THE |

HUMAN SIDE
BIRDS

ROYAL DIXON

CORNELL LAB of ORNITHOLOGY
LIBRARY

AT SAPSUCKER WOODS

Illustration of Snowy Owl by Louis Agassiz Fuertes

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THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

THE
HUMAN SIDE
OF BIRDS

BY

ROYAL DIXON

WITH FOUR ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOURS
By S. H. WAINWRIGHT, Jn.

AND WITH THIRTY-TWO ILLUSTRATIONS
FROM PHOTOGRAPHS

NEW YORK
FREDERICK A. STOKES COMPANY
PUBLISHERS

oeniTH

Qe
&7¢

DUS
19/4

Copyright, 1917, by
Freperick A. STOKES CoMPANY

All rights reserved, including that of translation
tnio foreign languages

TO
CORNELIA GAFFNEY

NOTE

The author wishes to express his sincere in-
debtedness and gratitude to Mr. Franklyn Everett
Fitch and Mr. Henry Clay Foster for their valua-
ble and scholarly assistance in the final prepara-
tion of this book.

He acknowledges, also, his indebtedness to
The American Museum of Natural History, New
York, for most of the photographs used to illus-
trate the book. .

FOREWORD

“I wish I did his power possess
That I might learn, fleet bird, from thee,
What our vain systems only guess,
And know from what wild wilderness
You came across the sea.”

In the examination of some aspects and forms
of life it is often best to cast aside the complex ma-
chinery of cold and calculating analysis, and to
look only with the eye of love and sympathy. In
this work it is my purpose to reject the limitations
of unsympathetic research, and to endeavour to see
beyond formal classifications, and to understand the
spirit, emotions and impulses in the lives of our
feathered friends of the air.

By this means many new discoveries have been
made which include a universal truth, where a too
minute and laborious logic would have proved a
hopeless labyrinth. The syllogistic method sig-
nally fails to comprehend or appreciate the real
spiritual beauty of the life of other species than our
own. It ascribes no intelligence or spirituality even
to birds, and brands their most efficient activities

as “instinctive.”
ix

x THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

In Toe Human Siz or Puants and THE Hv-
MAN SIDE oF TREES, it was shown that our plant
and vegetable friends not only have habits and at-
tributes that in many respects place them in the
category with man himself, but that they possess
faculties and powers which man can never hope to
attain. In the present volume it is proposed to
prove that our bird neighbours not only do prac-
tically everything that man does, but have been
doing things for thousands of years which it is
doubtful that he will ever do. And their unerring
judgment and knowledge of the mysterious and
trackless spaces of the air are still to man an un-
solved marvel!

When, after being raised in a coop, and released
after a journey of three thousand miles in a closed
box, carrier-pigeons return to their starting-point
with unerring exactness, only a limited mind can
accept the explanation of “instinct” as adequate.
When a robin confined in a cage for seven years,
upon being set free flies fifteen miles to its former
home, one must recognise powers of marvellous
memory and intelligence, and even a power that
man does not comprehend, in the bird world. When
flocks of wild birds flee several days in advance of a
great storm, and ocean birds come inland for the
same reason, wonderful psychic understanding is

FOREWORD xi

surely indicated, and the stolid dogmatism of the
old stand-patter ornithologists appears more inex-
cusable.

It is a most arrogant attitude that man assumes
when he endeavours to explain everything in terms
of his own life and mind. What he does not him-
self possess or understand about his fellow creatures
he glosses over with such terms as “instinct” or
“evolutionary process.” ‘This persistent effort to
reason everything out in preconceived terms places
tremendous limitations upon the human under-
standing. We should maintain a thoroughly open
mind and approach Nature with the wonder of a
child. Profound in meaning was the speech of
the priest of Sais to the Greek Herodotus: “You
shall be children ever.”

It should be remembered that birds have a life, a
point of view, and a destiny of their own, and that
our failure to comprehend them in no way justifies
us in concluding that they are in every sense below
us in the scale of existence. That they are inferior
in many ways we have a right to believe, but we
should be eager to recognise the qualities in which
they excel. Who has not seen a look of majesty
and superiority in the eyes of an owl or of an eagle
and not felt a vague sense of awe and self-efface-
ment?

xi THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

If we approach the bird with the right attitude of
mind, a wonderful experience awaits us. John
Burroughs, the great American naturalist, says:
“Tf I name every bird in my walk, describe its col-
our and ways, ... give a lot of facts and details
about the bird, it is doubtful if my reader is in-
terested. But if I relate the bird in some way to
human life, to my own life; show what it is to me
and what it is in the landscape and season, then do
I give my reader a live bird and not a labelled
specimen.”

This is the secret of all worth-while nature study.
We must look upon a bird as we do upon a man—
not merely to learn the Latin names of bones and
muscles, but to study its disposition, character, emo-
tions, and thought processes. In other words, we
must treat a bird as a friend and not as a scientific
specimen.

There is no quality or occupation in the human
world which does not have a parallel in the bird
world. They fill all professions from fishermen to
street-cleaners. Woodpeckers are store-keepers;
yellow-hammers are owners of wine-cellars; wry-
necks are bakers of ant-cakes. Other birds raise
their own insects for provisions. Birds maintain
labour unions and military organisations. Their
best divers go to depths of four hundred feet, swal-

eke

FOREWORD xiii

lowing pebbles to make themselves heavy for the
purpose.

In physical shape, form and colour, the feathered
folk have no such narrow limitations as has man.
The largest was the elephant-bird (now extinct)
which was five times the size of the African ostrich;
the smallest is a tiny purple humming-bird no
larger than a little brown bee. Birds inhabit all
places: mountains, oceans, the ground, the trees,
caves, the Arctic regions, the tropics, the air. In
each place, they have worked out a marvellously
well-ordered existence. The Arctic goose has even
developed a special sac in which she can hatch her
eggs in the extreme cold of her home.

The birds have a distinct social life. They build
the most artistic and best equipped homes of all
non-human beings. They entertain extensively
and have many convivial gatherings. Their family
life is exceptionally moral, though there are a few
polygamists among them. Divorce is rare, but
suicide is often the natural outcome of deep dis-
grace,

There are birds of as many shades of character
and disposition as there are types of people. There
are the gay, the sad; the sociable, the reserved; the
trustful, the shy; the frank, the deceitful; the hon-
est, the dishonest; the gentle, the violent; the peace-

xiv THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

ful, the quarrelsome; and so on. However, it
should be emphasised that the prevailing note of
birddom is one of happiness and good cheer. As a
rule only sick birds, a few nocturnal birds, and car-
rion birds are mopish.

From the point of view of appearance and char-
acteristics every bird has a counterpart in the animal
kingdom. It requires little imagination to see in
the bateleur eagle a feathered lion; in the night-
prowling owl a cat; in the cunning hawk a fox; in
the scavenger vulture a hyena; in the raven a mis-
chievous dog; in the imitating parrot a monkey; in
the ostrich, the “feathered beast of burden,” a
camel; in the blood-thirsty butcher-bird a weasel; in
the gnawing crossbill a squirrel; in the house-wren a
mouse; in the cassawary a llama; in the duck the
duck-mole (duck-billed platypus) ; in the bustard a
stag; in the croaking bittern of the marshes a bull-
frog; in the tooth-billed falcon an alligator; in the
elephant-bird an elephant; in the meat-bird a pan-
ther; in the oyster-catcher a raccoon; in the scale-
bird an armadillo; and even in the jackass-penguin
a jackass!

The nomenclature of birds is all-embracing, and
ranges from the skunk-bird to the bird-of-the-Holy-
Ghost, from the dove of the Ark to the raven that
fed Elijah. The ibis was once worshipped in

FOREWORD XV

Egypt; even to-day there are sacred birds in many
parts of the world.

Birds are naturally very friendly to man. With
the exception of certain peculiar species, they begin
to fear him only when they know him. When he
appears among the feathered denizens of unin-
habited regions, they look at him with astonishment
but not with fear. Auks and penguins of the Ant-
arctic could once be caught with the hand. There
are numerous instances of wild birds seeking human
protection when pursued by some relentless foe.
Sometimes they fly into houses for shelter; par-
tridges have been known to throw themselves at
the feet of woodsmen when hard pressed by a hawk.

On man’s behalf it must be said that he often
reciprocates this affection. He most often gives
animals friendship because of services which they
render him, but he gives birds his affection because
of his love for their companionship, quite as much
as for their charm and beauty. He likes to have
them about him; he delights in their songs and the
exquisite colourings of their plumage.

In fact, too often he grows unduly fond of this
plumage, and his wife covets the beautiful feath-
ers for her own decoration. Then it is that soulless
men go out and slaughter the unoffending songsters
by the thousands for their feathers, that they may

xvi THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

sell them! Many more thousands are killed for
their flesh, and often men murder them only for the
mere gratification of a low passion for destruction
of life. Thus species after species, the world over,
has been exterminated, and in many countries only
the most rigorous game laws prevent wholesale an-
nihilation.

How short-sighted is man! Even if he cannot
realise that he is killing a fellow creature in feath-
ers, a being which has joys, hopes, ambitions, and a
well-filled life—one that is quite as necessary to the
world’s economy as his slayer—he ought easily to
see that he is forcing to extinction an agency which
is a conserver of civilisation itself. As Michelet
truly says: “Barbarous is the science, the hard
pride, which disparages to such an extent animated
nature, and raises so impassable a barrier between
man and his inferior brothers!”

To-day every one is awakened to the necessity of
forest preservation. The day that our woodlands
fall below a certain minimum area, that day our
decadence will begin. The day that our birds are
slaughtered to a certain point, that day the forests
are doomed. The birds perform invaluable serv-
ices in keeping down the numbers of destructive
insects, which, if allowed full sweep, would speedily
destroy all trees, Of the vast sums of money now

FOREWORD xvii

being poured into forest reserves some of the mil-
lions should be expended on behalf of our feathered
friends.

It is to be hoped that the reader will enter the
following pages with a sympathetic appreciation
of the kinship of man and bird—fellow-mortals that
face the same problems and difficulties, and solve
them by methods strikingly similar. In fact, we
cannot but feel a certain reverence for the lore of
bird life when we reflect that man can conceive of
no higher state than one in which he himself is
equipped with a pair of wings.

Royau Drxon.
New York,
May, 1917.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE
Forrworp 5 ‘ 7 ‘ ‘ . ix

I FeatHerep Artists . ‘ é a ‘ 1

II Curr-Dweiters anp Mounp-Buiupers « TS
III Poutcrmen or tHE AIR. ‘ : - 86
IV Dawncezs . 7 : z F F - 51

Vo Featrueren ATHLETES é - 67

VI Proressionat Musicians . ‘ . - 86
VII Grant Rosp-Makers . . , F - 106
VIII Scavencers anp STREET CLEANERS . - 128
IX Covurtsor Justice . 2 , ; . 139
X Brirps awn Tuerr Beauty Partovrs . . 153
XI Aviators . . . 5 . : - 172
XII Birp FisnermMen : ‘ 3 - . 186
XIII Mimics anp Ventritoavuists AMons Birps . 206
XIV Brrp Actors anp THe THEATRES . - 223

xix

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Mother Owl often sits with her young on the branch
of a tree and “talks” to them as if she were teach-
ing them some of her own wisdom (in Col-

ours) Z . . ‘ F . Frontispiece
"Pam,
The artistic home of the crested cassique . a - 2
The nest of the chestnut-shouldered oriole (Paraguay) 3
The egret is one of the most clever of bird artists 10
Egret artists at home in South Carolina . ‘ 11
The cliff home of the duck hawk nee Hindson
River) . ; Fi 18
Cedar birds often build their homey in ‘tera in tall cedar
trees 19
The penguins are Social bind vali live aire thie te in ee
nies near the sea, making of the cliffs a city of
penguin apartment houses (in Colours) 30
The golden eagle and its eerie home (Wyoming) . 40
The barrel owl, a policeman of the night 41
Prairie chickens on one of their dancing-grounds . 52
The ruffled grouse is one of the most mre ee of the
dancing birds 53
The great blue heron is well esuipped ae Nature to he
an athlete 70
The grebe has no rival as a me bird 71
A mother quail on guard over her nest 82
A black-billed cuckoo and two ian is sidkoos in a
yellow-bill’s nest 83
The great auk, one of the extinct Sack ioudcuiakexs - 108
The restoration of a dodo bird (American Museum of
Natural History, New York) . 109

xxi

Xxii ILLUSTRATIONS

Turkeys are famous for their road-making .

The partridge, a road-builder of California . .

A kingfisher in the act of swallowing his prey

A rose-breasted grosbeak feeding her young 7

The owl and the crow in close conversation .

The toucan, with his extraordinary sea ee bill, can
well defend himself . . ‘

Humming-birds are most at home among the orchids of
the tropics, and are as varied in form and colour

as are the orchids themselves (in Colours) . .
The American crossbill on a twig that sets him off to the
greatest advantage . . ‘ : .

The oriole’s “beauty parlour” is his unique home

The osprey rarely fishes for himself, as he finds it easier
to waylay other fishers and rob them (in Colours)

“Every minute of the day numbers of fish are brought
by the parent birds to their ever hungry vone
(White pelicans) : . ‘

Brown pelicans often use strategy in their fishing,

The sandhill cranes in their natural habitat .

The wood-duck fishes in small ponds

The ptarmigan changes the colour of his Peuthers to
match the background

The birds of the Far North who adapt their + plumage t to
the changing snow-fields

A mother grouse of the Sierras, Calitorix . :
Young marsh hawks safely hidden away in the tall grass

THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

THE HUMAN SIDE
OF BIRDS

CHAPTER I

FEATHERED ARTISTS

It wins my admiration
To view the structure of that little work,
A bird nest. Mark it well, within, without;
No tool had he that wrought, no knife to cut,
No nail to fiz, no bodkin to insert,
No glue to join; his little beak mas all,
And yet, how neatly finished! What nice hand,
With every implement and means of art,
And twenty years’ apprenticeship to boot,
Could make me such another? Fondly then
We boast of excellence, whose noblest skill
Instinctive genius foils.

—Hurdis “The Linnet.”

ERHAPS in no better way do our little
brothers of the air show that they possess
considerable knowledge of the arts, and that they
are continually improving that knowledge, than by
the marvellous homes and miniature palaces they

create and decorate for themselves. Birds learn by
1

2 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

experience and observation just the same as man-
kind. And the more experience a bird has the
greater its fund of knowledge.

In the arts they are indeed our brothers; some-
times our best teachers. No better pattern of art
can be found than the nest of the long-tailed tit;
unless it is that of his fellow-workman and imitator,
the chaffinch. His sense of beauty and proportion
bespeaks ages of art culture. The nest is often
placed among the tiny grey boughs of the rhodo-
dendron, just beneath two glorious bunches of
crimson blossoms in such a manner that one must
believe it was made for display as well as for com-
fort. Surely it was never meant to be concealed!

Few artists of the bird-world fail to carry out a
colour scheme. Exceptions are to be found among
the ground birds, which lay eggs practically invisi-
ble. Nature is very kind and wise, and only those
eggs are colourless which are laid in hollows and
caves where no one can see them. We find colour-
less eggs among the woodpeckers, owls, and wry-
necks. One might walk over the plover’s or sand-
piper’s nest in the sand without seeing it. But
among the bluejays, sparrows, finches, bluebirds,
and numerous others, delicate colourings are liter-
ally lavished on the eggs, often in definite patterns.
Surely the birds enjoy nature’s art! John Clare

=

THE ARTISTIC HOME OF THE CRESTED CASSIQUE

THE NEST OF THE CHESTNUT-SHOULDERED ORIOLE (PARAGUAY)

FEATHERED ARTISTS 3

wonderfully describes the eggs of the yellow-ham-
mer in the following lines:

“Five eggs, pen-scribbled o’er with ink their shells,
Resembling writing-scrolls, which Fancy reads
As nature’s poesy and pastoral spells—

They are the yellow-hammer’s, and she dwells,
Most poet-like, ’mid brooks and flowery weeds.”

We judge an architect by the buildings he rears;
and so we must judge the consciousness of beauty
and art on the part of the birds by the manner in
which they build their nests, decorate their homes,
and sometimes themselves.

This is especially true as to the gardener-bird, the
baya of India, the bower-bird, the collar-bird, and a
number of other artists whose highly developed es-
thetic qualities are demonstrated in their efforts to
produce art, and to decorate their homes in accord-
ance with the best principles of form and colour.
The motmot even goes so far as to disfigure its
feathers in the attempt to improve the shape of its
tail, while the gardener-bird and the hammerhead
have little places near their homes that might be
termed their art shops. Here they store gaily-
coloured shells, gaudy pebbles, dried flowers, rich
feathers, and various small bits of broken wood and
pieces of red clay.

4 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

Among the cleverest of the artists is the diock,
of the weaver family. His home is in Africa, and
he is an expert in the weaving of colour into the pat-
terns of his nest. The finished house is a thing of
great charm: soft and tinted mosses are twined to-
gether with almost cameo precision; red, brown, and
dark green grasses are fashioned into the side of
the nest like attached draperies.

The diock is very sociable. While he never in-
dulges in afternoon tea, he does enjoy a sociable
drink at the nearest spring, where he can talk over
with his friends all the gossip of birdland. But
some of the older and wiser feathered artists must
always remain on the lookout for enemies during
these parties. The hordes of tiny singers go very
near to the water’s edge and arrange themselves
comfortably among the branches of the trees. One
by one they dive down to drink the cool water below
while the others sing. But during this time several
wise heads are higher up among the tree branches
watching for hawks.

The Baltimore oriole is famous as a decorative
artist. The materials he uses are collected from
fields, gardens, and even yards: he is by no means
shy about approaching a window where he sees yarn
and bits of gaily coloured thread. The brighter the
colours, the better for his work.

FEATHERED ARTISTS 5

Once having selected a place for his home, he sets
to work to collect the material. And when the task
is completed, everything—from Mr. and Mrs. Ori-
ole to the swinging, aerial nest—harmonises per-
fectly. How picturesque to see this little palace
swinging in the air filled with four tiny babies!

No class of artists excels the humming-birds.
Their nests are wonders of beauty, delicacy, and
architecture. A friend of mine, Miss Warner, has
one of these treasures which she values very highly.
It is a nest of the ruby-throated humming-bird, and
is snugly built upon a tiny grey apple bough. The
material used is the most delicate plant down and
dried flower petals held together with silvery spi-
der’s web. The outside is exquisitely decorated
with greyish-white lichens, while the inside is like a
silver-lined baby’s thimble. It resembles nothing
so much as a small thimble-like knot on an apple
bough. What an art palace for the little birds!

Humming-birds are artists not only in the mak-
ing of their homes, but in their care of dress as
well. The puff-legs wear the daintiest muffs of
cottony down, of white, black, buff, or brown, ac-
cording to the species. The glowing puff-leg is
the most beautiful. Its tail feathers are so daz-
zling in their beauty and wonder, that it has never
been excelled, if ever equalled, by bird, flower, or

6 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

butterfly. The distinguished ornithologist, John
Gould, in his Monograph of the Trochilide, says:
“Every one who, for the first time, finds himself
in front of the compartment of my collection in
which this species is placed, gives utterance to some
exclamation expressive of the admiration excited
by its striking beauty and the glowworm-like splen-
dour of its upper tail-coverts. This brilliancy is
more apparent at certain hours of the day; for in-
stance, it is more beautiful in the evening after sun-
set than at midday, the brilliancy being relieved by
the dark hue of the tail-feathers. It is unquestion-
ably one of the finest species of the genus, and
one of the most resplendent of the Trochilide;
would that it were possible for me even faintly to
depict it!”

The Syrian nuthatch builds a nest of red and
brown clay, and the outside is covered over with the
iridescent gossamer wings of numerous beetles and
other insects. The dwarf swift of Africa decorates
her front yard—a part of the thick palm leaf on
which her nest is built—by gluing her tiny babies
onto the leaf. Here the baby jewels sparkle like
living diamonds as the breezes swing them to and
fro in the air. Their mother’s jewels indeed!

The baya bird, another of the weaver family,
builds a veritable fairy palace, which is illuminated

FEATHERED ARTISTS 7

with tiny living lamps. There is a living-room
below, and above are two other rooms: one a nurs-
ery, the other a rest-room for poor Mr. Baya,
whose family cares are most fatiguing. This inter-
esting bottle-shaped house is built of strips of grass
skilfully woven together. It is as compact as a
sofa-cushion, with a long rope-like neck which is tied
to a limb in the most ingenious manner. The en-
trance and exit to Mr. Baya’s house are two holes
at the bottom of the entire structure.

These strange artists delight in building their
nests in groups of from twenty to fifty, swinging
like so many graceful fruits from the eaves of hu-
man habitations. With their precious little treas-
ures they sway to and fro in the wind like swinging
cradles.

The Baya family are really human in their sense
of luxury; and their tastes do not stop in producing
a house of mere architectural elegance, but incor-
porate as well features of decorative and practical
value. For as soon as Mrs. Baya has the inside of
her bed-chamber arranged, Father Baya goes away
to find fresh red clay for the decoration of the walls.
Soon the inner ones are covered with this clay, and
often before it has time to dry and harden he has
captured a number of fireflies; these not only make
very good food for Mrs. Baya but, adhering to the

8 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

clay walls, they light the chamber beautifully with
a phosphorescent glow, so that the house looks like
a fairy palace in the dark.

In the building of dainty, wildwood bungalows,
a species of warbler, called the tailor-bird, displays
a remarkable esthetic taste. With astonishing
skill he sews together with plant fibre the edges of
a broad leaf, or of two leaves, forming a dainty Lit-
tle deep cup of living green. In it is built a luxuri-
ous nest of tan grasses of fine texture, lined with
thistle down and dried flower petals. A cradle in-
deed fit for the gods!

A landscape artist of world fame is the gardener-
bird. He does not care so much about his nest, but
his yard is where his artistic genius finds highest ex-
pression. He is a naturalist, an architect, and a
landscape artist combined!

The manner in which he beautifies his garden
is most extraordinary. The noted naturalist, De
Bessari, claims that this bird-artist seeks a level
spot on which grows a bush or shrub about the
thickness of a walking-cane. “This is made the
central pillar of the edifice, and serves, at about two
feet from the ground, to fasten the framework of
the roof to. It is held in place by an embankment
of moss built up around the root. After the frame-
work is formed, other stems are woven in and out

FEATHERED ARTISTS 9

until a water-proof roof is made. Then a gallery
is constructed, running around the interior of the
edifice. When completed the whole structure is
three feet or more in diameter at the base, is tent-
shaped, and has a large arched opening for a door-
way.

“Around the house are artistically arranged
grounds, made green and lawn-like by being cov-
ered with patches of moss brought hither for the
purpose. Bright-coloured flowers and fruits and
fungi are disposed about the premises; and even
brilliant-hued insects are captured and placed here
and there on the grounds to add to their attractive-
ness. ‘The inner gallery of the house is also deco-
rated with these bright objects, which are removed
and replaced as they fade. Moreover, and with
evident design, the material of which the house is
built is a species of orchid, which retains its fresh-
ness for a very long time.”

These interesting artist homes are made as places
for social gatherings to talk over the affairs of bird-
land, and also for rest and recreation. The bird has
a real joy in restful places and attractive scenery;
and the genuine bird-artist can beautify the ugliest
spot quite as well as his big brother, man.

The Acadian flycatcher really belongs to the
impressionistic school of art. It is quite evident

10 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

that these birds try to see how very odd they can be.
They aré common in eastern Pennsylvania during
the breeding season, and their strange homes are the
wonder of those who find them. These nests are
built with dry blossoms of the hickory tree, and also
of long strips of the inner bark of different trees.
They are sometimes modelled into a compactly
built, cup-like cavity, from which hangs a gradu-
ally tapering mass so shaped and trimmed with
small twigs as to appear like coiled moss, wound by
the wind. This interesting tassel of ornament is
from seven to nine inches in length.

The long-billed marsh wren delights in spherical
nests. In early May, Mr. and Mrs. Wren seek a
suitable, low bush, and here amid the brackish
marshes of the seashore, away from the haunts of
man, they weave out of dry grasses the most ex-
quisite little nest, just out of reach of the tides. Its
form is globular, and it is artistically seamed with
brown, yellow, and grey cottony down. A delicate
curtain of reddish brown surrounds the entrance;
and inside the nest is a downy lining which the most
fastidious decorator might envy.

Man could never make with all the appliances at
his command a thing so graceful, so fairy-like, as
the delicate lace hammock of the Parula warbler.
It is often seen swinging over a stream from the

THE EGRET IS ONE OF THE MOST CLEVER OF BIRD ARTISTS

EGRET ARTISTS AT HOME IN SOUTH CAROLINA

FEATHERED ARTISTS 11

branch of a hemlock or spruce tree. It is like a
delicate jewel suspended on a spider’s web; and
the artists have selected the most suitable colours
from the greyish green mosses out of which to make
it. These miniature birds have slate-blue backs
and orange-yellow breasts, and these colours quite
harmonise with the colours of their eyrie and jewel-
like nests. Mr. Warbler redecorates the house
anew every day, and it is not uncommon to see
petals of the yellow daffodils gracefully stuck into
the walls. He is an artist even in his attention to
his devoted mate!

The red-winged blackbird builds a most unusual
nest in the form of an inverted cone. ‘These charm-
ing artists of the swamp-lands fill the air with loud,
clear, resonant notes. And while their homes are
at times somewhat bulky in appearance, yet they are
most often so symmetrically and compactly woven
into the cat-tails that they are beautifully artistic
in appearance. The outer covering is made of
grasses and rushes, while within is a delicate lining
of thistle from hawkweed, dandelion, and other soft
materials.

In the Rio Grande Valley is a cousin of the east-
ern motmot, known locally as the saw-bill, though
scientifically called the blue-crowned motmot. The
top of its head is covered with a tuft of blue feath-

12 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

ers which it can raise or lower at will. Above each
eye is a black triangle, and a black spot trimmed in
blue adorns its breast; the rest of the plumage is
dark green. This unusual bird has a tail nine
inches long, and presents a most striking appear-
ance. Yet he is not satisfied with the beauty nature
gave him, and so as soon as he reaches the adult
age he begins to trim his tail feathers in the most
fitting style.

The two centre feathers of his tail always pro-
ject far beyond the others. They are smooth-
edged with rounded tips, and as soon as the mot-
mot is grown he begins to cut the webs away on each
side of the spine. No one who has seen him have a
mishap and cut the feathers in an unbecoming fash-
ion, can ever doubt that he does it for the same rea-
son that people trim their hair and powder their
faces.

These interesting facts prove beyond a doubt
that birds have a love of the beautiful, and as artists
are in many ways like human beings. They are our
tiny feathered artists of the air. Of course, not all
birds have the artist’s love of the beautiful in the
same degree. Certain pigeons build their nests of
a few sticks, just as fishermen build huts of drift-
wood and straw. Some swallows and kingfishers
build nests in burrowed caves; and in many parts

FEATHERED ARTISTS 13

of the world, as on the plains of Texas, one-fourth
of the human beings live in dug-outs. Robins build
their homes of mud and straw; and many farmers
build houses of mud and moss. There are birds
who prefer gay colours in their homes, and many
kinds of ornaments; the American Indian was ex-
tremely fond of such colours, and to-day we find
thousands of men who delight in rich colours.

That birds are fond of music, no one doubts; the
song of the mocking-bird, the whistle of the gold-
finch, the call of the red-bird, the gentle cooing of
the dove, the noisy chattering of the sparrow, the
sad cry of the whippoorwill, the scream of the hawk,
the hoot of the owl, the reed-like notes of the black-
bird, the violin roll of the canary—all are convinc-
ing, and place them in the ranks of true lovers of
the esthetic.

And none can doubt that the physical appear-
ance of birds entitles them to be ranked high in the
artistic world. Observe the matchless grace of the
swan, the heron, and the sand-hill crane; the ex-
quisite plumes of the ostrich and the bird of para-
dise; the wonderful colour of the lory and the sun-
bird; the marvellous coats, crests, and lappets of the
humming-bird, red-bird, blue-jay, parrot, and finch;
or the unusual song of the nightingale—we must

14 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

admit that they all give evidence of the greatest
artistic appreciation and possession.

As Grant Allen truly says of the flower-hunting
and fruit-eating species, “Surrounded for genera-
tions and generations by gorgeous orchids and
trumpet-creepers, from which they suck the stored-
up nectar; by gleaming purple or golden fruits; by
burnished beetles, metallic butterflies, bronze-
scaled lizards, and coral snakes, their prey or their
enemies, exercising their eyes perpetually in the
search for food among the exquisite objects of their
environment, and safe from all foes except those
of their own class, tropical birds have naturally
developed the most gorgeous and the most perfect
forms and colours in the whole animal creation.
And, above all, they have stamped the mark of their
peculiarly high esthetic feelings upon their own
shapes by the wonderful definiteness of their pat-
terns and their ornamental adjuncts, nowhere
equalled, save in the most perfect decorative handi-
craft of man himself.”

But notwithstanding their beauty, their works of
art, and their other accomplishments, man has seen
in them only the helpless victims of his own de-
sires, With all the scientific knowledge and hu-
mane pretensions of to-day, we wage a ruthless

FEATHERED ARTISTS 15

war upon our unresisting fellow-mortals of the
air.

Unprincipled hunters kill them from an un-
bridled madness for gain, and to satisfy the insane
vanity of worldly women, who wish to make up
for their lack of charm and beauty by wearing the
plumage of these delicate-winged artists of the air.
For those who are so unfeeling as to eat the flesh of
song-birds, like the red-bird, the bobolink, the
mocking-bird, the robin, and the wild wood-doves,
there is nothing to be said. They are beyond
reach! They nourish the body at the expense of
the soul!

The human love of ornament is responsible for
the death and destruction of more beautiful birds
than all other causes combined. Only a few years
ago many women tried to make up for their natural
homeliness by wearing not only the feathers of at-
tractive birds, but the dead bodies as well! Those
heartless women who continue to adorn themselves
with feathers and birds are responsible for the per-
petuation of the most unthinkable barbarities. The
humane Queen Victoria did much to abolish this
heathenish custom in England. She was devoted
to all nature’s creatures, and set a good example
by refusing to wear even feathers.

“Open your eyes to the evidence,” says Michelet.

16 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

“Throw aside your prejudice, your traditional and
derived opinions. Dismiss your pride, and acknowl-
edge a kindred. They are your brothers.”

Even a half-correct representation of a bird’s
art can be conveyed to the uninitiated only by a
person who not only is an artist himself, but who
has that spiritual understanding and love for all
his fellow-artists of the air, whatever their medium
of expression. One must really be blind and deaf
not to appreciate the many and varied artistic cre-
ations of birds.

Every part of the globe has its feathered artists
peculiar to itself, and every one, no matter how
crude his efforts, reaches out for artistic expres-
sion, just as in the human world the lowest savage
is a potential artist. The North has its snow birds
and deep-sea divers, whose strength and grace are
their chief charms; the South has its weavers, stone-
workers, makers of fine fabrics, sewers, dancers,
acrobats, singers, tumblers, decorators, and avia-
tors; the East has its prophets, professional beau-
ties, warriors, and kings; while the West has its
miners, scavengers, fishermen, carpenters, farmers,
educators, and entertainers. Wherever we look,
we must recognise the seeking-after and the reali-

sation of artistic expression from the lowest to the
highest of all birds.

CHAPTER II

CLIFF-DWELLERS AND MOUND-BUILDERS

They also knon,

And reason not contemptibly.
—Milton.

N America are the remains of one of the great

epochs in the drama of history. On the high
plateaux of Mexico, in the primeval jungles of
Yucatan, in the ancient mounds of Peru, in the
Western hills of the United States, we find
America’s Babylon, Nineveh, and Thebes. Among
the ruins of the cliff-dwellers is a fascinating bur-
ied history which stretches back to the beginnings
of man himself.

And second only in interest to these human cliff-
dwellers are the bird cliff-dwellers, little beings who
to-day have a mountain-side civilisation compara-
ble to that of our semi-civilised forbears.

Perhaps the most interesting thing to us about
these cave-dwellers, cliff-dwellers, and burrowers is
that human beings have sought in such dwellings

security, real or imagined. The burrowers are not,
17

18 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

as one might imagine, wingless and unable to place
their nests in trees or precipices; they are remark-
able for their powers of flight, and might choose
any place they desire for their homes.

Many of these sand-dwellers seem quite unfitted
for their burrowing into the earth. The beautiful
capped petrel has become extinct because of its
burrowing habits. It was killed in its only breed-
ing-place, the islands of Guadaloupe and Dominica,
mainly because of the exposed position of its nests,
which made it the easy prey of blood-thirsty men
and animals. Yet strangely enough it must have
believed itself safe in such a position.

In the same way the sand martins and petrels
are to-day exposing themselves to the mercy of
the world by continuing to breed in exposed places.
It is not uncommon to see them cluster and flutter
against the sand-hills like a swarm of butterflies
trying to settle over a single flower in their effort
to secure the best site for their abnormal excava-
tions.

Perhaps of all the cave-dwellers the sand mar-
tin, the smallest of the swallows, is the most human
in his methods of united work. Colonies of these
little feathered people combine and build regular
cities by burrowing into caves, or building little
mud-houses one upon the other into a structure not

THE CLIFF HOME OF THE DUCK HAWK (PALISADES, HUDSON RIVER)

N TALL CEDAR-TREES

CEDAR BIRDS OFTEN BUILD THEIR HOMES IN TIERS I

CLIFF-DWELLERS 19

unlike a human apartment house. Perfect har-
mony and peace seem to dwell wherever these
birds live. If occasionally a couple have a little
“family quarrel,” they immediately cease when a
group of other martins have assembled. Each
family has its own apartment, and lives somewhat
independently of its neighbours, yet the whole city
is really one great family.

In the olden times, the people believed that the
work of these little cave-dwellers was miraculous.
Pliny dignified the sand martin by the following
tale: “At the mouth of the Nile, near Heraclea,
in Egypt, the swallows build nest upon nest, until
they form a wall so strong as to present an insur-
mountable barrier to the inundations of the river;
this dam is nearly a stadium in length, and could
scarcely be constructed by human hands. Near
the town of Koptos there is an island sacred to
Isis, which these swallows have fortified in a simi-
lar manner to preserve themselves from the flood.
In the early spring they strengthen the facade with
straw and chaff, continuing their labours night and
day for three consecutive days with such assiduity
that many expire from exhaustion. This work has
to be renewed every year.”

There are a number of other cave-dwellers along
the banks of the Nile. These are marsh-birds and

20 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

bee-eaters, and their cities are marvels of beauty
and careful workmanship. Each bird knows his
own residence, although they all look exactly alike,
and in a surface of twenty square feet there are no
less than fifty to sixty square holes. These little
workmen constantly fly in and out in a never-end-
ing stream, like a hive of bees. Surely no city
could have a better example of brotherly kindness
and consideration than is seen in these bird cities!
Each individual seems thoroughly to respect the
rights of his neighbours, and happiness reigns
everywhere.

Not all of the burrowing birds follow the usual
ways, however, for occasionally one may see them
nesting on a brick wall, or on high rocks. And
sometimes, even the sand martins, who in Pliny’s
time seemed to delight in sand-digging and bur-
rowing, will return to their almost-lost art of build-
ing mud-houses. Nuthatches often build houses
by burrowing into decayed trees; and the Assyrian
nuthatch makes a mud-house under a wall with an
additional mud vestibule. Thus we see that these
ancient nuthatches are in reality masons.

A most interesting belief prevails in the Outer
Hebrides relative to the “hot chamber” where
young petrels are hatched. The inhabitants claim
that the birds hatch their eggs not by sitting on

CLIFF-DWELLERS 21

them, but by sitting near them, at a distance of six
inches, between them and the opening of the bur-
row. The petrels turn their heads toward the
eggs, and coo at them day and night, and so “hatch
them with their song.” This, which sounds like a
fable of the East Atlantic islands, has really a basis
in fact. Mr. Davenport Graham says that the ac-
count is “very correct; though I never heard the
cooing noise by day, I often did in the evening. It
is rather a purring noise. When its nest is opened
up, the bird is usually found cowering a few inches
away from its egg. This hot and stuffy atmosphere
may aid the hatching of the eggs; but there is no
doubt that it brings into being other and very unde-
sirable forms of life.”

The great auk, now extinct, laid her single egg,
about the size of that of a swan, in a deep burrow.
This egg was so peculiarly streaked that it looked as
if it were covered with strange Chinese characters
—of a whitish yellow, marked with black dots and
manifold small lines. If for any reason this egg
chanced to be stolen, the bird would lay no more
during the season. Perhaps this partially accounts
for the quick extinction of this rare bird.

The strangest of all the ground-dwellers is the
owl-parrot (kakapo) of New Zealand. This curi-
ous bird combines all the special characteristics of

22 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

the owl with those of the parrot. The plumage
has that rich green which predominates in the par-
rot family, with the dark-brown markings and
transverse bars, trimmed in pale yellow so common
to most all owls. This bird might have been treated
under the chapter on mimics as its colourings cor-
respond exactly with its surroundings. Mr. Wood
says: “I could not help being struck by the circum-
stance which, no doubt, is observable when the bird
is in its native haunts, that its colours are absolutely
the same as those which immediately surround the
bird; the green colour being that of the grass, the
yellow dashes the same as the oats and other green
on which the bird feeds, and the blackish-brown
bars imitating the soft mould of the earth.”

The kakapo is nocturnal in habits. During the
day it sleeps in caves in the ground, or very rarely
in trees in a dark forest. If disturbed, it will hide
in caves or under rocks and grass; but at night it
comes out and is very lively as it feeds on grass,
vegetables, seeds and roots. If pleased with its
food, it continually grunts, like a pig. Its nests
are very difficult to find, as they are located in deep
caves, or under rocks. The kakapo is probably ex-
tinct by this time as the wild dogs of New Zealand
delight in hunting and destroying it.

Many ground-builders seek burrows already pre-

CLIFF-DWELLERS 23

pared for them. The prairie owls are famed for
their system of chummage. In this case, it seems
that the birds are always the guests of the animals.
Although the owls are expert miners and engineers
quite capable of planning and digging their own
homes, like many people, they prefer ready-made
ones. Sometimes one finds prairie owls, rattle-
snakes, and prairie dogs all living amicably together
in the same cave. And there are numerous families
of otters, sheldrakes, and stormy petrels living on
the best of terms in their little underground apart-
ment homes.

These miniature houses are wonderfully arranged
according to the most approved homes of man. The
main gallery is occupied by the otter and the shel-
drakes, while the petrels live in tiny side rooms, not
much larger than a mouse’s home. From the
otter’s sleeping room is a small canal for carrying
off water, and a rubbish-hole under the entrance.
To the right of the entrance is a small excavation
for the storage of fish-bones and other garbage.

The prairie owls are perhaps the most daring of
all the cave-dwellers in their friendships. This is
due to many causes. Community of interests
makes them gregarious to an extraordinary degree,
while the conditions of life in desert regions make
them cast their lives with the prairie dogs, wolves,

24 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

‘foxes, and even badgers. No one doubts that owls
live at ease with these animals, but that they have
any intimate family relations is to be questioned.
The owls are fewest in the more densely populated
prairie dog cities and most numerous in the
sparsely settled towns. This is interesting, as it
serves to prove that the owls have taken up their
lodging because of convenience, and not for com-
panionship.

A most remarkable partnership is that between
the chickaree squirrel and the saw-whet owl. This
companionship was once thought to be accidental.
Some naturalists claimed that the squirrel was
merely seeking a hole to escape danger that was
impending. But this is not true; for they live to-
gether in perfect harmony. Although the squirrel
is a very pugnacious creature, and sometimes bent
upon blood, he lives amicably with the owl. When
or where their friendship began, no one knows. It
is truly remarkable that two creatures so widely
different in habits should be parties to such a per-
manent and closely cemented friendship.

The guillemont ts a strange cave-dweller. She
often wanders far inland to lay her eggs, gener-
ally in company with others of her tribe, and seeks
a cave or burrow facing the cliffs. The eggs of the
guillemont are distinguished among those of Brit-

CLIFF-DWELLERS 25

ish birds by the fact that they are more varied in
colour than those of any other species. They range
from light pink to pale green. The female bird
lays but one egg at a time, and, like the mother
of an only child, she bestows great attention upon
it. Unlike all other birds she refuses to trust this
precious and only treasure in a nest, but holds it
between her legs as she sits in her chosen burrow.
These birds are fast becoming rare.

At Starved Rock, Illinois, a few years ago, there
was a most remarkable sight. A number of scien-
tists, Dr. Jesse M. Greenman, Mr. O. E. Lansing,
and myself were collecting plants for Field’s Mu-
seum of Natural History, when we came to this
wonderful place. An immense rock, covered with
mavellous pine trees, rose-bushes, and vines, nearly
a hundred feet high, stood by the side of the river.
Swallows were flying in and out of the sides of the
rock like bees out of a hive; for the rock was liter-
ally covered with mud nests glued to the steep
walls. It was a city indeed of cave-dwellers out of
the reach of man!

The strangest and most human-like habits of
cliff-dwellers, especially the swallows, is the burial
of their dead. If a swallow dies in its cave, the
other bird inhabitants wall up the nest, thus chang-
ing it into a hermetically sealed sepulchre. Only

26 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

after the dead swallow is thus buried will the
other members of his family continue to construct
their nests in adjoining caves. If this is not intelli-
gence, what shall we call it?

The flamingo is a peculiar mound-builder with
bright scarlet plumage, a very large neck and legs,
and a bill so bent in the middle that it appears to
be deformed. The flamingo belongs to an ancient
family of birds whose living members number only
one-third as many varieties as were known among
the fossil forms. Dampier, in 1688, gave a strange
account of these mound-builders:

“The flamingoes build their nests in shallow
ponds, where there is much mud, which they scrape
together, making little hillocks, like small islands,
appearing out of the water, a foot and a half high
from the bottom. They make the foundation of
these hillocks broad, bringing them up tapering to
the top, where they leave a small hollow pit to lay
their eggs in; and when they either lay their eggs,
or hatch them, they stand all the while, not on the
hillock, but closely by it with their long legs on the
ground and in the water, resting themselves against
the hillock, and covering the hollow nest upon it
with their rumps. For their legs are very long,
and building thus, as they do, upon the ground they
could neither draw their legs conveniently into the

CLIFF-DWELLERS 27

nests, nor sit down upon them otherwise than by
resting their whole bodies there, to the prejudice
of their eggs or their young, were it not for this
admirable contrivance, which they have by natural
instinct. The young ones cannot fly until they are
almost full-grown; but will run prodigiously fast.”
This account of the method of incubation is very
incorrect. The truth is that the old birds sit upon
their island-like nests, just as other birds do—with-
out injury to the eggs or to the young. These
cup-shaped nests are sufficiently deep for all neces-
sary protection. From this elevated position the
flamingoes can fish while sitting on their eggs.
Great numbers of these birds live in Florida and
in the Philippine Islands, where they often congre-
gate by the thousands into colonies. ;
Not the least interesting and surely the most
paradoxical of all cave-dwellers is the bat. These
strange “children of Erebus” have something obso-
lete in their general make-up. In the Davonian
monster-period, skin wings were quite the fashion,
but to-day they have gone out of vogue. It is a
curious fact that all winged mammals are now noc-
turnal in their habits, as if they feared competition
with their day-light contemporaries. Most of the
skin-winged creatures, like the winged lemur, the
flying fox, and the flying squirrel, dread sunlight

28° THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

as witch-doctors dread the light of investigation;
and the same is true of bats. Though most moon-
shine creatures have exaggerated eyes, those of the
bat are almost as rudimentary as are those of a
mole, or of the weird fishes that were ejected from
the subterranean tarns of Mount Cotopaxi.

It is for purposes of self-defence, shelter and
rest that bats seek caves. At times they seem per-
fectly contented to sleep in the same cave with
rattlesnakes. There are a number of such caves in
the Philippine Islands where thousands of bats
dwell in dark caves with huge rattlesnakes, and in
the twilight all of them pour out at the same mo-
ment, a living flood of staggering night-wanderers.
Aristotle classed bats with birds, and in many re-
spects they are the creatures par excellence of the
air. “With the sole exception of the Javanese
roussette, bats are completely at sea in the water,
and almost helpless on terra firma; they eat, drink,
and court their mates on the wing, and the Nycteris
thebaica even carries her young on her nightly ex-
cursions. Nay, bats may even be said to sleep in
the air, for they build neither day nests nor winter
quarters, but hang by the thumbnail, touching their
support only with the point of a sharp hook. But
this hand-hook connects with muscles of amazing
tenacity,

CLIFF-DWELLERS 29

“In cold climates, where bats have to club to-
gether for mutual warmth, fifty or sixty of them
have been found in one bundle, representing an
aggregate weight of about fifteen pounds, all sup-
ported by one thumbnail! The head-centre, or the
one that supports the weight of the group, must
sleep as warm as a child in a feather-bed; but it is
hard to understand how the outsiders can survive
the cold season, for, in spite of their voracity, bats
accumulate no fat, and the flying membrane is a
poor protection against a North American winter.
The only explanation is that their winter torpor is a
trance, a protracted catalepsy, rather than a sleep;
hibernating bears and dormice get wide awake at
a minute’s notice, but I have handled bats that
might have been skinned without betraying a sign
of life, and needed more than the warmth of my
hands to revive them, for their wings were quite
brittle with rigid frost. Bats prefer a cave with
tortuous ramifications that shelter them against
draughts, but still with a wide though not too visi-
ble opening, as they do not like to squeeze them-
selves through narrow clefts. A dormitory com-
bining these requisites is sure to attract lodgers
from far and near. . . . The Mammoth Cave, with
its countless grottoes, has only two bat-holes, whose

80 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

occupants have never been known to change their
quarters.”

The only American bird known to choose a per-
manently damp cave or ledge of wet rocks for its
home is the water ouzel, or American dipper. This
bird is so eccentric that it prefers its nest under a
continuous shower, and spends most of its time in,
not on top of, the water. Perhaps the very shower
of water through which he must pass to enter his
home serves to protect his young from preying ani-
mals and birds. The ouzel babies are reared by
the lullaby of the spraying waters. How fascinat-
ing these water babies look when they first go forth
into the world! They are neatly attired in slate-
coloured feathers, with white feet and white edg-
ings to some of the feathers, and a bunny-like tail to
match.

Not the least attractive among these rock dwel-
lers is the sprightly little cafion wren. One must
have good eyesight and exercise much patience to
see these tiny creatures. At a distance they look
like flies running on a wall. In and out among the
rocks flits the miniature cave-dweller, gathering a
bit of moss here and there for her cave-mansion,
entirely unconcerned about the hundred feet of
cliffs stretching below her and the foaming stream
at their foot. Occasionally she zigzags her way to

Reba meee, 5 it

Ft

CLIFF-DWELLERS 81
the top of the cliff, showing absolute familiarity

.. with her mountain home.

The most beautiful and far the most diminutive
of all the cliff-dwellers are certain varieties of
humming-birds. They appear most abundant in
the mountainous regions of South America, espe-
cially in the high Andes, where there are hundreds
of different species. Here, if one is especially
lucky, he may occasionally find a nest attached to
the side of a high cliff, or overhanging rock. The
nests are marvels of beauty and wonder. They are
usually cup-shaped, and formed of plant down
woven together by silver spider’s webs. The out-
side of the nests is covered with lichens, mosses,
and sometimes with dried flowers or feathers.

Oven-birds are the aristocrats among the cliff-
dwellers, and are not satisfied with one chamber,
but build two in the clay not unlike ovens—hence
the name. These are common sights in South
America. Like their friends, the swallows, they
sometimes convert a nest into a sepulchre by clos-
ing up the entrance when a bird has died. It some-
times happens that an underground city, in case of
an epidemic among the inhabitants, becomes a
cemetery!

A cousin of the oven-bird, which closely resem-
bles this interesting home-maker in the reddish tint

32 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

of its feathers, is the casarita, which means “little
house-builder.” The nest of the casarita is usually
found at the bottom of a cylindrical tube which ex-
tends from five to six feet underground. This bird
is common in the La Plata region of South Amer-
ica, and boys who attempt to dig out the nests are
rarely ever successful, owing to the length of the
tube. An unusual thing about this otherwise in-
telligent little creature is its absolute incapacity
for acquiring any ideas of thickness. It will con-
tinually attempt to bore nests in thin walls, with
apparent surprise when daylight is reached on the
opposite side!

The custom of building mounds for nesting-
places has been extensively adopted by many spe-
cies of birds in Australia and elsewhere. The
mallee-bird makes a mound or nest in the most pe-
culiar way by bringing together gravel and vegeta-
ble matter. These are mixed almost in the same
manner as a brick-maker mixes his mud and straw;
and as the vegetable matter decays a sufficient
amount of heat is produced to hatch the eggs.

Dr. Grey informs us that the mallee’s nest oc-
casionally. measures thirteen yards about the base
and is about two feet in height. In a letter in 1842
he wrote: “The mound appears to be constructed
as follows: A nearly circular hole, about eighteen

CLIFF-DWELLERS 33

inches in diameter, is scratched in the ground to a
depth of seven or eight inches, and filled with dead
leaves, dead grass, and similar materials, and a
large mass of the same substance is placed all
around it upon the ground. Over this first layer
a large mound of sand, mixed with dry grass, etc.,
is thrown, and finally the whole assumes the form
of a dome. . . . When an egg is to be deposited,
the top is laid open and a hole scraped in its cen-
tre to within two or three inches of the bottom layer
of leaves. The egg is placed in the sand just at
or near the edge, in a vertical position, with the
smaller end downwards. The sand is then thrown
in again, and the mound left in its original form.
The egg which has been thus deposited is there-
fore completely surrounded and enveloped in soft
sand, having from four to six inches of sand be-
tween the lower end of the egg and the layer of
dead leaves. When a second egg is laid, it is de-
posited precisely in the same plane as the first, but
at the opposite side of the hole before alluded to.
A third egg is placed in the same plane as the
others, but, as it were, at the third corner of the
square . . . the fourth in the fourth . . . the fig-
re)

ure being of this form—o 0; the next four eggs

oO

34 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

in succession are placed in the interstices, but al-
ways in the same plane, so at last there is a circle
of eight eggs, all standing upright in the sand, with
several inches of sand intervening between each.
The male bird assists the female in opening and
covering up the mound, and provided the birds are
not themselves disturbed, the female continues to
lay in the same mound, even after it has been sev-
eral times robbed. The natives say that the hen
bird lays an egg every day.”

The eggs are hatched by the heat engendered by
the decaying vegetation, and the young birds, un-
aided, push their way slowly to the outer world.
The parent bird forages in the neighbourhood,
awaiting the brood, and soon finds them and be-
gins their rearing. Thus the mound is not used
as a nesting-place in the strict sense as with other
less educated birds, but as an incubator; and the
mother bird escapes the long monotonous task of
hatching the eggs by the heat of her body.

Other birds build even bigger mounds than the
mallee; some of these have been known to measure
fifteen feet in height and sixty feet in circumfer-
ence. The jungle fowl builds a mound of varying
proportions, never less than five feet in height.
Generally these mounds are placed over or near ant-

CLIFF-DWELLERS 35

hills so that the young may find food in their
journey to the light of day.

The skill shown by these birds in the construc-
tion of incubators for their eggs is most remark-
able when we consider that in the different parts
of the country where they range, the materials at
hand vary widely in kind and quality. Yet they
are uniformly successful. They are engineers of
great ability and ingenuity, and seem to know just
how and in what quantities to mix whatever ma-
terials the region affords. That they understand
in some measure the natural principles which they
employ is shown by the intelligent care they take in
the choice of vegetation and in the scrupulous re-
moval of all decayed matter of the previous year.

Some mound-building birds band together to ac-
complish their work, and the fairness and good-
fellowship they show would put human labourers
to shame. They all join heartily in the task, and
the result proves the wisdom of co-operation. In-
deed these birds have solved many of the most seri-
ous and complicated problems of their existence in
a way that would do credit to human beings, and
their methods are not unlike those of man in the
early stages of development.

CHAPTER III

POLICEMEN OF THE AIR

Sometimes the linnet piped his song:

Sometimes the throstle whistled strong:

Sometimes the sparrowhawk, wheel’d along,

Hush'd all the groves from fear of wrong.
—Tennyson.

OWHERE in the entire range of life is
there a greater wealth of romance than in
the police systems of the bird world. And the
companionship of those people whose lives are
spent among the whirl of city streets, I especially
desire, that they may accompany me to the moun-
tain-side, across treeless prairies, among the hedge
rows, across the grain fields, through the deep for-
ests, and lastly to the high cliffs, that we may to-
gether be students of nature, and learn that “the
world is perfect everywhere, when still unblemished
by man’s ruthless hand.”
Up to the present time in man’s civilisation it
has been necessary for him to have a police power
of some kind in all territory where he expects to

remain in safety. The same is true in the bird
36

POLICEMEN OF THE AIR 37

world where the earth, the air, and the water all
have their special guardians. Though we seldom
realise it, these police systems are invaluable to
mankind. The woodpeckers, famed for their chisel-
like beaks, are able to dig into the bark and wood
of trees and perform untold service for man by de-
stroying the hidden larve that kill the forest trees.

The eagle gives us a splendid example of
strength and nobility among policemen of the air.
This noble bird is by nature and character sym-
bolical of power. The old legends place him by
the throne of Jupiter, “holding in his talons the
thunderbolts which the Deity was supposed to rain
down upon this hapless earth of ours: the allegory
is apt, for the eagle, himself a mighty king, dashes
upon his prey, like a flash of lightning, with resist-
less power.” He is indeed the terror of the air:
his proudly erect body, the ruffled lance-like feather-
ing of the head, the piercing eyes, the scissor-like
beak, and the stiff, pendant tail serve to impress
us with his power and nobility. He is ruler of the
day! And king of the air!

There are many varieties of eagles, and one of
the most powerful, the bateleur eagle of Africa, is
called by the natives the “Ape of Heaven.” Its
flight can be at once distinguished from that of
any other bird. At one instant it darts off like a

38 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

wild deer, momentarily hangs suspended at a giddy
height in the heavens, without the motion of a
feather, then shoots rapidly upward like a sky-
rocket, till out of sight, returning to earth like a
leaden ball, amid a complicated acrobatic perform-
ance, like a tumbler pigeon. Mankind may well
cast envious glances at this marvel of the air. No
wonder Nature’s untutored children in the “Land
of Ham” have called him the courier of the gods!
There he has a permanent place in their rhymed
songs and sayings.

The Egyptian vulture is a common sight in the
villages and towns of Upper Egypt and Nubia.
He seems to have no fear, as he patrols his beat,
and he is rarely disturbed by the natives. He will
perch on low trees within a city and sometimes
alight on the streets to get a bone. If other birds
disturb him or come into his regular territory, he
soon drives them away. Although he is friendly
with the kingfishers of the Nile, and is sometimes
found in company with the much-respected hooded
crows, he is the deadliest enemy of all other mem-
bers of the feathered tribe.

So completely is his authority established that he
actually breeds in small trees in the towns, with-
out fear of being disturbed. Birds know that they
can implicitly trust the Arabs; for these people have

POLICEMEN OF THE AIR 39

sentiments so noble and deeply founded that even
the wise eagles trust them; the turtle doves alight
on their hands; the night herons roost in low trees
in the heart of the towns; the thick-kneed plover
plays on the house-tops; the stilt wades in the vil-
lage ponds; while the magnificent buff-heron fol-
lows the milk-cows home. In fact Cairo was
founded because of hospitality extended to birds.
The Caliph’s general, Abd-Allah-Omahr, once re-
fused to allow his tent to be struck because a turtle
dove had built its nest upon it, and the young doves
were still unfledged when the General desired to
march.

The golden eagle is a veteran policeman. His
sturdy build, his powerful weapons, marvellous
eyes, air-ship wings, and his home among the clouds
make him indeed the lion of the bird-kingdom! He
is the king of the air, although he is by no means
the largest among the eagle family, as several kinds
of sea eagles are a size larger. The golden eagle is
at home in all parts of America, throughout Eu-
rope, and in Asia. He is strictly a lover of the
mountains, and is found among the highest passes
and cliffs. In Switzerland he is found only in the
Alps. In speaking of this mountain king, Tenny-
son says:

40 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

“He clasps the craig with hooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,

And like a thunderbolt he falls.”

From his mountain beat he surveys the surround-
ing country far and wide. As the Bible says, “he
sees afar off”—nothing escapes his eye. At certain
intervals he sweeps noiselessly along as his glances
search the distant hills and valleys below for prey.
Suddenly, when he sees an animal below, he closes
his immense wings and descends to the earth with
a terrific thunder-like sound, his huge talons open
ready to grasp the hapless creature. Nothing is
safe from his terrible claws. Nothing is too large
or too small for him. His eerie on the high cliffs
tells its own tale of murder: around it is a veritable
boneyard which has accumulated during the young
eaglets’ nursery days.

The golden eagle is a very undesirable officer
in the vicinity where he is king. The enormous
amount of food his young consume, not to mention
himself, makes him a great enemy to all forms of
life. His eerie is very rarely accessible to man, as
it is usually placed at the highest point of a cliff,
or in the crown of a very tall tree, and oftentimes

(ONDNOAM) INOH FIUATA SLI UNV WIOVA NACIOD FHL

THOIN AHL 40 NVWAHOITOd V “IMO CaauVE AHL

POLICEMEN OF THE AIR 41

at the head of a river. The nest is unbeautiful,
yet so large and strongly built that a man could
lie down with safety in it. The lower layer is built
of large sticks, often brought from a great distance,
and then covered with small twigs, while the bed is
formed of soft grasses, wool, goat’s hair, feathers,
cotton, and various fluffy silks and threads from
plants. It is interesting to watch a happy couple
of eagles in March gathering the materials for their
nest. They whirl and soar in the clouds, rising
higher and higher, as though they were giving avia-
tion demonstrations. Even after his mate is set-
ting, the male continues to give these soaring ex-
hibitions. There are usually two eggs in a nest.
They are large, round, bluish white, speckled with
reddish-brown.

When the young have hatched, the nest is more
like a butcher’s shop than anything else. Every-
thing from lamb-chops to young squab is served to
these ravenous downy eaglets.

There are many varieties of eagles, and their
ways and methods of hunting are as numerous as
they are diverse. Even Solomon admitted that he
could not understand the “ways of an eagle.” The
male and female often hunt together, flying a short
distance apart, They scour over mountain range

42 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

after mountain range, with apparently no thought
of the valley far below.

This glorious bird is king of the mountains, the
true lord of the high places of the world. He lives
in a region of pure air and blinding sunlight, and
evidently looks upon men as helpless crawling
things fit only to live in valleys. Round his earliest
cradle bright snowflakes glisten like diamonds in
the sunbeams which, early and late, colour the sur-
rounding hills with rich blues and purples. He
makes his home between rugged crags, with the
shiny glacier as his private skating pond. He is an
integrant part of the cliffs and precipices—a com-
plement of the eternal snows. Wherever the hand
of God had heaped together mighty masses of rocks
and piled them toward the skies, wherever the snow
spreads its white mantle and sends icy streamlets
trickling toward the valleys, there will this police-
man of the skies be found. He claims every moun-
tain as his natural birthright.

One of the most terrible and vindictive of the
bird warriors is the kea parrot of New Zealand.
This bird, formerly a patrolman of nature in keep-
ing down insects, has become a veritable despot.
Living among the foothills and mountain peaks,
it used to descend to the lowlands in winter, to
obtain food. But the introduction of the sheep-

POLICEMEN OF THE AIR 43

raising industry made it possible for it to eke out
an existence on the scraps of offal.

Later these blood-thirsty parrots became so bold
as to attack and kill sheep. The manner in which
they do this is revolting in the extreme, and for
many years scientists in other parts of the world
refused to believe the wild tales of their terrible
crimes. They hunt in great numbers, like hungry
wolves, and pounce upon any luckless sheep that
strays from the herdsman’s care. Lighting upon
its back, they quickly tear away wool, hide, and
flesh in search of the tender part about the kidneys.
This they despatch with gluttonous haste as the
poor animal falls and dies. Then they leave the
carcass untouched to seek another victim and again
regale themselves upon its living vitals.

No bird of prey by nature carnivorous is so
deadly and so wasteful as these degenerate grain-
eaters. At times they seem to seek some new and
terrible mode of destroying the sheep; for instance,
some of them live during certain seasons entirely
upon the tongues and eyes of young lambs, which
they ruthlessly pluck out of the living animal. It
is not uncommon to see these helpless creatures
tongueless and eyeless from the fiendish attacks of
the feathered hyenas. So bad have these bird-
terrors become that some sheep-runs have had to be

44 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

abandoned, and a bounty has long ago been set
upon their lives. Indeed they have become so bold
as to attack horses and other large domestic ani-
mals.

Fly-catchers have a most novel and interesting
way of patrolling their territory: concealing them-
selves among the branches of trees, they patiently
await the appearance of flies, bees, butterflies, and
other insects, and greedily pounce upon them.
Again and again they return to the same stand and
wait for their prey.

Swallows and swifts sail high in the air, and fol-
low a system of intricate curvings and divings in
search of insects which fly above the tree-tops.
Humming-birds sometimes hunt in pairs, and one
enters a large cup-shaped flower to catch the in-
sects within, while the other bars the door!

In many places in the South hundreds of bats
appear at twilight, dashing here and there to catch
insects. At times, in their anxiety to catch mosqui-
toes, they actually fly into the face of an observer.
These night-watehmen are invaluable in their ser-
vice to mankind through their destruction of
myriads of noxious insects.

Perhaps the most important nocturnal police-
men are owls. They are many in number and va-
riety of species, but the eagle ow] is the paradox of

POLICEMEN OF THE AIR 45

the bird kingdom. It is savage, dull, miserable,
and sad! It is the terror of the night, and the
largest of all known owls—two feet long, with
wings six feet in expanse. Its home is usually in
the loneliest forest, among ancient walls, monas-
teries, ruins, or on a steep precipice near a small vil-
lage; even in an old church tower they are found.
Wordsworth justly speaks of this king of the night
in the following lines:

“Grave creature !—whether, while the moon shines bright
On thy wings opened wide for smoothest flight,
Thou art discovered in a roofless tower,

Rising from what may once have been a lady’s bower;
Or spied where thou sitt’st moping in thy mew

At the dim centre of churchyard yew;

Or, from a rifted crag or ivy tod

Deep in a forest, thy secure abode,

Thou giv’st, for pastime’s sake, by shriek or shout,
A puzzling notice of their whereabout—

May the night never come, nor day be seen,

When I shall scorn thy voice, or mock thy mein!”

This fantastic officer of the night ruffles his
feathers in such a manner as to make himself ap-
pear twice his actual size. Naumann in referring
to him says: “In that large, shapeless mass of feath-
ers, one can scarcely distinguish the limbs; the half-
closed eyes hide their glorious rays; suddenly the
‘bird opens them wide, bends the head and upper

46 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

part of the body forward, swaying from side to
side, and, raising first one foot and then the other,
begins to tremble, winks slowly with the eyelids,
spits like a cat, and snaps its bill; when angry, its
eyes flash fire, it bends forward with hanging wings,
ruffles its plumage as much as possible, and, snap-
ping and hissing, dashes furiously at the enemy.”

The eagle owl is justly hated by all day birds,
for he preys on every living creature that comes
within his ken. He is a murderer of the lowest de-
gree, and seeks the darkness of night to do his vile
deeds. He noiselessly enters caves and flies in and
out among the trees to kill his prey. Nothing is
safe from his moonlight eyes and piercing talons.
It is small wonder that this Prince of Darkness,
if discovered during the day taking his siesta, is
pounced upon by myriads of enemies.

Nothing sounds more ghost-like than the “Poo-
hoo! Poohoo!” of these owl policemen as they sig-
nal in the darkness. An entire forest is frightened
by their strange and weird noises, so uncanny as
to make one’s hair or feathers stand up! Their shrill,
mocking laugh, weird imitations of wolves, scream-
ing hyenas, and a hissing sound like that of an im-
mense serpent—all these are calculated to give rise
to strange and ghostly beliefs concerning them.

. Even the truth of the legend of the wild huntsman

POLICEMEN OF THE AIR 47,

is not unthinkable! And one is reminded of Bol-
ton’s words:

“What time the timid hare limps to feed,
When the scared owl skims round the grassy mead;
Then high in air, and poised upon his wings,
Unseen the soft, enamored wood lark sings.”

Another interesting officer of the-night is the
nightjar or fern owl. He also belongs to a numer-
ous family whose individual species the Spanish
call by various names, such as “the father of the
wind,” “shepherd’s deceiver,” “big-mouth,” “ghost-
eater,” “death watch,” and “spirit breeder.” By
form and colouring he is well fitted to conceal him-
self from sight. His coat of feathers is spotted and
blotched with innumerable shades from dark brown
to light greenish-grey, not unlike the colour of
hickory bark. His broad head has a small beak,
but an enormous mouth, trimmed with long hairs.
The large gape enables the bird easily to catch
moths and beetles whenever he goes forth. On
moonlight nights he hunts all night, hawking in-
sects and swallowing them alive until his crop is
gorged full.

His song is most pleasing. In America he is
commonly known under the name of his “whip-
poor-will” melody. It is a nocturnal serenade that
is unsurpassed for its beauty and charm.

48 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

Nearly all types of birds perform certain du-
ties in nature which help to keep the balance in the
animate world. And those species which contri-
bute by their activities to the welfare of man are
naturally the most interesting to us. Many times
in his history has man been relieved of overwhelm-
ing pests, and received constant protection against
ever-present menaces to his safety or well-being, by
his feathered brothers of the air. In the words of
Longfellow:

“You call them thieves and pillagers; but know
They are the winged wardens of your farms,
Who from the cornfields drive the insidious foe,
And from your harvests keep a hundred. harms;
Even the blackest of them all, the crow,
Renders good service as your man-at-arms,
Crushing the beetle in his coat of mail,

And crying havoc on the slug and snail.”

In the past man has been more or less blind to
this fact, and has consistently wronged many of
his allies through his own ignorance. Wars of
extermination, which have been carried on from
time to time, when successful, have nearly always
brought heavy penalties. Birds prey upon all
kinds of vermin, which, when no longer kept deci-
mated, often overrun and destroy the harvests, and
men are helpless to aid themselves. Locust-birds

POLICEMEN OF THE AIR 49

are the only exterminators of locusts. Rodents and
other prolific mammals would do untold harm were
their numbers not kept down by the bird police.

A notable example of this kind may be found in
the great vole plague in England in 1890-2. At
this time the common field-vole multiplied to such
an extent that whole districts were threatened with
utter ruin. The plague was curbed only by the
aid of birds of prey, especially kestrels and short-
eared owls.

Birds also accomplish many other works of na-
ture by which the earth and man are benefited.
Plant seeds are carried and widely dispersed in the
crops, talons, or plumage of most birds. The po-
licemen of the air are important agents in these
works for the good of all life upon this planet.

It is unfortunate that only a few rare souls
in the human world realise how invaluable to man-
kind are these wild creatures of the air, whose equip-
ment is unequalled for the part they have to play
in keeping nature’s balance just. They are the
greatest friends of all farmers, stock raisers, and
fruit growers; and they should be regarded as
man’s most valuable allies, without whose aid agri-
culture could not be carried on with great success.
The destruction of birds means disaster in the long
run. America and England should be justly proud

50 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

of what they have already done for the protection
of their feathered friends, and press on to larger
accomplishments. Let every man respect and pro-
tect the natural policemen of the air!

CHAPTER IV,

DANCERS

... And round and round
The plovers wheel, and give their note of joy.
—Southey.

N no way do birds show their human qualities
more than by their love and perfection in the
terpsichorean art. 'They are very similar to human
beings in this desire. Some like dancing because
it enables them to display their gaudy feathers and
beautiful and graceful forms; others consider that
it is an exceptionally attractive social grace; while
still another group, with a subtler intelligence, are
enabled to express in their dancing the joy of life
and its conflicting emotions.

Victory, defeat, beauty of scenery, and favour-
able climatic conditions for hunting are some of
the occasions for a dance. The birds are like the
American Indian, who introduces dancing at every
possible occasion. The fact that the female bird is
rarely allowed to join in may be explained by say-

ing that most often the male is endeavouring to
51

52 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

win the admiration of the less pretentious members
of the other sex, just as the Indian dances best in
the presence of the squaw whom he wishes to win
for his wife.

The American sharp-tailed grouse is perhaps the
Isadora Duncan of the bird world. This. interest-
ing dancing family thrives from Illinois to Alaska.
They begin their dances in the early spring after
getting their plumage in the most beautiful condi-
tion. The grouse assemble in small groups, and
wander around until another group is found; these
unite and the increased flock circle until still an-
other flock arrives. This continues until a flock has
reached the proper number. Then follows a most
elaborate preparation for the auspicious occasion.

The ballroom floor is nothing more nor less than
a plot of ground of trampled grass about forty or
fifty feet square, located in small shrubbery so as
to be concealed from curious eyes, or enemies.
When this is in readiness the female birds demurely
retire to the edges of the grass-plot, where they
may watch the dance while they are themselves half
hidden by the surrounding shrubbery. As all of
the males wish to participate, there are no profes-
sional musicians but each male furnishes his own
music. Ruffling up their neck feathers, dropping
their gawky and rapidly vibrating wings close to

PRAIRIE CHICKENS ON ONE OF THEIR DANCING-GROUNDS

SdauId ONIONVC AHL AO ONLLSTUTLNI LSOW FHL 40 ANO SI ASNOUD GATWANU FHL

DANCERS 53

the earth, elevating their beautiful tails, these male
ballet-dancers waltz round and round each other,
whirling sometimes one way, sometimes another.
Suddenly they arise, inflate their bodies like small
balloons and assume the most soldier-like attitudes;
slowly, like important dignitaries exchanging cour-
tesies, they move around in groups, advancing and
retiring with dignity befitting the occasion. Oc-
casionally they chatter to each other, as if in praise
of their wonderful achievements, or perhaps it is to
encourage to better efforts some awkward member
of the ballet!

These “chicken stamping grounds,” as they are
called in the West, are often used for several sea-
sons. Unless the birds are disturbed they return
to the same courting grounds indefinitely. West-
erners tell us that occasionally the same spot has
been used for their dances so long that small runs
or roads are made to it from all directions. These
ballrooms are invariably located in good feeding
districts, and are frequently near rivers.

A cousin of the cranes and herons, the hammer-
head, lives in Africa and Madagascar. He is an
unusually talented bird, being a skilled architect,
an astronomer, and a clever dancer. He is about
the size of a small raven, and builds his gigantic
mansion, sometimes six feet in diameter, on a rocky

54 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

ledge near a stream of running water, or in the forks
of alow tree. This home is very substantially built
of grasses, roots, sticks, with a slanting, flat-topped
roof.

The interior is lined and decorated in red clay,
and there is a small entrance at the side which
leads into the main hall. A number of various
kinds of bone specimens are always found within
this student’s home, but evidently they are not
there for study purposes even though he does look
somewhat like a student and a philosopher. As
an architect he ranks among the best. His living-
room is beautifully formed, and is divided into a
living-room and a nursery. This makes three dis-
tinct rooms in all, if we count the hallway. He
also shows his artistic ability by the manner in
which he decorates the outside of his home with
trinkets and ornaments.

He is a very peculiar being in his dress of brown,
trimmed in a purplish sheen; the head-dress is so
arranged that it looks like a hammer—thus his
name. And withal his ways are quite as odd as his
appearance. In speaking of him, M. Oustalet said:
“He may be observed for hours at a time walking
upon the river-bank like a peripatetic philosopher.
Marching solemnly along with shoulders humped,
and gazing earnestly upon the ground, he appears

DANCERS 55

to be engaged in profound meditation; occasionally
he shakes his head vigorously as if to drive away
some importunate thought. But he is engaged in
no more intellectual occupation than a careful
search for his supper of small mollusks.”

If a female hammer-head chances to move near
him, he suddenly opens his wings and begins to
dance in the moonlight for her and with her. When
the dance is ended, he again assumes a ministerial
air quite befitting so learned a creature.

The great bird of paradise assembles in a large
tree with a number of fellow artists who gather to
dance and display their elegance and beauty. Here,
where there is plenty of room among the foliage,
these exquisite creatures raise their wings over their
backs, curve out their necks, while their rich,
golden side-feathers are kept in perpetual vibra-
tion. Of course, they have to hop from branch to
branch, if they wish to change positions, and they
are more like a flying ballet than a group of regu-
lar dancers.

The sage cock, a native of the foot-hills and
prairies between western Kansas and the Sierra
Nevada and Cascade Ranges, drums as well as
dances to win a bride. He is not quite so skilled
in dancing as many of his cousins of the West,
although he is a magnificent artist at parade. No

56 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

regiment of soldiers could equal the stately poise
and steps in which he so frequently indulges. With
his fan-like tail gracefully spread, his neck poised
in the most approved military style, wings stiffened
and arched to the ground like the sails of a boat,
he marches, struts, drums, wheels, constantly pro-
ducing a deep guttural and altogether unlovely
song until some lonely female accepts him for a
mate.

The dusky grouse also drums for his own dance.
He dances not only during the day, but also the
early part of the night during the mating season.
Evidently he does not believe in letting the object
of his affection have a chance to think alone over
his proposal. His song is totally lacking in charm,
and is more like a whirring or guttural whining
than real music. This he produces by an alternate
inflation and‘contraction of the air sacs in his
throat.

Perhaps among the classical dancers the wild
turkey gobbler should be ranked as a leader! His
dances consist chiefly of graceful poses, marches,
and wheelings done with an airiness and grace pos-
sible to few artists. Occasionally he springs up in
the air precisely as if he had been turned suddenly
into a feather-like ball and was floating upward
without any effort,

DANCERS 57

Should the turkey hens refuse to pay attention
to his marvellous stunts, he continues to stretch his
wings to his sides as he assumes the most varied and
commanding positions imaginable and clucks as
though he were saying, “Notice me! Behold my
grandeur! Am I not a wonder?” And should a
lovely bronze belle deign to notice him, he dis-
plays his plumage to the greatest advantage by
spreading his massive tail, sweeping the ground
with his quivering and expanded wings, while his
proud head is drawn back with the dignity of a
prancing circus horse.

Should he be approached by a rival wooer, then
a battle royal ensues, and ends only in death or a
dishonourable retreat by one of the contestants.
The victorious warrior is truly a proud bird! He
struts through the woods, loudly announcing his
victory and calling attention to his magnificent
warrior-like proclivities.

One of the most singular, surely the most beau-
tiful, and perhaps the most versatile, feathered ar-
tist is the lyre-bird of the Southern Archipelago.
It is difficult to classify him according to any one of
his accomplishments. He is ranked among the
mocking-birds as a songster ; he is one of the leading
birds as a tujck-artist and imitator: he mimics the
sound of everything from a croaking frog to the

58 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

cry of a child; and not the least among his accom-
plishments is his dancing. In this field he is unique
indeed.

Perhaps no other bird dancer has a more delight-
ful and varied costume, though his large feet would
seem to be against him. His exquisite lyre-like
tail, from which he derives his name, is the glory
and the despair of other dancers. This feathered
instrument is formed of two wonderfully curved
outer feathers with transparent patches of delicate,
silk-like feathers which appear like notches extend-
ing along the entire inner side of the web; there
are also a number of soft, fairy-like plumes resem-
bling the feathers of the bird of paradise.

The lyre-bird’s plumage attains perfection only
after four years of growth, and then it remains with
him for only a brief period before it is moulted. He
is very proud of his wonderful lyre, and when he
travels through the woods he carries it straight in
line with his body. This assures its protection.
When he wishes to attract the attention of the op-
posite sex, he sings and dances, hops and jumps,
springs up into a nearby tree, flops again to the
ground, goes through all sorts of weird and grace-
ful movements and gestures, and poses his body in
all imaginable ways. This is followed by a series

DANCERS 59

of pecking movements which he accompanies by a
movement of his tail as he sings.

The ruffled grouse, whose habitat extends from
Texas to Canada, and from the Atlantic Ocean to
the Pacific, is both a dancer and a musician. His
special instrument is the kettle-drum, although at
times he produces a booming sound with his wings.
His favourite ballroom is on a dead log. Here he
displays his soldier-like costume and handsome body
in a series of most remarkable dances. Unlike many
of his cousins he refuses to dance the ordinary
minuets and quadrilles, but gallantly struts up and
down the log, swelling his body to the music of his
own making, until a handsome female chances to
appear on the scene. Should he seem to have no
audience, he stops his dance long enough to pro-
duce a booming sound with his strong wings. This
amusement is continued until an audience has as-
sembled and some fair grouse has chosen him for a
mate.

It sometimes happens that two or three grouse
assemble and dance on the same log. The drum-
ming occurs between February and April and con-
tinues until all the birds have mated. The spruce
partridge of Canada is famed for his soldier-like
ways and rustic dancing. Dancing, however, is
secondary among his wooing accomplishments,

60 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

Drumming comes first; and this is done in a most
anusual way. As he rises in the air and descends with
his broad tail expanded and vibrating, a peculiar
metallic sound is produced. It is not very musical
at best, but all the female partridges from far and
near come to hear and see the wonderful perform-
ance.

It sometimes happens that a lively combat en-
sues, and terminates only in death. This battle is
often fought right on the dancing-floor and the
females take unusual interest in it. After the bat-
tle has ended and the lucky bird has won his bride,
all dancing and drumming ceases and perfect har-
mony follows.

Truly wonderful is the dainty dancing of the
little English sparrow. It often happens that
several males will dance and chirp in rivalry for
the same female. This interesting and sometimes
despised little sparrow is perhaps the best friend
man has among birds. He is indeed in the bird
world what the dog is in the animal world. One
who knows his wonderful habits must believe as
Cornwall, that we should not harm him:

“Touch not the little sparrow, who doth build
His home so near us. He doth follow us
From spot to spot amidst the turbulent town
And ne’er deserts us.”

DANCERS 61

This bird celebrity is perhaps the most abused
and misunderstood friend of the human race. He
is strictly a city bird; and mankind seems especially
informed about his disagreeable habits, with little
knowledge of how much good he does for the hu-
man race. His sins and shortcomings have been
greatly overestimated. Let us learn something
about this abused friend of ours. He is surely
among the most intelligent of birds, living always on
intimate terms with man. It is this intelligence
that causes him never to trust the lord of creation.
A young sparrow is stupid, but an old one is a sage.
He is famed for his cleverness, cunning, patience,
persistence, caution, and the ability to act and
dance. As a protection to city parks, trees, shrub-
bery, and flowers he has no equal. In fact, if it
were not for the sparrows in these days of pests,
we could have few city flowers or even trees.

“The abuse of the English sparrow,” wrote
Archibald C. Weeks, in the New York Tribune,
“is due to ignorance and unwarranted prejudice.
No person is competent to judge of birds unless
possessed of a thorough knowledge of the activities
and life histories of insects and competent to dif-
ferentiate between the beneficial and injurious.
There is no bird which can measure up to the spar-

62 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

row in the destruction of noxious insects or as a pro-
moter of sanitation.

“The claim that it drives away other birds is
largely unfounded. It does not frequent the for-
ests, where the native birds are left undisturbed,
but clings to human habitation, the more dense the
better, where few other birds could safely nest or
obtain food even if there were no sparrows. It is a
marvellous destroyer of the cutworm and can even
rout the moth from its concealment in the grass,
which no other bird seems to be able to do. As a
consumer of thistle and weed seeds it has no equal
except perhaps the quail. In New York City the
spring and fall canker worms (geometrid larve),
which formerly defoliated the shade trees, are now
so rare that the collector has difficulty in obtaining
a specimen for his cabinet. Few insects are safe
from the bird. The imported European leopard
moth, whose deep boring larve are nearly immune
from destruction, is effectually checked, as the spar-
row consumes the moths as they lie prone on the
surface of the ground under the electric lights
which attracted them the previous night.

“I suggested starvation as a means of insect con-
trol over 25 years ago. The United States Health
Service has adopted my suggestion for the purpose
of eliminating the rat by advising the storage of

DANCERS 63

all grains in inaccessible containers. The object
sought is to prevent this rodent, through the me-
dium of its parasitic flea, from acting as a purveyor
of bubonic plague. The sparrow, however, is doing
the most effective part of the work by consuming
every particle of scattered grain throughout the
streets and around barns and granaries, and also all
food products derived from grain, which are strewn
more or less plentifully over the surface of the
ground in every yard, street and dumping place.
Not only are rats and mice thus prevented from ob-
taining sustenance, but the attracting, breeding and
multiplication of house and other flies and various
other insects are prevented.”

Love plays a prominent part in the active life
of the sparrow; he courts from morning until night,
if he is unmated. He bows and scrapes and pa-
rades himself before his love in all the glory of his
rich brown uniform trimmed in white and tan
stripes, with such perseverance that the shyest spar-
row belle could not resist his wooing. As soon as
she accepts him, they fly away to a suitable place
to begin preparing their cosy apartment—as he
also is an apartment dweller like man.

As soon as a young family is started, the father
and mother work from early dawn to sunset feed-
ing the babes. If other birds come near the nest, _

64 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

quarrelling and fighting results, as Mr. and Mrs.
Sparrow are valiant defenders of their homes. The
young, as soon as they are able to fly, are also
taught to defend themselves, for their parents
know well the brawling routine of sparrow life.
Crows have wonderful dances, but they are dif-
ficult to describe because of their variations. They
hop, skip, jump, run, turn somersaults, change
positions, seemingly salute each other, suddenly
stop and fly away. ‘The same may be said of wild
geese and ducks, though these birds hold most of
their sports on the water and their dancing is more
on the order of aquatic sports. Cranes and ibises
dance both in water and on land, although all of
their dancing appears, more like some form of In-
dian ceremony than actual dancing, as it often
takes place just preceding a battle or a migration.
It may be their form of council meeting, for cer-
tain ones seem to wish to be seen and heard unduly.
Since the days when Solomon’s fleet first intro-
duced the peacock into Palestine, no bird has had
a more wonderful history. He is truly not only
the vainest but also unquestionably the most beau-
tiful creature of the feathered kingdom. Indeed
it may be said that he reflects the wonder of all the
East. Alexander the Great so loved this marvel-
lous child of beauty and mystery that he inflicted

DANCERS 65

severe punishment upon any one who dared to harm
it. The peacock’s “plumage scintillates and flashes
so as to be inferior in its splendour only to those
colours that are kindled into life by the sun, and
which are reflected by the bird; while it surpasses
all its congeners in the glory of its sheen: the purple
robes of the glacier, the silver surface of the stream,
the blue mists of the distance, and the deep dark-
ness of heaven’s dome above complete the magic
picture.” Yet even this wonderful child of beauty
and grandeur finds it necessary to dance and pa-
rade his glory before the feminine sex in order to
win a mate!

During the mating season, he seeks the company
of several peahens, hoping that out of a number he
can win one for a bride. Gracefully and manfully
he faces the one of his choice, that he may display
his exquisite throat and breast as well as his tail.
If she appears unconcerned, he immediately as-
sumes other and varied poses, hoping thereby to
impress her with his grandeur. If this does not
succeed, he marches for her—a perfect soldier, with
the dignity and poise of an army officer. These
extraordinary attitudes are continued with occa-
sional light dance steps, until no bird could resist
such ardent wooing, and at last he is accepted as
a mate.

66 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

And so there is among birds a variety of dancing
and social pleasures and pastimes as great as we
find in the human world. And there is yet much
to be learned about their wonderful knowledge of
life and its strange ways.

CHAPTER V

FEATHERED ATHLETES

See the . . . bird, who wildly springs,
With a keen sparkle in his glowing eye
And a strong effort in his quivering wings,
Up to the blue vault of the happy sky.
—wNorton.

MONG birds, as in the human world, we

find many different forms of athletics.
There are games, sports, and various competitive
feats of strength, involving skill and endurance.
The conditions of their environment largely de-
termine the nature of their athletics. Some birds
are all-round athletes and can perform numerous
feats with equal skill, while others have but one
specialty.

The competitive sports between individuals of
the ostrich family is most interesting. With their
powerful legs they are able to race as no other bird
can. They are the race horses of the feathered
kingdom. ‘At an early age, the young ostrich is
taught to run races—a practice which prepares him

for what he needs later in life in the way of self-
67

68 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

protection through rapid pedestrianism. Many a
race is run and honours won by young ostriches on
the plains.

Bird racers are plentiful. The bustards and
plovers are among the swiftest; the sandpipers and
larks the nimblest; while the road runners are the
most direct in their methods, and the only ones that
indulge in relay races. While these relay races
may be the result of fellow-racers suddenly appear-
ing at a certain post, an onlooker would believe
them to have been definitely arranged beforehand.

There are many professional divers in the bird
world. The depth to which they can descend, and
the length of time they can remain under water,
depend entirely upon the bird. Like human div-
ers, some can remain under water for several
minutes while others can stay under for only a few
seconds. Unquestionably, the greatest diver is the
eider duck. He not only dives the deepest, but
remains under water the longest. These interest-
ing friends of the deep often dive four hundred
feet under the surface, and remain there from four
to six minutes. The northern diver, on rare occa-
sions, remains under water from eight to ten
minutes. ‘These deep-sea divers are running great
risks, however, when they remain under water so
long, for if they should in any way get entangled

FEATHERED ATHLETES 69

in sea-moss or weeds while returning to the sur-
face, they would die immediately. The Icelanders
used to catch ducks by means of baited nets spread
over the water.

It is interesting to note the different methods
pursued by divers of the bird world in teaching
their young the profession. For instance, young
penguins are not introduced to the water until they
have doffed their first baby suits of down. Then
they are led to the water’s edge and crudely
pushed in. Usually the baby penguin is an ex-
pert at the first trial and a second lesson is unneces-
sary. But if he refuses to swim, and later to dive,
the stern mother and father push him under until
he gets accustomed to the water.

Numerous water birds have too much plumage
to become skilled divers. Being wise, they rarely
attempt to dive, even when in great danger.
Among such birds may be noted the albatross,
swan, gull, phalarope, and many others. The peli-
can is too much like a balloon to dive successfully
—that is, the epidermis of his body is inflated with
air cells which make him too light. Each variety
of diver has a different kind of movement. A pro-
fessional swimmer, when he wishes to dive, digs the
water simultaneously with both his feet. Occa-
sionally he tumbles over head-first toward the water

70 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

before disappearing. Other divers do not make
this aerial plunge.

There are quite a few high divers among the
birds, and their beauty of form is shown to great
advantage in their profession. Among this class
of divers may be mentioned the booby, the king-
fisher, the osprey, and several varieties of terns.
The booby swoops down from a height with such
a force that he is often dashed to pieces against the
rocks. Fabre has several times mentioned this
fact.

Not a few of these high divers after reaching the
bottom run around there for a while. The dipper
is especially fond of underwater haunts. There he
moves along, half-running and _ half-swimming,
searching about this stone and that; then suddenly
he arises to the surface and is seen to dart through
the foaming spray of water to a beautiful, mist-
drained nest. With his wonderful black-and-
white body and his elusive habits, he is a water-
nymph indeed!

Swimmers and divers of the far north who live
among the icebergs, and who secure their food en-
tirely from the water, have devised a wonderful
means of diving. The penguin mentioned in the re-
port of the Challenger Expedition is claimed ac-
tually to swallow stones when preparing to dive

THE GREAT BLUE HERON IS WELL EQUIPPED BY NATURE TO BE AN ATHLETE

Guld UTLVM V SV TVAIY ON SVH AIAN aHL

FEATHERED ATHLETES 71

for food, that it may sink with greater ease. He
disgorges them when he returns to the surface. If
this is true, it is indeed a most remarkable way of
adjusting weight. Surely a wise diver could de-
vise a better scheme for a ballast!

Numerous young divers seem to take to sub-
mergence as a means of self-protection. The
chicks of the lotus-bird will dive under water at the
least disturbance, and sometimes remain under
from ten to fifteen minutes. The great-crested
grebe not only builds its nest on the water, where
it floats around, but gathers the material, such as
sea-weed and rush, from the bottom of deep water.
How true are the words of Mary Howett when
she speaks of this inhabitant of the sea!

“Amidst the foaming wave thou sat’st
And steerd’st thy little boat,

Thy nest of rush and water-reed
So bravely set afloat.”

The chief aim of divers is to get food. It is not
uncommon for diving birds to be caught in fish-
nets at a great distance under the surface of the
water. The shag is especially gifted in diving,
while the darters and the great-crested grebe will
dive with such rapidity and then swim so fast that
they may easily cover two hundred feet in less than
half a minute.

72 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

This interesting water-nymph, the grebe, wears
a wonderfully graceful and imposing head-dress.
Both the male and female grebe possess this dou-
ble-pointed group of feathers on the crown of
the head, resembling nothing so much as horns, as
the bird darts through the water and like a flash
of lightning dives below, searching for food, or hid-
ing from danger. It even sleeps upon the water,
preens and oils its feathers, suns itself, and yet man-
ages to remain in the same position. This is done
by means of its feet, or paddles, which are con-
stantly working; during a storm they must work
extra hard to keep the bird’s position.

The land is not suited to the grebe’s needs, as
its legs are placed so far back on the body that it
is forced to walk upright. This is very awkward
indeed; but when swimming, the grebe has no rival
for poise and dignity: its neck is held in a graceful
upright position, and it can dive with no noise and
as silently come up again. However, if threatened
with danger, it plunges beneath the waves like a
frolicking boy in a mill-pond.

Its real hunting ground is at the bottom of the
water where small fish and insects are plentiful.
It loves solitude, and will rarely remain in the
company of even ducks or coots. ‘The most singu-
lar fact in the bird’s whole life is its strange and

FEATHERED ATHLETES 73

inexplicable habit of plucking the feathers from its
own body and eating them. Naumann says:
“These feathers seem to act with the grebe like
sand or small stones do with many other birds, as a
necessary aid to digestion.”

No movement of a bird seems more worlderful,
as far as position is concerned, than flying under
water. Of course, water is more difficult for a
bird to fly through than air, because of the greater
pressure; yet not a few divers and swimmers are
masters of this strange art of aquatic-aviation.
They might be termed living submarines. These
birds have much smaller wings than those of the
professional aviators, as large wings would be use-
less under water. There are many birds, however,
who have to fly both under water and in the air.
These are handicapped when under water because
they have to fly in the denser medium with aerial-
propellers.

The most skilled submarine birds, the penguins,
are no good at aviation. Their wings are nothing
but flat paddles, and suitable only for the water.
At first sight, one might think the penguin had no
feathers at all on its wings, but such is not the
case; while it has no quills, it is covered with scaly-
like feathers which are totally unlike all other
feathers,

74 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

As might be expected, these bird-submarines are
extremely awkward on land, and very fish-like in
water. Penguins are the water-fairies of the bird
kingdom. Mr. Cornish, in speaking of their un-
derwater sports and the silvery appearance of the
plumage, caused by the air from the wings, says:
“They seem fitted for everlasting flight in the
palaces and grottoes of sea-nymphs, across which
they fly, bearing bubbles of sunlight from above,
scattering them through the chambers like crystal
globes of fire.” Darting here and there below the
surface, leaving a lightning-like trail of air-bubbles
behind, the penguin flashes through the water like
a comet of the heavens. It seizes and swallows
many fish without the slightest hesitation, and when
its fishing tour is over it quietly rises to the sur-
face and climbs on to land—the most awkward and
clumsy creature imaginable.

New conditions create new habits. The cormo-
rant, according to Herr Gitke, the distinguished
ornithologist, has learned how to immerse itself and
remain perfectly motionless in a pond of water with
only its head above the surface, and from this posi-
tion attack flying or swimming prey. He claims
to have seen the cormorant in this position catch
a swallow and eat it. What power it is that en-
ables the cormorant, whose body is many times

FEATHERED ATHLETES 75

lighter than an equal volume of water, to remain
thus silently submerged, no one knows. It may
be that this athlete has swallowed pebbles like the
penguins of the north, or again it may be that the
bird has learned some new power of balance which
man may discover in the distant future.

The cormorant is only one of the many water-
birds whose habits are baffling to the mind of man.
These strange people of the water have air-sacs
distributed over their bodies and directly connected
with their throat and lungs; these air-sacs make
their bodies exceedingly light in proportion to their
size. In addition, their coats of feathery plumage
make them still lighter; as a result, many of them
practically float on the very surface of the water.

In the bird world there is a certain amount of
competitive sport between different varieties of
athletes, though the rivalry is not nearly so preva-
lent as it is among boys. As in the human world,
this competition teaches those qualities so much
needed—self-control, obedience, and leadership. It
also arouses a spirit of emulation, and brings about
a perfection of the physical body as is attained in
no other way. Birds need every faculty developed
that they may meet and conquer all difficulties in
their search for food, in migration, and in war.
Incidentally, the general development as the world

76 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

progresses in so-called civilisation means more dan-
ger to the feathered tribe.

Woodpeckers have many games of rivalry in the
realms of professional carpentry and climbing.
They can mount the most slippery tree by a series
of jumps or springs. They can climb around dead
trees or around the smallest sapling in search of
food. ‘Their nests are usually burrowed out of the
wood of a dead tree. They are the greatest aid to
fruit orchards because of the many pestiferous in-
sects they destroy, although few farmers seem to
realise it. Nothing is more delightful than the
peculiar call of these red-headed carpenters, and
their continual “rapping” on dead trees sounds like
hundreds of men-carpenters at work on a house.

The green woodpecker is shier than his American
cousin. He is the commonest of the European
species, and he delights to dwell in the depths of
woods and forests. His chief food is insects and
worms, and his tongue is peculiarly shaped so that
he is enabled to shoot it out to an astonishing
length in seizing the insect or worm on which he
feeds. He utters a piercing cry with which he
makes the forest resound. He has another cry,
which is heard only occasionally, like a noisy burst
of laughter, and this he repeats twenty to thirty
times in rapid succession, He has still another

FEATHERED ATHLETES 77

plaintive note which is heard usually preceding a
storm, and is called his weather-prophet note. But
the sound for which he is most famed is his loud
rapping on dead trees. And this he does very
often to drive insects from their homes under the
bark. In the following lines to the woodpecker,
the poet gives us a true picture of him:

“Hail to thee, woodpecker, clothed in green!
How thy verdant mantle concealeth thee;
*Mid the waving foliage scarcely seen,
As thou climbest the boughs of the forest-tree.
The theme of the villager’s song art thou,
The woodpecker tapping the hollow beech-tree.”

In South America there are three varieties of
birds which use their wings for other purposes than
flying. The penguin uses his wings as a fish uses
his fins, and may be termed the fish of the bird
world; the ostrich uses his wings as sails, and is the
ship of the bird-world; while the loggerhead duck,
which was formerly known as the race-horse of the
water because of his unusual manner of running
and splashing along, is now called by the more
appropriate name of steamer.

The wings of these steamers are very unusual,
and while they are not large enough or strong
enough to permit of much flight, yet they serve by
splashing and flopping the water to evolve great

78 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

speed. The strange noise produced by the flop-
ping of a number of these loggerhead ducks is very
weird.

Among the curious sports of the bird world, none
is more striking than that of the professional jock-
eys. These jockeys are many in number and their
beasts of burden are equally numerous. One of
the best known of this profession is the rosy bee-
eater of East Africa. Mr. Arthur Neumann de-
scribes him as continually riding about “on the back
of the large-crested bustard or ‘pauw’ which is com-
mon about the northern extremity of Bassu. It
sits far back on the rump of its mount, as a boy
rides a donkey. The pauw does not seem to resent
this liberty, but stalks majestically along, while
its brilliantly clad little jockey keeps a lookout, sit-
ting sideways, and now and again flies up after an
insect it has espied, returning again after the chase
to ‘its camel’ as Juma (his native servant) not
inaptly called it.... I have also noticed this
pretty little bird sitting on the backs of goats,
sheep, and antelopes, but the pauw seems its fa-
vourite steed. I imagine it gets more flights in
this way at game put up by its bearer, which also
affords it a point of vantage whence to sight and
pursue its prey in a country where suitable sticks
to perch on are few.”

FEATHERED ATHLETES 79

Another most interesting species of jockey is the
oxpecker or rhinoceros-bird, a native of South
Africa, and supposed to belong to the Starling
family. This jockey prefers to ride on big game,
such as cattle or rhinoceroses; and his delight is not
so much in riding as in the insects he finds on the
animals’ backs. Recently, however, this once use-
ful jockey has become a great nuisance, and has
fallen into disgrace, since he has learned to love
not only ticks but blood. He now attacks the cat-
tle and horses wherever he finds them, and perse-
cutes them terribly. While the thick hide of the
rhinoceros is proof against the strong beaks of
these jockey-birds, those of the more delicate-
skinned domesticated animals is thin and easily
pricked.

‘In America and England the starlings and
blackbirds do the jockey work. In East Africa
the egrets swarm on to the elephants to pick off
the ticks. The animals seem to enjoy the presence
of their faithful bird friends and riders. In the
early days of American history, herds of buffalo
were followed by blackbirds and cow-birds, and
old hunters claim that these animals were never
disturbed as long as birds were on their backs. It
seems that the birds left the animals only in time of

80 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

danger, thus acting as sentinels for their beasts of
burden.

A unique branch of professional sport in the
bird world is fighting. The pugilistic tendencies
run through the entire bird kingdom, and are es-
pecially marked among birds of prey. These
quarrelsome creatures fight their battles in the air,
and the aggressive warrior soars above his adver-
sary and dashes down upon him with terrific force.
If the lower bird is sufficiently skilled in duelling,
he turns so instantaneously that his enemy misses
him and darts past; if there is no chance to escape,
he often turns over and grasps his assailant, and
together they fall to the ground. This form of
defence is common among kites.

Game birds are the greatest warriors. They are
especially pugnacious during the mating season.
At this time they are constantly on the lookout for
a rival, and are ever challenging a duel. Every
one who has raised game chickens knows the war-
like propensities of these birds. "When two cocks
meet, a battle always follows and not until one of
the combatants is wounded or killed does the com-
bat stop. The conquered bird is forced to leave
the community, and if he has a harem of follow-
ers they either go with him or become reconciled to
his conqueror.

FEATHERED ATHLETES 81

Cock pheasants will allow no rivals on their
grounds; each has his own drive, and when a rival
appears a battle follows and the victor is left in
possession of the run.

Terrible conquests are waged by the various
species of the grouse. If the female has two or
three suitors, a rough-and-tumble battle ensues
while she runs about the battle-ground watching
its progress with interest. These fights have been
known to last for two or three hours, and not until
the ground is covered with feathers, and one of the
warriors killed, do they cease.

Sometimes strategy is resorted to in winning a
battle, as in the case of Reinhardt’s ptarmigan, who
lures his enemy away from the female bird, and
then suddenly rushes back to her. They disappear
together; or if she refuses to flee with him, the bat-
tle with his opponent is vigorously renewed, and
fought to a finish, with a bride as a reward.

The weapons used by pugilistic birds are as nu-
merous as they are varied. There are claws,
beaks, spurs, and slugs, in the form of feet, which
are very formidable. The cassowary can leap and
kick with almost the force of a colt. Numerous
eagles have such terrible claws that they can swoop
down upon a young goat or lamb and almost in-
stantly kill it, or pick up the young of deer and fly

82 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

away with them. It is claimed that the harpy eagle
is able to tear a rabbit into pieces with its powerful
claws. Swans, geese, and ducks use their wings
as weapons of defence. If disturbed while incu-
bating, swans are dangerous, and they are able to
use their wings with great power in fighting.
Geese can whip most dogs with their wings, while
ducks are only able to drive away smaller animals,
and chickens. Some birds have knobs on the end
of their wings which they use as fists.

Spurs are perhaps the most dangerous and
deadly weapons used by fighters, with the exception
of talons. They are used by the pheasant family,
and reach their greatest perfection in the jungle-
fowl. This interesting inhabitant of India is the
ancestor of our domestic fowl of to-day; the old
Greeks referred to it as “the bird.” When it was
first tamed, no one knows, but it is certain that it
dates back to a very early age, for the first known
authors make frequent mention of it as “the cock.”

Many of our present-day game-cocks have
enormous spurs. These weapons are bony, very
sharp-pointed sheaths which look like miniature
antelope or goat horns. They are located on the
back of the ankle and are really specially developed
claws. The number of spurs possessed by a single
bird depends upon its variety and kind. The

A MOTHER QUAIL ON GUARD OVER HER NEST

A BLACK-BILLED CUCKOO AND TWO YELLOW-BILLED CUCKOOS IN A YELLOW-
BILL’S NEST

FEATHERED ATHLETES 83

double-spurred peacock has, as his name implies,
two on each leg; other birds have three, and the
blood-pheasant has sometimes as many as five.
Cock-fighters of the human world have cruelly
learned how to plant a spur in a game-cock’s head
in such a way that it will grow, and curve directly
over the bird’s eyes. In this case, it serves to dig
out the eyes of his opponent in battle. Again,
sharp steel spurs are often buckled on a rooster’s
feet, and serve to slice open his enemy. This form
of heathenish sport is fast disappearing, even in
Mexico, where it has been the twin-sport of bull-
fighting for many years.

Spurs ordinarily are developed only among the
male of a species, as they are the champions of tribe
rights and must defend the females. However,
this is not always the case: sometimes, as in the case
of the Indian spur-fowl, the female has spurs. The
French partridge has a knob in place of a spur, and
guinea fowls have the same defensive weapons.

Many fighters prefer to use their beaks as
weapons of defence. Among these may be men-
tioned redbirds, blackbirds, crows, starlings,
finches, blue-jays, and numerous others of the
small tribes. While the beak is the chief weapon,
each bird also uses his wings to buffet the enemy,

84 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

and his feet to balance him on the ground or in the
tree, unless the battle is in mid-air.

Most fights of the bird world take place on the
courting grounds, and in the mating season. As
in the human world, the male usually does the
courting; but this is not always true, even among
birds. Among the bustard-quails—small birds,
about the size of a common English sparrow, na-
tives of Africa and Asia—are found such strange
and unusual customs that we quote the words of
Mr. A. O. Hume, perhaps the best authority on
Indian birds: “The most remarkable point in the
life history of these bustard-quails is the extraor-
dinary fashion in which amongst them the position
of the sexes is reversed. The females are the
larger and handsomer birds. The females only,
call; the females only, fight. Natives say that
they fight for the males, and probably this is true.
What is certain is that, whereas in the case of al-
most all the other game-birds, it is the males alone
that can be caught in spring cages, etc., to which
they are attracted by the calls of other males, and
to which they come with a view to fighting, in this
species no males will ever come to a cage baited
with a male, whereas every female within hearing
rushes to a cage in which a female is confined, and
if allowed to meet during the breeding season, any

FEATHERED ATHLETES 85

two females will fight until one or the other is dead,
or nearly so.

“The males, and the males only, as we have now
proved in numberless cases, sit upon the eggs, the
females meanwhile larking about, calling and fight-
ing, without any care for their obedient mates; and
lastly, the males, and the males only, I believe, tend
and are to be flushed along with the young brood.
. . . Almost throughout the higher sections of the
animal kingdom, you have the males fighting for
the females, the females caring for the young; here
in one insignificant little group of tiny birds, you
have the ladies fighting duels to preserve . . . their
husbands, and the latter sitting meekly in the nur-
sery and tending the young.” The reason for these
strange masculine tendencies of the females is un-
known to naturalists. Perhaps at some distant
date we will understand why the female must rule
among the bustard-quails.

CHAPTER VI

PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS

"Tis always morning somewhere; and above

The awakening continents, from shore to shore,

Somewhere the birds are singing evermore.
—Longfellow.

F all the brilliant endowments of birds, there
is none so much appreciated by man as their
wonderful art of music. The song birds are the
poets of the feathered tribe; they are the bards and
troubadours of the world, for their songs are suited
to the passing moods and occasions, and are de-
termined thereby. The songs of the birds, being
improvised to express the peculiar emotion of the
moment, possess a spontaneity that human musi-
cians often strive in vain to acquire.

The formal songs of man, perfect in art as many
of them are, still lack that charm that nature
brings—a wonderful essence of spiritual effect.
For, to express all that the heart feels, to exhaust
the possibilities of a thought or emotion, to leave

nothing to the imagination of the hearer, is to of-
86

PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS _ 87

fend by excess of ardour. This is often the error
of man-made music; it is certainly the tendency of
every over-developed art. The rich, full strains
of a wild bird’s song has in its unstudied form noth-
ing of the laboured and unnatural. It is a song
from the heart, and to be really appreciated it must
be listened to only by the heart.

There is reason to believe that the songs of birds
are often, if not always, heard with a certain emo-
tional understanding and sympathy by mankind
that all his complex science and philosophy can-
not explain. It is that mysterious sense of kinship
that exists between all mortal beings, that may for
long intervals be hidden by the passions and desires,
but responds to the holy strains of nature’s music
from the throats of song birds.

The poets of all races and of all times have sung
the praises of our feathered brother-musicians; and
in their kindred art they have caught something of
that charm that is peculiar only to the singers of
the air. In his famous poem, To a Skylark, Shel-
ley has probably been most successful in the com-
munion of spirit between bird and man. He feels
the matchless eloquence of the song bird:

“Chorus hymeneal,

Or triumphal chaunt,
Matched with thine, would be all

88 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

But an empty vaunt,
A thing wherein we feel
There is some hidden want.”

Not all the poets of antiquity, nor any of his
illustrious contemporaries, to his mind possessed
musical powers equal or comparable to the wild
bird, with its “profuse strains of unpremeditated
art.”

To us who are accustomed to the songs of birds
in every woodland the thought perhaps never pre-
sented itself: What a dreary world it would be
without the music of the birds! The city park, the
suburban wood and grove, would be desolate in-
deed, without the song of a single bird. The deep
primeval forest, with its weird and gloomy shades,
would be like a place of horror and magic without
the chorus of a thousand happy birds to proclaim
in many keys the joys of life. Were they not there,
only the unaccompanied chanting of the brook, and
the whisper of the winds in the tree-tops, and the
occasional scream of a beast of prey would greet
the ear. There would seem a deathlike stillness in
spite of the other sounds. A forest without birds
would be a vast dark mausoleum, silent and forbid-
ding, though splendid. They are a necessary part
of nature’s domain; and a sylvan retreat, decked as

PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS _ 89

it may be with all the advantages of man-made art,
is incomplete without the songs of birds.

They are an important part of the world in
which they live, not only for their esthetic endow-
ments, but for the many services they perform. No
land could be long inhabited and cultivated suc-
cessfully were it entirely barren of birds. They
serve nature and promote, by their activities, the
ends of life, and in song give praise to the joys of
living. The bright religion of healthy-mindedness
is their great contribution to the world, by example
and by the joy they bring in their music.

The gift of song varies as widely in birds as it
does in human beings; each species has its range
of voice and definite compass, and each sings its
own individual notes in its own peculiar manner.
A number of birds have melodies which their tribe
has agreed is “their” song, and they sing it only;
while others, like the mocking-bird, canary, bull-
finch, ete., learn to sing many songs of varied
lengths and significance.

Environment undoubtedly has great influence
upon the musical talent and accomplishments of
birds, just as among human beings. Especially is
this true of their musical environment, for birds not
only possess instruments upon which to perform,
but a rare talent and adaptability for learning

90 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

beautiful sounds and notes to weave into their pro-
ductions. This is most easily observed in caged
birds, for a young canary raised near a mocking-
bird will have many notes uncommon among his
tribe.

This fact has been turned to advantage by bird-
fanciers the world over, and young birds are given
especial advantages in order to improve their musi-
cal ear and technique. The finest singers are pro-
cured, and these are kept near the young birds. As
the latter develop their own voices they try to join
in the melody of their teachers, and after long ef-
fort succeed in learning their methods and execu-
tion, and often acquire a certain similarity in qual-
ity of tone. In this way the musical standard of
caged birds is being steadily improved. It is noth-
ing more than a system of music schools and in-
struction, made possible by the native talent of the
bird mind.

In the wild wood every bird has a certain amount
of instruction given him by his parents, and his
early environment completes his musical education.
Like a musician in the human world, he learns all
his teachers can give him, and then goes forth to
add to his skill by practice and observation of
others.

There is no doubt that scenery has an effect upon

PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS 91

the songs of birds, and each locality has its par-
ticular type of music. The mocking-bird of Flor-
ida, for instance, sings in quite a different way -
from his Texas brother, although both are musi-
cians of great talent, and neither might be said to
be inferior to the other in either quality of note or
execution.

Birds sing their loudest and sweetest during the
mating season. Every bird must have some special
art to rely on in his love-making, and music is used
more than any other resource. The true bird-
musician pours out his heart in passionate melody
to the object of his adoration, and any sign of fa-
vour from her brings forth still greater efforts.

The most fascinating feature of bird-song is the
mimicry so common to many bird musicians.
Among the mimics who are professional vocalists
the mocking-bird has the first place. He mimics
every sound imaginable, from that of running wa-
ter to the most difficult and complicated notes of
the flute. In many cases he improves upon the
sound he imitates. A mocking-bird can sing the
cardinal’s song far better than the cardinal can
sing it, and give the alarm cry of the sparrow with
more effect than its originator.

Some mimics appear to repeat the notes of other
birds merely to increase their own songs; others,

92 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

however, like the starling, blue-jay, and sedge
warbler, seem to carefully follow the vocalisation
of other birds only for the purpose of exact
mimicry. The mocking-bird, skylark, thrush, and
robin are all capable of marvellous mimetric repro-
ductions in their singing, a habit which imparts to
their performances a richness and variety of ex-
pression that is second only to our own imitative
type of music.

In captivity a bird seems to increase its powers
of mimicry. This may be due to the fact that there
is less to attract its attention, and mimicry becomes
a pleasant way to while away the hours; or it may be
only man’s delusion, since only in captivity can we
observe birds for long periods of time and at every
hour of the day. ‘The talent of mimicry varies in
individuals and species just as the production of
song itself is not constant even in a single family
of birds.

This fact is well demonstrated in the case of
canaries. In one nest eight young canaries were
raised from two parent birds, and no two of the
offspring were similar in markings, habits, or dis-
position; and in powers of song and mimicry each
had his own style and taste. One mingled to-
gether parts of his father’s song with notes from
the mocking-bird nearby; another chose to borrow

PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS ~ 93

from the song of the cardinal; a third followed the
thrush as a master; and each one is a singer of re-
markable skill and value.

The mocking-bird of the United States is the
king of all songsters. He is one of the greatest
attractions of the Southland, where during the
spring and summer the very atmosphere is filled
with his exuberant music. His voice seems to be
the voice of orange blossoms, magnolias, and sweet-
smelling honeysuckles and roses; and among them
he sings joyously day and night. No description
of this wonderful musician can convey any idea
of his song. One might as well attempt to describe
a Tetrazinni solo or an Albert Spaulding recital,
as to try to give any impression of the marvellous
beauty and charm of the mocking-bird’s renditions.

The mocking-bird seems to take little time for
rest during the spring and summer, for he sings
and works all day, and sings and plays nearly all
night. He is so filled with joy that he leaps and
tumbles in the air as he sings, like a clown in an
opera. Apparently he is greatly influenced by the
bright moonlight, as he performs his most aston-
ishing feats of tumbling and singing then.

He takes special delight in imitating every
sound he hears, and in fooling people and animals
nearby; but, unlike the chat, he does it openly. He

94 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

boldly attempts to imitate the whistle of the neigh-
bour’s boy, or the noisy chatter of the angry blue-
jays. And then suddenly he begins a melody of
such wild and barbaric feeling that all the primal
emotions of the human race seem to be recorded,
and finally he ends with a song that has the charm
of a Chopin Nocturne. There is an emotional
power in the mocker’s night song which is inde-
scribable in musical terminology. One cannot
describe the motives, phrases and periods in telling
of the weird and eerie cascade notes of this chief
of songsters.

No bird is so famed for its singing as the night-
ingale, and all the praise it has received is well
merited. Poets of all ages have paid tuneful
tribute to its art, for no one can deny its right to
a prominent place among the world’s greatest
song birds. There is an exquisite sweetness in its
tones so remarkably appealing that it has led many
persons into the error of calling the nightingale
melancholy, when the contrary is really true. Ex-
ultation is evident in the quality of its song, and its
rendition betrays no sign of gloom. The nightin-
gale is possessed of wonderful execution and in-
terpretative skill. Besides the “full-throated ease”
and excellence of its song, it has a most splendid
use of the crescendo, which it deftly employs on a

PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS ~ 95

single note with an artistic perfection that rivals
the highest human skill.

The music of the nightingale has become one
of the staple subjects in European literature, and
this recognition of its art is most befitting. For
considering the long time that this bird has been a
neighbour to man, it has surely given more joy to
the world than any other bird musician. The sweet
song of the nightingale has contributed largely to-
ward awakening in the heart of man that sympathy
with wild things that harm him not, which is the
bright jewel of the present age.

The song of the thrush possesses a charm pe-
culiar to itself, having a vigour and clearness which
add to its great variety of tone. At morning and
evening his clear joyous notes may be heard in a
great rush of triumphant melody—a veritable tor-
rent of song. The thrush also possesses the power
of mimicry, and his art profits by his borrowing
the calls and notes of his bird-neighbours. One ob-
server declares that thirty different birds contrib-
uted to the repertoire of a certain thrush, and of
these sounds, twenty were exactly reproduced.

By this adaptability the little brown musician,
like many human composers, takes the material
that is at hand and weaves its song, aided in his ex-
pression by its variety. The chiff-chaff, the wood-

‘96 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

warbler, the wryneck, the butcher-bird, the nut-
hatch, the goldfinch, chaffinch, and even the night-
ingale, have all furnished him with notes, bars, and
cadences.

The great thrush family gives us three musicians
of extraordinary ability: the wood thrush, the
veery, and the hermit thrush. They differ from
each other in song, and from all other birds in many
ways. With them habitat—environment—also
causes variations, as with other birds and with man.

The songs of these birds are held dear by those
who hear them in their native haunts. Lynn Tew
Sprague says: “There is absolutely no tone in
nature—no human voice, no vibration of string, or
wood, or metal—to compare in mellow richness and
sonority with the thrush’s note. . . . “Tonal qual-
ity’ is a phrase we use, but when listening to one
of these birds we are for the first time aware of
the full difference in the mystical merging of those
ghostly groups of -subconscious harmonies, which
science tells us accompany every tone, so that each
note is really a harmony. The voices of these three
birds resemble each other in quality, yet each pos-
sesses a subtle tonal colour and their songs are
different in pitch and measure . . . the bewilder-
‘ing cadenzas of the veery, the serene largo of the
wood thrush, the more joyous adagio of the hermit

“=

PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS - 97

are to certain natures the consummation of song.”

Further than this it is difficult to describe the
music of the thrush. Thoreau pays a delightful
tribute to the wood thrush, and a poetic description
of its song: “Some birds are poets and sing all
summer. I am reminded of this while we rest in
the shade and listen to a wood thrush now, just be-
fore sunset. . . . The wood thrush’s is no opera
music. It is not so much the composition as the
strain, the tone, that interests us—cool bars of mel-
ody from the atmosphere of everlasting morning
and evening. It is the quality of the sound, not
the sequence. In the pewee’s note there is some
sultriness, but in the thrush’s, though heard at
noon, there is the liquid coolness of things drawn
from the bottom of springs. The thrush’s alone
declares the immortal wealth and vigour that is in
the forest. Here is a bird in whose strain the story
is told. Whenever a man hears it, he is young and
nature is in her spring; whenever he hears it, there
is a new world and one country, and the gates of
heaven are not shut against him.”

The skylark is a favourite songster of Europe,
and many poets have sung his praises. He is es-
pecially loved for the bright philosophy which he
teaches. Every morning as the sun rises he
springs, singing exultantly, from his nest on the

98 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

ground and, soaring and singing, mounts higher
and higher to greet the day with joyous melody.

In the warbler family are many singers, and in
some respects they resemble each other in their
music. The sedge-warbler, however, is the chief
among them. His great power is mimicry, and
there is hardly any limit to the sounds he can re-
produce. His song is a medley of many and vary-
ing strains; and in the hush of twilight he seems
like a tiny elfin troubadour recounting the deeds
of the day. Composed of many tones in rapid suc-
cession, with changing lights and shades and ca-
dences, the song seems so well developed that one
might suspect the little musician of arranging the
material beforehand.

The starling is called by some a songster, and
if effort entitles him to consideration, he is a de-
serving musician. Being a most talented mimic
he offers as a song all his repertoire of sounds in
the best way he can, interspersing them with chirps
and whistlings. Perhaps in time he will become
a master musician, for he seems a songster in the
making.

In the multitude of nature’s choristers there are
many singers of rare merit and ability, but space
will not allow even an enumeration of them here.
The flute-like notes of the blackbird, the whistling

PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS _ 99

song of the cardinal, the lively music of the robin,
the silvery song of the tree-pipit, the gentle cooing
of the dove—these and a thousand other less fa-
miliar melodies combine to give music to the woods
and fields and all who dwell therein.

Not only do birds sing with great artistic ability,
and display exceptional talent in learning from
others, but many of them are equipped by nature
with instruments which correspond to those of a
man-made orchestra. They have wind and percus-
sion instruments, and we are forced to admit that
they knew and used these two principles of sound
production before man became aware of them.

Many species of cranes and swans possess a pe-
culiarity that is most interesting. The famous
trumpeter swan is the best known of this group,
and his name is quite appropriate. The male birds
have wind-pipes of great length coiled in a long
pocket next to the keel of their breast-bones, and
these make a remarkable difference in their voices.
Tt gives them a resonance that is most pleasing;
they are playing on the French horns that nature
gave them.

This elongated wind-pipe is not confined to these
birds only, but certain species of the passerine
birds, cousins to the bird of paradise, curassows,
geese, anseranas, and painted snipes, also possess

100 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

this sounding-box in their throats. In the latter
case, however, unlike the former group, the extra
coils of the wind-pipe are stored near the skin of
the breast, and with no protective layer of breast
muscles as one might be led to expect.

The emu in both sexes has a wind-pipe equipped
with an air pouch which makes it possible to give
forth a rolling sound like a very large drum.
There is a hole in the outer wall of the wind-pipe
which allows the inner wall to protrude when filled
with air, forming itself into a sac for resonance,
which somehow enables the bird to make its drum-
ming sound. The ostrich roars so much like a lion
that even the Hottentots are often deceived by it.

The drumming sound is more or less common
among the denizens of the wild wood. The wood-
peckers peck tattoos in many keys upon the
branches, and if the tree is dead, the sound is not
unlike a small kettle-drum. The ruffled grouse,
and others among the pheasant family, are drum-
mers of great skill. Indeed they employ this
means for signalling at a distance just as soldiers
have done for a long time. One is led to wonder-
ing if man did not get the use of the drum from ob-
serving the sound among birds. These feathered
drummers make the noise by striking their wings
against their bodies in such a way as to catch a

PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS 101

little air under them, the principle being the same
as in clapping the hands.

Both sexes of the common snipe and other
species make a “drumming” or “bleating” sound at
certain seasons that is very unusual. From a great
height these birds suddenly descend with increased
speed and expanded tail. The outer feathers of
the tail are held at right angles to the body, and
being strong and peculiarly curved, with a wider
web for resisting the air, a sound like that of a drum
beaten lightly and with marvellous rapidity is pro-
duced.

Manakins of South America make music in a
mysterious way while on the wing. One of them,
the black penelope of Guatemala, has been often
observed in this feat. While flying he suddenly
plunges toward the earth with outspread wings,
and during this descent the peculiar crashing sound
is heard. It is somehow produced by the strange
formation of the quills, but the manner is not ex-
actly known.

The white stork is possessed of a castanet in its
bill. By throwing its head far back till its beak
almost touches its back, the jaws are made to rat-
tle rapidly. This can be continued as the bird
slowly brings its head up in a half-circle and down
to the ground. Often a number of these stately

102 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

musicians join in a regular beat that is very pleas-
ant to hear.

The bell-bird of Brazil, also called the naked-
throated cotinga, makes a most wonderful music,
suggestive of cathedral chimes. When its notes
are repeated slowly they have a bell-like quality
that is marvellous to hear; in quick succession they
sound like the ringing blows of a hammer on an
anvil. This peculiarity has won for him the name
of ferreiro, or smith, among the Portuguese.

This strange bird seems to guess the power of
his music, and with the feeling of a true artist he
delights in choosing befitting occasions for his most
impressive performances. Often he perches on a
high bare tree, above gun-shot range, and ruffling
his beautiful white plumage he sends his church-like
notes resounding over hill and dale. There is
scant wonder that many legends have grown up
among the aborigines about him.

All bird musicians seem to feel the artistic fit-
ness of their music to the surroundings, the season,
and the weather, and with astonishing fidelity tone
it to the prevailing shade. The cardinal sings a
pensive song at twilight, the robin gives a few
notes of meditative quality for his good-night song
in the hush of evening, the skylark springs up
singing to meet the first bright rays of the rising

PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS 108

sun. The poet who said, “I would be one with na-
ture,” recognised the real source of inspiration.
And birds, being themselves in form and voice the
essence of nature’s joy and beauty, are possessed
of that highest contact with the fountain of music
and poetry, and all other esthetic aspirations. They
are in body a part of nature, and their voices are
in tune with nature’s manifold harmonies. Their
music is the expression of landscape, sky, and sea-
son, and all the emotions of man and bird that are
affected by them.

Birds possess that same desire for self-expres-
sion that has led man to music and other arts. The
unheard music of the soul is striving for form and
expression in the arts of man, and it is equally true
of birds. In the depths of their little beings they
conceive beautiful structures of sound and form
and colour at least worthy to be classed with the
dreams of human esthetes.

In music they develop in their throats or wings
the instruments of their art, and acquire their skill
by practice and continual study. Like true musi-
cians they learn from every source, and blend all
sounds that please them into songs of ravishing
beauty and sweetness. To their gifted ears there
is a beauty in every sound, and in reproducing it
they eliminate the elements of discord, and make

104 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

their songs the pure distilled sweetness of nature’s
many voices. Their productions are sonatas of
the wild wood.

It is strange indeed that so few human beings
are yet aware of the divine psalmistry of the birds.
We pay large sums to hear concert music, and we
never stop to think that the pieces are only the
musician’s ideal of some aspect of nature. In his
complex civilisation man has grown away from ac-
cord with the world of wild things, and he cannot
give its essence so truly as his feathered brother of
the air. Birds render in their music the glorious
spirit of the universe as it really is, and will ever
be.

The indifference of a large part of the human
race to the natural beauty that is everywhere re-
minds one of Stevenson’s apt words: “If God
would charge so much a head for sunsets, or send
a drum around at the blossoming of the hawthorns,
perhaps then man would better appreciate and
adore what has been his neglected heritage since
first his race began.”

Appreciation in the sense of public recognition
is largely a matter of education, and it is most grati-
fying to note the present wonderful advance in the
appreciation of the beauties of nature. And with
our better understanding of the tiny intellects of

PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS 105

our bird neighbours will come a warmer sympathy
and a deeper and truer love of them and their ac-
complishments. When the soul enters into our
relations with our fellow mortals of other species
there comes an esthetic insight into their lives, emo-
tions and thought processes that cold science can
never attain. And from the present bright outlook
let us hope that that happy time may some day
come, when man will no longer search for beauty
far away and overlook the marvels that surround
him and strive for his appreciation.

CHAPTER VII

GIANT ROAD-MAKERS

-. +» Where fly
The happy birds, that change their sky
To build and brood; that live their lives
From land to land... .
—Tennyson.

IRDS have for unknown ages been the mak-
ers and builders of roads through forests,
over mountains, around dangerous hunting
grounds, and to places of shelter and water holes.
They seem to demand absolute respect and legal
recognition for distinct boundaries and roads which
are so necessary in their civilisation. They unite
for purposes of policing and defending their rights
against intruders and enemies; and when an enemy
is encountered on their runs a desperate battle
ensues for the right of way, and to the victor re-
mains the privilege of travelling unmolested on the
highway.
All birds travel in some way, and those that can-
not fly must walk, and walking implies roads.

Strangely enough the big birds are invariably road-
106

GIANT ROAD-MAKERS 107

makers. ‘There has been an epoch of big birds just
as of big mollusks, reptiles, mammalian mammoths
and mastodons. And the greatest accomplishment
of these feathered giants was their skill and knowl-
edge of road-making.

There are only a few of the large birds left to-
day, and they are the ostriches, chiefly of Africa
and Arabia; the rheas of South America; the cas-
sowaries of Papau and North Australia; and the
emus of Australia. All the larger birds are but
solitary survivors of a mighty concourse of feath-
ered giants which once covered almost the entire
earth. Some members of these extinct species
were as much larger than the ostrich as the ostrich
now exceeds the rhea in size.

The ostriches are the largest of existing birds.
They might be aptly termed the giants of the bird
kingdom in its present state. It is not uncommon
to find a full-grown individual eight feet in height
and weighing three hundred pounds. These
strange giants have several marked characteristics,
and chief among these is the fact that they alone
have but two toes. Their heads are relatively
small, and their necks are strikingly long; while
their wings are small and covered with soft plumes.

Probably because of their habitat and marvel-
lous endurance, ostriches are associated with the

108 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

camel, and it is not an inept comparison. They are
the best known and most powerful denizens of the
desert, and they possess many remarkable features
to aid them in their environment. Ostriches have
appealed to the imagination since the very earliest
times. This fact is borne out not only by monu-
ments and inscriptions but by the works of Aris-
totle, Pliny, and Xenophon, as well as by the scrip-
tures.

Pliny, as did Aristotle, believed that the bird
was part bird and part quadruped. He says:
“This bird exceeds in height a man sitting on
horseback, can surpass him in swiftness, as wings
have been given it to aid it in running; in other re-
spects ostriches cannot be considered as birds, and
do not raise themselves from.the ground. They
have cloven talons, very similar to the hoof of the
stag; with these they fight, and they also employ
them for seizing stones for the purpose of throw-
ing at those who pursue them.”

Giant birds, without exception, both living and
extinct, are incapable of flight, and they have not
that strong bridge-like keel which is found on the
breast-bone of a goose, and which is so essential
as a support for the powerful muscles of the wings.
Whether this incapacity for flight has always been
true of the giant birds, or whether it has come about

THE GREAT AUK, ONE OF THE EXTINCT GIANT ROAD-MAKERS

(HUOA MON ‘XUOLSIN TVHALYN JO WOSSAW NVOIUAWY) CUId OdOd V dO NOILVHOLSaY AHL

Ria ae

cis ass ae aS a os
nee Tee

GIANT ROAD-MAKERS 109

by disuse, is a question which has long been de-
bated, and which is still undecided. It must be re-
membered, however, that all birds unable to fly are
not classed with the giant birds; nor are all flying
birds excluded.

We have, for example, a huge pigeon, the dodo,
now extinct, on the Island of Mauritius, which evi-
dently lost the power of flight. The deposits of
New Zealand also reveal the remains of a large
goose and rail that have perished in the same way.
Before these birds became extinct they lost the
power of flight. They differed in many ways from
the giant birds. Pycraft in speaking of the dodo
said: “This combination of great stature with
flightlessness was the outcome of an abundance of
food, and the freedom from all necessity of pro-
curing this food by flight, or by resorting to the
use of the wings for the purpose of avoiding ene-
mies. The atrophy of wing had proceeded so far
when man entered into this paradise that it had be-
come so reduced as to be inferior in size to that of
our common rock pigeon. Thus pinioned, it was
at the mercy of the invader; who, however, accom-
plished the work of destruction unwittingly, and
this by the introduction of pigs which devoured the
eggs and young.” Thus we are reminded by
Belloc of the sad fate of the dodo:

110 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

“The dodo used to walk around,
And take the sun and air.
The sun yet warms his native ground—
The dodo is not there!

That voice which used to squawk and squeak
Is now forever dumb—

Yet you may see his bones and beak
All in the Mu-se-um.”

Judging from the general structure of their leg
bones, their shape, size and formation, most of the
giant birds were great walkers and road-makers.
Perhaps the most important of the extinct giants
brought to the attention of the scientific world
were the moas of New Zealand. When the
Europeans first occupied this country, over half a
century ago, they found there great numbers of
bones of gigantic birds strewn over the plains,
buried in the river beds, lakes, and swamps, and in
the caves.

In the swamps near Canterbury, especially Glen-
mark, these bones were plentiful. In caves there
have been found a number of moa skeletons with
the skin and feathers still adhering to them. The
Maoris well know that these bones and feathers be-
long to gigantic birds, yet it is possible that their
ancestors never saw them. The best scholars be-
lieve that these unfortunate birds were killed by

GIANT ROAD-MAKERS 111

the race that inhabited New Zealand before the
Maoris. There is no question about the fact that
the moas existed up until a very late era. Even
the big roads made by them on the sides of the
hills remained intact until a few years ago. Some
scholars go so far as to assert that these helpless
road-makers were very intelligent, and stationed
sentinels at certain crossroads to warn all bird
travellers of the blood-thirsty enemies.

It is interesting to know that at the time the
dodo thrived in the Island of Mauritius, the neigh-
bouring Island of Rodriguez had as one of its in-
habitants a big pigeon known as the solitaire,
somewhat similar to the dodo.

In Samoa, in the South Pacific, lives a toothed
pigeon which is but a dodo on a miniature scale..
This wise little bird has been forced to keep up his
flight of recent years by the ever-presence of ene-
mies. Previous to the introduction into the archi-
pelago of rats and mice, which threatened the bird’s
very existence by eating its eggs, the solitaire spent
most of its life on the ground. But since the ar-

rival of rats and man, this bird dwells in the high
tree-tops, and it will avoid the unhappy fate of

the dodo, by thus changing its modes of life to fit
the new conditions, and to annul the new dangers.
A race of gigantic birds can thrive and multiply

112 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

only in the absence of big terrestrial competitors,
mammalian or reptilian. They must also have
plenty of land to roam over, especially isolated
lands, which have no connection with big contin-
ents. The largest birds—which rank in size with
the largest animals—have only been developed in
two such places: the moa of New Zealand, and
the strange, oddly shaped elephant-bird (Aepyor-
nis maximus, signifying “the bird as big as a moun-
tain”) in the island forests of Madagascar.

The first discovery of the elephant-bird is most
interesting. Only a few years after the discovery

of the moas in New Zealand some natives from
the interior of Mauritius, for the purpose of buying
rum, brought several large vessels. These were
nothing more than enormous egg-shells. They
were soon sent to Paris by naturalists and attracted
widespread attention, and, as Stejneger says,
“brought to mind the old story of the famous Vene-
tian traveller, Marco Polo, who located the ruc or
roc, the giant bird of Arabian tales, upon Mada-
gascar.” In a short time Professor Bianconi tried
to prove that Polo might have heard of these enor-
mous eggs, and the birds that laid them. It is lit-
tle wonder that every one was astonished at the size
of them! They had a capacity of two gallons, and

GIANT ROAD-MAKERS 113

measured three feet in their larger circumference
and two and a half feet in girth. ©

The natives of Madagascar believe that some of
these elephant-birds are still living in the interior
of the island. However, it is almost a certainty
that none have existed there for more than two
hundred years. No one knows how they were ex-
terminated, but it is most probable that it was by
the hand of man.

The elephant-birds were road-makers, and usu-
ally lived inland, but made roads or runs to the
coast country during the breeding season. The
noted explorer, Mr. J. T. Last, says: “During
all my explorations, though I have found the bird’s
bones a long way inland, I have never seen any
fragments of eggs either with them or inland any-
where. Everywhere along the south and south-
west coast fragments are to be found in abundance,
especially on the hillsides about St. Augustin’s
Bay. Bushels of broken egg-shell could be. gath-
ered in this district with but little trouble. From
this I judge that the birds used to live generally in
the more inland parts of south-central Madagas-
car and at certain seasons came to the coast to lay
their eggs, after which they betook themselves

again to their inland homes.”
Perhaps the nearest allies of the moas are the

114 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

kiwis, or wingless birds of New Zealand. They
have compact, rounded bodies, with small heads,
short necks, and long slender bills, slightly curved,
with slit-like nostrils near the end. These are the
only birds known to have nostrils. Their toes have
long, strong claws, while their plumage is hair-like.
And while they have no externally visible wings,
yet underneath the skin are rudimentary wing-
bones. Their tails are concealed and there are no
tailfeathers. They are nocturnal in their habits,
and when disturbed they grunt almost like pigs.
Their powerful legs and feet are used for kicking,
and woe unto him who disturbs their nests. Their
eggs are enormously large for the size of the birds.

Turkeys have been famed for their knowledge
of roads since the time of Montezuma, the haughty,
dignified, nature-loving monarch of the Aztecs,
who possessed one of the largest wild zoological
gardens known to history. Here he had repre-
sentatives of practically all the animals and birds
of the country over which he ruled; there were also
many birds brought from other parts of the world
to his “Noah’s Garden.” Among these were all
known varieties of turkeys; the Mexican wild tur-
key being his favourite.

While the turkey is not wingless, and cannot
compare in size to the giants of many species of

DNIMVACC VOU UU ETELE UWOor SHOW Veoh WY SACD EU TAL

THE PARTRIDGE, A ROAD BUILDER OF CALIFORNIA

GIANT ROAD-MAKERS 115

birds now extinct or nearly so, it is still the largest
and most powerful bird of North America, and
has a right to consideration for this reason. It is
the ancestor of our common tame turkey, having
been domesticated for many ages; in fact, it had
this name given to it in England as far back as
1541, when it was supposed to have been brought
from Turkey. At the period of the Spanish con-
quest, the turkey was the commonest bird of Mex-
ico. It was introduced into Europe either from
Spain or from the West Indies.

It is due to their human-like instinct of roadmak-
ing, and their respect for territory that the com-
mon wild turkeys are still plentiful in some parts
of America. And no human mother has greater
affection for her babies than does this bird of the
wild woods and the prairies. From the moment
they have hatched from the eggs, the fond mother
tenderly watches over them and feeds and warns
them. As soon as they become strong enough to
wander through the grass and over the prairies, she
begins to make little roads or runs to aid them in
their travels. Their tiny little red feet must not
be pricked by briars and sand-spurs, so Mother
Turkey picks away all harmful stickers and forms
a little road from her nesting place to the nearest
stream of water. When the mother bird with her

116 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

young brood goes forth in search of food, which
usually consists of divers kinds of insects, berries,
and the seeds of grasses, she often depends upon a
sentinel to give the alarm in case of danger. At
such a time the little ones either flop to the ground
where they lie motionless as dead twigs, or else
scamper back down the road as fast as their tiny
legs can carry them until they reach the home
bush, where they crouch to await the outcome of
the danger.

During their entire chickhood, the mother tur-
key leads her flock, usually from ten to fourteen
in number, through pleasant fields, over hills, down
to the little running streams, up through briar
patches, but all the travelling is done—at least the
most dangerous spots—over Mrs. Turkey’s own
roads, and with sentinels ever on the lookout for
enemies. At the close of summer, many families
of turkeys come together, and form one immense
flock. These gipsy-like wanderers travel over
vast areas of forest and prairie in search of food.
It is to be hoped that gunners and trappers will not
utterly destroy these wonderful creatures of the
wild woods.

Unless disturbed or driven from their old homes,
these wild birds always assemble in large groups
and travel to a new hunting-ground by means of

GIANT ROAD-MAKERS 117

the same old roads they have travelled in previous
years, and later they return along the same road.
They have frequently been observed to cross rivers
at the same place season after season. Nothing
but great destruction of their numbers will cause
them to change their roads.

It may be that these wise creatures move in file
to and fro over certain regions to get food from
these places, like a reaping-machine, or a grazing
sheep, which works backward and forward on a
grassy hillside. .We know that in a tobacco field
they are most methodical. They take row after
row of tobacco and pick the worms. And what-
ever man’s idea of their plans and methods of work,
the fact remains that their variety of roads and
methods of hunting are quite in accordance with
their high degree of intelligence.

Birds, like mankind, are divided into the dull,
stay-at-home races and those that travel out into
the great world. The former are contented with
a tiny hut on a hillside, and a peach orchard; the
latter, even for a brief period of life, are con-
tented with nothing less than a hemisphere. As
long as mankind did not monopolise every avail-
able area the travellers and road-makers among the
birds could move more or less as they pleased; but
“of late years the settlement and levelling up of

118 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

human life in the remoter regions of the world has
made a vast difference to the old order of things.”
Many millions of birds are killed each year while
they are on their way to their breeding-grounds.
As a result many species are becoming very scarce
and will become extinct unless an international
agreement is made for their protection. The rea-
son these travellers are so easily bagged is that they
like to travel over the same route each year, unless
their numbers are so thinned out that danger of
extinction is imminent.

Pliny tells us that tens of thousands of quails
were captured in a single day. These birds travel
by night, and sometimes, when the multitudes were
nearing land, the small boats were in danger of
being upset by their alighting on the sails and rig-
ging. They appeared a few years ago by the
myriads on the islands of the Greek Archipelago.
In the days of Moses people even tired of quail’s
flesh as a diet, but alas, if Moses were alive to-day
he would have to pay dearly for a quail!

In North America the great auk, now extinct,
was the only bird incapable of flight. Like many
of his road-making friends, he lost the use of his
wings, and in his surroundings the end became a
certainty. Only as propellers in the water were
his degenerate wings of service to him. The home

GIANT ROAD-MAKERS 119

of this ill-fated bird was “the North Atlantic,
south of the Arctic Circle, ranging on the American
side from Labrador to Virginia, or perhaps excep-
tionally as far as Florida, where bones have re-
cently been found in aboriginal shell-heaps, and on
the European side from Iceland to the Bay of Bis-
cay.” In 1842 the last of these birds was killed on
the American side, while the last was seen in Europe
in 1844,

One of America’s foremost pioneer ornithologists
wrote the following account of these birds long be-
fore they were extinct: “Deprived of the use of
wings, degraded as it were from the feathered ranks,
and almost numbered among amphibious monsters
of the deep, the auk seems condemned to dwell alone
in the desolate and forsaken regions of the earth,
yet aided by all-bountiful nature, it finds means
to subsist, and triumphs over all the physical ills
of its condition. As a diver it remains unrivalled,
proceeding beneath the water, its most natural ele-
ment, almost with the velocity of many birds
through the air.’ It thus contrives to vary its situa-
tion with the season, migrating for short distances,
like the finny prey upon which it feeds. In the
Faroe Isles, Iceland, Greenland, and Newfound-
land these birds dwell and breed in large numbers.”
Since these words were written the sad history of

120 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

the great auk has been completed, and nowhere in
the regions that once knew him and thousands of
his fellows is there even a lone survivor seen.

Road-making has had different effects upon dif-
ferent species of birds that have followed the prac-
tice. In some instances it has probably been the
direct cause of their extinction, since in time they
entirely lost control of their wings, and fell help-
less prey to flesh-eating animals and birds. Those
that depended altogether upon their own laid-out
routes upon the ground, and thus scorned the air,
or avoided flying because of the effort involved,
have suffered to the utmost of their capacity for
their lack of judgment or laziness, whichever it
might have been. They have paid the extreme pen-
alty that nature exacts from those of her children
that try to change or modify her laws.

But those birds, like the wild turkeys of North
America, that employ road-building only for pur-
poses of self-protection and caution against the
dangers that threaten their little ones have profited
by their labours, and so thrive in the face of all
efforts to exterminate them. For the wild turkeys
do not become too dependent upon the ground;
they do not forget how to fly, and flight is always a
resort quickly sought in time of extreme danger.
The ground has its uses to them and so has the air,

GIANT ROAD-MAKERS 121

and they are wise enough not to neglect either, and
thus to rob themselves of important advantages.

For the purpose of the preservation of a species,
the ground is necessary for nest-building and in
many cases for feeding, and the air is equally
needed as an avenue of flight in time of danger.
Birds will never be able to cope successfully with
the many enemies more powerful than they that
inhabit the surface of the earth, and air flight is
their only sure means of safety. And when they
lose that power they must inevitably, sooner or
later, be overwhelmed and wiped out, no matter
how prolific they may be in breeding, or how in-
telligent in matters of foraging.

Only in such places surrounded by water since
time immemorial and far removed from continents,
where no animals of a flesh-eating nature can reach
them, is it possible for birds to lose their power of
flight and yet survive. Giants though some may
be, many, if not all, must succumb in time. Excep-
tions to this rule may immediately occur to the mind
of the reader, but considered as a class, this deduc-
tion is certainly true of them.

Road-making, like many other activities in the
lives of birds and men, is good to a point; but when
carried beyond certain limits, when its influence
tends to violate the immutable laws of nature, then

122 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

it incurs a penalty that cannot be averted. In bird
life, as in human life, those inevitable necessities
that existed since the beginning cannot be ignored
with impunity.

CHAPTER VIII

SCAVENGERS AND STREET CLEANERS

Love you not, then, to list and hear
The crackling of the gorse flowers near,
Pouring an orange-scented tide
Of fragrance o’er the desert wide?
To hear the buzzard whimpering shrill,
Hovering above you high and still?

—Howitt, “The Honey Buzzard.”

HE vultures and buzzards and kites are the
feathered scavengers of the universe. They
abound in warm climates, especially in marshy re-
gions, where a rank luxuriance of organic life leaves
decaying vegetation and carcasses on all sides. In
some countries, notably some parts of South Amer-
ica, they inhabit the roofs of the houses and barns,
walk the streets in droves, and cleanse the cities of
all putrefaction. Certain garbage places are as
carefully watched by these scavengers as city refuse
cans are regularly visited by professional garbage
collectors.
Wherever there is refuse or fragments of food

for these valuable workers, there they are found,
123

124 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

It is possible that their first attraction to man-made
cities was the assured daily feast. And man, being
thoroughly aware of the good they do in cleaning
the streets, has always encouraged their presence.
In the early part of the fifteenth century the streets
of London were crowded with kites, and they were
ever flying around London Bridge; in the same way
they were regular workers on the streets of Cairo.
Not being satisfied in destroying the garbage of
the streets, they actually pecked the food out of the
hands of children. But those days are over, and
with the coming of the modern sewerage-systems,
the food-supply has been cut off from these feath-
ered street-cleaners.

Practically all scavenger birds are members of
the family commonly known as “birds of prey”;
they have few claims to respectability. All the
buzzards are slow and sluggish in movement, and
are famed for the enormous amount of food they
can devour. In spite of their unlovely ways, how-
ever, they are very valuable friends of man. In
fact, they are the most useful of all the diurnal
birds of prey. Their crops are veritable game-bags
for numerous rats, moles, mice, insects, and other
destructive vermin. The amount they destroy daily
is incalculable. It is for this reason, aside from

SCAVENGERS 125

their scavenger work, that they are so valuable to
mankind.

Among the best known of these useful creatures
is the turkey buzzard. He is the commonest known
species of North America, and is found from the
Atlantic to the Pacific coasts, and from Saskatche-
wan throughout North and South America to the
Straits of Magellan. The turkey buzzard is very
abundant west of the Alleghenies—his habitat ex-
tending from Central America almost to the Arc-
tic regions; and he is also frequently seen in Cuba,
Jamaica, Trinidad, Honduras, and Guatemala, as
well as the Falkland Islands.

In the southern part of the United States buz-
zards are not only plentiful in the woods and on
the prairies, but they come into the towns and do
the scavenger work in company with the black vul-
tures. In Kingston, Jamaica, they have become so
tame that they roost upon the housetops, and are
almost as common as sparrows in the streets. They
are always to be found in large numbers about
ranches in the West, where they will settle down
upon a dead cow or sheep around which wild dogs
and crows have gathered. Although the dogs snap
and growl, the buzzards do not seem to mind, but
only step aside to later continue their feast.

These scavengers are famed for their keen sense

126 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

of sight and smell. And especially are the senses
necessary in the determination of the presence of
decaying matter. Over the “Tower of Silence,” in
India, the vultures congregate in large flocks, and
when a Parsee corpse is deposited on the planks
they immediately swoop down through the open
roof and devour it.

Their food usually consists of various kinds of
animal matter, although they are supposed to suck
eggs and occasionally to kill the young of other
birds.

When they gather together about a carcass, a
weird dumb-feast takes place! The silence is
broken only occasionally by their flopping, pulling,
and perching; the busy scuffling of clumsy feet; the
clashing of big wings; and above all, wheezy, low,
half-heard, serpent-like hisses. This batracho-
reptilian language is all the buzzards have left of a
once respectable voice.

When they recover from their long semi-stupid
condition, caused from over-eating, they very wisely
go through with a number of physical exercises of
their volant appendages. This accounts for their
ability to eat so much.

No bird is more awkward on the ground than
the turkey buzzard, but while soaring in the air he
is very graceful. When they are preparing for

SCAVENGERS 127

these flights, they run and spring from the ground
with a quick bound, give a few flappings of their
wings, and shoot upward, for all the world like an
aeroplane. ‘When they reach a high elevation, they
fly in wide circles and sail on almost horizontal
wings, with tips slightly raised. It is interesting
to note that they invariably navigate the air in
groups of ten to twenty, never singly.

During the breeding season the turkey buzzards
select a hollow tree, stump, or log, usually on the
ground, or near it, and there, with no pretensions
of making a nest, they lay two or three eggs. Some-
times there are three or more nests close together.
This may be due to the desirability of the place
rather than to a community interest. In East
Texas there are places commonly referred to as
buzzards’ roosts,” where great numbers congregate
throughout the entire year. The superstitious ne-
groes of the river bottoms have many strange and
interesting beliefs regarding these scavengers. If,
for any reason, a buzzards’ roost is changed from a
certain locality, the negroes are much disturbed,
and in some instances even move away themselves,
as they think the vicinity is “hoodooed.” It is a
common saying among them, “When de buzzard
moves, hit’s time for de nigger to move, kase de
place is ha’nted.”

128 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

Thomas Gentry gives in the following a most in-
teresting account of buzzard manners. He had
set out the carcass of a young ground-hog as bait,
and after four days was rewarded by the appear-
ance of five buzzards. As if in obedience to orders,
the three young of the family leaped on to a huge
pine log that lay nearby and then “with a few quick
steps, that were meant to be graceful, the female
drew near, but the male lingered doubtingly be-
hind. Soon she was busy at work, tearing with
claw and with bill the daintiest morsels. Rendered
mad by the smell of the food, the male, no longer
seeming backward, pressed forward to her side, but
only to retreat before her savage assaults. Again
he essayed the attempt, and was beaten back as he
had been before. Convinced that further effort
would be useless, he strode sulkily to a distance,
where, in moody contemplation, he nervously
awaited her ladyship’s sweet pleasure.

“Being filled to the full, the female now moved
lazily away to a clean patch of grass, where she im-
mediately set to work arranging her toilette—wip-
ing her bill and her claws upon the green carpet be-
fore her, craning her neck and stretching her pin-
ions, yawning and gaping and gaping and yawning
—and finally ending all by seeking the topmost rail
of a nearby fence for rest and composure.

SCAVENGERS 129

“With nothing to fear, the male now stalked for-
ward, and was soon hard at work at what was left
of the carcass. His appetite less capacious than
that of his lady, his dinner was soon over, and off
he strode to a fresh spot of grass, where he went
through the same process of wiping his mouth and
stretching and yawning. This being finished, he
mounted the rail by the side of his mistress.

“More interesting far than either of the parents
were the three black creatures that stood upon the
pine log. Fixed to the spot as though they had
grown there, with scarcely moving heads and down-
cast eyes, they eagerly watched the food disappear-
ing, wondering, mayhap, as children are prone to
do, if it would all disappear before they had a
chance of testing its virtues, but maintaining their
souls the while in perfect serenity of repose. But
their time had at length arrived, and down from the
log they cast themselves instanter, three lusty fel-
lows as large as the parents, but one of them, from
his limping gate, proving to be lame. Great con-
sideration was shown the disabled one by the others,
who permitted him to feed first, while they stood
aside until he had satisfied his hunger, when, with-
out the least bit of ceremony or the least indication
of ill-nature or selfishness, they set to work, finish-
ing in quick order what edible was left of the dead

130 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

animal. Their actions after feeding were exactly
the counterpart of those of the parents. Having
finished their toilettes, the three sought the rail by
the side of the father, where, like their illustrious
heads, they were soon occupied with the most self-
satisfying thoughts, utterly oblivious, as it seemed,
of time and surroundings.

“More than an hour was thus spent in drowsy
meditation, when, as by common consent, they all,
one after the other, leaped to the ground, where
they busied themselves preening their feathers and
preparing for departure. ‘The time being ripe, the
female set the example. With a run of a half-
dozen yards to gain a good start, she was soon on
the wing, and in fifteen minutes or more she was
lost in the ether. The male followed suit, and when
he had vanished from sight, the young, one after the
other, mounted the atmosphere, and gradually cir-
cling their way through limitless depths, were also
soon lost to the earth-chained beholder.”

Numbers of such stories and experiences could
be told, which, to the uninitiated, would seem almost
incredible. Yet there are many reliable witnesses
to the facts regarding the family life of these
scavengers, and it is certain that the female buz-
zard rules the family—a feathered autocrat—who
at times finds it necessary to chastise even her mate!

SCAVENGERS 181

Not the least beautiful phase of the buzzard’s life
is the perfect loving obedience of the children. They
exhibit a sweet and gentle disposition under the
most trying circumstances. Surely human children
might well learn from the young buzzards a lesson
of filial obedience and respect that would redound
to the charm of the human family.

‘Young buzzards, when they first come out of the
shell, are covered with white down, like a soft, fluffy
ball. They are fed upon food disgorged by their
parents. When reared in captivity, they are very
tame, and will eat almost anything from earth-
worms to fresh meat and bread. Their service
around a house is too well known to need mention.
They are easily trained to do tricks, and soon learn
just how to please their masters. The chief objec-
tion to them is the peculiarly offensive odour that
seems to hover always with them. But perhaps this
is largely due to the nature of their food.

The vultures—the kings of the scavenger world
—are the ugliest of all their profession. Most of
them are bald-headed, snaky-necked, milky-eyed
creatures, more horrid than the mythical harpies of
old. They have the wings of a Gabriel, but the head
and neck of a Lucifer. Even a jackal would look
respectable in company with these repulsive crea-
tures. They can plunge their hideous bald heads

132 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

into the carcass of a dead animal without unduly
soiling their feathers. Those who have seen a vul-
ture banquet will have no difficulty in “accounting
for the origin of those angry creations of the gods
that defiled the banquets of King Phineus.” Yet
when seen at a long distance, far away beyond the
clouds, soaring like a self-sure kite, all ugliness dis-
appears. Surely in this case distance lends en-
chantment!

The lammergeyer or bearded vulture is the lion
among vultures. Some ornithologists class him
with the eagles. He is one of the aviation corps of
the high mountainous regions, and many are the
strange and wonderful tales told of his swooping
down and carrying off little children, sheep, goats,
deer, and other small animals. It is a fact that he
is powerfully strong, and that his food consists
partially of bones, which he breaks by allowing
them to fall from a great height to the rocks below.
This act gives him the name of “bone-smasher.”

This notorious creature, so it is claimed, will oc-
casionally attack a living animal, when it is able
to throw it over a precipice. Sometimes these
ghouls will even attack a dying man, and kill and
devour him, when he is in an out-of-the-way placé.
But the chief food of these mountainous scavengers
consists of bones and the flesh of dead animals. Like

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SCAVENGERS 133

most thieves, the lammergeyer is a thorough cow-
ard, and will attack the living only when forced
to through lack of food.

Pharaoh’s chicken, the commonest scavenger of
the Himalayas, has many opprobrious names not
pleasant to mention. He feasts on all kinds of
filth and carrion, and his appearance is that of a
typical “hobo.” Indeed he is the “hobo” of the
scavenger family. Not only is he a tramp, but he
is one of the shabbiest birds in the world. His
plumage is a dirty white, except the edges of his
wing feathers, which are trimmed in faded brownish-
black. His naked face, bill, and legs are of a dark
yellowish-brown colour; while the coat of feathers
on his back is ruffled and unkempt like that of a
shabby street urchin. With all these poor clothes
he lazily staggers when walking, like a newly awak-
ened hobo from:a hay pile! His great redeeming
qualities are the faithful discharge of his duties as
a scavenger, and his ability to soar high above the
mountains like a white air-ship trimmed in black!

The gnat-snappers of the torrid zones, many of
which destroy millions of gnats and other insects,
are nocturnal in their habits. It is a common sight
in. Holland to see droves of swans devouring the
seeds of obnoxious weeds, while in Africa cranes
are the surest death to the toads of the marshes,

134 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

and the herons are the eradicators of serpents of
the plains. After an overflow of the Nile, the banks
are covered with innumerable reptiles and frogs,
and from the shores of Greece and the Red Sea
come droves of cranes, pelicans, and aboumas to
eat up the carcasses which, if left to decay, would
scatter disease germs far and wide.

The secretary-bird of the Cape of Good Hope
scours the land for serpents to devour. This strange
and singular bird has the legs of a crane and the
head of an eagle, and he is most abundant in south-
ern Africa. He is a very desirable inhabitant, and
to him the natives are indebted for the destruction
of innumerable insects and serpents. If the num-
bers of these were not checked by the secretary-
bird, they would become a calamity. Huis names are
many—archer, messenger, hunter, serpent-eater.

Secretaries, like most of the large birds of prey,
build their nests among the top branches of the
tallest trees. Their food, however, they seek both
on dry land and in the marshes. On land they find
serpents and lizards, while in the marshes they hunt
insects and large tortoises. One of their most in-
teresting habits is the peculiar method of killing
their prey before eating it. If the secretary meets
with a- tortoise, big or little, or a serpent, he crushes
it with a blow of his foot which never fails in its

SCAVENGERS 185

death-dealing power. Should he meet a serpent too
large for him to attack in this manner, he grabs it
in his beak and rises high in the air, from which
elevation he drops it upon rocks or a dead tree. As
it falls, he follows it with lightning-like rapidity to
the earth, where he attacks it while it is stunned.

The secretaries make very friendly pets, and are
easily domesticated. Their natural habits are of
peculiar advantage, especially in regions where ser-
pents and frogs abound. The French established
the secretaries in their colonies in Guadaloupe and
Martinique.

A cousin of the secretary-bird, and much smaller,
is the gymnogene, which flies lazily around, and
chases its reptile-prey on foot, when it has missed
it by swooping down from above.

The jackdaw is the common scavenger ‘of the
Philippine Islands. It not only feasts upon. ‘the
rejected food of the streets but occasionally eats in-
sects and reptiles. An interesting cousin sof ‘the
Philippine jackdaw is frequently seen in the pro-
vincial towns of England. It is a bird that loves
the high-towers for a home, and its high-pitched
voice seems suited to its dwelling. In London it
builds in only a few of the hundreds of churches.
It seems that the pigeons are fast occupying its old
headquarters,

136 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

The pariah kite of Calcutta is as plentiful there
as was the kite of the London streets in days gone
by, and while some of them are quite well-behaved
citizens, many have become “rowdies” and “‘rough-
necks” of the worst kind. They are very wise and
know to the minute when garbage is to be put out,
and are ever ready for the lion’s share. They fight
and scramble with each other, and with scavenger
dogs and cats, worse than the turkey buzzards,
snatching food right and left even out of the mouths
of rival fellows with the most astounding audacity.

Kites have an interesting way of sleeping dur-
ing the day with their bodies flattened against the
roofs or walls, with outstretched wings, in exactly
the position they are represented on the old Egyp-
tian monuments. In this position no one, except a
native of the town, would take them for living birds,
but rather some form of curious ornament or dec-
oration! Occasionally they sleep in long rows which
look for all the world like a frescoe on an Egyptian
wall. It is an interesting fact that most of these
scavengers seem ill-humoured, sullen, and stupid.
Like most of their profession their voices are hoarse
and ugly and their spirits seem as dull as their bod-
ies.

A large number of birds may be considered as
occasional city scavengers. The common sparrow

SCAVENGERS 187

does his part, quite unappreciated by man; and even
our beloved starlings render valuable aid as street
cleaners, or better, as street ornaments. Ravens
are not so frequently seen on the streets, but there
are still a few who refuse to live anywhere except
in the cities.

No wonder that everybody loves a raven! He is
one of the most amusing and fascinating of birds.
He talks, sings, hops and skips, plays games, is ex-
tremely sociable, full of fun, and enjoys playing
tricks both with his own kind and with human be-
ings. He seems to do well in most all climates from
the tropics to the far north. On Alaska Island his
kind are very common, and in the colder regions
they afford by their amusing ways and tricks much
pleasure to the lonely inhabitants. It might truly
be said that the ravens and whisky-jacks, or blue-
jays, are the only professional entertainers of the
cold climates. In the big cities the ravens are more
desirable as scavengers than the common vulture.
It is a great tragedy that the raven is no longer
found, except in very rare cases, in many of the
larger cities.

Not the least among the scavengers is the car-
rion-crow. He is indeed a Solomon among the bird
tribe, notwithstanding his low profession. He is
often found around the carcasses of dead animals in

1388 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

company with dogs and buzzards, eating and fight-
ing for his food. He has many redeemable char-
acteristics, however, and chief among these is his
love of his offspring. He will hover over and pro-
tect his children even with his own life.

Most scavenger birds, especially the buzzards,
are a lazy, cowardly, degenerate set. They origi-
nally were not so depraved in their tastes. Since man
became the ruler of the beasts, however, Nature has
made many new offices and professions in the ani-
mal world. One of the chief of these, from the
utilitarian point of view, is that of scavenger. And
these have been elected from each division of the
kingdom: The burying-beetle is the chief scaven-
ger of the insects; the sharks are the scavengers of
the fish-world; the alligators among the reptiles;
the jackals among the mammals; while the vultures,
buzzards, and kites are the chief scavengers of the
bird world. So long have they followed their low
profession as scavengers that their talons have
weakened, and they are dull, stupid, and unfit for
any other work than that which they follow, and so
have fallen into slovenly ways that are perpetual.

CHAPTER IX

COURTS OF JUSTICE

Here, too, all forms of social union find,
And hence let reason, late, instruct mankind:
Here subterranean works and cities see:
Their tomns aerial on the waving tree.

—Pope.

HE great thinkers of the human world recog-
nise a kinship in all forms of life; men, ani-
mals, fishes and birds are made of the same stuff
and built on the same plan. In the bird world may
be found reflections of human institutions, a fact
which does not seem incredible when it is considered
that they have their own problems of community
life much the same as mankind. Perhaps if this
were better known, the wanton slaughter of birds
for purposes of ministering to human appetites,
personal adornment, pride in marksmanship, and
the mad desire to add to stuffed collections would
be a heathenish custom of the past.
Bird court scenes reveal ideas of right and wrong

in a most startling manner. “Crow courts” are
139

140 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

common sights in vicinities where these birds are
found. These assemblies are held at a particular
tree, hill, or spot of ground away from all danger.
The accused criminals are arraigned as the crow
judges caw—supposedly their names! Evidently
the judges are experienced, for the judgment is
rendered very quickly. The entire assemblage then
madly rushes for the few offenders and picks them
to pieces. When a criminal is once brought to
court, he rarely escapes death. As soon as the court
session is over all the crows adjourn, and fly away
to their various homes.

Mr. Eugene T. Zimmerman relates that, dur-
ing an excursion in the country, near Salt Lake
City, Utah, he accidentally became an unexpected
spectator of a strange trial. About one hundred
crows were arranged in a semi-circle about two of
their fellows, while on the topmost branch of a dead
tree, covered with a red trumpet vine, sat two which
seemed to be guards. Evidently the guards were
so concerned with the proceedings that they failed
to detect the approach of the naturalist, and he
quietly concealed himself underneath the vine.

The crows cawed back and forth to one another,
but the fate of the accused was not decided at that
meeting, for all at once one of the judges spied
Mr. Zimmerman. With one scream of alarm the

COURTS OF JUSTICE 141°

entire court assemblage flew toward the two sen-
tinels on the tree-top, and in a very few minutes
these untrustworthy guards were literally torn into
shreds. This was punishment for their failure to
notify the crow court of the presence of a danger-
ous spectator! The crows then flew away, prob-
ably to continue the session elsewhere with more
trustworthy guards

An English naturalist was riding along a quiet
road one day when he was startled by a tremendous
commotion in an adjacent field. Cautiously crawl-
ing to a gap in the hedge, he discovered that a large
assemblage of rooks was the cause of the noise.
There could be little doubt that a trial was going
on. The criminal stood in the centre of a small but
angry group of his sable-coated brethren. He was
cawing loudly, but his pleas were drowned by the
clamour of hundreds of rooks about him; and it was
not long before the entire court rushed upon the
poor wretch and pecked him to pieces in a few min-
utes. The assembly then gradually dispersed.

For some strange reason young rooks seem to
take special delight in pilfering. One is almost
forced to believe that it is their method of educa-
tion, a special training for earning their livelihood!

Be this as it may, one thing is sure—if they are
caught, great punishment is meted out to them.

1422 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

Blackbirds hold council meetings, apparently to
decide on important questions. They seem to pre-
fer a thick forest for these councils. Through much
experience they have learned that gunpowder is a
dangerous thing, and there is no doubt that they
can smell it at a long distance. At the council
meetings are sentinels who give the alarm at the
least approach of danger. The chiefs soar about
in the air, as if giving specific directions to certain
guides. Some naturalists claim that these birds
send scouts ahead to see if the territory is safe and
is supplied with food sufficient to feed the hosts.

They do not forget kindness, and when welcomed
in a vicinity, they will return the next season in in-
creased numbers. The song of the blackbird is very
beautiful; it is rich and full in tone though of little
variety. It begins the latter part of February and
continues with increasing power until the first of
June. It mellows down through the autumn and
winter. At their council meetings each blackbird
seems to speak in a different key. Let us hope that
the fallacious belief that the blackbird is an enemy
of man has long since passed. He is the greatest
friend of a farmer’s field, and doubly pays for all
the food he eats by destroying worms and cater-
pillars.

Even the water birds have their courts of justice.

COURTS OF JUSTICE 143

The flamingos are famed for their court trials. The
Rev. G. Gogerly relates this story: “The flamingo
is common in the low, marshy lands of Bengal. My
friend, Mr. Lacroix, the well-known missionary,
when once sailing in his boat up the Hoogly, went
on shore. His attention was shortly directed to a
large gathering of these peculiar-looking birds in
a field some distance off. Knowing their timid
character, he approached as near as he could with-
out being observed or exciting alarm; and, hiding
himself behind a tree, noticed all their proceedings,
which were of a most remarkable character. After
a great deal of noisy clamour, they formed them-
selves into a circle, in the centre of which one of
their number was left standing alone. Again there
was a considerable amount of screeching oratory,
when suddenly all the birds flew on the unhappy,
solitary one and literally tore him to pieces.” Mr.
Lacroix came to the conclusion that one of the birds
had committed a terrible offence against the laws
of the bird colony, that he had been tried and found
guilty, that tke sentence of death had been pro-
nounced upon him, and that his execution had taken
place immediately.

Sparrows also make judicial inquiry into the ac-
tions of their fellows. They are, however, less for-

‘144 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

mal than most other birds in their court proceed-
ings.

Mrs. Starks in her Letters on Italy tells an in-
teresting tale of poetic justice among storks. She
says: “A wild stork was brought by a farmer in
the neighbourhood of Hamburg into his poultry-
yard, to be the companion of a tame one he had
long kept there; but the tame stork, disliking a
rival, fell upon the poor stranger, and beat him so
unmercifully that he was compelled to take wing,
and escaped with difficulty. About four months
afterward, however, the latter returned to the poul-
try-yard, in company with three other storks, who
+ no sooner alighted than they fell upon the tame
stork and killed him.”

Four guinea-hen’s eggs were placed under a duck.
The duck patiently sat upon the eggs until the
young guineas were hatched out, but the other
ducks quacked and nodded their heads in the most
surprised manner on seeing them. After a short
conference, near the pool of water into which the
unnatural ducklings refused to wade, a duck com-
mittee deliberately pounced upon them and pecked
them to pieces. For many days Mrs. Duck re-
mained alone in the barnyard, as though conscious
that she had brought disgrace to the Duck family!

Not only do birds have their courts of justice,

COURTS OF JUSTICE 145

but also these wise feathered people seem to make
very good politicians. Perhaps the best example
of republicanism is found among the grossbeaks.
Sometimes a thousand of these little beings build
their nests in one huge tree and form a veritable
aerial city. This city is more like an immense apart-
ment house, where each has his individual apart-
ment, yet all is one vast building, elegantly cov-
ered with a roof which rises above the summit of
the tree. They have no special offices of honour,
but each bird is free to answer for himself, and
lead his own life like a gentleman.

Many birds have adopted this mode of life, thus
carrying out the idea of Aristophanes’ aerial city—
isolated from land and water. Levaillant describes
one of these umbrella-like structures: “I caused it
to be brought to me, by several men, who set it on
a vehicle. I cut it with an axe, and saw that it was
in the main a mass of Booschmannie grass, without
any mixture, but so strongly woven together that
it was impossible for the rain to penetrate. This is
only the framework of the edifice; each bird con-
structs for himself a separate nest under the com-
mon pavilion. The nests occupy only the reverse
of the roof; the upper part remains empty, without,
however, being useless; for, raised more than the
remainder of the pile, it gives to the whole sufficient

146 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

inclination, and thus preserves each little habita-
tion. . . . Each nest is three or four inches in diam-
eter, which is sufficiently large for the bird; but as
they are in close contact around the roof, they ap-
pear to the eye to form a single edifice, and are only
separated by a small opening which serves as an
entry to the nest; and one entrance frequently is
common to three nests, one of which is placed at
the bottom, and the others on each side. It has 320
cells, and will hold 640 inhabitants, if each contains
a couple, which may be doubted. Every time, how-
ever, that I have aimed at a swarm, I have killed
the same number of males and females.”

Bird colonies are more or less common, since it
is often necessary to combine to build effective shel-
ters against the elements, or to unite their strength
in defence against their enemies.

Perhaps no better example of law and order can
be found among birds than that observed by the
“Twelve Apostles bird.” These interesting inhabi-
tants of Australia build their open circular nests
of mud and grass quite close together for mutual
protection. They work together like a group of
carpenters and when the nest is completed a num-
ber of the female birds lay one egg each in the com-
munity nest, and then one of the hen birds sets upon
the eggs. If, for any reason, she is killed, another

NOILVSHUYANOD ASOT NI MOWO DHL ANV IMO FHL

THE TOUCAN, WITH HIS EXTRAORDINARY SAW-EDGED BILL, CAN WELL DEFEND
HIMSELF

COURTS OF JUSTICE 147

bird immediately takes her position, and when the
young birds are hatched out a group of adults feeds
them until they are able to feed themselves. The
nest is respected as the common property of the
bird group and each bird is interested in its wel-
fare.

Some, however, like the hornbills, are never com-
pelled to adopt such measures, as their own skill
in masonry and other natural endowments render
each family safe unto themselves. These interest-
ing birds are plentiful in the tropical regions of
Africa and Asia and the southernmost parts of
Europe in several species. Most of them are quite
large, several exceeding four feet in length. They
are famed for their extraordinarily large beaks; in
some species these beaks are mounted by a casque
which appears like a second beak. Another un-
usual feature is their well-developed eyelashes.
Eyelashes are somewhat rare among birds. In fly-
ing these birds produce a noise similar to a rail-
road train. This is caused by “the air rushing be-
tween the bases of the quills” as the under coverts
of their wings do not, as is usual in birds, cover the
lower part of the quills.

Yet with all these wonderful features of the horn-
bills, it is their nesting habits which are most in-
teresting. The hen deposits her eggs in a nest

148. THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

made in the hollow of a tree, and when she is ready
to incubate she goes into the nest and is there
walled in by her mate. Only a tiny hole is left as a
window where he can bring her food and water
during her long imprisonment. She does not in the
least object to the confinement; in fact she even
aids in closing up the wall with the mud that her
mate brings for that purpose, and when it is fin-
ished it is exceedingly strong. If she were not shut
up in this manner, monkeys, snakes, and other ene-
mies would not only destroy the eggs or young,
but would take her life also. If an attempt upon
the nest is made, the female places her large bony
crest over the window, effectively closing it against
would-be assassins.

Several years ago Dr. Gunther, of the British
Museum, exhibited before the Zoological Society
of London the trunk of a tree from Cape Colony,
with a hornbill’s nest. ‘The female,” he said, “when
taken, was unable to fly and was simultaneously
moulting all the wing and tail-feathers, thus pre-
senting the appearance of a half-fledged young
bird. This species, therefore, confirms the observa-
tion made on other species of the genus, viz., that
the hornbills pass through a complete moult in the
six or eight weeks during which they are imprisoned
with the eggs and young.”

COURTS OF JUSTICE 149

One of the most remarkable phenomena in the
life history of these strange birds is their ability to
form and disgorge gizzard-sacs, or sausages. These
sausages contain several kinds of food, such as liz-
ards, small fruits, seeds, and bits of tender roots.
They are adaptations which permit the male to
feed the female a sufficient amount of food at one
visit to last for some time. Otherwise his oft-
repeated visits might disclose the position of the
nest to enemies, and thus lead to her annoyance or
destruction. The natives call the hornbill the “jeal-
ous bird,” because it is said that if the male suspects
that another bird has visited his home in his ab-
sence, he deliberately seals his mate up in the place,
and goes away, leaving her to die of hunger.

It has often been observed that animals attack
and destroy certain enemies on sight for no reason
of appetite; and no cause can be ascribed to this
except that of self-protection. There seems to be
a complete understanding on their part that their
welfare depends upon the destruction of all indi-
viduals of that race that they meet. This possibly
accounts for the antipathy of the cat for the dog,
the crow for the owl, the mangouse for the cobra.
Through generations birds have learned that other
birds look upon them or their nestlings with mur-

150 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

derous intent, and they never neglect an oppor-
tunity to destroy or drive them far away.

In any district where its race does not predomi-
nate, a bird of predatory habits is an outlaw in the
eyes of all the other feathered inhabitants, and they
band together to encompass its defeat or annihila-
tion. And in this they are enforcing the law of
their community, since law looks to the protection
of the citizens of the given district from the depreda-
tions of any individuals from within or without.
Surely no better motive could be found.

Once a great white owl that must have come far
from his sub-arctic home, was discovered sleeping
the morning hours away in the rafters of an old
deserted barn in Morgan Park, Illinois. He was
a large specimen and a beautiful one. Coming
upon him was a surprise and a delight for the
naturalist. He had entered the barn only out of
curiosity in the course of a long tramp over hill
and dale, but the tragedy which his entrance caused
has always been a matter of regret to him. The
owl slowly opened his great yellow eyes and looked
down through the gloom to where the intruder
stood admiring him. Then he became frightened,
and, spreading his magnificent wings, he dropped
to the level of the barn door and flew out into the
sunlight and to his death.

COURTS OF JUSTICE 151

His flight was uncertain as though the sunlight
staggered him, and he tried to make for the woods
which topped a nearby hill. But out of the sky,
and as from nowhere, up from the ploughed ground
and the river edge, his enemies, whom no one could
have dreamed were present, came in twos and threes
and sixes and sevens and finally in a flock to strike
him down.

They were crows, vigilant and terrible creatures,
and they were bent upon the destruction of the out-
law in their midst. The naturalist saw and heard
the combat, which lasted only a few moments, and
he arrived on the scene after a wild run down hill
and across the fields. After a few fruitless at-
tempts at dodging, the owl struggled fiercely with
his foes, but he was doomed. Soon he fell to earth,
where the naturalist found him, a bleeding and life-
less body. The great bird was nearly headless, the
broad white breast had been torn entirely open, and
his beautiful plumes bathed in his life’s blood.

Whether the crows would have carried their re-
venge further on the body if not frightened away,
is a question. But they had not required two min-
utes to destroy utterly their resplendent enemy. If
any of their number was injured or killed in the
course of that battle in the air, none was left on the
field with the owl. The majestic culprit of a hun-

152 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

dred midnight raids upon the nests of crows and
other birds, alone suffered the death penalty.

Many other instances of feathered judgment and
execution could easily be cited. The more we study
the world of non-human nature, the more we see
how arrogant it is for man to suppose for an in-
stant that he is the sole possessor of moral and
spiritual perception. Birds have no written laws
and no money-paid lawyers and judges. If man is
to understand their courts of justice, their moral
and spiritual codes, their unwritten family laws—
he must study them from the equator to the polar
circle; from the tops of the Andes, amid unscalable
crags and cliffs, to the distant islands of the sea,
and reed-covered banks of tropical streams. ‘Wher-
ever the air has a feathered inhabitant, wherever
eyrie-like orchids grow, which are fertilised by iri-
descent, fairy-like humming-birds, wherever the
northern white birds congregate along the willow-
grown bottoms of the Yukon, or mass themselves
in coveys like a circle of white snow-flakes, to hide
from their arctic enemies—there is a perfection of
law and justice unknown to man.

CHAPTER X

BIRDS AND THEIR BEAUTY PARLOURS

Birds, the free tenants of earth, air, and ocean,

Their forms all symmetry, their motions grace,

In plumage delicate and beautiful,

Thick without burthen, close as fish’s scales,

Or loose as full-glown poppies on the gale;

With wings that seem as they’d a soul within them,

They bear their owners with such sweet enchantment.
—Montgomery.

HERE are no other characteristics of birds
so nearly resembling human beings as those
which pertain to the art of beauty. They seem to
be under the dominion of the same laws and de-
sires, seek companionship, love,—give evidences of
all the human passions—jealousy, hatred, ambition;
are great rivals in many ways, and always strive to
appear at their best. This is true of the males quite
as much as of the females.
If the female appears vain, surely the male is
doubly so, and even his barber work is never neg-
lected. Birds act as their own barbers—never

trusting such important duties to another. They
153

154 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

use their bills for brush and comb, with an occasional
special brushing against a cedar, fir, or pine bough;
the blackbird has learned to dust his coat on a corn-
stalk, or on the cat-tails; the finches, starlings, spar-
rows, robins, and innumerable others not only bathe
every day, but take special sand-baths to cleanse
and shine their lovely clothes.

The larger birds—such as wild turkeys, prairie
chickens, guineas, and quails—go to the same sand
spot day after day for their sand-bath. These
places are their beauty parlours. Water birds—
such as the ducks, swans, geese, herons, ibises, and
pelicans—all use the water as a mirror or looking-
glass. Every person who has studied their habits
closely knows that these birds, after finishing their
bath, stand by a clear pool of water, or on the mossy
bank above the stream, and arrange their feathers
before the mirror.

Bird beauties will not run the risk of spoiling
their beautiful dresses in bad climates or in great
storms; it is perhaps for this reason that they have
become so ‘“‘weather wise.” Many people even
use them as barometers. Ducks and geese invari-
ably throw water over their backs before a rain.
This is possibly done to prevent the drops of rain
penetrating to their warm bodies through the open
dry outer feathers. Swallows always foretell wet

BIRDS AND THEIR PARLOURS 155

weather by flying low. But this is because the in-
sects which the swallows eat have been driven from
the upper regions of the air by the moisture which
precedes rain.

Owls rejoice at the approach of dry fair weather
by screaming, hooting, and laughing, for they know
it means a good hunting trip for them. A lone
magpie during the brooding season foretells bad
weather, because the mate has remained at home to
take special care of the children, and in all ways to
protect their lovely delicate plumage from the rains.

Manicure parlours are quite as necessary among
birds as among humans. Nature has wisely pro-
vided many rough stones, twigs, and shells for the
sharpening and polishing of beaks and nails. Storks
and cranes polish their beaks in the sand; swallows
and martins brush against the sand banks; while
myriads of smaller birds, like the finches, sparrows,
bluebirds, and wrens, use the rough bark of trees
to polish and sharpen their beaks and nails.

Beauty with birds, even more than with humans,
determines very largely their success in life, and
with them every profession has its special form of
beauty.

Each and every family of birds has some pe-
culiar and attractive method of arranging its toi-
lette. In most instances they take great pleasure

156 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

in it; and who can say that it is in all cases neces-
sary to the welfare of the performer? It may be
purely for the pleasure derived therefrom. This
undoubtedly is true in the case of tame birds who
have much time to spare. The long and lonely
days in captivity would pass very slowly without
such an agreeable occupation.

My brown thrush takes the greatest delight in
her bath. I first met her in a dark and lonely bird-
store in New York City. The keeper informed me
that he had had her six years, and could not sell
her because she was so ugly; that she could neither
sing nor produce a sound, and for this reason he
had kept her away back in a dark, dusty, cold cor-
ner, in a cage that is best undescribed.

My heart went out to this desolate lonely crea-
ture. I bought her for a small sum, much to the
delight of her prison-keeper, took her home with me,
and gave her a large, sunny, clean cage, with plenty
of fresh gravel, good food, swings to play on, room
to exercise her precious and almost lifeless wings,
several near bird-neighbours, and not least of all, a
big bathtub of water! Never shall I forget her joy
on beholding such luxuries. And into the bathtub
she plunged and bathed to her heart’s content.

I found that she was troubled with parasites
which constant bathing soon eradicated, Her

BIRDS AND THEIR PARLOURS 157

shaggy, ill-kept plumage began to take on a lovely
sparkle of brown, and her faded breast immediately
became covered with the loveliest whitish-brown
specks like jewelled beads; her beak, legs and feet
changed into a healthy glow, and her dull glassy
eyes assumed a brilliancy equal to that of rare
diamonds. Soon her nervous, frightened attitude
toward me changed into one of perfect confidence
and affection. She will even take a piece of apple
from my hand, and give the loveliest chirp as though
she were expressing gratitude.

But the definite mark of her lor.g and lonely im-
prisonment without even a bathtub is still upon her.
When I first got her she had all her tail feathers
broken and destroyed, so I pulled out the little
rough stubs that nice new ones could again grow.
And soon, to my absolute surprise, a lovely row of
new feathers began to appear, but alas,—they were
not brown as they had once been, but almost pure
white. I can only believe that long suffering has
turned her feathers in the same way that it turns
one’s hair grey.

I am trying in every way to make the remainder
of her life happy. And in her cage she has a little
mirror before which she spends much time chirping
and preening her lovely feathers. Evidently she
enjoys “the other bird” in the mirror! At least she

158 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

is happy in her new home, and when spring returns
I shall give her her freedom in the great out-of-
doors, hoping that the fates may be kind to such an
unfortunate being, and that she may find that peace,
happiness, and freedom which we all seek.

All birds are fond of bathing, and it is not only
a pleasure with them, but a necessity. For in many
cases their lives depend upon their power of flight.
If this power of flight be limited, they more easily
fall a prey to bird-destroying animals, and even to
man himself. It is a well-known fact that all mi-
grating birds pay the strictest attention to their
toilettes before starting on their long journeys.

Among the numerous ways in which birds clean
their feathers, and perhaps the most common, is
by means of sand or dust, and is referred to as the
“dry-cleaning” process or dust-bath. We are told
that even man himself occasionally takes dust-baths.
The religion of the Mohammedan requires him to
take a bath at a certain time each day, and this he
never neglects. If he is in the desert, where there
is no water, the commands of the Prophet must be
obeyed, and so he takes a dust-bath! This dry-
cleaning process at least serves to ease his con-
science, although it would be a poor substitute ac-
cording to our ideas of cleanliness.

The sand- or dust-bath is a general favourite with

BIRDS AND THEIR PARLOURS 159

many of the birds. Finches seem to bathe very
rarely in water; they prefer the dry shampoo with
sand. Whippoorwills have regular “public baths”
in sandy roads, where they congregate late of eve-
nings or on moonlight nights to bathe. Sparrows
spend a large part of the day in dust bathing.
Often a score of these carefree city dwellers will
locate a particularly attractive spot, and roll and
flutter in the fine dust as they chatter and chirp to
one another.

Doves are more modest and seek a quiet sand-
pile underneath a pine-tree or in a deep gulley,
where no one will see them bathe. Partridges have
a very thorough manner of dust-bathing. They
carefully choose a place that is dry and free from
grass or other vegetation; scratching a shallow hole,
each ruffles its feathers energetically, and with every
sign of keen enjoyment rolls and tumbles in the
dust. A covey of partridges will select a bathing
ground where each individual has its own particular
dust hole to which it returns each day.

The bird of paradise seeks a shower-bath when-
ever it is possible, and if this is not convenient, he
plunges into a pool of water or running stream.
After his bath he perches on the high branch of a
tree, and there dries his exquisite plumage. “The
body then assumes an almost erect position, the feet

160 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

clinging very tightly to the perch, for otherwise the
bird would fall backward; the wings are raised, fully
extended and widely separated from the body; and
the bird is seen to shake the whole body, at the same
time expanding the lovely ornamental feathers, the
uppermost and shortest of which are elevated the
most, their ends hanging over in a graceful manner.
At each side of the plume the brilliant shining
orange colour is seen extending to more than half
its length, and gracefully fading all round into the
pure white, in a most exquisite manner, a strip of
the richest red-brown, almost black in its depth of
colour, running through the orange colour to about
one quarter the length of the plume. During this
display, the wings make a slight flapping move-
ment, and the tail with its long bare shafts, is thrust
forward under the perch. While the birds are thus
showing themselves to the greatest advantage, they
suddenly commence jumping and turning about on
the perch in a very excited manner, uttering at the
same moment a series of screams louder and more
piercing than any of their ordinary notes.” Thus
the elaborate toilette ends with a dance and song—
a real vaudeville performance!

The sea-gulls and other salt-water birds occasion-
ally abandon their usual haunts to journey far in-
land to some fresh-water stream to cleanse and

BIRDS AND THEIR PARLOURS 161

beautify their plumage. They know as well as we
that the cleansing power of fresh water far exceeds
that of salt, and they avail themselves of it in spite
of distance.

In the chosen pool or stream they sport like so
many schoolboys, screaming, diving, and chasing
each other in a manner unmistakably jolly and bois-
terous. Then they repair to some nearby sunny
hillside where they sit with their faces to the wind,
preening their feathers in sheer contentment. Pen-
guins also seek fresh water whenever possible, and,
although they are ill-adapted to land travel, often
go far inland to seek a stream where they may rear
their young.

Parrots, while not adapted to the water in any
way, yet spend a great deal of their time in bath-
ing. Their beautiful plumage is their chief pride,
and they take pains to keep it in the best condition
possible. Several species of African parrots are
known to observe the custom of daily meeting in a
dead tree, and proceeding en masse to a bathing-
place. None but limpid water will satisfy their
fastidious tastes, so they travel a considerable dis-
tance.

When they arrive there, they abandon themselves
to the frolic, and roll and tumble about, throwing
water with their wings until all are soaked. Then

1462 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

they go to the bare tree, where they preen their
feathers and complete their toilette, after which
they fly away in pairs—to gather again the next
morning to dry their dew-drenched plumage in the
sun. Often at these parties the birds have been ob-
served to preen each other’s feathers in quite a
friendly and efficient manner, not unlike our mod-
ern barbers and hair-dressers.

Humming-birds are the most fastidious, the most
beautiful, and the most diminutive of all the feath-
ered tribe. Their native haunts are only in Amer-
ica, and chiefly in the parts of South America
where the climate is very warm. They fill the place
taken in the Old World by the sun-birds. In India
these sun-birds are often referred to as humming-
birds; but the real humming-birds are confined to
America. The brilliancy of their colours, the ele-
gance of their forms, and the manifold arrange-
ments and colour effects of their costumes is in-
describable.

The broad-tailed humming-birds are most careful
about their toilette. Every morning they go to
bathe at daylight, however cold and damp the air
may be. They are fond of having party-baths, like
the old Romans, and may be seen in such numbers
as to remind one of a swarm of bees; hither and
thither they dart, in their rapid flight, dipping here

Mee BAEOTE | A

BIRDS AND THEIR PARLOURS 163

and there into the water with their feet and breasts,
and repeating the act until their plumage is thor-
oughly cleansed. When they have completed their
dainty toilettes, these beautiful little winged-elves
go forth upon their daily duties amid the flowers.
And at the end of the day they often gather again
to refresh themselves with another dainty dip be-
fore seeking their homes for rest.

The famous saber-winged humming-bird is one
of the most beautiful of bird beings. With its
brilliant green and violet-blue hues, and tail of black
and white, it is more like some brilliant oriental
jewel than a bird. This little fellow bathes in the
dew that collects upon the leaves of trees. Certain
trees that hold the moisture in their foliage become
dainty bathing resorts, and in the early morning
hours they are often filled to capacity.

To enter into the habits and different charac-
teristics of these marvellous creatures would require
a book in itself. It is enough to know that their
idea of cleanliness and beauty is unsurpassed.
‘When flying through the sunlight they sparkle as
if they were covered with brilliant jewels and gems
of gold. The American Indians with their charac-
teristic rugged poetry of thought, called them “the
hairs of the sun.” .

The topaz-throated humming-bird is among the

1644 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

largest known. There are two species—the crim-
son, of Guinea and the lower Amazon, and the
fiery, of the northern tributaries of the Amazon.
The fire-tailed or comet humming-birds are of two
species, and their native homes are in Peru, Bolivia,
and the Argentine Republic. “The tails of the
males blaze with the radiance of flashes of flame, and
their ruby backs, luminous green throats, and un-
der surface present a tout ensemble unparalleled in
the range of ornithology.”

It is claimed that many of these jewel-like crea-
tures, especially the smallest—which is of a rich
violet colour and the size of a bee—bathe in nectar
in the cups of flowers. Imagine this tiny being,
with a throat and neck the colour of a brilliant ame-
thyst, changing into various shades of purple and
brown, bathing in a large red-cupped flower of
nectar! Or a superb specimen with a sky-blue
crown upon its head, a brilliant scarlet throat,
golden-green back, head, and tail, plunging into a
large flower-like bow] of crystal water for a bath!
Surely no words can convey an idea of such delicate
beauty.

“Of all animated beings,” says Buffon, “they are
the most fairy-like in form, the most brilliant in
colouring. Our precious stones and metals, polished
by the hand of art, are as nothing in comparison

BIRDS AND THEIR PARLOURS 165

with these rich jewels of Nature. Song excepted,
she has showered upon them all her gifts collec-
tively, gifts which are accorded to other birds
singly. Lightness, vivacity, speed, grace, and bril-
liant colours, have all been bestowed upon these tiny
favourites. Every jewel sparkles in their plumage
—plumage untarnished by the dust of earth, as,
all their life long, they seldom touch the ground;
they dwell evermore in the air, fluttering from
flower to flower, the freshness and brightness where-
of belong to them alone; they sip the nectar, and
inhabit only those heavenly zones where blossom
follows upon blossom in an everlasting spring.”
Only a rich imagination can think of a human
queen with such luxury and beauty; and no beauty
parlour can boast of such perfumed baths as these
divine sun-gems find conveniently at hand in every
garden and tropical forest in the regions where they
live. One is reminded of the English poet’s words:

“Bright birds of the sun, how has every hue

Of the sky and the rainbow been lavished on you!
Where are the robes that a monarch enfold,
Compared with your feathers of silver and gold?
Ye are richly arrayed, without toil and care,

And the flower-bells furnish your daily fare:

A feast every morning before you is spread;

Ye are gloriously clothed, and luxuriously fed.
And ye drink the pure nectar, and cry te-re,

As ye fly from the flower to the blossoming tree.

166 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

Swift as an arrow ye hasten along:

Now ye are gleaming the lilies among;

Now through the gardens of roses you speed;
Now on the lofty magnolias you feed.

Gay birds of the sun! Your plumes are as bright
As if you had bathed in his fountain of light.

It is lovely indeed your wings to behold,

All gleaming and glistening with azure and gold,
While ye drink the pure nectar, and cry te-re,
As ye fly from the flower to the blossoming tree.”

Nature has provided all birds with the means of
keeping their plumage in the best condition, and
many birds have adapted themselves well to the pro-
cess; while some are possessed of additional equip-
ment in the art. Every bird has a constant supply
of excellent oil for toilette use, which, by means of
the bill, is distributed about the body in proportion
to the size and importance of the feathers. Two
tiny tanks of the fluid are located on the bird’s body
just above the rump, and whenever a little oil is
needed for polishing up a shabby feather or dusting
a plume, all the bird has to do is to pinch them
with his beak, and out comes the loveliest hair-oil
imaginable!

Water-birds are especially dependent upon the
oil for their plumage; in fact, their very lives de-
pend upon it. In order to keep their bodies dry
and warm the feathers are kept heavily oiled so as

BIRDS AND THEIR PARLOURS 167

to present a water-proof surface. It is likewise
necessary that the feathers be well laid in place
that the water might be kept out. It is also true
that such a surface enables the bird to glide more
easily through the water. Any disarrangement
might cause a leak, and the bird would be chilled
almost fatally. This necessitates great care on the
part of these birds in the condition and treatment of
their feathers, since any mishap of the kind would
put an end, at least for the time being, to their
natural pursuits, which means in most cases their
means of livelihood.

Ducks and cormorants employ their long necks to
aid them in their toilette; they find them excellent
brushes. After oiling their plumage, they rub
their smooth necks over it until each feather is
straightened and polished to perfection.

It is most interesting to watch a group of cor-
morants make their toilette after they have returned
to their haunts from fishing. They sit for a long
time with wings half-spread, so as to dry the feath-
ers most quickly. In this position they present a
peculiar sight; one might think them angry, or
frightened, if the general poise of the body did not
belie the assumption. When their feathers are dry
enough to retain oil, they carefully dress each
feather,

168 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

The motmot of Central America possesses an ex-
tra equipment for his toilette in a very peculiarly
formed beak, edged like a saw, and this he uses to
advantage. It is especially convenient for his bar-
ber work. He deliberately trims the feathers of his
tail to the predominating style of his race. His
barbering is so neatly done that to the uninitiated
his shapely feathers are supposed to have grown in
their attractive lines; but it is all his own skilful
work. And the rest of his toilette is made with
equal art and pains.

The night-jar and the heron possess still another
tool on the claw of the third toe, which is toothed
or serrated, and this they use most efficiently in the
care of their plumage. It is a real comb, being
roughly the same shape.

One of the strangest of all birds is the hoatzin, a
native of the Amazon Valley. This creature has
thumbs, which are used not only in making its toi-
lette, but in climbing as well. The hoatzin is the
“missing link” between birds and reptiles. Its
wings were originally forefeet or hands, like those
of the lizard, and to-day its wing joint still has a
thumb and two fingers. By means of these it climbs
around in trees, and rarely, if ever, comes to the
ground. It is usually found in low bushes or trees

THE AMERICAN CROSSBILL ON A TWIG THAT SETS HIM OFF TO THE GREATEST
ADVANTAGE

GWOH ANDINA SIH SI . UNOTUVd ALNVG, SATOIMO FHL

BIRDS AND THEIR PARLOURS 169

along streams in the regions of its home, and gen-
erally flocks of twenty or thirty consort together.

“In the early morning or in the late afternoon,”
says Quelch, “they (hoatzins) will be seen sitting
in numbers on the plants, while toward the middle
of the day, as the fierce heat of the sun increases,
they betake themselves to shelter, either in the dense
recesses of the growth, or among the individual trees
of denser foliage, or among the tangled masses of
creeping and climbing vines, along the very edge
of the water. Late in the evening, after feeding,
they will be seen settling themselves down in suit-
able places for the night.”

These strange climbers feed almost exclusively
upon the leaves of trees and shrubs. One of their
favourite foods is the leaf of an arum, which gives
to their flesh a terrible odour. Hence they have
earned for themselves the title of “skunk birds” or
“stink birds.” 'This odour seems very pleasing to
the hoatzins, and it is perhaps their favourite per-
fume! At any rate it serves to protect them, as no
man or animal cares to come in contact with it. In
making their toilette they thus have the double ad-
vantage of fingers and perfume.

Herons, bitterns, the tinamous, and some hawks
are the possessors of powder-puffs. Patches of
feathers that crumble into fine dust are located upon

170 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

their bodies. Herons have four great patches, two
on the breast and two on the thighs; but in some
birds they are scattered over the entire body. That
this condition is of aid in the drying process is highly
probable, although, as yet, it has not been proved.

All birds of any part of the earth have methods
and processes by which they maintain their beauty
and the usefulness of their feathers at the highest
possible standard. There is no one who has not
witnessed many of these various ablutions among
the birds of this or that particular region, and many
interesting tales are told about them. All species
accept the necessity and desirability of beautifymg
themselves, and proceed with the art according to
their abilities and modes of life.

Perhaps as time goes on bird life will take on new
phases, and conditions not yet dreamed of may
make it imperative that those birds which survive
advance still farther in the details of their toilettes.
If ever such changes occur nature will provide the
means for more elaborate methods, and the mental-
ity of birds—which, it is the author’s belief, already
far exceeds the generally accepted estimate—will
meet the new conditions with the same intelligence
and insight with which they have faced the different
adjustments of life since first their race began. All
necessities they have met and overcome in their way

BIRDS AND THEIR PARLOURS 171

and according to their needs—which is, after all,
the extent of man’s boasted accomplishments. And
birds will always live and thrive, despite local ca-
lamities, and the extinction of certain species.

In form and structure they may change, the
spread of civilisation may rob them in time of all
their wild-wood haunts, but their race will live on;
and as man progresses in knowledge and under-
-standing it will be a simple matter for them to ad-
just themselves to his proximity. But no change,
however gradual, due entirely to environment, could
reduce the sum of beauty among the birds; and
that which they have they will care for and nurture,
both because of necessity and because of that rare
esthetic taste which they possess in a hardly less
degree than man himself.

CHAPTER XI

AVIATORS

High on the cliffs, down on the shelly reef,
Or gliding like a silver-shaded cloud
Through the blue heaven, the mighty albatross
Inhaled the breezes, sought his humble food,
Or, where his kindred like a flock reposed,
Without a shepherd, on the grassy downs,
Smoothed his white fleece, and slumbered in

their midst.

—Monigomery.

VIATION is a new art in the human world,
but with birds it is as old as the hills, and it
is their most important accomplishment. All birds
either fly or have been fliers at some time in their
race history; many can scarcely walk at all on the
ground, and consequently spend their lives among
the clouds—coming to earth only long enough to
rear their young. They are kings indeed, and have
that great gift—flight—which nature has denied
even to man.
Of all bird-aviators those of the sea are of neces-

sity most successful in sustained flight. Nothing so
172

AVIATORS 173

adds to the joy of a sea-voyage as these children of
the wind and billows, who range in size from the
tiny petrels to the mighty albatross. This gigantic,
gull-like bird presents an interesting appearance,
with its “powerful body, short, thick neck, large
head, extraordinarily long, narrow wings, short,
forked tail, a very sharp trenchant beak .. . and
plumage very close and thick.” Save for its black
pinions, it.is entirely white, and the contrast gives
it a striking and dignified beauty. Its beak is car-
nation-red, with a yellow tip; its feet are reddish,
and its eyes are brown, surrounded by a rainbow of
green. From tip to tip of its wings an albatross
often measures ten feet.

The albatross will follow a vessel on the ocean
for several days without once alighting on the
water. Its flight is indeed majestic. With out-
stretched wings it sails over the sea, now high, now
low, wheeling until its wings are at an angle with
the horizon, then suddenly descending until it all
but touches the water—it is the master aviator of
the world! At times it seems to float through the
air motionless, except for the quick glances of its
eyes and an occasional movement of its head.

“Tranquil its spirit seemed and floated slow;
Even in its very motion there was rest.”

174 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

Bennett says: “It is delightful to watch the glor-
iously graceful movements of this splendid bird,
which seem to impel it through the air as if by some
hidden force—for one can scarcely perceive the
slightest motion of the wings after the bird has once
gotten under way—and one sees it rise and fall, in
such a manner as to lead to the belief that these
movements are brought about by some unknown
power.”

The albatross, like the petrel, flies both day and
night, and seems rarely to need rest. It continu-
ally watches the waves for food; everything of an
animal nature which is thrown from a ship is hastily
gorged down. Carcasses of dead whales, or large
fish, are always surrounded by these great scaven-
ger-aviators. When a whale is being “flensed” they
actually become so bold as to snatch pieces of blub-
ber from the sailors’ hands, apparently having lost
all fear. In addition to the food they receive from
ships, they feed upon jelly-fish, cuttle-fish, and vari-
ous small aquatic animals.

In its long journeys over the sea in search of
food, the peculiar formation of the wings gives this
bird an advantage over all rivals. “The albatross
has,” says Mr. Lucas, “that type of wing which best
fulfils the conditions necessary for an aeroplane,
being long and narrow, so that while a full-grown

AVIATORS 175

albatross may spread from ten to twelve feet from
tip to tip, its wings are not more than nine inches
wide. The spread of wings is gained by the
elongation of the inner bones of the wing, and by
increasing the number of secondaries, there being
about forty of these feathers in the wing of the
albatross.”

To those who live upon the waters one of the
greatest marvels is the power of flight of these great
birds. They never tire night and day; they “wheel
round and round, and forever round the ship—now
far behind, now sweeping past in a long rapid sur-
vey like a perfect skater on an uneven field of ice.
There is no effort; watch as closely as you will, you
rarely or never see a stroke of the mighty pinion.
The flight is generally near the water, often close
to it. You lose sight of the bird as he disappears
in the hollow between the waves, and catch him
again as he rises over the crest; but how he rises
and whence comes the propelling force is to the eye
inexplicable. He merely alters the angle at which
the wings are inclined; usually they are parallel to
the water and horizontal; but when he turns to
ascend or makes a change in his direction, the wings
then point at an angle, one to the sky, the other
to the water.”

Perhaps the commonest of all sea-aviators are the

176 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

sea-swallows and terns. These daring little people
of the air live on the waste from ships and various
water insects and animals. Their wings seem never
to grow weary, and if they should, the tiny crea-
tures have but to settle on a wave while it rocks and
lulls them to sleep amid the swelling foam and lace-
like seaweed of the ocean. Distance has no terror
for them. If one suddenly desires to fly home to
distant Fundy or to a nameless craig near Cape
Horn, it rises like a wind-blown feather and disap-
pears like a vision in the distance! How clumsy
are our airships, with their awkward planes, com-
pared to the dainty wings and the lightning-like
rapidity of motion which whirls this little fellow
over thousands of miles of trackless water!

The frigate bird is one of the most powerful aero-
nauts, and might be termed the “Zeppelin” of the
air. He can dive from the clouds with astounding
rapidity, and is quite as much at home on the water
as in the air. His body is no larger than a raven’s,
yet his wings are the most remarkable, and com-
paratively the longest of any of the aviators. His
beak is exceedingly sharp and strong, winning for
him the title, “the eagle of the sea.” Because of
his terrible talons, he is the most dreaded of birds.
He soars among the clouds like a giant airship, and
drops like a cannon-ball upon his helpless prey.

AVIATORS 177

Michelet, in speaking of one of these aviators,
said: “It is the little ocean eagle, first and chief of
the winged race, the daring navigator who never
furls his sails, the lord of the tempest, the scorner
of all peril—the man-of-war or frigate-bird... .
(He) is virtually nothing more than wings:
scarcely any body—barely as large as that of the
domestic cock—while his prodigious pinions are fif-
teen feet in span. The great problem of flight is
solved and overpassed, for the power of flight seems
useless. Such a bird, naturally sustained by such
supports, need but allow himself to be borne along.
The storm bursts; he mounts to lofty heights, where
he finds tranquillity . . . literally, he sleeps upon
the storm. When he chooses to oar his way seri-
ously, all distance vanishes: he breakfasts at the
Senegal; he dines in America.”

This marvellous aviator travels day and night
without apparent weariness. He seems to rest
upon the winds, fearing nothing, not even the
tyrants of the air—the condors and pygargues!
Thus we see this huge airship floating in the-heav-
ens, while far below him are the snow-white sea
swallows playing in the waves. And one is re-
minded of the poet’s words:

“Wings to soar above life;
Wings to soar beyond death!”

178 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

Among the most daring of the aviators may be
ranked the petrels. These graceful fliers seem to
inhabit the sea as well as the land. There are sev-
eral species of the giant petrel, which travels to the
ice-cliffs of the South. The stormy petrel is the
smallest web-footed bird known. Its powers of
flight and endurance are almost unthinkable; it can
brave the fiercest storm, gliding in and out among
the troughs made by the waves. It is one of Nep-
tune’s flowers of the ocean—an aviator of the sea.

Powerful as are the flights of the larger aviators
of the bird world, yet they are not more so in pro-
portion than that of many of the smallest and
daintiest of fliers, such as the gold-crests, whose tiny
bodies appear like miniature fluffs of feathers, each
weighing about seventy grains. The ox-eye tit is
often found from 700 to 900 miles from land, and
numerous small birds cross the Atlantic.

But these are not ocean aviators in the true sense
of the word. Perhaps the shearwaters, which are
supposed to breed in the far Antarctic regions, are
allies of the petrels, and, like them, nest in burrows
or caves, are the best known ocean wanderers. As
soon as the young are able to fly, they are attracted
to the sea—and roam over the southern waters,
then across the equator, and, according to the old
sailors, land in Nova Scotia. During the spring

AVIATORS 179

and summer they are numerous over the northern
waters, but when autumn comes on they suddenly
disappear toward the Southland.

The shearwaters are divided into two or three
distinct varieties. The “greater shearwaters” are
usually the more abundant in number; while the
“sooty shearwaters” are not only fewer, but seem
not to rank in the aristocratic class of their cousins.
Between them there is a distinct colour line, and
when the aristocrats are sailing over certain waters,
the darker cousins are not to be seen; and vice versa.

The ocean aviators are as numerous as they are
varied in size and colour. Their laws are known
only to themselves, for no man has ever followed
them in all their strange wanderings. They have
learned to fly in the face of the most raging storm,
and manage their apparently frail air-ship bodies
to the despair of human fliers.

Nothing is more picturesque than a white-winged
fleet of them. In the Arctic and Antarctic soli-
tudes they cover the waters like so many living
flowers. Some go about in circles like mammoth
water-lilies, spread upon the white-capped waves;
others, with pearly mantles, swim in long lines;
again they herd together like a profusion of flow-
ers in a bowl of white foam, while the air above is
star-like with myriads of sea-gulls. A lover of na-

180 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

ture soon becomes spellbound at such a vision of
aviators who so suddenly can transform their ma-
chines into diving submarines!

Not the least interesting among water-aviators
are Franklin’s rosy gulls. These birds have a black
hood over the head and the upper part of the neck,
trimmed in pearl-grey, and the under portions of
their bodies are white with a rose tint. They are
found only in the West, where they roam over the
prairies of North Dakota to the Arctic Ocean dur-
ing the breeding season. The natives refer to them
as “prairie pigeons,” and they make a beautiful
sight following the farmer in flocks as he ploughs
in the fields.

How such delicate machines as the wings and
bodies of these aviators are able to make such pro-
digious flights as they do is understood only after
an investigation of their marvellous mechanism.
The chief muscles are those which control the wings
and legs. Every variety of bird has a body adapted
in the most efficient manner to serve the purpose of
its life. Aviators, of course, have their bodies es-
pecially suited to their profession. And it is true
that “the bird is a masterpiece, a marvel of crea-
tion.”

The home of a true aviator is the air. In it he
lives; that which he controls, he is still governed by.

AVIATORS 181

The pelican has a regular air-pouch in his breast,
and every bone in his body is filled with air. In
many birds, however, only two bones are thus filled
with air. The air passed through the bones facili-
tates respiration under varied circumstances and
thus aids the aviator in flight.

The aviator’s wings are made in a wonderful
way: the feathers are arranged like shingles on a
roof, one overlapping the other. They are so
arched as to give a convex form to the upper part of
the wing. Dr. Brehm thus describes the bird’s
movements: “By raising the pinion, the air is al-
lowed to pass between the feathers, while in its
descent they offer an insuperable resistance. This
partially explains the fact that a bird always either
rises with each stroke of the wing, or keeps at the
same level, and is never in the least depressed by
it. The forward movement is attributable to the
fact that all strokes.of the pinion do not fall in a
perpendicular direction, but slope obliquely down-
ward from the front toward the back. By this
means the wing is so canted as not to present its
surface horizontally to the air on rising, but rather
to cut through with its edge. Moreover, the pres-
sure of the pinion downward is quite equal to four
times that of the upward stroke: this is proved by a
simple examination of the respective muscles. The

182 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

tail serves as a rudder, and is bent somewhat in an
upward direction while the bird is rising, and in a
downward one in its descent; in turning it takes
a slanting position. When soaring or circling, the
tail alone directs the course of flight, while the posi-
tion of the apparently motionless wings determines
the greater or less rapidity of the same. The rela-
tive rapidity and the nature of the flight is in per-
fect harmony with the formation of the wing and
the construction of the feathers. All birds pos-
sessing long, narrow, sharp-pointed wings and close,
smooth plumage are rapid fliers in a straight line,
though unable to diverge from their course with the
same quickness as birds with shorter and rounder
wings. With the faster fliers the wings overlap
the tail, while with those which can turn quickly the
tail generally exceeds the wings in length. Good
fliers often have the tail forked, although the con-
trary sometimes occurs when the tail has long centre
feathers. Large, broad, rounded wings are well
adapted for rising, and for long and easy soaring
at great elevations; but they render descent diffi-
cult. Those birds, however, which carry pointed
wings can rush with them half expanded from a
considerable height. Short round wings render
flight more difficult, and make it necessary to use
very rapid and strong strokes. The greater or less

AVIATORS 183

amount of noise made in flying is caused partially
by the hardness or softness of the pinion-feathers,
and partly from the relative rapidity or slowness
of the strokes of the wings. Quick fliers move
with a rushing, whistling sound; slower fliers, si-
lently. The former motion is found with short-
winged, and the latter with broad-winged birds.”

Thus we see that bird aviators are adepts at every
known form of air navigation, from that which is
carried on by regular beats of the wings to soaring,
gliding, hovering, dropping, plunging, and zigzag-
ging. Storks, eagles, crows, and pelicans are skilled
in the art of soaring, while examples of gliders may
be found among the pigeons and falcons. Condors
sometimes soar to a giddy height over mountains,
and then hover in the clouds; buzzards are also
gifted in this art. The most skilled in the art of
hovering is the kestrel. This is the antithesis of
soaring. While hovering, the kestrel remains poised
over the same spot apparently motionless, but in
fact the wings are beating with great rapidity. The
humming-bird is a professional hoverer. The ever-
glade kite has a most unusual way of anchoring it-
self in the air. It has learned to hover motionless
at a great height, with the exception of its expanded
tail, which moves from side to side. This enables
it to remain stationary for a long period.

184 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

This brief review of the winged aviators might
be prolonged indefinitely, as each species and fam-
ily has its own peculiarities and advantages in flight,
always suited to its needs. The wisdom of Nature
surpasseth human understanding, and nowhere is
this more vividly shown than in the study of flying
birds. Their equipment is based upon the sound-
est principles of science—principles that man has
acquired only in very recent times.

The battles in the air, which have seemed to us
to surpass all else in all the field of romance, are
ancient history in the bird world. Every day
countless struggles are fought and won among
birds, like our modern military aeroplanes—singly
or in squadrons. .Who has not seen a group of
small birds combine to attack a large stranger, who
is bent upon mischief in their territory? Sparrows
in great numbers often attack crows, and even
mocking-birds; and all the birds of a large area will
combine to destroy a common enemy, like the owl.

Sometimes even a great black eagle will be at-
tacked and hounded by one or more purple martins;
these tiny, fearless little warriors pursue their
enemy day after day, until he is banished from their
district. The feats which they perform in these
encounters are remarkable even to those versed in
such matters. One of them will rise into the air

AVIATORS 185

and drop upon the back of the eagle, clinging to
him like a leech until he flees in sheer desperation.
Even then the doughty warrior will ride his enemy
a long distance from the battle-field to insure his
defeat before returning to his fellows.

From birds we have learned much that we know
to-day about navigation of the air, and it is prob-
able that from them we will continue to progress.
But it is reasonably certain that we will never be-
come so proficient that we can ever look with con-
tempt upon their knowledge and their feats as
simple or unintelligent. Theirs is the skill that con-
stant practice brings, theirs is the knowledge that
Nature gives, and only Nature can give. Man in
all his wonderful works and inventions can never
hope to equal what has been done by a higher hand
than his; he can imitate, but never can he create,
or surpass.

CHAPTER XII

BIRD FISHERMEN

See how he stalks along the pebbly strand,

With keen eye watching each subaqueous motion;
Wading knee-deep, for hours he will stand,

Yet as for taking cold, he scorns the notion!

He needs no rod, nor line, nor fishing book,
Although he makes his living on the water;
He catches all his fish without a hook,
And when he’s ‘gotten haud’ he gives no quarter.
—From “The Heron.”

N the bird world, as in the human, there are
many professional fishermen. On the other
hand there are numerous birds that “go fishing” oc-
casionally, apparently for the sport there is in it.
The best anglers, however, are those that make it
a profession. Each fisher has his peculiar and fa-
vourite method of fishing. Some fish in the day-
time, others at night; some fish in large groups,
while others go singly. The implements they use
are as varied as they are numerous, and the kind
of fish desired largely determines the place and

method of fishing.
186

BIRD FISHERMEN 187

The kingfishers, as the name implies, are perhaps
the best fishers of the feathered tribe. This group
of birds is divided into no less than two hundred
species, and each species differs somewhat in habits.
Dr. Sharpe says they “are alike remarkable for their
brilliant colouration and for the variety of curious
and aberrant forms included among their number.”
Their plumage is unusually brilliant and attractive,
with artistically arranged colour schemes in the pat-
terns.

These fishers feed principally upon fish which
they capture alive. Their favourite position seems
to be on an overhanging bough, a projecting dead
log, or a large stone from which they keep a close
watch for their prey. They also like to hang over
the water with vibrating wings ready to plunge
down upon any luckless fish that may appear. In
speaking of the belted kingfisher, Major Bendire
says: “Every bird seems to have favourite perches
along its range, each perhaps quite a distance away
from the next, to which it flies from time to time,
generally uttering its well-known shrill rattle in do-
ing so. It is a watchful, rather shy bird, sitting
frequently for an hour at a time in the same posi-
tion, occasionally moving its head backward and
forward, watching for its prey as a cat does for a
mouse, In such a position the kingfisher is one of

188 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

the most charming features of brook and pool.
Should an unfortunate fish come within sight at
such times, our lone fisherman is at once alert
enough, craning its neck and looking into the wa-
ter, until the proper moment arrives to plunge
downward, head first, disappearing out of sight, and
usually emerging with a wriggling captive firmly
grasped in its bill.” It sometimes happens that the
kingfisher stays under water for several minutes,
and at last returns to the surface without his game.
But such is his skill and perseverance that a failure
seldom happens.

One of the most beautiful of the kingfishers is
scientifically known as Alcedo ispida. His favour-
ite hunting-grounds are along the streams and
ponds, and even around small springs. This beau-
tiful bird is much sought after because of his ex-
quisite plumage. His head and neck are of an
emerald green, and the feathers are tipped in bluish-
green, while his back is greenish-blue—wavering in
colour as the light falls upon it. The lower part
of the kingfisher’s body is of a light brown mingled
with dark red. One is reminded of the poet’s
words:

“The halcyon flew across the stream,
And the silver brooklet caught the gleam ;

BIRD FISHERMEN 189

The glittering flash of his dazzling wings
Was such as the gorgeous rainbow flings,
In broken rays through the tearful sky,
On a sunny eve in bright July.”

Lack of space forbids mention of many of these
interesting fishers of the bird world, but the laugh-
ing kingfisher, or laughing jackass, deserves special
notice. This fisher is sometimes known as bush-
man’s clock, and a clock he is indeed! For in the
Bush Wanderings of a Naturalist we are told that:
“About an hour before sunrise the bushman is
awakened by the most discordant sounds, as if a
troop of friends were shouting, whooping, and
laughing around him in one wild chorus; this is the
morning song of the laughing jackass, warning his
feathered mates that daybreak is at hand. At noon
the same wild laugh is heard, and as the sun sinks
into the West, it again rings through the forest.”
This bird’s home is in Australia and New Guinea.

"The herons are fishers of great talent and im-
portance in the bird world. They are the “still-
fishers” of the feathered tribe, and frequent the
gloomy marshes of deep forests or shallow streams,
where they stand silent and motionless as a sphinx,
ready at the appearance of a fish to transfix him
with their sharp, dagger-like beaks. They seem to

199 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

have the patience of Job, and will wait indefinitely
for their prey.

Although there are many species of herons, and
most of them are cosmopolitan in the matter of dis-
tribution, they usually inhabit swamps, marshes,
and occasionally the sea-coast. All these birds
have many characteristics in common. In speak-
ing of these, Hudson says: “Two interesting
traits of the heron (and they have a necessary con-
nection) are its tireless watchfulness and its insa-
tiable voracity; for these characteristics have not,
I think, been exaggerated even by the most sen-
sational of ornithologists. In other birds of other
genera, repletion is invariably followed by a period
of listless inactivity during which no food is taken
or required. But the heron digests his food so
rapidly that, however much he devours, he is always
ready to gorge again; consequently he is not bene-
fited by what he eats, and appears in the same state
of semi-starvation when food is abundant as in
times of scarcity. . . . All other species that feed
at the same table with the heron, from the little
kingfisher to the towering flamingo, become exces-
sively fat at certain seasons, and are at all times so
healthy and vigorous that, compared with them, the
heron is a mere ghost of a bird.”

These fishers, because of their beautiful plumage,

BIRD FISHERMEN 191

have been long and cruelly persecuted. Their
habits of meeting and breeding in colonies also tend
to their destruction, as a heronry is usually a place
of wholesale slaughter when found by plume-hunt-
ers. Not only do the herons congregate as a dis-
tinct family, but they also welcome many other
varieties of birds to their colonies. In the Trinity
River bottoms of Texas there were, a few years ago,
heronries where thousands of marsh and water birds
had formed a little city for the purpose of rearing
their young.

Baldamus gives a remarkable description of such
ascene. He says: “A sight more varied, charming,
or beautiful, would be hard to find than these... .
marshes with their feathered inhabitants, which are
as remarkable for the different individual habits
of each species as for the diversity of their form
and plumage. Observe the most striking members
of this community of marsh and water birds, and
conceive for a moment these snow-white, straw-col-
oured, grey, black, primatic, gold and purple, these
green and red-headed, crested, eared, long and
short-legged creatures, standing, stalking, running,
climbing, swimming, diving, flying; in short, living
masses, striking in shape and colour, standing out
in bold relief against the bright blue heavens and
brilliant green of the meadows, and one must allow

1922 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

that this specimen of bird life in the swamp is a
most lovely sight.”

The noise and rush around these “fishermen
towns” is unbelievable except to one who has visited
one of the colonies. Every minute of the day num-
bers of fish are brought by the parent birds to their
ever-hungry young. And there is a constant
stench in the air caused from decaying fish and dead
birds lying about.

Many birds have become so proficient in fishing
that they use strategy of a high order to obtain the
best results. Among these the pelicans rank high,
and their tactics show a marked degree of intelli-
gence if not of forethought. They “go fishing”
not singly but in large groups, and, forming a wide
semi-circle, drive a shoal of fishes before them to
the shore. At the opportune moment, when the
fishes are rounded up, they set to catching them with
the hilarity of South Sea Islanders.

At times they wait on the banks for hours for the
fish to come in. Then the leader arises from his
sitting position and slowly wades into the water,
followed by his flock of faithful fishers. They swim
out far into the water, and suddenly, as if by some
unseen sign from him, they wheel around, begin
flopping their wings and rushing in line toward the
shore. Meanwhile their heads are lowered into the

EVERY MINUTE OF THE DAY NUMBERS OF FISH ARE BROUGHT BY THE PARENT BIRDS TO THEIR EVER HUNGRY YOUNG,

(WHITE PELICANS)

ONTHSTT WILL NT ADOLLVILLS GS NOALAO SNVOVTSd NMOU

BIRD FISHERMEN 193

water, and their great beaks are spread open like
so many fishing-nets. By the time they reach the
shore, each bird usually has his immense pouch
well-filled with fish. Cormorants feed in the same
way, with the exception that they do not fish quite
so successfully in droves. It seems that they are
not so skilled in united efforts as are the pelicans;
but both are clever fishermen, and employ good
tactics in their work.

The grey pelican, according to Jerdon, has a
strong musky odour, which some naturalists believe
attracts fishes, and for this reason it is used by
fishermen in eastern Bengal to aid in attracting and
catching certain species of fish. The numerous
kinds of colisa are attracted by the odour and oil
of these birds and congregate in large numbers
where they are, present. As a result many are
caught. Cormorants also have a musky odour
which comes from their oily skins.

These birds are easily tamed and trained, and
sometimes used successfully by the Chinese in catch-
ing fish. Sir George Staunton, in his Embassy to
China, tells how, during his journey to Hau-choo-
foo, “the Embassy had not proceeded far on the
southern branch of the canal when they arrived in
the vicinity of the place where the . . . famed fish-
ing-bird is bred, and instructed in the art and prac-

194 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

tice of supplying his owner with fish in great abun-
dance. On a large lake ... are thousands of
small boats and rafts built entirely for this species
of fishery. On each boat or raft are ten or a dozen
birds, which, at a signal from the owner, plunge
into the water; and it is astonishing to see the enor-
mous size of fish with which they return. . . . They
appeared to be so well trained, that it did not re-
quire either ring or cord about their throats to
prevent them from swallowing any portion of their
prey, except what the master was pleased to return
to them for encouragement and food. The boat
used by these fishermen is of a remarkably light
make, and is often carried to the lake . . . together
with the fishing-birds, by the men who are to be sup-
ported by it.”

In England, at one time, cormorants were kept
and trained as fishers, in the same way that falcons
were trained to hunt in the air. During the reign
of James I, the practice of keeping cormorants be-
came so much a matter of course that the office of
Master of the Royal Cormorants was established,
and one John Wood was the first to hold the place.
He was described as the ““Keeper of His Majesty’s
cormorants, ospreys, and otters”; evidently the lat-
ter were also used for fishing. The King’s cormo-
rant station was at Westminster, on the river. It is

BIRD FISHERMEN 195

probable that the sport with these trained fishers
was not a success, as it was never developed to the
degree reached by falconry.

It was a custom in both England and China to
tie a leather strap or a ring around the lower part
of the cormorant’s neck so that he could not swal-
low his prey. This is not as cruel as it might seem
at first thought, as the cormorant’s gullet is as
elastic as a rubber bag and very capacious. So
elastic are they that in Greenland the fishermen use
the gullets blown up and tied at each end for float-
ing bladders to support their fishing-nets.

These birds are as cunning as foxes; they take
great delight in the sport of fishing, and leave no
rock or cave unexamined for prey. The fish seem
to know and dread them, and if there is a muddy
bottom to the water, or any small caves near, they
try to hide themselves from their green-eyed ene-
mies. They very seldom succeed, however, even
though they should jump clear out of the water in
their attempt to escape, for the cormorants are ex-
ceedingly quick, and usually catch the fish even if
it has escaped at first.

If the fish is caught in the wrong position for
swallowing, the cormorant tosses it into the air,
like a professional juggler would a ball, until it is
properly caught, then it is swallowed. Sometimes

196 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

six to ten of these are taken into the cormorant’s
pouch before it is called into the boat to “cough
up” its prey. When the signal is given by the
keeper for the fisherbirds to disgorge, each quickly
responds, and as a reward is given one or two fish
to eat. When cormorants are feeding their young,
they sometimes open their mouths and allow the
babies to take out of their capacious throats what
food they desire. This is done by many of the
fishing birds.

The eagle, so far as is generally known, appears
to be only an indifferent fisher, yet it is positively
known to devour fish and to feed them to its young.
This regal bird may be seen along the wild stretches
of the Atlantic sea-board. It is known to build in
proximity to the sea, but it is rarely, if ever, ob-
served in the act of taking fish from the water.

Its method is one of robbery, and in the execu-
tion of its plans it proves itself a strategist, if not
a fisherman. Indeed its cleverness makes it un-
necessary for it to learn the fisherman’s trade. Very
often an osprey, as well as other smaller sea birds,
will rise from the water with a glistening fish in its
talons, only to be overtaken in the twinkling of an
eye by an eagle that has been watching from afar
the beautiful white fisher at work. The eagle ap-
pears as from nowhere, and the chase that ensues is

BIRD FISHERMEN 197

likely to end far beyond the observer’s range of
vision. On some occasions, however, it may end
where the watcher on the beach can see the osprey’s
final defeat. It will drop the fish when the eagle
is at last upon it, and before the flashing object has
fallen more than a few feet, the eagle has seized it.
This last instant in the pursuit is well calculated,
for it is invariably noticed that the eagle flies lower
than the osprey, as if in perfect readiness for what
it knows will be the last resort of its victim.

This power of strategy in birds is not confined to
fishers, but is a marked gift of many other birds,
especially birds of prey. The hen-hawk ranks high
in this respect. It seems to be commonly admitted
that the hawk, like all large birds, makes a landing
either on the ground or on a perch, with its head
to the wind, but what seems hitherto to have escaped
observation, so far as the author knows, is the strate-
gic finesse with which this bird of prey avoids cast-
ing its shadow in front if possible. It seems to
understand perfectly that the enemy is warned of
its approach in this way.

The author once watched the movements of a
voracious hawk that repeatedly visited a hen-yard.
Out of four successful raids, three were ac-
complished on cloudy days, and were instantly ef-
fective, for the bird came and went with the greatest

198 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

speed, and with an audacious freedom very differ-
ent from its behaviour on the clear day.

When the sun shown it would circle over the
neighbourhood trying one angle of approach after
another. Its shadow passing over the ground of
the farmyard invariably sent the hens and chickens
to cover. Finally, with a manceuvring which could
have had but one end in view—that of getting
its tell-tale shadow behind—the bird descended like
a flash of lightning and was off in an instant with a
struggling chicken in its claws.

On three occasions the creature went through
these preliminary movements; and if it were not
endowed with the power of reasoning out its rela-
tion to the sun, or to understand why its shadow
was ahead of it or to the rear, it most certainly was
possessed of patience and strategic sense to a re-
markable degree in altering its angle of approach
until success crowned its efforts.

The oyster-catchers are an interesting group of
bird fishers. While they do not display any par-
ticular strategy in their fishing, they do work as a
team in that they all begin and stop at the same
time. These birds, so named because of their meth-
ods of feeding on clams and oysters, are famed for
their ability to pry open, with their knife-like bills,
the tightly sealed shells of their prey. There are

BIRD FISHERMEN 199

several species, the European living along the coast
countries of Europe and parts of Asia and Africa;
the American living along the sea-coasts of the
temperate and tropical regions, “from Nova Scotia
and Lower California to Brazil and Patagonia.”
Occasionally they are found even in Greenland.
They choose sandy beaches for their feeding-
grounds, and conduct their foraging in large
groups. It is impossible to compute the amount of
shell-fish they consume, but it is admitted to be
enormous.

Another shell-fisher is the courlan. He isa large
rail-like bird, with a powerful beak which enables
him easily to open shells. He wades around in
shallow water and hunts for mollusks with his feet,
and when he finds one he dashes his beak between
the valves, and then carries his prey to the shore,
where he prys open the shell and eats the mollusk.
Possibly the best known of this family is the Flor-
ida courlan, often called the crying-bird, crazy-
widow, or lamenting-bird. It is so named because
of its dark plumage and its habits of a recluse; at
night it cries in the most pitiful manner like some
one weeping for a departed friend.

The black skimmers are a strange group of fish-
ers who live along the low, sandy grounds, and
islands of our coast countries. Their methods of

200 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

fishing are most unusual, owing to an apparent de-
formity in the beak which enables them to plough
through the water for their prey. In most all birds
the maxilla, or upper part of the bill, is unmovable,
while the mandible, or lower part of the bill, is mov-
able; the skimmer, however, has a pair of scissor-
like blades, which are very sharp and movable. The
mandible is doubly as long as the maxilla; and as
the skimmer flies very near the surface of the water,
he ploughs through the waves with his razor-like
mandible, where the fishes swim, and whenever a
fish appears he snatches it up and arises from the
water to swallow it on the wing. These fishers rest
on the sand-banks during the entire day, and when
night comes on they begin to chatter among them-
selves like so many old fisherwomen, and after much
ado go forth to play and fish among the waves.

The snake-birds are widely distributed in the
tropics of both hemispheres, and their skill in fish-
ing is their greatest asset. Dr. Brewer, in speaking
of the American species, says: “It lives principally
upon fish, which it seizes by rapidly darting upon
them with its sharply pointed and slightly toothed
beak. In this movement its neck, which is very
long, is thrust forward with the force of a spring,
aided by the muscles, that are large and well-de-
veloped in the lower and anterior portion of the

BIRD FISHERMEN 201

neck. When fishing, the Anhinga stands with only
its head and neck above the water; when it makes a
plunge it remains a long while beneath the surface;
and when it rises again, the long and undulating
neck has somewhat the appearance of a serpent.
. - - It is said to be the very first among the fresh-
water divers, disappearing beneath the surface with
the quickness of thought, moving scarcely a ripple
on the spot, and reappearing, perhaps with its head
only above the water for a moment, at a place sev-
eral hundred yards distant.”

The ibises are wading and fishing birds closely
allied to the storks. The oldest known, and by far
the most interesting, is the sacred ibis, about which
cluster so much romance and mythology. It was
the “emblem of Shott, the scribe or secretary of
Osiris, whose duty it is to write down and recount
the deeds of the deceased.” Many mummified
bodies of these birds are found among the ancient
tombs of Egypt, and numerous monuments bear
carvings and inscriptions to them.

The American wood-ibis is renowned for its fish-
ing parties. ‘These fishers form in groups of sev-
eral hundred to a thousand, and march like a troup
of soldiers until they come to a small lake. Then
they wade into the water, and stir up the mud with
their feet until all the fish rise to the surface, where

202 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

they are immediately killed by the strong beaks of
the birds. Soon the top of the water is covered
with dead fish and frogs, and the fishers eat to their
hearts’ content, and march out.

There is a large group of fishing owls and, as
might be expected, they fish only at night. The
African fish owls feed chiefly on wild guinea-fowl
and fish; the brown fish owl of India, Ceylon, and
Burma, lives in deep forests near the sea, and sleeps
during the day. But when night comes it emerges
from its dark retreat and goes in search of crabs
and fish. One of the most interesting of owls is
the snowy owl. Its home is in the Far North, and
it usually feeds on wild game, but occasionally it
goes angling. And, unlike other owls, this it does
in daytime as well as at night. Audubon speaks of
seeing one of these northern owls fishing near Louis-
ville, Kentucky. Evidently the owl had gone South
for a vacation.

It is interesting to note that among the fishing
birds the beak is used as a shuttle, hook, shovel,
gimlet, auger, pick, hammer, wedge, spear and even
aneedle! With such an assortment of fishing tools
it is easy to see what a vast number of fish these
birds catch. It is claimed that the gannets of St.
Kilda consume over one hundred and six millions
of herrings each year. There are hundreds of wa-

THE SANDHILL CRANES IN THEIR NATURAL HABITAT

SANOd TIVWS NI SHHSIX HONd-dOOM FHL

BIRD FISHERMEN 2038

ter birds that get their living by fishing, and most
of these are industrious, voracious, swift, and
strong, and in all ways well equipped for their pro-
fession.

Our human fishing smacks are not to be com-
pared with the innumerable bird fleets of aerial,
submarine, and surface fishers. They catch every
kind of fish, from a mackerel to a mussel. Many
of the fresh-water fishers wade and search the rivers
from headwaters to the sea, and cover the coast re-
gions of the whole world.

It seems that no form of sea life escapes these
voracious bird fishers. Even the shell-fish, whose
shells are flinty hard and securely anchored to rocks
at the bottom of the sea, are at their mercy. One
of the most astonishing things of nature is the un-
thinkable depth to which the scaup-duck, the scoter,
and the eider dive beneath fathoms of water and
crush and devour the hard-shelled fish, such as mus-
sel and whelk, with as much ease as a thrush would
kill a small beetle.

Most of these birds, however, are especially
equipped for their particular kind of fishing. The
scoters and the eiders have a strong ridge along
the upper part of the beak which gives it great
strength for crushing sea-shells, and notched or cor-
rugated teeth to assist in holding the shells. No

204 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

weather seems to disturb them, for they will go fish-
ing in the stormiest gale, and fish indefinitely be-
neath the waves, paying no attention to the weather
above, and only rising occasionally to the surface
of the water to get a breath of air before diving
again to their delicate submarine dinners.

These birds, with their wonderful power of div-
ing, and the ability to crush hard shells, find the
matter of earning a living very easy. As the mus-
sels do not move, the scaups and eiders can dive
to a bounteous feast whenever they are hungry.
On the other hand, many of the fishing birds, such
as the razor-bills, gulls, and ducks, which have to
seek out and pursue their prey, are somewhat de-
pendent upon the weather, and are often very hun-
gry and half-starved in the winter.

In their fishing, birds are the best of sportsmen,
as they stake their very lives upon the result, and
use their wits with astonishing success in order to
insure themselves against failure. All those that
live entirely by fishing have peculiar powers which
aid them in the capture of their food, and this is
true of all other means of livelihood in the bird
world. But intelligence, strategy, and sustained
physical effort are likewise necessary, and every
species has its own proportion of these requirements
to face.

BIRD FISHERMEN 205

To some birds nature has given an easy life, to
others a hard one. But in each case it is possible
to succeed well or to fail miserably, and those birds
that best fulfil the tasks imposed upon them thrive
best, regardless of the relative difficulty of their
existence. Bird and beast and man must obey with-
out question the commands of Nature, be they stern
or mild, and none may profit by avoiding them.
There is a beautiful lesson in the example of the
different species of the feathered tribe, which waste
no time in trying to imitate their more gifted breth-
ren, or in decrying their inferior equipment, but
bravely employ those talents which they possess,
and succeed by their own efforts and in their own
separate ways.

CHAPTER XIII

MIMICS AND VENTRILOQUISTS AMONG BIRDS

The moping heron, motionless and stiff,
That on a stone, as silently and stilly,
Stood, an apparent sentinel, as if
To guard the water-lily.
—Thomas Hood.

MONG the many interesting phases of bird

life, none possesses a more absorbing inter-

est than that relating to their various kinds of

mimicry. Often colour serves to protect a bird by

enabling it to escape danger, or capture its prey.

Many birds have learned, or have assumed a form

of mimicry whereby they so closely imitate their

immediate surroundings as to pass unnoticed by

their enemies. To this protective resemblance large
groups of birds owe their lives.

In the far north the ptarmigan, during the winter
season, assumes a snow-white garb, so that against
the snow it is unnoticeable, but as the summer
months come on it assumes the exact colouring of

the grey lichens and mosses among which it lives.
206

MIMICS AMONG BIRDS 207

Numerous northern sea gulls have a similar pro-
tection; and every sportsman is familiar with the
protective colouring of game birds, such as quail,
grouse, woodcock, pheasants, wild turkeys, and a
number of water birds.

Only of recent years has man learned that all
variations and peculiarities of birds’ plumage and
eggs have special significance. At one time these
were looked upon as serving for ornament only,
and with no other cause for their existence than a
gratification for the eye, and a more harmonious
agreement with nature. But now we know that
many birds that are harmless and unprotected are
found to mimic not only the colour of their inani-
mate surroundings but sometimes the colour and
even the sound of dangerous animals and birds.

The forms of mimicry of a bird are largely de-
termined by its habitat and its enemies. The bril-
liant colourings of the cock pheasant are strikingly
different from those of the female bird. When sit-
ting on the nest, her plumage is exactly like the sur-
rounding brownish grey foliage. The same is true
of various species of wild ducks, especially the mal-
lard. The chaffinch, the ring ouzel, the stonechat,
the mocking-bird, the brown thrush, the plover, the
curlew, and innumerable others so closely imitate
their surroundings in the structure of their nests

208 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

that to the unskilled eye they are only part of the
landscape. When the female chances to be the
more gaily coloured, then the duties of incubation
fall largely to the male. The more brilliant the
plumage of the male, the less he remains around the
nest during incubation. This partially explains the
seeming indifference of certain male birds to their
family duties.

What wonderful appreciation of the benefits of
protective resemblance is seen in the nest of the
humming-bird! It is placed on the grey-green
bough of an apple tree, silvered over with lichens,
exactly like those of the branch on which it rests,
with here and there a bit of green moss and white
paper so interwoven as to appear precisely like a
cluster of flowers. The average person passes it
unnoticed. I have seen a humming-bird’s nest so
skilfully arranged in a honeysuckle vine that the
deception was rendered almost complete. Hum-
ing-birds themselves are so brilliantly coloured that
as they flit in and out among nectared flowers
glistening like jewelled leaves, they are well pro-
tected, especially if the foliage is thick.

The number of individuals in the bird kingdom
belonging to an imitated species is greatly in ex-
cess of those imitating; these imitations are not only
of plumage and colour, but voice and call as well.

THE PTARMIGAN CHANGES THE COLOUR OF HIS FEATHERS TO MATCH THE

BACKGROUND

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MIMICS AMONG BIRDS 209

The scream of the hen-hawk is so closely imitated
by the less-feared blue-jay that he can completely
terrify a group of small birds by his voice. Crows
imitate other bird-calls very well. Sometimes they
seem to have a secret method of calling the attention
of their own species to the nest of a harmless bird
which they wish to destroy; they combine in a vocal
disguise so complete in its simulation that even the
setting bird pays no attention to the ruse. As a
result, she pays with her own life.

Passing to the desert regions of brown sage-
brush and burning sand, we meet with the same
phenomena in both voice and colour. The plumage
of every bird—whether wild turkey, lark, quail,
sand grouse, chat, sparrow, or owl—assumes a des-
ert-colour. This is of uniform sand shade.

During the past summer I found a redbird’s
nest built among reddish-brown roots in a red-clay
gulley. The upper plumage of the female bird,
when sitting on her eggs, harmonised so perfectly
with her surroundings that had she not flown off
the nest at my near approach, I would possibly not
have seen her. I also came upon a wren sitting on
a nest which was wonderfully arranged in an old,
discarded sausage-grinder, so that it closely re-
sembled the colour and form of the grinder itself.
One happy day she and her dainty brood of five

210 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

youngsters hopped forth from the rusty instrument
to greet the world.

The term “mimicry” is misleading in so far as it
conveys the idea of conscious imitation, especially
as regards colouration, which is supplied the birds
by the bountiful hand of Nature. In voice imita-
tions there is more self-direction. Perhaps the
American mocking-bird is the most perfect vocal
mimic among all the bird family. Its marvellous
powers are such that the Mexican aborigines called
it centconitlatlolli—four hundred tongues or
languages.

In my New York studio-laboratory I have two
tame mocking-birds, whom I call David and Jona-
than. I have raised them from tiny babies in the
nest. David has learned Dvorak’s Humoresque
from a Victrola record, and Jonathan sings parts
of several simple pieces. They have never been
away from the man-city and so have not learned the
calls of the wildwood birds; but many sounds which
they have heard repeatedly they can produce with
such perfection that the most skilled ear is often
deceived.

These remarkable birds imitate the human voice,
though not so well as the cries and calls of birds, the
barking of dogs, the noise of the elevator, the ring
of the telephone, the flow of water, the scales on the

MIMICS AMONG BIRDS 211

piano, all the various noises and sounds of a great
city. Need we wonder that many of the greatest
thinkers of to-day accord birds a soul as well as a
mind!

When hungry, albatrosses scream without ceas-
ing in a strange way which sounds like the bray of
an ass, or the neigh of a horse. In speaking of the
lyre-bird, Mr. Leycester says: “One of these birds
had taken up its quarters within two hundred yards
of a sawyer’s hut, and he had made himself perfect
in all the noises of the sawyer’s homestead—the
crowing of the cocks, the barking and howling of
the dogs, and even the painful screeching of the
sharpening and filing of the saw.”

Charles Darwin speaks of two very strange mim-
ics of Chile. One is called ‘“‘cheucau,” and it lives
in the most gloomy and dismal places within the
forests. This little red-breasted creature is difficult
to find, but when found he is usually hopping
around among the dead canes and dead twigs with
his tail cocked upward. The natives have many
superstitions about him because of his weird and
varied cries. There are three distinct calls: one is
called “chiduco,” and foretells good; another “chi-
chido” is an omen of calamity; and a third, “hiu-
treu,” beware of enemies! These words are sup-
posed to represent the sounds, and the natives are in

212 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

several ways governed by them. Another species
of the same family, but larger, is named “guid-
guid” and by the English it is called the barking
bird. The name“is apt, for the most skilled ear
would mistake its bark in the forest for the yelping
of a small dog.

Darwin says: “In my rough notes I describe the
strange noises, which, although frequently heard
within these gloomy forests, yet scarcely disturb the
general silence. The yelping of the guid-guid, and
the sudden whew-whew of the cheucau, some-
times come from afar off, and sometimes from close
at hand; the little black wren of Tierra del Fuego
occasionally adds its cry; the creeper follows the
intruder screaming and twittering; the humming-
bird may be seen every now and then darting from
side to side, and emitting, like an insect, its shrill
chirp; lastly, from the top of some lofty tree, the
indistinct but plaintive note of the white-tufted ty-
rant—flycatcher—may be noticed.”

The bittern mimics the bellowing of a bull. This
strange sound is produced by the mimic in an un-
usual way: he partially buries his beak in the water
as he bellows. The South African drongo shrikes
mimic many strange and weird sounds of the for-
est; while the ibis screams like a child being tor-
tured in the most fiendish manner. At first the

MIMICS AMONG BIRDS 213

screams are loud, then they grow weaker and
weaker until they finally die away in the distance
by low sighing and groaning.

Not least among our mimics are the pinnated
grouse, whose howls precisely imitate those of the
prairie wolf. In South America we find the toro-
pisju, one of the umbrella birds, who brays like a
trumpeter—hence its name; the red tunqui grunts
like a wild pig; while the macaw screams like a
crying monkey; and parrots chatter in imitation of
every imaginable sound.

The most noticeable thing about most of these
mimics is their individuality; even those of the same
family differ as greatly as the members of a human
family. One of my mocking-birds, David, is affec-
tionate and is even on friendly terms with my bull-
finch and redbirds, and at times will play with
them for hours over a piece of string or a pebble.
But Jonathan is proud and haughty, refusing to
recognise my entire bird family, with the exception
of his friend David. They are inseparable compan-
ions and often romp and play until they are so ex-
hausted that they cannot fly.

Jonathan’s house is his castle and he seems per-
fectly satisfied to remain in it at all times, provided
no other bird disturbs him, while David is a sociable
creature. He delights in paying calls to the other

214 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

members of my little bird colony. He visits them
daily, and is even interested in the various kinds
of food he finds at their homes. One of the canaries,
Moré, is his special chum. I have seen him terribly
maul little Miss Bingham, the saffron finch, for
having pecked the canary. His only serious fault
is his desire to bathe in every tub of water he finds
while on his visits. This would not be quite so
objectionable even to the brown thrush, whose well-
appointed house is ever the acme of neatness, but
for the splashing of water over her entire cage.
This, no bird hostess is willing to tolerate!

Parrots are perhaps the best imitators of the hu-
man voice, with crows, talking minors, and para-
keets as close seconds. But the powers of each of
these are too well known to require further elucida-
tion. Mimicry is not confined to only a few species
of birds, but is present in some degree in practi-
cally every bird. The term “mocking-bird” might
be applied to many kinds of singers.

The bull-finch and the gold-finch are famous for
their powers of imitation. While their native notes
are very simple, they may be taught almost any
tune, and can even learn to articulate a few words.
Most of the trained bull-finches come from Ger-
many, where they have been regularly schooled by
experts. Cobblers and lone people with much pa-

MIMICS AMONG BIRDS 215

tience make good instructors for these mimics. A
piping bull-finch is worth many dollars. The gold-
finch soon learns to mimic the song of canaries, the
chirp of sparrows, the bell-like notes of the black-
bird, and the call of the redbird; in fact, any bird
notes that he chances to hear repeatedly.

Skylarks are known to imitate the distress cry of
the plover, while lapwings will imitate various calls
of alarm. The blue titmouse defends her nest-in a
hole by puffing up her feathers and hissing like a
snake.

There is no doubt that the stormy petrel has
learned to imitate the motion of the waves, flying
with motions not unlike those of certain fish. Corn-
wall aptly describes these movements:

“Up and down! Up and down!
From the base of the wave to the billow’s crown,
And amidst the flashing and feathery foam,
The stormy petrel finds a home,—
A home, if such a place may be,
For her who lives on the wide blue sea,
On the craggy ice, in the frozen air,
And only. seeketh her rookery lair
To warm her young, and to teach them spring
At once o’er the waves on their stormy wing!”

These strange little “water-witches” or Mother
Carey’s chickens are familiar to all sea-travellers.

216 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

Sailors have many weird stories to tell of them, and
legends refer to them as “Neptune’s darlings, the
smallest bird cradled on his bosom.” Strange stor-
ies claim that they are sent from hell to appear as
“devil-birds” which glide and play over the corpses
of lost sailors. Superstitious seamen believe they
bring evil, and are responsible for storms and hurri-
canes. How absurd! “Just as well,” says Wilson,
“might the sailor curse the friendly rays of the
lighthouse or the stars of the night which guide him
on his voyage, the buoy or beacon which warns him
of hidden rocks and shoals, as abuse the stormy
petrel; for as these give notice of coming danger, so
does the bird warn the mariner, and afford oppor-
tunity to make all snug against the arrival of evil.”
It is a mistake, however, to claim that these trust-
ful, delightful little swallows of the ocean show
themselves only when a storm is approaching, and
that they never alight to swim in the water.

One of the most interesting and peculiar forms
of mimicry among the feathered tribe are simula-
tions of death. Not a few birds are given to this
ruse. A water-hen is often found “possuming.”
An English sportsman tells of a hunting trip when
he chanced to come upon a water-hen lying half in
the water, with her head concealed by brown leaves
which had blown near the place. He picked up the

MIMICS AMONG BIRDS 217

bird by the wing, and apparently she was quite
limp and dead. Thinking she had fallen as the re-
sult of disease or accident, he tossed her into the
water, when to his astonishment she suddenly
flapped her wings and flew away.

The landrail, whose croaking and mysterious note
is often heard in the corn-fields in early spring,
simulates death when danger is near. Perhaps this
is owing to its clumsy body and almost useless wings
which give it no other means of protection. It is
rarely seen except when flushed by a hunting dog.
Turkey buzzards, when captured, will often simu-
late death.

Not only are many birds mimics, but quite a few
are ventriloquists. Raincrows have been the cause
of much superstition among the coloured people of
the South. These superstitions have arisen because
of the raincrows’ power of making their voices come
from the opposite direction from which it is sent.
One summer I had an interesting experience with
a pair of raincrows in eastern Texas. I found two
fledgelings in a small scrubby oak tree, just ready
to fly. The parent birds were concealed in nearby
trees, while their coarse croaking voices seemed to
come from far away in the opposite direction. At
times the strange sounds seemed to emanate from
a small pine forest several hundred yards away.

218 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

Then I climbed into the tree, near the nest, and the
crows flew near me, while their voices still seemed
to come from all directions.

The corncrake is a specialist at ventriloquy. It
is by this strange power that it protects its nest. If
an enemy approaches its home, suddenly a strange
crake, crake is heard in an entirely different direc-
tion. A ghostly feeling comes over one as the notes
swell and die away to an echo!

The ring-ouzel and the grasshopper-warbler also
are gifted with ventriloquial powers which they use
to lure enemies away from their homes.

The mocking-bird is perhaps one of the ablest
ventriloquists. David, to whom I have already re-
ferred, has learried to throw his voice to various
parts of the bird-room at the same time. He uses
this power, however, only at night. His favourite
way of calling me seems to be by ventriloquistically
imitating the mew of a cat. He knows that a cat
is the least desired animal for a bird-room! Jona-
than does not seem to use this power.

The bell-bird of South America is a ventriloquist
of most remarkable ability. No songster of the
forest causes so much astonishment by its vocal
powers, and clear bell-like notes. Waterson says:
“He greets both morn and eve with his song; and
yet when the ardent sun’s rays lull all nature into

MIMICS AMONG BIRDS 219

stillness, his cheerful tones ring through the silent
forest. One hears the notes, and then there is a
minute’s pause; again, the bell-like sound, then an-
other interval of silence; a third time this takes
place, when after a pause of six or eight minutes,
the song bursts out afresh. Acteon would turn
from the wildest chase, Marie cease her evening
hymn,—ay! Orpheus, himself, would forego his
lute to hear this bird—so full, so fresh, and so ro-
mantic is the ring of his melodius song.”

The bell-birds of Guiana and Brazil have not
only the gift of speech, but marvellously developed
ventriloquistic powers as well. They are rarely seen
in the wild state because they frequent the tops of
the highest trees, and at this giddy height their
snow-white plumage and transparent wings render
them almost invisible. One may stand beneath the
tree on which the ventriloquist is located without
even suspecting that the distant bell-like tinkles, so
modulated with regard to the intervals as to pro-
duce the most wonderful melody, are being pro-
duced right overhead.

The sandpipers practise most interesting protec-
tive acts of deception. Startle a sandpiper from
her nest and she reels and stumbles before you,
while her mate in the distance encourages her acting.

220 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

She hopes by thus attracting your attention to save
her precious eggs in the sand.

The lapwing, when disturbed, is a pitiable sight
with her seemingly broken wings and her mourn-
ful cries. Here she tumbles, there she flops, yonder
she runs, but ever away from her nest! Her mate
also adds to the performance by innumerable aerial
gyrations which aid in distracting the attention of
the observer from a near-by nest where the little
ones are hopelessly exposed in the thin grass.

Many shore-haunting birds have devised methods
of hiding their eggs. The guillemot makes no nest,
but lays one egg in a hole in the side of a cliff. The
ringed dotterel makes her nest on a bank of debris
and sticks the eggs up on end so as to resemble drift-
wood. Partridges and pheasants usually lay their
eggs on dark leaves, and ofttimes cover them when
they go away. The water ouzel builds a domed nest
which looks like a bunch of green moss. The gold-
crest swings her delicate hanging-nest among the
long, drooping pine boughs, where it is very diffi-
cult to find.

The eggs and plumage of certain game birds are
yery difficult to detect from their surroundings. The
snipe has a pencilled plumage which is hard to dis-
cern among the brown marshes where the bird is
found. The woodcock’s leaf-strewn nest may be

A MOTHER GROUSE OF THE SIERRAS CALIFORNIA

YOUNG MARSH HAWKS SAFELY HIDDEN AWAY IN THE TALL GRASS

MIMICS AMONG BIRDS 221

walked over without being observed. The colour
of the red grouse is strikingly in accord with that
of the purple heather among which the nest is
found. Their eggs also imitate the colouring of
their surroundings. The wind-shaken feathers of
the shaggy, gaunt herons make them look precisely
like driftwood when standing in a pond.

The night-jar or goat-sucker has learned to pro-
tect herself during the day by resting on grey
stones. Her mottled plumage corresponds to the
colour of the stones; and her eggs, also the colour of
her plumage, are laid on the bare ground, or on the
stones. Leaf-warblers attach to their nests leaves
of the same tree in which they are built. Many of
the brilliantly coloured birds of the tropics, like the
toucans, motmots, and bee-eaters, build their nests
in the holes of trees, and consequently have no need
of mimicry.

Birds like the lark approach or depart from their
nests by darting suddenly down through the under-
brush, then proceeding in a roundabout way so as
not to be followed. The winchat also approaches
her nest in a winding and deceptive manner. Rails,
if they are aware that they are being watched, actu-
ally pretend to sit down upon their nest when a
long distance from it. Sometimes the male bird

222 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

will attract an observer’s attention while the female
silently enters the nest. -

Thus we see that nature has bountifully supplied
her feathered creatures with instinct and intelli-
gence sufficient to baffle their enemies, including
man himself. Every variety of bird has some pe-
culiar way of defending itself and its nest. Those
that lay their eggs on bare, exposed situations use
distracting motions. Birds that nest in deep for-
ests or thickets are adepts at silence: this is their
protection; while predaceous birds employ warlike
methods, and birds of a general habitat resort to
mimicry, not a few of them having the additional
accomplishment of ventriloquy. Wherever these
marvellous little beings are found they exercise a
God-given craftiness in their own protection. They
are another thing for man to reflect on when he
grows arrogant in his own wisdom.

CHAPTER XIV

BIRD ACTORS AND THEIR THEATRES

He flaps his wings, erects his spotted crest;
His flaming eyes dart forth a piercing ray;
He swells the lovely plumage of his breast,
And glares a wonder of the orient day.
—From “The Hoopoe.”

ERHAPS the most interesting people of the
human world are the actors and the actresses;
and the same is true among birds. They not only
have numerous kinds of acts and plays, but they
have their definite theatres and playhouses, where
they come together to indulge in the various games
they have learned for their own pleasure and the
amusement of their audiences. Among: certain
groups of birds every community has its own play-
house, and some have many.

All birds are artists in the truest sense of the
word, and show not only marvellous instinct in their
acting, but a reasoning power which seems quite
as remarkable as that of a human being; for the in-
tellectual capacities of birds are by no means so in-

ferior to those of man as the average person be-
223

224 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

lieves. No better proof of this exists than in their
inimitable acting and playing.

From the earliest times the wonderfully devel-
oped art of mimicry among birds has been deemed
as verging upon the supernatural. Men, especially
the less educated, being unable to explain the mys-
tery, have contented themselves with believing that
these actors are birds of ill-omen. This is especially
true of night birds, such as the owls. In Mada-
gascar there are seven species of these actors, and
they are referred to by the natives as “spirit-birds”
and are believed to be the embodiment of the spirits
of the wicked. Their screech is the presage of great
misfortune. The rarest of these “day-sleeper” ac-
tors is very beautifully marked with silvery wave
lines over pale reddish brown. The uncanny eyes
and elaborate head-dress so skilfully used in acting
lead to many strange tales among the superstitious
natives.

The methods or schools of acting in the bird
world are quite as varied as in the human world.
Each individual plays the part for which he is best
suited, and which best aids in his combats, or in
winning a mate, as the case may be. Usually the
song-bird is not so clever an actor as his songless
brother, whose chief personal charm is in his acting.
And when the season of love approaches and the

BIRD ACTORS AND THEATRES 225

latter begins to realise that his harsh and hoarse
voice will not win for himself a mate, he then begins
to rehearse for his act!

When the rehearsals are all over, and the per-
formance is perfected, he goes forth to seek her,
pouring out his passionate pleadings in a hundred
struttings and attitudes. He displays his lovely
plumage in a series of poses, as he challenges dan-
ger with his cries of defiance and gallantry. Some-
times he pleads in sobbing tones like the cuckoo.
This call, however, is not a song in the limited sense,
but is a pleading call for a mate, and is never ut-
tered except during the courting season. Guinea
fowls also have a call-note which is given only dur-
ing the mating season, while redbirds, or cardinals,
have a special courting-language.

The bird has a voice second to no living thing.
This intellectual voice in many birds is especially
endowed with song, and this song is speech. All
animals express their feelings by means of sounds,
yet these are not, in the truest sense of the word,
either speech or song. The bird, on the other hand,
has most beautiful speaking tones, which are pleas-
ing to the ear, and which all true bird actors use to
the greatest advantage in portraying their emotions.
The bird’s voice has many properties, such as ful-
ness, strength, roundness, versatility, and elasticity.

226 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

The redbird is an exceptionally good actor, and
uses every art known to the actor in expressing him-
self. For instance, if he is angry, he drops the crest
on his head and reaches out his neck as he snaps his
beak with great rapidity, adding little hisses that
are unmistakable; if he is lonely, especially late at
night, he utters low sad chirping notes, reminding
one of the languishing call of a whippoorwill; if he
becomes frightened he utters sharp, nervous calls;
help is needed! But when he wishes to express joy
or satisfaction he uses the tenderest notes, and his
voice is so modulated that no one could mistake his
feeling. He is an actor of the highest type, and his
every emotion has its physical poise of body to ac-
company it.

The starling is an actor, or rather a merry clown,
of very remarkable abilities. He is sociable, and
ready to amuse whenever an audience appears; one
is reminded of the words of Hurdis:

“High on the topmost branches of the elm
In sable conversation sits the flock
Of social starlings, the withdrawing beam
Enjoying, supperless, of hasty day.”

He is always in a good humour, and is equally at
home under all circumstances. He radiates joy at
all times and under all conditions. A cloudy day or

BIRD ACTORS AND THEATRES 227

even a snowstorm has little effect upon this philoso-
pher who sits perched upon a beam in the village
church, or near a window giving vent to his joy.
Both in America and in England he displays a
marked preference for village or city life, and sel-
dom takes up his abode in rural districts. His plum-
age is a glossy black with trimmings of metallic
blue and green, which is brilliant in the sunlight; the
wings and tail are light grey, the beak yellow, and
the feet a browish red. As autumn comes on, the
darker feathers are tipped in white, and the starling
has a spotted appearance.

No bird loves human society more than the star-
ling, and he is ever ready to show his appreciation
of a nesting-box in song and act. He is happy,
trustful, cunning, and comical at all times. A
group of these strollers love to gather round church
steeples and sing and chatter at sundown. Some of
them inflate their throats and wave their wings and
hop about as though they were endeavouring to
tell the entire world of their happiness. Late of
evenings they often gather in marshy places by the
reed-beds, where they hold such a concert that no
one in the neighbourhood can sleep. They chatter
and jabber, hop and jump, forming indeed a cir-
cus of the rarest kind. They make attractive pets,
and usually become much attached to their masters.

228 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

They are great mimics, and children delight in their
acting.

The most interesting bird-actor I have even
known is a chocolate-faced parakeet whom I chris-
tened Moses. He came to me as a gift from a bird
dealer when he was quite a baby, and I immediately
began to care for him as best I could. The dealer
told me that Moses had been brought from South
America, and that a sad accident had befallen him
on the journey—a cockatoo had bitten off one of
his feet. However, the wound was entirely healed,
and I was delighted with this baby actor.

But Moses was an untrained birdling, and he
cried and screamed almost day and night. I tried
every imaginable thing to soothe him, but still he
cried. Finally my neighbours complained of him,
and, alas—I had to find him a new home. Then it
was I gave him to a friend, without telling of his
bad habits. Each time when I inquired of Moses
I was informed that he was doing beautifully.
From time to time I called to see him, and much
to my surprise I learned that he was a very clever
actor, and could do innumerable little tricks, such
as lying on his back and pretending to be asleep,
wiping his beak on certain wires in his large cage,
scratching his head on his swinging perch, besides
imitating many sounds, like the ring of the tele-

BIRD ACTORS AND THEATRES 229

phone, the flow of water, the sound of the dumb-
waiter, and a number of bird calls he had heard
when he was very young. Later he learned to imi-
tate the call of a puppy; besides he will talk in-
definitely, and he seems to know just how to show
his appreciation of kindness by waving his head
from side to side, and by playing, like a child, when
noticed. Strangely enough he has never screamed
and cried since the day he went to live at his won-
derful new home, and his new coat of bluish-green
plumage is strikingly beautiful. I fear, however,
that a part of his sweet temper is due to the extra
care and good food he receives where he is!

Perhaps the best actors of the bird world are
found among the gallinaceous family. They have
the most modern and extravagant ideas of married
life; and divorce with them is very common.

The capercailzie are really the grand opera per-
formers of the bird family, and seem to think it
necessary to go through with an entire opera in
order to win a mate. Their play is a strange and
interesting combination of a love-dance, love-song,
and a demonstration of tender passions, all at the
same time! It may be likened to a motion-picture
play with notes and music to accompany every part
of it. Hunters are familiar with these actors and
their plays, and not infrequently follow the birds

230 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

during their theatrical season that they may kill
them. A poet has given us a true description of
the follies of certain bird actors in these lines:

“The cock of the wood courts his mates in the forest gay
While strutting in ecstasy upon a fir branch high,
And marks not the hunter’s stealthy tread; ,

Many thousands thus, alas, are caught .. .”

The day before the “show” opens, the capercailzie
goes to the chosen place, usually a larch or fir tree,
where the bark is suitable for dancing, and there
begins to dress his feathers. He makes quite a
little noise with his toilette, and from time to time
listens with great attention to see if any “fair”
one is near; he flies to the ground and pecks about
uncertainly for a few moments, as though he were
planning what to do next. Then he returns to the
trees and begins a series of choking sounds, which
some naturalists have referred to as “retching” or
“cramming.” ‘This sound is not unlike the grunt-
ing of a pig, and is a sure sign that the bird will
play again the following morning.

In the early morning, before sunrise, the per-
formance begins with a smacking sound, which is
not unlike the low guttural chirping of a turkey-
gobbler. This increases in rapidity until it becomes

BIRD ACTORS AND THEATRES 281

genuine music. Various orchestral effects are heard
—flutings, reed-like twitterings; then, according to
Mr. Geyer, “the grinding, whetting, and playing
begins, which is also called ‘stanza- or verse-making,’
a sound which, in spite of every essay, no mortal
being has ever been able to imitate, wholly or even
partially, and probably never will. This sound lasts
from about three and a half to four seconds; it some-
what resembles the whetting of a scythe, and may
be, in a way, expressed by the word ‘hide, hide, hide,
hide, hide, hide, hide, hide-er-i.” During this ‘play-
ing’ the bird is usually seen perched on some promi-
nent or withered branch, with drooping and trem-
bling wings, ruffled feathers, raised and out-spread
tail; in short, it much resembles an angry turkey-
cock; the neck is outstretched, the head and eyes
turned upwards and in continuous movement. At
the same time the bird generally walks up and down
the branch ... and treads a number of small
branches to pieces; in fact, the creature seems to be
in a mesmeric state, which renders it totally un-
conscious of all that is going on in the outer world; °
so much so, indeed, that if shot at and clean missed,
while in this state, it continues ‘playing’ and re-
mains quite undisturbed by either the flash or re-
port.”

The “play” closes, or the act is finished, shortly

232 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

after sunrise. The gallant actor then leaves his
perch, and salutes his numerous mates who have so
favoured him with an admiring audience; from one
to the other he walks as they greet him with soft
caressing tones, as a Sultan is greeted in his harem!

The bower bird of Australia builds a charming
theatre or playhouse, which in perfection of art re-
minds one of Stuart Walker’s Portmanteau Thea-
tre... . “The theatre that comes to you.” In
reality the bower bird carries or builds his little
playhouse near his lover’s favourite haunts, and
therein he acts playlets which portray all the emo-
tions of his race. He dances, acts, sings, and courts,
all at the same time, and ends by “popping the ques-
tion” with his final bow.

Every bird actor has his own way of making love.
The snipe slides in circles, dancing like a fairy in
the loveliest way imaginable, as he bows and pleads
in a most convincing manner; the brilliant and tal-
ented ibis seats himself in a graceful position before
the one he would have for his mate; while the mock-
ing-bird tumbles in the air, singing all night long.
Cranes have a regular serenade and cake-walk
which might compare very favourably with our old
time negro cake-walks.

The common cake-walk has been known to birds
for ages, and the laysan albatross, according to Mr.

BIRD ACTORS AND THEATRES 233

‘Walter K. Fisher’s description, is very interesting.
He says: “At first two birds approach one another,
bowing profoundly and stepping heavily. They
swagger about each other, nodding and curtsying
solemnly, then suddenly begin to fence a little,
crossing bills and whetting them together, some-
times with a whistling sound, meantime still peck-
ing and dropping little bows. All at once one lifts
its closed wing and nibbles at the feathers beneath,
or rarely, if in a hurry, quickly turns its head. The
partner during this short performance assumes a
statuesque pose, and either moves mechanically
from side to side, or snaps its bill loudly a few times.
Then the bird bows once, and pointing its head and
beak straight upward, rises on its toes, puffs out its
breast, and utters a prolonged, nasal Ah-h-h-h, with
a rapidly rising inflection. While this ‘song’ is be-
ing uttered, the companion loudly and rapidly snaps
its bill. Often both birds raise their heads in air
and either one or both favour the appreciative au-
dience with the ridiculous and indescribable bovine
groan. When they have finished they begin bow-
ing to each other again, rapidly and alternately,
and presently repeat the performance, the birds
sometimes reversing their réle in the game.”
Certain species of bird-actors perform their feats
only during the courting season, Their extraordi-

,
f

234 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

nary behaviour in this period is quite unlike that of
the rest of the year. The peacock, whose gorgeous
dress needs no description, and whose wonderful
“train” acts as an exquisite screen for him, is a
veteran actor. Surely he must appreciate the ad-
vantage he has by appearing with such a magnifi-
cent appendage! And this he uses to great benefit
in his acting—which is really his courtship.

Actor-like, he awaits the most dramatic moment
before displaying his beauty. He carefuly watches
the object of his adoration, and turns in such a
position that his beauty may be concealed until the
exact moment when he wishes to overcome her.
Then he dramatically steps rapidly backward to-
ward her, like a trapeze performer who is going to
spring into the air, and suddenly whirls around and
displays his gorgeous vestments! This turning is
accompanied by a trembling movement of the train,
as the quills drag upon the ground. Occasionally
he screams out a word—perhaps some day we may
understand it—but Miss Peahen seems utterly in-
different to his show, and offers him little encour-
agement or applause.

‘The common barn-yard turkey is an actor of no
mean ability, and compares not unfavourably with
the peacock. The turkey is, however, not so beau-
tiful of plumage, nor quite so dramatic in his acting.

BIRD ACTORS AND THEATRES 235

His art is carried on chiefly during the mating sea-
son, and his audiences are always composed of
admiring female turkeys. As an artist he is high-
salaried, and his reward is usually a mate.

Not a few of the smaller birds, such as swallows,
bee-martins, and swifts, play “tag” or “last touch”
at a regular time each day. They have their time
for play and recreation just as children or healthy
grown-ups do. During the play hour every bird
from far and near seems to join in the frolic; they
chase one another like romping children, and finally
settle down on a telephone-wire or a tree for a soci-
able chat, after which each pair returns to its own
resting-place or home. Play-time is usually late
in the afternoon just before sunset.

Groups of swallows often assemble in long rows
on the eaves of a building, and at a moment’s no-
tice arise and begin chasing one another around in
the air with the glee of circus performers. And
then as quickly as they begin their fun they all stop
their play and chattering and either fly away or
settle back on the eaves with the solemnity of barn-
yard fowl.

Side-shows or curtain lectures are common oc-
currences among the kites. Their entire family
life is unusually interesting. When the male bird
returns home after having stayed away for any

236 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

length of time, he is given a curtain lecture by his
loving mate. In this way she shows her great re-
gard for him; for the married life among kites is
the happiest known in the bird world. How pa-
tiently and longingly Mrs. Kite waits for the re-
turn of her mate when he is away seeking food for
the family! If he does not return promptly, she
flops her wings and cries bitterly, and when he does
return, his curtain lectures are more the expres-
sions of great joy than scoldings for his delay. It
sometimes happens that Mr. Kite has food for his
babies, and is being spied upon by a robber in the
form of an eagle, in which case he dares not fly
toward his nest, but awaits an opportunity to drop
the food from above to his young, or else remains
hidden until his enemy—the robber hawk or eagle—
has gone away. Then he goes home to his sorrow-
ing wife and hungry children, to make them happy
by his safe return.

The white-tailed kite of Argentina is an actor of
remarkable talents. He is indeed handsome, with
red eyes and white plumage, and his chief delight is
in playing in tall tree-tops, especially during a
wind-storm, when, with a group of fellow-players,
he perches upon a slender swaying limb or branch,
and balances himself with outstretched wings, un-
til a strong gust blows him off his feet, when he

BIRD ACTORS AND THEATRES 237

remains poised until the limb swings back under-
neath him. Sometimes a group of these actors sud-
denly fly into the clouds and seem utterly to aban-
don themselves to the fury of the wind. They are
driven like snowflakes hither and thither, at last re-
covering themselves and darting back to their old
positions.

Perhaps the argus pheasant is the most remark-
able as well as the most beautiful of all feathered
actors. While its plumage is not so gorgeous as that
of the peacock, yet it is unquestionably the best
dressed actor in existence. As its name implies, it
has a hundred eyes in its plumage; and its second-
ary wing feathers are enormously elongated and of
great breadth. It is a native of Sumatra and the
Indo-Malay mainland. The beauty of this bird
consists chiefly in the great number of “eye-like”
spots, so coloured and arranged that they appear,
when held in a certain position, like a ball lying in
a cup. The primary quills are extraordinarily
beautiful; the colourings are of delicate brown,
dotted with soft dark spots, and there is a darker
quill whose outer margin is surrounded by a band of
lighter colour than the other parts. The plumage
is thickly covered with tiny dark spots not unlike
certain of the guinea fowl. The tail of the argus
pheasant, like its wing-feathers, is of great length

238 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

and beauty, and adds the final point of perfection
to an exquisite actor-artist. In fact, as an actor,
he has no rival. While he is not acting, there is
nothing extraordinary in either his appearance or
his manner, but as soon as his acting or courting
season begins he uses every known art of the actor
to portray his work,

At the beginning of his theatrical season, he se-
lects a level spot in a deep, quiet forest for his per-
manent “playhouse,” and from this he sweeps away
all dead leaves and underbrush for a space of six
to eight yards square, until nothing remains but the
clear, clean earth. Even a fallen dead leaf is im-
mediately cleared away, and he would no more
allow a straw to lie on his clean floor than a ballet
dancer would permit rubbish on the stage on which
she appears.

Alone, this gorgeous actor spends his weary days
gesticulating and calling at brief intervals, “How-
how, how, how, how!” This note is sometimes re-
peated from eight to ten times, or until a female
pheasant answers by untranslatable words, “How-
owoo0, how-o woo-o0-00!” 'Then the forest echoes
with the answering calls of these actors until the
female condescends to approach the theatre or'
playground. Here she witnesses a most remark-

BIRD ACTORS AND THEATRES 239

able performance, which is wonderfuly described by
Darwin.

As soon as the audience arrives, the actor as-
sumes a most dignified air, and raises his tail and
stretches his huge wings into a marvellous fan-like
shield, which is carried in front of his body. “The
neck and head are held to one side so that they are
concealed by the fan, but the bird, in order to see
the female before whom he is displaying himself,
sometimes pushes his head between two of the long
feathers . . . and then presents a grotesque ap-
pearance. This must be a frequent habit with the
bird in a state of nature, for... on examining
some perfect skins sent from the East, we found a
place between two of the feathers which was much
frayed, as if the head had here been frequently
pushed through.”

Reinhardt’s ptarmigan of Greenland and Labra-
dor and a number of his Alaskan cousins, among
which are the white-tailed willow and rock ptarmi-
gan, are all great vaudevillists. With them acting
is always courting, and they make up for a poor
act by wearing gorgeous costumes which they
change very often. During the mating season, as
soon as the male chooses a partner, he begins to
strut around her with his spreading tail and drag-
ging wings, and presses his breast against the

240 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

ground, stretching his neck at full length and pro-
ducing a growling sound. Bending and twisting
his neck, like a mad contortionist, he leaps into the
air and rolls over and over like an intoxicated clown.
And strange as it may seem, this foolish conduct
seems to please the female. Surely the tastes of
“the female of the species” are queer!

The ptarmigans of Alaska wear, during the sum-
mer, a costume of mottled buff-and-brown; at the
approach of winter this changes to a snowy white
one, which is worn until spring. The white-tailed
ptarmigan lives above the timberline, on the bare
and rugged mountains, south of the Yukon. This
species is very rare and is seldom seen, except by
guides who know just where they live. The rock
ptarmigan is somewhat larger than his cousins, and
is rather generally distributed, while the willow
grouse ptarmigan is commonly found over all the
tundras and open barrens of Alaska. Every one
who travels throughout the Alaskan mainland soon
becomes familiar with the willow ptarmigan and its
interesting ways.

Among bird actors of the North there are a num-
ber that work throughout the severity of the long,
cold winter. The ravens are especially famed as
aerial performers, and may be seen in large num-
bers about the small towns and villages, perching on

BIRD ACTORS AND THEATRES 241

the house-tops and visiting around the barns. They
spend most of their time in the air, where they cir-
cle and tumble like professional acrobats in heels-
over-head movements, and close their act by a long
slide, like a parachute coming to earth. These
strange performances are accompanied by a series
of weird croakings and cries, in which all the group
of performers participate. They give their show
during the strongest gale, and whirl, tumble, soar,
twist, and glide, like a bunch of frolicking sea-gulls
over the Gulf of Mexico. Why they take so much
joy in the raging storm, no one knows. However,
it must be remembered that, notwithstanding their
delightful acts, they are remorseless pirates, and
rob, plunder, and murder the young of other birds,
and destroy their eggs whenever the opportunity
comes. They are equalled only in their piracy by
their contemporaries, the Alaskan jays, who are the
northern representatives of the Canadian jay, and
like him, are called “camp-robbers” and “whisky-
jacks.” These pirates are welcome visitors to the
camps, however, because of their clever and auda-
cious tricks in seeking food. When encouraged,
they become very tame, and are a source of never-
ending amusement in the Arctic camps.

The strangest of all aerial actors is the parson
bird of New Zealand. It has two white tufts which

242 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

hang under its chin exactly like the white bands
formerly used by clergymen—hence the name.
These interesting tumblers work in teams of six to
eight, and may be seen on clear days tumbling,
wheeling, soaring, and dropping in the air—doing
everything known to the modern aviator, from
somersaults to sailing upward suddenly like a sky-
rocket, then closing their wings and supporting
themselves by a rapid beating of their tails, which
suddenly changes into a gliding parachute descent.
They open their wings upon nearing the ground,
and then either suddenly arise again, or fly away
as if by a magic sign, and disappear in the dis-
tance.

The female pheasant is a wanderer, and has no
permanent place of abode, except when she has a
nest, but the cock is so devoted to his theatre, when
once it is established, that the Malays, who thor-
oughly understand his ways, take advantage of him
in a most ingenious manner. While he is away for
food or recreation, they secretly enter his theatre or
drawing-room and drive a thin tough bamboo splin-
ter, as sharp as a razor, in the middle of the floor.
As soon as the actor returns he seens the strange ob-
ject and attempts to remove it by pulling with his
beak, but it will not come, and finally in despera-
tion he wraps his neck around it, and with a des-

BIRD ACTORS AND THEATRES 248

perate jerk pulls at it. It does not budge, but the
sharp edges cut his neck almost through, and he
falls a victim to his own neat and practical ways!

Woodpeckers are fond of playing hide-and-seek
with each other and with people. This game, how-
ever, is not all sport, but partly for their protec-
tion. If one is alarmed, or not just sure who his
visitors are, he hops around behind a branch or tree-
trunk and peeps out to see who approaches. I have
seen at least six to ten red-headed woodpeckers
playing hide-and-seek on a dead pine-tree in Texas.
They dodged each other, flopped their pretty wings
and lay close to the bark, and if seen, flew away to
a near-by tree to continue the game. Such games
tend to train the actors for self-defence in case of
danger.

The red-heads have a cousin, the downy, who is
the best known of all the woodpeckers. He is a
cheery little actor, and the greatest friend of man-
kind. He loves company, and his manner of dress
is most charming. He wears a coat of black and
white on his wings, and a black cap trimmed in red.
Of his thirty-six varieties of cousins in America, he
is the most industrious, and possibly the most tal-
ented. He is capable of running a successful busi-
ness besides his work as an actor. This business is
that of raising bugs! Yes, he runs a bug factory,

244 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

and this is done in a most business-like way: he
chisels out holes in live trees, and insects and beetles
come there to deposit their eggs. This just suits
Downy, and as soon as the grubs begin to hatch,
Downy pierces them with his tiny sharp tongue and
takes them to his babes in the hollow-hole in the
tall pine-tree.

Downy has a northern cousin who goes south in
October to visit him. His name is yellow-bellied
sapsucker, and he is the little fellow who girdled
your apple-tree last spring by pecking myriads of
tiny holes in it that he might drink the delicious
sap. He is fond of several kinds of drinks: the
sap of the apple-tree, the juice of the sugar-maple,
and, like many actors, he must have his wine—this
he gets from the juice of the hemlock. The sap-
sucker often returns to a tree which he has girdled
for wines, and finds a number of little creatures who
have gone there to drink and have got their tiny
feet fastened by the sticky sap. Mr. Sapsucker
eats every insect within reach, and tries to catch
others flying near. Unlike his cousin Downy, he
never digs into dead wood for insects. His tongue
is not long and sharp enough to reach into the holes
and spear them; for the end of it is more like a
soft mop or brush, and he can thus use it to better

BIRD ACTORS AND THEATRES 245

advantage in gathering sap than in catching in-
sects.

Downy has still another actor-cousin, the flicker,
commonly known as the yellow-hammer. He has
wonderful manners, and the black spots on each
side of his face give him the appearance of a gentle-
man with burnsides. Gilbert Pearson relates a
marvellous story of this aristocratic actor: “Soon
the lady bird came and perched near her mate.
Though she had no burnsides, she had a strip of
red across the back of her head, as though it were
her hood which had almost slipped off backwards.
How oddly Mr. Flicker acted when she arrived!
What strange antics he at once began to perform!
He bowed to his mistress, and spread his pretty
yellow wings like a cloak, as he swept now forward,
now backward. He stepped side-wise and danced
gracefully back again. He bobbed, he bowed, he
displayed his every charm. A brave wooer was he
as he laughingly, pleadingly, coaxingly called to
her in his mellowest and most enticing voice. He
said many things I could not understand, but Yu’ch,
yu’ch was what he seemed most to say. The flicker
is a devoted and demonstrative lover, and he pays
homage to his loved one at home or afield wherever
he meets her.”

The art of expression among birds is as well de-

246 THE HUMAN SIDE OF BIRDS

veloped in proportion to their present stage of prog-
ress as is that of man, and in dramatic sense and
resources they are hardly less gifted than man him-
self. Comedy and tragedy they effect with equal
ease, and they are clever at burlesque and panto-
mime. In fact there is hardly any phase of the
modern theatre that cannot be found in a more or
less highly advanced form among birds. Surely
they are our brothers in the arts!

THE END

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