. Birds of Massachusetts and other New England states. Birds; Birds. hand beneath the canvas. All about me males wooed their mates, while parents incu- bated their eggs and fed one another and their young. They were vocal all day, very noisy at sundown and more or less so through the night, with many variations of the com- mon tee' arr, such as a guttural eorrr, which was very common. There were many low guttural rrrs and a faint plaintive pee'-ope which may have been a call of the fledglings. Their notes were in much greater variety than I had supposed and many of them cannot be adequately in
. Birds of Massachusetts and other New England states. Birds; Birds. hand beneath the canvas. All about me males wooed their mates, while parents incu- bated their eggs and fed one another and their young. They were vocal all day, very noisy at sundown and more or less so through the night, with many variations of the com- mon tee' arr, such as a guttural eorrr, which was very common. There were many low guttural rrrs and a faint plaintive pee'-ope which may have been a call of the fledglings. Their notes were in much greater variety than I had supposed and many of them cannot be adequately indicated by the pen. They uttered many hen-like calls, and one resem- bling a note of the cuckoo ; also a fast repeated cack or chuckle, some- times given so rapidly and by so many birds in unison that it sounded almost like a pattering of many feet or the combined fluttering of the wings of a large flock. This occurred mainly at dusk or even after dark. The birds seemed to be quietest about 3 , but with the awakening day they grew noisy again. The male constantly attends the sitting female and brings food to her, largely "sand eels" or similar small, slender fish which are rarely over five or six inches in length. The food-call of the female is recognizable, and is frequently repeated when the supply arrives, for which she begs with uplifted head and wide-open mouth. Sometimes when the male brings a fish, another bird tries to steal it and seizes one end. Then comes "the tug of ; The two pull each other back and forth and sometimes others join in the strenuous struggle, but in the end the owner usually retains his booty. Often he does not feed the female at once, but turning a cold shoulder walks into the grass and drops the much-desired morsel. She follows, begging piteously, and finally picks it up from the ground, and with seeming difficulty swallows it. Now and then as I watched, a male, having fed his mate, stretched his neck to full length, wit
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Keywords: ., bookauthorforb, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds
