Friends and Helpers Part 21

The blackbirds follow a few days later. With a merry, jingling chorus they perch in the leafless trees. We know now that soon there will be leaves and blossoms, and the thought makes us glad.

Now we may look for the bluebird also. His soft, sweet warble is one of the most welcome of the springtime sounds. See him looking at the box in which last year he had a nest! Probably he is planning repairs. How happy he seems!

When we see gnats or small insects in the air we may expect the phoebe.

The phoebe belongs to the family of flycatchers. He spends his life in man's service, catching the insects which are so troublesome.

When the first insects appear the phoebe comes to prevent them from growing too numerous. You will know the phoebe by his note. "Pewit- phoebe!" he calls, with a wag of his tail, as he sits on a fence or bridge rail.

If the frost has left the ground, you may be sure that the woodc.o.c.k has come. The woodc.o.c.k has a bill nearly three inches long. He sticks it into the soft earth to hunt for the worms on which he lives. So you see if the ground were hard the woodc.o.c.k could not get his usual fare.

For the same reason the kingfisher waits until the ice has left the ponds and streams. Then we can hear him sound his rattle-like voice and watch him fis.h.i.+ng. What a sure aim he has! See him hovering over the water, waiting for some small fish to come near the surface! Then he closes his wings and plunges downward like a dart. There is a splash, and a second later he flies up with his prize.

Early in April the chippy comes. He has not much of a song, but we are always glad to see him because he seems glad to see us. He comes to the piazza steps, plainly asking for crumbs. If we give them to him, he may build his hair-lined nest in the vine on the trellis.

Some day later in the month the barn swallow may be seen flitting in and out the barn door or hay window, twittering merrily. He has seen many countries since he left us last October. Probably he has been to Central America, or even Brazil. But in all his travels I am sure he has visited no place he loves as well as the old barn.

The chimney swift loves his chimney, too. Let us hope that when he returns early in May he will not find smoke curling from his home.

Each day now brings a host of the little feathered travelers. In February and March we cannot tell just what day to look for our bird friends. If it is cold and bleak, they must wait for warmer weather. In May, when the sun s.h.i.+nes brightly, and the season of storms has pa.s.sed, we know almost exactly when to expect each bird.

About the first of the month we shall again be cheered by the songs of the catbird and wren. From a tree-top near the roadside a brown thrasher will sing a song of rejoicing. In the woods the wood thrush will chant a hymn of praise.

The ground is carpeted with wild flowers, and we may gather the beautiful anemones, violets, and b.u.t.tercups. The trees are putting on their dresses of green. The air rings with the joyful music of birds.

Now we know that the song of the robin was true.

BIRDS' HOMES.

Nearly every bird has a trade. Some are carpenters, others are masons, weavers, tailors, basket-makers, etc. It is only when building their homes that birds work at their trades.

Then you may see the woodp.e.c.k.e.r hammering with his chisel-like bill, making a home in some dead tree. You can hear his strokes a long way through the woods. The chips fly from beneath his strong blows.

The robin, the phoebe, and the barn and eave swallows are masons. The robin moulds an inner layer of mud in his round nest and covers it with fine gra.s.ses. The phoebe uses a mixture of mud and moss in plastering his large nest on some beam or rafter.

The barn swallow also uses a beam. His nest is nearly all mud, but is lined with soft feathers. The eave swallows are the most expert masons of all. They build rows of mud tenements beneath the eaves of the barn.

Each little apartment is rounded over and has a round hole for a door.

The chimney swift or swallow uses wood and glue in making the pretty little bracket-like basket he fastens to the chimney wall. His feet are so small that he cannot perch as other birds do, so when he rests he clings to the side of the chimney and leans on his tail. Each tail feather is tipped with a stiff, sharp point that keeps it from slipping.

How then do you suppose he gathers the twigs for his nest? Watch him some day when he is flying rapidly about. You may see that he goes by a dead tree, and as he pa.s.ses he hovers for a second near the end of a limb. Then it is that he snaps off with his bill a small, dry twig for his home.

But how can he fasten a nest of twigs to the upright chimney wall? Well, the chimney swift carries a gluepot with him. It is in his mouth, where certain glands produce a sticky substance like mucilage. With this he glues the little twigs together and fastens them to the bricks.

Sometimes a heavy rain will moisten this glue. Then the nest is loosened from the chimney and, with the poor little birds in it, falls to the fireplace. If you fasten it as high in the chimney above the fireplace as you can, the parent birds may come down and feed their young.

The humming-bird is an upholsterer and decorator. He and his tiny wife build the daintiest little nest it is possible to imagine. They use plant-down or "thistle-down" and cover it all over with grayish or greenish lichens, those flakes of "moss" we see growing on the bark of trees. Generally they place it on a limb of a large tree. There it looks so much like a knot that it takes sharp eyes to find a humming-bird's nest.

The great crested flycatcher places his nest in a hollow limb and though he seems to care very little about its appearance he has, nevertheless, an idea of his own about decoration and evidently thinks no nest is complete without a bit of cast-off snake skin.

Just why he should want to have such a thing in his home no one can say.

Some naturalists believe that he uses it as a scarecrow to frighten his enemies away. But I do not think he could give a reason if he were asked.

Birds build the same kind of nests their parents built, without asking the reason why.

The chipping sparrow always lines its nest with hairs, the crane uses cedar bark, the robin mud, the vireos often place a bit of wasps' nest in their bag-like nests; but no one has ever tried to explain why they should always employ these particular things.

The oriole is a master weaver. Have you ever seen his cradle swaying from an elm branch? It is so well made that it often lasts through the winter.

It is usually made of long gra.s.s fibres. If the birds can find strings or worsted, they are glad to use them, but they sometimes get their claws caught in the string, and are not able to free themselves, so it is better for them to use other material. When the birds have left their nests in the autumn, yon may take them to study and to show to others.

Many thoughtless boys rob birds of their nests and eggs. They do not intend to be wicked, but they do not know any better. If they could learn how interesting it is to see the birds building their homes and rearing their young, they surely would not wish to destroy them.

THE ROBIN.

Some birds are shy and retiring, and if we would meet them we must go to their haunts in the forests. Others are comparatively tame and domestic, living about our dwellings and meeting us more than halfway when we attempt to make friends with them.

Among these familiar birds of the garden and orchard, none is better known than the cheery robin. Robins are very numerous, and are found in all parts of North America, from New England to Alaska, and south to the city of Mexico.

It is due to his tameness and also to his brick-red breast that he bears the name of "Robin."

When the first English settlers came to this country, of course everything was new and strange to them. The birds had only Indian names which the newcomers could not understand, even when they heard them. So they had to make up names for those birds that were common enough to attract their attention.

The robin was probably one of the first to be named. When the settlers saw this friendly bird, with a breast colored somewhat like the robin redbreast of England, they called him "Robin," after the favorite of their far-away homes.

The two birds are really quite unlike. The robin redbreast is less than six inches in length, and is slighter than our bluebird, while our robin is ten inches long, and is, as every one knows, a stout, heavy bird.

There is only a general resemblance in color, both birds having a brownish-red breast; probably our bird's name is due as much to his friendly ways as to his appearance.

The robin is a migratory bird, and in winter is not usually found north of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. This is his playtime in the sunny South.

He lives in flocks containing hundreds and even thousands of birds. They feed on the berries of the dogwood, china tree and mistletoe, and are the jolliest lot of birds it is possible to imagine.

Some are singing; not so long a song as they sing in the summer, but just a kind of gay humming; while others are das.h.i.+ng about, chasing one another through the woods in sport.

But the robin is a great home-lover. At the very first sign of spring he begins to think about returning to us, and some warm day, late in February, we may generally find him hunting for food about the gra.s.sy banks of a spring, or on the sheltered side of a wood.

Soon, if the weather continues pleasant, we shall hear him sing. What a welcome sound it is! How it recalls memories of cherries and strawberries, and of all the good things of summer!

In the latter hall of April he and his mate go to housekeeping. Who hasn't seen a robin's nest?--that strong, large house of gra.s.ses, plastered inside with mud, and furnished with a lining of rootlets.

He places it almost anywhere in the trees, but generally in a broad crotch. If you are fortunate, and the robin has learned that you are his friend, he may build his mud and gra.s.s cabin in a tree near your window.

Then you can learn all about his household affairs. You will see the four blue eggs. You will know how many days it takes them to hatch, and you will see what faithful parents birds are.