The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-07-16
RECENT PUBLICATIONS.
bird Lore.

If increased friendship for birds comes
with increased knowledge of them. as. no
doubt, ii does, they are to be congratu-
lated on such a publication as one recent
ly made by the Doubleday & Mcclure Com
pany. 1t is entitled bird Homes: The
Nests, Eggs and Breeding Habits of the
Land Birds Breeding in the Eastern United
States; with Hints on the Rearing and
Photographic of Young Birds" by A.
Radcliffe Dugmore. The title gives n good
idea of the plan Of the work, and Ii is car
ried out in an admirable and beautiful
manner. The book Is a revelation OF bird
personality in many ways, and one who
turns its leaves and reads IL, even in a
cursory and desultory manner feels that.
with the aid of the life-like illustrations,
he has added largely to his circle of bird
acquaintance and his stock of bird knowl-
edge. The work is in two parts. Part l con-
tains chapters on birds nests and eggs,
egg-collecting and its object, photograph
ing nests and young birds. hints on the
rearing and keeping of young birds and
approximate dates when birds begin TO
| nest. Part III consists of illustrations from
nature of the nests of different birds. with
brief descriptions and sketches of the birds
themselves. For example, accompanying
the picture of a catbird's nest is the fol-
lowing: The nest is ragged, but well
made of sticks. leaves, fine roots, weeds,
| grass, strips of bark and lined chiefly with
fine roots. 1t is placed in briers or low
bushes, usually not more than about seven
feet from the ground. The eggs, three 10
five in number. are rather dark greenish
blue. These well-named and weil-known
| birds rank high in the list of our songsters;
their song, which, though small In volume,
is full of sweetness, may be heard at al
most any time of day and in almost any
thicket. When the nest is threatened, the
owners call together all the other catbirds
in that particular thicket. and each one
tries to Guido the other in vocal remon-
STRANGE. Knowing them to be highly intel
| ligent, i decided to rear one, thinking, OF
course, that he would make a delightful
pet. but 1 never succeeded In determining
whether the bird was extremely clever or
entirely lacking in sense of any sort. His
behavior from the very beginning was a
cause of surprise; not a sound did he utter.
even when hungry, and that was most UNI
usual, as young birds are not renowned for
their Quietness. Then he was very late In
learning to feed himself, far later than any
of my other birds. Blu his most peculiar
conduct was when he was taken out of his
cage to fly about in the large wire inclos-
ure: instead of taking advantage of this
| freedom, he instantly flew to the topmost
part, and there sat by the hour immovable,
looking much like an awkwardly mounted
bird. During the two months 1 had him
there was no change in his behavior. and
seeing nothing to be gained by keeping so
uninteresting a pet, l set MIN Tree; I'm,
he resembled a real live catbird. With tail
| erect, in proper catbird fashion, he COM
menced searching for insects, which, pre-
viously, he had never even noticed, so L
| decided. after all, that he was exceedingly
| clever" OF the illustrations there are near
ly seventy, in color and black and white,
all made directly from the nests and birds,
and many of them strikingly beautiful.
There Is an alphabetical index of the COM
mon names and another of the scientific
names of all the birds described. The book
is one of rare interest for lovers and stu
dents of nature.