The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1878-03-15
Ona-Podnda

serve the many birds that sang and ]
nested in his hedges Of hawthorne aud
in the clumps of syringias, white lilacs,
and other beautiful shrubs and trees
that adorned his little garden farm.
remarked their numbers and variety
and he said TO me:
ssHes, these are my most constant
compauions, my best friends. From Z
them / learn many lessons Of wisdom.
These little creatures, whom we affect
10 look down upon as the drudges Of in
stinct, are the members of a common {
wealth whose constitution rests on i'm
movable bases. Never need of recon- {
struction there. They never dream Of I
settling it by vote that eight hours are I
equal to ten, or that one creature is {.
as clever as another, and no more. They I
do not waste their little lives in COM
plainings that they were not better born {
than other birds, or that their lines had
not been cast in happier climesi each
accepts his fate. The song sparrow sings
In his sober suit without envy of the
golden-feathered oriole; the pewee pipes
his early morning note, snaps his fly on I
the wing, content 10 fill his place. The .
noisy and self-contident thieviug robin .
struts and sings and steals my fruit, and
acts as though he were proprietor of my
acres and / his steward and tenant
farmer, holding position at his will.
Whenever the snow lies long and deep
upon the ground, the cedarbird comes
in mid-winter TO eat the berries on my
hawthornes. The kingbirds, handsom-
est of fiy-catchers, build in my orchard.
The rose breasted grOsbeak is busy
among my raspberries, and surprisingly
bold.
nThe robin has a spice Of vulgarity in
him. He has a taste for fruit, aud feels
nsfa sasrNnH Of IL
nent domain His is the earliest mess
Of green peas, and his all the mulber-
ries I had faucied mine, and he gets the
lions share Of raspberries. He Is
great planter and sows the wild ones
in the woods. The robins are not good
solo singers, but their chorus, as, like
the primitive fire-worshipers, they hail
the return of the light and warmth to
the world, is unrivaled. They are noisy
enough then, aud sing, as poets should,
with no afterthought.
"Eor his cousin, the catbird, have
still a warmer regard always a good
singer, he keeps up his music later in
the evening than any bird Of my famil-
lar acquaintance.
"The blue jays used to build in our
pines, their gay colors and quaint and
noisy ways making them welcome and
amusing neighbOrs.
"Twice have the crow black birds at
tempted q settlement in my pines, and
twice have the robins, who claim q
right Of pre-emptiOn, so successfully
played the part OF border ruflians as 10
drive them away, to my great regret
for they are the best substitutes we have
for rooks.n
"This is the parallel Of our Chinese
question: we remarked. "The Chinese
are the ancient crows Of civilization;
they have alighted in our pines, where
they stand in patient attitude, cawing
with noisy clamor, and ready to pounee
down upon young growing corn or de-
caying carcasses. Our robins are max
ing it very lively for them"
He continued:
"They build by hundreds, and moth
ing can be more CHEEKY than their croak-
ing clatter as they gather at evening
10 debate IN mass meeting their windy
politics, or to gossip at their tent doors
over the events of the day. Their port
is grave, and their stalk across the turf
as martial as that OF a second-rate ghost
in Hamlet All birds, during the pair
ing season, become more or less senti-
mental The crow is very comical as q
lover Yet there are few things to my
ear more melodious than his cav of a
clear, winter morning, as il drops to
you, filtered through five hundred faith
oms Of crisp blue air.
"Orioles are plenty with me- I have
seen seven males flashing about the
garden at once.
"All my birds look upon me as their
tenant-at-will. With shame I confess
it, I have been bullied by humming-
bird. This year, as / was cleaning a
pear tree Of its lichens, one OF these lit
tie zigzaggng blurs came spurriug
toward me, c0uching his long bill, like
a lance, bis throat sparkling with angry
fire, to warn me of from a Missouri
currant, whose honey he was slipping
and many a time he has driven me out
Of a flower bed.
"The bObolinks are generally chance
visitors, tiukling through the garden in
blooming time. / had a pair of them
once domiciled in my grass field. The
male used TO perch in an apple tree,
then M full bloom, and while / stood
perfectly still, close by, be would circle
away, quivering around the entire field
OF lNe acres with no break in his song,
ana settle down again among the bios
sons 10 oe hurried away, almost inn
medlatelyi by q new rapture of music
I'VE have no bird in New England
whose song will match the uightin-
gale in compass, none whose note il ~
rich as that Of the European hlacLbir5.
the bObOlink's rival. The grou.l and
tree sparrows are our most constalt ner-
formers.
"There are more singing birds in Eu-
rope, because there are fewer forests
The songsters love the neighborhOod of
man, where hawks and owls are rarer
and their own food more abundant
The further one penetrates the sombre
solitude of the woods, the more seldom
does he hear the voice of any singing
bird.
"And there goes a red squirrel.
have my doubts about him. / know he
eats cherries, and that be gnaws of the
small ends OF pears 10 get at the seeds.
He steals the corn from under the noses
of my poultry. Bot what would you
have? He will come down upon the