. Bird lore . ale birds are strikingly handsome with theirbright yellow heads and jet black plumage, offset by the pure white patchesin their wings, the duller colors of the females and young males making apleasing variety. The commonest notes, the song most constantly heard,suggests the syllables Oka wee wee, the first a guttural croak, and thelast two notes loud, clear whistles, falling off in tone and pitch, the wholesong being given with a decided emphasis and swing. They also have alow guttural Kruk, and sometimes give the last two notes only of thefirst song. They seem to feel most at ho
. Bird lore . ale birds are strikingly handsome with theirbright yellow heads and jet black plumage, offset by the pure white patchesin their wings, the duller colors of the females and young males making apleasing variety. The commonest notes, the song most constantly heard,suggests the syllables Oka wee wee, the first a guttural croak, and thelast two notes loud, clear whistles, falling off in tone and pitch, the wholesong being given with a decided emphasis and swing. They also have alow guttural Kruk, and sometimes give the last two notes only of thefirst song. They seem to feel most at home in the tall, thick reeds, clinging readilyto the smooth, upright stems, mounting to the slender, swaying tops to 148 Bird - Lore pour out their unmusical notes, or skulking out of sight below on the ap-proach of danger; but frequently we saw them in small scattered flocks,following along the furrows made by the ranchmans plow in the neighbor-ing wheat fields. Two or three pairs of Marsh Hawks frequented the. PIED-BILLED GREBES NEST WITH NINE EGGS COVERED slough, but the Blackbirds never learned to trust them, harmless as theywere, for whenever one of the Hawks flew out over the slough the Black-birds would rise in a great cloud, cackling loudly, fly about in great confu-sion for a few minutes, and then settle down into the reeds again. Their nests were securely fastened to the tall reeds two or three feetabove the water, with but little attempt at concealment ; they were ratherbulky, deeply hollowed and well made of coarse, dry reeds firmly woventogether, and neatly lined with coarse grass of a peculiar bufify or four finely spotted eggs made up the usual set. Next to the Blackbirds in importance came the American Coots, whichwere always much in evidence, noisy, lively, and interesting. We wereconstantly starting them from their nests and sending them spattering ofithrough the reeds to the open water, where they would swim about andwatch us from a safe distance.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectorn
