Latest / For the Birds / Birds, Vol. I, No 2, February 1897 - Various

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Birds, Vol. I, No 2, February 1897 - Various · For the Birds

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  Speaker 1: Section one of Birds, Volume one, number two, February eighteen
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  Speaker 1: ninety seven, recorded for LibriVox by Julian Prattley. The blue
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  Speaker 1: jay during about three fourths of the year. The American
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  Speaker 1: jay is an extremely tame, noisy, and even obtrusive bird
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  Speaker 1: in its habits. As the breeding season approaches, he suddenly
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  Speaker 1: becomes silent, preparing the nests in the most secluded parts
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  Speaker 1: of his native forests and exercising all his cunning to
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  Speaker 1: keep it concealed. He is omnivorous, but is especially fond
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  Speaker 1: of eggs and young birds. The jay may be regarded
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  Speaker 1: as eminently injurious, though in spring he consumes a number
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  Speaker 1: of insects to atone for his sins of stealing fruit
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  Speaker 1: and berries. In autumn, he is a professional nest robber,
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  Speaker 1: and other birds are as watchful of him as is
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  Speaker 1: a mother of her babe. He glides through the foliage
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  Speaker 1: of the trees so swiftly and noiselessly that his presence
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  Speaker 1: is scarcely suspected until he has committed some depredation. The
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  Speaker 1: robin is his most wary foe, and when the jay
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  Speaker 1: is found near his nest, will pursue him and drive
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  Speaker 1: him from them neighborhood. He is as brave as he
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  Speaker 1: is active, however, and dashes boldly in pursuit of his
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  Speaker 1: more plainly attired neighbours who venture to intrude upon his domain.
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  Speaker 1: The jay has a curious antipathy toward the owl, perching
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  Speaker 1: on trees above it and keeping up a continual screeching.
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  Speaker 1: Some years ago an Ohio gentleman was presented with a
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  Speaker 1: magnificent specimen of the horned owl, which he kept her
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  Speaker 1: a time in a large teen cage in favorable weather.
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  Speaker 1: The cage was set out of doors, when it would
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  Speaker 1: soon be surrounded by jays, much in the manner described
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  Speaker 1: of the Toucan, and an incessant screeching followed, to which
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  Speaker 1: the owl appeared indifferent. There would venture near enough to
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  Speaker 1: steal a portion of his food, the bars of his
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  Speaker 1: cage being sufficiently wide apart to admit them. On one occasion, however,
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  Speaker 1: he caught the tail of a jay in his claws
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  Speaker 1: and left the tormento without his proud appendage. The jay
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  Speaker 1: remains with us throughout the year. He is one of
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  Speaker 1: the wildest of our birds, the shyest of man, although
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  Speaker 1: seeing him most he makes no regular migrations at certain seasons,
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  Speaker 1: but unless disturbed, will live out his life close to
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  Speaker 1: his favorite haunts. His wings show him to be unfitted
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  Speaker 1: for extended flight. Jays are most easily discovered in the
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  Speaker 1: morning about sunrise on the tops of young live oaks.
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  Speaker 1: Their notes are varied. Later in the day, it is
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  Speaker 1: more difficult to find them, as they are more silent
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  Speaker 1: and not so much on the tree tops as among
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  Speaker 1: the bushes. The jays breed in woods, forests, orchards, preferring
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  Speaker 1: old and very shady trees, placing their nests in the
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  Speaker 1: center against the body or at the bifurcation of large limbs.
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  Speaker 1: The nest is formed of twigs and roots. The eggs
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  Speaker 1: are from four to six end of section one. This
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  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 2: Section two of Birds, Volume one, number two, February eighteen
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  Speaker 2: ninety seven. This is a LibriVox recording. All all LibriVox
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  Speaker 2: recordings are in the public domain. For more information or
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. The swallowtailed Indian
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  Speaker 2: roller swallowtailed Indian rollers are natives of the northeastern Africa
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  Speaker 2: and Senegambia, and also the interior of the Niger district.
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  Speaker 2: The bird is so called from its way of occasionally
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  Speaker 2: rolling or turning over in its flight, somewhat after the
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  Speaker 2: fashion of a tumbler pigeon. A traveler, in describing the
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  Speaker 2: habits of the roller family, says, on the twelfth of April,
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  Speaker 2: I reached Jericho alone and remained there in solitude for
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  Speaker 2: several days, during which time I had many opportunities of
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  Speaker 2: observing the grotesque habits of the roller. For several successive evenings,
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  Speaker 2: great flocks of rollers mustered shortly before sunset on some
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  Speaker 2: dona trees near the fountain, with all the noise but
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  Speaker 2: without the decorum of rooks. After a volley of discordant screams,
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  Speaker 2: from the sound of which it derives its Arabic name
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  Speaker 2: of shirkrach, a few birds would start from their perches
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  Speaker 2: and commence overhead a series of somersaults. In a moment
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  Speaker 2: or two, they would be followed by the whole flock,
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  Speaker 2: and these gambols would be repeated for a dozen times
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  Speaker 2: or more. Everywhere. It takes its perch on some conspicuous
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  Speaker 2: branch or on the top of a rock, where it
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  Speaker 2: can see and be seen the bare tops of the
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  Speaker 2: fig trees before they put forth their leaves. Are in
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  Speaker 2: the cultivated terraces, a particularly favorite resort in the Barre
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  Speaker 2: and Gore. I have often watched it perched unconcernedly on
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  Speaker 2: a knot of gravel or marl in the plain, watching
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  Speaker 2: apparently for the emergence of beetles from the sand. Elsewhere,
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  Speaker 2: I have not seen it settle on the ground, Like
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  Speaker 2: Europeans in the East. It can make itself happy without
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  Speaker 2: chairs and tables in the desert, but prefers a comfortable
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  Speaker 2: easy chair when it is to be found. Its nests
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  Speaker 2: I have seen in ruins, in holes, in rocks, in
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  Speaker 2: burrows and steep sand cliffs, but far more generally in
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  Speaker 2: hollow trees. The colony of the wady kilt use burrows
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  Speaker 2: excavated by themselves, and many a hole did they relinquish
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  Speaker 2: owning to the difficulty of working it. So cunningly were
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  Speaker 2: the nest's placed under a crumbling, treacherous ledge overhanging a
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  Speaker 2: chasm of perhaps one or two hundred feet, that were
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  Speaker 2: completely foiled. In our siege, we obtained a nest of
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  Speaker 2: six eggs, quite fresh, in a hollow tree in Bashan,
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  Speaker 2: near Goudara, on the sixth of May. The total length
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  Speaker 2: of the roller is about twelve inches. The swallow tailed
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  Speaker 2: Indian roller, of which we present a specimen, differs from
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  Speaker 2: the European roller only in having the outer tail feathers
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  Speaker 2: elongated to an extent of several inches. End of section two.
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  Speaker 2: Recording by Valentina the Celli.
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  Speaker 1: Section three of Berg's Volume one, two February eighteen ninety seven.
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  Speaker 1: Recorded to the Librvox by Julian Pratley. The blue jay,
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  Speaker 1: something glorious, something gay, flits and flashes this away. The
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  Speaker 1: hemlock's dusky shade, rich in colour, full displayed, swiftly, vivid
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  Speaker 1: as a flame, blue as heaven, and white as snow.
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  Speaker 1: Doth this lovely creature go? What may be his dainty name?
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  Speaker 1: Only this? The people say, saucy, chattering, scolding j end
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  Speaker 1: of section three. This recording is in the public domain.
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  Speaker 3: Section four of Birds, volume one, number two, February eighteen
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  Speaker 3: ninety seven. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
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  Speaker 3: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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  Speaker 3: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Larry Wilson. The
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  Speaker 3: red headed woodpecker, perhaps no bird in North America is
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  Speaker 3: more universally known than the red headed woodpecker. He is
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  Speaker 3: found in all parts of the United States, and is
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  Speaker 3: sometimes called, for short by the significant name of red head.
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  Speaker 3: His dri colored plumage red white and black glossed with
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  Speaker 3: steel blue, is so striking and characteristic, and his predatory
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  Speaker 3: habits in the orchards and corn fields, and fondness for
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  Speaker 3: hovering along the fences so very notorious that almost every
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  Speaker 3: child is acquainted with the red headed woodpecker. In the
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  Speaker 3: immediate neighborhood of large cities, where the old timber is
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  Speaker 3: chiefly cut down, he is not so frequently found. Wherever
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  Speaker 3: there is a deadening, however, you will find him, and
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  Speaker 3: in the dead tops and limbs of high trees. He
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  Speaker 3: makes his home. Towards the mountains, particularly in the vicinity
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  Speaker 3: of creeks and rivers, these birds are extremely numerous, especially
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  Speaker 3: in the latter end of summer. It is interesting to
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  Speaker 3: hear them rattling on the dead leaves of trees, or
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  Speaker 3: see them on the roadside fences where they flit from
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  Speaker 3: stake to steak. We remember a tremendous and quite alarming
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  Speaker 3: and afterwards ludicrous rattling by one of them on some
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  Speaker 3: loose tin roofing on a neighbor's house. This occurred so
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  Speaker 3: often that the owner, to secure peace, had the roof repaired.
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  Speaker 3: They love the wild cherries the earliest and sweetest apples,
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  Speaker 3: for as is said of him, he is so excellent
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  Speaker 3: a connoisseur in fruit, that whenever an apple or pairs
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  Speaker 3: found brooch by him, it is sure to be among
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  Speaker 3: the ripest and best flavored. When alarmed, he sees a
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  Speaker 3: capital one by striking his open bill into it, and
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  Speaker 3: bears it off to the woods. He eats the rich, succulent,
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  Speaker 3: milky young corn with voracity. He is of a gay
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  Speaker 3: and frolicsome disposition, and half a dozen of the fraternity
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  Speaker 3: are frequently seen diving and vociferating around the high dead
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  Speaker 3: limbs of some large trees, pursuing and playing with each other,
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  Speaker 3: and amusing the passer by with their gambols. He is
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  Speaker 3: a comical fellow, too, prying around at you from the
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  Speaker 3: bowl of a tree or from his nesting hole Therein.
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  Speaker 3: Though a lover of fruit, he does more good than injury.
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  Speaker 3: Insects are his natural food and form at least two
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  Speaker 3: thirds of his subsistence. He devours the destructive insects that
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  Speaker 3: penetrate the bark and body of a tree to deposit
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  Speaker 3: their eggs in larvae. About the middle of May, he
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  Speaker 3: begins to construct his nest, which is formed in the
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  Speaker 3: body of large limbs of trees, taking in no material
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  Speaker 3: but smoothing it within to the proper shape and size.
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  Speaker 3: The female lays six eggs of a pure white. The
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  Speaker 3: young appear about the first of June. About the middle
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  Speaker 3: of September, the red heads begin to migrate to warmer climates,
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  Speaker 3: traveling at night time in an irregular way, like a
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  Speaker 3: disbanded army, and stopping for rest and food through the day.
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  Speaker 3: The black snake is the deadly foe of the red head,
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  Speaker 3: frequently entering his nest, feeding upon the young, and remaining
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  Speaker 3: for days in possession. The eager schoolboy, after hazarding his
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  Speaker 3: neck to reach the woodpecker's hole, at the triumphant moment
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  Speaker 3: when he thinks the neslian's his own, strips his arm,
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  Speaker 3: launches it down into the cavity, and grasping what he
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  Speaker 3: conceives to be the callow young starts with horror at
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  Speaker 3: the sight of a hideous snake, almost drops from his
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  Speaker 3: giddy pinnacle and retreats down the tree with terror and
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  Speaker 3: precipitation into section four.
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  Speaker 2: Section five of Birds, Volume one, number two, February eighteen
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  Speaker 2: ninety seven. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: please visit LibriVox dot org. The Woodpecker, the drummer bird,
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  Speaker 2: My dear girls and boys. The man who told me
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  Speaker 2: to keep still and look pleasant while he took my picture,
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  Speaker 2: said I might write you a letter to send with it.
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  Speaker 2: You say, I always keep on the other side of
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  Speaker 2: the tree from you. That is because someone has told
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  Speaker 2: you that I spoil trees, and I am afraid that
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  Speaker 2: you will want to punish me for it. I do
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  Speaker 2: not spoil trees. The trees like to have me come
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  Speaker 2: to visit them, for I eat the insects that are
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  Speaker 2: killing them. Shall I tell you how I do this.
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  Speaker 2: I cling to the tree with my strong claws so
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  Speaker 2: sharply hooked. The pointed feathers of my tail are stiff
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  Speaker 2: enough to help hold me against the bark. Then my
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  Speaker 2: breastbone is quite flat, so that I may press close
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  Speaker 2: to the tree. When I am all ready you hear
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  Speaker 2: my rap just like a rattle. My head goes as
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  Speaker 2: quickly as if it were moved by a spring. Such
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  Speaker 2: a strong, sharp bill makes the chips fly. The tiny
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  Speaker 2: tunnel I dig just reaches the insect. Then I thrust
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  Speaker 2: out my tongue. It has a sharp, horny tip and
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  Speaker 2: has barbs on it too. Very tiny insects stick to
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  Speaker 2: a liquid like glue that covers my tongue. I suppose
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  Speaker 2: I must tell you that I like a taste of
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  Speaker 2: the ripest fruit and grain. Don't you think I earn
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  Speaker 2: a little when I work so hard keeping the trees healthy.
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  Speaker 2: I must tell you about the deep tunnel my mate
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  Speaker 2: and I cut out of a tree. It is just
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  Speaker 2: wide enough for us to slip into. It is not
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  Speaker 2: straight down, but bent so that the rain cannot get
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  Speaker 2: to the bottom. There we make a nest of little
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  Speaker 2: chips for our five white eggs. I should like to
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  Speaker 2: tell you one of the stories that some boys and
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  Speaker 2: girls tell about my red head. You will find it
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  Speaker 2: on another page of the book. Now I must fly
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  Speaker 2: away to peck for more bugs. Your loving friend woodpecker.
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  Speaker 2: End of section five, recording by Valentina Viccelli. Section six
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  Speaker 2: of Birds, Volume one, number two, February eighteen ninety seven.
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  Speaker 2: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: visit LibriVox dot org. Mexican motmot motmots are peculiar to
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  Speaker 2: the New World, being found from Mexico throughout the whole
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  Speaker 2: of Central America and the South American continent. The general
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  Speaker 2: plumage is green, and the majority of the species have
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  Speaker 2: a large racket at the end of the center tail
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  Speaker 2: feathers formed by the bird itself. The houghten, so called
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  Speaker 2: from his note, according to Waterson, ranks high in beauty
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  Speaker 2: among the birds of Demrera. This beautiful creature seems to
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  Speaker 2: suppose that its beauty can be increased by trimming its tail,
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  Speaker 2: which undergoes the same operation as one's hair in a
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  Speaker 2: barber shop, using its own beak, which is serrated in
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  Speaker 2: lieu of a pair of scissors. As soon as its
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  Speaker 2: tail is fully grown, he begins about an inch from
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  Speaker 2: the extremity of the two longest feathers in it, and
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  Speaker 2: cuts away the web on both sides of the shaft,
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  Speaker 2: making a gap about an inch long. Both male and
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: female wear their tails in this manner, which gives them
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  Speaker 2: a remarkable appearance among all other birds. To observe this
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  Speaker 2: bird in his native haunts, one must be in the
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  Speaker 2: forest at dawn. He shuns the society of man. The
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  Speaker 2: thick and gloomy forests are preferred by the Houghton. In
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  Speaker 2: those far extending wilds. About daybreak, you hear him call
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  Speaker 2: in distinct and melancholy tone, Houghten. Houghten, an observer says,
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  Speaker 2: Move cautiously to the place from which the sound proceeds,
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  Speaker 2: and you will see him sitting in the underwood, about
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  Speaker 2: a couple of yards from the ground, his tail moving
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  Speaker 2: up and down every time he articulates. Houghten. The motmot
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  Speaker 2: lives on insects and berries found among the underwood, and
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  Speaker 2: very rarely is seen in the lofty trees. He makes
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  Speaker 2: no nest, but rears his young in a hole in
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  Speaker 2: the sand, generally on the side of a hill. Mister
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  Speaker 2: Osbert Salvin tells this curious anecdote. Some years ago the
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  Speaker 2: Zoological Society possessed a specimen which lived in one of
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  Speaker 2: the large cages of the parrot house. By itself, I
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  Speaker 2: have a very distinct recollection of the bird, for I
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  Speaker 2: used every time I saw it to cheer it up
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  Speaker 2: a bit by whistling such of its notes as I
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  Speaker 2: had picked up in the forests of America. The bird
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  Speaker 2: always seemed to appreciate this attention, for although it never replied,
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  Speaker 2: it became at once animated, hopped about the cage, and
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  Speaker 2: swung its tail from side to side like the pendulum
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  Speaker 2: of a clock. For a long time its tail had
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  Speaker 2: perfect spatuls. But toward the end of its life, I
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  Speaker 2: noticed that the median feathers were no longer trimmed with
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  Speaker 2: such precision, and on looking at its beak, I noticed that,
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  Speaker 2: from some cause or other, it did not close properly,
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  Speaker 2: gaped slightly at the tip, and had thus become unfitted
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  Speaker 2: for removing the veins of the feathers. End of section six.
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  Speaker 2: Recording by Valentina of Acelli, Section seven of Birds, Volume one,
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: number two, February eighteen ninety seven. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 15:57
  Speaker 2: information or to volunteer, please visit at LibriVox dot org.
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: King Parrot or King Laurie Laurie is the name of
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  Speaker 2: certain birds, mostly from the Moluccas and New Guinea, which
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  Speaker 2: are remarkable for their bright scarlet or crimson coloring, though
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  Speaker 2: also applied to some others in which the plumage is
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: chiefly green. Much interest has been excited by the discovery
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  Speaker 2: of doctor A. B. Meyer that the birds of this
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  Speaker 2: genus having a red plumage are the females of those
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: wearing green feathers. For a time there was much difference
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  Speaker 2: of opinion on this subject, but the assertion is now
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  Speaker 2: generally admitted. They are called brush tongued parrots. The color
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  Speaker 2: of the first plumage of the young is still unsettled.
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  Speaker 2: This bird is a favorite among bird fanciers, is readily tamed,
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  Speaker 2: and is of an affectionate nature. It can be taught
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  Speaker 2: to speak very creditably, and is very fond of attracting
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  Speaker 2: the attention of strangers and receiving the caresses of those
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  Speaker 2: whom it likes. There are few things a parrot prefers
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  Speaker 2: to nuts and the stones of various fruits. Wood says
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  Speaker 2: he once succeeded in obtaining the affections of a Parisian
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  Speaker 2: parrot solely through the medium of peach stones, which he
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: always saved for the bird, and for which irregularly began
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  Speaker 2: to gabble as soon as it saw him coming. When
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  Speaker 2: taken freshly from the peach, he says, the stones are
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  Speaker 2: very acceptable to the parrot, who turns them over, chuckling
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  Speaker 2: all the while to show his satisfaction, and picking all
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  Speaker 2: the soft parts from the deep indentations in the stone.
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  Speaker 2: He used to crack the stone before giving it to
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  Speaker 2: the bird, when his delight knew no bounds. They are
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  Speaker 2: fond of hot condiments, cayenne pepper or the capsicum pod.
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  Speaker 2: If a bird be ailing, a capsicum will often set
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  Speaker 2: it right again. The parrot is one of the hardiest
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  Speaker 2: of birds, when well cared for, and will live to
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  Speaker 2: a great age. Some of these birds have been known
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  Speaker 2: to attain an age of seventy years, and one scene
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  Speaker 2: by Vayan had reached the patriarchal age of ninety three.
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  Speaker 2: At sixty its memory began to fail. At sixty five,
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  Speaker 2: the molt became very irregular, and the tail changed to yellow.
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  Speaker 2: At ninety it was a very decrepit creature, almost blind
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  Speaker 2: and quite silent, having forgotten its former abundant stock of words.
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  Speaker 2: A gentleman once had for many years a parrot of
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  Speaker 2: seemingly rare intelligence. It was his custom during the summer
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  Speaker 2: to hang the parrot's cage in front of his shop
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  Speaker 2: in a country village, where the bird would talk and
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  Speaker 2: laugh and cry and condole with itself. Dogs were his
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  Speaker 2: special aversion, and on occasions when he had food to spare,
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  Speaker 2: he would drop it out of the cage and whistle
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  Speaker 2: long and loud for them. When the dogs had assembled
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  Speaker 2: to his satisfaction, he would suddenly scream in the fiercest
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  Speaker 2: accents get out dogs, and when they had scattered in alarm,
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  Speaker 2: his enjoyment of it was demonstrative. This parrot's vocabulary, however,
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  Speaker 2: was not the most refined, his master having equipped him
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  Speaker 2: with certain piratical idioms. According to authority, the parrot owner
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  Speaker 2: will find the health of his pet improved and its
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  Speaker 2: happiness promoted, by giving it every now and then a
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  Speaker 2: small log or branch on which the mosses and lichens
• 18:56
  Speaker 2: are still growing. Meat, fish, and other similar articles of
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: diet are given with evil effects. It is impossible for
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: anyone who has only seen these birds in a cage
• 19:06
  Speaker 2: or small enclosure to conceive what must be the gorgeous
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: appearance of a flock either in full flight and performing
• 19:13
  Speaker 2: their various evolutions under a vertical sun, or sporting among
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: the superb foliage of a tropical forest, which, without these
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: and other brilliant tenets, would present only a solitude of
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: luxuriant vegetation. End of section seven. Recording by Valentina Vicelli.
• 19:38
  Speaker 4: Section eight of Birds, Volume one, number two, February eighteen
• 19:42
  Speaker 4: ninety seven. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 19:52
  Speaker 4: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Jenbroda, the American
• 19:59
  Speaker 4: Raw The Bird of the Morning. Yes, my dear readers,
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: I am the bird of the morning. Very few of
• 20:07
  Speaker 4: you rise early enough to hear my first song. By
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: the time you are awake, our little ones have had
• 20:14
  Speaker 4: their breakfast. Missus Robin and I have had our morning bath,
• 20:18
  Speaker 4: and we are all ready to greet you with our
• 20:21
  Speaker 4: morning song. I wonder if any of you have seen
• 20:24
  Speaker 4: our nest and can tell the color of the aches
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: that Missus Robin lays. Sometime I will let you peep
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: into the nest and see them, but of course you
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: will not touch them. I wonder too, if you know
• 20:38
  Speaker 4: any of my cousins, the mocking bird, the catbird, or
• 20:42
  Speaker 4: the brown thrush. I think I shall ask them to
• 20:45
  Speaker 4: have their pictures taken soon and talk to you about
• 20:48
  Speaker 4: our gay times. Did you ever see one of my
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: cousins on the ground. I don't believe you can tell
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: how much I move about. Some of you may say
• 20:57
  Speaker 4: I run, and some of you may say I haw,
• 21:00
  Speaker 4: and others of you may say I do both. Well,
• 21:03
  Speaker 4: I'll tell you how to find out. Just watch me
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: and see my little friend's up north. Won't be able
• 21:11
  Speaker 4: to see me though, until next month, as I do
• 21:13
  Speaker 4: not dare leave the warm South until jack Frost leaves
• 21:17
  Speaker 4: the ground so I can find worms to eat. I
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: shall be about the first bird to visit you next month,
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: and I want you to watch for me. When I
• 21:27
  Speaker 4: do come, it will be to stay a long time,
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: for I shall be the last to leave. You Just
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: think the first to come and last to leave. Don't
• 21:38
  Speaker 4: you think we ought to be great friends? Let us
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: get better acquainted when we next meet your friend Robin.
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: End of section eight, Section nine of Birds, Volume one,
• 21:57
  Speaker 4: number two, February eighteen ninety. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 22:03
  Speaker 4: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording
• 22:13
  Speaker 4: by Jen Broda, untitled poem. How do the robins build
• 22:19
  Speaker 4: their nest, Robin Redbreast told me. First a wisp of
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: yellow hay in a pretty round they lay. Then some
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: shreds of downy floss, feathers too, and bits of moss
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: woven with a sweet, sweet song. This way, that way
• 22:38
  Speaker 4: and across. That's what Robin told me. Where do robins
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: hide their nest, Robin Redbreast told me, up among the leaves,
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: so deep, where the sunbeams rarely creep, long before the
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: winds are cold, long before the leaves are gold. Ride
• 23:00
  Speaker 4: eyed stars will peep and see baby Robin's one two three.
• 23:06
  Speaker 4: That's what Robin told me. End of section nine.
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: Section ten of Birds, Volume one, number two, February eighteen
• 23:21
  Speaker 5: ninety seven. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 23:31
  Speaker 5: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Chad Jackson, The
• 23:37
  Speaker 5: American Robin, the bird of the morning. Yes, my dear readers,
• 23:42
  Speaker 5: I am the bird of the morning. Very few of
• 23:45
  Speaker 5: you rise early enough to hear my first song. By
• 23:48
  Speaker 5: the time you are awake, our little ones have had
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: their breakfast, Missus Robin and I have had our morning bath,
• 23:55
  Speaker 5: and we are all ready to greet you with our
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: morning song. I wonder if any of you have seen
• 24:00
  Speaker 5: our nest and can tell the color of the eggs
• 24:02
  Speaker 5: that Missus Robin lays. Some time, I will let you
• 24:05
  Speaker 5: peep into the nest and see them, but of course
• 24:08
  Speaker 5: you will not touch them. I wonder too, if you
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: know any of my cousins, the mocking bird, the cat bird,
• 24:15
  Speaker 5: or the brown thrush. I think I shall ask them
• 24:17
  Speaker 5: to have their pictures taken soon and talk to you
• 24:20
  Speaker 5: about our gay times. Did you ever see one of
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: my cousins on the ground. I don't believe you can
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: tell how I move about. Some of you may say
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: I run, and some of you may say I hop,
• 24:32
  Speaker 5: and others of you may say I do both. Well,
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: I'll tell you how to find out. Just watch me
• 24:37
  Speaker 5: and see my little friends up north. Won't be able
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: to see me though, until next month, as I do
• 24:44
  Speaker 5: not dare leave the warm South until Jack Frost leaves
• 24:47
  Speaker 5: the ground, so I can find warms to eat. I
• 24:50
  Speaker 5: shall be about the first bird to visit you next month,
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: and I want you to watch for me. When I
• 24:55
  Speaker 5: do come, it will be to stay a long time,
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: for I shall be the last to leave. You just
• 25:00
  Speaker 5: think the first to come and last to leave. Don't
• 25:03
  Speaker 5: you think we ought to be great friends? Let us
• 25:06
  Speaker 5: get better acquainted when next we meet your friend Robin.
• 25:12
  Speaker 5: End of section ten.
• 25:18
  Speaker 6: Section eleven of Bird's Volume one, number two, February eighteen
• 25:23
  Speaker 6: ninety seven, Read forlibrivox dot Org by Alan Mapstone. The Robin,
• 25:32
  Speaker 6: my old Welsh neighbor over the way, crept slowly out
• 25:36
  Speaker 6: in the sun of spring, pushed from her ears the
• 25:39
  Speaker 6: locks of gray, and listened to hear the robins sing.
• 25:44
  Speaker 6: Her grandson playing at Marble's stomped and cruel in sport,
• 25:49
  Speaker 6: as boys will be tossed a stone at the bird
• 25:52
  Speaker 6: who hopped from bow to bow in the apple tree, Nay,
• 25:57
  Speaker 6: said the grandmother. Have you not heard, my poor bad
• 26:01
  Speaker 6: boy of the fiery pit? And how drop by drop
• 26:04
  Speaker 6: this merciful bird carries the water that quenches it. He
• 26:09
  Speaker 6: brings cool jew in his little bill and lets it
• 26:13
  Speaker 6: fall on the souls of sin. You can see the
• 26:16
  Speaker 6: mark on his red breast, still of fires that scorch
• 26:20
  Speaker 6: as he drops it in my poor bron rudin my breast,
• 26:25
  Speaker 6: burned bird singing so sweetly from limb to limb. Very
• 26:29
  Speaker 6: dear to the heart of our Lord. Is he who
• 26:33
  Speaker 6: pities the lost like him? Amen, I said to the
• 26:37
  Speaker 6: beautiful myth sing bird of God. In my heart as well,
• 26:42
  Speaker 6: each good thought is a drop wherewith to cool and
• 26:46
  Speaker 6: lessen the fires of hell. Prayers of love, like rain
• 26:50
  Speaker 6: drops fall tears of pity are cooling dew. And dear
• 26:55
  Speaker 6: to the heart of our Lord, are all who suffer
• 26:58
  Speaker 6: like him in the good they do? End of section eleven.
• 27:04
  Speaker 6: This recording is in the public domain.
• 27:14
  Speaker 7: Section twelve of Birds, Volume one, number two, February eighteen
• 27:19
  Speaker 7: ninety seven, recorded for Librevox dot Org by Phil schamf
• 27:25
  Speaker 7: The Kingfisher, Dear children, I shall soon arrive from the South.
• 27:31
  Speaker 7: I hear that all the birds are going to tell
• 27:33
  Speaker 7: stories to the boys and girls. I have never talked
• 27:37
  Speaker 7: much with children myself, for I never really cared for people.
• 27:41
  Speaker 7: They used to say that the dead body of a
• 27:43
  Speaker 7: kingfisher kept them safe in war, and they said also
• 27:47
  Speaker 7: that it protected them in lightning. Even Now in some
• 27:50
  Speaker 7: places in France, they call us the moth birds, for
• 27:54
  Speaker 7: they believe that our bodies will keep away moths from
• 27:57
  Speaker 7: woolen cloth. I wish that people would not believe such
• 28:01
  Speaker 7: things about us. Perhaps you cannot understand me when I talk.
• 28:06
  Speaker 7: You may think that you hear only a child's rattle.
• 28:09
  Speaker 7: Listen again, it is I the Kingfisher. That sound is
• 28:14
  Speaker 7: my way of talking. I live in the deep woods.
• 28:17
  Speaker 7: I own a beautiful stream and a clear, cool lake. Oh,
• 28:21
  Speaker 7: the little fish in that lake are good enough for
• 28:24
  Speaker 7: a king to eat. I know, for I am a king.
• 28:28
  Speaker 7: You may see me or some of my mates near
• 28:30
  Speaker 7: the lake any pleasant day. People used to say that
• 28:33
  Speaker 7: we always brought pleasant weather. That is a joke. It
• 28:38
  Speaker 7: is the pleasant weather that always brings us from our homes.
• 28:42
  Speaker 7: When it storms or rains, we cannot see the fish
• 28:44
  Speaker 7: in the lake, then we may as well stay in
• 28:47
  Speaker 7: our nests. My home once belonged to a water rat.
• 28:52
  Speaker 7: He dug the fine haul in the gravel bank in
• 28:54
  Speaker 7: my stream. It is nearly six feet long. The end
• 28:59
  Speaker 7: of it is just kind of place for a nest.
• 29:02
  Speaker 7: It is warm, dry and dark. In June, my wife
• 29:06
  Speaker 7: and I will settle down in it. By that time
• 29:10
  Speaker 7: we shall have the nest well lined with fishbones. We
• 29:13
  Speaker 7: shall put in some dried grass too. The fish bones
• 29:17
  Speaker 7: make a fine lining for a nest. You know, we
• 29:20
  Speaker 7: swallow the fish whole, but we save all the bones
• 29:23
  Speaker 7: for our nest. I shall help my wife at your
• 29:26
  Speaker 7: five white eggs, and shall try in every way to
• 29:29
  Speaker 7: make my family safe. Please tell the people not to
• 29:33
  Speaker 7: believe those strange things about me, and you will greatly
• 29:37
  Speaker 7: oblige a neighbor the kingfisher end of section twelve. This
• 29:44
  Speaker 7: recording is in the public domain Section thirteen of Birds,
• 29:54
  Speaker 7: Volume one, number two, February eighteen ninety seven, recorded for
• 29:59
  Speaker 7: librevo by Phil shamph The Kingfisher the lone fishermen, the
• 30:07
  Speaker 7: American species belongs to the true group of kingfishers. It
• 30:11
  Speaker 7: occupies the whole continent of North America, and although migrating
• 30:15
  Speaker 7: in the North, he is a constant resident of our
• 30:18
  Speaker 7: southern states. The belted kingfisher is the only variety found
• 30:22
  Speaker 7: along the inland streams of the United States. Audubon declares
• 30:27
  Speaker 7: that belted should apply only to the female. However, like
• 30:31
  Speaker 7: most birds of brilliant plumage, the kingfisher prefers a quiet
• 30:35
  Speaker 7: and secluded haunt. It loves the little trout streams with
• 30:39
  Speaker 7: wooded and precipitous banks, the still ponds and small lakes,
• 30:44
  Speaker 7: ornamental waters in parks where it is not molested, and
• 30:48
  Speaker 7: the sides of sluggish rivers, drains and mill ponds. Here
• 30:52
  Speaker 7: in such a haunt, the bird often flits past like
• 30:56
  Speaker 7: an indistinct gleam of bluish light. Fortune sometimes favor the observer,
• 31:02
  Speaker 7: and the bird may alight on some twig over the stream,
• 31:06
  Speaker 7: its weight causing it to sway gently to and fro.
• 31:10
  Speaker 7: It eagerly scans the shoal of young trout sporting in
• 31:13
  Speaker 7: the pool below, when it suddenly drops down into the water,
• 31:17
  Speaker 7: and almost before the observer is aware of the fact,
• 31:20
  Speaker 7: is back again to its perch with a struggling fish
• 31:23
  Speaker 7: in its beak. A few blows on the branch, and
• 31:26
  Speaker 7: its prey is ready for the dexterous movement of the bill,
• 31:30
  Speaker 7: which places it in a position for swallowing. Sometimes the
• 31:34
  Speaker 7: captured fish is adroitly jerked into the air and caught
• 31:37
  Speaker 7: as it falls. Fish is the principal food of the kingfisher,
• 31:42
  Speaker 7: but it also eats various kinds of insects, shrimps, and
• 31:45
  Speaker 7: even small crabs. It rears its young in a hole
• 31:49
  Speaker 7: which is made in the banks of the stream it frequents.
• 31:52
  Speaker 7: It is a slatternly bird fouls its own nest and
• 31:56
  Speaker 7: its peerless eggs. The nesting hole is bored rather slowly
• 32:00
  Speaker 7: and takes from one to two weeks to complete. Six
• 32:04
  Speaker 7: or eight white, glossy eggs are laid, sometimes on the
• 32:07
  Speaker 7: bare soil, but often on the fish bones, which, being indigestible,
• 32:12
  Speaker 7: are thrown up by the bird, and pellets. The kingfisher
• 32:15
  Speaker 7: has a crest of feathers on the top of his head,
• 32:18
  Speaker 7: which he raises and lowers, especially when trying to drive
• 32:21
  Speaker 7: intruders away from his nest. The plumage is compact and oily,
• 32:26
  Speaker 7: making it almost impervious to water. The flesh is fishy
• 32:30
  Speaker 7: and disagreeable to the taste, but the eggs are said
• 32:33
  Speaker 7: to be good eating. The wings are long and pointed,
• 32:36
  Speaker 7: and the bill longer than the head. The voice is
• 32:39
  Speaker 7: harsh and monotonous. It is said that few birds are
• 32:43
  Speaker 7: connected with more fables than the kingfisher. The superstition that
• 32:47
  Speaker 7: a dead kingfisher, when suspended by the throat, would turn
• 32:51
  Speaker 7: its beat to that particular point of the compass from
• 32:54
  Speaker 7: which the wind blew is now dead. It was also
• 32:58
  Speaker 7: supposed to possess many a stunishing virtues, as that its
• 33:02
  Speaker 7: dried body would avert thunderbolts, and if kept in a wardrobe,
• 33:06
  Speaker 7: would preserve from moths the woolen stuffs and the like
• 33:09
  Speaker 7: contained in it. Under the name of Halcion, it was
• 33:13
  Speaker 7: fabled by the ancients to build its nest on the
• 33:16
  Speaker 7: surface of the sea and to have the power of
• 33:19
  Speaker 7: calming the troubled waves during the period of incubation, hence
• 33:23
  Speaker 7: the phrase Halcion days. A pair of Kingfishers have had
• 33:27
  Speaker 7: their residence in a bank at the south end of
• 33:29
  Speaker 7: Washington Park, Chicago, for at least three seasons past. We
• 33:33
  Speaker 7: have watched the kingfisher from secluded spots on long island
• 33:37
  Speaker 7: ponds and tidal streams, where his peculiar laughing note is
• 33:41
  Speaker 7: the same as that which greets the ear of the
• 33:44
  Speaker 7: fishermen on far inland streams on still summer days. End
• 33:49
  Speaker 7: of section thirteen. This recording is in the public domain.
• 33:59
  Speaker 6: Section four fourteen of Bird's Volume one n two February
• 34:06
  Speaker 6: eighteen ninety seven read forliveryvotx dot org by allan mapstone
• 34:13
  Speaker 6: the blackbird. I could not think so plain a bird
• 34:19
  Speaker 6: could sing so fine a song one or another against
• 34:24
  Speaker 6: the wall. Pile up the books. I am done with them. All.
• 34:29
  Speaker 6: I shall be wise if I ever am wise, out
• 34:32
  Speaker 6: of my own ears and of my own eyes. One
• 34:36
  Speaker 6: day of the woods with their balmy light. One hour
• 34:40
  Speaker 6: on the top of a breezy hill, there in the sassafras,
• 34:44
  Speaker 6: all out of sight, the blackbird is splitting his slender
• 34:47
  Speaker 6: bill for the ease of his heart. Do you think
• 34:51
  Speaker 6: if he said, I will sing like this bird with
• 34:54
  Speaker 6: the mud colored back and the two little spots of
• 34:57
  Speaker 6: gold over his eyes. Or light to the sh shy
• 35:00
  Speaker 6: little creature that flies so low to the ground, with
• 35:03
  Speaker 6: the amethyst rings about her small throat, all alive when
• 35:08
  Speaker 6: she sings with a glitter of shivering green for the
• 35:12
  Speaker 6: rest gray shading to gray, with the sheen of her
• 35:16
  Speaker 6: breast half rose and half fawn. Or like this one
• 35:20
  Speaker 6: so proud that flutteres so restless and cries out so loud,
• 35:24
  Speaker 6: with stiff, horny beak and a top knotted head, and
• 35:27
  Speaker 6: a lining of scarlet laid under his wings. Do you
• 35:31
  Speaker 6: think if he said I'm ashamed to be black, that
• 35:35
  Speaker 6: he could have shaken the sassafas tree as he does
• 35:38
  Speaker 6: with the song he was born to not he Alice
• 35:44
  Speaker 6: Carey end of section fourteen. This recording is in the
• 35:50
  Speaker 6: public domain. Section fift Dean of Bird's Volume one, n two,
• 36:04
  Speaker 6: February eighteen ninety seven, Read for livervotx dot Org by
• 36:10
  Speaker 6: Allen Mapstone, from the Birds of Killingworth. Do you ne'er
• 36:18
  Speaker 6: think what wondrous beings these? Do you ne'er think who
• 36:22
  Speaker 6: made them? Who taught the dialect they speak? Where melodies
• 36:26
  Speaker 6: alone are the interpreters of thought, whose household words the
• 36:31
  Speaker 6: songs in many keys sweeter than instruments of man, are courts,
• 36:38
  Speaker 6: whose habitation in the tree tops even are half way
• 36:42
  Speaker 6: houses on the road to heaven. You call them thieves
• 36:47
  Speaker 6: or pillagers, but know they are the winged wardens of
• 36:50
  Speaker 6: your farms, who from the corn fields drive the insidious foe,
• 36:56
  Speaker 6: and from your harvest keep a hundred harms. Even the
• 37:00
  Speaker 6: blackest of them all, the crow renders good service as
• 37:04
  Speaker 6: your man at arms, crushing a beetle in his coat
• 37:08
  Speaker 6: of mail and crying havoc on the slug and snail
• 37:15
  Speaker 6: end of section fifteen. This recording is in the public domain.
• 37:26
  Speaker 8: Section sixteen of Birds, Volume one, number two, February eighteen
• 37:30
  Speaker 8: ninety seven. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
• 37:35
  Speaker 8: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 37:39
  Speaker 8: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Colleen McMahon. Blue
• 37:45
  Speaker 8: Mountain lory. This bird inhabits the vast plains of the
• 37:49
  Speaker 8: interior of New South Wales. It is one of the handsomest,
• 37:53
  Speaker 8: not only of the Australian parrots, but takes foremost place
• 37:57
  Speaker 8: among the most gorgeously dressed members of the paras family
• 38:00
  Speaker 8: that are to be met with in any part of
• 38:02
  Speaker 8: the world. It is about eleven or twelve inches in length.
• 38:05
  Speaker 8: The female cannot with certainty be distinguished from her mate,
• 38:09
  Speaker 8: but is usually a very little smaller. The lorry seldom
• 38:12
  Speaker 8: descends to the ground, but passes the greater part of
• 38:15
  Speaker 8: its life among the gum trees, upon the pollen and nectar,
• 38:18
  Speaker 8: on which it mainly subsists In times of scarcity. However,
• 38:22
  Speaker 8: it will also eat grass seeds, as well as insects,
• 38:25
  Speaker 8: for one of which it is said it often dies
• 38:27
  Speaker 8: prematurely when in captivity. Doctor Russ mentions that a pair
• 38:31
  Speaker 8: obtained from a London dealer in eighteen seventy for fifty
• 38:34
  Speaker 8: dollars were the first of these birds imported, but the
• 38:37
  Speaker 8: London Zoological Society had secured some of them two years before.
• 38:42
  Speaker 8: Despite his beauty, the blue Mountain lorry is not a
• 38:45
  Speaker 8: desirable bird to keep, as he requires great care. A female,
• 38:49
  Speaker 8: which survived six years in an aviary, laying several eggs,
• 38:52
  Speaker 8: though kept singly, was fed on canary seed, maize, a
• 38:56
  Speaker 8: little sugar, raw beef, and carrots. W Gedney seems to
• 38:59
  Speaker 8: have been peculiarly happy in his specimens, remarking but for
• 39:03
  Speaker 8: the terribly sudden death which so often overtakes these birds,
• 39:07
  Speaker 8: they would be the most charming feathered pets that a
• 39:10
  Speaker 8: lady could possess, having neither the power nor inclination to
• 39:13
  Speaker 8: bite savagely. The same writer's recommendation to feed this lory
• 39:17
  Speaker 8: exclusively upon soft food, in which honey forms a great part,
• 39:21
  Speaker 8: probably accounts for his advice to those whose susceptible natures
• 39:25
  Speaker 8: would be shocked by the sudden death of their favorite
• 39:28
  Speaker 8: not to become the owner of a blue mountain lory.
• 39:31
  Speaker 8: Like all the parrot family, these lorries breed in hollow boughs,
• 39:35
  Speaker 8: where the female deposits from three to four white eggs,
• 39:38
  Speaker 8: upon which she sits for twenty one days. The young
• 39:41
  Speaker 8: from the first resemble the parents closely, but are a
• 39:43
  Speaker 8: trifle less brilliantly colored. They are very active and graceful,
• 39:47
  Speaker 8: but have an abominable shriek. The noise is said to
• 39:50
  Speaker 8: be nearly as disagreeable as the plumage is beautiful. They
• 39:53
  Speaker 8: are very quarrelsome and have to be kept apart from
• 39:56
  Speaker 8: the other parrots, which they will kill. Other species of birds, however,
• 39:59
  Speaker 8: a are not disturbed by them. It is a sort
• 40:02
  Speaker 8: of family animosity. They've been bred in captivity. The feathers
• 40:06
  Speaker 8: of the head and neck are long and very narrow,
• 40:09
  Speaker 8: and lie closely together. The claws are strong and hooked,
• 40:12
  Speaker 8: indicating their tree climbing habits. Their incessant activity and amusing
• 40:16
  Speaker 8: ways make these birds always interesting to watch. End of
• 40:21
  Speaker 8: section sixteen recording by Colleen McMahon.
• 40:30
  Speaker 9: Section seventeen of Birds, Volume one, number two, February eighteen
• 40:37
  Speaker 9: ninety seven, recorded for LibriVox dot Org by Wayne Cook.
• 40:42
  Speaker 9: The red wing blackbird the bird of society. The blackbirds
• 40:48
  Speaker 9: make the maples ring with social cheer and jubilee. The
• 40:52
  Speaker 9: red wing flutes its o Khalie Emerson. The much abused
• 40:59
  Speaker 9: and person executed red winged blackbird is found throughout North
• 41:03
  Speaker 9: America from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and it breeds
• 41:07
  Speaker 9: more or less abundantly wherever found In New England. It
• 41:10
  Speaker 9: is generally migratory, though instances are on record where a
• 41:14
  Speaker 9: few have been known to remain throughout the winter in Massachusetts.
• 41:18
  Speaker 9: Passing in January through the lower counties of Virginia, one
• 41:22
  Speaker 9: frequently witnesses the aerial evolutions of great numbers of these birds.
• 41:27
  Speaker 9: Sometimes they appear as if driven about by an enormous
• 41:30
  Speaker 9: black cloud carried before the wind, varying every moment in shape.
• 41:36
  Speaker 9: Sometimes they rise from the fields with a noise like thunder,
• 41:40
  Speaker 9: or the glittering of innumerable wings of the brightest vermilion
• 41:44
  Speaker 9: amid the black cloud, occasion of very striking effect. At times,
• 41:50
  Speaker 9: the whole congregated multitude will suddenly alight in some detached
• 41:54
  Speaker 9: grove and commence one general concert that can plainly be
• 41:59
  Speaker 9: distinguished at the distance of more than two miles. With
• 42:03
  Speaker 9: the red wings the whole winter season seems one continued carnival.
• 42:08
  Speaker 9: They find abundant food in the old fields of rice, buckwheat,
• 42:11
  Speaker 9: and grain, and much of their time is spent in
• 42:14
  Speaker 9: aerial movements or in grand vocal performances. The red wings
• 42:19
  Speaker 9: for their nest always select either the borders of streams
• 42:22
  Speaker 9: or low marshy situations amongst thick bunches of reeds. One
• 42:27
  Speaker 9: nest was found built on a sender sapling at the
• 42:30
  Speaker 9: distance of fourteen feet from the ground. The nest was
• 42:34
  Speaker 9: pencil like that of a Baltimore oriole. They have from one, two,
• 42:39
  Speaker 9: three or more broods in a season, according to locality.
• 42:43
  Speaker 9: In the grain growing states, they gather in immense swarms
• 42:46
  Speaker 9: and commit havoc, and although they are shot in great numbers,
• 42:50
  Speaker 9: and though their ranks are thinned by the attacks of hawks,
• 42:53
  Speaker 9: it seems to have but little effect upon the survivors.
• 42:57
  Speaker 9: On the other hand, these blackbirds more more than compensate
• 43:01
  Speaker 9: the farmer for their mischief by the benefit they confer
• 43:04
  Speaker 9: in the destruction of grubworms, caterpillars, and various kinds of larvae,
• 43:09
  Speaker 9: the secret and deadly enemies of vegetation. It has been
• 43:12
  Speaker 9: estimated the number of insects destroyed by these birds in
• 43:15
  Speaker 9: a single season in the United States to be twelve
• 43:19
  Speaker 9: thousand millions. The eggs average about an inch in length.
• 43:24
  Speaker 9: Their oval in shape, have a light bluish ground, and
• 43:27
  Speaker 9: are marbled, lined, and blotched with markings of light and dark,
• 43:30
  Speaker 9: purple and black. End of section seventeen. This recording is
• 43:37
  Speaker 9: in the public domain.
• 43:45
  Speaker 6: Section eighteen of Birds, Volume one, number two, February eighteen
• 43:51
  Speaker 6: ninety seven. Red forlibrivox dot Org by Alan Mapstone. Blackbird,
• 44:00
  Speaker 6: so woodland enchanted by no sadder spirit than blackbirds and
• 44:04
  Speaker 6: thrushes that whistle to cheer it all day. In the bushes,
• 44:08
  Speaker 6: this woodland is haunted, and in a small clearing beyond
• 44:12
  Speaker 6: sight or hearing of human annoyance, are little found gushes
• 44:18
  Speaker 6: Lowell end of section eighteen. This recording is in the
• 44:24
  Speaker 6: public domain.
• 44:31
  Speaker 4: Section nineteen of Birds, Volume one, number two, February eighteen
• 44:37
  Speaker 4: ninety seven. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings
• 44:42
  Speaker 4: are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
• 44:47
  Speaker 4: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Jan Broda, The
• 44:53
  Speaker 4: Bird of Society. The blackbird loves to be one of
• 44:58
  Speaker 4: a great flock, talks, sings, or scolds from morning until night.
• 45:03
  Speaker 4: He cannot keep still. He will only stay alone with
• 45:07
  Speaker 4: his family a few months in the summer. That is
• 45:11
  Speaker 4: the reason he is called the bird of society. When
• 45:14
  Speaker 4: he is merry, he gaily sings concree. When he is
• 45:20
  Speaker 4: angry or frightened, he screams chuck, chuck. When he is
• 45:26
  Speaker 4: flying or bathing, he gives a sweet note which sounds
• 45:29
  Speaker 4: like eww. He can chirp, chick, check, chuck to his
• 45:35
  Speaker 4: little ones as softly as any other bird. But only
• 45:39
  Speaker 4: his best friends ever hear his sweet tones. For the
• 45:43
  Speaker 4: blackbirds do not know how to be polite. They all
• 45:47
  Speaker 4: talk at once. That is why most people think they
• 45:50
  Speaker 4: only scream and chatter. Did you ever hear the blackbirds
• 45:54
  Speaker 4: in the cornfields? If the farmers thought about it, perhaps
• 45:58
  Speaker 4: they would feel that part of every corn crop belongs
• 46:01
  Speaker 4: to the blackbirds. When the corn is young, the farmer
• 46:06
  Speaker 4: cannot see the grubs which are eating the young plants.
• 46:09
  Speaker 4: The blackbirds can. They feed them to their babies, many
• 46:14
  Speaker 4: thousands in a day. That is the way the crops
• 46:17
  Speaker 4: are saved for the farmer. But he never thinks of that.
• 46:22
  Speaker 4: Later When the blackbirds come for their share of the corn,
• 46:25
  Speaker 4: the farmer says, no, they shall not have my corn.
• 46:29
  Speaker 4: I must stop that quickly. Perhaps the blackbirds said the
• 46:34
  Speaker 4: same thing to the grubs in the spring. It is
• 46:37
  Speaker 4: hard to have justice for every one. In April, the
• 46:41
  Speaker 4: blackbird and his mate leave the noisy company. They seek
• 46:45
  Speaker 4: a cozy home near the water where they can be
• 46:47
  Speaker 4: quiet until August. They usually choose a swampy place among
• 46:52
  Speaker 4: low shrubs and rushes. Here, in the deep nest of
• 46:56
  Speaker 4: coarse grass, moss, and mud, the mother bird lays her
• 47:00
  Speaker 4: five eggs. They are very pretty, light blue, with purple
• 47:05
  Speaker 4: and black markings. Their friends say this is the best
• 47:10
  Speaker 4: time to watch the blackbirds in the flock. They are
• 47:13
  Speaker 4: all so much alike we cannot tell one from another.
• 47:18
  Speaker 4: You would like to hear of some of the wise
• 47:20
  Speaker 4: things blackbirds do when they are tame. One friend of
• 47:24
  Speaker 4: the birds turned her home into a great open bird cage.
• 47:28
  Speaker 4: Her chair was the favorite perch of her birds. She
• 47:32
  Speaker 4: never kept them one minute longer than they wanted to stay,
• 47:36
  Speaker 4: yet her home was always full. This was all of
• 47:40
  Speaker 4: Thorn Miller. If you care to, you might ask mother
• 47:44
  Speaker 4: to get bird ways and read you what she says
• 47:47
  Speaker 4: about this bird of society and the other birds of
• 47:51
  Speaker 4: this book. End of Section nineteen.
• 48:00
  Speaker 9: Section twenty of Birds, Volume one, number two, February eighteen
• 48:06
  Speaker 9: ninety seven, Recorded for LibriVox dot Org by Wayne Cook.
• 48:11
  Speaker 9: The American red bird. American redbirds are among the most
• 48:16
  Speaker 9: common cage birds and are very generally known in Europe,
• 48:20
  Speaker 9: numbers of them having been carried over both to France
• 48:23
  Speaker 9: and England. Their notes are varied and musical, many of
• 48:27
  Speaker 9: them resembling the high notes of a fife, and are
• 48:30
  Speaker 9: nearly as loud. They are in song from March to September,
• 48:35
  Speaker 9: beginning at the first appearance of dawn, and repeating successively
• 48:39
  Speaker 9: twenty or thirty times and with little intermission. A favorite
• 48:43
  Speaker 9: strain the sprightly figure and gaudy plumage of the red bird.
• 48:48
  Speaker 9: Its vivacity and strength of voice, and actual variety of note,
• 48:52
  Speaker 9: and the little expense with which he is kept will
• 48:55
  Speaker 9: always make him a favorite. This species is more numerous
• 49:00
  Speaker 9: to the east of the Great Range of the Alleghenies,
• 49:02
  Speaker 9: but is found in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and is numerous
• 49:06
  Speaker 9: in the lower parts of the Southern States. In January,
• 49:10
  Speaker 9: in February. They have been found along the roadsides and fences,
• 49:14
  Speaker 9: hovering together in half dozens, associating with snow birds and
• 49:18
  Speaker 9: various kinds of sparrows. In the Northern States, they are migratory,
• 49:23
  Speaker 9: and in the southern part of Pennsylvania they reside during
• 49:26
  Speaker 9: the whole year, frequenting the borders of rivulets in sheltered
• 49:30
  Speaker 9: hollows covered with holly, laurel and other evergreens. They love
• 49:35
  Speaker 9: also to reside in the vicinity of fields of Indian corn,
• 49:38
  Speaker 9: a grain that constitutes their chief and favorite food. The
• 49:42
  Speaker 9: seeds of apples, cherries, and other fruits are also eaten
• 49:46
  Speaker 9: by them, and they are accused of destroying bees. Early
• 49:51
  Speaker 9: in May, the red bird begins to prepare his nest,
• 49:54
  Speaker 9: which is very often fixed in a holly cedar or
• 49:57
  Speaker 9: a laurel bush. A pair of redbirds in Ohio returned
• 50:01
  Speaker 9: for a number of years to build their nest in
• 50:03
  Speaker 9: a honeysuckle vine under a portico. They were never disturbed
• 50:07
  Speaker 9: and never failed to wear a brood of young. The
• 50:10
  Speaker 9: nest was constructed of small twigs, dry weeds, slips of
• 50:14
  Speaker 9: vine bark, and lined with stalks of vine grass. Four
• 50:18
  Speaker 9: eggs of brownish olive were laid, and they usually raised
• 50:22
  Speaker 9: two broods in a season. In confinement, they fade in color,
• 50:26
  Speaker 9: but if well cared for, will live to a considerable age.
• 50:31
  Speaker 9: They are generally known by the names red bird, Virginia redbird,
• 50:36
  Speaker 9: Virginia nightingale, and crested redbird. It is said that the
• 50:40
  Speaker 9: female often sings nearly as well as the male. End
• 50:45
  Speaker 9: of section twenty. This recording is in the public domain.
• 50:55
  Speaker 10: Section twenty one of Birds, Volume one, number two, February
• 51:01
  Speaker 10: eighteen ninety seven, recorded for LibriVox dot work by Tiffany Allen.
• 51:07
  Speaker 10: The red birds and the red bird. The red birds
• 51:11
  Speaker 10: two red birds came in early May, flashing like rubies
• 51:16
  Speaker 10: on the way. Their joyous notes awoke the day and
• 51:20
  Speaker 10: made all nature glad and gay. Thrice welcome crested visitants,
• 51:26
  Speaker 10: Thou doest well to seek our haunts. The bounteous vine,
• 51:30
  Speaker 10: by thee possessed from prying eyes, shall keep thy nest.
• 51:35
  Speaker 10: Sing to us in the early dawn tis then thy
• 51:38
  Speaker 10: scarlet throats have drawn refreshing drafts from drops of dew.
• 51:44
  Speaker 10: The enchanting concert too renew no plaintive notes we ween
• 51:50
  Speaker 10: are thine. They gurgle like a royal wine. They cheer, rejoice,
• 51:55
  Speaker 10: They quite outshine thy neighbor's voice, though it's free as
• 52:01
  Speaker 10: the circumambient air. Do thou remain a perfect pair to
• 52:06
  Speaker 10: come once more, when Proserpine shall swell the buds of
• 52:11
  Speaker 10: tree and vine c cm. The red bird. Is it
• 52:17
  Speaker 10: because he wears a red hat that we call him
• 52:20
  Speaker 10: the cardinal bird? Or is it because his voice is
• 52:23
  Speaker 10: so rich that scarcely a finer is heard? Tis neither,
• 52:29
  Speaker 10: but this I've guessed it. I'm sure his dress is
• 52:34
  Speaker 10: a primary color of nature. It blends with the oriole's
• 52:38
  Speaker 10: golden display, and the garment of bluebird completes the array
• 52:44
  Speaker 10: c CM end of section twenty one. This recording is
• 52:49
  Speaker 10: in the public domain. End of Birds, Volume one, number two,
• 52:55
  Speaker 10: February eighteen ninety seven, No