be promiscuous and temporary in their 
mating habits; yet undoubtedly, in- 
dividual variation occurs in all forms 
of life, and it may be that there are 
faithful couples here and there in every 
species. 
S QUIRRELS and chipmunks, as far 
as I can learn, are faithful to their 
mates, but I can find little evidence of 
such faithfulness among the wood- 
chucks, rabbits, muskrats, mice and 
rats. 
Deer, classed as they are with cattle, 
sheep, goats and buffalo, have been gen- 
erally characterized as polygamous, 
even the red deer, the “noble stag” of 
England and Scotland, has been so 
rated, and that by those who have had 
the chance to study him the closest, the 
deer hunters and game keepers of sev- 
eral generations past. But my own ob- 
servations of the common white tailed 
deer of this country, leave me convinced 
that they at least are nearly always 
monogamous. 
The doe, it is true, goes off by herself 
before the birth of the fawn, but I 
have seen buck, doe and fawn in com- 
pany when the fawns were not very 
many weeks old, as well as later in the 
season when they were nearly half 
grown. 
I once saw a large buck crossing 
from one woodland to another, keeping 
to what little cover was afforded by 
the young growth and alders along the 
riverside. Coming to the border of the 
dark hemlock woods, he was confronted 
by a six strand barbed wire fence. Here 
he stopped and looked back, flashing 
his white tail repeatedly as a signal. 
Looking in the same direction, I saw a 
white tail flash in answer, from among 
the bushes by the stream a quarter of 
a mile back along the course which he 
had followed. 
Presently a doe and two fawns came 
in sight, crossing the open and coming 
close up to him, as he stood there by 
the wire fence. 
Clearing this at a bound, as he turned 
and waited until the fawns, after much 
hesitation, had managed to get over the 
fence, then the doe leaped over, and 
the whole family disappeared among the 
hemlocks. 
On another occasion, this time in 
the spring, I saw a fox run out from 
the edge of the woods with a buck and 
doe in pursuit. 
AFTER the fox had retreated to the 
meadows, the deer went back into 
the woods, where I suspected that their 
fawns were in hiding. 
T have never yet seen a buck accom- 
panied by more than one doe. 
In the winter it is not uncommon to 
find one or two young bucks going 
about in company with an old antlered 
buck of -many years experience; the 
does—young and old—at this season, 
keeping more by themselves. 
Among birds, springtime mating is 
the general rule, but just what propor- 
tion of these springtime courtships, are 
the rejoining of pairs of the previous 
season, is uncertain. Very few, I think 
in the case of song birds, for rivalry 
among the males is greatly in evidence; 
two or more of these ardent lovers pur- 
suing a female as she darts and hides 
among the leaves. The males are the 
first to come north; the females join- 
ing them several days or even weeks 
later. The cow blackbirds come up from 
the south in April, not in conspicuous 
flocks as the grackles and redwings 
come, but in little parties of three or 
four or a dozen perhaps. Their migra- 
tions are conducted at night and I first 
see them in the tops of the apple and 
elm trees in the early morning of their 
arriva). 
They ruffle their feathers and utter 
modulated creaking and whistling notes 
and cluck sleepily to one another and 
then go to sleep perched side by side in 
the spring sunshine. Sometimes I see 
a pair, male and female together, but 
quite frequently one male and two fe- 
males or several males and one female, 
for they do not pair off in the spring as 
most other birds do and know nothing 
of nest building and the cares of their 
young. 
FROM time to time in early summer 
a lone female wanders off by her- 
self with an eye to the nesting affairs 
of other birds smaller than she is. Loaf- 
ing about half hidden among the leaves, 
she acts the spy on busy pairs of chipping 
sparrows, vireos and yellow warblers 
and choosing her time when the owners 
are away from their newly finished 
nest, lays an egg therein and departs. 
It is a common enough occurrence to 
find the cowbird’s egg in the nest with 
the smaller eggs of sparrow or warbler, 
and much less frequently the young 
cowbird, either alone or with its foster 
brothers and sisters. In mid-summer 
I often find them fully fledged and 
grown up, still accompanied by their 
little adopted parents who work per- 
severingly from morning till night to 
procure enough food for their greedy 
and overgrown changeling. 
The red winged blackbirds come 
north earlier than the cowbirds, and 
after the arrival of the females, flock 
together in the meadows, where later in 
the season they have their nests. Male 
and female alike share the cares and 
anxieties for their young; few birds are 
more solicitous than they are in this 
direction, yet there seems to be some- 
thing of the cowbird’s socialistic tend- 
encies in the red wing species, and it is 
difficult to tell which birds are mated 
together, several males often clamour- 
ing above you when you approach some 
one particular nest, and following with 
you and exhibiting equal alarm and 
anxiety when another nest is ap- 
proached, and any day in the summer 
you may see two or more males pur- 
suing a female with all the ardent riv- 
alry of springtime courtship. 
ET here and there in the meadows, 
are secluded nests, with one male 
and one female keeping guard over 
each. 
Crows dwell in pairs during the mat- 
jing season, and until the young crows 
have learned to fly; after that they 
gather their flocks and all identity of 
the pairs is lost. I have seen no evi- 
dence that the same pairs reunite the 
following spring, rather the contrary 
in fact, and yet, to their credit, it may 
be said, that more than most birds, they 
are quick to help any unfortunate mem- 
ber of the flock. ‘ 
I have often seen them make repeated 
trips to and from the tree in which a. 
wounded crow was hiding, evidently 
carrying food each time, and this in 
early summer, when the young crows 
were clamoring to be fed in their turn. 
With most species, either of animals 
or birds, this act of succoring the unfor- 
tunate, is, I regret to say, so uncommon 
as to be all the more noticeable when it 
does occur. 
Darwin tells us of an aged pelican, 
found on one of the islands inhabited 
by these birds; blind and helpless to 
feed itself, yet fat and evidently well 
cared for by’ others of the flock, who 
were continually coming and going to 
and from their feeding grounds. 
Hawks have always been credited 
with being monogamous, and years of 
close observation of the different species 
leave me with little doubt that they 
are. The sexes are easily distinguished, 
and the plumage of the young birds 
changes from year to year until the 
typical adult coloration of the species is 
acquired. 
HIS renders it comparatively easy 
to recognize individuals in many 
instances, particularly now that their 
numbers have, most unfortunately, been 
so reduced, that you will hardly find 
more than one or two pairs of any 
species, for several miles of woodland. 
The red shouldered hawks are in 
many ways the easiest to study. 
The young at first are pale brown 
and yellowish white, each year’s new 
plumage showing an added touch of red- 
ish brown and black until at last they 
wear the handsomely marked dress of 
their tribe. 
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