It is surprising to one who has been educated to believe that the faculty of reason belongs alone to man, to contemplate the consummate ingenuity which is displayed by these insects in their efforts to secure their eggs from the observation of their own thieving sisters, and to hide the food they have provided for their young during the period of its existence under ground. The Tarantula Killer feeds upon the honey and pollen of the flowers of the Elder, and of Vitis ampelopsis, the Virginia Creeper; but its favorite nourishment is taken from the blossoms of Asclepias quadrifolium. This species of Asclepias blooms through the summer, and the Tarantula Killer seems to know the locality of every plant. If one finds on the prairie a plant of Asclepias quadrifolium in bloom, and watches ten or fifteen minutes, he will be almost certain to see a Tarantula Killer come to it. This insect requires considerable food, as its period of life extends from the first of June until November, or till the frost destroys all the flowers, when it seems to die for want of food, as it is often seen at this time crawling about in a very feeble state. I do not think any of them ever survive the winter, as they never appear earlier than June. THE BIRDS OF SPRING. BY J. A. ALLEN. THE arrival of our birds during the spring is by no means uniform; a certain number coming one week and an equal number the next, either in the accession of species or individuals; nor is the increase regular and uninterrupted. At first the comers are uncertain, both as regards number and the time of arrival. The few that appear in March would scarce attract attention if appearing with the hosts of May, while now the animation they afford our fields and roadsides is in agreeable contrast with the dearth of bird life in winter. April brings larger additions, and May bursts upon us with such a profusion of species, that on all sides we are greeted with fluttering, restless wings and lively notes. But the increase has its intermissions; the first genial period attracts a few, but through the succeeding colder weather their numbers for weeks may scarcely increase, perhaps, indeed, if the cold prove quite severe, actually decreasing, while a following unusually mild term hastens on many that seem to have been awaiting a favorable opportunity. A cold norther occurring early in May, impedes for days the thousands of Warblers and Flycatchers that are accustomed then to migrate. The storm perchance closing at nightfall, a mild night ensues, and with the next day's sun the woods are alive with little industrious insect hunters, that the day before the most prying observer would fail to have detected; they increase with the advance of the day, and towards night the collector finds some species common, that he had looked in vain for in the morning, and the hedges suddenly become vocal with their notes. Our limits would not allow us even to enumerate all the insectivorous species, the friends of the orchardist, the gardener, the farmer, in short, of our race, and much more to describe their pleasing colors, their inspiriting songs, and their hundred interesting peculiarities of habit and mode of life; how some hunt their prey, creeping among the foliage, others pursue it in the air, or suddenly dart upon some unlucky insect as it passes their perch. Among the woodland species the very names of the warblers, the Black-throated Blue, the Black-throated Green, the Chestnut-sided, the Bay-breasted, the Yellow Red-poll, the Black-poll, the Nashville, the Cape May, the Golden-crowned, the Orange-crowned, the Blackburnian, the Golden-winged, the Spotted Canada, the Redstart, etc., some of them scarce, but most abundant for a brief period in May,―are suggestive of all that is beautiful in birds gay plumage, useful habits, and sweet warbling notes. : Among the more common and well known later emigrants, we welcome the Bobolink to our meadows, which he alone would render attractive. Brimful of animal spirits, he gaily fiddles away all the day long, perched on some tree or fence in his favorite bogs and meadows, or indulges in coquettish gambols in the air, meeting us in our walks as we approach his grounds with a confident outburst of tinkling drollery, so varied and fanciful we half imagine it to represent personal allusions of either flattery or derision. We welcome the gorgeously colored Oriole, and the chaste-robed Vireo to the orchard, where the loud trumpet notes of the former, and the soft, soothing warble of the latter, render them as agreeable as their services are valuable to the fruit-grower. We also welcome the Red Mavis, or Brown Thrush, to the hedges, the clearvoiced Veery to the swamps and moister woodlands, the twittering swallows to their homes under the eaves and in the barn lofts. Not least valued by lovers of the picturesque is the Whippoorwill, which, from the roof, the wellcurb, the door-yard fence, or the remoter precincts of the woods, is heard during morning and evening twilight, or at intervals throughout the moonlit night. During the spring months we have with us nearly every species of bird that ever visits us during the entire year, embracing of course all the resident kinds, as well as all the migratory, except a few transient winter visitors; even the greater part of these latter may be found, if not every year, at least occasionally during the early part of March. The migratory species constitute two classes, according to their range in the breeding season, viz. : those species that spend the summer with us, and those that altogether pass farther north. Compared with the birds of winter, they embrace a very much greater proportion of common species, while nearly all are regular, if not abundant visitors. The proportion of rare species is but thirty-five and one-half per cent., instead of seventysix per cent. as in winter. The number of rapacious species has hardly increased, but the insectivorous, instead of being extremely few, now constitute, taking only those strictly insectivorous, fully one-half the whole, and the diet of this remaining half (especially among the land birds) is mainly composed of insects. Such are some of the changing phases of bird life in our varied climate. In the following tabular statement we Resident, 66 66 66 250 30 Migrants that spend the summer in Land Birds, 136 3 Water 66 36 172 Migrants that pass the summer farther Land Birds, 28 Water 80 108 Birds of Prey (number of species), 18 Vireos, Wrens, etc., Herons, Plovers, Sandpipers, and Rails, Cuckoos, Woodpeckers, Night Jars, and their allies, Finches, Orioles, Blackbirds, etc., Pigeons and Grouse, 15 77 40 6 50 37 22 13 *Designed for the North-eastern States of the Union. |