Identifier: howtohavebirdnei00patt (find matches)
Title: How to have bird neighbors
Year: 1917 (1910s)
Authors: Patteson, S. Louise (Susanna Louise), 1853-1922
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: Boston, New York (etc.) D.C. Heath and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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y is that big blue and white bird with handsomecrest. In early spring he sings some pleasing notes,but in autumn and winter he is just noisy. Now hewas very still. I could just see Mrs. Bluejays headbetween two branches of a poplar tree. She had anest there, for there were tell-tale twigs hanging overon both sides. Mr. Bluejay did not want anybody tofind her, nor the nest. This was why he kept so still. The boy had scattered some peanuts on a bald spotin the yard. I asked why he did this during thesummer time. It keeps the chickadees and woodpeckers cominghere all summer, said he. As we sat there a bluejay came for a peanut andwent under a tree with it. There he punched a holein the ground with his bill and poked in the nut.Then he went to a currant bush and got a leaf.Returning to the spot where he had buried the pea-nut, he patted the leaf neatly over it. A brown and white bird about as big as a robinflew overhead singing, Killdeer killdeer as loud andas fast as he could. THE BOY 53
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A KILLDEERS NEST IN A POTATO FIELD There goes a killdeer, said the boy. So the killdeer is another bird that is named afterhis song! How easy it would be to know birds if allwere named after their song, like the chickadees andthe killdeers and the flickers, or after their colors,like the bluebirds, or after their actions, like thewoodpeckers! The boys father had found a killdeers nest in apotato field when he was plowing. We went to seethat, too. It was in a patch of ground overgrownwith weeds because the man had kindly plowedaround it. Mother Killdeer sat dutifully on the nestwhile Father Killdeer guarded the premises and told 54 HOW TO HAVE BIRD NEIGHBORS us by his various shrieks and somersaults that hewished we would not go near enough to disturbher. On the farm that day I saw the golden-throatedmeadowlark. He is another yodeler. His favoritetune is: lee-Le- o- o- loo His songs ring so clear and flute-like that I can hearhim away over at our place. He is a brown bob-tailed bird. O

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