Length nine and a half inches.
Male: glossy black, except the scarlet shoulders, edged with buff.
Female: mixed rusty black and buff, with dull reddish-orange shoulders--not conspicuous.
A Citizen of North America in general.
A member of the guilds of Ground Gleaners and Tree Trappers.
THE PURPLE GRACKLE
(THE CROW BLACKBIRD. RUSTY HINGE)
"What a noise those Blackbirds are making!" said Nat.
"That"s nothing to the way they do early in the spring, or in autumn, after they are through nesting," said Rap. "You should hear them. They come to a big chestnut across the road from our house, more than a hundred of them at once, and they creak and crackle and squeak till all of a sudden down they go on the ground, and walk about awhile to feed."
[Ill.u.s.tration: Purple Grackle]
"Yes," said the Doctor, "I call them Rusty Hinges, for their voices sound like the creaking of a door that needs oiling on the hinges. But in spite of this they try to sing to their mates in spring, and very funny is the sight and sound of their devotion. To judge only by their notes, they should belong to the Croaking Birds, and not to the Singers at all; but they have a regular music-box in the throat, only it is out of order, and won"t play tunes. Like the Redwings, they also nest in colonies, either in old orchards, cedar thickets, or among pines; the rest of the year, too, they keep in flocks. Except in the most northerly States Crow Blackbirds stay all winter, like Crows themselves. They are not particularly likable birds, though you will find they have very interesting habits, if you take time to watch them."
"I wonder if you fed them with cod-liver oil and licorice lozenges if their voices would be better?" asked Dodo, who had suffered from a hoa.r.s.e cold the winter before.
"I don"t know what that treatment might do for them," laughed the Doctor; "but if you will agree to feed them I will give you the oil and licorice!" And then Dodo laughed at herself.
The Purple Grackle
Length twelve to thirteen and a half inches.
Male: glossy black, with soap-bubble tints on the head, back, tail, and wings, and yellow iris. A long tail that does not lie flat and smooth like that of most birds.
Female: dull blackish and smaller--not over twelve inches.
A Citizen of the Atlantic States from Florida to Ma.s.sachusetts.
A good Citizen, if there are not too many in one place to eat too much grain.
A Ground Gleaner and Tree Trapper, clearing grubs and beetles from ploughed land.
THE MEADOWLARK
[Ill.u.s.tration: Meadowlark.]
"In early March the Meadowlark comes to the places that he was obliged to leave in the winter, and cries, "Spring o" the year! Spring o" the y-e-a-r!" to the brown fields and icy brooks. They hear the call and immediately begin to stir themselves.
"Then the Meadowlark begins to earn his living, and pay his taxes at the same time, by searching the fields and pastures first for weed seeds and then, as the ground softens, for the various grubs and beetles that meant to do mischief as soon as they could get a chance. By the middle of May, when the gra.s.s has grown high enough to protect him, this gentle bird thinks he has earned a right to a home in one of the meadows he has freed from their insect enemies, and sets about to make it. A little colony may settle in this same field, or a single pair have a corner all to themselves.
"A loose gra.s.s nest is arranged in a suitable spot, usually where the gra.s.s is long enough to be drawn together over the nest like a sort of tent. Here the mother tends the eggs and nestlings, the father always keeping near to help her, and continually singing at his daily toil of providing for his family as charmingly as if he were still a gay bachelor; for Meadowlarks are very affectionate both toward each other and their young. It is really distressing to hear the sadness of the song of one who has lost his mate. He seems to be crying, "Where are you, dear?" and beseeching her to come.
"Though we frequently hear their song in the marsh meadows in autumn, they are shyer then, and keep in flocks. At that season they grow fat, and gunners continually worry them; but I do not think that sportsmen often shoot these song birds. They are chiefly the victims of thoughtless boys or greedy pot-hunters. The true sportsman is one of the first to preserve all song birds, and give even game birds a fair chance for life; he is thus very different from the cruel man who, simply because he owns a gun, shoots everything, from a Robin to a Quail, and even in the nesting season."
"Please, what is a pot-hunter?" asked Dodo.
"A pot-hunter is one who kills birds and other game at any time, regardless of the law, merely for the sake of money-making."
"Is there a law about killing birds?" asked Nat.
"Certainly. All really civilized States have their game-laws, and I hope the time is near when all our States will unite in this matter. Where there is a good law no wild bird or beast, even those which are suitable and intended for food, may be killed in its nesting or breeding season, or for some time afterward. Also, these creatures must only be killed by fair hunting, not with snares or traps or by any foul means; and even fishes are thus protected against wanton or excessive destruction."
"But if there is a law is some places and not in others, why don"t the birds that travel get shot when they go about?" asked Rap.
"They do, my boy, and that is the pity of it. Some people seem to think there are so many birds in this great country that they cannot be killed out; and others are brutal, or do not think at all, but kill for the sake of killing. The worst of it is that little or no protection is given the poor birds in the warm countries where they spend the winter.
Thrushes are shot for pot-pie, all the gayly colored birds are killed for their feathers, and flocks of doves are slain to see how many a man can hit in a day!
"Olaf says the Meadowlarks are raising their second brood now and he can find you some empty nests, if you go with him, so you can see how they are made; he will show you the Redwings" nests, too. You boys may take off your shoes and stockings; and Miss Dodo, being a girl, shall ride on Olaf"s shoulder." "Please, can"t I have my shoes off too?" begged Dodo.
"I love to wade like the boys!"
"By and by, on the beach; but what if a frog or an eel should touch your foot, or a sharp straw stick in it--are you enough of a boy not to scream?"
Dodo was not sure, and thought she would begin by riding.
The Meadowlark
Length ten to eleven inches.
Upper parts marked with brown, bay, gray, and black; head striped, with a yellow spot in front of the eye; wing-feathers nearest the body, and most of the tail-feathers, scalloped with black and gray, but the outside tail-feathers white.
Under parts nearly all yellow, with a black crescent on the breast, but further back flaxen-brown, with dark stripes.
Bill stout where it runs up on the forehead, but tapering to the point.
A Citizen of the United States and Canada.
A good and useful neighbor. A famous member of the guild of Ground Gleaners, its chief work being to kill bad insects which eat the gra.s.s-roots in pastures and hay-fields.
A beautiful bird and charming songster.
CHAPTER XVIII
CROWS AND THEIR COUSINS
In half an hour the children were back again, all talking eagerly together.