FoT November, 1921 



771 



November Birds 



PAUL B. RIIS 



INDIAN Summer, rare gem of Autumn, coy and elusive, 

 rarely shows her golden smile in a succession of de- 

 lightful days, but rather prefers to present us with a 

 day jf her making now and then at her own chosen time. 

 The hazy atmosphere mysteriously veils distant trees, hills 

 and valleys into dreamy compositions, merging the ver- 

 milion hues of the horizon with the boundless spaces of 

 the infinite. Then Autumn's glory is reflected in the 

 mature foliage of the trees in colors of gold, bronze, 

 russet and scarlet stretching away in the vapory distance. 

 A few days, a week or two at most, to become but a mem- 

 ory, conquered by the vanguard forces of King Boreas. 

 But few as the Indian Summer days may be, always 

 are they days of wonderful beauty. The air, crisp, aro- 

 matic and invigorating, entices our steps to our favorite 

 haunt, the spring-fed brook, peculiarly attractive during 

 the reign of Boreas. The glory of the forest and the 

 woodland is departing, the vivid scarlet and rich bronze 

 are making way for the dull brown and purple, many trees 

 standing revealed in rugged symmetry. The singing 

 waters of the brook too are responding to the change, 

 their soft, musical laughter lost in the empty spaces. 

 Friendly and cheery sounds the greeting of the chickadee, 

 whose modest advances we have ignored these many 

 months for birds with greater lyrical accomplishments. 

 They have come in the cheerless hour and it seems but 

 now that we appreciate the sincerity and the sweetness of 

 its simple call. In close proximity we find other cold 

 weather friends, the hairy and downy woodpeckers, indus- 

 triously engaged in their respective endeavors and call- 

 ings. A makeshift feeding station placed here and well 

 supplied with suet, hemp, millet and simflower seed is 

 entertaining such stable boarders as the white-breasted 

 nuthatch, brown creeper and red-headed woodpecker, the 

 latter competing vociferously with a protesting blue jay 

 in the storing of the meatv sunflower seeds. .\ song spar- 

 row and a carefree goldfinch, scarcely recognizable but 

 cognizant of the enticing supply, have joined in the repast, 

 snatching a seed or two whenever satiety relaxes the 

 vigilance of the greedy nuthatch. A red-breasted nut- 

 hatch plaintively ranging the vicinity, on flashing wing 

 scoops up a seed and is gone : we watch it closely trans- 

 ferring the seed from the beak to its toes where a few 

 deft and vigorous pecks expose the delectable meat within. 

 The juncos, retiring and tmassuming, are contenting them- 

 selves with the seeds scattered far and wide from the 

 feeding board. 



- The smoky atmosphere of Indian Summer caused by 

 decay and slow chemical combustion of leaves and veg- 

 etations under action of heat and frost is the vapor and 

 smoke from Nature's own furnace in full blast. Here 

 incineration and reduction takes place and great masses 

 of waste matter are turned back to serve as plant food. 

 Involuntarily other forces are silently distributing the 

 seeds over this fertile seed bed. We note the thick 

 growth C'f young sheepberry under a .group of trees where 

 we were wont to meet our silent acquaintance, the cedar 

 waxwint. s, and happily we find them again this dav keep- 

 ing tryst Stirred by a gentle breeze the samaris of the 

 wafer ash is simulating the quaking aspen, but we pass on 

 in search of the author of familiar tinkling notes, the 

 tree sparrow, whose merr\' choruses are sparkling frost 

 crystals turned to music. Unconcernedly they mingle 

 with the junco in perfect harmony. And right here we 

 note a strange bird, two of thein, nay, a number: their 



sides are distinctly striped with brown, the rosy breast 

 melting into dawn. The scarlet brown cap all too dis- 

 tinctive, admits of no mistake in identifying the newcomer, 

 the redpoll. And presently, accepting our harmless intru- 

 sion, they entertain us with their sweet confiding song. 



A robin, a few bronzed grackles and a flock of rusty 

 blackbirds are passing up the valley and here on the shore 

 of the brook we surprise again our intrepid Winter wren, 

 dripping from the interrupted bath. The rustling of the 

 leaves for a moment betrays a startled chipmunk enjoying 

 the luxury of a sunbath. The knothole overhead bulging 

 with hoarded acorns contributes to his seeming content- 

 ment. As we saunter on we note with interest the ripen- 

 ing stems of the meadow rose, the dogwoods and the 

 brambles, and venture a guess at the display yet to come 

 when the immaculate mantle of \Mnter cover's the earth. 

 Already the swelled buds of the mandrake and wild ginger 

 protrude above the ground, ready to break into leaf and 

 blossom, and the ferns, protected" by the withered crown, 

 harbor new leaves and gather strength from the dormant 

 roots. Other things, too, we note, but the lengthening 

 shadows, ghostly shafts in the dusk of the deep woods, 

 the heightened colors of certain tree trunks, accelerate our 

 homeward steps. 



The bird movement in northern Illinois during Novem- 

 ber is more clearly illustrated in the appended list. This 

 list is compiled from records of many Novembers but 

 serves to portray the bird life of our region. 



DEP.\RTURES SOUTH Nov. 17 Bhiebird. 



Xov. 1 Myrtle Warbler. Nov. 20 Fo.x Sparrow. 



Coot. Nov. 22 White-throated Spar- 



Nov. 2 Phoebe. row. 



Cowbird. Canada Goose. 



Nov. 4 Green-winged Teal. Marsh Hawk. 



Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Red-tailed Hawk. 



Spotted Sandpiper. Nov. 24 Horned Grebe. 



Nov. 6 Virginia Rail. Nov. 26 Red-breasted Mergan- 



Nov. 7 Ruddy Duck. ser. 



Towhee. Mallard. 



\\'estern Meadowlark. Red-winged Blackbird. 



Swamp Sparrow. Bronzed Grackle. 



Nov. 9 Vel low-billed Cuckoo. ARRIVALS FROM THE 



Pipit. NORTH 



Nov. 11 \ esper Sparrow. Nov. 2 Loon. 



Nov. 13 Lapland Longspur. Nov. 4 Redpoll. 



Nov. 15 Song Sparrow. Nov. 8 Horned Grebe. 



TREE LORE 



jV^ANKIND had long associated plants, and especially 

 trees, with mystic influences, and almost as far 

 back as the beginning of history we read of the 

 sacred character ascribed to trees and the part they played 

 in forms of worship and sacrifice. ^Ir. Ernest V. Laing 

 dealt with many of the myths and legends associated with 

 trees in a paper read at a meeting of the University of 

 .Aberdeen Forestry Society. A beautiful tree in its full 

 grandeur is capable of casting a spell over the beholder, 

 but, as Mr. Laing states, there is a wide gulf between the 

 man who loves trees either with the instinct of an artist 

 for the beautiful or the love engendered by memory and 

 association, and the man who is admiring something 

 which he has never seen before equalled in strength or 

 beauty. He illustrates this distinction by the classical in- 

 cident of Xerxes and the celebrated Phrygian Plane. The 

 warrior was so impressed with the size and majesty of 

 this tree that he halted his army for three days at Phrygia 

 in order to pitch his tents under the branches. The three 



