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Bird -Lore 



always to be struck in the same way by 

 all three birds, or, for all I know, by both 

 the Chippies and both the Kingbirds. It 

 was as if they knew the JRobin's grievance 

 and believed only his side of the case, — 

 believed that, after robbing his nest, while 

 his little heart was already breaking at his 

 wife's plight with the cherry, I had chased 

 her about, to kill her, and they felt, with 

 him, that I must be exterminated. Presum- 

 ably they had witnessed all my offenses, 

 although I particularly noticed the fact that 

 they had given no indications of this at the 

 time, — a fact that gave extraordinary force to 

 the sense that they must have been told. 

 It does seem that if birds and we "be of one 

 blood" and differ only in degree , there could 

 be nothing more primitive, and therefore 

 impartable than what this Robin had to 

 tell: "That boy is a murderer; see how my 

 hatred proves it!" 



Now here is the sequel to this remarkable 

 affair. Weeks went on and I had forgotten 

 to notice that the poor widower still sat, 

 with briefest absences, on that one egg, or 

 on whatever there now was in that nest, in 

 place of the egg. I suppose I must have 

 discovered that, at last, he was feeding a 

 young bird there; but he sat on, so much too 

 long that the strangeness of it all dawned 

 on me one day, and I re-climbed the tree, 

 while the poor father went nearly out of his 

 head. A strange spectacle met my eyes; a 

 full-grown, full-feathered, long-tailed young 

 Robin, pressed out wide with being so long 

 sat on, filled the nest from rim to rim. I 

 didn't ascertain whether his spread-out 

 aspect was merely of his feathers, or whether 

 his anatomy had really suffered. 



I put my finger under him and gently 

 raised him, capping, in the poor widower's 

 frenzied belief, all my series of deviltries, 

 till suddenly he flew away, perfectly nor- 

 mally as far as I remember, but for many 

 days or weeks I do remember that I could 

 recognize him with his parent about the 

 place. — Abbott H. Thayer. 



Bird- Life Along Sucker Brook 

 Not a very high-sounding name for a 

 creek, — in fact, I believe thatthere is another 

 name, Bay Brook, but to me the old name 



given by the first inhabitants of this region 

 has a more pleasant sound. 



Sucker Brook is a small stream flowing 

 into the west side of the east branch of Lake 

 Keuka, one of the prettiest in central New 

 York. The brook is a small creek, which 

 has its rise about one and one-half miles 

 back from the lake in a small swamp. It 

 flows through low, wet meadow-land for 

 about three-fourths of its length, and the 

 remaining distance is through a beautiful 

 grove The brook receives its name from 

 the fact that in spring suckers come up into 

 its mouth to spawn, though the number 

 grows less year by year. 



During the summer the lower part of the 

 brook usually dries up, leavingonly a stone- 

 strewn channel through the grove. In the 

 spring crayfish and frogs are very abundant 

 along itscourse. Twice this stream is crossed 

 by a trolley line, and three times by a public 

 highway. Near its mouth are located the 

 power-house for the trolley line, a basket 

 factory and a cooper's shop. From- any 

 point along its bank one can hear the whiz 

 of the trolley-car and the rumble of the 

 farmer's wagon as he passes along the road. 



Yet in spite of its publicity, I find it the 

 best place for bird study in my neighbor- 

 hood. Its thicket-covered banks form a 

 paradise for Warblers in their season ; in 

 fact, it is the only place hereabouts where I 

 do see the more retiring of these bits of 

 color. Here I have seen eighteen different 

 Warblers, among them the Mourning 

 Ground, Wilson's, Parula, Blackpoll, 

 Black-throated Green and Blue, Louisiana 

 Water-Thrush, Canadian, Kentucky, etc. 



About April 21 the Hermit Thrush puts 

 in his appearance, and during the summer 

 evenings the Veery charms me with his rich 

 soprano-alto .notes. The Spotted Sand- 

 piper, of course, is present with his sharp 

 peet-iveet. The Kingfisher obtains many a 

 good meal from its waters during the first 

 part of the season. Five kinds of Swallows 

 are seen along the course of the creek during 

 the summer, the Rough-winged some- 

 times nesting near the mouth of the stream. 



As I follow the bank and come out of 

 the grove I find Sparrows in abundance, 

 and in the marshy border the noisy Red- 



