SPRING NOTES FROM FEATHERED THROATS. 



IN NEW JERSEY. 



That individual unaffected by the first 

 fluttering wings of returning spring mi- 

 grants is an anomaly indeed. He must 

 ever have been secluded beyond reach of 

 trill or glint of the feathery kingdom, 

 or else is pitifully invulnerable to one of 

 nature's chiefest charms. For who, hav- 

 ing listened to the enraptured love-notes 

 and witnessed the extravagant devotion, 

 intermingled with drollest buffoonery, 

 during the progress of some field or for- 

 est courtship, is beyond feeling interest 

 and pleasure in these half-human and 

 wholly unique performances? Or who 

 lias not felt a thrill of admiration, to be 

 followed by one of commiiseration, when 

 one of the hunters of the air made his 

 terrific plunge, hurtling down like an ani- 

 mated catapult, to strike his quarry ere it 

 found cover in wood or thicket? To all 

 those having formed some degree of bird 

 ■companionship and who live where win- 

 ter robs them of those friends of the 

 fields and woods — to such returning 

 spring would be incomplete without their 

 coming. The earliest break in winter's 

 shackles tensions their ears to listen for 

 the first returning migrant's note. Of 

 these the last to leave and first to brave 

 the still vigorous, retreating winter gales 

 is Sir Crow. Painted by popular disfa- 

 vor even blacker than he merits, his de- 

 parting caw, mingled with the wild 

 goose's "haunks," as they w^inged south- 

 ward, barely escaping the first cold wave. 

 His caw has mellowed with his sunny va- 

 cation. In place of the discordant med- 

 ley echoing from the final grove conven- 

 tion will come his spring notes, cawing 

 a domestic cadence half musical, suggest- 

 ing a chuckle of delight. By twos and 

 threes these black-coated scouts struggle 

 back to former frequentings. In early 

 February, perhaps, when the ambitious 

 ' sugar-maker is trying for his first ''run," 

 he there catches his first glimpse of blue- 

 black sheen as the northward flyer toil- 

 somely sweeps through the naked trees. 

 ,At this inhospitable season all of his pro- 



verbial cunning stands him in good stead, 

 and truly he is a veritable solon of bird 

 wisdom. Nature seemlingly compensated 

 for his gloomy dress and awkward flight 

 by bestowing almost incredible sagacity 

 behind his unattractive exterior. 



We need not yet listen for other 

 sweeter-voiced arrivals, but while wait- 

 ing may give ear to some stay-at-home 

 all-winter residents, the chickadee and his 

 crested relative, the tufted titmouse, 

 cheery chirpers and whistlers both, un- 

 conquered by the fiercest boreal blasts; 

 the quiet- voiced and colored junco, the 

 industrious creeper and nuthatch, not 

 forgetting that hide-and-go-seek climber 

 the downy woodpecker and his warmer 

 colored, hairy relative. The woodpeckers, 

 with their cheerful taps, trills and chatter, 

 have done much to dispel the gloom of 

 drear and frosty winter days. 



But one is forgotten who in nature 

 absolutely refuses to remain unnoticed — 

 Sir Blue Jay — though an acknowledged 

 cannibal and highwayman, he is withal so 

 jaunty and attractive in everything but 

 his voice and his habits as to convince his 

 beholders that he is not half bad. With 

 February's closing days we may listen for 

 the hardier representatives of the spar- 

 row family, those twin aristocrats, the 

 white-crowned and white-throated beau- 

 ties, the more timid and ruddier fox, and 

 the well-known song sparrow. Being un- 

 obtrusive in both song and garb, their 

 first greeting may be missed, but the 

 trained' ear will soon catch the cheerful 

 notes from hedge or brush pile, elicited 

 by a chasing gleam of sunshine. These 

 sweet-toned singers will prove a welcome 

 contrast to the tiresome, incessant, com- 

 plaining notes of their English cousins, 

 who have spent the winter at the granary 

 door or skirmishing in the garbage on 

 the city streets. The sparrows are the 

 beginner's despair in ornithology, but are 

 as interesting in habits, song and appear- 

 ance as thev are numerous and confus- 



ing. The observer who can readily dis- 



161 



