. Bird neighbors. An introductory acquaintance with one hundred and fifty birds commonly found in the gardens, meadows, and woods about our homes; . inches. Two or three inches smaller than the ^—Rich glossy black with bluish and purple reflections ; duller black on wings and tail. Wings rather longer than the tail, which is —More brownish and mottled ; grayish —Peculiar to America. Penetrates from Arctic Circle to South —Late April. Early September. Summer resident. In old-fashioned gardens, set on a pole over which honey-suckle and roses c
. Bird neighbors. An introductory acquaintance with one hundred and fifty birds commonly found in the gardens, meadows, and woods about our homes; . inches. Two or three inches smaller than the ^—Rich glossy black with bluish and purple reflections ; duller black on wings and tail. Wings rather longer than the tail, which is —More brownish and mottled ; grayish —Peculiar to America. Penetrates from Arctic Circle to South —Late April. Early September. Summer resident. In old-fashioned gardens, set on a pole over which honey-suckle 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 spar-row, a bird that the martin, courageous as a kingbird in attackingcrows and hawks, tolerates as a neighbor only when it must. Bradford Torrey tells of seeing quantities of long-neckedsquashes dangling from poles about the negro cabins all through 48. BED-WINGED BLACK BIRD. Conspicuously Black the South. One day he asked an old colored man what thesesquashes were for. Why, deh is martins boxes, said Uncle Remus. Nodanger of hawks carryin off de chickens so long as de martinsam around. The Indians, too, have always had a special liking for thisbird. They often lined a hollowed-out gourd with bits of barkand fastened it in the crotch of their tent poles to invite its friend-ship. The Mohegan Indians have called it the bird that neverrests—a name better suited to the tireless barn swallow, thinks. Wasps, beetles, and all manner of injurious garden insectsconstitute its diet—another reason for its universal is simple enough to distinguish the martins from the otherswallows by their larger size and iridescent dark coat, not tomention their song, which is very soft
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