File:Birds and nature (1903) (14750690395).jpg

Identifier: birdsnature131903chic (find matches)
Title: Birds and nature
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Birds Natural history
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Mumford, Publisher
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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catch him, but I had miscalcu-lated the distance. Once the frame ofthe net struck him and knocked himnearly into the water. I had to wait aminute or two on these occasions beforehe came near me again. Finally his cu-riosity got the better of him and he camedirectly toward me by successive littledarts until he was within two feet of thenet—and he was mine. He is very voracious. It is stated thathe will even eat his own body when of-fered to him. Beutenmiiller held one ofthe large ones captive and found he de-voured forty house flies in two hours,while a smaller one ate twenty-five in thesame time. In some localities he is caredfor and bred in order to rid the commu-nity of mosquitoes, although he is not sosuccessful in this work as many think.Taken all in all he is a most attractiveand interesting creature. Alvin M. Hendee. A SCARLET TANAGER. Athwart the shadows of the woods, Flashes a meteors light.With wings like scarlet poppy-leaves, A tanager gleams bright. —Illyri.v Turner. 25
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I A Redhead disturbed from her nest oryoung displays great uneasiness,often cir-cles about overhead,then darts past the in-truder, continually quacking and en-deavoring in every way to divert his at-tention. During the nesting period thedrakes enjoy basking in the sun, on thesandy shores and reefs; sometimestwenty-five are seen crowded together ona little sand bar out in the lake. The eggs are elliptical or oval inshape, varying from light greenish orgrayish drab to a creamy or buff color,measuring 2.30 to 2.42 inches in lengthby 1.70 inches in breadth. I found sixto fifteen eggs in a single iiest, and mycompanion discovered one containingtwenty-one eggs. These may have beendeposited by different Redheads, as eggsof the Redhead and canvasback havebeen found together in the same nest. Itis not unlikely that two females of thesame species used the same nest, whichprobably accounts for the twenty-oneeggs found by my friend. The eggs arereadily distinguished from those of thecanvasback, t

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