Identifier: birdlifeguide00chap (find matches)
Title: Bird-life; a guide to the study of our common birds
Year: 1898 (1890s)
Authors: Chapman, Frank M. (Frank Michler), 1864-1945 Seton, Ernest Thompson, 1860-1946
Subjects: Birds -- United States
Publisher: New York, D. Appleton and company
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

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Text Appearing Before Image:
Rail, Clapper Bail which is more common, and the Clap-Eaiius crepitans. per Rail or Marsh Hen, an abundant Plate VIII. species in some of the salt marshes along our coasts from Long Island southward. It is anoisy bird with a peculiar cacklmg call which it uttersin a way that suggests the sound produced by some auto-matic toys. Its nest is made of dried grasses, the surroundingmarsh grass being slightly arched over it. Eight totwelve buffy, speckled eggs are laid, a number which,in connection with the abundance of the bird, has led tothe persistent robbing of its nests by men who sell theeggs for food. As a result of this practice the birdshave greatly decreased in numbers during recent years. The Coot, Mud-hen, or Crow-duck differs from the Rails in having lobed toes (see Fig. 12) and in bemg American Coot, ^^re aquatic. In fact, it is more like Fuiica americana. a Duck in habits than like a Rail, but Plate VIII. ^^g pointed, white-tipped biU will pre- vent its being mistaken for one.
Text Appearing After Image:
Plate XXX. Ia^e 122. KINGBIRD. Length, 8-50 inches. Upper parts grayish biaclj; tip of tail and underparts white ; an orange-red crown-patch. Young, similar, but withoutorange-red in crown. WOODCOCK. 95 It rarely breeds on the Atlantic coast, but is some-times common on our marsh-bordered streams in thefall. SHORE BIRDS. (OBDEB, LIMICOL^.) Snipes and Sandpipers. (Family Scolopacid^.) The successful pursuit of shore birds on our coastsrequires a special knowledge of their notes and habits.Thirty of the one hundred known species visit us annu-ally, but of this number only two or three nest, most ofthe others migrating in May to their breeding grounds inthe far North. The return migration takes place duringJuly, August, and Septemljer, but with some exceptionsthese birds are seen only by those who hunt them sys-tematically with decoys. Only these exceptions and our summer resident species^vill be mentioned here. Commonest among the latter Woodcock ^^ *^^® Woodcock, a bird so unlike othe

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