Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1871-05-26
Birds and the Thoughts They Suggest.
BY MRS. i. NJ. CHILD.

BY MRS. i. NJ. CHILD.
wonder whether anybody ever be-
comes too old to feel the heart leap at
sight of the first robin. Two couples of
these pleasant little creatures arrived off
our premises to-day, and have been
busily at work inspecting the old elm
Their pretty little hop-i-ty-skip walk,
their ruddy-brown breasts glancing in
the sunshine, and their graceful frolics
in the air, made me feel as young as q
schoolgirl. The blackbirds came a
fortnight earlier, settling down on the
trees in focks, and pouring out their
liquid notes like the trickling of many
waters. Jays also had fitted about,
| looking like bits Of the deep blue sky
come down to earth, with voices as full
of sunshine as the blackb birds is of flow
ing rivulets. But robinredbreast, with
his little "peert," familiar ways, is the
darling bird of all.
1t cannot, indeed, be denied that
these popular favorites are somewhat
addicted to petty larceny; but never
having had any iaw-giving Moses to in
struct them, they are delightfully."- I'M
conscious that stealing is sin. If tie
up a flower while they are weaving their
nests, they will pick and pull at the
string till they succeed in carrying it
off, altogether unmindful of the plant
left PROSTATE on the ground. Their
tempers are greatly tried with a flag
which | sometimes fasten on the gate as
a signal agreed upon with neighbor.
They covet the threads of which the
cloth is composed and their great am
bition is to pull the flag out of its socket
and carry it off to their nests. They
tug at it from above, they tug at it from
below, they whirl round it, and peck at
it in the prettiest rage imaginable and
they return to the onset again and
again, renewing their vigorous efforts
with wonderful pertinacity. Last
spring | placed night-cap and long
strip of narrow lace on the grass to
whiten. In the course of the day [ no.
ticed long white streamer floating by
the top of the window, and looked out
to ascertain what it might be; but it
had disappeared. and | concluded it
was fragment of paper whirled aloft.
At sunset. when | went out to turn my
cap and lace, found them gone. Hav-
ing searched for them in vain, sup
posed some passer-by had stolen them
A week afterwards | spied something
white in the cherry-tree, and placed a
ladder to 90 mp and examine it. In a
crotch of the tree found my cap bed
bed in clay, and so arranged as to sup
port nest, into the edge of which my
lace was woven. Thinking l could put
the article to better use, | took back my
stolen property. but not without regret
at thus disturbing their nice arrange
ment for housekeeping. | carefully re-
placed the nest, but the change excited
their distrust, and they chose to make
another nest on neighboring tree.
made all the reparation | could, by
carrying out plenty of threads and
soft Irvine, which they sliced at once as
things that grew on purpose for THEN
use.
How totally unconscious the little
creatures were that watched their la.
bors, smiled at their frolics and caresses
and placed materials for their nests
They knew many things, those little
birds. and understood how to manage
their own affairs much better than |
could teach them but how impossible
it was for them to receive the ideas that
the cotton plant grew from seed, and
Irvine was made from it, being spun
and twisted by mechanical contriv-
ances, invented by such a being as
man
Are there superior intelligences that
look down upon as and watch our ways,
as we do the birds Are we surrounded
| by results, which they have produced