Gray Lady and the Birds: Stories of the Bird Year for Home and SchoolWright, Mabel Osgood
General
Gray Lady and the Birds: Stories of the Bird Year for Home and School
Wright, Mabel Osgood
Birds -- Juvenile literature; Birds -- New England
Tree Swallow. The Tree Swallow, as is well known, has been
persecuted by the English Sparrow until it has entirely
abandoned many districts where formerly it abounded. An
energetic war on the English Sparrow, and the careful protection
of the Swallow domiciles, in a few years would result in a
complete change of the situation, so far as this, one of the
most beneficial of the Swallow tribe, is concerned.
Barn Swallow. The Barn Swallow formerly was abundant throughout
the northern states, especially in New England. The tightly
built modern barn, however, no longer invites the presence of
the Barn Swallow by affording it friendly shelter, and the birds
are becoming scarcer and scarcer. To provide openings in modern
barns, and to encourage the presence in them of colonies by
providing convenient nesting sites are easy and effective
methods by which this beautiful species may be greatly increased
in numbers. This bird also requires protection from the English
Sparrow, which in one foray has been known to kill the young and
destroy the eggs of a large colony.
Bank Swallow. The well known Bank Swallow, as its name implies,
nests in sand-banks in holes of its own digging. Some farmers in
the northern states take special pains to protect their colonies
of Bank Swallows from the marauding of the prowling cat. Some
even take pains to excavate suitable banks on their farms and
devote them to the exclusive use of the Swallows. Gravel and
sand-banks are so numerous throughout the north, especially in
New England, that at trifling expense the number of colonies of
Bank Swallows may be vastly increased, to the advantage of every
farmer north and south, and to that of every nature lover as
well.
Cliff Swallow. The curious pouch-shaped mud structures of the
Cliff Swallow, attached under eaves or to the face of cliffs,
are a sight familiar enough in the northern and western states,
but in the cotton states, save Texas alone, they are wanting,
the bird that makes them being exclusively a migrant. The
English Sparrow persecutes also the Cliff Swallow; hence, in the
north, the bird is much less common than formerly. In Germany
the presence of Swallows around houses is so much desired that
artificial nests made of clay or other material are put up in
order to attract birds by saving them the labour of constructing
their own domiciles. No doubt our own Cliff Swallows would be
quick to respond to a similar offer of ready-made dwellings,
rent free, and in this way the range of this extremely useful
species might be materially increased. The Cliff Swallow is one
of the most indefatigable insect destroyers extant, and every
motive of patriotism and humanity should prompt communities
among which they live to protect and foster them in every
possible way.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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