Essays of E. B. White (44 page)

Mr. William Brewster, of Concord. Was standing by corner of one of his barns. Phoebe pursued by sharp-shinned hawk used Brewster's body as shield in eluding hawk. No date.

Dr. P. L. Hatch. While riding across Minnesota prairie during winter gale, temperature 46° below zero, saw sharp-shinned hawk seize snow bunting at high speed. No date.

Mr. H. H. Waterman, of Auburn, Maine. Saw Cooper's hawk plunge flicker in roadside ditch containing one foot of water, hold it under for three minutes. May 15, 1921.

Dr. C. Hart Merriam. Attacked by enraged goshawk for defending hen. Hen hid under catnip plant during melee, remained there for five hours following encounter. October 3, 1882.

Mr. M. Semper, of Mapes P. O., British Columbia. Was at neighbor's house sharpening a mower sickle, saw golden eagle seize neighbor's little girl, Ellen Gibbs, by arm. Mr. Semper kicked eagle with no effect. Girl's mother appeared, decapitated eagle with good effect. No date.

Mrs. Elizabeth Caswell. Saw bald eagle fly directly at her house. Before reaching house, eagle swooped down, picked up what seemed to be large rat. Mrs. Caswell surprised at this. No date.

Mr. Eugene P. Bicknell. Saw duck hawk capture monarch butterfly on the wing. Hawk appeared to release prey in disgust. November 12, 1922.

Mr. Aretas A. Saunders. Heard sparrow hawk, while hovering, squeal like mouse. Hawk possibly trying to entice mouse from concealment. No date.

Friend of Mr. Forbush's, no name. Bought farm in Touisset, found osprey's nest atop chimney. Ospreys in charge of premises. Owner removed nest. Birds immediately began rebuilding, using sticks, clods, and stones. Owner, now desperate, shot female. Male went off, returned a few hours later with another mate. Pair went on with rebuilding operations. Filled chimney from bottom to top with sticks, stones, and rubbish. Owner accepted challenge, shot both birds. Large section of chimney had to be removed on one side, for removal of material choking flue. Perseverance. No date.

Dr. Anne E. Perkins, in letter from Helmuth, New York. Picked up pellets of barred owl, found they contained pig bristles and a piece of broken bone. March 23, 1925.

Mr. Joseph B. Underhill. Caught and confined male great horned owl. In return, was struck and injured by female owl. Much blood spilled. 1885.

Miss Florence Pease. Reported large owl with steel trap on one leg alighted on factory in Connecticut. Incident caused so much excitement among workers, plant was shut down for the day. 1919.

Mr. Zenas Langford, of Plymouth. Told Mr. J. A. Farley he witnessed struggle between great horned owl and blacksnake. Owl caught snake, snake twisted self around owl so latter unable to fly, fell to ground with prey. Owl held snake six inches below head, snake threw turn around owl's neck. Owl nearly exhausted but retained grip. Mr. Langford killed snake (four feet), wrapped owl in blanket, took it home, kept it a week, let it go. No date.

Mr. R. J. Gregory, of Princeton. Saw snowy owl perch in tree, devour a bird—a meadowlark. After the meal, owl dropped to ground, washed face in snow, pushing its head through the snow “in a manner similar to the way cats have been known to act.” (Author's note: Dachshunds have also been known to act this way, using broadloom carpet instead of snow.)

Mr. F. H. Mosher (“a competent observer”). Watched yellow-billed cuckoo eat 41 gypsy caterpillars in fifteen minutes. Later saw another cuckoo eat 47 forest tent caterpillars in six minutes.

Mr. J. L. Davison, of Lockport, New York. Found a black-billed cuckoo and a mourning dove sitting together in a robin's nest. Nest contained two eggs of cuckoo, two of dove, one of robin. Bad management. June 17, 1882.

Mrs. Mary Treat. Watched kingfisher that commonly fished near her windows, observed that when water was too rough for fishing, bird visited sour-gum tree
(Nyssa aquatica)
and greedily devoured berries, afterward regurgitated pellets of seeds in same manner it ejected scales and bones of fish. No date.

Mrs. Gene Stratton Porter. Examined food remains in nest of kingfisher, found one-tenth of them to be nearly equally divided between berry seeds and the hard parts of grasshoppers. Exacting work but easier than writing. No date.

Mrs. W. F. Eldredge, of Rockport. Reported downy woodpecker had chiselled nest hole through cement filling of hollow limb. Spring of 1919.

Mrs. Arthur Caswell, of Athol. Saw three downy woodpeckers busy tapping maple trees near her windows. Suet was fastened to tree trunks. Woodpeckers would fill up on suet, then chase it with deep draughts of sap. No date.

Mr. Charles E. Bailey, assistant to Mr. Forbush. Observed downy woodpecker climb over and inspect 181 woodland trees between 9:40
A.M.
and 12:15
P.M.
and make 26 excavations for food. (At this point, Mr. Bailey presumably began thinking about food himself.) March 28, 1899.

Mr. Harry E. Woods, of Huntington. Watched pair of yellow-bellied sapsuckers feeding their young on insects. Each insect was taken by the bird to a tree in which was a hole the size of a quarter; insect was soaked in sap, then fed to young. Principle of the cocktail-hour dip. No date.

Major Charles Bendire. Witnessed tryst of whippoorwills. “I happened to be in a little outbuilding, some 20 feet in the rear of the house at which we were stopping, early on the evening of the 24th, about half an hour after sundown, when I heard a peculiar, low, clucking noise outside, which was directly followed by the familiar call of ‘whip-poor-will.' . . . Directly alongside of the small outbuilding previously referred to, a barrel of sand and lime had been spilled, and from the numerous tracks of these birds, made by them nightly afterwards, it was evident that this spot was visited regularly, and was the trysting place of at least one pair. Looking through a small aperture, I saw one of the birds waddling about in a very excited manner over the sand-covered space, which was perhaps 2 by 3 feet square, and it was so much interested in its own performance that it did not notice me, although I made some noise trying to fight off a swarm of mosquitoes which assailed me from all sides. Its head appeared to be all mouth, and its notes were uttered so rapidly that, close as I was to the bird, they sounded like one long, continuous roll. A few seconds after his first effort (it was the male) he was joined by his mate, and she at once commenced to respond with a peculiar, low, buzzing or grunting note, like ‘gaw-gaw-gaw,' undoubtedly a note of approval or endearment. This evidently cost her considerable effort; her head almost touched the ground while uttering it, her plumage was relaxed, and her whole body seemed to be in a violent tremble. The male in the meantime had sidled up to her and touched her bill with his, which made her move slightly to one side, but so slowly that he easily kept close alongside of her. These sidling movement were kept up for a minute or more each time; first one would move away, followed by the other, and then it would be reversed; both were about equally bold and coy at the same time. Their entire lovemaking looked exceedingly human, and the female acted as timid and bashful as many young maidens would when receiving the first declarations of their would-be lovers, while the lowering of her head might easily be interpreted as being done to hide her blushes. Just about the time I thought this courtship would reach its climax, a dog ran out of the house and caused both to take flight.” 1895.

Mr. Manly Hardy. Camped on island off Maine coast. The discarded red shells of cooked lobsters were all about. Ruby-throated hummingbird suddenly appeared out of fog, went from shell to shell under impression they were flowers. 1895.

Miss Inez A. Howe. Observed courtship of pileated woodpeckers. Birds met in treetop, spread wings to full width, danced, balanced before each other, bowed to each other, kissed, then repeated performance. Miss Howe greatly impressed by this pretty sight. April 23, 1921, in the morning.

Mr. Franklin P. Cook, of Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Found phoebe's nest inside field-telephone box on rifle range. Firing of long-range rifles did not disturb birds in the least. No date.

Mr. Frithof Kumlien. Tells of an old, worn, partly blind blue jay that was fed, tended, and guarded by his companions, who never deserted him. They regularly guided him to a spring, where he bathed.

Mr. J. N. Baskett. Saw blue jay lift wing, rub walnut leaves into feathers underneath. No date.

Miss Grace Ellicott, of Newcastle, Indiana. Saw blue jay pick ants from anthill, tuck them under wing for safekeeping. 1908.

Mrs. Arthur Caswell, of Athol, again. Three crows came to large oak tree near her home. First one, then another held its head down to have its feathers dressed by the others. Afterward, they presented one another with little sticks, and touched beaks together. No date.

Mr. Adelbert Temple, of Hopkinton. Pet crow went ice fishing with Temple's son. Crow sprang the tilts, one after another; laughed after each episode. No date.

Mr. Frank E. Peck, of Wareham. As child, was playing with silver shoe buckle tied to ribbon. Male Baltimore oriole spied ribbon, swooped down, seized it. Later, ribbon and buckle were seen to be woven into nest, giving nest bright appearance. No date.

Mr. E. O. Grant again. Saw farmer near Patten, Maine, sitting on a snowdrift about fifteen feet high, surrounded by a hundred redpolls. Birds perched on farmer's head and shoulders. One sat on knee. Farmer told Grant he had enjoyed the previous half hour more than any other period in his life. March 23, 1926.

Mr. William Holden, of Leominster, and neighbor Mr. E. R. Davis. These two men had fed birds, including pine siskins. Because Mr. Davis was late riser, siskins entered his bedroom, pulled his hair, tweaked his ears, to induce him to uncover seed dish. One morning, Mr. Davis, in an experimental mood, covered his head, leaving only small hole through which to observe birds. One bird discovered peephole, reached in, tapped Mr. Davis on forehead. March 1926.

Mr. B. H. Newell, of City Point, Maine. Female house sparrow removed eggs from thirty-five cliff swallows' nests at his place. Sparrow drove bill into egg after egg, dropped eggs to ground. No date.

Mr. H. C. Denslow. Timed the chirps of a Henslow's sparrow, which sings in its sleep. Found they came eight to the minute.

Miss Viola E. Crittenden, of North Adams. Chipping sparrow had nest not far from robin's next under construction. Chippy very kindly brought straws, dropped them into unfinished structure for convenience of robin. This occurrence considered unique by Mr. Forbush. No date.

Mr. Henry Hales, of Ridgewood, New Jersey. Male scarlet tanager so anxious to become father that he started tending young chipping sparrows nearby, who hatched before his own brood.

Miss Clara E. Reed. Tells of cliffswallow nest that fell, carrying young birds along with it. Birds were put in strawberry basket, which was then hung where nest had been. Parent birds accepted situation, lined basket with mud, raised young. Liked basket-nest well enough to return to it next year. No date.

Mrs. Chester Bancroft, of Tyngsborough. Reported to Thornton Burgess she saw large bullfrog with barn swallow in mouth. Mr. Burgess relayed information to Mr. Forbush. Summer of 1927.

Miss Dorothy A. Baldwin, of Hardwick. Observed inconstancy in female tree swallow. Entertained young male when husband off somewhere. Happened again and again. One day, female left with interloper. Mate mourned for day, then disappeared, leaving eggs cold in deserted nest. Broken home. No date.

Mr. John Willison. In woods behind Mayflower Inn, at Manomet Point, came upon gay crowd of cedar waxwings swigging ripe choke-cherry juice. All birds had had one too many, were falling-down drunk. (Social drinking a common failing of waxwings.) No date.

Mr. William C. Wheeler. Whistled song of robin as he approached northern shrike. (There are all kinds of bird people and they are up to all kinds of stunts.) Shrike mimicked song, repeated it three times. No date.

Mr. Neil F. Posson. Credits yellow warbler with 3,240 songs a day, or 22,680 a week. 1892.

Dr. H. F. Perkins. Found yellow warbler's nest six stories high with a cowbird's egg on every floor. The warblers, each time they discovered a stranger's egg in the nest, built on top of it, thus burying the egg. No date.

Miss Fannie. A. Stebbins. Young pine warbler was detained for three days in schoolroom in Springfield. Parents flew in at the window during school sessions, fed bird. No date.

Mr. Arthur T. Wayne. Wore out suit of clothes pursuing Louisiana water thrush through dense swamp in South Carolina during one entire week. Failed to get bird. No date.

Mr. Arthur W. Brockway. Female Maryland yellowthroat found shoe left out on underpinning of house. Bird built nest in shoe, laid five eggs, began to incubate, was attacked by dog. 1899.

Mrs. George H. McGregor, of Fall River. While sitting on front porch one evening, heard catbird sound “Taps.” Believes bird picked it up from hearing it played at burial services in nearby cemetery. No date.

Mrs. Jean E. Carth. Heard brown thrasher imitate frog. No date.

Owner of a barn in Fairhaven (no name given). Had pair of Carolina wrens build nest in basket containing sticks of dynamite. No untoward results. No date.

Mrs. Daisy Dill Norton. Found female house wren nesting in bluebird nest box, with no mate. Little wren busy and happy with domestic chores, allowed no other bird near, male or female; whiled away time by laying eggs. Laid, it turned out later, twelve. No date.

Miss Elizabeth Dickens. While on Block Island saw brown creeper climbing cow's tail. No date.

Miss Mabel T. Tilton, of Vineyard Haven. Became friendly with redbreasted nuthatch. Bird made use of her hand to warm its feet, took many liberties with her fingernails. No date.

Mrs. Olive Thorne Miller. Reported case of female tufted titmouse stealing hair from gentleman in Ohio for use in nest building. Bird lit on gentleman's head, seized a beakful, braced itself, jerked lock out, flew away, came back for more. Gentleman a bird lover, consented to give hair again. No date.

Reverend William R. Lord. Talked to robin in low, confidential tone. Bird liked this, followed Lord. No date.