Part 9

The purple grackle, or crow blackbird, should make his appearance in Southern New York about this time. He is the large, handsome fellow who lives in colonies and builds his nest in pine, hemlock, and spruce groves near human habitations. As soon as his young are hatched, he frequents the banks of rivers and lakes and walks along in quest of insects. He is one of the few birds that walks.

March Twenty-third

Screech owls are now nesting in natural cavities in apple-trees, but they should not be disturbed, for they feed on mice, beetles and other harmful animals. Owls are very interesting birds, but their wisdom is only in their looks. Their eyes are stationary, so in order to look sidewise, they must turn their head. Watch one and notice him dilate and contract the pupil of his eyes, according to the light, and the distance of the object at which he is gazing.

March Twenty-fourth

The American goldfinch, thistlebird, or wild canary, often spends the winter with us, but in his grayish-brown suit he is not recognized by his friends who only know him in his summer garb of black and yellow. The male and the female look alike now, but soon the male will don gorgeous colors and wear them until after the nesting season.

Notes

March Twenty-fifth

The scarlet heads of the velvet, or stag-horn sumach are very conspicuous on the rocky hillsides and gravelly bottoms. The fruit of the poison sumach hangs more like a bunch of grapes, while the stag-horn fruit is in a massive cluster. Persons susceptible to poisonous plants should never approach any poisonous shrub, particularly when the body is overheated.

March Twenty-sixth

From the swamps and river-banks comes the clatter of loud blackbird voices. Flocks containing hundreds of these noisy fellows perch in the tops of the trees, resting after their long migration flight. From the babble, you recognize the "konk-a-ree" of the red-shouldered blackbird, the harsh squeaky notes of the rusty grackle, and the purple grackle. As you approach, the flock takes flight, and you discover that all of the red-wing blackbirds are males; the females have not yet arrived.

March Twenty-seventh

In the dead of winter you may sometimes see a belted kingfisher along some swift-running stream, but as a rule, north of Virginia, few stay with us throughout the year. Most of them appear about this time, and you see them perched on some low limb overhanging a pond or a stream.

Notes

March Twenty-eighth

From bogs, shaded woods, and sheltered highways. Nature's question-marks, the "fiddle-heads," appear above the loam. They are baby ferns, preparing to expand and wave their graceful leaves in the face of all beholders. These queer, woolly sprouts the Indians use for food, and birds also eat them.

March Twenty-ninth

The clear, sweet, and plaintive whistle "pee-a-peabody, peabody, peabody," (which to the French Canadian is interpreted "la-belle-Canada, Canada, Canada") of the white-throated sparrow, or Canada bird, is a common, early spring song, now heard in the swamps and thickets. This sparrow may be found about New York City all winter, but it passes North to nest.

March Thirtieth

Beneath hickory-nut. Walnut, and butternut trees, you are sure to find large numbers of nut-shells that have been rifled of their contents by red squirrels, chipmunks, meadow mice, and white-footed mice. In nearly every instance, the intelligent little rodents have gnawed through the flat sides of the shell, directly into the meat, and taken it out as "clean as a whistle." But who "taught them" to select the flat side?

Notes

March Thirty-first

The noisy kildeer is rare in Pennsylvania and New York, but it is a common plover in Ohio. Its note, "kildeer, kildeer, kildeer," is emitted while the bird is on the ground or in the air. This plover is very abundant in the far West, and when a hunter is stalking antelope, it often flies about his head, calling loudly and warning the game of danger. For this trait it is sometimes called "tell-tale plover."

Notes

=April=

April First

A question which puzzles scientists, is how the turtles and frogs (which have lungs) are able, at the close of summer, to bury themselves in the mud at the bottom of a river or pond and remain there until the following spring. The frogs appear a few days before the turtles are seen.

April Second

The meadowlark's song, "spring-o-the-year," is heard at its best in this month and in May; but the note is one of the few that may be frequently heard in southern New England, during the entire winter. As its name implies, the meadowlark is a bird of the fields and meadows only, but it will often alight in the top of a tall tree and send forth its joyful song. Watch and listen for it now.