The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-01-04
BIRD TRAITS.
CURIOUS CHARACTERISTICS OF
THE FEATHERED TRIBE.
Eternal Mourners OF the Florida
Everglades-Tho Talking Mino-
A Humorous Bird-Peculiari-
ties of Other Birds.

has stuoIeu DlFuS LOT years. w naC arg
some of the curious characteristics of
birds that have come under your notice:
asked a New York Eoeaing Sun reporter" !"
''The crying bird of the Florida ever
glades is an eternal mourner," answered.
Mr.. Hageman. "From sunrise till
night it sniflcs and sobs so exactly like.
human being that outlook all about the
woods for a tragedy. The shrike fur
nishes problem which neither theology
nor science has ever been able to answer,
1t catches woodpeckers and little Mary:
land yellow throats, and impales them
on the thorn trees of the Southern OF ange
groves till the branches are filled with:
them. The shrike then goes off little
way, and sits on the top rail of a fence, !
with his second cousin, the blue Jay,
and laughs and curses the dying cries
and struggles of his victims. The tricks
Of the blue jay are even more cruel. He;
may often be seen on q fine morning
sitting on stake with the bright eye Of:
pewee in his beak. His. treatment of
bugs is even worse. He finds little bugs
and rolls around them an earth I
ern ball. Then he goes away
He entombs the bugs in clay and
leaves them to die. refreshing con-
trast to such cruelty are the lovely traits
of the scarlet tanager. This is the love-.
bird of legend. When the tanager's nest!
is fred on by the fowler it will clasp it
tightly with its talons, and with the
brood in it will bear it far away to
another tree. When the young of an.
other bird are deserted the tanager will
feed them day by day, and often remove
them bodily to her own nest This
bird is an aristocrat. It is as stately .
stopper as the cardinal grosbeak. The
pine grosbeak- never sings except in a:
thunder storm. The vireo sings all the
time. The cow bird is that one puzzle
of nature which battles, more than all
Others, the naturalist. Here IS bird
who has no home, no child, no nest.
1t lays its eggs by stealth, in the nest of
other smaller birds during their lab
senec,. often in the nest of the
little Maryland yellow throat. The
cow-bird's egg, being larger than the
eggs of the small birds, gets most
of the warmth of the maternal breast, (
and matches first. Just here comes in
the tragedy. The mother bird, in her
efforts to feed the foster bird, loses her
own brood in the eggs that are never
Matched. The cow bird is the insepa-
rable companion of the cattle. It struts
leisurely between their legs, picking off !
the green gadaies, and through the hot
summer day may be seen perched on the
back of some COW. The. nightingale is
used in Germany to train canaries and
bulfnches.. 1t is fact that is not gene.
rally known that this bird of pathetic
always sings toward the
moon The leafy cage Of the nightin-
gale is the lick tree. The ruins of the :
Alhambra is the best place to hear him. y
"That bird which most nearly APP
proaches human being in its powers Of
speech is the Calcutta mino. 1t is caps-
bic OF being tanght great number OF
words, and then of originating ideas
them for the purpose of carry
ing on a conversation. It has glossy,
jet black plumage, with pale pink feet
and a loose gold lace ruff around its
head. It inclines to melancholy, and
will sit by the hour and chant over and
over some old broken minor or repeat
to itself the name 'of
some dead person who loved it and took
care of it. The peewee is small brown
bird that sits all day long in exactly the
same place-to which it comes back
within one inch-away from the South,
in the very darkest part of the woods.
Its wings never cease to tremble. It :
never sees the light OF day. 1t knows
that Just outside the edge of the wood
the awful eye of the shrike is watching
for it. In brave contrast to this wood
and coward is the little yellow bird,
who may be seen in any meadow. The
name by which this American canary is
known is the goldfnch. What school
boy has not seen him and almost caught
aim2 Its chief delight in summer is to
pick the down from the thistle in its
search for seeds. When the pewee won't
come out the shrike chases the yellow
bird. Round and round they 60 in cir
lies that grow shorter and shorter, till at
asst the shrike is obliged to sit down for
sheer dizziness on the fence rail, while
The yellow bird goes wee-cheeing around
he field in his undulating circles of
song. The yellow bird stays North all
he year round. In the winter he wears
, sober quaker suit.
Zone of the most humorous birds is Z
he white cahoo. This is one of the
anne wild birds. He has no suspicious
If man. His home is on the Bermuda
Islands. 1t is.a ghostly experience for a,
nan to 90 out at night and standing
lear the deep forests suddenly to hear a
7oice in the distance exciaiming: Who
ire you2 Who are you2 Soon a white
,b ;ect becomes outlined, nearer and
nearer itapproaches, till it perchcs on his
houlders and screams in his ear the cry
written above.
"The ivory billed woodpecker is. the
ring of the woodpcckers. - He is tricol-
red. He describes deep curves from
rec top to tree top. He never taps at a
i've tree. He has a rat-tail file
cngue one foot long. With this he
taos insects. The belted kingfsher sits
" the still pond watching for minnows.
ie dives without aspla h. He never
ails to bring up fish. AS soon as ne
las eaten it he utters chuckle OF tri'
lmph like watchman's rattle. The
oon is very curious bird. Its laugh
ry is one of the widest ones in all ma
ure. This bird cannot start from the
and and fly. H. must get a running
tart on the water. The loon always
rave 8 alone. He is more tenacious Of
ifc than a cat. A loon that has been
winged, wrung. baggrd and left for
lead has pluckcd a man through the
amcbag so that he has severely injured
i'm His bcak is nine inches long and