yard, there is nothing in the bird's or- 

 dinary actions that suggests domesticity. 

 He prefers a rather distant acquaintance 

 with man. The shy quail in the distant 

 field makes it seem homelike, but the 

 Blackbird in the dooryard trees brings 

 with him a sense of the wildness of the 

 forest. 



There is one time when the bird looks 

 really domestic. That is when he fol- 

 lows along the furrow after the farmer's 

 plow. Then he reminds one of a pet hen, 

 but there is a lot of business in his 

 stride as he searches here and there, and 

 picks up grubs. Now is the time he is 

 earning a little of next fall's crop. 



At times, when he is busy, especially 

 such times as this, one can approach 

 quite close to him. One thing prevents 

 him from showing handsome on close 

 inspection, that is his eye. The yellow 

 iris, contrasting with the black of the 

 bird, looks almost ghastly — one woiild 

 almost take him to be blind. 



But he sees well enough, and upon be- 

 ing approached too closely, will rise and 

 fly, not a scared flight, but dignified and 

 calm, like his walk, but hardly so grace- 

 ful, the long tail he uses for a rudder 



comes out to a rather sharp point be- 

 hind, and this helps distinguish him 

 when on the wing. 



The birds breed sometimes in colonies 

 in bushes or trees, and to some extent 

 in cavities, and both assist in incubation. 

 They are at all times sociable among 

 themselves, and are usually to be found 

 in flocks of various sizes. 



In autumn before they leave, they col- 

 lect in large flocks and, alighting in the 

 tops of the trees, try to hold camp-meet- 

 ings like their cousins, the red-wings. It 

 is to be hoped this does not often happen 

 for the attempt of a number of these 

 birds to make music is quite distressing. 

 The last I saw at this performance was 

 among the tops of the bronzed beeches, 

 and it looked like a thanksgiving for the 

 bountiful harvest. 



The Bronzed Grackle may be known 

 by many observers for it has a wide 

 range extending from Louisiana and 

 Texas northward to the Great Slave 

 Lake, and from the New England states 

 and Newfoundland westward to the 

 eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. It 

 winters in the lower Mississippi Valley. 

 H. Walton Clark. 



THE PIGEON FAMILY, 



One day in spring we were quite sur- 

 prised to see a pair of Pigeons flying 

 over the house, as we had none and knew 

 of no one else near by who had. Evi- 

 dently they were home seeking and liked 

 our appearance, for, after a close scrutiny 

 of the premises, they took possession of 

 an old pigeon house which some former 

 occupant of the ranch had nailed high 

 up on the barn. 



We watched them with a good deal of 

 interest for the first few days of their 

 stay, and were quite pleased when they 

 fully made up their minds to remain 

 permanent neighlx)rs. 



For a while they were busy with house- 

 cleaning and settling in their new abode. 

 Then after a few weeks, we discovered 



two baby Pigeons in the nest. Sucn 

 hungry little fellows as they were too! 

 It kept both father and mother busy 

 bringing worms and choice morsels for 

 their ravenous family. When one of the 

 old birds returned with a tidbit, there 

 was great quarreling in the nest until it 

 was poked down the throat of one or the 

 other of the young ones. 



At length the day came when both 

 young birds hopped out of the nest and 

 stood shivering on the outer shelf and 

 looking about at the great world. 



The parents seemed quite overjoyed at 

 first, but as the day wore on and the 

 youngsters got no farther than the shelf, 

 their impatience increased, and by after- 

 noon thev were in a hieh state of excite- 



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