The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-06-11
Birds and Their Ways.

The wild gurgle of sweet sounds has
beguh-begrn weeks ago, though to one
new come into the country 10 seems as il
it only then begun when he first hears it.
Yet, the industries of the unvotiug winged
citizens are well advanced. Nests are
made. eggs are laid. Jealous owners will
not let YOU come near them without sharp
protests. Later-coming birds are prepar-
ing, looking ont trees, selecting forked
branches, bringing in hair. straw. sticks.
feathers, and building without Sound.of a
hammer. Do birds use the same nest in
successive Seasons That they come back
to the same neighbOrhOOd | doubt not.
But have never, except in case of wrens
and martins, seen them repairing old nests.
NV trees are full of last years robins
nests. TO LET, without applications. IL may
be that the birds who built them have
come to harm in their migratiOns. They
may have been eaten by the dusky work.
ing man. and NAV now be hOeing cotton,
or by some young poet, and may now be
singinelyrics to the spring. At any rate
they are mother
But there me sauey wrens, fute-nke
blue-birds, chattering cat-6irds, many
voiced sparrows, the glorious robin, prince
of Northern singers. without whom the
morning choir would be like a choir with
ont leader. There. too, sings. while |
write. the fender and sad wood thrush,
shadow loving. always singing from under
the green leaves while all a tremble in the
air flies the BOb-O'-link. making mock
ing medley of notes. as if poking fun at the
whole business of music and laughing at
his own buffOOnery. Orioles are ClariOnet-
ting from the trees, the sweet little gold
inch, most exquisite in form and color
and lady-like in note, seems as if it were
saying the most charming compliments in
the most graceful manner. The books are
misleading as to the habits of the 1OoOd-
thrush. 1t is regarded as solitary, loving
retired woods, notably fond of trees over
hanging running water, shy of human
beings, and altogether a charming, songful
recluse. 1t is true that it loves woods,
and sings from trees Overhanging dcllS;
bat it is no more recluse and no Shyer
than half our summer song birds. They
build and sing in the dOor-yards Of the vii
lage; they frequent the back yards on
Brooklyn Heights, as | am writing.
One remained all the past winter at
my neighbOr DaytOn's- and came every
day to get food thrown out for him.
On the main road between my cottage and
the barn, along which all carts, wagons
and teams are continually passing, thereis
fine old apple-tree, whose branches over
hang the road, and rake off a tribute from
every load of hay that goes by. On this
tree last summer wOod-thrush built its
nest. and. as if to express its opinion of
what had been written about its shyness,
instead of taking the great tOp-dome, or
the eastern branches, it selected the limbs
that reached out over the road and built
there. A man on horseback could have
laid his hand upon the nest. There,
amidst the hurry-skurry of a half-dOZen
men, and a dozen berry-picking boys, it
laid its eggs, and hatched its young. We
often went near to watch the sitting
mother. She looked calmly out upon Us,
without a sign of disturbance. Now, no
field robin would permit half the degree
of spying without flying off and telling all
the neighbOrhOOd in shrill tones that
we were robbing her! At evening
the mate would often perch upon a
cedar post, adjacent, in the clear open
light, without leaf or cover. and
sing cheerily till it was so dark that he
could not read his notes. There is another
one, in the avenue along which all corners
and gOers pass from the highway hitlIcr.
He hops along the road which pass, not
twenty feet distant, descends to the ground,
allows me to watch him in his hunt for
insects, and altogether shows signs of IA
miliarity and good neighborhOOd.
Let no one think that he has seen the
country who has not spent days with moth
ing else to do than to watch the opening
of the leaves. This is matter wholly
distinct from the full-Spread carly leaf. or
from the tough summer leaf, or from the
gorgeous autumnal leaf. The method in
which different trees push their buds is
worth watching, the different ways in
which leaves unroll and escape from their
brown bandages, the first colOrs. and the
silky, or wOOlly. coverings of many kinds,
which is never so apparent as during the
first few days of their birth, win give a
new pleasure to all who love Nature.
How happy are they whom no city en-
tOmbS when all Nature is in the hour of
her annual resurre ctiOni 1t is better to
come in summer than never to come. But
one should see three times before he knows
the life of trees, and once to learn their
anatomy H W. Beechsr, IN Christian.