Part 49

This bird has several names. In some places he is called the rain crow, and in other places the wood pigeon; but of course he is neither a crow nor a pigeon. He is a graceful bird, with plumage like satin. He is a soft brown above and white below, but he is so shy that he is not so often seen as heard. His call or song is a loud, yet not harsh "kuk-kuk-kuk" many times repeated. Sometimes it begins slow and grows faster till the notes run into each other, and then grows slow again, ending in a sort of "cow-cow-cow;" but it does not always do so.

The cuckoo does not manage her nursery affairs as other birds do. Most birds lay an egg a day, or every other day, so that they hatch about the same time; but this bird doesn't mind if several days come between. Thus it happens that one or more little cuckoos hatch out before the rest are ready, and it is common to find little ones of several ages in the same nest. There may be one nearly grown, another just beginning to get feathers, and a third one not yet out of the egg.

There is another droll thing that may be found in a cuckoo's nest. When the feathers begin to grow out on young birds, they come wrapped in little sheaths. In most cases these sheaths burst open and the feathers show, when they are a little way out. But in this family it is different. The sheath does not open, says Mr. Dugmore, till the feathers have grown their full length. Till that happens, the youngster looks as if he were stuck all over with white pins on his black body.

You have heard, or read, that the cuckoo lays eggs in other birds' nests, and leaves her young to be brought up by others. Do not forget that the bird who does that is the European cuckoo--not ours. Our cuckoos build nests, though very poor ones, sometimes hardly more than a platform of sticks.

This bird is useful to us, for he eats some of our most troublesome insects,--such as tent caterpillars, which few birds like to eat because they are so hairy, and other insects with spines that are poisonous, and so generally avoided.

The cuckoo is graceful in flight. He goes swiftly, without noise, and seems to glide through the thickest foliage with ease.

I once found a young bird tumbling about on the ground. He was trying to fly, but was not able to go much more than a foot at a time. He was giving strange calls, which were answered from the woods beside the road by a low tapping sound. I thought of course the little one was a woodpecker and his mother was doing the knocking. It was so dark I could not see him well. After some trouble I caught him and was going to take a good look at him to see who he was before I let him go. As I grasped him he gave a shriek, and out from the thick trees popped a cuckoo. She alighted on a low branch outside and gave such a cry of distress that I knew at once it was her baby I held in my hand.

I suppose the poor mother thought I wanted to carry the youngster off. I couldn't bear to have a bird think that for a minute; so I opened my hands and away he went, half flying, half scrambling up the road, while the mother slipped back into the woods. In a moment she began again her hollow-sounding calls, which I had thought were woodpecker tappings.

FOOTNOTE:

See Appendix, 24.

XXXII

THE OWL FAMILY

(Bubonidæ)

OWLS differ from all other birds in having eyes that look forward like ours. They have also a broad face, which is made to look even wider by the feathers which stand out around the eyes.

Owls cannot turn their eyes in the sockets, so they have to turn the whole head to see to one side. Many of them have tufts of feathers like horns, which they can stand up or lay down as they choose. These are called horned owls. An owl's legs are covered with feathers, sometimes down to the toes. The whole plumage of this bird is soft and fluffy, so that he can fly without making any noise. This is important to him, for he lives mostly on mice, and he never could catch one if he made much noise getting about.

The owl's mate looks like him, and--what is unusual among birds--she is larger than he. Because they come out in the evening, when we cannot see them well, we know very little of their ways. They are more often heard than seen. Their voices are generally mournful, but that is no reason why they should be feared.

All birds have control over some of their feathers, that is, they can make them stand up or lie down as they choose. But owls have more than any other bird. An owl can alter his shape or size so that he will look like another bird.

Mr. Bolles says that a large owl can change from a mass of bristling feathers a yard wide, to a slim, sleek brown post only a few inches wide. When he does this, one cannot see him, though he may be in plain sight. His colors blend with a tree trunk, or stump, and he can stand without stirring for an hour, and likes to do it.

Mr. Bolles had owls in the house, and watched them closely. He has told us some curious things about their ways. He says that when one steps daintily across the floor, his feathers tuck themselves up as a lady holds up her gown.

This moving of the feathers sometimes looks very droll. When eating, the feathers around the mouth, which might get soiled, draw back out of the way. And when an owl wants to hide his food, he stands over it, and the feathers droop down like a curtain to screen it from view. When Mrs. Bolles wanted to sketch an owl, he kept changing his shape all the time, though he did not seem to move at all.

Another man who had a pet owl says that the bird would stand before him and throw back his breast feathers each side, just as a man throws open his coat.

The owlets come out of the egg dressed in soft, fluffy down. In some of the family it is gray, in others it is snowy white. They are carefully fed and reared by their loving parents.

A funny story is told by a man who wanted to see what was in an owl's nest. He lifted the mother bird out, and to his surprise the whole family came out with her. She held on to one little one, and each one held on to the next, and so he had the whole owl family in a cluster, like a bunch of grapes.

The SCREECH OWL is the best known of this family. He is found, under slightly different forms, all over our country. In Florida he is smaller and darker than in the Middle States. In California he is larger and grayer, and in the Rocky Mountains somewhat lighter. But he acts in about the same way, wherever he lives.

In the East the screech owl is found in two colors. Some have reddish feathers, others have gray. The wise men have not yet found any reason for this difference.

The screech owl is badly named, for his song is not a screech. It is a sort of trembling sound, and in some places he is called the "shivering owl," which is a much better name for him than screech owl. If one does not know who makes it, it is rather a weird song in the dark; but if one knows the pretty gray bird, it is sweet and pleasing.

The bird comes out before it is quite pitch dark. He may often be seen against the sky, standing on a branch, bowing and swaying back and forth, while he utters strange notes of many kinds. He has plenty to say for himself. But you must keep as still as a mouse if you want to see him. If he can see to catch a mouse in the dark, you may be sure he can see you.

Generally the screech owl makes a nest in a hollow tree or a deserted woodpecker nest, and comes out only at night. What he likes best to eat is mice, and mice too come out at night. The way he eats is curious, as I told you in "The First Book of Birds."