File:Bird lore (1901) (14729283096).jpg

Identifier: birdlore31901nati (find matches)
Title: Bird lore
Year: 1899 (1890s)
Authors: National Committee of the Audubon Societies of America National Association of Audubon Societies for the Protection of Wild Birds and Animals National Audubon Society
Subjects: Birds Birds Ornithology
Publisher: New York City : Macmillan Co.
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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g their voices fortissimo.We were delighted therefore to hear low, sweet, little notes and measures,and what might be called talking. They reserved their best efforts evi-dently for wooing and early morning conversations, and only their intimatefriends overheard. 52 Bird- Lore The nest, eighteen feet or thereabouts from the ground, was visible fromour bed; and one morning on first awakening we saw with a thrill the fatherand mother gravely bending over five wide mouths, plainlj to be seen at thatdistance. The birds had all hatched out within twenty-four hours. Thenbegan the process of filling up those mouths, always opening and stretchingto their widest extent, as if afraid of missing something. This was impos-sible, however, as their parents forcibly and effectually stuffed each morseldown their throats, seemingly into their very stomachs. The father, it might be, would arrive with a long worm, which he and themother then swallowed by bits, commencing at either end and working toward
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A BLUE JAY FAMILY the middle, where it would break, leaving each parent with half the worm.Then, after a pause during which the five mouths quivered with suspense,the softened food was given up to the babies by a sort of regurgitation, andaway went the father after more. While the birds were incubating theeggs only the head and tail were visible above the rim of the nest, but afterhatching they sat or stood so much higher and puffed out their feathers tosuch an extent that they appeared twice their former size. The Jays werenot at all shy, but on the contrary were very valiant and determined instanding by their home. Soon after the eggs were laid, the house-paintersbegan work opposite the nest, and many sharp pecks they received on theirears and backs. People inside the house could be endured, but people outsidewere a little too much, and the birds challenged each man to fight it out. Our Blue Jay Neighbors 53 The birds were very neat about their nest, both parents cleaning itdaily. T

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