BIRDS OF TOWN AXD COUNTRY 



497 



Efforts to protect birds on a smaller 

 scale and to attract them about dwellings, 

 with a view to their close companionship, 

 are worthy of all praise, and such efforts 

 should be far more common in this coun- 

 try than they are at present, particularly 

 as the means involve little trouble or ex- 

 pense. The presence of trees and shrub- 

 bery near the house is of itself an open 

 invitation to birds which they are eager 

 to accept, particularly if the shrubbery is 

 not too closely pruned. Birds like thick 

 vines and tangles, in the recesses of which 

 they feel safe from their many enemies. 

 Suet, nuts, and other bird foods, if ex- 

 posed in conspicuous places, can usually 

 be depended on to attract birds in winter, 

 and often avail to save many lives, espe- 

 cially when snow covers the ground. In 

 summer opportunities to drink and bathe 

 are irresistible attractions to birds and 

 largely increase the number resorting to 

 any given neighborhood. 



Last but not least important may be 

 mentioned the element of safety from 

 cats. Birds and cats do not thrive in the 

 same neighborhood. 



To awaken interest in the study of our 

 bird neighbors is the chief object of this 

 paper. The free use of colored illustra- 

 tions to facilitate identification precludes 

 the necessity for long and detailed de- 

 scriptions. As all the birds illustrating 

 the text are from the brush of the well- 

 known artist, Fuertes, they need no com- 

 mendation, but may be permitted to sing 

 their own praises. * 



* The following birds were pictured and de- 

 scribed in the June, 1913, number of the Na- 

 tional Geographic Magazine : Bluebird, robin, 

 russet - backed thrush, ruby - crowned kinglet, 

 chickadee, white - breasted nuthatch, brown 

 creeper, house wren, brown thrasher, catbird, 

 mocking - bird, myrtle warbler, loggerhead 

 shrike, barn - swallow, purple martin, black- 

 headed grosbeak, rose-breasted grosbeak, song- 

 sparrow, chipping sparrow, white-crowned spar- 

 row, English sparrow, crow blackbird, Brewer's 

 blackbird, Bullock's oriole, meadow-larks, red- 

 winged blackbird, bobolink, common crow, 

 California jay, blue jay, horned lark, Arkansas 

 kingbird, kingbird, nighthawk, nicker, yellow- 

 bellied sapsucker, downy woodpecker, yellow- 

 billed cuckoo, screech-owl, barn-owl, sparrow 

 hawk, red-tailed hawk. Cooper's hawk, morning 

 dove, ruffed grouse, bobwhite, killdeer, upland 

 plover, black tern, Franklin's gull. 



LIST OF BIRDS DESCRIBED AND INDEX 



Illustration 



page 



Kingfisher 499 



Red-headed Woodpecker 499 



Red-shafted Flicker 499 



California Woodpecker 499 



Black and White Warbler 501 



Yellow Warbler 501 



Audubon's Warbler 501 



American Redstart 501 



Indigo Bunting 503 



Lazuli Bunting 503 



White-throated Sparrow 503 



Slate-colored Junco 503 



Black Flycatcher, or Phainopepla 505 



Yellow-throated Vireo 505 



Red-eyed Yireo 505 



Lark Sparrow 505 



Maryland Yellow-throat 507 



Yellow-breasted Chat 507 



Oven-bird 507 



Cedar Waxwing 507 



Towhee, or Chewink 509 



California Brown Towhee 509 



Orchard Oriole 509 



Baltimore Oriole 509 



Black-billed Magpie 511 



Yellow-billed Magpie 511 



Phcebe 511 



Blue-fronted Jay 511 



Wood Pewee 511 



Ruby-throated Humming-bird 513 



Rufous Humming-bird 513 



Whippoorwill 513 



Road Runner 513 



Varied Thrush 516 



Veery 516 



Wood-thrush 516 



Bush-tit 516 



House Finch 518 



Purple Finch 518 



Arkansas Goldfinch 518 



American Goldfinch 518 



Vesper Sparrow 520 



Blue Grosbeak 520 



Cardinal 520 



California Quail 520 



Tree-swallow 522 



Cliff or Eaves Swallow 522 



Scarlet Tanager 522 



Western Tanager 522 



Yellow-headed Blackbird 524 



Starling 524 



Cowbird 524 



Chimney Swift 524 



Marsh-hawk 526 



Osprey 526 



Turkey-buzzard 526 



Bald Eagle 526 



Black-crowned Night Heron 528 



Herring Gull 528 



Great Blue Heron 528 



Common Tern 528 



Great Horned Owl 530 



Coot 530 



Wood-duck 530 



Spotted Sandpiper 530 



