The photographs illustrate some of our tenants. We are putting up this winter many more houses on the rest of the farm, as, up to this time, our efforts have been confined to the ten acres nearest the house.
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A FLICKER'S NEST BOX ON AN APPLE TREE ONLY TWELVE YARDS FROM THE HOUSE AND BORDERING THE DRIVEWAY. In this same tree, also, a pair of Robins and a pair of Chipping Sparrows nested in 1915. | A BOX OCCUPIED BY FLICKERS AND WRENS When the Flickers came back the second year (1915), they tried to excavate a new door to their house, on the opposite side from that shown in the picture, but soon desisted, leaving a hole about 2 inches deep. Later a pair of Wrens built a nest in the new hole, so that in 1915 a brood of Flickers and a brood of house Wrens were living in the box at the same time. Note the Flicker’s head in the doorway. |
We have already found the following birds nesting on some part of the 100 acres of field and woods: Flicker, Robin, Catbird, Bluebird, Orchard Oriole, House Wren, Purple Martin, Summer Warbler, Brown Thrasher, Chipping Sparrow, Phœbe, Barn Swallow, Grasshopper Sparrow, Whip-poor-will, Towhee, Indigo Bunting, Black-and-White Warbler, Song Sparrow, Meadowlark, Chat, Maryland Yellowthroat, Field Sparrow, Cardinal, Red-eyed Vireo, Ovenbird, Wood Thrush, Scarlet Tanager, Acadian Flycatcher, Great Crested Flycatcher, Mourning Dove, Kingbird, Red-headed Woodpecker, Wood Pewee, Bob-white, Chickadee, Titmouse, White-breasted Nuthatch, Carolina Wren, Mockingbird, Goldfinch, Crow, Bluejay, Downy Woodpecker, Hairy Woodpecker, Barred Owl, Screech Owl, Sparrow Hawk, Red-shouldered Hawk, Redstart, Yellow-throated Vireo, Cedarbird, Vesper Sparrow, Louisiana Water-thrush, and Ruby-throated Hummingbird.
We had, in 1915, seventy-five pairs of Martins in an area of approximately ten acres, and expect to have a great many more than this in 1916. We had one pair of Red-shouldered Hawks nesting in our woods, and kept them for two years; but they developed such fondness for poultry, being caught repeatedly thieving, that finally we had to shoot them.
We have in the woods a splendid pair of Barred Owls. They come around the barns at night, and I suspect them also of attempts at chicken-thieving, but they are too handsome and rare a bird in these parts to shoot. We have nothing good to say of the Screech Owl, which we suspect of having been the cause of the mysterious disappearance of many young birds from the nests.
If any one wants excitement, I suggest that he buy or borrow a stuffed Owl, and put it out in the garden in the daytime during the nesting season. All the birds in the neighborhood will soon congregate, and the children will learn the birds quicker than in any other way.
By GARRETT NEWKIRK
In this divine cathedral grand,
O’erborne by silent awe I stand,
When, friendly greets me, near at hand,
The Robin in Yosemite.
Beneath high wall and towering dome,
By roaring rapids dashed with foam,
I hear the old, sweet voice of home—
The Robin in Yosemite.