88 EARLY DAY STORIES. 



swallows, martins, night hawks, kingfishers, kingbirds, song 

 sparrows, bobolinks, yellow-hammers, woodpeckers, the 

 hairy, the downey and the red heads, and the Baltimore or- 

 ioles. Of the new kinds that are now common, but that 

 were either entirely unknown in an early day or were very 

 rare, are the wood thrush, the rose-breasted grosbeak, the 

 olive backed thrush, the peewee, and the orchard oriole. 

 There are also two new birds that we perhaps could well 

 do without the crow and the English sparrow, but of this 

 I am not sure. Of the birds that are remarkable for the 

 beauty of their plumage or the rich melody of their songs 

 that visit us occasionally may be mentioned the cardinal 

 grosbeck, the scarlet tanager and the mocking bird. The 

 mocking bird is quite common in the southern part of the 

 state but is rare here; I have been hoping that they would 

 visit us oftener. About two years ago, a Lewis woodpecker 

 was seen by me for three or four days. He made his head- 

 quarters in a dead box elder tree that had been left stand- 

 ing for the birds, and from which he drove off a pair of 

 flickers that were building a nest in a cavity. They are rare 

 here, but are common farther west. 



Besides those already named we have in great abund- 

 ance the tohee, the junco, at least two kinds of vireos, the 

 indigo bunting, the gold finches, the wrens, the horned larks, 

 the nuthatch, the brown creeper, the kill-deer, the chickadee 

 and other kinds not so well known. I have attempted to 

 name only those that are of the most common and best 

 known varieties. There are very many kinds of birds, 

 chiefly small ones, that visit our groves and thickets and 

 the tall grass and weeds of our prairies, that I cannot even 

 call by name. Prof. Lawrence Bruner says that there are 

 as many as 400 different kinds of birds found within the 

 borders of Nebraska. 



I wish that some attention might be given to the sub- 

 ject of bird study in every district school in the county. If 



