The Birds of America

“ As the preservation and increase of all species of wild birds, animals, and fishes, and the prevention of their destruction at unseasonable times, are the first duties of a sportsman, the killing of pigeons ere they have raised their broods is on a par with shooting ducks and snipe in spring, and is excusable only because the feeling of the people does not require the enactment of thoroughly appropriate laws ”

“ They are probably stopping on the meadows, and fly to their feeding-grounds in the morning and back at night. The great migratory bodies, which frequently stretch in broken lines almost across the horizon, and which are pursuing their steady course to their southern homes, rarely heed the whistle, or turn to the silly flock that is eating while it should be travelling.
The best days are those with a cloudy sky, and a south-westerly wind. On such occasions the birds often come in myriads, delighting the sportsman’s{105} heart, testing his nerves, and filling his bag to repletion. ”

“ In the mean time I give in the Appendix a memorandum of about one hundred birds observed by him in that country, which are also found within the United States, and have been figured and described by Wilson, Bonaparte, Audubon, and Nuttall; of others, which are well known to the scientific world for their striking brilliancy of plumage, having been observed in different parts of South and Central America, but are known only by skins prepared and sold in the country, and whose habits have never been described ”

“ Migrations.—Among the many facts of interest to the geographer in connection with the bird life, none present a more fascinating field for study than the annual migrations in which a very large number of the species participate.
As one travels northward from Mexico or the Gulf States, the number of species of birds which remain in essentially the same area throughout the year, or the residents as they are termed, becomes less and less. In New England and about the southern shores of the Great Lakes there are about 30 species which remain all winter and may justly claim to be citizens. ”

“ But it is left to the American Farmer to show me the real little raging lion. Birds are evidently no angels in America, or to the true American. He sees how they start and flash their wings like little devils, and stab each other with egoistic sharp bills. ”

“ As soon as night comes on, these birds will place themselves on the fences, stumps, or stones that lie near some house, and repeat their melancholy notes without any variation till midnight. The Indians, and some of the inhabitants of the back settlements, think if this bird perches upon any house, that it betokens some mishap to the inhabitants of it. ”

“ Should we be favored with life and health, we hope to present two additional volumes or series, each, like the present, complete in itself, for which very nearly a sufficient number of birds are now known as inhabiting the United States, and which are not given by former authors on North American Ornithology. ”

“ This is the gentlest and most abundant of the{169} large birds, approaching the decoys with great confidence and returning again and again, till frequently the entire flock is killed. In color it is a reddish-brown, lighter on the abdomen, and its flight is steady and rather slow. Although better eating than the willet, and very rich and juicy, its flesh cannot be called delicate. ”

“ Much is being done by legislation for the welfare of the birds. The effectiveness of these conservation laws, however, is increased in the same measure that the people of the country become acquainted with the facts in the life histories of the migrants and interest themselves personally in - 66 - the well being of the various species. Long before the white man came to America the birds had established their seasonal lanes of migration throughout the Western Hemisphere, as here outlined. ”

“ When, too, we have had our attention directed to the family of Sparrows and Finches, to the beautiful Jays and Magpies, or the various species of Grouse, Partridges, and many other families, we have been almost persuaded to entertain the opinion that the birds of Western America are of a higher grade of organization than those of the Atlantic States. Whether such is the case in other classes of animals, we are not prepared to say, but, if true, it is singularly accordant with the fact that, of the aboriginal American races of men, the West has produced the superior. ”

“ In America, again, most of these breeds have been slightly changed to conform to the ideas of American fanciers. So, while the breed characters are still the same as in the original stocks, the pupil looking at birds of these breeds to-day must not suppose that it was just such birds that came to this country from seventy to a hundred years ago, or that, if he went to the countries where those races originated, he would find birds just like those he had seen at home. ”

“ The best shots, therefore, prefer the wild birds, that go off with a rush the moment the trap is pulled—for, although they fly faster, they are more certain in their motions. Tame birds are collected in the neighborhood of towns and through the country, but rarely in large numbers; and being accustomed to the presence of man, require little special care. Wild birds are brought from long distances, frequently from the confines of Wisconsin, and in consequence of their timid, excitable nature, require{293} continued care. They are captured on their nests, where they congregate in millions ”

“ Independently of the usefulness of those birds as food, to the citizens of the States alluded to, and to those who, in future years, shall occupy with their farms and homesteads districts yet unpeopled, the numerous game birds must always be a source of constant interest and amusement. ”

“ They should be scattered sufficiently to allow each one to be distinct, and must be headed in different directions, so that some may present their broadsides to every quarter of the heavens. They should tail down wind, in a measure, from the stand, as the birds, no matter what direction they come from, head up wind in order to alight, and will make a circle to do so. In this way they reach the lower end of the imitation flock first, and are led safely close to the sportsman, giving him an admirable opportunity to make his selection from their ranks. ”

“ This handsome bird, which has had the honor of being adopted as the emblem of the United States, inhabits the whole of North America. It is very easily recognized when adult, and the young is not readily mistaken for that of any other American species except the immediately preceding. ”

“ This bird, although scientifically not a plover, is, by its habits, entitled to an appellation that common consent has bestowed upon it. It is found upon the uplands, never frequenting the marshes except by crossing them while migrating, and feeds, not on shell-fish or the innumerable minute insects that live in sand and salt mud, but on the grasshoppers and seeds of the open fields. It never takes the slightest{153} notice of the stools, is comparatively a solitary bird, and although continually uttering its melodious cry, does not heed a responsive call. ”

“ Its background is the domestic landscape—village, hedgerow and park; no wide tracts of uncultivated land or of wilderness to lure birds away. In America vast numbers of birds still sequester themselves in wilderness solitudes undisturbed by men, and even in the settled districts many of the more shy species find congenial haunts in the depths of undergrowth some distance from habitations. On the other hand, there are some like the grackle or crow blackbird, the robin and the bluebird, the catbird, the chipping and song sparrows that seem to prefer to dwell about the homes of men. ”

“ Wild birds, like the tame ones, are given for man’s use, and the best use that can be made of them is the one that will confer most health, nourishment, and happiness on mankind. Fanatics imagine that although birds may be killed, it must be done only to furnish food ”

“ In 1839, having returned for the last time to his native country and established himself with his family near the city of New-York, Audubon commenced the publication of The Birds of America in imperial octavo volumes, of which the seventh and last was issued in the summer of 1844. The plates in this edition, reduced from his larger illustrations, were engraved and colored in the most admirable manner by Mr. Bowen of Philadelphia, under the direction of the author, and excepting The Birds of America in folio, there has never been published so magnificent a work on ornithology. ”

“ The North American birds are distinguishable from European ones (var. lagopus) by the characters given in the synopsis on p. 1619, and description, on p. 1624.
Habits. The Rough-legged Hawk of North America bears so close a resemblance to the European species, in all respects,—plumage, habits, and eggs,—that the two are generally considered to be identical. The distribution of the American variety appears to be nearly throughout the entire Union, from the Atlantic to the coast of the Pacific, and from New Mexico to the Arctic regions. ”

“ Give our game birds decent, sensible, actual protection, stop their being slaughtered far faster than they breed, and they will live anywhere in their own native haunts! But where is there one species of upland game bird in America that has been sensibly and adequately protected? ”

“ When we reflect how many and valuable races of animals in North America have become extinct or nearly so, as the buffalo and the manatee; how many varieties of birds that afforded us food, or brightened the autumn sky with their migrations, have been annihilated, as have been the prairie fowl in the Eastern States and the passenger pigeon in all our States, the necessity of these laws appears urgent. ”

“ America is a most important country. And many a people like to go there. And it has many wild birds—mocking birds, nightingale, raccoon, and also the opossum and lion, tiger, elephant, and the rhinoceros. ”

“ Having been long anxious to introduce into America several species of European birds, which I thought might thrive with us, I purchased about an hundred individuals of that delightful songster, the Sky Lark, fifty Starlings, and several Jays and Wood Pigeons, intending to set them loose in the Western States. ”

“ They seem to make it a point to send back portions of their number from time to time to look after the young; and on such occasions, both the messengers and the{72} young stool admirably. Thus flocks of old birds will frequently be seen wending their way towards the north, while the main flight is directed southward; and these flocks will invariably come to the decoys, although the main body will take no notice of them. ”

“ They are a migratory bird, and pass to the southward in the early fall rather in advance of{200} the English snipe, and alight at any damp spots for a temporary rest wherever the growth of plants promises nutriment. ”

“ The true wild bird of eastern North America always has the tips of the tail-feathers and upper tail-covert of a chestnut-brown color; the Mexican species and its descendant of the barnyard never exhibit this feature. ”

“ Culmen concave for the basal half, then gently decurving. Gonys straight. Bill slender, attenuated; more than half the length of head. Tail short, broad, even. Legs considerably longer than the head; when outstretched reaching nearly to the tip of tail. Third quill longest; second but little shorter. Claws long, slightly curved; hind toe rather elongated.
As already stated, America possesses but a single member of this group of birds, so well represented in the Old World. The color is bluish-gray, with wings, a stripe through the eye, and the middle of exposed tail-feathers black. ”

“ Many of the English settlers in the New World felt that America lacked the presence of our familiar birds. The homely sparrow was therefore brought over, with the result that the Agricultural Department of the United States is now devising means for its destruction, so rapid has been its increase. ”

“ The important place held by the birds of North America in the avifauna of the world, may perhaps be best indicated by noting first of all what orders and families are without representatives among them. ”

“ They are remarkable for great swiftness of flight, and live habitually in the crevices of rocks, in caverns, or in hollow trees. The bird now about to be described is the only species of this genus yet observed within the limits of the United States, the others of this continent being confined to South America. ”

“ Eighty-five species of the birds now listed for North America are of this extra-limital class. Among those naturally inhabiting the country, some are, of course, much more abundant than others, thus every one {122} knows that Bald Eagles are comparatively rare, and that Robins and Chipping Sparrows exist by millions. ”

“ And no one is more universally or more deservedly a favorite. Found throughout North America from Florida to Greenland and from ocean to ocean, and breeding nearly throughout the same wide extent, its distribution is universal. Venturing with a confiding trust into our crowded cities, and building their elaborate nests in the porches of the dwellings, as well as entering in greater numbers the barns and farm-buildings of the agriculturists and placing themselves under the protection of man, they rarely fail to win for themselves the interest and good-will they so well deserve. ”

“ The distribution of the species, their residence or migration, and their abundance or scarcity, are worked out, not only within the region indicated, but throughout the general area they inhabit. All the species at present known to inhabit this region are given, and represent a large majority of the birds of North America. ”