The cry of Red-tail is unlike that of any other of the hawks, and may 

 become a certain mark of identification during the late winter and early spring- 

 weeks. It is a long-drawn scream of warning and defiance, given on a descend- 

 ing scale, it is harsh and piercing, and commanding, uttered when danger 

 threatens, when a rival for his lady's affections appears, and often when the 

 mating season begins. Its character is unmistakable. The Blue Jav cannot 

 successfully imitate it. l)ecause his lungs lack the capacity. 



A Tragedy in Birdland 



By Amy B. Ingraham 



■"! ha\-e found one of the most beautiful bird's nests. It kujks much like a 

 Baltimore Oriole's nest only not so deep. T wish I could see the bird that built it. 

 Something must have frightened it away or catight it because the nest does not 

 seem to have been used." 



The speaker was a little old lady who loved l)ir(ls: the lime, the summer of 

 1910. Her tiny acre was a bird's paradise. Orioles, robins, wrens, wax wings 

 and song sparrows flitted among the trees and shrubs and sung the suiumer 

 through. The porch vines sheltered a brown cap's nest: a wren p.ested in a tiny 

 birdhouse on the barn side and a blue bird luxuriated in a summer squash shell 

 shaded with hop vines. Cherries, raspberries and currant^ supplied them with 

 fruit and high fences kept out many cats. 



The feathered songsters paid their way by destroying injurious insects and 

 by ushering in the morning light with a i)erfect deluge of song and making the 

 last hour of departing daylight equall\- melodious and, often, during the night 

 some irrepressible bursts of melody might be heard. 



All birds were welcome and Pinky, the large cat, was kept shut up in com- 

 fortable quarters during the hours the birds were about because no amount of 

 explanation could make him understand that a cat ougiit to prefer a mouse diet 

 and abhor the taste of birds. 



The spring of 1911 brought again the feathered friends and. among them — 

 delightful thought — the unknown owners of the beautifid ne^t or some just like 

 them, because they were re-lining and fur])ishing it u]). 



They were almost too shy to be caught at work, but in ihc eari\- morning 

 tliey could be approached by a careful ob'^erver. 



One morning the little woman came up (juile excited. "Xow they are at 

 work," she said. "Tf you will coine, you can see them. I want to know if you can 

 tell what kind of birds they are. They are the most graceful birds I ever saw. 

 They are brown with stripes running from the bill back." 



1 carefully approached behind the bushes. 



"Why," said 1, "it resembles an I'".nglis]i >parro\\ , only it's too large and 

 longer bodied. When it Hies, it looks du^^ky and like a cat-bird." 



We thought both birds were brown. We did not notice a while or.inge. 



121 



