A Bit about Autumn Birds.
Heretofore I have only occasionally seen a ruby-throated humming-bird around my home. This fall they are very common. The gentleman who lives next door is a florist, and this year planted a long row of different varieties of nasturtiums. In September, when school began, I spent my afternoons studying in the hammock. At first I noticed only a few birds, but as the month wore on they became more numerous. About the middle of the month I could always see several of them poised in the air before the blossoms, their throats gleaming with metallic lustre.
There was a small pear-tree with scanty foliage near the flowers. Many a time I have seen the birds light on some slender dead twig and daintily arrange their plumage with their bills, then shoot off like a flash to gather some more nectar or to indulge in a turn at watching their little ones. The flowers climbed the fence and came over into our yard before the month was over, and then I could watch them from my hammock without sitting up. Several times I have approached the fence as noiselessly as I could and looked over to find myself within a few feet of a ruby-throat.
I have witnessed several severe battles between the males. They would fly this way and that, shoot upwards and then downwards, sometimes uttering a not unmusical squeak. Before September was over my feathered jewels were gone. My neighbor florist also planted some sunflowers near the fence. They grew to be about six feet high. As he did not pick the blossoms they went to seed, and during the latter part of September and the first part of October the vicinity of the plants has been the battle-ground of the English sparrows—a regular "Delmonico's" for thistle-birds.
While the seeds lasted there was always a flock of birds around clinging to the swaying stalks or picking the seeds up off the ground. The English sparrows are the same that they were in the spring, but the thistle-bird is quite different. That little ball of feathers had given up his gaudy yellow colors and black cap and wing coverts, for a general color of dark olive with the above-mentioned black parts of a dirty blackish-brown. The American goldfinch or thistle-bird or wild canary or yellow-bird is about four and a half inches long, and in the spring has a general color of yellow with a black topknot, wings, and tail.
Albert W. Atwater, R.T.K.
Springfield, Mass.
A Florida Prairie.
How different is one of our prairies from those out West! Ours are low, flat, clay ground sometimes hundreds of acres in extent. Not very large, you say. These prairies are interspersed with large groups of shrubbery and palmetto, which stand alone on this wide expanse of marshy land. In the rainy season these prairies are covered from six inches to a foot deep in the water. Sportsmen in water-proof boots used to tramp through the water, and many a wild-duck did they bring down. Ducks are scarce now. But if the ducks are gone, the prairie abounds in game in spring-time and autumn. Then the sportsman is in his element—rabbits and quail galore. At night the boys blow up their dogs and go 'coon and 'possum hunting, which sport is one of the most exhilarating and fun-producing I know of.
Harry R. Whitcomb.
Umatilla, Fla.