HOMING WITH THE BIRDSThe History of a Lifetime
of Personal
Experience
With the Birds
BYGENE STRATTON-PORTER
GARDEN CITY NEW YORK DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 1920
COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF
TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES,
INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN
Thanks are due "The Youth's Companion" for the privilege of reproducing parts of two articles, published by them
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page: [vii][View Page [vii]]TO DOROTHY AND NELSON
page: [viii][View Page [viii]]NATURE BOOKS
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THE SONG OF THE CARDINAL
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FRIENDS IN FEATHERS
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BIRDS OF THE BIBLE
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MUSIC OF THE WILD
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MOTHS OF THE LIMBERLOST
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MORNING FACE
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HOMING WITH THE BIRDS
NATURE STORIES
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FRECKLES
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A GIRL OF THE LIMBERLOST
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AT THE FOOT OF THE RAINBOW
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THE HARVESTER
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LADDIE
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MICHAEL O'HALLORAN
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A DAUGHTER OF THE LAND
CONTENTS
- I. EARNING A TITLE 3
- II. A GIFT OF THE BIRDS 21
- III. BECOMING AN ILLUSTRATOR 35
- IV. THE LURE OF FIELD WORK 57
- V. UNUSUAL EXPERIENCES AFIELD 71
- VI. UNUSUAL EXPERIENCES AFIELD 97
- VII. UNUSUAL EXPERIENCES AFIELD 125
- VIII. UNUSUAL EXPERIENCES AFIELD 143
- IX. RARE PICTURES AFIELD 161
- X. RARE PICTURES AFIELD 181
- XI. LEARNING BIRD LANGUAGE 197
- XII. WHAT THE BIRDS SAY AND SING 215
- XIII. WHAT THE BIRDS SAY AND SING 239
- XIV. BIRD COURTSHIP 259
- XV. NEST BUILDING 271
- XVI. HOW THE BIRDS KNOW 307
- XVII. SHALL WE PAY OUR DEBT? 349
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- Hopewell House ii
- The Little Bird Woman 2
- Chicken Hawk Dining on Rabbit 5
- Mark Stratton 20
- A Screech Owl of the Orchard 25
- The Major and Molly Cotton 34
- Mr. Bob Black 52
- A Swamp Bird Home 54
- Limberlost Cabin, North 56
- Raymond Miller 62
- Limberlost Cabin, South 68
- Coming Through the Swamp 70
- Male Indigo Finch Brooding 74
- Nestling Cardinal Grosbeak 81
- Molly Cotton Raised the Young 86
- The Robin That Built on a Hay Rake 90
- The Robin of the Flood 92
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- Male Oriole That Hanged Himself 96
- Drunken Cedar Waxwing 109
- Carousal of Butterflies and Moths 111
- Richmond Robin from New York 124
- Shitepoke Nest Reconstructed by Cuckoo 133
- Screech Owl That Followed Call Notes 136
- Snake of the Water Hyacinths 142
- Male Cardinal Guarding His Nest 160
- Scientific Study of Young Vulture 173
- Male Robin Caring for Young 176
- Female Robin Regurgitating Berries 177
- Male Kingbird Posing 180
- Blue Heron Having "a Frog in His Throat" 183
- Brooding Jay with Sleeping Young 191
- Brooding Jay with Hungry Young 191
- Laughing Kingfisher 196
- "Hark the Caw-Bird!" 207
- Cardinal Grosbeak Singing 214
- Wren Singing 217
- Jay Bird Calling 238
- Cardinal Courtship 258
- Bridge Under Which Swallows Nest Every Year 262
- Paxon, My Limberlost Guide 267
- Cardinal Building Her Nest 270
- Paxon Working on Nest in the Limberlost 277
- Kingfisher Head, Showing Scarred Beak 283
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- Nest of Rail 288
- Wood Robin Nest of Red Roots 293
- Kingbird Nest Decorated with Cotton 293
- Nests of Various Birds Built Together 294
- Nest of Wood Robin Draped with Snake Skin 296
- Group of Nests 299
- Dove's Nest in Apple Tree 302
- Wren Nest Having Nine Eggs 302
- Archaeopteryx 306
- Oriole Nest Having a Window 314
- Reverse of Same Nest, Showing Entrance 315
- Double Vireo Nest 318
- A Late Hummingbird 321
- Hummingbird Ready to Migrate 321
- Crow Stealing Lens 323
- Robin That Migrated Early 325
- The Grebe That Will Not Fly 329
- Caterpillar of Regalis Moth 348
- Oriole Feeding Young 352
- Blue Bird Feeding Young 357
- Wren Carrying Dragonfly 358
- Regalis Moth Egg Clusters 360
- Female Regalis Moth 362
- Two Cowbirds and One Warbler 368
- Pair of Young Cowbirds 369
- Cowbird Egg in Sparrow-Nest 370
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- Cowbird Egg in Finch Nest 370
- Red-Eyed Vireo Nest with Eggs of Cowbird 370
- Domestic Hen 375
INTRODUCTION
IN THE fall of 1916, while visiting at the home of Mr. F. N. Doubleday, a member of the house which publishes most of my books, in conversation with my very dear friend Mrs. Neltje De Graff Doubleday, the author of a number of invaluable books on birds and flowers, she began to question me about unusual experiences I encountered afield. I told her some of the things here recorded, the queerest and most peculiar things that I had seen during a lifetime of personal contact with the birds. In the course of that intimate conversation, Mrs. Doubleday conceived and planned this book, feelingI hope not mistakenlythat these intimate personal experiences with birds, which so intensely interested her, would not fail to be of equal interest to other bird lovers and protectors. She felt that these records faithfully and simply set down would add very largely to the sum of human achievement in a scientific estimate of the habits and characteristics of birds. So, I have written for any one who is interested, these sketches of personal experience, as I outlined them to such a devoted lover and champion of the birds as Neltje Blanchan.
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[View Figure]
The Little Bird Woman
