64 



EGROT— MERGANSER— SANDPIPER— BAY-WINGED BUNTING. 



Little White Egrot — Snowy Heron. {Ardea candidissima.) 



Fig. 2. 



This beautiful bird is found throughout the United States, from 

 the Middle States southerly; casually in Massachusetts, in Kansas, 

 Mexico, the West Indies, and Central and South America. It is 

 a constant resident of Florida and Louisiana, where many remain 

 during the breeding season. In their migrations they reach the 

 Middle States early in May. At such times, they fly night and day 

 and in utter silence. Their favorite roosting and breeding places 

 are among the low bushes and trees which surround swamps and 

 marshes. Eminently social, they band together in large commu- 

 nities numbering several hundred, several building their nests on 

 the same tree. The nest is composed of dry sticks, is rather small, 

 with a very shallow cavity, in which three eggs are placed, in color 

 pale bluish-green and measuring 1.62 by 1.25, the male assisting 

 in incubation. Their food consists of aquatic insects, snails, 

 shrimps, small lizards, and young frogs. When in good condition 

 their flesh is said to be excellent eating. 



Hooded Merganser. (Mergus cucullatus.) 



Fig. 3- 



This bird is found throughout North America, and stray repre- 

 sentatives have been observed in Europe. It breeds all along the 

 great inland lakes and other bodies of fresh water, building its nest 

 in the holes of tall dead trees, sometimes as high as forty feet from 

 the ground. The number of eggs vary from eight to fourteen, are 

 clear white in color, with shell so compact as to seem almost solid 

 when struck together, and measuring about 2.30 by 1.80 in size. 

 The care of incubating and raising the }'oung devolves entirely 

 upon the female, and in the discharge of the latter duty she evinces 

 many resources. When suddenly surprised with any threatening 

 danger she signals her flock by a guttural, chattering cry, when 

 they immediately dive beneath the waves and swim to the shore, 

 hiding in its aquatic herbage. When passing from one body of 

 water to another she flies with the young in her mouth, taking them 

 one by one. So wary is she, in her motherly care, that none but 

 the most expert sportsman is enabled to outwit her. Their food 

 consists of minnows, small tadpoles, and aquatic insects. When 

 migrating, they fly at great height, usually in small flocks and with- 

 out regard to order. Their vocabulary is confined to a sort of boo, 

 croo, croo/i, which the male uses in wooing, and the female in times 

 of danger, usually repeating it several times in succession. The 

 flesh has a fishy taste, the half-grown birds being more desirable 

 for food. 



Spotted Sandpiper. (Tringoides macularzus.) 



Fig. 4. 



This is one of the most common and widely distributed of our 

 birds, breeding nearly throughout North America, and wintering in 

 the Southern States, Central and South America, Brazil, and the 

 West Indies. It is a familiar bird, nesting in fields and orchards, 

 usually near water, scratching a hollow in the earth, lining it with 

 a few pieces of straw or moss, and laying four creamy or clay- 

 colored eggs, which are adjusted with their small ends toward the 

 middle of the nest. These eggs are about 1.40 by 1 inch in size, 

 the male assisting in incubating. Their song is a rapid, somewhat 

 shrill weet, weet, weet, varying into feet, weet, weet, weet, more 

 frequently heard toward evening. The mother is very affectionate 

 to her young, resorting to many dissimulations when they are 

 threatened with danger. They arrive in Northern New York about 

 the first of May, and immediately forming their marital connec- 

 tions, commence the work necessary to the raising a family. Their 

 flight is rather low and swift, and when feeding they have a habit 

 of balancing and wagging the tail whenever the young join or as 

 soon as they are fledged. 



Bay-winged Bunting— Grass Finch— Field Sparrow— Vesper-bird. (Pooe- 

 cetes gramzneus.) 



Fig. 8— Plate XLVIII. (Omitted on page 69.) 



This charming little songster is found abundant throughout most 

 all parts of North America. Fields, hedges, thickets, grassy hill- 

 sides, and open valleys are its places of resort. It is a shy and 

 timid bird, rarely ever approaching the habitations of man. Ac- 

 cording to Nuttall, these birds in winter flock together in great 

 numbers in the Southern States, and mingling with the chipping 

 birds and other species, they now line the roads, fences, and strag- 

 gling bushes near the plantations in such numbers as, with their 

 sober and brown livery, to resemble almost a shower of rustling and 

 falling leaves, continually haunting the advancing steps of the 

 traveler in hungry, active flocks, driven by the storms of winter 

 into this temporary and irksome exile. But no sooner does the re- 

 turn of early spring arrive, than they flit entirely from the southern 

 wilds, to disperse in pairs and seek out again their favorite natal 

 regions of the North. 



This species usually builds a nest on the ground in an open or 

 clover field, sheltered by some grassy tuft. It is built of grass, 

 fine stalks, and withered leaves ; when lined, it is with horse-hair 

 or grass. It lays from four to six eggs, of a grayish-white thickly 

 spotted with a dull reddish-brown color. Coues says : "The female 

 does not spring from her nest until almost trodden upon, when she 

 flutters in silence languidly away, repeatedly falling as if hurt, and 

 arising again in hopes of drawing attention from the nest to herself; 

 at a little distance she finally disappears in the herbage." 



" Have you heard the song of the Field Sparrow," asks John 

 Burroughs, in his pleasing little volume entitled " Wake Robin." 

 " If you have lived in a pastoral country, with broad upland pas- 

 tures, you could hardly have missed him. Wilson, I believe, calls 

 him the Grass Finch, and was evidently unacquainted with his 

 powers of song. The two white lateral quills of his tail, and his 

 habit of running and skulking a few yards in advance of you as 

 you walk through the fields, are sufficient to identify him. Not in 

 meadows or orchards, but in high, breezy pasture-grounds, will you 

 look for him. His song is most noticeable after sundown, when 

 other birds are silent, for which reason he has been aptly called the 

 Vesper Sparrow. The farmer following his team from the field at 

 dusk catches his sweetest strain. His song is not so brisk and 

 varied as that of the Song Sparrow, being softer and milder, sweeter 

 and more plaintive. Add the best parts of the lay of the latter to 

 the sweet, vibrating chant of the Wood Sparrow, and you have 

 the evening hymn of the Vesper-bird — the poet of the plain, un- 

 adorned pastures. Go to those broad, smooth, up-lying fields, 

 where the cattle and sheep are grazing, and sit down on one of the 

 warm, clean stones, and listen to this song. On every side, near 

 and remote, from out the short grass which the herds are cropping, 

 the strain rises. Two or three long, silver notes of rest and peace, 

 ending in some subdued trills or quavers, constitute each separate 

 song. Often you will catch only one or two of the bars, the breeze 

 having blown the minor part away. Such unambitious, uncon- 

 scious melody I It is one of the most characteristic sounds in na- 

 ture. The grass, the stones, the stubble, the furrow, the quiet 

 herds, and the warm twilight among the hills, are all subtilely ex- 

 pressed in this song ; this is what they are at least capable of." 



