Various

“ It is of man’s awakening that I wish to tell you this lovely Bird and Arbor Day season, an awakening which you must try to feel if you are not so choked and stifled in towns and cities by ideas of things to wear and eat and amuse yourself with that you cannot understand the truth.
In all ages, a few men have awakened to the touch of Nature. ”

“ In most of the talks we listen to on Bird and Arbor Day, in most of the poems and prose selections we recite or read to celebrate this occasion, we hear about the awakening of spring, when birds return and trees and early plants blossom, and insects and hibernating animals emerge from a winter’s sleep. [114] All Nature is pictured as rousing from the lethargy of cold December and colder January and February, under the influence of the sun, now early with its morning greeting, and of soft breezes which begin to take the place of chilling gales. ”

“ Nature has no human inhabitant who appreciates her. The birds with their plumage and their notes are in harmony with the flowers, but what youth or maiden conspires with the wild, luxuriant beauty of nature? She flourishes most alone, far from the towns where they reside. ”

“ About noon on January 22, 1916, as I was returning from a walk in South Park, a flutter of wings, accompanied by soft whistles and twitters, caught my attention and, to my surprise and joy, I counted a flock of nineteen Evening Grosbeaks in the small maple and elm trees bordering the sidewalk.
The bright sunshine falling on their plumage gave them an extremely beautiful and gay-colored appearance. The birds seemed to be nearly all males. ”

“ Grosvenor, they make us realize not only our responsibility but they awaken the strongest sense of hospitality.
In a former number of Bird-Lore we had something to say about what we believe to be the difference between ornithologists and bird-lovers. That is, between the bird student eager to devote his life to research work some of which may be so dry and technical that it would repel anyone but a born enthusiast; and the person whose interest in birds, while keen and genuine, does not beget that hunger for knowledge concerning them which is the birthright of the true naturalist. ”

“ As the young birds began to grow, the Cowbird not only maintained, but rapidly increased its lead over its small nest-mate. At every visit of the parent bird with food, its capacious gullet could be seen violently waving aloft and almost completely hiding the feeble little mouth of the Warbler, whose owner was pathetically doing its best in a dumb appeal for food. ”

“ They lived in the hemlock wood across the narrow valley, but in what tree I could not discover. One would appear soon after sunset with some kind of mouse, and by eleven o’clock had apparently satisfied the youngsters’ hunger, for the rasping cries would usually cease and an occasional louder and clearer cry of the old birds pierce the darkness. ”

“ No, man is glad when spring comes, he welcomes birds and flowers and budding trees, but he has learned to build shelters for himself against storms, to fight the uneven cold with steady fire, and to raise and store food to nourish his body throughout the season when the ground is frozen and vegetation dead. ”

“ It is worth reading because it puts one into sympathy with Nature, even with one of its wildest and most uninhabitable parts. There are girls, and boys too, living in secure houses in village or town, who are afraid, afraid of the dark, afraid of the deep woods, afraid of wild, lonely places where snakes may be lurking, or some imagined beast. There are many grown-up people who are more fearful than children, to whom a storm is terrifying, who see little beauty in rough places, who take no enjoyment in fog, rain or snow. ”

“ Rather is it to be found in the relations which it reveals between human-life and bird-life as the result of the best type of what we have before called ‘bird gardening.’
The birds which Mr. Grosvenor has brought about him are unquestionably more his birds than if he had shot them and placed their skins in a cabinet. With their death his responsibility for their welfare would cease. But a living bird, to which we feel we owe protection, is exposed to so many dangers that our fears for its safety are correspondingly aroused. These birds of our garden are our guests. ”

“ In planning for parties, picnics, or other entertainments of that sort, we usually expect to have everyone present take a part in whatever games or sports there are, and, no matter how often we have them, there is never any question but that all who can do so will be there. I believe that bird-club meetings can be made equally attractive if we go about them in the same way, rather than to plan some sort of entertainment where only a few are to have a part, as is usually the case. ”

“ The big birds are curiously inconspicuous when feeding in a box elder tree; their color harmonizes very closely with the dull grayish brown of the faded wings of the fruit, and, as the birds are for the most part silent, a feeding flock might easily be passed unnoticed. ”

“ Herein lies the value of nature-study, and particularly of the kind of educational work the National Association of Audubon Societies accomplishes through its Junior Classes. It is not to be expected that the one hundred and fifty odd thousand children included in these classes during the past year will become ornithologists. But if their inherent love of birds is quickened and they become acquainted with the more common species and are taught to realize the beauty and value of bird-life we shall have added immeasurably to their resources. ”

“ After all, a person must hear a bird-song to know anything about it, and the crudest symbols, musical notes or words that he may employ to awaken his memory of the song mean more to him than any system that has yet been invented. ”

“ Just what became of the Chestnut-sided Warbler will never be known, but my theory is that, weakened by lack of sufficient food, the little fellow at last became too feeble to raise himself at all, and was crushed to death by the Cowbird’s gross body. The parent birds, returning and finding the little corpse in the bottom of the nest, were no doubt impelled by their instinctive sense of cleanliness to carry it to a distance ”

“ Well-fed, well-clothed and well-housed, he still fears the elements and dreads exposure and hunger. He is not a part of nature, but the ambitious master of nature. Only now and then does a man partly awaken from his civilized life and turn to Nature as to a mother. ”

“ Since that day, no woman has studied the wild birds of America so systematically, so thoroughly, and so carefully as she. The amount of field-work she has done is perfectly astonishing, and probably few women have spent so many days in the wilds, or so many nights under canvas, as has Mrs. Florence Merriam Bailey. Her work, partly conducted in company with her brother, Dr. Merriam, and her husband, Mr. Vernon Bailey, has been carried on not only in eastern and southern states and in the Bermudas, but also in Arizona, Oregon, California, North Dakota, Texas, Utah, and New Mexico. ”

“ There is almost no limit to the number of interesting and instructive things we can do, and it will be possible for even the more advanced bird students to learn something new at nearly every meeting.
Every member should have a notebook for keeping a record of the birds seen and identified, with any new or interesting things observed, for comparison with others at each meeting; and each member should have a standing in the club according to the number of birds identified and the amount of work done for the birds. ”

“ Scribner’s Magazine, doubtless greatly pleased at the privilege of being allowed to publish an article from the pen of a gentleman so distinguished, kind and altruistic, has taken these boasting sentences and printed them, regardless of the fact that the magazine will go into thousands of homes to be read by young men who may later go tarpon-fishing in the limpid waters about Bocagrande, and who might be inspired to follow the example of the noble deeds of this celebrated novelist. ”

“ Notes from Nebraska
What is the most abundant bird in a given locality? This a question often conjectured upon by both ornithologists and casual observers. The terms “abundant,” “common,” “scarce,” or “very scarce,” form poor records of actual abundance, as suggested in recent issues of Bird-Lore. So, to get data on actual abundance, I took weekly bird censuses during the months of May, June, July, and a part of August, 1915, making counts of both number of species and number of individuals. ”

“ Scientific names are easily mastered and usually have a definite meaning, which will help you to remember some distinguishing character or habit of a species.
12. Always be open to fair criticism, and to acknowledge errors in observation. The most distinguished students of any subject are those who profess to have the most to learn. A keen eye and quick brain are indispensable to any student, and calm judgment must always precede reliable conclusions.
A very practical illustration of how a bird-census may be taken is described in Dr. C. F. Hodge’s invaluable book, Nature-Study and Life. ”

“ He does not come to life and activity again with the changing seasons, and, much as he may enjoy spring with its multiform beauties, he seldom rouses out of the routine of his ordinary life, except now and then, perhaps, for a fitful instant. ”

“ The prospect of securing a world’s record was so inviting that, during the last week of June, 1915, I made a census of all birds nesting on the acre adjoining our house and barns, with the result that we found fifty-nine pairs of birds with young or eggs in the nest on that acre, the highest number of land-birds inhabiting one acre that has yet been reported to the Department of Agriculture or to any Audubon society. ”

“ They were in a deep, dark, ill-smelling hollow, and a weird-looking trio indeed with the white down still clinging over the yellow-brown feathers. What startled the workman was a splendid series of hisses; for they understood how to make the sound about as wickedly as the most poisonous serpent. ”

“ A loud, harsh scream after nightfall, repeated at the right intervals to keep one awake and echoed by the young Owls when they appear, is his greeting. And well may the little mice shiver in their poor retreats! ”

“ The citizens of Florida welcome tourists from other states; we are happy to share our excellent fishing and shooting with them within legal and decent limits, which, I am glad to say, the great majority of those who sojourn among us carefully and cheerfully observe; but we do not propose to allow our plumage and insectivorous birds to be slaughtered to provide fun for thoughtless and reckless gunners whether residents or visitors. ”

“ I like the Society, and every Friday in school we read a leaflet. The birds often come into the yard in summer, and we scatter crumbs.
We are making bird-boxes, and when the leaves come on the trees we are going to have shelves put up and put crumbs on them. It is nice to paint pictures of the birds and read about them. ”

“ If left free, dogs, cats, or opossums would most likely have found them through the strong odor so noticeable about young birds of prey. The mice were, however, first cut into pieces and thrust down the apparently hungry birds’ throats, while each was held by his feet and neck.
Every night after that the youngsters were visited and fed by the devoted old ones, and always it was with mice of some kind or moles—principally meadow mice, house mice, white-footed mice, shrews and ground moles—as many as eight sometimes, as shown by the disgorged pellets or uneaten bodies. ”

“ After cutting down a sailing Man-o’-war, two hundred yards above the water, and surely three hundred yards away, he formed a Man-o’-war’s Club; any body who killed one flying was entitled to membership.”
All these birds are protected by the laws of Florida and at least one of them by the United States Migratory Bird Law. There is no open season for any of them. The man who wrote this is not a poor, illiterate inhabitant of the southern swamps, who killed the birds to sell their feathers for a few dollars with which to help feed his family ”

“ The Chestnut-sided Warbler feeds almost exclusively on insects. John James Audubon wrote that once in Pennsylvania, during a snowstorm in early spring, he examined the dead bodies of several, and found that their stomachs contained only grass-seeds and a few spiders. The birds were very poor, and evidently were in a half-starved condition, which would probably account for the fact that they had been engaged in such an un-warbler-like act as eating seeds. ”

“ Very often the best way of fostering and keeping up interest in bird-study has to be considered, especially in Junior Audubon Societies or bird clubs. The idea suggested above seems to be an attractive one, for anything in the nature of a game usually appeals to young people. ”

“ This is probably the only time on record when it literally rained birds. The birds were common Chimney Swifts.—R. L. Fripp, Spartanburg, S. C.
A Heron’s Involuntary Bath
Some of the little comedies of bird life are amusing to the onlooker, although, like those happening to human beings, not always so pleasant to the individuals participating. A neighbor of mine where I live on the shores of an island in the Great South Bay, took up his dock for the winter season and left a stake in the water. It is beneath the surface except at low tide when it projects an inch or two above. ”

“ Then, for hours after the moving, it seemed as if steam were strangely and violently escaping from an ordinary chicken-coop, much to the astonishment of visitors.
Around the tree were many of the small masses of fur and bones which Owls disgorge a few hours after meals. These show very well what animals have been taken and, in this case, were most interesting, since the dozens I examined contained the remains of field mice, deer mice, shrews, and moles only. No rabbits, no squirrels, no insects, no little birds! ”

“ If you want birds to nest near you, you must supply them with food. No food will attract insectivorous birds more effectively than Mealworms. The old birds eat them and also give them to their young. Mealworms should be fed from a shallow tin, glass or china vessel that stands at some shaded place, free of the sun’s rays. ”

“ At this time of the year clean-up campaigns are being started, and I would like to tack on to the end of that slogan the word ‘plant-up.’ I think that boys and girls should be encouraged not only to ‘clean-up’ the rubbish about their homes, but to invest a few cents in seeds which will germinate and grow and produce a picture very much more attractive than can be produced by many cans of paint and, furthermore, if the right kind of plant is selected, the effect will be perennial. ”