. St. Nicholas [serial]. ll have found that the male birdcomes before the female. Remember that all theredwings in the early March flocks had red shoul-der-marks; that the grackles were all large andglossy, that the cowbirds had brownish heads andshining bodies. When the male and female arealike in color and cannot therefore be distin-guished, remember how often our attention hasbeen drawn to a newly arrived bird by its the female rarely sings, we may safely saythat any bird we hear singing is a male; and thuswe know, even when he is colored like his mate,that the male is the first
. St. Nicholas [serial]. ll have found that the male birdcomes before the female. Remember that all theredwings in the early March flocks had red shoul-der-marks; that the grackles were all large andglossy, that the cowbirds had brownish heads andshining bodies. When the male and female arealike in color and cannot therefore be distin-guished, remember how often our attention hasbeen drawn to a newly arrived bird by its the female rarely sings, we may safely saythat any bird we hear singing is a male; and thuswe know, even when he is colored like his mate,that the male is the first to come. With the earlier birds the female does not comeuntil a week or ten days after the male. Themale redwing, for example, returns to the marshin which he and his mate lived the 3ear before,and calls his kong-qncr-rcc many times before shehears him and comes to choose a nesting-place. Then we shall also see that while many birdsmarch on to more northern homes, others breakranks and make their homes with us. These the. BAKN-, TREE-, BANK-, AND CLIFF-SWALLOWS. ornithologist calls summer residents, whilethose that pass onward are transient visitants. By June i, the invading hosts have taken pos-session of the country. Some have settled in thenorth; but from the Gulf of Mexico to the shoresof the Arctic Ocean, no place is without somemembers of the great army. I9i6.] NATURE AND SCIENCE FOR YOUNG FOLKS 461 Where in the winter all was silent, we nowhear the sweet voices of many birds. How peace-ful they seem as they build their nests and reartheir young! But in truth they are valiant fight-ers ; for this bird army has come to protect usfrom our insect enemies. All summer long theywill carry on constant warfare against the cater-pillars, cutworms, weevils and other harmful in-sects, which, if they were not preyed on by birds,would destroy our crops. RETURNING TO THE WINTER HOME No sooner has the invasion ended than prepara-tions for the retreat to winter quarters begin.
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Keywords: ., bookauthordodgemar, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookyear1873
