2 Bird - Lore 



grass grows green, early every morning, from all over the bottom-lands, that 

 peculiar, weak crow is heard. We follow one and soon find him walking through 

 the meadow, a most beautiful sight, as he moves along with head-plumes erect, 

 the white ring around his neck contrasting strongly with the dark metallic blue 

 of his head and neck, and his breast shining Hke burnished copper. Now he 

 stops, stands very erect and utters his silly little crow which he immediately 

 follows with three or four rapid wing-beats. Then he sees us and with great 

 cackling of alarm is up and away. 



•* /nife W^'*""^ 



MALE AND FEMALE PHEASANTS 



About May i, the eggs 'are laid. Th§v|iesL is a shght hollow in the grass 

 along fence hedgerows, in the edgerof busli-lots, or in the open fields, and is 

 usually under a piece of brush. Many nests are found in the grape vineyards, 

 under the trellis wires; also out in the drier places in the cat- tails in the marsh. 

 Frequently the nests are found by the roadside, sometimes so close that they 

 are destroyed when the roads are worked. May 7, 1916, 1 found a hen Pheasant 

 sitting on her nest in the bank at the edge of a wooded hillside, close to a main 

 highway where all kinds of vehicles were passing within six feet. There was 

 a small pine tree growing just above, and a piece of brush stuck up over the nest. 

 This was the only cover for the nest, yet the dull colors of the bird blended so 

 perfectly with the olive-brown earth and the dead grasses and oak leaves that 



