Identifier: birdlifeguid00chap (find matches)
Title: Bird-life; a guide to the study of our common birds
Year: 1898 (1890s)
Authors: Chapman, Frank M. (Frank Michler), 1864-1945 Seton, Ernest Thompson, 1860-1946
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: New York, D. Appleton and company
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
frightened. It thenseeks refuge by alighting in a distant bush or tree, andwith upstretched neck and twitching tail watches theintruder. The Night Heron, or Squawk, doubtless owes its escape from the fate of most Herons to its nocturnal habits. These birds arrive from the N ht H o South in April and remain until Oc- Nycticorax nycticorax tober. They nest in large colonies, a ncevius. rookery not far from New York city being inhabited by at least one thousand pairs. It is in a low, wooded tract, and the nests are built in the trees at an average height of thirty feet. The eggs number four to six, and in color are pale bluish green. At night, while feeding, these Herons are doubtlessdistributed over a wide area. When flying, they oftenutter a loud squawk, the origin of one of their commonnames. It is a surprising sound when heard near by atnight, and has doubtless aroused the curiosity of manypersons who live near a line of flight followed by thesebirds in going to and from their nests.
Text Appearing After Image:
Plate XXIX. Page 120. BUBY-THKOATED HUMMINGBIBD. Length, 3-75 inches. Adult male, upper parts metallic green; throatmetallic ruby-red; belly grayish; sides greenish. Adult female andyoung, similar, but throat white. AMERICAN BITTERN. . 93 The Bittern> or Stake Driver, is a summer resident ofour larger marshes, arriving early in April and remainingAmerican Bittern, until October. Though by no meansBotaurus lentiginosus. common, its notes are so loud and re-Piate vii. markable that even a single calling bird is more likely to attract attention than many smallerabundant species. Under favorable circumstances thesenotes may be heard for at least three fourths of a mile.They are of two kinds. One is described as the pump-ing call, and is generally written pump-er-lunJc, pump-er-lunh,pump-er-hmh, while the other is deceptively likethe sound produced by driving a stake in the mud. Mr.Bradford Torrey, one of the few ornithologists who hasobserved the bird while it was uttering these singul

Note About Images