. Bird-lore . rosbeaks; for after the first of April, they becamevery irritable and quarrelsome among themselves. No bird except the HouseSparrow seems willing to feed without elbow-room, and I suppose thecramped quarters due to our desire to have all the action take place in front On the Trail of the Evening Grosbeak 435 of our camera finally got on their nerves. At any rate, about this time theybegan to bill and clinch in quite a ferocious manner. At times they boundedup, clinching in mid-air and beating one another with their wings; but usually amore sedate grappling and tugging was suffici
. Bird-lore . rosbeaks; for after the first of April, they becamevery irritable and quarrelsome among themselves. No bird except the HouseSparrow seems willing to feed without elbow-room, and I suppose thecramped quarters due to our desire to have all the action take place in front On the Trail of the Evening Grosbeak 435 of our camera finally got on their nerves. At any rate, about this time theybegan to bill and clinch in quite a ferocious manner. At times they boundedup, clinching in mid-air and beating one another with their wings; but usually amore sedate grappling and tugging was sufficient to determine precedence. Toall appearances, however, none of the birds were ever the worse for these brawls,and, away from the feeding-station they bore no malice toward each other. The Sparrows likewise suffered from their irritability. Once, while we werewatching them, one became too officious, and a Grosbeak with quiet precisionreached over and pinched him viciously in the middle of the back. We thought. DODGING A VICIOUS THRUST it would be the last of the Sparrow; but evidently the powerful bill did notclose with murderous intent, for after giving vent to his feelings in a fewindignant chirps, the Sparrow hopped back to his place beside the that, it was usually sufficient for any of the Grosbeaks merely to pointits bill in the direction of the offender, to make him quite desirous of beingelsewhere. Their fighting, however, was the least of our concerns. Beginning aboutthe last of March, they seemed to delight in sunning themselves on the leaflessbranches, now and then venting their feelings in silent yawns and stretchingtheir wings and tails. At first we laid this entirely to their lazy natures; butas the season advanced their stretching became more noticeable, and theysought out the shady side of the larger branches or kept entirely to the ever- 436 Bird-Lore greens. The blacks and yellows of the males became more intense; theybegan to show some interest
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirdsperiodicals
