In Nesting Time

"Very few people have the least idea what wild creatures are like. Their notion generally is to shoot them, and then pick them up for examination; which is the same thing as if some being of superior race, seeing children at play, were to shoot a few at long range, and then turn them over and describe them and consider himself learned in their structure, habits, and appearance." — Jean Ingelow. INTRODUCTORY. The sketches of bird manners and customs in this little collection are the record of careful observation, and scrupulously true in every particular. The facts may not all be new to Science, but since they are genuine studies from life, and each bird whose acquaintance I make is as truly a discovery to me as if he were totally unknown to the world, I venture to hope that lovers of birds may find in these pages real, live, individuals in feathers, honestly "brothers of ours." OLIVE THORNE MILLER. CONTENTS. PAGE I. Baby Birds 1 Purple Crow Blackbird. Quiscalus quiscula. Redwing Blackbird. Agelœus phœniceus. Yellow-Throated Warbler. Dendroica dominica. Baltimore Oriole. Icterus galbula. White-Bellied Nuthatch. Sitta carolinensis. American Robin. Merula migratoria. Phœbe. Sayornis phœbe. II. Bird-study in a Southern State 19 Great White Heron. Ardea occidentalis. Bald Eagle. Haliæetus leucocephalus. Wilson's Tern. Sterna hirundo. Ring Plover. Ægialitis hiaticula. III. The Mocking-Bird's Nest 33 Mocking-Bird. Mimus polyglottos. IV. A Tricksy Spirit 65 Mocking-Bird. Mimus polyglottos. V. The "Wise Bluebird" 95 Bluebird. Sialia sialis. VI. The Golden-Wing 113 Golden-Wing Woodpecker. Colaptes auratus. VII. A Stormy Wooing 129 Orchard Oriole. Icterus spurius. VIII. Flutterbudget 145 Brown Thrush, or Thrasher. Harporhynchus rufus. IX. " O Wondrous Singers " 159 Wilson's Thrush. Turdus fuscescens. Gray-Cheeked Thrush. Turdus aliciæ. X. A Bird of Affairs 173 Blue-Jay. Cyanocitta cristata. XI. The Blue-Jay Again 189 XII. Virginia's Wooing 205 Virginia Cardinal. Cardinalis cardinalis. XIII. Friendship in Feathers 221 Scarlet Tanager. Piranga erythromelas. English Goldfinch. Fringilla carduelis. XIV. The Rosy Shield 237 Rose-Breasted Grosbeak. Habia ludoviciana. XV. The Bird of Mystery 251 Birds of Paradise. Paradisæa. BABY BIRDS. And oft an unintruding guest, I watched her secret toils from day to day; How true she warped the moss to form the nest, And modeled it within with wood and clay. And by and by, like heath-bells gilt with dew, There lay her shining eggs as bright as flowers, Ink-spotted over, shells of green and blue: And there I witnessed…