitality in the bush
lot at the edge of the forest or across the bushy
swamp. Many birds seem to ask for exaggerated

ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK (s nat size)

He is an efficient, resourceful, and virile American

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

FINCHES

67

description because of their extraordinary
beauty. The Rose-breast is a handsome bird in
his black and white and rose, much handsomer
than most Finches, but not so beautiful as to
distract the observer from the life and habits of
the bird. And this, the character of the bird, is
the finest thing about him.

Almost all observers are impressed witli the
vital wholesomeness of this Grosbeak. He is
seldom nervous and seldom allows trivial things
to disturb him. He acts with dignity and yet
with a quickness and precision and quiet force-
fulness that are almost ideal. As a caged bird
he puts up with what he has to and makes the
most of what he has. He is a very clean bird.
The nest is always clean. Wherever he goes he
makes no litter, and whatever he breaks up for
food is never scattered, but the remnants remain
in small inconspicuous piles. It w^iiuld almost
seem as though the bird had a conscience, and
knew what it was tn be a gentleman.

Cardinal-like, the male has a great attachment
for his mate while she is at the nest. He has
been seen standing a few feet away as though
glad to be in her company. Sometimes he will
sing for her for a long time in a nearby tree.
And someone has said that he has carried potato
bugs to feed her on the nest. \Mien the young
have left the nest his presence with them i'^ very
noticeable. Generally silent during these Ini^y
weeks, he seems to be the embodiment of gmid
cheer, happier, indeed, it would seem than the
scared youngsters that watch his everv action
as though only in him could they feel any safeti.'
in this blood-thirst\- world.

Whoever cares to know this really high-class
American must go out to his distant haunts. One
might happen to see him high up in an elm that
shades the highway, or quietly purloining the
farmer's crop of potato bugs, or flying sturdily
beside a country road " going somewhere," never
flying for the sake of flying as do most of the
nervous birds. Make a special journey to the
wood lot where he lives and spend a morning in
his company. You will go home with the feel-
ing of having met one of the best types of
efficient, resourceful, and virile Americans.

L. Nelson Nichols.

The Rose-breasted Grosbeak is held in high
esteem because of his habit of preving upon the
Colorado potato-bug. At least one-tenth of his
food is made up of these potato-eating beetles.
He is almost the only bird to feed upon these
pests ; he not only eats the adults but also con-
sumes the larva" and feeds a great manv to the

nestlings. Cucumber beetles, canker worms, tent
caterpillars, army worms, cutworms, chinch bugs
are all greedily sought for.

The vegetable food of this Grosbeak consists
of buds and blossoms of forest trees and seeds.
He is accused of injuring orchards by eating the
blossoms and the fruit and of eating green peas.
He does do both of these things, but the little
damage he does in this way is more than off-set
by his raids on the potato-bug. Mr. Real ex-
amined the stomachs of some Rose-breasted
Grosbeak's which liafl been killed in the vcrv act

Ph..lu b> .^. A. --^u
ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK, HER NEST, AND EGGS

of eating peas, ile found a few peas, but there
were more than enough potato-bugs to pay for
all the peas the birds would have been likely to
eat for a whole season. The garden where this
took place adjoined a small potato field which
earlier in the season had been so badly infested
with beetles that the vines were completely
riddled. Every day the Grosbeaks had visited the
field and after the young left the nests they
accompanied their parents. The babes stood in
a row on the topmost rail of the fence and were
fed with the beetles by the old birds. A careful
inspection was made a few days later but not a
single potato-bug remained ; the birds had saved
tlie potatoes.

68

BIRDS OF AMERICA

BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAK
Zamelodia melanocephala {S-iVainson)

A. O. U. Number 59S

Other Names. — Western Grosbeak ; Black-head.

General Description. — Length, 8J^4 inches. Upper
parts, black and tawny ; under parts, buffy-cinnamon
and lemon-yellow. Bill, heavy and short ; wings, long
and pointed; tail, more than ^4 length of wing, even or
slightly rounded, the feathers broad and rounded at the
ends.

Color. — -Adult Male: Head, black, the throat
light cinnamon-ocher or tawny; wings, upper tail-
coverts, and tail, black, the first varied by a broad
band of white including the middle coverts, a large
white patch on basal portion of primaries, and white
spots at tips of greater coverts and inner wing feathers,
the last by large white spaces on terminal portion of
inner webs of two to three outermost tail-feathers ;
upper tail-coverts with white terminal spots ; collar
across hindneck, throat, chest, breast, sides, flanks, and
rump, uniform bufTy-cinnamon or tawny; abdomen and
under iving-coverts, clear lenion-yeltozi.'; anal region
and under tail-coverts, white ; shoulders, black cen-
trally, edged or margined with light tawny or cinnamon-

buffy ; iris, dark brown. Adult Female : Above,
dusky grayish brown or olive, streaked, especially on
back and along center line of crown, with pale tawny,
buffy. or whitish ; wings and tail, grayish brown, with
white marking much more restricted than in adult
males, those on tail nearly if not quite obsolete; chin,
sides of throat, cheek region, and a stripe over the
eyes, whitish ; chest, pale fulvous, cinnamon-huffy, or
yellowish buffy ; abdomen, usually pale yellow, some-
times white.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Located among willows,
live oaks or saplings, from five to twenty feet up; a
loosely put together, frail structure of fine twigs, weed
stems, grass, and rootlets. Eggs : 3 or 4, bluish green,
speckled and blotched with chestnut and rufous
brown.

Distribution. — Western United States and plateau
of Mexico; north in summer, to British Columbia.
Idaho, Montana, etc., east to southeastern Dakota,
eastern Nebraska and eastern Kansas ; breeding south
to southern portion of Mexican plateau.

The Black-headed Grosbeak may be used as a
striking illustration of the theory of evolution.
It resembles the Rose-breasted Grosbeak closely
in structure, form, and habits ; its notes are
almost the same, yet in plumage it differs widely,
but still shows relationship. What better evi-
dence is needed to indicate that the two species
were once one, and that the only noticeable
difference between them that is observable to-day
was caused by climatic influences? The pure
warbling song of the Black-head as well as its
thin alarm note may be recognized, when heard
for the first time, by their close resemblance to
those of its eastern prototype. The two species
seem to show similar tastes in regard to food,
as the Black-head attacks the potato beetle and
the buds of trees with the same avidity that is
shown in the east by its congener. Even the
nest and eggs resemble those of the Rose-breast,
although in the southern part of its range the
Black-head's nest is exceedingly flimsy, so that in
some cases the eggs may be seen through it from
below.

Apparently the species is tnore prolific than
the Rose-breast, which ordinarily rears but one
brood annually. The Grinnells in their Birds
of Song and Story tell of a pair of Black-heads
that raised three broods in their garden, but the
glorious climate of California which tends to
induce fecunditv may be resnonsible for this.

The male Grosbeak is a handsome bird, start-
lingly flashy in flight, with its contrast of black,
white, and yellow, but is a little coarse or heavy
in form. Its big beak, like a huge nose, reminds
us of the story of little Red-Riding Hood and the
wolf, for it is almost as prominent as the wolf's
muzzle, which as a counterfeit grandmother's
nose so astonished the child when seen protrud-
ing from the depths of the frilled nightcap.

The male like that of the Rose-breast is a good
father and relieves his mate on the nest, taking
his share of the duties of incubation and chick-
rearing. He keeps the nest during a large part
of the day and the female takes his place by
night : thus the eggs are constantly kept covered
and defended.

The Black-headed Grosbeak is a bird of the
forest but like its eastern relative it seems to
prefer for nesting a place in deciduous woods
and shrubbery, especially among the alders along
small streams ; but when assured of protection it
comes as freely about the dwellings of man as
does the Rose-breast and even nests in the fig
trees. The male pours forth his ptire and tender
rhapsody from the heights of tall oaks or pines,
but does not disdain to sing even while hunting
the lowly " potato-bug." Through the long day
he sings, even at hot high noon when other less
virile songsters are resting and silent.

Edward Howe Forbush.

FINCHES

69

The Black-headed Grosbeak fills the same
place in the West that the Rose-breast does in
the East, and economically is fully as important.
In parts of its range it is destructive to early
fruit and attacks also green peas and beans.
However, since by proper precautions such losses
may be minimized or altogether prevented, they
should not be given too much weight in estimat-
ing the value of the bird. Instead of being
regarded as an enemy by western orchardists,
the Black-head should be esteemed as a friend,
since it is a foe to the worst pests of horticul-
ture — the scale insects — which compose a
fourth of its food. The black olive scale alone
constitutes a fifth of the bird's subsistence, and
the frosted scale and apricot scale, or European
fruit lecanium, also are destroyed. In May
considerable numbers of canker worms and cod-
ling moths are eaten, and almost a sixth of the
bird's seasonal food consists of flower beetles.
which do incalculable damage to cultivated
flowers and to ripe fruit. For each quart of fruit
consumed by the Black-headed Grosbeak it de-
stroys in actual bulk more than one and one-half
quarts of black olive scales, one quart of flower
beetles, besides a generous quantity of codling
moth pupae and canker worms. So effectively
does it fight these pests that the necessity for its

preservation is obvious
to fruit is preventable.

while most of its iniurv

R. Bruce Horsfall
BLACK-HEADED GROSBEAKS ( ;.

BLUE GROSBEAK
Guiraca caerulea casrulea ( LiiiiKVus)

A. I ). U. .N'uml-jcr ^g? See Color Plate 8(>

Other Name. — Blue Pop.

General Description. — Length, 734 inches. Male,
blue : female, olive-brownish above and brownish-buffy
below. Bill, large, conical, compressed, with nearly
straight outlines ; wings, long and pointed ; tail, about
54 length of wing, nearly even or very slightly rounded.

Color. — .\dult M.m.e: Uniform, slightly glossy,
dull ultramarine blue, the feathers of the back
dusky centrally ; a narrow black spot on crown involv-
ing the forehead, the extreme front portion of cheek
region, and chin; wings and tail, blackish with dull
bluish edgings, the middle wing-coverts with most of
the exposed portion, chestnut or cinnamon-rufous
(forming a broad band), the greater coverts margined
at the ends with the same or a paler color (forming a
much narrower band), under tail-coverts margined
with white, especially at tips ; iris, brown. .'\nui.T
Female: Above, olive-brownish tinged with tawny,
passing into a decidedly more grayish hue (usually
tinged with blue) on rump and upper tail-coverts;

shoulders darker centrally, forming indistinct streaks;
wings and tail, dusky, the latter with dull grayish blue,
the former with light brownish edgings ; middle wing-
coverts, rather broadly tipped with light cinnamon-
rufous or tawny and terminal margins of greater
coverts usually tinged with the same ; under parts,
brownish-buffy or clay color, deepest on chest, paler on
throat and abdomen.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Placed in low brambles, or
in deciduous trees as far as thirty feet from the ground;
a compact, well built structure of dried grass, plant
fibers, leaves, with an intertwined cast-ofif snake skin ;
lined with fine brown rootlets and horse-hair. Er.os :
3 or 4, plain light bluish white.

Distribution. — More southern portions of eastern
United States, chiefly near Atlantic and Gulf coasts :
north regularly, but very locally, to Pennsylvania, New
Jersey, Kentucky, and southern Illinois ; accidentally to
Maine, eastern Massachusetts, Province of Quebec ; in
winter south to Cuba and Yucatan.

70

BIRDS OF AMERICA

The Blue Grosbeak is an interesting bird of
the Southern States. He is not quite so handsome
nor has he such interesting notes as the Cardinal
and the Rose-breast. And he is not as well known
as tliose distinguished relatives, for nowhere is
he common. In short trees and bushes from
Maryland to the ("lulf coast he may be found
probably as often as anywhere. The blue is not
so blue as to attract attention. The color is so
dark that in certain lights the bird might be mis-
taken for a Cowbird. He is a very quiet bird.
The evidence available would seem to make
him more suspicious of man than is the Rose-
breast.

is but one variety in the Southwest. The Utah
and California birds differ from the Arizona
birds, and they from the Texas birds. The
western is paler colored ; and bird observers in
those areas seem to know the bird better than do
those of the East, showing that his haunts are
nearer the homes of men. Even there his haunts
are most often along the rushing streams in the
brush of the canons of the foothills.

Blue Grosbeaks do no damage during the nest-
ing period, and, in fact, are of great value to any
farm they choose for a home, since thev eat
large numbers of injurious insects and feed their
young exclusively upon them. In certain locali-

Dramng by R. I. Brasher

BLUE GROSBEAK ( ;, nat. size)
You will have to look closely to see the " blue " in this bird's plumage

His song is a weaker effort than the Rose-
breast's. It is a rather sweet warble of the
Purple Finch nature, and has sometimes been
called a beautiful song. No doubt this rare bird
far away from the human ear pours forth a very
sweet melody to his mate, but no one has yet
given a biography of this interesting bird as has
been done of his near relatives, the Cardinal and
Rose-breast.

The territory of the Blue Grosbeak extends
entirely across the southern half of the United
States ; but west of Louisiana there are so many
differences in coloration of the bird that the
scientists have made of them a separate variety,
the Western Blue Grosbeak ( Guiraca ccrrulca
laciiliA. Ridgwav is not at all sure that there

ties, however, after the breeding season. Blue
Grosbeaks collect in flocks, move into grain fields,
particularly those of oats and rice, and sometimes
do considerable harm. Despite such depreda-
tions, the loss of cereals is repaid many fold,
since the birds consume almost five times as
much insect food as grain. Moreover, some of
the insects they devour are especially destructive,
such as weevils. More than a fourth of the
seasonal food is composed of grasshoppers, in-
cluding the lesser migratory locust. A tenth of
the subsistence is made up of caterpillars and
cotton cutworms, enemies of sugar beets and
cotton. Because of its effective warfare on
these pests, the Blue Grosbeak is an efficient ally
of the farmer and deserves to be protected.

FINCHES

71

INDIGO BUNTING
Passerina cyanea [ Liinunis)

O. r. Xumlier 5gS >if t olor I 'late 86

Other Names. — Indigo Bluebird : Indigo Painted
Bunting; Indigo Bird; Indigo Fincli : Blue Finch;
Blue Canary.

General Descriprion. — Length, 5'4 inches. Male,
blue; female, olive-brownish above and dull white
below. Bill, small ; wings, long and pointed ; tail, about
■U length of wing, slightly double rounded.

Color. — .'\dult M.\le : General color, plain cerulean
blue, changing to bluish green in certain lights, the head
more purplish blue, this extending down the foreneck
and, usually, strongly tingeing the center under parts of
the body; lores and central (tnostly concealed) portion
of wing-coverts and inner wing-quills, black; second-
aries, primaries, primary coverts, dusky edged witli
greenish-blue; iris, brown. Adult Fem.^le: Above,
olive-brownish, lighter, and sometimes tinged with
greenish-gray on rump and upper tail-coverts; beneath,
dull whitish washed or tinged with olive-buffy on chest,
sides, and flanks, the chest distinctly streaked with

dusky grayish-brown; wings and tail, dusky, the lesser
wing-coverts and edges of primaries and tail-feathers,
grayish-greenish, the tips of middle coverts brownish.
Young: Similar to adult female, but averaging rather
browner, especially on under parts, the back sometimes,
especially in first plumage, obsoletely streaked.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Generally in a low vibur-
num, witch-hazel, or maple saplings, or other sm.all
buslies, or in brambles on brushy hillsides or open
clearings near woods ; usually in a fork, within five feet
of ground; constructed of grasses, leaves, weed stalks,
strips of bark, plant fibers, lined with finer grasses and
hair. Egcs : 4. plain pale bluish white.

Distribution. — Eastern United States and British
provinces ; north to Maine, Ontario, Minnesota, etc.
(casually to New Brunswick); south in winter to
Baliamas. Cuba, and through eastern Mexico and
Central .America to Panama ; west to eastern border of
(.ireat Plains, casually to eastern Colorado.

The Indigo Bunting is anoLher bird with a dis-
tinct personality. No other bird attracts quite
the peculiar attention that this bird does. To
get acquainted with him one must be pre]iarcd
for surprises, and what they all are will not be
told here.

The luale has such a peculiar color ; no bird
outside of the tropics has such a |>eculiar lilue
as the male Indigo Bird. It isn't an indigo color
but rather a deep ultramarine blue. Just as you
have made up your mind that that is the right
name of the color, you get the bird in a different
light and behold he is grayish blue, or azure-blue,
or maybe olive-blue. At least there is no con-
fusing him with any other bluish bird. The
female, however, is imc of the persistently con-
fusing birds to bird students. She has a charac-
teristic cliccp and twitches her tail from side to
side, but in coloring she is a plain little brown-
striped Sparrow. There isn't a single distinctive
featiu'e- that is apt to strike one's eye with a
surety that will allow even the most accurate
observer to determine on the instant the name
of the bird. Most observers see the male in the
neighborhood, and by a process of exclusion will
decide that the little brown bird is also an Indigo
Bunting.

The male is one of the most shovvv of birds
and is not afraid to exhibit himself on a fence
rail, or tilting on the reeds, or dodging about in
a flock of English Sparrows, or up on a bush or
short tree within easy view. The female is sus-

picious, secretive, silent, and sometiiues as hard
to see as a mouse in a thicket.

Yet another surprise. The Indigo Bunting
seems so busy feeding and .going in and out of

ving by R. I. Brasher

INDIGO BUNTING 1

plumage,

thickets on some mysterious errands, that he
doesn't seem to have much time to sing, while
the other birds are doing their best in ^lay and
June. Wait till the other birds decrease the
volume and intensity of their singing in lulv, or

72

BIRDS OF AMERICA

stop entirely ; then the Indigo Bunting begins to
take an interest in his voice. The summer heat
makes the Robin open his bill in the shadow to
gasp for breath. The Bobolink is off for the
marshes to keep cool. The Song Sparrow hides
in the bushes till the extreme heat of the day is
over. But the Indigo Bird is never daunted by
the heat of July and August days. Many and
many a highway can be traversed in the heat of
the day without hearing one bird utter even a
short note, except the Indigo Bird. He sings
from the top of a bush or a short tree or a tele-
phone pole or on the very topmost tiny twig of
the very tallest tree in the neighborhood and with
the greatest glee " he loudly sings his roundelay
of love." The persistence, almost by the hour, of
the sweet simple song is one of the surprises of
the bird. So far up against the blue he sometimes
is that not only color is lost but even his form
is often too vague to be identified. The baking
hot Sim even quiets many of the insects, yet
there come the notes of the Indigo Bunting
tumbling down from far up in the sky. He
certainly has the field all to himself.

]\Irs. Bailey gives an interesting account of an
Indigo Bird. " I well remember watching one
Indigo Bird, who, day after day, used to fly to

the lowest limb of a high tree and sing his way
up from branch to branch, bursting into jubilant
song when he reached the topmost bough. I
watched him climb as high into the air as he
could, when against a background of blue sky
and rolling white clouds, the blessed little song-
ster broke out into the blithest round that ever
bubbled up from a glad heart."

Follow the life of the bird as long as he
remains in our northern clime, and very many
surprising things will be found out about him.
Instead of being one of the many species of the
large Sparrow family, it would seem that he
might be given a scientific family name all to
himself. L. Nelson Nichols.

The Indigo Bird is one of our most valuable
species and should be given rigid protection. His
food consists mainly of seeds and berries with a
goodly number of insects. Among the insects
are found caterpillars, click-beetles, snout-beetles,
chafers, bugs of various kinds, and canker
worms. In an orchard that was infested with
canker worms tlie Indigo Bird was foimd eating
more than its usual amount of these pests, some
stomachs showing as much as 78 per cent, of
canker worms.

LAZULI BUNTING
Passerina amoena (Say)

A. O. U. Number 599

Other Name. — Lazuli Painted Bunting.

General Description. — Length, 6 inches. Male, blue
above and tawny and white below; female, brown and
blue above and bufify below. Bill, small : wings, long
and pointed : tail, about -I4 length of wing, forked.

Color. — .^DULT M.M.E : Head. neck. rump, and
upper tail-coverts. light cerulean or turquoise blue,
changing to light greenish-blue (Nile blue) : back,
shoulders, and lesser wing-coverts, darker and (espe-
cially back) duller blue; middle wing-coverts, very

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

LAZDXI BtJNTING (', nat. size)
A handsome songster of the western mountains and valleys

Courtesy of the Nt-w Yo:« State Museu

Plate

/'^

,-:<*«»'■"•■- A

^s^lvl

INDIGO BUNTING /'.issfrinrj c-/<!rira (Linnaeus)

FEMALE

FINCHES

73

broadly tipped with wliite. the greater coverts more
narrowly tiiiped with the same, forming two bands ;
wings, otherwise blackish ; tail, blackish ; chest, tawny-
ochraceous ; abdomen, under tail-coverts, etc.. white;
iris brown. Adult Fem.^le: Above, grayish-brown
passing into dull greenish-blue, or much tinged with
this color, on rump and upper tail-coverts, the back
sometimes streaked with dusky ; wings and tail, dusky,
the feathers edged with dull greenish-blue; under parts,
dull buft'y.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Usually located near
water, in low willows, weeds, manzanitas, or other
brush; constructed of grass, leaves, strips of bark,
small twigs, and rootlets, lined with fine grasses and
hair. Eu;(,s: ji or 4, plain pale bluish or greenish white.

Distribution. — Western United States and British
provinces; north to British Columbia, Idaho, Mon-
tana, etc.; south (in winter) to Mexico; cast nearly or
quite across the Great Plains to South Dakota, Kansas,
etc.

" The Lazuli-painted Finch should be called
the Blue-headed Finch ; for the exquisite bluencss
of his whole head, including throat, breast, and
shoulders, as if he had been dipped so far intD
blue dye, is his most distinguishing feature. The
Bluebird wears heaven's color ; so does the Jay
and likewise the Indigo Bird; but not one can
boast the lovely and indescribable shade, with it^
silvery reflections, that adorns the Lazuli. .Vcruss
the breast, under the blue, is a broad band of
chestnut, like the breast color of our Bluebird,
and back of that is white, while the wings and
tail are dark. Altogether he is charming to look
upon." Thtis Olive Thorne Miller describes the
Lazuli Bunting.

The Lazulis are close relatives of the Painted
Bunting; but they are much more shy, except
in districts where they are numerous and then
they appear to believe that there is safety in
numbers.

The Painted Bunting often comes about
country h(jmes in the east and sometimes he
will venture into a town if there are bushes
and trees convenient. The Lazulis love the
plains and the foot-hills ; they are seldom found
very high in the mountains. Their song is almost

indistinguishable from that of tin
Warbler.

Summer

LAZULI BUi'V IING
Young being fed by their mother

PAINTED BUNTING
Passerina ciris ( l..iiiii(rHs)

A 11. I'. N'limlitT r.ni

Painted Fincli ; Pope: Nonpareil;

Other Names.
Mexican Canary.

General Description. — Length. 6 inches. Male,
hlue. green, and reddish al)Ove. and red below ; female,
green above and yellowish below. Bill, small ; wings,
long and pointed ; tail, about ^4 length of wing, slightly
double rounded.

Color. — .Adult M.\le: Head and neck, except
chin and throat, purplish-blue ; black and shoulders.

bright yellowish-green ; rump and upper tail-coverts,
purplish-red; eye-ring (more or less complete) and
under parts, including throat, vermilion red ; greater
wing-coverts, parrot green ; middle coverts, dull reddish-
purple, lesser coverts, dull purplish-blue ; wings, dusky
edged with dull-purplish and .green ; tail-feathers, dull
dusky-reddish or purplish; upper jaw. blackish; iris,
brown. Adult Female: Above, plain dull green;
beneath, olive-vellowish, clearer vellow on abdomen and

74

BIRDS OF AMERICA

under tail-coverts. Young; Above, dull grayish-brown
tinged here and there vvfith greenish ; middle and greater
wing-coverts, narrovvly tipped with pale buff or buffy-
grayish ; under parts, dull grayish-buffy.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Located in cat-claw, black-
berry, chajiarral or other low bushes and saplings or
in tall trees; a compact structure, composed of leaves,
twigs, grass, bark strips, and lined with fine grasses and

liorse-hair. Eggs: 4 or 5, creamy or bluish-white,
spotted and blotched with reddish-brown and lavender.
Distribution. — Southeastern North America ; north
to coast of North Carolina, southern Illinois, southern
Kansas ; south, in winter, to Bahamas, Cuba, the whole
of Mexico, and through Central America to Panama;
west during migration to Arizona ; occasional in winter
in southern Louisiana and central Florida.

The Painted Bunting is a southern bird of
such a quiet manner that he is not very well
known. He spends most of his time in the dense
thickets of the river bottoms, or far ofif in bushy
wood lots, or in the almost impenetrable tangles
of the steeper hillsides. Far out in the southwest

rises to the level of sweetness, but Nonpareil does
not lose himself long in his song. Maybe his
painted and patched beauty attracts his attention
to himself too much.

In Mexico he is quite a favorite cage bird.
.Americans along the border are therefore apt

:;'^'SSN.

^^"^

Drawing by R. I. BrashL-r

PAINTED BUNTING

ay be dangerous to be

this Nonpareil ( as he is better known in the
West) is not quite so secretive. There he is
found commonly in the mesquite and in tlie
small brush of the river banks.

Like the Indigo Bird he sings best in the
middle of the summer. But a great deal of tiie
singing is done from the middle of a brush pile
or the inside of a thicket of latu"el or even in
a mass of luxtiriant semitropica! weeds. Nonpar-
eil seems also to favor the cypress swamps. This
shy bird has a very sweet song resembling some-
what the song of the Indigo Bird. There is a
conciseness and feebleness about the song that
makes it, however, much inferior to the Indigo
Bird. .Sometimes there is a broken warble that

to speak of the bird as the Mexican Canary.
.Strange to say, his clear, carrying voice loses,
none of its quality in the cage, but his varied
colors in time are nuich diminished.

Like most strikingly colored male birds, the
Nonpareil struts before his modest colored mate
in the mating season. With spread wings and
tail he makes a very interesting picture parading
up and down on the ground before his mate.

A closely allied species called the Varied
Bunting ( Passcriua versicolor versicolor) and
its variant, the Beautiful Bunting {Passcriua
versicolor piilchra). wander over the border from
Mexico into Texas and Arizona. The Varied
Bunting is of accidental occurrence in Michigan.

FINCHES

75

DICKCISSEL

Spiza americana {(.iiiu-lin)

A, O, L', .\umbcr 004

Other Names. — Black-throated Bunting; Little
Meadowlark.

General Description. — Length. 6.>4 inches. Upper
parts, gray, brown, and black, streaked ; under parts,
white and yellow. Bill, stout, conical, and compressed;
wings. long and pointed ; tail, about -'4 length of wing,
forked.

Color. — .-\dult AL-\le; Crown, hindneck. sides of
neck, and ear region, plain gray, the forehead and
crown usually olive-greenish ; over eyes a narrow stripe
of pale yellow, sometimes white toward the back ; back
and shoulders, light brownish-gray or grayish-brown,
streaked with black, the rump similar but paler and
grayer and witliout streaks ; middle wing-coverts,
brownish-gray with dusky shaft-streaks ; lesser and
middle wing-coverts cinnamon-rufous; greater coverts
and wing feathers, dusky centrally broadly edged with
pale wood-brownish, the former sometimes tinged with
cinnamon-rufous; secondaries, primaries, and tail
feathers, grayish-dusky edged with pale buffy-grayish
(edging nearly white on outermost primaries and tail
feathers) ; cheek region, yellow toward the front, white
toward the back; chin (and usually upper throat),
white; breast (sometimes part of abdomen also) yellow,
this fading into white on lower abdomen, under tail-
coverts, etc. ; the sides and flanks, pale brownish-gray ;
a black patch, of e.xceedingly variable shape and ex-
tent, on lower throat, sometimes continued backward
along the middle line of breast to upper part of ab-
domen or forward (but not including) the chm ; iris.

brown. -AnuLT Fem.-\le: Much like the adult male,
but coloration much duller ; upper parts, more brown,
with the crown and rinnp usually streaked with dusky:
stripes over the eye and on the cheeks with less of
yellow, sometimes with none ; under parts with yellow
of breast more restricted; whole throat white, mar-
gined on the sides by a streak of dusky; no black spot
on lower throat, or else this much smaller than in male;
flanks streaked with dusky.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Placed on ground sheltered
by a tuft of grass, or in trees or bushes sometimes
Iff teen feet up, but the typical site is on the ground, in
meadovifs or fields; constructed principally of dried
grass, with some leaves, weed stems, rootlets and
shreds of corn husks, lined with fine grass or horse-
hair. Eggs: 4 or 5, plain pale blue.

Distribution. — United States east of Rocky Moun-
tains, and southward in winter through New Mexico,
.\rizona, Mexico (both coasts), and Central America
to C^olombia and Trinidad; occasional during migration
in Jamaica and on Swan Island (Caribbean Sea) ;
breeding from South Carolina (formerly), Alabama,
Mississippi, and Te.xas north to North Dakota, Minne-
sota, Wisconsin, Michigan (south of lat. 43°), southern
Ontario, etc., formerly to eastern Massachusetts. Now
chiefly restricted during the breeding season to the
region between the Allegheny Mountains and eastern
base of the Rocky Mountains, having, for unknown
reasons, become practically extinct since about 1870
throughout the whole of the .-Atlantic coast plain.

The Dickcissel is so named from the simple
song with which he makes cheery the fence-rows
and bushy corners of the prairies. It is a simple
song, almost too furry and certainly too simple
to be counted as good bird music. But the con-
stant repetition comes to influence the listener
with pleasure because there is a suninierv,
homely sweetness about the iiersistency of the
notes that matches the season.

The bird has been called the Black-throated
Bunting and also the Little Meadowlark. His
habits are those of the bush-haunting Sparrows,
from whom he is never far away except when
in the migratory winter flocks on the Texas
plains. There the flocks are ever in motion mov-
ing on by flight of the rear ranks over to the
front in a continuotis forward procession. But
up in the more northern areas he is a shy bird.
Professor Walter B. Barrows says that it " is
one of our most interesting birds, not alone on

account of its beattty, but because it varies
greatly in numbers in different localities, and in
the same locality in different years." This great
variation in frequency is most noticeable along
the outer edges of its area. In 1871 the bird was
common at Colorado city, but it has not been
noted as cominon in the State of Colorado since
that time. About Civil War times Dickcissels
were not rare in western New York and west-
ern Pennsylvania, areas in which they are now
counted as only accidental visitors. Along the
north side of the Dickcissel area, the birds are
common one year, rare the next, absent the next
and then back again to common. Different dis-
tricts over the north side of the Dickcissel range
are going throttgh different experiences at the
same time. Southern Michigan may be losing
Dickcissels over a period of five years while
eastern Wisconsin is gaining, the upper Missis-
sippi valley retaining its numbers and south-

76

BIRDS OF AMERICA

western Minnesota losing. How all this is to be
accounted for is yet to be worked out by those
who are willing to give time to the study of the
food and habits of the bird.

Drawing by R. I. Braslier

DICKCISSEL (I nat. size)

Nowhere is the bird classed as one of the
leading bird favorites, and yet a person who
lives in the central States and the middle west,
and does not know this bird is missing an un-
usually interesting neighbor. This is so because
of his song, his unusual beauty, his plump and
genial personality, and above all, the uncertainty
of his presence. But, do not forget, that more
than once experienced ornithologists have proved
that it is quite possible and very easy to mistake
a male English Sparrow for a Dickcissel.

The Dickcissel is preeminently an eater of
grasshoppers. During the months of May, June,
July, and August, these insects form over 40 per
cent, of his food. Caterpillars — canker worms
and other span-worms and cutworms — beetles
and snails complete his animal diet. Of course,
being a typical seed-eater its staple food during
a large part of the year consists of the seeds of
weeds and grasses.

LARK BUNTING

Calamospiza melanocorys Stcjiiajcr

A. O. U. Number 605

Other Names. — White-winged Blackbird; White-
winged Prairiebird ; Prairie Bobolink.

General Description. — Length. 7-]4 inches. Male in
summer, black; male in winter and female at all sea-
sons, grayish-brown above and white below, streaked
above and below with dusky. Bill, large and conical;
wings, long with truncated tips ; tail, about 44 length of
wing, even, the feathers rather narrow.

Color. — Adult Male in Summer: Uniform black,
with a grayish cast on back, etc. ; middle and
greater wing-coverts, mostly white, forming a con-
spicuous patch ; inner wing quills, edged with white, and
tail-coverts (especially the lower) margined with
white ; outermost tail feathers, edged with white and
sometimes with a large white spot at tip of inner web.
Adult Female in Summer: Above, grayish-brown
streaked with dusky ; wings with a white patch, as in
the male, but this smaller, more interrupted and tinged
with buffy ; under parts, white streaked on breast,
sides, etc., with dusky, .^dult Male in Winter:

Similar to adult female, but feathers of under parts,
especially on abdomen, black beneath the surface (this
showing where feathers are disarranged) ; chin, black.
AiiULT Female in Winter: Similar to tlie summer
female, but less grayish-brown and with paler inarkings
more strongly tinged with buff.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : On ground, sunk to level
and usually under shelter of a tussock of grass or
weeds; constructed of grass and fine weed stems,
lined with fine grasses and vegetable down. Eggs : 4
or 5. plain light-blue.

Distribution. — Great Plains between Missouri River
and Rocky Mountains ; breeding from middle and
western Kansas, eastern Colorado, western Minnesota,
etc., to Manitoba and Assiniboia ; migrating south and
southwest in winter, through Texas (to Gulf coast).
New Mexico, and Arizona to plateau of Mexico, Lower
California, and coast of southern California; occasional
west of Rocky Mountains, and accidental in Massa-
chusetts, New York, and South Carolina in the fall.

The Lark Bunting is a bird of the prairies and
might very well have been named from the
prairies. Western Kansas and eastern Colorado
are the home of most of the Lark Buntings,
though they are scattered over a much wider
area. Sotnetimes out on the plains it is called the

White-winged Blackbird. That name certainly
lefines the bird. American bird students, how-
ever, associate the name Blackbird with the
Troupials instead of the Finches. Just one
western schoolgirl has fallen upon the name of
White-winged Prairiebird, which name seems to

TANAGERS

avoid confusion with one of our most popular
and widespread American birds, the Lark Spar-
row. To show the lack of definitcness about the
common name of this bird, it is probably better
known as the Bobolink, among the farming
families of the prairies, than by any other name.
There are many Bobolink traits about the bird,
superficial traits to be sure, but eudugh to make
the easterner out on the plain recall his beloved
Bobolink of the east.

The Lark Bvmting has a rich song during the
breeding season. After that the song ceases.
The song is poured out frequently on the wing
much in the manner of the Bobolink though the
song itself has nothing of the Bobolink quality.
When many Lark Buntings are singing at once,
some from the tops of weeds and others (jn the
wing, the effect is rich and musical.

In habits the birds are rather shy on the breed-
ing grounds, particularly the females. They are
found frequently feeding siilently among the
flowers of the prairie floor. At other times they
are silently waiting on top of some bushes or
rails. One man says the Lark Buntings are
" always sitting around as if they had nothing
to do." When the winds blow, this bird does not
flee to cover as do many birds. He often stays
out in the winds as though he enjoyed them : and
he has been seen fighting the gales as though his
life depended on going to some destination at
that time.

When the migration time comes, the flocks of
Lark Buntings are seen on the more southern
prairie lands of Texas and the southwestern
countrv. There thev are not at all shv, but

ving by R. I. Brashe

LARK BUNTING (i nat. size)

rather friendly and curious of humans and
domestic animals. As they fly over in these
flocks they utter a cheery, sweet hon-cc with a
rising inflection that is distinctive of this bird
and verv attractive.

TANAGERS

Order Passcrcs ; suborder Oscincs ; family Taiigarida:

N the Tanagers, the bill is somev^^hat conical in shape, decidedly longer than
its breadth or depth at the base ; the distinct ridge at the top is curved and at
the tip is hooked. The nostrils are exposed and rather large and either oval
or roundish. There are bristles at the corners of the mouth but these are
not conspicuous. The wing is moderate or long and pointed or rounded.
The tail is shorter than the wing; it is sometimes notched, sometimes even,
and sometimes slightly forked at the end; the feathers are of medium width
and rounded at the tips.

In coloration the adult males are more or less red, sometimes entirely
so, with or without black wings and tails, the wings sometimes being marked
with white, yellow, or reddish bands. The adult females have the red replaced
by olive-greenish above and by yellowish beneath, but the wing pattern is the same as in
the male. The first plumage of the young differs from the adult coloring in being streaked
beneath.

Tanagers are found in temperate North America southward through Mexico and Central
America and tropical vSouth America to Argentina, Bolivia, and Peru.

The word " Tanager " is derived from the Latin name Tanagra which Linnaeus applied
to the genus and which is probably of Brazilian origin.

78

BIRDS UF AMERICA

WESTERN TANAGER
Piranga ludoviciana ( Wilson)

A. O. U. Number 607

Other Name. — Louisiana Tanager.

General Description. — Length, yl4 inches. Male,
yellow, black, and red ; female, olive-greenish, yellow,
and dusky. Bill, stout; wings, moderately long and
pointed ; tail, shorter than wing, notched.

Color. — .Adult Male in Summer: Back, shoulders,
wings, and tail, black ; back sometimes slightly mi.xed
with yellow ; posterior row of lesser wing-coverts,
middle coverts, broad tips to outer webs of greater
coverts, rump, upper tail-cover's, hindneck, and under
parts of body, ye'low. the tips to greater wing-coverts,
usually paler yellow, sometimes whitish, and the hind-
neck, sometimes tinged with red ; head, crimson, paler
on throat ; under wing-coverts, light yellow ; bill, dull
wax-yellowish; iris, brown. Adult Male in Winter;
Similar to the summer male but with head yellow (or
but slightly tinged with red), obscured on back of head
and hindneck with olive-greenish or dusky tips to the
feathers; feathers of back, usually margined with yel-
lowish-olive ; inner wing quills and the tail feathers
margined terminally with white or pale yellow. Adult
Female: Above, olive-greenish, the back and shoulders

tinged with gray, the rump and upper tail-coverts more
yellowish ; wings, grayish dusky with liglit olive-green-
ish edgings; middle coverts broadly tipped with light
yellow and outer webs of greater coverts, broadly tipped
with paler yellow or white, forming two distinct bands;
tail, grayish-brown with yellowish olive-green edgings ;
under parts dull yellowish, the under tail-coverts, clear
canary-yellow ; anterior portion of head, sometimes
tinged with red ; bill and iris as in adult male.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: A flat saucer-shaped struc-
ture, generally low down on horizontal branch of a
conifer or oak, sometimes 30 feet up; constructed of
twigs, grass, and bark strips, lined with similar finer
material and horse-hair. Eggs: 3 or 4. pale bluish-
green, lightly spotted with browns and purple.

Distribution. — Western North American, from east-
ern base of Rocky ^Mountains to Pacific coast, north-
ward to British Columbia, Athabasca, Idaho, Montana,
and southwestern South Dakota ; south in winter over
greater part of Mexico to highlands of Guatemala ;
straggling eastward during migration to more northern
-Atlantic States.

The easterner, seeing for the first time the
wonders of the Pacific slope, hears in tlie decidu-
ous woods a voice from " back home." It is the
song of a Tanager ; but when followed to its
source the singer is seen to be not the Black-
winged Redbird of the east, but a western bird,
the most brilliant of them all. It is handsome
and striking in plumage and elegant in form. The
scarlet, yellow, and black of the male are colors
ordinarily associated with tropical birds and not
with the songsters of the north, but its lay seems
almost exactly that of the scarlet beauty of the
eastern woods.

\Mien the territory of Louisiana, then an un-
known land, stretched from the Mississippi to
the Pacific, this, the most beauteous small bird
of that great region, was called the Louisiana
Tanager ; but the name is inappropriate now ; for
the bird is only a rare migrant in the Louisiana
of to-day. The name Western Tanager is well
chosen.

This bird is common on the motintain sides of
the -Sierra Nevada in California, where it sings
from the tops of tall trees, also in the deciduous
woods in some of the river valleys of Oregon,
Washington, and British Columbia. It is a
forest bird and often builds its nest in firs or

pines. It is a retiring species, although it can
hardly be called shy, and like the Scarlet Tan-
ager it sometimes ventures out of its forest
fastnesses into the nearby clearings. This Tan-
ager feeds its young chiefly on insects which it
is expert at catching both on trees and on the
wing. Edward Howe Forbush.

The Western Tanager, like the Robin, occa-
sionally becomes a nuisance in the orchard. It
breeds in the mountainous regions of California
and northward, and as a rule is not common in
the fruit-growing sections. There are, however,
times during migration when it fairly swarms in
some of the fruit-raising regions, and unfortu-
nately this sometimes happens just at the time
when the cherry crop is ripening. The bird is
a late breeder and does not seem to care to get
to its nesting ground before the last of June or
early July. It is thus enabled to begin in the
southern part of the State when cherries are
ripening there, and leisurely follow the ripening
fruit northward. The Tanagers are in Cali-
fornia every year, and every year they migrate
to their nesting grounds in spring and return in
fall, but only at long intervals do they swarm in
prodigious numbers. Evidently the migration

TANAGERS

ordinarily takes place along the mountains where
the birds are not noticed. It is possible that in
some years the mountain region lacks the requi-
site food, and so the migrating birds are obliged
to descend into the valleys. This would seem to
be the most plausible explanation of the occur-
rence — that is, that the usual line of migration
is along the Sierra Nevada, but some years, ow-
ing to scarcity of food, or other cause, the flight
is forced farther west into the Coast ranges,
where the birds find the ripening cherries. As,
under ordinary circumstances, the greater part

of the food of this bird consists of insects, many
of them harmful, the Tanager has a fair claim
to consideration at the hands of the farmer and
even of the orchardist.

It is [irobable that means may be found to
prevent, at least in part, the occasional ravages
of the Tanager on the cherry crop. The Tan-
ager, like the Robin, jirefers to swallow fruit
whole, and as the latter takes small wild cherries
in preference to the larger, cultivated kinds
when both are equally accessible, it is probable
that the Tanager would do the same.

Drawing by R. I. B'

WESTERN TANAGER ( ! m
A gay mountaineer often found abo

SCARLET TANAGER

Piranga erythromelas I'icUlot

\ II, r, Xumlicr (i08 See Color I'l.ite 87

Other Names. — Black-winged Redbird ; Fireliird ;
Canada Tanager ; Pocket-bird ; Scarlet Sparrow.

General Description. — Length. 7 inches. Male : in
summer, red with black wings and tail ; in winter, red
replaced with yellowish-green and yellow. Female:
body, yellowish-green above and yellow below ; wings
and tail, brownish-gray. Bill, stout ; wings, moderately
long and pointed ; tail, shorter than wing, notched.

Color. — Adult Male in Spring and Summer:
Unifnnn intense (flame) scarlet, the shoulders, wings,
anil tail uniform deet> hiaek ; under wing-coverts white
(sometimes tinged with scarlet), witli a broad outer
margin of black; bill grayish-blue basally, dull yellowish
green terminally ; iris, brown ; legs and feet, pale laven-
der-gray or lilaceous grayish-blue. Adult Male in
Fall and Winter: Wings and tail, black as in sum-
VoL. III. — 7

mer ; rest of ujiper parts, yellowish olive-green, more
yellowish on forehead and crown ; under parts yellow,
shaded with olive-green on sides. Adult Fem.\le in
Spring and Summer: Above, yellowish olive-green;
wings (except lesser coverts) and tail, dusky brownish
gray with olive-greenish edgings ; under parts light
yellow, shaded laterally with olive-greenish ; under tail-
coverts, clear canary yellow ; under wing-coverts, gray-
ish-white with broad outer margin of grayish olive-
green ; bill, horn color ; iris, brown ; legs and feet,
bluish-gray in life. Young Male in First Autumn:
Similar to adult female but yellow of under parts rather
clearer, and middle and greater wing-coverts margined
terminally with light yellow; the black first appearing
(by middle of September) on lesser and middle wing-
coverts and shoulder.

8o

BIRDS OF AMERICA

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: On horizontal limb of low
saplings, generally low but sometimes 40 feet up, in
retired woodlands ; a flat, loosely put together struc-
ture of stems, roots, and bark strips, lined with rootlets
and fine inner bark; some com.posed almost entirely of
brownish rootlets. Eggs : 3 to 5, generally 4, greenish-
blue, speckled and blotched with chestnut : occasionally
the eggs are very faintly and finely spotted, altogether
lacking the usual bold markings.

Distribution. — Eastern United States and more
southern British provinces, north to New Brunswick,
Nova Scotia, northern Ontario, Manitoba; breeding
southward at least to Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, etc.,
(in Allegheny Mountains to South Carolina) ; in winter
migrating southward to West Indies and through Mex-
ico, Central America, and northern South America
to Bolivia and central Peru ; west, casually to eastern
Colorado and Wyoming ; accidental in Bermudas.

The sudden appearance in deep woods of this
remarkable bird, its ahnost dazzhngly brilliant
red and black plumage outlined sharply against
the dark green of summer foliage, is nothing less
than startling to an observer whose eye is sen-
sitive to color contrasts. And if the observer,

it were in doubt abotit something. But perhaps
it realizes that it doesn't have to perform or ctit
capers in order to attract attention, which in-
deed is the case. On the other hand, it is only
fair to add that the bird not only does compara-
tively little posing in plain sight, but spends much

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

SCARLET TANAGER {\ nat. size)
This gaudy fellow might easily be mistaken for a wanderer from the tropic

instead of being intent tipon the length of a
bird's bill in relation to that of its hind claw, and
the precise number of primary, secondary, and
tertiary wing-feathers it possesses, is interested
in bird personalities, as expressed in various
ways, he is likely to count as a veritable red-
letter day the one which brought him a glimpse
of this gaudy reminder of what Natin"e can do
when she is in the mood to produce striking
effects.

To speak candidly, this Tanager is usually a
rather stupid and lifeless bird in its action. It
moves abotit with an air of being dull-witted or
dazed or, perhaps, bored. ./Mso it has a char-
_^cteristic trick of peering, with its head cocked
first to one side and then to the other, as though

of his time in the tree-tops where he gives the
observer only exasperatingly brief glimpses of
his radiant apparel. From such places he
sounds most frequently his characteristic and em-
phatic call-note, which has been variously trans-
literated as cliip-churr, chic-burr, and chip-bang,
and also delivers his complete song. This is a
carol not unlike that of the Robin, and is de-
scribed by Mr. Burroughs as a " proud, gor-
geous strain," while Mr. Dawson reduces it to the
syllables, tcrr-qitc-c-c-ry, zc-crvc. pccs-croo, be-
zoorl Mr. Mathews remarks the peculiarity that
" every note is strongly double-toned or burred,"
as though the bird were a little hoarse, and stip-
plies this illuminating analysis of the song :
" There is a lazy, drowsy, dozy buzz to this beau-

Courl.-sv ol II., N- w Y .fK Slit. Mus.Nn

Plate 87

All J iia

TAN AGE RS

8i

tiful bird's voice which one can only liken to a
giant musical liuml)Ie bee. or an olil-tinic hurdy-
gurdy : the unobtrusive music speaks of sum-
mer's peace and rest, soft ze]:)hyrs blowint,' over
sighing pine-trees, and tinkling shallows of wood-
land brooks."

There remains to be noted the extraordinary
color difference between the magnificent male
Tanager and the neutral, even dull, hues of the
female's plumage, ^^'hen the birds are seen to-
gether this contrast is so pronounced that unin-
formed persons are often incredulous about the
relationship, and are disposed to insist that they
must represent totally different species.

In the cool early spring as the farmer begins
his plowing there may be seen among the Black-
birds following almost at his heels the Black-
winged Redbird. He is just as industriously
picking up grubs, ants, ground-beetles, and

earthworms as his comjianions. However, as the
season ailvances, he shows his preference for
trees, and for the remainder of his stay with us
he may be founrl in the woods and orchards.
Here his chief occujiation is hunting caterpillars
and he has few superiors in this work. Leaf-
rolling caterpillars he skillfully extracts from the
rolled-up leaves; he is very destructive to the
g\-psy-nioth, taking all stages except the eggs.
The Iarv;e of gall-insects and other injurious
larvre have their places on his menu. When
wood-boring and bark-boring beetles and wce-
\ils are in season, they form a considerable pro-
])ortion of his food. He eats verv greedilv of
click-beetles, leaf-eating beetles, and crane-flies
whenever and wherever he finds them.

The vegetable food of the Tanager is seeds,
berries, and small fruits. He seems to prefer
the wild varieties.

SUMMER TANAGER
Piranga rubra rubra {Liiiiucits)

.\ I). U. Xuml.tT i.io See (.'olor I'l.Tli- 87

Other Names, — Redhird ; Summer Redbird : Smootli-
headed Redbird : Bee liird.

General Description. — Length, 7'S inches. Male,
red with grayish-brown wings; female, yellowish olive-
green above and yellow below with grayisli-brown
wings. Bill, stout; wings, moderately long and pointed;
tail, shorter than wing, notched.

Color. — Adult M.vle : Alunu-. /■/ui'/j </»// ;•<•</,
brighter on crown, rump, and upper tail-coverts ; wings
and primary coverts, grayish-brown edged with dull red :
under parts, clear, rich vermilion; the under wing-
coverts, paler; bill, light brownish; iris, brown. Adult
Female: Above, plain yctluivish olivc-grccn, more yel-
lowish on crown, lower rump, and upper tail-coverts,
the back and shoulders sometimes tinged with grayish;
primaries, grayish-brown with light yellowish olive-
green edgings ; lores, pale yellowish-gray ; an indistinct
eye-ring of light dull yellow; under parts, dull yellow,
the under tail-coverts chrome-yellow ; bill as in adult
male. Young Male in First Autumn: Similar to the
adult female, but more richly colored, the under
tail-coverts deep chrome-yellow, the general color of
upper parts more ochraceous, with crown, upper tail-
coverts, tail, and ed,ges of primaries tinged with dull
orange.

The only seasonal fliffercnce of Cdlor in this species
is the greater intensity of the colors in autumn and

winter, the opposite extreme being represented in mid-
summer specimens. Immature males arc variously inter-
mediate in plumage between the plumage of the adult
female and that of the adult male, the relative propor-
tion of red and yellowish varying according to age,
several years being required lor attainment of the full
plumage. Adult females not infrequently show touches
nf red, sometimes a considerable amount of this color,
but such females may be distinguished from immature
males by the duller color of the red.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Generally in deciduous trees
on a horizontal limb from 5 to 60 feet up ; so thinly
constructed of bark strips, rootlets, a few leaves, and
grass as to show the eggs from beneath ; in central
and southern States sometimes more comjiactly built
by the addition of down and moss. Eggs: 3 or 4, light
green inclining to emerald, spotted and blotched with
sepia, lilac, and brownish purple.

Distribution. — Eastern United States in sunnner,
breeding from the Gulf States (Florida to eastern
Texas) north to southern Xew Jersey and southeastern
Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, central Indiana, central
Illinois, southern Iowa, etc. ; casual or occasional visi-
tant north to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine,
Connecticut, Ontario, etc.; in winter south to llahamas.
Cuba, eastern Mexico, Central .\merica and north and
northwestern South America.

From New Jersey southward to central Florida an undergrowth of sinall oaks makes conditions

the Summer Tanager makes its summer home. attr;ictive for such liirds. It is not much given

It inhabits open woodlands and is partial in some to inhabiting the dense hammocks or the swamps

sections to those forests of yellow pine where of heavy cypress. It is not a jiarticularly siiy

S2

BIRDS OF AMERICA

l)ird, and in North Carolina and Virginia it may
be seen in many of the towns where shade trees
and orchards are plentiful.

To distinf^uish it from the Cardinal, which is
seen in winter quite as often as in summer, and
is often called " Winter Redbird," this species
is known to many southerners as " Summer Red-
bird." The nest is built well out on the horizontal
limb of some deciduous tree, usually at a height
of about fifteen feet. Often the spot chosen is
directl}- over a path or some woodland road.

The bird has a pleasing song. Its usual call-
note is loud- and clear and somewhat resembles
the words ivhich-a-too. T. Gilbert Pe.\rson.

Because of his habit of eating honeybees, the
Summer Tanager has been given the name of- Bee
Bird. Otherwise his food of insects and fruits
is of such a character as to be helpful to those
who depend in any way upon forest products.
In the early summer many large beetles and
wasps besides the bees are eaten by him and his
family. Later he feeds chiefly on blueberries and
other small fruits.

In the southwestern part of the United States
we find Cooper's Tanager or Western Summer
Tanager (Piraiiga rubra cooperi). It is larger
and paler than its eastern congener. It is es-
pecially fond of the cotton woods.

SWALLOWS

Order Passcrcs : suborder Oscincs: family Hirundinidcc

WALLOWS constitute perhaps the best defined group among the singing
birds, and are characterized by their very short, flat, triangular bills, large
mouths, extremely long wings reaching when closed to or beyond the end of
the tail, and short legs and weak feet (fitted only for perching). Their tails
are never rounded nor graduated but are always notched or forked ; there are
always twelve feathers in the tail, the outside two sometimes being very
much longer than the others.

The plumage of the Swallows is compact, usually lustrous or semi-
metallic, at least on the upper parts; sometimes it is dull-colored throughout.
They molt but once a year, usually in the fall or winter.

The family is cosmopolitati and there are over one hundred recognized
species throughout the world. The warmer countries have the largest number; America
is credited with thirty-one species, all but one of which are peculiar to the western hemisphere.
Most migrating birds " fly by night, and feed by day," but the Swallows, as far as known,
travel only in the day-time. At night they stop at roosting places used with such regularity
as to be known as migration stations. Sometimes these places of rest are in trees but generally
they are in marshes. They travel very slowly and whenever they come to a large body of
water rather than fly across it they will go around it.

The Swallows are decidedly birds of the air, capturing insects and eating them while
on the wing. Most of their time is thus passed in flying, and this probably accounts for the
extraordinary development of their wings.

PURPLE MARTIN
Progne subis subis ( Linnwus)

A. O. U. Number 6ii See Color ['late 88

Other Names. — Martin: Black Martin; House
Martin.

General Description. — Length, 8 inches. Plumage,
steel-blue. Bill, sto.ut ; tail, about Yi length of wing,
forked for about ' .i of its length.

Color. — Adult Male: Uniform glossy stccl-hlue;
lesser and middle wing-coverts glossy dark; rest of
wings, and tail, dull black, or sooty-black ; iris, brown.
."Xdult Female: Above, much duller and less uniform
steel-blue than in adult male ; forehead, sooty-gray ;

SWALLOWS

83

sides of neck, light-grayish, tlie hindneck usually
crossed by a dull sooty-grayish band or collar, this
usually indistinct; chin, throut. chest, sides, and flanks,
sooty-gray; breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts,
white or pale grayish, usually streaked, narrowly, with
dark sooty -gray.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : In boxes erected tor their
use, a few pair occasionally returning to primitive con-
ditions and nesting in hollow trees ; nesting material
consisting of nearly anytliing liandy — leaves, rags,

paper, string, straw, or grass. Eggs : 4 to 6, pure
glossy-white, unmarked.

Distribution. — Temperate North America, except
Pacific coast district ; breeding north to Mame, New
E^runswick, Nova Scotia, northwestern Ontario, Mani-
toba, Montana, and Idaho; breeding southward to
southern Florida, southern Texas, and plateau of
Mexico; in winter, from southern Florida and Mexico
to Venezuela and Brazil; accidental in Bermudas and
British Isles.

Swallows are everywhere in good repute. (Jf
all the species the Purple Martin is undouhtedly
the most popular. Houses are erected for their
accommodation in all parts of the country. In
some sections of the south there scarcely can be
seen a negro's cabin but what has its Martin
box, or more often a number of gourds swung
from crossed strips erected on the top of a pole.
Like other Swallows, these birds nest in colonies
when accommodations are adequate ; thus a
dozen pairs will sometimes occupy as many
compartments of a bird-box.

These friends of the Martins in the south do
not all provide homes for the birds from an
altruistic .standpoint, or for sentimental reasons.
Martins defend their nests with great tenacity,
and drive from the neighborhood any Crow or
Hawk that comes within sight ; they are, there-
fore, cherished as important guardians of the
])oultry yard.

Their nests are made of a miscellaneous col-
lection of sticks, wood-stems, feathers, grasses,
and mud. Before the settlement of the United
States by Europeans, the Indians of the South
encouraged the birds to come about their fields
by putting up gourds for their accommodation.
This, to be sure, was not practiced extensively
enough to provide homes for all the Martins of
the country ; furthermore we can readily imagine
a time of sufificient remoteness when no nesting
devices whatever were erected for their use.
The original nesting places of the Martin, there-
fore, were such as nature provided, and these
we know were the hollows of trees. So de-
pendent have the birds become on man's bountv,
that hollow trees are rarely used by them. In
the pine woods on the edge of the Everglades of
south Florida, I have found Martins breeding in
hollow trees, and not long ago I saw birds simi-

larly engaged in a little grove on the border of
Devil's Lake. North Dakota. In some cities they
build in the holes of buildings, as for example
in Seattle ; in other places vmder the eaves of
buildings, as in Bismarck, North Dakota, and in
Plant City and Clearwater, Florida.

T. Gilbert Pearson.

In the Pacific Coast region south into Lower
California is found the Western Martin [Propne
suhis Itcspcria). The male is not distinguishable
from the male of the Purple Martin ; but the
female has the gray of the forehead extending
back into the crown, a conspicuous edge of

Drawing by R. I. Ur.isliir

PURPLE MARTIN 1 ', nat. size)
A beautiful and useful bird

grayish-brown to the feathers of the back and
rump, and the under parts grayish-white an-
teriorly and immaculate white posteriorly.

The Martins are ainong the most beneficial of
birds. Their food consists almost entirely of
insects — wasps, bugs, beetles, and flies. Among
the beetles are the boll-weevils, clover-leaf wee-
vils, and nut weevils. Locusts are eaten at all
stages.

BIRDS OF AMERICA

CLIFF SWALLOW
Petrochelidon lunifrons lunifrons ( Say)

Other Names. — Eave Swallow ; Jug Swallow ; Barn
Swallow ; Mud Swallow ; Republican Swallow ; Crescent
Swallow; Rocky Mountain Swallow; Moon-fronted
Swallow.

General Description. — Length, 6 inches. Upper
parts, steel-blue; under parts, chestnut and whitish.
Bill, very short; tail, less than J< length of wing,
slightly notched.

Color. — .'\di-lts : FovcJicad. dull i^'hitc. dull pale
ecru-drab or pale wood brown, forming a conspicuous
patch, very sharply defined at rear, its extremities
pointed; crown and back of head, glossy blue black;
hindneck, hair-brown or brownish-gray ; back and
shoulders, glossy blue-black, the former streaked with
pale gray or whitish; rump, light cinnauwn-rufous :
upper tail-coverts, brownish-gray or hair-brown with
paler margins ; wings and tail, dusky grayish-brown, the
secondaries with paler margins ; ear, eye, and cheek
regions, chin and throat,^ich chestnut ; a patch of some-
what glossy-black on lower throat; chest, sides, and
flanks, pale grayish-brown, the first usually tinged with
pale chestnut; rest of under parts, whitish; iris, brown.
Young : Much duller in color than adults ; crown,

Sfc ("olor ri.nlc .S.*!

bark, and shoulders, dull blackish or sooty ; forehead,
sometimes dull chestnut or brownish, more often dusky,
like crown ; sides of head and throat, mi.xed grayish-
brown, dusky, and dull chestnut.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : .\ cleverly constructed
retort-shaped structure, fastened to cliffs or under eaves
of outbuildings at its large end and extending hori-
zontally ; made of mud pellets mixed with straw and
lined with feathers. Eggs ; 3 to 5, speckled and spotted
with reddish-brown and lilac.

Distribution. — Nearly the whole of North .A.merica ;
breeding north to Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Anti-
costi Island, Province of Quebec, in the interior to
Territory of Mackenzie and the Yukon Valley of
Alaska, and on the Pacific coast to British Columbia ;
breeding southward over nearly the whole of the
United States (except Rio Grande valley, at least above
mouth of the Pecos River) and coast district of north-
western Mexico, as far as Mazatlan and Tepic. In
winter, southward through Mexico and Central
.America, at least to Honduras. Said to occur in winter
in Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and other parts of
South America.

Tlie Cliff Swallow is a bird of large colonies.
Though distributed almost all over North
America it is entirely absent in the breeding
season from large areas. It was formerly sup-
posed that it bred only in the West and that
the advent of the Caucasian and his barns
temjited the Cliff Swallows eastward to become
Eave .Swallows. It is likelv that many places
in the western half of the continent have alwavs

been the home of the largest colonies of Cliff'
.Swallows ; but the east and southeast have had
their scattered colonies of Cliff Swallows both
before and after the European settlements were
made along the .Atlantic .shore.

The early explorers of the far West were much
impressed by the enormous collections of Cliff
Swallow mud bottle nests that were plastered
over the great perpendicular rocks in many

CLIFF SWALLOW (i nat. size)
Drawing by R. I. Brasher

SWALLOWS

I>laces. One very conspicuous jilace where there
was an immense colony was on the face of tlie
luLjh bkiffs near the confluence of the Xiobrara
and Missouri rivers. As the settlements be-
came established in the northwest the Cliff
Swallows deserted the rocks in great numbers
and became residents imder the eaves cif the
farmers' barns.

They are unusually interesting birds in these
large colonies. The air is full of Swallows
where there are a few dozen mud bottles along
under the eaves of a great barn. Going ever to
and fro. in and out of the bottle nests, uttering
their single notes continuously, it seems indeed
a very busy place. But the individual birds are
not in as much of a hurry as the collection seems
to be. Many little chestnut-throated birds will
be peering out of their nests, others leisurely fly-
ing backward and forward in front of the nests
as thoitgb the\' were on inspection. AIan_\'
more are coming in from far distant insect-
infected areas with food for the voung. Others,
having chattered abotit for a little after feeding
the young, are off with the directness of arr(iw<
and are soon out of sight. In any area within
a few miles and where insects breed to fill the
air, these Eave .Swallows are up and down, and
over and under, now down near the marsh or
water, now flying high anrl rounrl and round in
circles ; and then suddenly off with arrow-like
directness in the direction of the home barn.

When the young are ready to come out of the
nest the chattering increases enormouslv. The
young hang on to the outside of the nests ap-
])arently fearful to try their wings. Rut once
launched they soon become accpiainted with all
the methods of wheeling and turning, up-^^hots
and down-dippings, to catch the warv insect on
the wing. Then the whole colonv deserts the
eaves in a few da}s. ( Jccasionally a pair i> de-
layed behind the others by later hatchings, but it
is not many days before they are all gone from
the neighborhood.

The flocks of Bank, Barn, and Tree Swal-
lows absorb these Eave Swallows, and to-
gether they work to clean the air of the inland
lakes of all the flies and mosquitoes. They
are up and down over the rivers and swamps and
wheeling about over grain fields and pastures
.Sometimes they are in himdreds, sometimes in
thousands, but always a good proportion of these
summer and fall flocks are Cliff Swallows. Then
if one goes into the salt marshes of the south, he
will find tens of thousands that are on their way
for tropical insects for the winter.

The Lesser Cliff' .Swallow { I'ctrucliclidon liiiii-
f rolls tachina) and the Mexican, or .SwainsonV,
Cliff' Swallow (Pcti-dchclidan liniifrDiis iiirldiui-
tjastra) are inhabitants of Mexico and countries
U.) the south. Tiie former comes over the bound-
ary into Texas to breed, and the latter visits
Arizona for the same purjjose. Both are smaller
than their more widely distributed relative. The
frontal patch of the I.esscr Cliff Swallow is
fawn color, dull cinn.imon, nr wood brown: that
of the Mexican Cb'ff Swallow is chestnut or
cinnamon-rufous.

id/g^

Photo by P. B. Philipp Courtesy of Nat. Ass

NESTS OF CLIFF SWALLOWS

Cleverly constructed retort- or bottle-shaped i

An analysis of the stomach contents of 123
Cliff' .Swallows showed about one-third of i per
cent, vegetable matter; this included a few seeds
but it was mostly rubbish taken accidentally. In
the animal matter, ants, bees, and wasps,
amounted to about 39 jier cent. Xo worker bees
were found ; and as bee-keepers do not regard the
destruction of drones as injurious to the swarms
this cannot be counted against the Swallows.
Bugs — assassin-bugs, leaf-bugs, squash-bugs,
stink-bugs, shield-bugs, tree-hoppers, leaf-hop-
pers, and jumping plant-lice — formed about JJ
per cent. Beetles of all kinds aggregated a little
less than 19 per cent.; of these, 17 per cent,
were harmful, some very much so. Gnats,
dragon-flies, lace-winged flies, and spiders com-
pleted the menu.

The young are fed exactly the same kind of
food that their elders eat, but the proportions
vary. The soft-bodied insects are more often
chosen by the parents for the nestlings as thev
are more easily digested. Adult Cliff Swallows
do not take gravel themselves, but thev feed it
to the young.

L. Nel.son Nichols.

86

BIRDS OF AMERICA

BARN SWALLOW
Hirundo erythrogastra Boddacrt

A. II. V. Xumber 61 j See Color Plate 88

Other Names. — American Bam Swallow ; Karii-loft
Swallcjw : Fork-tailed Swallow.

General Description. — Length, 7 inches. Upper
parts, steel-blue ; under parts, chestnut and red. Bill,
small and depressed; tail, ^3 length of wing, or longer,
and forked for more than J/j of its length, the side
feathers becoming gradually narrower and more drawn
out to the outermost, which are sometimes almost
thread-like for the end portion, but always with blunt
tips.

Color. — Adult Male: Forehead, chestnut; rest of
upper parts, glossy dark steel-blue ; wings and tail,
dusky faintly glossed with greenish, the middle wing-
coverts and inner wing quills broadly margined with
glossy steel-blue, the greater coverts glossed with the
same; the inner web of the tail-fcalhcrs (except the
middle pair), zvith a conspicuous ivhite spot; cheek
region, chin, throat, and chest, chestnut or deep cin-
namon-rufous, the chest margined laterally by an ex-
tension of the glossy steel-blue from sides of the neck,
these two lateral jiatches sometimes connected, nar-

niwly. and thus forming a nearly complete collar; rest
of under parts, pale cinnamon-rufous; iris, brown.
Adult Fem.^le: Similar to the adult male and often
not distinguishable. Young : Much duller in color
than adults ; crown and hindneck, sooty-black, much
more faintly glossed with blue than back ; forehead,
dull light-brownish or brownish-bufif.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: A bowl-shaped hemisphere,
attached to barn or other buildings, timbers, or on sides
oi caves ; constructed of mud pellets mixed with straw
and grass, thickly lined with feathers. Eggs : 3 to 6,
white marked with spots of bright Indian red. brown,
and lavender.

Distribution. — North America in general, north to
Alaska, northern Mackenzie, southern Manitoba, and
southern Ungava ; breeding southward over whole of
United States ( except Florida) ; in winter from southern
Florida and southern Mexico, through Central America
and South America as far as southern Brazil, Para-
guay, .'\rgentina, Bolivia, and Peru, and throughout
West Indies ; occasional in Bermudas.

Like the Bluebird and the Robin, the Barn
Swallow is a bird whose apj^earance in and de-
parture from the northern reaches of its range
have definite seasonal significance, even to those
who have no particular interest in ornithology.
The poets have had much to say about the bird's
comings and goings. " When the .Swallows

Homeward Flv," the English words of which are
translated from the German of Franz Abt's
song, " JVcnn die Sclizn'alhcn heimimrts sieh'n,"
lias been known in this country for half a cen-
tury, and lias been sung by many thousands of
scliool children, not to mention yet other thou-
sands of grown-ups. The reference of course

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

BARN SWALLOW (J nat. size)

SWALLOWS

87

is to thf European Swallow, l)ut that bird
is very similar in its habits to the American Barn
Swallow and has about the same hold on the
affections of the ])eople — especially the country
people. Like many another poet's, liowever,
good old Franz's ornithology was a bit unscien-
tific, as is shown by the idea he expressed that
the Swallows go " home " when they go to south-
land at the approach of winter. As a matter of
fact, this misapprehension is not confined to the
poets. Vet, a little reflection should make it
clear that the " home " of a bird is obviously its
nest, and that the home locality is the locality
in which it builds its nest and rears its young.
W'hatever mav be the reason for the southern
migration in the autumn ( and there are various
explanations of that movement), the bird which
breeds in the north is no more going " home "
when it goes south than a man who lives in
New York goes home when he goes to Palm
Beach, Florida, for the winter.

The Barn Swallow's habit of building within
barns, or on sheltered projections from any
structure, has made it perhaps the most domesti-
cated of any of the wild birds. Indeed, under
these conditions this Swallow soon comes to
occupy a position which seems only a short re-
move from that of the barnyard fowls ; and its
twittering as it skims to and fro from its nest,
becomes as familiar as is the clucking of the
hens, or the challenge of their lord and master,
the rooster — and is certainly a great deal more
melodious than either. Furthermore, the bird's
habit of using barns as building sites has much
inherent interest and significance, in that it rep-
resents a deliberate departure from its natural
instinct to build in caves and under ledges, where
it had made its home until man arrived upon the
scene and furnished better protection from the
elements and from the bird's natural enemies.
A similar example of adaptiveness is furnished
by the Cliff Swallow and the Chimney Swift,
and doubtless all these birds were prompted to
adopt the new nesting sites partly by the supply
of insects, which of course is greater about barn-
yards than in the birds' natural habitats.

In a leaflet on the Barn Swallow, prepared for
the National Association of Audubon Societies,
Mrs. Mabel Osgood Wright discusses the lam-
entable diminution of the bird's numbers as fol-
lows : " ^^'e associate the Swallow with comfort-
able old-fashioned barns, which had open rafters,
doors that could not be shut tight, and windows
with many panes lacking. \\'ithin such build-
ings, almost as easy to get into and out of as
were the caves and broken crates to which thev

resorted before barns were built, the Barn Swal-
lows used to nest, sometimes in large colonies,
while their cousins, the Cliff Swallows, had
quarters beneath the outside eaves in a line of
gourd-shaped tenements.

" Nowadays, however, in the more thickly set-
tled and prosperous parts of the coimtry, these
looselv built old barns have given place to tightly
constructed, neatly painted ones ; thus, as the
new replaces the old in their haunts, many a pair
of Swallows drop from their sky-high wooing
to find closed doors and tight roofs staring them
in the face. So they move on. \Miither? Out
to the frontiers or into the ' hack counties.' This

Photo by .\. A. .Mk-n

BARN SWALLOW

Poised at its nest under the gable of a barn. Photographed by
Ught reflected from a mirror

accounts, in part, for what seems to be rather
than is a decrease ; but there is a constant and
real loss of Barn Swallows, according to reports
from all parts of the country, chargeable to the
English Sparrows. These little bandits seem to
have a special fondness for despoiling the nests
of Swallows of all kinds, tearing them to pieces
— perhaps for the sake of the feathers and
other good materials for Sparrow-use — and dis-
turbing their owners until the harassed Swal-
lows finally abandon the premises. This is an
extensive evil ; and it can be prevented only
by our taking the trouble to protect our Swallows
against their feathered enemies. Cats also catch
many Swallows, snatching them out of the air as
they skim close to the ground in pursuit of grass-
moths and similar low-flying insects. Rats and
mice devour their eggs and young to some extent.
"A third and sadder reason why fewer Barn
Swallows are now to lie seen in a day's drive
through the countrv than used to delight the
eves of bird-lovers, is that for several vears thev

88 BIRDS OF AMERICA

were killed by thousands to make ornaments for tion at the waste of bird-life for millinery that

women's hats. This is the bird, in fact, which he wrote that vigorous editorial in 1886 which

aroused in the mind of George Bird Grinnell, immediately led to the founding of the first

then editor of Forest and Strcniii. such indigna- Audubon Society." Geokce Gladden.

TREE SWALLOW
Iridoprocne bicolor ( Jlrillot)

A. O. U. Number 1,14 See Color Plate 88

Other Names. — White-breasted Swallow : Blue-
hacked Swallow ; White-bellied Swallow : Stump Swal-
low ; Eave Swallow.

General Description. — Length, 6 inches. Upper
parts, greenish steel-blue : under parts, white. Bill,

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

TREE SWALLOW (', nat.

A bird which

small; tail, not more than '/2 length of wing, forked,

but depth of notch usually less than 'j of its length,

the side feathers broad to near tips where they sud-
denly contract, the tip rounded.

Color. — .^DULT Male: Above, including sides of
liead and neck, and lesser wing-coverts, unifonn i/lossy
lirccnish stccl-bluc, varying to bluish-green; middle
W'ing-coverts dull black, broadly inargined with glossy
steel-blue or greenish; rest of wings, and tail, dusky, or
sooty-blackish, faintly glossed with greenish ; lores,
velvety-black ; cheek region and entire under parts,
pure 'ichite: iris, brown. Adult Fem.^le: Similar to
the male, and sometimes not distinguishable, but usually
duller in color, the upper parts less brightly steel-blue
or green, often dusky grayish-brown with only the tips
of the feathers glossy-blue or green ; the rump and
upper tail-coverts, sometimes uniform grayish-brown;
chest, often faintly shaded with brownish-gray. Young:
Above, including sides of head and neck, uniform soft
dark mouse-gray, the wing feathers margined at the
ends with brownish-white ; beneath, white, usually
shaded across chest with pale grayish-brown.

Nest and Eggs. — Xest : In dead tree trunks. Wood-
pecker holes, in the vicinity of water, or in boxes
erected for its use, made of grasses and feathers.
Eggs : 4 to 7, pure white.

Distribution. — North .America in general ; north to
Alaska. Mackenzie, and Ungava ; breeding southward
to Virginia, Mississippi, Kansas, Colorado, Utah,
Nevada, and California; wintering from South Caro-
Hna (occasionally northward to New Jersey) and the
Gulf States southward to the Bahamas, Cuba (oc-
casional only?) and over greater part of Mexico to
highlands of Guatemala ; occasional in Bermudas ; acci-
dental in British Isles.

The Tree, or White-bellied, Swallow is the first
of the Swallows to arrive from the south in the
spring and the last of the Swallows to leave in
the fall. Hardly has the frost gone out of the
ground before the first flight (chiefly adult
males) have come on in large numbers. A month
or six weeks later the females arrive. Then they
choose holes in trees for their nesting sites and
make themselves very noticeable with their pure

white under parts. They may be commonly
seen all spring anywhere within a mile of their
nests. In the Far \\'est they are very common
in the willow tracts about the ponds and mar.shes
of southern California.

The Tree Swallows do not readily mass to-
gether in breeding colonies. In fact they are
very jealous of their territory, engaging in fights
in the spring to determine which shall leave the

Courtesy of the New Y.j.k State MoSl-uti

Plate 88

CLIHF SWALLOW I; tmclnluluii hiiiifiuiix lunifiuua (Say)

ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW

StelgnliipUrjij- sm iiicniiis (Audulmu)

BANK SWALLOW
Uili'iii'i iipnii'i ll.innaous)

All % nat. sl7.

TREE SWALLOW

Iriiloiirofttf hicutur iVleillot)

SWALLOWS

89

neighborhood. Dead tree stubs and rotting up-
turned tree roots in flooded areas are the usual
homes of the Tree Swallows. In some localities
Swallow boxes have been erected and arc readily
occupied. English Sparrows are very apt to try
to drive the Swallows out of the bnxes. Sometimes
they do. but the human proprietor can easily dis-
courage the English Sparrows. The Swallows
very readilv learn that man is lighting the
Sparrows and have been been known to call
persistentlv when annoyed by English Sparrows
so that the man may hear them and come to the
rescue.

In the summer the Tree Swallows begin col-
lecting into enormous flocks feeding in most all
northern marshes. In the salt marshes east and
west of New York city they are the most com-
mon Swallow in .\ugust. In September the
large Tree Swallow flocks mix with on-coming
flocks of Rank, llarn, anrl Clit't Swallows, but
these other species pass on to the South from
the northern States early in October, leaving the
Tree Swallow to the last. They in turn go
south a few hundred at a time leaving a few
scattered birds even to the first of November.
Sometimes Tree Swallows will be seen north of
the Carolinas all winter, but the great bulk of
them are spending the winter in Mexico.

According to Bicknell " the song is hardly
more than a chatter. Its ordinary notes are les.^
sharp and rapid than those of the Barn .Swal-
low."

The food of the Tree Swallow, like that of
other Swallows, consists almost entirely of
M-inged insects. It would seem that when the
first flight arrives in the sprin,g that there would
not be any of their particular kind of food for
them. To the few stone-flies which they find and
take on the wing, they add insects which thev
pick from the surface of the snow, and from

twigs, fences, and sifles of buildings. During
migrations and in the winter they h;ive a habit
of roosting in bayberry and wax m\rtle shrubs
and at those jieriods they eat a greni many of the
berries.

by T. G. PcarsMn C.iuitt.^y ,.1 N:it. Assu. Aud. Soc.
NESTING PLACE OF TREE SWALLOV/
Heron Island. Mjine

NORTHERN VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW
Tachycineta thalassina lepida Mranis

A. O. U. .\uml,er .,15

Other Name. — Violet-green Swallow.
General Description. — Length, 5'4 inches. Upper
parts, violet-green ; nnder parts, white. Bill, small,
weak, and much depressed; tail, less than 1/2 length of
wing, forked for about 1/5 of its length, the side
feathers broad to near ends, where the inner web is
abruptly contracted, the tip blunt-
Color. — Ani'LT M.m.e: Crown and hindneck. varying

from bro)izy-green to purplish-bronze, the lower mar-
gin of the hindneck more purplish, often forming a
distinct narrow collar; back, shoulders, and lesser wing-
coverts, soft bronzy-green, usually tinged with purple
or purplish-bronze; center portion of rump, and upper
tail-coverts, varying from bluish-.green ( rarely l to rich
violet-purple miNed with bhie ; wings (except lesser
coverts) and tail, blackisli, faintly glossed with blue;

90

BIRDS OF AMERICA

ear region, entire under parts, and conspicuous patch on
each side of rump pure white; under wing-coverts pale
gray, becoming white on edge of wing; iris, brown.
Adult Female: Afuch duller in color than the male;
crown and hindneck, varying from grayish-brown, very
faintly glossed with bronze or bronzy-green, to decided
greenish or purplish-bronze ; ear region otherwise,
similar to the adult male.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : In knot holes, deserted

Woodpecker holes, hollow trees, or beneath house
eaves ; constructed of dried grass, lined with feathers.
Eggs : 4 or 5. pure white.

Distribution. — Western North America : north to
Alaska, east to Montana, Wyoming. Colorado, New
Me.xico, and western Texas — occasionally to South
Dakota; breeding southward to southern California,
.Arizona, and New Mexico; in winter south to high-
lands of Guatemala and Costa Rica.

In Oregon, by the first week in March the first
Violet-green, or White-breasted, Swallows have
returned to their siirnmer homes. For several
years, I have watched the Violet-green Swal-
lows return to my bird houses. There is no
doubt in my mind that the same birds return to
the same places year after year. I have known
this on account of peculiarities of birds, their
methods of building and the places they have
built.

What a sense of location the Swallow has ; for
his journey from the south leads him through
trackless paths of the unmeasured regions of the
skies, yet he has some compass and sign posts
that seem to guide him. T have often wondered
how, from his lofty course, he knows just when
he gets back to his old home. I have often

wondered where he spends the night. If it
rains, he will disappear for a week as suddenly
as he caiue. But the minute another bright day
dawns, I know he will be down around my
orchard and he will remain till the summer is
past. No wonder people used to think the Swal-
lows dived into the mud to spend the winter ;
they appear so suddenly and are away again so
mysteriously.

One thing that is necessary to a Violet-green's
nest is a bed of feathers. These are always
handier to get about the farm yard. I generally
keep a good supply of these on hand when the
Swallows are nesting. Wlien I stand on the
hillside and blow up the feathers, they ask for
nothing better. The Swallows skim past and
catch them before they touch the ground. When
the feathers begin to appear, it isn't many mo-
ments till half a dozen Swallows are in the game.
They flit back and forth and soon become tame
enough to take the feathers the instant they
leave my hand. Then occasionally, I have had
a bird that was bold enough to snap a feather
from my fingers.

In the western part of Oregon, the Violet-
green .Swallow formerly nested in old Wood-
pecker holes and crevices in stumps, or a knot-
hole in the corner of a building. It is now one

Photo by W. L. Finley and H. T. Bohlman

NORTHERN VIOLET-GREEN SWALLOW

(nat. sizet

SWALLOWS

91

of the birds that invariably rent a bird house if
it is put lip about the garden or orchard. Or
better still, if a hole is cut in the side of a wood-
shed and a box put on the inside, it is almost
sure to be taken by a \'iolet-green Swallow.
William L. Finley.

The food habits of the \'iolet-green Swallow
have no marked peculiarities and are practically
identical with those of its eastern relative, the
Barn Swallow. Almost all of its food is insects
and of these only 3 per cent, can be reckoned as
useful.

A.

BANK SWALLOW
Riparia riparia ( Liiunciis)

O. U. Numlicr uif, .Si-f (dlur I'late 88

Other Names. — Sand Swallow : Saml Martin : I'.ank
Martin.

General Description. — Length, sJi inches. Upper
parts, grayish-brown ; under parts, white and grayish-
brown, liill, small, moderately depressed ; tail, about
yi length of wing, forked for about ! ,', of its length.
the side feathers moderately contracted near the tips
which are blunt.

Color. — Adults: Above, plain grayish-brown; chin,
throat, cheek region, and under parts of body, with
under tail-coverts, white, interrupted by a broad band
of grayish-brown across dust, continued along sides
(where fading out on flanks), the center portion of
breast usually with concealed spots of grayish-brown;
iris, brown. Young: Similar to adults, but feathers of
rump, upper tail-coverts, and inner wing quills broadly
margined terminally with pale cinnamon-buff, pale
wood-brown, or whitish, the wing-coverts more nar-
rowly margined with the same; feathers of grayish-
brown chest-band usually tipped or margined terminally
with paler; chin and upper throat often speckled with
grayish-brown, and white of under parts sometimes
tinged with pale rusty or cinnamon.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : An excavation, made by
the birds, in a sand bank, from a foot and a half to
three feet in length, the extremity hollowed out to hold

the nesting material of straw, grass, and feathers.
E(ii;s : Normally 5, pure white.

Distribution, — Northern hemisphere ; in America
breeding from arctic districts southward to Georgia
(.St. Simon's Island), Louisiana, Texas, .Arizona, and
nortlicrn Mexico; in winter migrating southward

■ R. I, Brjsh.T
BANK SWALLOW

through Mexico. Central .-\merica, and South America,
as far as eastern Peru and Brazil, and to the West
Indies.

There are but few species of American birds
that nest in holes in the ground which they
themselves e.xcavate. One is the Ivingfishers,
whose chief representative is the well-known
bird of the eastern United States, and another
is the little Bank Swallow. It seems logical that
birds which have s(.i queer a common habit,
should be in sympathy in other respects, and so
it happens quite naturally that the big and brave
and self-reliant fisherman in feathers and the
timid little insect-hunting Swallow often dig their

bturows in the same bank and seem to be on very
good terms.

" Iloncy-combed " is about the only adjective
which describes the appearance of a bank in
which a colonv of these Swallows have made
their homes. Thoreau recorded seeing fifty-nine
luink Swallows' holes within a space of twenty
by one and a half feet (in the middle), and
doubtless this could be exceeded. The bank may
be of either clay or sand (in fact there are two
or three records of the birds actually having

BIRDS OF AMERICA

made use of banks of sawdust!), and tlif bird
uses both its bill and its claws in the tunneling
operation. As such embanktnents commonly are
the result of the action of water, these Swallows
are likely to be seen in the neighborhood of
rivers or ponds, though they may utilize the
perpendicular surfaces of a brick-yard or of any
other excavation left open to the sky, even com-
paratively narrow railroad cuts. However, they
seldom show so decided a liking for human
society as is manifested by the Barn and Eave
Swallows and their relative, the Chimney Swift.
The once quite prevalent theory tliat the Bank-
Swallows hibernate in their burrows during the
winter luonths is, of course, preposterous.

The food of the Bank Swallow does not differ
appreciably from that of the Tree .Swallow with
which it often associates.

Fhoto by U. K. .lub Courtesy of Outmg Pub. Co.

BANK SWALLOW AT NEST

A hole in a gravel bank

ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW

Stelgidopteryx serripennis { Aiidithnn)

A. O. U. Number 617 Sec 1 olor I'late S8

Other Names. — Bridge Swallow ; Rough-wing.

General Description. — Length, 5)4 inches. Plum-
age, grayish-brown, |ialer below. Bill, much depressed
and moderately broad ; tail, about J<2 length of wing,
slightly notched. Adult male with barbs of outer web
of outermost primary stiffened and abruptly recurved
at tip, causing a file-like roughness when the finger is
drawn along the quill from base toward tip.

Color. — Adults: Above, including sides of head and
neck, plain grayish-brown of very nearly uniform tone
throughout, but crown slightly darker than rump; chin,
throat, chest, sides, and flanks, plain pale grayish hair-
brozvn or brownish-gray, the chin and throat usually
somewhat paler than chest and sides; rest of under
parts, white; iris, brown. Young: Similar to adults,
but upper parts washed or overlaid by pale cinnamon or
fawn color ; chin, throat, and chest tinged witli paler
cinnamon or fawn color.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Located in a burrow in a
sand bank, usually excavated by the birds themselves,
wide enough to admit a man's arm, and somewhat
broader than high, and from 3 to 5 feet long ; large
and bulky and usually composed of sticks, weed stalks,
grass, and leaves. Eggs : 3 to 7. commonly 4 to 6.
white.

Distribution. — Temperate North America, Mexico,
and Central America as far as Costa Rica; breeding
north to Connecticut, central Massachusetts, south-
eastern New York. Ontario, northern Indiana, southern
Wisconsin, southern Minnesota, North Dakota. Mon-
tana, and British Columbia, south to Georgia. Louisi-
ana. Texas, etc.. and over greater part of Mexico, as
far as State of Vera Cruz ; casual northward to
northern Michigan and Manitoba ; in winter southward
through Central America to Costa Rica, occasionally
wintering on coast of South Carolina.

ROUGH-WINGED SWALLOW AND ITS YOUNG

of Outing Pub Co.

WAXWINGS

93

The Rough-wiiigfd Swallow is a much duller
looking bird than tiie Eiank Swallow, with which
it is apt to be confused. It is a slower flying
bird, and those who know it well can tell its
flight nianv rods away ; it has fewer twists
and zigzags and more gliding and sailing. The
bird is not nearly as common as the liani nv
Bank or Tree Swallows, though the area over
which it breeds extends from southern Canada
to central Mexico and from ocean to ocean.
Thev were formerly less common along the
northern limit of the range than now, at least
it is presumed thev have spread further north ;
even now southern New Jersey has more Rough-
wings than has northern Xew Jersey. Through
central and western New York there has been a
change in the numbers of this bird from acci-
dental or very rare to fairly common in certain
localities.

Their nesting sites are sometimes like those of
the l'>ank Swallow, in sand hanks, though it is
rare for more than five or six pairs to be found
in such a colony. X'ery often, however, their
nests are under bridges or railway trestles or
rdong the under sides of jutting walls; they'
have also been found in empty pipes and in an
old Kingfisher's nest.

One of its associates is the Phcebe. Their
nests are sometimes found verv close to each
other under the same bridge. While Phrebe
rushes out ujion its jirey from a watching
station. Rough-wing is up and down the stream
deliberately capturing all the insects that get in
his way. Occasionally he will rise into the air,
going over instead of under the bridge, and some-
times off for a short excursion across a pasture
or a meadow ; but soon he will be hack again
doing police duty up and down the stream.

WAXWINGS AND SILKY FLYCATCHERS

Order Passcrcs: suborder Osciiics; families Boiiibycillidcc and Ptilogonatidcc

HE Waxwings are a small family belonging to the larger group of singing birds;
they are thus classified because they possess a vocal apparatus but they are
not singers in the common acceptation of that term. They are found only
in the northern hemisphere and there are but three species known. One
of these is peculiar to Japan and the neighboring parts of Asia, another to
North America, and a third is circumpolar.

Their wings are rather long and pointed; their tails are less than two-
thirds as long as their wings, even or very slightly rounded, with the coverts
unusually long, especially the lower which reach nearly to the end of the tail;
the feathers of the lores are dense, soft, and velvet-like; there are no bristles
at the corners of the mouth, and the head has a long crest of soft blended
feathers. The plumage in general is soft and blended.

The prevailing color of the head, neck, and body is a soft fawn hue or wine-color
changing to ashy on the rump and upper tail-coverts. The wings and tail are slaty, the
tail being sharplj' tipped with yellow or red preceded by blackish. Two of the species
have horny drop-shaped tips to the secondaries which resemble sealing wax. Some of the
birds lack these red tips and have other variations from the norinal coloration. Concerning
this imperfect plumage Dr. Ridgway says: " I am at a loss for a satisfactory name for
this plumage or an explanation of its true meaning. It is obviously quite independent of
sex; and that it has nothing to do with the age of the specimen, or at least is not evidence
of immature age, is almost equally certain. The only very young specimen of the present
species that I have seen has the remiges [quill feathers of wing] and rectrices [tail-feathers]
colored exactly as in the brightly colored plumage described above, except that the wax-like
appendages to the secondaries are smaller. As a rule young birds of B. ccdronim [Cedar
Waxwing] in the streaked plumage of the first summer lack the red appendages to the
secondaries, but sometimes they are present, and the tail-band is usually quite as bright
yellow as in adults; therefore it would seem that these two styles of plumage occur both

94

BIRDS OF AMERICA

among fully adult and very young birds." The young are much duller than the adults
and have the under parts streaked with brownish or dull grayish on a whitish ground.

The nests are bulky and are built in trees. They are constructed of small twigs,
rootlets, and the like, mixed and lined with feathers and other soft materials. The eggs,
3 to 5 in number, are pale dull bluish or pale purplish-gray spotted and dotted with dark
brown, black, and purplish. The young are cared for in the nest.

The Waxwings live among the trees and feed on berries, fruits, and insects.

Closely allied to the Waxwings are the Silky Flycatchers, a family that is peculiar to
Central America and Mexico and which contains but four species. Of these only one
extends its range into the United States. This is the Phainopepla. The Silky Flycatchers
differ from the Waxwings in their rounded wings, the well-developed bristles at the corners
of the mouth, and the wholly exposed nostrils. Their habits, however, are very similar.

CEDAR WAXWING
Bombycilla cedrorum Vicillot

A. O. U. Number 619 Sec Color I'late 89

Other Names. — Cherry Bird ; Cedar Bird ; Southern
Waxwing; Carolina Waxwing: Canada Robin; Re-
collet.

General Description. — Length, 7'4 inches. Plum-
age of perfectly blended colors, the effect being a
pinkish grayish-brown with yellow on abdomen and
tip of tail.

Color. — Adults in Perfect Plumage: Lores and
wedge-shaped patch back of eye (connected with loral
area above eye), velvety black; chin, dull black; rest
of head, together with neck and chest, soft pinkish
wood-brown or brownish-fawn color, darker on throat,
where shading into the black or dusky of chin, slightly
duller or grayer on hindneck ; front portion of cheek
region and a narrow line (sometimes obsolete) sepa-
rating the brown of forehead from the black of lores,
white; back and shoulders similar in color to hindneck
but slightly grayer, the wing-coverts still grayer ;
secondaries and primary coverts slate-gray, the first
with terminal appendages (flattened and expanded pro-
longations of the shaft) of scarlet, resembling red
sealing wax; primaries, darker (slate color), edged
with paler gray ; rump, upper tail-coverts, and basal
portion of tail, paler gray than secondaries, deepening
toward end of tail into blackish-slate or slate-black,
the tail tipped with a sharply defined band of lemon or
chrome yellow ; vinaceous-brown color of chest passing
into a slightly paler and duller hue on breast and front
portion of sides, and this into light yellowish-olive or
dull olive-yellowish on flanks and back portion of sides ;
the abdomen, similar but paler (sometimes nearly
white); bill, black; iris, brown; legs and feet, black.
Imperfect plumage: Similar to the perfect plumage,
as described above, but without red wax-like append-
ages to secondaries, and yellow band across tip of
tail narrower and paler yellow.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Generally in an orchard,
within 20 feet of the ground; rather bulky, constructed

of twigs, leaves, grasses, strips of bark, twine, paper,
and rags ; lined with fine grass, horse-hair, or wool.
Eggs : 3 to 5, bluish-gray to dull olive, marked with
spots and blotches of sepia and dark purple.

Distribution. — Temperate North America in general ;
breeding from Virginia, western North Carolina, Ken-

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

CEDAR WAXWING (J nat. size)

polite as he is

tucky, Kansas, New Mexico and Arizona (in moun-
tains), and Oregon, northward to Prince Edward Island,
southern shores of Hudson Bay, Manitoba, Saskatche-
wan, and British Columbia; wintering in whole of
United States (in wooded districts), and migrating
southward to Bahamas, Cuba, Little Cayman, and
Jamaica, in West Indies, and through Mexico and
Central America to highlands of Costa Rica ; accidental
in Bermudas and British Isles.

Court.ny of tht New York Stat.- Mus.

Plate 89

^oiu: Q^a.^(:^ J^ITT,

BOHEMIAN WAXWING Bomhynlla yarrutu (Linnaeus)
CEDAR WAXWING liu,„hi/c{lla rtihorum \-i<.iIi "'"^

All 5 nat. size "*'-^

WAX WINGS

95

BOHEMIAN WAXWING

Bombycilla garrula {Liiiiuciis}

\ II. L', XumlKr 1. 18 Sec Color Thitc So

Other Names. — Black-throated Waxwiiis; ; Lapland
Waxwing; Silktail.

General Description. — Length, 7".- inche'^. Pluni-
ase of perfectly blended colors, the general effect being
a soft drab.

Color. — .^DfLTS IN Perfect Plumage: General color,
soft drab, becoming more wine-colored forward, more
grayish (pale grayish drab or drab-gray) on abdomen,
sides and flanks, the rump and upper tail-coverts,
nearly pure gray, forehead, region over eye, middle
portion of cheeks, and under tail-covcrts, cinnamon-
rufous: lores, streak behind the eyes, chin, and upper
throat velvety black ; lower abdomen and anal region,
pale yellowish or yellowish-white; secondaries, slate-
gray, darker on inner webs, their outer webs broadly
tipped with white and the shaft of each prolonged into
an expanded tear-shaped or linear flattened glossy
appendage resembling red sealing wax ; primary
coverts and primaries, blackish slate or slate-black,
narrowly edged with slate-gray, the tirst broadly tipped

on lioth webs with white; primaries with end portion
oi outer web sometimes witli a narrow terminal margin
of yellow or yellow and white; tail, slate-gray becom-
ing darker toward end, broadly tipped with chrome-
yellow ; bill, black ; iris, brown ; legs and feet, black.
Imperfect i>lu.m.u;e : Similar to the perfect plumage,
but markings on terminal portion of outer webs of
primaries entirely white, red waxlike appendages to
secondaries absent, and terminal band of tail, much
paler yellow (straw-yellow or pale naples-yellow) and
often iTiuch narrower.

Nest and Eggs.— Similar to Cedar Waxwing's. but
both larger.

Distribution. — Circumpolar. Northern parts of
northern hemisphere, breeding in coniferous forests ;
southward in winter, in North .America (irregularly),
to Connecticut. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois,
Kansas, Colorado, northern California, etc.. casually to
.'\rizona ; breeding from Keewatin and .Athabasca to
.Alaska.

If bird.^ have no conception of manners, how
does it happen that half a dozen Cedar Wax-
wings, sitting close together on a hnib — which
they often do — will pass a cherry along from
one to another, down to the end of the line
and back again, none of the birds making the
slightest attempt to eat even part of the fruit?
This little episode has been witnessed and re-
ported by more than one thorou,ghly responsible
observer of birds. What does it mean? If not
politeness and generositv, then what? Mr. For-
bush thinks the birds do it onlv when thev are
satiated: but how could he be sure of that condi-
tion? Obviously not unless he killed all of the
birds and examined their stomachs, which, of
course, nothing could induce him to do. It would
be a sorry way to prove courtesy and kindness,
and wouldn't prove anything after all. For
if the bird had no room for another cherry,
why didn't it simply drop the fruit instead of
passing it along? Let the bird psychologists
ponder these questions ; for the bird-lover the
answer is obvious. Besides, he will have observed
many other evidences of a gentle and afifectionate
disposition in these beautiful creatures.

" Who can describe the marvelous beauty and

elegance of this bird?" asks Mr. Forbnsh in an

Educational Leaflet written for the National

Association of .'\udubon Societies. " What other

Vol. III.— 8

/insj by R. Brurt- Horsfall

BOHEMIAN WAXWING (! nat. size)
A bird of satiny plumage and elegance

96

BIRDS OF AMERICA

is dressed in a robe of sucli delicate and silky
texture? Those shades of blending beauty,
velvety black, brightening into fawn, melting
browns, shifting saffrons, quaker drabs, pale

Photo by H. K. JmI. Courtesy of Uutini; Pub.

YOUNG CEDAR WAXWINGS

blue, and slate with trimmings of white and
golden yellow, and the little red appendage.; on
the wing, not found in any other family of birds
— all, combined with its graceful form, give
the bird an appearance of elegance and distinc-
tion peculiarly its own. Its mobile, erectile
crest expresses every emotion. When lying
loose and low upon the head, it signifies ease and
comfort. Excitement or surprise erect it at once,
and in fear it is pres ed flat.

" In 1908, some fruit-growers in \'crmont
introduced into the Assembly a bill framed to
allow them to shoot Cedar W'axwings. This
bill was pushed with such vigor that it passed
the House in spite of all the arguments that
could be advanced regarding the usefulness of
the birds. In the Senate, however, these argu-
ments were drop]ied, and the senators were
shown mounted specimens of the bird. That
was enough ; its beauty conquered and the bill
was defeated."

" Like some other plumji and well-fed person-
ages," continues Mr. Forbush, " the Cedar Wax-
wing is good-natured, happy, tender-hearted,
fffectionate and blessed with a good disposition.
It is fond of good company. When the nesting-
season is past, each harmonious little family
joins with others imtil the flock may number
from thirty to sixty individuals. They fly in
close order, and keep well together through the
winter and spring until the nesting-season again

arrives. Their manner of flight is rarely sur-
passed. Often they suddenly wheel as if at
command and plunge swiftly downward, alight-
ing in a compact band on the top of some leafless
tree. They roam over the covmtry like the Pas-
senger Pigeon, never stopping long except where
food is abundant. \\'hen hunting for caterpillars
in the trees, tliey sometimes climb about like
little Parrots. They often show their affectionate
disposition by ' billing,' and by dressing one
.'mother's plumage as they sit in a row."

The \\ axwings well illustrate the rule ( to
which, however, there are a few exceptions)
that birds with conspicuous or strikingly beautiful
plumage are rarely good singers, for their vocal
capacities are limited to a faint sibilant note
uttered both when the bird is in flight and at rest.
Mr. Brewster records hearing the bird utter a
series of loud, full notes, resembling those of the
Tree Swallow, but these certainly are not
common.

The Bohemian Waxwing is another beautiful
member of this family, and has habits and a
disposition similar to the Cedar Bird. It is com-
paratively rare, however, as it occurs onlv in the
upper Mississippi valley and some of the moun-
tain States and is infrequently seen at or near the
.\tlantic coast. George Gl.adden.

Photo by A. A. Allen

CEDAR WAXWING
At its nest in a thorn bush

The Cedar Waxwing's proverbial fondness for
cherries has given it its popular name ( Cherry
Bird), and much complaint is made on account of
the fruit it eats. Observation shows, however,
that its depredations are confined to trees on
which the fruit ripens earliest, while later

WAXWINGS

97

varieties are comparatively untouched. This is
probaljly due to the fact that when wild fruits
ripen they are preferred to cherries, and really
constitute the bulk of the diet of the Cetlar W'ax-
wing.

In 1 52 stomachs examined animal matter
formed only 13 per cent, and vegetable matter 87
per cent., showing that the bird is not wholly a

fruit eater. With the exception of a few snails,
all the animal food consisted of insects, mainly
l>cetles — all but one more or less noxious, the
famous elm leaf beetle being among the number.
Bark or scale lice were found in several stomachs,
while the rest of the animal food was made up of
grasshoppers, bugs, and the like. Three nestlings
had been fed almost entirely on insects.

PHAINOPEPLA
Phainopepla nitens (Szvaiiisnn)

A. I>. 11. Numlicr I.JO

Other Names. — .Silky Flycatclier ; Shining Crested

Sliinnig I'ly-snappi

lUack-crested Flv-

7'4 inches. Male,
olive-gray. Crown,
wings, short and

Flyeatch
catcher.

General Description. — Lengtii
glossy greenish blue-black; femal
crested : bill, short and broad
rounded ; tail, long and fan-shaped.

Color. — Adult M.vle: Uniform glossy greenish
blue-black; larger wing-coverts, wing, and tail-feathers
less glossy black, edged with glossy dark greenish-blue
or steel-gray; iiuier webs of primaries with middle por-
tion extensively white; iris, red. Adult Fem.^le:
Plain olivaceous mouse-gray, the longer feathers of crest,
black edged with gray ; wings and tail, dusky ( the
latter nearly black), faintly glossed with bronzy-green-
ish ; lesser wing-coverts, margined with gray ; middle
coverts, broadly margined at the ends with white, the
greater coverts edged with the same, the primaries,

more narrowly edged with white or pale gray ; tail-
feathers edged with deeper gray, becoming white on
outermost feathers ; under tail-coverts broadly mar-
gined with white; inner webs of primaries, pale brown-
ish-gray basally but without any definite light-colored
area ; iris, brown.

Nest and Eggs, — Nest ; Usually placed in oaks,
elders, or mesquite trees from 8 to 25 feet up ; flat,
saucer-shaped, compactly made of light-colored vege-
table substances — plant fibers, blossoms, cottony fibers,
small twigs. Eggs : 2 or 3, dull gray or greenish-
white thickly spotted with brown, black, or lilac.

Distribution. — Southwestern United States, north„
regularly, to southwestern Texas, New Mexico, south-
ern Utah, southern Nevada and southern California,
casually or irregularly to west-central Nevada, and to>
central and northern California ; southward throughout
peninsula of Lower California and on Mexican plateau.

The Phainopejila, or Shining Crested l"ly-
catcher, is glossy bluish-black in color, with large
white spots in the wings, which show onh- when
flying. His mate is brownish gray. They are
rather slim birds, nearly as big as a Catbird.

The Phainopepla is a beautiful fellow, with an
elegant pointed crest, and plumage shining like
satin. He sits up very straight on his perch,
but he is a rather shy bird, and so not much
is known about his \'\ays. He is a real mountain
lover, living on mountains, or in canons, or on
the borders of small streams of California,
Arizona, and Texas.

As you see by one of his names, he is a Flv-
catcher. .Sometimes thirty or forty of them may
be seen in a flock, all engaged in catching flies.
But, like the Cedar Bird, he is also fond of
berries. When berries are ripe on the pepper-
trees, he comes nearer to houses to feast on the
beautiful red clusters. The song of this bird is
fine, and, like many other birds, he sometimes
utters ;i sweet whisper song.

The nest is placed on a branch, not very high

up in a tree, and is often, perhaps always, made
of flower stems with the flowers on, with fine
strips of bark, grasses, and plant down.

ving by R. I. Brasher

PHAINOPEPLA <; nat, :

98

BIRDS OF AMERICA

What is curious, and rare among birds, the
male Phainopepla insists on making the nest
himself. He generally allows his mate to come
and look on, and greets her with joyous song,
but he will not let her touch it till all is done.
Sometimes he even drives her awav. When

all is ready for sitting, he lets her take her
share of the work, but even then he appears to
sit as much as she. Mrs. Bailey found a party
of these birds on some pepper-trees, and to her
we owe most of what we know of their habits.
Olive Tiiorne Miller.

SHRIKES

Order Passcrcs ; suborder Osciucs; family Laniida;

HAT the Shrikes should be " song birds," will seem incongruous to many who
know how they come by their popular name of "Butcher Birds." But they
are so classified by systematic ornithologists, and not without reason ; for
they not only possess vocal organs, but some of the species actually make
use of those organs in producing a sort of warbled song. They are song birds
of prey. The Shrike family (Laniidcc) have strongly hooked bills; rather
short, rounded wings; the tail is nearly as long as the wing, or often longer,
and rounded, graduated, or nearly even, but never forked; the plumage is
soft, blended, the head never crested, though the feathers of the crown are
sometimes rather longer than usual ; the plumage is never with brilliant colors
(in the typical members of the group) but with plain gray, brown, or rufous
predominating, varied with black and white or pale wine-color; the sexes are usually alike
in color and the young always have the plumage barred or transversely streaked. The
range of the family includes the northern hemisphere in general and portions of the African
and Indo-Malayan regions; in the western hemisphere no sj^ecies are found south of Mexico.
The family is rather numerously represented in the Old World, but only one genus and
two species occur in America.

The Shrikes are peculiar in several of their habits, especially in their practice of impaling
insects, small birds, and small mammals upon thorns. The purpose of this curious habit
is not known with certainty; but the most plausible explanation seems to be that suggested
by Mr. Seebohm {History of British Birds and their Eggs) which is that the Shrike, not
having sufificiently powerful feet to hold its prey while it is being torn to pieces, therefore
avails itself of the aid of a thorn (or, in some case, a crotch) to hold its food while being
eaten. This does not, however, explain why the Shrike's victims are so often found in such
positions unmutilated, as if placed there for future use or from mere cruelty.

The food of Shrikes consists of the larger insects (grasshoppers, beetles, etc.), spiders,
small frogs, and reptiles, and frequently small birds and mammals, such as mice and shrews.
Their favorite position, when resting, is the summit of an isolated small tree or stake, a
telegraph wire, or some other prominent perch, from which they can command a wide view
in all directions. When flying from one resting place to another the vShrike sweeps downward
from its perch and then pursues an undulating flight a few feet above the surface of the
ground.

The ordinary notes of the true Shrikes are harsh, often grating, but most of the species
are capable of producing a variety of sounds, in some closely approximating a song; some,
indeed, are possessed of considerable musical ability, which some persons, doubtless without
reason, suppose to be practiced for the pur]50se of enticing small birds within their reach.
Their bulky nests are placed in thickly branched trees, usually among thorny twigs or among
intertwining vines, and are usually lined with soft feathers ; the eggs, four to seven in number,
are spotted or freckled with olive-brown on a whitish, bufTy, or pale greenish ground color.

Courtesy of till- N,.w York State Mu

e go

ui'j ut^^fJiz. Yuprfei

MIGRANT SHRIKE iMidualudoncUmus migrans W. Pain

All i Mt.'Iizi!

SHRIKES

99

NORTHERN SHRIKE

Lanius borealis ( "willot

A O. U. i\uml,cr o.-

Other Names.— Butcher Bird; Winter Butcher
Bird; Northern Butcher Bird: Nine Killer; Winter
Shrike; Great Northern Shrike.

General Description. — Length, lo inches. Upper
parts, light grayish-blue; under parts, white: wings
and tail, black.

Color. — Above, plain light bluish-gray, changing to
white on lower rump, upper tail-coverts, shoulders, eye-
brow region, and front portion of forehead: ear region
black, this e.xtending forward beneath lower eyelid and
confluent zi'ilh a ItUiek spot in front of the eye: lores,
gray: wings and tail, black; secondaries and innermost
primaries, tipped with white (the latter more nar-
rowly); base of primaries (except three outermost),
white across both webs ; showing as a patch ; outermost
tail-feather, white with a black spot near base of inner
web; second tail-feather with base and extensive ter-
minal portion, white; remaining tail-feathers, tipped
with white ; cheek region and under parts, white, the
chest and sides of breast marked with wavy bars of
dusky-grayish ; bill, entirely black in summer, dusky
horn color in winter ; iris, brown ; legs and feet, black.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In bushes or thorny trees,
princijjally north of the United States; a large, rude
structure of twigs, grasses, leaf and weed stems, lined
thickly with moss and feathers. Eggs : 4 to 0, pale
bluish green, spotted with brown and dull purple.

Distribution. — Northern North America ; breeds
from northwestern Alaska, northern Mackenzie, and
northern Ungava to the base of the Alaska peninsula,
central Saskatchew'an, southern Ontario, and southern

.■^ee (. iilor I'Lite go

Quebec: winters south to central Califr
New Ale.xico. Texas, Kentucky, and \'irg:

rnia, Arizona,
nia.

Vina by R- Br

NORTHERN SHRIKE ij

The Northern Shrike is about an inch longer
than the Loggerhead, but the habits of the two
birds are quite similar, though in disposition the
present species seems to be the more savage of
the two. Its appearance always causes conster-
nation among the Sparrows and other small
birds upon which it preys. It may be recognized at
once by its strong colors — gray, black, and white.
— and by its flight, which is ]jeculiarly heavy
and with rapid flapping. In the open it flies

near the ground, and, like the Loggerhead, gains
its perch by a sudden upward glide. The bird's
song, heard usually in March or April, is a
jumble of notes, some of them musical, the entire
effort suggesting that of the Catbird. Its call-
notes are harsh and unpleasant.

This Shrike seems to have all of the bad habits
of its southern relative, but their odium is re-
lieved by an apparent taste for English Spar-
rows.

LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE

Lanius ludovicianus ludovicianus Linnccus

A O. U. Number 622

Other Names. — Southern Loggerhead Shrike ;
.Southern Butcher Bird ; Butcher Bird ; French Mock-
ingbird.

General Description. — Length, g inches. Upper

parts, gray : under parts, white ; wings and tail, black.

Color. — Adults : Above, plain slate-gray, darkest

(approaching slate-color) on crown, fading gradually

into paler gray on upper tail-coverts and into white on

TOO

BIRDS OF AMERICA

outermost shoulder region ; eye region, ear region, and
lores, black, forming a conspicuous longitudinal patch
on sides of head ;' wings and tail, black: secondaries
tipped with white ; entire under parts, including cheek
region, white, the sides and flanks faintly shaded with
gray; iris, brown; bill, legs, and feet, black. Young:
Above, brownish-gray, the crown and hindneck nar-
rowly barred with narrow lines of darker gray and
broader ones of pale buf¥y or brownish-gray; shoulders,
lesser and middle wing-coverts, rump, and upper tail-
coverts with more distinct narrow dusky bars and with
the paler bars broader, more bufi^y; chest, sides, and

flanks, pale bufify-grayish narrowly barred with dusky ;
bill and feet, brownish ; otherwise similar to adults.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : Located in thorny trees
(hawthorns), hedges, or thickets, usually within lo feet
of ground; a large, carelessly constructed atfair of corn
stalks, weed stems, coarse grass, roots, paper, and wool
and thickly lined with feathers, hair, or wool. Eggs :
5 to 7, grayish or creamy-white, thickly and evenly
spotted and blotched with dull browns and lavender.

Distribution. — Coast district of South Carolina and
Georgia to southern Florida and westward over the
coastal plain of the Gulf States to Louisiana.

The Loggerhead Shrike is the common Shrike
of the southeastern States, and over wide regions
of its range it is a very abundant species. These
■" French Mockingbirds," as they are sometimes
called, somewhat resemble the famous songster
in size and color, but they are very different
individuals in habits. When seen the Logger-
head is usually occupying a perch on the top of
some small tree, stake, telephone pole, or fence
post. From this lookout it will fly down now
and then and seize the grasshopper, lizard, or
baby snake, which its sharp eyes have detected
in the grass often at a distance of lOO feet or
more. In common with other Shrikes it possesses
the habit of iinpaling on thorns or barbed wire
such objects of food as it has no immediate
use for. My observations have led me to believe
that it rarely returns to eat what it has thus
cached, unless driven to do so by hunger re-
sulting from adverse fortunes of the chase.
Undoubtedly the Loggerhead at times pushes its
prey on a thorn to help hold it while eating.
I once watched one impale a Chipping Sparrow
on the sharp splinter of a broken tree and pro-
ceed to eat it then and there.

When approaching its nest this bird flies
rapidly with quickly beating wings in a strai,ght
line, often sinking to within a few feet of the
ground until close to the tree, when with a sharp
upward turn it will climb the invisible ladder
of the air to its nest. This structtire is an
exceedingly compact affair and often contains a
thick lining of chicken feathers. The birds make
a great outcry when one disturbs the nest, and
will pop their bills in a manner that suggests the
grinding of teeth in ra.ge.

In the spring the Loggerhead Shrike often
sings, but of all singing birds its musical produc-
tion is about the poorest. It consists of a series
of squeaky whistles, strangling gurgles, and high
pitched pipiiigs, all apparently produced with the
greatest effort and labor. The notes are not
loud and usually can be heard only a short

distance. There seems to be no evidence, how-
ever, to indicate that the song does not produce
the effect for which it is probably designed — that
is, discomforting its rival and giving joy to the
lady bird of its choice. T. Gilbert Pearson.

There has been so luuch discttssion of the
Shrike's habits and diet that the following obser-
vations, concerning a captive Loggerhead, by Dr.
Sylvester D. Judd, of the United States Biologi-
cal Survey, recorded in- his Birds of a Maryland
Farm, are both valuable and interesting:

" The habit the bird has of impaling prey has
been the subject of considerable speculation, some
writers maintaining that it gibbets its victims
alive for the pleasure of watching their death
struggles, and others that it slaughters more game
at a time than it can eat and hangs up the surplus
to provide against a time of want. This theory
of prudent foresight may explain why it kills
more gaine than it can eat, but, as the experi-
ments showed, it does not touch the real reason
why it impales its prey.

" On the day after the Shrike in question was
captured a dead mouse was offered it. The
Shrike raised its wings, moved its tail up and
down petulantly after the manner of the Phdbe,
and then seized the movise and dragged it about
for several minutes, trying to wedge it into first
one and then another corner of the cage. Failing
in this effort, it tried to impale the mouse on the
blunt broken end of branch that had been placed
in the cage for a perch, but the body fell to the
floor. Then it tried to hold the mouse with its
feet and tear it to pieces, but its feet were too
weak. A nail was now driven into the cage so
as to expose the point. Immediately the Shrike
impaled its prey, fixing it firmly, and then fell
to tearing and eating ravenously. Several days
later the nail was removed and a piece of beef
was given to the Shrike. By dint of hard work
it managed to hold the beef with its feet, so that
it could bite off pieces : but it much preferred to

SHRIKEvS

101

have me do the holding, when it would perch on
my wrist and pull off mouthfuls in rapid succes-
sion. These experiments indicate that the Shrike
is unable to tear to pieces food that is not securely
fixed. Hawks can grip their food with their
powerful talons and then easily tear it into
pieces small enough to be swallowed, but the
Shrike's feet have not a sufficiently vigorous
clutch to permit this method.

" A series of experiments in feeding insects tc_i
this Shrike was also carried out. If the liird
was very hungry it did not impale insects. When
offered a grasshopper at such times, it would
clutch it with one foot, and, resting the bend of
its leg on the perch, bite off mouthfuls and
swallow them. W'hen not very hungry it impaled
grasshoppers and caterpillars. Such prey as the
thousand-legs, centipedes, house flies, and blow-
flies, and in a single instance, a mourning-cloak
butterfly, it ate at a single gulp, but very large
insects, such as tuniblebugs, it always im-
paled. . . .

"A series of experiments with mice, birds, and
other vertebrates was also made. When a live
mouse was placed in the cage the Shrike gave
chase, half running, half flying. It soon caught
the animal by the loose skin of the back, but
quickly let go because the little rodent turned on
it savagely. In the next attack it seized the
mouse by the back of the neck and bit through
the skull into the base of the brain, causing
instant death. ( A Broad-winged Hawk experi-
mented with at the same time always killed its
victims with its talons, never touching them with
its beak until they were dead. ) A honey-locust
perch, set with sharp thorns two inches long, had
been put into the Shrike's cage, and on this it
fixed the mouse, a thorn entering below the
shoulder blade and passing out through the
breast. Then ( lo a. m.) it ate the brains. At
10.30 it picked twenty to thirty mouthfuls of hair
from the hind quarters, made incisions and re-
moved the skin, and then ate the large muscles.
By 1 1 .30 it had devoured the whole body, includ-
ing viscera and skin. Several days later the
Shrike dispatched a live English Sparrow about
as it had the mouse, and impaled the carcass.
Then it plucked the breast and ate the pectoral
muscles, the lungs, and the heart. Live snakes
and lizards were also fed to the Shrike. A toad
was put into the cage, and it attacked it, but
soon desisted in evident distress, caused prob-
ably by the toad's irritating secretions.

" It disgorged indigestible parts of its food in
pellets, after the manner of Hawks and Owls.
. . . When vertebrates had been eaten their

bones were found inside the pellet and the fur,
feathers, or scales outside."

The Migrant, or Northern Loggerhead, Shrike
i Laiiiiis liidoz'iciaiuis iiiigraits) is practically
identical with the Loggerhead in coloration ; the
gray of the upper parts is paler and the under
parts are less jnirely white. In proportions, how-
ever, it is decidedly different: the bill is much
smaller and the tail is shorter than the wing
instead of the other wav round. It lirecds from

V

I'l'.ot,,[iy Mrs. i\.J Ouusrr C"urtr-,>ol . ,,.l. A-.,,j. Au<l. ,-50C.

LOGGERHEAD SHRIKE

When seen, he is generally perched on the top of some small tree,
stake, or the like

northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, south-
ern Ontario, southern Quebec, Maine, and New
Brunswick south to eastern Kansas, southern
Illinois, Kentucky, western North Carolina, and
the interior of Virginia. In the winter it is found
from southern New England and the Middle
States south to Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi.
This Shrike is sometimes known as the Summer
Butcher Bird. (See Color Plate 90.)

Tile White-rumped Shrike, or Mouse-bird
( Laiiiiis ludovicianns cxciibitorides) is similar
to the Migrant .Shrike, but the gray of the upper
parts is decidedly paler and changes abruptly to
while on the upper tail-coverts ; the white of the
under parts is purer: and in size it is a trifle
larger. It is found in the arid districts of west-
ern North America south into Mexico.

The California, or Ciambel's, .Shrike ( Lanius
ludovicianns gauibcU) is so much like the Mi-

BIRDS UF AMERICA

grant Shrike that oftentimes it is not distinguish-
able if only its upper parts are seen, but its under
parts are usually either browner or with trans-
verse bars of pale gray or brownish-gray on the
chest and the sides of the breast. It breeds in
the Pacific coast district from southern British
Columbia south to northern Lower California
and winters south to Cape San Lucas and west-
ern Mexico. It destroys many injurious insects
and is a decidedly beneficial specie.

The Island, or Anthony's, Shrike ( Laiiins liido-

viciaiiHS anthonyi) is the darkest of the members
of thit species. In coloration it is like the Log-
gerhead Shrike, but the gray of the upper parts
is nearly slate-gray, especially on the crown, and
is more uniform, the shoulders almost wholly
gray ; the under parts are much more strongly
tinged with gray ; and the outer tail-feathers have
much less white. Its range is limited to the Santa
Barbara Islands and San Ciemente Island, Cali-
fornia, and Santa Margarita Island, Lower
California.

VIREOS

Order Passcrcs; suborder Oscines; family Vireonidcc

IREOS are sometimes called Greenlets; the Latin word Virco means " I
am green." They are small, active tree-haunting birds, like the Warblers.
They are mainly insectivorous, though they feed also on fruits and berries.
As a rule they are fair songsters (they are classed with the Oscines, or song
birds), although some species are distinguished for the oddity rather than
the melody of their notes. The wing (which is typically " nine-primaried ")
is always longer than the tail, and the plumage is never streaked, barred, or
spotted, even in the young. The bill is variable as to relative size, but never
longer than the head (usually very much shorter, often less than half as long);
and is also vei^' variable as to relative length, depth, and breadth. The wing
is variable but always longer than the tail, which is even, slightly rounded,
double rounded, or notched, the feathers being rather narrow.

The coloration of the family is decidedly variable, plain olive, whitish, bufTy or yellowish
hues prevailing, sometimes with bright green and yellow, rarely with blue on the head;
usually plain olive, olive-green, or gray above (sometimes relieved by whitish or yellowish
wing bars), and plain whitish or yellowish beneath.

As far as known the nest is suspended from a forked branch, and is composed of fine
vegetable fibers, mosses, lichens and the like. The eggs are white, usually spotted. The
range of the family extends over temperate and tropical America, except the Galapagos
Archipelago. The family is peculiar to America, but chiefly tropical, and is represented
by about seventy known species, referable to eight genera.

The feeding habits of all the Vireos are similar. Insect food is gleaned from the foliage
of shrubs and trees. Probably more span worms and leaf rollers are destroyed by the
Vireos than by any other one group of birds. However, they do not confine themselves
to these particular species of insects, but, if a plague of any other kind occurs within their
range, they will eat the invaders greedily.

Other Names. — The Preacher; Red-eyed Greenlet;
Red-eye; Little Hang-nest; Preacher Bird.
General Description. — Lengtii. 6'/< inches. Upper

parts, grayish-green ; under parts, white.

RED-EYED VIREO
Vireosylva olivacea (Linncrus)

A. O. U. Number 624 See Color Plate 91

Color. — Adults: Crozi')i. plain mouse-gray, mar-
gined on the sides by a narrow line of black or dusky:
rest of upper parts, plain grayish olive-green ; over the
eye. a broad stripe of dull zi'hite or very pale brozimish-

VIREOS

103

gray: across the lores, a dusky gray streak, becoming
darker at the front corner of eye, and back of the
eye a less distinct streak of dusky; ear. under the eye,
and cheek regions, pale olive or pale brownish-olive,
passing into olive-greenish on sides of neck ; under
parts, white, the sides and flanks tinged with pale
yellowish-olive, the under tail-coverts, tinged with
sulphur-yellow ; under wing-coverts, pale sulphur-yel-
low ; bill, grayish-dusky or blackish ; iris, brownish-red ;
legs and feet, grayish-blue. Young (First Plumage).
Crown, hindneck, back, shoulders, rump, upper tail-
coverts, and lesser wing-coverts plain vinaceous brown,
varying from pale brown to pale fawn color or deep
ecru-drab ; greater wing-coverts edged and narrowly
tipped with pale olive-yellow: under parts white, the
under tail-coverts and flanks tinged with sulphur-
yellow: sides of head white or brownish-white.

Nest and Eggs. — Xest: In forks of smaller or

large trees, usually within 10 feet of ground but often
much higher; a beautiful, pensile structure of finely
woven vegetable fiber, strips of bark, grasses, and cob-
webs and lined with fine grasses, ornamented exteriorly
with cocoons, bits of wasps' and spiders' nests. Eggs:
3 to 5, white, sparingly speckled with reddish-brown
and umber.

Distribution. — Temperate Xorth America in .gen-
eral, except arid districts ; north to Xova Scotia, Prince
Edward Island, Keewatin, Saskatchewan, and southern
Mackenzie; west to British Columbia (both sides of
Cascade range), Washington. Colorado. Utah, etc.;
breeding south over whole of wooded region east of
Rocky Mountains as far south as Caloosahatchee
River, southern Florida, and as far west as Tom Green
county, western Texas ; wintering from southern
Florida to Bahamas, and through Mexico. Central
.America and South America, as far as Brazil.

If vocal persistence counts for anything, this
Vireo should certainly be one of the very best
known of our birds, for the male often sings
almost incessantly throughout the day, with in-
tervals of rarely more than a few seconds be-
tween jjhrases of his song. Indeed, the pause
between the phrases is so brief that to some ears
the effect has been that of a continuous song.
like the really connected warble of the Robin.
To be sure, the \'ireo's iteration of its phrases
does slightly suggest the Robin's carol, but close
attention will reveal that after all they are sepa-
rate utterances, and not parts of a complete song.
Otherwise one would be forced to admit that the
song frequently lasted almost literally from early
morn to dewy eve. This amazing persistence
has earned for the Red-eye from Wilson Flagg
the nickname of " Preacher Bird."

The Red-eye's song ( if indeed it can properly
be called a song at all), usually consists in the
ceaseless repetition of two-, three-, or four-note
phrases, one of which is delivered with the de-
clarative and the other with the inquiring inflec-
tion, as if the bird were saying over and over
again, and rather petulantly, " Here I am! Here
I am ! Don't you see me ? Don't you hear me ?
Here I am! Don't you see me?" and so on od
infinitum. Indeed, so anxious is he, apparently,
to be both heard and seen, that occasionally he
will sit still for several minutes at a time — a
most unwarbler-like trick — and give himself
entirely to the repetition of his announcement and
inquiry, meanwhile facing first one wav and
then the other, as public speakers do in address-
ing a big audience out of doors.

The Red-eye is frequently selected by the
female Cowbird as the victim upon whom may
be imposed the parental rcsjionsibilities which

she is too lazy to discharge,
remarkable instance of this
photographed several times

Mr. Job records a
kind, in which he
a female Red-eve

■ by H. K. Job Courtesy 01 Uutmg Pub. Co.

RED-EYED VIREO ON ITS NEST

solicitously feeding two voracious voung Cow-
birds, after her own babies had evidently been
smothered and thrown out of the nest by the
pot-bellied interlopers.

104

BIRDS OF AMERICA

Courtesy oi Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.

RED-EYED VIREO (nat. size!
He has the manners of a pubUc speake

PHILADELPHIA VIREO
Vireosylva philadelphica Casshi

A. <>. U. Number Oj

Other Names. — Philadelphia Greenlet ; Brotherly-
love Vireo.

General Description. — Length, 5 inches. Upper
parts, grayish-green : under parts, yellowish.

Color. — Crown, plain niouse-.E;ray ; hindneck, back,
shoulders, rump, and upper tail-coverts, l>lain f/rayish
olivc-grccn : wings and tail, dark brownish-gray or
hair-brown with light olive-greenish edgings, these
broader and more grayish on greater wing-coverts ;
lesser and middle wing-coverts, olive-gray; a distinct
stripe of dull whitish over the eye; a triangular mark
of dusky-gray on the lores and a .streak of the same
color behind the eye; ear and cheek regions, pale

.^ce Color I'l.ite 91

olive, becoming paler (sometimes whitish) beneath eye;
under parts, mostly dull sulpliur or primrose-yellow,
the chin and abdomen whitish, the yellow deepest on
chest; under wing-coverts, pale primrose-yellow; bill,
dark horn color ; iris, brown ; legs and feet, bluish-gray.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest; In fork of willow or other
tree, like rest of the genus. Eggs: 4, similar in size
and markings to Red-eyed Vireo.

Distribution. — Eastern North America ; breeds from
northern and central Alberta, northern Manitoba,
northern Ontario, New Brunswick, and Maine to
northern Michigan and New Hampshire; winters from
Cozumel Island and Guatemala to Veragua.

In its habits, and especially in its character-
istic song, the Philadelphia Vireo resembles his
mtich commoner relative, the Red-eye, which,
however, is mtich the more persistent singer of
the two. Mr. Brewster notes that " the Philadel-
phia Vireo has, however, one note which seems
to be peculiarly its own, a very abrupt, double-
svllabled utterance with a rising inflection, which

comes in with the general song at irregular but
not infrequent intervals." The popular name
" Brotherly-love Vireo " is, of course, in refer-
ence to the use of the name Philadelphia, rather
than in recognition of any marked degree of
brotherly love displayed by the bird. The bird
was discovered by Cassin, near Philadelphia, who
named it in honor of that city.

VIREOS

105

WARBLING VIREO
Vireosylva gilva gilva (I'icilloi)

A. O. U. Xumlicr t.j,- See Color VUW 91

Other Name. — Warbling Greenlet.

General Description. — Length, sJj inches. Upper
parts, greenisli-gray ; under parts, whitish.

Color. — Adults : Crown and hindneck, plain light
mouse-gray or smoke-gray, becoming paler on fore-
head; back, shoulders, and lesser wing-coverts similar
in color to crown but tinged (usually very faintly)
with olive-green ; lower back, rump, and upper tail-
coverts, light grayish olivc-yrccn. or smoke-gray tinged
with olive-green; wings (except lesser coverts) and
tail, deep brownish-gray with pale brownish-gray edg-
ings; a stripe of dull grayish-white or brownish-white
over the eye and extending considerably beyond it ;
sides of head and sides of neck, pale bufify-gray or
pale buflfy-brownish ; under parts, dull white centrally,
passing into pale buffy-olivc or dull pale huffy-ycllov.'-
ish on sides and flanks; under wing-coverts, very pale
primrose-yellow or yellowish-white ; bill, horn-brown ;
iris, brown; legs and feet, pale bluish-gray. Young
(First Plum.\ge): Crown and hindneck, plain pale
grayish-buff; back, shoulders, lesser and middle wing-

coverts, and rump, light buffy -grayish ; wings and tail,
as in adults, but greater wing-coverts indistinctly tipped
with dull brownish-buff or pale huffy-olive; the stripe
over the eye, whitish or buffy-whitish but very indis-
tinct, the sides of the head of similar, passing into
deeper grayish-buffy on upper part of ear region ; under
parts, white.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: On slender, horizontal
branches, usually high, sometimes in the extreme top
of large elms or other shade trees; a double compact
structure, lacking exterior ornamentation of other
species, otherwise built of similar material. Eggs:
Xormally 4, rarely 5, spotted with sepia, umber, and
reddish-brown.

Distribution, — Eastern temperate North America ;
north to Nova Scotia, central Ontario, northern Mani-
toba, and southeastern Alberta, west to North Dakota,
southeastern Montana. South Dakota, Kansas. Okla-
homa, and Te.xas ; breeding from the northern limit
of its range to the Gulf States (Florida to Texas);
winter home unknown, but south of tlie United States.

The \\ arblintj V'ireo seems to be especially
fond of tall shade trees growing along village
streets, but as it works mainly in the tops of
the elms, oaks, and majiles, it is much less fre-
quently seen than heard. The sign of its pres-
ence, far aloft, is a singularly smooth and run-
ning warble, composed of seven or eight notes
and suggesting the song of the Purple Finch,
than which, however, it is much less hurried and
more legato in its exectition. Of its general
character, J\Ir. Mathews says: "Although, note
for note, the first phrase of Chopin's wild but
beautiful Iiiiproniptii Fantasia does not corre-
spond with this Vireo's song, it cannot be denied
that there is a striking similarity in the construc-
tion of the two fragments. Both bits of music
roll triumphantlv toward a high note in a sort of

spontaneous ebullition of feeling, and there the
matter ends — with the \'ireo; but Chopin goes
on, and his sprightly embroidery of tones is ulti-
mately succeeded by the substantial form of a
slow and dignified melody."

Though this Yireo is a very persistent singer
( Ralph HotTmann estimates that he repeats his
song more than four thousand times a day during
the breeding season), there is remarkably little
variation in the form and accent of the phrase.
Almost invariably it is the same rippling run,
delivered with the strongly marked crescendo
which Air, Mathews describes.

In western North America there is a smaller
and darker form of this bird, known as the
Western, or Swainson's, Warbling Vireo {Vireo-
.■ivht'a t/ilra szcainsoni) .

YELLOW-THROATED VIREO

Lani vireo flavifrons (I'iciUot)

\ II. V'. .Xumher l.j.S See Color I'l.itc gi

Other Name. — Yellow-throated Greenlet.

General Description. — Length. 6 inches. Upper
parts, yellowish-olive and gray : under parts, yellow and
white.

Color. — Adults: Crown, hindneck, and back, plain

yrllmcisli-oli'L'i- : sides of neck, ear and cheek regions,
and sides of chest, plain yellowish olive-green; a stripe
over the eye and a spot under it. front portion of
cheek region, chin, throat, chest, and breast, canary
ycllozv: abdomen, anal region, and under tail-coverts.

io6

BIRDS OF AMERICA

white ; flanks, pale grayish ; under wing-coverts, white
tinged with yellow ; lesser wing-coverts, shoulders,
lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts, plain slate-
gray; wings (except lesser coverts) and tail, black;
middle and greater wing-coverts (except innermost),
broadly tipped with white, forming two conspicuous
bands ; inner wing quills broadly edged with white
(this sometimes tinged with yellow) ; bill, grayish-
black ; iris, brown ; legs and feet, light grayish-blue.
Young: Crown, hindneck, back, shoulders, lesser wing-
coverts, rump, and upper tail-coverts, plain soft brown-
ish-gray ; line above the lores, eye ring, chin, throat,
and chest, very pale yellow, shading into deeper yellow
on cheek and under eye regions, and on lower portion
of ear region; rest of under parts, white; wing-quills,
tail-feathers, and larger wing-coverts as in adults,
but edgings of secondaries, pale yellow.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Pensile, in fork of decidu-
ous tree from 5 to 30 feet up. in secluded woods ;
constructed of narrow bark strips and grass com-
pactly woven and artistically decorated with cocoons,
spiders' nests, and lichens firmly tied on with spider-
webs. Eggs : 3 to 5, usually 4, pinkish-white, more
heavily marked than rest of genus, with umber-brown,
sepia, and chestnut.

Distribution. — Eastern United States and southern
British Provinces ; north to Maine. Vermont, northern
New York, southern Ontario, southern Quebec, and
southern Manitoba west to edge of Great Plains;
breeding south to Gulf coast, from northern Florida
to southern Texas; in winter from southern Florida
and Cuba southward through eastern Mexico and
Central America to Colombia ; casual in winter in
Cuba and Bahamas.

Like the Warbling Vireo, the Yellow-throated
species is essentially a tree-top bird, but probably
it is much the more frequently seen of the two,
for the reason that its plumage includes quite
strong color contrasts, while the Warbline

Photo by A. A. Allen

YELLOW-THROATED VIREO
Incubating twenty-five feet from the ground in a chestnut tree

species' colors are comparatively inconspicuotis.
Also like that species, this bird frequently builds
in shade trees, and from their topmost branches
sends down its characteristic and frequently
repeated song, which somewhat resembles that

of the Red-eyed member of the family. A com-
monly expressed distinction between the two
utterances is that the quality of the Red-eye's
voice is soprano, while that of the Yellow-
throat is contralto; but Mr. Mathews defines the
difference more accurately by this analysis : " It
is nearer the truth to say. rather, that the Yel-
low-throat has a violin qtiality to his voice, or
better, a reedlike qtiality ; Bradford Torrey calls
it an ' organ tone.' At any rate there is no clear
whistle to this Vireo's music, and on the con-
trary there is to the Red-eye's music. That is
the whole matter in a nut-shell ! For the rest I
may add that the Yellow-throat's tempo is much
slower and that he does not indulge in such an
interminable amount of singing!"

E. H. Eaton records having found this Warbler
nesting in Central Park, New York city, and
also in shade trees in Rochester, Medina, Canan-
daigua, and Buft'alo. and adds this further inter-
esting observation : " I have found that in some
localities where it was common years ago it has
disappeared, and made its appearance in other
localities where it was formerly unknown. This
shifting of its centers of abundance is difficult
to explain, but I have noticed in certain small
parks and about many groves and on certain
streets where it has been carefully watched, this
species has disappeared the next season after it
was unsuccessful in rearing its young, due to
its having been parasitized by the Cowbird.
Probably this catise and other unfavorable cir-
cumstances, like the destruction of its brood by
Screech Owls or unfavorable weather conditions,
left no descendants to repeople the accustomed
grove."

C^v.-lvsy of tn./ Nc-w Yo.« State Museun

Plate ql

•"^ •■_ -^^y-^

WARBLING VIREO I

YOUN

RED-EYED VIREO } ircinilli-a otirn,:,: i I.itiiiaous)

YELLOW-THROATED VIREO La itirim Ihi cifruns (N'ii.illot)
WHITE-EYED ViREO V irto ijn.s, us tjri^run ( Bi>il(lucrt i
All Vi nat. size

PHILADELPHIA VIREO
VircoHiUu pliihidtlphu-a Cassln
. BLUE-HEADED VIREO

Lanivnvu sulUaiius mliUniu^ (Wilson)

VIREOS

lo:

BLUE-HEADED VIREO

Lanivireo solitarius solitarius {irHson)

Other Names. — Solitary Vireo ; Blue-headed Green-
let.

General Description. — Length, 5'4 inches. Fore
parts, .^late : upper parts, olive-green; under parts, wliitc.

Color. — Adults: Croicn. hiinliu-cl,-, sides of lu-ck.
regions around the ears and under the eyes, and
cheeks, slate-color or dee/^ slate-gray, deepening into
slate-blackish on Ijack portion of lores ; front and
upper portions of lores and broad eye-ring (interrupted
in the front by blackish loral mark), white; back,
shoulders, rump, and upper tail-coverts, plain olive-
green, the first usually intermixed with slate-gray;
wings and tail, slate-blackish with light olive-green edg-
ings, the outermost tail-feathers with outer web, white;
middle and greater wing-coverts, broadly tipped with
yellowish-white or pale sulphur-yellow, forming two

sulphur-yellow, yellowish-white, or white faintly tinged
with yellow ; under wing-coverts pale sulphur-yellow ;
inner webs of wing- and tail-feathers edged with white;
hill, black; iris, deep brown; legs and feet, grayish-
blue. Young: Similar to adults but duller in color,
with gray of head much tinged with brown, olive-green
of back, browner, and white of under parts less pure.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Pendant, in terminal forks
of horizontal branches within lo feet of ground; con-
structed of bark strips, leaves, weed stems, and cater-
pillar cocoons and firmly fastened witli vegetable-
strings and hair and lined with fine grasses. Kr.c.^ :
3 to 5, white or creamy, spotted with umber and chest-
nut, chiefly around large end.

Distribution. — Eastern North America: north to
Prince Edward Island, Keewatin, Athabasca, and

■ing by R. I. Brasher

BLUE-HEADED VIREO ij i
Early to arrive in the spring and ofte

remarkably tame

distinct bands ; wing-quills with outer webs broadly
edged with yellowish-white or pale sulphur-yellow;
chin, throat, and middle under parts of body, white;
sides and flanks, mi.xed sulphur-yellow and olive-green-
ish, in broad, ill-detnied stripes ; under tail-coverts, pale

southern Mackenzie; west to border of the Great
Plains ; breeding southward to Connecticut, Pennsyl-
vania, and North Dakota; wintering in the Gulf States,
Cuba, and southward through eastern Mexico to
Guatemala.

He whose ears are attuned to the harmonies of
nattire may find the Bkie-headed or Solitary
\'irco on warm April days or in early May in
the wooded regions of most of the northeastern
States. It may be recognized by its bltiish head,
the white ring around the eye, and the pure white
throat. It heralds its presence at this time bv its
wild sweet song, a charming cadence of the
woiidcd wilderness. Its notes seem more spirit-
ual and less commonplace than those of the
familiar V'ireos of village and farmstead.

The bird itself is no more solitary in migra-

tion than other \'ireos, although it is not numer-
otis or gregarious, but in the nesting season it
seeks the cool and grateful shade of pine or hem-
lock trees. It does not avoid mankind but dwells
near him only when he lives in its favorite forest
retreats. Like some other species it has proved
so confiding at times as to allow a jierson to
stroke its back as it sat on its beautiful pensile
nest.

This Vireo is one of the conservators of the
forest — a caterpillar hunter of renown — one of
a number of arboreal birds which guard the trees

io8

BIRDS OF AMERICA

against the too destructive attacks of quickly
multiplying scaly-winged hosts.

Edward Howe Forbusii.

There are in North America four regional
varieties of the Blue-headed Vireo. The Moun-

' by J. Alden Lonng

BLUE-HEADED VIREO
d is one of the conservators of the

tain, or Mountain Solitary, Vireo {Lanivireo
solitariiis alticola) is larger and slightly darker in
coloration, with the back more often mixed with
gray and sometimes with more gray than olive-
green ; it breeds in the Alleghenies from western
Maryland to eastern Tennessee and northern
Georgia and winters in the lowlands from South
Carolina to Florida. The Plumbeous Vireo [Lani-
virco solitariiis plnmbciis) of the southern Rocky
Mountain Region is very similar to the Mountain
X'ireo, but its back and shoulders are entirely
gray, the rump and upper tail-coverts gray,
tinged with olive-green and its sides and flanks
are much more faintly washed with yellow ; it
breeds from northern Nevada, northern Utah,
northeastern Wyoming and southwestern South
Dakota south through i\rizona and southwestern
Texas to the mountains of Mexico. Cassin's
Vireo (Lanivirco solitariiis cassini) is much like
the Blue-headed Vireo but averages slightly
smaller and much duller in color ; it breeds from
central British Columbia, southwe:^tern Alberta,
and western Montana south through California
and western Nevada to the San Pedro Martir
Alountains, Lower California; in migration it is
found in Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and New
Mexico, and in winter in Mexico. The San Lucas,
or San Lucas Solitary, Vireo (Lanivirco soli-
tariiis Iiicasaniis) is like Cassin's Vireo but smaller
and with decidedly larger bill and with more
yellow and less olive on the sides and flanks ; it
is a resident of the Cape San Lucas region of
Lower California.

BLACK-CAPPED VIREO

Vireo atricapillus ]]'oodlioiise

A, O. U. Number 630

Other Name. — Black-capped Greenlet.

General Description. — Length, 4% inches. Fore
parts, black; upper parts, olive-green; under parts,
white.

Color. — Lores and a broad eye-ring, white, the latter
interrupted on upper eyelid ; rest of head and neck,
except cliin and throat, uniform black (oldest birds?)
or black and slate-gray (younger birds?) ; back,
shoulders, rump, upper tail-coverts, and lesser wing-
coverts, clear olive-green ; wings (except lesser coverts)
and tail, dull black or dusky with light olive-green edg-
ings ; the middle and greater wing-coverts broadly
tipped with pale yellow, forming two conspicuous bands

across wing ; under parts, including chin and throat,
white, passing into light olive-yellow or pale yellowish
olive-green on sides and flanks ; under wing-coverts
sulphur or primrose-yellow ; bill, black ; iris, brownish-
red ; legs and feet, grayish-blue.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest; Usually suspended from
forks of elm, oak. or mesquite saplings, within 6 feet of
the ground; a perfectly woven structure of bark strips,
grasses, skeleton leaves, spiders' webs, and caterpillar
silk. Eggs: 3 to 4, pure white, unmarked.

Distribution. — Southwestern Kansas southward
through Oklahoma and west-central Texas; southward
in winter to Mexico, as far as State of Sinaloa.

VIREOS

109

\'ireos are likely to be rather deliberate birds
in comparison with the Warblers, but the Black-
capped \'ireo is decidedly energetic in its move-
ments. Furthermore it is the single American
member of its faniilv with the head down to the
throat black, except for the small white triangular
patch running from the eye to the angle of the
hill and the forehead.

The bird seems to have been first described in
1 85 1 by Dr. W'oodhouse. who took his specimen
near the San Pedro River, 208 miles from San

Antonio, and later by John J. Clark, natural-
ist of the Mexican Uoundary Commission, who
found it in Mexico near the locality in which it
was seen by Dr. W'oodhouse. Both observers had
their attention attracted to the bird by its sharji
and unmusical chirp. Its song, Mrs. Bailey savs,
is unusually varied for a Vireo, though of the
general character of those of the W'hite-eved
and Bell's \"ireos, rather than that of the Warb-
ling \'ireo. "One song contained a run, and its
L'l'-t notes were liquid, loud, and emphatic."

WHITE-EYED VIREO

Vireo griseus griseus ( Hixhlocrt)

.\. O. U. Number (..ii See Color PLnte qi

Other Names. — White-eyed Greeiilet ; Politician.

General Description. — Length, 5'4 inches. Upper
parts, groeni^li-ohve : under parts, white.

Color. — Adults; Above, plain greenish-olive or dull
olive-green, usually passing into grayish on hindneck ;
wings and tail, dusky grayish-brown with light olive-
green edgings, the middle and greater wing-coverts
rather broadly tipped with pale yellow or yellowish-
white, producing two distinct bands across wing; a
stfij^c above the lores and a narroiv eye-ring of canary
or sulphur-yellow: a dtisky stripe across the lores;
ear and under eye regions and sides of neck, grayish-
olive or olive-gray; chin, throat, central portion of
chest and breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts, dull
white, passing into pale yellott.' zcashed icith olive, on
sides and flanks, the chest and breast tinged with
yellow or grayish (or both), the anal region and
shorter under tail-coverts also tinged with yellow ;
under wing-coverts pale yellow or yellowish-white ; bill,
black ; iris, white ; legs and feet, grayish-blue. Young :
Similar to adults, but upper parts, duller and browner ;
the stripe above the lores and the eye-ring, grayish-
white or brownish-white instead of yellow; chin, throat,
and chest, very pale gray or brownish-gray; sides and
flanks, pale olive-yellow; iris, brownish (hazel).

Nest and Eggs. — Xest : In low bush, rarely more
than 4 feet up, pensile ; constructed of grass and bark
strips and decorated exteriorly with brown or white
spiders' nests, bits of rotten wood, or newspaper and
rags and lined with fine grass and some hair. Eciis :
3 to 5, white, li,ghtly spotted with dark purjjle and
chestnut around large end.

Distribution. — Eastern United States ; breeds from
snutheastern Nebraska, southern Wisconsin, New York,
and Alassachusetts to central Texas and central Flor-
ida ; winters from Texas, Georgia, Florida, and South
Carolina through eastern Mexico to Yucatan and

Guatemala; casual north to Vermont, Ontario, and
New Brunswick, and in Cuba.

K/

Drawing by R. I. Brasher

WHITE-EYED VIREO (5
ible little fellow who gives intrude

The White-eyed Vireo is one of the distinct
characters of bird-land — pert, abusive, and sar-
castic by turns, but always clever and amusing.
Chip-a-7ccc-o, Mr. Torrey very accuratelv

transliterated his characteristic and contemptu-
ous salutation as you approach his thicket, and
Whip To]ii Kelly is a word-equivalent which
.Mexander Wilson found in use in the South —

no

BIRDS OF AMERICA

though this injunction seems a much closer ren-
dition of the Chewink's phrase. " Who are yoii,
now ?" the bird demanded of Mr. Torrey ; and to
others he has shouted : " Get out ! Beat it !" al-

Cuurte.y ui Outing Pub. Co.
WHITE-EYED VIREO FEEDING YOUNG

most as jjlainly and peremptorily as a New
York policeman says " (iwan " to the corner-
loafer.

Not even the loquacious Yellow-breasted Chat

has so sharp a tongue. Indeed, the Chat is, after
all, essentially a clown and a nonsense-vendor,
while the White-eye is tart and severe and de-
cidedly inclined to be expostulatory and dicta-
torial. As Mr. Torrey says: "This Vireo is
the very prince of stump-speakers — fluent, loud,
and sarcastic — and is well called the politician,
though it is a disappointment to learn that the
title was given him not for his eloquence, but
on account of his habit of putting pieces of news-
paper into his nest."

Two regional varieties of the White-eyed
Vireo are found within the boundaries of the
United States. The Key West, or Maynard's,
Vireo ( Vireo grisciis inaynardi) is larger, the
upper parts average grayer, sometimes with more
gray than greenish-olive, and the yellow of sides
and flanks averages much paler, sometimes con-
sisting of a mere tinge or wash of pale olive-
yellow ; it is found in the Florida Keys and the
coast district of Florida. The Small White-
eyed Vireo ( Vireo griscus micriis) is similar in
color to the Key W'est Vireo but is even smaller
than the White-eyed Vireo: it is found in the
Rio < irande valley of Texas and northeastern
Mexico.

BELL'S VIREO
Vireo belli belli Audubon

Other Name. — Bell's Greenlet.

General Description. — Length. 5'4 inches. Upper
parts, olive-green ; under parts, whitish.

Color. — Adults : Crown and hindneck. dull grayish-
brown, sometimes tinged with olive; rest of upper
parts, dull olive-green or greenish-olive; v/ings and
tail, deep grayish-brown with paler edgings ; middle
and greater wing-coverts (except the innermost) tipped
with dull whitish, forming two bands ; a narrow eye-
ring and a streak above the lores of dull white; ear
and under eye regions, pale grayish^brown or brownish-
gray ; a dusky mark at front corner of eyes; central
under parts dull white tinged with buffy-yellowish,
especially on chest, the sides and flanks light olive-
yellow; under tail-coverts, pale sulphur-yellow; under
wing-coverts yellowish-white; bill, horn-brown; iris,
brown ; legs and feet, bluish-gray. Young : Much like

umber 6.,3

adults, but crown and hindneck. soft drab; back and
shoulders, dark drab ; under parts nearly pure white
with sides, flanks, and under tail-coverts tinged with
sulphur-yellow, and wing-bands more distinct.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest : A neat, smoothly built
structure of bark strips, plant fibers, and leaves and
lined with fine grass, down, rootlets, and hair; sus-
pended by brim from forks of small trees or bushes.
Encs: Commonly 4, though rarely sets of 8 are
found ; white, thinly spotted with brown around large
end.

Distribution. — Prairie districts of Mississippi valley,
from South Dakota, southern Minnesota, Iowa, north-
ern Illinois, and northwestern Indiana southward to
eastern Texas and Tamaulipas ; in winter southward
over greater part of Mexico and Guatemala; accidental
in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

In its normal range, which is very wide. Bell's
Vireo is quite common. It seems to be especially
fond of dense patches of brush and briers, and
hedge-fences. In its habits, and especially in its

song, it resembles the W^hite-eyed Vireo inore
than anv other member of its family. Dr. Coues
thought that some of its notes were like those of
the Bluebird in the spring, though more hurriedly

WARBLERS

III

delivered. Mr. Ridgway likened the song to that
of the White-eve. hut considered the utterance
more sputtering and in that respect similar to
that of the House Wren.

The Texas \'ireo {lirca belli iiwdiiis) is
found in southwestern Texas and south into
central Mexico; it is paler in coloration than its
type species. Bell's \'ireo. and its tail is rela-
tively longer, its crown and hindneck are hrown-
ish-gray instead of grayish-brown, the olive
of its upper parts, grayer, and its under jiarts.
whiter.

The Least Vireo {I'irco ht-lli piisilltis) is a
plain grayish little bird of the willows and thick-

ets in central California, soutli western Nevada,
and western Texas south to northern Lower
California and the valley of Mexico. It is even
|ialer and grayer than the Texas Vireo.

.'\nother species of the Vireo family is the
Gray \ireo {I'lrco vicinior). It is very much
like the Least \ireo hut the wing-bars are miss-
ing. It is also very similar to the Plvmibeous
Vireo but its colnration is duller and lacks the
sharj) contrasts of the Plumbeous. The Gray
\'ireo makes its home in southern California,
southern Nevada, the Grand Canon of the Colo-
rado, and southeastern Colorado south to Lower
California. Sonora. and Durango.

WARBLERS

Order Passcrcs : suborder Osc!)ics ; family Miiiotiltidcr

.■\RBLERS are essentially — most of them strictly — insectivorous birds
of active habits. Most of them are arboreal, nesting and feeding among
the trees and rarely descending to the grottnd; some are terrestrial, living
much upon or near the ground, where they walk in the graceful " mincing "
manner of a Wagtail or Pipit, meanwhile tilting the body, as if upon a pivot,
and oscillating the tail in the same characteristic manner. Most of them
are expert flycatchers. Others creep about the trunks and branches of trees
as nimbly as a Nuthatch. The majority of them combine, in various degrees,
these several habits.

As a rule the Warblers are birds of beautiful plumage, though their
attractiveness in this respect consists in the tasteful arrangement or " pattern "
of the colors rather than in their brilliancy. Yellow is the most common and characteristic
hue, though this is usually relieved by markings or areas of black, gray, olive-green, or
white, usually by two or more of these colors; red is not infrequent, grayish-blue less
common; while pure blue, green, and purple are never present, and the plumage is never
glossy. There is generally a sexual difference of plumage, and very often the young are
different from either adult.

Many of the Warblers have attractive songs; but perhaps the inajority, at least among
the North American species, are songsters of very ordinary or inferior merit.

The group of Warblers is peculiar to America, where it is the second largest family.
It represents the Syhiidcc and Muscicapidcc of the eastern hemisphere. Over 150 species
and subspecies belonging to 21 genera are recognized. It contains a larger proportion of
one-type species than most families of song-birds, nearly one-half of the genera being
each represented by but a single known species.

There is probably no finer tribute to the beneficial character of these birds than that
of Dr. Elliott Coues, who said: "With tireless industry do the Warblers befriend the
human race; their unconscious zeal plays due part in the nice adjustment of Nature's forces,
helping to bring about the balance of vegetable and insect life, without which agriculture
would be in vain. They visit the orchard when the apple and pear, the peach, plum, and
cherry are in bloom, seeining to revel carelessly amid the sweet-scented and delicately-
tinted blossoms, but never faltering in their good work. They peer into the crevices of
the bark, scrutinize each leaf, and explore the very heart of the buds, to detect, drag forth,
and destroy these tiny creatures, singly insignificant, collectively a scourge, which prey
upon the hopes of the fruit-grower and which, if undisturbed, would bring his care to naught.
Some Warblers flit incessantly in the terminal foliage of the tallest trees; others hug close

Vol.. III. — 9

112 BIRDS OF AMERICA

to the scored trunks and gnarled boughs of the forest kings; some peep from the thicket,
the coppice, the impenetrable mantle of shrubbery that decks tiny watercourses, playing
at hide-and-seek with all comers; others more humble still descend to the ground, where
they glide with pretty, mincing steps and affected turning of the head this way and that,
their delicate flesh-tinted feet just stirring the layer of withered leaves with which a past
season carpeted the ground."

BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER
Mniotilta varia {Litnurus)

A. O. U. N'uml)er 636 See Color Plate gj

Other Names. — Black and White Creeper; Blue and
White Striped or Pied Creeper ; Black and White
Creeping Warbler ; Creeping Warbler ; Striped War-
bler ; Varied Creeping Warbler ; Whitepoll Warbler.

General Description. — Length, 5l< inches. Plum-
age, black and white in stripes. Bill, shorter than head
and very slender; wings, long and pointed; tail, even
or very slightly forked, the feathers rather narrow.

Color. — Adult Male: Crown with a broad center
stripe of white and two still broader lateral stripes of
black, slightly glossed with blue; rrst of upper parts
(e.xcept wing- and tail-feathers), slightly glossy blue-
black, the back and shoulders streaked zvith white, mid-
dle and greater wing-coverts, broadly tipped with white
(forming two conspicuous bands'), and inner wing-quills,
broadly edged with white; secondaries and primaries,
grayish black narrowly edged with gray; middle tail-
feathers, black centrally, gray laterally, the gray
broader; other tail-feathers, grayish-black narrowly
edged with gray, the two outermost with a large space
of white on inner web, and all with inner webs edged
with white; eye-ring and a broad stripe above the eyes,
white; below this an elongated patch of slightly glossy
blue-black covering lores and sides of head ; a broad
white cheek stripe ; under parts, mainly white, but throat
usually black ; sides, from chest to flanks, inclusive,
broadly streaked or striped with blue-black ; under tail-

coverts, black centrally, broadly margined with white;
bill, black; iris, brown; legs and feet, dusky horn color.
Adult Female: Smaller and much duller in color, the
white everywhere more or less tinged with buffy-brown-
ish ; the throat, white; the lores, wholly pale grayish;
the sides of head pale buffy-grayish margined above by
a narrow streak behind eye of black; streaks of sides
much less distinct, becoming grayish on sides of chest ;
and flanks strongly tinged with brownish-buff; bill,
black.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest ; On ground at foot of tree,
bush, stump, or rock, among upturned roots or along-
side a log; rather bulky; constructed of dead leaves,
strips of bark, grasses, weed stems, lined with hair;
sometimes partly roofed, in half-hearted imitation of
the Oven-bird's home. Eggs : Normally s, white or
creamy speckled and spotted all over with brown and
chestnut, the markings usually collecting in wreath
formation around large end.

Distribution. — Eastern North America, north to
upper Mackenzie valley. Hudson Bay, breeding south-
ward to Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas,
(probably to upper sections of other Gulf States) ;
wintering from the Gulf States southward throughout
the West Indies, Mexico, and Central America to
Colombia and Venezuela ; accidental in California and
in the Bermudas.

Bird-names of popular origin often reveal
queer inisapprehensions as to the birds concerned,
but the name " Black and White Creeper," by
which this bird has commonly been known, has

the advantage of being accurately descriptive.
For the bird certainly is black and white ; and
furthermore it creeps about on the tree trunks
and branches with even more celerity and skill

Photo by H, K, J..h

MALE BLACK AND WHITE WARILER FEEDING YOUNG

Court.^sy ol th.r N.^w York Static Mus.-ir.n

Plate 92

BLACK AND WHITE WARBLER Minolill.i r,ir,„ (I.iiiiiiiPUs)

WATER-THRUSH

-ir.ir,-,,.^!-^ iiurrhi.rarei,
OVEN-BIRD Sn

! (GmeliiO

',s aun,c„p,ll„s (I.i

WORM-EATING WARBLER

PROTHONOTARY WARBLER

Pnil,„:,il„n., cl/r.a (JioddatTt)
LOUISIANA WATER-THRUSH
S.ii,nis„wt„cilla Vielllot

WARBLERS

113

than is shown by the Brown Creeper, for ex-
ample. That bird does not attempt to come
down a tree trunk head foremost, nor to circle a
horizontal limb, feats which are managed with
Nuthatch-like ease by the Black and White
Warbler. Altogether the Warbler is a much
better " creeper " than the Creeper is. However,
for reasons which doubtless seem good and suffi-
cient to them, the ornithologists have seen fit
to eliminate from the bird's name the term which
describes its most characteristic habit, and the
inclusion of which certainly would have been of
much assistance in identifying the species.

The literal translation of its scientific name,
is very appropriate; Miiiotilta means moss-
plucking and refers to its habit of searching in
the moss on trees for its insect food ; z'aria is

variegated and, of course, has reference to the
striped eil'ect of its coloration.

The terms " wiry " and " thin " are usually em-
ployed in describing this bird's songs, and are
perhaps as descriptive as any that could be used.
One song consists of eight or ten notes of the
same pitch and tone uttered in closely connected
couplets, the syllables being like jTt-i' and
zcivcc. The other, wliich is less frequently
heard, though it is longer than the one first men-
tioned, has about the same beginning, but shows
more variation in its development, while the tone,
a sort of lisping whistle, is mellower and more
musical. About the most that can truthfully be
said of these utterances is that the bird seems to
have made the best use of a feeble and none too
musical instrument.

PROTHONOTARY WARBLER

Protonotaria citrea (Boddacrt)

.\ II L'. .Numhrr <.i7 See (olor Plate gj

Other Names. — Gulden Warbler ; Gnlden Swamp
Warbler; Willow Warhler.

General Description. — Length, 5' 2 inches. Fore
and under parts, yellow ; upper parts, yellowish olive-
green. Bill, shorter than head, wedge-shaped ; wing,
rather long and with long pointed tip ; tail, slightly
rounded.

Color. — Adult M.ale- Head, neck, and under parts
{except under tail-cozerts) . rich yellow, the head some-
times tinged or flecked with cadmium orange ; back and
shoulders, plain yellowish olive-green, this sometimes
extending forward over hindneck and back of head;
rump, upper tail-covert.s, wing-coverts, and inner wing-
feathers, plain gray; secondaries, primaries, and tail-
feathers, black, edged with slate-gray, the inner webs
of tail-feathers (except middle pair), white tipped with
blackish: under tail-coverts, white; under wing-coverts,
white, tinged with yellow ; inner webs of wing-feathers,
edged with white; bill, black in summer, lighter colored
in winter; iris, brown; legs and feet, dusky. .Adult
Female: Similar to the male, but smaller and much
duller in color; olive-green of back extended forward

over hindneck and crown : yellow of under parts, less
intense, tinged with olive, and becoming much paler
on abdomen and flanks, the latter strongly tinged with
olive ; bill, dusky in summer, lighter colored in winter.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Usually in deserted hole of
a Downy Woodpecker or Chickadee, otherwise in almost
any cavity or hole, from 2 to 15 feet up (averag-
ing about 5) and almost always in a stump stand-
ing or leaning over water; carefully and thickly lined
with moss. Eccs : 5 to 7, commonly 6, varying from
creamy-white to buffy-white, glossy, heavily blotched
with rich chestnut, lavender, and purple.

Distribution. — More southern portions of eastern
United States, breeding from Gulf States (northern
Florida to eastern Texas), north to Virginia, southern
Ohio, Indiana, southern Michigan, northeastern Illi-
nois, Iowa, southeastern Minnesota, eastern Nebraska,
etc., occasionally northward to Massachusetts, south-
eastern New York. Ontario, and Wisconsin, casually
to Maine and New Brunswick; south in winter to
Cuba and through eastern Mexico and Central .America
to Ci:ilombia. N'enezuela, and Trinidad.

The Prothonotary Warbler is a southern
\\'^arbler whose range does not extend as far as
Canada. It is coinmon in the Ohio vallev and in
the Carolinas and on down in the bottom lands
of the Mississippi and the rivers that flow into
the Gulf of Mexico. Rut everywhere it must
have its home by running water and generally
in the willows. It prefers those districts which

sufTer from spring floods. This has given it the
names of the Golden Swamp Warbler and \\i\-
low Warbler. There is no use looking for the
bird awav from a stream or swamp. It does not
stray awav. With its sweet and penetrating pert,
tweet, t-cvcet. tzvect or siveet. sweet, sweet, sweet.
it tells the traveler that water is near. \\'hen the
bird is found he is generally industriously going

114

BIRDS OF AMERICA

over and over the area he has chosen, feeding
up and down among the bushes and trees and
never very far from the nest.

The nesting site is very Hkely to be an old
Woodpecker hole but often a ledge or crotch
serves as well. When the hole is deep it is filled
to within a few inches of the top, generally with

green moss, but with more shallow places the
nest building is a much less laborious task.

The bird is rarely seen in the migrating
Warbler flocks, for most of these flocks are off
for far northern climes. The Prothonotary on the
other hand has a special taste for more southern
streams and swamp lands.

SWAINSON'S WARBLER
Helinaia swainsoni (Amliibou)

A O. U. Number 038

General Description.— Length, 6 inches. Upper
parts, ohve ; under parts, yellowish. Bill, nearly as
long as head, narrow, wedge-shaped ; wings, moderately
long and rather pointed ; tail, slightly forked or double
rounded, the feathers broad.

Color. — Adults (sexes alike) : Crown, plain
brown, sometimes with an indistinct center streak of
paler, or an indication of one; back, shoulders, rump,
upper tail-coverts, and wing-coverts, plain olive ; inner
wing-quills, warmer brown : secondaries and primaries,
dusky edged with light brown or olive; tail, plain olive
brown ; a narrow stripe over eye of light yellowish-
buff; a triangular spot of dusky in front of eye; a
streak behind eye of brownish; sides of head otherwise,
pale buffy-brownish ; under parts, pale dull yellowish,

shaded with olive-grayish laterally; bill, light brownish;
iris, brown ; legs and feet, pale flesh color.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Usually built among canes,
sometimes in small bushes, from three to ten feet above
tlie ground ; generally in swampy locations but some-
times on high land some distance from water, and is
a remarkably large affair of water-soaked sweet gum,
water oak, pepperidge or holly leaves, lined with fine
pine needles and moss. Eggs : 3, rarely 4, plain dull
wliite. creamy or bluish-white, without markings.

Distribution. — Southeastern United States ; breeds
from southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois, southern
Indiana, and southeastern Virginia south to Louisiana
and northern Florida ; winters in Jamaica ; migrates
through Cuba and the Bahamas ; casual in Nebraska,
Texas, and Vera Cruz.

awing by R. I. Brasher
SWAINSON'S WARBLER (J nat. size)
A strange, rare, southern bird

^

^

/ /

WARBLERS

115

Swainson's \\ arbler is a strange, rare, soulli-
ern bird. He is so strange that one hardly ex-
pects to call such a plain brown and white bird
gliding so gracefully along under the bushes a
Warbler. He is so rare that one may search for
days and not find him. Even in the South, one
has to confine one's search for him to the coastal
swamps from the Dismal Swam]) of Virginia
down through the " jjineland gal! " of the Caro-
linas, west in the vine-tangled .senfitrnpical ver-
dure of the (iulf coast and up the .Mississi]ipi and
some of its tributaries in the thickets nf the bot-
tom lands.

In describing the song. Mr. W illiam llrewster
says it is " a performance so remarkable that it
can scarcely fail to attract the dullest ear, while
it is not likely to be soon forgotten. It consists

of a series of clear, ringing whistles, the first
four uttered rather slowly and in the same key,
the remaining five or six given more rapidly, and
in an evenly descending scale, like those of the
Canon Wren. ... In general eft'ect it recalls
the song of the \\ ater-thrush. . . . It is very
loud, very rich, very beautiful, while it has an
indescribably tender (puility that thrills the senses
after the sound has ceased. . . . Although a
rarely fer\ent and ecstatic smigster, our little
friend is als(.) a fitful an<l uncertain one. You
may wait fur Imurs near his retreat e\en in early
morning or late afterndun, without hearing a
note. But when the inspiratinn comes he floods
the woods with music, one song often following
another so cpiickly that there is scarce a pause
for breath between."

WORM-EATING WARBLER

Helmitheros vermivorus {Gmclin)

;\. n. V. Number 659 See fnlnr Tlate 92

Other Names. — Worm-eater : \^'or^l-eatiI1p: Swamp
W'arhler.

General Description. — Length. 5'j iiirhc;. Upper
parts, grayish olive-green ; under parts, huffy. Rill,
decidedly shorter than head, wedge-shaped ; wings,
rather long and pointed; tail, even or very slightly
rounded, the feathers moderately hroad.

Color. — Adults (sexes alike': Crown with two hroad
lateral strlf>cs of Hack and a center one of olive-huff :
rest of upper parts, plain grayish olive-.green ; a hroad
stripe over eye of pale buff, margined beneath by a

rather broad streak of black behind eye; a triangular
spot of the same, or dusky grayish, in front of eye;
sides of head below this black line, with entire under
parts, pale dull huffy, deepest on chest, paler on throat
and abdomen (the latter sometimes nearly white),
tinged with grayish-olive on flanks; under tail-coverts,
pale olive-grayish, edged and broadly tipped with pale
yellowish-buff: bill, brown; iris, brown; legs and feet,
pale brownish flesh cnlnr.

Nest and Eggs.— Xkst: On the ground, generally
on a woody hillside: constructed of dead leaves and

WORM-EATING WARBLER

[e spends most of his time on the ground
within a few feet of it

Ii6

BIRDS OF AMERICA

nearly always lined with red flower-stalks of hair moss.
Eggs: 3 to 6, usually 4, white thinly or thickly marked
with spots and blotches of Indian red, lavender, and
chestnut sometimes wreathed but more often evenly
•distributed.

Distribution.— Eastern United States, more common
southerly, breeding northward to southern Connecticut,

southeastern New York (lower Hudson valley), Penn-
sylvania, southern Wisconsin (vicinity of Racine), etc.,
occasional in Massachusetts ; in migration casually to
Massachusetts, Vermont, western New York, southern
Ontario, and southern Wisconsin ; winters south to
Bahamas, Cuba, Jamaica, and through eastern Mexico
and Central America to Panama.

The Worm-eating Warbler is distinctly a
ground Warbler, a very differently acting bird
from most of the Warbler family. Most of them
are rather excitable, nervous birds of the tree-
tops. The Womi-eater is a quiet bird that
spends most of his time on the ground or within
a few feet of it, walking, not running; and some-
times creeping along a tree trunk like the Brown
Creeper or the Black and White Warbler. On
the ground this bird is rather cocky-acting, step-
ping along deliberately under the huckleberry
bushes or other dense undergrowth, with his tail
slightly raised. He has a smart and jaunty air
and also a shy disposition that reminds one of a
Thrush at his sprightliest.

The Worm-eating W^arbler is not so rare as it
has been credited, ^^'here bird students have
given time to search his haunts, he has been found

fairly common as far north as southern New
England, southern Michigan, and Nebraska. But
the search for him has to be itiade in ravines and
on dry forested hillsides where the undergrowth
makes a convenient nesting site. This bird loves
his home locality. It has been frequently ob-
served how year after year the birds will come
back to the same thicket, building their new
nest within sight of the old ones.

Its ordinary song is a weak affair, closely
resembling that of the Chipping Sparrow, but
Mr. Burroughs says: "The bird has a flight
song, uttered near sundown, nearly as brilliant
as that of the Oven-bird." { MS.) The call is a
sharp dst, and he who watches closely and
silently in the tangle when it is heard may be
rewarded bv a sight of this bird with the buff and
black striped head.

Other Names.— Blue-Winged Yellow Warbler ; Blue-
Winged Swamp Warbler.

General Description. — Length, 434 inches. Upper
parts, olive-green ; under parts, lemon-yellow. Bill,
shorter than head, narrowly wedge-shaped, the tip very

BLUE-WINGED WARBLER
Vermivora pinus ( Liniucus).

\ O. V. Number 641 See Color Plate 93

moderately long ; tail, about A4 length of

acute : wmg

wing, even or nearly even, the feathers narrow.

Color.^ Adult M.\le : Forehead and crown, bright
lemon yellow: hack of head, hindneck. back, shoulders,
rump, and upper tait-coverls. bright olire-iireen. more

Photo by H. K

BUTE-WINGED WARBLER FEEDING YOUNG

WARBLERS

117

yellowish on rump, the upper tail-coverts tinged with
gray: wiiig-coverts and inner wing-feathers, gray, the
middle and greater coverts usually tipped with it7ii/t\
forminn tzvo bands; secondaries and primaries, dusky
edged with gray, their inner webs broadly edged with
white ; tail, gray, the tliree outermost leathers with
inner webs, extensively white, the fourth, sometimes
even the fifth, occasionally sliowing a terminal white
spot; lower half of lores and a pointed streak back of
eye, black; sides of head below this black streak, with
entire lower parts (except under tail-coverts^, clear
lemon, the sides and flanks slightly tinged with olive-
green ; under tail-coverts and under wing-coverts,
white ; bill, black in summer, brownish and paler
below in winter; iris, brown; legs and feet, horn-
brownish. Adult P"em.\le: Similar to the male but
duller in color; olive-green of upper parts covernig

crown, sometimes the forehead also; lores and mark
back of eye, dusky grayish instead of black ; gray of
wing-coverts and inner wing-feathers tinged with olive-
green.

Nest and Eggs. — Xest : On the ground, in a dense
tuft of grass or ferns, in clearings or new growth of
saplings; constructed of leaves and strips of wild grape
bark, lined with very fine grass. Et;us : 4 to 0, usually
5, white or creamy white specked and spotted with
sepia brown, lavender, and purple.

Distribution. — Eastern United States ; breeding
northward to southern Connecticut, southeastern New
York, Pennsylvania, northern Ohio, northern Indiana,
northern Illinois, southern Iowa, eastern Nebraska, etc.;
occasional straggler to Massachusetts, Michigan, and
Minnesota; southward in winter through eastern
Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, to Colombia.

A ])roloiiged. lisping, drawling " song " of only
two notes, c-.:cc-i\ c-ccc-c, — from the shrub-
bery along roads or brushy jiastiu'C' or the onen
border of woods, proclaims to the initiated the
presence of this tiny bird, of rather unique,
though not conspicuous, personality. Yellow is
its dominating color, but its grayish wings show
that it is not the Yellow \\'arbler. Its note is
very characteristic, and not forgotten as easily
as are the notes of many other Warblers.

Most of the tribe incline to be northerly in
summer distribution, whereas this is one of the
small grouj) which are distinctly southerly.
Southern Connecticut is as far north along the
Atlantic coast as it is at all common, hut there
it is found in good numbers during the nest-
ing season. Were it not for the characteristic
note, it would be considered a much rarer bird
than it really is.

In its general manner of conducting itself, it
is n(it different from various other W'arlilers.
It is a busy searcher of foliage and shrubbery,
generally not very high up, yet more commonly
off the ground, though it readilv descends upon
occasion. I have often seen it in second-growth
woodland, especially where it is a little moist or
swampy, but less in deep forests. It is distinctly
a bird of the open edge of woodland and of over-
grown pastures.

The nest is on the ground, just in from the
edge of the woods, in small clearings or openings
in low woods, in a bushy pasture, or bv a weedv
roadside. Usually it is under a smrdl bunch of
weeds, often by some little sprout, down which
the bird can descend to enter the nest. The
structure is deep, rather loose in texture, and is
characterized by having its sifles formed of dead

leaves which curl inward and arch over the top
of the nest, helping to conceal it.

Through knowing just the sort of a jilace to
look, I have fotmd more of these nests than of

Fhoto by H. K. J.ilj

BLUE-WINGED WARBLER
At its nest, on the ground, just in from the edge of the woods

any others of the less-known Warblers. The
method is to use a long switch and tap the little
thick clumps of weed or small brush in the proper
locations, to flush the female, which is a verv
close sitter.

I shall never forget the first nest which I dis-
covered. Determined to learn the secret, I
started one day to heat otit a nest. .Ml dav long
I thrashed the low cover, especiallv where old

Ii8

BIRDS OF AMERICA

fields and second-growth woods adjoined.
Toward night I had walked a number of miles
and knocked at the door of some tens of thous-
ands of possible hiding places, without results.
Standing in a little opening in low woods, just in
from a scrub pasture, I decided reluctantly to
quit, and mechanically brought down the switch

on a handy clump of weeds. The yellow flash
which followed gave me a wonderful thrill. In
a moment I was gazing with rapture at the five
pinkish-white eggs, sparsely ringed about the
larger end, and at the deep, well-concealed nest-
cup with its typical converging arch of upright
dry leaves. Herbert K. Job.

GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER
Vermivora chrysoptera ( Liiimrus)

A, n. U. Number 64; See Color Plate 93

Other Names. — Golden-winged Flycatcher ; Golden-
winged Swamp Warbler ; Blue Golden-winged Warbler.

General Description. — Length, 4J4 inches. Upper
parts, gray : under parts, white. Bill, shorter than
head, narrowly wedge-shaped, the tip very acute;
wings, moderately long; tail, about ^i length of wing,
even or nearly even, the feathers narrow.

Color. — Adult Male : Forehead and crown, lemon-
yellow, sides of head, white (sometimes this carried
forward over eyes or even to along sides of forehead) ;
rest of upper parts, including middle pair of tail-
feathers, plain gray; exposed portion of middle and
greater wing-coverts, mostly light lemon-yellow, form-
ing a large and consl^icuous patch on the zving : wing-
feathers and tail-feathers (except middle pair of latter),
slate-blackish, edged with gray, the secondaries usually
slightly tinged with olive-green ; inner webs of three
outermost tail-feathers, extensively white terminally;
lores, space below eye, sides of head, and throat (some-
times chin also), uniform black; a broad cheek stripe
and under parts of body, white, the latter shaded
with gray laterally ; bill, black ; iris, brown ; legs and
feet, dark brownish. Adult Female: Similar to adult

male but duller in color, with black of throat and sides
of head replaced by gray; yellow of forehead and
crown, less distinct, sometimes (in younger individ-
uals?) replaced by olive-green; gray of upper parts and
of sides usually tinged with olive-green ; white of breast
and abdomen, duller, often tinged with olive-yellow,
especially in winter.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: On the ground beneath
a bunch of weeds or ferns in clearings; neatly made of
thin blades of swamp grass, weed bark, rootlets, lined
witli fine rounded reddish grass. Eggs : 4 or 5, rarely
0, more spherical than average of other Warblers, dull
white speckled with chestnut, burnt umber, and lilac-
gray.

Distribution. — Eastern United States north regu-
larly to Massachusetts, New York, southwestern
Ontario, northern Michigan, southern Minnesota, etc.,
casually (?) to Manitoba, breeding southward to north-
ern New Jersey, Pennsylvania, northern Indiana, north-
ern and central Illinois, etc., and southward along
Allegheny Mountains to South Carolina, and eastern
Tennessee ; south in winter to Cuba and through east-
ern Mexico and Central America to Colombia.

The Golden-winged Warbler is an interesting
species in that peculiar group of Vermivora
Warblers distinguished by the peculiar trait of
fertile hybridization. Fotir distinct species are
implicated in this mixed breeding, namely, first,
the Blue-winged Warbler, which is in reality a
blue-winged yellow Warbler ; second, the Golden-
wing, which is in reality a yellow-winged blue
Warbler ; third, Lawrence's, which is a blue-
winged Yellow with the Golden-wing's throat
patch; and fourth, Brewster's, which is a yellow-
winged blue, or Golden-winged, Warbler without
the throat patch. Birds of this group of
Warblers seem to mate indiscriminately and pro-
duce fertile descendants. None of them can be
said to be very common birds. Indeed Law-
rence's and Brewster's are decidedly rare. Some
bird students attempt to ignore the crosses. It
is immaterial whether the crosses are scientif-

ically recognizable as varieties, or species, or
mere hybrids ; they do exist as intermediate
forms and therefore deserve some kind of name.
Lawrence's, Brewster's, and Golden-Wings are
all rarer than Blue-wings, and are the most in-
volved in this most unusual condition in the wild-
bird world. A hybrid may have either the song
of the Golden-wing or the Blue-wing. Most of
the hybrids are found in Connecticut and in and
near the lower Hudson valley.

Golden-winged Warblers make their homes in
open, bushy cotmtry, generally near streams or
ponds, and not heavily shaded bv too many trees.
The Golden-wing song is a sweet zcc-i-zce or
ccc-u-zzvcc given three or four times and re-
peated many times when the bird, posing on top
of a bush in the spring sunshine, bursts into
joyous enthusiasm.

L. Nelson Nichols.

CourtfSy of the New York Stal. M

Plate 93

BLUE-WINGED WARBLER Vcrmniora iiiinis (I iiuiaeusi
BREVySTER'S WARBLER LAWRENCE'S WARBLER

GOLDEN-WINGED WARBLER I'-rmiroro rlin/soptmi (Linnaeus)

ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER

TENNESSEE WARBLER

ALE

NASHVILLE WARBLER Vcrmiiorii ruhricapilla ni'i

MALE

iriinrnra prn'^/nii/i (Wilnon)

WARBLERS

119

LUCY'S WARBLER
Vermivora lucias (./. G". Cooper)

A II. U. Number 1.43

General Description. — Length, 4I2 inches. Upper
parts, gray ; under parts, whitish. Bill, shorter than
head, narrowly wedge-shaped, the tip very acute ;
wings, moderately long; tail, about 3/i length of wing,
even or nearly even, the feathers narrow.

Color. — Adult M.\i.e : Above, plain iiwiisr-gray;
crown, chestnut, the feathers tipped (except in worn
plumage) with gray: upper tail-coverts, bright chest-
nut; lores, eye-ring, and entire under parts, white tinged
with pale brownish gray laterally and also tinged with
buff, especially on chest ; bill, dusky horn color ; iris,
brown; legs and feet, dusky. .Adult Fem.-\le: .Similar
to the male and not always distinguishable, but usually
with the chestnut crown-patch more restricted (rarely

obsolete) and chestnut of botli crown-patcli and upper
tail-coverts lighter or less intense.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Usually m deserted Wood-
pecker holes, behind loose bark of trees, in the giant
cactus, or under roots along stream banks, sometimes
in knot-holes or any sort of crevice, from 2 to 20 feet
above ground; constructed of fine grass, leaves, and
rootlets, and lined with horse-hair and feathers. Eggs :
3 to 5. white or creamy, handsomely wreathed around
large end with cliestnut and umber.

Distribution. — Southwestern United States and
Mexico; breeds in Santa Clara valley. Utah, and
.Arizona; winters in western Mexico south to
Jalisco.

R. I. Brasher

LUCY'S WARBLER (i nat. sizel
A little-known Warbler of the souttiwestern United States and Me

The comparatively little known Lucy's
Warbler frequents chiefly willow and mesquite
thickets in river bottoms and in generally unin-
hal:)ited regions. According to one observer
( .Stevens ) the specimens he saw " although active
and restless were not at all shy," to which he
adds that the birds " were continually in motion,
flying from tree to tree, and occasionally visiting
some low brush in the vicinit\'." Dr. Gambel,

who observed the bird on .Santa Catalina Island
said its song resembled the syllables cr-r.r,r.r-
shc-up in the form of a low, sweet trill.

Mr. Finley found this Warbler quite abundant
in the mesquite a few miles south of Tucson. He
found several nests one afternoon, each of which
was built in behind a chunk of loose bark on the
side of a tree about three or four feet from the
ground.

I20

BIRDS OF AMERICA

NASHVILLE WARBLER
Vermivora rubricapilla rubricapilla {lI''ilson)

Other Names. — Nashville Swamp Warbler; Birch
Warbler ; Red-crowned Warbler.

General Description. — Length, 4^4 inches. Upper
parts, gray and olive-green : under parts, yellow. Bill,
shorter than head, narrowly wedge-shaped, the tip very
acute; wings, moderately long; tail, about }i length of
wing, even or nearly even, the feathers narrow.

Color. — Adult Male: Head, hindncch, sides of
head and neck, tiaiii i/i-ay; crown, chestnut, the feathers
tipped with gray; rest of upper parts, plain olive-green.
brightest on rump and upper tail-coverts ; lores, pale
grayish; a conspieuous zvhite eye-ring; cheeks and
under parts, bright gamboge yellou' becoming white on
lower abdomen and ana! region, tinged with olive on
sides and flanks, especially the latter; bill, brownish-
black ; iris, brown ; legs and feet, horn-color. Adult

Fem.\le: Similar to the adult male, but duller in color,
and with little, if any, chestnut on crown.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: On or imbedded in the
ground, usually at the foot of a bush in open woods;
constructed of leaves, strips of bark, and grass, but
sometimes entirely of pine needles, lined with fine
grasses and hair. Eggs: 3 or 4, white to creamy
speckled with minute dots of reddish-brown, brown,
and lilac, more numerous around large end.

Distribution. — Eastern North America, breeding
from Massachusetts. Connecticut, northern New Jersey,
"Pennsylvania, northern Illinois, Nebraska, etc., north-
ward to Grand Menan and the Great Slave Lake
district; southward in migration over more southern
LInited States (east of the Rocky Mountains) through
eastern Mexico to Guatemala.

The Nashville Warbler was discovered by
Alexander Wilson at Nashville, Tennessee, and
reported by him in his American Ornithology.
This bird has ever since borne the name Nash-
ville Warbler. It is not a rare bird in New Eng-
land if one goes to the birches to look for it. Rut
it is always in birches or poplars that it makes
its home; and, if any bird names itself from its
preference for a special home-site, this bird cer-
tainly names itself the Birch \\'arbler.

Wintering in Texas and Mexico, this bird fol-
lows high ground to its breeding area, keeping
well west of the Alleghenies and leaving a few
scattered pairs over the central States while the
main body goes on to New England. It is there-
fore a very rare bird in the South Atlantic States,
and not at all common at Nashville.

This plain olive-green bird with yellowish
under parts seldom comes near enough to show
the chestnut crown-patch which gives him his
name of rubricapilla, and only bird students are
familiar with that detail. As he is a nervous bird
fl'tting about in the birches, he does not attract
much attention.

The song is a combination of kc-tscc with
Chipping-Sparrow-like trillings. It has been
compared to the song of the Yellow Warbler.

On the Pacific coast there is a variety known
as the Calaveras Warbler ( Vermivora rubri-
capilla (jitUuralis) that is brighter and richer
colorefl. Thev make their homes in manzanita,
huckleberry, and short trees, but do not confine
themselves to one kind of tree as do the birds of
the eastern variety. L. Nelson Nichols.

ORANGE-CROWNED WARBLER

Vermivora celata celata {Say)

A. O. U. Number 646 See Color Plate 93

Other Name. — Orange-crown.

General Description. — Length, 5 inches. Upper
parts, olive-green ; under parts, olive-yellowish. Bill,
shorter than head, narrowly wedge-shaped, the tip
very acute; wings, moderately long; tail, about 3^
length of wing, even or nearly even, the feathers
narrow.
' Color. — Adult Male: Above, plain grayish olive-

green, becoming brighter, more yellowish olive-green,
on rump and upper tail-coverts ; croivn zvith a tavny
pateh, this color mostly concealed (except in worn
midsummer plumage) by grayish olive tips to the
feathers ; a narrow stripe over eye, eyelids, and general
color of under parts, pale olive-yelhzvish, becoming
paler (sometimes whitish) on lower portion of abdo-
men; sides of head, sides of neck, and sides of breast,

WARBLERS

121

light grayi^ll olive-green, the chest (sometimes throat
also) indistinctly streaked with the same; an indis-
tinct triangular spot or streak of dusky in front of eye
and a still less distinct short streak back of eye; under
tail-coverts and under wing-coverts, pale yellow ; bill,
dusky horn color ; iris, brown ; legs and feet, brownish
horn color. Adult Female: Similar to the adult male
in coloration, and not always distinguishable (?'), but
usually the ci)lors are slightly duller, with the tawny-
ochraceous crown-patch more restricted, sometimes
obsolete.

Nest and Eggs. — Nest: On the ground, among
clumps of bushes, in tlie side of a bank and usually
hidden by leaves; large for size of bird and constructed

of long, coarse strips of bark loosely interwoven with
a few spears of dried grass or plant stems and warmly
lined with hair and fur of small animals. Eggs; 4 to
6, white or creamy, finely speckled with chestnut.

Distribution. — Alaska (except coast district from
Kodiak eastward and southward) and througliout
Rocky Mountain district of British .'America and United
States, breeding southward to Manitoba and high
mountains of New Mexico; during migration south-
ward to eastern and central Mexico and eastward over
Mississippi valley and Gulf States to South Carolina,
Georgia, and Florida ; occasionally during migration in
Kew England and Middle Atlantic States (numerous
records), and in southern California.

The Orange-crowned Warbler is a bird of the
far Northwest. While one plain oHve and yellow
bird, the Nashville Warbler, is migrating in the
spring from southwest to northeast, one of his
nearest relatives, another plain olive and yellow
bird, this Orange-crowned Warbler, is migrat-
ing across the continent in a way to mark a cross
( X ) on the ina[i of North America. The
Orange-crown's route is from the South Atlantic
States northwest to Manitoba, the Great Slave
Lake, the fur country, and on into Alaska. It is
a bird of the upper tree-tops, continuallv flitting
about and uttering a simple song of a few sweet
trills of the Chipping Sparrow nature. It seems
to be a great wanderer in the fall. It has been
seen in many places far from the regular migra-

tion route. In January, 1917, an Orange-crowned
Warbler was seen on Staten Island, N. Y. Its
presence in the central and northeastern States
may. therefore, be more common than is sup-
posed. Bird students liave found the bird all
over the United States.

To this species must of course be added its
varieties of the West. The Lutescent \\'arbler
(Vcnnivora cclatu liitcsccns) is not a very rare
bird in Califijrnia and is noticeably a nuich \-el-
lower bird than the Orange-crown. It is,
therefore, more easily recognized than the
Orange-crown. The Dusky Warbler ( Vcnnivora
cclata sordida) of the Santa Barbara Islands is
but a dusky variety of the Lutescent.

L. Nelsox Nichols.

TENNESSEE WARBLER

Vermivora pereg

A. O. U. Number 647

Other Names. — Swamp Warbler ; Te