AMIlRLCAN ornithology. ^27 



fearless. Especially was this the case with the Chipping Sparrows 

 above mentioned. They became unusually tame during the season, 

 and the mother bird finally ate out of father's hand or would sit on the 

 toe of his boot and pick crumbs from his fingers. 



Father kept a little tin box close by in which he had small pieces of 

 rusk and bread, and the birds soon became aware of this fact, and he 

 had only to rattle the box a little, when the mother Chippy and her 

 little family would come down from the trees and sit on the porch 

 floor waiting to be fed. Berton a. mercer. 



THE WESTERN NIGHT JAR. 



The instinct that prompts both bird and beast to shield and protect 

 from harm, their young, has been, is, and always will be, one of the 

 strong characteristic traits of the animal world. This predominating 

 disposition is shown from the cruel, treacherous tiger, down to the del- 

 icate humming bird. Innumerable instances might be given. 



All persons acquainted with Natural History know to what cunning 

 tactics the ordinary quail and pheasant and other birds will resort to 

 lead the chance intruder away from the vicinity of their nest or help- 

 less young. The birds will feign disablement, flutter about as if wings 

 and legs were broken, etc., so as to be followed and thus decoy persons 

 away from the spot. 



One of the most artful and cunning of all birds at practicing this de- 

 ception that I can recall is the well known "Night Jar." Both in the 

 Old World, and on the Western Hemisphere, this bird is variously 

 known as the "Nighthawk," "Goatsucker," "Fern Owl," "Churn Owl," 

 and by other sobriquets. 



Essentially, it is a bird of the night. It is a nocturnal wanderer, 

 and with our childhood memories the Night Jar is always associated 

 with the dying day, the mellowing gloaming and the gentle summer 

 evening. Its plaintive "cher-r-r-r," from the sky, its wide, wheeling 

 flight, its rapid downward swoop, and loud jarring notes are familiar 

 sights and sounds to all of us. 



Like the owl, the Night Jar is silent and hidden in the grayish 

 light of day. Before daylight the bird flits away to some quiet se- 

 questered spot. Most any place that affords seclusion is chosen for a 

 temporary retreat. Clefts in the rocks, under logs, in hollow stumps, 

 under brushy and weedy coverts, on limbs of trees, are its favorite day- 

 light resorts. 



Its color is so peculiar that it readily assimilates with its surround- 

 ings, and is not so easily distinguished. In selecting its day retreats, 

 the bird shows its cunning instincts of self protection. 



