File:Birds and nature (1903) (14755021392).jpg

Identifier: birdsnature141903chic (find matches)
Title: Birds and nature
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Birds Natural history
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Mumford, Publisher
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Institution Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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rs. On this softbed its young are raised in safety and inthe quiet that this bird seems to love sowell for its domestic life. Dr. Robert Ridgway has well describedthe natural habits of this restless andinteresting bird, which is also most ap-propriately named the White-belliedSwallow, in the following words: TheWhite-bellied Swallow is an abundantspecies where there are suitable places forthe location of its nests. Some yearsago there were many large dead stumpsstanding in the water in a stagnant pondconnected with the Wabash River im-mediately above the dam at the GrandRapids, near Mount Carmel, Illinois. Thispond consisted of back water resultingfrom the building of the dam, and thedead stumps were presumably the rem-nants of trees that had been killed byflooding, since they grew so thickly asto leave no doubt of their having onceformed part of the adjacent forest. Thesedead stumps and snags were perforatedby countless woodpecker boles, and inthese the White-bellied Swallows had 194
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TROM COL. CHI. ACAD. SCIENCES. 609 TREE SWALLOW. (Tachycineta bicolori.Life-size. COPYRIGHT 1»Oi, BV A. W. MUMFORO, CHICA80 their nests, as did also many pairs ofCarolina chickadees and prothonotarywarblers. The flight of the Tree Swallow is mar-velous and wonderfully beautiful. Itflies more in circles than do the otherswallows, especially at the approach ofnight, when the flight is much lower thanit is earlier in the day. Its flight doesnot seem to have the velocity of that ofthe barn swallow nor of the chimneyswift, yet it is graceful and suggeststhe great endurance of the bird. Theyskim above the water, hour after hour,frequently uttering a faint squeak, whichdoubtless expresses their gratification atthe capture of a choice morsel, or theirdisappointment at a failure. Upwardor downward, forward and turning, skim-ming over the water or sailing in curves,its flight is so easy that we may, withAlice Cary, call this little bird a swim-mer of the air. This Swallow, which is easily dist

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