Learning About Birds Through Stories

36. TURKEY-BUZZARDS AND THEIR WORK
37. THE POOR NIGHT-HAWK
38. BIRD AND ANIMAL SANCTUARIES
39. HOW BIRDS BUILD THEIR NESTS
40. BUILDING THE NEST
41. NESTING MATERIALS
42. ODD NESTING-PLACES
43. MY FIRST BIRD-HOUSE

As we see the turkey-buzzards soaring aloft, and, apparently on motionless wings, making their great sweeping circles over the country, we query, What are they looking for? Can any one tell?

Yes; they are looking for carrion, by which we mean the decayed or putrefying flesh of dead animals, upon which to feast.

And why do they prefer this offensive and repulsive food to that which is good and clean? The only answer is, because it is their nature to want and to eat this kind of food. They are made that way.

Together with the vultures of the Old World, and the condors and carrion crows of the New, they are nature's scavengers, cleaning up the earth.

Scavage is garbage, muck, street-dirt, or filth of any kind. A scavenger, therefore, is a man employed to clean up the street, often dressed in white, and therefore called a "white wing"; or any creature that devours refuse or any other deleterious or offensive matter, such as the scavenger-beetle, the fiddler-crab, the vulture, the condor, the buzzard, and the crow.

Every now and then in cities we see signs reading: " Clean up the rubbish, and prevent fire." "Clean up the filth, and prevent sickness."

So these buzzards, vultures, condors, and crows are nature's " garbage-men," " rag-pickers," " health officers," and " white wings." They help clean up the world and keep the air pure.

Every week with them is "clean-up week," every day a day for "house-cleaning." All outdoors is their precinct, all creation their parish.

In the warm climates and in the temperate zones, where their work is most needed, they are most numerous. Nature knows where to place her workmen.

These birds, therefore, are a necessary part of creation, as creation now exists. What would mean ptomaine poisoning and death to other creatures, to them is harmless food and a relished diet. They glory in filth and foul odors, and gormandize themselves on "spoiled meat" and putrid matter. They help to prevent sickness by helping to preserve the balance of nature and keeping the world clean.

Humble and repulsive though their work is, it nevertheless is necessary. We could not well do without them. They are strong allies of the health department, and loyal supporters of sanitary measures. They work without pay, and ask only not to be molested or interfered with in their work.

They should therefore be respected and protected.

SURROUNDED with beautiful large trees of various kinds, a Maryland military academy is located out in the country some distance from Washington, D. C., on a twenty-acre campus. With its trees, and its surrounding fences overgrown with honeysuckle, this campus has been not only the gathering-place of many boys, but the home of rabbits, flying-squirrels, and many birds. Robins, blue jays, blackbirds, bluebirds, mocking-birds, catbirds, brown thrashers, doves, wrens, English sparrows, ground-sparrows, and Baltimore orioles have all found nesting-places here. Looking over the place one day, the author, in company with one of the cadets, counted nearly fifty bird's nests.

Early one May morning some sort of disturbance among the birds seemed to be going on in a large tulip tree near the academy. Robins, blackbirds, orioles, sparrows, and several smaller birds were chirping and flying about in a manner plainly indicating something wrong or unusual.

The agitation began about 5 o'clock in the morning. Again and again the birds would fly to, the tree and set up their vigorous notes of protest.

From a large open window on the third floor r; of the academy one could plainly see what was, going on; but the cause of the trouble was not at first apparent. Upon careful observation, however, a night-hawk was observed crouching '' low on a high limb only about twelve feet from another limb on which some small birds had built their nest. In color he closely resembled the limb on which he was sitting-a grayish black. This, together with his high elevation and crouching position, made him hard to detect.

Although none of the larger birds had any nests in this particular tree, all seemed to unite in an effort to drive off this strange bird which they evidently regarded as an intruder. Every now and then a robin or blackbird would make a flying swoop near him, as if to frighten him away; but he would merely duck his head a little, and remain stationary on the limb. At one time four of the smaller birds came very close to him, one of them within a foot of him, but all, to no purpose. He seemed to have taken up his quarters here determined to stay.

This disturbance went on for hours, until one of the older cadets, fond of using a rifle, but contrary to the expressed wishes of the author, who was a witness to this bird tragedy, took a gun and shot him. In an instant this innocent, inoffensive, and most valuable migratory bird had been blown to atoms, and its feathers and mangled body sent flying to the ground.

It had forfeited its life, not because of anything it had done, but because its presence in this tree had caused a disturbance among the other birds, and because it was a "hawk" so called, and a night-hawk, at that!

But the night-hawk is not a true hawk at all in the sense we generally attach to that name, but in size, shape, color, and appearance very closely resembles the whippoorwill. It has no claws or talons like the ordinary hawk, nor any long, sharp, hooked beak like his. Its bill is a small, soft, insignificant thing hardly half an inch in length. Its triangular mouth can be opened very wide, and is used in this manner to gather in immense numbers of insects during the bird's evening flights. The stomach of a single night-hawk has been known to contain as many as 3,000 insects.

To make sure of the identity of this bird, the author gathered up some of the feathers and took them to the Bird Section of the Agricultural Department in Washington, D. C. The bird experts here at once pronounced the feathers to be those of the night-hawk. A comparison with the specimens on exhibition in the National Museum further confirmed the fact. And then these men told what the young man had done who shot this bird.

He had killed one of the most valuable insect destroying birds of North America. He had violated a law of the State in which the bird was killed, and also a law of the United States Government. Worse still, he had violated a treaty between the two greatest nations on earth, a treaty between the United States and Great Britain for the protection of migratory birds in the United States and Canada, concluded and signed by their respective plenipotentiaries at Washington, D. C., August 16, 1916.

Section 2 of Article I of this document enumerates the migratory insectivorous birds thus protected by treaty, and specifically mentions the "night-hawk " or " bull-bat " as it is otherwise sometimes called. This section reads as follows

"2. Migratory insectivorous birds: Bobolinks, catbirds, chickadees, cuckoos, flickers, fly-catchers, grosbeaks, humming-birds, kinglets, meadowlarks, martins, night-hawks or bull-bats, nuthatches, orioles, robins, shrikes, swallows, swifts, tanagers, titmice, thrushes, vireos, warblers, wax-wings, whippoorwills, woodpeckers, and wrens, and all other perching birds which feed entirely or chiefly on insects."

Section 6 of an Act of Congress, approved July 3, 1918, to give effect to this treaty, provides that any person who shall violate any of the provisions of this act or of the treaty referred to, "shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not more than $500, or be imprisoned not more than six months, or both."

Little did the young man who shot this nighthawk realize what he was doing. What such young men need, said the men in the Agricultural Department, was not punishment, but to hear some lectures on the value of the birds which destroy insects that are injurious to forests and forage plants, and to agricultural crops in general.

The annual loss of hundreds of millions of dollars to agriculture in this country due to the ravages of insects, and the part taken by the birds to destroy these pests, are facts worthy of serious consideration.

The birds are nature's guards, appointed to keep the wonderfully prolific insects from overrunning the earth, and, when one stops to consider that a single pair of potato-beetles, if uncontrolled, would at the end of a single season result in sixty million offspring; or that a single female plant-louse could give rise in the twelve generations which occur each year to over ten sextillion young, one is forced to acknowledge the invaluable asset we have in the birds.

If the eggs laid by a single moth should all batch and reach maturity, few oak trees would be large enough to support a single family. Fortunately, however, it has been discovered that in a state of nature ninety-five per cent of the larva of the moth are destroyed by birds.

Nature gave us birds as a natural combative force against the ravages of insects. One of the reports of the Biological Survey records finding sixty grasshoppers in the crop of one night-hawk, and 500 mosquitoes in another; thirty cutworms in the crop of a blackbird; seventy canker-worms in the crop of a cedar-bird. I myself, at one time, had the stomach of a female martin which had been shot by a boy, carefully examined, and it was found to contain nearly 2,000 mosquitoes, a large number of house-flies, some May-rose and striped cucumber-beetles, and several other kinds of insects. It is simply amazing to one who has not made a close study of the subject, what a tremendous amount of good work in destroying insects is accomplished by our native birds.

I never have to spray the fruit trees at my place here at Kankakee, Ill., where I have from 300 to 400 birds living with me every summer, and I attribute this altogether to the protection my birds give to my trees. The purple martin is recognized as one of the most useful birds in the fight against insect life.

From these brief statistics it can readily be seen that the work of bird conservation is of the utmost importance. It takes but a little time, but its value can hardly be estimated. Joseph H. Dodson, President American Audubon Association.

IN ancient times, in the Holy Land, there were what were known as "cities of refuge," into which innocent offenders might run and be safe from their enemies or pursuers.

So, in modern times, in the interests of preserving certain birds and animals, the Government of the United States, in cooperation with the States, has set apart numerous parks, lakes, rivers, mountains, woods, and designated tracts of land, of various sizes, and in different places, from Maine to California and from Alaska to Florida, as sanctuaries, or what are known as 'Federal Game and Bird Refuges�.

Within these sanctuaries, refuges, reservations, and preserves, as they are variously called, these birds and animals are not allowed to be hunted and killed. They are guarded and not infrequently patrolled by duly appointed officers or wardens, or by national naval or military forces.

Some of these refuges contain only a few acres; others, like Yellowstone National Park, in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming; Yosemite National Park, in California; Rocky Mountain National Park, in Colorado; Mount Olympus National Monument, in Washington; Grand Canyon Game Preserve, in Arizona; Wichita National Game Preserve in Oklahoma; and Custer State Park Game Sanctuary, of South Dakota, contain thousands, hundreds of thousands, and even up to a million or more acres.

Within these sanctuaries and reservations are found buffalo, elk, deer, moose, antelope, goats, mountain sheep, bears, beavers, seals, foxes, rabbits, ducks, pelicans, cormorants, gulls, grouse, brants, pheasants, quails, turkeys, and various other birds and animals.

In this way these animals and birds are preserved from extinction and wanton destruction.

By JOSEPH H. DODSON

Former President of the American Audubon Association

I have always been interested in birds. Even when a boy I built wren, martin, and bluebird houses, and then studied their habits. They are so interesting.

I love the birds. Birds have made my life happier, and I want to exert the same inspiring influence on others as they have on me.

I love the song-birds. They have always been my friends. I want every one to enjoy the friendship of the birds and to protect them.

Make friends of our native birds--that is my message. The birds richly repay you for the trouble you take in attracting them and looking out for their interests.

Many who have only a little patch of city garden have induced song-birds to live with them by putting up bird-houses. This is a greater achievement than helping the rich man who has many acres. The blessed little birds make no distinction between rich and poor. Therefore if you would have more friends with wings, buy or build some bird-houses.

The building of bird-houses has been a hobby of mine for many years. In the end, it is a great work for good. There is no success in my life that I value higher than my success as an architect for birds. My first interest is always for the birds and bird-loving men and women.

My houses are designed after forty years of loving study of birds and their habits. The little niceties which the birds appreciate have been taken care of. They are all carefully ventilated, and every house has a piece of red cedar in it somewhere, and a small piece of non-corrodible, shiny metal on the outside, which acts as a mirror. Birds are attracted to a bit of red cedar. Whether it is the aromatic quality of this wood or whether it is pleasing to them in some other way, I have been unable to determine, but they are won by it. They are also attracted to a home by something shiny and bright.

I find that birds do not like their houses brand new a little "weather-beating" makes the house more natural to them. After they are occupied once, the birds will return year after year to the same house.

It has added a great deal to my pleasure to have the birds stay with me-some of them only a month or two longer than they used to stay, some of them all winter long. It has given me even more pleasure to know that my food shelters have saved the lives of many of our song-birds. Few people realize how many birds starve during the sudden cold snaps, particularly when the snow covers the ground. I wish you would realize this. I know you would all lend a hand in feeding the birds, and would teach the young folks to look out for our feathered friends.

Suet is one of the most attractive and necessary foods for the birds that stay all winter. Hemp and sunflower seeds are good, and meat scraps and bread crumbs should be given at times.

The birds will require very little or no attention in the matter of food during the late spring and summer, hut early in the spring and in the fall and winter it is well to care for them by setting out shelter food devices. Very often the birds come early in the spring and are endangered by a sudden cold wave or snow-storm.

Keep well-stocked food houses, feeding-shelves, and baskets out all winter. They are bird life-saving stations.

How birds build their nests is an interesting study. Elizabeth Davis Fielder writes as follows on the subject

There is a great variety in the material used by the birds for building their nests. Robins' nests are always quite similar in size, shape, and material. So it is also with the other bird families.

There is a bird called the cliff-swallow, which builds its nest of clay on the side of a cliff. A number of swallows usually work together. Flying off in different directions, they return with clay which they soften before putting it on their nests. One bird that seems to be the master builder, stays in the nest, smooths off the clay, and sees that the work is properly done. In this way a little village of nests is made.

The barn-swallow's nest is built in much the same way. In front is a tiny platform on which the father sits and sings to his mate until the eggs in the nest are hatched.

Among the most interesting of all bird's-nests are those of the weaver-birds. To this class belongs the Baltimore oriole, which weaves its nest of fine grass, threaded through and through, and suspended from some convenient limb.

Another weaver-bird, common in Asia and Africa, suspends its nest from the end of some branch overhanging the water. This is done to keep out of the reach of snakes and monkeys; for the twig, strong enough to bear the weight of a bird's-nest, would not support one of these animals. In this we see how wise the birds are in selecting the safest places they can find for the building of their nests and the rearing of their young.

There is a weaver-bird in Africa called the "social weaver." A number of these go together and build in some treetop a great grass canopy which will shed water like an umbrella. When this canopy is made, each pair of birds build their nest under its shelter.

Perhaps the most interesting of all bird's nests is that of the tailor-bird, which lives in India. It selects a large leaf, and after making small holes in each side with its beak, sews the two sides together. When this is done, it builds a soft, downy nest inside. This is always suspended from the end of a slender twig to keep it out of the reach of any mischievous animals. It is said that the tailor-bird not only sews, but will also make a knot in the end of the thread to prevent its slipping through.

Thus again we see how smart the birds are.

They'll come again to the apple tree,

Robin and all the rest;

When the orchard branches are fair to see,

In the snow of the blossoms drest;

And the prettiest thing in the world will be,

The building of the nest.

Weaving it well so round and trim,

Hollowing it with care;

Nothing too far away for him,

Nothing for her too fair;

Hanging it safe on the topmost limb,

Their castle in the air.

So come to the trees with all your train

When the apple-blossoms blow,

Through the April shimmer of sun and rain

Go flying to and fro ;

And to our hearts as we watch again

Your fairy building grow.

-Margaret E. Sangster.

THERE are some bird-lovers thoughtful enough to provide nesting-material for the little strangers when nesting-time comes.

Small twigs, rakings from the garden, rags, bits of string, and other material will prove attractive to the birds, and they will be quick to avail themselves of these "house furnishings."

Robins are particularly fond of making use of string in the building of their nests. They also use mud freely in forming and cementing together the framework of their nests. Not long ago the author took the pains to weigh a large robin's nest built where there was plenty of mud near-by, and found it weighed seven and one-half ounces, or nearly half a pound. It was made largely of mud. Where string is provided for the birds, it should be in short lengths.

WHEN one recalls the unusual, inconvenient, and dangerous locations sometimes chosen by hole-nesting birds in which to conduct their family affairs, it would appear that almost any facility, however crude, might serve as an inducement to nest-building.

When we see a house-wren nesting in a discarded tin can, an old hat, the empty sleeve of a scarecrow, or the cranial cavity of a weathered cow's skull, it seems that this species would not hesitate to use anything in the shape of a nest-box. Some birds have been known to build their nests in cannon's mouths.

The actual needs of hole-nesting birds are few, and may often be met by a small expenditure of time and work. To make the proffered nesting facilities safer, however, and probably more comfortable for the occupants, certain principles of construction, design, and location need to be observed. A well-built bird-house should be durable, rain-proof, cool, and readily accessible for cleaning.

Furthermore, by adopting high standards of neatness and rustic beauty in the construction of bird-houses, they may be made not only to serve the strictly useful purpose of encouraging beneficial species, but also to add a touch of attractiveness to what might otherwise be a prosaic dooryard.-Homes for Birds.

As A BOY, the author was brought up on a farm on the edge of a large woods, known as Genesee Grove, in Whiteside County, northwestern Illinois. From early childhood I was a great lover of birds and animals. I was surrounded not only with the ordinary animals and domestic fowls common to farm and country life, but, living in a new country and near a great woods, I also saw wolves, badgers, skunks, rattlesnakes, ground-squirrels, gray squirrels, flying-squirrels, eagles, hawks, turkey-buzzards, loons, myriads of passenger-pigeons, now extinct, wild geese, mallard ducks, prairie-chickens, pheasants, partridges, humming-birds, and meadow-larks.

In addition to hearing owls hoot, wolves bark, and wildcats yowl, I heard mocking-birds, cat-birds, blue jays, brown thrashers, and whippoorwills; saw the barn-swallows, robins, and blue-birds build their nests; and had my pet horses, dogs, cats, calves, pigs, guinea-pigs, and crows.

When twelve years old, I built and painted an elaborate bird-house, consisting of ten rooms, with mansard roof surrounded with a rustic railing, a tower, and a miniature flag-pole on top of it, surmounted with a silver eagle.

This bird-house was painted red, and penciled white, to resemble brick-work, with stone-colored caps and sills to all the little doors and windows, the front door in the tower having steps leading up to it, and a transom over it. Above the front door was a window partly covered with glass, with a little portico or balcony in front of it. Altogether it was quite an elaborate affair and of imposing appearance for a bird-house.

After it was finished, I put it on top of a tall pole in the front yard for the martins and bluebirds to build their nests and rear their young in.

This bird-house remained here for several years, but was finally sold to a neighbor for five dollars--quite a sum for a boy in those days-- when my father moved to another part of the country.

Like some other boys and girls you may have heard of, I also had a little burying-ground in the back-yard of the old homestead, where I buried little birds that I found dead, each in a little box or coffin made for it, with a wooden headstone to mark its grave. This I did out of my love and care for birds, but never without feelings of regret at the thought that they had lost their sweet lives and were no more. I have never regretted these little ceremonies.

I was never guilty, I am glad to say, of killing birds or robbing their nests. My father taught me, as all fathers should teach their boys, to be kind to birds and animals, and never to drown out the ground-squirrels, as did some of the neighbor boys. If any living creature had to be killed, he said it should be done in the quickest, easiest, and least painful manner. To torture any helpless animal, he said, was cruel, and showed a cold, unfeeling, and unsympathetic heart.

Building bird-houses shows an interest in, and a friendly feeling toward, the birds. It is an evidence that the one who builds them loves birds, and desires to have them around him.