Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-05-05
OF SPRING
BLUEBIRDS ARE SINGING AND
BUILDING NESTS.

BUILDING NESTS.
Written for The star.
The belated spring has reached New
Hampshire at last. The ice has nearly all
gone out of the trout brooks and every
where Is heard the roar of the unfettered
water as 1t leaps madly down the noun
tain sides. pitching over the falls, swirling
round tree trunks. surging through the
narrower channels and grinding the peb-
b1es in it's clean-washed bed In many
cases the brooks. though clear. are green,
stained possibly by the needles of spruce
and pine, which have been stepped in the
water of the melting snow. And on reach
ing the valleys they are joined by other
brooks and, as though their wild aood had
e., exhausted itself, they move onward stead
lily, silently, to greater stream, which
gathers them up on its way to the sea.
On some Of the mountain roads, espe-
ctally those which run on the north side
of dense woodland, there Is still snow
enough to bar the progress of a wagon
otherwise the landscape Is bare and brown
again. And the other roads-those which
run through the valleys. and which are
used the most-O, shades of the ancient
Romans. you should see these roadsl There
Is venerable story of a man who, while
struggling along a muddy road, picked up
a hat he saw lying there, and was surpris-
who had sunk to the neck in the mire.
Pretty muddy here, remarked the man
who had picked up the hat
"Muddy?" said the other. why. man..
there's a wagon and load Of hay under
me-"
I don't know where that story originated.
but 1t was not in this part of New Hamp-
shire; here It would be considered much
too near the gospel truth to make even a
passable yarn
But there are more pleasing signs of
spring than are to be seen in muddy roads;
they are in the fields and woods, and in
the air. The bluebirds are singing every
where, and many already busy with
their nests. Those which built in our bird
houses last year, or others very like them,
are back again, and will become our ten
ants once more. They have taken posses
sion of two of the birch-bark dwellings,
but third they found already occupied
when they arrived.
A pair of enterprising red squirrels NOV
ed in very early, and l fancy it would take
many bluebirds to turn them out. They
nave family of young ones, for we can
hear the youngsters squeak occasionally.
One of the parents is an old friend of ours.
He has been coming to the house to be
fed for many months Outside, In front of
our piazza, there several trays, al
ways filled with seeds and cracked corn,
primarily intended for the birds. But the
squirrel was not long in finding it, and
think he has been here every day since he
made the discovery.
In March he appeared with q mate and
no doubt, when the pair were casting about
for new home, they decided that the neat
little bird house, within three good jumps
or the seed trays, would be as convenient
as anything they were likely to find in the
woods. AT any rate, there they are and
one, at least. is so tame that he will allow
me to approach within two feet of him.
Inc tree swallows are moving into their
OLD nome on top of the telephone POLE but
first they had to prove their title by driving
off pair of persistent bluebirds perhaps
the pair whose home had been taken by the
red squirrels.
So far, very few wild flowers are in evil
dence. The trailing arbutus has been gath
ered, on and on, during a good part of the
winter, and the same may be said of the
pussy willows, though even the latter are
not yet in full bloom
Busy Season for Wild Creatures.
But this is busy season for all the wild
creatures hereabouts. 1 was out in the
woods ali day yesterday, and not a bird
or beast was idle. The muff1ed drumming
OF ruined grouse was almost continuous
ana several times 1 flushed the cock birds
from logs and rocks, where they had evil
IDENTIFY come to call their mates. The wood
techers TOO, We're drumming, in their own
Iashion, In many parts of the woodland
put especially among the hardwoods Some
times l saw a pair of hairy woof]neckers
busy on the dead top of an old rock ma
pie; sometimes flicker who would nausa
occasionally to send out his vigorous cali
OF 'Wicka- wicka- wicl1a wicka-wick' and
then go on with his drumming, and at times
II was the giant pileated woodpecker or
log cock who with the mighty blows Of
his bill can fell big tree.
OIten l came upon the work of this great
plrd' Now 1t was a single hole, broad
enough and deep enough to allow me to
put my hand in out Of sight; now it was a
series of such holes arranged spirally
around the trunk Of the tree and again IL
was deep, spiral channel which SO weak
ened the tree as to threaten its overthrow
by the first strong wind which struck 1t.
In some cases, at least, found the spi-
rals following the grain of the wood, the
latter having more or less of q twist. and
once noticed a line of holes which had
been lately chiseled out following closely
a spiral crack in the spiral grain of the
trunk. If such row of holes were recon
nected by the pecking away of the wood
which separated them the result would be
a deep channel such as I have described
and l am inclined to think that such chan
nels are made in this way.
Another bird heard from several times
In certain section Of woodland wac a
great horned owl. 1 was hunting for the
nests of wild boars In tho Blue Mountain
forest. when 1 heard a deep ''Hoo-hoo
hoo-hoo-hoo," which for moment 1 mis-.
took for the barking OF dog. The call
was repeated and l realized my mistake
and, on going to investigate, I saw the
great, dark, heavyheaded bird wing its
way deeper into the woods.
Had Nest Nearby.
Coming back that way later in the morn
Ing, the bird approached again and hooted
loudly, seemingly in menacing manner
No doubt she had a nest nearby and re-
sented my intrusion. An hours hunt for
the nest resulted in failure. could find no
pellets and the dark spruces were SO close
together and the tops 80 dense that it was
impossible to look into them from the
ground and climbing tall trees at random
soon grew monotonous-the more so be-
cause / knew that the nest might be In any
one of several hundred growing about me.
The nests of wild boars were plentiful
enough; some were DID, having been in use
all winter. and consisted chiefly of bare,
dry twigs. Others had but just been made,
and were fragrant with the fresh spruce
branches of which they were composed
And there were still others in the process
OF making; just hollows In the earth, with
a rim of fresh soil and spruce needles ali
around them. Such hollows would be filed
later with the spruce twigs which the boars
bite from nearby trees. In all cases the
nests were beneath tree or trees: sone-