Part 1

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UPON THE TREE-TOPS

OLIVE THORNE MILLER

ILLUSTRATED BY J. CARTER BEARD

BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY The Riverside Press, Cambridge

Copyright, 1897, BY H. M. MILLER.

All rights reserved.

The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A. Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company.

Do you ne'er think what wondrous beings these, Whose household words are songs in many keys, Whose habitations on the tree-tops even Are half-way houses on the road to heaven?

LONGFELLOW.

INTRODUCTORY.

In the beginning of my study of bird life, when I had a bird-room for close observation, I was interested to see that our little neighbors in feathers possess as much individuality of character as ourselves, and in Chapters XII. and XIII. of this volume I offer two studies of that period, illustrative of the point.

Thanks are due to Mr. Frederic A. Ober for the use of his notes on one of the solitaires, embodied in Chapter XII., and to the Godey Company for permission to reproduce two shrike pictures.

I wish also to give credit to my daughter, Mary Mann Miller, for the minute and conscientious collection of the facts recorded in Chapters V. and VI., which for convenience are related as if they were my own observations.

OLIVE THORNE MILLER.

CONTENTS.

UPON THE TREE-TOPS.

I. TRAMPS WITH AN ENTHUSIAST 3 Hermit Thrush. Turdus aonalaschkæ pallasii. American Crow. Corvus Americanus. Sandpiper. Wilson's Thrush. Turdus fuscescens. Oven-bird. Seiurus aurocapillus. Wood Thrush. Turdus mustelinus. Olive-sided Flycatcher. Contopus borealis. Golden-winged Woodpecker. Colaptes auratus. Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Habia ludoviciana. Cow Bunting. Molothrus ater. White-throated Sparrow. Zonotrichia albicollis. Black-throated Green Warbler. Dendroica virens. American Robin. Merula migratoria. Song Sparrow. Melospiza fasciata. House Wren. Troglodytes ædon. Bobolink. Dolichonyx oryzivorus. Meadow Lark. Sturnella magna. Eave Swallow. Petrochelidon lunifrons. Phbe. Sayornis phbe. Shrike. Lanius ludovicianus.

II. A MYSTERIOUS STRANGER 35 Red-headed Woodpecker. Melanerpes erythrocephalus. Shrike. Lanius ludovicianus.

III. A THORN-TREE NEST 45 Shrike. Lanius ludovicianus. Golden-winged Woodpecker. Colaptes auratus. Least Flycatcher. Empidonax minimus. Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Coccyzus Americanus.

IV. THE WITCHING WREN 72 Winter Wren. Troglodytes hiemalis. Chipping Sparrow. Spizella socialis.

V. WHIMSICAL WAYS IN BIRD-LAND 88 Yellow-breasted Chat. Icteria virens.

VI. THE "BIRD OF THE MUSICAL WING" 103 Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Trochilus colubris.

VII. MY LADY IN GREEN 121 Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Trochilus colubris.

VIII. YOUNG AMERICA IN FEATHERS 141 Maryland Yellow-throat. Geothlypis trichus. Thrasher. Harporhynchus rufus. Baltimore Oriole. Icterus galbula. Catbird. Galeoscoptes Carolinensis. Red-eyed Vireo. Vireo olivaceus. American Crow. Corvus Americanus. Wilson's Thrush. Turdus fuscescens. Towhee Bunting. Pipilo erythrophthalmus.

IX. DOWN THE MEADOW 163 Golden-winged Woodpecker. Colaptes auratus. Red-winged Blackbird. Agelaius phnicens. Bluebird. Sialia sialis. Vesper Sparrow. Poocaëtes gramineus. Eave Swallow. Petrochelidon lunifrons. Tree Swallow. Tachycineta bicolor.

X. IN A COLORADO NOOK 177 Summer Yellow-bird. Dendroica æstiva. Western Chewink. Pipilo maculatus articus. Arkansas Goldfinch. Spinus psaltria. Maryland Yellow-throat. Geothlypis trichus. House Wren. Troglodytes ædon. Red-shafted Flicker. Colaptes cafer. Western Meadow Lark. Sturnella magna neglecta.

XI. THE IDYL OF AN EMPTY LOT 192 Night Hawk. Chordeiles virginianus. English Sparrow. Passer domesticus. Thrasher. Harporhynchus rufus. Junco. Junco hyemalis. White-throat Sparrow. Zonotrichia albicollis. Ruby-crowned Kinglet. Regulus calendula. Hermit Thrush. Turdus aonalaschkæ pallasii.