"Hist!" said Nat, "they are taking a bath in the brook this side of the stepping-stones." And so they were.
The Cardinal
Length eight and a quarter inches.
Male: splendid cardinal-red, with a black throat and band about the coral-red bill, and a fine long crest, like a Cedar Waxwing"s.
Female: yellowish-brown with a little red in her crest, wings, and tail, and her face not so black as her mate"s.
A Citizen of the eastern United States to the plains and from Florida to the Great Lakes, nesting wherever found.
A Tree Trapper, Ground Gleaner, Seed Sower, and Weed Warrior, besides being a fine singer.
THE ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK
(THE POTATO-BUG BIRD)
"This must be the bird I saw the other day in the brush lot by the old barn," said Rap; "and there were two more this morning in our own potato patch. Why do they go there, Doctor?" "Because this bird, besides wearing a beautiful rosy shield on his breast, and singing at morning and evening more beautifully even than the very best Robin, is a very industrious and useful bird. He earns his living by helping farmers clear their fields of potato-bugs. If you go quietly over to the large potato lot on the north side of the Farm, you will find these birds at work any morning. I saw them myself to-day, and am going to trust my crop entirely to their keeping this season. They are nesting in the young growth near these very river woods, and I will show you one of their homes presently. You see that protecting birds, and leaving suitable bits of woodland and brush for them to build in, is practical as well as sentimental.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Rose-breasted Grosbeak.]
"This Grosbeak dares not trust its brilliant colors in large trees or open places, and so nests where it may hide in a maze of bushes. When it finds the right spot, it is not very particular about nest-building. A jumble of weeds, twigs, roots, and sometimes rags or bits of paper, serves to hold its light-blue eggs with brown markings.
"If it be ever right to cage a wild bird, you may make a prisoner of this Grosbeak; but remember, you must take a young male before it has known the joys of freedom, and give at least a half-hour every day to taking care of him. Then he will grow to love you and be a charming pet, living happily and singing gladly; but under any other circ.u.mstances it is less cruel to shoot one than to make it a prisoner."
The Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Length about eight inches.
Male: black on the head, back, wings, and tail; the belly, rump, several spots on the wings, and three outer tail-feathers, white; rose-colored breast and wing-linings; bill white and very heavy.
Female: streaked brownish above and below, without any rosy color, but orange-yellow under the wings; she looks like an overgrown Sparrow with a swelled face.
A Summer Citizen of the eastern United States from Kansas and the Carolina mountains to Canada, travelling south of the United States in winter.
A Tree Trapper, Ground Gleaner, Weed Warrior, and Seed Sower. Rather naughty once in a while about picking tree-buds, but on the whole a good neighbor.
THE INDIGO BIRD
(THE BLUE CANARY)
"Blue birds and blue flowers are both rare; you can count our really blue birds on the fingers of one hand, and a Blue Canary is even stranger than a green rose or a black tulip.
"The Indigo Bird has many of the Canary"s gentle ways, and though his music is not so fine or varied as that of the Goldfinch or Song Sparrow, he sings a sweet little tune to his brown mate on her nest in the bushy pasture.
"She is fortunate in having a dull dress; for, if she were as splendidly blue as her husband, nesting would be a very anxious occupation for her.
Indeed, her poor mate has anything but an easy time; his color is so bright that everybody can see him at a glance, and when he picks up gra.s.s-seed in the streaming sunlight, his feathers glisten like sapphires."
"We saw an Indigo Bird yesterday!" cried Nat and Dodo together. "It was in the geraniums by the dining-room window, eating the seed I tipped out of my Canary"s cage when I cleaned it," continued Dodo. "Mammy Bun said it was a Blue Canary, but Nat said it couldn"t be, and I forgot to ask about it."
"Are you going to tell us about many more birds in the Finch family, Uncle Roy?"
"Not now. You have heard about those that will be most likely to attract your attention, and when you can name them, they will introduce you to all the rest of their relations."
[Ill.u.s.tration: INDIGO BIRD.]
"It is a great family," said Rap, who was sitting thinking. "Big birds and little, plain gray and brown, or red, blue, and yellow--some like warm weather and some want it cold." "Speaking of cold, I wonder what became of the ice that Dodo saw Mammy Bun cracking this morning?" asked the Doctor, looking at Olive. "The very word has a pleasant sound, for it seems to me to be growing warmer and warmer."
"Toot! toot! t-o-o-t!" squeaked a tin horn across the field from the direction of the farmhouse.
"What"s that?" said Nat, jumping up; "it"s the dinner horn, and it can"t be dinner-time."
"Not more than eleven o"clock," said Rap, looking at the sun after the fashion of those who spend much time out of doors.
"I know what the horn means," said Olive. "It means that the cake, that Nat said Mammy Bun was going to bake with the ice, is done!"
"But that was only nonsense, you know," said Nat. "Ice won"t bake anything!"
"Perhaps not, but ice can freeze something, if you mix salt with it, even on this warm day, and the horn means that mammy has a tin pail full of ice cream, waiting for some one to eat it! Ice cream, made with fresh strawberries! Don"t break your neck, Nat!" For Nat had dashed off so quickly that it was no use for Dodo and Rap to try to keep up with him.
"Why do you mostly have something nice for us to eat on bird-days?"
asked Dodo, cuddling into the bend of her uncle"s arm.
"For two reasons, girlie. When I was a boy, being out of doors made me so hungry that it always seemed a long time between breakfast and dinner. I know that little brains remember best when the stomachs that nourish them are not empty. Neither Bird Children nor House Children should go too long hungry; it is as bad as nibbling all day."
"I"ve noticed since I came here I haven"t needed even to peep in the cooky box between times. Aren"t you one of the seven Wise Men of--of--I-forget-where?" asked Dodo, hugging him.
"Greece," answered the Doctor; "no, fortunately, I am not, for they are all dead."
"What"s that?" whispered Rap, pointing toward the river, whence a strong, rapid, musical song came, ending before you could catch the syllables, and then being repeated two or three times.
"It is the Cardinal," said, the Doctor, in some surprise--for the bird was singing almost at noon. "I can see his red liberty cap near the top of the tallest hemlock!"
"Che-o--hoo--hoo," called the Cardinal, and then the ice-cream pail arrived, escorted by Nat.
"This is a festival for us as well as for the Cardinal," said Rap.
The Indigo Bird
Length five and a half inches.
Male: bright blue, of a greener tint than the Bluebird; wings and tail dusky.