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Ebook has 87 lines and 5536 words, and 2 pages

#The Best is the Cheapest#

#CROWN FOUNTAIN PENS#

#CROWN GOLD PENS#

Received Highest Awards at World's Fair, Chicago, 1893

ALL SIZES AND STYLES EVERY PEN GUARANTEED

#CROWN PEN CO., Manufacturers# 78 State Street, CHICAGO, ILL.

ALL MAKES OF FOUNTAIN AND GOLD PENS REPAIRED.

#Ride a MONARCH and keep in front#

MONARCH CYCLE MFG CO CHICAGO NEW YORK LONDON

#Harvey Medical College# CO-EDUCATIONAL.

Lectures every week day evening. Clinics all day. Four years graded course. Special three months summer course. For further information address FRANCES DICKINSON, M. D., Secy.

The "OLD Reliable" House of #"ANDREWS"# FURNISHES Everything for Schools

Rugby School Desks, Teachers' Desks and Chairs, Blackboards, Erasers, Dustless Crayons, Globes, Maps, Charts, Apparatus, etc., etc.

#The Jones Model of the Earth# shows the reliefs of the land surface and ocean bed, 20 inches diameter. Used by the Royal Geographical Society, Cornell University. Normal, and other schools of various forms and grades.

#The Deep Sea Globe.# This new 12 in. globe shows all that is seen on the common globe, but in addition the varying depths of the ocean bed, by color shading, also 500 soundings by figures.

#The A. H. Andrews Co.# CHICAGO.

Also Manufactures Office, Church and Bank Furniture.

What would #George Washington# think of Mark Hanna?

If you want to know, read #"SPIRITS OF '76,"#

#New Occasions#

A magazine of Reform; 96 pages; .00 a year; 10 cents a copy. No free samples, but to any one sending us 6 2-cent stamps we will mail a sample copy with several reform books; over 300 pages in all. Agents wanted.

#PREPARE FOR A GOOD POSITION#

#.00 For 30 Days Only# Buys the OXFORD Improved High Arm Sewing Machine, with a complete set of attachments and guaranteed for 10 years. This elegant High-Grade Folding Table Cabinet Oxford Sewing Machine sent to your own home on 80 DAYS FREE TRIAL, no money required in advance. 75,000 now in use. World's Fair Medal awarded. Silver Tea Set FREE. Buy from factory and save Dealer's and Agent's profits. Write to-day for free catalogue. Address OXFORD MDSE. CO., 300 Wabash Ave., CHICAGO, ILL.

Stays lit. Don't jolt or blow out. "Out shines them all." Standard in fame, standard in name.

#Standard Cycle Lamp.#

For sale by all Sundries dealers.

Made by Standard Carriage Lamp Co. Chicago.

Please mention "BIRDS" when you write to advertisers.

THE ROSE-BREASTED GROSBEAK.

This is an American bird, and has been described under various names by various authors. It is found in the lower parts of Pennsylvania, in the state of New York, and in New England, particularly in autumn, when the berries of the sour gum are ripe, on the kernels of which it eagerly feeds. As a singer it has few superiors. It frequently sings at night, and even all night, the notes being extremely clear and mellow. It does not acquire its full colors until at least the second spring or summer. It is found as far east as Nova Scotia, as far west as Nebraska, and winters in great numbers in Guatemala. This Grosbeak is common in southern Indiana, northern Illinois, and western Iowa. It is usually seen in open woods, on the borders of streams, but frequently sings in the deep recesses of forests. In Mr. Nuttall's opinion this species has no superior in song, except the Mocking Bird.

The Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks arrive in May and nest early in June. They build in low trees on the edges of woods, frequently in small groves on the banks of streams. The nest is coarsely built of waste stubble, fragments of leaves, and stems of plants, intermingled with and strengthened by twigs and coarser stems. It is eight inches wide, and three and a half high, with a cavity three inches in diameter and one in depth, being quite shallow for so large a nest.

Dr. Hoy, of Racine, states that on the 15th of June, within six miles of that city, he found seven nests, all within a space of not over five acres, and he was assured that each year they resort to the same locality and nest in this social manner. Six of these nests were in thorn-trees, all were within six to ten feet of the ground, near the center of the top. Three of the four parent birds sitting on the nests were males. When a nest was disturbed, all the neighboring Grosbeaks gathered and appeared equally interested.

It is frequently observed early in the month of March, making its way eastward. At this period it passes at a considerable height in the air. On the banks of the Schuylkill, early in May, it has been seen feeding on the tender buds of trees. It eats various kinds of food, such as hemp-seed, insects, grasshoppers, and crickets with peculiar relish. It eats flies and wasps, and great numbers of these pests are destroyed by its strong bill. During bright moonshiny nights the Grosbeak sings sweetly, but not loudly. In the daytime, when singing, it has the habit of vibrating its wings, in the manner of the Mocking-bird.

The male takes turns with his mate in sitting on the eggs. He is so happy when on the nest that he sings loud and long. His music is sometimes the cause of great mourning in the lovely family because it tells the egg hunter where to find the precious nest.

THE CANADA JAY.

I don't believe I shall let this bird talk to you, boys and girls, for I'm afraid he will not tell you what a funny fellow he is. Isn't he a queer looking bird? See how ruffled up his feathers are. He looks as though he forgot to fix up, just as some little boys forget to comb their hair before going to school.

Well, to tell the truth, he is a very careless bird and does very funny things sometimes. He can't be trusted.

Just listen to some of the names that people give him--"Meat Bird," "Camp Robber." I think you can guess why he is called those names.

Hunters say that he is the boldest of birds, and I think they are right, for what bird would dare to go right into a tent and carry off things to eat.

A hunter thought he would play a joke on one of these birds. He had a small paper sack of crackers in the bottom of his boat. The Jay flew down, helped himself to a cracker and flew away with it to his nest. While he was gone the hunter tied up the mouth of the bag.

In a few moments the Jay was back for more. When he saw he could not get into the bag, he just picked it up and carried it off. The joke was on the hunter after all. Look at him. Doesn't he look bold enough to do such a trick?

Look back at your February number of "BIRDS" and see if he is anything like the Blue Jay.

He is not afraid of the snow and often times he and his mate have built their nest, and the eggs are laid while there is still snow on the ground. Do you know of any other birds who build their nests so early?

There is one thing about this bird which we all admire--he is always busy, never idle; so we will forgive him for his funny tricks.

THE CANADA JAY.

Many will recognize the Canada Jay by his local names, of which he has a large assortment. He is called by the guides and lumbermen of the Adirondack wilderness, "Whisky Jack" or "Whisky John," a corruption of the Indian name, "Wis-ka-tjon," "Moose Bird," "Camp Robber," "Hudson Bay Bird," "Caribou Bird," "Meat Bird," "Grease Bird," and "Venison Heron." To each of these names his characteristics have well entitled him.

The Canada Jay is found only in the more northern parts of the United States, where it is a resident and breeds. In northern Maine and northern Minnesota it is most common; and it ranges northward through the Dominion of Canada to the western shores of Hudson Bay, and to the limit of timber within the Arctic Circle east of the Rocky Mountains.

Mr. Manly Hardy, in a special bulletin of the Smithsonian Institution, says, "They are the boldest of our birds, except the Chickadee, and in cool impudence far surpass all others. They will enter the tents, and often alight on the bow of a canoe, where the paddle at every stroke comes within eighteen inches of them. I know nothing which can be eaten that they will not take, and I had one steal all my candles, pulling them out endwise, one by one, from a piece of birch bark in which they were rolled, and another pecked a large hole in a keg of castile soap. A duck which I had picked and laid down for a few minutes had the entire breast eaten out by one or more of these birds. I have seen one alight in the middle of my canoe and peck away at the carcass of a beaver I had skinned. They often spoil deer saddles by pecking into them near the kidneys. They do great damage to the trappers by stealing the bait from traps set for martens and minks, and by eating trapped game. They will sit quietly and see you build a log trap and bait it, and then, almost before your back is turned, you hear their hateful "Ca-ca-ca," as they glide down and peer into it. They will work steadily, carrying off meat and hiding it. I have thrown out pieces, and watched one to see how much he would carry off. He flew across a wide stream and in a short time looked as bloody as a butcher from carrying large pieces; but his patience held out longer than mine. I think one would work as long as Mark Twain's California Jay did trying to fill a miner's cabin with acorns through a knot hole in the roof. They are fond of the berries of the mountain ash, and, in fact, few things come amiss; I believe they do not possess a single good quality except industry."

Its flight is slow and laborious, while it moves on the ground and in trees with a quickness and freedom equal to that of our better known Bluejay.

The nesting season begins early, before the snow has disappeared, and therefore comparatively little is known about its breeding habits. It is then silent and retiring and is seldom seen or heard. The nest is quite large, made of twigs, fibres, willow bark, and the down of the cottonwood tree, and lined with finer material. The eggs, so far as is known, number three or four. They are of a pale gray color, flecked and spotted over the surface with brown, slate gray, and lavender.

THE PURPLE GALLINULE.

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