Birds and All Nature, Vol. III, No. 3, March 1898

Mr. Kingbird, aware of the many young birds he had eaten in his time concluded he had best confine himself exclusively to the question of eggs.

"It's only a sneak," he replied, "that will creep up when the mother bird is off her nest and suck the eggs. Nobody but a coward would do it. The Mourning Dove's cries the other day were truly heartrending. I made up my mind then that the very first time you crossed my path I would thrash you."

"That's right, give it to him, give it to him!" cried the birds in chorus, a large number of which, attracted by the quarrel, had formed themselves into a ring about the tree tops. "He's not only a thief but a bully, always ready to whip a bird under his size."

Mr. Blue Jay winced for a second, for it is not pleasant to find one's self hated, by all his fellow kind.

"I'll swear," said he, lifting up one foot solemnly, "that I have not been near the Mourning Dove's nest this season."

"Nor the Red-eyed Vireo's?"

"Nor the Red-eyed Vireo's," affirmed Mr. Blue Jay, slightly closing one eye, and coughing behind his foot.

"Oh, oh, oh!" chorused a dozen voices, "we saw him around there this very morning."

"And I," said a Bluebird, "saw him destroy the eggs in Mrs. Mourning Dove's nest, myself."

"So," sternly said Mr. Kingbird, "the rascal adds perjury to his other crimes. It is the duty of every honest citizen of the woods and orchards to rid the world of such a villain. Defend yourself, Mr. Jay, or – "

At this moment a loud and vehement "Zeay, ze-a-y," broke in upon Mr. Kingbird's speech.

"Ah! Mr. Catbird," said he, his crest suddenly falling, "I think, I – will attend to this case another time," and much to the disappointment of the assembled crowd Mr. Kingbird took wing and flew away.

No sooner was he gone than Mr. Blue Jay nearly doubled himself up with laughter.

"I thought that would make his feathers fall," he said, resuming his braggart manner. "I have noticed how quickly he gets out of the way of Mr. Catbird, though he will fight a Hawk, or a Crow, or even an Eagle. He! he! he! I imitated Mr. Catbird very well, didn't I?" and the rogue, to show his powers of mimicry, cried Zeay, ze-a-y, again, then Caw, caw, like a Crow, meowed like a cat, barked like a dog, crowed like a Rooster, and finished with a loud, harsh Kee-oo, kee-oo, which put all the birds to flight.

"The Red-shouldered Hawk," they one and all cried with frightened glances into the air, and Mrs. Wren, forgetting for the moment that it was only Mr. Jay imitating Mr. Hawk, flew over to her nest in the greatest consternation.

"Well, well," she said afterward with a laugh, "it was 'much ado about nothing' after all. But what a clever fellow that Mr. Jay is to be sure! Really I cannot help but admire him, rogue though he is," and with a pretty flutter of her wings Mrs. Wren gathered the six speckled treasures under her breast and sat down to brood.

"I don't see how you could have covered more than six eggs, my dear," said Mr. Wren tenderly. "You are such a little body, you know. Mrs. John last year, though, had ten in one brood, did she not?"

"Yes," sniffed Mrs. Wren, "and her neighbors have never heard the last of it. Such a gossip and braggart as she is. Why, she tells every lady bird that calls on her that her Mr. Wren had three furnished houses when he proposed to her; one in a knothole of an apple tree, one on top of a very high pole, and the other – well, really I forget; under the roof of a meeting house, I believe."

"Hm!" said Mr. Wren, turning up his bill, "that's the reason she accepted him, I suppose. To my notion he is a most unattractive fellow, ugly as he is proud."

"Oh, handsome is as handsome does," returned Mrs. Wren, "as our landlady says. But you can't deny that he makes my cousin a good husband. It is very foolish for them to boast so, for they can only occupy one house at a time, and surely they have to earn their food by searching for insects and worms, precisely as we do. Then, too, riches take wings sometimes, and fly away, and as I told one of my neighbors the other day, I am just as happy in this old tin pot as I would be on top of the highest pole."

"How glad I am to hear you say that," returned Mr. Wren, tears glistening in his little black eyes, "for there can be no true happiness without contentment – as our landlord says. Dear little mate! Fourteen days you must sit on the nest. How tired you will be!"

"Oh, I don't mind that," replied Mrs. Wren, "if only our birdlings hatch out pretty and good. Once in a while I will fly off for a little exercise, you know, and, like Mr. John, you will take my place on the nest and keep the eggs warm."

"Oh!" exclaimed Mr. Wren, ruefully; "I hadn't calculated on doing that. But we will see. I'm off, now, to get something to eat, and will fetch you as delicious a spider or nice fat canker worm as I can find. Ta, ta, love!" and off Mr. Wren flew to the orchard, singing as he went.

SUMMARY

Page 86.

BLACK DUCK.—Anas obscura. Other name: "Dusky Duck."

Range – North America; breeds from Illinois and New Jersey to Hudson Bay and Labrador; winters southward to the Greater Antilles.

Nest – On the ground, in grass or rushes in the neighborhood of ponds, pools, and streams.

Eggs – Eight to twelve, pale greenish or bluish white, or creamy buff.

Page 90.

WILSON'S PETREL.—Oceanites oceanicus.

Range – Atlantic Ocean; breeds in southern seas (Kerguelen Island) and migrates northward, spending the summer off our coasts.

Nest – In the crevices of rocks.

Egg – One, white.

Page 94.

BLUE-GRAY GNATCATCHER.– Polioptila caerulea.

Range – Eastern United States; breeds from the Gulf States to northern Illinois, southern Ontario and New Jersey, and wanders rarely to Minnesota and Maine; winters from Florida southward.

Nest – Of fine strips of bark and fine grasses firmly interwoven and covered with lichens, on branch or in crotch of tree, ten to sixty feet up.

Eggs – Four or five, bluish white, thickly spotted and speckled with brown.

Page 98.

AMERICAN COOT.—Fulica Americana. Other names: "Mud-hen," "Crow Duck," "Blue Peter."

Range – North America as far north as Alaska and New Brunswick and Greenland; breeds throughout its range.

Nest – Of reeds and grasses, among reeds in fresh water marshes.

Eggs – Eight to fifteen, pale, buffy white, speckled with chocolate on black.

Page 103.

IVORY-BILLED WOODPECKER.—Campephilus principalis.

Range – Formerly South Atlantic and Gulf States, from North Carolina to Texas; north in the Mississippi valley to Missouri, southern Illinois, and southern Indiana. Now restricted to the Gulf States and the lower Mississippi Valley, where only locally distributed. (A.O.U.)

Nest – In the higher part of a tree.

Eggs – Three have been found.

Page 107.