The Sunday herald and weekly national intelligencer., 1890-05-18
OUR NE1GHBoRs THE rHRUsHEs.
Trials and Tribulations of Bird Family
in Establishing n Home.

first song of the first thrush of the season? No? |
All, then YOU do not know what the coming of |
spring really is What tells these tiny creatures |
that apple-blossoms are in bloom two weeks |
earlier this season than usual? Have they |
keenness of scent that detects this most delicious
of odors from afar? 'Tis no use trying to guess |
these natural conundrums But on such morn |
ing in April, when Aurora peeped over the glow
ing eastern horizon, all draped in garments of
rosy purples woven from floating cloud or mist, |
my old friend announced his presence by such a
rollicking song that l sprang from my bed to see
if my senses did not deceive me- Sure enough,
there he was, my slender-bodied little brownie,
bobbing and dancing with delight in his old
place on the locust-tree, where he and Mrs.
Mockingbird have kept house and reared fami-
lies for the past five years Am quite sure he
is the same original bird l only know that
that nest has little history of its own, and that
whether it is the same pair or not mockingbirds,
genuine and true, come and occupy it year after
year. They may be descendants of the original
builders: it is all the same to me, since they
come annually to make bit of heaven on earth
Do mockingbirds love perfume that they always
build in a tree that has spicy or sweet odors
Cedar, apple, or locust these birds have re-
spectively tried, and thereby hangs a doleful
tale of their bird housekeeping.
There are many thrushes, all sweet singers,
but it is of the Turdid&, the rarest and sweet
est of them all, that we speak. Five years ago
pair arrived early in May. Mrs. Thrush sat
on bough and demurely listened, from early
dawn to full sunrise, to Mr.. Thrush's matin
hymns of thanksgiving and praise. Such poeti-
cal, refined love-making was utterly irresistible
Mr. Thrush is your true early riser. He pulls
his head out from under his wing at the first
peep of daylight and jumps out of bed, or off
his perch, and plunges into raphsody OF song
that delights and entrances not only the whole
listening world, but the one being in all the
world whom he adores Such ''courting''
could end but one way, and together, five years
ago, a pair of thrushes selected tall, closely
growing cedar-tree in the midst of an avenue
of cedars for their nest-building. They brought
strings, my combings, which threw out of the
window to see them pick up; they stole cotton
out of the paper carpet Innings put on the grass
to sun; they brought long grasses and sticks, and
fashioned a nest after the manner of their
fathers. 1t was built way up near the top OF
the redwood cedar and where the spindles
We're thickest Had l not seen it being done
from ATARI had never guessed even ofits pres
ence there. Mrs. Thrush tried it, and Mr..
Thrush tried it, and together they pronounced
it good But, alas one morning poor human
being, afflicted with curiosity and a desire to
settle q controversy that had arisen in the fam
lily, ventured to climb up on stepladder, when
Mr.. and Mrs Thrush had gone to breakfast, to
see the eggs and determine whether they were
pale green or covered with tiny brown freckles,
as that was the test How cautiously she
moved, how careful not to disturb the
nest But she had to break q tiny bough
off the cedar before she could into 1t. Care
fully she tried, on descending from her perch on
the stepladder to readjust the foliage to make
it look Just as it did before 1t couldn't be
done and those sagacous birds no sooner ar
rived-for their return watched for with
interest-than they saw that something had been
there, and they looked upon all disturbances as
hostile What it-a cat, snake, or other
natural foe to bird life and happiness? They
futtered about uttering cries OF distress, Cor was
it anger?) and Immediately abandoned the nest
so carefully built, and with two pale-green eggs
in it. Now, that graceless ''human' was so
ashamed of her curiosity, her petty desire to
come off victor. she couldn't envy 1T 1t cost
TOO much.
For three mornings there no gladness
and she only caught glimpses of the birds as
they flew about seeking spot in which to es
tablish new home. On the fourth morning, at
the dawn, nv Thrush once more burst forth into
song. He had found place to his liking, and
Mrs. Thrush was already carrying sticks straws
grass, hair-anything she could find to make 6
new home of-right in the fork Of an apple tree
thick with blooms. All for time went vel
gagged in the engrossing occupation of setting
Such devoted, attentive little husband as she
had He brought hermany dainty fly or worm
and nearly sung his heart out endeavoring tC
cheer her and keep up her courage through al
this tedious and trying time. But every sum
mer is not all sunshine. The clouds and the
deluge mark the close of many an otherwise fine
day. One afternoon such storm arose The
apple-tree blooms strewed the ground, branches
we're rudely torn off, and SO frail thing as
little birds nest with four pale eggs in it, with
little brown bird lowering over them, touched
not the heart of Nature when she was on the
rampage. Even this meekest and sweetest Of
wives and possible mothers had TO seek shelter
under the cornice-pOrch OF a human dwelling
house until Nature got over her "tantrum' anG
condesceudcd to smile again. Poor little mock
ingbirds Life with its ycissitudes seemed tC
mock and pursue them. The nest dangled il
shteds from the forks, where it had been so beau
Liful and apparently secure only an hour before
The egg shells lay empty and broken on the
ground beneath But the birds had either
learned the lesson of experience, that what can
not be cured must be endured, or they had ne
adequate means 10 make, so they made none
but lheY very soon set about rebuilding in tai
locust-tree, above the line of observation of any
prying ewes or proWling cat secure this time il
q little natural hollow, where the large forks o.
This grander tree lifted aloft its arms, full O.
foliage ard lovely white sWeetly-scented bios
SONS. And ever since these mOckingbirds re
turn early in May TO this last and best Of al
their homes this triumph gained through expert
meut and disaster, for they, too, seem TO have
had the faculty of protiting by these things
Indeed, l think if we knew how to rightly in
terpret the life Of these creatures-which, per
haps, Is as good as our own-We might be edieC
as we'll as entertained. People who 90 into tn
country for a month ortwO in midsummer mis-