Evening star., 1927-04-24
DETAILS HISTORY
OF MARSH BIRDS
Family Life of American Spe-
CieS Portrayed in Smithso-
nian Publication.

The life history of North American
marsh birds--their family life their
courtship and their mental habits
is described in a volume lust pub
lished by the Smithsonian Institution
as the sixth in a series designed to
include all the birds of North America.
This constitutes the most compre
hensive study of birds yet attempted
on this or any other continent The
series is the work of Arthur G. Bent
of Taunton, Mass. and when COM
pleted viii include 20 or more
volumes.
The birds dealt with in this volume
include the tiamingo the heron, the
crane, the coot and a score of others.
Vital Statistics Given.
The range Of vital statistics which
Mr.. Bent covers in his description of
each species includes Spring migra-
tion, courtship, nesting habits, eggs,
young, sequence of plumages to ma
turity, sea sonal molts, feeding habits.
flight, swimming and diving habits,
vocal powers, behavior, enemies, Fall
migration and Winter habits.
The counting maneuvers of the
various birds dealt with by Mr.. Bent
in this volume would appear to be on
occasions ludicrous, frequently pom
pous or majestic, but always strenu-
Gus. For the sandhill crane of the
Middle Western prairies, they become
a sort of tribal love dance( rising to
madness and strikingly suggestive of
similar dances among primitive hu
man races.
Not all gentlemen birds seem to
win their ladies without danger to
themselves. Describing the Courtship
of the great blue heron, Mr.. Bent
quotes Audubon. The males walk
about with an air of great dignity.
bidding defiance to their rivals, and
the females croak to invite the males
TO pay their addresses to them. The
females utter their coaXing notes al!
at once, and as each male eVinces an
equal desire to please the object of
his affection, he has to encounter the
enmity of many an adversary, who,
with little attention to politeness.
opens his powerful bill, throws out
his wings, and rushes with fury on
his foe.
Guards Against Attack.
Each attack is carefully guarded
against, blows are exchanged for
blows; one would think that a single
well aimed thrust might suffice to in.
fiict death, but the strokes are parried
with as much art as an expert swords
man would employ, and although /
have watched these birds for half an
hour at time as they fought on the
ground, never saw one killed on
such an occasion, but l have often
seen one felled and trampled upon. |
even after incubation had commenced. |
These combats over, the males and fe.
males leave the place in pairs"
The females OF some birds reveal a
coyness closely resembling that in
other animals. DIR. Alexander Wet
more, assistant secretary of the Smith !
sonian, has a note on the American
coot referring to this characteristic, |
which Mr.. Bent quotes.
Family Life Outlined.
The family life of the various marsh !
birds partakeS in certain aspects of /
the ideal. In the case of the fighting
blue herons mentioned above, both |
sexes share in the incubating, appar- /
entity taking turn about at regular
foEr-hour shifts. The same is true
OF the snowy egrets, of whom Mr..
Bent goes on to say: Either the
father or mother bird watches the
youngsters constantly, and when the
absent mate returns they caress and |
COO, being a most loving pair, as If
they had not seen each other for a |
week" The feeding of the young
offers an equally Utopian scene. ''The |
young have been crouching quietly in
the nest, perhaps asleep or doing:
suddenly their keen eyes or ears de-
tect the returning mother bird and
they are all alert: eXcitedly they
stretch their long necks and cry for /
food. AT first she stands on or near
the nest in a disinterested attitude |
until she is ready to regurgitate the |
semi-digested food; they become i'm
patient at the delay and peck at her
plumage, or rise up and seize her bin,
shaking it vigorously and worrying |
her into action; at length she raises
her beautiful plumes above her back,
a token of her affection, lowers her
head and delivers the coveted food. |
For the younger birds a more or less
souplike food, fish chowder, is de-
livered into the mouth Of the young
bird for older birds fish only par
TALLY digested is deposited on the nest,
where it is picked up and swallowed. -
The subtleties employed by some
birds in protecting their nests from
invaders also are discussed.
"Whooping Cranes" Described.
The whooping cranes, 1.-The tallest
and most stately of all our birds.
are quite capable Of giving a man Sc
rious resistance, according to Mr..
Bent. who gives a story told by E. T.
Seton to confirm this: An extraor-
binary tragedy was much talked of
in my earliest days in the North.
About 1879 there was young Indian
living near Portage la Prairie, Mani
toba. In the Spring he went out
shooting among the famous wild fowl /
marshes Of that section. A white
crane flew low within the range and
fell to a shot from his gun. As it lay
on the ground, wounded in both wing
and leg, crippled and helpless, he
reached forward to seize it. But it |
dove its bin with all its force into his |
eye. The brain was pierced and the |
young hunter fell on the body of his |
victim. Here next day, at the end of
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