1882.] 



tHE LANCASTER FARMER. 



45 



T. W. HiEtfjinsnii exclaims, " Yonder oriole 

 fills with light and melody tlie tliousand 

 brandies of a neighborhood." 



He is a social bird — a bird of sunlight. His 

 haminock-like nest is never found in tiie deep 

 woods. His haunts are those grand old trees 

 which the farmer leaves here and there in liis 

 fields as shade for his cattle, that lean over 

 the brier-tangled fence of the lane, or droo|) 

 toward the dancing waters of some rural 

 river. 



We are now among a host of feathered 

 choristers, to which the song of the oriole is 

 like the bugle notes for the opening of the 

 grand winged orchestra. 



Where all possess .so much merit it is dilli- 

 cult to assign precedence. Out of the deep 

 woods, however, conies a beautiful melan- 

 choly strain, which is not very common, but 

 when iieard cannot fail to arrest the attention. 



" The prelude to this song," says Nuttall, 

 "resembles almost tlie double-tonguing of 

 the tlute, blended with a tinkling, shrill and 

 solemn warble, which re-echoes from his soli- 

 tary retreat like the dirge of some sad recluse, 

 who shuns the busy haunts of life." 



"The whole air consists usually of four 

 parts, or bars, which succeed in deliberate 

 time and finally blend together in impressive 

 and soothing harmony, becoming more mellow 

 and sweet at every repetition. It is nearly 

 impossible by words to convey any idea of the 

 peculiar waible of the vocal hermit ; but 

 among his phrases the sound of "a'l-iofc," 

 peculiarly liquid and followed by a trill, re- 

 peated in two separate bars, is readily recog- 

 nizable." 



We have followed this song, which seemed 

 to recede before us deeper into the woods as 

 we advanced, without getting a sight of the 

 bird, until brought to a sudden halt by a sharp 

 "chuck ;" when for the first time we saw the 

 object of our search perched upon a twig of a 

 neighl)oring tree and eyiug us sharply. It was 

 the "song thrush" or "wood thrush ;" a bird 

 in size between the blue bird and robin ; cin- 

 namon brown on the back and whitish breast 

 marked with well-defined dark triangular 

 spots. 



Its notes are uttered while engaged in hunt- 

 ing for in.sects among the foliage. 



Next we have the "Vireoes," of which 

 there are four reported as visiting this part of 

 our country. Th'e red-eyed warbling, white- 

 eyed and blue-headed— all useful birds, that 

 feed on insects, which, like the two preceding, 

 they hunt among the foliage. They are in 

 size about like the canary, of a grayish olive 

 green, and variously marked as their names 

 indicate. Their nests are pensile— or hang- 

 ing — generally fastened to the fork of a hori- 

 zontal tW'ig, shaped not unlike a shallow, 

 open-mouthed purse. 



Mr. Samuels writes of the Red-eyed Vireo 

 in the following commendatory manner : " I 

 feel that no description of mine can do justice 

 to the genial, happy, industrious disposition 

 of this, one of our most common, and, per- 

 haps, best-loved birds. From the time of its 

 arrival, about the first week in May, until its 

 departure, about the first week in October, it 

 is seen in the foliage of elms and other shade 

 trees, in the midst of our villages and cities, 

 in the apple trees near the farm-houses, and 

 in the tall oaks and chestnuts, in the deep 



forests — everywhere, at all hours of the day, 

 from early dawn until evening twiliglil, his. 

 sweet, half plaintive, half meditative carol is 

 heard ; and whenever we see him, we notice 

 that he is busily searchiug in the foliage of 

 trees for caterpillars and noxious larviu, or 

 liursuing winged insects tliat have taken 

 Higlit from the trees. 



"Of this beautiful and favorite family I 

 feel that it is impossible to say too much in 

 their ftivor ; their neat and delicate plumage 

 and sweet song, their engaging and interesting 

 habits, and their well-known insect-destroying 

 proclivities, have justly rendered them great 

 favorites ; and the farmer iu protecting them 

 and encouraging them them to take up homes 

 near his orchard and gardens, but extends a 

 care and welcome to his best friends." 



The wren and blue-bird may be considered 

 together ; both being insectivorous, capturing 

 their food alike upon the trees and on the 

 ground, and building in crevices and boxes. 



These birds seem to be getting more scarce 

 in late years. In our school-boy days there 

 was uo season that we did not know of a wren 

 or blue-bird's nest. We recollect instances 

 when the wren contended for quarters with 

 the martin and out-witted him by narrowing 

 the entrance of the box with sticks, strongly 

 and skillfully placed, so as to admit himself, 

 but keep his larger antagonist out. 



The wood-pecker family have been voted 

 great scamps — fruit-stealing, sap-sucking ras- 

 cals — a proper target for every idle boy, who 

 could handle an old rusty gun, to blaze away 

 at. Of late years their usefulness has become 

 better understood, and a law enacted to save 

 them from total extermination. They are 

 the police of the trunk and woody part of our 

 timber, fruit and shade trees. In fact, to us, 

 the red-headed wood-pecker does not seem 

 unlike a liveried policeman patroling his beat, 

 up and down and around the trunk, and out 

 along the limbs of some old tr e, tapping and 

 rattling for concealed marauding insects, and 

 dragging them from their hiding-places with- 

 out mercy when discovered. 



AVe have frequently noticed the trunks of 

 old apple trees punctured in a regular succes- 

 sion of circles ; or have seen spots as large as 

 a hand where the bark seemed dead, riddled 

 like the bottom of a colander, all the work of 

 this or a smaller speckled wood-pecker, known 

 as the sap-sucker, iu their efforts to dislodge 

 the insects under the bark. 



Shall these faithful servants be denied a 

 few of the fruit of the trees they help to save ? 



A few years ago we observed several Scotch 

 pines in one of our cemeteries treated in this 

 manner, and the resinous sap exuding and 

 filling the punctured circles. Surely, we 

 thought, this time the bird could have been 

 after no honest purpose, and deserved the bad 

 name it bore. Behold, in the following spring 

 one of the pines was dead; and taking a friend 

 with us, we examined into the cause and 

 found the inner bark of the upper part of the 

 trunk and of some of the larger limbs reduced 

 to the condition of fine sawdust, having been 

 entirely eaten by worms. Here the borers had 

 been too numerous or the trees too far gone. 

 The other pines were no doubt saved by the 

 timely interference of this much-slandered 

 bird. 



Closely allied in habits of life to the wood- 



pecker arc the titmice and chickadees, of 

 which ornithologists report three as visitants 

 to this country. They feed on insects and 

 the eggs of moths deiiosited on and in the 

 crevices of the bark and in the buds of trees 

 and shrubs. 



During breeding sesison they are busy 

 througli the whole day in capturing va.st 

 (luanlities of caterpillars, files au<l grubs. "It 

 has hceii calculated," says Mr. Samuels, 

 " that a pair of these birds destroy on the 

 average not less than five hundred ot these 

 pests daily." 



"The chickadee trips along the branches, 

 trips under every leaf, swings round upon his 

 perch, spies out every insect and secures it 

 with a peck so rapid that it is hardly percepti- 

 ble." 



Last but not least in our lisl come some of 

 our best known and most reliable friends. 

 I'rominent among which are the brown 

 thrush, or mocking bird, robin, cat-bird, 

 black-bird, meadow-lark, chipping-siianow, 

 song-sparrow and indigo-bird. 



These feed on small fruit, seeds and ber- 

 ries, as well as on insects, grubs and worms. 

 They help themselves to some of our early 

 fruit, and in that way sometimes annoy us. 

 Still if an account could be made up of what 

 they take, and the good Ihey do, the balance 

 would show largely in their favor. 



They compensate us in still another way; 

 they cheer us witli their presence and songs ; 

 for amongst them are some ot the most talent- 

 ed musicians. Unlike the oriole and viero, 

 which carol while they labor, this class lay 

 aside other duties when they addres.sed them- 

 selves to song. Ascending some elevated 

 perch and concentrating all their vocal powers, 

 they pour forth their strains of melody, as if 

 it wei"o to a listening audience. 



Mounted on the topmost spray of a neigh- 

 boring tree or bush, the brown thrush w'el- 

 comes the farmer planting seed at early 

 morning with cries of "drop it, drop it, cover 

 it up, cover it up. Pull it up, pull it up ; see, 

 see, see ; there you have it ; work away, 

 work away ; cover it up." 



This bird, although often seen in the or- 

 chard and pasture field, generally builds his 

 nest in the neighboring thicket and seems 

 partial to sprout land, or woods having un- 

 dergrowth. 



A few years ago we considered ourselves 

 highly favored when a pair selected a small 

 evergreen upon the lawn for their nesting 

 place, and we gave strict orders for no one to 

 go near while the work was progressing, but 

 unfortunately some unknown enemy must 

 have discovered them, for one day we found 

 the eggs broken and the nest deserted. 



Of the robin a writer in the Atlantic Month- 

 hj says : "I shall not ask pardon for assigning 

 to him the highest rank as a singing bird, 

 while others may surpass him in some par- 

 ticular qualities ; the notes of the robin are 

 ah melodious, all delightful— loud without 

 vociferation, mellow without monotony, fer- 

 vent without ecstasy, and combining more 

 mellowness of tone, plaintiveness, cheerful- 

 ness and proi)riety of execution than those of 

 any other bifd. Without his sweet notes the 

 mornings would be like a vernal landscape 

 without fiowers, or a summer evening sky 

 without tints." 



