Bird lore - Project Puffin

292 Bird - Lore
From this seventh nest there was just one bird, hatched about September
I. It left the nest September 11, and that same morning the male went
away. He was neither seen nor heard for ten days.
The mother bird cared for this young one about the yard for four days,
then called it toward the thickets along the creek.
Again a query. Why did the male desert after so faithfully caring for
mate and young all the season?
His brilliant suit was worn and shabby, and no doubt he was tired. Was
he afraid she would build again? Before the end of the month he was placidly
taking food regularly at the same old place, his mate with him. We reasoned
that, at that season of the year, a strange pair would not have come here
for food.
After the middle of October, with their plumage all fine again, they were
here daily, roosting nearby or in the porch vines. The Screech Owl disturbed
them there, and it proved unfortunate for him.
The young birds sometimes came about, but never to stay. Early in Sep-
tember a young female, in the hlac near our windows, gave the whisper song
discussed in Bird-Lore. It was just audible and very imperfect. She seemed
to be trying it out.
And thus the Cardinals rounded out a busy year, rearing seven young. It
was a delight to follow them—always in sight from the windows—a little
play before a sympathetic audience.
If we are able to single out our mother bird from others of her kind, she
makes it plain that she knows us from other folks. She allows no stranger
to come close to the window by her table and talk to her. When she finds
it bare, she goes a few feet away, waits for it to be spread, and the closing of
the window is the signal for her return.
The query again. Do they often so persistently nest and rear young so
late in the year?
Some other year the Cardinals may answer some of these questions for us.