Morning journal and courier., 1880-08-07
The Bird Charmer of the sierras. rFrorn tIe Virpinia City Enternrisa


 In his snTramp Abroad" Mark Twain gives what is called sfJim Bakers eulogism of the blueiayn The story is well told, but the fun of the thing is that Mark has got hold of the wrong bird. The bird that carried the acorns and dropped them through the knot hole in the roof of the cabin was species of woodE ecker, popularly called a Jacob" by the miners, on account of his cry, which sounds like .Jacob, Jacob, Jacobl'' often re- peated. It is the bird that stores up acorns by begging pine trees full of them. The man spoken as 'fJim Baker, is Jim Gillis a Cali fornia miner, who makes birds his study, and not only can tell all about their habits and tricks but also can initiate the cries of nearly every bird found in the Sierra Nevada moun- tains Steve Gillis, now a compositor in this ofice was for 8 time up in the mountains mining with his brother Jim, when Mark Twain went up from San Francisco and cab ined with them for month or two. The story of the ''Jacob" trying to store up acorns by dropping them through knot-hole in the roof of an old cabin is one of Jim Gillis' pet yarns, when he starts in to tell of the tricks and deviltry of that bird. Mark tells the story much as it was told by the Gillis boys but has, awkwardly enough, got hold of the wrong bird The writer of this once passed three days in that cabin with Jim Gillis. It is a long, low, wooden concern and has stood where it is for 30 years. It is as dilapi- tated as the average forty-niner, and when the breeze is stirring there is always some thing between murmur and moan about the rafters, as though the experience of 30 years which are gone were trying to find voice. And there Gillis lives with his books, his pets and his.memories. Not bit soured is he that fortune has not been very kind to him. On the other hand he has an idea that he has been blessed, for though there is not much gold dust in the cabin, there is comfort and peace. Under the floor half a dozen tame iAoh 41oI1 voT1fd they go outside and play with the dogs even kittens might play together. Walking with GiIlis in little garden near by the cab in he said, +EDid you ever see mountain quail on her nest ?'' and without waiting for 0 reply he parted with his hands bush and revealed the quail sitting quietly over her eggs, her bright eyes not three inches from the hand of the man. When asked if it was not wonderful to see a mountain quail so tame, his answer was, '9They are not afraid of me, they are all old friends of mine." Being obliged to take the stage. two miles away, at 4:3O in the morning, Gill1s started as pilot to the writer at a. m. That was walk long to be remembered. It was away up amid the great Sierras in Tuolumne county, Cali fornia. It was June morning. and as we started the first sheen of the dawn was con- mencing to fringe with purple the mountain crests. With the light the earliest bird gave its greeting and Gillis answered the call of the bird and spoke to it by name as friend speaks to friend. And then for an hour little was said except as bird after bird awakened and hailed the dawn Gillis would answer back, calling by name and adding some pleasant quaint remarks which referred to some pecu- liarity of the birds color, habits or character. And all the time the panorama of the open ing day was being unrolled-as it might have been on that morn when the vapors were | rolled back and "God saw the l light that it was good"-until every l shadow of the night was chased away. With 1 the increasing light, bird after bird took up her song until the hills grew resonant, and I when at last the sun, suddenly, with full disk exposed, shone dazzling in the east, an owl | in thicket hard by gave her boot and Gillis l answered back, "Good morning and good | night, old night prowler, you were Minervas s emblem of old, you seemed so close mouthed l and looked wise, but since '49 you have been the patron saint of California sports, for you 1 sleep all day and your night transactions f won't bear Investigation" And there the man had lived for twenty years a cheerful re- 1 cluse He knew the birds by name and 1 could tell all their habits every plant that | grew in the hills he could tell the name and ! family of, and the hills themselves were his | companions and his adoration, and though sometimes going down to the cities to mingle l with men, he soon wearied of their ways and would return where the hills were his tenn l ples and the birds and the beasts were his l friends.
 Rich in fat-producing material beyond all other foods and medic ines are Malt Bitters.