Identifier: howtoattractbird00bla (find matches)
Title: How to attract the birds : and other talks about bird neighbors
Year: 1903 (1900s)
Authors: Blanchan, Neltje, 1865-1918
Subjects: Birds Bird attracting
Publisher: New York : Doubleday Page
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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ible mates are expected toarrive ! Different species have different traveling meth-ods, and even the same species does not alwaysfollow the same method in spring and fall. Some ofthe wild ducks, for instance, which go southward inlarge family parties, return in mated couples, verytenderly attached to each other one might thinkwho had never observed the dandified drake calmlydesert his partner just as soon as nursery dutiesthreaten to interfere with his leisure and pleasure.The devoted phcebe, in his somber drab suit, sitsabout near last years nest very early in spring, call-ing repeatedly to a mate that may be many milesaway; but in a few days how unerringly she findsthe old home, and the faithful lover waiting at thetrysting-place beside the bridge to welcome her!The joy of such reunited lovers puts a song intothe heart of all beholders. When the cares of a young family beset them,and when old feathers must be replaced by new onesduring July and August, birds are seldom sociable. 154
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Permanent residents without the flocking habit — young screech owls Why Birds Come and Go The males of only a few species, that sleep in club-like roosts even at the nesting season, must be ex-cepted. Indeed, so silent and moping are the vastmajority when molting that they seem to have en-tirely disappeared. In the course of a walk throughthe midsummer woods we may neither see nor hearone. But with the proud consciousness of newclothes and the return of energy with the coolerweather, out they come from their rest-cure retreats,refreshed and even tuneful again, ready to welcomeas friend any bird of the same feather, to collect intofamily parties, or join any passing band of good fel-lows which receives not only individuals but smallroving flocks, one after another, day after day, until,perhaps, many thousands so assemble. Now themeadows and marshes are alive with swallows, and thetelegraph wires, strung with them, look like bars ofprinted music-scrolls stretched across the sky. Now,r

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