O U T W I T H T H E B I R D S HAMILTON M . LAING I llus trated with P hotog raphs NEW ! ORK OUTING PUB LISHING COMPAN! MCMXIII OP ! RI G H T 1 9 13 B ! C , , OUTING PUB LISHING COMPA All rig hts reserved CONTENTS WHE RE S PRIN G COMES I JATE AN AP RIL HI R E WHERE S PRING AN D S UMMER MEET ON THE STAM PING GROUND — MO THER SHRIKE T H E STO LID ONE T HE DUC K-MOTHERS S OME LITTL E OW L S S P ! ING FROM TH E E L M -CL UM P HOB NO B B ING WITH THE T HIC KE T B IRDS S OME HARML ESS H UN TING I N THE OO! ! P LAC ES T H E B IRD-DIAR! OF LONE TE PEE I N Q UEST OF A NIGHT B OOST A MI X-U P WITH THE LAUGHERS WAT C HING THE DA! DIE T H E P -T IL D G I WIN TE R XVI . SHAR A E ROUSE N I LLUSTRATIONS The Concourse on the Mud - B ank Frontispiece FAC I NG P AGE H e knows that he is p rot ect ed 1 6 There were more on the water 1 6 Night roost of a sharp - tail 24 A little red s parrow hawk 2 4 Lesser snow goose 32 ’ H utchin s goose 32 They were a gay throng 4 0 — 4 Canad a geese gander on g uard 0 Whirr and grand right and left 4 8 At the first peep of day 4 8 - — ! oung long ear just a little stretch 5 6 — B urrowing owls persuaded to smi l e 5 6 H er greenheaded mate was at the slough 641 Rewarded for her long V igil 64 Drowsing in their one-legged way 64s 2 They flew at each other 7 A tempting pot- shot for the lens 80 8 Turtle or mournin g dove on her nest 8 Franklin ’ s gulls following the plow 8 8 The mouth of the creek was well peopled 9 6 - k 1 1 2 A helter skelte r departure from the cree mouth 1 1 2 Getting away in a hurry ILLUSTRATIONS FACI N G ! ellow-legs were probing in the shallows They employed both wings and legs Freely would her life have been gi ven - — ! oung red tail the cause of the trouble in the oaks a The undulating, loose companies of the little bl ck headed Franklin ’ s gulls B lack marsh terns Along the shore-line Marsh terns and sandpipers - — B lack crowned night herons well fledged young Crows began to gyrate in different directions E very single one a prehistoric nightmare There was a scramble from the mud-bank The waders love a pasture shore Saw the leading goose collapse The crows c ame home Sharp -tail a few feet from the door OUT WITH THE B I RDS OUT WITH THE BIRDS CHAPTER I WHERE SPRING COM ES L ATE PRING is slow in getting up to the North ’ 5 o s in ward, beyond the , in the land plains i reg on, and though it is the first day of is t oo March, it not yet late to don the Old snow out see shoes, shoulder the kodak, and sally to - T O how the wild folk are living . a casual eye the Manitoba landscape may look as typically r wint y as it did two months earlier . The fields n and meadows, white and lonely as a vast, froze sea a , stretch off into the horizon ; the copses p pear as leaden as when December locked up their i dif ! sh vering nakedness . But there is a ference the fields are now more dazzlingly bright in the ascending sun ; and in the woods little thawed spots Show up on the south side Of stump or l fa len tree . Now also the snow is much packed, w not by thaws, but by its own eight, and snow i S O to out shoe ng is a delight . it is good swing the ttl t l - r of li e own, eave the iron hard winte , 13 1 4 OUT WITH THE BIRDS i tra l, and visit the places given over to the wild wood creatures, during the long winter silence . h Even wit in the town, evidences are not lack ll ing to Show that the visit is only a retur n ca . For around the railway loading platform, and of the grain elevators, in the heart the town, are - - the chain tracks of the sharp tailed grouse, and here before the last house on the outskirts, are - some twenty five of the birds themselves . The owner being of a charitable turn , has scattered of grain in front the house, and the birds are having their afternoon meal . Some satisfied ’ fiufi ed fellows , up and apparently half asleep, on are perched the fence palings , a few feet from his door . However wild and knowing this grand is - game bird in October, the stern mid Winter reduces him to another frame Of mind . Not that he needs to be dependent, for there are of bushels hawthorn apples, rose hips, snowberry i fruit, and tree buds for him, even during w nters Of deepest snow . He j ust knows that he is pro tect ed ratifies . now, and so g his taste for grain - Twice a day, before sunrise and in mid after noon, they come thus to the spread provided for them . They now seem to have almost forgotten - the twenty day open season during October, WHERE SPRING COME S LATE 1 5 when khaki -colored gun men flushed them from thickets—then as a rule very much more remote from town . With the first big spring thaw they will become mad wild again and be pensioners no longer. mi out n A quarter of a le from tow , are found - the sharp tail dormitories, located in a hollow in - the scrubby sand hills . Like the other grouse, s these birds work them elves down into the soft, dry snow and keep hidden below the surface . n Judging by the tracks, they use both wi gs and feet in the burrowing operations . They always is hide thus for the night, if the snow dry and light, and usually also during the early after - noon . Probably the sharp tail thus bedded sleeps much warmer on a cold night than when roosting on the sur face during a warmer spell . For very Obvious reasons they never burrow into the soggy snow during mild spells . A whole flock will burrow in the same little hollow, but unlike their quail cousins, no two of them will sit together . The prudent sharp -tail never comes out where he enters—always gets in at one side of the bed i and out at the other . When g o ng to bed, he gets himself covered and then tunnels ahead 1 6 OUT WITH THE BIRDS horizontally, pulling the hole in after him by filling the space behind him . This has several ! advantages foxes, coyotes, weasels , etc have sharp noses, but not keen enough to locate Often the exact spot occupied by the sleeping grouse, hidden in the snow, without prematurely disturb ing him and causing him to burst out explosively. Owls, too, are thus prevented from pouncing upon the sleeper . Doubtless , also, the bed is much warmer than if the bird was sitting at the end of a long, open tunnel , with a large air a wi space . The larger illustration shows bed th a x a very short tunnel . The bird entered t and - emerged at y . At z is a tiny peep hole, for some reason burst out through the snow . But the sharp -tails are not the only denizens - of the sand hills . Here, scudding up the side of ff a knoll between two blu s, are the tracks of a little hare, heading for cover, and nearby, around the side Of the same knoll , are the prints of of so- his larger cousin the plains, the called - jack rabbit . The little fellow stopped a mo o ment n the hillside to listen . Note how dif fere tl n y the big hare sets down his feet . The prints are really smaller, but Show a much greater spread between them . This big chap He Knows He Is Protected ! Page 14 ) T M here Were ore on the Wate r ! Pa ge 2 6 ) 1 8 OUT WITH THE BIRD S on th—e plains and no landscape is too bleak and wind swept for him . One does not need to fol hi low s shapely, pattern tracks far to note that - he is not such a pruning knife as the bush hare, but that he prefers rather to nibble the grasses and weeds . He does , however, consume a good quantity Of twigs . Here he has visited the silver berry thicket on the knoll and cut Off a number of dwarfish twigs, and next he has called at the , - - half buried, snow berry clumps, and nibbled Off - the bunches of sweetish, frost ripened berries . — on Here but slow, twenty yards away the south side of a scrubby knoll , is something that might be Jack himself . It is just a small rounded mound, even whiter than the snow, and - a hundred snow shoers might pass it, but the - two round black eyes and the black ear tips, him pulled down tight along his back, g ive away .