8 



DUCK— TEAL— HERON— CAT BIRD. 



impossible, to ascend ; sometimes also in high trees. It is care- 

 lessly constructed of thicker or thinner branches and fibers. The 

 eggs, three or four in number, are laid at the beginning of June, 

 and are of a reddish yellow color, sprinkled with brown, more 

 thickly so at the larger end, and the female hatches alone. The 

 young ones are fed at first with half-digested food from the crops 

 of the parents, afterward with different kinds of birds. When 

 they are able to fly they are instructed by the parents in the art of 

 hunting. 



It is a well-known fact that all true Falcons, when attacked, drop 

 their booty and leave it to the attacking party, and the beggars 

 among the birds of prey, being aware of this, profit by it. There 

 they sit, those stupid, lazy fellows, watching the Hawk till he has 

 struck down a bird, when suddenly they assault him. Our hero, 

 otherwise afraid of no bird, drops his prey at their approach, and 

 with an indignant Kajak ! Kajak ! up and off he goes. 



The bird of which the Hawk has taken hold in our Plate is — 



The Pin-tail Duck. (Anas — Dafila acuta.) 



The Pin-tail is a common and well-known Duck, much esteemed 

 for its excellent flesh, which is generally in good order. It is a shy 

 and cautious bird, feeding in mud flats and shallow fresh-water 

 marshes, but is rarely seen on the sea-coast. It has a kind of clat- 

 tering note, is very noisy and vigilant, and usually gives the alarm 

 at the approach of the gunner. 



Some of the Duck tribe, when alarmed, disperse in all directions, 

 but the Pin-tails cluster confusedly, giving the expert gunner a cap- 

 ital chance to rack them with advantage. They do not dive ex- 

 cept when winged. 



They inhabit the whole northern part of this continent, as well 

 as the corresponding latitudes of Asia and Europe. Great flocks 

 of them are sometimes observed on the rivers near the coasts of 

 England and France. 



Our plate shows the male. The female has the crown of a dark 

 brown color ; the neck of a dull brownish white, thickly speckled 

 with dark brown ; breast and belly of a pale brownish white, inter- 

 spersed with white ; back and root of the neck above black, each 

 feather elegantly waved with broad lines of brownish white. These 

 wavings become rufous on the scapulars, vent white, spotted with 

 dark brown ; tail dark brown, spotted with white, the two middle 

 feathers only half an inch longer and more slender than the rest. 



The other two birds on the Plate are the male and the female 



Blue-winged Teal. (Anas—Querquedula discors.) 



The Blue-winged Teals are the first that return to the Central 

 States from their breeding-place in the North. They arrive as early 

 as the middle of September, and usually sit on the mud, close to 

 the border of the water, generally crowded together, so that gun- 

 ners often kill a great number at one shot. Their flight is very 

 rapid ; when they alight they drop suddenly among the reeds or 

 on the mud, in the manner of the Snipe or Woodcock. They live 

 chiefly on vegetable food and are especially fond of the seeds of 

 reeds or wild oats. Feeding on such they become extremely fat 

 in a short time. Their flesh is excellent for the table. The first 

 smart frosts drive them to the South, for they are delicate birds and 

 very susceptible to cold. They abound in the inundated rice-fields 

 of the Southern States, where they are caught in vast numbers in 

 hollow traps, commonly called " figure four," and placed here 

 and there on dry spots rising out of the water, and strewn with 

 rice. In April they pass through the Central States again, north- 

 ward bound, making only a short stay. 



PLATE VII. 



The Green Heron. (Ardea — Butorides virescens.) 



Fig. i. 



Public opinion shows but little liberality toward this bird, hav- 

 ing stigmatized him with a vulgar and indelicate nickname, and 

 treating him as perfectly worthless and with contempt. This is 

 injustice ; he keeps himself as clean as any other of the whole 

 Heron tribe, lives in exactly the same way as they do, and at the 

 same places with them, but he is most numerous where cultivation 

 is least known or cared for. 



He makes his first appearance in the Central States early in April, 

 as soon as the marshes and swamps are completely thawed. There, 

 among the ditches and amidst the bogs and quagmires, he hunts 

 with great cunning and dexterity. Frogs and small fishes are his 

 principal game, but on account of their caution and facility of es- 

 cape their capturing requires all his address and quickness. With 

 his head drawn in, he stands on the lookout, silent and motionless, 

 like a statue, yet ready for an attack. The moment a frog or min- 

 now comes within his range, with one stroke, quick and sure as that 

 of a rattlesnake, it is seized and swallowed in a wink. He also 

 hunts for the larvae of several insects, especially those of the dragon- 

 fly, which lurk in the mud. 



When alarmed, he rises with a hollow guttural scream, but does 

 not fly far, and usually alights on a fence or an old stump and 

 looks out with extended neck, but now and then with his head 

 drawn in so that it seems to rest on his breast. When standing and 

 gazing on you this way, he is often jetting his tail. Sometimes he 

 flies high, with doubled neck and his legs extended behind, flapping 

 his wings bravely, and traveling with great expedition. He is per- 

 haps the most numerous and the least shy of all our Herons, and is 

 found in the interior as well as in the salt marshes. 



At the latter part of April he begins to build, sometimes in sin- 

 gle pairs in swampy woods, often in company with others, not un- 

 frequently with the Night Heron. The nest, which is fixed on the 

 limb of a tree, consists wholly of small sticks lined with finer twigs 

 loosely put together, and is of considerable size. The female lays 

 three or four eggs, of an oblong form and a pale blue color. The 

 young do not leave the nest until perfectly able to fly. 



The Cat Bird. (Mimus carolinensis^) 

 Fig. 2. 



This is a very common and very numerous species in this part of 

 the Continent, well known to everybody. In spring or summer, 

 when approaching thickets of brambles, the first salutation you re- 

 ceive is from the Cat Bird. One unacquainted with his notes would 

 conclude that some vagrant kitten had got bewildered among the 

 briers and was in want of assistance, so exactly alike is the call of 

 this bird to the cry of that animal. Of all our summer visitors he 

 is the least apprehensive of man. Very often he builds his nest 

 in the bushes close to your door, and seldom allows you to pass 

 without paying you his respects in his usual way. By this famili- 

 arity he is entitled at least to a share of hospitality, but is often 

 treated with cruelty instead. It is true he steals some of the best 

 and earliest of the farmers' strawberries and cherries, but he 

 lives mostly on insects, of which he destroys incredible numbers. 

 Besides, he is one of our most interesting singers. He usually 

 sings early in the morning before sunrise, hovering from bush to 

 bush, hardly distinguishable in the dark. His notes are, however, 

 more remarkable for their singularity than for melody. He chiefly 

 imitates the song of other birds, frequently with perfect success. 

 Sometimes he seems to be at a loss where to begin, and pours out 

 all the odd and quaint passages he has been able to collect. In un- 



