THE BIRDS THAT IVE SEE. 
765 
rious kino'bird, having pursued liiin a 
quarter of a mile or more, leaves him 
and returns to his own nest, and, per¬ 
haps, barely in time to save it from the 
shameless blue jay, who was himself the 
first to cry, “ Stoj) thief! ” 
Every farmer knows the kingbird, or 
bee-martin. In color he is dark slate 
above, becoming black on the tail and 
head ; a band across the tip of his tail 
the breaking uj) of the great woods 
tiiese edge lands have been enormously 
extended, and there has been a corre¬ 
sponding increase in their characteiistic 
feathered tribes. Among these are the 
common jenny wren, known at once by 
his diminutive size and short tail car¬ 
ried at right angles to his back fp. 766] ; 
the gorgeous orange and black oiiole ; 
the plain, dull-colored peewee or phoebe, 
The Kingbird Going to Meet the Hawk. 
and all below is pure white. But his 
crest—the flame-colored badge—is lost, 
hidden beneath the other feathers, 
when he returns from his foray ; it is 
visible only when erect, as in the excite¬ 
ment of combat, or when pirouetting 
in the air to win the admiration of his 
queen. 
We are among the orchard-birds 
now, and are struck at once by their 
great number, variety, and tameness. 
The changes made by the progress of 
settlement in America resulted, as we 
have seen, in the Eastward extension of 
prairie lands with their characteristic 
birds; caused also a great multiplica¬ 
tion of what may be called woodland 
edges or half-wooded country. Wher¬ 
ever there was a break in the ancient 
forest, its edges Avere tenanted l)y their 
own peculiar si^ecies of birds, and in 
sitting on the house-gable or on a dead 
branch, moving his tail up and dowm, 
catching insects, or reiterating his own 
name, “phoebe, phoebe ; ” the happy 
little chipj)ing sjAarrow [p. 766], a dull 
little bird, with a bright little nest and 
eggs, knovm at once by its being a A^ery 
small sparroAv, having a black bill, a 
chestnut cap, and no streaks on its 
breast; the yelloAV AAxarbler, known also 
as the AvilloAv-wren, a slender little 
creature, entirely yelloAv; and seA^eral 
kinds of SAvalloAA^s. 
But the Baltimore oriole [p. 767] de¬ 
serves a longer notice; he is a prince in a 
house of princes. The family to AA’hich he 
belongs is composed of birds remarkable 
either for plumage, note, nest, eggs, or 
habit. Each can claim something curious 
and original; but the Baltimore shines 
in everyone of these particulars, for in 
