The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1899-07-04

"A wv -
throat aecked with brown; under
parts white.
Brown Thrasher-Long bird; red
dish brown above, yellowish beneath !;
long tail.
House Wren-Smal bird; dark
brown above, gray beneath; tail erect.
Flicker-Above golden brown, black,
barred; red band back of head.
Chipping sparroW Dark CHI s nut
poll; back orange and browns striped.
Song sparro W-Striped brown poll;
gray and brown above; gray striped
beneath.
Whip0oorWill-Long wings; owl
like plumage much spotted; flying at
night.
Night hawk-Black and rusty above;
white spot on throat; white spot on
brown wings.
Long cared Owl-Long, erect ear
tufts; plumage notified brown, ash and
dark orange
Screech owl-Smal!; plumage gray
ish Dr. rust red notified; tail and wings
equal.
BIRDS OF THE AIR, CONSTANTLY UPON
THE WING
Bank swallow = Mouse color above /;
brownfs1 tail and wIngs; white below.
Barn swalIow-5seeI- blue back; tail
deeply forked rica buff beneath.
P @)e-DulI brown; whitish breast ;
e~reetIle crest; a fly catcher.
Now go to the old farmhouse that I
told you about, with the tumbledown
fences and old orchard Sleep in the
Law studded room with the wide chin.
n9y, and dream of birds-clouds Of
birds.
You wRke-is it night or mornings
A rumbling sound like thunder startles
you end hasten to the window, but the
sky is cloudless and abIazs with the
coming sunrise; a belt of MET marks
the river, the trees are dripping and
vigorously green, and the dew lies
heavily upon the grass like hoar frost.
The noise N again. This time
being fully awake, you trace it to the
chimney, from which a twig falls on
the hearth.
Looking out, you seek a dusky bird
with darting fight s1oop from the
housetop over the grass; Selling an
insect without pausing, he mounts,
and you hear the roaring in the Chin
ney. 1t is the chimney-swift taking
food to his young in the nest; HE wings
vibrating rapidly as he returns up the
chimney aus the noise.
On the bit of rough lawn many rob
ms are hopping, making levers of their
bodies to pry III earthworms twice
their own length. One brilliant cock
robin flies t his nest in the honey
euckle uoder your window where his
mate is raising a second brood, and
spying you gives his alarm cry,
Q nick, qlickl"
An insect-Iike tremolo comes from
the path. Looking, but failing to see
anything, you take your opera glaRe,
and discover q chipping sparrow sit
ting motionless, singing his monoto-
nous dirty almost continuously. A
large golden brown bird, with a red
band on the back OF his neck, is walk
ing about among the robins; as he flies
to an old maple by the gate you see
the white spot on his rump and the
golden wing lining; creeping up the
tree trunk, he cries harshly, Wick,
wick, wick, wickI" 1t is the flicker,
or golden winged woodpecker, who has
mis- nest in a hollow of the partly de
cayed tree.
From the thicket beyond the fence
comes a soft cooling in a minor key.
Presently a pair Of mourning doves
join the party on the grass in their
search for food, miDcing prettily like
domestic pigeons. But when an oriole
shoots, like a flaming rocket, into the
elm branches, you become enthusiasts
tic, and dressing hastily, go into the
garden.
A small bird with a pert crest darts
from the v OF the cow shed, twists,
turns, seizas a moth and perches on
the fence, balancing and calling,
"Phebee phebee al" 1t is the pt P oe,
an expert fly catcher, whose ancestors
have nested under the shed time out
of mind. From the same shed darts a
trim little house wren Ian old tomato
can holes it's brood.
Bluebirds are carrying strRws for a
new nest into a little box on the fence