. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Black-headed Grosbeaks. Taken in Oregon BIG BILL AND HIS BROOD Photo by Finley &â Bohlman Big Bill is one of the very few people who ever succeeded in work- ing and playing at the same time. At least, singing is a sort of play, I suppose. And bug-catching, believe me, is real work. Why, this bird catches the bad beetles that want to spoil our rose bushes, and he eats those funny little black things that get on the bark of your fruit trees a
. The birds of California : a complete, scientific and popular account of the 580 species and subspecies of birds found in the state. Birds; Birds. The Black-headed Grosbeaks. Taken in Oregon BIG BILL AND HIS BROOD Photo by Finley &â Bohlman Big Bill is one of the very few people who ever succeeded in work- ing and playing at the same time. At least, singing is a sort of play, I suppose. And bug-catching, believe me, is real work. Why, this bird catches the bad beetles that want to spoil our rose bushes, and he eats those funny little black things that get on the bark of your fruit trees and stick so tightâblack olive scales, we call them. And it it wasn't for the busy bird, the scale insects would suck all the juice out of our trees, so that they couldn't make fruit any more. So he's at it early and late, and every little while he stops to sing. And when the Grosbeak sings, we stop and listen. We just can't help it. It sounds like a Robin sometimes, only we know that the Robins have gone north, so it can't be a Robin. But that isn't all about the "handsome ; This jolly bird and his washed-out mate make a nest somewhere in the bushes. They make it out of little roots, and the walls of the nest are sometimes so thin that you can count the eggs from below, one, two, threeâor maybe four. And as likely as not, it is the father bird who is sitting on the eggs to keep them warm. And he is so happy, oh, so happy, that he just can't help singing even when he is sitting on the nest and ought, I suppose, to keep very still. He is thinking about the dear little babies that are coming by and by out of those speckled blue eggs. He loves children, so he just can't help singing. 427. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Dawson, William Leon, 1873-1928; Dickey, Donald R. (Donald
Size: 2298px × 1088px
Photo credit: © Library Book Collection / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1923
