The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-08-01
A Question for Mr.. Darwin.

~
Henry Ward Beecher in the New York Ledger.l
They who study plants, who search
for botanical specimens, have no special
need of leisure but they who would
study birds must needs be quiet. Much
striving puts an end to observation. In
a ramble one may start new kinds of
birds, may search for their nests, may
learn something; but only they who
live among birds get at their little ways,
their characteristic traits, and distin-
guish one kind from another by their
minute habits. A house well sur
rounded by trees and shrubs, with half
covered porch, or windows opening into
coverts to which birds love to resort,
furnishes an admirable point of study.
The old farm cottage which summer
in has Just the right attributes. In
front are naples and elms; on the sides,
magnolias, birches and spruces; and
laced in between, all kinds of shrub
berry, with now and then a mulberry
tree, q cherry tree, and, at q stones
cast, an orchard of cherries. Once this
hill was almost bare of birds; but the
news has gone forth that here bounti-
full bird table is always spread, fresh
the air, delicious worms, in great variety,
upon the tress, besides strawberries,
cherries, plums, pears, apples, in their
seasons, and afterward grain and seeds
of grass, for all inclined to farinaceous
diet.
And so it has come to pass that parents
have told it to their children, and chill
dren have told it to their confidential
companions, until the commonwealth of
birds is well established and popular.
We can walk nowhere without soaring a
bird on its nest, in an evergreen or dog
wood tree, where foolish birds will con-
tinue to build, though the scythe, the
cat, and mans foot every year destroy
so many hopes.
Near a front corner of the cottage is
a cherry tree, which is kept partly for
it's shade, but largely as a resort for
birds. Sitting at a window, or on the
snug porch in front, one may spend the
hours happily in watching the busy
creatures coming to market. Birds do
not fly in and out of this tree, as in other
trees They have an instinct of pru-
dence, or a germ of moral sense, which
teaches them that their act may be
deemed by unfeathered creatures as
petit larceny.
Birds seldom sing in tree when they
are feeding. They glide in like a
shadow They do not chatter. A dozen
robins may be making havoc of cherries
right over your head, and you will not
know it. This silence and stealth are
amusing to one who watches. A bold
robin is Juggling away at an unwilling
cherry, but he makes no noise. If he
detaches one and it slips, you may hear
it patter on the ground, but nothing
more. After time he flies into another
tree, and looks out to see if the coast
is clear. Then quietly he descends I'M
der the tree, and devours the fruit which
he has beaten off, or he beats in to
pulp, and carries it off to his home
folks.
A catbird is more nimble than his
cousin robin, and may be seen beating
off cherry, and then, quick as light,
he intercepts its fall, and bears it off
gracefully to his trencher in neighbor
ing tree Small birds can not master a
cherry, pit and all, as large birds do.
Probably they are "too film" Spar
rows, Gnnets, and other small fry, pick
the meat off and leave the stone cleaned
Dare on Gne stem. when Gu0 lfuIG Is
abundant, birds seem seldom to quarrel
with each other, and all kinds consort
together in amity, though they have
nothing to do with each other anywhere
else. So that my cherry tree, like
grand hotel, brings every variety of
guest together, only to feed and go
apart again.
Hunger, that makes small birds peace
full while feeding, stirs up dogs and cats
to all manner of growing and clawing.
1t is said that when wild animals are
driven together by some freshet or
flood, they are harmless. In close con-
tiguity will be found bears, rabbits,
deer, catamounts, wolves, etc., that ex-
hibit profound respect for those rights
of hospitality belonging to a common
community. But in peaceful times all
predatory beasts refuse to eat together,
or keep good neighborhood. Are not
birds lower on the scale than mammals?
Yet they have better manners, are more
civilized. How is that, Mr.. Darwin
Or is it only the seed eating and fruit
loving birds that are peaceful at their