The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1889-02-17
OLIVE THORNE'S BIRD.ROOM
An Hour in the Workshop of a Diligent
Student of Animated Nature.
Living on Familiar Terms with Catbirds and
Jays, Robins, Grossbeaks and Orioles
The Feathered Folks Secret.
Special Correspondence Indianapolis Journal.

The Feathered Folks Secret.
Special Correspondence Indianapolis Journal.
NEW YORK, Feb. 15.-In these days of In
quiry into the literary habits of writer's
Olive Thorne Miller's bird-room ought to
find description.
From time to time the Atlantic, Harper's
Magazine, the Cosmopolitan, Harpers
Eazaar contains one of her graceful, gently
humorous, lovingly and truthfully traced
bird sketches, and one day when they are
collected into volumes like Bird Ways"
and in Nesting Time" the world suddenly
wakens to the fact that one of the most
charming of modern nature students is
woman.
Thoreau observed the shy. wild things of
the woods from his hat by Walden pond.
Burroughs looks out on the open-air world
from an up-Hudson farm. Roe studied
among the strawberry beds in his garden.
Like Hamilton Gibson, the nature artist,
Olive Thorne Miller goes to the heart of
nature in ummer. but shuts herself up in
winter in Brooklyn town.
She shuts the birds in with her, and her
bird-rOOm is the most interesting apart
ucub tudt over II CITY mouse utlu. III IL tuo
little folks in feathers disport themselves
almost In freedom. 1t is her study, at times
her S~leeplng-rO0m, but robins run up and
down the floor in fashion as saucy and
clipper as If they, We're picking up worms
In the paStureland after q June rain. A
bold blue-jay trails the ink over the paper
while she writes, and the notes that she's
J0ttlng cover every movement or the shy
bluebird preening himself in the sunshine,
secure in the belief that her back is turned,
yVhIlQ Ill fha fInaQ har avaS r. HYad on his
reflection in the mirror in her hand: Birds
splash in the bath dishes; birds dart
and tumble and play tricks in
the air. There are cages, wire cages, mind
The door of every cage is open. From ev-
cry cage door leads a perch projecting SIX
inches or more into the room. There are
perches crossing each window. There are
perches from the gas fixtures to the win
dows. There are perches in every cOnven-
lent spot in the room.
In front of one of the windows stands q
table covered with a rubber spread. On
the table are one or two perches and a row
of tin pie-plates, painted q dull brown col
s%prinkled upon them before the paint was
dry. These are the bath pans. They are
full of water, and a delightful beach pic
mic the birds are having in them.
There Is mating on the floor in lieu of a
carpet. This is a study and bedroom, you
remember, and must be furnished for hui
man as well as feathered occupation. Mat
ting can be washed, and does not hold dust
enough to give Mrs. Miller's little winged
friends the asthma. There are shades at
the windows, but no lace curtains for claws
to catch in, ~tangling up small toes.
There is no upholstery, but plenty
of wooden and rattan chairs. There is
inquisitive beaks to pick. at and injure, but
there is q bookcase or two with cloths laid
over the rows of volumes, plainly furnished
dressing table, everything simple, but sutfi-
cient, pretty, not in the least bare. Under
the more frequented perches are spread
newspapers, and, curiously enough. the
bird population keeps to these. and. Mrs.
Miller says, seldom soils anything in the
room.
the bird student does not believe in over
tanning the wild creatures-stands Mrs.
Miller's writing desk. On a stand by its
side is a pile of note books, each lettered
with the name of one of the birds. Bird
tragedies and comedies, bird loves and bird
griefs, every phase of bird life and expert
ence is being enacted, and day by day the
woman who watches it all is writing each
birds diary, making a library of bird biog-
al give up my mornings to them,n she
says Often l bring other work into the
bird-room to do, but in the end i am alb
sorbed in the bird drama"
where do your birds come 'FRONT.'"
Il Uuy tuClu dt III DIo cbOlCS. l. nONCi
had a bird shot or caught for me-. After l
have studied them during the winter, l let
them loose, If they are able to support
themselves in the spring."
eff they can support themselves"
Eyes, q bird that has been Gagged above a
| year IS too thoroughly accustomed to being
waited upon to earn its own living. My
birds are all American birds and seldom or
never born in a cage, but many lose the de-
sire for freedom in spite of that. 1t is very
easy to tell whether or not a bird wishes to
go. If it pines for the sky and air it spends
its days on the windOw-sash looking out,
and ruffies its feathers into a sullen, sulky,
disconsOlate ball when in its cage. / re-
member once freeing a wOodpecker. 1t
flew to o tree trunk and began drilling.
Goodbye, dear / said, it's almost like
parting from a child to let you go, but
you're all right, you remember how to find
insects Some birds become so used to
cages that they do not even care for the
freedom of o room, but remain persistently
behind the bars no matter how long the
door remains open. They have enough to
hopping from one perch to another. But
this is not true of the more intelligent
BIRDS"
"Are there differences in birds brainsfn
"Yes, indeed. My birds become to ME as
marked in their individualities as SO many
human beings. And they differ as much in
character. One bird is selfish where an
other is kind. One robin looks on the bright
side OF things. while It's mate IS decidedly
pessimistic. People have not begun to give
birds proper credit for their intelligence.
When a dog fawns upon you and wags his
tail he almost talks. A bird is not so de-
monstrativein it's evidences of sense or affec-
ton, but the tokens are there, if you have
eyes for them. 1t may be a new note in the
song, or Just a flutter or tremor of the wings.
Why. / have sat on the porch in summer
and seen all sorts of bright doings among
the birds, which nobody about me had the
least inkling of, because they didn't catch
the cues, couldn't understand bird Ian
guage."
(which is the most intelligent of our
common blrdsin
Probably, l think, the catbird or the jay:
The jay is terribly misunderstood and
maligned. Everybody is giving him a bad
name. But 1 kept one at one time in my
bird-room, and he never, in the course of a
whole winter, offered to modest one of the
other birds: He knew every member of the
family, and had a different greeting for
each. When / came home after an absence
he knew me and gave unmistakable evil
dence of JOY. Some little time after | called
at a bird store and found the dealer putting
a jay into a large cage with a number of