Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-04-02


| passing the prisoner and appar,
entity caressing him with their wings
as they passed, but after little
while the real object of their movements
! appeared, to the great amazement of the
spectators. The swallows, as they passed,
had cut the string with their bills, and
set their companion at liberty"
The tame robin is a lively, inQulsltlve
bird, that rewards its guardians care
with marked attachment; but toward
his comrades he is far from being always
amiable; on the contrary, he is not IN
frequently very spiteful and quarrelsome
toward them. Nevertheless, il would be
unjust to say that the robin is not good
natured bird. He is susceptible of the
deepest sympathy for other birds IN
trouble, even though he has been at
enmity with them. Two tame robins,
who had been the bitterest of enemies,
became the best of friends after one Of
them had the misfortune to break a leg.
Toward invalid comrades the robin is
remarkably considerate, and there are
not few instances on record where he
has carried food to disabled companions.
A contemporaneous writer narrates the
following:
GA bird-dealer brought me a nest Of
half-feathered hooking birds, which l
placed on table before the cage of a
robin [ had had for several years. While
[ was feeding the noisy little fellows with
fresh ants eggs | observed that my robin
became very uneasy, and sprang about his
cage as though he was very DESTROYS to
get out; now he would thrust his bill be-
tween the wires, and now 60 to his food
cup, pick up an ant-egg, and return to the
wires, when, calling, he would move from
side to side, and several times let the egg
fall, only to pick it up again. Curious to
see what the result would be, | opened
the door of the cage and let the robin out.
He flew directly to the table where the
nest.was; but, instead of approaching it
Immediately, he Strengthened himself up
full length and walked several times round
it, examining it closely. Finally he ven
tured close to the nest. Atfirst he seemed
a little startled at the long necks and open
mouths of the little strangers, but sudden
ly he picked up an ant's-egg that lay on
the side of the nest and put it into one of
the little ones mouths. Then he hoped
about the table looking for more food,
and, finding none, he flew back to his
cage and began to carry food from there
10 the young birds"
An exceedingly interesting circum-
stance is narrated by a forester Of Sax
Ony. In some cherry trees near his house
he had put up some boxes, which every
year were occupied by starlings, to the
great delight of the younger members of
his family. One day a melancholy dis
coverv was made. In one Of the boxes
there was a nest containing a number of
young sUarlings. The parents were dill
gent in providing for their young, until
suddenly they were seen no more. The
young ones, in their calamity, never
ceased to keep up plaintive cry. This
called the fOrester's attention to their
condition, which he Immediately set
about remedying as we'll as he could. The
orphans were taken from the nest one by
one, and fed with bits of moistened bread.
But despite all the pains taken to keep
them alive the little unfortunates would
have died had not assistance come from
direction no one could have expected it.
A neighboring starlingmother looked in
upon the starving orphans, then fled hasti-
ly away for her mate, who soon returned
with her and also took a survey of things
in the little house of mourning. Both,
then, from that hour, divided their Stten-
ton between their own little brood and
the orphans, until the latter were able to
take care of themselves.
There are many other instances in
which, sin the two cases already cited,
the helplessness of young birds, robbed
of their natural guardians, has excited
the sympathy of other birds. We have
an instance in which a water wagtail
adopted nest of young red-storks; an
other in which marsh-titmouse adopted
a nest of orphan inches. A German nat
uralist received one day young cuckoo,
which he put into the nest of red-tail.
What was the consequence? The female
red-tail came home first, with food in her
bill for her young; but at sight of the
monster in her nest she started back, ap-
parently Mortified, letting the food fall,
and disappeared. A few minutes only
had elapsed when she returned with her
mate. They f1uttered about the nest for
few moments, uttering their peculiar call,
and then flew off some distance This
they continued to do for perhaps fifteen
minutes, during which time they both
lowered repeatedly about the nest and
looked in at the stranger, who had spread
himself out over the young red-tails
The stranger must have looked strange
enough to the parent red-tails; but after
little time they came with food, and
shared it with him, as with their own
offspring. In little while they seemed
to have become fully reconciled to him,
and they continued to provide for him
until he was able to leave the nest.
Lichten berg, another German natural
list, witnessed the following remarkable
phenomenon: A female canary Matched,
in a hedge, three young ones-two yellow
ones, and one gray one Three days af
terward she died The father, a hand
some, deep-yellow fellow, now set about
providing for his offspring; but he not
only refused to feed the little gray nest
ling but treated it very harshly when it
begged for food. His intention was,
clearly, that it should die of starvation.
He provided an abundance for the yellow
nestliDgs, and they grew accordingly in
size and strength, while the little gray
Cinderella barely chung to life. In the
hope of teaching the cruel father his
duty, Lichtenberg one morning took the
two yellow nestlings from the nest,
and kept them out the whole day; but
this failed to excite any compassion on the
part of the parent bird for the gray one, so
they were returned. The marvel was now
how the Cinderella of the family contin-
ued to exist; but closer observation soon
solved the mystery. Lichtenberg made
the surprising discovery that one Of the
little yellow nestlings had better heart
than the unfeeling father, and thatit shared
its food with its maltreated sister, who
was thus kept alive, and was able to leave
the nest with the others. -Appletons' Jour-
nal.
Corn Mush or Pudding.-Of course