. Gray Lady and the birds; stories of the bird year for home and school . ifted, and she sort of growled inside,the way a hen does, so I set her down and went away. That was a very pleasant experience of yours, Dave,and shows how tame game-birds will become if they arekindly treated. This Woodcock has an advantage overthe Grouse and Bob-white, his cousin, because it travelsSouth in winter and constantly shifts its feeding-places,but it suffers from other dangers: it is hunted in all thestates through which it passes, and the eggs are largeenough to be very attractive, not only to foxes and all
. Gray Lady and the birds; stories of the bird year for home and school . ifted, and she sort of growled inside,the way a hen does, so I set her down and went away. That was a very pleasant experience of yours, Dave,and shows how tame game-birds will become if they arekindly treated. This Woodcock has an advantage overthe Grouse and Bob-white, his cousin, because it travelsSouth in winter and constantly shifts its feeding-places,but it suffers from other dangers: it is hunted in all thestates through which it passes, and the eggs are largeenough to be very attractive, not only to foxes and allthe gnawing creatures of the woods, but to people aswell. If that nest and eggs had been seen by one of thoseforeign-born poachers who come here thinking that every-thing they find out-of-doors, and they can pocket, belongsto them, the poor Woodcock would have lost her entirebrood and perhaps her own life as well. These three land-birds, together with a number ofwild ducks, that live some on fresh and some near saltwater, travelling North and South according to season,. WOODCOCK ON NEST E. Van Alterna, Photo. FOUR NOTABLES 213 are the legitimate game-birds of the country. Of thewild ducks, the most of these breed in the far North, andare hunted in their migrations. If this hunting is donefairly, as the law prescribes, and the birds are not chasedand shot at from moving boats, or with repeating guns,or when startled from their sleep with flashing lights,they seem able to hold their own. Humanity, how-ever, demands that they should not be hunted ontheir spring journeys on the way to their nesting-hauntsand when they may have already chosen mates. One Duck there is, however, of exquisite plumage,gentle disposition, and quiet, domestic habits, nestingabout inland ponds and streams, in the inhabited partsof the United States, from Florida up to Hudson Bay,that is in danger of swift extinction if the protection givensong-birds is not extended to it. This is the Wood Duck,called in La
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidcu319240, booksubjectbirds
