Evening star., 1924-06-02
SUMMER SONG BIRDS
BY j. G. HANSON.

Bird song Is at its best in May and.
June. By the end of May the birds
have arrived for the season and are
busy with nest building and house
keeping. Meanwhile the male birds,
and sometimes the females, fill the
air with melody. You have heard the
robin as he greets the dawn or bids
farewell to day at sunset. The car
dinal, as he asks what cheerw fs no
stranger to you. You have Listened
to the mocking Bird and have been
delighted with the "jazz" Of the
noisy catbird or the gay brown
thrush, and you have stopped to
listen during your walk in the woods
to the pewee, who seems to fear the
must have heard the little warbler
who greets you with "dearie" and
the song sparrow, one of the most
tuneful of our summer birds.
There will be no dispute about plac-
ing the mocking bird first among the
summer songsters. Some think him
noisy and declare him nuisance, but
to one interested in birds he and his
mate are the Caruso and Tetrazztni OF
the feathered opera. The mocking
| nate shyness, but nowadays these
birds often nest in the honeysuckle
beside the house or in d thick tree top
In the yard, and hover near and be-
come friendly. And how they do sing,
at dawn, at intervals through the day,
| in the evening and sometimes in the
moonlight In the mating and nesting
season. The mocking birds song is
unequaled in variety of notes, in vol
ume and melody by that of any other
bird, unless it be the skylark of Eu-
| rope. The mocking birds song is
never twice the same. He has his fa-
vorite call 10 his mate, but inter
| spersed Herewith is a series of quips
| and variations, suggested, it may be,
by sounds which II hears from other
birds. Whether the mocking bird
really initiates the songs Of other
birds is not clear. Some of the sounds
are like that, but If he is really
knocking" other birds, his renditions
are such an improvement upon the
original as to be hardly recognizable.
i K x x
Next after the mocking bird. IN
doubtedly the cardinal grosbeak is
our greatest summer singer. The
beauty of the cock birds plumage is
equaled by its melody. He sings from
| the highest branch Of the treetop.
| and his notes. in which one recog-
nizes what cheer" followed by other
|
| themselves readily to expression in
words, is a beautiful bird song. The
| cardinal should not be confused with
| the scarlet tanager, whose plumage
is brighter and his song less me-
| lodious.
The robin stands forth as one of
| the greatest feathered songsters. He,
| is familiar object and his song is
| too well known to need description.
Every one knows his melodious too
| ral-loo" and remembers the sweet
| melody. The robin is notable in many
| ways. He prefers the orchard to the
| forest for nesting and the dooryard
and plowed field to the secluded
| thicket for his foraging. From
choice the robin lives in the open.
dooryard chicken and just as useful.
He dwells near men because his food
| is most easily found about farms,
gardens and orchards. The robin
lives upon earthworms. the larvae OF
| beetles, bugs and insects Of many
kinds. Yes. he sometimes eats cher
ries. Strawberries and other small
| fruits, but only the man who does not
know his value to orchard and gar
| den would think of shooting him for
visiting the cherry tree.
! The robin does not eat cherries or
| any other fruit If he can find worms
and insects enough. He is a vora-
cious feeder. The adult bird needs
4
worms and insects each day. Young
robins in the nest require about four
| times their weight in grubs and
] beetles each twenty-four hours while
coming to maturity; i is some job
enough for family of four to six.
No wonder they steal a few cherries,
strawberries and. other small fruits.
! The birds can be kept away from the
fruits by "searecrows." and it would
| pnS ha q q 9
1 to cultivate his garden or field. when
| the robin would forsake the cherry
tree for the freshly turned earth,
where the grubs are to be found.
decent have not farmers and orchard
growers not fallen for the idea of
| planting a few cherry trees for the
exclusive use of the birds? Only the
sSsns sSenrs brs ths Se purple eabTd and the the
ortolan care for cherries anyhow.
* X + X
| The song sparrow is entitled to a
solo part in the summer opera No
body can listen to this little fellow
trilling "TinkIe- -tinkle, teter-teter,
| tee, tee," and not be enchanted. He
Is the embodiment of rapture and
| enthusiasm as he mounts stake or
alights upon a dry limb and pours
4
near by and his mate is warming the
eggs.
! The mourning dove is another me-
| lodiouS bird. His note is low, sooth-
ing and plaintive. but has no equal,
except in the ring pigeon, Chinese
| bird, which one may see at the Zoo
| The notes of the mourning dove
| affect some persons unfavorably, re-
| minding them of the SOUNDS OF woe
at a human funeral. But when ~ Is
i xoI.
Is that of the male bird to his mate
at the mating time or when .sne IS
sitting upon the nest IL ousht Hot
| to have any such sad signlncance as
| those who dread death ana oisiihe g
Beautiful Bob White" must not De
| forgotten among the summer birds.
He. is the quail or partridge, as peopie
of southern birth call him. nus
whistle to his mate may be calico a
love song, or its bold blast may -9e
taken as a challenge to his rival IN
| the next field. There is probably
| nothing more inspiriting than the
whistling of two or three or THESE
| birds on a summer morning apous
sunrise, while they stand vigil as cne
hen partridges and their broods are
foraging below.
tiled to a place among the summer
singers. She lives in a box set up
by. the thoughtful farmer near the
house, in a hollow tree in the orchard
or even in an abandoned woodpeek-
er's nest in dry limb. The house
wren is a sauey creature, and as ful
Of business as the proverhial old
| woman in the. shoe. She builds hsr
nest Of a. half peck of small SUCKS
| with strings and feathers she picks
up in the dooryard- The wren de-
lights in driving ont the jack spar
row. She pulls the nest out bodily
and builds her own, Of a size to con
trast with her own diminutive pro-
portions. She darts everywhere IN