Scarborough High School - Four Corners Yearbook (Scarborough, ME)

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THE FOUR CORNERS 19 COMMON BIRDS OF FIELDS AND WOODLANDS Spring! “I know the song the bluebird is singing Out in the apple tree where he is swinging; Dear little blossoms, down under the snow. You must be weary of winter, I know. Hark! While I sing you a message of cheer. Summer is coming and springtime is here ” With this song the spring migration of birds starts. After March twenty-first, one begins to see in the fields red-winged black¬ birds and juncos. Also in the woodlands you see brown creepers, catbirds, and flickers. Many of these birds, which have spent I he winter in the south, migrate here in large numbers, some to stay with us in the summer, others to fly on farther north. A flock of slate-colored jnneos on the new-fallen snow is a very interesting sight on a cold winter ' s day. These birds come north with the first hard frost, and about May they leave for their northern breed¬ ing ground. In the pasture, where the trickling brook lazily finds its way, is an ideal place to find the red-winged blackbird. Usually about the first of March, the male birds arrive in flocks and may be heard singing gaily while the ground is still deeply cov¬ ered with snow. Early in April the black and white creepers appear running up and down the tree trunks looking for insects, upon which all warblers subsist. These birds build their nests in old stumps or mossy banks where bark, leaves, and hair make a downy nest for the four or five little birds. Another bird of the April migration is the bam swallow, tropical bird of the air. Up in tlie rafters of a bam or in the arch of an old bridge is an ideal place for this swallow to build his bracket-like nest of clay, mud, and straw. “Merrily swinging on brier and weed Near to the nest oE his little dame; Over the mountain-side or mead, Robert of Lincoln is telling his name: Bob-o-link, hob-o-link, Spink, spank, spink.” Thus William Cullen Bryant described (lie bobolink, which migrates to us in early May. These birds build their nests on the ground, and after midsummer the cares of I he family have so worn upon our dashing friend that his song is seldom heard. In August the bobolinks begin their journey southward, living mainly by night. Arriv¬ ing in the southern states, they become the sad-colored, low-voiced rice birds. Could there be a more tragic ending to the glori¬ ous note of the gay songster of the north? A Hasli of fire through the air; the Bal¬ timore oriole cannot be mistaken with its rich, high, whistled song. When the or¬ chards are in blossom, the male birds ar¬ rive in full plumage and song, and await the coining of the female birds that travel northward, more leisurely, in flocks. Of all the weavers that I know, The oriole is best; High upon the branches of the tree She hangs her cozy nest.” Among the thick foliage of the tallest tree, the mellow and pleasing song of the scarlet fanager may he occasionally heard after early May. These scarlet, tanagers, tlu male of which is probably the most conspicuous bird of North America, arrive in their summer coats of vivid scarlet and jet black. In addition to exhibiting fas¬ cinating qualities of color and song, the scarlet tanager is of great economic im¬ portance to us, as it is a diligent hunter of noxious insects, especially those found among tree tops.

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IS THE FOUR CORNERS starts oft with Silas air another crazy young un, named Hank. Them two ter- gether reminded me o ' wild colts, full o’ mettle an ' mischief. “Well, Silas had one o ' those new fancied roadsters, an ' he starts off with a jerk, an’ then how wc did go! I wuz so plumb sceercd out o’ me senses that 1 be¬ gan ter holler ‘whoa, ' an ' starts a-pulliid at th‘ steerin ' wheel or somethin ' . I wuz mighty nigh dead with fright when we reached Coney. “Tld first thing those young jaek-a-napes did. wuz ter buy some peanuts. ‘Eleplimit food. ' 1 calls ' em. Arter they stuffed some o ' them in me mouth so I most-a choked ter death, they wanted me ter try aid evo¬ lution thing, I guess they calls ’em. They ovolute roim ' air roun ' , air lias a hull zoo on top o’ ' em. I got astride o ' a horse but, say, tld blamed thing never budged a inch. It wuz hitched outer a pole, an ' ter find a way ter unhitch tld critter, I couldn’t ter save me soul. I wuz a-ponder in’ on this, when I saw that none o ' th’ others wuz movin’. Then all o’ a sudden, that danged ole mule gives a leap in tlr air, music starts playin’, an’ tlr hull zoo begins a-movin’ aroun ' ! That horse, he kept a-goin’ up an’ clown, up an’ down, till I wuz nigh out o’ me senses! Bless me bonnet, but I wuz! Tlr’ l oys thought it wuz gran’ an’ I sez to ’em, sez I—•Well, I’d a-rather ride ole Dynamite, tld mule ter home, twelve times a week then one o’ these things five min¬ utes’ ! sez I to ’em. “Tld nex’ thing those young scapegraces did wuz ter git me on what they calls a jack-o-tld rabbit or somethin’. But blamed if I could see a rabbit about ’em! We gets inter a little car that goes on tracks. I objected strongly, but they sez they’d let me rifle in tld back seat as it wuz safer, so 1 gets in. Well, tld thing started a-moviid. Bust we went down a little hill air 1 thought sure I wuz a-left behind,— that ' s tld way it felt, anyway. Then we crawled up a big, long hill an 1 gets kirnla nerv¬ ous for fear somethin ' would break aid we ' d go shoutin ' down backwards. We just got up on that hill aid 1 draws a full breath o’ relief, when all at once, we started a-shoot in ' down a bill,—me best bat went a-sailiid off inter tld ocean, aid I thought sure we ' d jump right off the rails inter tld ocean on tld side! I hung on tight an’ all at once we starts a-shootiid up ter heaven, aid I closed me eyes ' spoofin ' ter see St. Peter aid angels, when down we whizzed aid up we flew again so quick I thought sure me neck wuz a-comiid off me shoulders. “I wuz kimla weak when we reached tld gromd agin, aid I vowed I’d never go on one o’ them contraptions agin! Tld boys laffed an ' wanted me ter’try ‘Xoalds Ark,’ but I told ’em I wuz as near tld Promised hand as I wanted ter be an’ you kin bet 1 gived them fellers a down right good scoldin’ on how ter treat their elders an’ sieh! I made them meek as Hoses, so that they took me home without no back talk! Yes—sirce, bless me bonnet, but I did! 1 told ’em I ' d a-rather stay ter home an’ pitch hay or chop wood as hot as it wuz, than ter be a-riskin’ me life an’ losin’ me good hat in tld ocean, that Handy, me wife, had ju6t bought fer me from th 1 city.” E. L. 0., ’30.

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20 THE FOUR CORNERS Sei temuer! “The golrienrod is yellow, The corn is turning brown. The trees in apple orchards With fruit are bending down.” in another month the fall migration will start and the birds of southern winter will leave us and migrate to the southern states. Although the grosbeaks, kingfishers, fiiek- eis, hohnlinks. and other summer residents leave hen , nuthatches, woodpeckers, and jjuncos appear to stay during the long winter. The cheery, irrepressible song of the chickadee may he heard through sunshine, snow, and tempest, as he swings around the dangling cones of the evergreens. It fairly overflows with good spirit, and is never more contagiously gay than in a snowstorm. What could be more glorious than God ' s wonderful gift to nature ( SPRING FEVER Spring had come, as it often does, and Bobbie Shaftoo was in love—madly, in¬ sanely in love and crazy with jealousy over the only girl in the world, little freckle- faced Mary Jones, who lived over the corner drug store and who sold sodas. One cool and balmy evening, with just the right amount of moon. Bobbie, who was a very romantic lover, went to quote poetry to Mary and incidentally propose to her. Marv received him coolly and as he started reciting soul fully, “My Mary ' s Eyes. she informed him that she was leaving for the city next day, never to re¬ turn. and that he might he so kind as to go home so that she might sav good-bve to her real sweetheart. Bobbie plunged along the street fully convinced that his heart was broken. How could she have 1k»pu so cruel when she knew how he loved her. Never, thought Bobbie, would be look at another girl. When he reached home, his deep sorrow had turned to anger, lie slammed doors and rattled windows, threw bis coat and hat on the floor and broke several phono¬ graph records. 11 is mother, hearing the noise, came in hastily, trying to quiet him. saying his sister had a friend visiting her from school and that he ought to meet her. Bobbie furtively straightened his tie. spit on his hair and was ready, lfe was introduced to Louise Marie and after hold¬ ing her fat little paw for about live min¬ utes, promptly fell in love again. Louise Marie, who was a shy little thing, never had such a violent lover before. She was rushed here and there, danced about and compelled to listen to such poetry as she never supposed existed, for. of course, when Bobbie was in love, lie was like any man. After a month of ardent wooing. Bobbie proposed. But Louise Marie, it seems, was to 1 m married the next month and her sweetheart was coming the next day to take her home. The next day Bobbie went to the train with her. He could hardly bear to let his la-loved go out of his life forever, but if lie must he would bear it like a man. In his heart he felt that he never would recover. The train puffed in and Bobbie, his eyes puffed out from weeping, put Louise on the train and turned away. He could not trust himself to look at her again, so he resolutely fixed his eyes on the ground ahead of him. He remained this way for alxiut five minutes before he realized that he was looking at the daintiest pair of ankles that he had ever seen. Slowly lie let his eyes open and then he gasped aloud and rushed to ask the station master where that charming young lady from the train was staying. A. 1 M., ' 81.