File:Birdcraft - a field book of two hundred song, game, and water birds (1897) (14748546001).jpg

Identifier: birdcraftfield00wrig (find matches)
Title: Birdcraft : a field book of two hundred song, game, and water birds
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Wright, Mabel Osgood, 1859-1934 Fuertes, Louis Agassiz, 1874-1927
Subjects: Birds -- United States
Publisher: New York : Macmillan Co.
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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alls, and the Owls answer, hooting, laugh-ing, purring, according to the specific note. When you go through garden, lane, and wood, on yourhappy quest, circling the marshes that will not yield youfoothold, remember that if you wish to hear the Spring Songand identify the singers, you must yourself be in tune, andyou must be alert in keeping the record, lest the troop slipby through the open doorway of the trees, leaving you toregret your carelessness all the year. As you listen to the song and look at the birds, many willdisappear, and you will know that these are the migrantswho have gone to their various breeding haunts; and thatthose who are busy choosing their building sites, and arecarrying straw, clay and twigs, are the summer residents.Then you must glide quietly among the trees to watch thenext scene of the bird year — the building of the nest —which is the motive of the Spring Song, and you will feelthat in truth — Hard is the heart that loveth noughtIn May. 10 PLATE 2.
Text Appearing After Image:
RUBY-THROATED HUMMINGBIRD. (See page 194.) THE BUILDING OF THE NEST. Knowst thou what wove yon woodbirds nest Of leaves, and feathers from her breast ? — Emerson. May and June are the nesting months. Some impatientBluebirds and Robins begin in April, and the lonely Owlsand larger Hawks breed even in February and March, while,on the other hand, the Goldfinches and Cedar Waxwingswait until July; and other birds, who raise several broodsin a season, like the Robins, Sparrows, Swallows, and Wrens,continue laying through July and straggle into August, butthe universal song and nesting belong to May and June. In early May the singing is wildly spontaneous, the birdsare unguarded in their movements and constantly showthemselves; but when they have mated, a sense of responsi-bility comes over the gay minstrels, and they become morewary. The soberly clad wife cautions secrecy; there is somuch to discuss that must be whispered only in the echo-less depths of the branches, for the great questi

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