Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1900-05-03
WHERE OUR BIRDS WINTER.
Louisiana's Forests Now Swarm
ing With Feathered Strangers.
Nearly Every Form OF Eastern Bird Life
to Be Found in the Colony That
Makes the State a Most Attract
i've Field for Naturalists and
the Taxidermist.

a
lana are most populous with birds. Not
only the natives but visitors from every
Northern State and not any of them have
set their wings for the homeward flight
says a Benton, La, correspondent of the
New York Sun. The naturalist who
makes a sojourn in this section through
the winter months has opportunity to
study pretty nearly every form of feath-
cred life the eastern part of North Amerl-
can can show, and to study them at close
range. The woods are 50 thick and the
fields SO quiet that the air voydgers may
be approached within a few yards and, as
no one dsturbs those species of them
which are not game" they become sin
gularly tame. Representatives OF water
and wadng birds are as numerous as
those which stick to dry land and trees.
Every lagoon is inhabited by Northern
cranes, herons and fishers of other kinds
and not less than a dozen differing varie-
ties of bitterns make the day and night
clamorous. Birds of prey come, too, in
almost endless variety. In summer north
ctn louisiana can show perhaps half
dozen kinds OF hawks and three kinds of
Owls, but in that time which is the snow
time further north, about twenty differ
ing species of hawks are here and dozen
kinds of owls. The opportunity afforded
to the naturalist and the taNidermst as
well are understood by some men who live
above the Mason and Dixon line and they
are regular journeyers to Louisiana when
the cold comes These men use, almost
without exception. a double barrclled sun
of only Il Calihre. which chambers a car
fridge the size and appearance of the
Winchester cartridge, but is loaded with
dVst shot instead of ball They are fatal
little weapons at a distance Of 80 feet and
there is rarely any necessity to shoot at
targets further away.
In March the pirates, twittcrcrs and
songstcrs betray signs of preparation for
mating. The green Is getting up in the
. trees and the mysterious law of nature
which makes all things 1lpom and repro
duce their kind in the spring is at work
upon them. Contrary TO popular impress
sion much of the preparatory work of
bird mating is done in their winter home
before the beginning of the journey back
to the North. This rs tru' not only Of
the wood and field varieties, but of wild
fowl as well. There Is, of course, no nest
building done. but the observer will see
a disposition on the part of the birds to
pair. Males and females will be found in
company here and there and always sep
arated from other members Of their tribe
by a hundred yards or 50. They show a
rare modesty in this matter. or 1t may be
that they are afraid OF being leased by
those others in whose small bodies the
leaVen of spring has not yet begun TO
work. IT sometimes happens that the So
lection of mates is made here, but most Of
ten the courtship is completed on the way
north, which occupies d space of time OF
all the way from two weeks to six weeks,
according to the latitude in which the
bird is accustomed to spend its summers,
it's speed and its industry of flight. Most
birds go north as the spring goes in little
flights of a hundred miles or 50. For this
reason residents near the Canadian line
find the returned wanderers with them so
soon as the spr1ng Is fairly under way.
There are some species which remain in
the South until the weather gets too
warm for their comfort. They then start
north in long and determined Journeys,
} which cover hundreds of miles at a flight.
stopping only for nightfall and twice a
day to feed a little while AS these varie-
ties begin their nest building as soon as
t they reach their destination. II is reason
. able to suppose that their courtship was
completed before they started. Certainly
, they have little time for love making dur
ing their far and strenuous journeylng. II
} is noticed by men curious about such
things that BIRDS begin erecting their
- homes almos. as soon as they reach the
l point at which they propose to spend the
breeding season. Their rapidly of sclec-
| tion would not he possible if it had not
- been begun during the warm days which
? found them in the South ard started then
= on their travels homeward.
e Another evidence that the process Of
= mating is begun here is found III ia,
Y sprngtime pugnacity of the males 1t i.
0 difficult to walk into the woods in Marcf
T without having the ear assai.ed by Il sue
c cession of angry cries, or chirps. botray
= ing two battling males az any one OF NIFTY
e of species. Courage in birds Is 10y NJ
d means regulated by size. Some Of tn,
= largest of them. notably the crow, arr
y the most CowardlN. Converts ely, a littl'
h hop o-my-thun'D, sometimes not lonSc
t. nor taller than an inch, VIII attack :
T flyer that in proportion to itself is a hous
\. l.
d so called because it whips everything i
|, can get at, will not weigh more than tw
= ounces but 1t has thousand POUNDS o
i temper and ton of rye. That charm
ing writer upon birds. Jonn Burroughs
says that the h.e-nlartln is cowardly, bu
he must have encountered some dcgener
II ate individual, outlawod from his kinsme
as a bastard The average martin of thi
/ family is not afraid of anything that ilies
e 1t is a frequent sight on Louisiana sprin
is mornings to see a huge gray hawk hurt
e ling through the air. emitting now an
- then distressed sqIawk, much unlik
n its usual scream of saVagery, while in il
d trail flies one, or at most two. "kinc
d birds" shifting ii Venomously between tn
he shoulders and most elated when sma
n. feather floating downward shows that
n blow has gone home. This chase viii las
a. for half mile more and when
IL ceases the hawk will scurry onward wit
1t undimnished speed until out of sigh
D. Meanwhile the two minute black hnigt
10 errants will fly back to their startin
II point At this season II will be ofte
rs found that they are male and female, IL
terrupted in their counting near the 10
of some huge tree by the questlng screaI
of the approaching robber
The mockingbirds, too, Wondrous mil
D. stres In gray, are as valiant as gifted an
n many of them are slain by invadin
IT shrikes because they do not know tn;
c. discretion Is the better part Of Valor. o.
a. casionally the victory rests with II
al mockcr. through not often. such is II
fame OF their valor, however, and so We
W is it understood by other birds that int
er ference with one of them means fight
al the death, that the shrke will attack on
cs when there Is absolute death of 9TH
IS prey. The contestants are nearly ecu
in size and the shrike which dimes upC
IN the singer earns his meal The cardin
=. grosbeak. called universally througho
u the South "redbird,' has so little sense
er the fitness of things that il will attat
V. a man under certain circumstances an
he when winged by single pellet of shot
or trapped, will fight to the last. Many
on small farmer boy has dropped his pr
=. and trotted TO the house with "A bleedil
81 rofinger from having caught one
- these desperadoes and incautous'y ha
n died it. Both the mocker and the redbi
'r- remain here all the year through, b
mp they seem to get on excellently with the
It northern visitors and there Is no discer
in ible friction between them at any time
Il. Louisiana woods now furnish the 6ret
pnmbpr bird varieties because II