Purple Martin (Progne subis Swallow family Length—7 to 8 inches. Two or three inches smaller than the robin. Male— Rich glossy black with bluish and purple reflections; duller black on wings and tail. Wings rather longer than Female—Morethe tail, whichbrownishis forked.and mottled; grayish below. Range—Peculiar to America. Penetrates from Arctic Circle to

South America. Migrations—Late April. Early September. Summer resident.

In old-fashioned gardens, set on a pole over which honeysuckle and roses climbed from a bed where China pinks, phlox, sweet Williams, and hollyhocks crowded each other below, martin boxes used always to be seen with a pair of these large, beautiful swallows circling overhead. But now, alas! the boxes, where set up at all, are quickly monopolized by the English sparrow—the one bird that the martin, courageous as a kingbird in attacking crows and hawks—cannot withstand.

Bradford Torrey tells of seeing quantities of long-necked squashes dangling from poles about the negro cabins all through

RED-WINGED BLACK BIRD.

Life-size.

Conspicuously Black

the South. One day he asked an old colored man what these squashes were for. “Why, deh is martins’ boxes,” said Uncle Remus. “No danger of hawks carryin’ off de chickens so long as de martins am around.” The Indians, too, have always had a special liking for this bird. They often lined a hollowed-out gourd with bits of bark and fastened it in the crotch of their tent poles to invite its friendship. The Mohegan Indians have called it “the bird that never rests”—a name better suited to the tireless barn swallow, Dr. Abbott thinks. Wasps, beetles, and all manner of injurious garden insects constitute its diet—another reason for its universal popularity. It is simple enough to distinguish the martins from the other swallows by their larger size and iridescent dark coat, not to mention their song, which is very soft and sweet, like musical laughter, rippling up through the throat.

Cowbird (Molotbrus ater) Blackbird family Called also: BROWN-HEADED ORIOLE; COW-PEN BIRD;

COW BLACKBIRD ; COW BUNTING

Length—7 to 8 inches. About one-fifth smaller than the robin. Male—Iridescent black, with head, neck, and breast glistening brown. Bill dark brown, feet brownish. Female—Dull grayish-brown above, a shade lighter below, and streaked with paler shades of brown. Range—United States, from coast to coast. North into British

America, south into Mexico. Migrations—March. November. Common summer resident.

The cowbird takes its name from its habit of walking about among the cattle in the pasture, picking up the small insects which the cattle disturb in their grazing. The bird may often be seen within a foot or two of the nose of a cow or heifer, walking briskly about li-ke a miniature hen, intently watching for its insect prey. Its marital and domestic character is thoroughly bad.

Conspicuously Black

Polygamous and utterly irresponsible for its offspring, this bird forms a striking contrast to other feathered neighbors, and indeed is almost an anomaly in the animal kingdom. In the breeding season an unnatural mother may be seen skulking about in the trees and shrubbery, seeking for nests in which to place a surreptitious egg, never imposing it upon a bird of its size, but se-lecting in a cowardly way a small nest, as that of the vireos or warblers or chipping sparrows, and there leaving the hatching and care of its young to the tender mercies of some already burdened little mother. It has been seen to remove an egg from the nest of the red-eyed vireo in order to place one of its own in its place. Not finding a convenient nest, it will even drop its eggs on the ground, trusting them to merciless fate, or, still worse, devouring them. The eggs are nearly an inch long, white speckled with brown or gray.

Cowbirds are gregarious. The ungrateful young birds, as soon as they are able to go roaming, leave their foster-parents and join the flock of their own kind. In keeping with its unclean habits and unholy life and character, the cowbird’s ordinary note is a gurgling, rasping whistle, followed by a few sharp notes.

BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK AND WHITE

Red-headed Woodpecker Hairy Woodpecker Downy Woodpecker Yellow-bellied Woodpecker Chewink

Snowflake Rose-breasted Grosbeak

Bobolink

Black-poll Warbler

Black-and-white Creeping Warbler

See also the Swallows; the Shrikes; Nuthatches and Titmice; the Kingbird and other Flycatchers; the Nighthawk; the Redstart; and the following Warblers: the Myrtle; the Bay-breasted; the Blackburnian; and the Black-throated Blue

Warbler.

BIRDS CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK AND WHITE

Red-headed Woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) Woodpecker family Called also: TRI-COLOR; RED-HEAD Length—8.50 to 9.75 inches. An inch or less smaller than the robin. Male and Female—Head, neck, and throat crimson; breast and underneath white; back black and white; wings and tail blue black, with broad white band on wings conspicuous in flight. Range— United States, east of Rocky Mountains and north to

Manitoba. Migrations— Abundant but irregular migrant. Most commonly seen in Autumn, and rarely resident.

In thinly populated sections, where there are few guns about, this is still one of the commonest as it is perhaps the most conspicuous member of the woodpecker family, but its striking glossy black-and-white body and its still more striking crimson head, flattened out against the side of a tree like a target, where it is feeding, have made it all too tempting a mark for the rifles of the sportsmen and the sling-shots of small boys. As if sufficient attention were not attracted to it by its plumage, it must needs keep up a noisy, guttural rattle, her-r-ruck, ker-r-ruck, very like a tree-toad’s call, and flit about among the trees with the restlessness of a fly-catcher. Yet, in spite of these invita-tions for a shot to the passing gunner, it still multiplies in districts where nuts abound, being “more common than the robin about Washington, says John Burroughs.

All the familiar woodpeckers have two characteristics most prominently exemplified in this red-headed member of their tribe. The hairy, the downy, the crested, the red-bellied, the sapsucker, and the flicker have each a red mark somewhere about

Conspicuously Black and White

their heads as if they had been wounded there and bled a little some more, some less; and the figures of all of them, from much flattening against tree-trunks, have become high-shouldered and long-waisted. The red-headed woodpecker selects, by preference, a partly decayed tree in which to excavate a hole for its nest, because the digging is easier, and the sawdust and chips make a softer lining than green wood. Both male and female take turns in this hollowing-out process. The one that is off duty is allowed “twenty minutes for refreshments,” consisting of grubs, beetles, ripe apples or cherries, corn, or preferably beech-nuts. At a loving call from its mate in the hollow tree, it returns promptly to perform its share of the work, when the carefully observed “ time is up.” The heap of sawdust at the bottom of the hollow will eventually cradle from four to six glossy-white eggs.

This woodpecker has the thrifty habit of storing away nuts in the knot-holes of trees, between cracks in the bark, or in decayed fence rails—too often a convenient storehouse at which the squirrels may help themselves. But it is the black snake that enters the nest and eats the young family, and that is a more deadly foe than even the sportsman or the milliner.

The Hairy Woodpecker (Dryobates villosus) Woodpecker family •Length—9 to io inches. About the size of the robin. Male—Black and white above, white beneath. White stripe down the back, composed of long hair-like feathers. Bright-red band on the nape of neck. Wings striped and dashed with black and white. Outer tail feathers white, without bars. White stripe about eyes and on sides of the head. Female—Without the red band on head, and body more brownish than that of the male. Range—Eastern parts of United States, from the Canadian bor- Migrations—Residentder to the Carolinas.throughout its range.

The bill of the woodpecker is a hammering tool, well fitted for its work. Its mission in life is to rid the trees of insects,

RED-HEADED WOODPECKER.

Life-size.

6 )

Conspicuously Black and White

which hide beneath the bark, and with this end in view, the bird is seen clinging to the trunks and branches of trees through fair and wintry weather, industriously scanning every inch for the well-known signs of the boring worm or destructive fly.

In the autumn the male begins to excavate his winter quarters, carrying or throwing out the chips, by which this good workman is known, with his beak, while the female may make herself cosey or not, as she chooses, in an abandoned hole. About her comfort he seems shamefully unconcerned. Intent only on his own, he drills a perfectly round hole, usually on the under side of a limb where neither snow nor wind can harm him, and digs out a horizontal tunnel in the dry, brittle wood in the very heart of the tree, before turning downward into the deep, pear-shaped chamber, where he lives in selfish solitude. But when the nesting season comes, how devoted he is temporarily to the mate he has neglected and even abused through the winter! Will she never learn that after her clear-white eggs are laid and her brood raised he will relapse into the savage and forget all his tender wiles? The hairy woodpecker, like many another bird and beast, furnishes much doubtful weather lore for credulous and inexact observers. “When the woodpecker pecks low on the trees, expect warm weather” is a common saying, but when different individuals are seen pecking at the same time, one but a few feet from the ground, and another among the high branches, one may make the prophecy that pleases him best.

The hairy woodpeckers love the deep woods. They are drummers, not singers; but when walking in the desolate winter woods even the drumming and tapping of the busy feathered workmen on a resonant limb is a solace, giving a sense of life and cheerful activity which is invigorating.

The Downy Woodpecker (Dryobates pubescens Woodpecker family

Length— to 7 inches. About the size of the English sparrow. Male—Black above, striped with white. Tail shaped like a wedge.

Outer tail feathers white, and barred with black. Middle tail feathers black. A black stripe on top of head, and distinct white band over and under the eyes. Red patch on upper 55

Conspicuously Black and White

side of neck. Wings, with six white bands crossing them transversely; white underneath. Female—Similar, but without scarlet on the nape, which is white. Range—Eastern North America, from Labrador to Florida. Migrations—Resident all the year throughout its range.

The downy woodpecker is similar to his big relative, the hairy woodpecker, in color and shape, though much smaller. His outer tail feathers are white, barred with black, but the hairy’s white outer tail feathers lack these distinguishing marks.

He is often called a sapsucker—though quite another bird alone merits that name—from the supposition that he bores into the trees for the purpose of sucking the sap; but his tongue is ill adapted for such use, being barbed at the end, and most ornithologists consider the charge libellous. It has been surmised that he bores the numerous little round holes close together, so often seen, with the id^a of attracting insects to the luscious sap. The woodpeckers never drill for insects in live wood. The downy actually drills these little holes in apple and other trees to feed upon the inner milky bark of the tree—the cambium layer. The only harm to be laid to his account is that, in his zeal, he sometimes makes a ring of small holes so continuous as to inadvertently damage the tree by girdling it. The bird, like most others, does not debar himself entirely from fruit diet, but enjoys berries, especially poke-berries.

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