The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1878-01-24
~ CombatiFeness Of Birds.5


praise, If they Sing at all, to the great
CREATOR OF course, this SQUADS well,
and may have, some moral foundation;
but | can come as near proving that a
catbird ieurses, and swears, and filings
out all sorts of abusive, epithets3 az its
enemies, when angry, as any one can
come TO establishing the song praise
theory.k How these lit1le fellows oeap
fret, and scold, and hiss and impreeate,
yes, imprecatei Let a sparrow hawk,
or screeeh-owl, or buteherabird, gofHeaTl
ones nest, and, if you observe eloselysi
your. Imagination must be very, torpid,
indeed, if you can not hear SdcTe btgtts $50
and aIlEthat, scattered VarouhdE pretty,
freely. i have seen one, fairly, dance IN
| eestacy of anger, when nothing but q
poor, little brown hzafd came nearfitg,
A pair f, eatbirds7hads their nest and
young in a currant hedge of the garden
belonging to a farmhouse where Twas
lodging one SPRING, land L used to
anlqse myself By exciting the anger
of the mother-bird. To do this |
had only to hang a BIZ OF nFetp
cloth inear-cthe1 Hnest in her sabSence,a
and await. the result. No sooner. would
she return than such a twittering, and
squeaking, and scoldingwotild beginlasi
only a eatbird can generate, and when
she found out that there was g no, light
in the rag she would eye me sitting al
my window, and new triumphantlysa SI
if she well knew who it was had thus /
, troubled her equanimity. A war Of
words--or rather a war of notesoSis Ga'l
thing OF frequent occurrence between al
catbird and the common brown thrush. /
Early in the morning through the month /
of MayEthey yn1ay iiheE heard sereaningI
their respective medleyS at the .eXtrene
pitch of their. voices from neighboring
trees, each .sengster malicioHsly beHtdnf
drowning the iOther'ss voice. IThse@a4
mOmbarn-yaFd cock is given "a like !
'ambtienTjn the matter OF Z Growing
down. all reompetitors.s Speaking, Of
the brown thrush reminds me, that j
ought to record right here d very singli-
lar combat, witnessed By myself and
brother, between one of these gaS sing-4
ers andos blue jay {Khat bird is not
compelled to fght-tAe-latter2)) and in
which the jay vas tf ta alBs 81 iissamdted
and beaten. We were lying in
the 9shade of id1aH wide-spreading1
tree .gon the edge of "a, I.
little glade. Near us was clulnp of
sugar-haw bushes, in one of which we \
had discovered a brown tthFnsh1s nest. Ia
The bird was incubating. A blue-iay,
flitsing about on mischief intent, as. in
fact, - blue-iay sslways'is, ahappeaed to
spy hsr,sapd immediately r attacked, her, ,,i
driving her for refuge into the thick,
5horng Foliage above the nest Fhis "a
seemed am easy turn ferit the jay, 1hiehaa,
1t once prepared to have a,feast Of the.l.I
eggs, But no sooner had It -peTehed on
he RIM ofthe nest than aisshfusil, s,tisssssI
sQaal ,eglunged sdewp from itsl4
and struck it q heavy blow 5
a. the back The Jaw retreated in diss11
,rder, but warily returned agaiazwheBEl
III seemed 1stib- sWFh JiaHlite ca9iqn1 ,
n every mOyement, it hoped from twig Z
o twfg, tsirnfng z fits crested bead, isffs1f4
vav and thasS1iali3 il reach eds heraeatslla,
again, with q -shrilI tscreag, thefthrusb
,dlnced from rs fiidih9- place, nsifigitsa y !
ngssharp isakfdps ssssfdisoisiab the-t :
ayb iexpgsesasl and iasfepseleSS bsek- III
\ ilin and again the ;Yould-be roPber
led Safid lrstilrffed } eaeh tihIe u bsef 60
&gexandsinsit, asiiKnftsGiii {
AZ done, with rapidly repeated cries Of u
{ De-jay! delay. de-iayln it ilItted =
way into the depths OF the woods, to
ONE no more -4pples5ss sJ6urAai. v
teal TT ~ r7-s.sr ysT-I II " .sad G
belle Temple, aged II, of Colnmr 9
us, o., was carrying q pan of WOOD 8
sbes.sTShseh contained some lice e6alsIA
II of the house, whelsfheEs.ap EenayA Ia
~ Rn on to tbe GOALS and, fssk s,ire,f
ssr ehtire b6dy' WIS almost 'fiistahrfy4 I
sEIpped in flames, and She HsasE fatallyetl
aahea sbsfosg aSfists9ce Eeashsd he's ri ;,
Charles sc EseiassuRg sd 8ss#ssaas
-