The daily herald. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1886-1887, 1886-09-15

"A great deal has been written uurluB
the last three years concerning the grad
ual determination of the south's splendid
songster, the hooking bird, or to be more
definite, the Minus Polyglottus. The
Telegraph first called attention to the sub
ject, and see no reason to doubt that the
theory then advanced to account for the
growing scarcity of the birds was and is
true one. The reason given was the UNI
checked slaughter of the birds by negro
"sportsmen," and the destruction or cap
ture of their young from wantonness or a
desire for gain. The theory has been COM
bated. 1t is stated by some that the Eng
fish sparrow is driving out the singers.
by others that the destruction of the for
ests has something to do with the evil. 1t
is even suggested that hurricanes may be
the real cause None j'of these theories
will stand the test. The English sparrow
can not in fact no bird can, drive out the
Knockers, who belong to game and bel
ligerent family. The common hooking
bird will attack dogs, cats, hawks, crows,
and buzzards when they invade his range,
and have never known one of them to
give up the contest. He is not a forest
bird, but of the fields. He prefers an open
situation and the haunts of men. The
orchard, hedge, solitary haw bush,
where he has plenty of sunlight and a
breadth of view, suits him best. And it is
in the fields and orchards that he finds
food. OF all nests his is probably the
most carefully built, and little trouble is
taken to conceal it. He seems to feel that
his song is the price of security, and this
mistake is fast playing havoc with him.
DESTRUCTION BY NEGRO HUNTERS.
Up to emancipation times, or rather the
close of the war, hooking birds were
plentiful every where in Georgia. Dur
ing the years that followed freedom armed
a race to whom guns had been forbidden.
The negro became an enthusiastic hunter,
but he was unskilled and could not graf
ify his craze for destroying only upon
birds that were nearest at hand. Mock
ing birds, cardinals, jo-reels, catbirds and
thrushes went down as easy conquests be-
fore a class that had never been taught
better, and had neither sentiment nor CON
science The negro hunter of to-day, with
possibly a few exceptions, are not wing
shots, and they fill their bags with birds
that can be killed in the trees. It goes
without saying that these are the birds
that should be spared to the fields and to
oOSlCby. hl ODotINdIl uuS Dteu UnuU
few, very few, negroes will pass, gun in
hand, anything that has feathers and is
large enough to cook, and this is borne
out by the fact that the bluejay, the wood
pecker, and the catbird are disappearing
from the fields and woods almost as fast |
as the hooking bird proper
The destruction of the hooking bird has |
been more rapid because his nest has been |
systematically robbed by parties of both
colors for private gain or graft
fication. A year or two since
we noted one shipment Of these birds
from Savannah which contained 600or ZOO.
Upon the streets of this and all other cities
they are openly sold every summer.
When, however, we look at him from
point, the wonder that any one
can harm member of the hooking bird
family increases. No song bird in the
world can equal the sweetness of his notes
or sustain song so long. No bird known
to naturalists can produce the notes of
others and Of fowls or even animals with
such precision and in such combination.
The little gray singer that balances him
self upon treetops, or dances along the
ridges of our houses, seems to have all the
bird notes of the land at his tongues end,
and to delight in weaving them into new
forms of beauty. That he has never been
the poets theme to the extent that the
lark, the nightingale, or even the robin
has, / attribute to his name. II is not fitted |
for verse, nor is it at all poetical. Had he |
borne the name of Orpheus as does his |
cousin, of the Greater antilles, he would |
have filed the song lore of the south. Paul |
Hayne, William Hamilton Hayne, and |
few Others have used him, but none have !
his plebeian name
SONGS OF THE MooKING BIRD.
Mocking birds can be taught almost
in the way Of tunes Macon
used to boast of bird that whistled
Dixie" and years ago q Frenchman
travelled about the country playing airs
upon the piano which his bird would fol-
low accurately. AT the Pulaski house, in
Savannah, negro used to keep bird
tnat would whistle good alto to tunes
his master whistled.
One of the most popular errors CON
corning the hooking bird is the belief that
he has no song of his own; that he adopts
and blends only the notes of other birds
into song This is pure nonsense, The
young hooking birds reared In the gar
rets OF great cities and beyond the reach
Of the songs of others sing as do the ma
tives in their freedom, though not as
strongly, since they lack the Inspiration
Of mates, the mellow sunlight and lib
erty. Their song, is, in fact, number of
songs, but entirely original. No man ever
heard the divisions of the knocking birds |
song in any forest. That he intersperses
them with cat-calls, the hawks screeoh,
the whir of the bull bat and chickens mel |
ancholy peep" and notes from other
birds is true, but these are only characters |
In his recitative ballad, features in the ro |
nance Of his summers. That he sings his |
parts backward and forward and com
bines them anew is also true. The mock |
Ing birds song is to the ear what the kalei- |
doscope is TO the eye, and the combina
ations OF his songs are as endless as the
glass forms in the toy. But the song
notes are the same. ff III
The bird is probably the most continu- |
ous singer in the world, but there are two |
weeks out of every fifty.two when nothing
,an tempt him to sing, and that is when |
ne is melting. AT such times he may bed
iound moping in "A secluded spot lost in |
'ayless melancholy. He looks then hot |
md sick, and the only note he utters Is |
short low whistle, not unlike that which |
he fat man makes as he removes his hat
md mops his brow. Perhaps during this |
eason the bird lays aside mookery, re |
'ents and makes good resolutions.
,on (Ga.) Telegraph.