Produced by David Garcia and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: THE TUG OF WAR--THE SHRIKE (PAGE 38)] UPON THE TREE-TOPS BY OLIVE THORNE MILLER _ILLUSTRATED BY J. CARTER BEARD_ [Illustration] BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY The Riverside Press, Cambridge Copyright, 1897, BY H. M. MILLER. _All rights reserved._ _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._ Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton and Company. _Do you ne'er think what wondrous beings these, Whose household words are songs in many keys, Whose habitations on the tree-tops even Are half-way houses on the road to heaven?_ LONGFELLOW. INTRODUCTORY. In the beginning of my study of bird life, when I had a bird-room for close observation, I was interested to see that our little neighbors in feathers possess as much individuality of character as ourselves, and in Chapters XII. and XIII. of this volume I offer two studies of that period, illustrative of the point. Thanks are due to Mr. Frederic A. Ober for the use of his notes on one of the solitaires, embodied in Chapter XII., and to the Godey Company for permission to reproduce two shrike pictures. I wish also to give credit to my daughter, Mary Mann Miller, for the minute and conscientious collection of the facts recorded in Chapters V. and VI., which for convenience are related as if they were my own observations. OLIVE THORNE MILLER. CONTENTS. UPON THE TREE-TOPS. I. TRAMPS WITH AN ENTHUSIAST 3 Hermit Thrush. _Turdus aonalaschkæ pallasii._ American Crow. _Corvus Americanus._ Sandpiper. Wilson's Thrush. _Turdus fuscescens._ Oven-bird. _Seiurus aurocapillus._ Wood Thrush. _Turdus mustelinus._ Olive-sided Flycatcher. _Contopus borealis._ Golden-winged Woodpecker. _Colaptes auratus._ Rose-breasted Grosbeak. _Habia ludoviciana._ Cow Bunting. _Molothrus ater._ White-throated Sparrow. _Zonotrichia albicollis._ Black-throated Green Warbler. _Dendroica virens._ American Robin. _Merula migratoria._ Song Sparrow. _Melospiza fasciata._ House Wren. _Troglodytes ædon._ Bobolink. _Dolichonyx oryzivorus._ Meadow Lark. _Sturnella magna._ Eave Swallow. Petrochelidon lunifrons. Ph[oe]be. _Sayornis ph[oe]be._ Shrike. _Lanius ludovicianus._ II. A MYSTERIOUS STRANGER 35 Red-headed Woodpecker. _Melanerpes erythrocephalus._ Shrike. _Lanius ludovicianus._ III. A THORN-TREE NEST 45 Shrike. _Lanius ludovicianus._ Golden-winged Woodpecker. Colaptes auratus. Least Flycatcher. Empidonax minimus. Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Coccyzus Americanus.