File:Birds and nature (1904) (14568896690).jpg

Identifier: birdsnature1511904chic (find matches)
Title: Birds and nature
Year: 1900 (1900s)
Authors:
Subjects: Birds Natural history
Publisher: Chicago, Ill. : A.W. Mumford, Publisher
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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of anchor or pivot, aroundwhich the whole body swings; then lift-ing again their anchor they wheel aboutand perform two or three evolutions,again drop their anchor and at lengthform a dense close column, and ceasingwhistling, they swoop down to the fieldto forage. \\hen sprung, they rise ina dense body, but at once spread out andbegin the merry whistling. It is a pecu-liar sound of multitudinous melody,but not loud and in some respects likethe sleigh-bell chorus of the black-bird. Regarding the Lapland Longspur asit is known in its nesting home on thegrassy flats of Alaska, Mr. E, W. Nel-son has said: The males, as if con-scious of their handsome plumage,choose the tops of the only breaks inthe monotonous level which are small,rounded knolls and tussocks. The maleutters its song as it flies upward fromone of these knolls, and when it reachesthe height of ten or fifteen yards, it ex-tends the points of its wings upward,forming a large V-shaped figure, and _ r ■ ^ is i p >re ^ 3 O
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tioats gently to the ground, uttering, asit slowly sinks its liquid tones which fallin a tinkling succession upon the earand are, perhaps, the sweetest notes thatone hears during the entire spring-timeof these regions. It is an exquisite jing-ling melody, having much less powerthan that of the bobolink, but with thesame general character and, thoughshorter, it hafe even more melody thanthe song of that well known bird. Mr. Montague Chamberlin, writingof the Longspurs in Greenland, speaksof their dropping song which he de-scribes as not very long, but has a fineflute-like tone, and though agreeable tothe ear is rather melancholy, as all thenotes of this bird are. Continuing, hesays: There is no variation in thesong, nor is it repeated with great fre-quency. It is, however, the finest heardin these wilds. The Longspurs have several alarm notes, and one which isuttered when a flock is flushed, has beenlikened to that of the kingfisher, but itis neither as loud or as harsh. The nest of th

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