Cornell University Library OF THE Hew Work State College of Agriculture | 4¢.2423 2-4.\\\o. B06 CORNETT. UNIVERSERY |thaca, N. ¥. QL 676. ion University Library ur native birds; how to mann OUR NATIVE BIRDS HOW TO PROTECT THEM AND ATTRACT THEM TO OUR HOMES OUR NATIVE BIRDS HOW TO PROTECT THEM AND ATTRACT THEM TO OUR HOMES BY D: LANGE AUTHOR OF ‘‘ HANDBOOK OF NATURE STUDY ”’ INSTRUCTOR IN NATURE STUDY IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA WITH ILLUSTRATIONS New Work THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., Lr. 1899 All righis reserved Coprricur, 1899, By THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Nortavod jpress J. 8. Cushing & Co. ~ Berwick & Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A. PREFACE In the following pages an effort has been made to point out several means for bird protection which can- not be embodied in legal enactments. We are always ready to pass a law against an evil, but too often we provide insufficient means to carry out and enforce the provisions of the law. This, I regret to state, is the greatest obstacle to the effective legal protection ‘of song birds, game birds, and mammals. If the friends of birds and nature do not tire in the good work of educating the young of the nation on these subjects, the time will come when game wardens will have much less to do than now. Education works slow, but it is effective. My thanks are due to Mr. William T. Hornaday for permission to quote from his most interesting and val- uable report on “ The Destruction of our Birds and Mammals” made to the New York Zodlogical Society, and published by that society in its second annual report. Mrs. Elizabeth B. Davenport of Brattleboro, Vermont, has contributed from her long experience to the chapter on Feeding Birds in Winter, and Mr. Frank Bond of Cheyenne, Wyoming, describes his very v vi PREFACE effective method of dealing with the English sparrow. My thanks are also due to several friends who have made valuable suggestions to me. The pen-and-ink drawings were made by Mr. Herman Giehler of St. Paul, Minnesota. . The special Bird Day matter, it is hoped, will be found useful in schools. I should be glad to hear from any one who may try to protect and attract birds by the methods and devices recommended, or who may have new methods and de- vices to communicate. I hope that in the near future our State Agricultural Experiment Stations will pay more attention to the relation of birds to our homes and to farming and gardening, and to the study of the best means for protecting them. D. LANGE. Sr. Paut, Minnzesora, September, 1899. CONTENTS SECTION I ARE THE BIRDS DECREASING? . ‘ : Fi 3 7 SECTION II CAUSES OF THE DECREASE oF Sonc Birps 7 SECTION III Tue DECREASE OF GAME Birps . A r ‘ SECTION IV Protectina Sone Birps AND ATTRACTING THEM TO OUR Homes Cuapter I By furnishing them Trees, Vines, and Shrubs. Flowers for Hummingbirds. General Suggestions for Tree- planting for Birds. Rural Schools and Nature . Cuarter II Provide Nesting-boxes. Do not cut down every Hollow Tree Cuarter III Provide Drinking and Bathing Fountains . . . vii 13 19 19 33 42 viii CONTENTS CHAPTER IV Feeding Birds in as and in Unfavorable Weather at Other Seasons : ‘ , : ; 5 CHAPTER V Miscellaneous. Dust Baths, Gravel, and Lime . CuarTer VI Protecting the Birds from their Natural Enemies Cuapter VII The English Sparrow Question . Cuarter VIII Birds on Hats, Boys, Collectors, So-called Bird baceort Bird Hunters, Ubiquitous Gunners . , Cuarrer IX Song Birds as Food SECTION V EDUCATION AND THE Birps. . . . . CHAPTER X Educating Adults. : ; i : CuapTer XI Educating the Growing Generation SECTION VI Tue Brrpos BErore Uncie SAM . PAGE 46 62 64 81 90 92 92 96 99. CONTENTS ix SECTION: VII PAGE Gamer PROTECTION FROM THE NaTuRE LOvVER’s PoINT oF VIEW : ‘ ‘ ‘ e ‘ ‘ 7 ri . 126 SECTION VIII MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION . ‘3 ‘ ; 3 . 144 T plead For flowers, smiling fairies of the ground, For birds, on wings and breezes skyward bound ; For trees, the lofty spires of hills we roam ; For beasts, still persecuted in their forest home. OUR NATIVE BIRDS HOW TO PROTECT THEM AND ATTRACT THEM TO OUR HOMES OUR NATIVE BIRDS SECTION I ARE THE BIRDS DECREASING AxsouT a year ago Mr. William T. Hornaday com- piled what might be termed the first bird census of the United States.1 He sent the following set of questions to a number of persons in every state and territory, excepting Alaska : — 1. Are birds decreasing in your locality ? 2. About how many are there now in comparison with the number fifteen years ago? One-half as many? one-third? one-fourth ? 8. What agency, or class of men, has been most destructive to the birds of your locality ? 4. What important species of birds or quadrupeds are becoming extinct in your state? The answers received to those questions and the conclusions drawn from them must, on the whole, be accepted as trustworthy. The following states reported 1“ The Destruction of our Birds and Mammals,”’ by W. T. Horna- day. In the ‘‘Second Report of the New York Zodlogical Society,” New York, 1898. Office of the Society, 69 Wall Street. The most valuable document ever published on the subject. B 1 2 OUR NATIVE BIRDS a decrease of bird life varying from 10 per cent in Nebraska to 77 per cent in Florida, namely : — Arkansas, 50 per cent Mississippi, 387 per cent District of Columbia, 33 “ Missouri, 86 « Colorado, OB. iG «ie Montana, 73 a Connecticut, Lae Ee OME New Hampshire, 382 “ « Florida, Wie SE New Jersey, BL ee Georgia, 65 “« « New York, 48 “ & Idaho, 40 “« « Nebraska, 10“ « Illinois, Bo. OG North Dakota, 58. #6 se Indiana, 60 “« « Ohio, 88 6 Indian Territory, (OE SE Pennsylvania, DL te Towa, oii ee TS Rhode Island, 60 “« « Louisiana, 55 « & South Carolina, oo Maine, HD es 46 Texas, 7 £o.2 Massachusetts, OT SE OG Vermont, 30 “« Michigan, DB ce ee Wisconsin, 40 “« « These states and territories comprise about three- fifths of the whole United States, and this vast area shows an average decrease of 46 per cent. The states of North Carolina, Oregon, and California reported that there were as many birds as fifteen years ago. Four states — Kansas, Wyoming, Utah, and Wash- ington — reported that bird life was increasing. It is to be regretted that Minnesota, South Dakota, Arizona, Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Ala- bama, Nevada, Delaware, Maryland, and the Dominion of Canada were not included in this report. The questions sent out refer to game birds as well as to song birds. A large decrease in aquatic birds is to be expected and cannot be prevented when a new ARE THE BIRDS DECREASING 3 country is settled, or when the population increases in an old country. The gallinaceous game birds, like grouse, partridge, and quail, should not decrease in a farming district, unless they are hunted during the closed season, or hunted too much during the open sea- son.1 It is quite likely that want of water may also cause a scarcity of these birds. Admitting that a general decrease in game birds was to be expected under the game laws as they have been enacted and enforced in these states, it is a deplorable fact that the song birds have also greatly decreased. For Minnesota I make the following estimate based on my own observations and on that of others: Cat- birds, brown thrushes, meadow larks, kingbirds, rose- breasted grosbeaks, swallows, swifts, red-headed wood- - peckers, blue jays, and quails have increased. This increase is particularly noticeable in the case of the last six. In the spring of 1898, I often heard two rose- breasted grosbeaks sing near the corner of Seventh Street and Maria Avenue, St. Paul, where an electric car- passes at least every three minutes. Pinnated grouse, or prairie-chickens, and partridges have decreased. Ducks in general have decreased on account of the drying up and draining of sloughs and swamps, and on account of excessive shooting, especially on account of shooting in the spring. Wood ducks, red-heads, mer- gansers, and canvas-back have decreased 50 per cent, all on account of much hunting. Green-winged teal, mal- 1 The closed season is the time during which hunting or fishing is prohibited by law. In the open season fishing and hunting are legal. 4 OUR NATIVE BIRDS lards, pin-tails, and widgeons have maintained the bal- ance, while the blue-winged teal and the ruddy duck have increased. Robins have decreased on account of being shot by farmers for depredation on berries. Bluebirds have decreased 50 per cent. Mr. J. B. Bean, of Nicollet, Minn., thinks that the great decrease in bluebirds is due to the late spring snow storm of a few years ago, when he found many bluebirds lying starved on the snow. In the spring and summer of 1898, I travelled from the southwest corner to the northeast corner of Minnesota and found all kinds of birds everywhere very numerous. J also saw more bluebirds than I had seen for years. The only causes I can suggest for this decided increase over previous years was a late spring with no late night frosts. The late spring may have prevented many birds from going farther north, and the absence of late frosts would favor their nesting and the rearing of the young. Birds will often decrease or disappear from one local- ity and appear and increase in another locality. The red-headed woodpecker has, for instance, disappeared from some localities in St. Paul and appeared and in- creased in others. In May, 1898, I saw the bird on the open prairie, near a railroad track, five miles from the nearest natural scrub timber. The farm groves in that district are too young for woodpecker nests, but the birds, no doubt, nested in telegraph poles. I have found the same birds very numerous in burnt-over regions, where they nested in fire-killed trees. It ARE THE BIRDS DECREASING 5 seems to me that for various reasons some of our birds have withdrawn into regions that are not often visited by the great majority of observers, and that there has been a general drifting from the eastern téward the western states. A number of years ago I certainly never saw a red-headed woodpecker on Minnesota prairies. I call attention to these facts to show how difficult it is to take a bird census and to find a trust- worthy average for a large state with much variegated landscape features. SECTION II CAUSES FOR THE DECREASE OF SONG BIRDS 1. Lack of Nesting Places. —It is known to every country boy that woodpeckers and nuthatches are the carpenters of the bird world. They excavate old and decaying trees and limbs, and in the holes and hollows make houses for their young. Where old trees are numerous, these bird carpenters build more houses than they need for themselves, and the vacant or deserted woodpecker homes are eagerly sought by chickadees, titmice, brown creepers, wrens, and bluebirds; each bird selecting from the “To Rent” list a house which in size and location suits its taste. In larger holes, which probably were caused by the decay of broken branches and were enlarged by woodpeckers, small owls and the beautiful wood duck build their nests. But where can these birds nest, when there are no old, hollow trees left standing ? Most of them are com- pelled to leave the regions where their natural homes are no longer found. A few make use of old telegraph poles, old fence posts, and other substitutes. These places are, however, very much exposed to cats, birds of prey, thoughtless boys, and adult fool gunners. After one or two seasons the linemen put in a new telegraph 6 CAUSES FOR THE DECREASE OF SONG BIRDS T pole and the thrifty farmer replaces the old post. The birds are again homeless. Another large class of song birds like the robin, the catbird, the brown thrush, the rose-breasted grosbeak, and nearly all the warblers, vireos, and many native sparrows either nest in brush, in tangles, and on low trees; or they love, at least, to be near such cover. Where the farmer cuts down all large trees and then pastures his cattle on a few acres of woodland, no underbrush and no tangles are left. American city lots and parks, for the most part, at least, also furnish but little shrubbery and very few of those thickets in which the birds love to nest and to live. The result is that native birds are scarce. 2. Lack of Water. — Nearly all birds love the vicinity of water. They drink frequently and love to bathe on the shallow banks of sand and pebbles. In most densely settled farming regions, nearly all ponds and many small lakes have been drained off and many streams and springs have dried up, either on account of the general drainage or on account of the clearing away of timber. The duck pond of the farmer is too near the house, is too far from cover, and is often dry. The pump trough is not available for the birds, becatise they cannot reach the water from its high rim. The conditions in most towns and cities are still more unfavorable. If the town has no water-works, it is practically uninhabitable for most birds. If it has water-works, the birds can drink and bathe only where the hose is placed on the lawn and allowed to run 8 OUR NATIVE BIRDS for several hours. Need we be surprised that we miss the birds under these conditions? 3. Cats. — All domestic cats catch a bird, whenever they can, and many are confirmed bird and nest hunters. On the ground, in holes and boxes, in shrubs, and on small trees, birds and nests are alike exposed to their -attacks. About the only nest a cat cannot reach is that of the Baltimore oriole, but should an overbold oriole fledgling fall to the ground, before it is wary and has mastered the new art of flying, the ever watch- ing cats are almost sure to get it. And how many young birds fall to the ground out of the nest or from their perch ! If we consider that many farmers seem to keep about as many cats as the farm would support mice, and that many city families will, at least, keep a worthless cat, if not also a worthless cur, the scarcity of birds need not puzzle us. I have often wondered if some species of small owl could not be domesticated, and displace the cat as a mouser. Some bird-lover ought to make careful exper- iments with owls for this purpose. 4. Boys, Collectors, and So-called Bird Students. — My experience with boys enables me to say that parents, teachers, and other adults are responsible for most of the mischief boys commit against birds. They are easily turned into bird protectors, as I shall show later. The individual with the egg and skin collecting mania, and the individual who makes collecting in a settled country a business are nuisances. Several periodicals and many CAUSES FOR THE DECREASE OF SONG BIRDS 9 of the people who write for them and advertise in them belong to the same class. We do not want more birds in dark and dusty collec- tions ; we want more birds to sing to us and our children from bushes and tree tops. 5. Birds on Hats. — The wearing of birds on hats has fearfully decreased, or almost exterminated a num- ber of bright-plumed southern birds. Ihave not learned of song birds being hunted in the central and northern states of the Mississippi basin to adorn ladies’ hats.1 6. The English Sparrow.— There can be no doubt but that this pugilistic, chattering rogue worries away very many birds which would otherwise nest near our homes; however, its sins have probably been somewhat exaggerated. 7. The Lack of Food. — Insects of nearly all kinds and waste grain are so abundant in every settled region that perhaps no species of song bird has decreased on account of lack of food during the summer time. For autumn and spring migrants and for winter residents there is no such regular and abundant food supply. 8. The Extensive Use of Poison in Farming and Garden- ing. — I cite this asa possible cause for the decrease of birds. Since the potato-bug has spread over the whole ....country every gardener and farmer uses large quantities 1 See: ‘*The Wearing of Heron’s Plumes or Aigrettes,’? by Frank M. Chapman. Published by the Audubon Societies of New Jersey and New York. Write for it to the secretary of any State Audubon Society. See also: ‘¢The Work of the Audubon Societies,” by the same author, in the Delineator, March, 1898. 10 OUR NATIVE BIRDS of Paris green and other arsenical poisons. Although I have no evidence and am not aware that the subject. has been investigated by any scientist, it seems that a number of insectivorous birds that are known to eat potato-bugs must be, at times, poisoned by eating insects paralysed by Paris green. It has been repeatedly observed that corn which has been impregnated with strychnine for killing gophers, blackbirds, and crows is at times eaten by quails, prairie-chickens, mourning doves, meadow larks, and other seed-eaters. The only way to avoid the poisoning of song and game birds is to restrict the use of poisons to the most serious cases of insect, bird, and vermin pests—to cases that cannot be reached by any other means. We should not forget that birds and animals do not commit crimes against us; they simply live as their nature compels them to. If they wage war against us, they are simply fighting the battle for existence, which is the divine right of all life, and of animals and plants as well as of man; it is the unalienable birthright of all nature. Humane nations and humane thinkers have long ceased to consider all means fair in war. Should not man, who is now so far ahead in the struggle, consider some means unfair in his war with the lower creatures, espe- cially as they cannot use unfair means ? We have need of much more light on the question of injurious birds and animals. Nearly every farmer and gardener is apt to exaggerate the injury caused him by bird or beast, because this injury is conspicuous, and is done within a few months, weeks, days, or even CAUSES FOR THE DECREASE OF SONG BIRDS 11 hours. But the benefits rendered extend over the whole season or year, and elude the observation of most people. An owl may catch a thousand mice in a year, and the farmer does not know that there is an owl within a mile of his place, but let the owl catch a stray pullet and he is at once sentenced to be shot without investigation. The dog and the cat, on the other hand, are held in much higher esteem than they deserve. In the city, nine dogs out of every ten are a nuisance, and consti- tute an element of danger to the inhabitants. In the country, at least every other dog lives on bread he never earned and is nothing but a worthless Ishmaelite, whose teeth and claws are against every creature, from the moose in the forest to the mouse in the meadow. CAUSES OF DECREASE IN BIRD LIFE AS GIVEN IN WwW. T. HORNADAY’S REPORT.! Of the series of one hundred and ninety reports now before us, about 80 per cent declare a decrease in bird life and state the causes therefor. The list of destruc- tive agencies now operating against our birds is a long one, and it is interesting to note the number of oberv- ers who complain of each. The figures given below show the number of observers who have reported each 1 This and other extracts from Mr. W. T. Hornaday’s report on ‘“‘The Destruction of our Birds and Mammals” are taken from his report as published by the New York Zodlogical Society with the per- mission of the author. 12 OUR NATIVE BIRDS of these various causes in answer to the third question in the list. 1. Sportsmen and “so-called sportsmen,” =. 54 reports 2. Boys who shoot, : ; A é ‘ 42 « 3. Market-hunters and “ pot- chambers ; 3 : 26 « 4. Plume-hunters and milliners’ hunters, —. ; 32. 5. “Shooters generally,” . . : 2 6. Egg-collecting, chiefly by sill foe . : 20) “88 7. English sparrow, ; 18 8. Clearing off timber, deosmant of 46a aaa cities, 3 ee 9. Italians and ation 8, mid enous sone Sikds, 1 ‘ 10. Cheap firearms, 11. Drainage of marshes, 12. Non-enforcement of laws, . 13. Gun clubs and hunting contests 14. Trapping birds for sale alive, 15. Prospectors, miners, and range-riders, 16. Collectors (ornithologists and taxidermists), 17. Colored population, . 18. Indians (for decrease of game gnadveipeds), PRPowW Nv aa»a»an»4iof SECTION III THE DECREASE OF GAME BIRDS PRAIRIE-CHICKENS, partridges, and quails are always more or less abundant, unless they are hunted too much, or cannot find some shelter in timber during winter. For the protection of all our gallinaceous game birds, we need good and rigidly enforced game laws. The case of aquatic game birds I shall illustrate by a concrete example. About twenty years ago, Loon Lake in Minnesota, covered an area of about fifteen square miles, and was from two to twenty-five feet deep. At that time swans and pelicans visited the lake in fall and spring, but no longer bred there. Canada geese, ducks, and coots nested on the lake. The lake teemed with pickerel, pike, and bullhead. On the tall trees of one of the many wooded peninsulas the great blue heron, the black- crowned night heron, and the black cormorants had established a large, flourishing heronry. In the fall of 1880 the lake was lower than usual. In the following winter a very heavy layer of snow covered the ice and in the spring of 1881 thousands of dead pickerel were cast ashore. This general destruc- tion was caused by lack of air. Pelicans were not 13 14 OUR NATIVE BIRDS known on the lake after this destruction of the fish, but swans still visit the lake in spring and fall. Great blue herons and cormorants continued fairly numerous until in the summer of 1895 or 1896, when the water was so low that the bullheads died; then these birds left the lake. In the autumn of 1896, by far the greater part of the lake was a mud-flat, and there were only a few ducks found on it. In the spring of 1897 the water again rose to an average depth of about two and one-half feet, and in that autumn nearly all kinds of ducks were again present in great numbers. An astonishing number of coots bred there or arrived in fall. The spring of 1898 was late in coming, but there was no relapse into winter. When the lake was well clear of ice, the spring shooting season had closed, and great numbers of ducks, of different species, bred on the lake because they were not disturbed by hunters. The average depth of the water was about two and one half feet in August. On the twenty-fourth of that month I saw a flock of red-heads, mostly young, which I estimated to contain about 800 individuals. Blue- winged teal and mallards were also very numerous and there was a sprinkling of other species. The num- ber of coots was almost incredible. Following an ir- regular shore fringe of rushes with a field-glass for about five miles, I estimated the number seen from one point to be about 10,000. The change in the water level was, of course, accompanied by a corresponding change in aquatic plants. In the summer of 1898 THE DECREASE OF GAME BIRDS 15 there were many square miles of water pest, elodea, and extensive areas of water celery, vallisneria. The latter is the favorite food of the red-head and the canvas- back duck. The only fish observed were numerous small minnows, wherever the weeds left enough clear water for them to swim about in. The changes in the level of the lake were principally produced by corresponding changes in the supply of rain and snow. The above sketch proves that a sufficient water supply will insure a sufficient food supply for aquatic birds; and if they are not hunted in spring, and not hunted too much in fall, ducks at least are likely to be numerous wherever natural conditions favor them. Geese, cranes, swans, and pelicans are so large and conspicuous that they always attract attention and are disturbed. Thus they become very wild and wary, and leave settled regions. If large birds were not so thoughtlessly persecuted, they would become accustomed to live and breed in settled regions, so that nearly everybody would have an opportunity to observe such as Canada geese, loons, and herons in their natural environments. This is proved by the state of semi-domestication in which the white stork lives in Germany and in other countries. The bird is about as large as our great blue heron and is very conspicuously colored, but as it is not molested by the people, it builds its nest on the roofs of houses and other buildings, and hunts frogs, lizards, and snakes on the village meadows, and fishes in the 16 OUR NATIVE BIRDS nearest streams and ponds. The peasants often place cartwheels on the gables, where the storks use them as convenient foundations for nests. The same birds have been known to return to the same house for many successive years. Not all birds can be accus- tomed to live near man. The black stork of Europe is still the wild bird of the fens and moors. I have several times found its nest in lonely moorland forests, where it was built on tall pines that were almost inaccessible even to an enthusiastic boy. Where the white stork built when its present range was covered by the vast, gloomy forests which Cesar and Tacitus describe, I do not know. Much missionary work has still to be done before we may hope to protect large, conspicuous birds.