Identifier: alabamabirddaybo1918alab (find matches)
Title: Alabama bird day book
Year: 1918 (1910s)
Authors: Alabama. Dept. of Game and Fish Alabama. Dept. of Conservation
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: Montgomery, Ala. : Dept. of Game and Fish
Contributing Library: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Harvard University, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Ernst Mayr Library

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jay is of a dual nature.Cautious and silent in the vicinity of its nest, away from it it is boldand noisy. Sly in the commission of mischief, it is ever ready toscream thief at the slightest disturbance. As usual in such cases,its remarks are applicable to none more than itself, a fact jneighbor-ing nest holders know to their sorrow, for during the breeding sea-son the jay lays heavy toll upon the eggs and young of other birds,and in doing so deprives us of the services of species more beneficialthan itself. Approximately three-fourths of the annual food of theblue jay is vegetable matter, the greater part of which is composedof mast, i. e., acorns, chestnuts, beechnuts, and the like. Corn isthe principal cultivated crop upon which this bird feeds, but stomachanalysis indicates that most of the corn taken is waste grain. Suchnoxious insects as wood-boring beetles, grasshoppers, eggs of vari-ous caterpillars, and scale insects constitute about one-fifth of itsfood.—Farmers Bulletin.
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AMERICAN BLLK-JAV,J Life-size COPVRIQHT 1900, BV A, W. MUMfORD, CHICAGO i Alabama, ipi8. 25 SWALLOW-TAILED KITE THE swallow-tailed kite is not only one of the most commonbirds of prey in the South, but also one of the most beneficial.Its head, neck, and lower parts are white, and its back, wings, andtail, a glossy bluish black. The bird is as much at home in the air asa swift or swallow, usually feeding and drinking without alighting.Its ease and grace of movement always command admiration. This kite preys upon beetles, wasps, cotton worms, grasshoppers,and dragonflies. It takes also frogs, lizards, and small snakes. Theswallow-tailed kite seems to be entirely innocent of preying uponbirds or mammals, after the fashion of so many of its raptorial rela-tives, and on the whole is a species worthy of preservation.—W. L.M. in Farmers Bulletin. 4^ 0. ATHE PURPLE MARTIN BIRD beloved by keen-eyed Indians,Bird that never rests;Cherished, too, by Southern negroes, Who provide them nests,Know

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