File:Half hours with fishes, reptiles, and birds (1906) (14565632778).jpg

Identifier: halfhourswithfis00hold (find matches)
Title: Half hours with fishes, reptiles, and birds
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Holder, Charles Frederick, 1851-1915
Subjects: Zoology
Publisher: New York, American Book Co
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
en and apuppy belonging to its master, not to mention divers youngchickens. Indeed, I have heard of an adjutant bird thatswallowed a small cat, and there is apparently no limitto its appetite. The whale-headed stork is another allied form, its beakbeing so large that it. might be easily mistaken for awooden Dutch shoe. Twenty years ago one of thecharms of Florida was its flocks ofcranes and herons. They dottedthe sides of rivers and marshes,and were seen in every lagoonand all along the coast. Even inNew Jersey their nesting placeswere discovered, but it was foundthat their feathers were valuablefor decorative purposes, and warwas begun against the most beau-tiful of birds. Hundreds of menwent out and shot them by thou-sands, and the places that knew FlG ^.-Whooping Crane.them once in countless numbers know them no more. One of the most conspicuous of the group is the whoop-ing crane (Fig. 149), found in the Gulf States in winter andfar to the north in summer. I have often watched its
Text Appearing After Image:
182 SOME WADLNG BIRDS migration, large flocks moving along in regular order,their long legs dangling behind. Quite as striking is thesandhill crane, a large, powerful bird of a slate-browncolor, famous for its peculiar antics. I once saw a flockin Florida, and by much maneuvering and creepingthrough the brush, obtained a position within fifty yardsof them unobserved. There were possibly twenty orthirty birds standing in an irregular circle, and as I reached the spot a singlebird was leaping up anddown, raising its wings andtrotting around in a circle,going through a variety ofmaneuvers. When fatiguedit dropped back, andanother bird took its place,stepping with mincing gait,jumping into the air, thrust-ing its head down close tothe ground and running ina circle, each bird evidentlytrying to exceed its prede-cessor. These dances occur in the spring, and aresupposed to be a feature of the courtship of the birds.The herons appear to be small cranes. They havesharp bills and long legs and

Note About Images