Our Birds in Their Haunts; A Popular Treatise on the Birds of Eastern North America (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. OPEN WINTER. THE frost and snow of early winter have softened, ere the middle of the season, into such mild days, fields so green and skies so tender, that one almost imagines himself in some southern clime. Rain falls as easily as in April, and the air is laden with a genial vapor, which almost threatens to bring out the buds. What happy moments were those this morning, as I sat in my study, by the large window facing the east, and watched the coming of the morning ! It was announced by a delicate, rosy tint, stretching like a band along the horizon a fringe, where the deep blue touched the darkened landscape. Anon, the lambent flame pervades the whole chamber of the east, transfiguring space itself, and strikingly in contrast with the clouds in the foreground still sable under the shadows of retreating night. Now these dark clouds themselves have caught the glow and are soon turned into amber and gold. The rosy flames rise higher and higher, till they touch the zenith; and now a broad band of rich, transparent green unrolls along the horizon, and the whole heaven is aglow with the glory of the coming day. THE QUAIL. I must out, and away to the woods ! Passing through a large peach-orchard, just before entering a beautiful, parklike forest, I put up a small flock of Quails. They are now a rarity in Orleans County, New York, so much so that laws have been passed in this and adjoining counties giving them special protection throughout the year. But who could wantonly injure a Quail ? This is surely the most winning game-bird in our land. Who can blame certain tenderhearted little children, who will not accept any apology whatever, for taking the life of one of them ? The flight of the Quail on being startled is quite like that of the Partridge, except t...