The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-01-07
CITY-BRED WOODS BIRDS.
How They Have Become DOmesticat-
ed in the West End Suburbs of
ST LOuiS

|
Even the most casual observer in some
parts of the country cannot help remark
ing how entirely some species of woods
birds have entirely abandoned their prim-
tive rustic habits and adapted themselves
TO the environment of civilized man, ac-
J curing entirely new tastes, dimensi
and peculiarities. This is specially notable
in the suburbs of st. Louis, known as the
West End" where the houses are mainly
: of the better Class, detached and surroun-
/ ded by ample lawns, with trees, shrubbery
| and frequent garden fountains In num-
/ erous areas native groves of the shingle
! oak are retained but the interspersing
| mass OF foliage trees has all been intro
| duced. Many of these are naples of diff
! ferent species, erstwhile grown to majes-
| tic size, some of them 60 or 40 feet in hight,
! but whose fronds We're broken off by the
| great hurricane of May, 1896. and rotting
! left spaces and hollows desirable for nest
! ing birds. These seem to have been incon-
! tnentiy pre-empted and occupied as domi-
! Giles by various kinds of woodpeckers
among which the golden winged wood
pecker, the hairy woodpecl1er, the red
| headed woodpecker and the yellow billed
! sap-sucker are conspicuous. They are a
! noisy lot, and make neighborhoods tire
! some with their clatter. There are blue
| Jays in colonies, crow backbirds. robins,
| Wrens, catbirds redbirds. cardinals fire
hang birds. and orchard orioles some rep
! Tesentatives of which remain the who,e
year round, becoming absolutely fearless
| OF man, and depending in severe weather
! epoh the sculieries for subsistence, fore
! sa1herlnS Hke domestic chickens. They
! range ali over the West End district
! The goidenwinged woodpecker. which is
known everywhere as the highhoIder
! flicker, and yellow hammer is caned a
'"Whittaker' in Eastern Carolina. be
! cause his most familiar notes sound Ike
whitaker, whitaker, whitaker, thrice re-
! peated. This call is varied in a most in
! teresting and humorous manner by accent
| uation of the syllables, so that when a
! party are t1ocking, as they often do. among
| thick branches of trees, where il is quite
| difficult to see them, they seem to say:
| (which is it? which is it? which is it?'
! or which is you? which is you? which is
| you?" Often they seem to call TO each
| other, What cheer! what cheer! Fitznugh!
| Fitzhugh!5 The sap-sac4ers are .s even
more colloquial, and their jaunty red caps
! and notified black and white garb, as they
fit from tree TO tree. enliven city premises
very much The orchard oriole and the
| wren have several notes in common AID
the hooking birds initiate every note and
infection. The latter are not common,
| and, l imagine, are trapped for their store
| value. Orchard orioles are known in
North Carolina as 'jorees." osA
/ The feathered indgenes of the woods
| and groves never leave their environments
! of brick and mortar in the ST. Louis SUI
burbs, but have become absolutely cittied.
They are as much housed birds as lome-
bred canaries. One often sees them sit-
ting on the peaks of the queen Anne"
roofs where they squawk for fifteen min
utes at a time al intervals of five seconds
or so, varying their occupation by oc-
! casionalIy prodding the joints of the slated
roof with their long bills producing a me-
tallic sound like that of an electric bell,
ONLY less musical. Sometimes they insin-
nate their beak between the tin roof plates
and produce leaks when il rains, so the
housewives say. And the red-heads bore
into the telephone poles, which the grubs
have attacked. and often sit on the cross
pieces and sauack or croak like frogs Re-
allv their vocal range is something never
dreamed of by those who have seen wood
hackers only in the woods
Their movements in the breeding season
GRO nost interesting. A pair began to nest
in march in a caviiv of a large limb of a
noanle which the cvclone had broken off
sbor+ While incUbation was going on their
,,otee were exceedingly varied. and some Of
them fairly musical. and after the nedg-
Iings beoan to rake food there was always
- sreat clatter every time The ola birds
hro,,oht ANYTHING esneciaIIv If the nair
bannened to meet at The entrance simuI-
taIlao,,slr GROOMING or nurting sound
nos ,1oticeabla while the birds were how
ari,,r IN tha course of the dav tho art
80 49, ~ Ill mich ,hava aI,ea1,,
,o,tiooaa 80 uttered and raneated from
- ~ troo t,,o,,gbo,,, tba naiobhortood
tror, 90 bioei, or so1,are t6 anotber
Gluaia,, ara ah,,ndant in g. louis ar ali
80. 1,'t asneciallv 50 in winter yJban
t,ln', aro barstI,, ,oie,J scoIde a,t ,hey
80 ~ ro,1aicaI sounds. and in Asbs-
III NJ r, u,bera 7 raseed Iast summer
~ 5oiish,f,,, ,,ast oaly ero,e ono 81 H.
,,los7 ,,a1iieno,,s r,orntno bird notos was