. Birds of a Maryland farm : a local study of economic ornithology . ;• Mil>-nv lln,m form into adults, and flutter to the shore. Thesuddenness with which they appeal- and their vex-atious numbers may be understood from a description of the4 conditionsthat prevailed at Marshall Hall from the 13th to the loth of May. the morning of the L3th not a May-fly was to be seen. In the lateafternoon several were noticed along the shore. On the 14th manycame up from the river and flew around the house, and on the morn-ing of the L5th thousands were found clinging to the porch. Theysoon spread
. Birds of a Maryland farm : a local study of economic ornithology . ;• Mil>-nv lln,m form into adults, and flutter to the shore. Thesuddenness with which they appeal- and their vex-atious numbers may be understood from a description of the4 conditionsthat prevailed at Marshall Hall from the 13th to the loth of May. the morning of the L3th not a May-fly was to be seen. In the lateafternoon several were noticed along the shore. On the 14th manycame up from the river and flew around the house, and on the morn-ing of the L5th thousands were found clinging to the porch. Theysoon spread all over the farm. or. more strictly speaking, were blownover it. The an- was full of them. After a walk of a hundred yard-along the bluff in lot .>. I found 67 clinging to me. They covered thecedar trees beside the river, turning the dark green (^! the foliage toa distinct gray. They frightened the horses SO badly by alighting onthem that plowing was suspended for several days. They swarmedinto the house and made meal-times almost unendurable. This condition. [N8E< 1 Food. seldom lasts more than :i week or two. Soon the dead bodies of theshort-lived creatures are cast up all along the shore in windrows sei eralinches high, and then there Is a marked decrease in their abundanceabout the farm. They occur, however, though in constantly dimin-ishing DUmbers, throughout dune and even into duly. At their flood tide they furnish most of the food of practically allthe birds of the farm, even including barnyard fowls. They air 90ft,entirely edible, and highly nutritious, owing to the fact that thefemales are heavy with eggs. Any bird, no matter how clumsy, cancapture them as they make their aimless, blundering flights, or fallhelplessly from contact with object- in their way. It was interesting0 the methods by which different birds procured them. A greenheron, three -potted sandpipers, several song sparrows, and a dozencrow blackbirds frequented the beach, picking up insecl aft
Size: 1467px × 1703px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirdsma, bookyear1902
