Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-04-17

arrival Of the anxiOusly looked-for
spring, yet there. are indications of !
some value connected with the ar
rival of crows as a body. For ex-
ample, on the date at which / am
writing April 6, 1881 !, crows have
for the first time in this season been
seen in numbers. 1t is "a balmy, spring
like day, but has been preceded by
entry of April more resembling March
with it's storms and buster. Weeks
ago the newspaper recorded the ar
rival of the Crows bnt since then
the railways have been again block
AIDED, and the mercury has once again
fallen to eight degrees. Now, how
ever, the scene has changed, the
breeze, though still cool, smacks of
spring, and, with this agreeable
change, comes the first steady fight of
crows to the northward. On they come
by twos, threes, fours, and other ever
varying numbers. They do not set
tie down on the refuse heaps on our
river, still fast ice-locked- con-
tinue, on steady wing, and at consid-
cradle height, their annual route. Of
course, numbers of individuals re-
main with us, as they do at other
points to the southwark of us; but,
Notwithstanding, we record the fact
namely: sc the nOrthWard spring
fight of the crows, 2 and, with a
breath of relief, double windows are
thrown off-and Heavens pure, glori-
Gus, revivifying air once more enters
our almost poisonous, though may be
gilded and frescoed, dwellings. Now,
but not before this, can we say,
ss Spring has come.,' rt.+
OTHER BIRDS.
Almost simultaneously is the
arrival of the song sparrow, robin,
bluebird, kinglets, pewee, cowbird,
blackbird, and swallow. 1t is difficult
to state which has the priority next
to the crow. The song sparrow, with
the majority Of people, has the credit
Of being the Sc first arrival, I" but l
long since found out that s'the peo-
pie, as a majority, do not observe for
themselves, but more adopt what
"people" have thought and said
before without questioning. The song
sparrow certainly arrives early, and
so does the robin but there are many
years in which the cowbird and red
winged blackbird are days in advance
of either of the former birds.
The ornithologist's notebook varies
each year in it's ''Spring Arrival
page. AS the weather has been and
is, SO are the arrivals regulated. The
birds do not come on fixed and annual
ly recurring dates that can be laid
down as the rule for the respective
species, but arrive just as the weather
permits them, be this advanced or
backward. .fra 81 -,a ~,
I would state here that, to my way
of thinking, the robin. should be left
out of consideration entirely, in the
formation of our lists of spring ar
rivals, as this bird has been observed
during nearly every one of the winter
months, and really is only entirely alb
sent when the season has been more
than usually severe. '.'t.'- -.
Occasionally the swallows arrive
ahead of all other species, but such
fights only illustrate how little these
birds know about the weather, be-
yond that by which they are immedi-
ately surrounded. For again and
again have I recorded, after such pre-
mature arrivals, severe relapses of the
weather, with cold and snow-storms.
The explanation of such an error on
the part of the swallow is simple.
For experience has taught us that
most of the severe relapSeS occurring
both in the spring and fall months are
Immediately preceded by unusually
fine and mild weather.-in fact,
weather breeders, as the "old
saw has it,-just as in mid-winter
many of our ''cold dips " are, by what
weather observers term, "church
steeples,' or unusually high and
abrupt rises of the mean or maximum
line of temperature. Thus, when
towards springtime,, or when spring
should be, such a period of balmy,
spring like weather suddenly occurs,
over, perhaps, an extensive area of
country. the swallows are completely
deceived by it, and starting on their
northward migration only find out
their error when struck by some of the
wintry blasts and driving snoW-storms
yet left in the bag of sold Boreas."
In fine, birds, either considered as a
whole or as Individuals,
DO Not AFFORD Us ANY cLEw OF
a.g VALUE
ito the max ing out of the :. weather
problem They know bad weather
when it comes so do we. They fly
before it and find better quarters,
while we poor mortals, as majority,
have to grin and bear it. In by far
the greatest number of cases the.
movements of the birds and the
changes of the weather are too SIM
ultaneous to permit Of our attaching
any weight to the arrival and disap-
pearance Of our winter visitors but,
on the other hand, there are times
when, could we, we would most assur-
eddy warn these birds of many a
RELAPSE Of the weather. yet to come
concerning which, it may easily be
,preceived, they remain blissfully
ignorant, and during which they
often perish in numbers.
Beecher and Catholicism.
Mr.. Beecher created small sensa-
ton in his church last Sunday even