The Sumter watchman. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1855-1881, 1870-04-27
BIRDS OIL UsTEnING FOR WARMTH

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Through lofty groves the ring. .dovo roves,
The path of man to sbuu it;
The hazel bush o'erhangs the thrush;
Tho spreading thorn the linnet.
Thus every kind their pleasure find,
The savage and tho tender;
Some social join and leagues combine;
Some solitary wander.
1t is curious to witness the assistance
which some animals will afford each
other under circumstances of danger or
difficulty, and it shows kindness of
disposition which may we'll be initiated.
1t is not, however, confined to their
own species, as the following fact will
prove.
A farmers boy had fed and taken
great care of o colt. He was working
one day in field, and was attack ed by a
bull. The boy ran to ditch, aud got
into it just as the bull cane' up to him.
The animal endeavored to gore him,
and would probably have succeeded, had
not the colt come to his assistance. He
not only kicked at the bull, but made
so loud scrcam-for it could be called
nothing clse-.that some laborers who
were working near the place came to
see what was the matter, and extricated
the boy from the danger he was in
Cattle have been seen, when flies were
troublesome, to stand side by side and
close together, the head of one at the
tail of the other. 3y this mutual ar.
rangement flies were brushed off from
the head Of each animal as we'll as their
sides, and only two sidcs were exposed
to tho attacks of the insects. Sheep
have been known to take care of lamb
when the dam has been rendered in.
capable of assisting it, and birds
will feed the helpless young of othors.
Birds also will cluster together for
the purpose of keeping each other warm.
Observers have noticed swallows cluster
ing, like bees when they havo swarmed,
in cold weather, hanging one upon anoth.
cr, with their wings extended, under
the caves ofa house. In more than
ono instance wrens were found huddled
together in some snug retreat for the
purpose of reciprocating warmth and
comfort. Allan Cunningham, Scottish
author, made some interesting memorap.
da on this subject.
81 have once or twice in my life had
an opportunity of answering that touch
ing inquiry Of Burns
.Ilk happing bird, wee, hnpless thing,
That in the merry months ospring,
Delighted mo to hear thee sing,
What comes o'theef
Whore will thou cover thy ohittring wing
An close thy e'e9'
"One cold December night, with snow
in the air, when was somc ten years
old or so, was cropping for sparrows
under the caves in the thach, where you
know they make holes like those bored
by swallows in the river-banks. In one
of these holes l got handful of some :
thing soft it felt feathery aud warm
and a smothered chirp told me it was
living. [ brought it, wondering, to my
fathers house, and took q look at it in
the light. The ball consisted of four
living wrens rolled together, the heads
under their wings, and their feet pulled
in, so that nothing was visible outside
save coating of mottled feathers. This
l took to be their mode Of keeping
themselves warm during the cold Of
winter. II you ask, if am sure my
memory serves me rightly, I answer,
Yes; for having allowed one of the
wrcns to escape, it few directly to where
my father was reading at candle, and
l had the misery of receiving from his
hand one of those whippings which
boy is not likely soon to forget.
"When some eighteen years old, or
thoreabouts, met with something of
the same kind there was difference,
indeed, in the birds, for on this occasion
they were magpics-not birds of song,
but of noise. went out with my bro
ther, one fine moonlight winter night,
to shoot wood pigeons in a nsighboring
plantation. The wind was high, and
we expected to find them 10 sheltered
place, where the soil was deep and the
spruce-drs had grown high. AS I went
covering along, looking through the
branches between me and an moon,
saw what soomed as large as a we'll
filled knapsaek fixed on the top of a
long, slender ash tree, which had strug.
gled up in spite Of tho frs, which you
know grow very rapidly. l pointed it
out to my brother, and siezing the shaft
of the tree, shook it violently, when il
one magpie fell to tho ground there were
not less than twenty dropped in lump
at my teet. Away they few, screaming
in all directions. One only remained
on the spot which they occupied on the
tree, and / shot it, and so settled what
kind Of birds had been huddled togeth.
er to avoid the cold. looked at them
before I shook them down for minute
or more, and could see neither heads not
feet It seemed bundle Of old clouts
or foathers,"