Our Common Birds and How to Know Them 



ditches which intersect the meadow. Meadowlarks, Blackbirds, Marsh Wrens, Bitterns, 

 Bobolinks and an occasional Duck frequent the lowland. In the upland, the Cowbird, 

 the Robin and the Song Sparrow disport themselves ; into the trees and shrubs upon 

 the bluff come Woodpeckers, Thrushes, Orioles, Catbirds, Flycatchers and Warblers, 

 and all of these, and, indeed, more than I have named, take turns in visiting the springs 

 and rivulets ; now indulging in a hasty bath, now daintly slaking their thirst, now 

 breaking forth into song, now making love, and now, must it be confessed, waging war, 

 all utterly unconscious of the observer, who, reclining upon a mossy bank, or sitting 

 motionless upon a log or stump, or leaning fixedly against the trunk of some friendly 

 tree, is watching with intense interest the scenes of sylvan life unwittingly enacted 

 before him. 



Such is one of the favored spots. The other is an old, deserted and gone-to-ruin 

 apple orchard, far from any habitation, except a few scattering farm-houses. This orchard 

 is skirted on three sides by forest trees, and on the remaining side by a swamp, which 

 is a tangle of alders and other water-loving growths. Here may be seen the Orchard 

 Oriole, the Black-billed Cuckoo, the Indigo-bird, the Summer Redbird, the Towhee, the 



