Thursday," August 30, 1906.
PROGRESSIVE FARMER AIND COTTON PLANT.
15
YOUNG PEOPLE
AX OLD-TIME MELODY.
XVI. "When the Harvest Moon is
Shining on the River."
The nightingales are singing in the
valley;
The stars, like shining jewels, deck
the skies,
As still beside the garden gate they
linger
And whisper of a love that never
dies. m
"The summer soon will pass away,"
he murmurs,
"But when the fields are ripe with
golden grain,
Then I'll, come back to keep my lov
ing promise,
And you and I will never part
again." ,
Chorus:
When the Harvest Moon is shining on
the river,
And the merry harvest songs again
we hear,
Then as sweethearts we will roam
down the path that leads to
home;
When the harvest moon is shining,
Mollie, dear.
'Tis autumn now, and in the peaceful
valley
The paths are strewn with leaves
of red and gold,
Rut someone waits for somebody's
returning,
And dreams about the loving vows
he told.
Beneath the ocean's dancing foam
he's sleeping,
Yet oft' when sunset's crimson
turns to gray,
A woman by the garden gate is wait-
ing
For one who promised hed return
some day.
A GUARTET OF WOODLAND
DllUMMEUS.
Your Old Friends, the Woodpecker
and Sapsucker, Described by Prof.
Pearson.
The sapsucker is not the only one
that likes the sap of trees. In the
country where he makes his summer
home, insects of many kinds are said
to gather around the little wells he
makes and lean over to draw up the
sweet juice through their tube-like
mouth-parts, somewhat as a boy
might drink through a straw the
clear water, from a woodland spring.
Several kinds of little people go
there to feast; there are flies of dif
ferent sizes and colors, and there are
gnats, "and an occasional yellow jack
et. Ants, too, climb up the trees and
elbow their way among the others
for their share.
While' all this is going on, many
of the company get their feet mired
in the sticky juice which has been
spilled about, the edges of the spring
and are there held fast. Pretty soon
the sapsucker comes back for his
dinner, when lo! he finds that some
one has been stealing it from him,
and there are the little thieves caught
sure and fast. He does not appear to
be at all angry at this, but hops
about and cheerfully snaps up and
oats all the insects he can find, and
Jt urns, to catch others, buzzing near.
Some observers think that the sap
suckers do not do this very often, but
confine their diet almost entirely to
sap. It would be interesting for
some one living in the country where
the sapsucker makes his summer
From "Stories of Bird Life," by Prof. T.
Gilbert Pearson. Published by B. F. John
Bon & Co. Reprinted in The Progressive
Farmer by special permission.
home, to watch the bird closely ?and
learn to what extent he really catches
insects. -
Unlike Downy, the sapsucker never
digs into dead, wood for the larvae
of insects, and if he did his tongue is
not long enough to reach into their
holes and spear them out of their
hiding places; besides, the end of it is
more like a brush, and for this rea
son is better adapted to gathering up
sap than to spearing insects.
The flicker is more of a ground
bird than any other of our wood
peckers. He is fond of digging in
the fields and pastures for grlbs and
earthworms. His bill is not straight
and chisel-shaped at the end like that
of other members of his family, but
it is slightly curved like the bill of
a thrush and is quite pointed, a
thing which aids him much in dig
ging. He drives it into the ground
much as one might drive a pick-axe,
making the clods fly in a lively man
ner. .
Often the flicker will attack ant
hills, spading the nests out with his
powerful bill, and eating the ants and
tlfeir larvae in numbers. Different
kinds of fruit and berries, such as
cherries, mulberries and wild grapes,
add variety to his bill of fare. In
the early winter, when other fruit
has become scarce, he enjoys a few
persimmons now and then for his des
sert. But his bread of life is a diet
of ants, and he has been known to
eat as many as three thousand at a
single meal.
From five to seven white eggs are
usually laid. When all but one of
these are taken out of the nest flick
ers have been known on some occa
sions to continue laying one a day
for a long time, as does a domestic
fowl. A flicker near Greensboro, N.
C, laid in this way more than thirty.
One in Massachusetts once laid seventy-one
eggs in seventy-three days.
; Skirting a path along which I am
accustomed to pass each morning is
a row of old, scraggy locust trees.
These are the regular haunts of num
erous birds in the summer, and even
in winter they are not deserted, for
the bluebirds and meadowlarks fre
quently perch on the bare branches,
and the white-breasted nuthatches
wander much up and down the
trunks. Another bird seen here near
ly every day the past winter was a
flashing red-headed fellow with white
breast and black back. A large patch
of white also was on each wing. He
could cling to the side of a. limb,
with two toes on each foot pointed
forward and two pointed backward,
and brace himself with his tail
against the bark while he pecked on
the wood. The size and actions of
this bird of course clearly indicated
that he was a wood-pecker, and his
colors revealed his name the red
headed woodpecker.
Only a small per cent of the wood
peckers of this species spend the win
ter months in North Carolina, for
possibly, as some have suggested, the
supply of food may be limited.
The redhead is such a handsome
fellow that it is hard to think of
his ever doing anything unpleasant;
and yet at times he is a very bad bird,
probably the worst one of the whole
family. It is told of him that he will
sometimes go to other birds' nests
and eat their eggs. He is accused
not only of being a rogue, but a
murderer as well. Downey's friends,
the titmouse and the chickadee, know
him well, and it is whispered that
they have on more than one occasion
caught him plundering their nests.
There is small wonder then that Dow
ney dislikes thesredhead and often
disputes with him for the possession
of some favorite limb or post.
In summer the birds live largely
on fruit. He -will - light in J your
cherry tree, seze the ripest fruit
within reach, and in another moment
be off for some frequented limb at
the edge of the grove, where he likes
to carry his fopd before eating. ; Here
on his high dining table, he holds
the cherry down with his foot and
eats it at his convenience. Then he
wipes his bill on the limb, using the
bark for a napkin, and soon comes
back for another piece" of fruit. Be
sides plums and cherries he likes to
eat grapes and terries. Many kinds
of insects also go to supply his mouth
with good things.
The redhead visits the corn fields
during the roasting-ear time. He
will tear the husk open at the end
until he can see the milky white
grains so snugly tucked away in
rows. After eating his fill he leaves
and does not return to the same ear,
but when hunger again calls him
to the field he attacks a new one.
The corn raisers of course object to
this pilfering in their fields and some
of them make it a point to shoot at
the thief whenever they catch him
in the act.
In flying, the redhead does not
travel in a straight, even line as
many birds do, nor does he soar as
many others, but goes swinging up
and down through the air in long
billowy sweeps. When you see one
start across a wide field it is worth
the while to- stop and watch him;
the sight will well repay you.
Like the flicker, this woodpecker
digs a cavity for his nest in a dead
tree. Five eggs are generally found
in a nest. If the bird is robbed it
will not keep on laying an egg each
day, but will in the course of two
or three weeks deposit another set
of four orfive. If these are taken ,
the bird will "often try a third time to
rear a brood. I once knew a pair of
redheads which had their nest rifled
four times, nineteen eggs in all be
ing taken. Then they left their nest
in the stump and dug -out another
in a tall dead tree where the boy
who had robbed them before could
not molest them further. Late that'
summer I saw the young ones flying
about the grove with their parents.
In appearance they were much the
same as the old ones, but the head
and neck of each was a grayish
brown. Not until many months had
passed did they get their red feath
ers. The bird has many call notes, al
though It has no song. One which
it often uses in the summer resem
bles closely ; the note of the common
tree frog, and it Is said that the bird
and frog sometimes answer one an
other; each possibly thinking it is
calling to one of its own kind. The
strongest note of the redhead is given
when he sounds his love-call from
the dead resounding limb of some tall
tree. It is produced by striking the
hard wood very rapidly with his bill.
As he hears his loud stirring signal
go re-echoing through the woodland,
he settles back on his perch until,
fantly borne to his listening ears,
comes the well known answering tap
of a beloved bill, and he starts up
to sound a reply.
EDfiirectt Ho Ita"
71
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