Yellow Bird

“ I felt myself a stranger indeed when I reached this pleasant spot, and found that even the birds were unfamiliar. No robin or bluebird greeted me on my arrival; no cheerful song-sparrow tuned his little pipe for my benefit; no phœbe shouted the beloved name from the peak of the barn. Everything was strange. One accustomed to the birds of our Eastern States can hardly conceive of the country without robins in plenty; but in this unnatural corner of Uncle Sam's dominion I found but one pair.
The most common song from morning till night was that of the summer yellow-bird, or yellow warbler. ”

“ Meanwhile the red-headed woodpecker's eggs in the hollow maple had hatched, and the proud mother had great tales to tell of her baby birds,—of how beautiful and knowing they were, and of what good, noble birds they were going to be when they grew up. The yellow-bird, too, had four fuzzy little babies in her nest in the lilac-bush, and every now and then she came to sing to the little boy and Fido of her darlings. ”

“ However the student may miss the birds he knows at home, he must rejoice in the absence of one,—the English sparrow. When one sees the charming purple finch and summer yellow-bird, nesting and singing in the streets of Denver, and the bewitching Arkansas goldfinch and the beautiful Western bluebird perfectly at home in Colorado Springs, he is reminded of what might be in the Eastern cities, if only the human race had not interfered with Nature's distribution of her feathered families. ”

“ In the early part of March they arrive in Carolina, and two months later in Pennsylvania, New England, etc. Here they pass the summer, and leave for the South about the beginning of September, the time of departure varying with the season and latitude.
The Yellow-Bird is a general favorite with the farmer. In summer he may be seen upon almost every tree, but especially among the willows along water-courses, where his brilliant plumage forms a fine relief with the deep glossy green. Being familiar and playful, he often approaches so near as to be captured. ”

“ For all the Yellow-head is so decided in utterance, in disposition he is somewhat phlegmatic, the male bird especially lacking the vivacity which characterizes the agile Brewer Blackbird. Except when hungry, or impelled [61] by passion, he is quite content to mope for hours at a time in the depths of the reeds; and even in nesting time, when his precincts are invaded, he oftener falls to admiring his own plumage in the flooding sunshine than tries to drive off the intruder. Let the homely and distrait female attend to that. ”

“ The blackbird burst into a ripple of golden throaty notes, and from some distant green spot in the city an unknown wild-bird answered with a frenzy of liquid trills until the sparrows paused in their ablutions to look up with restless chirps.
Then a butterfly came and sat on a cluster of heliotrope and waved his crimson-banded wings in the hot sunshine. ”

“ I have never felt that the summer yellow-legs should be in the game-bird class, though I must confess that it has some gamey qualities. It is, at times, absurdly tame; it decoys very easily, returns again and again to the slaughter, and its little body is so small that many lives must be sacrificed to make a decent bag. ”

“ They do not come about the flower-garden like the humming-bird, nor about the lawn like the robin; neither can they be hunted with a dog like the grouse and the [Pg 145] woodcock. Hence, for all their gorgeous apparel, they are mainly left to students and collectors. Of our common species the most beautiful are, perhaps, the blue yellow-back, the blue golden-wing, the Blackburnian, the black-and-yellow, the Canada flycatcher, and the redstart; with the yellow-rump, the black-throated green, the prairie warbler, the summer yellow-bird, and the Maryland yellow-throat coming not far behind. ”

“ We also observed the uplifting of one slender black leg, the opening and closing of the yellow toes, the stretching of the beautiful white wing, the opening of the long slender ebony bill with its yellow base, and the sleepy blinking of the eyes which enhanced the yellow of the iris. An occasional light puff of the sea-breeze raised and ruffled the snowy feathers on the bird's head and back, giving a momentary semi-nuptial plumage effect. ”

“ In the general construction of its body it closely resembles the Yellow Bird last described, but the ridge of the beak is slightly curved; also the wings are longer and the tail shorter than in that species. The plumage of the male is black upon the head, throat, and upper wing-covers, as are the quills and middle tail-feathers; the under parts of the body and small wing-covers are bright orange, the back and breast a light scarlet: the exterior tail-feathers are black from the root, but their lower half is bright orange. ”

“ In the spring and summer, you go to field and garden, and you hear and see many birds. As you walk about the woods, you may see a dozen kinds of birds in [Pg 187] a few minutes. There will go a yellow-bird, looking like a canary. There, all splendid in black and gold, an oriole is busy building his curious nest. There flies from the swamp a red-wing blackbird. A big woodpecker drums on the nearest tree. A bluebird with a russet breast sits singing on the top rail of a fence. Sparrows, swallows, crows, are everywhere. ”

“ Yellow patches on crown, sides and rump; outer tail feathers with large white spots; female duller and browner.
During migrations these pretty birds are very abundant in the United States. They usually travel in large flocks so that a small piece of woodland is literally flooded with them when they pause in the flight to feed upon insects or small berries. They are often known as Yellow-rumped Warblers. ”

“ The greater yellow-legs is best known as an Arctic-American species, descending south during migration, and arriving in La Plata at the end of September or early in October, singly or in pairs, and sometimes in small flocks. Without ever being abundant the bird is quite common, and one can seldom approach a pool or marsh on the pampas without seeing one or more individuals wading near the margin, and hearing their powerful alarm cry—a long, clear note repeated three times. ”

“ It is very droll to see one of his family take part in the clamors of a bird mob, [Pg 39] perching like his bigger fellows, and adding his excited cries to the notes of catbird and robin, chewink and yellow-bird. Attracted one morning by a great bird outcry in a dense young oak grove across the road, I left my seat under the cottonwoods and strolled over toward it. It was plain that some tragedy was in the air, for the winged world was in a panic. Two robins, the only pair in the neighborhood, uttered their cry of distress from the top of the tallest tree ”

“ Each time, as the jaws gape, a splendid surface of bright gamboge yellow is exhibited, which the human eye, at any rate, has to admire, and which exactly matches with the naked yellow skin at the base of the two mandibles on either side, where they become lost in what may be called the bird's cheek. This exterior brightly-tinted surface is continuous with the interior and much larger one, and my view is that the colour of the latter represents an extension of that of the former, by a similar process of sexual selection. ”

“ The bird himself is almost hidden in his own shower-bath, but the emerald throat and the yellow-plush head look out of it and gleam like jewels as he peeps and peers about from side to side to see if any one is looking at him. For, of course, the Great Bird of Paradise does not make himself so very beautiful just for nothing. ”

“ I showed him my credentials, at which he smiled, and politely assured me that I was too well known throughout our country to need any letters. While seated in front of his tent, I heard the note of a bird new to me, and as it proceeded from a tree above our heads, I looked up and saw the first Yellow-headed Troupial alive that ever came across my own migrations. The captain thought me probably crazy, as I thought Rafinesque when he was at Henderson; for I suddenly started, shot at the bird, and killed it. ”

“ Following one of the birds, I caught sight of its yellow crown, which is much more conspicuous than its yellow wing-bars. Its song is like this, 'n-'n de de de, with a peculiar reedy quality, but not at all musical, falling far short of the clear, sweet, lyrical song of the Green Back.
One appreciates how bright and gay the plumage of many of our Warblers is, when he sees one of them alight upon the ground. ”

“ Thirty years ago the Flicker, High-hole or Yellow-hammer, was prey of any boy with a gun and was correspondingly wild and little known; now, thanks to the Audubon Society, he is almost as domestic as the Robin. In search of ants and their eggs, he hunts our lawns and even accepts the hospitality of our nest-logs. A great acquisition to our dooryard life is this bird of beautiful colors, quaint habits, and strange notes. ”

“ He has recognized and described nine different calls of the greater yellow-legs, as follows:
(1) The yodle (a rolling toowhee toowhee, etc.) is commonest in a flock from birds remaining in one locality, not traveling. I think I have heard it from a single bird in the fog. It is characteristically given in the air, generally with set wings, by birds which seem to contemplate alighting. It advertises birds tarrying in one general locality, and has probably the function of location notice. It is doubtless homologous with the gather call of the spotted sandpiper with which it has little analogy. ”

“ Occasionally they are found in fields of grain, where their presence is due to the abundance of destructive insects.
The Yellow-Throat appears shy and retiring because it prefers to move back and forth among low shrubs and brambles, where it most readily procures its food, but it is not a timid bird. They are unsuspecting, and will as readily permit as fly from the near presence of man. ”

“ In such a case as the Yellow House-Sparrow presents, in which the colour of the sexes differs, the female being without any of the brighter hues found in the male, and which makes an elaborate nest and lays deeply-coloured eggs, it is impossible not to believe that the bird originally built in exposed situations, and subsequently—perhaps in very recent times—acquired the habit of breeding in dark holes. ”

“ He has crimson on each side of his face, and a black velvet cap on his head, whilst on both his wings he has feathers of a beautiful, bright, golden yellow. I think he must be the handsomest, unless it is the [Pg 4] Brambling, who is dressed all in russet and gold. And then there is the Yellow-Wagtail! Could one think of a prettier little bird than he is—unless one tried a good deal? ”

“ This is one of the most exquisite birds ever made; of quiet, modest colors, bluish-black and white, with a single bright jewel to set them off—a gorget of brilliant yellow. To-day I have [131] seen as many as ten such beauties, I think. Their feeding habits and their movements, as well as their black-and-white stripes, are surprisingly like those of the black-and-white creeper,—to which they ought to be more nearly related than the systematists allow,—while their song is in the manner of the indigo-bird.
Now, if the nonpareil buntings would only fall into line! ”

“ If you were to see this bird walking about on the ground, as he does, you would think him a thrush. He is something the same color, and he has a speckled breast like a thrush. His mate is dressed in the same way, and they have a dull yellowish stripe over the crown.
He is the fellow you hear in the woods, calling "Teacher! teacher! teacher!" He is found all over the United States east of the Rocky Mountains. [53]
The Yellow-breasted Chat is perhaps the drollest bird in North America. ”

“ They are active gleaners of the underbrush, keeping well within the depths of tangled thickets. Like the Maryland Yellow-throat, which has similar habits to those of this bird, they are quite inquisitive and frequently come close to you to investigate or to scold. They nest on the ground in open woods or on shrubby hillsides, making large structures, of leaves and strips of bark, lined with grasses. The eggs are white, sprinkled with dots or spots of reddish brown and gray. ”

“ Four beautiful eggs lay in the slight depression. I had been there fully 15 minutes when away in the far distance I heard another yellow-shank which quickly approached and was evidently the mate, for they both continued their abuse until I was out of sight. It very often happens that the male bird is not within miles of the incubating female, and under these conditions finding a nest is a mere fluke. There is one rule which holds good in all the nests I have found, and this is that a yellow-legs never nests on ground which is too soft to scratch in. There must be soil or dry, hard peat. ”

“ Till now I had never found them at home except in the forests of the White Mountains; but here they were, playing the rôle which in Massachusetts we are accustomed to see taken by the summer yellow-birds, and by no others of the family. At first, knowing that this species was said to build in low evergreens, I looked suspiciously at some small spruces which lined the walk to the pier; but after a while I happened to see one of the birds flying into a rock-maple with something in his bill, and following him with my eye, beheld him alight on the edge of his nest. ”

“ The color of the yellow in this species varies considerably; sometimes being almost of a lemon-yellow, sometimes of a rich orange. There is an occasional trace of yellow around the base of the tarsus. Immature males show every gradation between the colors of the adult male and female.
A very young bird (4,332, Dane Co., Wis.) is dusky above, with feathers of the dorsal region broadly tipped with ochraceous, lesser and middle wing-coverts white tinged with fulvous, dusky below the surface, greater coverts very broadly tipped with fulvous-white ”