File:Bird lore (1911) (14568582558).jpg

Identifier: birdlore131911nati (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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,Meadowlark, Field Sparrow, the roll call of Flicker, with the spring notesof the Crows, give warning that time for waging war against their annualintrusion is at hand. One of the greatest garden excitements at this time is a double war thatis carried on between sundry Flickers and two pairs of magnificently-tailed gray squirrels, for possession of the. Flickers tree-holes in a group ofold Sassafras trees,—theirs by hereditary right of years, even if the squirrelsdo argue the law of possession. The squirrels have used the holes as store-houses, during the winter, for the nubs of chicken corn that we servethem for rations, since—the chestnut crop now being a thing of the past—they are threatened with a starvation that means total extinction. Comfort-ably bedded in leaves and cedar bark these squirrels live in the houses pro-vided for them, but persist in filling every possible bird-hole with theirplunder. On general principles, I hesitate to interfere in any tree feuds other than
Text Appearing After Image:
A GROUP OF OLD SASSAFRAS TREES WHERE FLICKERS NEST (69) 70 Bird - Lore ejecting Crows and English Sparrows; nevertheless, the squirrels must see bythis time that the Flickers have my sympathy and aid in clearing the sassafrasholes from which, by the end of May, they will look out upon the first field-daisies that bloom hereabout, and find delectable food in the ant-hills thatunderlie the old meadow grass of the slope. The squirrels will chatter at themfrom their box in the nearby chestnut, but neutrality will be declared, evenif it is of the usual armed variety common in greater affairs. The second party of belligerents is drawn from the tribe of Crows, thatspend their winter days in clamming on the beach. Every spring they insistupon nesting in one or more of the spruces, and cause us endless trouble andclimbing to dislodge them. On their house-hunting search, which began inearly March, they encountered the Black-crowned Night Herons that havemade a winter rookery in the best and thi

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