Chapter XIII 



BIRDS OF MANY FAMILIES 



Blue Heron, Sandpiper, Bittern, King- 

 fisher Waxwings, Cuckoos, Mourning 

 Dove, Bob-White,Tanager, Chimney Swift, 



NiGHTHAWK, WhIPPOORWILL, StARLING, 



Shrikes. 



*'Lo! a great blue heron. Seeing us approach, it spread its long wings 

 and flew solemnly across to a dead tree on the other side of the lake, 

 enhancing rather than relieving the loneliness and desolation that 

 brooded over the scene." 



— The Adirondacksy John Burroughs. 



The birds considered in this chapter belong 

 to several different families. In" no instance 

 are more than two or three varieties of a family- 

 described, in several families but a single variety. 



Great Blue Heron. Of all the feathered so- 

 journers of our Northern States this Heron is 

 by far the most picturesque; and one of the 

 saddest tragedies in bird life is seen in his rap- 

 idly diminishing numbers. In my youth he was 

 a very common bird about the ponds and rivers 

 of the neighborhood. Last summer, although I 

 many times visited their former haunts, I did not 

 see a Blue Heron in that vicinity. Later, how- 

 ever, on my trip in the West Branch waters, 

 several w^ere seen in the marshes that border 

 river and lake, indicating that the few that 



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