The morning journal-courier., 1908-05-01

red-wlng blackbird, or red shouldered starlng aa John Burroughs loved 10 call It. How brilliant the red and vel low patch on the wing showed in the Isunlght as if fresh touched With paint |LAud if you sec Mrs Red-wiug for tho first time you could not possibly Imag- Inc she was related to MT, Red-wing
 for she looks like an overgrown spar TOW, Both redwng blackhlrds and l meadow arks give forth harsh steely I chatter OF rattle that Is rather pug
 zling till yol get acquainted with 1t.
 You would think 1t was made by an-
 other hrd,
 Of the wood-peckers of course the lite
 tie downy and his large and noisy cousin the flicker were much In evid-
 once. l stood for some moments watch ing what appeared to he a courting
 scene between female and two male
 downys, Mrs DoWny put on q very
 unconcerned air and appeared not 10
 notice the excited bobbings and genu-
 neXions of the courtlng males. It was
 very amusing to watch the antics or
 the two rivals in trying to attract the , attention of tho female. l have often been amused in the spring watching the same hide-and seek antics Of pair or two or three pairs of flckers in this . conrting pantomnes at the same time : uttering a series of cooing calls, only the nlckers are SO much more boister- . ous and noisy.
 As l rounded one of the curves in the road I came upon several birds ! which I always love to see, they have SO much of vim and character In their . makeup. "Ch2wink," "ChewInk" they { call out In n half saucy air giving a . Art to the tall The way they can make the leaves fly as they bring back both feet at once like a hen scratch
 ing is a wonder Theis color marking is a very characteristic largely black witl n white patches on wing and tall anC y chestnut on side of breast. Their sonl r delivered from the top of some bush i'
 very characteristic sound of the coun. a try even during the heat of the sum F mer. It might be represented by tho Is words Sweet, bird, wlll-o-will-o' ,r will-o."
 Three birds were here and singing .e which hardly expected to see so early " as thls-the Maryland yellow thrust tho catblrd and the brown thrasher O n as he Is sometimes called Brow K Thrush though he is not thrust. beini m classed with the wren family. didn' s expect to hear either of them. Tn ,r Maryland yellow thrust is very com n mon along streams, a small yellowisl ', warbler with black band across tn < eyes hence his name "black-maske, 4 warbler" His song too Is this a ,d plain as anything can be: "Wltch-i-t, ,, Iwitch-i-ty, witch-i-ty." He Is one O ,, the easiest warhers to learn for he In constantly saying that exciting phras ,r over and over all summer long as h "A hunts for food half hidden among th V skunk cabbage and bushes borderin ' over streams and swamps. I shall ney a CT forget when I was first learning in s, birds the two hours I spent trying
 get good look at the author Of thos w "witchity" calls. he would always kee U himself in tho opopsite side of a clum ,. of bushes all the time nInging out h
 |tantalizlng call; follow me, follow . me, follow-me"
 @ The cat-bird certainly deserves q be <. ter name than he has, for although ' often greets you with the familiar f
 line call, yet he can sing beautiful
 when he so chooses. How he loves se hide himself In the most shady parts .,, the brambles. though he has no ne' " to as his coat has no gay colors to a
 tract attention.
 eN The loudest and richest song of { 'Ss S the birds is perhaps the brown thras i CT. Four or five thrashers singing .',' once as I once heard them in Edg ~ wod park are enough 10 hold a 'eu listener enthralled He may appear ,t little self-conscious, 'tis true. as VI sings perehed on the topmoet limb oi lt. tall tree, but one can not deny that
 s' is one of our best singers. So far 1y volume ia concerned he fairly droN
 most of the other songstcrs. In qu TTIl. TT. fly, however. he is surpassed by Ne aute-llllo, cathedral notes of the VIC " thrush or the rich golden warble of U" sros-beak.
 Other mrds were seen on this ram . y, which lack of space prevents mentit ,'u ing and a longer walk would have d, w hed the number, but enough was SC ,"9 and heard to make the day long to :, remembered and cause the writer to '"s humbly grateful to the friend, W .o" eight years ago led him to take an
 torcat in birds. It is this gratitl NU' that leads him to try to interest ot ."l persons in knowing and loving ,,o birds.
 ''e The time to study birds at their ! - le between May and l5 then not O
 our sweetest singers are here,
 many bright coored warblers
 breeding in the trees that soon pass
 to reptons farther north