Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1856-04-05
From the Cincinnati Gazette.
DUB WHITE BIRDS.
In search Of Truth, Yours,
r. l.. ALEXANDER.
BY JAS. W. WARE.


It is a frequent mistake of residents of the city
to suppose that the birds of our woods and Or
chards leave us with the approach of winter. The
common impression is that all the sOng-birds fly
from the cold of our northern winters, and nearly
If not quite all those that are not ranked with the
singers. Country people know better, or may
know, if their eyes and ears are attentive to what
is going on around them. Most of the small sum-
mer birds, as the numerous families of Fly-catch-
ers and Warblers, and hosts of others, DO indeed
take their departure for the more c%ongenial climate
of the South; but Of other families, more lemain
with us through the winter than is generally sup
posed. And among them are some very fine and
indeiatigable singers; singing with unwearied
cheerfulness, early and late, in the bleak twilight
Of morning and evening, amidst frost and snow,
and with the thermometer several degrees below
zero. How often during the past winter have J
stood in the sharp, biting mornings of some of the
coolest days we have experienced, when the tenn
perature of the air was ten and fifteen degrees be-
low zero, listening with delighted ear to the clear,
cheerful strains of the little Song Sparrow, whist
ling gaily upon the topmost twig of a sycamore,
whose frosty limbs still glitter in the beams of the
early risen sun. On trees a little more distant
were others equally musical and entertaining,
while near by, on some less lofty position, the
Water Wren sat and piped his clear, sweet call to
the indolent and thankless. These diminutive
creatures have q remarkable power OF resistance
TO low degrees of cold. Troops of small BIRDS
were to be seen any day of the winter in the early
morning, s%kimming over the snow, chipping and
%chirping, and w~histling in the livelicst and most
delighted manner.
OF the birds that thus attracted my attention
during the past winter, ] made a list as they have
appeared from time to time, since the cold wealth.
er of December, and have continued to the present
time. 1t is as follows:
THE RED BIRD.-Sevoral pairs Of these beauti
full birds were about our house, sleeping in the
cedar trees at night, and flying about our orch
ard during the day. | think the plumage of the
male, brighter and richer than it is in the sum
mer. But during the cold months they do no
sing. The only sounds have heard them make
through the winter season, resembled those made
by the Chipping Sparrow.
The BLUE JAY.-I have seen these noisy and un
friendly associates of the Red Bird the winter
tdroUgh. Throughout the cold weather they were
rather numerous. These fine locking, but vicious
birds are as great an annoyance to the Red Birds
as they are in the summer to the amiable Thrush
es. Several fights and skirmishes occurred dur
ing the winter, the Red Birds usually retreating.-
] have been sometimes vexed enough at these i'll.
natured marauders, to wish, that from any legal
enactment for the protection of birds, the Jays
might be excluded.
The TIrNIcE.-Of the Tits, two pretty species
are winter residents Of our neighborhood. The
Black-cap or Chicadee, and the Tuited or Crested
They were both quite numerous throughout the
season. The two species associate together in the
most friendly and agreeable manner. They are
always seen IN troops, and are very busy and &C
tive; most usually accompanied by an equal mum
Der of Snow-birds. The tits are funny fellows
They are not noisy, but they are exceedingly rest
less and Eighty. They go all day long, in storm
and sunshine, diving aud pitching about with in
conceivable Tapidity, and assuming as they spring
Upon the elastic apple twigs, the most amusing
and impossible attitudes. They slept in the cedar
trees. The song of the Tit-mOuse is limited, but
htC nofaS - ne .Iaor anI t,pCian1
THE SNow-BmDs.-These interesting and coura-
geous creatures were as numerous as ever.
THE WRES.-I have recognized in this vicinity
FIVE species Of Wrens. Two Of these remain with
us through the winter: the Winter Wren, and the
Mocking or Carolina Wren. The shrill and full
triple call of this fine vocalist was heard every
clear day of the winter. The Winter Wren is al
so a daily singer. The loud piping notes he makes,
as he goes jerking and bobbing around, over the
wood piles, and in and out the summer kitchen,
from early dawn to evening twilight, are sweet and
pure as the upper notes of a flute. This Wren
occupied e snug sheltered roosting, or bundliIg
place, in q warm corner of the hen-hOuse; in the
same SPOT where two pairs of llouse-wrens made
their nests last summer; and will again, doubtless,
the coming May.
the SPARRow.-Of these I have set down two
species: the Song Sparrow and the Tree Sparrow.
OF ali our winter companions. the last, n plain
Looking, happy bird, was our favorite; and this on
account OF the sweetness and sprightliness of his
music. The Song Sparrow is as sweet and war
bling, as far as it goes, as that of a Canary, and
he is never weary of music. lie sings early and
date. and all day long. l have heard him before |
was up in the morning, or the sun either, and after
sunset in the evening; and | have often marvelled
how such slttle bunch Of vitality could keep from
perishing, through those excessive cold nights,
bundled away in the cavity of some decayeG tree
Man. in the same exposure, would have frozen tc
an icicle. The Tree Sparrows were also daily Wis
itors TO our premises. but the bird is mOstly silent
and not very attractive. ] have seen them through
out the winter. Our familiar friends, the little so
oial, unassuming Chipping Sparrows, left us witt
the first cold snap, just before Christmas; and the!
have not shown themselves since, until quite lately
heard them chipping about the porch, on the frs
OF March,