Identifier: birdsnature31906chic (find matches)
Title: Birds and nature
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Birds Natural history
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Mumford, Publisher
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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an are most of the sand-pipers and seems to prefer meadows,pastures and higher land for its nestingsites. Even old fields and open prairiesare often selected. The nest is a meredepression in the ground which is linedwith a small quantity of dry grass. Thefour or five creamy-buff or clay-coloredeggs are spotted with a darker or lightershade of brown, chiefly toward thelarger end. The Marbled Godwit (Limosa fedoa)is, with one exception, the largest of theshore birds, and it is commonly calledthe Marlin. Its range covers temperateNorth America, and it breeds in the in-terior, chiefly from Iowa and Nebraskanorthward to the Saskatchawan region.These birds exhibit a deep devotion totheir companions, and w^hen one of theirnumber has been wounded seem unwil-ling to leave the spot, and for a time for-get their fear of the hunter and hisweapon. Their nests, while usuallynear water, are not always so placed, forin certain localities they have been foundupon rather dry prairies. The nests are 158
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152 COPYRIGHT 1900, BY A. W. MUMFORD, CHICAGO EGGS. Life-size. 1. Spotted bandpiper. 2, Bartramian Sandpiper. 3. Marbled Godwit. 4. King Rail. 5. American Coot 6. Least Tern. 7. Sooty Tern. 8. Common Murre. 9. Black Tern. 10. Herrmg Gull. upon the ground and are simply grass-lined depressions. The three or foureggs in a set are clay-colored or brown-ish ashy in general color and are spot-ted, blotched, and scrawled with abrownish color. The King Rail or Marsh Hen fre-quents the fresh-water marshes of theeastern United States, Both for nestingand feeding it prefers a marsh which iscovered with a luxuriant growth ofsedges. Its breeding range extendsnorthward as far as Connecticut andWisconsin, and occasionally it may nestas far northward as Ontario. The nestsare lined with grasses and may be on the■ground of marshes, or they may be builtin a tussock of grass in very wet places.The number of eggs in a set varies fromseven to twelve. The American Coot or Mud-hen (Fu-lica americana) has

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