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                            BIRDS and NATURE
                           IN NATURAL COLORS


                            A MONTHLY SERIAL
                FORTY ILLUSTRATIONS BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY
                     A GUIDE IN THE STUDY OF NATURE


                         Two Volumes Each Year
                               VOLUME XI
                      January, 1902, to May, 1902


                     EDITED BY WILLIAM KERR HIGLEY

                                CHICAGO
                        A. W. MUMFORD, Publisher
                           203 Michigan Ave.
                                  1902

                          Copyright, 1902, by
                             A. W. Mumford




                           BIRDS AND NATURE.
                   ILLUSTRATED BY COLOR PHOTOGRAPHY.
  Vol. XI.                   JANUARY, 1902.                       No. 1




                               CONTENTS.


    A SONG FOR THE NEW YEAR’S EVE.                                     1
    THE GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET. (_Regulus satrapa._)                   2
    THE TALKING PINE TREE.                                             5
    THE KING RAIL. (_Rallus elegans._)                                11
    BETWEEN THE DAYLIGHT AND THE DARK.                                12
    TO A NUTHATCH.                                                    13
    THE BROWN-HEADED NUTHATCH. (_Sitta pusilla._)                     14
    MY RED-HEADED NEIGHBORS.                                          17
    BEAUTIFUL SNOW.                                                   20
    THE SHARP-SHINNED HAWK. (_Accipiter velox._)                      23
    BIRDS ON THE WING.                                                24
    A SUNSET CLUB.                                                    25
    QUARTZ.                                                           26
    EVENING IN THE CANYON.                                            30
    BERRIES OF THE WOODS.                                             31
    EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OF NATURAL OBJECTS.                           32
    TWO STRANGE HOMES.                                                32
    THE GREENLAND WHALE. (_Balaena mysticetus._)                      35
        Through the silent watches of the night                       37
    THE THISTLE.                                                      38
        The smallest effort is not lost                               41
    WITH SILVER CHAINS AND GAY ATTIRE.                                42
    THE BIRDS IN THEIR WINTER HOME. (In the Woods.)                   43
    IRISH MOSS. (_Chondrus crispus lyngb._)                           47
    THE CARDINAL FLOWER.                                              48




                     A SONG FOR THE NEW YEAR’S EVE.


  Stay yet, my friends, a moment stay—
    Stay till the good old year,
  So long companion of our way,
    Shakes hands and leaves us here.
      Oh stay, oh stay,
  One little hour, and then away.

  The year, whose hopes were high and strong,
    Has now no hopes to wake;
  Yet one hour more of jest and song
    For his familiar sake.
      Oh stay, oh stay,
  One mirthful hour, and then away.

  The kindly year, his liberal hands
    Have lavished all his store.
  And shall we turn from where he stands,
    Because he gives no more?
      Oh stay, oh stay,
  One grateful hour, and then away.

  Days brightly came and calmly went,
    While yet he was our guest;
  How cheerfully the week was spent!
    How sweet the seventh day’s rest!
      Oh stay, oh stay,
  One golden hour, and then away.

  Even while we sing he smiles his last,
    And leaves our sphere behind.
  The good old year is with the past;
    Oh be the new as kind!
      Oh stay, oh stay,
  One parting strain, and then away.
                                                 —William Cullen Bryant.




                      THE GOLDEN-CROWNED KINGLET.
                          (_Regulus satrapa._)


  The autumn wanes, and kinglets go,
    Sweet-voiced and knightly in their way,
  And all the birds our summers know,
    They flock and leave us day by day.
                               —Frank H. Sweet, “Flocking of the Birds.”

In these pleasing words the poet speaks of the kinglets. Yet his words
may hardly apply to the Golden-crowned Kinglet, except in the
northernmost part of its range, for it winters from the northern border
of the United States southward to the Gulf of Mexico. “Muffled in its
thick coat of feathers, the diminutive Goldcrest braves our severest
winters, living evidence that, given an abundance of food, temperature
is a secondary factor in a bird’s existence.”

But little larger than a hummingbird, though unlike that mite of bird
life, it seeks in the cooler air of northern climes a place for its
nest. It also breeds throughout the length of the Rocky Mountains and in
the Alleghanies as far south as North Carolina.

This tiny and “charming sylvan ornament,” both elegant in dress and
graceful in movement, is one of the seven known species of kinglets, of
which there are but three that frequent the New World. It is very active
while searching for its food. Its colors are such that, as it moves from
twig to twig hunting for insects among the leaves, it is frequently hard
to locate though its voice may be heard among the tree tops.

Truly the name kinglet—little king—is not a misnomer, for the
Golden-crown exhibits a decided character in every motion. It is
fearless and though it will occasionally scold an intruder, wren-like,
it does not visually resent the presence of man. Often in the forest or
even in our city parks a Golden-crowned Kinglet will flash by one’s face
and, dropping to the ground, seize an insect or worm that its bright
eyes have detected in the grass, even at one’s feet.

Speaking of interesting phases of