[Ill.u.s.tration: RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD]
Blackbirds are walkers. They dress mostly in black, and they are of medium size. Some of them will generally be found on the ground in a marsh or a meadow. They are social birds, that is, they go in flocks.
Fond as they are of society, however, there is one time when they are willing to be a little apart from the blackbird world. That is when they are nesting and rearing a young family. Two interesting birds of this family are the red-winged blackbird and the cow-blackbird or cowbird.
The RED-WINGED BLACKBIRD is found all over the country. He is not so large as a robin, and is black all over, excepting one place on the wings. On these are bright stripes of red and orange, which seem to be on the shoulders when the wings are closed. They make the bird very gay, when he spreads them out in flying.
The red-wing"s mate is a modest-looking bird in stripes of brown and black. She is a plodding sort of a creature, too. She walks about on the ground, looking for grubs or insects so busily that she hardly seems to see anything else.
The nest is usually in a marsh. At any rate, it must be near the water, for red-wings are as fond of the water as any old sailor. It is hung between reeds, or in the branches of a low bush. It is a comfortable, bag-like affair, deep enough and big enough to hold the restless blackbird babies.
While the mother red-wing is sitting, her mate stays near her and sings a great deal. His song is a loud, sweet "hwa-ker-ee," which may be heard a long way off. When nestlings are out, he is one of the most busy and fussy of birds. He helps in the feeding, and seems to be a good and careful father. But when the young ones are grown up and able to feed themselves, a curious thing happens. All the gay red-wings in a neighborhood come together in a flock again. And all the young ones and the mothers stay in another flock.
The red-wing is a very nervous and uneasy fellow. While his mate is sitting he is always on guard to see that no harm comes to her. In the picture you can see he looks much concerned, as if he had discovered something. Then he makes a great row if any one comes near. He will give such cries of distress that one would think he was hurt, or that his nestlings were being stolen away. If the enemy is a crow, come to feed quietly on the meadow, he will fly at him, try to peck his head, and annoy him till he goes away. If it is a person who alarms him, he will circle about over his head with loud cries, and now and then swoop down as if he meant to attack him. In fact, he shows so much distress that it is not very pleasant to stay near him.
The young red-wing is just as uneasy and fussy as his papa. As soon as he is able to get out of the nest, he scrambles about in the bushes. He never stays two minutes in one place, and every time his mother comes with food she has to hunt him up before she can give it to him.
The red-wing is fond of green corn, and is often shot by farmers, but he is also a famous insect eater, and earns all the corn he gets. He eats numbers of cut-worms, and other insects, and in some of the prairie States he does great good by eating locusts and their eggs. Besides these, he likes variety, and is fond of the seeds of weeds. Ragweed and smartweed seeds are dainties to him as some nuts are to you, and he eats a great many. So unless a large flock comes to one place to disturb the crops, you may be sure they do more good than harm. So says the Department I told you about.
The young red-winged blackbird is a droll fellow, and has decided notions of his own. Mr. Keyser tells a story of one he picked up. He was put in with some other young birds,--meadowlarks and catbirds. They were all babies together, and all used to being fed. So when the little red-wing got something to eat, they would open their mouths and beg for it, in the pretty bird-baby way. At first he fed them, though he wasn"t much more than a baby himself; but they liked it so well that they coaxed everything away from him. He soon got tired of that, and at last refused to feed them at all.
This little bird liked to play jokes on the sober young meadowlarks. His way was to seize one by the wing or tail and dance around the floor, dragging his victim after him. The young larks scolded and held back, and at last they learned to stop his pranks. They did it by throwing themselves over on their backs, and holding up their claws ready to fight.
In spite of this naughty fun, the young blackbird was really fond of them. The larks slept on the ground, and at night, when the little fellows settled down on the floor, the red-wing would often leave his perch and cuddle down by them. This must have been for company only, for it was his way to sleep on a perch.
The COW-BLACKBIRD, or COWBIRD, is another one of this branch of the Blackbird Family who is found all over the United States. He is shining blue-black all over, except his head, which is brown. His mate is entirely brown. He is not quite so large as a red-wing, and he too is a walker.
This bird is called cowbird because he is fond of flying about the cows,--not to trouble them, but to eat the insects that torment them,--which is very pleasant for the cows, I am sure.
There is one queer way that cowbirds have, which no one is able to explain. The cowbird mother does not build a nest for her little family.
Yet she wants them well cared for. So she goes slyly about and lays her eggs in other birds" nests. She generally chooses the nest of a smaller bird, though she often uses one belonging to a wood thrush.
Most little birds--warblers and finches--accept the charge. They hatch out the strange egg and bring up the young cowbird, who is bigger than themselves. He is so big that he usually smothers the young ones that belong in the nest. So he receives the whole attention of the little mother bird.
Sometimes other birds come to help one who has a young cowbird to feed, and he grows big and strong. When he is full grown he joins a party of other cowbirds, and they go off in a flock by themselves.
Some small birds will not submit to this. When they find a cowbird"s egg in their nest, they go away and leave it there, and make a new nest. Or they make a new story, as I told you the yellow warbler does.
The cowbird has a queer little song. It is something like "cluck-see!"
and he seems to squeeze it out as if it were hard work to say it.
FOOTNOTE:
[16] See Appendix, 15.
XX
THE MEADOW STARLINGS
(_Icteridae_)--Continued
THE meadow starlings are short-tailed birds who live on the ground. They have long bills and mixed sort of plumage, of browns and yellows.
[Ill.u.s.tration: MEADOWLARK]
Our common one, called the MEADOWLARK or OLD-FIELD LARK, though he is not really a lark, is a beautiful bird. He is larger than a robin, and his mottled feathers are set off by a bright yellow breast, with a black crescent under the throat.
This bird lives in the meadows or pastures, and walks about on the ground, where he gets his food. When he wants to sing, he flies up on to a fence, or stands up very straight on a bit of turf, or a stone, and sings away a long time. It is a sweet song, or rather several sweet songs, for he does not always sing the same one.
The mother lark looks like her mate. She makes her nest on the ground, and a snug and cozy home it is. It is none of the open, cup-like nests that anybody can see into. It has a roof, if you please, and sometimes a covered way--like a hall--leading to it. The roof of the nest is made by drawing the gra.s.s stems over it and weaving them together. So it is very hard to find. And it is hidden in the long meadow gra.s.s besides.
You might think the little family would get hurt when the haymakers came to cut the gra.s.s. So they would, if they happened to be there. But lark babies are out of the egg before that time, and they run about as soon as they can stand. Sometimes when a nest has been disturbed, and the birds have had to make a second one, the little ones are not out when the mowers come on. Then there are apt to be sad times in the family.
But I have known mowers who carefully cut around a nest, and did not hurt the nestlings. That is a good thing to do, for the birds are so useful and such fine singers that we want as many as we can have.
The meadowlark is a shy bird, and so is more often heard than seen. His song is charming, and he has besides a strange call, a sort of harsh sputter, or chatter, sometimes as he flies over. No doubt he has many more ways of expressing himself, but these are the ones we most often hear.
The WESTERN MEADOWLARK looks like the Eastern, except that he is a little paler and grayer in color. He has the same general habits, but he is a much finer singer. The song is wilder and has more variety, and sometimes it is very brilliant. It is different in every way from the quiet, rather sad notes that make the Eastern bird so winning.
The Western bird is not so timid as his Eastern brother. He often comes into the towns and sings from the tops of houses. The finest singer I ever heard sang every day from the peak of a low roof. His song to his mate is most charming. It is so low and tender one can hardly hear it.
I once saw a pair of the Western birds nest-making. The little builder was busy filling her beak with dried gra.s.ses and such things. For these she had to fly across the road where I sat. Her mate went with her every time. He perched on the fence while she gathered her beakful, watching that no harm came to her. When she went back, he flew across with her and perched on a tree on that side.
All the time he was singing the sweetest low warble, and all the time he was keeping a sharp watch on me. In the West this bird eats beetles, gra.s.shoppers, and the disgusting big black crickets that do so much damage.
XXI
THE ORIOLE BRANCH
(_Icteridae_)--Continued
IT seems odd to put the gay orioles into the Blackbird Family, especially as they don"t live on the ground either; but that"s where they belong in the books. Orioles live in the trees, and are fine singers. They have sharp-pointed bills, suitable for picking tiny insects out of fruit blossoms. They have some of the family color, black, but more orange color, or chestnut red, or yellow. They all make beautiful nests.
The Baltimore oriole is all over the East, the orchard oriole in the South, and the Arizona hooded oriole in the West.
The BALTIMORE ORIOLE, who has several other names, such as fire-bird, golden robin, and hang-nest, is a very showy bird, in bright orange and black. He has a fine though short song. His mate is yellow, and brown instead of black, and has a sweet song of her own. Both of them can scold as well as any birds I know.
The nest of this oriole is one of the prettiest we have. It is hung high up in a tall tree, an elm or willow usually, and near the end of a branch, where it swings in the wind. It is a deep bag made of plant fibres, bits of string, and other things. The whole has a gray tint and a silky look, which make it very attractive.