THE COTTAGE BY THE WOOD. 



It was my good fortune to spend some 

 months in a cozy little cottage in a sub- 

 urban district, the natural surroundings 

 of which were such as to at once appeal 

 to a naturalist, aside from furnishing 

 • ample opportunity for rest and quiet. 

 The large lawn belonging to the prop- 

 erty, with its abundance of shade trees, 

 fronted on the main avenue of a popu- 

 lous corporate town, while in the rear 

 was a strip of woodland, which in turn 

 was bordered by a clearing covered main- 

 ly by briars and thick low bushes, its 

 whole length being intersected by a 

 winding brook. 



Birds in the locality were quite numer- 

 ous and some of them showed remarka- 

 ble tameness. During the hours of night 

 time, giving voice as it were to the weird 

 lidits and shadows around the house, we 

 could hear the mournful ditty of a 

 screech owl whose home was in a nearby 

 hickory tree, while the first gray streak 

 of each returning dawn was heralded by 

 the sweet songs of the robins. Flickers 

 were frequently seen hopping around in 

 the grass near the roots of various trees ; 

 the notes of the yellow-billed cuckoo 

 were also heard in the thick foliage of 

 the maples : redeyed vireos kept up a con- 

 tinual warbling all day long and doubt- 

 less had a nest in the vicinity, as we ob- 

 served the mother bird feeding two very 

 young ones; the latter being perched in 

 a low bush in the yard. The happy song 

 the house wrens was always in evidence 

 and three nests were built under the 

 porch roof. I personally observed one 

 of the broods leaving the nest and was 

 surprised to see two of their number 

 climb up the straight trunk of a wild 

 cherry tree — genuine woodpecker fash- 

 ion — for a distance of twelve or fifteen 

 feet, where the limbs began to branch 

 out. However, they arrived at the top 

 safely and remained there for the balance 

 of the day. 



Humming birds often came and hov- 

 ered over the many beautiful flowers in 

 the yard, and sometimes consented to 

 alight for a few minutes for our benefit. 

 On one of these occasions a party of five 



(including my baby daughter) ap- 

 proached to within three feet of the 

 flower stalk upon which our little visitor 

 was perched; still it sat there, turning 

 its wee head this way and that, looking 

 at us with fearless unconcern. At last 

 it gave a sharp chirp, flew, and was soon 

 lost to sight. On one occasion in the 

 early morning, we were greeted with the 

 familiar call ''Bob White," which seemed 

 to come from the woods in the rear of 

 the yard. The call was repeated several 

 times, but we were unable to discover 

 the author of it. A tree of fine red 

 cherries proved a great attraction for 

 cat birds and other feathered fruit lovers. 

 But what we considered the greatest 

 privilege, and one which was exceedingly 

 enjoyed, was the daily greeting of the 

 wood thrushes during the breakfast hour. 

 What could be more charming than to 

 sit leisurely eating the morning meal and 

 all the while listening to the sweet, clear 

 strains of the loveliest bird songs pour- 

 ing from the throats of the russet-brown 

 vocalists just outside the kitchen win- 

 dow, peal after peal, in endless volume 

 and variation. In addition to the birds 

 already mentioned we sometimes heard 

 the shrill scream of the blue j^y, also the 

 notes of the king birds and crested fly- 

 catchers, while from the distance, float- 

 ing to us from across some field or 

 meadow, came the morning praises of 

 a meadow lark or the well known call 

 of the kildeer. The crows also added 

 their deep caw-caw-caw to the chorus 

 of woodland voices. The clearing above 

 referred to proved to be the home of two 

 or three species of the warbler family, 

 and a walk through the vicinity the fol- 

 lowing winter revealed a number of 

 nests. They were all placed low, and 

 one of them showed every indication of 

 having been built and occupied by an 

 oven bird. 



The usual wild flowers of the season 

 were abundant and the surrounding 

 country at large was admirably suited 

 for exploration and research ; hence our 

 sojourn at the ''Cottage" was one of 

 great pleasure and instruction. 



Berton Mercer. 



