The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-06-09

subject published in the transactions of the
Indiana State Horticultural Society for 1879
a catalogue of the birds of the State, with
keys and descriptions (pages SO to 1851 of all
except the water birds. This attempt to
awaken interest in our birds he regards more
valuable as a compilation than for any
original or purely scientific matter it con
tains. The effort was TO get at the bird
thought, as well as stomach and claw, and
also to get some simple descriptions OF our
birds into the hands of our horticulturists.
NJ one has done for our birds what E. W.
Nelson, in his Birds of Northeastern Hi
nos' bulletin of Essex INSTITUTED, has done
for the region about Chicago. Happily, Mr.
Nelson's list serves for the northwestern
part of our State. DIR. ]. NJ. Wheaton, of
Columbus, O., in volume ~. Geological
Survey OF OHIO, recently issued. has several
hundred pages devoted to the birds Of Ohio.
This is a book the collectors of birds in our
State will do well to secure. 1t has tull
notes on the fishes of Ohio, by Prof. Jordan,
and also sections devoted to reptiles and
mammals. Dr. Frank w. Langdon, OF Gin
cinnati, has list of the birds of that region,
which serves as local list for southeastern
Indiana DIR. Wheaton's checklist gives
292 species, of which only six are
considered accidental Nelson's list is pithi-
ly characterized by DIR. Coues as a thorough
ly good list, annotated, of 316 species and gen
eral varieties. New species of birds are now
Adlely dIeCOfeIcuY Ollo 10 IuOiS llhSly " hhN
new species of fish in Pogue's run than
species of the bird kind new to science
in Indiana woods. DR.. Langdon was fortu-
nate enough to secure, some three years
SINCE a new warbler near Cincinnati (Hel-
minthophoga Cincinnatiensis).
The scientific Indiana ornithologist has not
yet come to the front. No one is doing for
our birds what Professor Coulter and Barnes
have done for our plants, and Professors Jor-
dan and Gilbert for our fishes; that is to
make exhaustive formal lists of our birds,
both general and local.
Ornithology should be taught in our high
schools, with birds in pupils hands. 1t is
not OF much use to assign general lessons to
be recited from books. Teach pupils to col
lect and study birds, fishes and insects; set
them rightly to work on a few groups of
animals. 1t is as foolish to try to teach all
branches of zoology as to teach all languages.
There is lamentable and inexcusable ignor-
ance of birds, fishes and plants among our
hgh-school and college graduates. This is
| useless as we have cheap analytical and de
scrlptive treatises on these groups. The
names given to the various groups of birds
in our State law prohibiting bird destruction
are simply ridiculous They do not meet
the case and no judge or jury can be guided
by them. The law should state explicitly
what birds, using the scientific as well as
common rame of each species, may be killed.
Turdus MigratOrius.-The Robin Redbreast.
My old Welsh neighbOr over the way
Crept slowly out IN the sun of spring,
Pushed from her ears the locks of gray,
And listed to hear the robin sing.
Her grandson playing at marbles, stopped,
And cruel ia sport as boys will be,
Tossed a stone at the bird, who hoped
From bOugh to bough III the apple tree.
May" said the grandmother, "have you Bot
heard,
NV Door bsd hov, nf tho fiar~ nit
And how drop by drop this merciful bird
Carries the water that quenches lit
He brings cool dew in his little bill,
And lets IL fall on the souls Of sin
Hou can see the mark on his red breast still
Or fires that scOrch AS he drops IL In
My poor Bron rhuddyni my breast-hurned blrd
Singing so sweety from limb to limo,
Very dear To the heart OF our Lord
Is lie who pities the lost like him."
"Ameu!" said 10 the beautiful myth,
Sing, bird OF God, in my heart well;
Each good thought is IL drop wherewith
To cool and lessen the fires OF he'll.
PRAYERS of love like raindr0ps fall,
Tears of pity are cooling dew,
And dear to the heart of our Lord are all
VINO suffer like him In the good they do
| John G. Whittier. .
| The robin is to US what the English spar
row is to the people of Europe. The robin is
a great eater of berries and soft fruits of
every description; and in the cold season of
the year these are its main food. The golden
| fruits are especially attractive, and the birds
demand their 1.-THE. The damage done is
| trihing at most, and nothing compared with
/ the benefit from the destruction of noxious
insects by this bird. The annual slaughter
OF these birds in many localities is both
senseless and cruel. Few persons have any
| knowledge of the enormous number of in
sects which the robins eat every year.
A young robin needs daily 40 per cent. more
than its own weight in food. A nest of young
ROBINS weighing eight ounces eat every day a
pound of insects and insect Larvae.
| When we reflect that there are some mill
lions of pairs of robins in this State each pair
| raising one, two and even three broodS yearly,
of five or six young, we may see that the re-
| sulting destruction OF insects is simply meal
| cuaole. This fact alone should entite them
| to legal protection. were the parents to feed
on garden fruit during the entire nesting
period. But at this lime the diet of the old
birds is chiefly animal. In the spring
| before the fruits are ripe we see them in
new-plowed fields meadows, lawns and parks
in eager search for the worms and grubs
which later in the season would prove in
iemical to the former we're not their ravases
stayed in advance by the friendly bobins.
The bird is now generally protected by law
| in the States, through all or most of the
year. The ''close" time should be extensive
with the year itself.
AS game bird the robin has no attrac-
tions, save to pot-hunters and idle children
| OF a larger or smaller growth, while its COM
mercial value an article of food is not
worth mentioning.
OF the details of the birds daily life we
need not speak. Upon such points the
| children are competent ornithologists and
| those who have forgotten their early expert
ences need only look out of the window at
the right time" Its nest is a substan tial
structure, built almost anywhere. 1t is too
bulky to hide. and no art is attempted. 1t
is simply neat cup of mud, lined with fine
vegetable fiber and surrounded with mass