Citizen Bird Part 38

"The Redwings scolded us like everything!" said Dodo, "and Rap stepped right into an empty Meadow-lark's nest, without seeing it. A little way back there are lots of Bobolinks, too, singing and singing, but we couldn't find a single nest."

"It was pretty warm out there," said Nat, fanning himself with a wide haymaker's hat, such as both he and Dodo had worn since they came to the Farm.

"Come under the shelter and rest until Olaf has dinner ready. Where is Olive?"

"She is down by the water looking for seaweeds, for her alb.u.m."

"Have we used up all the Blackbird family?" asked Dodo, as they sat on the sand and began to dig holes with their hands.

"Oh, no; there is the biggest of all--the Crow," said Nat.

"Strange as it is," replied the Doctor, "though the Crow is the blackest of all our birds he does not belong to the Blackbird family, but to a separate one of his own--the family of Crows, Jays, and Magpies."

"How is that, Uncle Roy? You said that beautiful blue and gray bird we saw in the woods was a Jay," said Nat.

"Yes, but that is no stranger, as far as looks go, than to find a flaming Oriole in the Blackbird family, is it? You remember that I told you the relationship of birds depends upon their likeness in the bones and the rest of their inwards, not upon the color of their feathers."

"See! there are a great many Crows on that sandbar! They are picking up mussels! Some are bigger than others!" said Rap, who had been taking a look through the field-gla.s.s. "Are the small ones the females, or are there two kinds of Crows?"

"There are several kinds of Crows in the United States, besides Ravens and Magpies, who are cousins to the Crow. About here we usually only see two of them--the two that are now down on the bar--the American Crow and the Fish Crow. The Fish Crow is the smaller of the two, lives along the coast, and does not often go further north than Connecticut. It takes its name from its habit of catching fish in shallow pools and bays.

"The larger Crow is the bird that every one knows and most people dislike, because it has always been called a corn thief, though the Wise Men say it is rather a useful bird after all.

"The Crow is certainly a black, gloomy-looking bird, with a disagreeable voice. If several pairs make up their minds to build in the cedars or tall pines in one's grounds, anywhere near the house, the noise they make early in the morning is very tiresome. 'Ka--Ka--Ka-a-a-ah!' they call and quaver, at the first peep of day. Then they begin to look about for breakfast. If there is a Robin's or Dove's nest at hand, they think it is foolish to look further, and help themselves to fresh eggs or squabs. This makes us very angry, and we have the great Crow's nest--a peck or two of sticks, lined with the bark of cedars and grape vines--pulled from the tree-top where the crafty bird had hidden it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: American Crow.]

"It is perfectly right to do so, from our point of view. I, for one, do not wish Crows in my garden or about the Farm, where I see only the bad side of their characters. So we chase them away, and put scarecrows in the corn-fields. Do the Crows care? Not a bit! They laugh and talk about us behind our backs, and before our faces too. They pretend to be afraid, and fly away if a man appears a quarter of a mile off; but merely to settle down in another part of the field until their watcher tells them to move away again.

"There is a watcher for every flock, who gives the order to fly, and warns the troop at every approach of danger.

"Of course we must remember that for many months of the year the Crow eats gra.s.shoppers, grubs, and even mice; but it is easy to forget this when one discovers that half a dozen Crows have eaten all the young Robins in the orchard, in a single morning."

"Did they ever do that in our Orchard?" asked Dodo.

"Yes--not once, but many times; and that is the reason why I do not allow Crows to nest anywhere on the Farm. In great open farming districts, where other birds are few, they may do much more good than evil; but not in well-settled places or about gardens and pleasure grounds."

The American Crow

Length from eighteen to twenty inches.

Glossy black from the tip of its beak to the end of its toes.

A Citizen of North America from the Fur Countries to Mexico.

A dismal and noisy neighbor for three mouths in the year, making itself hateful by destroying grain, and the eggs and young of song birds; but for the other nine a good citizen, working in the guilds of Ground Gleaners and Wise Watchers.

THE BLUE JAY

"This Jay is accused of the same bad tricks as the Crow--pulling up sprouting corn, eating ripe corn, and going birds'-nesting, to suck the eggs and eat the helpless young. But we must not judge the whole tribe by what we have seen a pair or two do in the Orchard or home woods in the mating season.

"The Blue Jay is the third of our really familiar blue birds and is certainly very handsome. Do you remember who the other two are?"

"The Bluebird!" said Dodo quickly. "And the Blue Sparrow!" cried Nat.

"You mean the Indigo Bird," laughed Rap. "The Blue Jay is a queer bird, who can twist himself into all sorts of shapes. He sits one way when he sings, another when he is watching out for danger, and when he calls he is too funny for anything--he humps himself up and drops his tail as if he was falling apart, and then squawks!"

[Ill.u.s.tration: Blue Jay.]

"I see that you know this bird very well," said the Doctor. "Have you seen his nest?"

"Once. It was in the miller's woods, half-way up in a chestnut tree, and built just like a Crow's, only much smaller. That season one of the Jays whistled and carried on till I thought there were ever so many birds together, and then laughed at me! They come round the mill for sweepings in winter, but they are almost as shy as Crows."

When Olaf came with a basket and some short-handled hoes, the Doctor told Dodo she might take off her shoes and stockings and go down on the sandbar with Nat and Olaf, to dig clams for the chowder for dinner.

"More niceness!" screamed Dodo. "Olaf! Olaf! do clams grow in hills like potatoes? I thought they swam like fish! Aren't you coming, uncle, and Rap too, to tell us about clams?"

"No; you must talk to Olaf. We are going to help Olive with her seaweeds."

The Blue Jay

Length nearly twelve inches.

A fine blue and black crest on the head, very tall and pointed.

Upper parts blue, brighter on the wings and tail, which have many black bars and some white tips.

Under parts grayish-white, with a black collar.

A Citizen of eastern North America from the Fur Countries to Florida.

Belonging to the guild of Ground Gleaners, his special work being to kill gra.s.shoppers and caterpillars; but often eats young birds and sucks eggs, like a cannibal bird.

CHAPTER XIX

A FEATHERED FISHERMAN

THE OSPREY

Before the day was over the children were so in love with Olaf--with the beach where crabs were living, with the sea over which water birds were soaring--and wished to know so many things, that the Doctor told them the only way to satisfy them would be to camp on the sh.o.r.e in August, when the water would be warm enough for bathing; for to answer all the questions they asked would take a month.