The Children's Book of Birds Part 26

While the mother bird is sitting, her mate stays near and sings a good deal; but when feeding time comes, he works as hard as she in stuffing the hungry little mouths.

As soon as the nestlings are off, they go away in a little party. Then one who looks sharp may often see an oriole papa going quietly about on the ground, with two or three little ones after him, still calling to be fed. He doesn't sing any in these busy days. But sometimes, after the young have learned to feed themselves, he will sing again a little before they all start for their warm winter home in Central America.

It is an anxious time in the bird world when the young are leaving the nest. Orioles are so nervous and make such an outcry over their troubles that we often hear them. The most common accident is the falling of a nestling to the ground. The old birds make so much fuss over it that one would think the baby had fallen into the claws of the cat, at the very least.

They fly around as if they were crazy, shrieking and calling, for they are very fond of their little folk. The youngsters are plucky little fellows. One will hop along till he comes to a tree, and then try to climb the trunk. If he happens to hit on a tree with rough bark, he can do pretty well. He flutters a little way up, and then holds on by the claws till rested. Then he flies a little farther, and so he goes till he reaches a branch.

If it is a smooth trunk he tries, his troubles are great. Sometimes one will scramble up till he comes to a leaf that grows out from the trunk, and hang on to that till he is able to go on. But often one is unable to keep his hold, and falls back into the gra.s.s. I have several times picked up a hot and frightened birdling and put him on a branch.

A lady told me an interesting little story, showing how helpful birds are to one another. A Baltimore oriole was picked up from the ground with his wing broken so that he could not fly. The kind-hearted people fixed him comfortably in an attic. They intended to feed him and care for him till he got well and could fly.

They left him there with a window open, so that his wild friends could bring food if they wished. A little while afterward one of them went up to see about the invalid. Behold, he was gone!

They looked for him everywhere, for they knew he could not fly. Suddenly they noticed a great deal of oriole chatter out in the yard. Then they looked carefully over a tree near the window, and there they saw the broken-winged bird in the midst of quite a flock of others.

Of course the outside birds were called by the captive, and they must have carried him out in some way. Birds have been seen to carry off one who was wounded, in two ways. One way was by two birds each taking in his beak a wing of the helpless bird and so flying away with him. This has been seen, and more than once, by men who tell the truth.

The second way birds have been seen to help another was by one getting under the helpless one and so holding him up on the back. This also has been seen by men whose word can be trusted. You remember I told you such a story about the shrike.

So many untrue stories are told about the birds that I am very careful not to tell you anything that is not strictly true.

If you live in the South, you more often see the ORCHARD ORIOLE. He is not quite so gay in his dress as the Baltimore. He has chestnut color with his black. His mate is different. She is olive on the back, and yellow below, and she has bright blue legs and feet, which look as if they were covered with kid.

The nest is a hanging one, of course, but it does not usually swing like other oriole nests. It is a little supported at the bottom. It is very beautiful, for it is made of one kind of fine gra.s.s. When it is first made, its green color makes it hard to see among the leaves. And as it dries, it turns a rich yellow, like bright clean straw. It is not so high as the Baltimore's, and not hung to the end of a branch. It is often in an apple-tree, for this bird likes to be near people.

The song of the orchard oriole is different from the Baltimore's. It is longer, and has more variety. His mate sings also. Her voice is sweeter than his and not so loud.

If you live in California, the oriole you know will be the ARIZONA HOODED ORIOLE. Sometimes he is called the palm-leaf oriole for a reason you will soon see. He is a beautiful, slender bird, having bright orange color with his black. He wears more black than some of the family. His face and throat and tail and wings are of that color, though the wings have two white bars. His mate is yellowish below and olive brown above.

This bird makes the regular oriole family cradle. Sometimes it swings free like the Baltimore's, but not always. It is made of slender, wiry gra.s.s, which is green, so that it is hard to see. Sometimes a sort of thread from the edge of palm leaves is used.

This bird sometimes selects a droll place for her nest. She swings it from the under side of a palm or banana leaf. You know a banana leaf is long and wide, and makes a comfortable shade in a hot day; and it does just as well for an umbrella when it rains. It is hard to see how a bird can fasten a nest to a smooth leaf. But Mrs. Grinnell has seen it done in her own yard, and she tells us how the little builder goes to work.

First she takes a thread in her beak and pushes it through the leaf, making a hole, of course. Then she flies around to the other side of the broad leaf, and standing there a minute she pulls the thread through, and pushes it back, making another hole. Thus she goes on, flying from one side to the other till she has sewed her bag to the strong leaf.

Except in the place they choose for their nest, these orioles are about the same as their Eastern cousins, and oriole little folk are the same the world over, I think.

XXII

THE CROW-BLACKBIRD BRANCH

(_Icteridae_)--Continued

THE fourth branch of this family is of crow-blackbirds and grackles.

They have a right to the name of blackbird, for they are quite black. At least they look so a little way off, but if one gets near and sees the suns.h.i.+ne on them, he will see that they reflect blue or green or purple, from their feathers.

Then, too, like others of their family, they go in flocks, and they have a dignified walk on the ground. Some birds who are so social that they like to live in a crowd prefer to go a little apart to nest. But these birds make their rude, clumsy nests all close together.

Blackbirds are fond of corn; who can blame them for that? Thousands of them have been shot because they eat it. But farmers who shoot them forget, or perhaps they do not know, that corn is not the only thing they eat.

Insects as well as birds are fond of corn, and it isn't so easy to keep them away. The birds eat great numbers of them, such as gra.s.shoppers, caterpillars, beetles, and cut-worms, besides mice. All these creatures eat the farmers' crops. So when birds destroy them, they earn some of the corn. They do more than clear the fields of troublesome insects, they eat great quant.i.ties of the seeds of weeds that the farmer is always fighting.

Blackbirds are most often seen on the ground, walking around with great dignity. They are looking for food in the gra.s.s, or in the field in ploughing time. When they are closely watched, it is often found that they are not in mischief.

Mr. Warren, State Ornithologist of Pennsylvania, tells a story which shows how easy it is to be mistaken. He was with a friend who had thirty acres of corn growing, and was much vexed to see blackbirds walking about among the young plants. They seemed very busy about something, and he was sure they were pulling up his crop. So he got out his guns, and Mr. Warren went with him to punish the birds.

They shot thirty-one of them. Then they began to see what they had been eating. In all the thirty-one, only seven had the least bit of corn, and even they were mostly filled with insects. The rest were stuffed full of insects which do much harm to young corn, mostly cut-worms.

The farmer had killed thirty-one birds who were working for him as hard as they could. No money could hire help that would do so much good as they were doing.

In the Eastern States we have the CROW BLACKBIRD, or PURPLE GRACKLE, and the BRONZED GRACKLE, whose habits are the same.

The purple grackle is a handsome bird, larger than a robin, with very light eyes. His plumage looks black in the shade, but when the sun is on it, shows rich green and blue, and it s.h.i.+nes like satin. The bronzed grackle shows purple, and blue, and green, with metallic bronze on the back.

The purple grackle is said to eat corn, and also the eggs and young of other birds. But what he eats has been found out by the Agricultural Department, in the way I told you of. It is given out by them that he does not do so much harm to nests as has been said, and among the crops he does good enough to pay for all the corn he eats.

It is very hard to see just what a bird is eating. It is not even safe to believe all we think we see.

The only time the purple grackle can do more harm than good is when he comes with a big crowd of his friends, and settles down to spend the winter. Then he should be driven away from crops.

I want you to understand me about this. I do not say that these birds never eat the eggs and young of others. What I do say is, that there is plenty of evidence to show that they do it not half so much as people say. I have watched birds for twenty years, as closely, I believe, as any one ever watched them, and I never saw any of the bad deeds that are laid to the blue jay, or the shrike, or the kingbird, or the purple grackle. They may be guilty occasionally, but they are not the villains they are often said to be.

Besides, however bad we may call a few birds, we are ourselves worse.

Birds kill only to eat. Many of them are made to feed upon each other, and cannot live in any other way. They kill quickly, and do not generally--if they ever do--torture their prey.

How is it with us? We kill for sport, or for useless show, and we kill in a way that often wounds and leaves our victim to suffer tortures before he dies. Do you think it is fair for us to say hard things about the birds?

In the Rocky Mountains and west of them the common blackbird is BREWER'S BLACKBIRD, sometimes called blue-headed grackle. He is not so shy as his brother of the East. He is amiable and friendly with people, and as familiar as the robin in New England. He is often seen in the streets of towns. He will come into yards, and even take food from a doorstep.

Brewer's blackbird is a restless, uneasy fellow, like most of his family. He is always bustling about, and flying hither and thither with rustling wings.

In summer, these birds feed mostly upon insects, which they find on the ground. They have an amusing way of being fair in their feeding. As they walk about in little social parties looking for food, those who come last in the string find the insects nearly all picked up before they get a chance. So they take this clever way of getting their turn at the good things. Every few minutes those in the rear rise and fly over the heads of their friends and alight just before them. So they have the first pick for a while. Then, in a few minutes, those left behind fly over their heads, and take the lead for a time. So, without any quarreling, each one has a fair chance with all the rest. Other birds have found out this way of playing fair. I have seen great blue herons three feet tall do the same thing.

In winter, when insects are scarce, the blackbird turns to grain and the seeds of weeds. But it has been found that he does more good by the weeds he keeps down than harm by the grain he eats.

Brewer's blackbird usually nests in trees, not very high. One time a naturalist going about in Arizona, where are few or no trees, found a curious thing,--a good many blackbird nests, a little settlement one might call it, on the ground, and all strung along close to the edge of a steep bank. At first he could not see why the birds had chosen to be on the edge of a precipice. Then he remembered that horses and cattle roamed over the country, and these animals are careful never to graze close to an edge which might crumble and give them a fall. He concluded that the birds had wit enough to know that. If their nests were out on the plains, they would be likely to be stepped on, but near the edge, they were safe from hoofs.

The common call of Brewer's blackbird is a harsh "chack;" but in the spring he turns musical, and serenades his mate with what we must call songs, because songs are what he intends. They are droll enough to listen to, and not very sweet.

This bird is about the size of a robin, with violet-colored head in the sunlight. His mate is slate-colored.